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YOGURT-MARINATED GRILLED SWORDFISH STEAKS page 154

COOKING DRIED PASTA

There are lots of myths about how to cook dried pasta. Let me explode a few of them. First of all, don't add oil to the pasta water— it only makes it harder for the sauce to cling to the pasta. Do add plenty of salt—it helps to flavor the pasta. Do use plenty of water—6 to 8 quarts of boiling salted water for each pound of dried pasta. Don't rinse pasta after cooking—it's completely unnecessary. Don't cook pasta ahead—call everyone to the table while it's still cooking, and get it from pot to platter to table as fast as you can.

Consider adding cooked pasta to the sauce while the sauce is still in the pan; this allows the pasta to cook a little in the hot sauce and absorb it. I always reserve a

little pasta water (see page 135) to thin the sauce, if necessary, and I try to make sure that the pasta does not swim in too much sauce.

Think too about the shape of pasta you choose for a particular sauce. You need a rounded form with crevices for some kinds of sauces, such as those with small chunks of meat or vegetables or cheese. Some thinner sauces also demand a pasta with some complexity of shape, so that the sauce can pool and create intense pockets of flavor. I've made suggestions with each pasta recipe, and I encourage you to try other shapes to discover which ones you like best with your sauces. To see how an Italian cook classifies pasta shapes and the sauces they require, see page 141.

To cook dried pasta:

Put the pasta in a pot of boiling salted water, give it a stir, and cover the pot to return it rapidly to the boil. When it boils, remove the cover and cook until al dente (slightly resistant to the touch or bite). Drain in a colander in the sink, or dip out scoops of pasta with a perforated pasta scoop and shake the pasta to remove some of the water that clings to it. Place the cooked pasta in its sauce in the saucepan or on a platter, toss, and serve, accompanied by a cruet of olive oil for drizzling and a wedge of Parmesan cheese to grate. Have coarse sea salt and a pepper grinder at the table for those who want to season their pasta more.

for A rapid one-dish weeknight meal, Pasta with Sweet Italian Sausage and Spinach is a family favorite—provided I serve the sausage on the side for the sake of the vegetarians. I prefer a toothy pasta here, like penne or orecchiette. Adding the potato to the pasta water is a useful trick to make dried pasta taste fresher, but it's by no means essential. I've used spinach in this recipe, but you can also use chard or kale—just cut off and discard the whole length of thick stem, chopping the leaves into slivers. Boil the leaves of tougher greens like chard or kale longer by adding them along with the pasta, since they require more time to cook to tenderness.

Try adding grilled bread crumbs to elevate this dish sensationally: Pan-fry crustless slices of good country bread along with a chopped clove of garlic in a puddle of flavorful leafy green and grassy olive oil until toasted and golden brown. Let cool, and then grate on a hand grater, or cut into chunks and process in a food processor, until you have coarse crisp crumbs. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta.

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V 2 to 3 A pound sweet Italian pork sausages

1 cup white wine or water

1 pound penne or orecchiette

1 potato, such as Yukon Gold, peeled and thinly sliced (optional)

1 pound fresh spinach, stemmed, washed, and coarsely chopped

About 3 tablespoons leafy green , and grassy olive oil

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

bring at least 8 quarts salted water to a boil in a large pot. While the water is heating, heat a heavy frying pan over medium-high heat, and when it is hot, add the sausages. Prick them all over with a fork, and cook them, turning, until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Add the wine, cover, and cook over medium-low heat until cooked through, about 20 minutes more. Let cool, and then cut into thin slices. Set aside until ready to use.

add the pasta, and the potato slices if using, to the boiling water and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Then add the chopped spinach and

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Large pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

cook until al dente, another 5 to 6 minutes. Drain well in a colander, and place on a serving platter. Immediately pour the olive oil over the pasta and greens, add the sliced sausage, and mix all together. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes if desired. Grate Parmesan generously over the top, and mix again. Serve immediately, passing additional olive oil and cheese at the table.

Wedge of Parmesan cheese for grating

RAW P O

Dropping a sliced raw peeled potato into pasta water as it comes to a boil provides added starch to dried pasta and makes it

ATOES AND DRI

taste better. You'll find that if you thinly slice the potato, it will finish cooking at the same time as the pasta. The potato

D PASTA

makes a delicious addition to most sauces (but it's not recommended with cream sauces).

CELLENTANI ARE THICK, tOOthy pasta spirals; you can also use any thick pasta shape like rigatoni or fusilli. If you don't have homemade oven-dried tomatoes (see page 62), you can use commercial sun-dried tomatoes instead, although they may require more liquid to soften them-add a little water. You can also use sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, but drain them before using. The vodka in this recipe is essential-it brings out the flavor of the tomatoes even though the alcohol is completely cooked off. Taste your Gorgonzola to see how strong it is, and use your own judgment about how much you want to use to flavor the pasta sauce (sweet, or dolce , Gorgonzola doesn't work here).

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2 tablespoons olive-y and peppery olive oil, plus more to drizzle over the pasta

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 large sweet onion, such as Walla Walla or Vidalia, or 1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 cup oven-dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped

Vz cup vodka

1 pound cellentani pasta

heat a very large saute pan or a large Dutch oven. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil and reduce the heat to medium. When the oil is warm and fragrant, add the garlic and cook over low heat for a minute or two. Add the onion and cook until limp and translucent.

add the tomatoes and cook them slowly, dribbling in the vodka as needed to keep them moist. Cook over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until soft and fragrant.

About 3 A cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Vz cup coarsely chopped flavorful black olives

meanwhile, bring 6 to 8 quarts salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes.

4 to 6 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, cut or crumbled

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon capers, drained (rinsed if salt-packed)

while the pasta is cooking, add the parsley, olives, and crumbled cheese, along with any remaining vodka, to the tomatoes. Cook, covered, over the lowest possible heat. If the sauce gets too dry, add a ladle of pasta water. Add salt and pepper to taste.

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reserving 1 cup of the pasta water,

drain the pasta and toss it with the sauce.

»

Add the capers, and the reserved pasta water if the sauce seems too thick.

serve immediately, passing more olive oil at the table to drizzle over the pasta.

ADDING PASTA WATER TO SAUCES

The traditional technique of reserving some of the starchy pasta water to thin or stretch a sauce is less well known than it should be. It's especially useful when a pasta sauce is very rich;

I always use pasta water when making pesto pasta for just this reason. Don't limit yourself to Mediterranean dishes—pasta water added to a Thai peanut sauce or Chinese cold sesame noodles makes these dishes more delicious and helps the sauce stick to the pasta.

while you can make a pesto sauce out of many different greens-arugula, parsley, and cilantro come to mind-basil pesto is the most wellloved around here. Although it's traditionally made with pine nuts (Pesto Genovese), I like the heartier taste of walnuts with this dish. I usually make it in a food processor, but recently I've been using a mortar and pestle, and I can't get over the difference it makes: The flavor is more pungent. My mortar and pestle came from a Thai grocery, and although it's made of stone and very heavy, it was remarkably inexpensive. In terms of pasta forms, I like to be traditional and use linguini with pesto.

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About 4 cups fresh basil leaves

2 or 3 large cloves garlic, peeled

Vi cup walnuts, toasted

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Vi cup fruity and fragrant olive oil

wash and dry the basil, and put it in the bowl of a food processor or in a mortar. Add the garlic, walnuts, salt, and pepper, and process or pound to a pulp. Gradually add the olive oil, processing as it is added. Add the grated cheese. (If using a food processor, diced pieces of Parmesan can be used instead of grated cheese, as the steel knife will grind them into small bits.)

