Category Archives: Recipes (Savory)

Gazpacho — Mexican-Style

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Gaspacho -- done as a sweet, tangy, subtly spicy fruit salad instead.
Gaspacho — done as a sweet, tangy, subtly spicy fruit salad instead.

Rick Martinez says his mouth starts to water just thinking about this refreshing dish.

It’s easy to understand why, because his “Gaspacho Moreliano” is the antidote to the torrid heat of summer.

It’s quenching and cooling like Spanish gazpacho, but this Mexican version is far more substantial because it’s not a soup, but a sweet-tangy-spicy-savory fruit salad.

The recipe is from Martinez’s first cookbook, “Mi Cocina” (Penguin Random House), of which I received a review copy.

The host of the YouTube series, “Pruebalo,” and a contributor to Bon Appetit magazine and the New York Times, Martinez, he grew up in a small town outside of Austin, TX, where he was the first child of Mexican heritage to attend that then all-white elementary school.

It was his late mother who inspired his passion for cooking. Even though her own mother and aunties had passed away already, his mom decided to start anew the tradition of making tamales for the holidays, figuring out the exact recipe along the way through trial and error on her own. She hoped the practice would be passed down to her sons. For Martinez, it ignited a deep, unwavering love for his heritage, culture, and family.

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A Go For Gochujang Gravy

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Garlic, ginger, mustard greens, and gochujang flavor this meaty, versatile gravy.
Garlic, ginger, mustard greens, and gochujang flavor this meaty, versatile gravy.

Italian Americans may have the tradition of Sunday gravy, that behemoth pot of long-cooked red sauce full of sausages and various cuts of meat that gets ladled over heaps of toothsome pasta.

For the rest of us who don’t have that many hours to devote nor such a sizeable army to feed, there is instead “Gochujang Gravy.”

It’s a meaty, saucy mixture that tastes long-simmered even if it’s not. And it gets an Asian bent with gochujang, the fermented Korean pepper paste.

This satisfying recipe is from “I Dream of Dinner (So You Don’t Have To)” (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy.

It’s the first cookbook by Brooklyn recipe developer Ali Slagle, whose weeknight recipes are a fixture in the New York Times and Washington Post.

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A Different Way to Cook Shrimp

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An easy, flavorful shrimp recipe with an interesting cooking technique.
An easy, flavorful shrimp recipe with an interesting cooking technique.

Over the years, I’ve cooked shrimp every which way — grilled, roasted, sauteed, stir-fried, poached, and even sous vide.

But never have I cooked them in a cold pan to start.

Until now.

“Pan-Seared Shrimp with Pistachio, Cumin, and Parsley” presents an intriguing method: You first place all the shrimp in one layer in a nonstick pan on top of the stove. And then, and only then, do you turn on the burner to high.

The recipe is from “The New Cooking School Cookbook” (2021), of which I received a review copy, by America’s Test Kitchen.

As the name implies, the more than 500 recipes are all technique-driven and even offer interesting science lessons to boot.

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Matt Horn’s Oxtails with Sweet Barbecue Sauce

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Oxtails with sweet barbecue sauce from the new "Horn Barbecue'' cookbook.
Oxtails with sweet barbecue sauce from the new “Horn Barbecue” cookbook.

If like me, you greatly admire people who persevere against punishing odds, then Matt Horn surely deserves your utmost esteem.

Read the first few pages of his new cookbook, “Horn Barbecue” (Harvard Common Press), of which I received a review copy, and it will just about break your heart.

In it, Horn recounts his earliest pop-up in 2016 in the broiling summer heat in Tracy. He had been up all night, readying his spareribs, pulled pork, and brisket that he set up in a cramped black tent outside Ralph’s Bar. Horn, who intended to stay there until all the food was sold, was joined by his wife, who was then eight months pregnant.

As the hours ticked by, the sweltering temperatures rose only higher. In that time, only one customer made a purchase. Just one.

Horn couldn’t have felt more dejected or more like giving up.

The last thing he wanted to do was to have to cart all that food back home — along with his wounded pride. So, he loaded it all up and drove to an impoverished part of town, where many were unhoused. He started doling out the food for free to eager and hungry folks. It was at that moment that he felt the true power of his cooking — the ability to connect and bring joy to people.

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Coq Au Vin — In Meatball Form

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Moist chicken meatballs and meaty shiitakes, all in a creamy-dreamy sauce.
Moist chicken meatballs and meaty shiitakes, all in a creamy-dreamy sauce.

Classic French coq au vin in winter is total comfort. But when the weather warms, you might not crave something quite so hearty, heavy, and long-simmered.

Enter “Coq Au Vin Blanc Meatballs,” which lightens up the traditional chicken parts braised in red wine until fork-tender for flavorful little meatballs simmered in white wine instead. This version also shaves off a good amount of cooking time.

This fun recipe is from “Half Baked Harvest Every Day” (Clarkson Potter) by New York Times best-selling cookbook author Tieghan Gerard of Colorado, whose Half Baked Harvest blog has grown into a true phenomenon.

In her newest cookbook, she offers up more than 120 recipes sure to get you salivating morning, noon and night. Try your hand at everything from “Giant Spinach and Artichoke Soft Pretzel” and “Pizza Pasta” to “Blackened Salmon Skewers with Feta Caprese,” “Malted Milk Cookie Dough Cups,” and “Spiced Blackberry Whisky Sour.”

Just like classic coq au vin, there’s bacon involved. Chopped pieces get rendered in a pan, then set aside. Meatballs, formed from ground chicken mixed with an egg, panko, and salt and pepper, then get seared in the residual bacon fat.

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