Posted by Kerry Saretsky, April 16, 2009 at 6:00 PM
All summer long when I'm baking like a Thanksgiving turkey in the New York City heat, I’m praying for fall—for my birthday, for the turkey to roast instead of me, for the crisp air blowing the season’s crisp leaves. From fall to the first snowfall, and during the requisite ambling up and down Fifth Avenue while staring through the glittering panes glistening with frost, I wish, again, this time for Santa to hurry down the chimney. But then winter white turns to grey: grey slush, grey buildings, grey skies, grey moods. I'm cold. I marvel at the strength of old man winter's clutch on New York—tenacious for a reputedly geriatric season. Even though I know spring heralds summer and the resulting pizza oven-like weather, I begin to pray for spring, for the white carpet that coats the sidewalks to change miraculously from snow to fallen cherry blossoms. And then I spot the first bud, and for a few blissful weeks of confused climate, it is spring at last.
Spring in France is always all about the flowers. The flower markets just on the Seine. The great buds that spring up from the grasses of the Tuileries. The jasmine and lily of the valley that make their way into the country’s Easter-egg macarons. The rose éclairs and sorbets. The orange flower tea. The perfumier opens his doors to another sense, allowing taste to revel a bit with smell in the springtime garden. I can think of no better time than Easter week to eat flowers in a slightly different, but more visual way: Dijon Pork Paillard with Spinach and Flower Salad.
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Posted by Kerry Saretsky, April 16, 2009 at 10:00 AM
My grandmother was born in Casablanca, Morocco, just in time for the era of Rick’s Café Americain. I think glamor must have been one of the components of Casablanca's municipal water in the 1940s, and my grandmother must have imbibed a lot of it. By the time she was six years old, she was fluent in French, Arabic, and Hebrew. How fortuitous for me—not linguistically, but culinarily. It is a lucky few who go to grandma's for couscous and mint tea.
Mémé (that’s "Nana" in French) was, and is, something of a femme fatale. And every woman will tell you that the secret to allure is mystery. I think certain things, like her natural hair color and the dimensions of her still-narrow waist, are a mystery even to Mémé herself. And she guards some of the secrets to her cuisine as closely as she does the name of her perfume.
As with all grandmothers, my mémé has her specialties, and whenever I go to see her she always makes them. A gorgeous salmon tagine with shards of peppers and carrots and spiced crimson olive oil. An olive stew spiked with harissa. Carrot salad peppered with cumin. Cigars of fiery merguez. C'est si bon! She has been unerringly generous with me, her only grandchild, and has shared the recipes with me since childhood. But there was always something slightly different about her renditions. A little je ne sais quoi. The Secret Ingredient remained a mystery—until last month.
My cousin was visiting, and she made a version of Mémé’s Moroccan salmon that was even better than Mémé’s! "Sylvie," I asked, "What did you put in here?" She rattled off the usual list of ingredients, and then said something in Arabic. "What’s that?" I asked. She searched for the translation into French: preserved lemons!
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Posted by Grace Kang, March 19, 2009 at 4:15 PM
I needed a quick and easy meal to make for my cousin last night and this Balsamic Pork with Shallots from the March issue of Cooking Light definitely fit the bill. Easily a 30 minute meal, the recipe is straightforward and simple. Sauté the pork, caramelize the shallots, add some vinegar and water, and it's basically done.
The recipe originally called for one pound of pork tenderloin, but we were shopping at Costco where they only had gargantuan five-pound tenderloins. (The meat section at Costco is a bit scary). Thus, I settled for the more manageable pork chops. The shallot mixture would also go well with chicken, beef, or turkey, so feel free to switch it up if you don't eat pork. To make the dish a bit more luxurious, add a tablespoon or so of heavy cream at the end. It'll smooth out the tartness of the balsamic vinegar.
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Posted by Gina DePalma, March 12, 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!
Save your sauté, and no deep frying, thank you—when I’m cooking fish at home, I like to do it in a hot oven. It is a purely nostalgic impulse. My mother’s kitchen churned out a fish dinner on every meatless Friday of my childhood, and yes, they were meatless all year round just in case God really does prefer it that way. After getting over my disappointment at being deprived of the same Mrs. Paul’s frozen fish sticks that my friends were being served, I grew to love her simple recipe of baked fish fillets with well-seasoned breadcrumbs and some good olive oil.
Pairing this method with the bright, vibrant flavors of Sicily is the winning combination in this version of the Friday night special. There’s sweetness from the red onion complimented by plenty of fresh mint and basil, a sour note from a shot of vinegar, and a squirt of anchovy paste to add the salty intensity of the sea. Olives bring a final touch of richness to the plate.
This recipe is for firm, meaty, white fish. I used cod, but you can sub a variety of your favorites. Look for anything with the texture needed to stand up to those big flavors, such as scrod, haddock, hake, or halibut; sea bass, or snapper work well too.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, March 7, 2009 at 12:00 PM
- serves 6 -
Unsurprisingly, Ina Garten, in Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients, uses Niman Ranch beef for her Niman Ranch Burgers, but feel free to use other premium beef as well. She pairs her burgers with caramelized onions for a classic and delicious combination.
Ingredients
2 pounds ground Niman Ranch beef or other grass-fed premium beef (80 percent lean and 20 percent fat)
1 tablespoon good Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons good olive oil, plus extra for brushing the grill
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 sandwich-size English muffins, halved
Good mayonnaise
Caramelized Onions (recipe follows, after the jump)
Procedure
1. Build a charcoal fire or heat a gas grill.
2. Place the ground beef in a large bowl and add the mustard, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix gently with a fork to combine, taking care not to compress the ingredients. Shape the meat into 6 (3 1/2 inch) patties of equal size and thickness.
3. When the grill is medium-hot, brush the grill grate with oil to keep the burgers from sticking. Place the burgers on the grill and cook for 4 minutes. Using a big spatula, turn the burgers and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, until medium-rare, or cook longer if yo uprefer hamburgers more well done.
4. Meanwhile, break apart the English muffins and toast the 6 halves cut side down on the grill. Spread each half with mayonnaise and top with a burger and then with a heaping tablespoon of caramelized onions. Serve hot.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, February 21, 2009 at 12:00 PM
- serves 6 -
Bacon and mushrooms are mixed into this burger adapted from Lobel's Prime Time Grilling by Stanley, Leon, Evan, Mark, and David Lobel. It's a nice solution to the problem of toppings sliding towards the end of your burger as you eat it. By the time you get to your last bite, the ratio of meat to topping is all off! It's all about the ratio.
Ingredients
6 slices bacon (about 3 ounces total)
1 pound ground beef sirloin
1 pound ground beef chuck
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped onion
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped white mushrooms
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Vegetable oil cooking spray
Procedure
1. Cook the bacon over medium heat in a skillet until cooked but not crispy. Drain on paper towels and when cool enough to handle, tear or chop into small pieces.
2. Combine the beef, bacon, onion, mushrooms, and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Using your hands, mix well. Form into 6 patties. Refrigerate until ready to grill.
3. Prepare a charcoal or gas grill: Lightly spray the grill rack with vegetable oil cooking spray. Light the coals or heating elements, and let them burn or heat until hot.
4. Grill the burgers for about 5 minutes. Turn and grill for 4 to 5 minutes longer for medium-well burgers.
Posted by Grace Kang, January 31, 2009 at 11:30 AM
Salmon burgers are a lighter burger than the usual beef and a good option if you want to switch it up. This version, adapted from Cook's Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbecue, has mayonnaise to ensure moistness in the final product, as salmon burgers can be dry. They also recommend using a grill grid to prevent the burgers from falling apart and into the coals. Serve with the Creamy Lemon-Herb Sauce that follows the burger recipe below.
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Posted by Grace Kang, January 29, 2009 at 7:03 PM
The Mesa Grill Burger, from Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook, is a cheeseburger with a flavor boost. Extra cheddar cheese, sweet and crunchy Vidalia onions, and a horseradish mustard all make for good accompaniments. Flay advises to be sure not to overcook the grilled onion and to use ground chuck no leaner than 80 percent. Fat is your friend!
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Posted by Blake Royer, January 22, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Chicken tikka masala was the very first curry I ever loved—a go-to dinner while studying in Europe without a clue in the world how to cook anything. At least twice a week I'd brown some chicken pieces, dump in a jar of spicy tikka masala sauce, and serve the whole lot over boiled rice. Great times, but you can never go home again. Now that I know how to cook, I can't bring myself to eat dinner from a jar (and I've since learned that what I was eating was really a sort of Anglified dish with lots of sauce because Brits like their meat with "gravy"). Most of the curries I make these days are vegetarian and a little more authentic, but my days of tikka masala recently returned in the form of an insatiable craving. Unable to resist, I set out to find a recipe.
Most recipes call for overnight marinades for the meat, but I wanted it to be a quick dinner that would work for this column. Based on a recipe I found at About.com (an article about British food!) along with elements of a few others, I pulled together this 45-minute version that's a good shortcut. While the chicken is marinating, no time is wasted: meanwhile, onions and ginger caramelize slowly with spices until falling apart (this stage is a key to the deep flavor of many curries). I traded the more common heavy cream for yogurt, adding a little flour to keep it from curdling, with tomato paste for flavor and lemon for tartness. The result is a very classic "curry" taste. Better than the jar, for sure.
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Posted by Michele Humes, January 14, 2009 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the January 14th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
Nancy Harmon Jenkins' recipe for risotto with salami and borlotti beans is as hearty and as full-flavored as it gets. The Italians would serve a small portion of this dish as a first course, but I think you could get away with serving this creamy, meaty risotto as a fully-fledged main.
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Posted by Kerry Saretsky, January 9, 2009 at 9:00 AM
Read more about Carmine's Beef Cutlet Milanese with Caper, Roasted Pepper, and Tomato Butter Sauce on Serious Eats: New York as part of our series of recipes from famous restaurants in New York City.
Adapted from< em>Carmine’s Family-Style Cookbook
- serves 2 to 4 -
Ingredients
2 8-ounce, thick, boneless sirloin steaks, butterflied
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
2 cups Carmine’s bread crumbs (recipe follows)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil
6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
5 tablespoons marinara sauce
2 tablespoons chopped roasted red peppers
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
Pinch hot red pepper flakes
Procedure
1. Using the flat side of a cleaver, a mallet, or a small heavy frying pan, flatten each piece of steak until it is 1/4 inch thick. To make it easier, cover the steak with plastic wrap before flattening it.
