Vietnamese restaurants taught us to love the fresh roll-up—a cup of lettuce, some cunningly spiced meat, raw vegetables and leaves of basil and fresh coriander—what a way eat, especially now. You can stretch a little bit of this and that into a generous, lovely little feast of Asian-style finger food.
This is a perfect post-Thanksgiving dish when you have left over turkey and ham.
Darra Goldstein, in her book The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia, tells how suckling pig is rubbed with a blend of soaked black and red pepper pounded with garlic, coriander and summer savory. When she mentioned it was also excellent on roast chicken, we gave it a try.
The essence of cure-the-cold chicken soup, merely bending your head over the steaming bowl will make you well.
Clear-steaming, otherwise known as double-boiling, is a simple technique used by Chinese cooks where a food is cooked slowly within a closed container. The result is a very clear, intense broth.
Ravioli and macaroni are medieval Italian inventions, at the time so labor-intensive and expensive that only the rich could afford them. Macaroni such as penne was made in those days by rolling dough around a stick and drying it in the sun. Making pasta dough and ravioli is still time-consuming, so in this modern version of a ravioli recipe from the Middle Ages, I prepare the yummy filling ingredients as small meat patties and serve the patties in a golden medieval saffron sauce with store-bought pasta. The taste is just as spectacular, but with a fraction of the effort.
This is the dream make-ahead dish. An overnight stay in the refrigerator lets the chicken absorb all the lovely contrasting flavors in the sauce. Serve with broccoli and mashed potatoes or rice.
Seasoned in the style of early Greece, this dish benefits from marinating overnight in the refrigerator. Serve chilled and garnished with lemon wedges.
Ingredients
Author and regular contributor Sally Schneider is a crack cook with an easy way in the kitchen. She sees classic dishes through modern eyes, preserving the recipe's essentials but streamlining it for today's cooks.