Cook’s Country: Crispy Fish Sticks with Tartar Sauce

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Kate

I’m sure there were kids in the Midwest in the 1960s who ate all kinds of great seafood.  Maybe they went “fishing” with their parents (look it up, it’s a real thing!) and ate what they caught.  Or perhaps they were urban sophisticates who experienced fine dining early in their lives.  I was not one of those kids.  The combination of non-cooking mom and picky-eating kid meant my experience with fish was strictly this:

How my mother ever got me to eat these I have no idea but I ate them regularly throughout my childhood and learned to “cook” them myself relatively early on.  I actually liked them and looked forward to them.  They were as uniform and predictable as a Katherine Heigl rom-com and they usually turned out just like they look on the package.  I did not, however, eat the tartar sauce — that was asking too much of my limited culinary courage.  Ketchup worked just fine.

I’m sure there are kids (and adults) still eating them quite happily.  If you are one of them I ask you to try, just try, making them from scratch.  Like many convenience foods we consume without a second thought, it’s probably easier than you think and quite delicious.  And this is the kind of dish Cook’s Country was born to take on.

Start with some cod fillets (or haddock, halibut or catfish. I used cod.  Have you seen the price of halibut?) Pat dry, season and cut into stick shapes as best you can. You will then dip them, in order, into flour, egg mixed with mayo, and a saltine/breadcrumb mixture. Then a quick saute in some vegetable oil and you’re done. The tartar sauce is just mayo, minced pickles with a little pickle juice and some capers.

The hardest part was cutting the fillets into the classic stick shape; real fillets just don’t lend themselves to it. Unless the nice people at Gorton’s or Mrs. Paul’s are sourcing some kind of perfectly square breed of fish I think they’re cheating.  There, I said it.  For you, home cook, it doesn’t matter.  Do your best and just try to get them to be similar in size and shape so they all cook at the same rate and you’ll be fine.

These are delicious and well worth making yourself.  Completely do-able on a week night and maybe they will get your picky-eaters to try some fish.  Yes, they can have ketchup with them.  No, they can’t pick the breading off and leave the fish behind.

Crispy Fish Sticks with Tartar Sauce are from the August/September 2007 issue of Cook’s Country.

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Chicken Tikka Masala

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Kate

From the April 2013 issue of Bon Appetit comes this very delicious, very easy Tikka. There are just a couple of things I want to say about it.

One, the spices are key so if yours are old, or if you have no idea how old they are, or if they have a paper price sticker and it says something like 39-cents, or if you’re cooking at my mom’s apartment, throw them out and buy a fresh bottle. I usually go through spices quickly enough that it’s not a problem but paprika seems to be one of the ones that lingers on long past its efficacy. Then it’s just red powder. Pretty, but pointless from a flavor perspective. In the case of this recipe I’m thinking it might be your ground coriander, if you have such a thing.

Second, you will never, ever, if you live to be as old as Brooke Astor, get the gunk off the wire rack you broil the chicken on. I even took the precaution of spraying mine with vegetable oil spray and still the yogurt mixture got into every tiny crevice of that damn thing. So hit it hard with the Pam and be prepared to spend some time with it after dinner. (Or maybe you’re a normal person and have a bristly scrub brush; that should work.)

As you can see I served this with basmati rice and green peas to make it a one-dish meal. I forgot to buy naan but that would be a perfect side (or you could even serve the Tikka on top of the naan).

Chicken Tikka Masala can be found right here on Epicurious.

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Meatless: Mini Broccoli and Pasta Casseroles

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Kate

The idea of a mini casserole is certainly adorable enough but those of us who don’t live in a dollhouse might not have “six 1-1/2 cup baking dishes.” I know I don’t and, trust me, I’ve got a lot of stuff. Ramekins, yes. Madeleine pan, check. Things I bought here just to say I bought them, you better believe it.  I’ve got Pyrex and metal and non-stick.  I’ve got clay pots and porcelain and Nordic Ware.  But not even one 1-1/2 cup baking dishes.  So I made this as one large casserole.

It’s a fine dish but bland.  As soon as I finished eating it I was making notes on how to coax some flavor out of it.  One thing I’ve learned from Cook’s Illustrated is that a little cayenne pepper — and I mean a very little, like 1/4 of a teaspoon — acts as a flavor booster more than bringing any kind of heat whatsoever.  You may also recall that my biggest take-away from Michael Ruhlman was the importance of acid in highlighting and magnifying flavor, so I thought about adding a little bit of lemon juice to the sauce.  Why I have to think of all this when I assume Martha has an army of terrified kitchen assistants who should be doing it is a question I can’t answer.

