I wondered how to replicate the classic slightly charred taste of true naan bread, produced by the 900 degree heat of a tandoor oven. I turned to Food Network host Aarti Sequeira’s recipe and learned that all I needed was a cast-iron skillet.

I expected making naan to be a challenging project, but I was surprised by how easy it turned out to be. Yes, the dough is wet and sticky, but dust enough flour on your work surface and you’ll be fine. The wet dough is pliable and easy to shape – no rolling pin needed.

I got my skillet smoking hot and tossed the first bread in. Within a few seconds it was starting to rise and bubble. A minute later I flipped the bread to expose perfect char marks. Thirty seconds later the bread was done.

True, this naan bread wasn’t infused with tandoor smoke. Aside from that, it tasted spot on. It was warm and chewy and perfect for dipping in the dal.

This recipe makes six pieces of naan bread.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (9.5 ounces) bread flour
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) warm water
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Step 1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, yeast, baking powder, sugar and salt and whisk together. In a separate bowl whisk together the water, olive oil and yogurt. Pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl and stir together.

Step 2. Knead for five minutes. Because the dough is wet, it is much easier to do this with a dough hook than by hand. The finished dough shouldn’t clean the sides of the bowl, but should stick to the dough hook. Resist adding more flour unless the dough is really soupy. The finished dough should be quite sticky to the touch.

Step 3. Let the dough rise for three hours. (Mine rose for four hours, and I over-proofed it.) It will double in size.

Step 4. Scrape out the dough onto a very well-floured surface. It helps to have a bench knife to cut the dough into six equal pieces. Dip the knife into water before slicing. Coat each hunk of  dough in flour so it won’t stick.

Step 5. Preheat the skillet over medium-high heat. Using your hands, gently stretch  out the dough to shape the naan. Traditionally naan bread is shaped to look like tear drops or rough triangles. Mine weren’t that pretty. Stretch the dough until it is about one-quarter of an inch thick. If it is sticking to your hands you aren’t using enough flour.

Step 6. When the skillet is smoking it is ready to start cooking. Lay the first naan into the dry skillet. Cook for one minutes, then flip and cook for another 30 to 45 seconds.

Transfer to a cooling rack, brush with the melted butter, then wrap in a towel before serving.

The naan reheat well. If you’ll be serving them later in the day, brush with butter but let them cool completely on the rack. To reheat, wrap in a towel and place in a 200 degree F for about 30 minutes.

Even though I typically saute kale when preparing it for dinner, I recently discovered a faster and better way to cook it: Toss the trimmed greens with olive oil and roast them in a hot oven for just 10 minutes. This method works best with curly kale. The edges get nice and crispy, while the leaves don’t overcook.

I was especially pleased with how the flavors in this dish balanced each other. I coated the chicken thighs in a smoked paprika dry rub, which paired well with the slight bitterness of the kale. The lemon juice dressing I used balanced out the sweetness from the cranberries.

This warm salad serves two for dinner.

Ingredients:

• 1 large clove shallot, diced (about 1/4 cup when diced)
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup farro
• 1 pound curly kale, stems removed and chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• Juice from 1 lemon

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Melt a pat of butter in the bottom of a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallot and cranberries and cook until shallots begin to sweat. Add the farro and cook until the grains begin to toast, 3-5 minutes. Then add a generous cup of water, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until all the water has been absorbed.

Step 2. Combine the poultry seasoning, smoked paprika and garlic powder together in a shallow bowl or plate. Dredge the chicken thighs in it. Cook in a covered pan over medium heat until done (and the thighs have reached 165 degrees F), about 20 minutes. Set aside to rest, then dice.

Step 3. In a large bowl, toss the chopped kale with the olive oil and salt. Spread out onto a half-sheet pan and roast for 10 minutes. Don’t worry if the kale looks crowded on the sheet pan, that’s the point. This helps achieve the perfect balance of roasting and steaming.

Step 4. Combine the kale, farro and diced chicken. Sprinkle with lemon juice and toss, then taste to adjust seasoning. There should be enough olive oil in the dish from the roasted kale, but add more if necessary. Use salt and pepper to taste.

The Spanish chorizo is the secret to this soup. It imparts flavor and just the right amount of heat. To make this soup filling for dinner, I used white northern beans and farro. The nuttiness of the farro balanced out the heat from the chorizo.

To keep the chard tender, I cooked the stems and leaves separately, adding the leaves to the broth just before serving.

This is a perfect soup for the cold, dark days of January. This recipe serves two for dinner, but can be easily to serve four.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces Spanish chorizo, casing peeled off and diced into thin half-moons
• 1/2 cup farro
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 quart reduced-sodium chicken stock
• 14-ounce can white northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 6 medium stalks swiss chard
• Parmesan cheese

Step 1. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, cook the chorizo. Remove the cooked slices with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat behind. Set the chorizo to drain on a plate lined with a paper towel. At the same time, fill a small saucepan with 1 cup of water. When it boils, add the farro and cook on low until all the water has been absorbed.

