Mozzarella in Carrozza

For food lovers, Hanukkah is an eight-day period in which to justify that guilty pleasure, deep-fried food. Latkes and sufganiyot (jelly donuts) might be the most traditional Hanukkah fare, but they are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things improved by a hot oil bath.

The reason we eat fried foods on Hanukkah is well-known, if not entirely logical. Because a one-day supply of oil kept the menorah in the Temple lit for eight full days, we have the tradition of consuming as much oil as we can, in remembrance of the miracle. So let's fry some stuff, shall we?

Armed with a legitimate excuse to deep-fry, I took to the kitchen in search of the perfect recipe for one of my favorite weekend lunches, Mozzarella in Carrozza. In Carrozza is Italian for "in a carriage." The name is apropos: fresh mozzarella cheese is sandwiched between slices of white bread and cradled in a cloak of flour and egg, then fried golden-crisp in a bath of butter and olive oil. After a turn over the heat, the mozzarella melts, the bread crisps up, and the sandwich becomes the sort of thing you must eat, immediately, and possibly a few times in a row.

After making a straightforward version of this sandwich a few times, I decided to change it up. Inspired by a recipe for salt and pepper French toast on Food52, I’ve taken the sandwich in a more overtly savory direction, adding cilantro, chives, scallions, and sriracha to the egg batter. The result is plenty spicy, and the herbs bring freshness and levity to an otherwise indulgent dish. The original is good, but this version is downright addictive.

So if you've had your fill of latkes and your looking for something else to dunk in an oil bath, take a swing at Mozzarella in Carrozza. Let Chanukah be your excuse.

Mozzarella in Carrozza Serves 2

6 slices white bread, crusts removed 1 ball fresh mozzarella, sliced 1/2 cup whole milk 3 Tablespoons flour 1 egg, beaten 1 scallion, chopped 5 chives, chopped 1 sprig cilantro, chopped 3 Tablespoons butter 3 Tablespoons olive oil Salt and pepper 1 teaspoon sriracha

Dipping Sauce 2 tablespoons ketchup 1 teaspoon sriracha

Lay 3 slices of bread on a cutting board or work space. Distribute mozzarella slices on the bread. Top each with another slice, and crimp or pinch the edges of the two slices together to form a pouch around the cheese. You should have three sandwiches.

Put milk in one bowl, flour in a second bowl, and beaten egg, herbs, and sriracha in a third bowl. Add salt and pepper to the egg mixture.

Dunk both sides of each sandwich in the milk, then in the flour, and finally, in the egg. Meanwhile, heat 1/2 tablespoon of butter and 1/2 tablespoon oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. When butter starts to sizzle, place one sandwich in the pan. (If your pan is large enough to hold two at once, add twice the butter and oil, and place a second sandwich in the pan.)

After 2 minutes, check the underside of the sandwich. When it is golden brown, flip and cook the other side another 2-3 minutes, until golden. Repeat with remaining sandwiches.

Meanwhile, make dipping sauce by combining 2 tablespoons ketchup with 1 teaspoon sriracha. Serve sandwiches as soon as they’re ready, with dipping sauce on the side.

A Unique Holiday Gift Guide

Well, friends, I'm back at it. After a few terrible attempts at this in past years (no, I'm not providing links), this time I've got what I hope will be a unique take on holiday gifts for the important folks in your lives. Yes, these gifts are great for food lovers -- but they're the types of things others might appreciate as well. I've tried to cover all the bases. From unique Etsy finds, to quirky items from standard stores like Amazon, to exotic spices, to must-own cookbooks, I hope there's something here for everyone. All pictures are clickable; want it? Click it.

Take a look past the jump.

...and here we go:

HIGH TEA

FOR:the hostess with the mostess, the classy entertainer, the grandma, the vintage bride, the cupcake lover, the collector relative.

3-Tiered Pink China Stand from High Tea for Alice: a funky, vintage-inspired cupcake stand from one of my favorite Etsy shops. A must-have? Not exactly. But it's a beautiful piece, if this is your -- er -- cup of tea.