2. Spread the flour on a plate. Whisk the eggs together in a shallow bowl. Combine the bread crumbs and lemon zest in a small bowl and mix them well. Spread the bread crumbs out on a shallow plate.
3. Lightly season the steaks with salt and pepper.
4. Coat the steaks on both sides with flour and shake off any excess. Dip the steaks in the eggs and let the excess drip off. Coat the steaks completely with the bread crumbs and press them into the meat to adhere. Set them aside on a tray or large plate.
5. In a large nonstick sauté pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the steaks and cook them for about 2 to 3 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown. Turn the steaks over and cook the other side for about 2 to 3 minutes or until it is golden brown. Transfer the steaks to paper towels to drain. Transfer them to a baking sheet and set them aside.
6. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
7. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 teaspoon of the butter, add the shallots, and sauté them for 1 to 2 minutes or until they are lightly browned. Add the wine and cook the sauce for about 30 seconds. Add the chicken stock, bring it to a boil, and cook it for 1 minute.
8. Reduce the heat to low. When the sauce is simmering slowly, use a small whisk to whip the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter into the sauce and cook it for about 2 minutes. Add the marinara sauce, roasted peppers, basil, capers, and red pepper flakes. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Remove it from the heat and set it aside.
9. Transfer the steaks to the oven and bake them for 3 to 4 minutes or until they are hot. Ladle the sauce onto a large platter, place the steaks on top of the sauce, and serve.
Carmine’s Bread Crumbs
- makes about 4 cups -
6 slices white bread, with crusts, torn into large pieces
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Procedure
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process the bread until it is coarsely ground. Add the cheese, garlic, parsley, and oregano and pulse the mixture until the bread crumbs are finely ground.
2. Season the bread crumbs to taste with salt and pepper and pulse the mixture just to mix in the seasonings.
Posted by Blake Royer, December 30, 2008 at 5:00 PM
After a vegan friend came over for dinner, the shrink-wrapped package of tofu that she'd brought along to eat languished in my refrigerator. Frankly, I didn't know what to do with it. So instead of challenging myself to find a decent recipe, I ignored it for as long as possible, until the consume-by date loomed close. I hate wasting food, but it's possible that I hate tofu even more.
Eventually I landed at 101 Cookbooks, where I stumbled on this recipe for caramelized tofu with shredded Brussels sprouts. The tofu (preferably firm) is sliced into strips and seared with oil, garlic, and pecans, then finished with dark brown sugar to give it a fabulous sweet-savory coating. Then the Brussels sprouts go into the pan so they pick up all the good pan residue and become crisp and golden. The result was a lightning-quick dinner with very satisfying, balanced flavors. The only part I didn't like? The rubbery tofu. Oh well.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, December 26, 2008 at 6:00 PM
What's more fun than putting blue cheese on top of a burger? Stuffing it inside a burger! This recipe for beef and Gorgonzola burgers topped with tomato, onion, and arugula comes from The Bon Appétit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook. Seal the edges of the patty tightly if you don't want the cheese to leak out; otherwise, enjoy your cheese-oozing patty.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, December 22, 2008 at 4:15 PM
I had my first green enchilada experience at a friend's house in Brooklyn. He was actually from New Mexico and used to make a huge batch every weekend for anyone who happened to stop by the apartment. But he made them unlike any enchilada I'd ever had. Instead of rolling them up and baking them with loads of meat, he just stacked them on a plate layered with cheese and tomatillo sauce. Instead of the heavy, orange-cheese covered ones that I grew up on in the Midwest, these were bright and acidic. I'd always have two plates' worth.
Now back in the Midwest, it was harder to reconstruct this memory than I had anticipated. Nearly all the green enchilada recipes contained chicken in some integral way. So first I had to track down a green sauce, which I finally found in Bon Appétit. Then it was just a matter of stacking the tortillas, layering on some sauce, and sprinkling on a little cheese. You can melt the cheese in an oven, which will take 15 minutes or so, or you can do what I did and just zap it in the microwave for about a minute. That way you can have seconds in a flash.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, December 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Giada de Laurentiis' recipe for prosciutto lamb burgers isn't a recipe for a burger as much as a patty—she suggests serving it carb-free—but you can just stick it in your bun of choice to make a sandwich. The patty is wrapped in prosciutto to make it juicier and is topped with basil, tomato, extra virgin olive oil, and vinegar.
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Posted by Blake Royer, December 4, 2008 at 4:15 PM
In my local market there are multiple stands that sell all manner of smoked and preserved fish, from pickled herring to gravlax-style salmon. But by far the most prevalent are hot-smoked, whole head-on fish like latikas (bream) and forell (trout). Their skin is glossy and golden, darkened and crinkled in spots, while the flesh within is flaky and flavorful.
In winter these rich smoky flavors hit some sort of spot. I stumbled on this recipe for smoked fish patties with dill mayonnaise in Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries, which mixes the flaked fillets with potatoes, a little butter, and a heaping handful of fresh dill. More dill ends up in the mayonnaise, which is also spiked with a little minced garlic. A squeeze of lemon and a pile of lightly dressed greens alongside and I was a happy camper.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, November 24, 2008 at 6:30 PM
I've been on a little bit of a braised chicken kick lately, so it was nice to get back in the roasting game with this delicious dish. Nothing is left to chance here. The chicken is stuffed with aromatics, glazed with a quick sauce, and then sprinkled with five-spice powder. It's basted during the roasting process to get the skin beautifully browned and crisp. Then the sucker is carved and dipped in another sauce. Sounds like overkill, but it all works for some reason.
I might have to thank the five-spice powder. I bought it about four months ago for absolutely no reason. I was at Penzey's Spices, and it smelled good. Something happens when I'm there, and I feel like I need spices that I've never used before. That day I just happened to need a blend of China cassia cinnamon, star anise, anise seed, ginger, and cloves. It went unused until now. Oh, I've occasionally reached over, opened the bottle, and smelled it, but that's really been the end of it.
I'm glad I put it to use here. Its gorgeous aroma does wonders for this dish. And it only looks like a bunch of ingredients. The chicken and the sauce have many of the same ingredients. This recipe, adapted from the Food Network Kitchens Cookbook, is actually rather simple to prepare.
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Posted by Linnea Covington, November 20, 2008 at 10:00 AM
- serves 4-5 -
From Dreena Burton. This recipe was featured in a Vegan Thanksgiving Menu.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced celery
5 medium–large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 14-ounce can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained (reserve 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup walnuts
2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon tamari
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/4 cups frozen chopped spinach
3 tablespoons dried cranberries
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 9-inch prepared whole-wheat pie shell thawed
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon tamari
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped (for topping)
2 tablespoons lightly crushed walnuts (for topping)
Procedure
1. Add oil, onion, celery, garlic, salt and pepper in a skillet over medium heat. Cook for 7-9 minutes until onions soften.
2. In a food processor, add chickpeas (except reserved 1/4 cup), walnuts, lemon juice, tamari, and salt, and pulse to lightly chop (not puree). Remove about 1/2 of the mixture from food processor and set aside.
3. Add sautéed mixture, lemon juice, tamari, and sea salt to processor with other half of chickpea/walnut mixture and puree until smooth.
4. Transfer puree to a large bowl and stir in spinach, cranberries, thyme, reserved chopped chickpea/walnut mixture, and reserved whole ¼ cup of chickpeas.
5. Transfer mixture to pie shell, smoothing to evenly distribute. Combine oil and tamari, and brush or spread over top of filling. Sprinkle on fresh thyme and walnuts.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 33-38 minutes, until tart is lightly browned on edges and top.
7. Serve with cranberry sauce, a spoon drizzling of oil/balsamic vinegar slurry, or other sauce of choice.
More Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes
Lemon Broiled Green Beans
Roast Sweet Potatoes
Traditional Cranberry Sauce
Chocolate Pumpkin Pie
Posted by Blake Royer, November 13, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Some days, convenience is paramount when it comes to dinner. On the way home I picked up a package of Chinese frozen pork dumplings and, for perhaps the first time since college, a package of ramen noodles. On a cloudy November day I had visions of a rich broth with spicy scallions, ginger, tender dumplings, and handfuls of noodles. I got my wish.
The recipe for the broth could have gone a number of ways. For this soup I began with chicken stock, then added soy sauce, scallions, plus minced ginger and garlic. Another version could have begun with miso paste and dashi, or perhaps a tablespoon of fish sauce then the soy. Either way, it all comes to a boil with the vegetables (no sautéing needed), then the dumplings and the noodles are added and simmered until cooked through. After only ten minutes, your dumpling noodle soup is ready.
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Posted by Blake Royer, November 6, 2008 at 4:15 PM
President-elect Barack Obama's chili won't win over any purist Texans, who would laugh at his beans and tomato, but they were never going to go Democrat anyway. His is a solidly Midwestern recipe with green bell peppers, kidney beans, tomatoes, and other inauthentic additions like red wine vinegar and the possibility of using ground turkey. He even calls for serving it over rice. The economical addition of carbs, usually spaghetti or macaroni, is a favorite pastime in Cincinnati and neighboring states. In Chicago, we used to look fondly as kids on Chili Mac, the kind of lasagna-like casserole made from a hodgepodge of cuisines that only the Midwest could invent.
So is the chili good? Well, it's not bad. The Barack spice mix includes turmeric and basil, two additions I thought were interesting (though turmeric sometimes makes its way into commercial chili powders), but it was a bit bland in the end. I had to resist the urge to tinker with the recipe, like using fresh chilis instead of bell pepper and adding some depth of flavor with honey or a dark beer. I did take one liberty, which was to add salt; the recipe called for none. Not a chili recipe for the ages, unfortunately, but let's hope he'll be a president who is.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 5, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Because cheeseburgers are awesome and doughnuts are awesome, Chris Zelenak submitted this glazed doughnut bacon egg cheeseburger recipe to us. Read more about it on A Hamburger Today or go straight to the recipe!
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Posted by Robyn Lee, October 25, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Iron chef champion Cat Cora features one burger recipe in her book of simple recipes, Cooking from the Hip, for Greek lamb and olive burgers with garlic "sauce." She describes the burger as having an "incredible texture" due to the inclusion of kalamata olives and feta cheese in the lamb patty, which also make the burger juicy and flavorful. Instead of regular bread crumbs, she recommends using Japanese panko breadcrumbs.
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Posted by Barbara Hanson, October 23, 2008 at 4:00 PM
This is a very simple recipe with a minimum of ingredients to let the sweet crab flavor shine through.
