PROSCIUTTO MELON WITH LIME AND CILANTRO
WARM FIGS FILLED WITH GOAT CHEESE AND BACON
MINTED LENTIL AND GOAT CHEESE STRUDEL
ROASTED OYSTERS WITH SORREL SAUCE
TOSS CANNED CHICKPEAS IN A HOT SKILLET with lots of olive oil, then finish them with rosemary and garlic, and they transform into this warm, chewy, and irresistible cocktail munch.
One 15-ounce can chickpeas
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Drain and rinse the chickpeas in a strainer. Turn them out onto paper towels or a clean dish towel and pat them dry. Pour the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and toss in the chickpeas. Cook them for 5 to 7 minutes, shaking the pan often. They won’t really brown, but they’ll turn several shades darker, shrink a bit, and form a light crust. Pour the chickpeas back into the strainer to drain the excess oil and then return them to the pan. Lower the heat to medium and add the rosemary and garlic. Stir for another minute or two until the garlic begins to brown. Sprinkle with the salt and a few grindings of pepper. Toss again and pour them into a serving bowl. Serve warm.
SALT
I use three kinds of salt in my kitchen:
KOSHER SALT is my all-purpose salt. I used Diamond Crystal brand to test the recipes in this book. If you must substitute table salt or fine sea salt for kosher salt, use one-third less.
FINE SALT is best for baking. I use fine sea salt, but ordinary table salt is fine.
COARSE SEA SALT is best sprinkled on food, especially meats and seafood, at the last minute. Fleur de sel is a wonderful French pure white salt, but there are many other good ones, such as Celtic gray or sel gris.
Most rosemary plants are upright shrubs growing 4 to 6 feet tall, though some varieties trail and can be used as a ground cover. Even though there are many specific rosemary cultivars, they essentially all taste similar. If I had to choose a favorite it would be Tuscan Blue, which has lush branches, an attractive upright shape, and brilliant blue flowers in early spring.
ROSEMARY WILL NOT SURVIVE THE WINTER outdoors in very cold climates. In zone 6 or lower, you’ll have to grow it in a pot and bring it indoors in winter, or put it in the ground and replant it each spring. In zone 7, you’ll have to plant it in a protected spot and mulch it well. Some varieties are more cold tolerant than others; Arp, though not the prettiest with its sparse gray needles, makes it through winters that other rosemary cultivars don’t.
LIKE SAGE, ROSEMARY IS BEST WHEN COOKED, rather than adding it at the last minute or using it raw, as in a salad.
THE INTENSITY OF THE FLAVOR OF ROSEMARY VARIES, depending on growing conditions. It is strongest in hot weather and can be very mild in the winter. You might need to adjust the amount you add to a recipe if you sense your rosemary is at one extreme.
ROSEMARY BLOOMS IN EARLY SPRING with tiny blue (or in certain varieties, pink or white) flowers. If you patiently gather them they are delicious sprinkled on salads or on any dish that rosemary would enhance.
ROSEMARY IS AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE that you should cut herbs back after they flower. Trim rosemary like any shrub, at any time, paying attention to the shape and size you want to achieve.
THIN, STIFF ROSEMARY BRANCHES make excellent skewers. Just strip the leaves off the lower portion and cut the lower tip at an angle so you can pierce the food.
SUBSTITUTING RYE FLOUR for part of the white flour in a flaky dough results in a crisp pastry with fuller flavor and much more character, and makes the dough easier to handle. It’s especially so in these cheese straws, laced with thyme and hopelessly addictive.
½ cup rye flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped thyme
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled
1 cup (3 ounces) Gruyère, shredded on the medium side of a box grater
½ cup ice water
Combine the flours, salt, and thyme in a medium mixing bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until it is the size of grains of barley, or if you prefer, you can pulse the ingredients in a food processor and then transfer them to the mixing bowl. Toss in the shredded cheese. Sprinkle with the ice water and stir with a wooden spoon or with your hands until all the crumbs are gathered up. When you squeeze a handful it should form a dough that doesn’t crumble apart. Squeeze it all together, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a long rectangle about 5 × 24 inches and ¼ inch thick. Use a pastry wheel or pizza wheel to cut ½-inch-wide strips in the short direction. Pinch in the sides of each strip in several places to begin to round them, then roll each on the board into a straw shape. Place the straws about ½ inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or Silpat.
Bake the straws, one pan at a time, for 18 to 22 minutes, or until golden brown. They will become very crisp as you allow them to cool on the pan. Once cool, they can be stored in an airtight container for up to a day.
herbal improvisations In place of the thyme, add 3 tablespoons of chopped rosemary or savory. Or, if you have caraway thyme in your garden, try it instead of English thyme.