Vintage China Pedestal Dessert Stand from Orange and Blossom: I love cake stands only slightly less than I love cakes. This one's a bit grandmotherly, in the best possible way. That slice of cake in the picture looks like an olive oil-citrus cake (am I being too presumptuous?), and I can totally see making the only lemon cake you'll ever need as a bundt and serving it on this cakestand. Purr.

Of the items on my registry, the sugar bowl and creamer were two of the hardest to choose. Some look generic, others too fussy, and most are really expensive. I absolutely love this set, being sold on Etsy from Stella by Star. The color is beautiful, the look is unique but versatile, and the price is right.

I bought a set of these cute "tidbit plates" from Kate Spade earlier this year, and I'm contemplating getting another set. These are the plates to stack on the coffee table when you serve dessert in the living room. They're small enough that your guests can hold them with one hand while lounging on the couch, and they're funky enough to stand on their own, regardless of your dinnerware pattern. If it's not obvious, I love these and think they're the perfect gift.

The red-on-white color scheme of this cake stand feels classic, but the bird design is distinctly retro, and that candlestick bottom is totally vintage. This feels like something my crafty friends would make themselves, and I love that. Plus, how beautiful would a chocolate cake look perched atop this stand?

POTTERY, ET CETERA

FOR: the post-college crowd; the aspiring entertainers; and of course, the greatest pottery lovers, the yuppies.

This whimsical pitcher from Anthropologie would make a great vehicle for sangria. Or orange juice. Or hey, water. It's pretty and colorful, can go with lots of different dinnerware patterns, and can steal the spotlight at your next party. Plus, unlike most everything else at Anthro, it's not terribly expensive.

This awesome platter from Tracy Porter is funky, unique, and super light. You'll be surprised, in fact, at how light it is. It's made of what looks like laquered bamboo, in bright, vibrant colors that'll zap those winter blues in no time.

Another gorgeous piece by Tracy Porter. This one's a serving bowl, deeper than the platter above, and coordinated without being matchy-patchy. I especially like that when as your guests down their roasted brussels sprouts and the bowl empties, that gorgeous peacock becomes visible.

LINENS 'N' THINGS

FOR: the home cook, the mother, the mother-in-law, the rustic home, the Francophile, the food photographer.

Some version of these french linen napkins are in the home of every food photographer and French woman, and we food bloggers just swoon over them. I recently got a set in blue, and they really are lovely: casual and rustic, elegant and classy all at once. Plus, since they're not made of terrycloth, they double as bread cloths.

Potholders may be my favorite gift this holiday season. I've already given them five times myself, and Chanukah hasn't even started yet. Why? Because the funky ones are just expensive enough that you'd probably forgo them if you were shopping for yourself, but in the scheme of things, $12 isn't that much money, and the little splurge will mean a lot to the recipient. There are any number of awesome patterns available at Anthropologie (of course), but this is one of my favorites.

MISCELLANEOUS FOR: the coffee lover, the spice addict, the kitchen tool junkie

I'm always surprised at the number of serious coffee drinkers and/or cooks who don't own a spice grinder. At under $20, it's the cheapest workhorse in my kitchen. (Ok -- I have two; one for coffee, one for spices. Still.) This is the type of gift your people may not know they want -- but if you get it for them, and maybe include some recipes that would put it to good use, they'll thank you for years.

Spices are the quintessential great gift. They're useful, unique, and be put to use immediately. My favorite local source for spices of all sorts is Penzeys. They have a branch out in Rockville where you can stick your nose into a jar of each spice and really smell it. Their offerings range from straightforward (high-quality vanilla extract and a great cinnamon blend) to unique (their chili2000 is one of my favorites, and there's no better source for Aleppo Pepper).

For the discerning cook, pick up a jar of Guerande, the undisputed king of sea salts. Its flaky texture and briny taste add dimension to any savory dish, and it's killer atop homemade caramels.

