While chicken breast is undoubtedly an easy, quick and uncontroversial option for dinner, I find it often to be quite disappointing: a little bland, usually dry and just a bit boring. Except when cooked this way: the meat is browned, then lightly poached in rich tomato sauce so it stays exquisitely tender, and each piece comes enrobed in a blanket of melting mozzarella cheese. Absolutely essential with this is some crusty bread for wiping up all the juices on your plate. And depending on your mood, you might also want a light salad or a few greens.
Think of this as a sort of hot caprese salad —by cooking the tomatoes in a foil packet on the barbecue with their vines, aromatic herbs, oil, and salt, the flavors concentrate and intensify. They work beautifully with the mozzarella, as you would expect, with added interest from the crushed coriander seeds —simple yet luxurious
This spring green vegetable gnocchi has all the flavours I love about spring in one bowl. It’s light and fresh and a quick and easy weeknight meal that will boost your vegetable intake, and feed that longing for a delicious supper after a long day. I use frozen peas and baby spinach, but you can also use purple sprouting broccoli, asparagus or chard.
Shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, celebrated Italian chef Massimo Bottura launched a fantastic daily cooking show on Instagram. One of his ideas? Cook something today and use the leftovers in another dish tomorrow. This pasta with tomato and tuna sauce serves two, with enough to also make my Pasta al Forno.
Some things are classic for a reason. Eggplant parm is the ultimate freezer food because it somehow holds up more perfectly than almost anything else no matter how much you deviate from the recipe or how long you leave it in the freezer. This might not look like the Italian American version you know, due to its lack of breading, but this is a take on what they serve in southern Italy. This dish is easier and healthier – with no frying involved - but keep in mind that the ingredients here truly matter. Buy a high-quality mozzarella and marinara sauce, and try to shy away from the huge eggplants because their seeds will add a lot of bitterness. You can slice them and salt them for a few hours, but I find that that’s a step too far when medium-sized eggplants are just as readily available. The main thing to keep in mind is that this dish is meant to be easy.
These are superlative, indoor, make-ahead ribs that yield stunning results, if I must say so myself. You can season them up to 3 days ahead, and if you’d like, you can cover and chill them after steaming and broil them a couple of days later. If you love to grill, glaze and char (after steaming) over medium-high direct heat instead of using the broiler. To simplify the spice rub, omit the mustard powder, MSG, and coriander and leave the other measurements the same.
Potato salad in summer, made with new potatoes, is a favourite among most people in Scandinavia. There is traditional Danish recipe for warm potato salad just with cooked onions and vinegar, which is quite sweet; this is a modern version of it.
Years ago, my friends and I visited a regional business called Let’s Dish, where we would pay to prepare individually portioned freezer meals. They would set out recipes and raw ingredients, and we’d prep and label enough meals to last for weeks. It was a great concept, and it opened my eyes to how easy it was to cook meals from scratch. After we paid for the service a few times, I began to do the same in my home. Storing individual portions of uncooked mushrooms and buttery rolls in the freezer makes for a delicious, time-saving meal later. The mushrooms can be marinated up to 48 hours in advance.
This vegan quiche is gorgeous and full of summery tomato-basil-olive flavor.
We keep stalks of sugarcane in a galvanized bucket on the table in front of the wood-burning stove, using them to flavor a roast the way other restaurants might use a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary.