#brown-butter

#brown-butter

That secret ingredient? Butter - but not just any kind. We're talking about brown butter, made by melting it slowly until the milk solids turn golden and release a nutty, caramel-like aroma. The transformation is simple. Just melt your butter in a pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, and watch as the foam subsides and those brown bits begin to form. Then, pour it over your ravioli, season it up, and just like that, you've upgraded dinner with liquid gold.

This sticky date oatmeal is what I make for breakfast when I feel like having dessert. It's inspired by sticky toffee pudding and to achieve that caramelly flavor, the recipe starts off by browning a little bit of butter in a small pot. Then the dates go in and cook along with water until they've almost melted away. Then milk, oats, vanilla and cinnamon get added and everything cooks together until the oats are tender.

Farrotto is like risotto but made with farro instead of riso, Italian for "rice." It's a traditional Italian dish, not a whole-grain stand-in for risotto. Since Italians cook for flavor, not for health, farrotto is delicious. And just happens to be healthy. This farrotto is made from stock cooked with corn cobs, which makes for an intense corn experience, and is my way of making sure you don't try making this with frozen corn. Don't try.