Vi cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 pound linguini

Wedge of Parmesan cheese to grate at the table

bring 6 to 8 quarts salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the linguini and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Reserving Vi cup of the pasta water, drain the pasta and put it in a large bowl or platter.

gradually add the reserved pasta water to the sauce until it reaches the consistency you like, and then immediately toss the pasta with the pesto and serve. Pass the wedge of cheese and a grater at the table for those who like more cheese.

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maureen fant, in a travel piece in The New York Times , described a dish she'd eaten in Naples. It sounded so wonderful to me, I just had to figure it out and cook it. This is the result-a sauce made of basil-rich Pesto Genovese mixed with tomatoes, black olives, toasted pine nuts, and capers. Once you try it, you may agree with one previously loyal pesto fiend who said, "This is even better than plain pesto."

V 2 cup pine nuts

About 4 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves

3 cloves garlic, peeled

V 2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

4 anchovy fillets, drained (cleaned and rinsed if salt-packed)

V 2 cup fruity and fragrant olive oil

V 2 teaspoon vodka (optional)

V 2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Generous grinding of black pepper

V 2 cup olive oil-cured black olives, pitted

1 very large tomato

1 tablespoon capers, preferably unrinsed salt-packed

1 pound radiatore or other spiral pasta

1 n a cast-iron frying pan, toast the pine nuts, stirring until the nuts are golden and aromatic, about 5 minutes. Transfer the nuts to a plate to stop them from cooking further.

wash and dry the basil leaves. Place them in the bowl of a food processor, and add the garlic cloves, grated cheese, anchovies, olive oil, and the vodka if using. Process to a smooth paste, stopping the processor and scraping down the sides as necessary. Taste, and then add the salt and pepper. Pour the pesto onto a serving platter.

without washing the food processor bowl, add the pitted olives and pulse to coarsely chop them. Add to the pesto on the platter. Working over the platter, cut the tomato into small dice and add it to the pesto. Add the capers as well.

meanwhile, bring 6 to 8 quarts salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the radiatore and cook until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes.

Wedge of Parmesan cheese to

pass at the table reserving Vs cup pasta water, drain the pasta.

Stir the reserved pasta water into the sauce on the platter. Put the cooked pasta on top, and toss. Scatter the toasted pine nuts over the pasta, and serve immediately, passing a wedge of Parmesan with a grater at the table.

bottarga di tonno is dried tuna roe, an intense salty, fishy ingredient that pairs just wonderfully with pasta. It's one of those very ancient foods that's still made exactly as it always was-sun- dried and salted. Some of the best bottarga comes from Sicily, and it's available from Esperya (a jar makes at least four meals). Bottarga is also available pressed into flat cakes that can be finely grated, but I find it most convenient when it's already in granulated form, packed in a glass jar.

Unfortunately, there is no real substitute for bottarga. However, there is an option for a variation. In this case, you don't have to start ahead; you can make the sauce as the pasta cooks. To make Spaghetti with Parsley and Olive Oil , cook the pasta and make the sauce of olive oil and finely chopped parsley, adding Vi to 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese to increase both flavor and protein levels, and adding salt as well.

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3 tablespoons dried bottarga grains or finely grated pressed bottarga

Vi cup leafy green and grassy olive oil

1 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves

1 pound spaghetti

Freshly ground black pepper

early in the day you plan to serve the dish, place the bottarga in a bowl, and add the olive oil and the chopped parsley. Allow to marinate, covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature for at least 6 hours.

bring 6 to 8 quarts salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the pasta, and toss it in a bowl with the bottarga mixture. Season with black pepper and serve at once.

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salad ingredients and pasta combine to make a robust dish that/s good hot or cold.

bring 6 to 8 quarts salted water to a boil in a large pot.

while the water is heating, peel and thinly slice the onion. Place the onion slices in a bowl of ice water, and let soak while you proceed with the recipe.

1 red onion

One 6-ounce can high-quality tuna, preferably imported and packed in olive oil

1 pound mozzarella, diced

2 ripe tomatoes, chopped

Garlic slivers slow-cooked in olive oil (optional)

One 16- or 19-ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed (optional)

1 pound fusilli

1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, washed and dried

open the can of tuna, drain it, and place the contents in the center of a big serving platter. Break apart the tuna. Put the mozzarella pieces and the chopped tomatoes on the platter, as well as the cooked garlic and drained chickpeas if using.

add the fusilli to the boiling water, and cook until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes.

while the pasta is cooking, chop the parsley to a fine texture in a food processor. Add the capers, anchovies, olive oil, olives, and drained onion, and process to a slightly chunky consistency. Leave this sauce mixture in the processor.

1 heaping tablespoon capers, preferably unrinsed salt-packed

2 anchovy fillets, drained (cleaned and rinsed if salt-packed)

reserving 1 cup of the pasta water, drain the pasta and put it on the platter with the tuna, mozzarella pieces, and tomatoes.

V 2 cup fruity and fragrant olive oil

V 2 to 3 A cup wrinkled black olives, preferably packed in olive oil, pitted and coarsely chopped

Wedge of Parmesan cheese to pass at the table

check the sauce-is it too thick or is its flavor too intense? if so, add some of the reserved pasta water (V 2 cup to start) to dilute it. Process, then pour the sauce over the pasta, toss well, and serve.

pass the wedge of Parmesan and a grater at the table, along with a pepper grinder.

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chioccioli are short wide curved tubes, made by the organic pasta company Bionaturae. They are not essential; you can easily substitute any curved sauce-holding pasta shape such as large shells, elbows, or orecchiette (little ears). The combination of swordfish, eggplant, and tomato is a traditional Sicilian triumvirate; I've added olives and capers to further increase the brininess. If this were a traditional recipe, the eggplant would be deep-fried to a crisp. I saute it in much less oil, but it is important to get a good brown crust on the eggplant, so use a pan that is not nonstick and that browns food well, such as a black cast-iron frying pan.

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2 small Japanese eggplants or

1 large eggplant

V 2 cup plus 2 tablespoons leafy green and grassy olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

V 2 to 3 /4 pound fresh swordfish (about half a steak), skin removed, cut into V 2 -inch dice

1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar or other white wine vinegar

One 14-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried oregano or

2 teaspoons fresh oregano

1 pound chioccioli, elbows, or orecchiette pasta

V 2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving if desired

V 4 cup finely chopped fresh flat- leaf parsley

cut the eggplant into V 2 -inch dice. Preheat a heavy saute pan over medium-high heat, and when the pan is hot, add the Vi cup olive oil-it should be at a depth of about V 4 inch. Put a shred of eggplant in the oil, and if it immediately sizzles, the oil is hot enough. Add the eggplant to the pan in one layer, immediately lower the heat to medium-low, and cook, without disturbing, until brown on one side. Then gently turn the eggplant and brown it on all sides. This will take about 45 minutes in all. When the eggplant is cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove it, leaving the oil in the pan. Reserve the eggplant and discard any oil that remains.

add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to the empty pan, scraping up any browned bits from the eggplant, and gently cook the garlic over low heat until it is tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the swordfish cubes and cook them until they are just starting to turn white and opaque, about 5 minutes. Add the vinegar, then the tomatoes and oregano. Cook for 1 minute, and then return the eggplant to the pan.

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V4 cup pitted black olives, finely chopped

Simmer uncovered over very low heat for about 15 minutes or until slightly reduced in volume.

