Category Archives: Recipes

Kitchen Creativity: Red Lentil and Date Stew

10 Thursday May 2018

Posted by in Main Dish, Recipes, Soup

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lentil-stewI’m not noted for spontaneity but I do enjoy creating dishes spontaneously—when I have a stuffed pantry, a full rack of spices and a large refrigerator. Since I basically live on the road, I no longer have those luxuries. One night when I needed a very quick meal I found myself with bare shelves except for a lowly container of red lentils and a few odds and ends. That’s boring but it will have to do. So I started boiling the beans in some stock while I rummaged around for something to add to the dish. In 10 minutes the lentils were almost ready. I turned up some cilantro, various spices, salt and pepper. Still boring, earthy but one dimensional.

I did find a few dates in the back of the cupboard. I chopped them up, tossed them in the pot just before the beans were done, and magic. I now had a sweet, exotic stew to counterpoise the earthiness of the beans. Add cumin and cilantro and I had a quick, simple dish in 25 minutes.  Sometimes creativity requires a bit of luck.

The dish has now become a staple for us, so in subsequent iterations, I couldn’t resist making a few improvements. With the caramelized onions to give another dimension to the sweetness, it’s no longer a quick meal. Leave them out if you wish. And a squeeze of lime gives the dish acidity.

In doing a bit of research for this post I discovered lentil and date stew is a traditional Moroccan recipe (although typically a more complex recipe using tamarind). So I guess my dish is not really creative either. But it’s good.

As for wine pairing, this dish has quite a bit of sweetness which will kill a dry wine. And the wine should have some earthiness to complement the lentils. In U.S. markets we don’t have a lot of options for semi-sweet earthy wines. If you can get a quality Italian Lambrusco that is not insipidly fruity that will work. My only option was an inexpensive Amarone from Trader Joe’s, the Conte Di Bregonza. It’s a big wine but the ripe fruit is sufficiently sweet to balance the sweetness of the dish and the earthiness brings out the warmth of the lentils.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 Onions, divided use

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cups red lentils, rinsed and picked over

8 cups light chicken or vegetable broth

2 teaspoons ground cumin

14 dates, chopped

salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 lime, quartered for serving

 

Directions:

1. Halve two onions and thinly slice discarding root end.

2. Cook onions slowly over medium low heat in 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, stirring frequently to prevent sticking, 40 minutes until deep brown. Salt to taste.

3. Meanwhile, dice remaining onion, add to a pot with a little oil, and cook over medium low until soft.

4. Add garlic and cook briefly, then add the stock and bring to a boil.

5. When the caramelized onions are 15 minutes from being done, add lentils and return pot to a simmer.

6. Simmer lentils until el dente, about 15 minutes and then add the dates and cumin.

7. Continue to cook for about 5 more minutes until the lentils are beginning to fall apart (I like the lentils to still have some texture)

8. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

9. Ladle stew into bowls, top with caramelized onions and cilantro.

Serve with a quarter lime each for squeezing

The Creative Kitchen: Transforming Guacamole

12 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by in Appetizer, Recipes, The Creative Kitchen

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maque-guac

Maque Guac

In my personal pantheon of food gods, avocado is of the highest rank. I can’t think of another ingredient that melds grassy, floral flavors with a mouthfeel that is rich and creamy yet manages to be weightless and airy.

Guacamole is the supreme manifestation of all these qualities, the avocado’s most noble expression. The jalapeno and cilantro punch up the grassiness,  and the tomato brings out floral and fruit notes of the avocado.

But I eat so damn much of the stuff, to add some variety, I started thinking about modifications to the classic recipe, which for me has always been Diana Kennedy’s.

My first thought was to take the recipe in a more floral direction, de-emphasizing the grassy flavors. So I replaced the cilantro with basil, which of course resonates nicely with the tomato. That was good for a change but lacked intensity. What else complements avocado, basil and jalapeno pepper?

Corn and avocado are a natural combination. I immediately thought of one of the treasures of Louisiana cooking—maque choux. This is a traditional, creole side dish made by sautéing corn, peppers, celery and cayenne. The corn is milked by removing the kernels from the cob and then scraping the cob with the back of a knife producing a milk that gives the dish a silky texture. The version I’ve always adored added cream and basil.

A mash up of Creole and Mexican was intriguing.

