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Three Uses Of The Knife In Cooking - Yahoo Recipe Search
Food and WineI chased the flavor of a proper Tuscan ribollita for 17 years until I ate the genuine article again, finally, at Leonti, chef-owner Adam Leonti’s swanky new Italian restaurant in New York City. Leonti’s deeply savory version of the Tuscan bread and bean porridge was even better than the one I remember from a small hillside restaurant in Siena, Italy, so many years ago. (And that ribollita, which I ate on my first visit to Italy, was so perfect and nourishing that it made me forget for an hour that I was wearing my girlfriend’s puffy sweater because the airline had lost my luggage.) Leonti learned how to make ribollita from a restaurateur from Lunigiana, a three-hour drive northwest of Siena, paying close attention to the porridge’s humble elements: grassy-green, peppery olive oil; earthy, rustic bread; small, thin-skinned white beans; and most importantly, sofrito, the finely chopped, slow-cooked mixture of carrots, onions, and celery that gives ribollita its extraordinary flavor.At Leonti, sofrito is the foundation of ragù, and of the hot broth served to guests upon arrival—and it’s such a crucial ingredient that his cooks make about 75 quarts of it a week. Leonti used to laboriously chop his sofrito with a knife by using a rocking motion. “Then I watched Eat Drink Man Woman, and the best part is the beginning, with the Chinese chef chopping with big cleavers,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘That’s the move!’”So, Leonti bought some large cleavers in Chinatown and a wood butcher block and set up a sofrito station in the kitchen, where today his cooks rhythmically chop and break down the whole vegetables into rubble using the same kind of chopping technique I saw a barbecue cook use at Skylight Inn BBQ in Ayden, North Carolina, to break down the meat of whole smoked hogs into a fine mince. The size of the mince matters—the smaller the better—Leonti says, because you’re multiplying the surface area of the vegetables by a thousand-fold. More surface area to caramelize in the pan equals more flavor.When I made Leonti’s ribollita at home in my Birmingham, Alabama, kitchen, I tried the double-cleaver technique but quickly switched to an efficient, two-handledmezzaluna after too many stray bits of onion, carrot, and celery fell to the kitchen floor. I followed his advice and sweated the vegetables in olive oil in a Dutch oven, slowly cooking the mixture, stirring almost as often with a wooden spoon as you would with a roux. After 30 or so minutes, I turned up the heat until I heard that rapid sizzle, signaling that the sofrito was beginning to caramelize, creating a massive amount of flavor. When you build flavor from the bottom of the pot like this, the flavors continue to transform, concentrating even further when you add then reduce aromatic liquids— in Leonti’s case, adding crushed tomatoes and white wine, which cook down to a tomato-wine-sofrito jam full of umami. That flavor base then gets rehydrated with water, then cooks down again with the kale, potatoes, and bread—the latter adds tangy flavor and disintegrates into the soup to add texture. Finally, cooked beans—both whole and pureed—go in, thickening and tightening the soup into a porridge.Leonti serves many of his courses in gold-rimmed Richard Ginori china to frame his food in the Tuscan context. His food is big city fine dining meets cucina povera, the Italian cooking tradition born of necessity that elevates humble ingredients into dishes fit for a king. I asked him about the restaurant’s tightrope walk between high and low. “What is luxury? Luxury to a few is foie gras or truffles,” he says. “But the ultimate luxury is time and space. Those are the two most expensive things on the planet. Ribollita is such an expense of time. It’s the ultimate luxury.”Especially when you’ve spent 17 years searching for a proper recipe. —Hunter LewisCook’s note: Decent bread and canned beans work fine here, but if you shop for the best rustic loaf baked with freshly milled flour you can find, and cook your beans in extra sofrito a day ahead—especially white beans sold byRancho Gordo—your ribollita will go from good to great.Food52This dish is the ultimate celebration of Parmigiano Reggiano and one that I wish I had simmering on the stove every winter weekend. It all starts with the broth, infused with the intense flavor of the cheese rinds that can, if you wish, stand on its own. But layer it with a hint of sweetness from roasted squash, a dusting of warm nutmeg, and a dash of cream and you have yourself a seasonal staple. To make this a meal, I’ve paired the soup with one of my favorite under-the-radar pastas: sfoglia lorda (or spoja lorda), meaning “dirty pasta.” I first came across these bite-sized ravioli through Pasta Grannies, and they’ve since become a go-to in my house, both because of their robust Parmigiano flavor and because they’re shockingly easy to make. Like the cheese they’re filled with, sfoglia lorda come from Emilia-Romagna and were born out of a desire to use leftover cappelletti filling. Instead of wasting what remained, a very thin layer of the mixture was sandwiched between pasta sheets and cut into small rectangles. Sfoglia lorda are traditionally served in meat stock, but I find they make a wonderful addition to any soup. A FEW NOTES: I always like to have some Parmigiano Reggiano broth on hand, so don’t hesitate to double the recipe. The broth can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator for three to five days, or in the freezer for several months. Sfoglia lorda are typically filled with a soft cheese like campagnolo, stracchino, raviggiolo or casatella, which are difficult to find stateside. Here, I’ve substituted mild goat cheese, since it has the thick, spreadable texture that’s ideal for this pasta. If you’re not a goat cheese fan, switch it out for more (very firm) ricotta. To make sure the pasta doesn’t leak, it’s important to remove any excess moisture from the filling. If your ricotta is watery, drain it for 15 to 20 minutes in cheesecloth before using, or pat it dry between some paper towels. This is also why the egg is essential: even if the filling starts to peek through the cut ravioli, the egg will hold it together during the cooking process. If there’s one piece of special equipment worth using here, it’s a fluted pasta cutter. This tool is designed to seal and cut the pasta at the same time, which helps prevent the sfoglia lorda from leaking. If you don’t have one but you’re keen to give the recipe a try, dot little pockets of filling across one of the pasta sheets and leave small gaps of dough in between. Then, once you’ve layered the other pasta sheet on top, prick the pockets with a fork to let the air escape, cut along the dough gaps with a knife, and seal the pieces manually.Food52I like dinners that require assembly, because you can usually make the parts at your own pace and in whatever order you like. Then, when it's time to sit down, most of your work is already done. Assembled dishes also work well for family dinners. When my husband is away, dinner with my kids means the three of us in the kitchen. Two of us must be kept occupied and away from knives. This warm tuna salad proved a formidable match. My five-year-olds scrubbed the potatoes (and whatever else they could get their hands on) and helped shell the beans, giving me time to pull everything else together. The entire dish can be prepared in two pans. Start the potatoes in a medium saucepan. They can be cooked ahead of time, and rewarmed; otherwise cook them first and leave them in a strainer while you finish everything else. Both beans can be blanched in salted water, in the same pot you used for the potatoes, and they can be cooked one after the other. Do the green beans first, scoop them out with a slotted spoon, and then add the cranberry beans. And if you can no longer get fresh cranberry beans, plan ahead and use dried. Then all you have to do -- and all you need to pay attention to -- is the tuna. As it poaches in the oil, the oil soaks up the fragrance of the herbs, garlic, and tuna, making a delicious dressing for the salad. My kids loved the assembly part. One spread the potatoes, another the beans, while I pulled the warm tuna into pieces and spooned the oil over the salad. No whisked dressing is needed. After you dress with the oil, sprinkle with some sherry vinegar, and finish the dish with a flaky salt like Maldon, and some coarsely ground black pepper.Food52Do you love dark chocolate, or do you love milk chocolate? Some tilt to either side while some remain in the middle and some others prefer to combine dark chocolate with milk. There is no plausible reason for this. It’s just an innate thing that can’t be explained. Right from the time when a lot of us were kids, we’ve always had our own chocolate preferences. Regardless of what you prefer, there is no way you won’t like these dark chocolate brownies. Cocoa powder is added to the baking chocolate, and a saucepan is used instead of a mixer. Then chocolate chips are added. All these add up to a wondrous chocolate mixture. Different shades of chocolate in one place! What a glorious mix! And you bet, they taste as great as they look. Various scientific studies have proven that eating chocolate every day is good for the body. For your daily dose of chocolate, you need nothing more than these awesome dark chocolate brownies. Recipe Add 5 ounces of unsweetened chocolate and butter to a medium saucepan. Any type of unsweetened chocolate will do. You can use expensive brands or the inexpensive ones you will find around. Heat the mixture and stir it every half-a-minute. Do this until the mixture is all melted and smooth. Now, sprinkle some cocoa powder into the mixture in the saucepan. Stir until the mixture in the saucepan is smooth. Remove it from the fire and let the mixture cool for about five minutes. Add two cups of sugar and stir the mixture until the sugar melts in. Add a tablespoon of heavenly vanilla to the saucepan. The mixture should be getting cooler with the addition of the vanilla and the sugar. Add three eggs, breaking them in one at a time and stirring the mixture as you add each egg. Add a sprinkle of flour to the mixture. Then stir the flour into the mixture until it is halfway blended. To round things up, add semi-sweet chocolate chips. These dark chocolate chips will highlight the chocolate flavour of the dark chocolate brownies. Stir everything together until the mixture is halfway blended. Grease and flour a cooking pan with baking spray. You can use a 9 x 13-inch cooking pan or an 8 x 8-inch cooking pan for this. A 9 x 13-inch pan will give you a thinner brownie, but you will get a more even baking if you use it. A square cooking pan will give you thicker dark chocolate brownies. Thicker brownies could take a lot of time for the center of the brownie to get baked. No matter the size or type of pan you decide to use, the important thing is to watch over the brownie while it is baking. Smoothen the top and bake them at 350 degrees for about 40 to 45 minutes if you are using a square pan. If you are using a rectangular pan, you can bake them for less than that. Use a toothpick to check the brownies. If the toothpick is gooey or messy, you should return it to the oven for about five to ten more minutes. Be careful so the edges don’t get burnt. Now you need to let the dark chocolate brownies cool. Brownies always taste great when they are warm, but they taste better if you let them cool before eating them. After they cool, you can take them out of the pan. You may need to run a knife along the edges of the pan before they come out of the pan. You can sprinkle powdered sugar on them if you wish. Now you can happily munch away! I found them very filling and tasty!Food.comWhat do you get when you combine two Zaar recipes...and give it a twist? It would look distinctively something like this. It didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it, as I wanted only three distinctive layers and wound up with four, and the red and blue are lighter than I wanted, but it was really, really good...so I was willing to look past its faults. I'll still keep experimenting with it, but I thought it would be a good one to post for the 4th of July. Cooking time is chilling time (between layers and after assembly). Other flavors would work well with this, also...like a layer of orange and a layer of white. A few things worth noting: 1) For presentation purposes, try to find a plain vanilla ice-cream (without vanilla bean flecks) in it. 2) Allow 15-30 minutes for the first and second layers to set before you pour on the next layer or the layers will mix together and won't be separate. 3) Make the blue layer first if you want the layers to be red, white and blue from the top down. 4) The white layer has a very delicate, almost custard-like, flavor which goes well with the fruit flavors. If you want a more more pronounced flavor, add a little bit of vanilla (preferably white vanilla, so it doesn't change the color) or use Recipe #25883. 5) I found it far easier and quicker to open the side of the box of ice cream and slice it with a long knife than to dig it out with a scoop. 6) For darker colors in the red and blue, you could add a little paste food coloring to reach desired color. 7) I created this recipe due to some inspiration from two 'Zaar recipes: Recipe #25883 and Recipe #108778. Thank you to dojemi and faith58 for your inspiration.Food.comThe only knife needed here is to prepare this salad. It all chopped small enough so no need to set a knife to use while eating. Ricotta Salata is one of Italy's most unusual and least understood sheep's milk cheeses. This snow-white variation of Ricotta originated in Sicily. Spongy and smooth, Ricotta Salata is a rindless cheese made from lightly salted sheep's milk curd and whey that is pressed and dried even before the cheese is aged for at least three months, giving this pure white cheese a dense but slightly spongy texture and slightly salty, not overly salty or "sheepy." Instead, it boasts a mellow blend of nutty, milky and sweet flavors, with consistency being versatility in cooking. This is not ricotta as Americans have come to know ricotta. In Italian, ricotta simply means ""recooked."" It is a cheese-making process rather than a specific cheese. This ricotta is also a salata, or ""salted,"" cheese. If using feta in place of ricatto salata be sure to soak and rinse in cold water before diced. Try Recipe #91909 & for a dressing Recipe #121271 or fresh lemon juice if keeping the fat out of your food intake.
