I have a bunch of recipes that I’ve been meaning to blog for a while, and this is one of the better ones. I can’t remember where I originally got this idea; I think it was from some blogger’s variation that was a few degrees removed from an Ina Garten concoction. I’ve been roasting cauliflower for years, and I grill a lot of vegetables, but I think the best way to cook broccoli (and keep the meal healthy) is under the broiler.

Here’s everything you need:

Roasted Broccoli

• 4 crowns of broccoli, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ lemon, zested and juiced
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

This is a simple recipe. Start by preheating the oven to 425° (broil) and placing the rack in the second-highest position. Cut the florets into manageable-sized chunks. The broccoli caramelizes where it sticks to the roasting pan, so you want relatively small chunks that have a lot of surface area. I save the woodier parts of the stems for stock, but sometimes I slice the more tender parts near the top into thin rounds and roast them along with the florets.

Slice a few cloves of garlic. The thinner they are, the more likely they are to dry out and burn, so leave them a little thick. While you have the cutting board out, use a grater or a microprobe to zest half of a lemon.

Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil over the florets and season with salt and pepper. Maybe 1/2 teaspoon each of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper? Next, place the sliced garlic on top of the florets.

Place the pan under the broiler for about 20-25 minutes until the stalks soften and the florets darken at the edge. Rotate the pan 180° halfway through the cooking process. When the broccoli is finished cooking, sprinkle the lemon zest over the broccoli and squeeze half of the juice from half of the lemon over everything. Does that make sense? You want 1/4 of the lemon’s juice in all. Finally, taste the broccoli. Feel free to season with more salt and pepper and add a little more olive oil if you think it needs it. Serve the broccoli with a little grated Parmesan cheese on top.

The wife loves this dish. It’s really more of a cooking method than a recipe, and I rarely make it the exact same way twice. You just need raw vegetables, oil, seasonings, and direct heat. Whenever we have a homemade vinaigrette languishing in the fridge, I’ll drizzle it over broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, peppers, mushrooms, etc and cook them this way. You can even cook whole carrots like this with a little butter, honey and lemon and it comes out great.

I should point out that this will not work with frozen, chopped vegetables. I don’t know how the science works, but once the vegetables have been frozen, they never roast or saute properly. They just seem to steam and wilt in their own water. I’m not knocking the convenience and nutritional value in the frozen stuff, I’m just pointing out that it doesn’t mesh well with this kind of preparation. Save that stuff for casseroles.

If you’re wondering what else is on the plate in the picture above, it’s one of my rosemary grilled pork chops.

I’ve been going through my freezer and trying to use anything that’s getting old. I don’t have a lot of rules when it comes to cooking, but one of them is throw out anything that might be older than the cats. I remember during my freshman year of college, I pulled a jar of mayonnaise out of the fridge and it had completely separated back into egg and oil. Since then, I’ve never let anything lurk in the fridge for too long.

I made lasagna a couple of weeks ago. As usual, I had extra ground beef, ricotta, mozzarella, and sauce left over. I always mix it together and freeze the medley in a ziplock bag. That way, when I don’t really feel like cooking, I can just toss it with some ziti, add some jarred sauce, and I have an instant baked pasta. This time, I decided to use the mixture as filling for my ravioli.

The filling mixture can probably be replicated with one small container of ricotta cheese, a half cup of grated parmesan, a heaping tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley, a cup of shredded mozzarella, a cup of ground beef, a half cup of red sauce, and one egg yolk. As always, season to taste with salt and pepper.

The pasta dough is made with three eggs and between 2-2½ cups flour (instructions here). I rolled it very thin so that the dough wouldn’t be chewy. Next, I snipped off a corner of the ziplock so I could extrude the stuffing like frosting out of a pastry bag.

If I wanted to make large ravioli, I would have rolled out two sheets of dough and placed one on top of the other. But I like small ravioli, so I just folded the dough over like and long empanada and pressed out the air between the stuffing with my fingers. Next, I cut the dough into individual ravioli and sealed the edges with the back of a fork.

The stuffing looks small, but it spreads out inside the cavity during the cooking process. I let them dry on a well-floured baking sheet for a few hours and then boiled them in a large pot of salted water. I layered them in a pan with leftover sauce so they wouldn’t stick together.

These came out good. Next time, I’ll make this with another person. It would go a lot faster with one person rolling dough and the other person stuffing and cutting the ravioli. There are so many stuffing and sauce combinations. I can’t decide what to try next.

