November 27, 2009
Posted by Blake Royer, November 27, 2009 at 4:00 PM
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
You've got a lot of turkey and you don't quite know what to do with it. We've all been there. Lunch today was a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce smeared on bread with gooey stuffing in between. As good as that tasted, you're ready for something new.
Pot pie is my solution. Chances are you already have some leftover turkey stock, which makes this a very easy-to-put-together meal. With your roux-making skills in top shape from making the gravy, now's the time to act.
I used store-bought pie crust for this, but if you've got the time and energy, homemade is even better (Ina Garten's recipe is rather foolproof). The flavors in this are traditional: celery, onion, and carrots with a little parsley thrown in. Feel free to take it in a new direction with, say, a tablespoon of curry powder. I baked the pies in ramekins to decrease the cooking time (plus they also look cuter that way).
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Posted by Blake Royer, November 24, 2009 at 4:15 PM
[Photograph: Blake Royer]
I admit, considering that two days from now you'll probably be feasting on a whole turkey surrounded by family and friends, that it's possible you're not looking for a turkey recipe for dinner. But I can't help it—turkeys are everywhere this time of year, and using them for all kinds of cooking is very economical. I recently bought one to test recipes for Thanksgiving, and have braised its legs for a dinner party, used a breast to make a fricasee, and simmered the bones to make a rich yellow stock. A turkey will give you meals and leftovers for days.
But more than that, this is a great recipe. Surprisingly great, actually. Turkey is a deceptively rich meat that makes juicy meatballs, here filled with garlic, Parmesan, and parsley. The tomatoes are soft and sweet, broken down slightly in the skillet, and the mozzarella is creamy and melts with the residual heat. If you're had your fill of tryptophan, tuck this one away for late, but don't forget about it—, it's a keeper.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, November 23, 2009 at 4:00 PM
I was initially attracted to this recipe from Viet World Kitchen because it reminded me an awful lot of the Singaporean dish, Hainanese Chicken Rice. I'm kind of obsessed with that dish but rarely find the time to make it.
This soup wasn't as intense, and there was no spice to speak of, but it still managed to capture the warm embrace of ginger balanced by the acidic dipping sauce. Plus this one is a hell of a lot easier and less time-consuming than Hainanese Chicken Rice.
At first, I found the soup to be a tad underwhelming and bland. There is a definite ginger ring to each sip, but it lacks bite and presence. Fortunately, this can be changed by just chopping up the chicken and adding it to the bowl along with a healthy spoonful of the sauce. This act is totally inauthentic and probably a horrible social faux pas, but it really created something unique and delicious.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, November 20, 2009 at 4:15 PM
[Photographs: Nick Kindelsperger]
When I think of kidney beans, my mind usually wanders down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. That's when I start dreaming of perfect red beans and rice. It's one of my favorite meals—I'd make it much more often if it didn't take so long. Other than that, I occasionally find kidney beans in bland soups or bowls of chili (though not Texas chili, of course). So, I was little surprised to see them pop up in this Indian recipe from Lisa's Kitchen. Who knew kidney beans were so popular in Northern India?
Oddly, it's the onions that kind of make this dish. They reduce down to a paste that picks up all the flavors from the spices and chiles. Only the beans can slightly calm the bout of spice.
Starting with dried beans would be the far more traditional route but this quick version is still surprisingly good. It's just another reason why I adore vegetarian Indian cuisine so much.
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Posted by Blake Royer, November 19, 2009 at 4:15 PM
[Photograph: Blake Royer]
Last week, someone sent me a shiitake mushroom farm, which recently started spouting out of all sides in my living room. It's disconcerting and kind of awesome. I was getting ready to prepare a meal when I noticed about 10 of them had reached full size; I already had a turkey breast set aside for dinner, so I started flipping through my cookbooks.
My answer came from The Silver Spoon, which called for stewing the mushrooms with the turkey in a rich liquid of wine and stock (fricassée essentially means poultry in a stewed preparation with creamy sauce). It's a deep-flavored preparation perfect for fall. Though the original recipe calls for porcini, I don't think substituting another was a problem. I was especially intrigued by the way the dish was finished, not with cream, but a couple egg yolks whisked with lemon juice and water. Stirred in off the heat, they thicken the broth so that it coats the dish. Boil some rice and you'll be warmed through.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, November 18, 2009 at 4:15 PM
[Photographs: Nick Kindelsperger]
You know what? I don't think I've ever actually cooked catfish before this meal. I'm sure I must have eaten it at some point in my life, but it has escaped me as a potential meal. That was until I got hooked listening to this NPR Science Friday program about sustainable fish.
Sylvia Earle was on air talking about her new book The World is Blue, and just casually mentioned that catfish was one of the good kinds of fish to eat. That's how I ended up at Whole Foods looking for fillets of a fish I'd never thought much about before.
I decided to also go with this Whole Foods recipe, plucked from their website. It doesn't get much simpler than this: a glaze is whisked together from white miso, sugar, and olive oil, then brushed on the fish. The fillets are sautéed for five minutes and come out of the pan with a rich color and aroma that belays the amount of time you actually spent on it. But the bok choy is not just a throwaway side—it's a perfect match with miso, and comes out tender and bright green.
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Posted by Blake Royer, November 17, 2009 at 5:00 PM
[Photograph: Blake Royer]
Fall is the one time of year I really look forward to getting my vitamins. When the season is in full swing, I cook up a batch of simple sautéed greens almost every night. Kale, collards, chard—doesn't matter, as long as it's full of sliced garlic, a pinch of chili flakes, and finished with a hint of lemon juice. They're completely addictive, especially when fresh from the farmers' market, when they're still tender and sweet. They're also affordable and healthful. Hardly a meal goes by without them.
However, sautéed greens do not a full meal make. Enter this recipe, which I found torn out of a copy of Bon Appétit in a bulging recipe file, from the May 2008 issue. Described as "a spicy main course that's popular in Tuscany," it's basically the typical greens recipe with the addition of squid, which is braised first in red wine. It gives the dish a rich, inky color and a complex flavor. If you don't like squid or if the squid isn't fresh, it's just going to taste fishy. But I loved it.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, November 16, 2009 at 4:45 PM
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
I was looking for a baked pasta, which can be a recipe for disaster. Any luck I've had with baked pasta has been by subverting the original procedures in the hope of making something lighter (such as this baked ziti recipe). But it was cold outside, and I really wanted something that would be warming and relatively easy to throw together for a dinner party.
At some point I went from bland and cheesy versions of baked manicotti to this recipe from Closet Cooking. The use of orzo, fresh herbs, shrimp, and feta cheese, really jumped out at me because it didn't seem needlessly heavy. It actually looked balanced.
This is actually a spin on a Greek dish called Garides Saganaki, which certainly explains the use of feta instead of something like mozzarella. I also love the orzo. It provides a great contrast to the sauce, which is bright and fresh, thanks to a healthy sprinkling of herbs and just enough red pepper flakes to provide that warming hum of spice.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, November 13, 2009 at 4:15 PM
"It's similar to tortilla soup, but with a richer, deeper broth."
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
I had no idea what sopa tarasca was before yesterday. Honestly, I'm still not sure if I completely comprehend the exact definition, but I can confirm that it's one of the best meals I've had in weeks.
I found out about the soup from this article in the New York Times, which traces the soup back to the town of Pátzcuaro in the Mexican state of Michoacán, where it was apparently invented in the 1960s. According to the author of the article, Dave Roos, sopa tarasca is a "tomato-based soup flavored with dried chili pasilla and Worcestershire sauce, thickened with corn masa and cream, and adorned with fried tortilla strips and Oaxacan cheese."
For the life of me I couldn't find a recipe that followed those guidelines, though I did find this version from Diana Kennedy by way of the Texas Monthly magazine. It doesn't follow the article's description precisely, but you can't argue with results like this.
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Posted by Blake Royer, November 12, 2009 at 4:30 PM
[Photograph: Blake Royer]
When cauliflower hits a hot, oil-slicked skillet and is allowed to caramelize, it develops a wonderful savory, nutty flavor that puts it among my favorite vegetables. Since the first time I realized this, I've never been tempted to steam or boil it again.
What I love about this particular recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian is the toasted and chopped almonds that are thrown in toward the end of cooking and further emphasize these nutty flavors. A hit of smoked paprika—a wonderful spice to have in the cabinet—give it depth and color.
