July 2009
Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 31, 2009 at 4:15 PM
For me, the only kind of spinach salad is a wilted spinach salad. For proof, I give you this golden oldie, reinterpreted by Alton Brown. This sucker is flawless. The red wine vinegar balances the bacon fat, the creamy egg contrasts the crisp red onion. And best of all, the hot dressing wilts the spinach leaves. Though I found success a while back with this wilted spinach salad with feta, the original is probably better. Thank you, Alton Brown.
I left the instruction for hard boiling the eggs because everyone seems to have an opinion on the matter. Alton likes to cook his in an electric kettle. Simply Recipes uses the traditional stove top method. I've even weighed in on the issue, having had some remarkable luck cooking them for 4 hours in a crock pot. Obviously, this isn't practical, but hey, they were delicious. Anyway, whichever method you choose is fine—just remember to add the eggs to the salad. I devoured half of this salad before I remembered the egg, hence its absence from the picture.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 30, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Well, I'm back at it again with a not-really-a-burger burger. Last time it was salmon and now I'm using the same word for a giant mushroom cap as a glorious, beefy patty. For a true burger lover, this is getting embarrassing. But once again, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised.
The recipe I used, adapted from Everyday Food, roasts the caps covered in a hot oven to concentrate their flavor and keep them tender (a trip to the grill, where a lot of mushroom burgers probably get cooked as consolation for the vegetarians, probably isn't the best route to juiciness). If this were my only knowledge of hamburgers, it would be a tragedy; but it was quite welcome as something a little different.
The other smart move in this recipe is the topping, which is an avocado-based spread. The recipe called for using horseradish and mustard mashed into the avocado, but I skipped them both in favor of minced shallots and lemon juice. Either way, the avocado was wonderful against the (yes, I'll say it) meaty mushroom. A tender bun that's easily bitten through is essential, because the mushroom has a tendency to slip out.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 29, 2009 at 4:00 PM
This dish of mussels with fennel and orange is really a celebration of fennel. The base of the plant is chopped, the fronds are minced, and the seed is finely ground. But what's really remarkable, to me at least, is that the dish doesn't come out smelling exclusively of licorice. That's the smell I most associate with fennel, anyway. I figure it's the orange zest that balances everything out. Though only a tablespoon of the stuff is used, it's surprisingly fragrant.
I've had a lot of luck with Marie Simmons's Things Cooks Love, even if I haven't always had the recommended tools for the job. For this recipe she recommends an authentic mussel pot, which I am sure is a perfect tool for this dish, but it was something I simply didn't have. I found that everything can easily be done in a large pot equipped with a steamer basket. The recipe is right on, and that's all that matters.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 28, 2009 at 4:20 PM
The idea of grilled green beans had never occurred to me until yesterday, when I was contemplating a bag of them from a market haul in the refrigerator, and what to make for dinner. I already had a few beautiful pieces of wild salmon destined for the grill, and the idea of a steamed green bean salad next to the robust taste of the salmon wasn't exciting me much. So I figured, why not let let the green beans join the salmon on the grill?
The real inspiration, though, came when I had already thrown the red onion on the grill and was thinking about how to dress the salad. That's when I flashed back to a restaurant dish I had once: a braised lamb shank served with a grilled lemon half. I remembered the bright, smoky acidity as particularly haunting. Turns out that grilling lemon is surprisingly effective, making it juicier and mellow. Combined with olive oil, it made a wonderful warm dressing that tied everything together.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 27, 2009 at 4:50 PM
I spent the past week with family in North Carolina eating a lot of barbecue and drinking myself silly on sweet tea. I also had access to a real grill, not just the little hubcap-size one that I currently own. This real grill was big enough to cook multiple things at a time, and I spent the better part of the week feeding it mounds of lump charcoal. While most of my family spent their time on the beach reading with their toes in the sand, I spent mine by the grill’s smoky side.
I also had access to some very fresh and cheap shrimp, and it wasn’t long before the two met for dinner. This recipe from O, The Oprah Magazine marinates the shrimp for 30 minutes, and then skewers them, making them easy to cook on a hot grill. I learned my lesson from the last time I used skewers and made sure the wooden sticks had soaked for at least 30 minutes before they went on the grill. Metal skewers would save you more time.