My other recommendation is to not top the dish with the breadcrumbs right away; they will almost surely incinerate.  Put them on during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Mini Broccoli and Pasta Casseroles is on page 175 of Meatless and right here courtesy of the Providence Journal.

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Meatless: Broccoli Rabe and Butternut Squash Pizzas with Hazelnut Dough

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Kate

Let’s start out with a winner from this book.

I probably have more recipes for pizza and pizza dough than any other single type of dish.  I’ve got a skillet pizza dough (that uses beer as the leavener), a recipe for grilled pizza (amazing), quick pizza doughs, slow pizza doughs, thin crust, deep dish, french bread…you get the picture.

This one, however, might be my new favorite.  The twist is adding a small amount (1/2 cup) of hazelnut meal to the dough.  You can use any other type of nut meal (I used almond) or you can make your own by toasting nuts in the oven and then grinding them in the food processor.  That’s all there is to it.

I’m not entirely sure what the nut flour does here; the crust had a great flavor but not a particularly nutty one.  What really won me over was how easy this dough was to make and work with.  Because some of them are just maddening.  They tear, they stubbornly snap back into a 4″ ball every time you try to stretch them into a 9″ round, they shrink in the oven, they fight you back when you knead them.  It’s like they spend all that rising time thinking of ways to frustrate you and make you have a kitchen tantrum.  It’s enough to make you wonder why you’re bothering when grocery stores are filled with frozen, fresh and made-to-order pizzas for every taste and occasion.  Not to mention stores where you can buy pizza components and put them together at home.  (Which seems like a pretty ingenious way of Tom Sawyer-ing you into doing most of the work and charging you for the privilege.  Remind me to open a bakery that sells unadorned cakes and tubs of frosting in my next career).

Some of us, however, just can’t let the pizza dough win.

All that’s required here is to bloom some yeast, add the flours, and let rise for an hour or so.  Divide into two balls which you can then refrigerate or freeze if you’re not using right away.  Then shape, top, and bake.  Bonus: you don’t need a pizza stone, or a pizza peel.

I also loved these toppings.  Because I’d rather have dental x-rays than slice squash, I bought mine cubed in a bag, so I roasted it a little in the oven before putting it on the pizza.  I like to sprinkle a little extra coarse salt on my pizza when it comes out of the oven (along with a little olive oil) and did that here too.  The finished crust is really pretty perfect: light and tasty, closer to a focaccia than a typical thin-crust pizza.

“Martha” (like she really wrote any of this) says the frozen dough will keep for up to 3 months.  Just wrap it in some plastic wrap after it rises and you’ve shape it into balls.  Thaw overnight in the fridge and you’ve got amazing weeknight pizza.

Broccoli Rabe and Butternut Squash Pizzas are on MarthaStewart.com (along with links to the Hazelnut Dough) and on page 248 of Meatless.

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The Next Book: Meatless: More Than 200 of the Very Best Vegetarian Recipes

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Kate

I know, I know, I poke fun at Martha. A lot. In my defense I’d like to think 1. she’s asking for it and 2. she’s crying all the way to the bank.  And 3. she has no earthly idea who I am and never will (unless she’d like to talk about buying out KateCookstheBooks.com because I will sell out in a New York minute!)

Reader, you may be shocked to know that once upon a time I owned all of her gorgeous coffee table books and subscribed early on to Martha Stewart Living.  And I will argue to this day that she represents an important chapter in Feminist history. Strange as it may sound now, it was a real epiphany in the 1980s to be told that it was ok to like cooking and ok to like having a nice house (and to knit, and to craft and to make a fetish out of something like ironing or disinfecting your garden tools or…oh damn, there I go again!)

All of which is to say that while I may not currently follow the Queen of all Omnimedia, I’m willing to listen to what she has to say from time to time.  And that time is now and this is the cookbook.

Let’s see what she’s got, shall we?

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Review: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Kate

I’d like to think that Deb Perelman and I are a lot alike but all I can come up with to support that is that we’re both happy in the kitchen.  But it’s enough, I think, to claim a connection.

Tomato-Glazed Meatloaves with Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes (pg. 187)

What does it mean to be happy in the kitchen, besides the obvious?  It means when you eat something good in the real world your second thought (after “I’m so happy to be eating this right now”) is “how can I replicate this at home?”  It means you plan your weekend around baking.  It means cooking for someone is your default means of letting them know you care about them.  It means you are the designated cake-maker for every office birthday.  It also means you’d better spend every non-cooking and non-eating minute on the treadmill.

