Roasted Squash

Slice up any type of squash. Drizzle with  olive oil + maple syrup.

Sprinkle with brown sugar + smoked paprika + chili powder + salt. Roast at  400°F (200°C) until tender and caramelized.

—Chanie Apfelbaum

FT, HELP ME!!

I’m trying to cut down on salt. What are some flavor punch ingredients that will keep my food tasting great?

As I mentioned in my article on cooking salts, Mrs. Dash’s Garlic and Herb or Table Blend is fantastic as a general sub for salt. You can put it on meat, chicken, fish, salad, soup, eggs — basically anything. And it’s as easy as giving the bottle a shake.

If you want to work harder and go gourmet, various alliums add flavor punch — shallots, scallions, garlic, yellow or white onion, etc. Roasted or fried, they’ll add mild sweetness and depth of flavor; raw they’ll add a sharpness that can take the place of salt. Cut them very thin if serving raw so the flavor isn’t too over-powering. So many chefs ruin a great dish with huge pieces of onion that are just a bit too sharp, in my culinary opinion!

—Sarah Faygie Berkowitz

Review It!

I recently got a clay tagine pot. It’s a traditional Moroccan cooking vessel that’s used for braising because of its ability to retain moisture. I love slow cooking and, even though the same results can be achieved with a cast-iron Dutch oven, there’s something authentic about cooking in this type of pot. I imagine myself cooking just like my great-grandmothers did in Morocco. Also, it doubles as a seriously beautiful serving piece.

—Sina Mizrahi

Issue 709

I substituted the chocolate pudding with vanilla pudding in the Fully Loaded Chocolate Chip Cups, and it was a winner! Without fail, I usually find a keeper in the Family Table recipes. The Beer and Beef Soup and the Succos Soup were the other winners from this season’s Family Table supplement.

—Shuli Nakdimen, Monsey, NY