The Best Things I Made in 2023

That's right: it's a countdown!

I love a year-end countdown, even if I did miss the year end. Minor technicality. The point is, we’re diving into 2024 ready to embrace a whole new batch of recipes and excitement, but we can’t lurch forward without some navel gazing; so here we are! Behold, the best things I made in 2023.

This was a difficult list for me to make. I needed to establish some Very Important Rules in order to proceed fairly. First, I stuck with stuff I wrote about (or plan to write about) in this column. Second, I only included recipes that were New To Me™, which meant that perennial favorites such as my chocolate cheesecake or THE Turkey weren’t in the running.

Those were actually my only two rules.

With these parameters set, I then had to go through the harrowing process of culling. This was a challenge. I tried some truly excellent recipes in 2023, and narrowing the field down to just ten worthy candidates was impossible. Which is why I didn’t do that. Instead, I came up with a top 13 because… well… who says it has to be ten?

Adding three spots to the list didn’t really make the process any easier for me. I still had to make some very tough cuts. Just a few weeks ago I was raving about a great sunchoke and chicken dish - should I include it in the list, or am I just caving into recency bias? And what about a fascinating scallop meal I made in May? I remembering thinking it was exquisite, but does it matter that I haven’t been inspired to return to it?

This all left me wondering what the heck qualified as a “top ten(ish)” recipe of the year. I don’t have a great answer. The best I can come up with is this: these are the dishes I loved so dearly that they lingered in my head far long after the plates were washed and the photos uploaded to Instagram. I fantasized about making these recipes again, even if I never got around to it, and I imagined all the potlucks I could bring them too. These recipes didn’t just taste amazing, but they were dishes I wanted to actively share and pros·e·lyt·ize.

(yeah, I had to look up the spelling of proselytize, and yeah, I copied and pasted from Google, and yeah, I kept the division dots because that is honestly the cadence of how I was saying the word in my head)

Ultimately though, when it came time to make tough decisions about which dish deserved a spot on this list, I turned to Justice Potter Stewart who famously declared “I know it when I see it.” Of course, he was talking about porn, but that’s neither here nor there. To the list!

13. Gefilte Fish

This might be a cheat because I made this gefilte fish recipe in 2022, but it truly blossomed at the 2023 Passover Seder. The key here was garlic. Boosting the cloves in the recipe led to some of the best gefilte fish I’ve had. It’s my new method.

12. Roasted Cabbage from Cooks Illustrated

In the latest edition of Cook’s Illustrated, writer Andrea Geary serves up the roast cabbage recipe of my dreams. It’s so simple that I can’t believe this method hasn’t been more widely reported. I’ll get into the specifics on a future NBD Fancy newsletter, but rest assured, this cabbage turned out so well that it leapfrogged many other more elaborate 2023 recipes to land on this list.

11. Anchovy shortbread

Anna Hezel’s tarragon and anchovy infused shortbread has no business being as good as it is. Next year I’m bringing it to Holiday cookie exchanges, just to be a DISRUPTOR.

10. Sweet Patatas Bravas

One of the genuine surprises to emerge from my Thanksgiving menu this year was this Hetty Lui McKinnon recipe, coming from her amazing cookbook Tenderheart. Sweet from the potatoes, tangy from the aioli, and garlicky from the tomato sauce, this dish upstaged everything on my table. I would have ranked the patatas higher except the leftovers saw a steep decline in quality. Too bad. Protip: this dish is best day-of.

9. Cider Braised Apple and Jerusalem Artichoke Chicken

I included this Adeena Sussman dish on my top 13 list because the mix of chicken, apple, and sunchoke was too intriguing and unique to ignore. I’ve been thinking about this recipe since I made it, and that’s got to count for something.

8. Oil Crackling Shrimp

One of my 2023 regrets has been not cooking from The Woks of Life more, especially given how successfully this simple shrimp dish turned out. I was skeptical / scared of all the frying involved, but the shrimps only sit in the oil for about 8 seconds (well, actually 16 seconds since they all get re-fried). What this means is that the dish comes together swiftly and isn’t nearly as unhealthy as it sounds (although, it’s not exactly healthy either). I just loved, loved, loved this shrimp, and I couldn’t believe how close it replicated Chinese take-out.

7. Chocolate braided bread

I haven’t written about this bread yet, but I will, and when I do, you will see. OH YOU WILL SEE. This Norwegian loaf required chocolate, orange, and plaiting. I’m not even sure if the dough was under or over proofed, and you know what? I don’t care. This was a gorgeous, delicious foray into bread-making, courtesy of Nevada Berg.

6. Lime Squiggles

Are these the #1 cookie? My boyfriend says yes. I say - maybe? It’s hard for me to give the crown to a lime cookie over a chocolate chip. Either way, these squiggles, which hail from a Claire Saffitz recipe, are divine.

5. Sheldon Simeon’s Garlic Noodles

I will always welcome a garlic bomb. These noodles, by Top Chef alum Sheldon Simeon, are like the Manhattan Project of garlic bombs. Luckily, they’re also delicious. Great for a potluck too, I’d like to add. Make these noodles and watch them disappear instantly.

4. Broccoli Forest Loaf

There was never a doubt that this showstopper would wind up very high on my list. But just how high would it get? You know the answer - you’re literally reading this. While Hetty Lui McKinnon’s recipe taps out at #4, the truth is that it’s only a hair away from the top spot. A bright yellow loaf studded with broccoli trees, this dish is massively inviting, and, more importantly, so so good.

3. Mint Chip Ice Cream Cake

One of the best dishes of the year was also one that required the least amount of cooking. Alison Roman’s mint chip ice cream cake straddles the line between recipe and gameplan, but who cares? It comes together in minutes, and the messy, delicious, nostalgic outcome is the perfect high-low capper for a fancy dinner party, especially one featuring lots of caviar. Things don’t need to be complicated to be great, and this cake proves it.

2. Gâteau de Nantes

As much as I love a low-tech ice cream cake, I can’t deny that the single best cake I made in 2023 was the Gâteau de Nantes from Aleksandra Crapanzano’s excellent tome Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes. This was more or less a rum cake, which is odd because I’m not someone who gravitates towards rum cakes, but I guess I was rum-curious that day. If memory serves me correct, there was over a cup of rum in the cake (and soak and glaze), which explains why at least one person who tried it actually got drunk. Boozy perks aside, this cake was the absolute perfect intersection of flavor, texture, moisture, and surprise. I never thought a rum cake could capture my imagination for a full year, but here we are.

1. THE Tomato Tart

The best thing I made all year was probably the brashest too. This fairly simple recipe hails from Alison Roman’s Sweet Enough (come to think of it, so does the Mint Chip ice cream cake), and the concept is simple: make a parmesan-laden tart crust and pile it high with tomatoes, garlic, basil, and olive oil. Oh, and don’t forget a splash of vinegar. The aroma of this thing while it bakes is worth the #1 spot alone, but then actually eating it? I can’t even. I don’t have to make an elaborate pitch as to why tomatoes and garlic go well together — they are besties and we all know it. The real power of this dish is the way it harnesses the time-tested strategy of roasting tomatoes (something that makes even off-season supermarket romas delicious) and pairs it with a cheesy, savory crust. The tomato tart is visually striking and hits your tastebuds like a sledgehammer — in the best way. Serve it for dinner, serve it as a side, serve it for brunch. Serve it any way you want (but maybe not dessert). This is undeniably the best recipe I made in 2023.

Honorable Mensch:

Mountain Lasagna - an easy, delicious lasagna. Goes in the rotation. Also, it has nothing to do with mountains and isn’t even called that.

Mussels with orzo in coconut and saffron - Gobbled these up. Almost made the Big List.

Lemongrass Chicken Noodle Salad of Dreams - Another almost-contender. This was so good I made it two nights in a row.

Pull-Apart Bun Bread with Whipped Honey Butter - I’m shocked this didn’t make the Big List. It definitely was my most photogenic dish of the year.

Beets with Buttermilk and Walnuts - A simple, glorious side.

Roasted Carrots with Hot Green Tahini - There are many spins on roasted carrots out there. I love Andy Baraghani’s hot green tahini angle. (Pictured at top of column)

Scallops with Curried Onions - Ixta Belfrage is one of my favorite up and coming food writers. These scallops were outstanding.

Razor Clam Bruschetta with Calabrian Chili Butter and Herbs - I finally tried razor clams and fell in love. Just in time for my local purveyor to stop stocking them. UGH.

Crisped Potatoes with Romesco - Another winner by Andy Baraghani. My first time making smashed potatoes. I’m a convert.

What were your winners for 2023? Any recommendations? And what are you hoping to make in 2024?