1 tablespoon capers, drained

(rinsed if salt-packed) MEANWHILE,bring 8 to 10 quarts salted water

Coarse sea salt and freshly to a boil in a large pot, and add the pasta. Cook

ground biack pepper, to taste until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain the pasta

and place it on a serving platter. Pour the swordfish sauce over the pasta and toss. Dust it with the cheese, parsley, olives, and capers, along with salt and pepper to taste. Toss again. Serve at once, passing more cheese at the table if desired.

FITTING THE PASTA SHAPE TO THE SAUCE

Beatrice Ughi of Esperya has explained in her newsletter how Italians decide which pasta to use with different kinds of sauces. Here is her formulation:

Long strand pasta—such as spaghetti, spaghettini,

capellini, and linguini—is best with smooth sauces.

Wide long noodles, such as fettuccine, support slightly chunkier sauces.

In general, short tubular or molded pasta shapes do an excellent job of trap¬

ping chunkier sauces:

Small to medium chunks make more sense with fusilli, pennette, and gnoc- chette, while large chunks work best with rigatoni or other large tubes.

Vi cup grappa or vodka

2 lush sprigs fresh rosemary, washed and dried

8 tablespoons fruity and fragrant olive oil

6 cloves garlic, peeled, crushed, and finely chopped

2 tablespoons finely minced shallots

1 pound medium shrimp, thawed if frozen, peeled and deveined, cut in half crosswise

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon chestnut honey or other dark strong honey

1 pound spaghetti

V4 cup heavy cream

3 A cup chopped fresh basil leaves

infusing alcohol with herbs is very easy and produces a wonderful effect. In fact, this rosemary-infused grappa is so delicious that you might want to consider making a larger amount and serving it as a digestivo in small glasses. If grappa is hard to come by where you live, you could substitute a flavorless vodka. Similarly, if you don't have chestnut honey, use any strong dark honey instead.

using a small saucepan, heat the grappa to hot but not boiling, and add the whole rosemary sprigs. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let infuse for 15 minutes, pressing on the rosemary with a spoon to make sure it is as submerged as possible. Remove the rosemary. Mince the leaves from one sprig and then set aside (you should have 1 tablespoon). Discard the other sprig.

bring 6 to 8 quarts salted water to a boil in a large pot.

while the water is heating, heat a large saute pan or frying pan, and add 6 tablespoons of the oil. Saute the garlic and shallots over medium- low heat until the shallots are limp and translucent (but not browning), 3 to 4 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the shrimp, stirring and cooking until they are pink on all sides, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the infused grappa, and a little salt and pepper to taste. Boil for 1 minute to evaporate the alcohol. Remove from the heat and stir in the honey.

cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Reserving Va cup of the pasta water, drain the pasta. Put the pasta in the saute pan and toss it with the sauce over low heat for a minute or two. Add the cream, basii, reserved chopped rosemary, and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Toss again, put on a platter, and serve at once.

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CAREFUL!

Watch the grappa closely when you're heating it—you don't want it to boil. Keep the pot lid handy, and if the alcohol combusts, quickly clamp the lid on the pot to smother the flames.

COOKING PASTA IN ITS

When you make a pasta sauce in a large shallow saute pan, you can take the drained pasta and add it to the pan over low heat. This allows the pasta to absorb some of the sauce and to finish cooking in the sauce. The flavor difference is

noticeable. If you do this, remember to drain the pasta before it is fully cooked, as it will continue to cook a little in the sauce—aim for the firm side of al dente. If you scoop the pasta from the cooking water rather

SAUCE

than draining it in a colander, you'll get the benefit of the water that clings to the pasta in your sauce, and you will have more hot pasta water right at hand should you decide you need more.

SALSA CRUDA, OR RAW SAUCE, is much thinner than a cooked tomato sauce, with an addictive and intense flavor that actually improves after resting for an hour. If you can, make the sauce when you get home and let it age, so that there's a time gap between blending and serving. Serve this

i

sauce with fusilli, bow ties (farfalle), or orecchiette pasta (all of which catch the sauce in the curves of the pasta), and put it in shallow bowls so that you can gather up all the goodness with a spoon. A crusty loaf of bread is also a good addition, and with a green salad makes a satisfying meal. This recipe can be doubled if you are feeding a crowd. Leftover sauce can be refrigerated and used the next day with little loss of flavor; it's great on cottage cheese!

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Raw tomato sauce

2 cloves garlic, peeled, cut in half, green sprout removed

2 pints ripe cherry tomatoes, washed and drained

2 whole anchovy fillets, preferably packed in olive oii, drained

5 flavorful green or black olives, pitted

1 generous tablespoon salt- packed capers, lightly rinsed

V 2 cup arugula leaves, washed and dried

Freshly ground black pepper

V 4 cup leafy green and grassy olive oil

1 tablespoon vodka or aquavit

For the pasta

1 pound fusilli, bow ties, or orecchiette

For serving

Wedge of Parmesan cheese

prepare the tomato sauce: In a food processor, pulse the garlic to form a fine puree. Then add all of the remaining sauce ingredients and pulse until they are reduced to small chunks. Be careful not to overprocess the sauce into a liquid.

1 F possible, let the sauce sit at room temperature for an hour or so to merge. Taste, and see if you need to add any salt.

bring 6 to 8 quarts salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain the pasta, pour it into a serving bowl, and pour the sauce over the top.

serve immediately. Pass a wedge of Parmesan cheese and a grater at the table.

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FIVE MAGIC INGREDIENTS

Shirley Corriher, the great food scientist, once told me that real food flavors are made up of a great many elements, not all of which can emerge on their own. Shirley then went on to give me the most helpful tip of my cooking life:

There are five "magic" ingredients that release otherwise hidden flavor elements in food—sugar, salt, alcohol, fat, and water. A small amount of any of these substances will effect this release, and each one of them releases different flavor elements than the

others. It's always useful to check your recipes for the presence of each of the five magic ingredients. If one is missing, try adding it to see if the overall flavor improves.

For example, in baking, the alcohol in vanilla extract is an important element—try a non-alcohol extract to taste the difference. The presence of salt in cakes and cookies serves to amplify the sweetness. Similarly, in savory dishes, adding a tiny bit of sugar and alcohol to a tomato- based sauce or dish

increases the tomato's flavor by bringing out taste notes that would otherwise be hidden.

Most important, fat carries flavor. Cookbook author Lorna Sass recently told me a story about making a white bean and basil puree. She had made the puree with a spoonful of olive oil and lots of basil, but the basil flavor wasn't coming through. She added more basil, but there was still no robust taste. Finally she added another spoonful of olive oil, and suddenly the basil came alive.

although this is best when made with summer's fresh sweet corn cut off the cob, it's also good with frozen corn. It's an almost-instant kid- and crowd-pleasing main course. You could add pieces of crisp bacon to the mix, for added crunch and flavor.

4

4

i f you are using fresh corn on the cob, steam or boil the corn until done. Cool it briefly in cold water; then drain, and slice the kernels off the cob. If using frozen corn, steam it briefly to defrost it, cool briefly in cold water, and drain. Set the cooled cooked corn aside.

bring 6 to 8 quarts salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes.

while the pasta is cooking, make the sauce: Combine the parsley, garlic, anchovy, capers, and onion in the bowl of a food processor. Process the mixture to form a smooth puree, adding the olive oil, then the cream, in a stream through the feed tube. Taste the sauce, and add salt and pepper to taste.

reserving about Vi cup of the pasta water, drain the pasta and put it in a large shallow bowl or platter. Pour the sauce over it and toss, adding some of the reserved pasta water if the sauce needs thinning. Add the corn kernels, diced tomatoes, and cubes of mozzarella, toss again, and serve.

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4 to 5 ears fresh corn, shacked, or 2 cups frozen corn kernels

1 pound radiatore or other spiral pasta

2 cups flat-leaf parsley leaves

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 anchovy fillet, drained (cleaned and rinsed if salt-packed)

1 heaping teaspoon salt-packed capers, unrinsed

1 small red onion, cut into wedges

V 3 cup fruity and fragrant olive oil

V 2 cup heavy cream

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 ripe tomatoes, finely diced 1 pound mozzarella, diced

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FRANKLY, I COULDN’T FIGURE OUTwhere to put this recipe, because although it's essentially a sweet dish, the truth is that in our house this is a favorite dinner. When my daughter Abby comes home for a weekend from college exhausted, or when my younger daughter, Lizzie, has had a long day, this is the meal I serve to make them feel better. I like to think that if my Nanna were still here and cooking, this would be her new favorite version.

Lizzie (who loves the texture and sweetness of canned fruit) thinks Noodle Kugel is even better when tossed just before cooking with drained canned pineapple chunks, or sliced canned pears, apricots, or peaches.

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3 tablespoons delicate and mild olive oil

One 12-ounce package egg noodles

preheat the oven to 350°F. Using 1 tablespoon of the oil, grease a 9 x 12-inch lasagna pan or gratin dish.

5 eggs

1 pound sour cream 1 pound cottage cheese

bring at least 6 quarts salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the noodles and cook until just done, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain.

1 V 2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

V 2 cup dried cranberries, raisins, or drained canned fruit

while the noodles are cooking, combine the eggs, sour cream, cottage cheese, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, cranberries or raisins, and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large mixing bowl. Add the noodles as soon as they're drained, and mix them in. If you are adding canned fruit, add it now.

pour this mixture into the greased pan, and bake for 1 hour. Serve hot, cut into squares.

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THIS METHOD OF COOKING FISH in the oven is virtually foolproof. You'll want to cook this whole fish in a pan that is heavy, shallow, and big enough to hold the fish (although you can certainly cut off the head and tail). A large cast-iron skillet is a good choice, as is an oval fish frying pan, or a large cast-iron or ceramic gratin dish. I like to serve this with Orange, Onion, and Olive Salad (page 86).

How do you tell when fish is done? When the flesh is translucent, it's raw. When the flesh is opaque but moist, it's done. When it's opaque and flaky, it's overdone.

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One 3-pound whole red snapper, cleaned and scaled

2 tablespoons fruity and fragrant olive oil

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Garnish

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Fruity and fragrant olive oil to pass at the table

preheat the oven to 425°F for at least 10 minutes, preheating an ovenproof pan at the same time.

cut off the head and tail if necessary to make the fish fit in the pan. Run the back of a knife over the surface of the fish to remove any scales that may be left. Rinse the fish under cold running water and pat it dry with paper towels.

rub both sides of the fish with the olive oil, and scatter salt and pepper over the fish. Remove the hot pan from the oven, place the fish in it, and return it to the oven.

roast for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the flesh is opaque but still moist. Serve with lemon wedges, and pass additional olive oil at the table.

BONING A WHOLE FISH

When fish is cooked, the flesh separates easily from the bone. Using a spatula and a knife, remove the top half of the fish in large pieces (or in one piece,

if possible), exposing the bone. Arrange these pieces on a serving platter. Grasp the large spine bone and pull and remove it in one fluid motion—most of

the smaller bones will come out with this piece. Remove any other visible bones, and place the rest of the fish on the platter.

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flash-roasting salmon in a very hot oven is the simplest way I know to cook a flavorful fillet. If km starting with soup or a salad, I assume that a pound of thick boneless salmon fillet will feed four when served with a starch and a green vegetable. If there is no first course, then I allow Vi pound per person.

You may not be familiar with saba. It's used much like aged balsamic vinegar, although it is made from cooked-down (rather than aged) grape must. Available at specialty food shops and from purveyers such as Corti Brothers, saba costs much less than real aged balsamico (and has a very different quality). It's a nice item to have in your pantry.

I like saba's fruity flavor in contrast with the fattiness of the salmon; it acts much like lemon with chicken or orange with duck. If you don't have any saba, try making the Fig "Balsamico" Agrodolce on page 64 and use that instead. Or just drizzle fresh lemon juice and a great fruity and fragrant olive oil over the roasted salmon.

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1 tablespoon fruity and fragrant olive oil

1 to 2 pounds salmon fillet

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

V4 cup saba

preheat the oven to 500°F. Put a cast-iron or other ovenproof metal frying pan in the oven to preheat at the same time, about 10 minutes.

when the pan is hot, pour a very little of the olive oil into the pan (it should immediately thin), tipping the pan to coat the bottom with a thin film of oil.

carefully place the salmon fillet in the pan, skin side down (cut it into serving-size pieces if necessary to make the fish fit in the pan). The oil should sizzle when you add the fish. If it doesn't, it's not hot enough. Carefully, using your hands or a pastry brush, smooth the rest of the oil over the top of the fish.

roast the fish in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet. The fish is done when the flesh is opaque and when it flakes very slightly when prodded with a fork. Remove it immediately from the pan and place it on a serving platter or plates. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with the saba, or pass it at the table. Serve at once.

150

THE FLAVORS OF OLIVE OIL

Picture #126
Picture #127

PANS FOR F L A S H - R O A S T I N G FISH

Picture #128

I started flash-roasting fish after reading Theresa Laursen's cookbook, From Bangkok to Bali. Her recipe for Asian-flavored flash- roasted salmon got me started, and now I often use her technique. I used to use a large cast-iron frying pan, and any good heavy metal pan—whether iron, aluminum, or steel—will

work as long as the pan has a metal (not plastic or nylon) handle that can take intense heat and preheating. I now use an oval frying pan made by Calphalon (they call it a fajita pan). This pan is lighter on the wrist, and because the oval surface is perpendicular to the handle, it can hold a whole fish and still fit in a

standard 27-inch oven.

The dark hard-anodized aluminum conducts heat extremely well, needs little preheating time to come to temperature, and gives the fish a great crust. Note that any pan with a nonstick finish is a poor choice for this method because nonstick coatings are not made for high heat.

APPARENTLY MOST OF THE FLATFISH

sold as turbot in the United States is not the same variety as the prized turbot one finds in the Mediterranean, but they still taste very good. If you should find turbot fillets at your fish store, don't hesitate to buy them, because this dish is well worth cooking..

preheat the oven to 475°F.

oil a large baking dish or shallow casserole, and layer the ingredients in it in the order given, ending with the fish drizzled with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Make sure to drizzle oil over any exposed vegetables as well.

using a generous amount of aluminum foil, completely wrap the baking dish so that it's airtight (I use two or three layers, wrapping from top to bottom and then from bottom to top). The goal here is to steam-roast the fish with all the aromatics, and not to allow any of the juices to escape.

roast for 45 minutes. Then uncover the pan and cook for an additional 10 minutes to reduce and intensify the flavors of the liquid. Put the fish, potatoes, tomatoes, fennel, and olives on a serving platter. If any juices remain, pour them into a small saucepan and further reduce them over high heat if necessary. Pour the juices over the fish, and serve, along with the lemon wedges.

Picture #129

1 whole fennel bulb, thinly sliced

6 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

Vz cup pitted and halved black Spanish olives

1 ripe tomato, coarsely diced

1 large shallot, finely chopped

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

4 turbot fillets (about 3V2 pounds)

V4 cup leafy green and grassy olive oil

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 lemon, cut into quarters

Picture #130

FILLET

Picture #131

mV

F L A S H - R O A S T E D TURBOT

Picture #132

You can also flash-roast turbot fillet by preheating a cast-iron pan, rubbing the fillet with olive oil on both

sides, and roasting it for 15 minutes at 450°F. Flash- roasting the fish produces a very different flavor from

steam-roasting it with aromatics—the fish is more delicate and buttery, with an almost custard-like texture.

