Posted by Adam Kuban, March 12, 2008 at 5:30 PM
My Last Supper takes the old "last bite on earth" game to the next level by asking that question of 50 of the world's best-known and most-loved chefs. Though beautifully photographed and almost more of a coffee-table book in size and format, there are some serious recipes in here to accompany the memorable visuals and fun interviews. As this week's featured Cook the Book entry, we'll be highlighting a recipe a day from it. Today's is by Chui Lee Luk, the chef-owner of Claude's in Sydney. Lee Luk describes her last meal: "Assuming that I will be in good health and aware of the upcoming event, I would seek out the peace and comfort of familiar foods that have emotional meaning for me. I think I would have a meal of chili mud crab, braised tofu with prawn and pork, stir-fried snow pea leaf, and steamed rice, all followed by red bean pancakes with jasmine tea."
As is always the case with our Cook the Books, we're giving away a number of them this week. Enter to win My Last Supper »
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, March 12, 2008 at 4:00 PM
I didn’t even attempt to take a picture of this monstrosity because I knew no camera angle could make this blackened pile of slosh look anything approaching edible. I’d blame Barbara Kafka if it didn’t taste so remarkable. In her famous Roasting cookbook
, she advocates cooking my gorgeous green cabbage at 500°F, which quickly turns it black. Then it's mixed with the Asian-inspired sauce—also black—and before I could think twice, I was staring into the face of the ugliest dish I’d ever created.
The impetus for the recipe came in the middle of roasting a chicken according to the Kafka method. I had an obscenely hot oven and figured I should find another recipe from her book to toss in. Some cabbage was lying around and everything for the sauce was in the fridge. And while it does disfigure the vegetable beyond all recognition, it also crisps it up and layers it in flavor. Far from weepy and aromatic, it’s rich and complex. I wouldn’t serve this for company, but it is a great side dish.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 8, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Each Saturday evening we bring you a Sunday Supper recipe. Why on Saturday? So you have time to shop and prepare for tomorrow.
If you've been following along this week, you might know that I picked up a panini press for the office and have been using it to cook lunchtime sandwiches like a madman. Well, this crazy appliance also doubles as an electric grill, so I'm eager to try my hand at some recipes that require the use of either an outdoor grill or a grill pan on the stove. I figure the press/grill/griddle will work almost as well as a grill pan, which is what I would have to use (if I had one) on such a cold and rainy weekend. This recipe is for a dish that I'm going to try this week—Vietnamese-style grilled pork. While the first half of it requires the use of a stove, it's one that I've only ever finished over coals. The new electric grill worked like a charm for panini, so it's time to force it into some new territory.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, February 15, 2008 at 4:00 PM
I didn’t mean to shake things up; I was just being resourceful. Here I was with a perfectly ripe avocado and not a lime to be found. When I usually face such draughts of product, I make do. But messing up the perfect duality of avocado and lime felt like a sin. I couldn’t just let that avocado sit there and turn brown on me. It’s hard enough finding ones that are ready to eat.
I did have some frozen corn. So into the depths of Google I went searching for some kind answer. I came out with this rather novel asian-inspired guacamole that replaced the acid of the limes with vinegar and added depth of flavor with toasted sesames seeds and sesame oil. It’s certainly not a replacement for the perfection that is guacamole, but it is an interesting change. If I had to change anything, I would have left the sesame seeds out—they messed with the consistency of the creamy product. I think a toasted sesame oil would be perfect. Anyway, just like the Mexican standby it was eaten very quickly.
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Posted by Blake Royer, January 29, 2008 at 4:00 PM
I almost didn't survive the second stage of this recipe, when fermented fish sauce hits the hot pan, and it suddenly seemed like the the scent of a thousand dead fish had washed upon my kitchen's shores. I almost turned back. The nutty, cheesy, anchovy smell was overwhelming—how could this eventually taste good? But a short writeup in last week's New York Times food section had promised me a "bright, palate-awakening blend of salty, sweet and spicy" that could be made in 12 minutes. I pressed on.
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Posted by Emily Koh, January 23, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Plain white rice was always that reliable staple in my house that you could pair with anything because of its relative blandness—it soaked up strong, spicy flavors well, and was always on standby to be consumed along with the main dish of the night, its inoffensive quality in terms of taste being a good thing. Despite having grown up eating chiefly white rice with just about everything, however, I'm not the type of person who has cravings for a bowl of hot, steaming rice. Married with other dishes—sure, it's great, but on the whole, I find it a bit boring.