SALTIMBOCCA, which means “jump-in-the-mouth,” is a classic Italian dish of veal scallops sandwiched with sage leaves and prosciutto and sometimes cheese. The filling itself is so good it doesn’t need the veal. I just dip bite-sized bundles of it in a light tempura batter and fry them until crisp.
4 ounces Italian washed-rind Fontina cheese or Gruyère
2 ounces very thinly sliced prosciutto (5 large slices)
40 medium sage leaves
BATTER
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder
2½ cups ice water
1 quart vegetable oil for frying
Cut the rind off the cheese then cut the cheese into slices ⅜ inch thick and then into rectangles slightly smaller than the size of the sage leaves (½ × 1½ inches).
Tear or cut off small pieces of prosciutto, approximately 2×3 inches, and wrap them around the pieces of cheese to completely cover them. This keeps them from leaking out when fried. Sandwich the packages between two sage leaves of similar size. The leaves won’t adhere until the bundles are dipped in the batter.
Whisk the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Pour in the ice water and stir briefly, only to moisten the dry ingredients. The batter should be lumpy. Pour the oil into a 3-quart saucepan and heat it until it reads 360°F on a deep-fry thermometer. One by one, lift the bundles by holding onto both sage leaves at one end and dip them into the batter. Let the excess batter drip from them for a moment, and then drop them into the hot oil. Fry 6 or 8 at a time until very lightly browned and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes, flipping them in the oil to brown both sides. Lift them out with a wire skimmer and drain on paper towels. Fry another batch when the oil returns to 360°F. When all the bundles are fried and drained, transfer them to a platter and serve right away.
EVERYONE’S FALLING FOR THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTHEAST ASIAN SUMMER ROLLS (formerly known as spring rolls) that are offered in many restaurants. An expertly made one is a work of art-a perfect balance of herbs, vegetables, cellophane noodles, and often shrimp or pork, rolled tightly in a translucent rice wrapper. Believe me, making them at home takes practice and patience. I wanted to create a simpler version so I took what I like best about them-the fragrant herbs-and tossed them with shredded iceberg, which has just the right crunch and weight to upholster them. They’re rolled up with peanuts as if they were crepes with open ends and served with nuoc cham, a Vietnamese dipping sauce.
DIPPING SAUCE
¼ cup Thai fish sauce
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 fresh Thai bird chiles, thinly sliced, or other small hot chile
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots
½ cup coarsely chopped spearmint or small leaves
½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
½ cup coarsely chopped sweet or Thai basil, or small whole leaves
1 ½ cups shredded iceberg lettuce
Twelve 6-inch rice paper rounds
½ cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Stir the ingredients for the dipping sauce together in a small bowl.
Toss the herbs and lettuce in a bowl until evenly combined. Fill a shallow bowl with warm tap water and drop in 4 of the rice papers, one at a time. In about 3 minutes they should be very soft and pliable. Lift them from the water and lay them out on a clean kitchen towel. Divide one-third of the herb mixture among the 4 papers, arranging each portion in a strip lengthwise across the center. Sprinkle with peanuts. Roll each one up into a snug cylinder and place it on a platter. Repeat the soaking, filling, and rolling in two more batches. Serve the rolls right away with the dipping sauce or cover them with a damp paper towel and then plastic wrap; they’ll hold for about 2 hours in a cool spot (not the refrigerator).
THINLY SLICED ITALIAN PROSCIUTTO DRAPED OVER PERFECTLY RIPE MELON-how can you improve on that? Well, I’ve guiltlessly taken liberties with this Italian classic. I’ve added a stroke of lime marmalade, which captures sweet, sour, salty, and bitter flavors, and tucked in cooling sprigs of cilantro. Every bite is a thrill.
At an informal gathering, these can be passed as finger food; otherwise, offer plates and forks. You can also prepare this dish with larger pieces of melon and prosciutto to serve as a first course for a sit-down dinner.
LIME MARMALADE
2 limes
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
8 thin slices quality prosciutto (about 5 ounces)
1 bunch cilantro, washed and spun dry
Half of a ripe melon, such as cantaloupe, honeydew, or galia, in thin slices
Remove the zest from the limes in thin strips (use a citrus zester, not a microplane). Slice the tops and bottoms off the limes and stand them on a cutting board. Cut off the pith in vertical strips, slicing just beneath the white layer, then slice the limes in ½-inch-thick rounds and cut each round in quarters.
