SHEPHERD’S PIE

SHEPHERD’S PIE

SERVES 4 to 6 Shepherd’s pie is a traditional British or Irish dish made of lamb under a blanket of potatoes, and it’s a kissin’ cousin to cottage pie, made with beef. Cottage pie has been around since 1791. Back then, villagers topped it with potato slices that...
CITRUS CARNITAS

CITRUS CARNITAS

SERVES 8 to 12 The cooking part of this recipe takes about two to three hours, but at the end of that waiting period, you will be rewarded with caramel-brown, salty-tart, crispy pork that practically falls apart when you look at it. Isn’t that worth a few hours of...
BBQ PORK FRIED RICE

BBQ PORK FRIED RICE

SERVES 2 My days of ordering Chinese takeout are mostly behind me, but I used to love the experience. Negotiating picks from the menu. Saying “Pu Pu platter” out loud. Watching the clock for the food to arrive. The inevitable grease marks on the delivery bag....
CHAR SIU (CHINESE BBQ PORK)

CHAR SIU (CHINESE BBQ PORK)

SERVES 8 to 12 I love nouns that are also verbs, words like cheer, smile, mug, and potentially my favorite, fork. In Cantonese, char siu literally means “fork roast,” in reference to the traditional cooking method for this tangy-sweet BBQ pork, which involves piercing...
CZECH MEATBALLS

CZECH MEATBALLS

SERVES 6 to 8 My maternal grandmother, Veronica Caroline Rovnak, came to the United States in 1902 from what was then called Czechoslovakia. Her village, not much more than a single street dominated by a white clapboard church, sat deep in a leafy green valley. At 17,...