And this is where Chinese black rice comes in, which I've been enamored with since I first tasted it at a Thai restaurant a few years ago. Most people recognize it as "forbidden black rice," and it's more of a deep, dark reddish-purple shade when cooked. (The reason why it's "forbidden" is that it was generally reserved for the emperors of China, and not for the common folk.) It's got a subtly sweet quality and a delicately chewy texture, making it popular for both main dishes and desserts. Instead of relying on your regular supply of chicken noodle soup, stave off those winter chills instead with this recipe for Thai chicken soup with Chinese black rice, which gives a little punch with the addition of Thai curry paste. Sass suggests adding in a handful of baby spinach or frozen peas, as well as a few tablespoons of chopped fresh mint. You can also substitute brown basmati, brown jasmine, or sticky Thai black rice instead.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, January 15, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Yesterday I was in the market for a good vegetable soup recipe. Today, my thoughts have turned to stir-fry, which is another item I like to make that I've been wanting a healthier recipe for.
This one, for Stir-Fried Shrimp with Lo Mein and Ginger-Sesame Vinaigrette, comes from The Culinary Institute of America's Techniques of Healthy Cooking
.
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Posted by Jenn Sit, December 26, 2007 at 1:30 PM
Every time I come home on a college break, the first thing that always happens is either my Mom, Dad, or Grandma asks me if I’m hungry. Before I can give an answer or even if I say no, there’s something delicious sitting in front of me just waiting to be devoured. My Dad always asks me if I ever get fed at school since I scarf down everything with such ravenous hunger and can be found eating cold leftovers out of the open fridge with my fingers. How can they blame me when I’m deprived of such home-cooked Chinese food at school? This winter break, I came home exhausted from a week of finals and my Mom handed me a bowl of hot noodles with Chinese broccoli—the bowl was emptied in just a few enormous bites and I promptly took a very much needed nap.
For your very own bowl of home-cooked Chinese goodness, try the rice noodles with Chinese broccoli and shiitake mushrooms recipe from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics. I’ve loved shiitake mushrooms since I was a kid, even before my Grandma told me that I’d be smarter if I ate more (one of many old wives’ tales I was told back then). The recipe suggests choy sum as an alternative to Chinese broccoli, which is another childhood favorite of mine due to the novelty of eating yellow flowers on my veggies. Along with the red pepper flakes, I always squiggle on some Sriracha for good measure. Ingredient lists for Asian dishes can be intimidating sometimes, but I’ve found that once you accumulate the various bottles of sauces in your pantry and become familiar with the ratios that produce the flavors you like best, it’s really not all that daunting.
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Posted by Jenn Sit, December 19, 2007 at 1:30 PM
During the holidays, for a lot of families, it’s tradition to get together to bake cookies and other sweet goodies. I’ve never made cookies with my family, but so much of my childhood was spent making countless dumplings and wontons with my Mom and Grandma either at home or at our family’s restaurant. Needless to say, I’ve become a lover all things dumpling after years of this family fun/borderline child-labor.
This weekend, with family members or guests coming over for the holidays, along with the cookies, why not put them to work and make pork and vegetable dumplings from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics. They would be a great hors d'oeuvre if you’re having a party or if you’re like me, eat a dozen or two doused in Sriracha and make it a meal. You can use the same pork and veggie mixture stuffed in wonton wrappers for your own homemade wonton soup. Rapidly stir a beaten egg in hot chicken broth and ta-dah!—you have egg drop soup to go with your wontons and another mystery of Chinese take-out is revealed. Now all that’s left is figuring out how they get those little fortunes in the cookies…
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 13, 2007 at 12:30 PM
This stuffing, loaded with mushrooms, smoked oysters, and sweet, fatty Chinese sausage, sounds like a meal in itself. In our interview with Gourmet magazine's editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl about the magazine's approach to Thanksgiving this year, she recommends this recipe, describing it as "really, really good" and "off the charts." Wrap it in lotus leaf for a more dramatic presentation at the table.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 13, 2007 at 12:30 PM
"The stir-fried baby bok choy is so fresh and light it complements so many other richer Thanksgiving dishes." —Ruth Reichl
Read our interview with Gourmet magazine's editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl about the magazine's approach to Thanksgiving this year for more of her recipe recommendations.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 4, 2007 at 3:30 PM
Like a lot of people my age, the Silver Palate Cookbook became my go-to cookbook when I first started cooking for friends and girlfriends. In fact, the first brunch I ever cooked for my wife featured two recipes from the Silver Palate. Julee Rosso's and Sheila Lukins's recipes are simultaneously sophisticated and down to earth, and—here's the best part—they always work. The lamb chop recipe that follows is one of my favorites from the book.
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