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Not Really Cassoulet
Genuine cassoulet involves using a lot of pork, especially fat-laden cuts of meat. Half of our household doesn’t eat mammals and the other half is avoiding saturated fats. Enter this recipe… We hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we do. While it’s easy to prepare, it takes 2 hours to cook. It’s worth the…
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Underwater Chicken
This dish, with the most unusual name and cooking method, is one of the most flavorful Asian chicken dishes I have ever encountered. We’ve become addicted to it and kept looking for a reliable recipe until we found this one.
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Squid Stuffed with Scallops and Shrimp in a Saffron Sauce
A bit of trouble but so yummy. You can probably cut down on the cream but using fish stock to make the filling, but why would you?
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Arroz con Calamares (a.k.a. Squid Rice)
Made with canned cuttlefish, this is a real favorite of ours. When we are feeling lazy, it’s an easy meal. And faster than calling Jiffy Squid for a delivery! We’d never serve this to friends, who generally don’t like fishy flavors or things with tentacles, but for us it’s perfect comfort food.
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Crisp-Braised Duck Legs with Aromatic Vegetables
This is a sure-fire way to make duck with lean, crisp skin.
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Mischievous Squid Rice (arroz de lulas malandrinho)
A Portuguese rice dish that’s tasty and simple. I can’t explain why it’s considered mischievous though — it’s just delicious!
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Shellfish Paella
This recipe is a bit involved, but truly worth the trouble. The traditional shellfish paella is a little soupy and is typically served with a dab of Garlic Allioli on the side. Feel free to vary the seafood according to your taste and its availability.
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Duck Cholent
Cholent was a traditional, hearty meat stew cooked by the Jews of eastern Europe for the Sabbath meal. This is an updated version that relies on duck meat. It cooks overnight in the oven or a slow cooker.
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Salt Cod (Porto Style)
Throughout Portugal you will will find a variety of recipes for bacalhau à brás, a dish of potatoes, onions and salt cod, bound together with beaten eggs. While traveling to Porto, we were served something more like this recipe, topped with poached eggs instead of being held together by softly scrambled eggs. We added the…
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Black Risotto with Braised Squid
Braising the squid provides tasty liquid for cooking the rice and ensures that the squid meat is tender. This is even better if you add some roasted red pepper strips near the end.
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Cheese Filling for Blintzes
First off, the amount of farmer cheese is a range because the primary producer of packaged farmer cheese, Friendship Dairies, has reduced the size of their packages from eight ounces to seven. If you can buy farmer cheese in bulk, buy the larger amount, but also, don’t bother buying 3 packages of farmer cheese just…
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Blintzes
While this might sound like a big production, in fact you can throw these together pretty quickly once you’ve done it a couple times. The entire process consists of these steps: make the filling(s), make the batter, cook the blintz wrappers, form the blintzes, cook them, eat them. I prefer to make the filling first…
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No-Knead Pizza Dough
Measure the flour by weight: you can scale this recipe up. See the note at the end. In a bowl, measure 320g type “00” soft wheat flour scant 1½ tsp salt 1/16 to ⅛ tsp yeast Regarding the yeast, for a 6-pizza recipe, you need about ½ tsp yeast, so go easy and don’t worry…
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Chicken Pot Pie with Cornmeal Crust
So much better than those frozen pot pies from childhood. This also works well with leftover turkey, so keep it in mind after Thanksgiving!
