I read these ideas in the New York Times a couple years ago:
Toss a cup of chopped mixed herbs
with a few tablespoons of olive oil in a
hot pan. Serve over angel-hair pasta,
diluting the sauce if necessary with pasta
cooking water.
Put three pounds of washed
mussels in a pot with half a cup of
white wine, garlic cloves, basil leaves and
chopped tomatoes. Steam until mussels
open. Serve with bread.
Heat a quarter-inch of olive oil in a
skillet. Dredge flounder or sole fillets
in flour and fry until crisp, about two
minutes a side. Serve on sliced bread with
tartar sauce.
Make pesto: put a couple of cups of
basil leaves, a garlic clove, salt, pepper
and olive oil as necessary in a blender
(walnuts and Parmesan are optional).
Serve over pasta (dilute with oil or water
as necessary) or grilled fish or meat.
Put a few dozen washed littlenecks in
a large, hot skillet with olive oil. When
clams begin to open, add a tablespoon
or two of chopped garlic. When most or
all are opened, add parsley. Serve alone,
with bread or over angel-hair pasta.
Pan-grill a skirt steak for three or
four minutes a side. Sprinkle with salt
and pepper, slice and serve over romaine
or any other green salad, drizzled with
olive oil and lemon.
Smear mackerel fillets with
mustard, then sprinkle with chopped
herbs (fresh tarragon is good), salt,
pepper and bread crumbs. Bake in a 425-
degree oven for about eight minutes.
Warm olive oil in a skillet with at
least three cloves sliced garlic.
When the garlic colors, add at least a teaspoon
each of cumin and pimentón. A minute later,
add a dozen or so shrimp, salt and
pepper. Garnish with parsley, serve with
lemon and bread.
Boil a lobster. Serve with lemon or
melted butter.
Gazpacho: Combine one pound
tomatoes cut into chunks, a cucumber
peeled and cut into chunks, two or three
slices stale bread torn into pieces, a
quarter-cup olive oil, two tablespoons
sherry vinegar and a clove of garlic in a
blender with one cup water and a couple
of ice cubes. Process until smooth,
adding water if necessary. Season with
salt and pepper, then serve or refrigerate,
garnished with anchovies if you like, and
a little more olive oil.
Put a few slices of chopped
prosciutto in a skillet with olive oil, a
couple of cloves of crushed garlic and a
bit of butter; a minute later, toss in about
half a cup bread crumbs and red chili
flakes to taste. Serve over pasta with
chopped parsley.
Call it panini: Grilled cheese with
prosciutto, tomatoes, thyme or basil
leaves.
Stir-fry a pound or so of ground
meat or chopped fish mixed with
chopped onions and seasoned with
cumin or chili powder. Pile into taco
shells or soft tacos, along with tomato,
lettuce, canned beans, onion, cilantro and
sour cream.
Chinese tomato and eggs: Cook
minced garlic in peanut oil until blond;
add chopped tomatoes then, a minute
later, beaten eggs, along with salt and
pepper. Scramble with a little soy sauce.
Cut eggplant into half-inch slices.
Broil with lots of olive oil, turning once,
until tender and browned. Top with
crumbled goat or feta cheese and broil
another 20 seconds.
While pasta cooks, combine a
couple cups chopped tomatoes, a
teaspoon or more minced garlic, olive oil
and 20 to 30 basil leaves. Toss with pasta,
salt, pepper and Parmesan.
Make wraps of tuna, warm white
beans, a drizzle of olive oil and lettuce
and tomato.
The New York supper: Bagels, cream cheese, smoked
salmon. Serve with tomatoes, watercress or arugula, and
sliced red onion or shallot.
Dredge thinly sliced chicken breasts in flour or
cornmeal; cook about two minutes a side in hot olive oil.
Place on bread with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.
Upscale tuna salad: good canned tuna (packed in olive
oil), capers, dill or parsley, lemon juice but no mayo. Use to
stuff a tomato or two.
Egg in a hole, glorified: Tear a hole in a piece of bread
and fry in oil. Crack an egg into the hole.
New Joe’s Special, from San Francisco: Brown ground
meat with minced garlic and chopped onion. When just
about cooked, add chopped spinach and cook, stirring, until
wilted. At the last minute, stir in two eggs, along with grated
Parmesan and salt and pepper.
Chop prosciutto and crisp it in a skillet with olive oil;
add chopped not-too-ripe figs. Serve over greens dressed with
oil and vinegar; top all with crumbled blue cheese.
Quesadilla: Use a combination of cheeses, like Fontina
mixed with grated pecorino. Put on half of a large flour
tortilla with pickled jalapenos, chopped onion, shallot or
scallion, chopped tomatoes and grated radish. Fold tortilla
over and brown on both sides in butter or oil, until cheese is
melted.
Fast chile rellenos: Drain canned whole green chilies.
Make a slit in each and insert a piece of cheese. Dredge in
flour and fry in a skillet, slit side up, until cheese melts.
Cobb-ish salad: Chop bacon and begin to brown it;
cut boneless chicken into strips and cook it with bacon. Toss
romaine and watercress or arugula with chopped tomatoes,
avocado, onion and crumbled blue cheese. Add bacon and
chicken. Dress with oil and vinegar.
Sauté 10 whole peeled garlic cloves in olive oil.
Meanwhile, grate Pecorino, grind lots of black pepper, chop
parsley and cook pasta. Toss all together, along with crushed
dried chili flakes and salt.
Niçoise salad: Lightly steam haricot verts, green beans
or asparagus. Arrange on a plate with chickpeas, good
canned tuna, hard-cooked eggs, a green salad, sliced
cucumber and tomato. Dress with oil and vinegar.
Fried egg “saltimbocca”: Lay slices of prosciutto or
ham in a buttered skillet. Fry eggs on top of ham; top with
grated Parmesan.
Frisée aux lardons: Cook chunks of bacon in a skillet.
Meanwhile, make six-minute or poached eggs and a frisée
salad. Put eggs on top of salad along with bacon; deglaze pan
with sherry vinegar and pour pan juices over all.
Fried rice: Soften vegetables with oil in a skillet. Add
cold takeout rice, chopped onion, garlic, ginger, peas and two
beaten eggs. Toss until hot and cooked through. Season with
soy sauce and sesame oil.
Taco salad: Toss together greens, chopped tomato,
chopped red onion, sliced avocado, a small can of black
beans and kernels from a couple of ears of corn. Toss with
crumbled tortilla chips and grated cheese. Dress with olive
oil, lime and chopped cilantro leaves.
Raita to the rescue: Broil any fish. Serve with a sauce of
drained yogurt mixed with chopped cucumber, minced onion
and cayenne.
Season boneless lamb steaks cut from the leg with
sweet curry powder. Sear on both sides. Serve over greens,
with lemon wedges.
Sauté shredded zucchini in olive oil, adding garlic and
chopped herbs. Serve over pasta.
Broil a few slices prosciutto until crisp; crumble and
toss with parsley, Parmesan, olive oil and pasta.
Not takeout: Stir-fry onions with cut-up broccoli. Add
cubed tofu, chicken or shrimp, or sliced beef or pork, along
with a tablespoon each minced garlic and ginger. When
almost done, add half cup of water, two tablespoons soy
sauce and plenty of black pepper. Heat through and serve
over fresh Chinese noodles.
Sprinkle sole fillets with chopped parsley, garlic, salt
and pepper; roll up, dip in flour, then beaten egg, then bread
crumbs; cook in hot olive oil about three minutes a side.
Serve with lemon wedges.
The Waldorf: Toast a handful of walnuts in a skillet.
Chop an apple or pear; toss with greens, walnuts and a
dressing made with olive oil, sherry vinegar, Dijon mustard
and shallot. Top, if you like, with crumbled goat or blue
cheese.
Put some butter and a handful of pine nuts in a skillet.
Cook over medium heat until both are brown. Toss with
cooked pasta, grated Parmesan and black pepper.
Dredge skate or flounder in flour and brown quickly
in butter or oil. Deglaze pan with a couple of spoonfuls of
capers and a lot of lemon juice or a little vinegar.
Peel and thinly slice raw beets; cook in butter until soft.
Take out of pan and quickly cook some shrimp in same
pan. Deglaze pan with sherry vinegar, adding sauce to beets
and shrimp. Garnish with dill.
Poach shrimp and plunge into ice water. Serve with
cocktail sauce: one cup ketchup, one tablespoon vinegar,
three tablespoons melted butter and lots of horseradish.
Southeast Asia steak salad: Pan- or oven-grill skirt
or flank steak. Slice and serve on a pile of greens with a sauce
of one tablespoon each of nam pla and lime juice, black
pepper, a teaspoon each of sugar and garlic, crushed red chili
flakes and Thai basil.
Miso steak: Coat beef tenderloin steaks (filet mignon)
with a blend of miso and chili paste thinned with sake or
white wine. Grill or broil about five minutes.
Pasta with fresh tomatoes: Cook chopped fresh
tomatoes in butter or oil with garlic until tender, while pasta
cooks. Combine and serve with grated Parmesan.
Salmon (or just about anything else) teriyaki: Sear
salmon steaks on both sides for a couple of minutes; remove.
To skillet, add a splash of water, sake, a little sugar and soy
sauce; when mixture is thick, return steaks to pan and turn in
sauce until done. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Rich vegetable soup: Cook asparagus tips and peeled
stalks or most any other green vegetable in chicken stock with
a little tarragon until tender; reserve a few tips and purée the
rest with a little butter (cream or yogurt, too, if you like)
adding enough stock to thin the purée. Garnish with the
reserved tips. Serve hot or cold.
Brush portobello caps with olive oil; sprinkle with salt
and pepper and broil until tender. make into a sandwich or
burger, serve with balsamic mayo
Press a lot of coarsely ground black pepper onto both
sides of filet mignon or other steaks or chopped meat
patties. Brown in butter in a skillet for two minutes a side.
Remove steaks and add a splash of red wine, chopped
shallots and a bit of tarragon to skillet. Reduce, then return
steaks to pan, turning in the sauce for a minute or two.
World’s leading sandwich: prosciutto, tomato, butter
or olive oil and a baguette.
Near instant mezze: Combine hummus on a plate with
yogurt laced with chopped cucumbers and a bit of garlic,
plus tomato, feta, white beans with olive oil and pita bread.
Make a thin plain omelet with two or three eggs. Sauté
cubes of bacon or pancetta or strips of prosciutto until crisp.
Cut up the omelet and use it and the meat to garnish a green
salad dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Sear corn kernels in olive oil with minced jalapeños
and chopped onions; toss with cilantro, black beans, chopped
tomatoes, chopped bell pepper and lime.
Cook shrimp in a skillet slowly (five minutes or so) to
preserve their juices, with plenty of garlic and olive oil, until
done; pour over watercress or arugula, with lemon, pepper
and salt.
Combine canned tuna in olive oil, halved grape
tomatoes, black olives, mint, lemon zest and red pepper
flakes. Serve with pasta, thinning with olive oil or pasta
cooking water as needed.
Pit and chop a cup or more of mixed olives. Combine
with olive oil, a little minced garlic, red pepper flakes and
chopped basil or parsley. Serve over pasta.
Cook chopped tomatillos with a little water or stock,
cilantro and a little minced fresh chili; serve over grilled,
broiled or sautéed chicken breasts, with corn tortillas.
A winning sandwich: bresaola or prosciutto, arugula,
Parmesan, marinated artichoke hearts, tomato.
Smoked trout fillets served with lightly toasted
almonds, shredded fennel, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle
of lemon.
Cut the top off four big tomatoes; scoop out the
interiors and mix them with toasted stale baguette or pita,
olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs (basil, tarragon, and/or
parsley). Stuff into tomatoes and serve with salad.
Pasta frittata: Turn cooked pasta and a little garlic
into an oiled or buttered skillet. Brown, pressing to create a
cake. Flip, then top with three or four beaten eggs and loads
of Parmesan. Brown other side and serve.
Thai-style beef: Thinly slice one and a half pounds of
flank steak, pork shoulder or boneless chicken; heat peanut
oil in a skillet, add meat and stir. A minute later, add a
tablespoon minced garlic and some red chili flakes. Add 30
clean basil leaves, a quarter cup of water and a tablespoon or
two of soy sauce or nam pla. Serve with lime juice and more
chili flakes, over rice or salad.
Grilled tofu with veggies, via Jenny. Your favorite
veggies for roasting (onion, eggplant, red pepper, tomatoes,
zucinni). Tofu - extra firm, Olive oil. Your favorite seasoning
(I use red pepper flakes, paprika, and steak/chicken
seasoning). Cut all the veggies and tofu into bite size peices.
Place on a cookie sheet sprayed with pam. Drizzle olive oil,
and sprinkle with seasonings. Cook at 400 for 35 minutes.
