Tausi Insider

Photo : Claire Lower I am, as I write this, very cozy. With the weather being what it is (cold), it’s the only way to be. Being cozy is related to being warm, but it’s more about being comforted in a warm way. Soup, for example, is cozy. It warms from the inside out, but it also nurtures, satiates, and fills the home with delicious and inviting aromas. Potatoes are also cozy, and I have been eating a lot of them. I was/am on a big baked Yukon kick, but now I’ve shifted into soup mode with this deeply savory, creamy, and incidentally dairy-free potato and onion soup. (The sour cream on top is not dairy-free, but you can omit it.) This soup has two super- star ingredients: a bag of frozen hash browns, and burnt onions . The hash browns are a time- saver. The potatoes are already peeled and finely shredded, meaning all you have to do is open the bag and dump them in. The little shreds cook quickly and evenly, and puree with almost too much ease. You can use frozen hash browns in a...

Photo : Claire Lower When it comes to creamed vegetables, spinach and corn get most of the glory. Unless you’ re something of a steak dinner obsessive, you probably don’t think about creamed veggies all that much, and you certainly aren’t thinking of other, additional vegetables to cream. That’s alright though, because the smart brains at Serious Eats are thinking about those things, which is how creamed shishito peppers made their way onto my radar. The recipe is simple but effective. Sweat some shishitos with shallots and garlic until everything is nice and tender, then add cream and let it simmer until it becomes a thick sauce. Add some cheese. Eat. This recipe got me thinking: Why not cream other peppers? Shishitos are delightful, but they’re not ubiquitous. Could I cream a humble mini sweet pepper? (Yes.) And would it be good? (Also yes.) Mini sweet peppers are exactly what they sound like. They’re small and sweet, and come in the classic pepper colors (red, yellow, and oran...