This, obviously, wasn’t the only thing I grilled over the week. But it was certainly one of the tastiest. The acidic marinade managed to work its way through the shrimp. Otherwise it was just fresh shrimp cooked over a flame. Can’t beat it.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 24, 2009 at 4:15 PM
This dish was inspired by two things: a trip to a restaurant called Finch's in Bloomington, Indiana, and a later trip to the farmer's market. At the restaurant, they served me a rich pasta with corn, crisp snap peas, and tomato. The best part about it was the soupy, buttery broth underneath everything. Usually when I cook pasta I aim for a consistency between dry and soupy, but this really hit the spot.
So at home, armed with some delicious Indiana corn, cherry tomatoes, and asparagus, I set out loosely following a recipe for orecchiette with broccoli rabe. The part I liked was the chicken broth that the vegetables were poached in; they weren't sauteed in oil so were kept delicate, and whatever the vegetables didn't soak up ended up in the bottom of the bowl as a butter and Parmesan-infused broth.
It's not a bad technique for creating any impromptu pasta with a farmer's market haul.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 23, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Pasta carbonara is one of my favorite meals. A simple, fast, and utterly satisfying concoction, it is probably my number one comfort food. So I don't take all that kindly to recipes that mess with a good thing. Still, a few zucchini from the farmer's market were tempting me, and adding something a little green to my dinner probably wasn't the worst idea. So this Jamie Oliver recipe, a carbonara with the addition of zucchini and fresh thyme, seemed like a good fit.
Turns out that zucchini is a perfectly tasty companion for carbonara. My only real objection in this recipe's deviation from the original formula is the use of heavy cream—the carbonara crutch. Authentic pasta carbonara shouldn't contain cream at all; the silky texture ought to come from the egg yolks, cheese, and pasta cooking water, which combine with the hot pasta and melt (not scramble) into something unctuous and rich. I left it out of the recipe, and all was well.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 22, 2009 at 4:15 PM
I had some cabbage leftover from the shrimp tostadas and I was absolutely determined to use it. See, I have a problem with letting cabbage fester and go bad in the bottom drawer of my fridge. I know it's cheap, but I just feel like the vegetable deserves a little more love. Unfortunately, so many recipes for red cabbage call for it to be braised, which didn't sound that appealing in this humid Chicago summer. I wanted to find a recipe that was crisp and bright—something that would make for a lively light dinner, but not bore me to tears.
This recipe for red and Napa cabbage salad with Braeburn apples and spiced pecans from Bon Appétit fits the bill in pretty much every respect. The Braeburn apples and dried cherries offer a tart retort to the spicy and buttery pecans, and the cabbage soaks up the slightly sweet dressing, providing a great crunchy base for it all. The hardest part is cooking the pecans, which require you to actually pay attention to them. My first batch burned while I was cutting the vegetables. I'd suggest devoting yourself to the pecans before you mess with anything else. This all makes for a fairly light dinner, but some cheese and bread would bulk this out nicely.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 21, 2009 at 4:30 PM
I pretty much knew that my copy of Farms and Foods of Ohio was going to be relatively worthless when I left that state. And sure enough, ever since I moved to Illinois, the book has languished at the bottom of my cookbook shelf. What could it do for me now? It was my wife (who had originally bought the book for me) that picked it back up, noticing that along with some colorful commentary about local farmers, there were also some wonderful-looking recipes. And while I might not be able to procure all the produce from the Buckeye State, I figured the recipe would do well crossing state lines.
I was immediately won over by this recipe for roasted Italian sausages with grapes. I could see this finished dish way before I ever turned the oven on. I just knew that the grapes would break down into a delicious pulp, balancing the heat of the spicy Italian sausages. And I couldn't have been more right. The late addition of balsamic vinegar might make the sauce a touch too sweet, but when paired with some fluffy mashed potatoes, everything manages to balance out nicely.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 20, 2009 at 4:30 PM
I think the last time I had duck was in March of 2008, which is not something I'm particularly proud to admit. For my return I decided to try this recipe from Gourmet, which paired broiled duck with a wonderful-sounding orange chipotle sauce. It wasn't until I had plated this dish and carefully poured the sauce on top that I noticed that this recipe was listed as a modern interpretation of Duck à L'Orange. Obviously, the orange juice gave it away, but I was thinking more of the chipotle and cinnamon, which I knew would give the sauce an added kick. They certainly did.