During my trip to San Francisco this past August, I fell hard for Blue Bottle Coffee. Their beans are the best, their method is the best, and their coffee is the best I've ever had. I brought a few pounds of my favorite beans with me, and friends in NorCal and beyond have been kind enough to replenish my supply from time to time. If you're looking for a gift for a "caffiend," look no further than one of Blue Bottle's subscription packages.

The New York Times Essential Cookbook is the best cookbook I've acquired this year, by far. I'm often skeptical of large, pictureless cookbooks. Without pictures, there's less to draw you in, to command that you make a recipe. Hysterical and spot-on headnotes from the lovely author, Amanda Hesser, serve this purpose. In her comments on coeur a la creme, for instance, she refers to "its frenemy," fontainebleu. If you've had both, you know how true this statement is. Hesser's comments send you sailing through this book, from spicy chicken soup to yogurt rice to a natural accompaniment of chutney and beyond. It's been my bedtime reading for weeks.

Gabrielle Hamilton's new memoir, "Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reuluctant Chef," is on my watchlist for this season. Hamilton occupies a unique place on my lovelist: not only is her restaurant, Prune, is one of my favorites in Manhattan, but hers is some of the sharpest, cleanest, most precise food writing there is. The decision she wrote in the Food52 "Piglet" cookbook contest put both skills on display. Her assessment of each cookbook is, in my humble opinion, spot-on and so well-said, and her ability to pinpoint the issue or missing ingredient in the recipes she tests demonstrates what a refined palate she has. I'll be heading to Prune while I'm in New York in a few weeks, and this book is on my must-buy list for the holiday season.

There you have it. My random but hopefully helpful list of good holiday gifts. I'll be back with good ideas for entertaining, including some favorite appetizers, good brunch food, and more. Happy Thanksgiving and have a great weekend!

Sweet and Sour Pearl Onions

The last in a series of posts on great side dishes for Tday. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Here's one last easy side dish to top off your Thanksgiving feast. Not limited to Tday, these onions are great year round; I serve them alongside oxtail or shortribs, and they make a great complement to savory chicken dishes.

These onions get their sweetness from one of my favorite ingredients, silan, or date honey. Silan is darker, more viscous, and more intensely flavored than regular honey. It gives the onions a nutty quality, sweetening more gently but imparting plenty of great flavor. If you don't have silan, feel free to use regular honey; the onions will still be tasty.

Sweet and Sour Pearl Onions

1 pound pearl onions 2 teaspoons olive oil 2 tablespoons silan (date honey) or regular honey 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

This recipe happens in three steps. First, the onions are blanched and shocked so their thin skins can be easily peeled. Second, the onions are boiled until al-dente. Third, the onions are sauteed in oil and coated in the sweet-sour marinade.

Fill a medium pot halfway full of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, set a bowl of ice water on the counter. Drop onions in boiling water for about 60 seconds, then transfer immediately to ice bath to stop cooking. When onions are cool enough to handle, peel skins; they should come right off.

Empty pot and refill with clean water. Return to a boil, and add peeled onions. Cook for about 3 minutes; you want the onions to be tender outside but still somewhat firm within, as they'll continue to cook in step 3. After 3 minutes, drain onions and empty pot.

Add olive oil to the empty pot and heat on medium. Add onions carefully -- they'll spatter a bit -- and saute about 3 minutes, shaking occasionally, until onions have turned golden brown in spots. Meanwhile, stir silan and vinegar together until they are well-combined and there are no clumps of honey. Once onions have browned, add silan-vinegar mixture to the pan; it will bubble vigorously. Shake pan occasionally to coat onions with marinade. As marinade reduces, it will coat onions more thickly. The whole thing will take about three minutes. Transfer onions to a bowl, and drizzle marinade from pot over onions. At this point, either serve immediately, or refrigerate, and warm before serving.

Mushroom Conserva

This is part of a series on great side dishes for Thanksgiving and year-round. The first of the series can be found here.

