Award-winning creator of the Smitten Kitchen blog Deb Perelman joins us to discuss her second cookbook Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites. Her book features 100 recipes that you can cook for every meal of the day. Almost all of the recipes in the book are brand-new, alongside a few favorites from her website. Recipes include: Everything Drop Biscuits with Cream Cheese, Kale Caesar with Broken Eggs and Crushed Croutons, Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake and Bake Sale Winning-est Gooey Oat Bars. 

Deb Perelman will appear in conversation with Joanna Goddard of Cup of Jo on Nov. 10  at 7:30 p.m. at Books are Magic (225 Smith St., Brooklyn).  She will also appear on Dec. 13 at 6:00 p.m.at Fishs Eddy (889 Broadway, between E. 19th and 20th St.) for a book signing only. And she will appear on Dec. 16 at 5:00 p.m. for a book signing at [words] Bookstore ( 179 Maplewood Ave, Maplewood, NJ).

Note: Jonathan Capehart guest-hosted this segment of the Leonard Lopate Show.

Check out some recipes from Deb Perelman's new cookbook below!

wild mushroom shepherd’s pie

makes 6 to 8 servings

One of the truly terrible things almost all food writers like to do is take a beloved comfort-food classic and change it in the name of modernism, seasonality, or so-called sophistication. Lob- ster potpie with a crème fraîche pastry lid, heirloom-potato latkes with caviar, fried eggs with

a pinch of truffle salt . . . I’ve done it all, too. To me, the sin isn’t wanting a different flavor balance or approach, but the accidental tinge of condescension in suggesting that the original wasn’t good enough, especially comical given my own affection for weeks-long lunch jags of peanut butter and jelly on store-bought sandwich bread.

But I have always wanted to make a shepherd’s pie with a wild-mushroom stew underneath that had a depth of flavor that would reverberate from all of your taste buds—not as a criticism of the stick-to-your-ribs ground-beef-and-mashed-potatoes gold standard, but because, around here, we consider the intersection of mushrooms and potatoes our comfort-food happy place. Amping up the flavor with rehydrated porcini, a dark broth, dry sherry, a tiny bit of tomato paste, and sherry vinegar takes a simple mushroom sauté and makes it so sublime, we’re not sure we ever want to go back to the original. Did I put a little crème fraîche in the mashed potatoes? On this, too, guilty as charged.

filling

½ cup (15 grams) dried mushrooms, such as porcini or a mix

1 cup (235 ml) boiling water

2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil

1 large onion, diced

2 medium carrots, diced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 3 garlic cloves, minced

2 pounds (roughly 1 kilogram) fresh mushrooms, in chunks (I use a mix of shiitake, elephant ear, and cremini; all cremini is also fine)

2 tablespoons (30 ml) dry sherry

1 tablespoon (15 grams) tomato paste

1 cup (235 ml) vegetable, chicken, or beef stock

 

lid

1 ¾ to 2 pounds (800 to 900 grams) russet potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces

6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, in chunks

1 teaspoon kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup (55 grams) crème fraîche or sour cream

2/3 cup (115 ml) milk or buttermilk

to finish

Smoked or regular paprika and/or 1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

prepare the mushrooms

 In a small bowl, combine the dried mushrooms and boiling water. Set aside for 30 min- utes (while you continue with the other steps), then drain, reserving the soaking water, and chop the rehydrated mushrooms into small bits. If the soaking water has any sand or grit at the bottom, pour it through a fine-mesh strainer.

meanwhile, prepare the lid

Place the potatoes in a medium pot, and cover them with a couple inches of salted water. Bring to a boil, and then simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the potatoes are easily pierced in the center with a knife or skewer. Drain, and either rice the potatoes into a large bowl, or place them in the bottom of a large bowl and mash with a fork or potato masher. Add the butter, salt, and pepper, and stir. The heat from the potatoes should melt the butter. Add the crème fraîche and the milk, and stir to combine. Taste, and adjust the seasonings if needed.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

cook the vegetables In a large pan (4-quart, or an 11-inch deep skillet or braiser), heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, salt, and pepper, and sauté until the vegetables begin to color, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute more. Add fresh mushrooms, salt, and pepper, increase the heat to high, and cook the mushrooms until they brown and soften, releasing their juices, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the sherry, and scrape up any stuck bits. Add the tomato paste, and stir to combine. Add the rehydrated mushrooms and their liquid, plus the stock. Season again if needed, and simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the mushrooms are coated in a thick sauce.

