A simple fresh salsa, chopped to a pleasing texture in the food processor, is all you need to complement succulent roast salmon. This salsa is endlessly versatile, so try it with other fish, chicken breasts or on top of scrambled eggs.
Zabaglione is a light, foamy custard. In this elegant dessert, the warm Grand Marnier-spiked custard is spooned over fresh strawberries just before serving. yield: Makes 2 servings
For many people tofu has become a staple in their diets, and rightly so. Though it is made from soy milk in roughly the same way cheese is made from mammal milk (a curdling agent is added, and it’s drained of excess water), tofu doesn’t take nearly as many forms as cheese. But neither is it solely the stuff of stir-fries. For example, I can almost guarantee you will be impressed by this dessert, a pudding that takes about as much time to make as hot chocolate. But there are a few qualifiers. Without chocolate, the flavor is unimpressive; it tastes like sweetened tofu.
Because of its shape, orzo can do nearly anything rice can do, and if youre a pasta lover, you might say orzo does it better. Saffron and fennel are two characteristic flavors in many Mediterranean dishes.
A Hungarian cook in Cleveland taught me the method of cooking shrimp in beer. The broth gives the crustaceans a remarkable taste. When you bring the liquid to a boil, watch it carefully so it doesn't bubble over. Serve the shrimp with cocktail sauce.
A quiche is ideal if you're expecting house guests and not sure when exactly they're arriving, or need something to have on hand for a weekend when everyone is coming and going at different times. Set the pie on the counter with a knife and a few plates and you'll see it disappear quickly. For some cooks, making pastry is daunting. But if you buy a quiche, the price is high - certainly higher than eggs, pie crust, and some vegetables cost. You're paying for someone to roll out that flaky crust.
Inspired by a Lebanese pasta dish, we toss steamed green beans with garlicky yogurt for an easy side dish. Try it with roast lamb.
Baking the cake in one 12-inch round pan creates a dessert with presence. Assorted edible flowers make an easy, great-looking garnish.
I recently devoured a sugar snap pea and radish salad at Locanda Verde, a new restaurant in TriBeCa, that was so succulent and sprightly that I became more determined than ever to make sure my next haul was large enough to accommodate both prodigious snacking and salad. Inspired, I also picked up some radishes, which have a gentle bitterness that pairs well with the crisp sugariness of the peas. Locanda Verde’s chef, Andrew Carmellini, dressed his salad with two pestos, a Sicilian one made from sun-dried tomatoes, almonds and olive oil, and a regular basil pesto.