Holiday gift ideas from Don Mauer’s kitchen, to yours

The gift-giving holidays are upon us, and here are a few ideas.

What I am reading may interest others who love to cook. My recommendation is not a new book, but one that I’ve loved from the first time I read it (now on its third read): Ruth Reichl’s “Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table.”

Reichl was the restaurant critic for the LA Times first, and then The New York Times. She was the last editor of Gourmet magazine until Condé Nast made the terrible business decision to make Bon Appetit their only food magazine.

Ruth Reichl books — and many followed this one — are all terrific reads. Reichl’s books are brimming with stories, interspersed with great recipes. To whomever you gift any of Reichl’s books, they will not be disappointed.

Using my kitchen as a guide to what may make good holiday gifts: first up, a digital scale. I use my OXO 5-pound Food Scale with Pull-Out Display ($32.99) every day, usually multiple times. I can place a 5-quart pot or large dinner plate on the scale and with the pull-out reader, still see the readout. There are other scales where those read-outs can be covered by large plates. OXO also makes an 11-pound scale ($55.99). I’ve had my scale for more than five years, and it still works beautifully.

This last Thanksgiving, I used my Thermoworks ChefAlarm Cooking Alarm Thermometer and Timer ($65) to roast two bone-in, skin-on turkey breasts to perfection. This is a leave-it-in probe that lets me know when whatever I’m roasting reaches a set temperature. Yes, that seems pricey, and there are other similar thermometers. However, this one was highly recommended then (and now, too) and has worked flawlessly for the more than five years I’ve owned it.

Herbs and spices can make or break just about anything I make. Most of mine come from The Spice House, a local company with stores in Naperville, Evanston, and Chicago.

My brother Tom, the chef, ordered spices from them when he owned a bakery in Des Moines, Iowa. He was particularly fond of their Saigon Ground Cassia Cinnamon. It made his luscious cinnamon rolls sing compared to all of his competitors.

The Spice House has spice collections, one of which may be perfect for someone just starting to build their first kitchen. They also make blends like their Brisket of Love Barbecue Rub, which they say is “sweet and tangy with a peppery bite, perfect for slow-smoked brisket.” Or their Cacio e Pepe Italian Blend, which brings together Romano cheese and freshly ground black and pink pepper.

If you have friends or family who like to make their own salad dressings, they have Homestyle Buttermilk Ranch Salad Dressing & Dip Mix, and a Green Goddess Mix.

This December’s weather has been a beast, which means it is soup time. Yes, we made a turkey soup after our Thanksgiving dinner. And, thanks to a ham bone in the freezer from an organic ham, we magically turned it into Lentil Soup. Here’s how we made it.

• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at 1leanwizard@gmail.com.

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Nan’s Ham and Lentil Soup

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, trimmed, peeled, and diced

1 large carrot, peeled and diced

2 large celery ribs, washed, ends trimmed and diced

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 ham bone

1 quart low sodium, organic chicken broth or stock

1 pound green lentils, washed and picked over

1 whole bay leaf

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped parsley, optional

Place lentils in a wire mesh strainer and rinse to remove any dust or debris. Set aside.

Add olive oil to a 5- or 6-quart saucepan and place over medium heat. When hot, add onion and sauté for 2 minutes, add carrot and celery and sauté until onion is translucent. Add garlic and sauté about 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the ham bone, chicken broth, lentils, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Stir and simmer, stirring occasionally, until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf and ham bone. When the ham bone is cool, remove any ham and return the ham meat to the soup pot. Stir in optional parsley. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Suggestion: No ham bone? Instead, cut three or four bacon slices into pieces. In the saucepan in which you’re going to make the soup, cook the bacon over medium heat until browned and crispy. Transfer the cooked bacon to a plate. In the bacon fat, start cooking the vegetables, omitting the olive oil. Add the cooked bacon at the same time you would have added the ham bone.

Serves 6.

Nutrition values per serving: 306 calories (9% from fat), 3.1 g fat (0.4 g saturated fat), 49 g carbohydrates (25 net carbs), 3 g sugars, 24 g fiber, 20.6 g protein, 0 mg cholesterol, 511 mg sodium.

SaltSense: Omitting the added salt reduces sodium per serving to 124 milligrams.

— Don Mauer