Tag Archives: the copycat chef
Recipe: Stuffed Artichokes
Artichokes can be a mystery to those of us who didn’t grow up with them. Alexandra Wentworth described them in The WASP Cookbook as “vegetables you scrape against your teeth” – not exactly something most of us could serve grandma at a holiday dinner.
But for many Italian Americans, they’re an essential part of family meals. After several kitchen disasters when I tried to make these on my own, I recruited my Italian-American friend Daniela, aka Jib Girl, to demonstrate how to make artichokes two ways: stuffed and grilled. The results were excellent, especially when you follow her technique for prepping the artichokes, stuffing them, and testing to see if they’re done. (more…)
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Tagged appetizer recipes, artichokes, sides recipes, the copycat chef, vegetable recipes
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The Babbo Cookbook: Oxtail Ragu
I must have bought The Babbo Cookbook as soon as it came out nine years ago, but it included so many recipes that were nearly impossible to make until now. Remember when guanciale wasn’t exactly a household word? Oft-mentioned ingredients like boar sausage, beef cheeks and calf’s brains may still not be available at your local Gristede’s, but now Eataly’s butcher counter sells oxtail meat. (more…)
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Tagged beef, Italian recipes, Mario Batali, pasta recipes, the copycat chef
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Catalan Fisherman’s Stew
In Barcelona, cod is on the menu for every meal of the day. And while baccala often refers to salt cod, it can also refer to the fresh cod fishermen brought home from the catch and cooked up in any number of ways. One of the simplest and most satisfying is a tomato-based cod stew, the sort you’d find at a waterfront restaurant in Barceloneta. It’s usually made with briny olives, capers, and just a hint of red pepper. The following recipe was adapted from Sicilian Fisherman’s Stew found on Epicurious, livened up with a few more ingredients – and of course, the all-important cod.
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Tagged entree recipes, seafood recipes, soup recipes, the copycat chef
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Recipe: Fashion Week Omelet
Fashion people! Do not forget to start these crazy long days with a good breakfast. While it’s tempting to eat any old thing when you’re in a rush, eggs – not muffins or sugary coffee drinks – provide you with the energy you need to get through five shows in a day. Also, this low-cal Fashion Week Omelet takes only 10 minutes to make.
Click through for the simple recipe. (more…)
Jala-Pina Cocktail
If there were a tequila version of rum punch, it would be the fabulous Jala-Piña cocktail at the Redhead. This restaurant may be known for chef Meg Grace’s knock-out fried chicken, but the bartenders are no slouches either. Here the pineapple juice is infused with jalapenos and mixed with silver tequila instead of rum. It seemed simple enough to make this cocktail at home, but when we first tried it, something was missing. Jalapenos, tequila, pineapple – what else?
If you are ever lacking a certain je ne sais quoi in a cocktail, chances are it’s bitters, the secret weapon of bartenders everywhere. The hint of Angostura bitters, which adds the scent of cloves and a touch of umami to a drink, is the additional connection between this tequila cocktail and rum punch. Though the Redhead infuses pineapple juice with jalapenos, if you’re making this drink on a smaller scale, it’s more practical to infuse the tequila: You can use it again for a cucumber jalapeno margarita. (more…)
Caprese Salad
What’s so difficult about making caprese salad? On the other hand, if it’s so easy, why do so many restaurants not deliver? This summer salad of tomato, basil and mozzarella is quintessential Italian cuisine: excellent ingredients simply presented. But it takes technique to get the flavors to blend just so on the plate – otherwise it’s just mozzarella and tomato that happen to be in the same vicinity.
We experimented with several methods to arrive at one luscious whole. As expected, it depends a lot on sourcing top notch tomatoes in season, but there are a few more tricks that can elevate the dish from good to great. (more…)
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Tagged appetizer recipes, Italian recipes, salad recipes, the copycat chef, vegetable recipes
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Cucumber Jalapeno Margarita
One of the tastiest trends this summer has been the proliferation of spicy cocktails. Proving that spice isn’t just for Bloody Marys, a number of Mexican and Latin-American bars and restaurants have upped the pepper content in drinks. Tequila is often the conduit, infused with anything from smoky dried ancho chiles to regular old jalapenos.
Cafe El Portal in Soho is a favorite hot-day hideaway that serves up a bracingly refreshing cucumber jalapeno margarita. The pepperiness makes it especially cooling on a 90-degree-plus day: this time, if you break out in a sweat, it will be for a good reason. We recreated the recipe at home. Keep more ingredients on hand – refill requests are almost guaranteed. (more…)
BBQ Treat: Cookie Burgers
My friend Jib Girl served this clever passed dessert/hors d’oeuvre at a recent barbecue and was the envy of all the other cooks at the party. They may look like sliders, but they’re actually cookies assembled to look like mini hamburgers. Since they’re assembled from store-bought cookies and ingredients, they’re easy to make en masse for a crowd. Think of them as a very kid-friendly summer BBQ contribution.