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Jerk Chicken
This is a recipe that really demands cooking on the grill with a source of smoke, such as wood chips. The kind of wood used traditionally isn’t available where I live, so I use hickory. It’s probably okay cooked in the oven, but it won’t be the same. Note that it’s pretty spicy, but you…
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Crabby Crab Cakes
Makes 4 servings 1 pound fresh lump crab meat 1 egg 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 6 tablespoons flour 2 tablespoons olive oil 4 tablespoons unsalted butter Gently combine 1 pound fresh lump crab meat 1 egg 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard salt and pepper to taste 2 tablespoons flour Cover mixture and put in freezer for…
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Seppie In Zimino
Clean and cut into bite-size pieces or strips (not rings) 1½ to 2 pounds fresh or thawed cuttlefish Even if you have purchased cleaned cuttlefish, check that it is completely cleaned. In a pot (large enough to hold all the ingredients) on medium heat, place ¼ cup olive oil 1 small onion, minced Cook until…
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Pasta with Caramelized Onions and Cabbage
Heat in a large heavy skillet ¼ cup olive oil over medium-low heat. Add 2 large onions, cut into ¼-inch slices, broken into rings Salt and pepper Saute until soft and caramelized, about 30 minutes. Do not try to rush this step. Add 4 large cloves garlic, minced 6 cups thinly sliced cabbage 2 tablespoons…
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Fideua
Clean really well: 1 pound mussels 18 little neck clams Clean but leave in their shells 8 or 12 shrimp, depending on size Clean ½ pound sea scallops, cut in half horizontally (producing shorter cylinders) Cook the clams with ⅓ cup water, covered in a 2 quart sauce pan, until the clams open. Remove from…
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Striped Bass with Braised Fennel
This recipe will serve 6-8 people. Prepare Tomato-Fennel Sauce in advance. You will need one piece of boneless (skin-on) Striped Bass per serving. Cut up 2 fennel bulbs: trim root end slightly, cut off stems. With root sitting on cutting board, cut vertically to split the bulb in two. With cut side of bulb facing…
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Gambas a la Plancha
Combine 1 tsp pimenton, 2-3 tsp finely minced garlic and some olive oil (maybe ¼ cup). Mix with 1 pound shrimp (shelled and deveined). Grill on a hot, oiled cast iron skillet. Serve over cooked small white beans which have been dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper.
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Stuffed Vine Leaves (Dolma)
Grape leaves stuffed with a rice-based filling (with or without meat) are a classic dish in several countries. This recipe comes from our dear friend Lilda, who grew up in Bulgaria. We think of her every time we make these.
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Tuna-Tomato Napoleons
Prepare Chipotle Vinaigrette or use some other creamy salad dressing (you want to dilute it a bit if it’s very thick). Pluck and wash ¼ cup cilantro leaves and dry them thoroughly. Roughly chop them and set aside. If you can convince your fish vendor to cut ¼-inch thick slices, do it. If not, buy…
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Braised Chicken with Mushrooms
This is a complete reworking of a recipe that started out with rabbit meat and cooked in the oven for hours. Years ago, I started cooking this recipe using chicken meat but only recently did I realize how perfect it is for the pressure cooker. It’s much faster, simpler and every bit as tasty. In…
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Chicken Tikka ‘dempte
OK, this is neither Eastern European nor is it Indian, but I like how it tastes. Saute 1 diced onion, 2 cloves minced garlic and 1 seeded and minced jalapeno pepper. When onions are golden, push mixture aside and brown trimmed meat; I used chicken thighs (bone-in, but skinned and trimmed of all fat). When…
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Chicken with Yogurt Sauce
Trim of excess fat and place 8 skinless chicken thighs in a skillet large enough to hold them in a single layer. Add water to cover, 1 TBL ground cardamom, 1 tsp ground white pepper and 1 tsp salt. Bring to slow simmer and cook for 20 minutes; chicken should be cooked through. Remove chicken…
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Andouille Sausage with Black-Eyed Peas
In a 6-quart (or larger) pressure cooker, heat 1+ TBL oil. (Don’t use less, as it keeps the beans from foaming and causing problems later on.) Saute 1 medium onion, diced, until soft. Add 1 cup dry, rinsed black-eyed peas, 1 minced stalk celery, 1 diced large red pepper, 1 minced jalapeno pepper, 1 minced…
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Magret de Canard
Score the skin side in ½-inch diamonds, only cutting into the fat layer and not into the meat. Make a mixture of 1 tsp kosher salt and ½ tsp ground black or green pepper. Rub the generously all over the magret. Preheat the oven to 450º F and as it nears the desired temperature heat…