bake the pie If your skillet is oven-safe, you can bake the pie in it. If not, transfer the mixture to a 2-to-3-quart bak- ing dish. Scoop the potatoes in large spoonfuls all over the top of the mushrooms, then use the back of your spoon to spread them smooth all the way to the edges, forming a seal.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned on top. Garnish with a dusting of paprika and/or parsley. Scoop and serve.

do ahead This keeps for 5 days in the fridge and longer in the freezer. Rewarm it in a 350-degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

granola biscotti

makes 36 biscotti

   There are a lot of good reasons to make and eat the finger-shaped twice-baked dunkable cookies known as biscotti, cantuccini, and sometimes even mandelbrodt, and most involve delicious things to drink: coffee, black tea, and vin santo and other dessert wines. But where’s the cookie that will help you get through breakfast for the week you’ve promised to plain, unsweetened yogurt? I mean, your intentions were good—those flavored yogurts are full of stuff nobody really needs to eat—but there’s nothing like a little granola to break up the monotony.

    These help. Part biscotti but mostly granola, they’re full of oats, nuts, coconut, dried fruit; just barely sweetened, they’re the ideal companion to your best breakfast intentions. Plus, they keep for weeks, which means you can grab one or two per day and pretty much never regret having them on you.

1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for your work surface

1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons (130 grams) rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon table or fine sea salt

6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, melted, or virgin coconut oil, warmed until liquefied

¼ cup (50 grams) granulated or raw (turbinado) sugar

¼ cup (50 grams) light- or dark-brown sugar

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

½ cup (45 grams) thinly sliced almonds

½ cup (40 grams) shredded unsweetened coconut

1 cup (about 150 grams) dried fruit of your choice, such as raisins, cranberries, cherries, or chopped dried apricots or figs, or a mix thereof 1 egg white

Mix the flour, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Whisk the melted butter and sugars in the bottom of a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients, nuts, coconut, and dried fruit. Expect a stiff batter.

Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

On a floured counter, using floured hands roll half the dough into a log a little shy of the length of your baking sheet, 12 to 14 inches. Transfer the dough log to the baking sheet, and pat lightly until it becomes more oval-shaped. Repeat with the second half of the dough. Beat the egg white until foamy, and brush it over logs. Bake the logs for 20 minutes, until they are lightly golden brown and beginning to form cracks.

Let cool almost completely (it’s okay if the centers are still lukewarm), about 1 hour. With a serrated knife, cut the logs on the bias into ½ -inch-thick slices. They will be crumbly; cut as gently as possible. Transfer the slices back to the parchment-lined baking sheet, and lay flat in a single layer. Bake for another 20 minutes, until toasted and crisp. (If you like, you can flip them halfway for more even browning, but you will have good color on them either way.) Cool the biscotti on the baking sheet, or transfer to a rack.

 note This recipe should prove very tweakable; you could use cinnamon, or almond extract, add citrus zest, vary the fruits and sweeteners. You could swap half the flour for whole wheat or even oat flour. Or you could add some chocolate chips. Who could blame you?

do ahead Biscotti keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks, and longer if well wrapped in the freezer.

chocolate pecan slab pie

makes 12 to 18 servings

Considering how annoyed I get about fairly inconsequential stuff, such as decorative paper straws (mmm, wet paper fibers), single giant ice cubes in cocktails (that thwack you in the face when you take a sip), or a single granule of playground sandbox matter in my bed (always the bed; always the bed!), I am sure someone finds it illogical that I find it difficult to get worked up about the evils of corn syrup. My gut feeling is that it shows up mostly in things that nobody is eating for underlying health benefits, and that we all understand we’re only supposed to enjoy in moderation (candies, caramels, etc.); shouldn’t that be enough?

What does bother me about it, however, is that it’s just plain bland—it tastes like sweet nothingness, and though I can shrug this off in small quantities, in larger amounts it’s a real bummer. With this in my mind, I went from assuming that everyone who wanted to make pecan pie already had a go-to recipe for it, to creating my own, with as much nuanced, deeply toasted, luxurious flavor as I could pack in there. But first I have five rather bossy rules for making an excellent pecan pie:

 

1. Toast your nuts! You must, you must. Untoasted pecans taste sweet but faintly waxy.   Toasted pecans taste like toffeed pecan pie before they even hit the caramel. Just do it.

 

2. Dark-brown sugar trumps light-brown: more molasses, more flavor. By the same logic, both maple syrup and golden syrup taste better to me in pecan pie than corn syrup. The latter, a lightly cooked cane sugar syrup from the U.K. that is basically their maple syrup (i.e., beloved on pancakes), does contain a bit more sodium than corn syrup, however, so hold the salt back slightly if you’re using it. (I learned this the hard way.) I have also used honey in the past, but prefer using it for only half the volume of liquid sweetener here; otherwise, I find its flavor takes over.

 

3.  A tiny bit of cider vinegar (trust me) really helps balance out the aching sweetness of a gooey caramel pie.

 

4. Good pecan pie causes a commotion, so you’re going to want to make a lot. Go slab or go home (and have to make more).

 

5.  Finally, if you want to gild the lily (of course you do), add some chocolate.

crust

3 ¾ cups (490 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for your work surface

1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt

1 ½ tablespoons (20 grams) granulated sugar

1 ½ cups (12 ounces or 340 grams) unsalted butter, very cold

¾ cup (175 ml) very cold water

filling

3 ¾ (330 grams) pecan halves

8 ounces (225 grams) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, or about 1 ¼ cups chocolate chips

½ cup (120 ml) heavy cream

10 tablespoons (145 grams) unsalted butter

1 2/3 cups (215 grams) packed dark-brown sugar

1 cup (235 ml) maple syrup or golden syrup (see headnote)

¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt

1 ½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract

1 ½ tablespoons (25 ml) bourbon (optional)

5 large eggs

to finish

1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon (5 ml) water

to make the pie dough by hand, with my one-bowl method In the bottom of a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Work the butter into the flour with your fingertips or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles a coarse meal and the largest bits of butter are the size of tiny peas. (Some people like to do this by freezing the stick of butter and coarsely grating it into the flour, but I haven’t found the results as flaky.)

with a food processor In the work bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the butter, and pulse the machine until the mixture resembles a coarse meal and the largest bits of butter are the size of tiny peas. Turn the mixture out into a mixing bowl.

both methods Add the cold water, and stir with a spoon or flexible silicone spatula until large clumps form. Use your hands to knead the dough together a few times right in the bottom of the bowl. Divide the dough and wrap each half in a sheet of plastic wrap or waxed paper, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or up to 72 hours, or you can quick-firm this in the freezer for 15 minutes. If you plan to keep it longer than 3 days, it will have the best flavor if you freeze it until needed.

prepare the filling Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line the bottom of a 10-by-15-by-1-inch baking sheet or jelly-roll pan with parchment paper.

Spread the pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring once or twice so that they toast evenly. Set aside until needed. If you like smaller bits, you can chop some or all of the nuts to your desired size.

Melt the chocolate chunks with the heavy cream, and stir until smooth. Spread over the bottom of the frozen crust. Freeze the crust again until the chocolate is solid, about another 10 minutes.

assemble the pie On a lightly floured surface, roll one of your dough halves (the larger one, if you have two different sizes) into an 18-by-13-inch rectangle. This can be kind of a pain, because it is so large. Do your best to work quickly, keeping the dough as cold as possible and using enough flour so it doesn’t stick to the counter. Transfer the dough to your prepared baking sheet, and gently drape some of the overhang in, so that the dough fills out the inner edges and corners. Some pastry will still hang over the sides of the pan; trim this to 1/2 inch. Freeze the piecrust in the pan until it is solid.

In a large saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, maple or golden syrup, and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the pecans, cider vinegar, vanilla, and bourbon (if using). Pour into a bowl (so that it cools faster), and set the mixture aside to cool a little, 5 to 10 minutes. Then whisk in one egg at a time until combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie shell.

Roll the second of your dough halves (the smaller one, if they were different sizes) into a 16-by-11-inch rectangle.

You can drape it over in one piece (cutting slits to vent the top), or cut it into wide strips to form a lattice; pinch or crimp the upper and lower crusts together, and fold the bottom crust’s overhang, if you wish, over the top crust to seal it. (The lattice is always a bit of a mess, but no matter how much you hodgepodge it, people will freak out when they see it.) Lightly beat the egg with water, and brush this over the top crust and edges.

bake the pie Bake at 350 degrees until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until just warm to the touch, about another 30 minutes, before cutting into squares.

Excerpted from Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites. Copyright © 2017 by Deb Perelman. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission from the publisher.