Everything is spectacularly simple. The sauce just requires chucking everything in a pot and letting it simmer away. The only thing that might seem a little tedious are the details for filling the roasting pan with water and making sure it is at least 6 inches away from the flame. These are both absolutely essential. The duck breasts are loaded with fat, and without the water that fat will drip down onto the roasting pan, burn, and smoke. The water allows the fat to collect peacefully in the pan. But if the meat is too close to the flame it will also burn and smoke. You have been warned.
I sided this plate with some beautiful rainbow chard. Some bread wouldn't hurt, either. Anything, really, to be able to lap up more of that sauce.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 17, 2009 at 4:30 PM
I usually eat a tuna salad sandwich about once a week as a casual lunch. But for some reason, adding a piece of Swiss cheese to the party and calling it a melt automatically catapults the sandwich into a satisfying dinner. With a side of chips or a cup of soup, it's also pure comfort food. I felt like there was no reason to get complicated with the recipe. For guidance I went straight to Saveur, which offered up this relatively bare-bones version.
It's all about the simplicity of tuna salad and melted Swiss cheese. The addition of celery is fairly common for tuna salad, but the chives and parsley may be a little less so. Neither grabs the attention, just offering a nice fragrant kick to the sandwich. Beyond that, it's all about the cheese. The key, according to Saveur, is to melt the cheese without letting it brown. I found it easiest to keep the broiler door open and peep in on the sandwich as the cheese melts. It only took me 30 seconds. Saveur recommends a piece of toast on top, to make it more of a sandwich, but I'm more of an open-faced tuna melt guy myself. Either way is fine.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 16, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Normally I'm suspicious when it comes to non-beef burgers, since a proper hamburger is such a marvelous culinary pinnacle. Why mess with a good thing? Yet so many preconceived notions have met their doom (see Nick's turkey burger and lamburger in earlier Dinner Tonight entries). I became a salmon burger believer at a restaurant near my old apartment in Brooklyn called Petit Crevette, where they served up not a dry crumbly abomination, but a moist patty that flaked like a fillet on a brioche bun. Saddled with a craving recently, I set out to find a recipe.
I ended up with this Mark Bittman recipe on Bitten, which solves the problem of holding the meat together by totally pureeing 1/4 of the meat into a paste which holds the larger chunks of salmon together. While some recipes call for mayonnaise or an egg to keep the patties intact, I liked this purer salmon-only approach.
The result is a wonderful way to enjoy salmon. Taking the cue from some other recipes I found, I stirred in a little lemon juice and parsley into mayonnaise to create an herby sauce. A perfect match for the rich, flaky burger.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 15, 2009 at 4:30 PM
In the past year I've found an incredible array of recipes dedicated to the use of leftover tortillas. I'm quite partial to chilaquiles and panuchos, myself. But with a stack hanging around after an incredible bowl of lime soup, I wanted to try something just a little different. During my search I came across many recipes for tostadas, which I don't think I've had for a good year or so as I often find them to be needlessly greasy and messy. But this recipe for chipotle shrimp tostadas from Food and Wine looked like it managed to steer clear of most of the usual pitfalls.
In this version, the fried tortilla basically serves as a base for a cabbage slaw and grilled shrimp, both of which turn out to be highlights on their own. The slaw is obviously crunchy, but it also has an acidic kick from the limes and a creamy coating from the sour cream. The shrimp are covered in chipotle chile powder and come off the grill juicy with a definite spicy kick. The toppings of sliced avocado and radish only add to the pleasing variety of textures.
Sure, this version nods more to the Southwestern United States than it does to Mexico, but that's OK. Something this fresh and fiery is always welcome.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 14, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Whenever I cook this pasta, I think immediately of my mother. She invented the recipe while I was in high school running cross country. It quickly became my favorite dinner, the kind of carb-and-meat dish that would give me energy and stamina. So when I was visiting home this past week it was on the top of my lists of requests. And moms hardly ever pass up the opportunity to fill a son's request for home cooking.
