Tag Archives: New York Times

NYT Project: Broiled Lamb Chops

19 Dec

This particular recipe wasn’t on my original list; however, I was looking for something to make with the Brussels sprouts and this seemed like a pretty simple dish. I generally try to steer clear of making two new dishes at once, but with four simple steps this looked pretty foolproof, even for me. (Though I’ve been cooking for years now, sometimes my sense of timing is a little off.) Lamb has been on my list of food that I want to attempt to cook, so clearly it was meant to be!

Serves 2.

Ingredients

2-4 lamb chops per person
extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, sliced
salt and pepper
unsalted butter, optional
herbs (dill, mint), finely chopped, optional
lemon juice

Directions

1. Place the lamb chops in a dish and cover with olive oil. Add in the garlic and marinate for 30-60 minutes.
2. Turn on your broiler and position the oven rack so that it is 2 inches below the heat source.
3. Season the lamb with salt & pepper, then place on a foil-lined tray and cook for 4 minutes per side for rare. (recommended, but add extra time if you want them more on the medium-rare side.)
4.  Remove from the oven and plate. If you like, add a small pat of butter, some herbs and a squeeze of lemon juice to each chop.

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NYT Project: Shredded Brussels Sprouts w/ Bacon & Pine Nuts

19 Dec

Brussels sprouts were the bane of my existence as a child. The mere mention of them would send me into fits of eye-rolling, gagging and desperate complaining with the hope of being spared from their inherent repulsiveness.  My parents would insist that they liked them and I could only assume that they were either a) blatantly lying or b) insane.

Fast forward twenty years and I find myself at the market, buying a pint of Brussels sprouts voluntarily. What has gotten in to me? It started back in the summer with reports of a friend making absolutely delectable Brussels sprouts for a group of eight or so. So the story goes, people were actually fighting (cordially…but still) over the last few sprouts. After verifying this story and hearing said people swear up and down that they were great, I began to rethink my stance. If all those people – most of whom hated Brussels sprouts as kids – liked them now, maybe it was time to give them another chance. Flipping through the NYT cookbook, I came across a recipe that looked easy and, importantly, included bacon. Bacon makes everything better, as far as I can tell.

This recipe does require you to do a few steps, but if you have a food processor, it is well worth using it! Alternatively, if you have Brussels sprouts large enough, you could shred them on a box grater. Just watch your fingers!

They look so harmless!

Serves 2.

Ingredients

1 pint Brussels sprouts
3 strips bacon, diced
1/4 c pine nuts
3 scallions, finely sliced
1/4 ts nutmeg
salt & pepper

Directions

1. Trim the Brussels sprouts. If you have time/desire to, you can core them as well but it’s not necessary. In batches, shred in the food processor.
2.  Fry the diced bacon until crispy, roughly 10 minutes. When cooked, remove the bacon and drain on paper towels.
3.  Add the pine nuts to the pan with the bacon fat and cook over a medium-low heat until the pine nuts have turned a light brown. (2-3 minutes.)
4. Add the sprouts, scallions and nutmeg. Cook until the sprouts are done, roughly 6-8 minutes. They should be bright green.
5. Stir in the bacon pieces and season with plenty of salt and pepper. (Make sure you taste, though, as the bacon is salty, too.)

Looks great, tastes better.

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NYT Project: Elizabeth Frink’s Roast Lemon Chicken

28 Nov

With so many ways to roast up a chicken, sometimes I find it a little overwhelming to choose one. Fortunately, the NYT Cookbook had a recipe that looked both delicious and simple. I think I may have used a bit too much salt in seasoning the bird, as the pan juices, when reduced, were overly sodium-ized. (Sure…that’s a word.) I tend to err on the side of using more seasoning than less as I’m disappointed when bland food arrives at the table. However, because flavours intensify when you reduce them, the salt flavour increased in the pan juices and even after cutting them with more water, I still couldn’t use them. Ah well – next time!

The bird itself, though, was fantastic. The vibrant lemon flavour came through and the meat was tender and juicy. I used cilantro instead of parsley, as that’s what I happened to have in the fridge and what I prefer to use in general. Either parsley or cilantro work well with chicken, lemon and garlic, so feel free to use either. I predict this recipe will be rotated in to my regular rotation!

Ingredients

1 3lb chicken
1/2 ts salt
1/4 ts black pepper
2 lemons
6 cloves garlic
2 tb unsalted butter
2 tb olive oil
1 tb flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped, plus extra for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 325F.
2. Place the chicken in a large baking dish and season inside and out with salt and pepper.
3. Remove the skin from one lemon with a peeler and rub the skin over the outside  of the chicken. Quarter the rest of the lemon and squeeze over the chicken. Place the lemon pieces and garlic cloves inside the bird.
4. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a small pan. Pour about one-third of the mixture inside the chicken.  Tie the legs together with kitchen string and pour the remaining mixture over the chicken.
5. Roast the chicken for 90 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 165F, basting every 15 minutes with the juices from the pan. Half an hour before the bird is done, pour juice from the second lemon over it and sprinkle with parsley.
6. When done, transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let it sit for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, pour 1/2c water/broth into the roasting pan and place it over high heat. As it comes to a boil, scrape up the pan drippings with a wooden spoon. Reduce the juices to the desired consistency and season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Carve the chicken and serve the sauce on the side.

*side note – the leftovers make for excellent chicken sandwiches – assuming you’ve got any chicken left!

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Taking on the (NY)Times

25 Nov

A few months ago a friend mentioned to me that she’d picked up a fantastic new cookbook and thought that I’d get a kick out of it. It’s very difficult for me NOT to buy cookbooks, so when one is recommended I’m probably going to get it. In this case, the book is The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century and it is a doozy. Over 900 pages long, it is a compilation of the best recipes published in the history of the NYT newspaper. Each recipe features a short,  entertaining and enlightening blurb about its history, the cook who created it and why it was chosen over other possible submissions.

I have now gone through many of the hundreds and hundreds of recipes and have chosen a few that I want to tackle up front:

  • lemon chicken
  • shredded Brussels sprouts with bacon & pine nuts
  • roasted cauliflower
  • arctic char with ancho-shallot butter
  • steamed fish with thyme and tomato vinaigrette
  • sauteed cod with potatoes in chorizo mussel broth
  • salmon cakes with yogurt chipotle sauce
  • Thai beef noodle salad
  • herb-crusted broiled lamb chops
  • marinated flank steak with Asian slaw
  • Malaysian-inspired pork stew
  • cucumber, tomato and avocado soup

…and that’s just to start.  First on the list will be the lemon chicken. I’m already very comfortable with roasting a bird and have been looking for a new recipe, so lemon chicken it is! I will be posting each recipe to see if it lived up to expectations. If anyone else out there has the book, has tried a recipe and liked it (or otherwise), let me know!

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