721 recipes. Page 6 of 31
Pasta, steak, and other Western recipes
Bitter espresso meets soft, rich mascarpone, and the contrast grows rounder the longer the dish rests in the fridge. This classic version adds a spoonful of Marsala to the cooled coffee and whisks the yolks with sugar over simmering water before they meet the mascarpone and softly whipped cream. A heavy dusting of cocoa just before serving gives the last bitter note on top.
Smoked haddock warmed in milk with a bay leaf flavors the whole pot, and that infused milk becomes the base of this soup named after the village of Cullen in northeast Scotland. There is no salt in the ingredient list because smoked fish brings its own, and how much varies by product. Fully cooked potato, not cream or flour, thickens it.
Swapping basil for chamnamul, a celery-scented Korean mountain herb, and pine nuts for toasted walnuts makes this pesto greener and earthier than Genovese. Parmigiano and lemon juice set the salt and acidity. Twisted trofie hold the pesto in their grooves, and because they are not rinsed, their surface starch helps the sauce cling.
A dressing of nothing more than lime juice and olive oil cuts cleanly through creamy avocado. Golden pan-seared chicken breast supplies lean substance, romaine and cucumber bring crunch against the soft avocado, and cherry tomatoes add a sharp, juicy note. Sliced hot, the chicken loses its juices to the cutting board and turns dry, and a rest on a plate before cutting prevents that. Avocado works the other way: it browns as it sits and is sliced only just before the dressing goes on. The result is a simple American-style salad that eats as a full meal, and lemon stands in well when there is no lime.
Raw beef tenderloin sliced almost paper-thin is laid in a single layer and finished with olive oil, lemon, shaved Parmesan and arugula. Because nothing is cooked, it needs fresh beef suitable for eating raw, served before the surface starts to change color.
The tenderloin is brushed with Dijon mustard, wrapped in finely chopped sauteed mushrooms and prosciutto, then wrapped again in puff pastry. The mushrooms cook until nothing pools in the pan, and they and the beef must be cold through before wrapping, or the pastry base turns soggy. It comes out when a thermometer pushed in from the side reads 63 degrees at the center of the meat, whatever the color of the crust.
Tap with a spoon and the thin caramel crust breaks like glass over cold, trembling vanilla custard. With little more than yolks, cream, sugar and a vanilla bean in it, the bean goes into the warming cream pod and all, not just the scraped seeds. The sugar is spread thin and torched right before serving.
Most of the cooking time goes into onions stirred over low heat for forty minutes or more, until deep brown. Once beef stock is added and simmered, the soup is ladled into ovenproof bowls, topped with baguette and Gruyere, and set under the grill, and a spoon breaking the cheese brings up broth-soaked bread and sweet onion with it. Emmental melts just as well if there is no Gruyere.
Cheongyang chili, a sharp Korean green pepper, cuts through a classic cream-free carbonara of egg yolks, Parmigiano, and Pecorino, leaving a cleaner, brighter finish. Sliced chili and garlic fry for just 30 seconds in the rendered pancetta fat, long enough for the heat to spread through the oil but short of scorching the garlic. That oil then emulsifies with the cheese and egg base, and the starch and salt in the pasta water help the sauce coat each strand evenly. Grating the cheese finely ahead of time keeps the sauce smooth. The usual failure is a pan that is still too hot: the yolks scramble instead of turning silky, so the heat is cut and the pan rests a few seconds before the eggs are added.
Grilled chicken breast turns the classic side salad into a full meal. Pressing the thick end flat before cooking gives the breast one even thickness, and the thin edges stay juicy while the center finishes. The chicken is cut in moderately thick pieces, since very thin slices lose heat and moisture fast and turn chalky. The dressing skips anchovy and relies on mayonnaise, lemon juice and garlic, and the croutons go on at the end without any toasting.
Tortillas wrapped around cumin-seasoned ground beef and cheddar soak up red enchilada sauce in the oven until soft, while the cheese on top melts and bubbles. Cold tortillas crack when rolled, and a quick warming makes them pliable.
