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From Recipes
Posted by Blake Royer, May 15, 2008 at 3:45 PM
I hardly ever eat veal, much less cook with it, but something about the recipe in this month's Saveur had me rushing to the butcher. The simplicity and richness of the dish was immensely appealing. Saltimbocca alla Romana is, as you might guess from the name, a classic Roman dish; the name means "jump in the mouth," which it did into mine, quickly. Its preparation takes only a few minutes, and the result is exceedingly elegant.
While I had my butcher flatten out the veal cutlets for me, it's easy to do at home with two sheets of plastic wrap and a pounding utensil (you can even use the bottom of a heavy skillet, like cast iron). Next, thin slices of prosciutto are pressed against the thin veal cutlets so that they gently adhere, and leaves of sage are pinned to the meat with toothpicks. The whole constructed sheet of meat is dredged very lightly in a little flour before sautéeing, which gives it a wonderful crust and later thickens the pan sauce, made from marsala and a little chicken stock. Just remember that you don't really need to salt anything—the prosciutto brings plenty to the party, as will the chicken stock.
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From Recipes
Posted by Blake Royer, May 13, 2008 at 4:15 PM
A while back, Nick wrote about a balsamic-glazed Brussels sprouts recipe that he seemed relatively happy with. Now, I personally happen to have the greatest, simplest balsamic Brussels sprouts recipe known to man in my repertoire—a recipe that converts the non-lovers and the childhood-fearers—which I found on a flyer when I visited Dan Barber's upstate restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Although I wanted to write about my Brussels sprouts recipe, Nick had already covered that territory—I cut my losses and moved on.
But then I was visiting him this past weekend, and we picked up a bag of Brussels sprouts. While we were trying to figure out how they should be cooked, I offered to take over with Barber's recipe. Upon tasting them, Nick immediately began interrogating me as to why this recipe hadn't show up in the Dinner Tonight column. I pointed out that he had already laid claim to this particular vegetable-vinegar combination, at which point he feigned ignorance and told me he didn't remember. When I proved it to him, he conceded, but also gave me the permission to declare this particular recipe superior.
This is the balsamic-glazed Brussels Sprouts recipe—it's dead easy and takes less than ten minutes.
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From Recipes
Posted by Blake Royer, May 8, 2008 at 4:15 PM
A few things attracted me to this recipe: its supposed Basque origins, its easy preparation in a food processor, and a quick 15-minute cooking time. I imagined the gratin of white beans would be crusty and creamy, like a long-cooked cassoulet.
It didn’t quite work out that way—what came out of the oven was satisfying, but not particularly mind-blowing. If nothing else, though, this recipe is a shining example of the creaminess potential of beans. With only 2 tablespoon of butter for four generous servings (plus a glug of olive oil), the resulting hummus-like spread was as smooth and rich as ever. That said, it was also a bit bland. The next time I try something like this, I’d go with a more assertive flavor like garlic or cayenne; the rosemary and peppers just wasn’t enough to compete with the wide, open taste of white beans.
But there’s nothing wrong with the method, and the result is a melty, healthy spread that I served with a pile of sautéed spinach and a grilled sausage. Next time, I’d only purée half the beans to give it some more textural interest, lose the cheese on top, double the bread crumbs, and put it under the broiler to assure a flavorful, crusty top.
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From Recipes
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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From Ed Levine Eats
Posted by Blake Royer, May 5, 2008 at 5:00 PM
I have to admit, reading the Market Scene last week for San Francisco inspired serious amounts of dismay in this New Yorker. Despite their lovely flavor and appealing looks, I am so. Tired. Of. Hearing. About. Ramps. As is, perhaps, that guy above with the blue hair. This past Saturday was overcast and windy, which only added to the despair. Nevertheless, both the Union Square and Fort Greene farmers' markets were full of brave souls.
Of course, it’s not all ramps—though it seems the full harvest has indeed come in, as I saw bunches upon bunches of them in stacked boxes, ready to fulfill the incredible demand. In Fort Greene, a ramp cooking demonstration exhibited these wild leeks with simply olive oil and salt—for those who haven’t heard their gospel already.
Elsewhere in the markets, I spotted asparagus, nettles, rhubarb, young garlic, spinach, and other hardy greens like chard and collards.
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From Recipes
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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From Recipes
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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From Recipes
Posted by Blake Royer, April 24, 2008 at 5:00 PM
The basic hamburger has many permutations, depending on condiments–from classics like bacon and cheese to crazier additions like a fried egg. The meat itself can be charred on a grill, or seared on a griddle; the bun can be crusty, soft like a potato roll, or nixed altogether. The patty can be thick or thin; the meat ground from sundry parts of the cow. But unless you're from Australia, you might never have heard of this one: sliced beets. My girlfriend came across this recipe while befriending Aussies in England.
Especially counterpoint to a crispy, griddled, well-salted patty, the sweet earthiness of a roasted beet works wonderfully. After reading about thin-patty cast iron burgers the other day, I was anxious to get home and make one, which is when I remembered I had some Chioggia beets waiting to be roasted. I skipped the traditional Aussie burger bacon for avocado, but kept the essential fried egg, which drips its yolk over everything like a sauce. This is a great burger twist to have in the repertoire as summer approaches.
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From Recipes
Posted by Blake Royer, April 22, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Sometimes I find myself in a rut when it comes to quick pasta tomato sauces. The usual canned tomatoes, a few herbs, garlic and onions—it's good, but it's a little boring. I thoroughly enjoy Batali's marinara on a regular basis, which grates carrots into the sauce, but I've been eating it all winter out of the freezer. When it's the middle of summer, I can chop up some juicy market heirloom tomatoes, marinate them with garlic, basil, and olive oil, then serve uncooked with hot linguine. But what about when tomatoes still suck and I'm out of ideas?
This recipe suggests simmering pork sausages in white wine, then using the resulting fat-infused liquid to flavor the sauce. I was further convinced by the use of butter instead of olive oil to begin the onions and garlic, which adds a little richness and creaminess to everything. And finally, freshly shelled peas are appearing at my farmer's market, and this recipe calls for those, too. Once again, Diana Seed's The Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces came through in a clutch.
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From Recipes
Posted by Blake Royer, April 17, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Considering the length of most recipes in Judy Roger's Zuni Cafe Cookbook, the eponymous cookbook of her San Francisco restaurant, finding a quick dinner recipe is something of a feat. Every page of her book is awash with meticulous detail about the cooking process, from advice about the shape of diced onion pieces to the flavor a fish stock ought to have when it's just finished (minutes too long on the stove and it can go muddy). Her roast chicken recipe, for example, runs four pages. Yet despite the laborious descriptions of technique (or perhaps because of it), everything I've made from that book has been outstanding: a monkfish stew, that roast chicken, and now, this soup. As she mentions in the recipe's introduction, it's a soup of delightful flavors and unexpected textures.
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