Recipe of the Month: April

These are just pretty tomatoes. They have nothing to do with the post.

The year is going by quickly. Tomorrow it will be May and Cook In / Dine Out will have been up for almost 4 months. April's most popular recipe was the Chicken Tortilla Pie, followed by the Lemon Cake with Honey-Mascarpone Frosting and Ginger-Brown Sugar Ice Cream. The most popular post for the second month is the Happy Endings Whore's Bath cocktail.

While I like every recipe that I post, I have my own favorites. These are the five recipes I've posted in the last 4 months that I like best:

1. Roasted Chicken with Greens and Bread Salad. I just love this dish. Every time I see it posted on my blog I want to have some. The bread salad, in particular, has such a remarkable flavor. 

2. Southwestern Salmon with Black Eyed Pea Succotash and Yellow Pepper Sauce. I like this dish a lot because it's an interesting combination of flavors and the colors make a beautiful presentation.

3. Gnocchi with Sausage-Mushroom Ragu. Gnocchi is a big hit in our house. This batch turned out perfectly and the sauce, while rich, complemented the little dumplings without burying their potato flavor.

4. Turkey and Butternut Squash Meat Loaf. I like this dish because I consider it a rather bold experiment that exceeded my expectations for how well it worked. 

5. Astoria Salad. This was the first recipe I posted and it's one of my favorite salads. I like that it takes a classic dish--Waldorf Salad--and reinterprets it as something lighter and fresher.

And my favorite cocktail:

Honey-Nut Old Fashioned. Another grand experiment that actually worked well. I've not done a lot of liquor infusions, so I feel fortunate that my first attempt, which could have gone horribly wrong, resulted in a nice flavor combination. Plus the fact that I was able to tie the whole thing into a popular cereal was fun too.

Pork Chops with Maple-Peppercorn Sauce

Years ago, The Washington Post published a foolproof recipe for perfectly cooked pork chops. I've made it many times since then and it works great. The meat is seared on the outside, tender on the inside, and the pan residue is ripe for deglazing to make whatever pan sauce inspires you.

There are two essentials for doing it right. First, you need a frying pan with a lid. For three chops, I find a 10-inch pan is just the right size. Second, you need to buy the right type of chops. The recipe recommends boneless chops that are about an inch thick. Thinner chops will overcook and dry out; thicker chops might work, but would require longer cooking.

Then it's just a matter of heating the pan really hot with a little oil. Since the pan is going to be quite hot, it should be an oil with a lower smoke point, so olive oil is out, since heating extra-virgin olive oil to a high temperature will give it a funky taste. I used canola; vegetable would work too.


For the sauce, I wanted something sweet and spicy rooted in flavors that go well with pork. Since pork chops and applesauce go well together, I decided to use apple brandy as its base, adding maple syrup for complex sweetness and brined peppercorns (the soft kind you can chew whole).

Under the chops, I made Mark Bittman's Spinach with Currants and Pine Nuts, which Chris and I both really liked. I could see pairing this with other meats or fish. And then on the side, I served White Asparagus with Brown Butter.


Pork Chops with Maple-Peppercorn Sauce
Pork Chops adapted from The Washington Post, 1+1+4+4 Pork Chops

1 tbsp. canola oil
3 boneless pork chops, 1 inch thick
Seasoned salt to taste
1/4 cup apple brandy (I use Apple Jack)
1 tsp. brined green peppercorns
2 tbsp. maple syrup
3 tbsp. heavy cream

1. Heat canola oil in a medium-size frying pan over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Pat chops dry, season with seasoned salt and add to pan. Sear for 1 minute, turn pork chops and sear other side for 1 minute. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 4 minutes. Turn chops and cook covered for another 4 minutes. Remove chops from pan, tent with foil and allow to rest while making pan sauce.

2. Increase heat to medium. When pan juices start to sizzle, add apple brandy. Cook until reduced by about half. Add peppercorns, syrup and cream. Swirl to combine and cook for a few more minutes to thicken.

3. Slice chops into 1/4-inch slices. Arrange on plate and top with maple-peppercorn sauce.

Spinach with Currants and Pine Nuts
Adapted from Mark Bittman's Spinach with Currants and Nuts

8 oz. fresh spinach, rinsed clean
2 tbsp. currants
2 tbsp. pine nuts
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add spinach and boil for about 5 minutes. Drain spinach and rinse with cold water.

2. While spinach is boiling, add currants to small bowl and cover with warm water. Heat a small frying pan over medium-low heat and toast pine nuts until fragrant and lightly browned.

3. Squeeze spinach to remove water, wrap with towels and squeeze again to remove additional water.

4. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until golden. Add spinach and cook, stirring for about 2 minutes. Drain currants and add to pan along with pine nuts. Cook for another 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

White Asparagus with Brown Butter

For years I've wondered about but never tasted white asparagus. Those ghostly sprigs show up in the grocery store around this time of year, looking like zombie versions of the more common green type.

White asparagus is white because it's grown underground, preventing sunlight from reaching the stalks and thus inhibiting chlorophyll production.

Although green asparagus has woody parts, the outer part of white asparagus is even tougher and must be peeled off before preparing (the snap method does not work for white asparagus). Nonetheless, the stalks themselves are more tender, so this must be done carefully. The recommended method is to lie the stalks flat on a cutting board and run a vegetable peeler over them, starting about an inch below the tip. Even doing this, I broke a few, so be careful.

I tasted a small piece of the raw, peeled white asparagus. The flavor reminded me of bean sprouts, which I suppose makes sense, given that they too grow underground. Cooked, the stalks have a more delicate, less bitter flavor than their green counterpart.

I like this recipe from Gastronomer's Guide, which uses a simple preparation paired with brown butter and fresh parsley.

White Asparagus with Brown Butter
Adapted from Gastronomer's Guide, White Asparagus with Brown-Butter Vinaigrette

1 bunch white asparagus
Salt
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. lemon juice (juice from 1/2 lemon)
1 tbsp. sherry vinegar
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1. Cut off about an inch from the bottom of the asparagus stalks and discard. With a vegetable peeler, carefully peel off the outer layer of the white asparagus stalks starting about an inch below the tip.

2. Fill a deep-sided skillet or large saucepan (large enough that the stalks can lie flat when placed in the pan) about halfway (2 inches) with water. Add salt (a tablespoon or so should do it) and asparagus spears. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 5 minutes.

3. Heat a small saucepan over medium heat (a stainless steel pan will work better than a nonstick pan, since it's lighter surface will allow you to better observe the browning of the butter). Add butter and cook until butter has browned, swirling occasionally to better ensure even heating, about 5 minutes. Pour butter into a glass measuring cup and whisk together with lemon juice and vinegar.

4. Place asparagus on a plate, spoon brown butter sauce over spears and sprinkle with parsley.

Cocktail: Anejo Highball

I have highball glasses, but I never think to use them. Nonetheless, the Anejo Highball tastes just as great in a lowball glass, which is easier to deal with. This is a recipe that appeared in the Washington Post and comes from Brad Thomas Parsons' Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas.

Anejo Highball

1/2 oz. rum
1/2 oz. orange liqueur (Cointreau)
1/4 oz. fresh-squeezed lime juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Ginger beer
(Optional garnishes: lime and orange wheels)

Combine rum, Cointreau, lime juice and bitters in a glass over ice. Top with ginger beer.

Chicken Asparagus Salad

This salad recipe uses the simple broiled asparagus from Monday, cooled and chopped and tossed with the other ingredients. It's a great mid-week recipe: quick, simple, healthy and tasty. If you are lucky enough to be able to barbecue, I bet this would be great with grilled asparagus and chicken.

Chicken Asparagus Salad

1/3 cup walnut halves
4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb. chicken breast cutlets
Seasoned salt and fresh-ground black pepper
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. honey
1 bunch of broiled asparagus, chopped into 1-inch pieces
3-4 cups arugula
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced julienne
4 oz. chèvre (goat cheese)


1. Toast walnut halves in a small frying pan over medium-low heat until fragrant and lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

2. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add chicken breast cutlets to pan, season with salt and pepper and cook until done, about 10 minutes turning halfway through. Remove from pan, cool and slice.

3. To make dressing, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, mustard and honey, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Combine asparagus, arugula and yellow pepper in a large bowl. Toss with dressing. Divide into plates and serve topped with goat cheese, walnuts and chicken.

Food (Section) Fight!: Week 16

Food (Section) Fight! is my weekly look at The Washington Post's Food section and The New York Times' Dining section with my verdict on which section had the better content for the week.


New York Times
Dining featured two really great front page stories today. First, Jeff Gordinier, quickly becoming my favorite Dining section writer, tackled a subject near and dear to me: cooking with music. He interviews chefs about their musical tastes in the kitchen, how central music is to their work and how their musical personality is seeping into the dining room. As a former music blogger turned food blogger, this story held particular interest for me. Love that it features my favorite ice cream chef, Jeni Britton Bauer.


