Recipes By Gabrielle Hamilton
73 recipes found
Gravlax With Herb Butter
I think of making my own gravlax — the Nordic sugar-salt cured salmon — as the gentle, blue-square cooking analog of an intermediate ski trail: It’s mostly easy, but requires some experience. While butchering a whole salmon and cold smoking what you’ve butchered are also exhilarating milestones in the life of an advancing home cook (both a little farther up the mountain and a little steeper on the run down), buying a nice fillet and burying it in salt, sugar and a carpet of chopped fresh dill for a few days is a great confidence-building day on the slopes, so to speak. The cured gravlax will last a solid five days once sliced, in the refrigerator. If a whole side of salmon is more than you need at once, the rest freezes very satisfactorily.
Lemon-Pistachio Baked Alaska
Baked alaska is a real toil, no doubt — you have to attend to the cake, the ice cream and the meringue, in the same way a mason lays stone. But there is plenty of opportunity for fun and flourish once the foundation is secure: You can divide the meringue among several pastry bags with varying sized tips to make dramatic and interesting variegated patterns of piped meringue. You can play with the shape of the cake by freezing the semifreddo in a coffee drip cone or a large-format flexible ice cube tray. And when you toast the meringue with a kitchen torch, you can hold the flame near and far, lingering in spots and moving briskly in others, to create extra drama and eye appeal. Try spooning flaming kirsch down its slopes. If you want to go even further, try replacing the white sugar with brown sugar in the meringue for a sophisticated pale-beige meringue that contrasts beautifully when toasted just to golden. Or see what you think of the results using other decorative colored sugars — keeping in mind, though, that after all that work down on your knees laying stone, you want to look up at a cathedral, not Fudgie the Whale!
Roasted Mushrooms With Braised Black Lentils and Parsley Croutons
The lentils and mushrooms could hold their own, independently, as dependable side dishes, able to play to any menu lead from whole roasted sea bass to suckling pig. The bright, lemony, parsleyed brown-butter croutons, though, are what transforms an otherwise pleasant member of the cast to serious scene stealer.
Gabrielle Hamilton’s Sauce Gribiche
Sauce gribiche has a category problem — is it a vinaigrette, a mayonnaise, a condiment, a sauce? — but that liability turns out to be its strongest asset; it can be used as you would any and all of those ways. It’s just delicious, and it makes whatever it lands on even more so. While traditionally (and perfectly) paired with cold boiled meats like beef tongue, it also makes an excellent partner to cold poached salmon, warm braised leeks, steamed asparagus, sliced french ham and watercress, and even halved hard-boiled eggs, like a more piquant version of the classic oefs dur mayonnaise found in French bistros.
Whole Roasted Breast of Veal
A whole breast of veal is a succulent, fatty, tender magnificence to enjoy, at any time, but especially so when you have holiday turkey and ham fatigue. It doesn’t make immediate sense that I consider the veal — with its fat and cartilage and bone and sinew and silver skin — a light meal, but in my experience, the few bites of sticky tender meat you end up with are so outrageously succulent and hit the spot so hard you don’t need more. The long, slow, low overnight cooking is perfect for both the meat and your schedule if you are trying to pull off a real, civilian party — and sit down at it.
Braised Cold Fennel Hearts Victor
The marinade here — a classic Sauce Victor, though ours is particularly bracing — is so all-purpose, we make it by the half gallon at Prune, in New York. But even at home, where you don’t often go through two quarts of dressing a day, I’m pretty certain a solid two cups will not go to waste. If I were you, I’d start with sturdy lettuces, braised celery hearts, all the escaroles and chicories and hardy greens, then see what you think of it on all the crucifers, well boiled, drained and chilled. I often save the pooled dressing after the fennel is removed — another real cook’s treat — and drown my toast, lentils, bulgur or fregole pasta in it. You might like to, also.
Brined and Braised Pork Belly and Ribs
Zucchini Agrodolce
Wherever the sun is powerful, it has been used to dry local produce. Sundried zucchini are commonly found in the markets in southern Italy, and this sweet-sour marinade, agrodolce, comes from even farther south, in Sicily. The flesh of the zucchini becomes dense and meaty when dried and, after frying, the slices perfectly soak up the aromatic, piquant, lively marinade. Served with slices of sopressata and a fresh orb of burrata, this dish is a delicious addition to an antipasto course. If you can use the sun to dry the zucchini where you live, do so; for the rest of us, the oven in your kitchen will do the trick.
