Recipes
Creamed Corn
You can make creamed corn without cream and still get just what you want from the dish: the texture of cream and the flavor of corn. In fact, creamed corn without cream is a distinct improvement on creamed corn with cream. Relying on the corn’s own starch for thickening guarantees that…
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…
Radish and Orange Salad with Peppery Orange Dressing
Radishes don’t get enough love in this country and I have no idea why. They are both peppery and sweet, crunchy, and quite refreshing. Teamed up with oranges, arugula, and olives, they make a great side salad. By the way, The best way to slice radishes is with a food…
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…
Easy Fresh Cranberry Sauce
1/2 cup water 1/2 cup fresh orange, tangerine, or clementine juice 3/4 to 1 cup sugar or to taste 12-ounce bag fresh or frozen cranberries (3 cups) 1 teaspoon freshly grated orange rind Bring water, orange juice, and sugar to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add cranberries and…
Blueberry Yogurt Pie
July is Blueberry Month and with local berries arriving in markets right now, it is the perfect time to enjoy some. Go to USDA Blueberry Blog to learn more about this special North American berry. When we came up with the idea for this Blueberry Pie recipe, I was worried because…
Aunt Alice’s Blueberry Muffins
One bite of these muffins and I’m transported back in time to my childhood visits with Aunt Alice and Uncle Pat and my cousins at their summer place in Kittery Point, Maine. On those evenings when Alice herself wasn’t cooking up something wonderful, the whole rowdy bunch of us would…
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…
Rick’s Barbecue Sauce
My cousin-in-law, Rick Bzdafka, frequently cooks for the large crowd spending holidays at our family’s farm. A very talented cook and the soul of affability, Mr. Rick always whips up two separate batches of his barbecue sauce, mild and very spicy. (Note the variations.) Whatever your preference, you’ll find that…
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…
Roasted Asparagus Bruschetta
With asparagus in high season, this is a delicious way to start a special meal. My favorite way to cook asparagus is to roast it at high heat which caramelizes and concentrates its flavor. After it’s been roasted, asparagus dresses up very easily. In this recipe from Sara Moulton Cooks at…
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…
Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler with Gingered Biscuit Topping
Strawberries and rhubarb are a delicious way to welcome spring. Technically a vegetable, rhubarb is so darn tart that it’s usually paired with a sweeter buddy, like the strawberry, in an effort to temper its tang. Try to find field-grown rhubarb. Darker in color, it has a much shorter season…
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…