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and best friend, Meg Blocker, but the other two are extremely old family recipes from my mother’s side. They’re so old, I had to update the Cheese Date Rolls to use butter and shortening rather than oleo! And the Delmonico Pudding is technically a blancmange, a style of dish that actually originated in the Middle Ages. My family’s modern version probably dates from the mid 1800s when the Manhattan restaurant of the same name was at the height of its popularity. As Lilah says, it’s traditionally a holiday treat, at least in my family, but with the substitution of candied ginger and pine nuts for the festively green and red candied pineapple, Delmonico Pudding works year-round! I hope you enjoy all the recipes as much as I enjoyed developing them.

MEXICAN STREET CORN SALAD

4 ears corn, shucked

¼ cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons lime juice

¼ teaspoon chili powder, or to taste

3 green onions

1 medium red bell pepper

1 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

½ teaspoon chili powder

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

chopped fresh cilantro

1 lime, quartered

Cook the corn in a large pot of boiling, salted water for no more than two minutes. You want it to stay crunchy. Drain and allow to cool while you prep the other ingredients.

Mix the mayonnaise with the lime juice and cayenne. Thinly slice the green onions, both the whites and part of the green. Seed and dice the red pepper—you want about half a cup. Cut the corn kernels off the cooled cobs and add to the green onions, the diced bell pepper, and the mayonnaise. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.

Divide the salad between four plates. Top each with chili powder, freshly grated cheese, and a little chopped cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

CHEESE DATE ROLLS

1 pound of the sharpest cheddar cheese you can find (white is fine, but orange gives the rolls better color), shredded

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled

6 tablespoons shortening

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon salt

1 16-ounce package of pitted dates (the biggest, plumpest dates available will really take these over the top)

Whole pecans, about two cups

Put the flour, cayenne, and salt in a food processor and pulse once to mix. Add the cold butter and shortening, then pulse five or six times until incorporated. Stir in the shredded cheese and let the dough rest at least two hours in the refrigerator. (The recipe can be made ahead up to this point; dough will last for several days refrigerated in an airtight container.) Remove the dough from the fridge about half an hour before you want to bake the rolls.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

While oven is heating, stuff fifty dates with one whole pecan each. Pinch off a walnut-sized lump of dough and flatten it between your palms, then mold it around one stuffed date, making sure to smooth out any cracks or holes. Repeat until dough is gone. Place the rolls on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper or a silicone baking mat. Bake for 20–25 minutes, until the rolls have a nice golden color. Remove to a rack to cool.

DELMONICO PUDDING

2 packages unflavored gelatin

2 cups whole milk

5 eggs

1¼ cups granulated sugar, divided salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pint heavy whipping cream

3 dozen small almond macaroons (make sure they’re almond, not the more common coconut kind!)

5 tablespoons pine nuts

2 tablespoons crystallized ginger

Dissolve the gelatin in one cup cold milk.

Separate five eggs. (Refrigerate whites while making custard.) Beat yolks, gradually adding ¾ cup sugar. Slowly beat in the remaining cup milk and a pinch of salt. Cook over low heat until mixture begins to thicken into custard. (Be patient! Eventually, it will coat the spoon.) Cool slightly and add vanilla. Stir in the gelatin/milk mixture and refrigerate for about one and one-half to two hours.

When the custard begins to set, beat egg whites into a stiff meringue. Gradually add ½ cup of sugar.

Beat the whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the meringue mixture