This recipe is basically a more delicious version of the standard spaghetti-and-meat-sauce dinner of so many American childhoods. Instead of browned ground beef, my mom would simmer Italian sausages in beer, then slice them into the sauce. The sauce itself is a straightforward affair with onion and garlic in olive oil, canned diced tomatoes, a few dried herbs, and salt and pepper. But the juicy sausages take it to the next level, especially with a few spoonfuls of the pork-fat-infused beer broth that goes into the sauce. I mean really, why should that stuff go to waste?
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 13, 2009 at 5:00 PM
The first meal in my new place after two weeks of crashing on couches should have been an excuse to go all out and do my gastronomic worst. But I was so tired after the moving process that all I wanted was something simple and comforting that could calm me down after the long, drawn out moving process. And nothing conjures up that feeling more than lime soup. It was about a year ago that I sampled my first bowl on the tiny island of Isla Mujeres in Mexico. Rather like a tortilla soup, it was topped with a sprinkling of cheese and crumbled tortilla chips. But instead of chilies, it was awash in lime and garlic. It was vibrant and soothing, something that didn't knock you over on the first spoonful, but just slowly crept into your soul like really good chicken soup. I loved it so much; I asked the owner for the recipe. He refused. "Come back again and I might think about it." We returned three times to try and coax him out of that recipe, but somehow I still left that island empty handed.
To recreate it, I decided to start with this recipe from the New York Times. What really impressed me was the use of cinnamon, clove, and oregano which infuse with the stock for ten minutes and are then discarded. The spices may be tossed, but they haunt the final dish, adding sweet and savory notes to this very quick meal. The absolute hardest part of the process is frying the tortillas to create the chips, requiring a bit of oil and some patience. This can obviously be avoided by buying tortilla chips, but I always find the store bought kind turn to mush a little too quickly.
I know lime soup doesn't sound like much, but it is oddly appealing to me. Though not quite the same bowl I fell in love with a year ago, it was still all I needed to relax.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 10, 2009 at 4:30 PM
I can't be the only one in America that just happened to have both ground beef and hot dogs left over from the July Fourth weekend. The staples of the national cookout could have made for a couple of fine indoor lunches—but what if they could be combined into something new? It didn't take long for chili dogs to start dancing in my head. A properly made chili dog, like the ones I snarfed down at a Skyline Chili in Cincinnati when I was young, are a delicious thing to behold.
Of course, I didn't have much time or, really, access to many ingredients to create something truly authentic. I'm still living on friends' couches at the moment, and don't have access to a wide variety of spices. That's why I gravitated towards Tyler Florence's version of the chili dog. Not only was it quick, but it could basically be completed with the same condiments used for the cookout. Ketchup and mustard serve as the base, with only a little chili powder added for heat. This might as well be called the cookout-leftover Chili Dog.
I knew that I was not creating an authentic version of a chili dog before I began, but I probably still should have read the comments first. Nearly everyone mentioned that it was too sweet and didn't have enough heat. They were right. The ketchup makes the "chili" way too sweet. I tried to correct this by adding some hot sauce and much more chili powder than was originally called for. I'd also recommend adding crushed tomatoes instead of ketchup. It will never be perfect. This is more of an oddity than a perfect recipe. But for a bunch of leftovers from the July 4th weekend, it was rather interesting.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 9, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Smoked trout is a criminally underreported ingredient in my book. Smoked salmon gets all kinds of attention, in its cold-smoked form as the centerpiece of bagels, but the humble trout has no one to sing its praises. It's always found in hot-smoked form, meaning it's fully cooked and flaky. Healthy and relatively inexpensive, you can add it to any number of dishes—soups, spreads, and pastas. I still think about the smoked trout patties I made while back, which were wonderfully flavorful.
