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This is the most fundamental way of cooking asparagus. I learned this from my wife, and as long as I pay attention, it has never failed me. It yields moist, perfectly textured asparagus, tender without being the least mushy, slippery, or thready/stringy on the outside. This also works for asparagus that has been cut into smaller pieces.
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This is the basic technique for spaghetti squash. Using spaghetti squash typically entails two cooking steps. The first is where the squash is actually cooked, and the next is where the “spaghetti” part gets seasoned in a secondary cooking with other ingredients. This is the technique for the primary step, where the squash is cooked and separated into the strands that give the squash its name. From here, you can do all sorts of things to season the squash. Just remember not to over-cook it, and give it lots of room in the pan and minimal moisture to keep it from getting mushy. Also, I find using an oil sprayer really helps ensure an even coat of oil without having really soggy spots or dry spots, which can affect the end results.
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The “Hasselback” in the title refers to a restaurant that came up with a famous potato dish of the same name. The technique is applied here to carrots, and then another twist is added. The technique involves slicing the potatoes, or carrots, thinly across the width without going all the way through, so the vegetable stays whole. The easiest way to do this is to get a pair or disposable bamboo or wood chopsticks and place one on either side of the vegetable you are cutting. Then, when you slice down, you have a built in brake so you don’t cut through. For this recipe, you want very thick carrots for the desired effect.
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INGREDIENTS:
1½ cups packed fresh basil2 cups water
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
Pinch of salt
3½ cups sugar
3 ounces liquid pectin
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Tagged with: basil
This is a simple dressing where the jelly fills in for herbs and the sugar adds balance to the vinegar. Use this for the Caprese with a Twist salad or use it for pork chops or pan roasted chicken.
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There are many different methods for making basil infused oil, but I find this one works really well. It produces a deeply colored and flavored oil that will last in the refrigerator for 3-5 days before the flavor begins to drop off. It can be frozen for a month or two without much loss of flavor, but be sure to wrap it closely once frozen. Use this as a garnish, or as a flavoring. Try smearing a little across a plate when you want a subtle basil aroma and flavor, or add drops onto dishes for small intense burst of basil flavor. Although the recipe calls for olive oil, save the intense Tuscan Extra Virgin oils for something else, or the basil will be overwhelmed.
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This grew out of my liking for carrots and orange juice. Mint often appears with carrots at my table, and basil and mint often swap places in recipes, so it just seemed natural. Using bigger chunks of carrot allows the flavor of the carrot to develop while keeping it from getting really soft.
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A variation on a theme, only here the butter and oil from roasting form part of a Meyer lemon dressing that garnishes the radishes and dresses the Little Gem lettuce salad this recipe is destined for. This recipe would be nice with fish, chicken or pork, or anything that would go with the word picatta.
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This is a nice little appetizer/hors d’oeuvre thing that is simple yet is full of flavor. They can be prepared well in advance, and then just popped into the oven when needed. The compound butter would be great packed under shrimp shells or around shrimp in a small roasting pan, and would combine well with the radishes. With a cold crisp white wine and a salad this would be a nice supper on a warm evening.
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This is one of those dishes that just happened “on the fly”. I was using the oven for potatoes already, so I figured I might as well cram a vegetable in. I had basil in a jar on the counter, and lots of zucchini someone had given me. The inspiration for this came from a dish called Hasselback potatoes, and a variation I used to do using bay leaves. A simple dish with plenty of flavor, it has a couple of great variations that are easy to execute, and it cooks up pretty quickly.
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This simple syrup was developed for adult flavored sodas, but has other functions as well. It can be used to flavor a dessert “salad” of strawberries and mozzarella a la a Caprese salad, or use it in cocktails or salad dressings. With herbs in the mint family (if it has a square-ish stem it is in the family) you must be careful not to over-steep or you wind up with a bitter taste. Start checking flavor at seven minutes, as eight is the magic number when making a tea with dried mint. Basil and fresh mint can often go longer. Although the anise and fennel are optional, they are there to compound and emphasize the flavors of the basil.
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Use this dressing with salads that have tomatoes, and add a little mozzarella to echo a Caprese salad, or use it when you have lettuces that have a tinge of bitterness to them such as romaine, escarole, or radicchios. This would be a nice easy sauce with fish or toss boiled shrimp in it and chill for a cold shrimp salad.
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This dressing is meant to go with Salad of Romaine Hearts with Cherry Tomatoes and Scallions. This dressing would be good as a sauce for pork chops or grilled halibut as well.
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Tagged with: basil • cherry tomatoes • dressing • fish • pork • romaine • salad • scallions • vinaigrette
This Swiss Chard, Barley, Bean Soup is a snap to make, and insanely delicious and warming on a cold fall or winter’s eve.
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A nice autumnal dish that is satisfying without being too heavy. Use it as a side dish for pork chops or sausages, or top with fried eggs and have it as supper or breakfast. Make it into a more substantial meal with some additions-see Chef’s Notes for ideas.
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Tagged with: collards • cranberry beans • oregano • Purplette onions • scotch kale • shelling beans • tomatoes
Béchamel is a classic and is known by many names. It is a sauce of butter and flour cooked together-this is known as a “roux”- that has milk added to it. There is a set ratio that works every time-1 tablespoon butter to 1¼ tablespoon flour, to 1 cup milk. I will add that this is very hard to do with less than 2 tablespoons of butter.
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INGREDIENTS:
for salad:
1 lb beets (preferably chioggia), trimmed and peeled
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup roasted pistachio nutmeats
for salad:
1 lb beets (preferably chioggia), trimmed and peeled
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup roasted pistachio nutmeats
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Another one of those things from the “I love to treat vegetables as something other than a vegetable” files. Here beets get turned into a sweet instead of a sauce, although you would use this where you might use sauce, as an accompaniment to meats or duck.
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Tagged with: beets
This dish has an earthy flavor that has sweetness and complexity to it. It can serve as a side dish, a base to a stack of items, or thinned a little it can be a sauce. Formed into quenelles it elevates the lowly beet into something quite elegant. A scattering of tender fresh herbs such as tarragon, basil, or shiso is nice, and chervil seems to work quite well here.
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This is a colorful dish with an interplay of textures and contrasts of flavors to add interest. The sauce is sweet and provides high notes, the cabbage is the mid-range and provides sweet and earthy, where the beets are mostly low range and have earthy notes tinged with a mellow sweetness. The vinegar the beets are drizzled with after roasting adds balance. Be sure to cook the cabbage just long enough render it tender, but still possessing some crunch.
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This soup is a riff on borscht, with kale filling in for the cabbage, and the vinegar on the roast beets filling in for the things that are often pickled in borscht. Some borscht uses sauerkraut, some have chopped pickles, some use a soured broth or kvass as the base. Although written as a hot soup, it could easily be chilled and served cold with yogurt or labne.
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Tagged with: beets • carrots • dill • kale • mushrooms • parsley • rainbow carrots • Red Russian kale • soup
If you get both blue and straw-berries, this is wonderful to make with them. The granola is easy to make, but you have to be patient when making it. The parfaits can be made ahead and brought out at the last minute.
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All these vegetables come from the earthy funky side of the taste palette, so the orange juice adds a little sweet to act as a foil, and the soy sauce helps pull all the elements together. The fushimi and manganji peppers are Japanese heirloom chilies, and like shishito are not spicy. They taste like amplified versions of shishito, with the long and thin fushimi having a slight sweetness to it, while the fatter and all around bigger manganji has thicker walls give meatiness along with a full flavor that has subtle sweetness along with umami that I can only characterize as “green-ness”.
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