The moisture in beet puree is what makes this dark chocolate cake heavy and damp. That is also why it should never bake until it looks dry; it comes out as soon as a skewer in the center shows no wet batter.
More than twenty thin crepes, each with a layer of cream, stack into a cake whose cut face shows fine, tight stripes. It needs only a frying pan, no oven, and it tastes of egg, butter and dairy more than the sugar and flour of a sponge. Press a fork in and the layers slide gently apart.
Stale bread soaked in water goes into the blender with the tomatoes, cucumber and pepper, and it makes the soup heavier and smoother than vegetable juice. No heat is involved at all, only two hours or more in the fridge. This Andalusian cold soup is only as good as its tomatoes, which need to be fully ripe.
Chicken breast browned deeply in butter, 4-5 minutes a side, carries its roasted flavor into the Parmesan cream sauce that goes on the fettuccine. Two things sour or split that sauce: garlic left to brown, and cheese added over strong heat, so the burner goes low before the Parmesan goes in. Pasta moves into the sauce straight from the water, while its surface starch still helps the sauce cling; reserved pasta water loosens it if it turns stiff. Plenty of black pepper cuts the richness.
Rinsed quickly under cold water, quinoa loses its natural coating of bitter saponins and tastes clean and nutty. Cooled quinoa, seared chicken breast, romaine, cucumber, and bell pepper come together under a lemony Greek yogurt dressing, and the result eats more like a grain bowl than a side salad.
Cutting skirt steak across the grain on a diagonal is what keeps such a short, fierce sear tender. Cumin, lime and smoked paprika give the beef a smoky, sharp edge, while the peppers and onion cook first in the same hot pan and come out still crunchy. Everything goes into warm flour tortillas right away, before the vegetables start to weep.
In New Orleans the beignet is a doughnut with no hole: yeast dough cut into squares and fried. Milk, egg and butter let it puff up soft and bready in the oil, and the heap of powdered sugar shaken on straight away melts a little into the warm surface and clings.
Pastry chef Dominique Ansel introduced the cronut in New York in 2013, and Time named it one of the best inventions of that year. Croissant dough is cut into rings and deep-fried, so it tears apart in buttery layers inside a light doughnut crust. The original is filled with cream and glazed; this one is simply rolled in sugar while warm.
A roux of equal parts flour and oil, stirred until it nears the color of chocolate, gives this Louisiana stew its dark color and toasty flavor. The roux can darken suddenly near the end; at the first bitter smell the heat has to come down, because a scorched roux leaves its bitterness in the whole pot. Sliced okra simmers for 40 minutes with smoked sausage and lends the broth a light body, and the gumbo is spooned over white rice.
Pork belly, fried until the fat turns translucent and the edges crisp, gives this arrabbiata a richer, meatier base than the usual garlic and chili tomato sauce. The heat comes from Korean gochugaru instead of dried Italian chili, so it lands as a familiar, warm Korean spiciness.
Firm tofu, crumbled by hand and fried in olive oil until its moisture cooks off, turns into dry, nutty granules that sit on the greens like a savory topping. Chopped chonggak (young radish) kimchi brings sour, fermented crunch, and the gochujang-yogurt dressing delivers its heat wrapped in a creamy tang.
Sour cream and Dijon give this sauce a gentle tang with a sharp mustard finish, and mushrooms cooked until golden supply most of its savory weight. The sirloin barely spends time in the pan: seared on each side, set aside, and returned only at the end so it stays pink and tender. Once the sour cream is in, a boil will split the sauce.
A topping of butter, honey and sugar boiled together with sliced almonds bakes right on the yeast dough of this German cake, and once cool the round is split crosswise and filled with vanilla cream. The cream is not just whipped cream: it is built on a no-cook instant vanilla pudding mix with milk and gelatin. Pudding powder meant for cooking cannot go into it as is.