I checked out Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World from the library and have been spattering the pages with ingredients every Sunday as I cook my lunches for the upcoming week. For the most part, I've been very impressed. The recipes are simple with easy to find ingredients and the results so far have been more than satisfactory. Since I don't want to be all copyright infringement girl, I'll just paste in a great example that is already on the website.
Chestnut Soup:
MAKES
4 SERVINGS
TIME
45 MINUTES (WITH PRE-COOKED CHESTNUTS)
This is a rich soup. Add a little splash of port just before serving to give this a bit of a kick.
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1½ pounds fresh chestnuts, boiled and peeled, or 2 cups thawed frozen or canned chestnuts, drained and rinsed (I used frozen from Trader Joe's)
1 quart beef, chicken, or vegetable stock, preferably homemade, or water
Salt and black pepper to taste
½ cup heavy cream, or more to taste
1.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the onion, and cook until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chestnuts and stock and simmer until the chestnuts are very soft, about 30 minutes. (You can prepare the soup up to this point and let sit for a few hours or cover and refrigerate for up to a couple of days.)
2.
Cool the mixture slightly if time allows (it’s never a good idea to puree boiling hot mixtures if you can avoid it). Use a food mill, an immersion blender, or an upright blender to puree the mixture. Return the soup to the saucepan and reheat it over low heat. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cream and serve immediately.
When I made this, I tasted it before adding the cream and my socks flew off my feet! I couldn't believe that a soup using only four ingredients could be this spectacularly flavorful! Then I added the cream and it somehow became about half as tasty. So next time I'll leave it out because who needs the extra calories anyway? Frankly, most of the recipes I've tried call for more fat than I like to cook with, but that's easily adjustable.
Other dishes I've made that I will definitely make again:
Sopa de Habas (Fava bean soup) - it was similar to the chestnut soup in its heartiness and simplicity
Saag Paneer (Cheese or tofu with spinach sauce) - I made mine with tofu and it was really fantastic
Fish Tagine - I love that this can be made with a variety of different types of fish. Like many of Bittman's recipes, it's more about learning a simple technique that you can tweak to your own taste (or to the herbs, spices and vegetables you have on hand).
4 comments:
Any chance you woulnd't mind posting the ravioli recipe the he learns from Paula Di Mauro on the TV show?
Haven't seen it...sorry!
MAKES 30 TO 60 RAVIOLI
TIME AT LEAST 1 HOUR
In a kitchen just outside of Rome, I watched Paola, the reigning matriarch of Roman home cooking, make perfect angolotti, essentially ravioli by another name. She's been making these agnolotti for 60 years, so don't expect your first attempt to be perfect. But do expect it to make a great Sunday dinner.
Salt to taste
2 cups flour
3 eggs, plus 1 yolk
1 ½ cups ricotta
1 cup finely grated Parmesan
Small grating of nutmeg
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
About 1 pound ripe fresh tomatoes (preferably peeled), chopped
20 fresh basil leaves
1. Combine 1 ½ cups of the flour, and a large pinch of salt on a counter or large board. Make a well in the middle. Into this well, break 3 eggs. Beat them with a fork, slowly and gradually incorporating a little of the flour at a time. When it becomes too hard to stir with a fork, use your hands. When all the flour has been mixed in, knead the dough, pushing it against the board and folding it repeatedly until it is not at all sticky and is quite stiff. Sprinkle with a little of the reserved flour and clean your hands. Cover the dough with plastic or a cloth and let it rest for about 30 minutes. (You can store the dough in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic, until you're ready to roll it out, for up to 24 hours.)
2. Clamp a pasta machine to the counter; sprinkle your work surface lightly with flour. Cut off about one third of the dough; wrap the rest in plastic or cloth while you work. Roll the dough lightly in the flour and use your hands to flatten it into a rectangle about the width of the machine. Set the machine to its highest (that is, thickest) setting and crank the dough through. If it sticks, dust it with a little more flour. Repeat. Set the machine to its next-thinnest setting and repeat. Each time, if the pasta sticks, sprinkle it with a little more flour and, each time, put the dough through the machine twice.
3. Continue to work your way down (or up, as the case may be—each machine is numbered differently) through the numbers. If at any point the dough tears badly, bunch it together and start again (you will quickly get the hang of it). Use as much flour as you need to, but in small amounts each time. Pass the dough through the machine's thinnest setting only once. (If this fails, pass it through the next-thinnest once.) Flour the dough lightly, cover it, and set it aside. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
4. Make the filling: Add the egg yolk, ricotta, 4 tablespoons of Parmesan, nutmeg, and salt to taste to a large bowl, and stir just until combined but still lumpy. Cut each sheet of pasta into two or more 4-inch-wide strips. Drop heaping teaspoons of the filling at about 1 ½-inch intervals about 1 inch from one long edge of the strip (that is, about 3 inches from the other edge). Brush the pasta dough very lightly with water, so it will stick together when you shape the agnolotti. Fold the dough over onto itself, making sure to push the air out of the pockets before sealing, then pressing with your fingers to seal. Trim the dough with a sharp knife, then cut into individual agnolotti. (You can prepare the agnolotti to this point, dust with cornmeal, and refrigerate for up to a day or freeze for up to a week or so.) Put the agnolotti on a sheet of wax paper until you're ready to cook them.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, add the oil, tomatoes, and basil. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break up and become saucy, about 10 minutes. Cook the agnolotti, 20 or 30 at a time, until the pasta is tender, about 2 minutes. Add a thin layer of sauce to a large platter, then add a layer of agnolotti. Add another layer of sauce, and continue this process until you're out of agnolotti and have a top layer of sauce. Top with plenty of cheese and serve.
I had sopa de habas in Mexico today for the first time and it was outstanding. I searched my 3 Mexican cookbooks for a recipe but, sadly, there is not one. Could you post the recipe for the soup?
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