Back-to-Back Bittman

June 10 - Sautéed Squid with Garlic, Chili and Bread Crumbs

June 17 - West African Peanut Soup With Chicken

In an effort to catch-up on all my Bittman recipes before the new recipe came out today, I made back-to-back Bittmans for dinner on Monday and Tuesday night. I had anticipations for the meals as I was shopping on Sunday. I was excited to make the sautéed squid -- getting well prepared squid in restaurants is a treat but I've never made it myself. And I was less then enthused about the peanut soup -- I'm not a big soup fan in general, and a hot soup isn't the most appealing option for a summer meal in DC.

Neither recipe was difficult to make. The squid recipe had very few ingredients and preparation was really easy (less than 10 minutes total). While I had to do quite a bit of chopping and prepping for the soup, it was easy work and took less than 10 minutes. The cooking only took an additional 25 minutes, but 10 minutes of that was a largely unsupervised simmer.

These final products did a 180 on my expectations. The squid was nice, but nothing to special, while the soup was a better than I expected -- hearty but not too heavy with a nice combination of flavors and textures. Neither were 4 star recipes in my book, but I think I will probably make them again. I'll probably tweak the squid (perhaps switching out the basil for another herb), and I'd like to try the soup with a non-meat preparation (just leaving out the chicken or perhaps substituting some beans in its place).

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Sautéed Squid with Garlic, Chili and Bread Crumbs

Time: 10 minutes

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2to 2 pounds cleaned squid, in rings (cut tentacles in half if large)
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes, or to taste
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced basil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
About 1 cup freshly toasted coarse bread crumbs

1. Put oil in a broad skillet over high heat; a minute later, add squid, salt, pepper and chili flakes; cook, stirring, until squid is opaque, about 60 seconds (do not overcook).

2. Add garlic, basil and lemon juice and stir for about 30 seconds. Turn off heat, add bread crumbs and serve.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

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West African Peanut Soup With Chicken

Time: About 45 minutes

3/4 cup roasted and shelled peanuts
2 tablespoons peanut or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
1 medium red or white onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken (about 2 thighs or breasts) cut into chunks
Pinch of cayenne
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 cups stock or water
2 sweet potatoes or yams (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into thick slices
8 plum tomatoes, cored and halved (canned are fine; drain and reserve liquid for another use)
1/2 pound collards or kale, washed and cut into wide ribbons
1/4 to 1/2 cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth.

1. Chop peanuts, or crush them with the side of a knife, or pulse them in a food processor to chop roughly.

2. Put oil in a deep skillet or medium saucepan over medium heat; a minute later, add onion, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Add chicken and continue cooking for another 3 or 4 minutes, until just coloring. Add 1/2 cup peanuts and the cayenne and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Stir in the stock and the sweet potatoes, bring to a boil, and turn heat down to medium-low so the soup bubbles gently. Stir in tomatoes and collards, then cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

4. Stir in 1/4 cup peanut butter. Taste, adjust seasoning (you may want to add more peanut butter at this point) and serve, garnished with remaining peanuts.

Yield: 4 servings

June 3 - Fresh Strawberries with Almond Crème Anglaise

There are few things I enjoy more than reading the Sunday NYTimes with a cup of good tea while sitting on my deck. This weekend I added some food to the mix, and it was a welcome addition. I’d gone to the store on Saturday and stocked up on all the ingredients needed to catch up on this recipe project, so there were fresh strawberries and cream sitting in my refrigerator when I went to grab some milk for my tea. I thought about the recipe and decided to whip it up for my Sunday breakfast.

As the kitchen filled with the comforting smell of toasted almonds, I separated the eggs. I used the shells to accomplish this task – I know that using your hands is easier, but I learned from my Dad to swish the yolk back and forth between the halved shells, and at this point, it’s instinct. I added the cream, milk, and sugar and whipped them all together. I was a little concerned about adding the mixture to the hot saucepan with the toasted almonds. While there was a moment of bubbling…okay, some would say boiling…when the mixture hit the pan, it quickly subsided and the rest of the recipe went as planned. I prepped the strawberries as the custard cooled and then layered the berries and cream in a small bowl and topped with some almonds.



The combination of ripe, sweet berries and creamy almondy sauce was perfect for eating on my deck chair while watching the birds in the trees, but it wasn’t really that filling. So I made some oatmeal and put the berries & cream on top. After finishing that bowl and drinking some more tea and doing a bit more newspaper reading, I was ready to tackle my to do list…and that’s the sign of a perfect weekend breakfast!


