July 5, 2009
Posted by Ed Levine, July 5, 2009 at 8:00 AM
After consuming copious amounts of burgers and hot dogs on the Fourth, I'm ready to lighten up Sunday brunch. My wife makes this amazing watermelon, feta, and arugula salad every year for a friend's summer potluck party. She adapted the salad from You on a Diet. This year's party took place on July 3, so this recipe's clean, tangy, and fruity flavors are fresh in my mind. Although I love the creamier, less-salty-but-still-punchy taste of French feta cheese, any feta will do. Serve this salad with pieces of grilled or warm pita bread.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, July 3, 2009 at 8:00 PM
On Fridays, Joshua Bousel drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
Before you run out and grab all those burgers and hot dogs for tomorrow's great Fourth of July cookout, let me tempt you with another great American tradition that's great for the grill and revelers alike: pizza Although the high heat of the grill produces a truly excellent pizza, it's a challenge to get a perfectly cooked crisp crust at the same time the toppings are ready, but after years of trial and error, I've developed a fairly foolproof way to get perfect pizzas every time.
This requires a two-zone fire, with all the coals piled on one side of the charcoal grate, and a process of cooking the crust in stages.
First you stretch the dough out to a personal-size pizza and place it directly over the coals, cooking it until it browns and crisps nicely. Then remove the crust to a plate, arrange the toppings on the cooked side, place it over the cool side of the grill, and cover. When the cheese is melted and the toppings are done to your liking, check the bottom of the crust; if it needs to cook a little longer, just move it over to the hot side again until it's perfect.
What comes off the grill is a real beauty of a pie. A wonderfully cooked crust, with that balance of crisp and chewiness that makes a great pizza—something to truly celebrate alongside our independence.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, July 3, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Let's start the weekend right—with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one for the three-day? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
For all its reputation as a warm-weather refresher, on a truly hot afternoon when you’re relaxing outside with the smoke from the grill blowing across the yard, a beer has a hard time keeping up. No matter how thick your beer cozy, by the time you reach the bottom half, the heat of the day has sapped the beer’s refreshing character right out of the bottle, leaving the rest of your drink tepid and disappointing.
Fortunately, there’s this stuff called ice, and it has a wonderful way of keeping your drink cold even on the most sultry Fourth of July weekend. Pack a highball glass with big chunks of very cold ice, add a measure of something sharp, and leaven it with something crisp and bubbly, and you’ve got a drink that keeps its backbone long after your average beer has turned flaccid and unappealing.
Here’s a highball that’s easy to prepare and immensely refreshing. Named for an opera singer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Mamie Taylor was quite fashionable at the turn of the last century, though by the middle of the 20th it had almost completely disappeared. For fortification, the Mamie Taylor relies on blended scotch, but while this dark spirit can evoke the cooler months, fresh lime juice lightens the spirit’s ponderous demeanor, and a spicy ginger ale or ginger beer places it firmly in summer-cooler territory—making it just the thing to help celebrate a long holiday weekend.
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Robyn Lee, July 3, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Photograph from 17 and Baking
If you're tired of the typical berry-dotted Flag Cake, Elissa of 17 and Baking has a creative Fourth of July dessert recipe for you: layered hidden flag cake! The flag, featuring an outer blue ring of cake, only appears when you cut into the cake. Elissa explains how to construct the cake and shares a recipe for cream cheese frosting. [via @bakingbites]
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Posted by Caroline Russock, July 3, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Plantains are not that popular in the U.S., but the rest of the world eats them up. They are a starchy staple of many tropical countries' diets. Wikipedia lists no fewer than 23 regional dishes that revolve around plantains. In the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, and Venezuela they are sliced into chips and called plátanos maduros. In Cuba they are mashed into a porridge known as fufu. Plantains are fried in Ivory Coast and served with a tomato onion sauce and grilled fish to make aloco.
This recipe for Plantain Shoestring Fries from Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes is a great introduction to cooking with plantains. Most stores sell ripe and unripe plantains; they both look like giant mutant bananas, except that one type will be green and firm and the other will be black and soft. This recipe calls for the unripe, green variety, which is starchy enough to fry up crisp.
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As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes to give away this week. Enter to win here »
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From Serious Eats
Posted by Grace Kang, July 2, 2009 at 7:30 PM
©iStockPhoto/rojoimages
This July 4th the weather forecast is predicting sunny skies all day in my area, so you'll find me basking in the warmth and chowing down on some summer classics. Here's my proposal for a good times menu complete with ribs and rosé! What's on your July 4th menu?
- Pineapple-Braised Ribs with Honey-Garlic Tomato Glaze: "Succulent, retaining their smokiness while adding a layer of depth with the sweetness from the pineapple braise." The only problem when contributor Josh Bousel made them was that they were gone too fast! As long as I get my six rib share, I'll be happy.
- Fresh Corn Salad: Corn salad is my favorite side dish when eating outdoors and it makes for a great alternative to the ubiquitous spud.
- Ed's Favorite Potato Salad: For those on the potato side of things, here's Ed's favorite!
- Marinated Vegetable Sandwich: These are a lighter alternative in case your family likes to get its badminton on during its cookouts. Sadly, you can't bring your A-game when you're loaded down with six ribs in your belly.
- Toasted Almond Lemon Bars: Adding toasted almonds to the shortbread crust elevates the lemon bars into something special. Honestly, since when has adding toasted almonds ever been a bad idea?
