Thanksgiving For Beginners

 Thanksgiving is a daunting cook day even for veteran homes chefs.Imagine what it must be like for beginners. Luckily there is a guide  from the New York Times Food section with simplified recipes for new to cooking home chefs.It's easy, and chock full of good , tasty recipes.

Eric Kin, a regular contributor to The Wednesday Food section for the New York Times and author of a cookbook coming out next year compiled an easy to shop for prep  and cook. His recipes only require a sheet pan, and a large skillet Everything cooks at one temperature 350 degree Farenheit, which is easy to remember. Mr. Kim also suggests use one herb like oregano or sage throughout the recipes to connect everything. He starts off with a salt and pepper roast turkey breast. It's a bone in kind which can be dry brined the night before. Mr. Kim just slathers it with with butter and showers it with seasoning for a succulent, tasty bite. Of course there has to be gravy and he gives a recipe for an unami one. It's made ahead with a base of caramelized red onion, flour milk and butter, There is also sugar and pepper to give it sweetness and some heat. One of the most fun recipes is cheesy pizza stuffing. This would just be great on its' own. This is a custsrdy mix of tomatoes and dried oregano along with buttery sauteed onions and topped with mozzarella. Add sausage or pepperoni and it becomes a great weekend meal.

Of course there are sides.Mr. Kim offers another spin on a Thanksgiving classic mashed potatoes. He serves up mashed sweet potatoes enhanced with roasted garlic.They do have to be roasted instead of boiled to concentrate their flavor. You can make this the night before and warm up in a buttered dish. Add more butter to the top to create puddles.Every Thanksgiving meal needs a salad and Mr  Kin gives us one that combines green beans, radicchio and artichoke hearts in an easy olive oil drizzle followed by a sprtiz of lemon juice and a sprinkling of oregano. For tanginess there is lemon cranberry relish instead of the usual cranberry sauce. This is pulsing fresh cranberries, thin skinned lemons and sugar. A pinch of salt brings out the blend of tart and sweet flavor. No holiday dinner would be complete without dessert. Mr Kim gas created a caramel apple pudding. It's a trifle of apples fried in a homemade caramel sauce, layered with classic vanilla wafers and salted cinnamon whipped cream. The combination is a nice treat , layered and then chilled in the fridge until serving.

These recipes give novice home chefs hope. They are easy and tasty, perfect for the holiday. Try them for a holiday meal that are a dream to make and eat.

A Dinner Trip Italian Style

 Many of us are longing for a culinary trip to Italy or at least a good meal out  at our favorite Italian restaurant. However it's not happening soon enough and with that we have to look to our own kitchens for culinary travel. Any home chef can easily recreate a good Italian dinner from antipasto to dessert. It's having the right recipes with fresh ingredients.

David Tanis offered this in yesterday's New York Times Food section He has the perfect week night or Sunday meal, complete with home baked  Sicilian almond cookies. The meals starts with a mozzarella and charred radicchio. Salsa verde, the  classic Northern Italian sauce is drizzled on top for a sharp jolt of flavor. This is an easy antipasto which also can make for a light lunch too.Start with fior di latte or Italian mozzarella. You can use the American type if you can't find it. It's paired with charred radicchio, an easy cook. Cut it into wedges and grill under the broiler if you don''t have a cast iron pan to cook it in. The salsa verde is simple to create.Parsley, cilantro, chives  and capers are put into a small bowl with lemon zest,olive oil lemon juice and sumac. It's blended and then spooned over the mozzarella and radicchio. Another easy make are the Italian or Sicilian almond cookies. These are similar to macaroons , chewy on the inside and crunchy on the out. They made with egg whites (but you could use aqua faba here) along with granulated sugar and almond extract. They're finished with a dusting of confectioner's sugar and either a whole unblanched almond or Amarena cherry in the middle. These pretty cookies would be perfect for Easter too.