I’m not really a purist when it comes to food, but I am when it comes to this dish. I’ve only ordered carbonara at a couple of restaurants because most chefs throw some bacon in a pre-cooked alfredo sauce and call it carbonara. That’s like putting cream in seafood gumbo and calling it chowder. The best version I ever ate came from a tourist trap in South Beach that had a guy in ancient Roman armor standing on the curb. I don’t know why more restaurants don’t serve the real stuff. It can’t cost them more than a few bucks to make?

Here’s everything you need:

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

• ½ cup pork jowl bacon (the cured version is called guanciale) or pancetta, cubed
• 1 extra large or 2 small eggs
• ½ cup freshly ground Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ½ pound spaghetti noodles

You might be able to find pork jowl bacon at your grocery store. You want it more salty than smoky, but there’s not that much of a difference between the two. You’re after the fat more than the salt. Just look in the refrigerated section where they keep the salt pork and smoked ham hocks.

Romans insist on using guanciale, which is cured pork jowl bacon, but that’s hard to find in Anytown, USA. I usually opt for pancetta (cured pork belly) because it’s saltier than jowl bacon and softer when fried. If you live in some unmapped backwater and can’t get ahold of any pork jowl bacon or pancetta, then go ahead and use regular bacon – but not anything that has sage or syrup or sugar added. Chop up a few pieces of thick-cut bacon.

As far as cheese goes, you can’t use the shredded parmesan that comes in the resealable bag. It’s just won’t work. You could use the powdered stuff in the plastic shaker, but why not take a couple of minutes to grind some fresh cheese? There should be a panel on your box grater that has tiny, pointed holes meant for grinding cheese and spices. You know, the side you’ve never used? Just scrape the parmesan over that side until you have a half cup of crumbled cheese. Watch your knuckles.

I don’t know why, but I get a little tense when I make Carbonara. Like stir-frying, everything happens really fast. And like baking, it can all be ruined at the last second. If you overcook this dish, the eggs will scramble. If you undercook it, you run the risk of salmonella poisoning (which is incredibly unlikely). Like Goldilocks, you have to find the cooking method that’s “just right.” To begin, drop your noodles into a pot of boiling, salted water. Once the noodles get wet, the clock is ticking. You have about nine minutes, depending on the thickness of your spaghetti.

Cook the pancetta cubes over medium heat. You want to brown them on all sides and render the fat. Resist the urge to turn up the heat.

While the pancetta is cooking, beat the egg(s) in a bowl. The more air you incorporate into it the mixture, the better. Finally, add half of the parmesan cheese to the bowl and mix well.

You should never be stationary during this quick cooking process. Either you’re stirring the noodles so they don’t stick together, shaking the pan to keep the pancetta from sticking, or mixing the egg and cheese mixture to make it fluffier. When the spaghetti is about done, add a big ladle-full of the pasta water to the pan and scrape the burnt pieces off the bottom. This will help to disperse the flavors.

By this time, the pasta should be finished cooking. Strain it and immediately pour the cooked noodles into a serving bowl (preferably one that’s been warmed in a 200° oven). Next, add the contents from the pan to the serving bowl and give it a quick stir. Carefully pour the egg mixture onto the noodles, stirring the entire time. I usually get the wife to drizzle it in a slow, steady stream while I stir the noodles, kind of like what we do when we make mayonnaise.

The eggs will temper and be cooked by the residual heat from the noodles. You’ll know you’re doing it right if the egg mixture gets thicker. Once you don’t see any more runny, raw egg, add the rest of the cheese and the pepper. Season to taste with more cheese, pepper and salt and serve immediately.

If the egg scrambles, you’ve failed. But it’ll still taste pretty good.

The egg is tempered and safe to eat when it gets thick like a yellow/cream colored gravy. Here’s a closer look.

Some people add the egg mixture to the pan and stir for a minute before taking it off the heat. That makes it cook a little faster, but I don’t recommend that method for your first attempt. It’s too easy to scramble the egg. Mix everything in the warm bowl and leave the oven on. If the egg doesn’t seem to be tempering properly, put the whole thing into the oven for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. That will bring it up to the right temperature without running the risk of ruining the dish. Once you know what proper Spaghetti Alla Carbonara is supposed to look and taste like, you can try to to cook it on the stove in the bacon pan. Here’s a tutorial.

I‘ll confess that I sometimes add other ingredients to my carbonara , like herbs, crushed red pepper, garlic, shallot, shrimp, etc. It’s very good with added flavors, but you need to master the original recipe before you try to get creative. And remember that if you add butter and cream, it’s not Spaghetti Alla Carbonara anymore. It seems like everyone thinks pastas need to be buried in sauce to taste good. Sometimes less is more.