Deb says she cooks because she’s picky and obsessive.  She wants to keep making a dish until she’s certain she’s tweaked it into perfection.  And then she needs to share it.  And that was the impetus for SmittenKitchen.com (and KateCookstheBooks.com too).  After all, as satisfying as cooking is, and as exhilarating as it is to be able to make the best onion rings you’ve ever tasted right in your own kitchen, it’s most often a solitary activity.  Especially if, like Deb, you have a doll-house kitchen or, like me, you become unfocused and mentally scattered by having people around when you’re cooking (I love you all but you are distracting.  I didn’t invite you over to socialize for crying out loud).  So there you stand, with those insanely good onion rings, and you know you cannot keep them to yourself.  You thank Leonard Kleinrock (or Al Gore depending on your belief system) for inventing the Interwebs and you get the word out.  And if you’re talented, have something new to say, and you’re a little lucky, 5 squillion people a day will visit your site.  And then the awesome, brilliant people at Knopf will call and ask you to write a cookbook (I can be reached at kate@katecooksthebooks.com, email me Knopf!)

As much as Deb’s mission is to tell you about truly life-changing recipes, she is also a working mom with space and time limitations and knows that if something is going to require an entire day of cooking and three hours of clean up, it had better be extraordinary.  And she knows that most of the time you want something extraordinary that you can pull off in 45 minutes on a Tuesday night.  (Because, as Joan Didion said when asked why she used her good silver every day: “Every day is all there is.”)

Alex’s Chocolate Raspberry Rugelach (pg. 212)

The Smitten Kitchen cookbook is the culmination of refining recipes, incorporating feedback from an ever-increasing readership, and Deb’s own evolution as a cook.  Her many years as a vegetarian mean that the meatless main dishes in the book are outstanding and unapologetic.  Becoming a parent lent a new purpose to her cooking as she tried to please a developing palate and make food that was appealing to a baby and then a toddler and healthy at the same time.  Living in Manhattan with, as she says,  ”the tenderest meatballs or the world’s most ethereal hummus” also informs her eating, cooking and recipe development.

The result is a book with instructions that are clear, friendly, and sympathetic.  The photographs make me ill with envy but, of course, contribute to our understanding of dish and the recipe (and, I believe, were all taken by Deb in her own kitchen).  I particularly like Deb’s practical eye — why dirty three pans when one will suffice?  Do-ahead instructions are always included and who doesn’t appreciate that?

One question that comes up now that cooking blogs regularly evolve into printed cookbooks is “how much replication is there between the book and the web site?”  In other words, “Should I buy this particular cow if most of the milk is already out there for free?”  By Deb’s estimation, the book is 85% new material and the 15% from the site has been “retested, reworked and streamlined.”  In my experience with the book, this is accurate.  And I say this somewhat grudgingly as it’s easier for me to link you to her site for the recipe rather than have to search for an alternate legitimate source or, God forbid, type if all out myself (with instructions in my own words, per prevailing copyright laws.  All legal here, thanks for checking Feds and publishers!)

The vast majority of ingredients are easy to find and substitutions are given when they’re not.  There are some exceptions; finding cranberry beans, fresh or canned, or ground sumac is certainly attainable in Chicago, it just requires a trip to another store or neighborhood.  (And why do cookbook authors think that we’re all drowning in fresh peas all the time?  I rarely see these anywhere but the farmer’s market and even there for a short time.)  In most cases (e.g. the sumac) I either just left it out or made my own substitution with no ill effects.  Comfort foods are represented but Deb always brings something new to them (Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats, Buttered Popcorn Cookies).

Maya’s Sweet and Sour Holiday Brisket (pg. 183)

I love this book as a great collection of weeknight meals, special treats, lots of great breakfast ideas (which you know I will turn into dinner if I feel like it, and I usually do), a robust vegetarian section, and delightful desserts.

Because Deb hasn’t slowed down a bit since the book was published I fully expect this to be the first in a series of Smitten Kitchen cookbooks.  Until then, keep up with her at SmittenKitchen.com (as I clicked over just now to get the link the most recent recipe was Blood Orange Margaritas.  Off to get drunk now!)

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Cook’s Illustrated: Chicken Parmesan

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Kate

Oh hell yes this was good.