STEAM-ROASTING WHOLE RED SNAPPER WITH LICORICE FLAVORS

Wash and thinly slice a whole head of fennel (fronds and all), along with a whole head of celery (including the leaves), and place a cleaned and scaled red snapper on this bed of green vegetables in a shallow glass or porcelain

baking dish. Add a good splash of French licorice- flavored liqueur, such as Fastis or Pernod, and cover the pan very tightly with aluminum foil (see page 152 for wrapping directions). The fish will be cooked in about 45 minutes, and

perfumed with complex licorice flavors. After you've removed the cooked fish and the cooked vegetables, you can reduce the juices left in the pan, add a spoonful of cream off the heat, and pour this sauce over the fish.

Picture #133

YOGURT- MARINATED GRI LLED SWORDFISH STEAKS

while these are most delicious when cooked on an outdoor grill, you could also use a broiler or a stovetop grill pan. I like to serve the swordfish on a bed of rice or couscous, and I often grill some vegetables on the side as the fish cooks. It's also very good on a bed of mixed salad greens tossed with Dione Lucas's French Dressing (page 83). Turkish chili paste is a potent and fiery blend that comes in a glass jar and can be found in Near Eastern groceries. You can substitute any hot pepper such as hot paprika, or chili paste or powder.

Three 1-pound swordfish steaks Marinade

V 4 cup whole-milk yogurt

V 4 cup leafy green and grassy olive oil

IV 2 teaspoons Turkish chili paste or hot paprika

Juice of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint leaves or 1 teaspoon dried mint

V 4 cup finely chopped mild onion

cut each swordfish steak in half down the center to make six V 2 -pound serving portions. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a large shallow nonreactive dish, such as a glass baking dish. Add the fish and spread the marinade over it. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. (If you marinate fish for a longer period, it "cooks" in the marinade and becomes unpalatably mushy.)

remove the fish from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. Drain off any excess marinade.

Garnish Lemon wedges

Leafy green and grassy olive oil to pass at the table

heat an outdoor grill or a stovetop grill pan to high heat. Oil the cooking surface very lightly, and grill the fish (covered if on an outdoor kettle grill) for 5 to 7 minutes per side. The fish is done when it is slightly charred, opaque, and just beginning to flake.

serve with lemon wedges, and pass the olive oil to drizzle on top.

Picture #134

classic trout amandine is prepared like this, except that it relies on butter for flavor. I find that olive oil imparts a terrific flavor variation. To make Chicken or Turkey Tenders with Polenta Crust and Almonds , the procedure is nearly the same: First dredge the cutlets (scallops of breast meat) in a beaten egg, and then in the polenta. Lay them flat in the pan just like the trout, and do check to make sure they are cooked through before serving-there should be no trace of pink with poultry.

I like to serve this with plain rice and a flavorful green salad made with lots of different greens and a garlic-rich dressing.

Picture #135

1 cup instant polenta

2 whole trout, split and boned, rinsed and patted dry

2 tablespoons olive-y and peppery olive oil

1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges

z /3 cup slivered blanched almonds

pour the polenta onto a piece of parchment paper, waxed paper, or a plate, and dredge each piece of trout in the polenta, coating both sides. Shake off the excess.

heat a cast-iron frying pan, and when it is hot, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the fish. Brown the fish on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Put one piece on each plate, along with a wedge of lemon.

pour off any fat in the pan. Immediately heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in the same pan, and brown the almonds over medium-high heat, stirring constantly as they start to brown. As soon as they are golden and aromatic, pour the almonds and oil over the fish, and serve.

i had ordered olive o i L-poached fish in restaurants, but I had never tried to make it at home until I started working on this book. It was hard to use such a quantity of good oil in one fell swoop, but the results convinced me that poaching fresh tuna in olive oil is well worth it. The fish comes out not at all greasy, but outstandingly moist and delicate in texture, with a pure flavor unmatched by any other cooking method. The amount of olive oil you use will be determined by the size of the fish and the size of your pan. Each time I do this, I look for the deepest pan that will closely accommodate the fish I've bought. You want depth so that the oil won't overflow, and you want as little space around the fish as possible so as to conserve the amount of oil you'll need; the aim is to have enough oil to half-submerge the fish. I've found a Windsor saucepan, which has flaring sides, or other small saucepan is ideal, as is a small enameled cast-iron Dutch oven or a small braising pan. Saute pans are deep enough, but tend to be larger in diameter than necessary, which means you have to use a lot more oil to get some depth. The key here is to cook the fish over low heat-not to deep-fry it.

Picture #136

3 A pound yellowfin tuna loin steak (about 1 inch thick)

1 to 1 Vi cups fruity and fragrant olive oil

Lemon Mayonnaise (page 66) or lemon wedges and fruity and fragrant olive oil to drizzle

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

rinse the fish and pat it dry. Cut off any skin that may be attached. Cut off a tiny shred of fish to use to test the oil's heat, or have ready some bread cut into tiny bits.

gently heat a deep wide saucepan or saute pan that is just larger than the fish; then add the oil. After 2 to 3 minutes, test the oil by dropping a shred of fish or a crumb of bread into it. If the oil immediately bubbles around the food and sizzles softly, the oil is ready.

Picture #137

immediately lower the fish into the oil (it should reach halfway up the sides of the fish). Poach the fish in the oil over low heat for about 4 minutes. The sound of the sizzle should be like a whisper. Using tongs, turn the fish and poach the other side for 2 minutes. At this point, the tuna will have a small rare streak down the center, which is ideal in my view. But if you prefer more well- done tuna, you can cook it slightly longer, taking great care not to overcook and dry out the fish.

using the tongs, remove the fish and lay it on a piece of paper towel to drain. Pat the top side with another piece of paper towel. Lay the fish on a cutting board and divide it into 2 or 3 pieces, depending on how many people you are serving. Place the fish on individual plates and serve topped with Lemon Mayonnaise, or with wedges of fresh lemon and more olive oil to drizzle on the fish at the table. Season with salt and pepper.

157

FISH, MEAT

AND

POULTRY

Picture #138

this absolutely luscious combination of flavors makes it well worth the trouble to seek out Italian chickpea flour from an Italian specialty store or to mail-order it from Corti Brothers. Sea scallops are the big scallops, with a rich meaty texture and flavor. I make the crepes first and keep them warm in a low oven while I fast-cook the scallops to layer on top. With an appetizer to start and a green salad course to follow, this is a luxurious and festive company meal. Note that you need to mix the crepe batter an hour before cooking the crepes (it's enough batter for 6 large crepes, which leaves room for error).

For the chickpea crepes

1 cup Italian chickpea flour

1 3 A cups water

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

6 tablespoons leafy green and grassy olive oil

For the scallops

1 pound sea scallops

V 2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

V4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons leafy green and grassy olive oil, plus more for serving at the table

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

prepare the crepes: In a mixing bowl, beat together the chickpea flour, water, salt and pepper, and olive oil. Let the batter sit for 1 hour at room temperature.

preheat a well-seasoned crepe pan or other frying pan, and add a thin layer of olive oil to coat the hot pan. Ladle on enough of the crepe batter to make 1 big thin crepe, tilting and swirling the pan to coat it with a thin layer of batter. When the surface is pocked with tiny holes and the underside is brown and crisp, about 2 minutes, use a wide spatula to detach and flip the crepe to cook the other side. When the crepe is cooked, place it on a dinner plate, and put the plate in a warm oven set at the lowest temperature possible. Repeat for the rest of the batter, reserving or discarding the extra crepes.

4 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves

Grated zest of 1 lemon and some of its juice

prepare the scallops: Season the scallops on all sides with the salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a preheated pan over medium-low heat, and cook the

Picture #139

garlic until limp, about 3 minutes. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and place it in a small bowl. Add the thyme leaves and toss with the garlic.

add the scallops to the frying pan and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook until golden brown and caramelized, about 1 minute per side. Remove the pan

from the heat, return the garlic/thyme mixture to the pan, and add the lemon zest and a spoonful or two of lemon juice.

spoon a quarter of the scallops and their juices onto a giant crepe on each dinner plate. Serve at once, passing olive oil to drizzle at the table.

Picture #140

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every cook i k n o w loves his or her own roast chicken. While I don't know if this one is the best in the world, it's certainly one we're very fond of. You can buy fresh lemon thyme in most supermarket produce sections, but if you can't find it, use any fresh thyme-or for a completely different flavor, fresh sage leaves. I find that hormone-free air-chilled chickens (this 3-pound size is often labeled "fryer") taste far better than the conventional kind; in my area they can be found in the big chain supermarkets as well as in the alternative coops. You can also use this recipe for larger roasting chickens, cooking a bigger bird for 45 minutes at 450°F, and then for about another 45 minutes at 375°F, or until the leg moves easily, there is no trace of pink at the bone, and the chicken is cooked through. For a bigger bird, cut the vegetables in large wedges (since they'll cook longer), and double the amount of vegetables to fill a larger pan.

This chicken tastes best when roasted in either a cast-iron frying pan or a shallow enameled cast-iron roasting pan such as those made by Le Creuset. However, although I think the way cast iron holds heat contributes to the caramelization of the vegetables, I've also cooked this successfully in large ceramic and glass gratin dishes.

LEMON

THYME ROAST CHICKEN WITH CARAM ELIZED ROASTED VEGETABLES

SERVES 4

Picture #141

1 3-pound chicken, hormone- free if possible

8 to 12 large sprigs lemon thyme or plain thyme or 8 to 10 fresh sage leaves

1 lemon, cut in half

1 large onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges

2 tablespoons leafy green and grassy olive oil, plus more to pass at the table

1 garnet yam, washed, peeled, and cut into V 2 -inch-thick slices

preheat the oven to 450°F, and set the rack slightly above the middle of the oven.

wash and dry the chicken, removing the innards and cutting off any big lumps of fat. Setting the chicken on a cutting board, use both hands to loosen the skin from the breast, working from the neck downward, gently pushing your fingers between skin and meat to make a pocket. Stuff this pocket on each side with 2 or 3 sprigs of lemon thyme, or with most of the fresh sage leaves. Stuff the interior of the bird with both lemon halves, as

2 to 4 Yukon Gold potatoes, washed, peeled, and cut into V 2 -inch-thick slices

many more sprigs of lemon thyme as you can fit inside (or with 4 fresh sage leaves), and 1 or 2 of the onion wedges.

2 to 3 fat carrots, washed, peeled, and cut into V 2 -inch-thick rounds

lightly grease the pan with some of the olive oil. Arrange the remaining onion wedges and any remaining herb sprigs on the bottom of the pan to make a bed for the chicken. Set the bird on the bed, and surround it with the slices of yam, potato, and carrot and the unpeeled garlic cloves. Pour some of the remaining olive oil over the chicken, using your hands to spread it over all the skin. Drizzle any olive oil that's left over the vegetables.

4 to 5 cloves garlic, unpeeled

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon Fig "Balsamico" Agrodolce (page 64) or balsamic vinegar

sprinkle salt and pepper over all, and roast for 30 minutes, basting every 15 minutes or so, using a spoon to collect and drizzle the juices over both chicken and vegetables. Turn the vegetables once during the cooking process. Then lower the heat to 375°F and roast for another 20 to 30 minutes, continuing to baste regularly, until the chicken is not pink anywhere near the thigh bone (check with the tip of a sharp knife).

sprinkle the Fig "Balsamico" over the top of the bird, and roast for an additional 5 minutes to glaze it. Pour the pan liquids into a defatting pitcher, and reserve the fat-free pan juices to use as a sauce. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving.

serve the chicken with the roast vegetables, squeezing the garlic out from their papery skins and putting a portion of this garlic paste on each plate. Pass the pan juices, along with a cruet of oil, to drizzle over the chicken.

THIS IS ONE OF THOSE DISHES that taste wonderful hot or cold, so it's a good choice for a buffet. Don't be put off by the necessity of boning the turkey-it's not hard to do, and you needn't worry too much about perfection because as the meat gets rolled around the herb paste, any errors are concealed. When you slice the meat, it reveals pretty spirals of herbs in each piece. This turkey meat is moist and flavorful, with a sweetness from the honey that also permeates the potatoes. The honey coats the skin and makes it cook to a caramelized crispness; it also seems to seal in flavor.

Recently I found something labeled "Roaster Chicken Breast" in my grocery store-it was skin-on and huge (much bigger than the conventional chicken breast since it was from a roasting chicken). I tried boning it, rolling it around the herb paste, and trussing it as if it were turkey. It was delicious, and the only change from the recipe as written here is that it takes only about 30 minutes of roasting before the very large rolled chicken breast is cooked through.

Picture #142

1 fresh whole or half turkey breast, boned or bone-in (a whole bone-in breast weights 6 V 2 to 8 V 2 pounds), skin attached

V 4 cup fresh rosemary needles

V 4 cup fresh tarragon leaves

V 4 cup fresh oregano or thyme leaves

V 3 cup fruity and fragrant olive oil, plus more to drizzle before roasting

preheat the oven to 450°F.

1 f the turkey breast is bone-in, rinse and cut off the wings and remove the pop-up thermometer, if there is one. Bone the turkey breast, using a sharp boning knife and trying to keep the meat in one large piece per side. Leave the skin on the meat. If you should end up with two turkey breast halves, don't worry-you can stuff and roll each one separately and cook them side by side. (Save the carcass with meat clinging to it to make turkey stock.)

6 to 8 Yukon Gold potatoes, washed and cut in half

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

combine the rosemary, tarragon, oregano, and olive oil in a food processor and process to make a fairly thick paste. Spread out the turkey, skin side

Picture #143

1 to 2 heaping tablespoons dark flavorful honey, such as chestnut, pine, or clover

down, and spread most of the herb mixture over the meat. Turn the meat over and push the rest of the herb paste under the skin. Lightly oil a baking dish or roasting pan. Roll up the turkey, keeping the

skin on the outside. If, and this is unlikely, it seems that your roll may fall apart, tie it with kitchen string or thread toothpicks like staples along the seam. Place the turkey roll, seam side down, in the center of the pan. Arrange the potato halves around the turkey, and drizzle everything with olive oil and salt and pepper. Pour about 1 inch of water into the pan.

bake, basting every 15 minutes or so, until done, 45 to 60 minutes. When the turkey is cooked, drizzle the honey over the turkey and potatoes, and bake an additional 5 minutes.

remove the pan from the oven and let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving it.

