Currently viewing the tag: "basil"
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.
Continue reading »
This is a simple dish with nowhere to hide for inferior ingredients, so make this with ripe flavorful tomatoes and fresh aromatic herbs. As it says, this is a great topping for fish, whether grilled, roasted, or poached. Use it with any thicker fish. Use a milder olive oil, and only enough to be noticed. Too strong and it will overpower the tomatoes, and too much will muffle all the flavors and make the salad/topping heavy.
Continue 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.
Continue reading »
Roasting the tomatoes concentrates the tomato sweetness, while also adding a haunting roasted background note. The basil oil is a great finish, and you could use Thai basil for the oil which would be great also. If you don’t have that handy, the mint crema (yogurt and mint) will work fine. You could also drizzle with some balsamic vinegar, especially if you have some of the thick aged stuff stashed.
Continue reading »
For this dish low moisture content squash such as Costata Romanesco or Cousa are ideal, but you can do this with any summer squash, really. The trick is to merely sear the outside of the squash for flavor and color, not to cook it through. A fixed-blade slicer or mandolin is great for prepping this dish, otherwise use a thin bladed razor sharp knife to prevent the squash from cracking.
Continue reading »
There is almost always a jar of tapenade in the refrigerator, just as there should be one in yours. It is like a magic wand in the kitchen, able to take disparate ingredients and turn them into a trip to far off lands. To get the right kind of sear on this dish, you want to use your biggest pan, like a 14-incher. If the vegetables are too close they will just steam and get mushy, so if you do not have a big pan, do this in a couple pans or batches.
Continue reading »
For this recipe you will need ramekins or small soufflé dishes. The recipe calls for four 10 to 12 ounce ramekins, but you can use 8 ounce/1 cup ramekins as well. These are great “make ahead” dishes and can be stored in the freezer. Using left-over farro or other grain makes this dish easier. If you have more than enough stuffing, make extra packets and freeze them or use the stuffing in a frittata or as a sauté. Although this recipe looks long, it is not complex and really does not take too long to do.
Continue reading »
This dressing is for a salad of chunks of radish with tender lettuce. Pretty simple, but excellent in its simplicity. Try this dressing with assertive or bitter salad leaves such as escarole, endive, chicory, and radicchios.
Continue reading »
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.
Continue reading »
This dressing was made to go with the Salad of Grilled Radicchio, Escarole, and Roasted Beets, where the creamy sweetness will tame the assertive bitterness of the chicories. Try this with peppery greens like rocket and cress, or use for a cold pasta salad with broccoli or rapini.
Continue reading »
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.
Continue reading »
The dice of colorful vegetables and the mix of flavors and textures is like confetti, making this easy soup a celebration of the season. If you have pesto in the refrigerator already, go with the pesto in lieu of the basil leaf shreds as it will reduce the workload. If you wish to make this a more substantial soup, think about adding beans or some pasta.
Continue reading »
This is a substantial salad that could serve as a light supper, and is about the interplay of the sweet, fruity, and acid, and soft components of the peppers, onions, and tomatoes in contrast with the crunchy, salty, slightly fatty roast pancetta wheel. Red Oak leaf lettuce is perfect for the bed. If you do not want to make the basil oil, substitute basil shreds and just use olive oil and balsamic vinegar. In lieu of pancetta, you could use buffalo mozzarella or goat cheese rounds. See Chef’s Notes for ideas.
Continue reading »
Inspired by Waldorf Salad, this has a lighter dressing and has cheese added, based on the classic pairing of apples and cheese.
Continue reading »
This recipe takes its inspiration from Crab Louis salad, but the dressing is a lightened version made with oil infused with shrimp shells. This oil is very aromatic and wonderfully evocative of the sea. This oil is a great flavor booster for pasta dishes, seafood soups, bouillabaisse, or light sauces for seafood such as a red pepper coulis.
Continue reading »
An all-vegetable and grain stuffing makes this lighter than the usual version with ground beef stuffing. This is a great way to use up left-over grains such as farro, bulgur, rice, or quinoa.
Continue reading »
This version of pesto hails from Trapani in Sicily. It features almonds and, more unusual, tomatoes. There are many versions of this recipe-some use cherry tomatoes, some call for plum tomatoes, peeled, or not. Mortar and pestle versus food processor versus blender. 1 clove garlic versus 4. Cheese, or not. Well, here is another version- with regular sized tomatoes given a quick turn on the grill to add flavor and to ease peeling. If you don’t feel like heating the grill, see Chef’s Notes for an alternative to this. If you have nice sweet cherry tomatoes with tender skins, just use those instead, and skip the grilling, or blister them in a skillet filmed with a little oil. Use this pesto as you would with pasta, or try it on grilled vegetables such as peppers or with steamed or roasted cauliflower. Also great as a sandwich smear.
Continue reading »
This is the classic Ligurian version of pasta with pesto from the area where pesto as we know it today was “invented”. Some recipes will tell you to cook the potatoes and beans in the water with the pasta, but that could over cook them, so here they are cooked until almost done and then the pasta is cooked separately. If you use fresh pasta, cook them together by all means.
Continue reading »
This salad is dressed with a variant of Basil Vinaigrette, hence the v.2 appellation. It has no garlic since the scallions provide enough allium “funk”, and uses white wine vinegar rather than white balsamic for a little more snap. Lastly, it uses olive oil in addition or instead of a neutral oil to round out the flavors.
Continue reading »