Crisp outside, fluffy inside, roast potatoes are a universal favorite. For superlatively flavorful and crunchy roast potatoes, rough up their exterior surfaces and toss them with a small quantity of flour before roasting, use duck fat as the cooking medium, and serve as soon as they are done — if they sit too long, they become soggy.
Ebly is made from whole durum wheat grains. Like pearl barley, it’s been partially cooked and hulled, then dried. As a result, it cooks in 10 minutes, versus the 40 minutes required to cook whole wheat berries. It has a light, deliciously wheaty taste and readily absorbs flavor from ingredients cooked with it. Here it’s accented with rich caramelized onions and a sprinkle fresh thyme sprigs. If you can get it (or grow it!) flowering thyme adds a lovely touch to the dish.
A variation on the wildly popular ‘No-Knead Bread’ recipe introduced by Mark Bittman. Mild-flavored beer and vinegar are added to the basic ingredients to contribute complex, artisanal notes to the flavor. This recipe produces wonderful bread — crackingly crisp crust, moist and chewy crumb, rich flavor — with a minimum of effort. The hardest part is waiting for it to cool completely before slicing it! It’s best eaten the day it’s baked, but can be wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in a cool, dry place for up to 2 days.
Grilling potatoes adds a hint of smoky char to their earthy flavor. Tossing the grilled potatoes with garlic and rosemary adds piquancy. The seasonings are added after grilling to keep the flavors fresh — if they are added before cooking, they tend to become harsh and burnt-tasting.
Tiny green Lentils de Puy keep their shape exceptionally well when cooked. Here they’re studded with pan-roasted vegetables and enriched with chicken stock, made fragrant with herbs. A perfect pairing with roasted meats and a hearty wine!
Properly roasted, potatoes produce a crisp and brown crust surrounding a creamy interior. The trick is to cover them during the first part of the cooking, so that the steam cooks the potatoes all the way through, then uncover them so they can acquire a rich brown crust. The garlic and rosemary are added after the potatoes have cooked, rather than before they go into the oven — cooking so long at such a high temperature gives the seasonings an unpleasant bitter taste
Wild Rice Pilaf with Forest Mushrooms, paired with Magret of Duck with Cherry Sauce
— 4-6 servings
Wild rice isn’t actually rice, technically it’s a grass seed. Whatever its botanical classification, it’s high in protein (but gluten-free!), the amino acid lysine, and dietary fiber, plus low in fat. Best of all, it has a deliciously chewy texture [...]
Israeli couscous, paired with juicy summer tomatoes, cucumbers, and the sprightly tastes of nicoise olives and fresh herbs makes a flavorful and refreshing salad for Summer barbecues.