Chef Amy Loveless uses frozen raspberries for chutney. In the summer, she makes it with black currants, blackberries, or blueberries. The chutney is a bit tart to balance the richness of the salmon. Start the wheat berries a day in advance.
Smoked fish, particularly smoked haddock, is exceptionally good in chowder. The sweet and briny smokiness tastes just right in a delicate milky broth. Finnan haddie is a type of smoked haddock originally from Finnan (also called Findon), a Scottish fishing village on the North Sea near Aberdeen. In Scotland at one time, haddock was lightly salted and then cold-smoked very gently over a slow peat fire. These days a similar product, still called finnan haddie, is smoked in New England over hard wood.
Ann Stanley, Kevin Conzo's late grandmother, made these cocoa cookies with a cookie press. You can also shape balls by hand. They make a nice snack with a cup of coffee and won't fall apart when dunked.
Sicilian caponata is similar to southern French ratatouille; both are stews of eggplant and other vegetables. And like ratatouille, caponata is served as a side dish with roast meat or grilled fish. To my taste, caponata is best on its own, served as a first course, or as an entree for lunch, with some lightly dressed greens on the side. Serve caponata at room temperature with roast meats, grilled fish, or with a green salad.
A popular tapa served in bars and cafes across Spain, tortilla is a versatile treat that is served warm or at room temperature, for lunch or with drinks.
Great Thai food relies on fresh ingredients. Kaffir lime leaf, culantro, galangal, fish sauce, and chili-bean paste are available at Asian markets. Some of the ingredients - lemongrass, galangal, and lime leaf - are for flavoring only; they're not eaten. Typical Thai table condiments such as sugar, fish sauce, dried crushed chilies, and vinegar allow diners to adjust the four main flavors: sweet, salty, hot, and sour. If you like, substitute boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/4-inch slices, for the shrimp.
Adapted from “Mediterranean Light,” by Martha Rose Shulman (Morrow, 2000)
This cake is also delicious the day after it is baked. The spices meld and the texture gets even more like a steamed pudding.
Adapted from “The Working Cook,” by Tara Duggan (The San Francisco Chronicle, 2006)