You might venture out to any of North Orange County’s celebrations galore: from Brea’s Country Fair (City Hall Park from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.), to Fullerton’s Community Fireworks Show and Festival (Fullerton Downtown Plaza from 5 to 9 p.m.), La Habra’s annual Fourth of July Spectacular (La Bonita Park, 4 to 9:30 p.m.) or Yorba Linda’s Fourth of July Spectacular (Veteran’s Park from 5 to 9:30 p.m.). But whether you’re toting a basket or dining at home, you’ll want to create a menu that celebrates the holiday: big and bold with tons of flavor and texture.

If ever a salad was invented for the Fourth of July, it’s Ellen Kanner’s Fireworks Black Bean and Mango Salad from her new cookbook “Miami Vegan: Plant-Based Recipes from the Tropics to Your Table” (LCIX Editions), a perfect accompaniment that vegans and carnivores alike will appreciate. I caught Kanner demonstrating this easy preparation on Zoom, sponsored by Melissa’s Produce (and you can too, search for Kanner on YouTube.)

“I created this recipe a few years ago to bring to my friend’s annual Fourth of July party,” she said.

It seems the hostess needed a last-minute vegan dish for the party spread, “so with little warning, and using what I had in the kitchen, I came up with a winner,” Kanner said.

“Fireworks Black Bean and Mango Salad combines tender, earthy-flavored black beans; sweet, juicy mango; tart lime; sweet and hot peppers; soft, fresh greens; and buttery toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for healthy fats and a fun crunch,” she said. “It’s a no-cook wonder that can sit out on a picnic table for hours without wilting. Oil-free fans, this is your moment. And even if you’re not oil-free, this is your salad. It’s naked – in a sexy way, I hope – but I mean it doesn’t have a real dressing. It doesn’t need it. The cumin, lime juice and mango create the flavor, and the mango also provides the right amount of moisture that holds everything together. These flavors, textures and colors come together like a burst of fireworks. Like America itself.”

Mango is the perfect foil for the explosion of flavors and textures in the dish.

“The mango is the most popular fruit in the world,” noted Robert Schueller, director of public relations for Melissa’s Produce, “although it’s only number 15 or 16 in the U.S. Although available year-round, its peak is late spring through summer.

“Not all mangoes taste the same,” he noted. “And color means nothing. What gives away that a mango is ripe is its smell and softness. If it gives a little, then you know it’s time to cut into it. And never refrigerate mangoes unless they become really soft. I recommend with almost every produce item, except maybe berries, to keep it on your counter until it ripens and is very fragrant. You only put your fruits in the refrigerator if you want them chilled, or if it’s so soft that you don’t want it to go bad on the counter.”

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

FIREWORKS BLACK BEAN AND MANGO SALAD

From “Miami Vegan” by Ellen Kanner. The pepitas are optional, but they add fabulous crunch, not to mention good amounts of manganese and magnesium.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 jalapeño, minced

• 1 red pepper, diced (about 1cup)

• 2 stalks celery, chopped fine (about 1 cup)

• 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained or 4 cups cooked black beans

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• Juice of 1/2 lime (about 1 tablespoon)

• 2 mangoes, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)

• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped

• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

• 3 to 4 cups fresh greens like spinach, arugula or frisee

• 1/4 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for garnish, optional

Method:

1. In a large bowl, gently mix together jalapeño, diced red pepper, and celery. Add the black beans and combine well.

2. Add the cumin and the lime and toss to coat.

3. Just before serving, add the chopped mangoes and chopped cilantro to the black beans. Season to taste. Place black beans and mango atop greens and serve at once, garnishing with toasted pitas, if you like (and you will).

On a recent visit to my son, Brad, in Northern California, we spent a day cooking together. His kitchen, his recipes, his ingredients. His comment to me as we enjoyed the fruits of our labor was, “You sure don’t like being the sous chef, do you?” (I’m working on it.)

Brad’s been following Adam Hoad, a British cooking and fitness coach, whose easy, nutritious and flavorful recipe videos proliferate on social media. That day we made Hoad’s tortilla quiche and chocolate chip snack cake, and I asked Brad what he likes about Hoad’s recipes.

“They’re easy, nutritious, high protein, one-pan recipes that are very tasty,” he said. “He’s a fitness trainer and focuses on high-protein, lower-carb, easy-to-make meals.”

I called Brad tonight in preparation for this column, and coincidentally, he had made Hoad’s chicken cheese bake for dinner.

