An old friend, John Chier, requested a good curry recipe low on, or absent from, tomatoes. Here it is: Some folks have a hard time with tomatoes, which are integral to many curry sauces. This one is not. I drew it from Monica Bhide's The Everything Indian Cookbook. 300+ recipes, it is a great resource.

Ingredients:
2 dried chiles
1 tbsp white poppy seeds (regular black ones are ok)
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp black peppercorns
1 1-inch cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves
1/4 cup dried coconut
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large red onion, diced
 2 cloves pressed or minced garlic + 1 inch raw ginger + 1 small chile pepper, minced
1.5 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut to 3/4 inch pieces
salt to taste
juice from 1/2 fresh lemon

1. Dry roast the chilies, ingredients through cloves, in a dry pan on medium. Grind with the coconut and set aside.
2. Heat the oil at medium.  Add the garlic, ginger and pepper for a minute. Add the chicken, saute for 5-7 minutes, add dried spices and salt for 2 minutes more.
3. Add 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add lemon juice at the end. Serve with cooked basmati rice.

I found this one at Epicurious 10 or 12 years ago, originally from Gourmet in 1998. For some reason it's called Andy's Oatmeal Cookies. Whoever this Andy is I owe him thanks. These coconut oatmeal cookies are amazing.  The original recipe is here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Andys-Oatmeal-Cookies-15276. I've also included it below.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F. Into a small bowl sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla and stir in flour mixture, oats, and coconut until combined well.

Arrange rounded tablespoons of dough about 3 inches apart on baking sheets and with moistened fingers flatten mounds into 3-inch rounds. Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

This is a nearly perfect sauce recipe for winter ravioli dinners. It is easy, it is quick, and it is immensely good.

• 1 stick of butter
• 6 or so sprigs of fresh sage (enough for 3/4-1 cup of whole sage leaves)
• 18-20 oz of fresh ravioli (butternut squash works well, we just used one package each of crab and wild mushroom)

Bring 2 quarts of water up to temperature but not quite to boiling. Heat a saute pan over medium-low heat and melt the butter. Add the sage and stir regularly. Once it has been going 6-8 minutes turn the water up to high, boil and add the ravioli.

Continue stirring the butter and sage until a) the sage is crispy and b) the butter has browned nicely. Take it off the heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the ravioli but keep 1/8 cup or so of the water in reserve. Return the ravioli to the pot, pour the sage and butter over it, stir, add in the water if necessary (only if it seems too dry).

Ready to eat in <20 minutes.

Stock is worth making from scratch. Fortunately it isn't that much work either. Below are instructions for making three kinds: vegetable, chicken, seafood. The last of these is especially good in paella.

Vegetable stock
This one, I warn you in advance, is going to require more lead time unless you want to go and stock up on vegetables today just for stock. Better: starting today keep a gallon ziplock in the freezer with the trimmings from veggies you prep for other things--onion ends, bell pepper caps, celery ends, brussels sprouts stem ends, etc.  just about all of it. When the bag is full, it's time to make stock. Put all of that stuff, a chopped carrot and an onion plus a couple of teaspoons of salt, some pepper, any fresh herbs you like into a large pot with 6-8 quarts of water. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until it has cooked down to half or so. You'll wind up with 3-4 quarts of stock for other things. Let it cool and freeze it in quart size ziplocks or containers.

Chicken stock
Easier still. Make one of those chickens under a brick and save the carcass, or save all the bones from any full-size chicken meal using bone-in chicken. Break the larger bones so the marrow will also flavor the stock. Add salt, pepper, herbs you like (esp fresh ones), boil in 6-8 quarts of water, reduce and simmer until it's cooked down to half the volume. Store as above.

Seafood stock. 
This one I like to make on the spot for paella with whole fish and/or head-on shrimp in their shells. Put the fish head(s) and shrimp heads into a gallon or so of water with the shrimp shells, some liquid smoke, salt, pepper, etc., boil, reduce and simmer. This is the best stuff to use in making paella. Speaking of which, I'm working on a paella recipe, coming soon...

Every grownup I know refuses to believe I can get my kid to eat them. Little do they know I can even get her super-picky friend not just to eat them but to beg for seconds. The secret is to keep them the heck out of water.

I had dinner with an old friend in Boston last spring and his burger came with a side of Brussels sprouts. They were soft, mealy and nearly devoid of flavor. This he told me and I tasted one to confirm. The server asked how everything was and I responded honestly: "The sprouts have been boiled into submission. No need for water to cook these." He told me the chef was brilliant and knew his stuff. I said, "How about you make a batch for him some time and ask what he thinks?" Then I explained.

Preheat the oven to 400. Take a pound or so. Rinse, cut the stem end off, shake off the excess water. Rub the bottom of a large cast iron skillet with olive oil. Put the sprouts in and drizzle them with some more olive oil. Sprinkle them with kosher salt and pepper. Roast them for about 30-35 minutes depending on the oven. When they're ready a steak knife will slide right in and the sprout won't stick to it as you pull the knife out.

The secret is that this method employs dry heat. The insides will still soften up but rather than being immersed in flavor-leeching water they will become creamy on the inside but crisp and salty on the outside. Drizzle a bit of balsamic vinegar over them and serve them at the table in the cast iron on a wood cutting board or large trivet. (Kids like that--it's steamy and dramatic).

The best part is all the errant leaves that fall off when you're prepping them--definitely hang onto all of them and put them in too. They crisp up and become Brussels chips. Yum!