Recipes By David Tanis
750 recipes found

Wild King Salmon With Savory Whipped Cream
The wild king salmon season opens in May on the West Coast and continues through summer, from Alaska all the way to San Diego. The first wild salmon in spring has brilliant red flesh, a mild sweet flavor and a velvetlike texture. Farmed salmon doesn’t compare. In this recipe, the salmon is cut on the diagonal into thin slices that cook quickly. They are topped with softly whipped cream that's seasoned with mustard, cayenne and lemon zest.

Roasted Pepper Tartine
The hot, open-face tartine is a lunchtime staple in Paris’s small neighborhood cafés and bistros. Like a piece of pizza, a tartine is constructed from a thick slice of rustic bread, lightly toasted. A savory topping and some good French cheese precede a few minutes of browning under the broiler. This tartine features garlicky roasted pepper strips (fresh or from a jar), a dab of sundried tomato purée (sliced fresh tomatoes in summer) and black olives. A thick slice of goat cheese makes a perfect pairing, or use Camembert if you prefer. Make a green salad to serve alongside for a quick light meal, or you may cut the tartine into small wedges to serve with drinks.

Green Chile Breakfast Quesadillas
If there is one ingredient absolutely necessary for traditional New Mexican cooking, it is the long, spicy, local green chile. Try this easy recipe for a good basic green chile sauce. It adds a Southwestern kick to nearly anything, but it is especially nice spooned liberally over a hearty breakfast quesadilla.

Whole Roasted New York Strip Loin
Roast beef for a holiday dinner or festive occasion is easy and impressive. There are many cuts to consider, from the pricey tenderloin and standing rib to the more affordable rump roast. A whole strip loin, also know variously as New York strip or Kansas City strip — usually cut into steaks — also makes a great centerpiece. Served with roasted potatoes and parsnips and horseradish sauce, it is the quintessential Anglophone meal.

Apricot Tart With Pistachios
Working with phyllo dough is easy and satisfying, especially for cooks who are inclined to shy away from making pastry. Frozen puff pastry is having a moment, but for little effort, you can achieve similar results with phyllo sheets and never lift a rolling pin. Bright orange apricots are the ideal fruit, but other summer stone fruits, such as pluots, plums or nectarines, also work well. This makes a very impressive open face tart with a very crisp, ultraflaky crust.

Thin Pan-Seared Pork Chops
Double-thick pork chops always look appetizing, but unless they are cooked perfectly, they tend to be dry, regardless of whether you grill or bake them. That's especially true if they are lean loin chops. But skinny chops cooked over high heat on the stovetop are far more apt to come out juicy. Giving them an hour in quickly made brine adds even more flavor and tenderness. Ask your butcher to cut thin chops that weigh 4 to 5 ounces.

Cabbage With Apples, Onions and Caraway

Lamb Shanks With Apricots and Chickpeas
This stew, inspired by Moroccan tagines, is meant for lamb shanks, but lamb shoulder, cut in large chunks, would also work. As with most braises, this one improves after a night in the fridge, giving the flavors time to meld and deepen. You could even make it a few days before serving. The subtle commingling of onion, saffron and apricots is enchanting. Take the time to soak and cook dried chickpeas, if you can. Using canned is easier, but freshly cooked chickpeas taste far better (and their drained cooking liquid makes a delicious vegetarian broth).

Fresh Corn Griddle Cakes With Spicy Salsa
Sweet tender corn is one of summer’s great joys, and adding fresh kernels turns these cornmeal griddlecakes into something quite special. Stirring a bit of chopped jalapeño and chives into the batter improves them all the more. A zippy salsa of chopped summer peppers and tomatoes makes a fine topping. Serve a colorful plateful of them as is, hot off the griddle, or to accompany grilled pork chops. For the best texture and rise, prep the wet and dry ingredients for the batter in advance, but wait to combine them until just before cooking.

Pan-Fried Breaded Pork Chops
Look for beautiful good-quality pork, such as Berkshire, and ask for center-cut loin chops with bone. For the bread crumbs, use day-old firm white sandwich bread or French loaf, cubed and whirled in a food processor, for about three cups of soft, fluffy crumbs. Dry, fine store-bought crumbs will not yield the same result. Make sure to fry these chops very gently over medium-high heat, to allow the bread-crumb coating to brown slowly, creating a crisp, golden crust. Serve with a tart salad or braised greens, such as broccoli rabe.

Sesame-Glazed Duck Legs With Spicy Persimmon Salad
Some Chinese cookbooks recommend steaming duck to tender perfection before roasting it to crisp the skin. It is a good technique to master, and works especially well with large moulard duck legs. You get moist tender duck, and a bonus pot full of rendered duck fat. (You can steam the duck up to 6 hours in advance of roasting it.) The accompanying salad of persimmons, oranges, pomegranate and daikon radish gets a kick from Serrano chile, lime juice, freshly grated ginger and sesame oil. Be sure to use Fuyu persimmons, which can be eaten unripe. (The long, pointy Hachiya persimmon must be completely ripe to be palatable.) It’s worth mixing up a batch of fragrant, flavorful Sichuan pepper salt, both for this recipe and to have a little extra on hand to use as an all-purpose seasoning; if you can’t find Sichuan peppercorns in a store, online spice merchants will have them.

Okra Salad With Toasted Cumin
Even avowed okra-phobes love this salad, which is seasoned with a warm and earthy Moroccan spice blend. The okra cooks for only 2 minutes in salted water, and the resulting flavor and texture are somewhat reminiscent of asparagus. The salad tastes best at room temperature.

Dark Chocolate Mousse With Candied Ginger
Always elegant, chocolate mousse is not at all difficult to make, and it can be prepared up to two days in advance. A classic chocolate mousse gets its foamy consistency from stiffly beaten egg whites. Though many recipes call for also folding in whipped cream, this one does not, the better to savor the intense chocolate experience. It has a hint of orange liqueur, a splash of espresso and a garnish of crystallized ginger.

Pakistani Potato Samosas
Samosas are popular snacks in Pakistan, India and elsewhere. The delicious fried parcels are often sold on the street, but the best ones are made at home. You can make the flavorful potato filling in advance if you wish. The highly seasoned potatoes can be served on their own as a side dish. Ajwain seed, a spice with a thyme-like flavor, is available from south Asian groceries or online spice merchants.

David Tanis’s Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream
Homemade ice cream is fun to make all year round, especially now that many home ice cream machines use frozen cylinders instead of ice. For this rich, smooth ice cream, seek out top quality dark cocoa and chocolate. Hazelnuts with chocolate is a winning combination, but other nuts may be substituted; you may also omit nuts altogether.

Black Bean and Poblano Tacos
There are many kinds of tacos, some piled high and overstuffed and some more minimal, meant to be more a snack than a meal. These little tacos are in the second category, similar to what you might find in a Mexican market for a quick bite. Savory black beans and roasted poblano chiles make a satisfying vegetarian version. Fresh soft corn tortillas, hot off the griddle, are essential.

Five-Peppercorn Fish Fillets
Firm white-fleshed fish fillets, like halibut, striped bass or grouper, take well to this simple, peppery butter sauce. A mix of different peppercorns — black, green, rose, Sichuan and Timut (from Nepal) — crushed to release their flavor and aroma, creates a seasoning that is sweet and spicy, but not "hot." The Sichuan and Timut pepper are quite floral and have a somewhat tongue-numbing quality. Most spice merchants will offer many kinds; feel free to use just one or two, or to refine the mixture to your own taste.

Chocolate Ice Cream Profiteroles
Profiteroles are among the most irresistible desserts. They are essentially dolled-up cream puffs, usually drizzled with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with chopped nuts. Adding dark chocolate ice cream catapults them heavenward, to everyone’s delight. More romantic recipes, from dinner for two to chocolate for all, can be found here.

Creamy Stovetop Corn With Poblano Chiles

Savory Spiced Carrot Cake
This carrot cake is not a dessert, though at first glance it looks like one. Whimsical and festive, it could even be a birthday cake for someone lacking a sweet tooth. Serve it as a first course, or pair it with a salad for a light meal.

Shrimp Gumbo with Andouille Sausage
Most cooks agree that gumbos must have the vegetable trinity of chopped bell pepper, onion and celery, and that they should be highly seasoned. Some gumbos do contain sausage, shrimp and chicken, but there are humbler ones that are made with only salt pork, onions and greens. Finally, there is the filé powder camp. These cooks use copious amounts of the stuff, which is made from finely powdered sassafras leaves. Added at the last minute, it thickens the soup while imparting a flavor that’s earthy and herbal. I confess to using all three — a roux, okra and filé powder — in my own gumbo, which I hope is not sacrilegious. Not having grown up in gumbo territory, I based mine on a number of visits to New Orleans.

Whole Roasted Squid With Tomatillo Salsa
Here’s a tasty room-temperature salad for lunch on a sunny fall day. You can roast the whole squid on a sheet pan in a hot oven, on the stovetop in a cast-iron pan or on a grill over coals. They cook quickly, and are done as soon as the tubes puff up and the tentacles are firm, which takes mere minutes. If you want them browned, leave them longer on the heat source, but they taste perfectly good if cooked pale.

Cold Sesame Chicken
Though completely different from a crisp-skinned, oven-roasted chicken, sometimes a boiled chicken is just the thing, hot or cold. In warm weather, this Chinese-style cold sesame chicken is especially welcome. It’s perfect for a picnic or light lunch and can be prepared well in advance of serving.

Spicy Clams With Garlicky Toasts
There’s nothing more satisfying than a big potful of steamed clams. To say they practically cook themselves is perhaps a slight exaggeration. Yet if your fish cooking skills are wanting, know this: Making clams really is dead simple. Here, they’re paired with lots of herbs and split baguettes. The toasts might seem large, but it’s all part of their appeal. Display them dramatically atop each bowl, before using them to sop up the broth.