I fooled around with using corn milk in the guacamole and adding a bit of raw corn but in the end the best flavor boost came from briefly cooking the kernels and then blending them into a portion of the avocado. The combination of sweet corn, avocado and basil was exactly what I was looking for—a creamy textured guacamole highlighting the fruit and floral aspects of the avocado, with corn adding a subtle, sweet background note. Leaving out the cilantro however subtracted a hint of bitterness from the dish making it a bit one dimensional. That was corrected by adding lime zest. (lime juice added less pleasant sour notes.)

As for pairing, if you must have wine Sauvignon Blanc is probably the best choice, and of course a good lager works fine. But with guacamole, even when altered by corn, there is nothing like a simple, classic margarita made with just blanco, lime and Cointreau.

Here is the recipe:

Maque Guac

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

2 large Hass Avocados

8 tablespoons diced onion, divided use

15 basil leaves, divided use

2 large jalapenos, diced divided use

Kernals from 1 ear of corn, divided use

zest of 2 limes

1 large or 2 small tomatoes, diced

Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Cut kernels from corn and boil briefly until they lose their raw flavor.

2. Scoop out avocado flesh placing 1/4 of the avocado in a food processor (or bowl of an immersion blender) and reserve the rest.

3. Add 1/2 of the corn to the processor along with 4 tablespoons of onion, 10 basil leaves, 1/2 the jalapeno and process until smooth

4. In a bowl, combine the avocado/corn mixture and the reserved avocado and mash with a fork to the consistency you prefer.

5. Add lime zest to taste and mix to incorporate

6. Tear the remaining basil into small pieces

6. Add the remaining diced onion, diced jalapeno, diced tomatoes, basil and corn kernels according to your preference.

7. Salt to taste and serve with corn chips for dipping.

The Creative Kitchen: A Brief Personal History of Macaroni and Cheese

14 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Food History, Main Dish, Recipes, The Creative Kitchen

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fanny farmerIf there is one recipe that according to my family defines my identity as a cook it’s this macaroni and cheese recipe. I don’t like my identity being so wrapped up in one dish, but I guess they do get a say in the matter. It’s the dish that really signifies for us the comforts of home. I started making it 40 years ago with an old Fanny Farmer recipe, updated it with help of Betty Crocker, and then reinvented the dish to put my own twist on it.

I recently went back and recooked all the iterations to see how the dish evolved.

Macaroni and cheese has become a classic because it has all the markings of comfort food.  The fat, protein and bulky carbs are filling. The macaroni is soft and, with the cheese, forms a homogeneous mass that is uncomplicated and accessible. The salt and fat are intense enough to send plenty of stimulation to the pleasure centers of the brain.

mac-n-cheese-fanny-farmerThe Fanny Farmer recipe, which I think has been around since the 1947 edition of Fanny Farmer’s Boston Cooking School cookbook, surely qualifies as uncomplicated. The cheese is mixed into a béchamel sauce of cream and milk and is then mixed with the cooked macaroni, poured into a baking dish, covered with buttered bread crumbs and then baked. It is certainly soft and homogeneous but bland as reruns of the Partridge Family. The cheddar cheese sauce is creamy but has little bright cheese flavor since it’s cooked into the béchamel before baking which kills the flavor of the cheese. The bread crumb topping adds crunch but not much flavor.

So I eventually went with a Betty Crocker recipe from the 1970’s. This recipe adds some grated onion which adds sweetness and a subtle contrasting flavor. The cheese is layered over half the macaroni and then layered again on top. Then the béchamel is poured over the whole casserole. The layer of cheese is not fully incorporated into the béchamel so the cheese flavor is much brighter than the original. Instead of bread crumbs, the crunch comes from the macaroni, cheese and milk solids hardening and caramelizing at the top and along the edges of the baking dish. This forms some delicious “crusties” that will have you scraping at the baking dish with a knife to get every last bit long after the dish has been served.mac-n-cheese-betty-crocker

The problem? The flavor is still one-dimensional and the milk fats curdle adding graininess to the dish which now lacks the creamy consistency of the original. The graininess is made worse if you try to add flavor intensity by using very sharp cheddar. What I wanted was an exterior of crisp, caramelized cheese but an interior that is as creamy as I could make it.

So it was time to get creative.

I wanted some flavor contrast without adding too much complexity or fussiness to the dish since I wanted to preserve that “homeyness”. My solution was to add several 1/2 inch chunks of green apple mixed into the casserole. This adds sweetness and flavor and the apple of course really complements cheddar cheese. I eventually amped up the cheddar cheese flavor by keeping the layers of cheese but doubling the amount and adding that extra cheese to the béchamel. I now had an intensely flavored dish with just enough complexity. Finally, about 10 years ago, the texture problem was solved when sodium citrate became a cooking tool thanks to Nathan Mhyvold and his book on Modernist Cuisine. Sodium citrate, which can be ordered from Amazon, when dissolved in the béchamel keeps the fat and water in emulsion preventing curdling and causing the cheese sauce to thicken. Most recipes when using sodium citrate say you can eliminate the béchamel sauce and replace it with milk or water since you don’t need the flour to thicken the sauce. [The sodium citrate tastes salty and a bit sour. So don’t over-salt the béchamel.)

But remember those crusties? You need the milk solids and the flour to encourage that caramelization and browning on top. So I continued to use the béchamel/cheese sauce adding the sodium citrate just to prevent curdling and adding creaminess.

Finally this year, to create even more flavor contrast, I added pieces of cooked bacon. I didn’t use bacon fat and I didn’t cook the bacon with the cheese sauce because the bacon flavor would be too dominant. I didn’t want bacon flavored macaroni and cheese. I wanted some bacon accents.

mac-n-cheese-dfAnd so now I have a macaroni and cheese that maintains the appeal of the traditional versions but with several innovations that improve it.

It only took 40 years.

Wine Pairing: Many experts recommend pairing mac n cheese with an oaked chardonnay because of its buttery flavors. But this dish is too sweet. It made Chardonnay taste thin and tart. The only way to go is an off dry to semi sweet German Riesling with apple notes. The Nik Weis St. Urbans-Hof Estate Old Vines Riesling Mosel 2016 is affordable and available.

Recipe:

Macaroni and Cheese with Apple and Bacon

2 strips good quality bacon, cut into 3/4 inch pieces

8 oz small shell macaroni

3 Tablespoon grated onion

1/4 tsp pepper

3/4 lb  shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3/4 lb good quality aged sharp cheddar cheese

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and peeled, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 teaspoons sodium citrate

2 1/2  Tablespoons butter

2 1/2 Tablespoons flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp dry mustrad

2 1/2 cups milk

1 T butter

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook bacon until crisp, place on paper towels to drain and reserve.

Make white sauce:  Melt 2 1/2 T butter over low heat.  Blend in flour, salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, and dry mustard.  Cook until smooth and bubbly.  Remove from heat and stir in milk.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Add sodium citrate and then gradually add young cheddar and whisk making sure all of the cheese gets incorporated.

Cook macaroni; place half of macaroni in ungreased 2-quart casserole.  Sprinkle with 1/2 of onion, 1/8 tsp pepper, 1/2 of  aged cheddar cheese and 1/2 apple.  Pour 1/2 cheddar cheese/white sauce over macaroni. Then repeat adding the rest of the macaroni, onion, pepper aged cheddar cheese, and apple.  Pour remaining white sauce/cheddar cheese sauce over casserole, insert bacon pieces throughout casserole, and dot with 1 T butter.  Cover and bake 15 minutes.  Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer or until you’re happy with the caramelization on top and sides of casserole. If the casserole is cooked through and you want more browning on top, place under broiler watching carefully to get desired level of browning.

Serve.

If You Drink Conservatively, You’re Missing Out

27 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by in Dessert, Wine Culture

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BoredomI recently had this conversation in a supermarket wine aisle:

Shopper: Do you know anything about wine?

Me: A bit.

Shopper: I need to bring a wine to a party my friend is throwing and I don’t know what to buy. She only drinks Pinot Noir but I only drink Chardonnay. What’s a good Pinot Noir?

Me (to myself): You and your friend are idiots.

Me (to her): Most people like La Crema; it’s a safe choice.

Why do people get locked in to the same wine over and over? Even a poorly stocked supermarket has several varietals and countless blends from France, Spain, Australia, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Chili, and the U.S. And a well-stocked wine shop will have wines from Portugal, Austria, Israel, Canada, South Africa, Uruguay, and Greece often featuring unusual varietals with distinctive flavors. China and India will probably join the mix in the next few years. As climate change makes the cultivation of  wine grapes  viable in new places, and wineries search for unusual varietals to set them apart, the range of options is fast becoming overwhelming. Add the fact that there is very little risk of buying an undrinkable bottle thanks to advances in wine technology and there is no longer any reason to restrict your exploration of wine to a few varietals or regions.

No doubt if you’re spending $50 or more on a bottle you want some assurance you will enjoy the wine; perhaps choosing conservatively has some merit in that case. And if you crave the distinctive flavors of Burgundy or Napa Valley you will have a narrower range of choices and will pay a premium price to find satisfaction. But at the lower price ranges the global market has exploded and there is no reason not to experiment. Being conservative in your wine choices means missing out on a treasure trove of flavor.

And if you’re willing to look beyond the big commercial brands on supermarket shelves and visit your local wineries or wine shops there is even more diversity. It’s the small wineries that can experiment with new varieties and new production techniques.

The universe of wine today offers all the benefits of encountering the unexpected, the surprising, the strange, the unusual—a cure for boredom, homogeneity, and narrowness of vision for only a few dollars.

That’s a good deal.

Edible Art: Cauliflower Fricassee w/Raita and Pea Shoots

04 Sunday Jan 2015

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cauliflower-raita

Much of modern art takes an ordinary object as its subject matter and transforms it into something extraordinary by placing the object in an unusual context. The edible arts are no exception. Although the tools of modern science give chefs the ability to fundamentally modify the form of ingredients, you don’t need a chemistry degree to create stunning effects. By playing with the function of an ingredient and giving it a new role and unexpected partners, chefs can transform how that ingredient is perceived.

This dish by Gray Kunz and Peter Kaminsky from their book Elements of Taste is a good illustration of this principle.

Cauliflower is almost always served as a side dish or a minor component in a larger dish. It seldom stands alone as a featured flavor platform. Mild and vaguely nutty when raw, when cooked it begins to smell like, well, funky feet, and without some serious dressing up with salt and butter or cheese, it just becomes insipid the more it is cooked. Only when roasted, does cauliflower begin to taste like food. But almost everything tastes better when roasted and a plate of roasted cauliflower by itself still adds up to a boring meal. But that “funky feet” flavor can be a welcoming host when the proper guests are invited to contribute. In this exotic main dish, cauliflower stars as a gloomy contrast to overly exuberant fruit. The fruit shows a different side as well. The taste of fresh fruit is equally dependent on acidity and sweetness. Yet, in cooking, we typically think of a fruity dish as highlighting sweetness, with sourness employed to achieve balance. This dish reverses that equation-the sourness of lemon plays a starring role but is kept in check by explosive contrasting flavors.

Tasting notes: The foreground flavor is bracingly sour fruit, flavorful yet astringent, that permeates the broth and persists throughout the taste experience. Curry provides a persistent background note while the thin slices of ginger, with cumin and coriander kept whole to provide little explosions of flavor, keep the sourness from overwhelming. This flavor profile along with the cooling raita  contribute to the exotic, vaguely Indian feel of this dish.

Cauliflower is serving as a flavor platform and aspires to dominance without ever quite achieving it given the strong flavors of its partneers. The usual malodorous “funky” flavor of cauliflower becomes, in this dish, a mild dusky presence, like a gloomy twilight, that contrasts with the bright astringency of the sour fruit and sharp attack of the slices of ginger. The cauliflower tempers the bright, assertive flavors preventing their high spirits from manipulating the mood of the dish, while the exotic spice mix masks the “funkiness” of the cauliflower allowing its dark, gloomy note to persist. While eating through the dish, the curry and yoghurt melt into the broth, gradually transforming the dish from an exotic exploration of sour fruit to something tamer and more comforting-until the slices of ginger punctuate, leaping to the foreground to pull us back toward exotica.  As this battle between fruit and foreboding fades, the picante dimension of the ginger and pepper remains, perking up the palate in anticipation of another bite.

Recipe is below or can be found elsewhere online here:

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Pan Fried Fish Filet w/Citrus and Radish Sauce

10 Thursday Oct 2013

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Fish-w-radish-sauce

The red radish is an afterthought. A colorful garnish or peppery accessory to a salad but seldom the star of the show. This strikes me as a great injustice. After all the radish is brightly colored, pleasingly plump, crunchy, and distinctively flavored. It’s not boring, offensive or unwelcoming. It doesn’t deserve to be ignored.

I will make it my mission in life to rectify this injustice. The problem is that radishes lose their crunch and peppery flavor when you cook them. Boredom looms. But with just enough heat they acquire a pleasing nutty/earthy flavor that pops when you pair them with caraway seeds.

So here is the launch of the Radish Redemption Project. Plenty of citrus and ginger, some soy to provide umami depth, and gently roasted radishes enhanced by the pungent notes of caraway make a fascinating sauce for buttery pan-fried fish.