The star of this whole meal is the main course.It's rigatoni al forno with cauliflower and broccoli rabe. There's nothing like a baked pasta and add to that the healthy kick of cruciferous veggies. What makes this dish stand out is a creamy white bechamel sauce made with half and half and virgin olive oil along with nutmeg.Home made tomato sauce, is also added but at the table when it's being served. This is the classic recipe with tomatoes, onion garlic and basil cooked with olive oil and then blended down into a rich , thick sauce. The pasta and veggies are cooked in the same pot, with the rigatoni being boiled first then the cauliflower and broccoli rabe. These are mixed with the pasta and bechamel sauce along with garlic, rosemary and red pepper flakes. More olive oil is drizzled one. Pecorino and Provolone cheeses are added too and then all of this transferred to an oiled baking dish, It's baked in a 400 degree Farenheit oven for forty minutes until it's nicely browned and crisp on top. It's served in either bowls or plates, each serving should have a nice crispy top. The tomato sauce is spooned around the pasta and more cheese is sprinkled on top.

A trip to Italy is a long way off. Even visiting an Italian restaurant can be chancy. Yet we can recreate a three course meal with the flavors of both the North and South right in our kitchen. It's a fun culinary trip, that's easy to recreate.

The Best Of Barney's Bites

With shopping comes an appetite. Luckily there are stores like Manhattan's famed Barney's that have  a restaurant that satisfies hungry shoppers. Now there's a new cookbook, full of great recipes and stories by its' chef. Mark Strausman. Now affectionados of the eatery can recreate their favorite dishes and relive the Barney's experience.

The Fred's At Barney's Cookbook (Grand Central, Life and Style Publishing 2018) is a compilation of all three restaurants located in New York City and Beverly Hills. The store itself was started by Fred Pressman,hence the restaurant's name.   It started out as simply a men's suit store and expanded to include women, children and home goods There was a need to have a place where shoppers could sit and eat in order to keep them in the store. Enter Chef Strausman who also created the famed Campagna. His background is international , having apprenticed in Germany  and working in A-list restaurants both in the city and East Hampton. His recipes are easy enough for a novice chef  however and there should be no qualms in making the various dishes. The book is divided into four simple sections, lunch  dinner, brunch, and dessert along with an opening chapter on Chef Strausman's background and a history of Barney's. A plus are the green blocks that have all sorts of useful information, from what constitutes rare,medium and well done along with what vegetables are perfect for vegetable. stock.  There are pictorial how tos on how to cut vegetables as well as folding a towel in the "Escoffier way" to act as a pot holder.He also  offers sweet anecdotes  about each dish along with tips on how to cook the dishes.

For those who love Fred''s  the book starts off with their popular French fry recipe along two dipping sauces , the famed aoili and a zingy Sauce Calypso. Beginners to the kitchen will appreciate the recipes on the different kinds of stock as well as how to make clarified butter, pesto and homemade croutons.  The lunch recipes are both New York classic and California trendy.  There is the club salad, rife with radicchio, frise and Romaine lettuce along with roast turkey breast and oven baked bacon . Both coasts of Fred 's fans will love the avocado toast topped with Pico di Gallo and sunflower seeds.  Dinner recipes include balsamic chicken, inspired by Chef' Strausman's time in Switzerland and tuna with soy and a balsamic glaze. Of course there is pasta, from spaghetti to fusilli to ravioli
 and two kinds of pizza One celebrates Emilia -Romangna that has four kinds of cheeses plus aged vinegar and the beloved Pizza Margherita, with basil and mozzarella gracing a homemade crust. Home chefs will love the variety of the brunch recipes. There's scrambled eggs covered in cheese fondue along with the classic Eggs Benedict. Recipes for  accompanying driniks such as the Bloody Mary are also included. Desserts vary from the simple fruit plate to the decadent tiramisu and  chocolate souffle cakes with orange compote.

Fred's At Barney's Cookbooks are for those who love the eatery along with shopping at the store  and for those who enjoy good food and desserts. it's a great book, filled with history  and recipes

 Like the store itself, it appeals to all tastes.