There are a few versions of spinach gratin in Provence (there it is called a tian). This one is all about spinach – no eggs or cheese, just spinach and lots of garlic, a bit of flour to absorb moisture and hold everything together, and bread crumbs to make the top nice and crisp.
The license to call this nourishing one-dish meal a bouillabaisse comes with the generous pinch of saffron that is added to the broth. It is one of many humble, filling and comforting vegetable soups from Provence that are given that lofty title.
This is a classic combination for a quiche, but it’s lighter, with a whole-wheat and olive oil crust.
My curry guru, Raghavan Iyer, author of “660 Curries,” describes paneer, the firm Indian cheese, as “fresh, firm and chewy” and “not unlike a block of extra-firm tofu,” and says you can substitute tofu for it in a pinch. I’ve taken him at his word and used tofu instead of cheese in this classic Indian dish.
The classic Chinese way to clean shrimp and ensure a succulent flavor and crisp texture, says Grace Young, author of “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge,” is to use a combination of salt and water, either dousing the shrimp in two rinses of heavily salted water or rubbing the shrimp with salt, then rinsing with water. If you don’t eat salt, then just rinse the shrimp with plain water. I recommend bunch spinach for this; you don’t have to stem it, just cut away the base of the leaves and rinse well.
Most people who love Asian flavors will adore this dish, especially if it is served alongside simple sautéed spinach. The topping is a cross between a peanut sauce and teriyaki. Fish can make a healthy, satisfying meal, and this recipe is so simple that even a beginner home cook who is intimidated by cooking fish can make it with ease.
Make sure your limes are well washed. Cut limes into fourths and put them in a blenders jar together with the peanuts, the sugar and water; blend at high speed for around 45 seconds until all ingredients are finely crushed. Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer and into a glass jar, pressing down on the solids to obtain as much liquid out as possible. Incorporate the remaining water and stir well. Divide ice cubes into 4 large tumblers, garnish each with a lime wheel, pour in 2 tablespoons of rum into each if using and fill glasses with the peanut lemonade stir and enjoy.
If you want to add a little spice to your life, try cooking with fresh ginger. I grate it into soups, smoothies, desserts (especially ice cream), preserves and sauces.
When buying fresh ginger, look for heavy pieces with smooth brown skin and no wrinkling or mold. Fresh ginger is hard and breaks cleanly with a snap. If you see pieces with fibers coming out at the break, they’re old.
Here, spinach undergoes four completely distinct treatments: superfast wilting in a pan; not-much- slower steaming in a pot; braised and almost a full meal; and superslow, a technique I really love, and one that results in astonishingly fine creamed spinach and the like. (These are generally so high-fat that they effectively neutralize spinach’s supposed health benefits, an interesting paradox.)
For our pan-roasted asparagus recipe, we wanted a simple stovetop cooking method that would deliver crisp, evenly browned spears without the fuss of having to rotate each spear individually. Along with the oil and asparagus, we added just a little butter to the skillet and covered the pan so that the water evaporating from the butter began steaming the asparagus, providing enough additional moisture to finish cooking the spears to a bright green, crisp-tender stage.