Step 2. Add the two teaspoons of olive oil to the pot and then the diced onion. Cook over medium heat until it begins to sweat, then add the garlic, a few grinds of pepper, and the red pepper flakes. Cook for 1-2 more minutes, stirring frequently so the garlic doesn’t burn.

Step 3. Add the broth and white beans to the pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.

Step 4. Remove the chard stems and dice into bite-size pieces. Cut the leaves into ribbons. Add the stems to the soup and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Step 5. Add the cooked farro, chorizo and chard leaves to the pot. Turn off the heat and let sit for two minutes before serving. Top with parmesan cheese.

Quite literally, for the first two weeks of January I couldn’t leave the floor. Even standing for five minutes left me hopping around in pain. Since then, thanks to intensive physical therapy, I’ve gotten better. I can once again (finally!) make dinner without grimacing and seeing stars.

Thus, The Manly Housekeeper returns to its regularly scheduled content. I may be a few weeks late, but I’m ready and eager to start 2013. I see much more cooking, cleaning, gardening and entertaining in my future.

(top photo courtesy magnetbox)

By mixing the cranberries with apples, I could cut down on the amount of sugar I used. Plus, I find it nice to have an oatmeal topping that’s on the tart side.

The nutmeg in this dish adds another strong flavor, and this combination is now my go-to breakfast topping.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds granny smith apples, peeled and cored
• 6 ounces cranberries, washed and picked over
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Step 1. After peeling and coring the apples, cut them into slices about 1/4-inch thick. The slices need to be thin, so the apples and cranberries cook at the same rate. Add to a medium pot.

Step 2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Step 3. Set over medium-high heat with the pot covered until the water begins to boil. Then reduce to medium-low and cook until the cranberries have popped and the apples are soft, about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

I adapted a recipe from King Arthur Flour’s Baker’s Companion for this dish. I had enough leftover bread to make a double batch, so that’s what you’ll see in some photos. I don’t really recommend that, however. Unless you’re serving dessert for 20, you’ll have a lot of bread pudding on your hands.

Ingredients:

• 10 cups cubed stale cinnamon raisin bread
• 1 quart whole milk
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons spiced rum

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the milk and butter in a medium saucepan to warm and melt. (For an even richer bread pudding, substitute out 1 cup of milk and use cream instead.) As soon as the butter has melted, set the pan aside.

Step 2. In a large bowl, combine the cubed bread, nuts, raisins and brown sugar. Note: Because cinnamon raisin bread is already sweet, I only used half as much sugar as is traditionally used. If you want a really sweet bread pudding, use more sugar.

Step 3. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and rum and whisk together. Add the warmed milk and butter and whisk again.

Step 4. Pour the liquids over the bread  and gently stir. Press down on the cubes that float to the surface so all the bread can soak. Let the bread soak for 15 minutes.

Step 5. Transfer to a greased 9×13-inch baking dish. Make sure the bread cubes are distributed evenly. Then bake for 40-45 minutes, until the bread has swelled and the pudding has set. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving warm.

One of my main conclusions from last year’s testing was that traditional pies were better than experimental pies. People preferred traditional pumpkin over ginger pumpkin pie, and the maple-anise pecan pie wasn’t very popular.

This year I once again wanted to explore how far beyond traditional I could get before tasters complained. The three most popular Thanksgiving pies are pumpkin, apple and pecan. Could I serve variations on those pies without upsetting my guests on Thursday?

Instead of apple pie, spiced apple-cranberry pie: I wanted a pie that was bright and tart, yet was still familiar to apple pie lovers. I found a great recipe at Williams-Sonoma and didn’t modify it at all.

Instead of pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie: Sweet potato pie is Barack Obama’s favorite pie. I searched diligently to find a President-approved recipe, but came up empty. In the Washington, D.C. area Henry’s Soul Cafe is known for the best sweet potato pie but they don’t publish their recipe, either. After studying a variety of recipes, I went with Ruth Reichl’s. I added an extra quarter-cup of sugar and more cinnamon to try and capture the flavors (sweet and aggressively spiced) as described in news articles about the Soul Cafe pies.

Instead of pecan pie, chocolate bourbon pecan pie: Chocolate pecan pie is commonly served around the time of the Kentucky Derby. I had one main choice to make: corn syrup or no corn syrup? Corn syrup produces the classic gelatinous texture in pecan pies. Even though I was adding chocolate, I wanted to keep that familiar component (even though some people dislike it). I found a great recipe from Food and Wine.

For my wild card pie, I made crack pie: This pie was created and popularized by Christina Tosi and Momofuku Milk Bar. It is extremely sweet, hence the name – you get a great sugar high, and crash.

I asked all my tasters to rank the four pies on a scale of 1-4. For the three “alternative” pies, I also asked if they wished they were eating the “traditional” pie instead. To evaluate the results, the lowest total score wins.