Fresh Strawberries with Almond Crème Anglaise
3/4 cup chopped almonds plus
1/2 cup lightly toasted slivered almonds
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
6 to 8 cups strawberries, washed, hulled and quartered

1. Put chopped almonds in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until fragrant and beginning to toast, about 3 minutes.

2. Add milk, cream, sugar and egg yolks, and whisk well to combine. Cook, whisking almost constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil.

3. While sauce is still hot, strain it through a sieve and let cool a bit. To serve, put a cup of strawberries in each dish, drizzle with warm sauce and garnish with slivered almonds. Sauce will keep, tightly covered, in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

May 27 - Southeast Asian Mussel Salad

So I was a couple weeks behind on my recipes (temporary interruption as I helped my husband get ready for an 8 month trip to the deserts of Kuwait), but this recipe was just the thing to get me back on track. There is something magical about a simple recipe that quickly and easily provides you with a wonderful meal…and it’s all the better if the recipe can be adapted for other purposes. That was what I found with the Southeast Asian Mussel Salad.

When I first saw the recipe, I was excited because I love mussels. But I rarely diverge from the basic preparation – in a large stockpot, add a couple cloves of crushed garlic + can of diced tomatoes + cup of wine + bag of mussels, bring to simmer, cover, and steam until mussels open, then serve with crusty bread and a simple salad or crispy green beans. It’s a great meal, but I was interested in mixing it up a bit.

Imagine my surprise when I finished with this salad and realized that while the mussels were good, they weren’t what kept my interest. The simple salad was the supporting actor that stole the show. The lime and chili mixed with just a bit of coconut milk was the perfect dressing for the mixed textures of the salad. The next day, I used the left over produce to make it again with shrimp. It great both times – light but filling, simple but flavorful. I think you could add almost any mild protein and have a successful meal. I have no doubt I will be making this again – it’s my Simple Summer Salad, the 2009 edition.



Southeast Asian Mussel Salad
4 pounds mussels, well scrubbed
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 to 3 tablespoons fish sauce, or to taste
Zest from one lime
1 to 2 fresh Thai chilies, minced
1 cup mung bean sprouts
1 cup cucumber, diced
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Put mussels in a large pot with a lid. Pour 1/4 cup water over all, cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a steady bubble (you will hear it and see some steam escaping). Shake pot now and then.

2. Meanwhile, combine coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, lime zest and chilies in a large bowl; add bean sprouts, cucumber and red pepper.

3. Mussels will be done in 5 to 10 minutes, or when all or most of the shells have opened. Remove and let cool slightly, reserving cooking liquid. (If there is a great deal, reduce it while you shuck mussels.)

4. When mussels are cool enough to handle, remove them from their shells and add them to bowl with vegetables and dressing. Add cilantro and as much of the reserved cooking liquid as you need to make mixture saucy. Toss well to combine, adjust seasonings and serve, or refrigerate for up to a few hours.

May 20 - Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding

Confession: I am removing my previous (bad) review of this recipe because I realized that I made the mistake of using regular, and not silken tofu. A friend with lots of vegan cooking experience queued me into my mistake. I will make the recipe soon using silken tofu and post a new review. In the meantime, please re-watch some great videos from Kitchen 4B (Jill Santopietro is so cute!).

Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding
3/4 cup sugar
1 pound silken tofu
8 ounces high-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or more to taste
Chocolate shavings (optional)

1. In a small pot, combine sugar with 3/4 cup water; bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly.

2. Put all ingredients except for chocolate shavings in a blender and purée until completely smooth, stopping machine to scrape down its sides if necessary. Divide among 4 to 6 ramekins and chill for at least 30 minutes. If you like, garnish with chocolate shavings before serving.

May 13 - Asparagus with Morels and Tarragon

It’s been a week since I made Bittman’s Asparagus with Morels and Tarragon, and the very thought of the dish still makes me salivate. It was that good -- combining wonderful spring flavors with year-round fatty comforts!

As soon as I saw the recipe, I thought it had real potential. I love crisp spring asparagus, and I still long for the early summer childhood days when we’d go morel hunting in the woods near my grandma’s house. We spend a few afternoon hours hunting for them, usually finding them at the bases of big trees that were growing in a shady clump. We’d gently place them in small cloth bags that were probably just flour sacs that my grandma had stitched up for the purpose. My grandma would clean off our sac of morels and sauté them whole in a pan with some margarine. (Confession: I come from poor-to-working-class Midwestern roots, and I don’t think I understood the superiority of butter to margarine for most needs until my mid-20s. But I still use a 50-50 mix of butter and Crisco in my cookies to achieve the perfect combination of crunch and chew.) We’d eat them right out of the pan with a side of toasted sandwich bread…yum!