Warm Tofu and Fresh Soybeans Cooked in Salted French Butter and Celery-Seed Gastrique
There are three pretty joyful projects here that reward not only the pleasure-driven eater but the scientifically curious mind as well. Making soy milk, making soft tofu, and making a savory caramel sauce (not sweet like the one you're probably accustomed to, but vinegary and spicy) are all as easy as those beginner science projects we remember from grade school (growing marigolds or sprouting avocado pits) and equally as wondrous. As always, ingredients matter. The better the soy, the richer the milk, the richer the milk, the more compelling the tofu. The better the butter, the more expert the finished dish. Each component is quite easy but requires your full attention. Over-soaking the beans can give the curd a pitted texture; over-stirring the coagulant can break up the quickly setting curd and give you cottage cheese texture. And adding the vinegar to the burning sugar can be little hazardous – that step maybe closer resembles tenth grade chemistry than 1st grade marigold planting, I admit!
Avgolemono Rice
This avgolemono rice uses lamb stock because we love its connection to the roast leg of lamb at Easter, but you can happily use chicken stock at any time of year. The rice is cooked “pasta style,” in plenty of boiling salted water and drained when done, which is how we cook rice pretty much all the time now, dodging the sometimes mushy, sometimes waterlogged, sometimes al dente results of the usual cooking method. The egg-lemon sauce is tart and creamy at the same time, a unique richness without any cream or butter, that is killer almost anywhere it lands, from warm asparagus, to gently roasted salmon, to cold poached chicken, to steamed artichokes, even to orzo pasta.
Bloody Mary Mix
We’ve made hundreds of thousands of bloody Marys over the decades at Prune, with 11 variations, and this classic base mix has been the stalwart, gleaming engine of them all. The lemon juice is what makes it so bright and zingy, and the Sacramento brand tomato juice is clean, with perfect body, never muddy or thick. Prepared horseradish keeps its bite and moisture just about forever, whereas fresh grated horseradish loses its potency almost immediately, leaving dead bits of pencil shavings in the glass instead — so resist the urge to “improve” the recipe. Worcestershire sauce adds greater depth to the umami already inherent in tomato, and the Tabasco brand hot-pepper sauce brings vibrancy with its high acidity but very manageable heat. This bloody Mary is as refreshing as a virgin affair as it is when spiked and garnished.
Six-Foot Meatless Italian Hero
This sandwich serves many dainty folks or fewer rugged types. Preorder the bread from an Italian bakery or deli counter, and build first, season last. Success here is in achieving a perfect filling-to-bread ratio, a generousness with the seasonings, and the ability to close the sandwich around the filling without finding it woefully over- or under-stuffed when it’s time to slice. It’s a huge help to have on hand 8-inch wooden skewers, disposable gloves, a good serrated knife and an egg-slicer gadget. The assembly instructions here are meant to be helpful but not prescriptive, as I trust that everybody knows how to build a sandwich to their own liking.
Rock-Shrimp Roll
Rock shrimp are meaty and firm, like lobster tail, and have a mild, bland flavor that can really use the help of seasoning at several stages. So we salt them before cooking and during cooking. Once the shrimp are mixed with onion and celery and mayonnaise, taste the shrimp salad as a whole to decide if it could stand even another pinch of salt or grind of pepper. But use unsalted butter on the bun when griddling, to get the perfect play between the sweet and the saline.
Jerk Chicken With Pickled Bananas
At the heart of superb jerk seasoning is the coalescing of spice and heat, specifically the two dominant forces of allspice berries and chile peppers. This marinade, which came to me from Shaun Lewis, a Jamaican cook I worked with during my time as a summer camp chef, is the best I’ve ever tasted, delivering a quietly thrilling, savory warmth that kind of spreads across the chest and remains there without ever ferociously igniting. This achievement — like a dark rolling thunder that somehow remains in the neighboring field and never crosses the fence — is undoubtedly the result of the 20 other ingredients in the recipe working in tandem, so don’t omit any of them.