- serves 4 as an appetizer, two as a main course -
Ingredients
1 pound picked Jonah crabmeat
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
2 dashes Trappey's Red Devil, or other hot sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
Butter
Lemon wedges, for serving
Tartar sauce, optional
Procedure
1. Dump crabmeat in a large bowl, and loosen gently with your hands, being careful not to break up the larger pieces.
2. Add seasoning and mayo; mix gently.
3. Add breadcrumbs, mixing until thoroughly distributed.
4. Shape into 4 cakes; chill for 20 minutes.
5. Lightly butter a nonstick pan and heat over medium to medium-high heat.
6. Cook crab cakes for 4 minutes, until lightly browned. Turn and cook 3 minutes more.
7. Serve with lemon wedges, and tartar sauce, if you'd like, but, please, no cocktail sauce!
Posted by Blake Royer, October 23, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Halfway through making this Galician soup, I started to have second thoughts. The recipe came from Spain...on the Road Again, the Gwyneth Paltrow, Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, and Claudia Bassols public television show where they drive around Spain in Mercedes Benzes with cameras trained on them eating. Sure, it tasted great in the hills of Spain, but here all I had was a little sautéed bacon, some cubed potatoes and turnips, an onion, a can of white beans, and water in a pot. As my kitchen filled with the unmistakable smell of boiled vegetables, I wondered where this soup was headed. Do I even like turnips? I don't seem to like their smell. I put my faith in the Spanish chorizo still to come and the hearty greens that would wilt in the last minutes of cooking.
Of course, it all came together beautifully. I never would have thought to put a cured sausage into a soup, but it flavored the broth with a porky spiciness that imbued all the humble vegetables with bright flavor and color. The result is filling and healthy, a peasant soup to feed an army for nothing. In fact, I halved the recipe on the show's blog (the original supposedly feeds 4-6) and my recipe still yielded three dinners for two.
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Posted by Kristen Swensson, October 20, 2008 at 11:00 AM
On Mondays, Kristen Swensson of Cheap, Healthy, Good swings by these parts to share a healthy, delicious, and budget-conscious recipe with us. Today, the classic combo of pork and apples.
All too often, when it comes to lean cooking, pork (glorious pork!) is passed over in favor of the omnipresent chicken breast. Maybe it's because healthy eaters associate pig with bacon, ribs, and all things Paula Deen. Maybe chicken just has better PR. Either way, moderate servings of pork can be incorporated in any nutritious diet, and provide valuable variety after weeks, months, and years of (more freakin') poultry.
This week, boneless center-cut pork loin was on sale at my local supermarket. Trimmed of visible fat, it's a decent substitution for expensive pork tenderloin, especially in dishes where it's not featured as the main event. Curried Pork With Apples, pulled from Casual Kitchen (one of my all-time favorite cooking blogs), is a good example of that principle. A neat twist on pork chops and applesauce, the fruit-spice combination makes it more interesting than the average weekday meal, while the meat provides substance and chew for ardent carnivores.
Even better, curried pork can be altered and embellished all kinds of ways. My boyfriend's mom suggested adding raisins for a full-on fall experience, and Casual Kitchen's Daniel believes toasted walnuts sprinkled over the finished product would be a worthy addition. For vegetarians, chickpeas might make a suitable pork substitution, and for pork-phobic dieters (*sigh*), chicken breast could be an option. Ultimately, the variations are endless, so don't be afraid to experiment.
Oh, and next time you're searching for a lean meat, consider the all-powerful pig. There's more to it than meets the bacon. (I don't know what that means, either. But it sounds good.)
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Posted by Lucy Baker, October 16, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jameson are two of my favorite cookbook authors, so when I saw that they had created the cover recipe for the October issue of Cooking Light—Walnut-Crusted Pork Chops with Autumn Vegetable Wild Rice—I knew I had to make it for this week's Cooking from the Glossies post. Besides, I'd been looking for an interesting and new way to prepare wild rice, one of my favorite fall staples.
While the results were hearty, salty, and juicy (more on that in a bit), I first want to point out that there was a typo in the print version of the recipe. The photo clearly depicts a large, bone-in pork chop, while the ingredient list calls for 4-ounce boneless chops. The bone isn't the issue, but the weight is: a 4-ounce piece of meat is a tiny portion, even by "lite" standards! Knowing it had to be wrong, I asked my butcher for 7-ounce boneless chops. (This turned out to be a wise move—Cooking Light has since revised the recipe on their website, and now it calls for 8-ounce bone-in chops. You can use whichever you prefer.)
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Posted by Blake Royer, October 9, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Though canned tuna might have a bad rap in the U.S., generally sequestered for a life of mayonnaise and white bread (my personal go-to in college to save money), in Italy and much of the Mediterranean they pack the stuff in olive oil and give it a little more respect. These days, it's easier to find imported high-quality olive-oil packed tuna, and even some domestic brands are following suit by packing in olive oil. Often, I think it's worth the extra cost.
I pulled this recipe for pasta and tuna sauce from an issue of Saveur that had an article featuring home-preserved foods. Though it called for home-jarred tuna fillets, I had perfectly good success with store-bought. This is a done-before-the-water-boils sort of pasta, which are my favorite: a little bit of red pepper flakes and garlic begin the dish with a nutty spiciness, then the tuna is flaked into the skillet and just warmed through. The recipe also calls for slightly undercooking the pasta, then adding it to the skillet with a splash of pasta water, so that the final cooking stage creates a clinging, starchy sauce.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, October 3, 2008 at 6:30 PM
I was taking a look back at what I've accomplished this grilling season, and through all the fond memories came a horrifying reality: I had failed to cook any lamb! Though totally not intentional, I could not come to grips with this omission and began plotting to get lamb on the grill the next time I fired it up.
When marinating lamb, I try to find flavors that will best complement the rich and bold taste of the meat. It's a trickier task than when using chicken or pork, which just take on the flavor of whatever they're soaked in. The lamb standards of cilantro, garlic, and garam masala all went into this marinade, but it was the raisins that first caught my attention and lifted these kabobs to greatness. They added a slightly sticky sweetness, which worked with the lamb in an incredibly pleasing and unique way. Add some naan into this equation, and you'll have an unbeatable little meal.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, October 1, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the October 1st edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
This week's recipe is not for the faint, weak, or ill at heart! Kenny Shopsin's chicken-fried hamburgers are "just like fried chicken, only with a hamburger inside the crust instead of chicken." Serve with whatever toppings you like, though I think a good slathering of barbecue sauce and squirt of honey mustard would be especially delicious.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, October 1, 2008 at 11:30 AM
My grandmother, who lived in Maryland, had a wire rack that hung from the back of her kitchen door and was filled with all sorts of ancient, bizarre foodstuffs: cans of jellied beef consommé; packages of sardines; and containers of spices, the labels of which had long since faded to illegibility.
One jar, however, always stood out against the sea of sun-bleached McCormick tins: the bright red, yellow, and blue canister of Old Bay Seasoning. I didn't have much use for the stuff as a child (I was seafood-phobic, and found it much too spicy), but recently, I decided to revisit the iconic spice blend.
My renewed interest in Old Bay was born out of my love of rubs for meat, poultry, and fish. Lately, I've been experimenting with Fire & Flavor's Collection (the French Mustard & Herb Blend is especially delicious), as well as a maple sugar rub I picked up at the Wood Homestead stand at my local farmers' market. But with all the fancy options available, I suddenly felt compelled to go back to the basics. Old Bay has been around—with the same exact formula, in the same exact tin—for almost 70 years. Wasn't it high time I gave it another try?
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, September 26, 2008 at 4:45 PM
I suppose I subconsciously made this dish in reaction to my grand declaration that only roasted eggplants were worth eating. But it's just not true. I was initially attracted to this recipe for eggplant baingan kachri from Recipe Gullet because of the spice mix. The combination looked like no eggplant dish I'd had before. I didn't mind that the eggplant was sautéed—I just wanted to spruce up a weekday meal.
But it's the eggplant, not the spices, that is extraordinary. When done, the outside becomes crispy and crunchy while the insides turn luscious and velvety. It's my new favorite way to cook eggplant. The key is to use just a little oil and cook it for a long time—about 30 minutes in a pan over medium heat. It may sounds crazy, but you can't argue with results like this.
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Posted by Barbara Hanson, September 25, 2008 at 11:17 AM
This recipe is very tenuously based on one from Vladimir Estragon (the late Geoffrey Stokes), whose delightful, evocative writing appeared in the Village Voice for many years.
The Irish bacon for this recipe came from the Butcher Block in Sunnyside, Queens, which you read about in Serious Eats New York.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, September 20, 2008 at 11:00 AM
In her cookbook The New Steak, Cree LeFavour makes the Julia Burger in honor of Julia Child after getting the inspiration from an episode of Jacque and Julia. She says that the burger, which includes butter, mayonnaise, meat, melted cheese, and bacon (among other non-animal-based substances), "embodied the Julia Child ethos—a fearless embrace of all things fatty and an unwavering devotion to pleasure." A burger based on fats and pleasure is a burger I want in my belly.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, September 13, 2008 at 1:00 PM
I had never heard of Cuban fritas (hamburgers) before reading this recipe from Ingrid Hoffman's Simply Delicioso, but now I crave one of those small hamburgers spiced with paprika and topped with shoesting fries. Outside of Cuba, it may be found in South Florida. Hoffman recommends the fritas from El Rey de Las Fritas ("King of the Fried Burgers") in Miami, but if you can't make it over there, try this recipe at home.
Related: Havana Burger: Hold the Government
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Posted by Lucy Baker, September 11, 2008 at 12:45 PM
There are still a few solid outdoor cooking days left before it's time to trade in your Weber grill for your Le Creuset Dutch oven, and your charred burgers for slow braised meats. Why not take advantage of the weather and prepare one last no-holds-barred steak dinner?
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from A Platter of Figs by David Tanis, is for bistecca with fried artichokes and potatoes. Baby artichokes are about the size of an egg. Unlike regular artichokes, they have no choke and are entirely edible. Here, they are softened in a bath of water and lemon juice, and then fried gently in olive oil along with the potatoes.
David serves this Tuscan-inspired entrée alongside a verdant green lasagne, and tops off the menu with Castagnaccia, a rustic cake made with chestnut flour.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, September 6, 2008 at 10:45 AM
- makes 2 servings -
Adapted from The Texas Cowboy Cookbook by Robb Walsh.
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
Salt and freshly ground block pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 Sourdough Hamburger Buns or kaiser rolls
2 pats of butter
1 tablespoon creole or Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
6 dill pickle chips
2 thin slices from a large sweet Texas 1015 onion or other sweet onion
2 thick slices from a large ripe tomato
2 iceberg lettuce leaves
Procedure
1. Season the beef with salt and pepper, sprinkle with the garlic powder, and knead to mix. When the spices are evenly mixed in, divide the meat into two equal portions and form into patties. Cook the meat patties over medium heat on a griddle or gas grill or in a frying pan, turning several times. Resist the temptation to press down on the patty with the spatula—this squeezes out all the juices and results in a dry hamburger.
2. When the burgers are halfway done, split the buns and butter both sides. Lay the buns on the griddle or grill, and toast them until they are nicely browned along the edges. Then place the buns on top of the burgers to steam. Half-pound burgers should be cooked to medium (140°F) after 12 to 15 minutes. Check the level of doneness with a meat thermometer.
3. When the patties are done to your liking, spread half a tablespoon of mustard on each bottom bun and half a tablespoon of mayonnaise on each top bun. Place three pickle chips and an onion slice on each bottom bun and add the burger patties. Then put the tomato and the lettuce on top of the patties and finish with the crown halves of the buns. Serve immediately.
The USDA recommends that ground meat should be cooked well done (160°F) for safety's sake.
Variations
Cheeseburgers: Place American, pepper Jack, or Colby cheese slices on top of the patties after you turn them for the last time, and cook until the cheese melts. Proceed as above.
Bacon burger with cheese Follow the directions for a cheeseburger, then place two strips of bacon, fried crisp and cut in half, on top of the tomato.
Jalapeno cheeseburgers Place pickled jalapeno slices and American cheese slices on top of the patties after you turn them for the last time, and cook until the cheese melts. Proceed as above.
Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, August 13, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Every recipe I've tried from Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges has been a knockout, including the steamed spicy eggplant I made earlier this year. The best version of this dish uses very little ingredients and can still create an inspired flavor combination. But this one for stir-fried shrimp with tomato sauce—well, it was just okay. I'm just trying to figure out what went so wrong.
I made one major mistake. Trying to be thrifty, I didn't use large shrimp like he specified. I only had medium frozen shrimp, which had to be thawed. Fresh, large shrimp would have been tastier, certainly, but it was too hard to not compare this sauce to the sweet and sour kind poured on fried things at bad Chinese restaurants. After a few shrimp I just got tired of that really syrupy taste.
Not surprisingly, the dish actually suggests making a second sauce—this one creamy and cold—to mix things up. But since I didn't want to invest in preparing two sauces, I just went for the one. That's the last time I mess up a Jean-Georges recipe.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, August 6, 2008 at 4:45 PM
I decided to try this Cook's Illustrated recipe for sautéed chicken cutlets mainly for the accompanying shallot and white wine sauce, besides that I got a great new skillet and wanted to put it to some good use. It just so happened that I also stumbled across a wonderful way to make thin chicken cutlets. Forget those bone dry ones that get hammered into oblivion—this method differs in one key way: the chicken breasts are first sliced in half and then gently pounded out. The result is a thin cutlet perfect for quickly sautéing that also happens to be juicy. Not a bad deal.
But back to that sauce. Because the chicken cutlets are sautéed over high heat, loads of little bits stick to the pan (no non-stick please). When the pan is deglazed with the wine and chicken broth, those bits get dislodged with tongs and a wonderful sauce comes to life. It's almost a little too good. The sauce gets used up quickly.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, August 5, 2008 at 3:30 PM
I'm a believer in grilling classics since they're usually deemed "classics" for a delicious reason. Give me a perfectly grilled steak and I'm happy. Top that with some chimichurri sauce—an Argentinean mixture of parsley, garlic, onion, vinegar, and oil which adds a nice tang and freshness to beef—and I'm even happier.
That's exactly what I had in mind the other day, but some creative force pulled me out of my regular routine and made me wonder, "What if the sauce was cooked inside the steak?" So I acted on this notion and butterflied a two pound flank steak, spread chimichurri all over, then rolled and tied up the meat. Grilled to medium, the steak was succulent and the chimichurri flavor held up on the grill, still delivering a fresh factor, but not revelatory in taste. If there's something to be said for this modification, it was in the presentation.
Even though it was just a steak with sauce in the end, the rolled delivery induced awe from the crowd, and it definitely vanished faster than a non-rolled counterpart would have.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 30, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Flank steak has many admirable traits beyond cheapness. The cut also loves a good marinade, but I tend to forget to allow for that 12-24 hours of setting aside meat. When this recipe from Saveur only required a quick 30-minute dip to develop flavor, I was smitten. The approach even won $25,000 as a contestant in the National Beef Cook-Off.
The marinade did, however, force me to break down and buy a bottle of premade teriyaki. You can make your own, but buying the bottle just makes the easy dish even easier. The honey in the sauce caramelizes into a glorious crust contrasted by the orange juice. The orange pieces add a nice color contrast on the plate. The rosemary garnish perfumes the dish in a surprising way, making the acidic sauce a little more hearty.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, July 23, 2008 at 1:30 PM
My family has a dinner-table tic: whether we’re at a restaurant or at home and especially good bread is served, someone always says, “You know, I could just eat bread for dinner. This is all I need.” When my father says it I laugh because we’ve heard it a million times, but as often as not I’m the one who pipes up, involuntarily and completely carried away by my enthusiasm for bread and butter.
This weekend I made brisket and realized I’ve developed a new kitchen tic all my own. Whenever I slow-cook or braise a tough piece of meat, I taste it to see if it's tender enough, then announce, “I bet this is going to be so good tomorrow.” Everyone knows that kind of thing improves with a day or two, but saying it aloud reassures and excites me.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 22, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Rhubarb season generally runs from late spring to early summer, but this year it seems to have lasted a bit longer: the bright red stalks are still available at my weekend farmers market, and I've spotted them at high-end grocery stores such as Whole Foods as recently as a few days ago. As a lover of rhubarb's snappy, tart flavor, I can only hope its recent proliferation is a sign of increasing popularity. If there is enough demand, maybe someday rhubarb will be available year-round. Sure, it won't taste as good in January as it does in June, but baked into a pie, I doubt anyone will complain.
Today’s Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Summer on a Plate by Anna Pump, pairs a chunky rhubarb-honey sauce with a spicy grilled pork tenderloin rubbed with ground sage, fennel, cayenne, and Dijon mustard. If you have time, prepare the rhubarb sauce one day ahead to give the flavors a chance to blend.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 18, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Something wasn't quite right with this Bon Appétit recipe for roasted red pepper salad with bacon and pine nuts. While the roasted red peppers were delicious, the dressing tasted fine, and the colors were vibrant, there wasn't much contrast in the salad and it ended up feeling sloppy. In particular, all the mushy parts felt wrong. But I finally figured out why when I realized I had forgotten to toss in the pine nuts—they corrected most of the problems by adding a little crunch and a wonderful toasty flavor.
Roasting the peppers is the only time consuming part of this recipe, but it's not that difficult. For years I would char them over the burners on the stove because it was quick, but once I started broiling them, I never went back. Broiling allows for far more control and causes the insides to develop a much richer roasted flavor.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, July 18, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Tacos and gyrating meat hold a special place in my heart, making tacos al pastor a super food in my book. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, a vertical broiler has yet to make its way onto my wedding registry. Not to be discouraged, I set out to recreate tacos al pastor the best way I know how: by grilling them.
The deep smokey spiciness provided by guajillo and chipotle chiles mixed with the sweetness of the pineapple came through extraordinarily on the grill. These flavors combined to make a truly delectable taco, leaving me content on the taste part of meal—but the absence of gyration left a bit to be desired on the texture side. What I love about gyrating meat is how the outer layer becomes nice and crisp due to being exposed to the heat; when that layer is sliced off for a sandwich or taco, you get a unique combination of the crunchy outside and tender inside. I was unable to achieve that crunchiness on the grill without totally overcooking the pork, and in the end, a well cooked meat was more important. Even though the grilled tacos al pastor were excellent, they will never be a replacement for the real deal.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 17, 2008 at 3:30 PM
A few months ago, I featured a recipe from Gourmet for roasted pork tenderloin with a toasted walnut vinaigrette—I loved the way it paired fresh, spicy arugula with the warm, savory dressing. Someone at Gourmet must also love this combination because this month's issue features another tenderloin salad with arugula and nuts. This time the salad is a take on Romesco sauce.
Romesco sauce is a Catalan dish that wonderfully combines almonds, garlic, peppers, chillies, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and sometimes bread. While the ingredients are traditionally bashed together to the thickness of pesto, the elements in this recipe stay separated and are scattered throughout the salad. I found the original recipe overwhelmingly spicy, but I've toned it down a bit in my adaptation by using half the dressing required and bulking it out with olive oil.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 17, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Fairway's ten-year old seafood department is well-known as one of the freshest and best in New York. This is due In large part to head fishmonger Tony Maltese. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Tony was a fisherman long before he ever worked at Fairway—in fact, he once caught a prize-winning 760-pound bluefin tuna off the coast of Montauk. Needless to say, he is a firm believer in the Fairway adage to "Buy fish from people who fish."
Today's Cook the Book recipe is for Rosemary and Chile-Grilled Shrimp with Lemon Zest. If, like me, you lack a backyard grill, simply sear these shrimp on the stove in a hot frying pan. They're perfect hot or at room temperature, tossed in a salad, or served over couscous as a main course. The Food Life author Steve Jenkins recommends buying whole shrimp with the heads on: "all that gunk in there is flavor, no doubt about it." But if you're squeamish, peeled and deveined shrimp would still be delicious.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 16, 2008 at 4:15 PM
I found this recipe for pasta with fava beans, red bell pepper, and bacon at Blue Kitchen, which is written by a fellow Chicagoan, while searching for ways to use fava beans. This dish marries the herbal notes of the fava beans with bacon fat (always a winner in my book) and the zing of lemon. It's a delicious dish that feels light but also filling.
The hardest part about this recipe is peeling the fava beans. They not only have a hard outer shell, which must be meticulously removed by hand, but also a second shell that is even harder to remove. Though a little time consuming, the process of removing the shells is rather easy, and if you have fava beans as delicious as the ones I picked up at the market, it will be worth every second. Check out Blue Kitchen for a great guide to shelling fava beans.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 11, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Today's Cook the Book recipe is for Risotto with Shiitake Mushrooms and Peas. Before you balk at the notion of cooking a single serving of this notoriously laborious rice dish (all that stirring!), consider how relaxing it would be if you turned on some music and poured yourself a glass of wine. In addition, risotto often turns out better when it is prepared in smaller amounts. Think about dining in a fine Italian restaurant—risotto is cooked to order, plate by plate.
