This “pizza” is extremely popular in Vietnam and is often ordered at street-food stands to be eaten straight off the grill. And we totally understand why. Either in spite of or because of its simplicity, it tastes fantastic.
You can’t deny yourself a good potato – fact! Especially if it is a potato salad that has the added goodness of nuts, lentils and greens. You simply can’t go wrong.
This Basque mixture of peppers, onions, and tomatoes flavored with piment d’Espelette is the basis for the chicken dish known as Poulet Basque as well as for Eggs Piperade. But it’s also great as a relish served alongside pork, lamb, or any mild fish. It’s even good just scooped up on a cracker.
It might seem a hassle to roast the fennel and tomatoes separately, but it does make things easier when you come to assemble this, as each element stays intact and keeps its shape.
Smashed cucumbers, or pai huang gua, is a Sichuan dish that is typically served with rich, spicy food. We started with English cucumbers, which are nearly seedless and have thin, crisp skins. Placing them in a zipper-lock bag and smashing them into large, irregular pieces sped up a salting step that helped expel excess water. The craggy pieces also did a better job of holding on to the dressing. Using black vinegar, an aged rice-based vinegar, added a mellow complexity to the soy and sesame dressing.
Recipe provided by Kate Jacoby and Rich Landau, chefs at Vedge in Philadelphia. Hear more in The Key 3 segment recorded at their restaurant.
Recipe provided by Kate Jacoby and Rich Landau, chefs at Vedge in Philadelphia. Hear more in The Key 3 segment recorded at their restaurant.
One of the most gratifying things for a home cook is to scrimmage a meal together out of leftovers. It’s enormously satisfying to ransack the fridge and use up what lies under plastic wrap or is lounging about in the vegetable drawer; it always provides a relaxed, unforced creativity. I certainly would never have thought of using horseradish as a dressing for a tomato salad if I hadn’t wanted to find a way to use up a horseradish root staring beseechingly at me every time I opened the fridge.
Directions
We strongly recommend that you bake the beetroot [Ed. note, beets in North America] for this recipe according to the instructions below – baked beetroot have a stronger flavour, deeper colour and a denser, crunchier texture. Having said that, you could use boiled and it will still taste really nice. We use regular purple beetroot, but do try multicoloured ones if you wish. And if you don’t have time to make the labneh, you could use a smear of oat crème fraîche.