Israeli couscous is small, round, toasted pasta with grains about the size of peppercorns. Serve this dish chilled or at room temperature.
The mildly spicy piment d'Espelette Mayonnaise is France's very own chili powder. It's available at specialty foods stores and from zingermans.com.
This subtly spicy mayo is great on fish and sandwiches—and on fries, too.
Black pepper potato chips (use kettle-cooked, which are sturdier) are a surprising and delicious base for this starter. OK, here's how you can make this work for an elegant cocktail party treat: First, use high quality chips. If you don't care to make your own (which isn't hard by the way), then use "kettle" style chips - either black pepper and sea salt, or rosemary work particularly well. Select only the best appearing chips from the bag to use for this recipe. Blend freshly grated lemon peel into the container of creme fraiche. Decorate with freshly snipped chives.
The test kitchen prefers baked ziti made with heavy cream, but whole milk can be substituted by increasing the amount of cornstarch to 2 teaspoons and increasing the cooking time in step 3 by 1 to 2 minutes. Our preferred brand of mozzarella is Dragone Whole Milk Mozzarella. Part-skim mozzarella can also be used, but avoid pre-shredded cheese, as it does not melt well.
Feta and fresh herbs mixed into butter make a fantastic topping for summer corn on the cob.
In Ireland and the UK, a flapjack is a baked bar, cooked in an oven tin and cut into rectangles, made from rolled oats, fat (typically butter), brown sugar and usually Golden syrup or honey. As well as being baked at home, they are widely available in shops, ready-packaged, often with extra ingredients such as chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, yoghurt and toffee pieces or coatings, either as individual servings or full unsliced trayfuls. They are usually an alternative to a biscuit (cookie) or cake, and textures range from soft and moist to dry and crisp.
The Original: Any old canned tuna mixed with cream of something (chicken, celery, mushroom) soup. Our Version: Oil-packed albacore in a roux-thickened sauce flavored with leeks, dill, and Gruyère. Our one old-school concession? A crunchy, crushed-potato-chip topping.
The Original: Eggs baked (or poached) in a spicy tomato sauce. Our Version: A heartier (and healthier) meal, thanks to the addition of artichoke hearts and potatoes.
This soup is good and velvety on its own, but the chile butter adds a luxurious crowning touch.