Bring the sugar, water, lime zest, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Drop in the lime pieces and boil, uncovered and without stirring, for 8 minutes. Allow the marmalade to cool at room temperature (it will thicken and gel as it does).
Work with one slice of prosciutto at a time. Cut it in half and spread the middle of each portion with about ½ teaspoon marmalade. Lay several sprigs of cilantro across each piece, allowing the leaves to extend over the edges, and top with melon slices. Wrap the prosciutto around the melon. These are best served as soon as possible; the melon slices will weep as they sit.
herbal improvisation In place of cilantro sprigs, use small leaves or fine strips of spearmint.
ALTHOUGH FIGS RIPEN IN SUMMER, they love wintry herbs like thyme and rosemary, and both herbs flavor the filling for these easy appetizers. Start with really ripe sweet figs, warm them with the herby-smoky-salty filling and a bit of goat cheese, and you’ll have an unforgettable beginnig
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 ounces bacon, finely chopped
¼ cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped thyme, plus whole leaves for garnish
½ teaspoon salt
6 large ripe figs, at room temperature
¼ cup soft goat cheese
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a small skillet and render the bacon in it until it browns and is nearly crisp. Pour off half the fat and add the onion, rosemary, thyme, and salt. Cook, stirring often, until the onion softens, about 3 minutes, then remove it from the heat.
Cut the figs in half and press your thumb into the center of each half to make a small depression. Arrange them cut side up in a small shallow baking dish. Divide the filling among the figs, forming each portion into a small mound covering the top of the fig. Crumble the goat cheese and place a scant teaspoon of it on top of each mound of filling. Sprinkle with whole thyme leaves.
When ready to serve, bake the figs until just warmed through, about 5 minutes. Serve while still warm.
WHEN YOU BITE INTO THIS STRUDEL, you’ll find it hard to believe that it’s made with lentils. Lentils combined with mint, thyme, and goat cheese becomes a richly flavored filling that almost tastes as if it were made with lamb.
Be sure to follow the phyllo’s package directions for defrosting and handling; the dough is easy to work with when fresh and in good condition, but frustrating if the sheets become dry and torn. Phyllo sheets vary in size, depending on the brand, but the 9 × 14-inch size seems the most common; cut them to that size if they are larger. Once assembled, the strudels can be refrigerated until you are ready to bake them.
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ large onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 cup dry French-style lentils, such as lentilles du Puy
1 ¾ cups water
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 ½ tablespoons chopped thyme
¼ cup chopped spearmint
¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces soft goat cheese
24 sheets phyllo dough, 9 × 14 inches
12 tablespoons (6 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook the onion and garlic in it until they soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in the lentils, water, and salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pan, and cook until the lentils are tender, about 45 minutes. Transfer the lentils to a mixing bowl, draining off any liquid that might be left, and stir in the herbs and a good grinding of black pepper. Stir in the goat cheese.
Open up the package of phyllo. Always keep the sheets covered with a piece of plastic wrap and then a damp towel to keep them from drying out while you are working. Lift one sheet of phyllo and lay it on a piece of parchment paper. Brush the entire surface with melted butter. Cover with another piece of phyllo and more butter, and repeat until you have 4 layers with butter on the top. Divide the filling into 6 equal parts and form one part into a cylinder across the long side of the phyllo, about an inch from the edge. Lift the edge of the dough to begin to cover the filling, then grab the parchment from two corners and lift it so that the strudel rolls itself up loosely. It’s important not to roll it tightly or the filling will burst through the side as it expands in the oven. Lift the strudel onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and brush it with more melted butter. Form the remaining 5 strudels in the same way.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake the strudels for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Expect a small amount of the filling to pop out of the open ends as it bakes. Let cool on the pan until warm, then transfer to a board, and cut each strudel into 8 pieces.
THE SMOKY, HERBY SPREAD THAT TOPS THESE LITTLE TOASTS has a texture something like brandade, a French dish of pounded salt cod, but it’s so much easier to prepare.
8 ounces smoked trout, skinned
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped marjoram
2 tablespoons chopped chives
Freshly ground black pepper
A good crusty baguette
Extra virgin olive oil
Crumble the trout into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle. Add the butter, sour cream, herbs, and a good grinding of black pepper. Mix on medium speed until the fish is broken down, the butter is incorporated, and you have a coarse spread (if you don’t have a stand mixer, pulse the ingredients briefly in a food processor).
Preheat your broiler to high with the oven rack in the top third of the oven. Cut ¼-inch slices from the baguette with a serrated knife. Lay them out on a baking sheet and brush both sides lightly with olive oil. Put them under the broiler until the tops are nicely toasted.
Flip the toasts and spread about 2 teaspoons of the trout topping on each. Right before you are ready to serve them to your guests, run the toasts under the broiler until the edges brown and the topping is warm. Serve while still warm.
EVERYONE LOVES DEVILED EGGS. This version has the two herbs that are synonymous to both eggs and smoked salmon: chives and chervil.
12 large eggs
½ cup sour cream
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup (3 ounces) diced cold smoked salmon
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives, plus small tips for garnish
2 tablespoons chopped chervil, plus small sprigs for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper
Put the eggs in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot, and remove it from the heat. Exactly 18 minutes later, pour the hot water out and run cold water into the pot until the eggs are cool. Peel the eggs.
Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and remove the yolks. For a very smooth and creamy filling, push the yolks through a sieve with the back of a spoon; otherwise, just mash them with a fork in a mixing bowl. Beat in the sour cream and salt, then stir in the salmon, chives, chervil, and as much black pepper as you like. Spoon the filling back into the hollows of the whites. Cover and refrigerate the eggs until you are ready to serve. Garnish with the chive tips and chervil sprigs.
herbal improvisations In place of chervil, add 1 tablespoon chopped dill or 2 teaspoons chopped tarragon.
I CAN’T DENY THAT THE MOST EXALTED WAY to eat a pristine oyster is raw and on the half shell, but to be honest I most often prefer my oysters cooked, and I’ve never found a preparation that I like better than this one. The tart vegetal flavor of sorrel sauce perfectly highlights the brininess of the oysters.
Rock salt or kosher salt for lining the baking dish
18 live half-shell oysters, shucked and in their shells
4 ounces sorrel leaves, washed and spun dry (about 5 cups gently packed)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
¼ cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Spread rock salt about ½ inch deep in a large shallow baking dish that you will serve the oysters from. Arrange the oysters on the salt, keeping them as level as possible to prevent their liquor from spilling out.
Pull the stems off the sorrel. Stack a small bunch of the leaves on a cutting board, fold them in half, cut them into very fine strips, and set them aside for garnish. Chop the remaining leaves very coarsely. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook the shallots in it for about half a minute. Stir in the chopped sorrel, which will quickly wilt and melt into a drab green puree. Stir in the cream. When the sauce comes to a strong simmer, remove it from the heat. Stir in the lemon juice, ½ teaspoon Kosher salt, and a good grinding of black pepper.
Lift an oyster and put a heaping teaspoon of the sauce in the shell. Tuck the oyster back in the shell on top of the sauce. Repeat with all the oysters and sauce. Bake the oysters for 7 to 8 minutes, or until their liquor begins to bubble gently. Top them with the fine strips of sorrel. Serve the oysters from the baking dish of salt; your guests can lift them and eat them with cocktail forks as hors d’oeuvres, or serve them on plates as a first course.
Sorrel’s particular flavor comes from oxalic acid (which is also contained in spinach) rather than from essential oils like most other herbs. Another name for it is sour grass. The two most common types are garden sorrel, Rumex acetosa, which has large thin green leaves, and buckler leaf sorrel, Rumex scutatus, which has much smaller, quarter-sized leaves that are green or silver gray. Don’t pay attention to the term “French sorrel,” because both types can be labeled as that. There’s a new non-blooming variety with very broad, thick, and dark green leaves, but its fleshy texture is unpleasant to eat. Garden sorrel is the best choice for cooking, and buckler leaf sorrel is best in salads.
BEFORE COOKING GARDEN SORREL, pull off the stem and thick vein.
SORREL HAS TWO UNUSUAL CHARACTERISTICS: It magically melts into a sauce when you heat it, and it turns an unfortunate drab green color. To keep the color brighter, combine it with parsley.
TORN INTO PIECES, sorrel adds an interesting accent to green salads or to cooked greens like spinach and chard.
SLUGS AND SNAILS LOVE SORREL, so keep them at bay or you’ll have to share it with them.
SORREL HAS A VERY LONG GROWING SEASON. In mild climates it comes up in very early spring and you can harvest it until winter.
HARVEST SORREL BY CUTTING THE STEMS BACK all the way to the ground. You can cut the entire plant down and it will grow back quickly.
CUT THE FLOWER STALKS BACK whenever they appear to keep the plants from producing new leaves.
