SERVES 4 AS A LIGHT MAIN DISH OR SIDE DISH

SERVES 4 AS A LIGHT MAIN DISH OR SIDE DISH

SERVES 4 AS A LIGHT MAIN DISH OR SIDE DISH

Serves 4

Serves 4 to 6

If you don’t have leftover rice on hand, we recommend Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice. We prefer sweet red peppers in this recipe; green peppers, while traditional, were too bitter. Ground turkey can be substituted for the beef.

Serves 4 to 6

If you don’t have leftover rice on hand, we recommend Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice. We prefer sweet red peppers in this recipe; green peppers, while traditional, were too bitter.

MAKES SIXTEEN 4-INCH COOKIES

We like these cookies made with pecans and dried sour cherries, but walnuts or skinned hazelnuts can be substituted for the pecans, and dried cranberries for the cherries. Quick oats used in place of the old-fashioned oats will yield a cookie with slightly less chewiness. If your baking sheets are smaller than the ones described in the recipe, bake the cookies in three batches instead of two. These cookies keep for 4 to 5 days stored in an airtight container or zipper-lock plastic bag, but they will lose their crisp exterior and become uniformly chewy after a day or so.

Makes about 1 1/2 dozen cookies

Dulce de leche, a Latin American caramel of sorts, is sold in the baking aisle of most supermarkets.

Get classic results in less than an hour.

SERVES 6 TO 8

Note that Athens phyllo, the most commonly available brand (as well as our preferred brand), is sold in two sizes. Both are 1-pound packages, with the larger size containing 20 sheets measuring 18 by 14 inches and the smaller size containing 40 sheets measuring 14 by 9 inches—exactly half the size of the larger sheets. We prefer the larger sheets in our strudel, but if all you can find are the smaller sheets, divide the filling evenly and make two smaller strudels. The best ways to defrost the phyllo are in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for three to four hours; it doesn’t defrost well in the microwave. Make sure that the phyllo sheets you use for the strudel are not badly torn. If they have small cuts or tears in the same location (sometimes an entire package sustains cuts in the same spot), when forming the strudel, flip alternating layers so that the cuts will not line up, thereby creating a weak spot that can cause the strudel to burst during baking. Serve the strudel warm with lightly sweetened crème fraíche or whipped cream; if you chose to make the crème fraíche, make it before starting the strudel because it must stand at room temperature for about 1 1/2 hours before serving.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
For a strudel recipe with a crisp, flaky crust that would hold its shape, we handled the phyllo dough carefully, sprinkling butter and sugar between its layers for a cohesive crust. We found that browning the bread crumbs in butter for our strudel recipe prevented an overtly bready flavor. Baking the strudel in a very hot oven for just 15 minutes crisped the phyllo but didn’t dry it out.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2012/10/secrets-to-easy-apple-strudel/

SERVES 6 TO 8
Serve this hearty vegetable stew with crusty bread.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Italy’s ciambotta is a ratatouille-like stew chock-full of veggies that makes for a hearty one-bowl meal with nary a trace of meat. We wanted to avoid the ill fate of most recipes, which end in mushy vegetables drowning in a weak broth. In order to optimize the texture of the zucchini and peppers, we employed the dry heat of a skillet. To address the broth, we embraced eggplant’s natural tendency to fall apart and cooked it until it completely assimilated into a thickened tomato-enriched sauce. Finally, we found that a traditional pestata of garlic and herbs provided the biggest flavor punch when added near the end of cooking.