This rendition of magiritsa—the lamb soup eaten to break the fast of the Greek Orthodox Great Lent—uses lamb shanks and shoulder instead of the classic offal. The original dish was invented as a way to use up the heart, liver, lungs, and intestines that were removed from the lamb roasted for the Easter Sunday feast. Lettuce and rice lend a wonderful texture to the soup, while scallions and dill add brightness. A swirl of avgolemono (egg and lemon) sauce goes into the pot at the very end to give the soup even more body.

Featured in the March 1997 issue.

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A crown roast of pork with stuffing mounded in the middle is a dramatic presentation piece—and it’s very easy to carve: Just slice between the ribs and serve one or two chops per person.

Featured in the December 1998 issue.

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One Christmas morning in the mid-1990s, chef Robert Del Grande spilled coffee grounds all over the cutting board he was about to use for the day’s roasts—and he decided to just go with it. “He thought back on a conversation he’d once had with a friend about the meaty quality of coffee,” wrote Margo True in a November 2006 story about Del Grande’s Café Annie in Houston. “In a second, he was rolling the filets in the coffee. The ground beans formed a rich, unctuous crust.” Today the place is called The Annie Café & Bar, but Del Grande remains its executive chef and the coffee-crusted tenderloin beef is still on the menu. 

Featured in “Coming Home to Café Annie” by Margo True in the November 2006 issue.

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This crowd-pleasing rib roast was inspired by former SAVEUR test kitchen director Kellie Evans’ days as a film and television caterer—a job that required feeding many hungry people. Finished with a sweet-and-sour black currant port glaze, it makes an impressive presentation for any festive occasion.

Featured in “A Roasty, Toasty, Creamy, Meaty, Crowd-Pleasing Late-Winter Feast” by SAVEUR Editors in the March 2015 issue.

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Stuffing a butterflied pork loin with rosemary, sage, and garlic and wrapping it with salty prosciutto keeps the meat juicy and flavorful. A classic Tuscan red goes well with this herbed pork roast.

Featured in “Dinner in the Piazza” by Beth Elon in the October 2009 issue.

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This piece originally appeared in SAVEUR’s October 2012 issue. See more stories from Issue 150.

Kasha varnishkes. The very name brings a smile to my lips, its plethora of shushing sounds inviting silence, simultaneous with its juicy exuberant consonants that demand to be heard. Of course, what delights is not just that onomatopoeic nomenclature (like grains of kasha dissolving in the mouth the moment it is spoken), but the taste memories lingering from youth.

This dish of sautéed onions tossed with pasta and buckwheat groats (the hulled, roasted kernels of buckwheat) is mainly associated with Russian Jews, though I suspect it may have been eaten by poor Eastern Europeans of all religions. It was prepared by my father’s stepmother—my grandfather, something of a Bluebeard, buried at least four wives. I myself come from a mixed marriage (Russian Jewish father and German Jewish mother), and my mother as a rule rarely made these Russian peasant dishes. She didn’t despise them; she just didn’t feel at home making them, so we ate the stuffed cabbage and borscht mostly at my grandfather’s house, or at the many cheap eateries in our neighborhood.

We lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, when it was still a desperate ghetto and not a haven for young hip foodies. As a result, the food was uniformly delicious: at the Sunset Dairy cafeteria, at the numerous delicatessens, at the family restaurants like Bella’s that welcomed babies by supplying high chairs, you could always get good kasha varnishkes—a side dish, never the main attraction, but all the more comforting for its humility.

Kasha itself, let’s face it, tastes like nothing, or like nothing with a little dirt thrown in. But once it is cooked in chicken stock, lavished with caramelized onions that have been fried in chicken fat, if you’re lucky, then folded in with bow tie noodles, it becomes an ideal medium for sopping up flavors. Over the years, I learned that you have to coat the kasha with egg first because that ensures the groats won’t run together in a soggy mush, and each grain retains its integrity. A bit like macrobiotic rice, it’s suitable for chewing hundreds of times. Me? I never masticate it more than once or twice, I am too eager to have that piquant union of bow tie pasta, onion, and buckwheat swaddle my taste buds with each succeeding forkful.

Whenever I start rhapsodizing about the dish, I am told by people near and dear to me that they hate kasha, that it smells “like a wet basement.” I suspect some kind of social-class bias lies beneath this aversion, especially amongst secular American Jews who are trying to distance themselves from the shtetl. But who am I to judge? They have a right to their tastes and I to mine. One more bit of melancholy proof, if we needed it, that each of us is isolated in our wayward thoughts, our unappeasable desires, and our nostalgic culinary tastes.

Recipe

Kasha Varnishkes (Bow Tie Noodles With Buckwheat and Onions)

Get the recipe >

Order the SAVEUR Selects Nitri-Black Carbon Steel 10-Inch Frying Pan here.

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In a classic Danish treatment, sweet red apples are roasted with onions, caramelized in bacon fat, and served under thick steaks of smoked belly bacon. Use a hearty baking apple, such as Braeburn or Gala, that will stand up to roasting and keep its shape while becoming tender and caramelized.

Featured in “An All-Night Danish Christmas Feast.”

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Normans use apples and cider in many savory preparations—with game, poultry, even fish. In this classic pork dish from Jean-François Guillouet-Huard, of Domaine Michel Huard, it’s important to use a slightly tart variety so the end result isn’t too sweet.

Featured in “Apples and Calvados are the King and Queen of Normandy“ by Adam Leith Gollner.

Order the SAVEUR Selects Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven here.

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The Middle Eastern spice blend za’atar (which combines sumac, oregano, sesame, hyssop, and other spices) flavors this simple cilantro-and-garlic dip. It’s ideal served alongside roasted meats, or slathered on fresh-baked pita.

Featured in “Season of Rejoicing: Celebrating Sukkot in Crown Heights” by Katie Robbins.

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This sumptuous grilled sandwich—a crusty roll filled with roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, and pickles—originated in Cuba but has caught on throughout the U.S. Also known as a Cubano, it’s a great way to use up leftover Pernil Asado con Mojo.

Featured in “Classic Combination: Ham and Cheese” by Alexander Lobrano.

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Walk into the Belmont Tavern in Bellville, New Jersey and the intoxicating smell of chicken savoy—a skillet-roasted bird laced with garlic, herbs, and red wine vinegar—hits you immediately. We attempted to get the recipe from several staffers but gave up after chef-owner Annette Wroblewski said, “If I tell you, then we’d have to kill you on your way out the door.” We’re proud that our version comes extremely close to the original.

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