A Herbivoracious side dish: Potato and Green Bean Salad with Arugula Pesto

This warm, garlicky potato and green bean salad is bursting with summery flavors of mint, arugula and lemon juice. Recipe below.

We’re trying to eat less meat these days. It’s healthier for us, some would argue, and definitely healthier for the planet. We sometimes do it by having meatless days. And we eat smaller portions of meat when we have it; this is an approach Mark Bittman urges us all to take, to use meat as a flavoring or move it to the side of the plate, with vegetables taking the starring role. In an interview this spring on NPR, he envisioned a scenario in which meat “could resume its proper place in our lives, which is as a treat rather than as something we can eat whenever we feel like it.”

I’ll admit I’m not there yet. When I go more than a few days without eating meat, I miss it. A lot. So when author Michael Natkin told me he’s been a vegetarian for 30 years now, it was almost more than my brain could take in. Marion and I were at a book tour event for Natkin’s excellent new vegetarian cookbook, Herbivoracious: A Flavor Revolution with 150 Vibrant and Original Vegetarian Recipes. Continue reading “A Herbivoracious side dish: Potato and Green Bean Salad with Arugula Pesto” →

It’s too darn hot: Six cool recipes for when it’s just too hot to cook

With temperatures hovering around 100º for the foreseeable future, I’ve dipped into the Blue Kitchen archives for some no-cook and minimal-cook recipes.

The recent heatwave has the Cole Porter classic “Too Darn Hot” running through my head—as sung by Ella Fitzgerald, of course. What the heat doesn’t have me thinking about, despite my best intentions, is the kitchen. Here are a few ideas for some cool foods that require little or no cooking. A couple are complete meals. Others can be paired with sandwich makings—cold cuts or a store-bought roast chicken, for instance—so you can eat well without overheating.

1. Berry Blue Cheese Watercress Salad

Take advantage of abundant berries now in the market. Blueberries and raspberries team up with watercress, butter lettuce, blue cheese and a simple vinaigrette for the salad shown above. Every ingredient plays a role, from the fresh, tart berries to the peppery watercress and earthy blue cheese, in creating a lively summer salad. Here’s the recipe. Continue reading “It’s too darn hot: Six cool recipes for when it’s just too hot to cook” →

A barely warm dinner for hot nights: Butter Poached Tilapia with Thyme and Mixed Greens

Chunks of fresh fish are poached in butter and olive oil over very low heat with fresh thyme, salt and pepper and served over a simple salad for a quick, cool summer meal. Recipe below.

Summer didn’t just arrive in Chicago this year. It squeezed its big, hot, sweaty self between us on the couch and settled in, kicking off its shoes, radiating heat and acting like it had no place else to be for a while. In weather like this, you don’t want to heat up the kitchen cooking a big, hot meal that no one feels like eating anyway. Poaching in butter isn’t necessarily a hot weather cooking technique, but in this case it was perfect for the heat.

I stumbled on the technique when I was looking for more traditional fish poaching methods that I figured might involve white wine and broth. When I read Melissa Clark’s informative and charmingly confessional piece on the topic in the New York Times, I was hooked. Continue reading “A barely warm dinner for hot nights: Butter Poached Tilapia with Thyme and Mixed Greens” →

One versatile spice rub, two recipes, part 2: Tandoori-spiced Pork Tenderloin

Last week’s spice rub of cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric and cayenne flavors a one-pan braised meal: Tandoori-spiced Pork Tenderloin with Chickpeas and Spinach. Recipe below.

Don’t you hate it when a recipe tells you to reserve the rest of some ingredient “for another use?” Usually, I end up with half a jalapeño pepper or something dutifully wrapped in plastic and stowed in the fridge until it rots. But that’s exactly what I did last week—told you to reserve the rest of the tandoori spice rub from the Tandoori-spiced Grilled Salmon recipe “for another use.”

Unlike most times when recipes tell you to do that, though, I’m going to show you what to do with that reserved spice rub right now. This use points up the rub’s versatility. Last week, it was grilling and salmon; this week, it’s stovetop braising and pork. It could as easily be roasting and chicken or stir frying and shrimp or tofu. Continue reading “One versatile spice rub, two recipes, part 2: Tandoori-spiced Pork Tenderloin” →

One versatile spice rub, two recipes, part 1: Tandoori-spiced Grilled Salmon

A spice rub of cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric and cayenne teams with fresh ginger and garlic to create an aromatic marinade for Tandoori-spiced Grilled Salmon. Recipe below.

Quick note: This is the first of two recipes using this fragrant, flavorful, slightly spicy rub. Check back next week for a one-pan dinner recipe.

For no good reason I can think of, I often consider grilling a peculiarly American cooking method. It is, of course, not. The basic technique was pretty much born when early man learned to build a fire, and just about every culture has embraced it and created its own spin on it. Continue reading “One versatile spice rub, two recipes, part 1: Tandoori-spiced Grilled Salmon” →

Top this: Blackberry Thyme Compote tops pound cake, ice cream, waffles, pancakes…

Five ingredients—blackberries, lemon juice, sugar, water and fresh thyme—cook quickly into a compote that can be used to top homemade or store-bought desserts beautifully. Recipe below.

I was surprised when I bit into some fresh blackberries last week. Okay, partly because they weren’t just good, but really wonderful (I guess even the ever bountiful California has its seasonal differences). But the big surprise was that I immediately thought of dessert.

Dessert doesn’t see a lot of action at our house. I mean, we always keep something sweet in the house—dark chocolate bars, rice pudding, the occasional package of cookies. But after dinner, we don’t usually think of dessert as a course, as something that needs preparing. More often, it’s “I could use a little something sweet.” And that need is frequently met with a couple of squares of chocolate or even a piece of bread with some apricot jam (we are never without apricot jam).

In fact, when we’re putting together a small dinner party, we sometimes have to remind ourselves to plan a dessert for it. So that those juicy, sweet blackberries made me think of dessert surprised me. Continue reading “Top this: Blackberry Thyme Compote tops pound cake, ice cream, waffles, pancakes…” →

Compound interest for steaks: Cilantro Jalapeño Compound Butter

Simple pan-seared steaks are topped with a compound butter made with cilantro, jalapeño peppers, shallots and lime juice for a lively flavor boost. Recipe below.

Julia Child famously said, “If you’re afraid of butter, just use cream.” We’re not afraid of butter. It sees a lot of action in our kitchen, if in moderate amounts. Sometimes, it’s just a pat added to oil in a pan to give something a little buttery goodness.

So compound butters already have something going for them in my book because, well, they contain butter. Simply put, compound butters are butter with something added for flavor. Those herb butters that come with dinner rolls in some restaurants are an example.

Often, though, compound butters are used as finishing sauces for fish, meats or vegetables, a dollop placed on the still hot food just before serving, melting into and onto it as we eat. Continue reading “Compound interest for steaks: Cilantro Jalapeño Compound Butter” →

Fruit as the dessert course: Sautéed Pears with Thyme and Ice Cream

Pear slices sautéed with butter and fresh thyme and topped with ice cream and lemon zest create a fresh, decadent dessert. Recipe below.

Sometimes, dinner parties can be all glossy and elaborate, with candlelight, multiple extravagant courses and multiple opportunities to overindulge. And while this dessert would hold its own in that setting, it came out of the other kind of dinner party. The over-the-top informal kind that can only be shared with really old friends—and that is every bit as much fun.

We spent Sunday afternoon wandering around the Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing with our friend Casey. We’ve known her longer than we’ve known our own daughters, so when we got back to our apartment, we were totally comfortable convening in the kitchen to throw together a simple dinner. Continue reading “Fruit as the dessert course: Sautéed Pears with Thyme and Ice Cream” →

A hearty winter meal with a hint of spring: Lamb Thyme Meatballs with Vegetables

Lamb meatballs, peas, carrots and potato wedges, all flavored with fresh thyme, satisfy in winter, taste like spring. Recipe below.

Last week’s recipe was inspired by boredom. This week’s was born of disaster. I spent much of Sunday afternoon in the kitchen, filling it—and the entire apartment, in fact—with heavenly smells, if I say so myself. The taste of the finished dish delivered on the aroma, and the dish was acceptably photogenic. Sadly, it was also irreparably dry and chewy.

At moments like this, I sometimes question what I’m doing here in the food blogosphere. On occasion, as on Sunday night when I lay in bed wondering what I was going to do now for a post, the question takes a succinct and, well, non-question form: “I suck.” Continue reading “A hearty winter meal with a hint of spring: Lamb Thyme Meatballs with Vegetables” →

The unexpected rewards of culinary boredom: Moroccan Lamb Chops with Chickpeas

A Moroccan spice rub with cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and other spices is used to flavor both pan grilled lamb chops and a side of chickpeas with golden raisins. Recipes below.

Boredom is underrated. To me, it’s often a critical part of the creative process. When I’m cooking for Blue Kitchen posts, I’m always actively looking for new ingredients, techniques and ideas—or at least new to me. But when I’m just cooking to get something on the table for a weeknight dinner, I can fall into a rut, cooking reliable favorites over and over.

Such was the case when I grabbed a couple of lamb shoulder chops at the supermarket recently. These flavorful, cheap cuts of lamb see lots of action at our house. I was planning the next night’s dinner and went through the current kitchen inventory in my head. We had potatoes and lettuce at home, so the lamb was all I needed. I would pan grill the chops after tenderizing them with kosher salt, the way I almost always do. And I would serve them with garlicky mashed potatoes and a salad. The way I almost always do. But then boredom kicked in. Continue reading “The unexpected rewards of culinary boredom: Moroccan Lamb Chops with Chickpeas” →