- Rosé Sangria: Sangria's easy to put together and a definite crowd pleaser. I would definitely try adding a sparkling rosé though in order to fulfill the three requirements of my perfect drink: pink, sparkly, and fresh!
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Posted by Kerry Saretsky, July 2, 2009 at 5:00 PM
"Poaching eggs are stubborn creatures; they go their own way as they please. But if you just take a spoon, and turn them about a bit, confuse them, then you are in control. Just like with a man. Now, they are trained and obedient, and all the more beautiful for it."
Lessons from a French Chef
Kerry had a little lamb.
But if it had been up to Mémé, I would have had a lot more.
Here in Paris, at cooking school, a chef told me this week to treat my food by its characteristics. Such a statement might seem vague and pedantic, especially when it was barked in French over the roar of ten boiling stoves. But Chef (who told me to be sure and write about him as soon as possible) approached my stove, and stood behind me as I successfully battered and broke another poaching egg.
“Kerry, Kerry!” he purred my name as the r’s rolled up from his throat like the bubbles rising in my simmering pot. I know he’s supposed to be a figure of authority, but that pronunciation reminds me of nothing but home, and the tears that began to surface in my eyes could have resulted from the drenching heat, the frustration of the damn egg, or just violent homesickness. No matter many how many times you turn your cutting board over in the kitchen, some emotional cross-contamination cannot be helped.
“Imagines que les oeufs sont les hommes.” Imagine that eggs are men. And then he said something that made me stop dead where I was. He opened his mouth, and murmured a phrase that Maman has been muttering to me with great unsuccess for the last fifteen years: “Les hommes sont comme les chiens. Il faut les traîner.” Men are like dogs. They must be trained.
He went on to tell me that poaching eggs are stubborn creatures; they go their own way as they please. But if you just take a spoon, and turn them about a bit, confuse them, then you are in control. Just like with a man. Now, they are trained and obedient, and all the more beautiful for it. Many of the students are offended by the French chefs’ constant parallels between food and gender-based metaphor, but I think there is something lovely and touching in the French way of confronting the basic differences between the sexes, and embracing them, laughing at them, admiring them, and extolling them. I used to think Maman was terrible to call men dogs. Now, I’m beginning to understand. They like it!
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 2, 2009 at 4:00 PM
I'm not too crazy about room-temperature bean salads; I like my beans best when they're hot and refried. But I'm always tempted by legume recipes for their cheapness and healthiness, and it's the season for salads. I've also yet to meet a Jamie Oliver salad that I didn't like—the man has a knack. So when I saw this chickpea recipe, I took a chance. I liked that they are heated in a skillet to give them color and creaminess, similarly to another delicious recipe I made awhile back.
Shedding the usual trappings of lettuce and raw vegetables, this salad pairs the creamy chickpea against salty feta cheese and sweet cherry tomatoes; bits of basil and mint shoot it through with herby freshness. The dressing is bright and lemony, and a little hot from a fresh chili. It's not a revolutionary recipe, but it was simple to prepare and very appealing. The trick to take away is the heating of the chickpeas; beyond that, the spices and ingredients could be easily adapted.
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Posted by Caroline Russock, July 2, 2009 at 1:00 PM
I love pretty much anything pickled, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, watermelon rind, okra, even pickled eggs. I have to say that my favorite pickled item is the onion. Those little pickled pearl onions in my jar of cornichons disappear way before the last pickle and when I'm in the mood for a cocktail, a gin gibson is my drink of choice. Those beautiful pink pickled onions that are served with some tacos are my absolute favorite.
With all of this love for pickled onions it's surprising that I have never thought to put them on a burger. It was only while flipping through the pages of Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes that I realized pickled onions might just be the prefect burger accompaniment.
This is a quick pickling recipe, no need for boiling jars or long curing time. Simple mix the thinly sliced red onions with some acid, in this case vinegar and lime juice, some herbs, and some chiles for spice.
Win 'Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes'
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes to give away this week. Enter to win here »
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Posted by Gina DePalma, July 2, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Editor's note: On Thursdays, Babbo pastry chef Gina DePalma checks in with Seriously Italian. After a stint in Rome, she's back in the States, channeling her inner Italian spirit via recipes and intel on delicious Italian eats. Take it away, Gina!
I live on the top floor of our six-story building, which takes the heat of summer to another level. As soon as the temperatures get warm and the days get longer, our tar roof begins to sop up the heat and then pump it into our apartment with the full-force vengeance of a busted furnace. If there are any other roof dwellers out there, you know exactly what I am talking about. It is a miserable, stifled, intensity that makes even the slightest bit of activity seem like torture.
It reminds me a bit of the kind of heat they get in Sicily, where at the height of summer it is not uncommon to awake at sunrise to soaring temperatures. Sicilians have unique coping mechanisms in place to deal with the inferno. They drive like maniacs in the streets of Palermo and Catania. They take to the seashores as much as possible, gathering on beaches and promenades, dangling off the decks of boats and rocky cliffs. And they eat ice-cold gelato, granita, and sorbetto for breakfast.
Starting your day with a huge mound of ice cream may seem decadent and misplaced to our somewhat Puritan sensibility of sweets and when they can be enjoyed. Remember when Bill Cosby fed chocolate cake to his kids for dinner?
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