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This recipe was made to go with Crisp Pan Roasted Salmon, but will go with roast chicken as well as seared scallops, black cod, or pork chops. Leeks cook to a silky texture similar to escarole, and the earthy funk combines well with the slightly bitter escarole. Although the recipe calls for white wine or sherry vinegar, a white balsamic or a good quality red wine vinegar would go great here as well. If you do go with red wine vinegar, serve a red wine that has plenty of fruit, but also some tannins to match the vinegar and act as a foil to the rich salmon and the smoothness of the vegetables. You could also toss this with pasta or grains such as farro.
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The silky texture of escarole always seems at such odds with its bitter flavor. Adding a little sugar and caramelizing it until on the border of burnt both tames and points out the bitter quality of this vegetable, and the addition of sweet/tart fruit and vinegar made from the fruit amplifies this idea. This dish goes well with meats with mild roast chicken or fatty pork chops with a nice crust for textural contrasts. It would also be a nice complement to kasha with braised mushrooms or even fried eggs.
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Meant originally for Salad of Butter Lettuce, Beets, and Broccoli, this is a simple and very versatile dressing. Goes well with earthy foods, or anything bland that needs a little perking up without overwhelming the base food.
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Grappa is a poor man’s liquor made from leftover seeds and skins from winemaking that became chic a few years ago. No matter what you label it, it is still a powerful and raw spirit. Soaking currants or raisins in it is a traditional Italian use for it that can be found in many dishes. Here it is again. If you do not have grappa, use a good vodka.
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This is a brightly flavored treatment for meaty swordfish. The radishes are a great foil for the buttery sauce and sweet tasting fish. Untoasted coriander seed has a citrusy profile that matches well with the sauce. If you wanted to, you could lightly cook the radishes in the sauce to give them a softer flavor, but the soaked raw slices provide a nice crunch as well as a little heat for contrast.
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I like my tabbouleh good and green. I use a lot of mint if I have it, or I just use flat leaf parsley if I don’t. If tomatoes are in season, I use them as well. If not, well-I just don’t use them, but only use good tomatoes as there is nowhere for a lousy tomato to hide here. I find tabbouleh a great way to use up the lemons on my Meyer lemon tree when it goes into overdrive, and tabbouleh keeps for a couple days so it helps when I need something fast. Look for bulghur in bulk bins instead of boxes. It is usually fresher and tends to be a slightly larger grain which I prefer.
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Tapenade is a caper and olive paste that comes from Provence, France. The word comes from “tapeno”, the Provencal word for caper. This paste is extremely versatile, being used for things like crostini for appetizers, a topping on grilled salmon, and marinade for roast chicken, lamb, or beef. Use it as a quick pasta sauce, on pizza, or even spoon a dollop into tired leftover soup to add some zip.
Use either black or green olives, oil-cured or brined. Oil-cured are easier to work with (if pitting the olives yourself), but brined can produce a great impact, too. Traditionally, tapenade is made with anchovies. I don’t usually use them but the recipe includes that option.
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INGREDIENTS:
1 (8 ounce) package rice noodles 1 Tbsp. cornstarch 1 cup vegetable broth 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter 3 Tbsp. soy sauceContinue reading »
Although these showed up on my turkey day table, they would be good anytime. The dish is a variation on a theme, but everyone commented on it, so I proffer it up here. It was supposed to be “Peas and Carrots”, but I forgot the sugar snap peas in the heat of the moment, but I include that as a variation here.
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With summer here, the time is perfect for gratins. Sure, everyone is firing up the grill, but let’s face it-grilled vegetables only hold their appeal for a while, and then you want something with a little more depth of character. All those vegetables that are great on the grill are also great in a gratin. Easy to make, gratins can be made in advance and will keep overnight, and are good hot from the oven, or at room temperature. What’s not to like?
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Sometimes I just get in the mood for something from my childhood, and when it comes to salads, this does it. This is based on a taste memory of the Thousand Island dressing from the now defunct Marshall Field’s Department store in Chicago. This dressing is great on turkey sandwiches or salads with lots of chunky veggies in it.
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This is not so much a recipe as it is a whole around a few ingredients. These are variations of a favorite breakfast/lunch/snack/light dinner with salad, party appetizer of mine. The core of this “dish” is a sushi roll called the Norway Roll from when I had a sushi bar which was cucumber sticks, thin slices of smoked salmon and Meyer lemon, the dill cream cheese, and dill scattered on the outside of the roll.