It’s only now, when I see morels at the farmers market priced at an arm & a leg per ounce, that I realize how lucky I was back then. But with this little project, I had an excuse to splurge and re-create a memory…although my hunt here involved nothing more than asking the Harris Teeter produce man to point me in direction of the dried morels.

I found the precious 1 oz bag ($10!) located below the display of fresh mangos and proceeded to rounded up the other ingredients:

1/4 to 1/2 ounce dried morels or porcinis, or a combination
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup chopped shallots
1 pound fresh shiitake or white button mushrooms or a combination, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
1 to 1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed, cut into 1 1/2 -inch lengths
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste

Needless to say, at $10 for one ounce, I cut back a bit on the suggested amount of morels. Mark had said you could make this dish with as little as 6 morels and still have a wonderful flavor. I used about half the package (or 1/8 of an ounce), which was about 12 small-to-medium dried morels. I decided I didn’t want to other strong mushroom flavors to invade the morels space, so I just used morels and fresh white button mushrooms.

1. Put morels, porcinis or both in a bowl with very hot water to cover; soak until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain morels and reserve soaking liquid. Cut morels in half; if porcinis are large, chop them roughly.

While the morels were soaking, I started a pot of quick-cooking barley. I figured it would bulk up this side dish into a main course while soaking up any remaining creamy-mushroomy sauce.

2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; when butter is hot and foam has subsided, add shallots and reconstituted and fresh mushrooms to pan. Cook until shallots soften and fresh mushrooms have released their liquid and it has cooked off, about 10 minutes.

This step went off exactly as described. At first it seemed like the mushroom liquid would only increase and never cook off. But in the last minute or so, it started looking like mushrooms and shallots in a slightly greased pan.

3. Add asparagus and 1/2 cup reserved liquid to pan. Bring liquid to a boil, cover, reduce heat so mixture simmers, and continue cooking for another 2 to 4 minutes, or until asparagus is crisp-tender. Add cream and tarragon or chervil and continue cooking, uncovered, until sauce thickens slightly and asparagus is tender, about 4 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

After the first 4 minutes, the asparagus was still pretty tough – 1/2 cup liquid wasn’t really enough to get a good steam. But 4 minutes after adding the cream, it was bright green and gave to a fork with a bit of pressure. I wanted the morel and asparagus flavors to shine through the creamy sauce, so I only added a bit of salt and pepper and then spooned it over a thin layer of barley. It looked and smelled wonderful!



And it tasted even better! The mushroom flavor shone again the fatty, delicate sauce and the asparagus provided just the right amount of crunch...and the barley at the bottom of the bowl made sure none of that goodness when to waste. It was all I could do not to go out and buy another bunch of asparagus the next day, so I could make it again. (Thank goodness for book club and Neeta’s yummy pasta and brownies!) While the prohibitive price of morels will keep this recipe from becoming a weekly occurrence, I’ll definitely bring it out every May, when asparagus is in season and morel-hunting memories abound!

May 6 - Chicken Livers With Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms

This week, Bittman was attempting to talk about the efficiency of freezing food. It was a good reminder for me, since I’m not a big fan of eating leftovers the next day. However, I realized that could be better about making extra servings and freezing them for a lunch next week, instead of bringing a frozen, pre-packaged diet entrée. I also realized that I was already following some of Bittman’s advice. In the past few months, I’ve been better about saving unused ingredients – in my freezer, you’ll find cups of frozen chicken broth made from the remains of a roast chicken and a container of shrimp heads that I can use for stock in the future.

By the end of the article I expected to find a couple recipes for things that would freeze well for the future. But no, except for one frozen cookie dough recipe (a trick I’ve used for quite a while), the other recipes used ingredients you might already randomly have lurking in your freezer…like frozen beans or egg whites or livers. Really? I have frozen beans, but the reason I freeze them is that it’s really easy to crock pot a 1 lb. bag of beans and I already have a bunch of recipes that call for beans. I don’t need more recipes for using beans. So I went back to one of my original goals for this project, using an ingredient I’ve never used before – chicken livers.

Besides the occasional pate, I don’t think I’ve ever had liver, much less prepared it. I’ve never actively avoided liver, but I’ve never sought it out either. So I headed to grocery store and looked for chicken livers. I was directed to the freezer in the butcher area, where I found a 1 lb. container for only $1.99! This is probably the cheapest meat that Bittman has ever directed us towards. As for the rest of the ingredients, they were easy:


2 medium onions, cut in two and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or butter, more as needed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 cup button mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
4 uncooked chicken livers
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or other, or more to taste
Crusty bread or toast for serving

I prepped the onions and alternated cooking and prep work for the rest of the recipe, following the directions as given.

