Entrees
Steak with Steak Butter
STEAK BUTTER Start to finish: 10 minutes Hands-on time: 10 minutes Servings: Makes about 16 tablespoons (1/2 pound) 1/2 pound Homemade Butter (see recipe below) or store-bought unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons and softened to room temperature 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 garlic clove, finely minced…
Indian Scrambled Eggs with Pappadams
Ingredients 1⁄4 cup vegetable oil Four 8-inch pappadams 1⁄2 small onion One 1-inch piece fresh ginger 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 large serrano chile 3⁄4 teaspoon ground cumin 1⁄2 teaspoon ground turmeric 8 large eggs 1⁄3 cup plain low-fat or full-fat Greek-style yogurt (see page 49) Kosher salt 1⁄2 pound…
On this week’s show, guest chef Ming Tsai and I make quick and easy one-pan dinners.
Using just one pan for dinner makes both the cook and the dishwasher happy, plus it’s so easy. In Episode 518: One Pan Wonders, we start with guest Ming Tsai and his Lemongrass Chicken Soup. Then on “Ask Sara,” tips for using the original pot, the wok. Finally, I help a…
Duck Breast Salad with Pear Walnut Dressing and Blue Cheese
Servings: 4 For the duck: 2 whole duck breasts with the skin (4 halves, about 2 lbs. total) 1 very ripe pear, peeled, cored and sliced ½-inch thick 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar 1 tablespoon honey 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/4 cup walnut oil 6…
Grilled Salmon, Arugula & Grilled Corn Salad, Sweet Pea & Avocado Crostini
Makes 4 servings Suggested Accompaniment Serve with a Chardonnay Ingredients Four 6-ounce boneless, skinless filets of salmon seasoned with extra virgin olive oil to coat and a liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper Sweet Pea Hummus (recipe below) Crostini (recipe below) 2 ears of fresh corn shucked, grilled and cut…
Roasted Red Pepper and Prosciutto Lasagna
Wonton skins, which can be found in the frozen food section of your supermarket, cook up beautifully, just like fresh Italian pasta, and I see no reason not to stock them in your freezer at home and thaw them out whenever you want to make “homemade” ravioli or lasagna. Your…
This week on the show, we feature Meatless Mondays with Amanda Cohen.
There are so many exciting vegetable choices at the supermarket these days why not designate one day a week as a no meat meal. In Episode 507: Meatless Mondays, Amanda Cohen, chef of the much talked about NY restaurant ‘Dirt Candy’ introduces me to a fantastic new tool, called a…
Tomato Gratin
This dish tastes best when the tomato season is at its height. As with almost any recipe featuring tomatoes, I pre-salt them to remove their excess liquid and concentrate their flavor. You can top them off with any kind of cracker—even plain old bread crumbs would be fine—but I like…
Sautéed Falafel
Falafel are a favorite of connoisseurs of street food from Jerusalem to New York City. Made with ground dried chickpeas or fava beans, they’re hot, peppery, meaty, inexpensive, and satisfying – a handy little meal in a pita pocket. Given that we’re starting with canned beans instead of dried beans…
Grilled Shiitake, Sweet Potato, and Eggplant Kebobs
Shiitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and eggplant are all very “meaty” vegetables. Similarly there’s a creaminess to Sesame Miso Sauce, although it contains no cream. Put them together and you’ve got a very filling dish. Tasty too, of course. Grilling these vegetables as kabobs brings out their natural sugars. (You can…
Asian Green Beans and Pork
I have always loved the original version of this Chinese dish when I was served it. The only trouble is that the green beans are usually wok-fried in lots of oil. I wanted to lighten it up a bit so I figured out a way to crisp the beans without…
Barbecued Kielbasa
In my research for Sara’s Secrets for Weeknight Meals I found a recipe for my grandmother Ruth’s “Barbecued Frankforts” on a three- by five-inch index card in an old metal box, handwritten in her own beautiful curly script. Granny was a superb ye olde New England cook, so I gave…
Scampi Heros
Nobody ever really gets enough shrimp. Which is why the idea of a scampi hero seemed luxurious to me. (In Italy, scampi is the name for the tail portion of any of several kinds of small lobsterlike creatures. In America scampi is the name for a dish of large shrimp…
Greek Salad Sandwiches with Feta Dressing
This is a slight twist on a Greek salad. I just put all the elements into a pita pocket and used the feta to make a dressing. If you like Greek salads, you will love this more-substantial sandwich. Makes 4 Servings Hands-on time: 20 minutes Total preparation time: 20 minutes…
Grilled Eggplant Wraps with Lemon Aioli, Feta, and Mint
Many of my favorite flavors from Greece are contained in this one fragrant little wrap. You can make them all summer long using an outdoor grill, but you can also cook them indoors year round using a grill pan or a broiler. Stick a skewer sideways through the onions to…
Grilled Potato and Corn Salad with Chipotle Mayonnaise
The corn in this salad should be grilled, but what’s the best way to do it? In the husk? With some of the husk removed? Stripped naked? My wholehearted vote is for the “naked” or fully husked, method, which creates an unbeatable toasted popcorn flavor. The secret ingredients here are…
Sautéed Pork Loin with Mustard and Grapes
When I was in High School my Mom and I threw all kinds of dinner parties. (Actually she threw the parties and I helped cook.) Our favorite dish was Veal Scaloppine. I liked it no matter how it was cooked or sauced. It seemed so elegant to us, and there…
Creamed Finnan Haddie with Johnnycakes
The smoked haddock known as finnan haddie is a Scottish thing and therefore a New England thing. My Dad (pictured here with me on Labor Day 2001) grew up loving it for breakfast—almost always prepared in the creamed version detailed here—as a kid in Milton, Massachusetts. I added the johnnycakes…
Flammekueche or Tarte Flambée
For the article about my trip to France, I was asked, “How will you implement what you saw/ate in your work in the U.S.?” My answer, “ I want to . . . reproduce a very tasty Alsatian dish we were served on the boat, flammekueche or tarte flambée, sort of like…
Tequila Lime Shrimp with Mango Salsa and Cumin Chili Chips
This sunny summer dish is perfect all year round. Don’t limit its appearance, it is so flavorful that you could serve it in the dead of winter and be happy. Here’s some weird food science. Alcohol in a recipe heightens the flavor of the other ingredients even if you don’t…
Rosemary-Scallion-Crusted Rack of Lamb
Rack of lamb is my favorite cut of lamb. It’s always delicious – the bones add so much flavor – and the basic preparation requires little more than popping it in the oven and keeping an eye on it until it’s done. It’s really almost impossible to mess up. But it…
White Bean, Artichoke, and Tomato Gratin
Any recipe devoted to artichoke hearts involves the terribly boring and even slightly dangerous job of bending back and pulling off those prickly leaves. After wrestling with some artichokes during the first test of this recipe, Andrea Hagan, the backup recipe tester on this book, said, “Why don’t we just…
Sautéed Shoulder Lamb Chops with Skordalia Sauce
Shoulder lamb chops are a wonderful bargain. They’re a lot cheaper than rib or loin chops, and they cook up at least two different ways: You can grill or sauté them quickly to rare or medium (they get tough if you cook them any longer) or braise them slowly in…
White Chicken Chili
There is one good reason—other than chicken and chilies—why I love the white chicken chili on the menu at the burrito palace in our neighborhood: sour cream. This quick-to-make home version is delicious unadorned. Add the accompaniments and some homemade or store-bought cornbread and it is over the top. Makes…