To my mind, there are two foods whose flavor profiles are so diverse, they can taste like just about anything. One is cheese, which can taste sweet or salty, buttery or nutty or mild, grassy or spicy or altogether funky, like hot peppers or red wine, pure raw milk or bay leaves. The other? Mushrooms.

The buttons taste bland, but when you get into chanterelles that taste and smell of butter and honey, oyster mushrooms with briny undertones, and morels that sing of smoke and springtime, you're talking serious flavor diversity. My favorites are honeycap mushrooms, which smell and taste like honey with chocolate undertones. I could literally sit for days with my nose deep in a basket of honeycaps.

The sweet taste of honeycaps comes at a price: $15 a box, to be exact. With few exceptions, I steer clear, making a b-line for the criminis, shiitakes, and maybe some chanterelles. Criminis are pretty plain, shiitakes slightly less so; when I serve these to company, I'm looking to maximize their flavor and increase their shelf life in case there are leftovers. For this, I turn to mushroom conserva. It comes from one of my new favorite cookbooks, Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home.

A recipe the likes of which only Thomas Keller could have invented, mushroom conserva is to mushrooms what jam is to fresh raspberries. Keller has you essentially poach the mushrooms in oil perfumed with herbs and spices, splash the mixture with vinegar, and then jar them. Submerged in the oil, the mushrooms keep for upto a month -- much longer than they would otherwise. While the recipe calls for wild mushrooms galore, I've found that peppering a mostly crimini/shiitake mix with smaller portions of wild mushrooms works quite nicely, and is easier on the wallet. As if these weren't enough to motivate, this recipe -- just like the green beans I wrote about earlier this week -- is actually meant to be made in advance. Just trying to make your life easier, folks. Thank me later.

Mushroom Conserva from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home

note: if you don't have piment d'espelette, feel free to use a different paprika. I used smoked paprika one time I made this, and thought it was lovely.

2 pounds assorted wild mushrooms such as small shiitakes, morels, chanterelles, small porcini, hen-of-the-woods, trumpet and oyster; if you can't get these or enough of them, feel free to substitute some criminis, 2 cups extra virgin olive oil 2 bay leaves 4 sprigs thyme 1 sprig rosemary (6 inches) 1 teaspoon piment d'espelette (if you don't have this, feel free to use a different paprika) 3 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar kosher salt fresh cracked black pepper

Just before cooking, rinse the mushrooms as necessary to remove any dirt. Remove any stems that are tough, such as the stems of shiitake mushrooms and discard or set aside for another use, such as a vegetable stock. Trim the end of other stems as well as any bruised areas.

Cut the mushrooms into pieces. The size and shape will vary with the variety of the mushroom. Small mushrooms can be left whole, larger mushrooms can be cut into chunks or into slices. Some mushrooms with meaty stems such as porcini or trumpet mushrooms, can be cut lengthwise in half.

Use the tip of a paring knife to score the inside of the stem in a crosshatch pattern. This will enable the marinade to penetrate the stem. The pieces of mushroom will shrink as they cook, but the finished pieces should not be larger than one bite. You should have about 1.5 pounds (10 cups) of trimmed mushrooms.

Place the olive oil, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, rosemary and Piment d'Espelette in a large, wide saucepan over medium to medium high heat.

Place a thermometer in the pot and heat until the oil reaches 170 degrees F, stirring the mushrooms in the oil from time to time. It may be necessary to tilt the pot and pool the oil to get a correct reading on the thermometer. Adjust the heat as necessary, to maintain this temperature for 5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms to the pot, and gently turn the mushrooms in the oil.

When the oil reaches 170 degrees F again, maintain the temperature for 5 minutes, gently turning the mushrooms from time to time. The mushrooms will not initially be submerged in the oil, but will wilt as they steep.

After 5 minutes, turn off the heat and stir in the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Let the mushrooms steep in the oil for 45 minutes. Place the mushrooms, oil and herbs in a covered storage container. Kept covered in oil the mushrooms will keep for up to 1 month in the refrigerator.

Reheat conserva before serving.