“The recipe called for orzo, but I used rice,” he said, “which you mix with Boursin cheese, spinach, grape tomatoes, shredded rotisserie chicken and chicken stock. I cooked it for 35 minutes at 350. Then you take it out and mix it all up, and the cheese mixed with the stock thickens the sauce and makes it very creamy. Then you sprinkle it with Parmesan cheese and cook it for another 10 minutes until it’s brown. It makes four servings at 540 calories per serving with 43 grams of protein.”

Watching a few of Hoad’s recipe videos proves they certainly are easy. The hardest thing about them for me was converting grams to cups, but that’s why they invented Google, right?

Hoad even mixes the ingredients of many of the recipes right in the baking pan, so there is less cleanup, too.

You’ll find 45 recipes in his ebook “One-Dish Meal Prep,” which he says is “for anyone who doesn’t want to spend a second longer in the kitchen than needed. Every recipe is under 15 minutes – ideal for anyone juggling work, family or training.”

As Hoad candidly reveals on Instagram: “Everyone’s journey looks different – this was mine. I didn’t grow up fit. I wasn’t naturally athletic. I started out as the chubby kid who just wanted to feel better in his own skin. What began with small changes turned into a lifestyle built on habits, not hacks. And along the way, it taught me resilience, patience, and discipline – skills that go way beyond the gym.”

His message inspires others to reach for their goals as well.

“No matter where you’re starting from, your journey is your own,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be perfect – it just has to be yours, and trust me, the lessons you pick up along the way will serve you for life.”

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

SUPER SIMPLE HIGH PROTEIN TORTILLA QUICHE

Recipes are adapted from Adam Hoad, find him on Instagram @adamhoad_coaching

Yield: 4 servings

• 2 medium tortillas

• 4 large eggs

• 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese

• 1/4 cup feta cheese

• 1 cup cherry tomatoes (or more)

• 1/2 bag spinach (or more)

• 1/4 cup light cheddar cheese

• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9-inch baking pan with vegetable spray.

2. Place tortillas in baking pan overlapping if necessary to cover bottom and sides.

3. Combine eggs, cottage cheese, feta cheese, tomatoes and spinach and pour over tortillas. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with cheddar and Parmesan. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until cooked through and top is golden.

One serving contains calories: 201, protein: 15 g, carbs: 10 g, fat: 11 g.

SUPER SIMPLE HIGH PROTEIN SNACK

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup instant oats

• Scant 3/4 cup dates

• 1/2 cup grated carrot

• 3/4 cup nonfat milk

• 2 large eggs

• 1/4 cup vanilla whey protein

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with vegetable spray.

2. Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips in a blender. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Top with chocolate chips. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Rest 10 minutes before removing from pan.

One serving contains calories: 162, Protein: 12 g, carbs: 21 gr, fat: 3 gr.

Now just in time for Father’s Day, comes the hottest new trend, the outdoor flattop griddle.

You know how delicate foods such as fish or vegetables always seem to fall through the grates? Not so with the flattop griddle, which cooks fast, enhances flavor and is easy to clean. And its large surface means you can cook the entire meal.

Grill master and PBS host Steven Raichlen, who literally wrote the book on grilling and all things barbecue – 32 of them, in fact – has added a 33rd: “Project Griddle: The Versatile Art of Grilling on a Flattop” (Workman, $30) with nearly 80 hunger-inducing recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, even dessert.

“A lot of people think it’s for simple things,” the salesman at BBQ Galore in Brea, (who preferred I not use his name) told me. “You’ve gotta think outside the box. When I go camping, I do cinnamon rolls on mine. I do cakes, soups, chilis. You put the dome on and it’s an oven.”

Besides the endless assortment of griddles, from portable flattops to built-in units – the store also sells a wide array of accessories: domes, water and oil bottles, burger presses and more.

“Smash burgers are really popular right now. You can even use it to make fried rice,” the salesman said.

I asked Raichlen for some helpful hints for using the griddle.

“Set up multiple heat zones: one hot, one medium, one low or off,” he suggested. “Control the cooking and avoid burning by moving the food back and forth.”

It’s also important to keep the griddle well-seasoned both before and during cooking.

“Use plenty of oil or butter when cooking,” he said. “I use one of those squirt bottles of extra-virgin olive oil. It gives you both flavor and lubrication. And when griddling thick foods like chicken thighs or pork chops, place a griddle dome or inverted metal bowl over them. This traps the heat, so you cook from both the bottom up and the top down.”

I’ve tried to cook crabcakes on a conventional grill with little success, so the griddle version caught my eye.

