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This gets the “Provençal” from the use of fennel and “pastis”, which is an anise flavored liqueur from France. As it is most often consumed in Provence and the surrounding areas, it is associated with the cuisine of the area as well. You can make the dish without the pastis, but it does taste better with it. Fennel is also used a lot in the cuisine of the area, both as a main ingredient and as a flavoring agent.
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You can make this using store bought tapenade or you can go ahead and make your own if you like. It is fairly easy, keeps a long time, and is a very versatile treasure to have in the refrigerator. Use it for everything from a sandwich smear to marinade for meat and fish, as a pizza topper or for quick starters on crostini with tuna or a bit of cheese.
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Tagged with: tapenade
This is a riff on the Thanksgiving table. Green beans with brown butter and nuts, and green bean casserole were both influences for this dish. This version is lighter than the latter, and certainly fresher tasting as there is no canned soup in it, but it has a richness that is welcome in colder weather.
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Tagged with: filet beans
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound filet beans, trimmed and washed 3-4 “spring” onions, halved through the root and sliced lengthwise into 1/8th inch wide strips ½ cup white wine such as chenin blanc, rousanne, chardonnay 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 4-6 ounces heavy whipping creamContinue reading »
Here is a dish that is perfect for Holiday tables or at home dinners, and is, in fact, a riff on the classic green bean casserole with fried onions. No cream of mushroom soup or sauce. The leeks and pancetta or bacon can be cooked a couple days prior and they will hold in the refrigerator. Be sure to keep the fat from the pancetta or bacon as the flavor is integral to the dish.
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Tagged with: filet beans
Although this is typically made with dry herbs, you could give it a whirl with fresh ones if you wish.
Chervil is an herb not often seen fresh in the US. It is a delicate herb, in structure and flavor. It has a flavor similar to basil, tarragon, and anise, but is far subtler, and there is a bit of an Italian parsley note as well. It lends a pleasant clean and sweet note to the blend that is enhanced by the marjoram. Tarragon adds an earthiness that melds with the chives and parsley, and enhances the anise notes of the chervil. Chives are the bass line of the group, and parsley wraps them all together with its clean, almost sharp, flavor.
Try this fresh if you wish, or dried for the traditional take. This blend goes well with fish, chicken, and vegetables such as summer squash and carrots. It is good added to a beurre blanc at the end, or scattered over grilled lamb meatballs at the end as well.
Chervil and chives are not herbs that do well with long cooking, so wait until the end of a recipe before adding, or add if the cooking time is short or quite gentle.
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This is my take on something I learned in cooking school. Fujian cuisine is known for full flavored yet light dishes that showcase the main ingredients. The area is also known for wet dishes such as soups, stews, and braises, as well as seafood, along with an emphasis on umami flavoring. This dish hits all those points. The chicken version is another dish that uses a store bought roasted chicken or left-overs. This dish goes together pretty quickly.
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INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch of green onions, greens and whites separated, whites sliced ¼ inch, greens sliced 1/8th inch or finer
3 green garlic stalks, white only, split lengthwise, rinsed, and sliced finely
¼ cup cilantro stems, sliced finely and well washed
1 bunch chard, ribs and leaves separated, ribs washed and cut into
¼ inch bits, leaves stacked, rolled and cut ½ inch and washed
1 bunch of green onions, greens and whites separated, whites sliced ¼ inch, greens sliced 1/8th inch or finer
3 green garlic stalks, white only, split lengthwise, rinsed, and sliced finely
¼ cup cilantro stems, sliced finely and well washed
1 bunch chard, ribs and leaves separated, ribs washed and cut into
¼ inch bits, leaves stacked, rolled and cut ½ inch and washed
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By French lentils I refer to the ones that used to be grown in Puy, France and were known as Lentille de Puy, but are now grown all over. I still think the Puy lentils are better, but the others are still excellent. This lentil holds its shape and has a nice meaty texture and flavor. The fennel and onions are cooked with the lentils and separately so you have two textures and the flavors differ as well.
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INGREDIENTS:
2 Tbsp butter1 cup fresh bread crumbs
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 pounds shelling beans, fresh out of their shell 2 tsp melted butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice
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Fricco are lacy “crackers” made of cheese. They are great as a garnish and can elevate the most humble dish into something elegant. They can be shaped how you like by using a mold on the flat cooking surface, or you can drape the fricco over a mold so as it cools it will take that shape. At one restaurant we form strips of fricco that we then wrapped around a bottle to form rings that went around baby romaine leaves for a salad. Save the shattered bits for sprinkling on salads or into soups or eggs.