SHARPENING KNIVES

A sharp knife is safer than tools for this purpose, use incorrectly because

a dull one, because you'll from electric sharpeners the slots are angled so pre¬

use it with more care and to stones and steels, I like cisely. I've used a number

less effort. Knives need my manual pull-through of different brands, and

sharpening, or more prop- knife sharpener the best. they've all worked well.

erly realigning, after almost It's small, so it doesn't take At less than $25, a manual

every hard use. While there up lots of drawer space, knife sharpener is a good

are any number of different and it's impossible to investment.

v I a N A la place and Evan Kleiman's book Cucina Rustica taught me that marinating boneless skinless chicken breasts in olive oil and herbs produces lots of flavor and keeps the meat moist. I usually marinate the chicken while I prepare a side vegetable or enjoy a glass of wine, and I still have time to get dinner on the table within half an hour. When Em more organized, I start the chicken marinating the night before. Either way, it's always delicious.

You have a choice about pounding the chicken filiets into paillards: If you do, the chicken will cook even faster, and it will fill up most of the plate. If you don't pound the meat, you'll need to be more careful about checking that it is not pink in the center; on the other hand, it will be moister.

You can change the flavor of the marinade by using fresh oregano and fresh thyme; you can also serve the chicken on a bed of rice or polenta.

Picture #144

MARI N ATED

Picture #145

CHICKEN BREAST ON A BED OF M ESC LU N AN D TOMATOES

SERVES 4

Picture #146

2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts

For the marinade

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

V 2 cup fruity and fragrant olive oil

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

5 to 7 fresh basil leaves

1 teaspoon fresh tarragon leaves or 1 tablespoon dried tarragon

1 teaspoon fresh sage leaves or 1 tablespoon dried sage

divide each whole chicken breast into two parts. Using a sharp knife and working horizontally, cut into the thicker part of the meat to make it even in thickness with the rest of the meat. By not cutting all the way through, you will have formed a scallop, which you can open out to lie flat, Do this with all 4 pieces.

to create a paillard (see headnote), put each piece of meat between two sheets of waxed paper, and using a fiat meat pounder or the bottom of a wine bottle, pound from the center outward to create a flat piece that's about Va inch thick.

Picture #147

3 tablespoons fruity and fragrant olive oil

4 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped

4 cups mesclun or other mixed baby salad greens, washed and dried

For serving

M ix the iemon zest and juice with all the rest of the marinade ingredients in a large shallow bowl, such as a soup bowl. Dip each piece of flattened chicken in the marinade to coat it thoroughly. After the pieces have been coated on both sides, layer them in the marinade bowl and let sit for about 15 minutes at room temperature, or covered and refrigerated overnight.

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

prepare a bed of mesclun on a serving platter or on individual dinner plates.

preheat a heavy frying pan or grill pan on the stove. When the edges of the pan are hot to the touch, add 1 tablespoon of the marinade and let it cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant and thin. Now lay the marinated chicken in the pan, discarding all the rest of the marinade. Cook the chicken on both sides until golden and flecked with dark spots (if the pieces were pounded, they'll cook very, very quickly and you'll need to do them in batches). Cut into a piece of chicken to make sure it is cooked through. Immediately place the warm chicken on the bed of greens. Scatter the tomato cubes on top of the meat, and drizzle the olive oil and balsamic vinegar over all. Serve at once.

FISH, MEAT, AND POULTRY 165

based on a list of ingredients in an anonymous 13th-century Andalusian cookbook, this recipe reflects the way aromatic spices were used in Islamic Spain. I think they create an exotic yet homey dinner in cold or wet weather. You can buy dried lavender buds in stores that sell bulk teas

i

and spices, or by mail (see the Resources section); make sure they are pesticide-free and fit for human consumption. The flavor of this dish improves over time, so it's a good candidate for making ahead and reheating, or for leftovers for later in the week. Serve it over rice, couscous, Olive Oil and Rosemary Mashed Potatoes (page 188), or Polenta (page 186).

2 tablespoons olive-y and peppery olive oil

4 whole chicken legs, thigh and drumstick separated or 1 whole chicken, cut up

2 small onions, chopped

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground coriander

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

V 2 cup dry sherry or Marsala

heat a large heavy Dutch oven or braising pot over medium heat until the pot's edges are warm to the touch; then add the olive oil. When the oil is hot and shimmery and is beginning to thin and flow, add the pieces of chicken, skin side down, until the floor of the pot is filled. Don't overcrowd the pot. You will need to brown the chicken in at least two batches unless your pan is very large. As pieces brown, turn them and brown the other side. Remove the browned pieces and hold them on a platter. When all of the chicken is browned, drain off all but a very thin film of fat and oil.

V 2 teaspoon saffron threads dissolved in 1 tablespoon very hot water

V 2 cup water

2 tablespoons Fig "Balsamico" Agrodolce (page 64) or balsamic vinegar

V 2 cup vodka

add the onions to the pot and cook over low heat until limp and translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Then add the spices and cook for another minute or two. Mix in the sherry, saffron water, and Fig "Balsamico," and return the chicken to the pot. Cover tightly and let cook slowly, over the lowest possible heat, turning once, for 45 minutes or until just cooked through.

1 heaping tablespoon dried lavender buds

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup chopped toasted almonds (see page 61)

CAREFUL!

Watch the vodka closely when you're heating it—you don't want it to boil. Keep the pot lid handy, and if the alcohol combusts, quickly clamp the lid on the pot to smother the flames.

remove the chicken pieces, and pour the excess fat into a defatting pitcher or scoop it off with a spoon. (If you are serving the chicken later in the day or the next day, you can chili the liquid and then remove the hardened fat with a spoon.) There will be about Vk cups liquid.

about 20 minutes before serving time, heat the vodka to just below boiling in a small pan. Take it off the heat and add the lavender buds. Allow to steep for 15 minutes. Then strain out and discard the flowers, and add the vodka to the defatted pan juices. Heat the juices to cook off the alcohol, 3 to 4 minutes.

return the chicken and its sauce to the pot and heat gently until warmed through. Pour the honey over the top, add the toasted almonds, and serve.

FISH, MEAT, AND POULTRY

167

i love chinese-style sausages! Labeled Kam Yen Jan, Chinese-Style Sausages, Lap Xuong Thuong Hang, or Lop Cheung, they Ye made in the U.S. and are sold in 1-pound packages. TheyYe widely available—I've found them in every Chinese

grocery store I've ever been in, even in small towns

*

in New England. They are kept in the refrigerator or freezer section, and I usually buy a couple of packages and keep a supply in my home freezer. They are sweet and savory at the same time, and are unique in my experience because they are cooked by steaming rather than frying. If you don't have Chinese sausages, you can also make this dish with a wide variety of other sausage types-each will contribute its own unique flavor. I've tried it with Bruce Aidells' chicken and apple sausages, with his chorizo (you can find these at Costco, among other places), and with kielbasa. The dish is very good with a combination of different sausages, especially when half are Chinese-style and the rest are another kind. Just remember to cook whatever sausages you use thoroughly before adding them to the rice, unless they are precooked.

Bomba is definitely the best rice for this dish; use Arborio only if you don't have Bomba. You can order Bomba rice from La Tienda or The Spanish Table (see the Resources section).

You can vary the taste of this dish by using the optional ingredients-they add a depth of flavor.

Picture #148

1 to IV 2 pounds Chinese and other sausages

2 tablespoons fruity and fragrant olive oil

1 onion (Vidalia or other sweet onion, if possible), coarsely chopped

thoroughly cook the sausages: Chinese- style sausages are best cooked in a steamer over boiling water for 15 minutes. Most chicken sausage is precooked and needs no additional cooking; the same is true of kielbasa. Slice all the sausages thinly on the diagonal with a sharp knife. Set aside.