The griddle “solves two potential problems posed by the traditional way of cooking crabcakes in Maryland: deep frying and broiling,” he writes. “The former adds unwanted fat. With the latter, it’s often hard to cook the crabcake through without burning the exterior. And having gone to all the time and expense of making your crabcakes from scratch, for heaven’s sake, don’t use a sugary bottled tartar sauce.” Raichlen’s made-from-scratch recipe follows.

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

CHARM CITY CRABCAKES

From “Project Griddle” by Steven Raichlen

Ingredients:

• 1 pound jumbo lump crab meat

• 1 large egg (preferably organic)

• 1/3 cup mayonnaise (preferably Best Foods)

• 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning, or to taste

• 1 teaspoon dry mustard

• 1/4 cup cracker crumbs

• 2 to 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter in a chunk for griddle

• Extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

Method:

1. Gently pick through crab, removing any pieces of shell.

2. In large mixing bowl, beat egg with fork or whisk until smooth. Stir in mayonnaise, Old Bay seasoning and dry mustard. Add crab and sprinkle cracker crumbs on top. Fold as gently as possible with rubber spatula or your hands just to mix.

3. Line plate with plastic wrap. Dampen hands and divide crab mixture into 4 equal portions. Form each into patty about 3/4 inch thick; place on lined plate. You can cook crabcakes right away, but they’ll hold together better if chilled, covered with plastic wrap, 30 minutes.

4. Heat griddle to medium-high. Impale butter chunk on a fork and use it to grease griddle.

5. Gently arrange crabcakes on buttered griddle. Cook until sizzling and brown on both sides and cooked through, 2 to 4 minutes per side or as needed, using offset spatula to turn once. If crabcakes are really thick, cover with griddle dome to speed up cooking. If crabcakes start to stick, add more butter or squirt griddle with a little olive oil. Serve at once with made-from-scratch tartar sauce on top.

Made-From-Scratch Tartar Sauce

Yield: 1 cup

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise (preferably Best Foods

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 1 tablespoon dried capers, drained

• 1 tablespoon minced cornichons or dill pickle

• 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives or green onion (green part)

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon or basil

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly and finely grated lemon zest

• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

• Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Place ingredients in a bowl and whisk to mix, adding lemon juice to taste. Any leftovers will keep, covered, in the refrigerator at least three days

Here you find much more than produce: I tried Bonjour Kefir Yogurt, which Jasmine told me has no added sugars, dyes or preservatives. At Power In Herbs, Daniel showed me Golden Mix, an ancient anti-inflammatory remedy said to help the body absorb turmeric. Brother Products and Baba Foods sell the Middle Eastern sides I crave like hummus, baba ganoush and tzatziki.

At Bonita Farms, I picked up gorgeous strawberries at $5 a basket and the season’s first cherries at G Farms. I spotted several varieties of kale at Chavez Farms and grabbed the curly kale, but I’m curious about the other varieties.

When it comes to produce, my go-to source for information is Robert Schueller, director of public relations for Melissa’s Produce, the largest distributor of specialty produce in the United States.

“Although there are several dozen varieties of kale out there, there are three main ones anyone can find at their local supermarket,” he told me. “Kale is actually a form of cabbage. It’s one of the most highly nutritious vegetables, with powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Curly kale, with its frilly leaves, is the most common variety to find, 75% of the time.

“Lacinato Kale – aka black, aka dino, aka Tuscan – is the large leaf variety with dark grey bluish-green leaves, the best tasting with no center core stem,” he added. “White and purple flowering kale – aka salad savoy – has curly colorful leaves, green to white with purple in color, no center core stem, with a more tender flavor.”

Cara Mangini’s kale and watermelon panzanella calls for curly kale.

“The dish is a take on both a classic Italian tomato bread salad and a Mediterranean style watermelon-feta salad with all the sweet, sour, crispy, salty, and creamy notes to elevate it,” she writes.

I caught Mangini on YouTube, sponsored by Melissa’s Produce, demonstrating three recipes from “The Vegetable Eater,” a lemony rainbow carrot couscous salad, avocado toast with turmeric nut-seed mix and a sheet-pan cauliflower marbella with polenta, using Melissa’s tubed polenta slices — so convenient.

“This book is really designed for every eater at the table,” Mangini said. “My goal is to have you really find joy in putting vegetables at the center of the plate.”