Granted, this recipe isn't one of those that make you exclaim with pleasure, amazed at the flavor: It's a straightforward, simple dinner, and a bit monochrome. But it's charming in that way. If I weren't cooking from a cookbook with the word "vegetarian" in the title, I might have been tempted to begin this with bacon or use chicken stock. Still, the shaved manchego cheese is a luxurious touch, and it gives everything a needed salty tang.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, November 11, 2009 at 4:45 PM
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
Now this is the kind of salad I love. There is no need for twenty ingredients or a gloppy dressing to get in the way. No, all that's needed in this late-fall dish from Martha Stewart is a solid base ingredient and a few well-chosen additions to accentuate its flavor. Though the escarole gets the main billing, it takes on more of a supporting roll—its crunchiness is mainly used to balance the tender and slightly sweet roasted butternut squash (the real star).
The apple slices bring a bracing acidity to the salad and the salty cheese add a little zing. But I still felt like it was missing something, so I did want any sane person would do—add bacon. It played extremely well.
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Posted by Blake Royer, November 10, 2009 at 5:00 PM
[Photograph: Blake Royer]
If cream of broccoli soup has a bad reputation for you—as it does for me, conjuring up a picture of thick sludge—then this might be the soup for you. I pulled it from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, entranced by the use of onions sauteed in butter, a splash of white wine, and sour cream. I imagined a rich yet balanced broth, neither gluey or floury, made to complement, not hide, the broccoli.
The wine and sour cream are indeed essentials here, the wine bringing a gentle acidity and the sour cream a key tartness. Heavy cream is often used in soups like this, which is undoubtedly luxurious, but I preferred the roundness and balance of the sour cream. I also took Bittman's suggestion in the recipe description to have the soup next to a grilled cheese sandwich, a natural pairing.
Apparently, I'm in the mood for creamy soups—last week's corn soup with roasted poblano, now this. It must be the time of year.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, November 9, 2009 at 4:05 PM
"Somehow, the eggplant comes off with a distinct smoky aroma that you'll swear must have been cooked over charcoal."
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
Eggplants always amaze me. They're my favorite vegetable to cook with since they can be manipulated in such exciting ways. This recipe from Chow grills them until they're tender and soft, then mixes them with an astonishing number of herbs including basil, mint, scallion, and parsley. Thinly sliced red onions, which quickly marinate in some red wine vinegar, provide a nice balance. The resulting salad is acidic, fresh-tasting, but still full of depth.
Chow has its own method for grilling eggplants, but I'm quite fond of a technique I learned a few years ago from KCRW's Good Food podcast. All you'll need is a heavy iron skillet. Lay the eggplant on a hot iron skillet and turn them every five minutes or so until they're blackened and very soft.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, November 6, 2009 at 4:00 PM
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
My wife swears she's sent me this recipe numerous times before, but I never gave it much thought until I personally found it on the The Daily Green and sent it to her excitedly, like it was the greatest thing ever. I was inspired by the odd culinary pairing of golden raisins and capers, and hoped they would balance each other and bring out the Swiss chard flavors.
But what really sold it for me was the fact that this could be, in the words of the author, a "delicious pasta partner." Considering the size of the chopped chard, I figured farfalle would be that perfect partner, and I'm pretty sure I was right. This was a warming and balanced plate of pasta.
I upped the ante with a little more olive oil and generous gratings of Parmesan. The result is truly satisfying. The briny capers enliven the dish while the sugary raisins help provide some kind of stability.
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Posted by Blake Royer, November 5, 2009 at 4:30 PM
[Photograph: Blake Royer]
Comforting as ever, corn chowder is a food for the fall as the weather gets cooler. And though it's easy enough to make a delicious corn chowder with lots of heavy cream and flour, I was more interested to see how this recipe—more of a soup than a chowder—from Rick Bayless would turn out. Instead of cream and flour, it's thickened with corn starch and the starch from the puréed corn kernels. It works—while the recipe is made with just milk, it has the silky mouthfeel of something with a lot more fat in it.