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This could be considered a hearty miso soup, or a stew. To add more depth of flavor to the dish, make your dashi using “blond” vegetable stock (see recipe on site). They type of miso will also affect the flavor a lot, with white miso being lighter and sweeter in flavor, whereas red miso tends to be deeper flavored and saltier. For a flavorful contrast, you could quickle the stems from the turnip greens if they are thick and use them as a garnish. Adding dumplings of some sort will certainly make the dish more substantial, as would adding noodles.
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The longest part of the prep for this dish is cooking the onions for the base. Other than that, this dish comes together quickly. If you have soffritto in the freezer, it is a snap to put together, and it looks as if you fussed for quite a while. If you have different colored tomatoes and/or squashes the dish looks quite festive.
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INGREDIENTS:
1 head cauliflower, broken into florets and florets halved 1-2 bell peppers or Corno di Toro (any colors are fine), seeded and cut into ½ inch dice 1 tomatoes, cut into medium dice 2-3 “spring” onions, cut into medium dice (around ¾ to 1 cup) 2 cloves garlic, mincedContinue reading »
One of the simplest ways I know to enjoy tomatoes is this quick and very traditional Mediterranean snack. I first made this when inspired by a description I read in a book by Lawrence Durrell if I recall correctly. I have since seen it in many other places. There is no set recipe. It is a technique. I suppose a 1:1 ratio of medium tomato to slab of toast might work.
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This is called a salad in the Moroccan sense of the word. In Moroccan cuisine, salads are dishes of vegetables that are prepared, cooked or raw, and eaten at the beginning and throughout a meal. You are not likely to be served a leafy green salad there. So, that is why this is a “salad”. It could be a side-dish, condiment, or even a topping for something like grilled fish or chicken.
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Coulis is a French term for a sauce type that has changed over the years (centuries really). Originally it referred to juices released from meat when cooked, and then later, during the era of nouvelle cuisine, it became a sauce made from fruits or vegetables that was pureed and strained. If it needed to be thickened, it was done through gentle reduction rather than binding it with flour or another starch. Coulis are great for when you want a pure flavor that sings of the ingredient. It is common to use a little pinch of sugar, salt, or a dash of vinegar to help bring out flavors in coulis. Coulis are used as sauces, contrast elements, or even soup bases. You can refrigerate the coulis in a jar or squeeze-bottle and warm it gently in water on the stove. If you allow the coulis to get too hot you will lose the color and the bright flavor. This is a very simple coulis, and easy to prepare quickly.
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The profile of this dish can easily be changed by altering the spices. Go with thyme, marjoram and fennel seed for a French flare-you could even add some lavender- or use oregano or sage for a more Italian turn. Use some Moroccan spices and go North African/Mid-East. Curry will take you to India, and you can add hot chili for an incendiary approach or use fennel seed with a sweet curry for mild but fragrant. Use this for topping fish, boneless chicken breasts or cubed chicken chunks, or cut cauliflower into large pieces and roast them after oiling and seasoning. You could serve at room temp or cold as part of a mezze or thali lunch. It would also do well with cooked chickpeas or kidney beans heated up in it. This is the iteration for roast cauliflower, or for topping fish or even shrimp.
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This dressing is about the tomato, so only do this when you have tomatoes with plenty of flavor. This is also a pretty dressing, especially when you have different colors of tomatoes. This dressing has a nice combination of fruitiness, acid, and sweetness, and is great on fish, grilled shrimp, chicken, or mixed with arugula and tossed onto grilled slabs of chewy bread. It is good on salads, too.
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This recipe is from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. Using “paste” tomatoes such as San Marzanos are ideal because of their low moisture levels. Quickly blanching the tomatoes (boiling them until the skins split then transferring them into ice water) helps to remove the skin efficiently. A quick squeeze of the peeled tomatoes can release most seeds. Processing with a food mill can help remove any skins or seeds you didn’t catch and will give the ketchup the right consistency. This homemade ketchup tastes divine and has quite a bit less sugar and salt than the store-bought kinds.
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Not a true jam, but one of a series of “jams” made from various vegetables that are used as toppings, sauce enhancers, dips, or spreads for sandwiches. There are “real” tomato jams, and they all seem to use a 1:1 ratio of sugar to tomato. Not so here, where there is only a little sugar and some vinegar to enhance the tomato flavor. Use this for fish, flattened and bread pork chops, or poultry such as grilled or roasted chicken, or roast turkey thighs or turkey scallopine.
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