I also really liked Jan Hoffman's story about 12 year-old Marshall Reid who learned to cook healthy food after being teased for being fat and is now an activist to help other children eat better too. He calls his effort "Portion Size Me," (Hoffman also calls it the "Marshall plan," clever), which he and his mom recently turned into a book. It's an inspiring and very human story, as Reid, now healthier but still struggling with his weight, admits to the same dessert temptations faced by many of us all the time.


Pete Wells gives two stars to Empellón Cocina, the East Village Mexican restaurant from Alex Stupak, the former pastry chef of New York's WD-50 and Chicago's Alinea. The restaurant has received a fair amount of buzz, so it's nice to see it get a decent review. Wells points out that Stupak's cooking isn't authentically Mexican, but draws on those flavors to design his own creative dishes, like a gordita made with deep-fried egg yolk served with smoked plantains and chorizo. The guacamole, served with pistachios and masa chips, sounds really good too.


Elaine Sciolino has a piece on the pursuit of the perfect pea. I love peas, although I'm not quite passionate enough to read the whole thing. However, the accompanying recipe for Petits Pois de L’Oustau de Baumanière, which is French for Awesome Sounding Peas with Bacon, is something I must make soon. In keeping with my asparagus theme this week, the Times offers a recipe for Penne with Asparagus Carbonara. 



Washington Post
In contrast to the Times, I wasn't really excited about either of the Food section's front page stories, although both have their merits. Jim Shahin explores innovative barbecue cooking, something that would probably interest me more if I had a barbecue (one of the few food drawbacks of living in the city). Joe Yonan pops in for a Cooking for One column on eggs, particularly eggs from your own coop which, again, not something I can do where I live, although it bring back fond memories of gathering eggs in the morning on my grandma's farm. 


Two things I really liked today: Bonnie Benwick's Dinner in Minutes recipe and Jason Wilson's Spirits column. Bonnie offered up a Broccoli Soup with Cheddar Croutons, which uses yogurt instead of cream as a thickener plus an interest spice blend of cumin seed, fennel seed and coriander. Jason Wilson's column focuses on cocktails made with grapefruit juice, a personal favorite for building interesting drinks (see, for example, my blog's to-date most popular post: The Happy Endings Whore's Bath). He demonstrates its versatility, offering up suggested drinks with mezcal, tequila, vodka and aquavit. During today's chat he offered quite a few more examples too.


Verdict
New York Times. Great front pages stories and a review of Alex Stupak's restaurant definitely carries it to victory this week.


Score
The New York Times: 9
The Washington Post: 7

Salmon with Tarragon-Lemon Yogurt Sauce

This is a tangy spring-leaning sauce to brighten up broiled salmon with asparagus. I recently discovered the utility of Greek yogurt. It has great texture, making a creamy sauce that is much lighter (fat free) than if using sour cream.

 Since I don't have a mortar and pestle, I use the rounded end of a cocktail muddler to grind the garlic into a paste. A sprinkle of salt helps the process.

To trim asparagus, simply bend the stalks and let them break at their natural breaking point. Discard the thicker, tough ends (the ends without the buds).

Salmon and Asparagus with Tarragon-Lemon Yogurt Sauce

3/4 lb. salmon fillet
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
Seasoned salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
1 lb. of asparagus, ends trimmed

Yogurt sauce:
1 garlic clove
Pinch of sea salt
1 tsp. lemon zest
2 tsp. lemon juice
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon
1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1. To make the salmon, preheat broiler with oven rack in highest position (about 4-5 inches from broiler). Stir together olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, seasoned salt and fresh-ground black pepper. Place salmon fillet skin side down on baking sheet sprayed with olive oil. Spread garlic-oil mixture on flesh side. Broil 5 minutes, flip fillet and broil 5 minutes more. Remove charred salmon skin and check for doneness. Broil an additional minute if salmon isn't cooked enough. Cut fillet in half.

2. To make the asparagus, toss with olive oil and seasoned salt and broil for about 7-8 minutes (if you use a large baking pan, you can broil the salmon and asparagus side-by-side).

3. To make the sauce, chop the garlic, add to a bowl with a pinch of salt and grind to a fine paste. Add the other ingredients and stir to combine.

4. Serve salmon on top of asparagus topped with the yogurt sauce and a sprinkling of fresh tarragon leaves.