Serves One author Toni Lydecker believes that using the right level of heat is the most important factor in cooking risotto successfully. If the burner is too hot, the rice will cook unevenly. If it’s not hot enough, it will turn out gummy. She suggests using an even, medium setting. It should be hot enough to sauté the vegetables and cook the risotto at a brisk simmer.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, July 11, 2008 at 11:45 AM
This past weekend I was all giddy to smoke up some gargantuan apple-brined turkey legs and share the results here. I also picked up a couple chickens to smoke alongside the turkey, just out of curiosity to see how they'd go with Big Bob Gibson's White Sauce. The turkey legs were delicious, but the true power of the white sauce was unbeknownst to me. After the first bite of that tender, smokey, tangy white sauce-dipped chicken I knew that even though I've already served up a couple of chicken recipes, I'd be doing a huge disservice by not sharing this one as well.
I picked up a bottle of white sauce at the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, but after reviewing the simple recipe of mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and cayenne, I decided to make a batch myself. Once I whipped up the sauce, all I had to do was smoke some brined chicken and give it a quick dunk. The sauce almost completely drained off after the dip, but what seeped in totally transformed the chicken's flavor, leaving a piquant chicken that I was certain was reserved for menus in heaven.
Don't let this seemingly simple recipe fool you as it did me—the white sauce packs the strength to convert smoked chicken into the truly sublime, and it's sure to be dressing almost all my birds from now on.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 10, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Like cous cous—a food originating in Northern Africa—fregola is not a whole grain but a semolina flour pasta rolled by hand (or machine). Hailing from Sardinia, fregola's coarse spheres are much larger than cous cous, giving them more heft and texture. Once dried, fregola is toasted, which imparts an amazing nutty flavor and also helps it keep an appealing sturdiness even after it's cooked.
Fregola can be added to soups, cooked gently in stock like risotto, or simply boiled and tossed with olive oil or butter and some herbs. A traditional pairing is clams and tomatoes, but I had a couple of portobello mushrooms that needed to be cooked. While the fregola boiled, I chopped the mushrooms into large pieces and sautéed them with garlic and olive oil. Then, just after they had released their water and begun to caramelize, I tossed in a handful of chopped rosemary and sage. The nutty fregola complemented the tender, earthy mushrooms beautifully. The meatiness of portobellos was especially wonderful, but any mushroom would work. Look for fregola in Italian markets or online, or substitute Israeli cous cous, which is larger than traditional varieties.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, July 9, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Sure, Blake made a Caesar salad a long ago, and I've got nothing new to say about the salad's ingredients. And god knows I won't dare add chicken. But what I have done is grilled the lettuce before it hits the plate. Grilled Caesar salad, unlike its cold counterpart, is all about texture. The cut part of the lettuce gets hot and wilted, deepening in flavor, while the outer leaves remain mostly cool, calm, and collected. When I bite through, a whole mess of flavor gets in every fork full.
The only odd moment in this recipe came while trying to divide the one egg in half, which is a slightly ridiculous procedure only done to make the dressing more manageable for this two person household. I learned the trick from my many mistakes making huge loads of mayonnaise—it would inevitably go bad unless I halved it, and I don't like waste. Just whisk the egg in a small bowl until yolk and white are combined, and then carefully pour out half. Easy, I know. Slightly stupid, yep. But us pre-kid families have to do what we have to do.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, July 9, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Whenever you hear about how people don’t have time to cook because we’re all so busy with work and kids and the gym and eight hours per day of reality television and internet surfing and whatnot, don’t you think, “Hey, people used to find time to cook because they had no choice. What’s the matter with us?”
I’m not thinking of a mid-century family helmed by a mother whose job description was to help with the PTA and have dinner on the table when father walked through the door at 6 p.m. I’m thinking of pioneers and farmers, men and women, who did hard physical labor all day long and still had to face the dreaded problem: what’s for dinner? I’m not saying I want to return to the era when we all had to grow or make just about everything we ate and wore ourselves—there are definitely days when I’m grateful that I can cop out and order a burrito. But contemplating that time does make me think that most people today, even busy people, could forgo takeout and make dinner two or three times a week if they cared to.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 8, 2008 at 4:15 PM
The thought of cooking a whole fish can be very intimidating—just as it's easier to sear a chicken breast in a pan rather than roast a bird whole, we're all more familiar with that convenient fish fillet that's easy to control and cook gently in a skillet. Putting a whole fish in an oven and trusting that it won't come out terribly over or under cooked takes immense faith.
The salt crust method—which is used not for seasoning but to create a hardened shell around the fish to seal in juices—is a dramatic and forgiving way to bake the fish. The salt will conveniently let you know when the fish is done by becoming completely hardened and golden, and the fish will come out tender and remarkably juicy. With no added oil, it's also healthy and light.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 7, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Wait! Don't reach for that frozen dinner that is sure to be soggy, flavorless, and dull. And don't order a pizza, either. Just because you're dining alone doesn’t mean you have to settle for anything less than absolutely delicious.
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Serves One, for Fettuccine with Smoked Salmon and Peas is at once decadent and simple. The creamy sauce is offset by the briny smoked salmon, while the peas and lemon zest add fresh, bright flavors.
This dish uses only two tablespoons of smoked salmon, so unless you already have some on hand, you will probably have to buy a larger portion. But there are far worse things in life than leftover lox. Enjoy the rest tomorrow morning on top of a bagel or English muffin.
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Posted by Blake Royer, July 1, 2008 at 4:30 PM
While at the market this weekend I picked up a giant handful of garlic scapes, the rather beautiful garlic flower that looks a bit like a pig's tail—they were too inexpensive and attractive to pass up. I knew I wanted them in a pasta, but I didn't know how it would play out. I read about grilling them or treating them like asparagus by chopping into 1-inch lengths and sautéing in butter, but the simplest and post popular scape pasta seemed to be tossed with pesto.
But what would I put in it? In the end, I decided to keep the variables fixed and blend together scapes, pine nuts, Parmesan, and olive oil. I also sweated a little red onion in butter over low heat to develop a sweet oniony base for the pasta, which I hoped would bring out that side of the scape's flavor.
But the resulting dish wasn't all that I'd hoped. The subtle flavor of the pine nuts was lost, and too much oil was required to get the pesto to the right consistency—even then, it was nowhere near as smooth as the basil-based pesto Genovese. The pesto itself had too much hot garlic bite. Maybe I should I have cooked the scapes first, or blended them with an herb to soften the edges? I'm open to suggestions.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, June 27, 2008 at 2:30 PM
You can't argue with meat on a stick. If someone can find a better way to pack an entire delicious grilled meal into such a perfectly portable mechanism, I'd like to hear it. On top of that, I've found kabobs to also be one of the best items to grill as a group. They get everyone around the grill, cooking their own food, and are done quickly, narrowing that time of great anticipation between when your food first hits the grill, until it reaches your mouth. This past weekend the kabobs flowed on and off my grill all afternoon, and out of three different varieties I offered, the clear crowd favorite was the bacon-wrapped chicken.
Kabobs are great enough as is, but bring some bacon into the fold, and you have yourself a masterpiece. To get these started, I soaked my chicken chunks and mushrooms in a fairly standard marinade of soy sauce, vinegar, honey, and green onion. This marinade brings a ton of flavor to the rather bland chicken breasts, and adds a lot of moisture to the mushrooms, which would normally dry out over of the high heat of the grill while waiting for the chicken to finish cooking. After letting the chicken bathe overnight, I wrapped each piece in a strip of thick cut bacon and threaded them onto skewers with the mushrooms and some pineapple chunks. Besides imparting the unbeatable flavor of bacon, the bacon fat also basted the chicken while cooking, which kept the cubes extremely moist.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, June 25, 2008 at 2:15 PM
This 4th of July, why not grill burgers made from America's original red meat, buffalo? Available in most butcher shops and many high-end supermarkets, buffalo is lower in fat than beef, and has less cholesterol than chicken breasts. In addition, bison are natural prairie grazers, raised without growth hormones or stimulants. The tender, juicy meat, slightly gamey in flavor, also makes excellent steaks, roasts, and even sausages.
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Grill Every Day, is for Buffalo Burgers with Pepper Jack Cheese, but you can substitute any cheese or other topping you like. Serve with buttery grilled corn on the cob and plenty of napkins.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, June 25, 2008 at 1:00 PM
When I read an older cookbook, I am drawn to the recipes that sound a little funny and old-fashioned: stuffed breast of veal, pork chops flambé, Indian pudding. I’m pleased to say that not once did this method lead me astray when applied to The James Beard Cookbook. From now on I will turn to this fat little no-nonsense paperback often, but I do think it would be dauntingly vague for beginning cooks of the less confident sort. And I do still feel as if I don’t know much about James Beard and his career. I will have to turn to the collection Beard on Food or track down his autobiography for that.
This week I settled on scalloped salmon, a casserole made with canned salmon, expecting it to be either brilliant or disgusting. (If disgusting it would at least, I thought, give me a taste of the kind of thing my unfortunate mother had to force down on Fridays in the fifties and sixties as a Catholic schoolgirl.) In the end the dish was neither brilliant nor disgusting, but rather a comforting sort of thing I’ll be happy to make again when the larder is looking bare. With its sturdy vegetables and tinned fish, it made me feel economical and housewifely and could be a good end-of-grocery-week standby. The best way to describe it is perhaps as a large fish cake, easier to produce than individual cakes and baked instead of fried (although full of butter, so perhaps no healthier). It might also be interesting to try this with cooked potato flesh standing in for the crumbs.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, June 25, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the June 25th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
Just in time for the 4th of July, here is a simple recipe perfect for any backyard barbecue. Honey Mustard-Glazed Chicken Wings, adapted from Grill Every Day by Diane Morgan, will appeal to children—of all ages—who love to eat with their hands and lick their fingers.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, June 24, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Pizza may have originated in Italy but by now it's also an American classic, from Chicago's deep dish pies to New York's thin-and-foldable slices. What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than with a backyard grilled pizza party?
Grilling pizza is incredibly easy, and yields outstanding results. The crust becomes crisp, bubbly, and charred; the vegetables caramelize; and the cheese melts and retains a bit of smoky flavor. While making your own dough is certainly an option, store-bought fresh or frozen dough works just fine, and when it comes to toppings the only limit is your imagination.
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Grill Every Day by Diane Morgan, is for Grilled Sweet Onion, Thyme, and White Farmhouse Cheddar Pizza. Pair it with a tomato salad and blueberry pie to round out the holiday colors!
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Posted by Lucy Baker, June 23, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Grill Every Day by Diane Morgan, is for Southeast Asian Pork Satay. The spicy marinade (composed of lemongrass, ginger, cumin, coriander, and red pepper flakes) can be prepared up to three days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator, making it an ideal choice for a busy weeknight family meal. But keep this recipe in mind for your next dinner party as well—it would make a terrific appetizer.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, June 20, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Crab cakes are one of those things that always look powerfully enticing on a menu but that I almost never order. They’re too expensive, or I’m feeling too fat to eat fried food, or—and this is usually the dealbreaker for me—there’s a good chance that they’ll be inferior. And who wants to eat expensive, fattening food that disappoints?
Making excellent crab cakes at home should be a good solution to this problem, but crab meat is so expensive that I worry about botching the frying and wasting a nice ingredient. So a few years ago I was pleased to discover these baked crab cakes in The Dean & Deluca Cookbook. They come together in a flash and bake in the time it takes you to make a salad for a light and elegant little meal. They are extremely tasty, too, at least in my opinion; because they are baked and need not withstand all that frying and flipping, they contain no breading, just an egg for binding, and are therefore rich and sweetly crabby. If you can’t live without crisp breading, these might not be the cakes for you; but if your priority is crab, you should be quite happy.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, June 20, 2008 at 11:15 AM
The massive heatwave two weekends ago released my summer urge to head to the beach, and I had a lovely beach excursion all planned out for this past Sunday. I woke that morning to a dreary rainy day, not the beach weather I was expecting. Through my disappointment I decided if I can't get to the beach, I'll bring a part of it to me and headed out to my fish monger to pick up something I could throw on the grill.
While fish is no stranger to my grill, I am admittedly not much of seafood eater, but am on a road to changing this. When looking for a piece of fish to cook, I wanted something hearty, not overly fishy, and that would stand up to being grilled. My fish monger recommended the striped bass as the freshest fish of the day meeting my requirements. I grilled this up with a light rub and topped it with a roasted salsa, working in flavors I really enjoy to put me on track to being a serious seafood eater. Even though I would have preferred this with a fresh, cool salsa (although roasting isn't a bad idea with this salmonella scare we got going), the rub/salsa combination ending up being the perfect compliments for the fish. The spicy rub brought out the taste of grilling, while the acidity of the salsa balanced nicely with the seafood flavor, and the whole thing left me exclaiming, "Why haven't I eaten this more often?!!?!?" Now I've found my anticipation to hit the waves has been replaced by excitement over my next adventure in grilled fish.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, June 19, 2008 at 5:15 PM
I was initially attracted to this recipe for chicken with pumpkin seed sauce because of the similarities between it and Leo Maya’s chicken with green sauce. Both cook the chicken in a glorious green sauce littered with tomatillos and chiles, but I found out that the similarities don’t really stack up much beyond that. Where the Leo Maya’s chicken was bright and acidic, this one is layered and rich with two kinds of seeds (sesame and pumpkin) and handful of pistachios. Both are incredible, but the complexity stuffed into this weeknight meal is unparalleled.
That said, it’s not exactly as simple a dish to prepare as Leo Maya's, even if it can be done in under an hour and there aren’t that many ingredients. That’s especially true if you happen to have the seeds hanging out in your pantry. I had just made a batch of Ersatz Papalote's salsa, and was left with some pumpkin seeds. I did have to go out to buy the pistachios, but even if you don’t have those, this gorgeous meal is certainly the effort. If you’re in a rut with your Mexican meals, this one will set you right.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, June 16, 2008 at 4:45 PM
"The ultimate burger for me is actually a lambburger," - Ted Allen, The Food You Want to Eat.
God, is Ted Allen right? I sat there in awe of this seemingly blasphemous creation and couldn't help from moaning. Unlike other devious ground meat patties that aren't beef, ground lamb actually has enough fat and enough flavor to taste like something. It was, actually, really remarkably good. I ate another to make sure. That one ended up being even better than the previous one.
This recipe didn't seem destined to work. I had to substitute various ingredients, including lemon zest, which I replaced with a splash of white wine vinegar. I also kind of screwed up the accouterments. I didn't have the cucumber to make the yogurt sauce, and I didn't think it would be wise to top my burger with a tomato considering the salmonella outbreak. So I just treated this guy like I would any normal beef burger and topped with a squirt of ketchup and a smear of Dijon mustard. Like I mentioned before, everything somehow combined to make a truly memorable burger.
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Posted by Sarah Wolf, June 13, 2008 at 5:15 PM
- makes 16 pieces, 10 or more portions -
Adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins.
Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives
1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
6 bay leaves
1 heard of garlic, peeled and finely puréed
1/4 cup dried oregano
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 chickens (2 1/2 pounds each), quartered
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley or fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Procedure
1. Combine the olive oil, vinegar, prunes, olives, capers and juice, bay leaves, garlic, oregano, and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the chicken and stir to coat. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
3. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in one or two large, shallow baking pans and spoon the marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with the brown sugar and pour the white wine around them.
4. Bake, basting frequently with the pan juices, until the thigh pieces yield clear yellow (not pink) juice when pricked with a fork, about 50 minutes to 1 hour.
5. With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken, prunes, olives, and capers to a serving platter. Moisten with a few spoonfuls of the pan juices and sprinkle generously with the parsley or cilantro. Pass the remaining pan juices in a sauceboat.
Posted by Sarah Wolf, June 11, 2008 at 6:15 PM
- serves 6 to 8 -
Adapted from Lobel's Prime Time Grilling by Stanley, Leon, Even, Mark, and David Lobel.
Ingredients
4 whole chicken legs, with legs and thighs separated (4 1/2 to 5 pounds)
3 cups buttermilk
2 large shallots, thinly sliced
3 large cloves garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons cayenne
2 teaspoons celery seed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil cooking spray
Procedure
1. Rinse and pat dry the chicken legs and thighs. Divide them between two large resealable plastic bags or shallow glass or ceramic dishes.
2. Whisk together the remaining ingredients. Divide the marinade between the bags or dishes. Seal the bags or cover the dishes with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 4 hours, letting the chicken come to room temperature before grilling.
3. Prepare a charcoal or gas grill: Lightly spray the grill rack with vegetable oil cooking spray. Light the coals or heating elements, and let them burn or heat until moderately hot.
4. Lift the chicken from the dish, allowing the excess marinade to drip off. Discard the marinade.
5. Grill the chicken legs and thighs for 40 to 45 minutes, turning often with tongs. The chicken is done with the juices run clear when pierced with a fork or sharp knife, or when an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thighs registers 180°F (don't let the thermometer touch the bone). Serve immediately.
Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, June 11, 2008 at 4:45 PM
I just didn’t want to leave the house. It took me roughly eight hours to get home from weekend trip to New York (involving two canceled flights, six hours of delays, and two airlines), and I returned home tired and beaten. I had no idea what food I had at home, or whether any of it was still fresh. But I knew I wasn’t going to set one foot out the front door. It was time to improvise.
I made Rick Bayless's chipotle chicken salad tacos by mixing vinaigrette with leftover meat I scrapped off the backbones of chickens I used to make stock. Sounds perfectly delicious, right? Sure, I was stretching to create something tasty without going to the store, but it does work. Bayless’s original recipe balanced things with red skinned potatoes and avocado, and those would have worked nicely. Since I had neither, I used some nice sour cream. This would probably taste even better cold, but I didn’t waste any time trying to find out.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, June 11, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Men love meat. Particularly steaks. Especially grilled ones. This Father's Day, why not skip the fancy restaurant dinner and prepare your dad Marinated Ribeye Steaks instead?
While ribeyes are more expensive than many other cuts of beef, they are well worth the extra cost, as the meat is especially juicy, tender, and marbled (fatty). According to Robert St. John, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, New South Grilling, ribeyes are also "the easiest and best of the typical steak cuts to marinate" because they readily absorb and hold so much flavor.
St. John's recipe uses a mixture of wet and dry ingredients for the marinade, including soy sauce, ginger, paprika, and liquid smoke. The results are incredibly savory, spicy, and succulent.
Serve the ribeye with your dad's favorite potatoes.
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Posted by Blake Royer, June 10, 2008 at 4:30 PM
This recipe turned out nothing like I imagined it, which is completely my fault because I didn't bother to read it through to the end. "Press the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve," it advised, which quashed my idea that this was going to be a chunky, rustic dish that highlighted in-season rhubarb. I thought I was was going to have a meat-and-vegetable all-in-one dish that could stand on its own and make a satisfying meal. What I ended up with was the pork tenderloin with some ugly-looking cooked-down brown mush that, good thing, the recipe told me to strain.
Anyway, it still tasted good (although it would be even better over creamy polenta with a side of spinach). After the tenderloin gets roasted, rhubarb and pear are cooked down in the same pan, everything is deglazed with a wheat beer, then it's finished with a little honey and butter. It's just a little fussier than the kind of recipe I usually enjoy. The taste of the rhubarb, which is what I wanted to highlight in the first place, was a little lost. I'm still confident that pork and rhubarb would be great together—but I've yet to find that recipe.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, June 9, 2008 at 4:45 PM
It's very hot in the Midwest right now, so I’ve been trying to keep cool any way I can. The many crisp green salads I ate to cope with the heat were fine for a while, but I need to move on. To find an alternative, I picked up Sicilian Home Cooking by Wanda Tornabene and Giovanna Tornabene and got stuck on this quick little rice salad with pesto and shrimp. It sounded like the perfect escape from the oppressive heat.
This probably works better with day-old rice, besides that it would make the whole recipe much easier, but that's assuming you have any hanging out in the fridge. I never seem to be prepared in that regard. I am, however, always prepared for pesto. Whenever I buy basil, I immediately use the leftovers to make pesto. That way the basil never goes bad, and I'm left with a freezer full of gorgeous green sauce ready to go at any moment. It freezes extremely well, and helps round out a dish like this one without requiring much effort at all.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, June 9, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Dads love burgers, bacon, and anything that involves melted cheese. All the better if it's folded into a tortilla and can be eaten with your fingers. Today's Cook the Book recipe, the first to be excerpted from New South Grilling by Robert St. John, is for Bacon Cheeseburger Quesadillas.
