Make Ahead

Another quick-to-assemble mixture of bold, pungent flavors that enhances grilled fish, toasted ciabatta, or warm pasta tossed with thin strips of salami. For a more herbaceous taste, add a handful of chopped fresh basil or parsley. You might also blend in a few lightly toasted almonds for a more pesto-like consistency.

The first apartment I rented in New Orleans was a summer sublet with a tiny balcony, just big enough for a hibachi grill. This sandwich, a beloved Greek specialty, was one I loved to make when I had friends over. We’d drink a bottle of chilled retsina and dream of being in a café looking up at the Acropolis. If you don’t feel like firing up a grill, these skewers can be cooked in a grill pan or under the broiler. You can also make skewers of diced chicken (breast or thigh meat). Just grill a few minutes less, so the leaner meat doesn’t dry out.

This rich and smoky salad has become, hands down, the most popular dish on the menu at Bayona. I think it’s owing to the combination of textures and flavors, and the way they all mingle together and complement one another. There are several components to this salad, and that’s why it’s so satisfying. The good news is that many of these steps can be done in advance. The trickiest technique is cold-smoking the quail, which infuses it with natural smoky flavor without cooking it. That means when we fry the batter-dipped bird at the last minute, the result is both crispy and juicy. At the restaurant we make a stock with the smoked quail wings and use it to enrich the dressing, but this is not necessary. If pears are not in season, apples make a good substitute.

There are two versions of remoulade. French remoulade means celery root remoulade, a beloved bistro slaw bound in a creamy white mustard-mayo dressing. But in New Orleans, classic remoulade is red and more of a vinaigrette, made with two traditional spices, paprika and cayenne, and balanced with plenty of celery and parsley that provide a fresh, clean crunch. This remoulade is my favorite way to eat chilled, boiled shrimp, crab, or crayfish, but the dressing is also great on crabmeat or on a simple boiled egg, sliced in half and served atop crisp shredded lettuce.

This dressing is delicious with a ripe tomato salad, Bibb lettuce, and fried popcorn shrimp or crayfish tails.

Fried wonton or gyoza wrappers, available in the frozen section of most Asian markets, make fantastic chips to scoop up savory ingredients. They are delicious served with any Asian-inspired tartare or seviche, with Asian Guacamole (p. 66), or as a garnish for just about any salad that would benefit from crunch and nutty sesame seeds.

In France, a croûte is simply a slice of bread that has been either toasted or fried. For the crispy rounds, a baguette-style bread is ideal. We like sourdough, olive bread, ciabatta, or pumpernickel, although any type of thinly sliced bread works. We cut the bread into thin rounds or triangles and brush one side with butter or olive oil, then toast them on the grill or under the broiler until lightly golden. Depending on what you’re serving them with, you can cook them like toast, so that they’re still a little tender, or until crisp all the way through. The toasted, chewy variations are best served right away, while still warm, whereas thoroughly crisp croûtes will keep for several days in an airtight container or Ziploc bag. Be sure to let them cool completely before storing or they will steam and soften when stored. If you want to get a little fancy, try mixing some chopped herbs, grated cheese, or smashed raw or roasted garlic in with the butter or oil.

With a creamy, spicy filling that stars a beloved Louisiana ingredient, these crispy, delicate little turnovers will be a hit at any party. I love how the curry plays off the sweet crayfish and flavors of the herbs and scallions. You might double this recipe and freeze half for a future get-together (or light supper when paired with a big salad or spinach omelet). Chances are you will be craving these turnovers again soon after you make them.

Smoked tomatoes give this sauce a tremendous depth of flavor. But if you want a quicker option, fresh tomatoes will do just fine.

Fusion cuisine gets scoffed at a lot, but it can work beautifully, as this dish, with its Latin and Asian influences, attests. From the marriage of avocado, cucumber, limes, chiles, garlic, and cilantro (known as coriander everywhere else but the Americas), Peppered Tuna with Asian Guacamole was born. The cucumber lightens up the avocado and adds a bit of crunch. Hoisin Dipping Sauce rounds out the peppery warmth with sweet spiciness. Serve four plates as a first course, or top Sesame Wonton Crisps (p. 89) with a slice of the tuna and a dollop of the guacamole and serve on a platter to make an elegant party snack.

I remember being terribly impressed the first time I was served these at a friend’s house in the early ’80s. At that time, it was exotic and ambitious to attempt Chinese food at home. Times have changed, thanks in large part to the late Barbara Tropp, the famed chef of China Moon Café in San Francisco, whose wonderful books, like The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking, have made cooking authentic Asian food at home much less daunting. These crispy, flavorful little dumplings make a great starter or hors d’oeuvre if you’re feeding a crowd. The filling multiplies easily, and once you get the hang of filling the dumplings, you can whip up a lot in a relatively short period of time. If you’re a vegetarian, leave the pork and shrimp out and add some sautéed shiitake mushrooms instead. The tart dipping sauce is the perfect complement to the rich filling.

My mother learned this dish when we lived in Holland in the late ’50s. It was part of the rijstafel—an Indonesian take-out feast of many dishes—that my parents used to have delivered to the house. We used to watch wide-eyed as a flurry of delivery guys carried in dish after dish stacked in round metal containers. When we gather as a family on Christmas and other special days, we rarely have turkey or ham, but more often rice and curry or bami goreng, a noodle dish, with these satés as an appetizer. It is still the favorite family snack. The pork marinade is effortless to put together. While the meat absorbs the flavors, you can stir together the spicy peanut sauce. I tend to grill the satés, but my mother actually cooks these on an old waffle iron that has a smooth side, not unlike a panini grill.

When I first started cooking professionally in 1979, even getting fresh button mushrooms was exciting. These days, portobello mushrooms, and any number of other exotic varieties, are practically an everyday item. When it comes to portobellos (which, mercifully, have remained fairly inexpensive), you can buy just the caps, but I like to buy whole mushrooms so I can use the stems to “beef up” the stuffing. Any favorite stuffing recipe will work here, but this spicy Italian sausage mixture is my favorite because it provides the perfect counterbalance to the earthiness of the mushrooms. Serve this with a simple tomato sauce, lemon butter, or just a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar. Sautéed broccoli rabe and a twirl of angel hair pasta turn it into a complete meal. Bring on the chianti!

Loaded with onions and peppers and cheese, these substantial quesadillas have a lot of personality—and make great use of leftover Jalapeño-roast Pork (p. 269). Serve them with margaritas for an instant party, or simply add a green salad with orange segments and red onions for an easy week-night meal. The Ancho-Mango sauce keeps well for several days, and it will perk up any number of sandwiches.

Here’s one I stole from my friend, mentor, and sometimes tormentor from Louis XVI Restaurant, Daniel Bonnot. He taught me how to make these about twenty-five years ago. Beignet is essentially just a fancy French word for a fritter. In New Orleans, people have been known to subsist on beignets and coffee alone. This is not advisable. Feel free to substitute chopped crayfish tails for the smoked salmon—both versions are dangerously addictive.

Flan is essentially custard—the creamy melding of milk and eggs in what has proved to be a delectable revelation: you can make a savory flan out of virtually any vegetable. We do several savory flans at my restaurants, including mushroom and carrot, but its delicate flavor and pale green color makes asparagus flan my hands-down favorite. A potato salad made with smoked salmon (which is great on its own for lunch or brunch) is a stylish partner, but you can easily serve this flan with toasted slices of French bread and Grana Padano (or your favorite cheese) and a simple green salad with tomatoes.

Who would have thought you could improve upon a good old-fashioned New Orleans shrimp boil? A former Bayona sous chef, Ashley Hykes, showed me it was possible. Serve these shrimp bathing in their colorful marinade in a pretty bowl, along with other appetizers, for a party, or serve them for lunch with deviled eggs, a big green salad, and some bread or croutons for soaking up the pleasingly tart juice perfumed with citrus and vinegar.

Don’t let your opinion of dolmades, stuffed grape leaves, rest on the ubiquitous canned versions, which are tasty but forgettable. Take the time to make these and you’ll be rewarded with a fragrant house and a satisfying savory snack for a party or simply for having on hand. Unlike most other versions I’ve had, this filling is brightly flavored and packed with aromatic ingredients—I add artichoke hearts, preserved lemon, and golden raisins. Pine nuts give these little guys a pleasing crunch, and I love the briny, herbal flavor that the grape leaves impart while they cook—this is the process that forms the sauce—in the lemony liquid.