Ingredients
These beautiful and simple cheese crisps hail from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy.
A perfect summer combination making a light salad from fresh melon and tarragon.
This is a specialty from Surat in northwestern India. I am always drawn to the scent of a green papaya enhanced by nutty mustard seed popped in hot oil.
Satés in Singapore play the same role as hot dogs in New York, a popular, affordable, and democratic street snack enjoyed at all hours of the day and night by rich and poor and everyone in between. So to have your saté named the best in Singapore by The Straits Times (think The New York Times of Southeast Asia) is no small accomplishment, especially if you're an ang moh, foreigner in this case, an American: my stepson, Jake Klein. These satés were first served at the restaurant Wood, which featured Asia's first, and only, exclusively wood-burning kitchen (wood-burning grill, oven, smoker, and rotisserie). But even if you cook on a gas grill, the robust spicing of these satés will blast through loud and clear. For centuries Singapore and the Strait of Malacca were the epicenter of the Asian spice trade; the legacy lives on in these electrifying satés.
Zakuski is a spread of Russian appetizers, little dishes that, rather like Mediterranean mezze, can either start a meal or constitute the entire thing.
The potatoes and eggs could be cooked a day ahead and refrigerated. The sauce holds 3 days in the refrigerator.
This simple veggie spread will knock you out first with its speckled-magenta beauty. Then you'll be impressed by how it synthesizes the old-school delight of peppery, cool radishes from the garden, dabbed with a dot of good butter and a pinch of salt. Spread it on rye toast points, unsalted crackers, celery sticks, endive leaves, or crunchy romaine hearts. We got the idea for radish butter from our Nashville friend Mindy Merrell, the co-author, with her guy, R. B. Quinn, of Cheater BBQ: Barbecue Anytime, Anywhere, in Any Weather. For folks who call themselves “cheater chefs,” they sure don't skimp on anything, and they come up with ideas that are simple and original and damned delicious. We think you'll agree “clever chefs” is more like it.
Pickled grapes look a lot like olives, and we use them a lot like olives, too, tossing them in cold salads or just serving them in a ramekin as a cocktail nibble, with toothpicks (no dish for pits required!). Their playful sweetsour flavor, their crispness, and their gentle chile heat make them super-addictive.
The Three Opportunities: You can dictate the character of your soup by how you decide to start cooking it.