Recipes By David Tanis
750 recipes found
Savory Steel-Cut Oats With Fried Egg and Za’atar
Oat porridge for breakfast is often topped with brown sugar and cream. Though sweetened porridge is delicious, a savory approach with oats makes a nice change. Think of oats as a fine substitute for rice — you don’t always want rice pudding, do you? Steel-cut oats have a nutty whole-grain flavor and retain a nubbly texture, far superior to rolled oats; they pair nicely with savory toppings, for a risotto-like effect. This easy, hearty dish is actually suitable for any time of day, not just morning. If you can’t find za’atar (a splendid spice mix of wild thyme, sumac and sesame used throughout the Middle East), try a sprinkling of toasted ground cumin or a pinch of oregano, or a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. It’s hard to cook a single portion of oats, so make the full batch. Leftovers can be reheated for another day’s breakfast. (And if rolled oats is all you have, it’s no crime.)
Sardines on Buttered Brown Bread
In addition to celebrating the star, sardines, these open-faced sandwiches should be a celebration of good bread and butter. Choose a dense, dark European-style rye, thinly sliced, or a rustic whole-wheat bread. They look nice open-faced, but they could, of course, be made in a two-slice format.
Midnight Pasta With Garlic, Anchovy, Capers and Red Pepper
There’s something about pasta, cooked properly, that trumps all the other possibilities. And the smell of pasta boiling is a heady cheap thrill. With a few basic staple pantry items, a true feast can be ready in minutes. Good spaghetti, good olive oil, garlic and a little red pepper are all you need, plus some anchovy and capers if you have them.
Chocolate-Bourbon Truffles
The perfect hedonist dessert is one chocolate truffle, followed by one more. Though these look fancy, they’re actually quite simple to prepare.
Black Bean Burger With an Egg on Top
This is a vegetarian burger that does not mimic the texture or look of ground meat, but it isn’t meant to. It’s more like the most excellent refried beans. Though you can serve this well-seasoned patty like a traditional burger, on a bun with the usual condiments, it is at its best topped with a fried egg. Dusted with fine cornmeal, the burgers are pan-fried as the mixture is too soft to grill. After frying, they are baked until crisp. For convenience, they may be fried in advance and reheated.
Tender Almond Cake
A delightfully tender almond cake that’s quite easy to put together, this recipe is from an old friend, Salvatore Messina. Everyone adores it. Since it has some similarity to other Italian almond cakes, I naturally assumed it to be his family’s, passed down from his Sicilian grandmother. But it turned out to have no Italian storyline. Sal adapted it from a recipe for torta de Santiago, the traditional almond cake from Galicia, Spain, using less sugar, more orange zest and no cinnamon. It’s heavenly.
Spring Chicken Miso Soup
Soup is welcome all year round, but it goes without saying a springtime soup veers lighter, even if the weather is still cool. Fresh green vegetables, like young leeks, peas and spinach, should play a major role. This delicate yet flavorful soup re-works the comforting chicken-noodle concept with a Japanese-inspired ingredient list.
Spicy Green Garlic Chicken Soup
This rustic soup features green garlic, a delicious seasonal specialty that comes to the market in early spring. The tender shoots are as small as scallions or tiny leeks. Left in the ground, they will grow to be full-sized heads of garlic by mid-summer, but these young specimens are wonderful, with a mild but distinct garlic flavor. If you can’t find them, wild ramps make a good substitute. Otherwise, make this soup with 6 to 8 sliced cloves of regular garlic. The raw tomatillo salsa adds a welcome note of acidity and crunch. You can make it as spicy as you like by varying the amount of jalapeño.
Curry Noodles With Shrimp and Coconut
Here is a quick, zesty summer meal, easy to throw together after a day at the beach. You can use the recipe as a template, substituting chicken, tofu or vegetables for shrimp, if desired.
Lemony Zucchini Slaw
This salad of julienned zucchini is dressed in yogurt and tossed with a generous amount of lemon juice and zest. Use as many bright herbs as possible, or a single herb if you prefer, and chop them at the last minute.
Spaghetti With Zucchini, Parsley Pesto and Bottarga
Bottarga, the salted, cured roe of grey mullet or tuna, is a delicacy enjoyed by many. It is especially beloved in Sardinia and Sicily, but is eaten throughout the Mediterranean and around the world. Bottarga has a bright, briny flavor and is used to complement any number of dishes. Here, a simple zucchini pasta with a bright green (cheeseless, nutless) parsley pesto is showered with grated bottarga and crisp bread crumbs. Look for bottarga at Italian shops or online. It’s available grated, but it is better to buy whole lobes and grate your own. Once the package is opened, it will keep for months in the refrigerator.
Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes With Red Pepper Dressing
Zucchini’s inherent versatility is well known. It shows up in pastas, vegetable stews and can even be pickled. In this salad, thinly sliced zucchini is very briefly blanched, then paired with other summery ingredients and served at room temperature. Roast the red pepper yourself or use a quality brand from a jar.
Summer Pasta With Zucchini, Ricotta and Basil
A summer pasta should be simple and fresh, ideally made with vegetables straight from the garden or market. Look for the best artisanal ricotta; top-quality ingredients make all the difference here.
Zucchini Flan
Zucchini flan makes a good brunch, lunch or light supper dish. For the best texture, be careful not to overbake; remove from the oven when the custard is still a little jiggly. The flan tastes best served at room temperature.
Summer Squash Curry, Shellfish Optional
This simple stew of fresh summer squash is delicious and beautiful, with a mixture of shapes and colors. Look for small zucchini, pattypan, crookneck, gold bar and other types. The optional addition of mussels and squid makes it more of a meal, but a vegetarian version is just as satisfying.
Zuni Café’s Zucchini Pickles
At San Francisco’s Zuni Café, these turmeric-tinged zucchini pickles are served with a hamburger, but they are also delicious paired with charcuterie, pâtés and smoked fish. Easy to make and wonderful to have on hand, they keep indefinitely in the refrigerator.
Zucchini and Squash Blossom Soufflés
These summery savory soufflés are an elegant step up from zucchini pancakes and make a great first course. Be sure to have your guests seated at the table before serving. The soufflés will rise nicely, but they do fall rather quickly. If you have a zucchini patch, you’re all set for this recipe; otherwise get just-picked squash at the farmers market. It should have shiny smooth skin. Choose zucchini that is small but not tiny (so-called baby squash can be bitter).
Corn and Clam Chowder With Zucchini and Herbs
Summer corn and clam chowder is like a clambake in a bowl, emphasizing the sweetness of each ingredient. To give the chowder a somewhat Italian slant and to magnify the corn flavor, a handful of polenta is used to thicken the broth slightly, as is the case with certain Tuscan vegetable soups. Steam your own clams, if possible, or buy chopped clams from the fishmonger.
Fried Zucchini With Pecorino and Hot Pepper
These shallow-fried zucchini rounds are delicious served as a snack with drinks, but they are equally good at room temperature as part of an antipasto.
Summer Squash Caponata
Caponata, a sweet and sour vegetable dish of Sicilian origin, is usually made with eggplant, but this version is made with zucchini and yellow squash, and dotted with capers and olives. Served at room temperature, caponata often graces the antipasto table at restaurants, but it can also be a main course or a side dish. At home, it can top crostini, a perfect accompaniment to drinks. For a picnic, serve it with good canned tuna and hard-cooked eggs.
Eggplant Caponata
Caponata became part of Sicilian cooking centuries ago, when the island was under Arab rule. The Arabs brought eggplants and sugar, along with citrus and spices. Other versions of caponata contain raisins and pine nuts; this one has capers and green olives. Some cooks add a lot of tomato, but I prefer just a touch of good tomato paste. The seasoning is sweet, sour and salty, and laced with olive oil. Like pickles and other savory preserves, caponata is often made in quantity and stored in jars for use throughout the year. Serve it on little toasts as an appetizer or to accompany a meal.
Red Curry Mussels and Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Moules-frites, a hearty bowl of mussels served with fries on the side, is very popular in Belgium and France. This version is seasoned with Thai spices and paired with sweet potatoes — not traditional at all, but totally satisfying. The recipe calls for commercially made red curry paste, which makes this dish quick to prepare. It shouldn't be hard to find at Asian grocers and online, but do try to obtain makrut lime leaves, which impart a lovely floral note.
Smoky Eggplant Soup
I am a fan of eggplant soup, and this one is a winner, creamy-textured and bright tasting. Charring the eggplant gives it a smoky flavor, but as opposed to some rustic versions, the soup has a smooth texture and a lovely pale color. It gets a good squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of the Middle Eastern spice mixture za’atar, made with wild thyme and sesame, now widely available. Make sure to choose small, firm eggplants. Serve the soup chilled or hot, in small portions.
Smoky Eggplant Spread
Essentially a delightful eggplant schmear to eat with warm pita triangles, this spread, similar to baba ghanouj, gets its pleasant smoky flavor from a deliberate charring of the eggplant skin. Whether over hot coals or under the broiler, the eggplant must be mercilessly blackened (the inner sweet flesh gets steamed to softness in the process). Tahini, olive oil, cumin, lemon and hot pepper take care of the rest.