My favorite kitchen tool is my stone mortar and pestle. It sits proudly on my kitchen counter, holding its own in a caveman-esque sort of way, flaunting its primal elegance in between the stove and the espresso machine. It's smugly confident in its weight and kitchen hierarchy (deemed decorative) while my food processor and standing mixer are banished behind cabinet doors (deemed clutter).

New kitchen techniques are awe-inspiring and futuristic, yet my mortar is old and wise, with a lineage extending as far back as the Old Testament. Sous-vides, anti-griddles and smart ovens may be cutting-edge, favored by professional chefs and gastronomy buffs, but my mortar has a stellar history as an essential tool to Native Americans, ancient Romans and Greeks, medieval pharmacists, and home cooks spanning the ages from the dawn of civilization. It is the embodiment of simplicity and timelessness, pleasingly tactile and massively elemental. And it's affordable.

What can you do with a mortar and pestle? You can grind, pound and smash to your heart's content, making pestos, pastes, sauces, dips, dressings and marinades. You can grind seeds into powder. (I assure you that lightly toasting cardamom, cumin or coriander seeds, and then grinding them to a fine powder in a mortar, will yield results unparalleled by the pre-ground versions.)

The mortar is also the perfect place to smash garlic with sea salt, adding fresh-cut herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, sage, basil and mint. Crush the garlic first with the salt, then add the herbs and bruise them by giving them a few turns with the pestle to release their juices and flavor. You will be left with a powerful, aromatic paste you can smear on meats and poultry before roasting.

You can also create a complete dish and serve it in the mortar. Try making this guacamole, a perfect crowd-pleaser, just in time for your Super Bowl party. Serve with chips, and you have one-stop-shopping in a primitive vessel. If you don't have a mortar, then simply combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mash with a fork to achieve a chunky consistency.

Guacamole

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: Makes about 2 cups

1 small red or green jalapeno pepper, stemmed and seeded, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

1/4 cup cilantro leaves, plus extra chopped leaves for garnish

3 to 4 large ripe Hass avocados, peeled

2 tablespoons coarsely grated yellow onion with juice

Juice of one lime

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 to 3 dashes hot sauce, such as Tabasco (optional)

Combine the jalapeno, garlic and red onion in a mortar. Press on the ingredients with your pestle, and grind them around the mortar in a circular movement, 3 to 4 times. Add the cilantro and gently bruise the leaves with the pestle.

Add the avocados, yellow onion and lime juice and mash to form a blended but chunky consistency. Mix in the cumin, salt, black pepper and hot sauce, if using, and taste for seasoning. Serve garnished with additional chopped cilantro.

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When the weather is frigid, and the garden has hunkered down for the winter, it’s time to turn to chicories. These leafy vegetables are our cold-season friends, packed with vitamins and nutrients, and winter’s replacement for sweet summer greens. While chicories are also referred to as “greens,” whites, reds and purples may be a more accurate description. This broad group of leafy “greens” includes endive, escarole, frisee, Treviso and radicchio.

Chicory leaves are hardy and often bitter, so it’s best to lean into their robust qualities, rather than pretend they are a substitute for mild-mannered lettuce. Team them up with equally strong flavors: sweet and sharp dressings, astringent citrus, smoky bacon, fruit and nuts. And thanks to their sturdiness, you can also braise them, which can be an appealing way to get your veggies in the dead of winter. Not only will the cooking process tame their bitterness, it will coax out their flavors and natural sugars and enhance their sweetness.

Balsamic Braised Chicories

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: Serves: 4 to 6

1 1/2 pounds chicories, such as endive, radicchio, escarole

1/4 cup chicken (or vegetable) stock

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 to 3 thyme sprigs, plus extra for garnish

Trim the bases of the chicories. Halve the endive lengthwise and cut the radicchio and escarole into wedges.

Whisk the chicken stock, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and salt in a small bowl.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Arrange the chicories cut-side down in the skillet and cook until they begin to soften and brown, about 5 minutes, turning once.

Add the chicken stock mixture and scatter the thyme sprigs over the chicories. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover the skillet and simmer until the chicories are tender, 6 to 8 minutes.

Remove the lid, increase the heat to medium-high and cook until the liquid is reduced and the chicories are slightly caramelized. Season with additional salt to taste and serve garnished with fresh thyme.

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If it’s not broken, then don’t fix it. This pertains to great recipes, baking techniques and, more specifically, these scones. I discovered this recipe years ago, published by Cooks Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen, and it’s a keeper. Since then, I have made these scones countless times with only the tiniest of tweaks. And, like any tradition worth repeating, these dense, moist and crumbly scones have become a part of our breakfast rotation when the family is gathered together over the holidays, when it’s a wintry day outside, or we are expecting friends for brunch.

The technique is specific -- namely, all ingredients should be as cold as possible. And while the method has steps that dance around this requirement, the good news is that the scones can be formed and cut, and then frozen in advance of baking. Simply pop them into zipper bags and freeze for up to one month. The morning of serving, remove the scones from the freezer and bake them frozen, adding an additional five minutes or so for baking to compensate for their chilliness.

The original recipe calls for blueberries, which are a lovely springtime addition. I am partial to currants, so often add them instead, along with a generous sprinkle of lemon zest.

Currant Scones

Active Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Yield: Makes 8

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) frozen butter, plus 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing

1/2 cup dried currants

Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and stir to blend.

Whisk the milk and sour cream in a separate bowl and refrigerate while you grate the butter.

Coarsely grate the frozen butter and place in a bowl. Freeze for 5 minutes and then add the butter to the flour mixture. Quickly mix with the tips of your fingers to combine. Pour in the milk and stir until just combined.

Transfer the mixture to a floured work surface and knead several times until the dough holds together in a ragged ball. Roll the dough out into a 12-inch square, adding a little flour as needed. Fold the dough 3 ways into a rectangle, like a business letter, using a metal spatula to lift the dough from the surface as necessary. Fold the short ends of the dough into the center, overlapping, so you have an approximate 4-inch square. Freeze the dough for 5 minutes.

Roll the dough out again on a floured surface into a 12-inch square. Sprinkle the currants over the dough, lightly pressing them in to adhere. Roll the dough up into a tight log, then press into a 12-by-4-inch rectangle. Cut the rectangle into 4 equal sections and then cut each section on the diagonal to form 8 triangles.

If freezing, place the triangles in one layer in a large zipper bag, press the air out, and freeze for up to 1 month. When ready to bake, remove from the freezer and proceed with next step.

Transfer the triangles to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush the tops with the melted butter and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar. Bake on the middle rack of the oven until the tops and bottoms are golden, about 20 minutes (or 25 to 27 minutes if frozen).

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