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A Few of My Recipes
I don't do "favorites" well – why choose? But here some recipes from my books I find myself going back to time and again. It’s a wide range, but they all have this in common: they’re easy, virtually foolproof, and delicious.
Fennel is among my favorite cold-weather staples. Oddly enough I like the pairing of fennel and celery. Though their textures are similar, their flavors are so wildly different that the combination is striking. With little more than olive oil, loads of lemon (more)
The simplest chicken recipe there is and perhaps the easiest as well. Add the herb here if you like or see the flavoring ideas that follow. This is the kind of dish you’ll never get tired of, because you can change the flavoring every time you make it. (more)
One of my favorite restaurants is Zucca Magica in Nice, and one of my favorite dishes there is this wonderful salad. The contrast of the sweet orange slices with the robust olives, enhanced by the crunch of the fennel seeds, is truly magical. (more)
A jumping-off point for many creamy sauces—including the beloved fettuccine Alfredo—and one of the recipes that demonstrates the value of water in pasta sauces: You can use as little as 1/2 stick of butter here and still make a credible sauce, as long as you (more)
Everyone is intrigued by the idea of a savory version of one of their favorite desserts, and this one is a beauty. In fact, there’s nothing quite like a summertime tomato cobbler, though you can make one with canned tomatoes all year long. (It’s just different; (more)
For a range of colors, flavors, and textures, this pretty little salad is a tough one to beat. If you have leftover sweet potatoes and quinoa, you can whip it up in no time, but even if you start from scratch it isn’t much work. As is often the case, you can (more)
Eggplant Parmesan is a lot of work. Here’s a more straightforward version, with the vegetables and meat grilled or broiled instead of breaded and fried. You can skip the chicken if you like, and add other vegetables, like zucchini and portobello mushrooms; just (more)
A surefire way to get anyone to eat any vegetable, these crisp babies are delicious as a side dish, alone as an appetizer, or served on a bed of greens as lunch. Root vegetables are most common, but you can use whatever looks good to you, alone or in (more)
Most veteran cooks have their favorite cheesecake, and this is mine. It’s relatively low in sugar, and the lemon provides balance. You can skip the sour cream topping if you feel that enough is enough. (more)
The simplest bread is nothing more than water and flour. Heat some olive oil in a pan—you can add other flavorings, too—and this basic formula becomes a quick flatbread that’s ready in the time it takes to cook dinner. The idea comes from the recipe for socca (more)
Flank steak is best for slicing; a marinade gives each slice more flavor. You can grill the whole piece, of course, but I like to grill half of it and leave the rest in its marinade, refrigerated, for a day or two, and cook it later for a salad or stir fry; see (more)
Cassoulet is one of the best of the myriad of traditional European dishes that combine beans and meat to produce wonderful rich, robust stews. This recipe maintains that spirit, but is much faster, easier, less expensive, and more contemporary, emphasizing the (more)