What did Cook’s Illustrated want?  “A juicy cutlet that kept its crunch.”  When did they want it?  ”Twenty years ago would have been nice but now works.”

As with many popular dishes there are many bad ways to make chicken parmesan and many points where you can go wrong and end up with dry chicken coated in soggy crumbs swimming in bland sauce with tough cheese.  Here’s an example (looks like the lifeguard’s day off at Lake Marinara):

Poached Chicken Pucks anyone? Anyone???

Which begs the question: if this gets ruined so often why is it so ubiquitous and so popular?  Because when it’s good it’s very, very good.

Here’s what Cook’s fixed: a combination of shredded cheese and panko makes a crispier crust; slicing the breast halves into cutlets reduces cooking time and helps keep the chicken from drying out; putting the cheese between the cutlets and the sauce creates a moisture barrier.

But the best adaptation, in my book, is not throwing everything into a casserole dish and baking it.  After the cutlets are sauteed, the mozzarella is sprinkled on top and they go under the boiler to melt and brown.  The sauce is spooned over the finished product, just before serving.  Well played!

As if that weren’t enough, the sauce is a really good, basic, quick, easy marinara and, as written, makes enough to also sauce a pound of pasta (buccantini in this case) (or you can freeze it).  While the sauce is simmering just boil the pasta and you’re 2/3 or of the way to a complete meal.

The hardest part of this recipe may be cutting the breast halves into cutlets.  All I can tell you about that is have a sharp knife, a steady hand, and take your time.  No one cares if you don’t get two cutlets of exactly the same thickness (although I did.  Just sayin.)  The point is to create thin pieces of chicken that will saute quickly and evenly.  Or you can just buy them this way.  Quitter.

Here is what I forgot to do in this recipe: 1. buy fontina (so my crust was all whole-milk mozzarella); buy fresh basil; add remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the marinara at the end.  And still it was an outstanding meal.  Would make a great sandwich too, don’t you think?

Best Chicken Parmesan
From Cook’s Illustrated, March/April 2013
Serves 4
Printable version

Ingredients

1 lb. pasta

Sauce

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves , minced
Kosher salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Pinch red pepper flakes
1(28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil

Chicken

2 (6- to 8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts , trimmed, halved horizontally, and pounded 1/2 inch thick
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 ounces whole-milk mozzarella cheese , shredded (1/2 cup)
2 ounces fontina cheese , shredded (1/2 cup)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese , grated (3/4 cup)
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup torn fresh basil

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for pasta.

FOR THE SAUCE:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in medium saucepan over medium heat until just shimmering. Add garlic, ¾ teaspoon salt, oregano, and pepper flakes; cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant (I find this happens very, very quickly, about 15 seconds). Stir in tomatoes and sugar; increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes. Off heat, stir in basil and remaining 1 tablespoon oil; season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and keep warm. You will want to reserve 1/2 cup of the sauce to spoon over cutlets in the end; the rest will sauce the pasta.

FOR THE CHICKEN:

2. Sprinkle each side of each cutlet with 1/8 teaspoon salt and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. Combine mozzarella and fontina in bowl; set aside.

3. Adjust oven rack 4 inches from broiler element (this is the top rack in my oven) and heat broiler. Whisk egg and flour together in shallow dish or pie plate until smooth. Toss together Parmesan, panko, garlic powder, oregano, and pepper in second shallow dish or pie plate. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Dredge cutlets, one at a time, in egg mixture, allowing excess to drip off. Coat all sides in Parmesan mixture, pressing gently so crumbs adhere. Transfer cutlet to large plate and repeat with remaining cutlets.

4. Add 2 tablespoons salt to boiling pasta water, cook, and drain pasta.

5. Heat vegetable oil in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Carefully place 2 cutlets in skillet and cook without moving them until bottoms are crispy and deep golden brown, 1½ to 2 minutes. Using tongs, carefully flip cutlets and cook on second side until deep golden brown, 1½ to 2 minutes. Transfer cutlets to paper towel–lined plate and repeat with remaining cutlets.

6. Place cutlets on rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle cheese mixture evenly over cutlets, covering as much surface area as possible. Broil until cheese is melted and beginning to brown, 2 to 4 minutes, rotating baking sheet as necessary for even browning. Transfer chicken to serving platter and top each cutlet with 2 tablespoons sauce. Sprinkle with basil and serve immediately with sauced pasta.

 

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Creamy Pappardelle with Leeks and Bacon

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Kate

Oh just go make it, you know you want to.

