I hated cooked carrots growing up and refused to eat them. My mom was a doctor, and though she might not be the best cook, she always made sure I never missed out on any nutrition. She would shred carrots and cook them with my favorite breakfast crepes, so I couldn’t pick them out. I still dislike cooked carrots, so I include additional vegetables with this pancake. They are crispy on the outside and tender inside, with crunches from the fresh veggies, and the carrots to add some sweetness. I won’t pick them out this time for sure. These pancakes are great as breakfast, and they also make the best side dish.
Attend a festival in Le Marche, and you may sample one of the greatest snacks you’ll ever have: olive all’ascolana. Crisp-coated, salty fried olives stuffed with a rich meat filling are a culinary marvel of taste and texture that originated in the town of Ascoli Piceno. We just had to try making these delightful bites, but we suspected it might be a challenge—after all, we’d have to figure out how to pit and stuff an olive! We tried starting with pitted olives as a short-cut, but found them lacking in color, texture, and overall olive flavor. Instead we used large, mild-flavored Cerignola olives, which are easy to find in delis and prepared food places. To remove the pits, we left the olive flesh in one piece, slicing down one side of the olive and cutting around the pit with a paring knife as if we were peeling an apple. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the process went quickly after we got used to pitting the first few. With these olives, the filling shares the spotlight, and we found a lot of impractical recipes calling for a menagerie of meat scraps or specialty cuts. We started with ground pork; while uninspiring by itself, additions of prosciutto, sautéed carrot, and shallot built beautiful layers of flavor. A little nutmeg provided the classic warm spice and aroma, while wine added brightness. One large yolk and Parmigiano gave the filling richness and a creamy texture. We prefer to use Cerignola olives, but other large brine-cured green olives will work, too. To allow for practice, the recipe calls for extra olives.
In wintertime and early spring in Puglia, locals combine their winter stores of dried fava beans with peppery wild chicory into a satisfying, hearty dish. Dried fava beans are typically cooked until they can be mashed into a smooth puree and then topped with sautéed chicory dressed simply with olive oil and salt. Wild chicory isn’t commonplace in American markets, but we still embraced the dish’s humble roots by using more readily available escarole, which is a member of the chicory family: It's easy to find, quick cooking, and offers a similar pleasant bitterness. To amp up flavor and add brightness to the dish, we added chili flakes and lemon zest to the greens, which balanced out the bitter notes. With the greens settled, we turned our attention to creating a smooth, silky puree from the fava beans. Potato is a traditional addition to this dish, as it lends a smooth, unctuous texture; we found that adding just one potato to the pot with the beans was enough to achieve the consistency we were after. Rather than mash the cooked fava beans and potato with a potato masher, we passed them through a food mill or potato ricer to ensure a silky smooth texture. Finally, we finished the dish with shaved Pecorino for a salty bite that enhanced the complex, earthy flavors of the fava beans.
What makes these potatoes Venetian is simply the frequency with which I have seen them prepared in this manner in the homes of Giardini. The shape of the cut potatoes sometimes varies (thick disks are quite popular) but I much prefer the dice shape. The consistent features are the melted onions and the unctuous syrupy stock sauce. I wouldn’t worry too much about the type of potato, either. With waxy varieties, the dice holds its shape much better and the slightly yellow hue is a little more attractive. But floury spuds disintegrate a tad more, so the sauce has more viscosity, giving a fuller, deeper flavor. I love them both ways.
We first had this in Sydney in a funny little tapas bar we used to go to called Capitan Torres. When we were in Spain we discovered that it was a staple of most traditional tapas bars. We liked the fact that you could use a plain cultivated mushroom and turn it into something with so much flavor.
When I’m home late from a long day’s cooking but still craving something flavour-packed and comforting to round off the day, this is what I make. These are ingredients I tend always to have in my kitchen, but you could easily mix it up with whatever veggies are in your fridge.
One day at the restaurant, we got in a shipment of particularly perfect cauliflower from a farm in upstate New York. These cruciferous beauties were so grand that I was compelled to cut them into slabs, coat them in Japanese breadcrumbs, herbs, and cheese and pan-fry them until crisp on the outside and tender inside, and that’s how this dish was born.
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.
Gujarati Corn on the Cob Curry | Gujarati makai subji