Guess what? The most delicious dessert in the world is also the super easiest thing to make! How often does that happen?
Phil's boss was coming for dinner (doesn't that sound retro for some reason?) and I was going full-on Italian for the main course so I thought panna cotta sounded really good. It's yet another example of cultural culinary cross-pollination--it's basically vanilla pudding...or flan..or crème brûlée, sans the brûlée. I made my version with zest and juice from clementines because I love winter citrus right now. At the end I drizzled a little honey that had been melted together with orange liqueur right over the top for extra flavor. Start by sprinkling one packet of unflavored gelatin over 3 tablespoons water. Let it stand while you take care of everything else--it should absorb for 5-10 minutes.
Now heat up 1/3 cup of sugar with 3 cups heavy cream. Yes, that sounds insane, just typing it down here. Three cups of cream! You must be out of your damn mind. Substitute in a cup half-and-half to help make up the 3 cups, if it makes you feel better. I'm pretty sure that's what I did.
Heat it up quite hot, almost to a boil, until the sugar has all dissolved. Zest in your clementine and squeeze in some juice too. If, let's say, you wanted to make it cardamom flavored instead, or maybe vanilla-ginger or something, this is where you'd add those flavors. I just stuck with the citrus but
it's a really great blank canvas.
Remove it from heat and pour over the gelatin mixture.
Stir it all up until completely dissolved...you can see here how it is already getting thickened.
Now! You have probably ordered panna cotta at a restaurant and it came out all cute and molded onto a plate and topped with berries or something. That's a lovely way to do it and if you want to go the molded custard route, go ahead and grease up some ramekins so they will unmold properly after the panna cotta has set. But! If you are lazy and/or afraid of unmolding something and having it break
right before the boss comes to dinner, go ahead and pour it into cute cups instead and skip the unmolding part.
Here's my cute cups. My bestie Jocelyn and I accidentally stole them from a roommate when we were very young and lived in a huge dirty old house with a bajillion other people.
I feel kind of bad about it now but it was a really long time ago.
I think it would be weird to track him down on Facebook and return them at this point, right?
I had a bunch leftover so the rest went into espresso cups and came to work with me the next day. Teeny espresso cups are
perfect for panna cotta! So cute.
They chill for at least 2 hours. Mine went overnight--this really is the perfect make-ahead dessert!
And for a drizzle on top--I heated up 2 tablespoon honey with 1 tablespoon orange liqueur...
And just spooned it over the top in a puddle.
A little twist of clementine peel on the very top et voila! You are done with dessert.
The jojoba oil will moisturize like whoa and the sugar will take off dead skin. You look great.
Heat it up quite hot, almost to a boil, until the sugar has all dissolved. Zest in your clementine and squeeze in some juice too. If, let's say, you wanted to make it cardamom flavored instead, or maybe vanilla-ginger or something, this is where you'd add those flavors. I just stuck with the citrus but it's a really great blank canvas.
Stir it all up until completely dissolved...you can see here how it is already getting thickened.
Now! You have probably ordered panna cotta at a restaurant and it came out all cute and molded onto a plate and topped with berries or something. That's a lovely way to do it and if you want to go the molded custard route, go ahead and grease up some ramekins so they will unmold properly after the panna cotta has set. But! If you are lazy and/or afraid of unmolding something and having it break right before the boss comes to dinner, go ahead and pour it into cute cups instead and skip the unmolding part.
Here's my cute cups. My bestie Jocelyn and I accidentally stole them from a roommate when we were very young and lived in a huge dirty old house with a bajillion other people.
I feel kind of bad about it now but it was a really long time ago.
I think it would be weird to track him down on Facebook and return them at this point, right?
I had a bunch leftover so the rest went into espresso cups and came to work with me the next day. Teeny espresso cups are perfect for panna cotta! So cute.
They chill for at least 2 hours. Mine went overnight--this really is the perfect make-ahead dessert!
And for a drizzle on top--I heated up 2 tablespoon honey with 1 tablespoon orange liqueur...
And just spooned it over the top in a puddle.
A little twist of clementine peel on the very top et voila! You are done with dessert.
This is crispy, salty, sweet and ultra-easy! It's also an excellent way to get more bacon into your daily diet. I think it would make a great holiday treat to hand out--it's also amazing without the bacon so don't let that deter you...though bacon is so rarely a deterrent.
Fry up a couple pieces of bacon and set aside. I used 4 slices of fairly thick cut fancy local bacon so you may need more of thinner bacon. Meanwhile melt together 1/2 cup brown sugar with 2 sticks of butter. 
After the butter melts down, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 2 minutes.
By now you should have some crispy bacon...ready to be crumbled/chopped up.
And you'll need a heaping cup of nuts...I chopped up a bunch of pecans but you can also use sliced almonds. Pecans go really well with bacon though.
Now get a sheet of parchment paper and lay it over a rimmed baking sheet. Find your graham crackers and lay them out in a more-or-less single layer to cover the whole pan.
And sprinkle over your pecans...then make an even covering of bacon over the nuts.
Now pour your butter-sugar mixture over the top of that! Like a toffee. This can be hard to do evenly so just keep drizzling until you think you hit every nook and cranny.
Then you bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minuites, let it cool for about an hour--then break it up into squares! If you didn't use any bacon (and maybe even if you did) a sprinkle of sea salt over the top gives it that addictive sweet-salty crunch. Make them today!
I had tons of arugula and noticed on Information Is Beautiful's taste buds graphic that it would be good with peppers...so this simple and luscious frittata was the answer! It's good warm or at room temperature and makes a perfect cocktail hour snack as well as dinner. I used 1 big poblano pepper plus two small jalapenos, but you can use any combination of long green peppers with good flavor that you like--maybe anaheim or something. Start by preheating your oven to 350.
Cut the peppers into super thin strips. 
Get about 6 cups arugula...it will seem like a ton but it cooks down into zero, trust.
Chop it up and add it into the pan with the peppers and saute until wilty.
That will take pretty much no time at all--the arugula cooks very quickly.
Meanwhile, combine 5 eggs with salt, pepper and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese.
Beat them all together pretty well...
Meanwhile, heat up a heaping tablespoon of butter in a 10" pan that can go in the oven. 
After the butter is hot, pour in your vegetable-egg mixture, don't stir it all all, and let it cook undisturbed for 10 minutes.
Cut it all into wedges and add a sprinkle of kosher salt over the top.
Like I said--it's great at room temperature too so a perfect ahead of time appetizer, if you cut it into cute strips or something. Or just a couple big slices for a healthy dinner.