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Tagged with: cheese
Padrons are a treat that until recently were found only in Spain, usually at a tapas joint. With a flavor that is hard to describe, it almost seems padrons can be addictive. There are several “basic” methods of cooking these peppers, and this is my take on the most common. Many people deep fry the peppers, but I tend towards the frugal so I prefer to shallow fry the peppers. For stovetop cooking, I also feel I have a little more control this way. Remember not to over load the pan with peppers or you lower the temperature of the oil too much and wind up with limp, soggy peppers. The idea is to blister the skin and brown the peppers a little. Be sure to use a large crystal salt-the crunch it provides is part of the whole experience. By the way, smaller padron peppers are usually mild, but a hot one shows up now and again. This is part of the joy of eating these peppers I think, that little thrill you get wondering if the next one might sting a little. When padrons get larger, say longer than 2 inches, they suddenly turn on the heat and can/usually deliver quite a bit of fire, so be careful.
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Here is my take on the bistro classic of frisee salad scattered with lardons (thick batons of crispy chewy bacon) and topped with a poached egg. There are not a lot of components to this dish, so use the freshest eggs and good quality thick cut or slab bacon. Note that this recipe serves two rather than the usual 4 due to the fact that unless there are two heads of frisee per box, or they are really large heads, that is how much the average frisee will serve.
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Although Frizzled Leeks sounds like a silly name, it is one that is actually used in restaurant kitchens and elsewhere. This is usually used in restaurants as a garnish for soups, salads, and things like a chop or chicken breast, but I have cooked these up for wait staff who ate them like potato chips after shift with beer or glasses of white wine and in one case, oysters. They keep well in a box with a tight fitting lid for several days, and they are great for making things look fancy. Very easy.
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Garlic fries seem to be ubiquitous now. Some are really good, some are dreadful. While I like garlic, it should be in balance, but if you like it incendiary, feel free to add more. After several attempts at home that fell sort, I looked at some packages and determined the secret ingredient to be sugar. Deep frying will catalyze the sugars in potatoes-baking not so much. Applying a little sugar hits just the right note. The best garlic fires I ever had were in Hawaii, but it may have been the dipping sauce. They wouldn’t share the recipe, so I reverse engineered it, and share it now. Equal parts ketchup, Thai sweet chili sauce, and guava puree (available frozen in many markets, especially Latino groceries). Be sure not to add the garlic too soon or it will burn and taste acrid and nasty.
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Based on a dish I had out recently. You can adjust the ginger to your liking, and if you run hot water over the ginger if will mitigate some of the heat while leaving the gingery flavor behind. Although the recipe looks long, it is a quick and flexible dish to make. Add beef or tofu to the sauté if you wish, and serve with rice.
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This is a very flavorful, “umami” packed dish, and is great as an accompaniment to robust dishes like grilled steak, or milder dishes such as a white fish or chicken as a contrast item. You could add orange juice to the miso for a sweeter range of flavor. You can also add radishes to the dish. Blanch for only a few seconds if they are spicy, then add in with the turnips. Roasting radishes produces juicy colorful chunks that are very mildly spicy. A quick sauté of the greens makes a perfect bed for the turnips. If you don’t have the greens, skip that part of the recipe.
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This paste is similar to what goes onto black cod or sablefish to make the very popular “Cod Miso-yaki”, although this iteration was concocted for roasted turnips. You could also apply this to carrots or tofu as a marinade to prepare them for roasting, or apply it to pork for a while before grilling it.
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This is a twist on a very traditional teriyaki sauce. The orange and ginger just go so well with the other flavors, and are elements often found in Japanese cuisine with teriyaki. Of course, if you have tangerine juice, even better. As this is based on a traditional Japanese sauce, there is not nearly as much sugar as you will find in Western iterations, so bear that in mind. It will be saltier, perhaps than some think teriyaki should be, so plan the rest of the meal with that in mind.
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INGREDIENTS:
6 cups braising greens, washed and chopped or torn into 1 inch bits
½ pound oyster mushrooms, torn into strips
1 leek, white and some of pale green part, split and cut into 2 inch lengths, then cut lengthwise into 1/8th inch shreds
6 cups braising greens, washed and chopped or torn into 1 inch bits
½ pound oyster mushrooms, torn into strips
1 leek, white and some of pale green part, split and cut into 2 inch lengths, then cut lengthwise into 1/8th inch shreds
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