sunday morning breakfast links, 2/6/10

A couple of notes on that carrot soup I posted about the other day (which I made again for dinner tonight):

• A big fat onion instead of the leeks? Sour cream in place of the creme fraiche? Totally, totally fine.
• No really, simmer it for an hour and a half. I know it sounds over the top but the flavor just gets crazy rich that way.

I wanted to link to this month's Gourmet, unbound roundup of recipes. I think I mentioned before that this is a project in which people are cooking through the Gourmet magazine archives month by month (so recipes from February are posted in February, and so on) to keep the spirit of that magazine alive. The rap on Gourmet, after its demise, was that it had gotten--or maybe always was--too fancy and out of touch. That's one reason I decided to participate--I thought it would be an interesting challenge to see if I could find recipes relevant to my project of simple, seasonal cooking for a busy working parent. Could Gourmet keep it real? Well, in a word, yes--I've had a lot of trouble narrowing things down to just one (or two, in February's case) recipe for the month.

It's also interesting to see what the other cooks participating in the project come up with. Some folks go all out with, yes, fancy and complex creations--I love reading about them but when it comes to my own kitchen I have to admit I think: No way. Other participants though have found some simple and accessible stunners. Here are a few that stood out to me this month, all featuring seasonal produce:

• Butternut Squash Galette from Doable and Delicious
• Pasta with Parsley Sauce and Cauliflower from Hungry Bruno
• Ginger and Garlic Broccoli with Brown Rice from Taste as You Go

 More goodness from the Interwebs:

• A while back I was wishing that I had more recipes for simple legume dishes that I could use to round out our plates of vegetables. Mark Bittman, as always, has my back, with a roundup of easy dal recipes.
• From The Kitchn, more cookbooks for kids/books on cooking with kids.
• 10 tips for reducing food waste. Because I was raised Protestant by a woman who was raised Catholic, I love the "guilt list" idea. 

And finally:

• I really hate how bulleted lists look in this template. Sorry folks.