278 recipes. Page 2 of 12
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Fresh corn cut off the cob, lima beans, zucchini and tomato warm through together in one pan, and the vinegar and basil are added after the heat is off for a sharp, herbal finish. The recipe uses cooked canned lima beans, and dried or raw ones would not soften in the same few minutes.
The mushrooms come before the rice. Button mushrooms stay over high heat until their liquid is gone and the edges brown, and only then do onion, garlic and arborio go in, followed by warm chicken stock a ladle at a time. The rice is not rinsed; its surface starch is what makes it creamy.
Lemon, olive oil, garlic, and dried oregano give these Greek thigh skewers a sharp, slightly bitter herbal edge over the char. Thirty minutes of marinating works, but a night in the fridge goes deeper. Serve with plain yogurt, or tuck the chicken into warm pita with tomato and onion.
Caldo verde means green broth in Portuguese. The soup is thickened with nothing but blended potato, no cream, and carries kale cut fine as thread along with a few slices of smoked sausage.
Wide lasagna sheets get stacked two or three times over with meat sauce, ricotta, and mozzarella, then baked under a layer of Parmesan. Ricotta softens the acidity of the tomato, while melting mozzarella glues the layers together. A 10-minute rest before cutting keeps the hot cheese from running and the stack from slumping. If the top browns too fast, a sheet of foil goes back over it. The whole dish can be assembled ahead and refrigerated, which makes it easy to bake for guests.
Fennel brings a faint anise scent, more fragrant than sweet, and a celery-like snap that plays against thin slices of apple. Toasted walnuts add a slightly tannic crunch, and peppery arugula keeps the plate from leaning sweet. The honey-lemon dressing, just lemon juice, honey, olive oil, and salt, is deliberately plain so each ingredient stays recognizable. Sliced last and tossed straight into the dressing, the apple has no time to brown, and the salad goes to the table as soon as it is plated. In France and Italy this kind of salad turns up in autumn and winter, when apples and fennel are in season together, and it sits well beside roast chicken, where the fennel cuts through the richness.
Shreds of salt cod and matchstick potatoes fried crisp are bound together by eggs cooked only to soft, creamy curds. Soaking the cod in cold water for 24 to 48 hours, with several changes, means starting a day or two ahead. Even after soaking it keeps some salt, which makes tasting at the end more reliable than salting along the way. Taking the pan off the heat before the eggs fully set and letting residual heat finish them keeps the dish moist rather than dry. Black olives go alongside when you have them.
Pancetta, garlic, and Parmigiano Reggiano season this savory Italian pie, whose filling is 600 g of chard blanched, squeezed hard, and packed between two thin sheets of dough. Water left in the chard soaks the thin bottom crust, so the leaves are wrung out thoroughly and the cooked filling is cooled before it is spread on the dough.
Chicken, rabbit, green beans and saffron make this the Valencian version, a long way from seafood paella. Once the rice is spread thin in the pan it is never stirred again, so the grains stay separate rather than creamy like risotto, and a thin crisp crust called socarrat forms on the bottom.
The prawns go shell-on onto a bed of hot coarse salt. The salt is there less to season than to spread the heat, and the prawns cook in their own moisture until the flesh is springy. Garlic butter and lemon juice go on only once they come off the heat.
The chicken breast is pulled into long shreds, so it hangs off the spoon together with the egg noodles. If you plan on leftovers, lift the noodles out and store them separately; otherwise by the next day they will have soaked up the broth.
Baked ziti borrows the meat sauce, ricotta, and mozzarella of lasagna but skips the layering: the tube-shaped pasta is simply tossed and spread in the dish, which cuts the work considerably. Only half the sauce and half the ricotta go into the pasta; the rest sits on top under the cheese, keeping the inside moist. The ziti come out of the water two minutes early because they keep cooking in the oven. Once the mozzarella and Parmesan bubble gold, a 5-minute rest lets portions cut cleanly.
Chewy barley grains carry crisp bell pepper and cucumber, sharp red onion, and plenty of parsley in a simple lemon and olive oil dressing. The barley should stay slightly firm at the center; cooked soft, it turns porridge-like once dressed. Letting the barley cool completely does more for the result than any seasoning tweak: warm grains pull water out of the vegetables and thin the dressing.
Salt cod poached gently in milk absorbs moisture before it is mixed with half-cooked potatoes and cream and baked until golden. Fully cooked potatoes would collapse in the oven, so they are only partly fried or pan-cooked beforehand. Saltiness varies by product, which means soaking the cod from the day before and tasting just before it goes into the oven. A few minutes of rest after baking lets the cream settle so the layers hold when served.
Rolled paper-thin from a dough with no yeast, the base ends up far thinner than pizza and is scattered lightly with creme fraiche, onion, and bacon. This Alsatian flatbread puts tangy creme fraiche where pizza would have tomato sauce and cheese. A very hot oven chars the edges in minutes, and it is cut and eaten while the crust still snaps.
Twelve chard leaves are rolled finger-thick around ground beef, soaked rice, onion and dried mint. The rolls are packed tightly into the pot, weighed down with a heavy plate, and cooked slowly in a thin tomato broth. In Turkey they come to the table with a tangy garlic yogurt.
Only the white part of the green onion is used, since the green tops burn before the inside cooks. Grilled hard, the outside chars deep brown and the inside softens until a chopstick slides in easily, turning sweet. Once plated, the onions get a little sesame oil, sesame seeds and lemon zest.
The stew is credited to San Francisco wharf fishermen who pooled their leftover seafood in one pot. The tomato and white wine broth simmers on its own first; mussels, white fish and shrimp follow at the end, one after another, for a short cook. Any mussels still shut after cooking are picked out before serving.
Milk simmered into the tomato for 80 minutes rounds off the acidity and leaves this ragu soft-textured and mellow. The depth is set earlier, when the ground beef browns over high heat until it catches on the pot and red wine lifts that browned layer into the sauce.
Wrapped in foil and roasted, the beets keep their juice and come out sweet and tender, with much of their raw earthiness gone. Tangy goat cheese meets that sweetness, while peppery arugula and toasted walnuts round out a classic French-style starter. A dressing of balsamic, honey, and olive oil brings a sweet-tart edge that pulls the separate parts together. With beets of different sizes, a toothpick sliding easily into the center tells you more than the timer does. Peeled beets should cool fully before slicing for clean edges, and the goat cheese goes on just before serving so it keeps its texture.
Only the top rind is scored, so the whole wheel of Camembert holds its round shape in the oven while the inside turns molten, ready to scoop up with toasted baguette. Cuts that run down the sides let the cheese leak, and baking too long makes the fat separate. When the dish is nudged and the center wobbles, it is done; adding minutes just for color only risks an oily result. Honey and walnuts on top bring sweetness against the garlic, rosemary and salty cheese.
Black olives, rosemary, and thyme go into a dough that is shaped like a leaf and slashed open before baking, so the edges and thin parts crisp while the thicker strips between the cuts stay soft and chewy. The olives are patted dry first. Wet ones loosen the dough and leave the salt bunched in one spot.
Warm stock steeped with saffron goes in a ladle at a time, turning the rice yellow as it cooks. Off the heat, cold butter and Parmigiano are beaten in quickly, and the risotto is done while it is still loose enough to spread slowly on the plate.
Cuttlefish is thicker and denser than ordinary squid, so the inside of the body gets a deep crosshatch before it hits the pan, and the garlic butter seeps into those cuts as it cooks. A little chopped cheongyang chili, a hot Korean green pepper, leaves a faint kick at the end of the butter.