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

KALE AND WATERMELON PANZANELLA

From “The Vegetable Eater” by Cara Mangini

Ingredients:

• 4 cups torn bite-size crusty bread, such as ciabatta (extra hard crust removed)

• 2 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• Fine sea salt

• 1/2 red onion, shaved or very thinly sliced

• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (from 1 to 2 limes)

• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

• 3/4 teaspoon sugar or maple syrup

• 3 packed cups stemmed and chopped curly kale (about half a bunch)

• 4 heaping cups watermelon

• 3 tablespoons toasted pitas

• 1 cup freshly crumbled feta cheese

• Freshly ground black pepper

• Flaky sea salt for finishing (optional)

Method:

1. Croutons: Heat oven to 375 degrees with rack in middle position. Place bread on sheet pan and toss with 2 tablespoons (or more) oil and a generous pinch of salt until well coated. Spread out bread and bake until golden and crisp, 9 to 12 minutes. Do not over toast or burn; croutons will continue to crisp as they cool.

2. Pickled onions: Combine onion, pinch fine sea salt, and 2 tablespoons lime juice and let stand, turning occasionally, while you prepare rest of salad.

3. Dressing: In small bowl, whisk together remaining 1 tablespoon lime juice, the balsamic vinegar, the sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt. Stream in the 1/4 cup oil, whisking until emulsified.

4. Assembly: Combine kale in large serving bowl with 2 tablespoons of the dressing. Toss together or massage dressing into kale until well coated. Pile watermelon on top and add 3/4 each of pickled onions, pepitas, and feta. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the dressing and toss the watermelon, onions, pepitas and feta and combine evenly – don’t actively combine with kale at first.

5. Add about 3/4 of the croutons and another 1 tablespoon of the dressing. Now toss everything in with kale to combine. Sprinkle with remaining pepitas and feta. Add remaining onion if you wish. Generously season with black pepper and, if using, light sprinkling of flaky sea salt. Adjust seasoning and dressing to taste; top with remaining croutons.

With prices skyrocketing, some opted for decorating potatoes, marshmallows and even rocks as popular alternatives. As of this writing, sales of Michaels’ plastic egg craft kits were up 20% over last year, according to the Associated Press.

This year’s average price in the U.S. for a dozen eggs rose to $6.23 from $2.99 last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with California’s average as high as $8.97. Officials are promising a drop in prices after Easter, however, with the expected decline in demand. That’s good news for those of us who love an egg in all its many luscious, incredible, edible forms.

I found the lovely dish featured here – one as suitable for company brunch as it is for family meal time – in “Easy Everyday” (Rodale, $29.99) by recipe developer and blogger (howsweeteats.com) Jessica Merchant.

“Puff pastry is an ingredient that I always have in my fridge and use in the kitchen constantly,” she writes. “And as someone who has always struck out with classic piecrust, it saves me every single time.

“Using puff pastry to make a big sheet-pan quiche is a fabulous way to serve a crowd, and it looks so impressive,” she added. “Not to mention that it tastes incredible, with its flaky, buttery layers. It is almost like using a croissant crust in your quiche.”

Merchant uses the recipe for weekday breakfasts or even dinners, cutting leftovers into squares and reheating, although it does lose some of its flakiness, she admits.

The 100 recipes in “Easy Everyday” adhere to Merchant’s promise that dinners should never take more than 30 to 45 minutes to prepare, with breakfasts and lunches considerably less. Her big three tenets are the key to her menu planning: versatility, ease of preparation and leftover quality.

This week, Merchant highlighted two recipes from her cookbook with a YouTube presentation sponsored by Melissa’s Produce, the country’s largest distributor of exotic fruits and vegetables, located in nearby Vernon.

First up: her hummus crunch bowl with her smashed feta vinaigrette (“the dressing that will make a dish pop,” she said), roasted red peppers and kalamata olives over couscous with crunchy pita chips over all.

“I love texture. I love hearing that crunch,” she warbled.

She then put together her Caprese cottage cheese toast in minutes. Burst tomatoes, fresh basil, balsamic drizzle, hot honey … not your grandma’s cottage cheese. To watch the presentation, search Jessica Merchant on YouTube.

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

THE EASIEST FANCY PUFF PASTRY QUICHE

From “Easy Everyday” by Jessica Merchant; yield: 4 to 8 servings

Ingredients:

• 6 slices bacon

• 1 pound asparagus, cut into thirds

• Kosher salt and black pepper

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed if frozen

• 8 large eggs

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

• 1/2 cup freshly grated white Cheddar cheese

• 1/2 cup freshly grated Gruyere cheese

• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs, like parsley, thyme and chives, plus more for serving Yield: 4 to 8 servings

Chef’s note: For best results, use puff pastry that comes in one single sheet. Find it in the refrigerated section of your grocery store with prepared piecrust.

Method:

1.   Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2. Heat skillet over medium-low heat and add bacon. Cook, stirring often, until fat is rendered and bacon is crispy, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove bacon with slotted spoon and place on paper towel to drain excess grease. Chop.

3. Add asparagus to same skillet with pinch of salt and pepper. Cook about 5 minutes, just to soften slightly. Remove with slotted spoon and place on paper towel with bacon. Lay puff pastry in 9 x 13-inch sheet pan. Pastry may go up sides of pan a bit. Poke all over with fork; this helps to keep it from bubbling up.

4. Whisk together eggs, cream, cheese, garlic and herbs until combined. Stir in pinch of salt and pepper. Stir in bacon and asparagus. Pour egg mixture into puff pastry crust. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until center is no longer jiggly and crust is golden. Remove and let cool slightly. Sprinkle with additional herbs. Slice into 8 squares to serve. This lasts in fridge for 2 to 3 days.

But neither had ever attempted these traditional recipes. Those had been Grandma’s province.

“We had never thought to copy down her recipes,” Cohen lamented. “That first Passover without my grandmother we shared a secret suspicion that allowing her foods to vanish from our table meant losing something much greater and more vital. And we could not bear another loss.”

Together the sisters experimented with recipes, using cookbooks for inspiration.

“We decided to make foods familiar enough to taste like Passover, yet still be fresh and inventive,” Cohen said. “Dishes reimagined so that they reflected our changing palates and insatiable culinary curiosity.”

That Passover experiment led Cohen on a decades-long quest to preserve these timeless family recipes before they disappear, while updating them with new flavor profiles. The result is “Jewish Holiday Cooking: A Food Lover’s Classics and Improvisations” (Wiley), with nearly 300 classic and contemporary recipes for all the holidays that unite old and new traditions.

In each chapter Cohen provides a history of the holiday as well as touching personal narratives chronicling her own family’s experiences and celebrations.

“You walk a fine line trying to make foods familiar enough to taste like Passover, yet still be fresh and innovative,” said Cohen, talking to me by phone from her home in New York. “You don’t want to wind up with something very chef-y.

“People say, how could you touch the sacred? But when you look at how Jewish food has evolved throughout the ages, as has its ritual, people are constantly using new ingredients and new techniques, which have kept the cuisine vital and the traditions vital,” she added. “We’re all sophisticated these days in terms of taste — heavy food is not appealing to us — we have to keep it fresh and exciting.”

For many Eastern European Jews, what would the holiday be without brisket? Cohen’s braised brisket with 36 cloves of garlic takes this traditional dish to another level, both gastronomically and philosophically.

“It’s my pun on the classic French chicken with 40 cloves of garlic,” she noted. “All that feisty garlic turns sweet and mellow with gentle braising. When pureed, it forms a seductive gravy, which is finished with a zing of chopped raw garlic and lemon zest.”

Full disclosure: I just moved from Fullerton to Placentia, and half my kitchen is still in boxes, so preparing for Seder is a real challenge. As of this writing, my chicken soup, matzo kugel and desserts are in the freezer, but this year’s brisket will come from Parties by Panache in Brea, a full-service catering company that can do everything from an entire wedding to individual dishes.

“We try to accommodate people’s budgets,” owner Hollis O’Brien told me. “If they want to use their own centerpieces, that’s fine. A lot of people take our menu and just order an entree or sides.”

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

BRAISED BRISKET WITH 36 CLOVES OF GARLIC

From “Jewish Holiday Cooking” by Jayne Cohen; yields 8 generous servings

Ingredients:

• About 36 fat, unpeeled garlic cloves (1 2/3 to 2 cups) or an equivalent amount of smaller cloves, plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• A first- or second-cut beef brisket (about 5 pounds), trimmed of excess fat, wiped with a damp paper towel, and patted dry

• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

• 3 cups chicken broth, good-quality low-sodium

• 3 or 4 fresh thyme sprigs, or 2 teaspoons dried leaves

• 2 fresh rosemary sprigs, plus 1 teaspoon chopped leaves

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325  degrees

2. Drop garlic cloves into small saucepan of boiling water; leave in water 30 seconds. Drain immediately. Peel as soon as cool enough to handle. Set aside on paper towels to dry.

3. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in heavy-bottomed roasting pan or flameproof casserole large enough to accommodate meat in one layer. Use two burners, if necessary. Add brisket and brown well on both sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer brisket to platter and set aside.

4. Pour off all but about 1 tablespoon of fat remaining in pan and add the garlic cloves. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic edges are tinged with gold. Add the vinegar and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom with a wooden spoon. Add stock, thyme, and rosemary sprigs, and reduce heat to a simmer. Salt and pepper brisket to taste on all sides, and add it to the pan, fat side up. Spoon garlic cloves over meat.

5. Place brisket in oven, cover (if you have no lid, use heavy-duty foil), and cook, basting every half-hour, until the meat is fork tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours or longer. (As the meat cooks, periodically check that the liquid is bubbling gently. If it is boiling rapidly, turn the oven down to 300 degrees. The brisket tastes best if it is allowed to rest, reabsorbing the juices lost during braising, and it’s easiest to de-fat the gravy if you prepare the meat ahead and refrigerate it until the fat solidifies.

6. Cool the brisket in the pan sauce, cover well with foil, and refrigerate until the fat congeals. Scrape off all solid fat. Remove the brisket from the pan and slice thinly across the grain.

7. Prepare gravy: Bring braising mixture to room temperature, then strain it, reserving the garlic and discarding the thyme and rosemary sprigs. Skim and discard as much fat as possible from the liquid. Purée about half of the cooked garlic with 1 cup of the defatted braising liquid in a food processor or a blender. (If you want a smooth gravy, purée all of the cooked garlic cloves.) Transfer the puréed mixture, the remaining braising liquid, and the rest of the cooked garlic to a skillet. Add the chopped rosemary, minced garlic, and lemon zest. Boil down the gravy over high heat, uncovered, to desired consistency. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Rewarm the brisket in the gravy until heated through.

8. Arrange sliced brisket on a serving platter. Spoon some of the hot gravy all over the meat and pass the rest in a separate sauceboat.

What a concept! Cook dinner unattended while you work or sleep.

Now enter sous vide (French for “under vacuum” and pronounced soo-VEED). Once used exclusively in fancy restaurants, sous vide equipment is now available at reasonable prices for the home chef. You simply vacuum seal the food and immerse it in a water bath, cooking slowly at a low temperature for an extended period of time.

“Sous vide is a lot easier than you might expect,” said Jacob Cohen, 25, who was introduced to the concept by a co-worker, John Wong.

“He gives me all his recipes,” Cohen said. “He had made a sous vide tri-tip – he made sliders – and it was one of the best foods I ever had, unbelievable. I couldn’t stop raving about it, so my parents gave me an Anova for Hanukkah.”

Cohen, who lives in the Bay area, likes to drive down to his grandparents’ house, (Eileen and Henry Cohen formerly of Fullerton, now residing in Villa Park) and cook dinner.

“Last time I brought sous vide tri-tip with me. I knew they would like it,” Jacob Cohen said. “It’s great for big dinners. It takes the stress away. The meat cooks for 24 hours and it’s perfect when you’re ready to serve it.”

The temperature and timing depend on what you are cooking.

“Brisket is excellent and goes at 140 degrees for 24 to 48 hours. Any steak like New York strip or ribeye works well at 131 degrees for 24 hours,” Cohen said. “The time is totally up to you and can be shortened to as low as six to eight hours if you don’t have time. My coworkers also cook salmon, pulled pork, chicken, and even hamburgers using the sous vide, which I’m excited to try soon.”

I have seen some people on TV cooking shows making sous vide without the fancy equipment.

“I don’t think I’d recommend it,” Cohen cautioned. “The sous vide probe is not that expensive. It really controls the temperature.

“If you want to skimp on something, you could do it without the vacuum sealer if you put the meat in a Ziploc bag and get all the air out,” he added. “The most critical thing is the temperature control. That’s the real bonus of having sous vide perfectly cooked steak.

“Food safety requires that meat keeps over 129 degrees, so it’s food safe at 130, 131. The meat is actually quite warm when you take it out, and it’s perfectly cooked in the middle because it’s been cooking so long,” Cohen said. “One important step: For steak, you need to very quickly sear it. After it’s cooked it looks like it’s been boiled in a bag, not very appetizing. You can put it on the grill for 30 seconds on each side or broil it or put it in a pizza oven for a few seconds. You just want to sear it quickly.

“When you traditionally grill a steak or pan-sear it, the outside will be crusty and really well done and the middle will be pink or rare or won’t be even cooked,” Cohen said. “With sous vide it’s perfectly cooked throughout.”

Cohen likes chimichurri and horseradish sauce with steak.

“I also like to use some of the stock from the sous vide bag for a side of rice or couscous or some sort of grain,” he added. “The stock is great for cooking – a really well-rendered kind of extract from the meat.”

