Recipes

These richly spiced, chewy sourdough cookies are an excellent way to use excess sourdough starter or discard, which is never in short supply for habitual sourdough bakers. The trick to the cookie's bold character is using as many freshly ground spices as possible—their strong punchiness is pleasantly balanced by the rich flavor of the flours and unrefined sweeteners. A spice grinder is best for preparing whole spices into a fine powder for measuring, but a clean coffee mill works just as well. Using this combination of stone-ground spelt, rye, and buckwheat flours leads to a robust grain flavor, thick cookie, and slight chew. This is a thick, hefty dough; Sarah Owens sources heavy-duty vintage ice cream scoops to make portioning easier. For a stronger flavor and more tender crumb, ferment the dough in the refrigerator for up to 5 days before scooping and baking. 

In this recipe for Pescado con Sofrito, chef Katie Button uses an aromatic, slow-cooked sofrito to add vibrant flavors to an otherwise quick dinner of white wine-poached white fish fillets. Button often makes her sofrito – one of the foundations of Spanish cuisine – in advance, simmering tomatoes, onion, and garlic until they are thick, caramelized, and deeply flavorful. The key to a tasty sofrito is to use ripe tomatoes (any variety will do, making this a great way to use up overripe tomatoes). This recipe makes more sofrito than you need, but you can spoon the extra into an ice cube tray and freeze it until you can use it for another fish dinner, or to season a pot of stew, soup, or beans and rice.