The Mexican twist here is also interesting, which is the addition of roasted poblano chiles. They pair well with the relatively bland taste of creamy corn, adding some needed kick and smokiness. To make this a full meal, Bayless calls for cubes of chicken breast or shrimp; I used some leftover shredded chicken and it worked wonderfully. And though Bayless doesn't mention it at all, I couldn't help but eat it next to buttered, freshly baked cornbread.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, November 4, 2009 at 4:15 PM
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
I've experimented with baked potato toppings before but was feeling a little uninspired this time around. Looking for ideas, I turned to Twitter. As it turns out, people are awfully passionate about baked potato toppings.
One surprising tweet response came from the wonderful Chicago restaurant, The Publican (@thepublican2008).
@nickdk bacon and chives would be our cooks normal faves, but broccoli and cheddar rules!
If you've ever managed to eat there, you know it's best to follow any advice they give you. No matter what. I've had many bacon-and-chive-loaded potatoes in my day, so I decided to take a chance with this broccoli and cheddar version. I'd probably never attempt a broccoli and cheese dish had the Publican not recommended it, but that's just how much I trust them.
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Posted by Blake Royer, November 3, 2009 at 3:30 PM
[Photo: Blake Royer]
I love how universal meatballs are. The world over, almost every cuisine has realized the merits of grinding meat and mixing it with spices and herbs. This is a characteristic recipe from Nigel Slater: no one would recognize the preparation, but somehow it seems like it's always been there. It's a combination that plays a bit with authenticity, but doesn't seem like a major departure. The left-field ingredient here is lime leaves, an integral part of Thai cooking. They could be left out, as they're hard to find, but the unmistakable flavor adds something extra.
Slate calls these pork "burgers," but eats them without a bun (the man should be told that without a bun, it doesn't qualify). But when I hear about anything with chunks of bacon food-processed into a "coarse mush" and mixed into a patty, I'm on board. Big Asian flavors like chili, ginger, garlic, cilantro, and scallions round out the rest of the recipe. These pair well with a crisp salad and plain white rice.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, November 2, 2009 at 4:15 PM
[Photograph: fuchsiadunlop.com]
I've been meaning to make this recipe for at least a month. Ever since I laid eyes on Fuchsia Dunlop's Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province, I've been drooling over the recipe on the book's cover: Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork. "Men eat it to build their brains," Chairman Mao's nephew is quoted as saying in the book.
The pork in question is pork belly, which is an added plus. Spiked with dried red chiles and star anise, it's a simple dish, not too spicy or over the top. The whole thing could be completed in under an hour—not bad for what amounted to a very authentic Chinese recipe.
Think of the dish as more of a blank slate for other flavors. Dunlop suggests adding every from water chestnuts, mushrooms, mustard greens, to spare ribs. But really, just about anything would taste good in this broth.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, October 30, 2009 at 4:00 PM
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
I initially picked out this recipe because it looked awfully similar to Korean scallion pancakes, a dish I've made a few times before. This recipe from Gourmet added some sweet potato and a little kimchi, which I figured would perk up the dish a bit—but I wasn't expecting this.
They taste less like traditional Korean scallion pancakes and more like hash browns with serious attitude. The flour in the mix helps protect the sweet potatoes from the intense heat so they come out golden brown and crisp, instead of burned and black.
That intense flavor comes from the overload of kimchi, scallion, and serrano. (I'm surprised it all fit.) They make sure each bite is packed full of flavor and layered with spice. The dipping sauce, which is acidic and slightly sweet, provides a slight relief. I'm not sure if the pancakes are meant as a side dish or what, but they're addictive either way.
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Posted by Blake Royer, October 29, 2009 at 4:00 PM
[Photograph: Blake Royer]
The recipe, from Nigel Slater, sounded like a fancy version of fish and chips: Fat, meaty fillets of haddock are coated in bread crumbs and shallow-fried until brown and crisp. I substituted cod, but what intrigued me especially about this recipe was the coating, which is a combination of bread crumbs, tarragon leaves, and minced anchovies.
Tarragon is a powerful herb that is best used in small doses, and for the same reason also perfumes the whole dish. Even better, though, are the anchovies, which melted away during the frying but left their nutty signature, deepening the dish's flavor to amp up the relatively mild flavor of cod. Meanwhile, the cod's flesh itself was meaty and dense, offset by the breadcrumb crunch. I was amazed at how much flavor the recipe was able to achieve with just a few ingredients and a short time.
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