Photo: Daniela Denaro
Be forewarned: Make this recipe once, and you may be asked to bring them to every party going forward. (more…)
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Chilled Pea and Mint Soup
This recipe is based on one that appeared in Bon Appetit this spring for an Easter menu. That soup was served hot, but fresh peas and mint seemed to call out for the cold soup treatment. This summery combination also benefits from the addition of cumin, a riff on a side of sugar snap peas with cumin and mint that once graced the table at the beloved bygone Grange Hall on Commerce Street.
Now that peas are in season in the Northeast and available at the Union Square Greenmarket, there’s no reason to fall back on the frozen kind. Pick up a pint of fresh shelled peas and you can easily make this simple but elegant first course. (more…)
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Tagged American recipes, appetizer recipes, soup recipes, the copycat chef
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Something Natural’s Hummus and Sprouts Sandwich
Once you make hummus at home, you may be disappointed you haven’t been making it yourself all along. This Middle Eastern standard is incredibly easy to whip up in a food processor, and it lasts for about two weeks in the fridge. The best recipe I’ve found is Mark Bittman’s from his excellent cookbook The Best Recipes in the World. Using the Bittman recipe as a basis, you can customize hummus to your taste with more garlic, lemon, etc., as I have here. Keep the ingredients on hand and you’ll never want mass-market hummus again.
One of the best uses for homemade hummus is this sandwich, based on the delicious version from Something Natural in Nantucket. Though you’ll be hard-pressed to find the same wonderful Portuguese bread off the island, you can use fresh multi-grain bread for a healthy lunch that fits into a low-cal, low-salt diet. This sandwich almost like a salad between two pieces of bread, and as such, it’s a lot easier to take to the beach or the park. You may want to wrap the sandwich in waxed paper and cut it in half – or just enjoy the messiness. (more…)
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Chicken Tarragon Salad
Mayonnaise is the one ingredient that has the biggest effect on calories and fat content in salads like this one. Unless you have high cholesterol, however, there’s no reason to cut it out completely. Organic mayonnaise like Trader Joe’s contributes a lot of flavor and creamy texture even in small amounts. Just mix the salad well and you won’t be able to tell the difference.
I have a bunch of potted herbs from the Union Square greenmarket; whenever I’m making a dish like this one, I just snip a mixture of herbs and throw them in. If you don’t have tarragon, you can use a mixture of thyme, sage, etc. to taste. (more…)
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Shrimp Remoulade
This traditional New Orleans dish is great during a heat wave – or an average 95-degree summer day in Louisiana. Almost all the work is done by the food processor. It’s a favorite at Galatoire’s, where locals come in from the noonday heat to feast on cold seafood salad.
This recipe has been slightly northern-ized and modernized to incorporate more widely available ingredients (country Dijon instead of Creole mustard) – as well as my own preference for nice seasonal lettuce, not the shredded iceberg of yore.
Remember: support the American shrimping industry! Use wild-caught, domestic shrimp, which is strictly regulated compared to imported shrimp. (more…)
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DIY Breakfast Pizza
One of the specialties at Pulino’s is the pizze e uove (“pizza and eggs”) on their breakfast menu. The pizza arrives from the wood burning oven with an egg magically cooked into the pizza on top, much like the pane frattau pizza that first made an appearance at Otto.
It’s really not that hard, however, to recreate this at home. All you need is a leftover slice of artisanal pizza, an egg, and a broiler. It beats cold pizza the next morning hands down. (more…)
Spring Greens Frittata
Food bloggers – they’re everywhere! Including, as it turns out, at our own Easter brunch, where I had the pleasure of re-meeting Kristen Taylor, who posts delicious photos of food on her blog kthread. She was nice enough to share a photo of the meal, below, which included lamb, asparagus, and a spring greens frittata.
It’s always a good idea to have a vegetarian option when friends are coming over for a meal, because you never know who’s going to show up and what their dietary restrictions might be. A frittata made with an oniony mixture of spring greens seemed like the perfect way to ring in the new season. Of course, when I actually started to make it, I realized I’d forgotten the original recipe card, grabbed from the vegetable section at Whole Foods, so I’d have to wing it. Here is the resulting frittata recipe, cooked entirely on the stove top using a technique from Mark Bittman. (more…)
Jeanne’s Potatoes au Gratin
It seems like an easy dish: just potatoes and cheese, right? But this cold-weather staple can be boring if you just take the traditional French route. Luckily, my family was treated on Christmas Day to some of the best potatoes au gratin I’ve tasted. My future sister-in-law Jeanne Arnondin combined her mother’s recipe with a Food Network recipe for a dish that’s decadent and infinitely craveable. The key differences are fennel and Pecorino Romano, which brings a sharper umami flavor that a straight French preparation doesn’t have.
Make it with a simple beef tenderloin roast for an elegant but easy winter dinner party. (more…)
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Tagged beef, French recipes, holiday recipes, sides recipes, the copycat chef, vegetable recipes
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