The Perfect Pantry's top 14 recipes of 2014

It's always fun to reflect on the year, and highlight my favorite recipes from The Perfect Pantry. These are the 2014 recipes of which I am most proud, and if you missed any of them during the year, I hope you'll take a moment to check out the recipes now.

My husband Ted and I started our year with a few weeks in Costa Rica, visiting Cousin Martin. Almost every day began with gallo pinto (rice and beans), and an egg, and some fruit, and strong coffee. I could get used to that. When we came home, I had to recreate that breakfast, and I think this gallo pinto recipe (top photo) comes very close to what we enjoyed in Costa Rica, minus the beachside table at our favorite breakfast place, and the warm breezes.

In revisiting old recipes from the archives, I tried grilling this shrimp in beer marinade on my panini press. The simple beer marinade also contains orange marmalade, and though that might sound weird, I promise it is irresistible. I could eat a whole bowl of this for lunch. Actually, I think I did that.

My husband Ted adores beef stew in all of the incarnations I've ever made for him, but this honey-Sriracha beef stew zoomed quickly to the top of the list. It's not exactly sweet, and not exactly spicy, yet you can taste both the honey and the Sriracha sauce in the gravy. And when you do, you will swoon. Make it easy, in the slow cooker, or adapt for stovetop cooking.

A dream about a pirate ship in the Caribbean, or Johnny Depp, or both, inspired this recipe for pepper pot, a traditional Caribbean fish, chicken and vegetable stew that I made in the slow cooker. Truly one of the best dishes I cooked all year.

For almost my entire life, I've been terrified of pressure cookers. Knowing that, my friend Kalyn sent me an electric pressure cooker as a gift, and now I can't imagine life without it. Right away I began adapting some of my stovetop recipes to the special abilities of the pressure cooker, and this shrimp and asparagus risotto with mushrooms was a happy result.

No doubt 2014 was the year of Brussels sprouts in my kitchen. I'd never been fond of the plain boiled or steamed sprouts, but once I began playing with them -- roasting, stir-frying, and eating them raw -- a world of wonderful possibilities opened up. We loved this tofu and Brussels sprouts fried rice, a quick and easy worknight dinner.

Another new favorite recipe with Brussels sprouts, this salad with dried blueberries, pecans, and maple-miso dressing requires no cooking, except for a brief toasting of the pecans to warm them up. Raw Brussels sprouts are a revelation, if you've never tried them; the miso dressing tenderizes them just a bit, while still allowing the crunch to shine through.

While testing recipes for my Dress Up Your Salad e-cookbook earlier this year, my friend Pat and I went a bit outside my same-old salad comfort zone with this quinoa rainbow salad with asparagus, feta, and orange-tarragon vinaigrette. It's a visual delight, and a taste treat, too.

The smoky heat of harissa, a North African pepper paste, livens up bland ground turkey like nothing else. Deceptively uncomplicated, this North African harissa turkey and butternut squash stew drew raves from everyone who tasted it.

It was a big year for spaghetti squash in my kitchen. For various recipes, I cooked the basic squash in my slow cooker, in the pressure cooker, and in the oven. Here, I scraped out the "spaghetti" and combined it with bell peppers, olives, and plenty of cheese, plus shredded chicken, in a super-tasty casserole. Really, who needs pasta?

Long-time reader Ken sent me some Hawaiian cookbooks, and in one of them I found this recipe for Hawaiian sweet potato salad, which turned out to be one of the most popular recipes on The Perfect Pantry this year. I adapted it to the sweet potatoes we can find here on the mainland; in Hawaii, it's made with purple sweet potatoes!

All summer long, these quick and easy chilled miso noodles with broccoli, bell pepper and peanuts were my go-to recipe for lunch, dinner, picnics and potluck. If you love peanut noodles or sesame noodles, you'll surely love these. I used linguine from the pantry, and it's the only ingredient in this recipe that needs to be cooked.

For a last-minute supper or an impressive brunch for a crowd, nothing beats an egg and cheese casserole. I made many during the past year; this breakfast casserole with kale, bacon, mushrooms and onions was our favorite. Nothing like getting your dark leafy greens in at the beginning of the day.

I'm ending this list where we began, with a dish I enjoyed at The Gingerbread restaurant in Nuevo Arenal, Costa Rica. It's a Tunisian-Israeli favorite called shakshuka: eggs atop a slightly spicy tomato sauce. Mop it up with crusty bread, and I promise there is nothing better.

I hope you tried some of these dishes, or consider them for upcoming menus. I'd love to know: what was your favorite kitchen creation during the past year?

Happy 2015 to all.

My husband Ted and I started our year with a few weeks in Costa Rica, visiting Cousin Martin. Almost every day began with gallo pinto (rice and beans), and an egg, and some fruit, and strong coffee. I could get used to that. When we came home, I had to recreate that breakfast, and I think this gallo pinto recipe (top photo) comes very close to what we enjoyed in Costa Rica, minus the beachside table at our favorite breakfast place, and the warm breezes.

In revisiting old recipes from the archives, I tried grilling this shrimp in beer marinade on my panini press. The simple beer marinade also contains orange marmalade, and though that might sound weird, I promise it is irresistible. I could eat a whole bowl of this for lunch. Actually, I think I did that.

My husband Ted adores beef stew in all of the incarnations I've ever made for him, but this honey-Sriracha beef stew zoomed quickly to the top of the list. It's not exactly sweet, and not exactly spicy, yet you can taste both the honey and the Sriracha sauce in the gravy. And when you do, you will swoon. Make it easy, in the slow cooker, or adapt for stovetop cooking.

A dream about a pirate ship in the Caribbean, or Johnny Depp, or both, inspired this recipe for pepper pot, a traditional Caribbean fish, chicken and vegetable stew that I made in the slow cooker. Truly one of the best dishes I cooked all year.

For almost my entire life, I've been terrified of pressure cookers. Knowing that, my friend Kalyn sent me an electric pressure cooker as a gift, and now I can't imagine life without it. Right away I began adapting some of my stovetop recipes to the special abilities of the pressure cooker, and this shrimp and asparagus risotto with mushrooms was a happy result.

No doubt 2014 was the year of Brussels sprouts in my kitchen. I'd never been fond of the plain boiled or steamed sprouts, but once I began playing with them -- roasting, stir-frying, and eating them raw -- a world of wonderful possibilities opened up. We loved this tofu and Brussels sprouts fried rice, a quick and easy worknight dinner.

Another new favorite recipe with Brussels sprouts, this salad with dried blueberries, pecans, and maple-miso dressing requires no cooking, except for a brief toasting of the pecans to warm them up. Raw Brussels sprouts are a revelation, if you've never tried them; the miso dressing tenderizes them just a bit, while still allowing the crunch to shine through.

While testing recipes for my Dress Up Your Salad e-cookbook earlier this year, my friend Pat and I went a bit outside my same-old salad comfort zone with this quinoa rainbow salad with asparagus, feta, and orange-tarragon vinaigrette. It's a visual delight, and a taste treat, too.

The smoky heat of harissa, a North African pepper paste, livens up bland ground turkey like nothing else. Deceptively uncomplicated, this North African harissa turkey and butternut squash stew drew raves from everyone who tasted it.

It was a big year for spaghetti squash in my kitchen. For various recipes, I cooked the basic squash in my slow cooker, in the pressure cooker, and in the oven. Here, I scraped out the "spaghetti" and combined it with bell peppers, olives, and plenty of cheese, plus shredded chicken, in a super-tasty casserole. Really, who needs pasta?

Long-time reader Ken sent me some Hawaiian cookbooks, and in one of them I found this recipe for Hawaiian sweet potato salad, which turned out to be one of the most popular recipes on The Perfect Pantry this year. I adapted it to the sweet potatoes we can find here on the mainland; in Hawaii, it's made with purple sweet potatoes!

All summer long, these quick and easy chilled miso noodles with broccoli, bell pepper and peanuts were my go-to recipe for lunch, dinner, picnics and potluck. If you love peanut noodles or sesame noodles, you'll surely love these. I used linguine from the pantry, and it's the only ingredient in this recipe that needs to be cooked.

For a last-minute supper or an impressive brunch for a crowd, nothing beats an egg and cheese casserole. I made many during the past year; this breakfast casserole with kale, bacon, mushrooms and onions was our favorite. Nothing like getting your dark leafy greens in at the beginning of the day.

I'm ending this list where we began, with a dish I enjoyed at The Gingerbread restaurant in Nuevo Arenal, Costa Rica. It's a Tunisian-Israeli favorite called shakshuka: eggs atop a slightly spicy tomato sauce. Mop it up with crusty bread, and I promise there is nothing better.

I hope you tried some of these dishes, or consider them for upcoming menus. I'd love to know: what was your favorite kitchen creation during the past year?

Happy 2015 to all.

Comments

i intend to try something different every week and spaghetti squash is already on my list of things to try.

They all sound so delicious. I am struck by all the ethnic flavors in your top dishes; so many creative ideas.

All lovely recipes and I didn't have most of them. Thanks so much and Happy New Year. I have always loved your recipes.

Queen of Spices, that's a great idea for the new year! I think I'm going to promise to do the same.

Kalyn, I love to shop in ethnic markets, and my Boston neighborhood has so many to choose from. I hope they will inspire my recipes in 2015.

Liz, thank you so much!

I need to try some of these. I love the look of the egg dish. I want to try this one soon. I am pinning this.

Stephanie, the shakshuka is in regular rotation in our kitchen. We love it for weekend brunch, and you can make the sauce way ahead.

For as long as I can remember, I've hated Brussels sprouts and no amount of recipe tweaking convinced me otherwise--until now! I just made your salad with maple-miso dressing, and it turns out that what I hate is COOKED Brussels sprouts. I had to substitute aka (dark) miso because that's all I could find and dried cranberries for the same reason. The results were quite delicious! So I'm not exactly a convert, but at least there is one Brussels sprouts prep that I can actually enjoy eating. Thanks.