Category Archives: Recipes (Savory)

Duck, Duck…Dried Plums or Prunes

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Duck legs get a lot of love with red wine and dried plums.

Duck legs get a lot of love with red wine and dried plums.

 

There is something that has annoyed me to no end for quite awhile. And I know I’m not the only one who frets about this rather unforgivable injustice.

It’s when someone refers to me as “ma’am.”

I bristle.

Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was “Miss”?

What happened to those days?

I know it’s only semantics. Still, it’s a bruiser. No, I may not like it, but I have glumly accepted it.

That’s what irks me about prunes. Oh sure, they get to be called “dried plums” now. What’s up with that?

Like the rest of us “ma’ams,” I’m sure they felt labeled “old and decrepit” beyond their years with that moniker. But somehow, they’re fortunate to get a new name, one that’s peppier and more youthful. We should all be so lucky, right?

I couldn’t help but think of that amusingly when I spied a recipe for “Red Wine-Braised Duck Legs with Dried Plums.” It’s a classic French country recipe, though, back in the day it was known as duck with prunes.

Wine Country Table

The recipe is from the new “Wine Country Table: With Recipes that Celebrate California’s Sustainable Harvest” (Rizzoli), of which I received a review copy. It’s written by veteran award-winning cookbook author Janet Fletcher, who makes her home in the Napa Valley, in collaboration with the Wine Institute.

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Southern Italian Pork with Grapes

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Plenty of plump red grapes along with juicy tender pork. All over soft polenta.

Plenty of plump red grapes along with juicy tender pork. All over soft polenta.

 

Rustic Italian dishes with comforting flavors that speak to the soul.

Ones that are classic — not flashy. And that are in danger of disappearing.

That’s what “Food of the Italian South: Recipes for Classic, Disappearing, and Lost Dishes” (Clarkson Potter) is all about.

The new cookbook, of which I received a review copy, is by Katie Parla, a Rome-based food and wine writer who was a culinary consultant on Season 2 of Netflix’s “Master of None.”

Through 85 recipes, she shines a light on the simple yet satisfying dishes of Basilicata, Calabria, Compania, Molise and Puglia. Take a taste of everything from “Bread Dumplings with Potato and Tomato Broth” and “Orecchiette with Burrata, Tomatoes, and Almond Pesto” to “Egg and Ham Pie” to “Jam Tart with Lard Crust.”

Food of the Italian South

“Pork Cooked with Grapes” (Spezzatino All’Uva) is home-style cooking at its best, a dish of few ingredients that you combine, then let cook on its own, until the pork-fruity flavors marry.

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Any Night’s Right for Pasta Aglio E Olio Con Peperoncino

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Classic olive oil-garlic-hot pepper pasta gets a boost.

Classic olive oil-garlic-hot pepper pasta gets a boost.

 

You gotta love a recipe that’s so easy yet so sublime that it can be both a quick clean-out-the-pantry desperation dish, as well as a fit-for-company dazzler.

“Pasta Aglio E Olio Con Peperoncino” is exactly that.

It’s straight-forward enough to whip together on a weeknight when you don’t know what else to make after coming home after work. And it’s special enough to make for spur-of-the-moment guests who come calling unexpectedly.

It’s from “House of Vinegar: The Power of Sour, with Recipes” (Ten Speed Press), of which I received a review copy. It’s by James Beard Award-winning Chef Jonathon Sawyer of Cleveland’s Greenhouse Tavern. You may recognize as a competitor on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef Gauntlet” and the Cooking Channel’s “Chopped.”

House of Vinegar

As the name implies, the book is all about how vinegar can transform dishes. Depending upon how much you use, it adds noticeable tang, rounds flavors, and can help tame and balance sweetness, bitterness and saltiness.

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Salt Fat Acid Heat — And A Whole Meyer Lemon

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This lively Meyer lemon salsa will add more punch to most anything.

This lively Meyer lemon salsa will add more punch to most anything.

 

Meet one of the easiest, most useful recipes you’ll ever encounter: “Meyer Lemon Salsa.”

Of course it’s from the best-selling Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking (Simon & Schuster, 2017) by Berkeley’s extraordinary Samin Nosrat.

If you haven’t yet picked up a copy of the book, do yourself a favor and get one pronto. With whimsical illustrations and a warm, engaging voice, it will teach you instantly and painlessly how to be a better cook.

Salt Fat Acid Heat

And if you haven’t yet caught Nosrat’s “Salt Fat Acid Heat” four-part Netflix cooking show, binge-watch it this week. It’s thoroughly captivating and will make you fall in love with this natural-born teacher and food personality with the winning, infectious spirit.

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Greek Spicy Aromatic Braised Lamb Shanks with Chickpeas

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Big, meaty lamb shanks braised with nutty chickpeas.

Big, meaty lamb shanks braised with nutty chickpeas.

 

Besides my KitchenAid mixer, the workhorse of my kitchen — especially at this time of year — is my Dutch oven.

In bewitching cobalt and made by Le Creuset, it’s an investment that has paid off handsomely in the many satisfying soups and stews it has cooked slowly, evenly and nourishingly.

So I grabbed it immediately when I spied the recipe for “Spicy Aromatic Braised Lamb Shanks with Chickpeas” in the newest cookbook by chef, cooking school owner and Greek cuisine expert Diane Kochilas.

“My Greek Table: Authentic Flavors and Modern Home Cooking from My Kitchen to Yours” (St. Martin’s Press), of which I received a review copy, is all about the dishes that Kochilas cooks at home for friends and family, be they classics or innovations inspired by Mediterranean ingredients. There’s everything from “Whole Wheat Baklava Muffins” and “Greek-Style Tuna Melt” to “Artichoke Moussaka with Caramelized Onions and Feta” and “Ouzo-Glazed Chicken Wings.”

My Greek Table

This lamb dish, originally from the islands of eastern Aegean, will require you to use your largest Dutch oven on hand, as six shanks take up quite a bit of real estate.

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