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

SOUS VIDE TRI-TIP

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds tri-tip

• Salt and pepper

• 2 whole cloves garlic

• 2 sprigs rosemary

Method

Generously salt and pepper tri-tip. Put tri-tip, rosemary and garlic in a vacuum-seal bag and seal, removing all air. Sous vide at 131 degrees for 24 hours. Remove tri-tip from bag and sear on all sides quickly (30 seconds each) in hot pan or oven under maximum broil heat to make a crust.

For the Chimichurri:

• 1 bunch cilantro

• 1 serrano chili (seeds removed, optional)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 tablespoon vinegar

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

Blend until desired consistency. Cohen prefers almost smooth.

Here’s a fun idea for celebrating this holiday of romance. Creative Collective Studio in Anaheim is offering a Valentine’s Day candle-making and decorating workshop in which couples will craft a dessert-themed candle and enjoy delicious desserts, all while watching a romantic movie. Sign up at Eventbrite.

Locally, some of North Orange County’s favorite restaurants are planning special Valentine’s Day menus.

Cedar Creek Inn in Brea is offering a champagne dinner with a choice of starters including stuffed crimini mushrooms, sesame calamari, brie cheese or shrimp cocktail. Entrée choices include chicken cordon bleu, Alaskan halibut, prime rib, cedar plank salmon, jumbo wild prawns, filet mignon, New York steak and rack of lamb followed by a complementary chocolate-covered strawberry.

A romantic dinner at The Cellar in Fullerton will include a first course of puff pastry with caramelized leek, blue cheese and prosciutto, crab cake or potato vareniki with fried shallots and dill velouté, followed by spinach and potato soup or caesar salad. Entrees include Boeuf Bourguignon, spaghetti and lobster or Jidori chicken with a dessert selection of raspberry and lemon pannacotta, Italian custard and raspberries or red velvet brownie.

The Valentine’s Day menu at The Wild Artichoke in Yorba Linda features their Million Dollar seaweed salad and chawanmushi (steamed egg custard), chestnut velouté, and entrée choices: nori tacos, poached oyster and shrimp, bay scallops, sous vide short rib, Moroccan lamb rack, or Wagyu ribeye cap with a deconstructed vanilla mousse cake to share for dessert.

Since ancient times various ingredients have been credited with firing up passion, so-called aphrodisiacs.

According to the “Cambridge World History of Food,” high on the ancient love list were anise, basil, carrot, salvia, gladiolus root, orchid bulbs, pistachio nuts, rocket (arugula), sage, sea fennel, turnips, skink flesh (a type of lizard) and river snails, while the love struck scrupulously avoided dill, lentil, lettuce, watercress, rue, and water lily.

Fresh out of skink flesh? Depending on which list you consult, the usual suspects for kindling romance include avocado, bananas, chili peppers, honey, almonds, figs, arugula and, of course, the top three: oysters, coffee and, you guessed it, chocolate.

Tiramisu is sure to kindle romance combining two of the top three, coffee and chocolate.

The name “tiramisu” means “pick me up.” The dessert originated in the late 1960s or early 1970s in Treviso, Italy. Ado Campeol, the owner of the restaurant Le Beccherie is known as the “father of tiramisu,” although his wife, Alba di Pillo, and their chef, Roberto Linguanotto, are credited with creating it.

You can find online the recipe for the tiramisu I made here from Gourmet magazine in 2009.

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

But I do love a party, so if my centerpiece has to be the TV, hey, think of what I’m saving on flowers!

My Super Bowl guest list is growing each day, and I’m getting nervous. Just how much food do I need for a crowd? And then there’s the expense.

Not to worry, with Denise Vivaldo’s cookbook and catering guide, “Do It For Less! Parties,” I know I can throw a bash that won’t stress me out and won’t break the bank.

“People are not used to cooking in quantities,” said Vivaldo, a classically trained chef and caterer who specializes in recipe development, consulting, and food styling for print, film and television. “It freaks them out to see how much food they’ve got. Is it enough? It is too much?”

This book eliminates the guesswork with recipes given in chart form for 12, 25, 50 or 75 guests.

“Remember, the more things you have on the menu, the smaller the portions you need to serve,” Vivaldo advised.

But how much will this party cost, I wonder.

“When people entertain, they spend a lot of money instead of keeping it simple,” Vivaldo noted. “If you’re having a lot of people, you don’t have to offer a complete bar. Why not make one kind of drink, say Cosmopolitans, and add something non-alcoholic and some water and you’ve got it.”

This seasoned professional, who has catered 10,000 parties (serving the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bette Midler and Prince Charles), reveals her tricks of the trade for everything from planning the menu to napkin folding.

