RECIPE 1: This festive baked Brie is both dead simple — made in 30 minutes with grocery store ingredients — and delightfully over-the-top, featuring warm cheese piled high with a sweet and savory apple compote cooked in browned butter. This version forgoes the usual pastry wrapper to let the cheese and apple star, which also gives it a slightly lighter touch alongside a rich holiday meal. The key is to use the kind of basic grocery store Brie or Camembert that has a firm, bright-white papery rind. (If you use a fancier cheese with a natural, bloomy rind, it will quickly collapse in the oven—though it will still be delicious.) Scoring the top of the cheese before baking, like you would the side of a ham, makes it easier to scoop onto apple slices, crackers or even thick pretzels, almost like fondue.
Apple-Maple Baked Brie
By Sarah DiGregorio for New York Times Cooking
Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
1 (8- to 9-ounce) round Brie (like Tulip Tree’s Trillium) or Camembert- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons pepitas, slivered almonds or walnut pieces
- Kosher salt
- 1 large shallot, minced
- 2 medium sweet-tart apples (such as Honeycrisp), peeled, cored and finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- Black pepper
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- Sliced apples, crackers, thick pretzels or a combination, for serving
Preparation
Step 1 – Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Score the top of the cheese in a cross-hatch pattern, like you would a ham, cutting shallowly just into the rind about ⅛-inch deep. Put the cheese in an 8-by-8-inch baking pan or similarly-sized rimmed baking dish and bake until the cheese wobbles and is warmed through (the cross-hatch on top will start to separate), 12 to 15 minutes.
Step 2 – In the meantime, melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Toast the pepitas in the butter, stirring, until they are browned and fragrant, about 2 minutes. (Be careful, they might pop a little.) Turn off the heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer the pepitas to a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt.
Step 3 – Add the shallot to the pan with the butter and return to medium-high heat. Add a pinch of salt and cook, stirring, until softened, 2 minutes. The butter will smell nutty and look light brown, but watch carefully: If the butter starts to edge towards dark brown, decrease the heat to medium or medium-low.
Step 4 – Add the apple, rosemary, crushed red pepper, a generous pinch of salt and several generous grinds of black pepper. Cook, stirring, until the apples are softened and slightly shrunken and all the ingredients are very fragrant, about 8 minutes. Pour in the maple syrup and let it bubble for a minute or two until it reduces to the consistency of a glaze.
Step 5 – Spoon the apple compote all over the warm cheese in the baking dish and top with the pepitas. Season with more salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, with apple slices, crackers, pretzels or a combination for dipping.
RECIPE 2: This bold stir-fry showcases the versatility of one of our pantry’s most staple spices: ground cumin. Often used in conjunction with other spices, cumin is just as compelling as a singular flavor, and it shines in this green bean and mushroom stir-fry. The warmth and slight citrus edge of cumin coaxes out sweetness from the beans and the earthiness from the mushrooms. The choice of mushrooms is up to you, from everyday button or creminis to fancier varieties like oyster or shiitake mushrooms. As with all stir-fries, most of the active time is spent in preparation. But when you are ready to cook, the meal comes together quickly.
Cumin Green Beans and Mushrooms
By Hetty Lui McKinnon for New York Times Cooking
Ingredients
Yield: 4 servings
5 teaspoons ground cumin- ¼ to ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (or more to your liking)
- Salt
- 1 pound mushrooms, such as cremini, oyster or fresh shiitake, trimmed
- Neutral oil, such as canola
- 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 4 scallions, white and green parts separated and cut into 1-inch segments
- 1 pound green beans, trimmed
- 1 yellow onion, peeled, trimmed and sliced into thin wedges
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
- Black pepper
- Cooked rice, for serving
Preparation
Step 1 – In a small bowl, combine the ground cumin, crushed red pepper and about 1 teaspoon of salt. Set aside.
Step 2 – Prepare the mushrooms: If you’re using cremini, button, shiitake or similarly shaped mushrooms, halve them through the stems. For branched varieties like oyster mushrooms, tear them into bite-size chunks.
Step 3 – Heat a wok or large 12-inch skillet on medium-high for 2 minutes. Drizzle in 1 tablespoon of oil and add the ginger and white scallion segments. Toss for 15 seconds until fragrant.
Step 4 – Add the green beans, onion, garlic, cumin spice mix and 1 tablespoon of oil, and stir-fry, tossing constantly until the onions and beans start to soften, about 2 minutes.
Step 5 – Add the mushrooms, soy sauce and about 1 tablespoon of water, and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the beans are just tender and the mushrooms are seared and golden.
Step 6 – Turn off the heat, add the green scallion segments and toss. Taste and make sure you are happy with seasonings, adding salt and pepper if needed. Serve with rice.
