Vegetarian

The Boursin cheese sold in the grocery store is kind of on the pricey side, so just make your own and enjoy the savings.

Hot chocolate is not the only winter warmer. There’s a whole variety of spiced, sweetened, and heated beverages that contain no milk, no chocolate, and no caffeine. At Bubby’s, I’ve tinkered with some of these traditional hot drinks to come up with some beverages that have become pretty popular in their own right. Here are a couple of examples of our spiced, sweetened, and heated beverages.

Wonderful with steamed asparagus, this is also good chilled over a green salad and even with grilled chicken and fish. Try to use extra-virgin olive oil and the freshest garlic you can find. This will keep for about two weeks in the refrigerator.

An intensely flavored, full-bodied sauce that’s good on a variety of dishes, this one will keep for up to one week in the refrigerator. Use ripe local tomatoes and basil for best results.

Here’s the foolproof version of the sauce. It can get a little hotter or a little cooler than the classic hollandaise without breaking. An added benefit: It takes less than two minutes to make, so you can leave this to the last minute.

Make this superb sauce once in a while when you want to treat your guests to something undeniably rich and velvety smooth. It is best made as close as possible to when you plan to serve it, though it will hold for about an hour or so before serving. Serve it with Seared Beef Tenderloin Benedict (page 110).

The classic recipe for this very rich sauce goes with everything from meat and fish to eggs and vegetables. It’s usually made in a double boiler, but if you don’t have one, you can improvise. Make a double boiler by putting one saucepan over another slightly larger one and filling the bottom one with an inch or so of water. Make the sauce in the top saucepan and let the water in the bottom pan simmer—it should not touch the sauce—so the sauce will cook slowly. If your sauce still breaks, transfer it to a bowl. Off the heat in the top of the double boiler, whisk another egg yolk. Gradually pour in the curdled sauce in a stream and whisk vigorously until all the broken sauce has been incorporated into the egg yolk. Make the sauce no more than 30 minutes before you plan on serving it. Do not attempt to reheat or it will break.

A wonderful syrup to pour over fresh fruit, this is not overpoweringly sweet, thanks to the orange zest. Choose a decent, but not expensive, port for this. Depending upon what you will use it for, opt for the cloves, cinnamon, and pepper. The spicier port syrup is great for reconstituting dried figs, apples, pears, and other dried fruit. You can also use it as a glaze on chicken or pork. Port syrup keeps in an airtight container for a few months in the refrigerator.

This syrup is excellent on Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes (page 121) or other berry pancakes. It’s also good with waffles, French toast, and johnnycakes.Try this recipe with blackberries or another favorite berry, or a mixture of berries. Boysenberries are great and can usually be bought frozen (but rarely fresh). Red currants are sour and add a real zing to maple syrup. You can do this with any berry you like. Blueberry syrup can be made well in advance and stored for two weeks in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Be sure to reheat it over low heat before serving, because it tastes best hot or warm.

This naturally sweet fruit topping is very good on oatmeal, pancakes, or French toast. Be sure the banana you use is nice and ripe.