Recipe is below the fold.            Continue reading →

Hummus with Pomegranate Molasses

26 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by in Appetizer, Recipes

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hummus

 

Pomegranate molasses is my most recent “secret ingredient”. I use it in stews, sauces, and glazes; anytime I want a sweet/sour mystery ingredient that will have guests scratching their heads. It is a main ingredient in the wonderful muhammara condiment used in Turkish and Syrian cuisine. You can buy pomegranate molasses in Middle Eastern markets and some well-stocked supermarkets, but it’s easy to make yourself. Just take a jar of pomegranate juice, add some sugar and lemon juice and then cook it down until it has the consistency of a thick syrup. I’ve kept it in the refrigerator for 3 months with no ill effects.

In this recipe, I drizzle it on hummus. Hummus fits into the simplicity theme I’ve been going on about recently—you can whip up a batch in about 15 minutes if you use canned garbanzo beans, which makes we wonder why anyone buys the tasteless stuff in the supermarket. (Of course it’s better to use dried beans and even better if you pop them out of their skins to get a smooth texture, but then it wouldn’t be so simple)

I like to enliven hummus with a mix of citrus juices to bring out more sweetness and complexity. A traditional recipe would use only lemon juice.

Recipe below the fold Continue reading →

Recipe: Simple White Bean and Garlic Soup

05 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by in Recipes, Side Dish, Soup

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bean-and-Garlic-soup

Some great works of art are simple—they focus attention only on what needs to be said.

Picasso’s Dove of Peace is a powerful symbol of  hope because the stark simplicity makes the drawing itself appear to take flight. peace picasso

The music of Erik Satie or Henryk Górecki, or Catch the Wind by Donovan captivate because the musical message is uncluttered.

So it is in cooking as well. Nothing symbolizes the guileless goodness of home and family like a simple soup. And soup doesn’t get much simpler than this. 5 ingredients, 15 minutes. Italian inspired. It reminds me of autumn as we suffer through end-of-the-summer heat.

Use canned beans if your desire for soup is sudden; if you have time to plan, dry beans are better. You can gussie this up by adding rosemary, sage, or bitter greens but it doesn’t need it. Just beans, onions, garlic, parsley, and some olive oil.

And please don’t add cream. I’m on the warpath against adding cream to most soups. It just kills the flavor. The beans themselves provide all the creamy texture you need.

If you’re using dry beans, the cooking water is your broth. With canned beans (drained and rinsed), use a light chicken or vegetable broth.

Recipe is below the fold. Continue reading →

Recipe: Grilled Chicken w/Purées of Fennel and Olive

11 Thursday Jul 2013

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Grilled-chicken-and-purees One of the principles of fine cooking is to intensify flavor by removing water or anything else that would dilute flavor molecules. Much of the labor required to execute, for example, Thomas Keller’s recipes in The French Laundry Cookbook involves endless straining and reduction to squeeze every bit of flavor from ingredients.

So when confronted with the problem of getting cooked fennel to taste like fennel I took some inspiration from Keller, although this recipe is considerably less labor intensive than anything in that tome.

For this dish I wanted grilled chicken but accompanied by something different from the standard sauces and rubs. Think of this as sophisticated Q—but don’t tell barbecue fans, they will laugh.

I love raw fennel but it is so fibrous it can be used only when thin slices are called for. Yet, when cooked to break down the fiber it loses its licorice-like intensity. Is there a way to get soft texture and big flavor? Yes, with some straining, reduction and a little help from flavor buddies like parsnips, ouzo, and fennel seed.

The briny olive purée is a perfect partner for the sweetness of the fennel—there is real synergy in their interaction. Separate them on the plate and allow diners to make their own perfect bite.

Recipe is below the fold  Continue reading →

Guacamole with Pistachios

27 Thursday Jun 2013

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Guac-w-pistachios It never occurred to me that avocado and pistachio would make a great combination. Thankfully, it occurred to Chef Stupak at Empillón Cocina, an innovative Mexican restaurant in New York.

I love guacamole but it is so ubiquitous it can become tiresome. This version preserves traditional flavors while adding just enough of a new wrinkle to reinvigorate my taste for this old standby.

I don’t know the science but it would not surprise me to find avocados and pistachios share flavor components. It is remarkable how similar they are. The avocado hits the palate first but the transition to pistachio-dominance is seamless, with the toasted flavors of the nuts providing contrast and depth. The lime then kicks in to provide a lengthy, refreshing finish. Just choose a chip that will stay out of the way.

Without the pistachios, this guacamole would have too much onion and lime but the pistachio adds sufficient depth and contrast so the onion and lime function as flavor boosters, helping the avocado match the sweetness of the nuts.

This is a very well designed dish.

Recipe is below the fold.  Continue reading →