It’s from the February 2013 Bon Appetit and right here on Epicurious. What are you waiting for?

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The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Sesame-Spiced Turkey Meatballs and Smashed Chickpea Salad

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Kate

I love dishes like this because I never would have thought of this on my own.  And yet I love every part of it: turkey meatballs sitting on top of some mashed chickpeas.

Deb’s story behind this recipe is that she thought she’d found the elusive something new under the sun until she realized that what she’d actually come up with was a meat version of falafel.  Hey, if it were me I would count that as new and pat myself on the back for a month.

So easy for a weeknight.  Saute the meatballs and smash the cooked chickpeas in a bowl with spices, olives and olive oil.  The chickpea mash was a tiny bit bland so I would salt pretty aggressively.  I believe you could substitute ground lamb for the turkey and, if some pita pockets found their way to the table, you’d have a pretty amazing sandwich.

Sesame-Spiced Turkey Meatballs and Smashed Chickpea Salad is on page 167 of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.  They are also here from our friends in Montreal.

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Hearty Spanish-Style Lentil and Chorizo Soup

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Kate

What is it with the Spanish food lately?  Must be the weather.

Because it’s officially cold outside.  Here in Chicago we’ve had some freakishly mild weather and a disconcerting lack of snow.  Until this past week when we got those character-building below-zero wind chills we know and love and were able to break out the dilapidated lawn chairs to claim our shoveled-out parking spaces.  Cause that’s how we roll.

A soup like this must have been created with chilled bones, numb fingers and runny noses in mind.  If you’ve sent someone out to shovel the sidewalk, walk the dog, or take the kids sledding they will not mind at all if they can return to the smell of this incredible soup bubbling away on the stove.  They might even forget that they spent the last half hour convinced you were trying to kill them.

It’s got lentils, it’s got chorizo (one of my all-time favorite cured meats), it’s got carrots and onions and smoked paprika and garlic.  It makes enough to feed an entire hockey team and it improves with age.  It might be the perfect food.  There’s also a variation with kale just in case you’re one of those nut cases who needs to have something green in their food in order to live with themselves (and I am one of them).  You could use kielbasa or any similar type of sausage (including veggie sausage) or omit the meat entirely to make it vegetarian (and vegan).

I could not find lentils du Puy so just used the regular, store-brand kind.  They get a quick (30-minute) soak in boiling water and salt to speed up their tenderization so the soup doesn’t need to cook for hours and hours (although with all the chopping, browning and simmering I would allow at least 90 minutes and preferably 2 hours from start to finish).

Hearty Spanish-Style Lentil and Chorizo Soup
Cook’s Illustrated, March/April 2013
Printable version
Serves 6 to 8

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb. (2-1/4 cups) lentils, picked over and rinsed
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 large onion
  • 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1-1/2 pounds Spanish-style chorizo sausage, pricked with fork several times
  • 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
  • 7 cups water, plus extra as needed
  • 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar, plus extra for seasoning
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 tablespoons sweet smoked paprika
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place lentils and 2 teaspoons salt in large bowl. Cover with 4 cups boiling water and let soak for 30 minutes. Drain well.

2. Meanwhile, finely chop three-quarters of onion (you should have about 1 cup) and grate remaining quarter on the large holes of a box grater (3 tablespoons).  Heat 2 tablespoons oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering.  Add chorizo and cook until browned on both sides, 6-8 minutes. Remove and set aside. Reduce heat to low and add chopped onion, carrots, 1 tablespoon parsley, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very soft but not brown, 25-30 minutes. If vegetables begin to brown, add 1 tablespoon water to pot.

3. Add drained lentils and sherry vinegar to vegetables; increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring frequently, until vinegar starts to evaporate, 3-4 minutes. Add 7 cups water, chorizo, bay leaves, and cloves; bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.

4. Heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil in small saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add paprika, grated onion, garlic, and ½ teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute longer. Remove chorizo and bay leaves (discard bay leaves) from lentils. Stir paprika mixture into lentils and continue to cook until flavors have blended and soup has thickened, 10-15 minutes. When chorizo is cool enough to handle, cut in half lengthwise, then cut each half into ¼”-thick slices. Return chorizo to soup along with 1 tablespoons parsley and heat through, about 1 minute. Season with salt, pepper, and up to 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar to taste.  Serve, sprinkling with remaining 1 tablespoon parsley (if you like, you can drizzle a little olive oil over each serving.)  Soup can be made up to 3 days in advance.

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