Our friend Brian Beadle is kind of a finicky eater -- he’s a meat and potatoes man. You could say he is sort of a "spuds specialist." His mashed potato recipe is fairly standard but his trick is to slip tiny pats of cold butter down into and throughout the hot potatoes when they are in their serving dish. The butter melts into hidden pools buried deep in the mashed potatoes to be discovered with each delicious forkful.
We’re cooks who have endless patience for “process.” But when a recipe calls for 5 cups of peeled chestnuts, we know we’re in for some serious labor: scoring their skins with ×’s, roasting them, peeling them while they are still hot, then removing the fuzzy inner skins. Life is too short. We cut ourselves some slack and reach for jars of those nice already peeled French chestnuts—they’re delicious.
Use a good port, red wine or even a Madeira if that’s what you have on hand. Cranberries have so much natural pectin that this sauce will set up even if you don’t refrigerate it.
Collards must boil for at least two hours. Whatever nutritionists might say, collards were not made for quick cooking.
Slices of cool, fresh nectarines take on surprisingly concentrated flavors when bathed in a nectar-like wine syrup. This is one of the more intriguing fruit desserts you’ll taste, and there’s nothing to it — merely nectarines, sugar, wine and an interesting technique. We’ve been making it every summer since I first wrote about the dish in The Italian Country Table.
These generous wedges of red onion marinate in wine, olive oil and herbs, then turn crusty on the grill. Outstanding as a side dish, they could also be a meal unto themselves. We always make enough for leftovers because the onions make such a good lunch the next day with bread and cheese.
Those addictive Southeast Asian noodle salads usually star Asia’s crisp, sweet/tart green papaya or mango. So why not use our own summer peaches or nectarines? When they’re firm and slightly underripe but still fragrant, they’re ideal for salads like this.
Think of this salad as you would a chutney. It was designed to pair with the Weeknight Kofta with Allspice and Almonds, but would be just as delicious with the Golden Rice Salad, Smoky Salmon Steaks, Indian Grilled Vegetables or just slathered on a piece of rustic grilled bread.
You think tomatoes do a lot for a salad? Wait until you taste what cantaloupe or other melons can achieve. Why we don’t use them this way all the time is a mystery.
Straight from 19th-century American cookbooks, these big chunks of ripe beefsteak and green tomatoes (use more red ones in a pinch) get bathed in a warm, garlicky, sweet-sour dressing.