Chilled
Our pâte brisée--butter, salt, and a little water to bring it all together--is as traditional as a crust gets. Sebastien likes to add a bit of milk and egg to many of his doughs, for richness and binding power, but this pâte brisée reflects my enduring respect for classical technique. It's something every cook should master--it's so easy and so versatile. Pâte brisée is used for savory tarts, such as quiches, and for very sweet tarts.
A long with muscadine grapes, butter beans are among the farmer's market treasures of late summer in Charleston—reason to wake up with gusto to another day of stultifying heat and oxford-soaking humidity. We do all kinds of things with butter beans: we make a hummus-like spread for the cocktail hour, we simmer them with seasoning meats of all sorts, and we compose marinated salads aplenty. But this may be our most simple treatment yet, and one of the most satisfying.
I always have a jar of capers in my fridge - they're a great shortcut to a good punchy flavor. Here, they cut through the rich oily fish. This dish can be made in only a few minutes. I like to serve it with just some simply boiled new potatoes. Instead of salmon, it would be as good with fresh mackerel, an equally oily fish.
Remember those little mints by the door at that restaurant you like? No, not that restaurant -- the nice-but-not-NICE-nice one. This recipe is most closely related to those little post-dinner courtesy mints -- but don't think they actually taste alike. These "mints" have a smooth, buttery flavor that's somewhat reminiscent of very thick frosting. And they're not necessarily minty at all: The texture of these little crisp-then-creamy confections lends itself very well to warmer flavors like coffee, chocolate, and cinnamon, too.
I'm a big fan of cherry tomatoes because you can find reliably flavorful ones even in wintertime. I think the best selection for this sauce is a mix of fruity and sweet orange Sun Golds (my favorite tomato; I plant about a dozen bushes every year) and a basic red cherry. You could make this sauce with chunks of larger tomatoes, too, but only if they're brightly acidic, the way even ho-hum cherry tomatoes tend to be. This sauce is a pleasure simply tossed with penne and a handful of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. But it's also delicious on grilled polenta or grilled fish. My favorite destination for this sauce is this angel hair dish.
Afra Lineberry, Agee to her family, opened The Jerre Anne Bake Shoppe in St. Joe, Missouri, in 1930. It was the last stop on the trolley line. Conductors would leave their cars running while they ran into Agee’s for a cup of coffee and a piece of pie. “It seems like I just always knew how to make a good pie crust. It may take a little practice for some, but the only time to get excited about a pie crust is when you’re eating it,” Agee used to say. The little shop grew to be a smashing success, and by 1990, with Geraldine Lawhon (Agee’s niece) running the place, it was selling 625 pies at Thanksgiving alone. Sadly, The Jerre Anne closed its doors in 2008. When you eat Agee’s pie, send your thanks heavenward.
This pastry dough calls for pastry flour, a special flour that you may not already have in your pantry, but the results are well worth acquiring it for a crust that's both flaky and tender. We prefer unbleached pastry flour, such as King Arthur. If you prefer, you can substitute cake flour for the pastry flour. The pastry or cake flour keeps the pastry dough tender, and the vinegar strengthens the gluten and adds elasticity. This pastry dough has more salt than most. Kosher salt is coarser than table salt. If you are using table salt instead, cut the amount of salt in half.
This ragu from the late 18th century tastes rich, brown and velvety with the surprise of cinnamon and tingly black pepper. The sauce blends well with tagliatelle, pappardelle, penne and garganelli pastas. Experience it as it was first made centuries ago by combining the ragu with hollow maccheroni-style pasta and baking it. You could, of course, simply serve it up without baking.
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