2 cloves garlic, peeled, mashed, and chopped

3 A cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves

1 n an earthenware cazuela (see page 169), a saute pan, a large shallow skillet, or a braising pot, gently heat the olive oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the onion and garlic, and slowly cook

Vi teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 ripe tomato, chopped (optional)

4 leaves fresh sage, finely chopped (optional)

Generous pinch saffron threads (optional)

3 cups chicken stock or water V 2 teaspoon coarse sea salt 1 cup Bomba or Arborio rice

them down until they are limp but not brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the parsley and cinnamon, and the tomato, sage, and saffron if using, and stir. Add the stock and heat until nearly boiling. Add the salt and the rice, and stir to combine.

distribute the sausage slices over the surface of the dish. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, without stirring, for 30 to 40 minutes or until the rice is cooked through. The timing will vary depending on the pot that is used—this timing is for a cazuela.

serve immediately.

A cazuela is a shallow earthenware cooking pot, and food cooked in it seems to have a different texture than food cooked in metal pans. I particularly like to cook rice dishes in cazuelas— it's what they

CAZU ELAS

were made for. You can buy a cazuela remarkably inexpensively from La Tienda or The Spanish Table. Most people advise using a flame-tamer under a stovetop clay pot; it is certainly essential with an

electric cooktop. I find, however, that I can use a cazuela directly on a gas flame, as long as I heat it up slowly from room temperature and never take it directly from refrigerator to range.

THIS BRAISE OF HEARTY FLAVORS makes a great combination with soft polenta (page 186) or rosemary mashed potatoes (page 188). I owe the idea of combining pork with juniper berries to Marcella Hazan. Juniper berries can be surprisingly hard to find; I buy mine in a food coop that sells spices in bulk, but they are also available from specialty stores such as A Cook's Wares and from spice merchants such as Penzey's. Muir Glen makes organic fire-roasted crushed tomatoes. Their distinctive taste is worth seeking out, but any good-quality canned crushed tomatoes will serve. This is a dish that tastes best when cooked in an enameled cast-iron Dutch oven, such as those made by Le Creuset.

I always try to cook this dish in advance because the flavor improves with age and because removing the fat is easier after chilling. Then all I have to do to finish dinner on a busy night is make the starch and a salad. This dish also freezes well.

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2 tablespoons olive-y and peppery olive oil

V 2 cup finely chopped mild onion

IV 2 pounds boneless "country- style" pork spareribs, cut into IV 2 - to 2-inch cubes

V 2 cup dry vermouth or gin

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

One 28-ounce can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes or other crushed tomatoes

30 juniper berries

3 anchovies

3 tablespoons fresh rosemary needles

heat a braising pan or a Dutch oven, and then add the oil and heat it until it shimmers. Add the onion and cook over low to medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Then raise the heat to medium-high, add the meat, and brown on all sides, about 25 minutes.

add the vermouth and vinegar, and turn the heat up slightly for a minute or two to evaporate the fumes. Add the tomatoes and lower the heat.

crush the juniper berries in a mortar and pestle, or put them in a plastic bag and crush them with a hammer or meat pounder. Pound the crushed berries with the anchovies and rosemary needles to make a coarse paste. Add this to the pot.

Coarse sea salt and freshly sprinkle salt to taste and a generous grinding

ground black pepper, to taste 0 f black pepper over the meat, and add 1 cup of

1 to 2 cups water the water. Cover and cook over very low heat for

Vk to 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender. Check the pot periodically to see if you need to add more water to prevent the stew from sticking or burning. If you are cooking it in a good heavy pot and can set the burner to a very low temperature, it probably won't be necessary.

when the meat is done, remove it with a slotted spoon and keep it warm. Cook the tomato broth until it is reduced to a thick sauce (about one third of its previous volume), about 10 minutes. If you are serving the stew immediately, defat the sauce with a spoon. Otherwise, refrigerate the meat and the sauce separately overnight, and remove the hardened fat with a knife the next day. Return the meat to the sauce, reheat it gently, and serve.

HEATING THE PAN BEF O PE ADDING THE OIL

Because the heat closes the pores of the metal, which means that food proteins can't get caught in it, preheating the pan before you heat the oil goes a long way toward preventing food from sticking. And because the pan's heat thins the oil, allowing it to cover more surface, you use less oil when cooking in a preheated pan.

Put the pan on the heat, and heat it over medium

heat until the sides of the pan feel hot to a quick touch. (Hot, not smoking!) Add the oil to the hot pan and let it heat for a few seconds, until it thins, shimmers, and smells fragrant, or until a drop of water or shred of food makes it sizzle. Now add the food to be cooked.

Learning to heat the pan first was a significant

step forward in my own cooking development, and it went a long way toward pleasing the dishwasher in my life. Pans that I'd formerly disdained as being too prone to sticking suddenly became my favorites, and the foods I cooked tasted better because they had a chance to develop a good outer crust.

EASY TO PREPARE AND GUARANTEED

Picture #150

to wow your guests, this festive grill meal has an exotic yet friendly flavor. Get your butcher to bone, butterfly, and trim the lamb to make one fairly even slab, or grab your sharpest knives and do it yourself. Start marinating the lamb in the morning of the night you plan to grill. If you can't charcoal-grill, try this under a broiler, setting the pan as close to the heating element as possible. Try this with Grilled Side Vegetables (page 184) for a whole grilled meal.

This marinade is also good with other meats to be grilled, such as butterflied whole chickens, cubes of lamb on skewers, or (as one of the testers reported) ground lamb "lamburgers."

One 5- to 7-pound leg of lamb, boned and butterflied

Turkish marinade

V 4 cup whole-milk plain yogurt (or sheep's-milk yogurt if you can get it)

V 4 cup olive-y and peppery olive oil

10 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced

2 tablespoons Turkish chili paste (available in Middle Eastern groceries) or 2 teaspoons hot paprika mixed with 2 tablespoons tomato paste

Juice of 1 lemon, plus the squeezed lemon cut into wedges

2 teaspoons fresh or dried mint leaves

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

place the butterflied lamb in a flat pan such as a roasting pan. Mix all the marinade ingredients together, and spread it on both sides of the lamb. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours and preferably for 6 to 8 hours. Bring to room temperature before grilling.

prepare and clean the grill and grate, if necessary. Lightly oil the grate. Light the charcoal and let it burn until it is gray and ashed over. Distribute the hot coals in two layers in half the grill area and in a lower single layer in the other half. Cover the grill for 5 to 10 minutes to distribute the heat. Then carefully place the slab of lamb over the highest heat (the double layer of coals) to sear it. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Check the meat—it will probably be ready to turn. It should have small char marks and a cooked aroma. After turning it, cook the meat for another 10 to 15 minutes on the lower heat. When the meat is pinkish in the center, remove it from the grill, let it rest for 10 minutes, then slice and serve.

BUTTERFLIED WHOLE CHICKEN UNDER A BRICK, TURKISH STYLE

The Turkish marinade (page 172) works very well with chicken, too. To butterfly a chicken, cut along both sides of the backbone with poultry shears or a sharp knife, and remove the backbone. Lay the chicken flat on a cutting board, and make small cuts along the shoulder and thigh to allow the chicken to lie flat. Cover with the marinade. Loosen

the skin of the breast with your fingers by putting your hand between skin and meat, gradually pulling them apart. Use a small spatula or your fingers to apply marinade under the skin.

Wrap a brick or a cast-iron frying pan with aluminum foil, and place it on the bird to keep it flat on the grill, skin side down.

Follow the grilling instructions for the lamb, adjusting the timing to ensure that the chicken is cooked through without any traces of pink, 25 to 30 minutes in all. The timing will depend on the size of the bird and the heat of the fire. Carefully cut into the leg to determine doneness—if there is any trace of pink, keep cooking until done.

NEl Hosnss OLNEIX

SI PRATICA L'AWTICA

CMmttZKME