The Epicurious Cookbook (44 page)

Authors: Tanya Steel

BOOK: The Epicurious Cookbook

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fresh herb spaetzle

Is it a dumpling or a noodle? Spaetzle, the beloved dish of Austrians, Germans, Hungarians, and the Swiss, is infinitely easier to make than it is to classify. While some spaetzle dishes are cheesy and rich, this version is lightened with fresh herbs—a lot of them.

YIELD: MAKES 4 SERVINGS

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 large eggs

¾ cup whole milk

8 teaspoons minced assorted fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary, and chives)

4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

8 ounces button mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

¾ cup low-sodium chicken broth, or as needed

1.
Blend the flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs and milk, forming a soft batter. Mix in half of the herbs.

2.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Butter a large bowl. Working with ⅓ cup batter at a time and using a rubber spatula, press the batter directly into the boiling water through ¼-inch holes on a coarse grater, strainer, or wide ladle. Stir the spaetzle to separate and boil 2 minutes. Using a fine sieve, scoop the spaetzle from the pot, drain well, and transfer to the buttered bowl.

3.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter with 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms; sauté until beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Add the onion; sauté until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, remaining 1 tablespoon oil, and the spaetzle. Sauté until the spaetzle begin to brown, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Add the broth. Simmer until absorbed, adding more broth if dry. Mix in the remaining herbs; season with salt and pepper.

“This was ridiculously easy, yet delicious. Our family made the spaetzle together and had so much fun. The cheese grater was easier than the colander. We only used thyme, but will try the other herbs next time.”

Timozero2, New York, New York

do ahead:

The
SPAETZLE
can be prepared 3 hours ahead (through step 2). Let stand at room temperature.

wild rice stuffing
with pearl onions

Whoever believes that bread-based stuffing is the only one worth eating hasn’t tried this wild rice version. Alongside perfectly cooked poultry, its blend of sweet and savory stands out as a great-tasting, healthier alternative to plain old stuffing. Pearl onions are sweeter than their larger cousins and they add a nice visual touch, so seek them out in the market’s frozen section. And to fortify nutrients, substitute with brown rice, which requires a little more cooking time than white.

YIELD: MAKES 8 TO 10 SERVINGS

6 tablespoons (¾ stick) butter

18 ounces pearl onions, blanched in boiling water 1 minute and peeled

4½ cups low-sodium chicken broth

3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

1¼ cups wild rice (about 6½ ounces)

1¼ cups long-grain white rice

1 (6-ounce) package dried apricots, coarsely chopped

1 cup dried tart cherries

1 cup raisins

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

1.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until brown, about 15 minutes. Set aside.

2.
Bring the broth and 1 tablespoon thyme to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the wild rice. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Add the white rice, cover, and simmer until all the rice is tender and the liquid is almost absorbed, about 15 minutes longer.

3.
Stir the apricots, cherries, raisins, and remaining 2 tablespoons thyme into the rice mixture; cover and simmer 3 minutes. Stir the pearl onions and remaining 4 tablespoons butter into the rice, then mix in the pecans. Season generously with salt and pepper.

4.
Loosely fill the main cavity of a turkey with cool stuffing. Butter a glass baking dish. Spoon the remaining stuffing into the prepared dish and cover with buttered foil, buttered side down. Bake the stuffing alongside the turkey until heated through, about 20 minutes.

“My husband and daughter were diagnosed with celiac disease, so we have been searching for a gluten-free dressing that all of us like! Even our non-celiac son loved this, as did everyone else at our Thanksgiving supper! We could not find dried tart cherries, so we substituted a mix of fresh and dried cranberries, and it was superb.”

A cook, Ottawa, Canada

cook’s note:

To bake the
STUFFING
in a baking dish, preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish. Transfer the stuffing to a prepared dish. Cover with buttered foil, buttered side down, and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes.

cranberry sauce
with dried cherries and cloves

The cherry-cranberry combination achieves the perfect balance of flavors alongside a roasted turkey or ham—or drizzled on vanilla ice cream. If cherry cider is hard to find, substitute a sweet-tart fruit juice such as cranberry or pomegranate.

YIELD: MAKES 4½ CUPS

2½ cups cherry cider or black cherry cider or cranberry juice cocktail

1 (8-ounce) package dried tart cherries (2 cups)

1 cup sugar

1 (12-ounce) package cranberries

¼ (generous) teaspoon ground cloves

Bring the cider to a simmer in a heavy, large saucepan. Remove from the heat. Add the cherries and let stand 8 minutes. Mix in the sugar, then the cranberries and cloves. Cook over medium-high heat until cranberries burst, stirring occasionally, about 9 minutes. Refrigerate until cold, about 4 hours (sauce will thicken as it cools).

butternut squash
with pumpkin-seed pesto

This zinger of a pesto sauce breathes new life into a nutritious winter staple, and works well with acorn and kabocha squash, too.

YIELD: MAKES 6 SERVINGS

1 (3-pound) butternut squash, peeled and cubed (½ inch; about 6 cups)

¼ cup olive oil

¾ teaspoon salt

½ cup green (hulled) pumpkin seeds (pepitas; not toasted)

½ cup (packed) cilantro sprigs

1½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1.
Preheat the oven to 500°F with the rack in the middle.

2.
Toss the butternut squash with 2 tablespoons oil and ½ teaspoon salt, then arrange in a single layer in a 17 by 12-inch baking pan and roast, turning occasionally, until golden brown on edges, 20 to 25 minutes.

3.
Toast the pumpkin seeds in 1 tablespoon oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the seeds are puffed and beginning to brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a large plate and cool.

4.
Pulse the cooled seeds in a food processor with the cilantro, lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon each of salt and the pepper and 1 remaining tablespoon oil to a coarse paste. Toss the squash with the pesto and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

“I couldn’t find pumpkin seeds at the grocery store, so I substituted sunflower seeds, which worked just fine.”

A cook, Pleasant Hill, California

Sweet Potato Purée with Smoked Paprika

sweet potato purée
with smoked paprika

Transform a traditional holiday side into something bold and beautiful using smoked paprika (hot or sweet) and cayenne. This dish couldn’t be simpler to prepare, requiring just a handful of ingredients and yielding a result that’s sweet, savory, and delicious.

YIELD: MAKES 8 SERVINGS

3 pounds sweet potatoes

½ stick (¼ cup) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes and softened

⅓ cup heavy cream

¼ teaspoon sweet or hot smoked paprika

¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste

⅛ teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

1.
Put the oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 400°F.

2.
Prick each potato once with a fork, then bake potatoes in a foil-lined shallow baking pan until tender, about 1 hour. When cool enough to handle, peel, then cut away any dark spots. Purée the potatoes with the butter, cream, paprika, salt, and cayenne in a food processor until smooth.

“I had an urge to try out a new kitchen torch, so I did serve this in individual ramekins and sprinkled about 2 teaspoons of sugar on the top and hit it with the flame.…Sort of a sweet/savory sweet potato brûlée.”

A cook, Washington, D.C.

do ahead:

The
PURÉE
can be made 1 day ahead and chilled in an airtight container. Reheat in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally.

polenta fries
with roasted red pepper ketchup

If you’ve ever made polenta, you know about the “polenta dilemma.” Freshly made polenta is so filling and luscious that there are almost always leftovers, but reheated polenta is disappointing: it’s never quite as creamy. Happily, this satisfying side dish, courtesy of the much-loved Roy’s restaurant on Hawaii’s Big Island, offers a great solution. Dredging firmed-up polenta in a little bit of flour and then frying it ever so lightly results in a divine finger food—and the accompanying roasted red pepper ketchup is a recipe you’ll want to use for turkey burgers and beyond.

YIELD: MAKES 10 TO 12 SERVINGS

4 cups whole milk

1 cup water

2 tablespoons butter

2¼ cups yellow cornmeal

1 cup grated smoked Gouda cheese (about 4 ounces)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

½ cup olive oil, or more as needed

All-purpose flour, for dusting

Roasted Red Pepper Ketchup (recipe follows)

1.
Lightly oil a 13 × 9-inch metal baking pan. Bring the milk, water, and butter to a boil in a heavy large saucepan. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the polenta is very thick and starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Remove polenta from the heat. Stir in the cheese, basil, and thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Immediately transfer the polenta to the prepared baking pan, spreading evenly to cover. Refrigerate until cool and firm, about 1 hour.

2.
Cut the polenta lengthwise in the pan into 3 (3-inch-wide) rectangles. Cut each rectangle crosswise into ¾-inch-wide strips. Set the polenta strips aside.

3.
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Heat ½ cup oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Place some flour in a pie plate. Lightly coat the polenta strips with flour; shake off excess. Working in batches, fry the polenta strips until golden brown on all sides, adding more oil if necessary, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fries to paper towels and drain. Place fries on a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while cooking the remaining batches. Transfer the fries to a large platter and serve with Roasted Red Pepper Ketchup.

“I served this at an all-out veggie party. They all loved it! I plan to use the red pepper ketchup in my pasta sauces.”

A cook, Caracas, Venezuela

roasted red pepper
ketchup

YIELD: MAKES ABOUT 3 CUPS

1 (14½-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice

1 (7.25-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained

1 cup chopped red onion

½ cup dry red wine

6 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 large dried ancho chiles, seeded and coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar