Pumpkin Pie
Roasted pie pumpkin or butternut pureed with condensed milk and warm spices, including a little black pepper for lift.
Apple Pie
Grandma Foster's apple pie: Honey Crisp and Granny Smith apples with brown sugar, cinnamon and butter under a proper crust.
Pecan Whiskey Pie
Brown butter, whiskey and three cups of pecans in a blind-baked shell. Richer and less cloying than the pecan pie you grew up with.
Tomato Jam
Six pounds of heirloom tomatoes cooked down with sugar, balsamic and lemon zest. Yields five jars and belongs on every cheeseboard.
Chicken Piccata
Chicken breasts pounded thin, seared, and finished in a lemon, caper and butter pan sauce over spaghetti.
Fried Zucchini and Squash
Zucchini and yellow squash sliced into rounds, dredged and fried until golden. Equally at home as an appetizer or a side.
Trapani Pesto
The Sicilian pesto: tomatoes, almonds, basil and garlic. Made for busiate, since both come from Trapani.
Port Sauce with Truffles
A bottle of red port reduced with shallots, mounted with butter and finished with carpaccio truffles. Made for steak or pork chops.
Pickled Shallots
Shallots sliced thin on a mandoline and quick-pickled in red wine vinegar with peppercorns. Five minutes for acidity you will use all week.
Candied Nuts
Nuts tumbled in melted sugar with cardamom, ginger and a pinch of chili. Sweet, savory, and dangerous to leave within reach.
Spiked White Balsamic and Honey Lemonade
Honey lemonade with vodka and white balsamic condiment, served over a large cube with a dehydrated lemon wheel.
Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Brown butter, two sugars and real chocolate chunks, finished with flaky sea salt. Makes two dozen, and they rarely last a day.