I came across this recipe in a Times Online article, which lists five unique ways to use smoked trout. I went with their first suggestion, a dip which they've fancifully called a "pâté." Whatever you want to call it, I took this appetizer and turned it into a light summer meal with a big salad of lightly dressed mesclun greens alongside. Finn Crisp crackers, available in many grocery stores, were the perfect vehicle for the creamy, smoky concoction balanced with lemon juice and spiked with a pinch of cayenne.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 8, 2009 at 4:00 PM
The holiday weekend meant a round full of cookouts, resulting in eating more than my fair share of meat: steak, grilled chicken, and a hamburger or two. Luckily, my mom sent me back to Chicago with a bag full of kale from her own garden. I wanted a good vegetarian recipe to utilize the bounty and hopefully atone for what I ate previously. I found this recipe for Tuscan kale and white bean pasta from Care2 and figured it would be a good first step.
The kale becomes incredibly tender, and the beans add some much needed heft to each bite. The slight kick of red pepper flakes is balanced by the acidity of the tomatoes. If you happen to have everything around, it's an easy and remarkably healthy dinner—the recipe's author suggests using a whole wheat pasta to make things even healthier. I felt awfully good about myself after this. That said, there is something definitely missing from this recipe and I'd bet a hundred dollars that bacon would make everything right.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 7, 2009 at 4:30 PM
While I always appreciate the straightforwardness of a classic recipe, new ideas are welcome, too. I'll admit, though, that it wasn't easy to convince myself that egg salad needed to be messed with. The recipe I posted some months ago has always done me well. And since I don't crave egg salad all that often, why change when that time comes? Well. Curiosity.
Even though that post garnered a storm of comments of personal recipes (relish, capers, mustard, and Old Bay seasoning all made appearances), none of them mentioned the key ingredient in this recipe, which is fennel. Every egg salad needs that crucial crunch, a role often played by celery; fennel makes a nice alternative with its unique flavor. A little lemon zest is next, since it pairs so well with fennel, and minced garlic adds a savory note.
It make lack the sublime simplicity of my go-to recipe, but it's definitely going in my picnic repertoire.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 6, 2009 at 4:30 PM
As I mentioned last Wednesday, I'm between apartments at the moment and am basically subsisting on Asian condiments and bags of frozen vegetables. This recipe, adapted from Epicurious, fits exactly into that framework. The sauce is made from standard Asian condiments I have in the fridge, and the peas come straight from the freezer. All I had to buy was some fresh sugar snap peas. Altogether, it's a perfect side for the soy-poached chicken I had earlier this week.
The original recipe was meant to celebrate fresh peas in all their spring glory. I'm sure they taste better fresh from the farm. But for a straight-from-the-freezer side, it's hard to get much simpler. Just toss both of these in boiling water for 30 seconds or so, dunk in an ice bath, and then dry and mix with the dressing. Obviously, the dressing pulls a lot of weight here. And it's a delicious combination of sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and brown sugar.
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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 Nick Kindelsperger, July 1, 2009 at 4:15 PM
I'm currently between apartments, crashing at friend's place for a week until I can safely move in to a new place. This means all my spices and gadgets are boxed up and hanging out in a storage unit far away from me. All I have are my condiments, which I knew would go bad if I left them out of the fridge for a week. That's really the only reason I settled on this recipe for soy-poached chicken from the New York Times. I knew I had a huge bottle of mushroom-flavored soy sauce, and I could easily pick up everything else at the Trader Joe's by my current residence.
Luckily, the recipe is from Mark Bittman, whose recipes are always flavorful. Much like other braised chicken dishes I've tried, this one is littered with ginger. To that, Bittman adds the aforementioned mushroom soy sauce (regular soy sauce can probably be substituted, but I have no proof of this), mei kuei lu chiew (which you can substitute an off-dry Gewurztraminer for), sugar, and water. The chicken cooks at a boil for 10 minutes breast side down, and then it is flipped, the heat is killed, and the bird bathes in the broth for 15 minutes to hopefully finish cooking.
Except mine didn't get done. When I cut into the legs I noticed they were nearly raw. I blame this on the fact that my bird was a four-pounder and not the skinny 2 1/2 pounds that was recommended. It's not a huge deal; I just brought the liquid back to a boil and cooked the bird for an extra five minutes. The chicken comes out perfumed with ginger, star anise, and that mushroom soy sauce, but the skin does look a little pale. This is solved by tossing it in a very hot oven for five minutes to crisp the skin up. The chicken is utterly delicious, but it's the sauce that I loved the most. When I finished my plate I ate the sauce from the bowl with a spoon.
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