Spiced apple-cranberry pie: 1.88 rating, 8/9 tasters liked it as much or more than apple pie. Three tasters rated it first.

Key quote: Very flavorful and wonderful crust. Much better than traditional apple pie.

Analysis: Tasters liked the tartness of the cranberries, but also advocated for more apples. When I make this for Thanksgiving I’m going to back off on the cranberries slightly.

Chocolate bourbon pecan pie: 2.22 rating, 6/9 tasters liked it as much or more than pecan pie. Two tasters rated it first.

Key quote: This is heaven if heaven were made of chocolate.

Analysis: Tasters recommended backing off on the amount of chocolate slightly, so it wasn’t too overpowering. When warm, the bourbon flavor is hard to taste, but it stands out much more when cooled completely.

Sweet potato pie: 2.33 rating, 6/9 tasters liked it as much or more than pumpkin pie. Three tasters rated it first.

Key quote: So good. Better than pumpkin. Sooooo good!

Analysis: I don’t think I’ll be tweaking this recipe at all before baking it again. Even though it finished in third place, this was the only pie to get no last-place votes.

Crack pie: 3.55 rating. Seven tasters rated it last.

Key quote(s): Pure sugar, good but I can’t take more than a couple bites … Just too sweet for me, can’t handle it … gives me a head rush …

Analysis: This is a novelty pie that most people didn’t like. On top of that, it doesn’t play well with others. The sweetness in the crack pie blows out your taste buds completely, affecting the flavor of any pie you’ll taste afterward.

With these results in hand, I feel secure in serving all three “alternative” pies. They have plenty in common with their more familiar brothers and sisters, and just enough difference to be an enticing end-of-meal treat.

I did make a few additional tweaks to the brownies. I added espresso powder, to enhance the chocolate flavor. I also added walnuts, so walnuts would be in both the cookies and brownies and tie the two levels together.

The best baking dish for these combo bars is a 10×15-inch jelly roll pan. It will be a tight fit, but the pan will hold everything perfectly. A larger pan, like a half-sheet pan (13×18 inches), is too wide and the layers will be too thin.

This is a very basic recipe, of course, but it pays big dividends. These finished bars taste a lot fancier than simply two desserts spread on top of one another.

Ingredients:

• 1 batch chocolate chip cookies
• 1 batch box brownies
• 3/4 cup walnuts
• 2 teaspoons espresso powder

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the cookie batter out into the pan. The cookie dough goes on the bottom because it is much harder to spread.

Step 2. Mix up the brownies according to the package directions, then add the espresso powder and walnuts. Spread out the brownie layer. It will completely fill the jelly roll pan.

Step 3. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick just comes out clean. You still want the brownies to be slightly gooey. See how the risen cookie and brownies came to the edge but didn’t spill over?

Cool completely before slicing. To get really clean edges I find it helps to chill the combo bars in the fridge.

Spaetzle are egg noodles shaped by pressing the dough through a pasta maker (or in my case, a colander.) Instead of all-purpose flour, I used a mixture of white whole wheat flour and bread flour, to get a similar texture. I mixed some nutmeg into the dough for warmth.

This dish was super delicious; the ideal thing to serve on a cool fall night. Best of all, it isn’t that heavy. There is no cream sauce, and it isn’t swimming in butter. This recipe will serve four for dinner, with a side salad.

Spaetzle Dough Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk

Remaining Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 4 ounces diced pancetta
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• Pecorino romano cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cut the squash in half and season with salt and pepper. Lay face down on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, then let cool.

Step 2. Whisk together the flours, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the eggs and milk and stir together. Set aside to rest while you bring a large pot of water to boil.

Step 3. Pour the spaetzle dough into a colander. Press it through with a spatula. (Note: there is a specialty tool that I’m eager to try, but in the interest of not having too many gadgets crowding my kitchen, I’ve avoided getting it. I tried making my own spaetzle maker my drilling holes in the bottom of an aluminum can, but that did not work.)

Step 4. The spaetzle are done when they float to the top of the water. Drain, rinse with cool water, and set aside.

Step 5. Saute the onion until browned in a little oil or butter in a large pan, then add the diced pancetta and fresh thyme. Cook until browned.

Step 6. By this point the squash should be cooked and cooled enough to handle. Cut off the skin and dice into cubes. (Another option would be cubing the squash before cooking it. I haven’t tried it, but I was really pleased with the texture of the squash using the cook-then-cube method. It got less dried out and stringy than butternut squash I’ve baked in the past.)

Step 7. Add the cubed squash to the pancetta and onion and cook for 3-5 minutes. Finally, add the spaetzle and toss and warm. Grate pecorino romano cheese over the dish before serving.

Take a look at the four-course dinner I designed:

The Key to Great Dinner Rolls? Beer!

Build a Better Salad with Bacon

Manly Main Course? Beer-Braised Pork Shoulder with Roast Veggies

The Perfect Fall Dessert? A Very Manly Pear Cobbler