1. Put onions in a large skillet over medium heat. Cover and cook, stirring infrequently, until onions are dry and almost sticking to pan, about 20 minutes.

2. Stir in a tablespoon of oil or butter and a large pinch of salt and a few grindings of black pepper, add rosemary and turn heat down to medium-low. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms release their liquid and it evaporates, about 15 minutes more. Remove vegetables from pan; set aside.

3. Wipe pan with a paper towel, put it over medium-high heat and add remaining oil or butter. When oil is hot or foam from butter has subsided, add chicken livers. Keep heat high and cook livers quickly, turning them until brown and crisp on both sides but still pink on inside, about 3 or 4 minutes total. Remove from pan.

4. Return vegetables to pan along with vinegar and 2 or 3 tablespoons water, just enough to deglaze; stir well to combine and serve with livers and crusty bread, or on toast.

I was able to follow these steps without problems. I had a nice dinner plate, with a side of sautéed spinach and the suggested crusty wheat bread. But I can’t show you the final product, because I forgot to take a picture. What can I say except it was long day and I was thinking about making the start of the Biggest Loser finale (how did I allow myself to fall into that 3 hour time suck????).

So you'll have to take my word for it -- ended up with a nice dinner. I can’t say that chicken livers are my new favorite protein, but they were nice and creamy with a distinct flavor. I’d definitely make them again…and I probably will be since I have about 2/3 lb. of livers remaining, which are now in my freezer for future use. So in the end, I guess I did have some new frozen ingredients courtesy of Mark.

April 29 - Zuppa Arcidossana

I'll just admit it up front: I did not want to make this dish. Watery soup at the beginning of summer didn't hold much appeal for me. But after seeing the trailer for Julie & Julia at the theater this weekend (can't wait to see it!), the husband said "I'm sure there were things in Julia's cookbook that Julie didn't want to make, but she did, right?" I couldn't argue with that -- Julie made the aspic...many times over. And I didn't think Zuppa Arcidossana would be anywhere near as bad as aspic, so I sucked it up and made this for dinner last night.

The ingredients were easy:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings
1 cup 1/2-inch-diced carrots
1 large onion, chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt and black pepper
1 cup stale bread (use coarse, country-style bread), cut in 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 pound spinach, trimmed, washed and roughly chopped
1/4 to 1/2 cup ricotta salata, cut in 1/2-inch cubes (feta may be substituted)
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley, optional

I made two modifications. Harris Teeter had only 1/2 pound blocks of ricotta salata, but they had smaller blocks of feta, so I got that. (Sorry Teeter, but you’re no Whole Foods. I don’t think you can really call it a full service gourmet cheese section if you won’t cut the prepackaged cheese into smaller chunks.) And I did not pre-plan to have some stale bread, so I just got regular bread and popped the chunks into the broiler for a few minutes while I got on with the cooking.

1. Put oil in a large pot or deep skillet and brown sausage over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When sausage is cooked through and leaving brown bits in pan, add carrots, onion and garlic, and continue to cook until vegetables begin to soften and brown, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Very simple. I used my handy cast iron skillet and got some nice “brown bits.”

2. Add bread to pan and stir for a minute or 2; add spinach and continue cooking just until it wilts, a couple of minutes.

Self explanatory, although I only stirred the bread for about 60 seconds. I figured that staling-by-broiler was the equivalent to 1 minute of pan browning.

3. Add about 2 cups water and stir to loosen any remaining brown bits from pan. This is more of a stew than a soup, but there should be some broth, so add another cup of water if necessary. When broth is consistency of thin gravy, ladle stew into serving bowls and top with cheese and some freshly chopped parsley if you have it. Serve immediately.

I never got a thin “gravy” – just more of a slightly discolored water in the bottom of the pan. But good smells were coming from the pan and the colors were bright and fresh, so I was cautiously optimistic. I skipped the fresh parsley, thinking there was already enough color in the dish. Here’s the final product:



I'll close with another admission: I was pleasantly surprised by this dish. I was right about not finding much appealing in the watery soup part, but the textures and flavors of the non-watery parts were really good. Bittman is right that this is a combo that only a Tuscan could create. If I make it again, I'd make some modifications (use less liquid and/or use a wine or stock instead of plain water), but overall, it was much better than I expected. That’ll teach me to be a doubter...but please don't give me an aspic assignment next week.