Friday, September 27, 2019

A Slew Of Recipes

The New York Times Food section this week was a veritable recipe book, chock full of good ideas and food combos. It's worth looking into, especially since it caters to carnivores, herbivores and everyone in between. You''re sure to find something that will appeal to you and your family.

One of the best articles in the issue comes from Emily Weinstein, Her vacation  - a lakeside house with a limited kitchen, inspired her to create a fast and easy cuisine. It starts with what she deems "power" ingredients like sausage which come already spiced and ready to cook. Her recipe combines them with mild Cubanelle peppers and tomatoes, The three are broiled with some olive oil, shallots and garlic. I can see this as the perfect week night dinner, served with rice or polenta. There is also her linguine and clam sauce, simply made with baby clams, white wine or vermouth and spiked with red pepper flakes. Egg lovers will love J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's Weeknight Cooking article on boiling the perfect egg.  The chef even had ninety-seven (!) volunteers come to his restaurant , Wursthall to test variously made hard boiled eggs. Steamed eggs are really the best and can be used in a variety of dishes. Of course there is egg salad, perfect for weekend lunches and deviled eggs for parties. You can also coarsely chop them for a different kind of vinaigrette - perfect for a salad Nicoise. Quartered ones are great as decorations with beans or veggies. Soft boiled eggs are great topping on braised veggies or beans.

Vegans will like Julia Moskin's "Vegetarian Lessons For The Ominvore Cook." She also garnered  tips from such vegan cooks such as Raque Pelzel, author of the  new cookbook, Unami Bomb and Rich Landau, chef of the famed Philadelphia Vedge.  Chef Pelzel recommends adding unami to it all to give flavor. Try smokey paprika, usually towards the end of cooking according to Israeli cookbook author, Adeena Sussman whose book Sababa is all about Israeli inspired food. The recipe Ms. Moskin offers is savory Thai noodles with Brussels sprouts. It's  Thai rice noodles combined with the sprouts , popular right now along with mung bean sprouts and roasted peanuts. A sauce  that's both sweet and spicy , made with brown sugar and red pepper flakes tops it, Another  vegan weeknight dinner is spiced seared eggplant with pearl couscous. It's a hearty combo of eggplant and diced tomatoes. Melissa Clark deals with lunchbox dilemmas. What do you give the kids? An interesting lunch  created from the dinner the night before. She takes inspiration from fellow mom, Allison, who uses the night before meal for the lunchbox treats the next day. Ms Clark  has a tasty ragu of chicken  with fennel and bacon for supper, she bakes that into empanadas the next day for a lunch break delight.

Go to The Times Food section online. Try any of these recipes for a tasty weeknight or weekend meal. Any one of them makes for a  delicious meal.

No comments: