Creamy Mac n Cheese, Ferrara-Styl
This salad is very quick to prepare and should be served within 2 hours before it wilts. The flavor has a strong fresh punch and the cabbage is a tender switch from the typical head of cabbage. In a large bowl combine these vegetables:
1 medium head napa cabbage, thinly sliced crosswise
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin crosswise
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
In a small bowl combine:
3/4 cup fresh lime juice (no other substitute!)
1 large jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
Whisk in:
1/2 cup olive oil.
Pour dressing over vegetables and gently toss together. Cover and refrigerate. Serve within 2 hours. As an optional flavor, you could also add 1 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 tablespoon fish sauce. It is not necessary though.
This is an appetizer I have made 50 times and everyone always loves it! You can think of it as a contemporary type of cheeseball! Serve it with a salad and you have lunch! Thank you to Deb Kammer for the inspiration!
Combine olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Add the chopped rosemary and pepper to the marinade or sprinkle them over the cheese and marinade at the very last
Place the goat cheese on a platter with a little asked edge
Pour the marinade over the goat cheese
Dip your crusty bread into the marinade and then spread some goat cheese on!
1-3 ounce log of goat cheese
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon Kosher salt or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper or more
1/4 cup fresh chopped rosemary (try to use the tender new growth). Alternatively, you can add the rosemary after the marinade is poured on the cheese
Sliced French bread or a whole grain crusty bread
Voila!
Have your guests dip one side of the bread in the marinade and then spread on the goat cheese with a small knife. You can easily double the recipe using the same size platter. To make it easier for your guests, dip and spread the cheese for them and place the bruschetta on a platter for them to enjoy!
This refreshing summer soup seems new and trendy, but it really is my Russian Grandma Korzin’s recipe! My mom told me about this as I was preparing a pureed cucumber soup for a dinner party. I do remember eating this in my grandmother’s kitchen. It is the original “Ranch” dressing!
In a large ceramic or glass bowl combine:
4 cups cucumber, peeled, large seeds removed, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
4 green onions, sliced thin (this should be heavy on the onion)
Sprinkle heavily with Kosher salt and let sit 20 minutes
Add 1 head iceberg lettuce which has been sliced in 1 inch slices and then cut into 1 inch squares
In a small bowl whisk together:
2 cups sour cream and 4 cups buttermilk
Stir into vegetables. Serve immediately and make sure it is cold!
The leftovers wilt as it sits in the frig. My grandmother preferred to serve her lettuce soup that way.
This is about 6-8 servings
A pint of pesto!
This recipe can be made in a standard size food processor and makes about 2 cups. Here is my adaption of Marcella Hazan’s from her cookbook, The Classical Italian Cookbook. The food/travel author, Fred Plotkin, also influenced my recipe.
Lightly wipe the basil leaves with a damp paper towel to clean. Basil does not like to be wet and will brown quickly. Wet basil also makes a brown tinged pesto.
I prefer the traditional green leaf basil. It makes a nice bright green pesto. The purple basil produces a darker brown-green pesto.
Another option is to omit the cheese and pine nuts and make a BASIL SAUCE which is delicious to serve with vegetables, meats, eggs, cheese ….. Also you can add it to soups and tomato sauces for extra flavor.
I’ve used varying amounts of basil leaves making this recipe. Measuring 4 cups of packed basil leaves is subjective. If your sauce ends up too thick you can thin it out with some pasta water (try adding 1 tablespoon of pasta water at a time to the portion of pesto you’re using)
4 cups packed basil leaves
1 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, lightly crushed with a heavy knife handle and peeled. There should not be a strong garlic flavor in the pesto. So don’t use a huge clove!
1/2-1 teaspoons Kosher salt: The cheeses are salty. You may want to hold off on the salt. Then taste the pesto and add it at the end to avoid over salting it.
4 tablespoons pine nuts, chopped as coarse or fine as you like; I prefer a coarse size
1 cup finely grated pecorino romano cheese
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan reggiano cheese (or any combination of the romano and parmesan reggiano cheese. Another traditional mix is 1 1/4 cups parmesan reggiano with possibly a tiny bit of Romano cheese.
Voila!
Boneless or bone-in chicken breasts? The flavor is much better when cooking with the bones, but it is a tiny bit more work to de-bone the chicken. Most important is to not overcook the breasts! My technique is to cover the chicken (with or without bones) with water. Add salt, a few black peppercorns, 1/2 an onion and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil and skim the scum off the surface. Cover and keep on a very low gas flame or turn off the electric element. Let the chicken set for 20 minutes. You may test the temperature with an instant read thermometer if you like. Remove from water at 155-160 degrees and place in a collander. The temperature will rise to 165 as it cools. Once it surpasses 165, it begins to dry out. Let the chicken cool in a collander 10 minutes. Then cover with ice and let cold water flow over. Turn the chicken for even cooling.
Use 2 lbs. chicken breast, bone-in, with the following dressing.
This low fat version is especially creamy because of the thick Greek style no-fat yogurt. My favorite is the Fage brand. Combine the following ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk.
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup Greek style non-fat yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
De-bone and shred the chicken into varying sized pieces and add to the dressing. Stir in
1 cup diced celery
Serve chilled. This adaption is from Cooking Light Magazine.
My family has been making this chicken since 1977! The recipe is taken from the June 1977 Bon Appetit Magazine. It really is finger lickin’ good!
My adaptions are omitting the 2 tsp salt in the sauce and decreasing the poaching time of the chicken. I also prefer boneless chicken thighs to the whole broiler-fryers that you have to cut up. Buying ready to cook chicken saves time and the dark meat is juicier, as long as you don’t overcook it. This is a 2 stage cooking process; poaching and barbecuing.
16 boneless skinless chicken thighs or 2 chickens, cut up
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, not packed
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt, optional
Hot pepper sauce, the more the better; the original recipe is 2 dashes; I prefer 1 teaspoon
You may ask who is Phyllis Diller? She is a very famous comediennne and actress of the mid-century who also raised a family. Many of her comedy routines centered around her husband, Fang. Poor guy. She is an older version of Joan Rivers, but glamorous only in a funny way.
Bon Appetit/June 1977
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