Cookbooks

Beans are wonderful for making dishes that are hearty enough to serve as the main part of a meal or, in smaller portions, as an accompaniment to meat, fish, or chicken. Besides protein, they lend chewy texture that holds up well when tossed with vinaigrette. This dressing is made by deglazing the pan that was used to sauté the mushrooms and aromatics with vinegar, then whisking in oil. You may find that you have some left over; if you like, toss it with frisée or other salad greens, then serve the lentils over the greens. The lentils are also delicious with sausages, pan-seared tuna or roasted salmon, and duck confit.

This colorful dough should be made in a food processor, which ensures that the vegetable puree is distributed evenly throughout.

Settings on pasta makers vary (some have as many as ten settings, others only six); this recipe was developed using a hand-cranked pasta machine, but you can use any machine as long as you change the settings incrementally.

Fresh citrus juice is ideal for making granita; it is easy to extract and it freezes particularly well. For variety, use an equal amount of any type of citrus juice in place of grapefruit. Campari lends a pleasant bitterness and dash of color to grapefruit granita; add 3 tablespoons to the proportions below. To make apple granita, puree four peeled and cored apples in a food processor with 1/2 cup water and the juice of one lemon (to preserve the color); strain, and you should have 2 cups juice. For watermelon granita, puree about 3 cups cubed melon in a processor; strain.

Vegetables such as potatoes and fennel are often parboiled before grilling, for the best texture; you can add additional flavors by tossing them with spice blends between boiling and grilling. Increase the amounts given below if you wish to keep the mixes on hand for convenience. The spice mixes are best stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark spot for up to 6 months.

Simple syrup has countless uses—here it is combined with fruit to make frozen desserts, but it can also be used to poach fruits (see page 489) and to sweeten iced tea, lemonade, and cocktails.

Because no two batches of fruit have the same sweetness, it’s important to adjust the mix before freezing. This will affect more than flavor because sugar lowers the freezing point of water; so the sweeter your mix, the slushier your sorbet. Too little sugar and the sorbet will be icy hard. Some chefs use a saccharometer (which gauges a liquid’s density by how much of the instrument floats above the surface), but a large uncooked egg stands in quite well (see step 4). Watermelon is one of the simplest flavors to make, since it requires no added water. Follow the amounts in the chart on page 485 to make the suggested flavor variations. When using only juice, you can skip the first step. Citrus fruit can be squeezed by hand. For the kiwi and pineapple sorbets, you will need to add fresh lime or lemon juice along with water in the first step. All liquids should be strained into a deep bowl or plastic container as directed. If desired, add up to 3 tablespoons of other flavorings such as liqueur before adding the simple syrup.

This simple yet timeless Italian dish demonstrates beautifully the process of sautéing: cutlets—most often chicken or veal—are dredged with flour, then sautéed in a mixture of olive oil and butter, a typical combination that is practical and flavorful. The flour encourages the chicken to form a light crust (and helps thicken the pan sauce), the butter helps it to brown, and the oil raises the smoke point so the butter doesn’t brown too much before the chicken is cooked through. A simple pan sauce is the only accompaniment, and is designed to make good use of the tasty browned bits left in the pan from cooking the chicken.

This recipe relies on the natural gelatin in homemade stock to coat and glaze the vegetables after most of the liquid has reduced. Brown stock thickens to a nice glaze and imparts a rich flavor; butter contributes silkiness. Instead of turnips, you can glaze carrots, rutabagas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or onions. If you don’t have brown stock (or prefer a vegetarian version), use apple cider instead (the sugars in the cider should cause it to reduce to a syrupy glaze).