The second half of December is about being as extra as possible: piling on all sorts of sparkles and spangles, adding an extra length of lights to the tree, putting one more log on the fire. This applies to cooking, of course, with a good example being this cheesy spinach bake. It is, as Ali Slagle writes in her introduction, like creamed spinach “but has even more going on.” The “even more” here is sautéed onion and garlic, a robust breadcrumb topping and a two-cheese filling that’s just rich enough. Serve with your turkey, rib roast or by itself on your fanciest plates (paper or otherwise).
Featured Recipe
Cheesy Spinach Bake
Eric Kim’s shrimp cocktail is also wonderfully extra; the shrimp are gently poached in a deeply seasoned broth of salt, chile powder and celery seeds for incredible flavor. Eric also includes three sauces for dipping — a classic cocktail, a garlicky dill butter and a curried honey mustard — because, again, extra. And this mochiko chicken, a recipe by Relle Lum adapted by Elyse Inamine, takes bite-size pieces of chicken thighs and marinates them in a salty-sweet soy, sugar and sweet rice flour mix before frying them to a super-crispy golden brown. “We saw the pieces of chicken as luxury chicken nuggets,” writes Aaron, a reader. “10/10, so easy, so good!”
A head of iceberg lettuce does not exactly say “party.” This iceberg salad from David Tanis, however, with lush avocado, red-ringed radish circles and crisp curls of lettuce in a lemon-parsley dressing, will be at your place at 8 with a bottle of something sparkling.
And, finally, two dishes that would be equally welcome at a festive gathering or a cozy night in: Kay Chun’s versatile meatballs, and a big bowl of Ali Slagle’s puppy chow. Make the meatballs with whichever meat combination you like, roast them in the oven or simmer them in sauce, then serve them on tangles of pasta or nestled into hoagie rolls. And the puppy chow — or muddy buddies — will keep in the fridge in for months, so you can steal chocolaty, peanut-buttery handfuls as you like well into the new year.