May 9, 2008
Posted by Sarah Wolf, May 9, 2008 at 11:00 AM
If you're wondering how to get the kids off your hands while you fix Mother's Day brunch this weekend, why not try making them your sous chefs? It'll be fun for them, it'll be less work for you, and Mom will be delighted. And if anything goes wrong, no one will think it's your fault.
Here's a possible menu of dishes that are deliciously uncomplicated to make and involve child-friendly steps like mixing and grating. (For safety's sake, just be sure to carefully supervise your kids and leave the grating and any chopping to your older children.)
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Posted by Blake Royer, May 8, 2008 at 4:15 PM
A few things attracted me to this recipe: its supposed Basque origins, its easy preparation in a food processor, and a quick 15-minute cooking time. I imagined the gratin of white beans would be crusty and creamy, like a long-cooked cassoulet.
It didn’t quite work out that way—what came out of the oven was satisfying, but not particularly mind-blowing. If nothing else, though, this recipe is a shining example of the creaminess potential of beans. With only 2 tablespoon of butter for four generous servings (plus a glug of olive oil), the resulting hummus-like spread was as smooth and rich as ever. That said, it was also a bit bland. The next time I try something like this, I’d go with a more assertive flavor like garlic or cayenne; the rosemary and peppers just wasn’t enough to compete with the wide, open taste of white beans.
But there’s nothing wrong with the method, and the result is a melty, healthy spread that I served with a pile of sautéed spinach and a grilled sausage. Next time, I’d only purée half the beans to give it some more textural interest, lose the cheese on top, double the bread crumbs, and put it under the broiler to assure a flavorful, crusty top.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 8, 2008 at 1:30 PM
I have a vivid childhood memory of watching my mother and grandmother make deviled eggs together in the kitchen: peeling the shells under the cold faucet, mashing the yolks with lots of mayonnaise and even more paprika. Perhaps that’s why I choose Devilish Eggs with Texas Tapenade for today's Cook the Book recipe—to my mind, it's the perfect Mother's Day hors d'oeuvre.
Paula Disbrowe, chef and author of Cowgirl Cuisine, updates this classic appetizer by topping Dijon-infused eggs with dollops of tapenade made with kalamata olives, fresh rosemary, a hint of pequin peppers, and a splash of Cognac. Best of all, the tapenade can be prepared up to a week ahead, and leftovers are delicious on slices of toasted baguette, or as a topping for burgers.
Win 'Cowgirl Cuisine'
As is always the case with our Cook the Book selections, we're giving away a number of copies to several lucky readers. Enter to win here.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, May 7, 2008 at 4:30 PM
You’ll definitely have some leftover pesto if you make this whole recipe, but that’s kind of the point. Pesto freezes remarkably well, and can be thawed in moments. Since I had made a large batch a week before, I was able to throw this meal together in approximately 10 minutes. Sure, my fish flaked apart into a hundred pieces when I tried to flip it, creating one of the uglier meals I’ve had in ages (that’s why there is no photo), but it was tasty.
I picked this from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook. And it’s not really a recipe as much of a technique. Have pesto? Jamie provides seven other simple meals to throw it on top of. That includes roast chicken, mussels, bruschetta, and grilled vegetables. I was feeling like fish. And the pesto certainly livens up the white fish, giving it an automatic freshness without much work at all.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 7, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Today's Cook the Book recipe is for thick, juicy, seared sirloin steaks. Not exactly your typical Mother's Day fare. But why shouldn't it be? Steak dinners are always special, whether eaten out at a swanky restaurant, or off a paper plate in your own backyard.
Paula Disbrowe's recipe marries hearty hunks of beef with a delicate, wine-saturated red onion marmalade. As she states in her head note: "I like the idea of giving a macho piece of meat a pretty and rather feminine treatment." The results are a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy, and definitely spectacular. What mom wouldn't love that?
Win 'Cowgirl Cuisine'
As is always the case with our Cook the Book selections, we're giving away a number of copies to lucky readers. Enter to win here.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, May 7, 2008 at 2:00 PM
The first time I really sat down and read Entertaining was when I was planning my wedding. I opened it looking for ideas and closed it thinking, “Yes, I could make all the food for our wedding, wouldn’t that be personal and fun?” Everyone talked some sense into me, thank goodness, and my self-catering ambitions were quietly dropped.
Don’t let this story deter you. Among the delusion-inspiring accounts of “Desserts for Forty: Soirée Dansante” and “Cocktails for Two Hundred: Country Fare,” one can find in this book ideas for relatively simple dinners at home. Last week I made tomato soup and French bread. I was too tired to make the green salad I had planned, but with a piece of Gruyère the soup and bread made a very pleasing meal indeed.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, May 7, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the May 7th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
Why not treat your mom this coming Mother's Day with a plate of chocolate banana waffles? This recipe from Alice Medrich's Chocolate Holidays tops chocolate flavored waffles with bananas sautéed in sugar and rum.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, May 7, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Editor's note: Ladies and gents, make friends with Joshua Bousel. He's a certified grilling geek. And that's a compliment; this guy takes the flame seriously. He'll be dropping by each week with a recipe for you to fire up for yourself. Let the flames begin! —Adam Kuban
In my mind there are two seasons each year: grilling season and the other. Although I wish I had started sooner, Cinco de Mayo on Monday marked the arrival of the former, and I could think of no better way to celebrate the holiday than grilling fajitas.
Alton Brown's fajita recipe has served me well for years now, time and again producing the best fajitas I've had in New York City, where I live and where good Mexican options are notoriously lacking. It's also the perfect recipe for some weekday celebration, with a quick-and-easy marinade and the fast-cooking skirt steak, one of my favorite cuts of beef. It was no surprise to me that these, once again, came out absolutely delicious, bursting with beefy goodness that's topped with a flavor that transports me to ... someplace with better Mexican food.
Although Cinco de Mayo was duly celebrated, what I'm going to remember most from this holiday is the second I placed those steaks over the hot coals, got one whiff, then excitedly ran back into the house and belted out to all who would listen, "I really love to grill!" Yes, it's that time of year again.
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Posted by Blake Royer, May 6, 2008 at 6:30 PM
This dinner is ready in as much time as it takes to cook rice. It has five ingredients, and is totally un-nutritious. It's also luxurious and subtle, and takes very little effort. The secret? Heavy cream, for one—but also a little thing called pastis, an anise-flavored liqueur that stood in for absinthe while it was still illegal. It's an obscure ingredient, I'll admit, and not everyone has it banging around in their cabinet. But allow me to recommend that you consider buying a bottle, if only because it's integral to the Sazerac cocktail, one of my favorite drinks in the world. And because it will probably outlive you.
The recipe comes from Pierre Franey's classic cookbook The New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet. So this is what passed for gourmet in 1979: bring on the heavy cream. Not that I'm complaining—the cover on my old copy promises "gourmet recipes and menus that reach absolute perfection in a matter of minutes," and that's exactly what happened to me. The taste was familiar, because the pastis flavor is similar to tarragon, an herb commonly used in French cream sauces. In fact, if you really don't want to invest in a bottle, a little fresh tarragon thrown in with the shallots might work just as well.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 6, 2008 at 5:00 PM
After preparing the Roasted Cod on Large Garlic Croutons from the June issue of Bon Appétit for this week's magazine recipe review, I've determined that the only way to make always-delicious bruschetta even better is to make it bigger.
The recipe, part of an article on quick summer suppers that can be thrown together in 15 minutes or less, was designed to turn bruschetta—once relegated to party appetizer platters—into a main course. And that it did: the briny tomato-anchovy sauce perfectly complimented the mild cod, and the crusty bread beneath soaked up all the savory juices.
This was one of those simple-yet-sophisticated recipes that leaves you at once completely satisfied and at the same time pondering how you could make it again differently. Entrée-sized bruschetta is such a great idea. Next time I'm going to try it with tuna, or maybe salmon, and I'm definitely going to throw some olives into the sauce.
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