74 recipes. Page 3 of 4
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Roasting turns the carrots sweeter and softer, with lightly browned edges. Warm cumin, bright lemon, and sweet raisins layer together in the Moroccan style, and chickpeas make it filling. The carrots go into the dressing while still warm so they absorb it as they rest. Thick sticks work best; thin strips burn at the tips before the centers soften.
Garlic and dried chili warm slowly in olive oil until fragrant, the shrimp cook in that oil, and whatever is left gets mopped up with baguette. The garlic should only reach pale gold at the edges when the shrimp are added, because browned garlic turns the whole pan bitter.
The brown water left from soaking dried porcini carries an earthy mushroom flavor through the whole sauce, while a mix of fresh mushrooms provides the bite. White wine, butter and Parmigiano bind it without cream so it clings to wide tagliatelle, and the truffle paste is only a finishing scent.
Sumac, a tangy red spice, stacks another layer of sourness on the lemon and vinegar and turns mild white beans bright. Thin red onion and coarsely chopped parsley add crunch and a grassy note among the soft beans. The onion spends about 5 minutes in cold water to tame its bite and is drained well so it does not thin the dressing. The beans are already cooked, so rough stirring mashes them quickly. Sumac is scattered evenly over everything at the end so no spoonful is all sourness, and the salad rests for about 10 minutes at room temperature. As in Turkey, it is served alongside bread or grilled meat.
White wine, butter, and the juices the mussels release become one broth in the same pot, and baguette is there to soak it up. Opening shells tell you the mussels are done, so watch under the lid rather than the timer, and discard any that stay shut.
Five sliced garlic cloves cook slowly in butter over low heat, turning sweet and fragrant while staying pale. The large shrimp then get about 90 seconds a side, just until pink, so the centers stay tender. White wine lifts the garlic butter off the pan and reduces into a light sauce, and the lemon juice squeezed in at the end cuts through the butter while red pepper flakes leave a mild, lingering heat.
Cooked quinoa shows a tiny ring around each grain, and its light pop contrasts with juicy cucumber and tomato. Rubbing the grains while rinsing removes their bitter coating, which lets the lemon dressing taste clean. Chopped parsley and thin red onion give the mild grain aroma and bite. Dressed only with olive oil and lemon juice, it goes to the table right after tossing.
Steamed mussels and fries share one plate in this Belgian pairing, but they run on very different clocks. The mussels open in 3 to 4 minutes under a lid, while the potatoes need a gentler first fry and a hotter second one to turn crisp. Getting the first fry done before the mussels hit the pot keeps the two from colliding at the stove. That first fry ends while the potatoes are tender but still pale. Soaking the cut sticks in cold water and drying every side matters, since wet potatoes splatter and stay limp. Discard any mussels that stay closed, and bring both to the table at once so the fries do not soften while the shellfish waits.
Briny olives, salty capers and anchovies, and red pepper flakes all land in the same tomato sauce, which comes out bold and sharply defined after eight minutes of reduction. The spaghetti leaves the water a minute early and finishes in the sauce pan with reserved pasta water over high heat, where the starch binds everything to the strands and leaves no watery pool behind.
Salty flakes of cod meet sweet, juicy orange in this Andalusian salad, and that contrast carries the dish. The cod is torn along its grain into light, chewy shreds, while red onion and black olives sharpen the edges. The fish only poaches in barely moving water, because a hard boil turns it tough. Soaking out the salt takes most of a day and has to begin the night before, but on the day itself the salad goes together in minutes and sits well beside a glass of sherry as a tapa.
Mussels release their own briny liquor as they open, and together with dry white wine that becomes the broth without any added stock. The butter is split in two for a reason: the first part softens the shallot and garlic, the second is stirred in at the end to give the broth some shine. The pot comes off the heat once most shells have opened, before the meat shrinks and toughens, and any that stay shut get thrown away. Ladle the leftover wine broth into the bowls too.
The sauce comes almost entirely from the clams. As purged clams open in dry white wine, their briny juices hit the pan, and a minute of hard tossing with olive oil and a few spoonfuls of pasta water binds them into a glossy coating.
Roasted until the edges go deep golden, the florets pick up a toasty sweetness that stands up to heavy, nutty tahini, which would simply smother boiled cauliflower. Lemon juice and garlic lighten the sauce, and a generous handful of parsley cuts through the oil.
Mussels steamed fast in white wine release their juices into the pot, and that liquid becomes the sauce once a spoonful of cream and chopped parsley are stirred through. Any mussels already open before cooking are left out. Shallot and garlic soften in butter without taking color, giving the wine a mild, sweet base. One shake of the covered pot halfway through helps the shells open at about the same time. The cream waits until they have all opened, and crusty bread takes care of the broth.
Shrimp and squid are cooked only until their surfaces turn white, then left to finish in the simmering tomatoes, where six or seven minutes of gentle heat cooks them through while they stay tender. As the tomato reduces it soaks up the juices the seafood releases.
Parsley makes up most of the bowl, with grains of bulgur scattered through the chopped green rather than the other way round. Mint and lemon juice bring a cool, sour lift, and thinly sliced green onion adds a sharp edge. The herbs are chopped with a sharp, upright knife so the leaves are cut, not crushed, and keep their aroma. Mushy bulgur blurs into the herbs, and the soak stops while the grains are tender with a little chew left. Water from any of three places, the soaked bulgur, the washed herbs, or the tomato's seedy center, ends up as thin dressing pooled in the bowl. The cooled bulgur takes the dressing first and is seasoned on its own before the vegetables join it.
Thick veal shanks braise in tomato, white wine and chicken stock until the meat separates under a fork, with the marrow still sitting in the middle of each bone. That marrow is the best part, so the shanks are turned and lifted gently with tongs rather than jolted. A light, well-shaken coat of flour on the shanks browns in the oil instead of scorching. Onion, carrot and celery soften in the same oil until sweet, and white wine lifts the browned bits from the bottom to start the sauce. The shanks braise covered in the oven with their tops just showing above the liquid. Gremolata, a mix of lemon zest, parsley and garlic, is scattered on just before serving to brighten the long-cooked sauce.
Eight grams of squid ink turns the whole sauce jet black and gives it a briny, sea-like flavor. Loosening the ink in pasta water first keeps it from clumping in the pan. Sliced garlic warms slowly over low heat, just long enough to scent the oil before it darkens. Shrimp and squid rings sear only on the outside at the start and stay tender by cooking through during the last toss with the linguine. White wine and halved cherry tomatoes add acidity against the dark, savory ink, and the salt is added by taste rather than all at once.
With olive oil and lemon doing the binding instead of mayonnaise, the canned tuna and white beans stay bright and sharp rather than heavy. Both sit in a sieve for at least 5 minutes first, since leftover liquid would thin the measured dressing. Celery and red onion bring crunch and bite against the soft beans, and parsley leaves finish it with a grassy note. The beans meet the dressing first, and the tuna, added afterward, stays in large flakes instead of turning into paste. Folding rather than stirring keeps the beans whole as well, and if dressing pools at the bottom after chilling, one gentle turn brings it back up.
Rosemary, thyme, garlic, and parsley chopped into breadcrumbs form a green crust over the lamb, held in place by a thin layer of Dijon mustard. Searing the rack first supplies the color, leaving the oven only to crisp the crust while the center stays pink. The seared surface needs to cool briefly before the mustard is spread on, otherwise the coating slides. Carve between the bones into individual chops.
Long simmering does nothing for the clams. Once the shells open, the job becomes keeping the meat moist: opened clams get pushed to the side of the pan while the spaghetti and a few spoonfuls of pasta water go in, and a minute of tossing over high heat binds the wine-scented clam liquid with the olive oil. The measured salt goes in gradually after tasting, with the already salty clam liquid in mind.
Lemon juice and capers give a sharp, salty edge to a butter pan sauce that cuts through the richness of salmon. A light dusting of flour gives the fillet a thin crust, and the browned bits left in the pan dissolve into chicken stock to start the sauce. The fish is only partly cooked in the first sear and goes back into the sauce for the last couple of minutes, so it stays moist instead of drying out.
Yuja marmalade joins the lemon and capers of a classic piccata sauce, laying a bittersweet citrus note over the sourness. Chicken breast flattened to 1cm and dusted thinly with flour cooks for 3 minutes a side, enough for a golden crust and a moist middle.
Raw bulk pork sausage, Cheddar and Bisquick come together into small balls that bake brown outside with a moist, cheesy meat interior. Precooked frankfurters will not bind or cook the same way as the uncooked bulk sausage this needs. The batch makes about 100 small pieces across two rimmed trays, and browned or melted cheese on the surface says nothing about the meat inside.