“When we’re entertaining, we’re all our own harshest critics,” she said. “But if someone else has set the table, the simplest meal is divine.”

Vivaldo offers nine complete party themes, each with a menu, shopping list, decorating ideas (including invitations, table linens, favors and entertainment), time- and money-saving tips, an equipment list and a menu countdown, so you’re not doing everything at the last minute.

“You don’t need to spend a lot of money on matching linens,” Vivaldo advised. “Look around your house. Everything doesn’t have to match. Be creative. You can use a Mexican serape or even $10 sheets from Target. People don’t come to your home to see your couch. They come for the company and a glass of wine.”

For the Super Bowl, I’ll score with the Toscana menu: Classic Caesar salad, chilled penne pasta with pesto and pine nuts, Italian meatball lasagna, sweet potato gnocchi with sage butter sauce, tiramisu and chocolate almond biscotti. Touchdown!

Vivaldo’s game plan makes it all simple, starting with shopping for non-perishables the week before. I see two days before the game I can prepare the gnocchi dough and biscotti, with the bulk of the cooking the following day. On party day I have only to cook the gnocchi, reheat the lasagna and gnocchi sauce, toss the salad and brew coffee.

Then I can relax and enjoy the game. Or you enjoy the game and I’ll enjoy you!

“People make themselves crazy when they entertain,” Vivaldo reflected. “If you could enjoy yourself more, you would do it more often.”

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

CHILLED PENNE PASTA WITH PESTO AND PINE NUTS

From “Do It For Less! Parties” (Terrace, $19.95) by Denise Vivaldo

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds penne pasta (uncooked)

• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

• 4 cups fresh basil leaves

• 1/3 cup walnuts

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled

• 4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

Method:

1. Bring large stockpot of salted water to rolling boil. Cook pasta in batches until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Don’t overcook. Drain. Drizzle with a little olive oil if needed to keep from sticking.

2. Process basil leaves, olive oil, walnuts, garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper in food processor until mixture forms coarse paste. Taste and adjust seasonings.

3. Toss cooked pasta and pesto together in large mixing bowl (in batches if needed). Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts.

3. Cover and chill until ready to serve. Serves 12

We’re so spoiled by the globalization of produce – cantaloupe in December! – as well as modern methods of preservation, such as freezing, that shopping locally and seasonally takes a bit of effort.

Actually, freezing food dates back to 3000 B.C., when the Chinese preserved food in ice cellars and the Romans used compressed snow. In 1917, Clarence Birdseye observed the Inuits “flash”-freezing the fish they caught in the extremely cold Arctic and noted its quality and freshness when thawed.

After much experimentation, it took until the 1950s for the first frozen foods to become available in the U.S.

While chefs and cookbook authors continue to recommend fresh over frozen, consumers are noticing that flash-frozen food is often fresher than the fresh food you buy in the market, which might be days or more from harvest.

My daughter-in-law, Shelly Kancigor, has found that to be true with the frozen peaches she uses to make these luscious Peach Cobbler Cookies.

“I started making these peach cookies in the summertime when peaches were plentiful, but found it’s a lot quicker to use frozen fruit,” she said. “Otherwise, you have to peel them, and sometimes fresh peaches are woody and maybe not sweet. It saves you an hour if you don’t have to peel the peaches.

“The frozen ones come peeled and sliced – I chop them up a bit further – and they’re consistently perfect every time,” she added. “And I did not have to adjust this recipe at all when I switched to frozen. You want to eat fresh peaches in season if they’re sweet and juicy, but peeling them is an unnecessary waste of time.”

Shelly takes her recipe from the Blue Bowl blog by Stephanie Simmons, find it at bluebowlrecipes.com/peach-cobbler-cookies.

Shelly works in retail sales at Alo Yoga, the upscale athleisure clothing store, in Phoenix, where her family moved from Minnesota almost three years ago. She began bringing cookies to work, and these peach cookies quickly became a favorite.

“There are young college kids working there, and they eat a lot of processed foods,” she said, “and I wanted to bring them some home-baked treats. They love it and request their favorites. I think they miss it from home. I don’t mind doing it. I enjoy baking, and now I have people to bake for.”

Another favorite with her coworkers is her banana oatmeal triple chocolate chip cookie.

“I use butterscotch chips, milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips,” she explained. “I do a banana purée as my base with an oatmeal cookie recipe. It’s very banana-y. I made that one up. They request it all the time.

“For Christmas I made a very nice frosted sugar cookie with red sprinkles,” she added. “They melt in your mouth. I cut them out with a glass dipped in red sugar and then bake them.”

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.