CHANCES ARE IF SOMEONE SAYS THEY DISLIKE EATING MUSSELS, they’ve never had them pan-fried. When you steam live mussels and take them out of the shell, then dredge them in flour and brown them in a skillet, they take on an entirely different character that appeals to just about everyone who likes seafood. I thread them on small woody stems of rosemary before frying to make hors d’oeuvres, flavored from the inside out, and they are especially good when dipped in oregano aïoli.
If you have a large rosemary plant in your garden, you shouldn’t have trouble gathering the correct size of sprigs. You want them to be woody enough to hold the mussels securely but thin enough not to mangle them when they are skewered. If you don’t grow it, keep your fingers crossed that the rosemary sprigs at your market will be just the right size, or substitute small bamboo skewers.
2 pounds medium to large fresh mussels (30 to 40), washed and beards removed
½ cup dry white wine
10 to 16 (depending on the size of the mussels) thin woody rosemary sprigs, 4 to 5 inches long
1 cup all-purpose flour
Fine sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil for frying
Oregano Aïoli (recipe follows)
Put the cleaned mussels in a large pot. Pour the wine over them, and cook them covered over high heat until they are all open, and then for an additional minute after that. Drain them into a colander (you can reserve the liquor for a chowder). Spread the mussels out on a baking sheet and refrigerate until cool. Remove the meat from the shells, using a paring knife to aid if they cling.
Cut the bottom of the rosemary sprigs at a sharp angle to create a point that can pierce the mussels. Strip the needles off the bottom three-quarters of the stems, leaving a tuft at the top. Spear 3 mussels onto each skewer. The skewers can be loaded ahead of time and kept covered in the refrigerator for up to a day.
When ready to serve, mix the flour with 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper on a large plate. Pour a ¼-inch layer of olive oil into a large skillet placed over medium heat. Dredge the skewers with the seasoned flour and shake off the excess. One by one, carefully arrange the skewers in the skillet, keeping the tufts of needles propped against the sloping sides of the pan and out of the oil if possible. The mussels might sputter and pop, so if you have a splatter screen, use it. Cook them until lightly browned on both sides. Drain the skewers on paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with more salt and serve them warm with the aïoli.
THIS WILL MAKE MUCH MORE THAN YOU NEED FOR 16 SKEWERS, but it’s tricky to make it in a smaller batch. The leftovers can be used as a sandwich spread or vegetable dip.
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon kosher salt
A dash of Tabasco sauce
¼ cup Greek oregano leaves
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Put the egg yolks, lemon juice, garlic, salt, Tabasco, and oregano in a food processor. Turn the machine on and slowly pour in the olive oil in a steady stream.
herbal improvisations In place of the oregano, add the same quantity of marjoram or spearmint.
I HAVE NO LUCK GROWING LEMON GRASS in the Pacific Northwest, but each summer my lemon verbena erupts into a shrub as tall as I am. Its piercing lemon flavor is very similar to lemon grass–maybe even more intense–and its leaves are easier to chop and incorporate. I use it to flavor these Southeast Asian-inspired meatballs, which make light summer cocktail bites when served with minted yogurt. Or you can build a meal around them with a bowl of steamed rice. Be sure the pork is not too lean or the meatballs will be dry.
1 pound ground pork butt
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped, or an equivalent amount of any other fresh hot chile
4 green onions, finely chopped
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons finely chopped lemon verbena
1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped spearmint
1 cup plain yogurt
Stiff branches of lemon verbena or rosemary for skewers
Put the pork, garlic, jalapeño, green onions, lemon verbena, cilantro, ginger, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Dig in with your hands and toss, squeeze, and knead it all together until evenly combined. Pinch off pieces of the meat, about 1 ½ tablespoons in size, and roll them into balls. Put them on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until you’re ready to cook them.
Pour the oil into a 12-inch or larger skillet set over medium heat. When it’s hot, place the meatballs quite closely together in the pan. You should be able to fit them all in. Unless your pan is nonstick, they will stick, but just let them stay where they are until the bottoms are deeply browned, then loosen by scraping them from the pan with a thin spatula. Flip and keep cooking and turning them until most of the surfaces are browned, about 10 minutes total. Cut into one to make sure it is cooked through. Transfer the meatballs to a platter, and keep them warm in a very low oven if you’re not ready to serve them right away.
Stir the mint into the yogurt and pour it into a small bowl for dipping. Arrange the meatballs on a platter and spear them with skewers made of lemon verbena or rosemary branches.
herbal improvisation No lemon verbena? Add the same quantity of chopped spearmint in its place.