While the recipe includes directions for grilling beef burgers, preparing this dish would be an excellent way to use up last night’s leftover patties. Try it with turkey, chicken or veggie.
In New South Grilling, St. John provides a number of recipes for simple, versatile No-Stick Grilling Marinades and Seasonings for beef, poultry, and vegetables. Each yields a generous amount and lasts for up to two weeks in the fridge, so once prepared you can toss together a number of different recipes from the book in just minutes. For these quesadillas, both the No-Stick Marinade for Beef and the Steak Seasoning are used. The recipes for each are provided below.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, June 4, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Like Blake, my first experience with kimchi came in a piping hot bowl of soup that our friend Duncan made after returning from Korea. I’ve been addicted for a few years now, but for some reason have never tried to make the soup that first got me hooked. I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the recipe I did find, but it is delicious. Even the fianc—e, who has no particular love for the fermented cabbage, had to admit she loved it. The addition of the sugar helps calm this spicy stew, making it a little less aggressive and more rounded.
Bacon can surely be substituted for the fresh pork belly, though you’ll want to adjust the seasoning because of the added salt. But really, it’s more fun to buy a big hunk of uncured belly. I found mine at the local Asian supermarket for about 2 dollars a pound. So even though they wouldn’t let me get anything less than a pound and a half, I got out for under 4 bucks. I also got to practice removing pig skin with a large knife, which is a good time if I ever knew one.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, June 3, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Last week came the moment I’ve been anxiously anticipating for a while now: my obstetrician told me I’ve started gaining weight a little too quickly. My long walks and yoga are no match for the amount of dessert I’ve been eating and bread I’ve been baking, and I had to sit there feeling foolishly self-indulgent while she advised me to cut back on carbs and focus on lean protein and vegetables. Which I have been—I’ve just been following the fish and broccoli up with ice cream, cookies, or thick slabs of bread and butter.
At least it’s an exciting time of year to start ramping up vegetable consumption. I remembered Patricia Wells’s whole-wheat pizza crust and resolved to bring it back into the rotation, topped with whatever I bring home from the Greenmarket and can’t figure out how to use. This is a thin, delicate crust: it doesn’t do well with pools of tomato sauce and gobs of cheese but is a nice match for sautéed vegetables with just a sprinkling of cheese, or herbs, or tomato rounds, when those come along. Since my usual crust uses 3 or 4 cups of flour to make the same amount of pizza, I don't feel so bad about the cup and a half of flour called for here.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, June 2, 2008 at 3:45 PM
At first glance, this looks an awful lot like linguine with lemon that Blake made a few months back. This recipe is a little more apt to the season, or at least the temperature, but the main difference is the addition of the pine nuts. Half of them are mashed to create a paste that traps the essence of the zest and juice of that lemon. That paste then lovingly coats every strand of pasta. It’s almost like a pesto, except with a little more zing.
This comes from Jamie Oliver’s Cook with Jamie, a book I’ve definitely put to good use before. The only issue may be the need for two different kind of cheeses: Pecorino Romano and Parmesan. I’m not sure if it’s completely necessary to go out and buy two different kinds of fairly expensive cheese for one dish. But it’s not like you won’t eat them later. Luckily, I had just a little bit of Parmesan left, and so I just bought a fresh hunk of pecorino to round out the dish. And now I’ll have Pecorino to sprinkle on anything I want.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, June 2, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Despite the fact that roast beef sandwiches were probably born in the days when people frequently had large leftover roasts to use up, today we’re so accustomed to the deli counter that cooking your own sandwich meat might strike you as rather pretentious. I know I was surprised to discover how easy it is. Throwing a roast in the oven is much less time-consuming than, say, baking all your own bread (although that would be nice, too, wouldn't it?). It also saves money and tastes extra good—papery-thin deli meat has nothing on this.
Here is a wrap sandwich made with leftover roast beef. To make a dinner of the roast beef, chop some bell peppers, onions, and potatoes, toss them with olive oil, and add them to the sheet pan with the roast. To make meat for only a few sandwiches, just buy a smaller roast and monitor cooking closely. If roasting meat in June is not your idea of a good time, you could, of course, also make the wrap with deli meat. The black bean relish is a super fast side for this or any meal.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 30, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Today's Cook the Book recipe for Curried Lamb Kabobs is perfect for a last-minute summer grilling party. In season two of Top Chef, contestants were challenged to create a dish using jarred mayonnaise, prepared barbecue sauce, or bottled Italian salad dressing. Marcel Vigneron created this recipe, which doctors up plain old Hellmann's with spicy curry powder and sweet honey.
Mayonnaise is a great ingredient for anyone looking to create sophisticated meals in a minimum amount of time. With just a few simple additions, it transforms from a basic condiment into a savory sauce, dip, or spread. Try tossing in some lemon juice and chopped garlic for an easy aioli, or make a quick tartar sauce with chopped capers or cornichons and a pinch of minced shallots.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, May 30, 2008 at 10:15 AM
I can barely control my excitement as I sit here and stare at my Fast Pass for the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, thinking about the enormous amounts of 'cue I'm destined to consume next weekend. The anticipation was a little too much for me handle the other day—I couldn't wait a second longer for some smoke-kissed meat, so I fired up the smoker and threw on a bunch of beautiful racks of spare ribs and was eating pretty five hours later.
I've been partial to Mike Mills's Apple City Ribs both at home and at the BABBP for years now, never finding a good reason to stray from perfection, but I decided to switch it up a bit and tried a recipe from Chris Lilly, pitmaster at Big Bob Gibson's (who makes the best pulled pork that will ever cross your lips). The recipe gave me pause for a second—with its smoke/braise/smoke formula, I questioned the authenticity of it being true 'cue, but then I figured it sounded too delicious to pass up and forged ahead. It ended up that this was a recipe for success—the ribs were succulent, retaining their smokiness while adding a layer of depth with the sweetness from the pineapple braise. The only problem is that they were gone so fast that I'm now left with no 'cue, and with my thoughts trained on the BABBP, I'm coming to the realization that one week is too long to live without more.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 28, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Top Chef: The Cookbook, pairs the fresh seaside flavors of steamed mussels with fragrant coconut, spicy curry, and fruity mango. Could anything be more perfect for summer?
Originally prepared by chef Betty Fraser in season two, the dish was part of a Quickfire Challenge to create a flambé dish in a limited amount of time. In the recipe's final step, a combination of cognac, lime juice, and sugar is ignited and poured over the mussels. If you've never cooked with fire before (in the most literal sense of the word), don’t be intimidated. Here are some simple tips.
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Posted by Blake Royer, May 27, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Every airplane I set foot on these days ends up delayed some way, somehow. What is my problem? I feel cursed. Like just last night, my flight was supposed to deposit me with ample time to to come home, relax, switch gears, and cook a decent meal. Instead, after schedule changes, air traffic control delays, train delays, and subway changes, I got home after ten.
What does this have to do with today's recipe? Because this could easily be dubbed "Flight Delay Pasta." I always keep some frozen shrimp around for this dish: olive oil, garlic, chili flakes, lemon, and parsley round it out into a light and surprisingly delicious meal. Like many good pasta recipes, it's ready as quickly as you can boil water and cook the noodles.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 27, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Manhattan's très chic West Village restaurant, The Waverly Inn, has a $55 version of macaroni and cheese on the menu made with shaved fresh truffles. Much has been blogged about the tremendous price, but everyone seems to be in agreement that the taste is fabulous.
If you don't live in New York, or if, like me, your budget is more Annie's than outrageous, why not try making a similar dish at home? Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Top Chef: The Cookbook, is for Truffle and Cognac Cream Macaroni and Cheese. To follow the recipe exactly you'll have to splurge on the Perigord black truffles, but you could also omit them—the cognac and sherry add a healthy dose of extravagance on their own.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, May 24, 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.
In case you hadn't noticed, it's Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S. of A., and like all red-blooded hoot-hollerin' Americans, I plan to do my share of grilling this weekend.
This is one of my favorite grilled chicken recipes. It's got the flavors of Southeast Asia built right in, flavors that seem to do very well over the flame.
I typically halve this recipe when making it for myself. But for the weekend, I'm sure you're having people over or hanging out in a crowd, so following it as-is, with two chickens, should do it for you.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, May 23, 2008 at 4:30 PM
The original recipe calls for gramigna pasta, but that would've required leaving the house in order for me to find it. Since the best part of this recipe is that it's a true pantry meal, I used what I had at home, which turned out to be these nifty looking guys that the fianc—e bought to make some soup ages ago. There are called ditalini, and though I’d never heard of them before, they worked extremely well. I’m sure any short shaped pasta would work well in this dish.
I found this in Lidia Bastianich’s Lidia’s Italy. And what’s truly important is the trinity of spinach, bacon, and chickpeas. Somehow this meager meal transforms into something truly comforting. Sure, bacon and its lovely fat can comfort any dish, but I was a little worried about the chickpeas interacting with the pasta. But all the chickpeas do is suck up the flavor, which makes this dish less like traditional pasta and more like a stew. Not bad for things that were hanging out in my pantry.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 23, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Tomato salads are one of the best parts of summer eating. What could be better, or easier, than a perfectly ripe, sliced beefsteak topped with nothing more than a drizzle of olive oil and a shower of salt and pepper?
Well, maybe a tomato salad à la Mario Batali.
In today’s Cook the Book recipe for Swordfish Involtini Sicilian-Style, excerpted from Mario Batali Italian Grill, rolls of citrus-stuffed swordfish are served a top a tomato salad filled with the traditional Sicilian flavors of capers, pine nuts, olives, and currants.
This dish exemplifies warm-weather cooking at its best: quick and simple, it lets the superior quality of seasonal ingredients shine through.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, May 23, 2008 at 2:15 PM
My two main goals as a cook are to squeeze more vegetables into our diet and to master the essential dishes of French bourgeois and American home cooking. My husband’s two main goals as an eater are to convince me to braise large pieces of meat more often and to consume quesadillas as frequently as possible. As it happens, these desires work together better than you might expect: I tend to use quesadillas as a kind of reward meal for a week that has otherwise been grimly healthy or as a break for myself after a day or two of ambitious cooking.
For many people the idea of a recipe for quesadillas is silly, I know, but I spent a few years improvising sloppy, not-so-great ones before Cook’s Illustrated turned me into the confident filler and flipper I am today. The most important tips here are to fold the tortillas in half and fry them as half-moons and to brush a little vegetable oil on the outside. The goal here is not authenticity, Mexican food buffs: it’s cheesy deliciousness.
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Posted by Blake Royer, May 22, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Bacon and eggs? In a salad? Sign me up. I've always wanted to try this classic, almost archetypal French bistro salad, sometimes called the Salad Lyonnaise, after its origin city Lyon—which some have declared the gastronomic capital of France. I was surprised to discover that the dressing couldn't be easier to make (it makes ample use of the rendered bacon fat) and has few ingredients. The tender, faintly bitter frisée (also called French chicory) holds up well to the rich dressing.
My only fear was the poached egg, something I've never been able to pull off with much grace. But this time, I cracked my egg into a deep ladle, which I submerged vertically into the simmering vinegar-spiked water. This helped the egg form into a round shape before I turned the ladle sideways and pulled it out from under the egg. It worked perfectly.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 22, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Braciole, a mainstay at Italian street fairs, is traditionally made with pounded cutlets of top round or veal. In some parts of Italy, they are simply grilled and topped with a flavorful sauce, while in others the cutlets are rolled around a savory filling.
In this version, excerpted from Mario Batali Italian Grill, a butterflied beef tenderloin is filled with a mixture of fresh herbs, best-quality salami, fontina, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The resulting "pinwheels" make a for a stunning presentation perfect for entertaining on Memorial Day or any day this summer.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, May 21, 2008 at 2:15 PM
- serves 2 -
Adapted from Entertaining by Martha Stewart.
Stewart says to butter the baking pan with unsalted butter, but this led to horrible, horrible smoking in my oven. I’m not sure what the point of butter in the pan is, and I will skip it when I make this again, which I definitely will—it was simple and so good (once the smoke cleared).
Ingredients
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 2-pound rack of lamb, the smallest , youngest possible, well-trimmed
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 500°F.
2. Combine the garlic, mustard, parsley, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Stir into a paste. Coat the meaty side of the rack with the paste. Put the rack of lamb in a heavy baking pan, coated side up, and roast in the hot oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown outside but pink and rare inside. If the rib bones begin to brown too much, cover with aluminum foil.
3. To serve, carve into individual chops and put 2 on each plate. Spoon the carving juices over the meat.
Posted by Robin Bellinger, May 19, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Chefs often say that diners choose entrées based on sides: for instance, anything paired with mashed potatoes moves faster than it otherwise would. At my house, though, I don’t pay much attention to the side dishes, maybe because there’s only one thing on the menu every night. Usually I’m rushing to steam broccoli or make a pot of rice to round out a meal.
Side dishes were not an afterthought, however, last week when I made Suzanne Goin’s brisket from Sunday Suppers at Lucques. As always this book reminded me that you can make truly amazing food in a home kitchen with the right inspiration and instructions. The brisket’s companions, beluga lentils and sautéed broccoli rabe, made an excellent lunch for the rest of the week: a fancified version of my sack-lunch standby beans and greens. With a slice of crusty bread and a piece of cheese, these leftovers, which are good either heated or at room temperature, would make one of the nicest lunches I can imagine.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 16, 2008 at 12:45 PM
I used to work at a wine bar that served a chilled, red Greek wine in the summer called the Hatzimichalis Fresco Nouveau. Made from the Greek Mavroudi grape, it tasted a lot like a light Beaujolais. Refreshing and fruity, but not cloying, it paired perfectly with all sorts of warm weather fare, from burgers and dogs to grilled veggies and even seafood.
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Wine Bar Food, is for a specialty of Athens—Grilled Marinated Lamb Chops with Giant White Beans. Soaking the chops in a bath of wine, garlic, lemon zest, and fresh thyme imparts incredible flavor and a lovely, deep purple hue. Finished on the grill and topped with rosemary-infused white beans, this dish would pair perfectly with any spicy, easy drinking red.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, May 14, 2008 at 6:15 PM
It wasn’t exactly a con job, but I did end up spending way too much for the fontina cheese at the local cheesemonger. The man was describing some heavenly stuff that he had just gotten in and I simply got mesmerized. It smelled wonderful and complex and agreed to a 1/2 pound before I even thought about asking the price. When the total came in over $10 I realized I had surpassed my intentions. My original goal was to sprinkle it over some broccoli...and that’s it. That’s an expensive side dish. Cheese this good needed a higher lot in life.
The fiancée actually remembered this recipe out of the well-worn Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces. She claims we had this dish before, and she’s usually right. But we definitely didn’t have it with fontina this good. The level of nutty, earthiness is incredible considering how little cheese is actually used. All the rest is vegetable goodness, and the zucchini, especially, adds some wonderful sweetness. It’s just another potato and pasta recipe that sounds illogical, and yet creates a dish like this one. The recipe's name translates simply as "Pasta with Green Vegetables," but it sounds so much better in Italian.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, May 12, 2008 at 4:00 PM
I found Food and Wine's Recipes of 2000 as an aging, massive book amongst the library shelves and figured I could find something in there. But it almost has too much to choose from—it’s such a daunting task trying to sort through its hundreds of recipes. There are only pictures for a small percentage of the dishes, and the text is very small. I finally picked out this recipe for mustard and sour cream sauce to go with my pork chops because the sauce sounded wonderful. It uses two different kinds of mustard—something I’d never heard of that before, but it somehow works. The sauce is thick and rich, and the perfect vinegary counterpoint to the chops.
The technique for cooking the pork chops comes straight from Cook’s Illustrated. I’d always been disappointed with pork chops; they would undoubtedly end up dry and flavorless. While brining helps, this method work every time. You start with the chops in a cold pan and then then turn the heat to medium. Once they are browned on one side the heat drops to low and the cover goes on. It’s a little finicky, but by following these directions I’ve gotten moist, flavorful chops every time.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, May 10, 2008 at 10:15 AM
Adapted from Italian Grill by Mario Batali.
- serves 10 -
Ingredients
3 tablespoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
Black pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus 2 or 3 whole springs
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons Colman's dry mustard
One 8-pound prime rib roast, chine bone removed and fat trimmed to a thin layer by the butcher
About 1 cup dry white wine
Coarse sea salt
Procedure
1. In a small bowl, combine the salt, pepper, chopped rosemary, thyme, and dry mustard and mix well. Rub the spice mixture generously all over the meat. cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 1 hour at room temperature.
2. Prepare a gas or charcoal grill for spit-roasting over indirect medium heat (or according to the instructions for your grill). Pour about 1/2 inch of wine into the drip pan, add the rosemary sprigs, and set under the center of the spit.
3. Push the spit through the roast and secure it with the clamps. Attach the spit to the rotisserie mechanism, cover the grill, and cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, depending on the temperature of your grill, or until the internal temperature–insert an instant-read thermometer about 3 inches deep into the center of the roast, without touching the bones–reaches 115° to 120°F for medium-rare (the temperature will rise at least 5 degrees while the roast rests). Check the temperature after 1 1/4 hours, and once it has reached 110°F or so, check it often.
4. Remove the spit from the grill and place the roast, still on the spit, on a carving board (if you remove the spit before letting the roast rest, you will lose a lot of the juices) to rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Remove the spit from the roast. Carve the roast off the bone and cut into 3/4-inch-thick-slices. Place on a platter, set out a small bowl of coarse salt and a pepper mill alongside, and serve.
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 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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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, May 2, 2008 at 5:15 PM
The fiancée wanted mussels; I wanted something spicy. So I plugged in spicy mussels into the Food Network’s website and found this Bobby Flay recipe for spicy southwest mussels that had heat, limes, and a whole lotta herbs. With the weather hovering in the 80s here in Ohio, this dish could be the perfect pre-summer version of mussels.
The fiancée and I dug in expecting to be bawled over by flavor—I was particularly excited about the acidic kick of the limes—but what we found was a little less engaging. Though all kinds of flavorings had gone in, it all combined to make a bland dish. Not offensive and gross, mind you, but just kind of unremarkable. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I squeezed some more fresh lime juice on top, and suddenly all those herbs perked up, the spice kicked in, and we finished the bowl in a matter of minutes.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 1, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Everyone has ingredients they can't resist. Favorite foods that are always kept on hand; items that, when spotted on restaurant menus make a dish impossible not to order. For my mother, it's artichoke hearts. For my boyfriend, it's bacon. For me, it's fennel. Fronds, shavings, wedges—I love the crunchy, sweet, licorice-flavored vegetable in all its incarnations.
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Lidia's Italy, is for Baked Fennel with Prosciutto. This Roman dish is straight from the heart of Italian cooking, combining best-quality ingredients with simple preparation methods. Toss everything together hours ahead, store it in the fridge, and then pop it in then oven a bit before dinner.
Salty Prosciutto, fragrant cheese, sweet fennel, and a drizzle of butter. Who could resist that?
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Posted by Blake Royer, May 1, 2008 at 4:15 PM
I'd never eaten a ramp before in my life. But there I found myself week after week, trolling greenmarkets, unable to wait for something other than root vegetables. My own obsession was mysterious, but the general public excitement over ramps is remarkable. Ignored as nuisances for years, they are also called wild leeks and have flat, floppy leaves and a beautiful purple stem. The flavor is an earthy pungent combination of scallions and garlic, and is usually served simply grilled, in pastas or risottos, or baked into gratins and frittatas. The prices are quite fetching—up to $20/pound—for what is essentially a weed. When they first came, ramps were often sold out at the market by 9 a.m.
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Posted by Blake Royer, April 29, 2008 at 4:30 PM
This "mojo" sauce has nothing to do with the word for magic touch, but you could have fooled me: this is one of the most delicious marinades I've had in ages. The recipe comes from Our Latin Table, and describes mojo sauce paired with pork as what Cubans are weaned on and live for. It "might possibly have all the ingredients that make up Cuban cookery," which isn't surprising. The marinade is simply olive oil, garlic, oregano, cumin, and citrus, yet it's far more than the sum of its parts. This stuff tastes good enough to build an entire cuisine on.
It also did wonders for the juiciness of thick cut pork chops, though it may have helped that I also brined them beforehand. But I'm convinced that the acidity of the citrus—traditionally made from sour Cuban oranges, but in this case with a combination of orange and lime juice—makes its way into the chop and tenderizes. Though it wasn't quite warm enough outside to go through the trouble of lighting coals when I made this, it did fine on a very hot cast iron skillet. As soon as summer gets here, I'm keeping some of this marinade very close at hand—it will go fine with that one other Cuban ingredient that mojo doesn't have: rum. Is it warm enough for mojitos yet?
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