Here’s everything you need:

Three-Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes

• 4 medium-large tomatoes
• 1 small wheel of goat brie
• 1 small container of crumbled feta
• 1/2 cup finely shredded parmesan
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped basil
• olive oil & balsamic vinegar for seasoning
• salt & pepper to taste

First, prehat the oven to 400°. Next, rinse your tomatoes. If you need to, slice a little piece of the bottom of the tomatoes so they stand upright without wobbling. Then slice the tops off the tomatoes just beneath the stem.

Take a spoon and carefully carve the meat and seeds out of the tomatoes. You want to leave at least a half inch of thickness around the edges and the bottom. You can either freeze the leftover tomato bits to use in a batch of soup or chop up some of the hard pieces and mix them in with the cheese stuffing. I just threw mine away because I’m a wasteful, eco-unconscious cynic.

To make the stuffing, cut the brie in half. Using a spoon (or your fingers), scrape the soft cheese out of the middle of the rind and put it in a bowl. Once the rind is pretty much hollow, chop it into small pieces and add it to the bowl. It’ll melt later on and and lose it’s rough, bitter flavor. Add the small bin of crumbled feta. Chop the basil and add it to the cheese mixture as well. Season with a tablespoon of olive oil and a dash of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper and mix well.

Stuff the tomatoes with equal amounts of the cheese and herb mixture. It’s okay if it doesn’t fill them all the way up.

In a separate bowl or plate, mix the panko and parmesan together. Use this to top off the tomatoes. Place on a roasting pan and drizzle some olive oil over the tomatoes.

Bake just until the cheese melts, about 5-10 minutes. When you see the cheese stuffing start bubbling and popping, switch the oven from bake to broil and cook with the oven door cracked until the breadcrumbs are nicely toasted. Remove and let the stuffed tomatoes cool slightly. Mourn in your own way for any casualties you may have suffered.

Finish with a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and dig in.

This was really rich and filling. The ripe tomatoes lost some of their water during the roasting process, making them really sweet. This is about as close as I get to making a dessert. Next time, I’ll use roma tomatoes cut in half and serve them as warm appetizers.

For whatever reason, people get intimidated by roasted rack of lamb. They envision a Passover/Easter feast with mint jelly and overly-complicated, old-world side dishes. It doesn’t have to be that way. Rack of lamb is just the ovine equivalent of the pork chop. Who’s intimidated by pork chops?

Oregano Pesto

• 3 Handfuls Spinach
• 2 Handfuls Oregano
• 1 Handful Parsley
• 3 Tablespoons Parmesan
• 3 Tablespoons Pistachios
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• Olive Oil (+/- 4 Tbsp)
• The Juice from 1 Lemon, Divided
• Salt & Pepper To Taste

Roasted Rack of Lamb

• 1 Rack of Lamb
• 1 Clove Garlic
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper To Taste

It’s just the two of us, so I got a small rack of lamb. Since the pesto packs a punch, you just want to trim the fat and lightly season the meat. Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the cut end all over the meat. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper, press it into the meat, and drizzle on a little olive oil. While the oven preheats to 450°, brown the rack over medium-high heat on the stove top in an oven-safe pan.

When the meat has a nice sear, place the rack bone-side down and cover the bone tips with foil so they don’t burn. Put the pan in the middle of the oven.

After about ten minutes, check the internal temperature with a thermometer. 140° is the magic number for medium-rare. I overshot it a little and ended up with medium.

When the lamb is finished cooking, let it cool on a warm plate under tented foil.

To make the oregano pesto, you should roughly chop everything before dropping it into the food processor so there aren’t any unusually large chunks of any one ingredient.

Next, you toss everything (but only the juice from half of the lemon) into a food processor and drizzle some olive oil through the hole in the lid until the whole mass starts to move. Season to taste with salt, pepper and the juice form the other half of the lemon. I like my pesto pretty chunky, so I try not to process it for too long.

If you’re wondering why this isn’t called spinach pesto, it’s because the oregano flavor overwhelms everything else. The spinach and parsley are there to water it down, so to speak. The pesto will keep in the fridge for about a week and taste better every day.

After the lamb has cooled for 5-10 minutes, cut the rack into individual chops and dress with the pesto. Next time I’ll French the bones. If I was a “foodie,” I’d decorate them with those little, white, chef hats. But then again, I’m not a foodie.

I served this with some Bulgur-Stuffed Bell Peppers.