Like with Tadashi’s Perfect Steamed Rice on page 60, here we share, basically, Tadashi’s perfect Japanese-style fried rice. You can’t go wrong with this method. This dish, also known as chahan, uses leftover rice and cooks hot—and fast. Watch a few wok-cooking videos on YouTube to get hyped up! Woks are great, but a cast-iron, carbon steel, or quality nonstick skillet works fine too. (We used Harris’s trusty 11-inch cast-iron Lodge skillet to cook this dish.) Okay, so you might be wondering: What’s the difference between Japanese fried rice and its famous Chinese cousin—the global fried-rice standard? The Japanese variety uses less soy sauce, resulting in a lighter color and milder flavor, and relies on Japanese short-grain rice as well as local ingredients like shiitake and kakuni (lots of other ingredients work too; see the list on page 77). But ultimately, this dish is, in fact, an adaptation of Chinese fried rice, which was introduced to Japan in the 1860s by Chinese immigrants and evolved from there. Some practical considerations: If you don’t happen to own a chuan (a special Chinese wok spatula), use a big ol’ cooking spoon to turn the rice; you’ll be stirring throughout the cooking. Make sure to ventilate, because it could get smoky. And remember, hayai—move quickly
I make this when I want “restaurant pasta,” but am short on time and ingredients. It’s a lovely Italian-inspired meal that you never knew could come from your home kitchen. Using one pot for the broccoli and the pasta makes for a breezy cleanup before bed—almost as simple as ordering in.
This dish was on Suerte’s opening “Vitamina T” menu, and it counts as the only recipe from the restaurant to be immortalized in this cookbook because: (1) it’s just that special, and (2) we couldn’t stand waiting for the official Suerte cookbook any longer, Fermín. Here, boiled beets are tossed in a smoky-sweet-savory peanut-based salsa macha and rounded out with pickled red onions for an explosive finish.
Rich, creamy, made in one pan – is this the ideal relaxed dinner-party dish? I think so! You can halve this recipe to serve two, or scale it up and use a large roasting dish to feed a crowd in a fuss-free manner. Use canned cherry tomatoes if you can find them: they add beautiful texture and are sweeter than regular canned tomatoes. Delicious served with couscous, short pasta or rice, and a dressed green salad.
This cauliflower is dressed up with luscious flavors—anchovy, raisins, garlic, orange, and breadcrumbs—a typical combination in Sicily. I pair it with burrata, which, I admit, is everywhere these days, but I will never get sick of it.
This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. I made it one night with no time and no plan. I opened the fridge and grabbed everything that seemed at least vaguely to go together. I took some sausage from the freezer, some peppers on their last legs, some broccoli rabe, and a couple odds and ends of onions. Add to that the remnants of a few open cans of tomatoes and . . . voilà, classic sausage and peppers. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.
The longer this sits in the fridge, the more delicious it gets. Reheat it and then throw it on a hoagie or on a mound of mashed potatoes or with polenta.
If you ask me what my last supper would include, this dish would absolutely make the list. It features a combination of some of my favorite ingredients: lemon, Parmesan, garlic, and butter. I’ve been making this dish for weeknight dinners for over 20 years, especially on Mondays as it’s a good way to use up any sesame bagels or baguettes left over from the weekend.
Serves 6 to 8 | Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 55 minutes
Classic Cuban picadillo—ground meat flavored with sweet raisins, savory tomatoes, salty olives, and fragrant cinnamon—is the ultimate comfort food. Here, I’ve turned those same flavors into an easy-to-make warm dip that uses black beans in place of the meat (with a hint of soy sauce to add some umami). The result can be eaten warm or cold with tortilla chips.
A broccoli salad makes sense. Broccoli loves you, and you love it, so everything is going to be fine. Well, once we make one. Gorgonzola rules, don’t be scared, and eggs rule, so don’t worry. Bacon vinaigrette is always nice and warm. We will get through this and make this right. This salad low- key could be made in any season, warm or cold. Also it’s a fire dinner or breakfast. Dang, just eat this every day, all day. You’ll become so strong.