Swordfish Piccata
Learning to build a pan sauce is the highest yielding 25 minutes you'll ever spend in a kitchen. Pay attention to the flame at each step. Use high heat to sear properly and develop fond in the pan, reduced heat to add acid and build flavor, and then no heat at all — turn the burner off! — to whisk in the cold butter and build up your elegant, emulsified, (life-altering) pan sauce.
Sous-Chef Salad
Following the model of a classic French salade composée, this satisfying salad, packed with cooked and raw vegetables, as well as canned best-quality tuna and hard-boiled eggs, presents beautifully and eats like a meal. It builds upon a traditional salade niçoise, but a true niçoise uses no lettuce, often has anchovies, would want cracked black niçoise olives and would not have artichoke hearts and basil. So let’s call this a sous-chef salad — and dodge the whole argument while picking up another: It is definitely the best meal salad you will eat all summer. Take care to arrange it so there’s some of each component wherever your eye lands. Try to nestle and fluff the ingredients to allow them all to be seen, rather than piling layer atop layer and thus obscuring the beauty of everything below. This makes the salad very attractive and, most important, ensures that everyone gets some of everything in each bite.
French Fries
The effort is worth it for these perfect homemade fast-food-style French fries! By soaking the raw fries in cold water, you remove some of the starch, a technique I recommend for other interesting preparations in which you want the vegetal rather than the starchy component of the potato. (Try soaking potatoes in several turns of fresh, cold water and then stir-frying in a blistering wok with Sichuan peppercorns someday. Massively addictive!) Once destarched, the perfect French fry concept is straightforward, if laborious. As with making the best home fries, you want to start with an already-cooked potato. The interesting deviation here is that you parcook the potatoes in acidulated water first, give them a second blanching in hot oil and then freeze the fries at this stage. Once frozen, they are yours to cherish for months at whim — ready your clean, hot fry oil and sizzle away.
Chicken Meatballs
These meatballs started out, funnily enough, as a meatloaf for a meal at home one night with our actual family. For the stewed-chicken-and-rice recipe, instead of forming a loaf, we made small, attractive meatballs, baked them briefly and then added them to the final stew with a chicken-skin garnish.
Maque Choux
This classic Cajun side dish is a sweet, hot, juicy, milky, buttery combination of corn, onions and peppers. It’s often cooked in rendered bacon fat and enriched with heavy cream, but this version relies upon only butter and a little water in their place, which allow the ingredients’ flavors to sing more clearly. While it is commonly understood that Fat Equals Flavor, there is a point at which too much fat actually masks complexities in flavors and dulls their vibrancy. Try the maque choux this way and see if you notice how bold and lively it tastes. If you miss the smokiness that bacon imparts, try instead a pinch of smoked paprika stirred in at the end.
Russian Salad
Basically a vegetable-studded potato salad with mayonnaise, Russian salad is hugely popular all over the world for family gatherings and festive events. It’s a beloved, traditional party dish riffed on almost everywhere but my own home: I’d only ever seen pasty, congealed versions I would never wish to eat until I tried this one from Vladimir Ocokoljic, served at his Serbian restaurant Kafana in New York City. While not quite as demanding as his aunt back in Belgrade, who used to slice even the peas in half, Mr. Ocokoljic insists on the tiny dice (each ingredient should match the size of a pea) and emphatically dislikes any sweet pickles (only gherkins or cornichons are a fit), making the finished dish delicate, luscious and savory. Whisking pickle brine into the mayonnaise creates a liquidy slurry, loose enough to dress the salad without its becoming smushed and gluey.
Pommes Anna
It’s a marvel still, every time I make this dish, to recognize how the humble potato — the misshapen, dull brown dirty lump — can become this opulent, glistening, colossally elegant jewel with nothing more than attentive care, a sharp blade and good butter. The potato slices want to bend and be supple but not be so thin as to be papery, else they will cook too quickly.
Pork Braised In Milk And Cream
Anchovy-Garlic Dressing
Tasting this bold dressing on its own, straight out of the jar, might make your eyes widen. It is very assertive. But don’t tone it down thinking there must be an error. The high ratio of potent raw garlic to bright lemon juice to salty anchovy is very much on purpose — once you spoon the dressing over cold braised celery hearts or fennel heads or steamed cauliflower or leafy mustard greens, the ferocity is tamed. If it didn’t start so high and assertive, it would become docile rather than perfectly obedient.
Lemon-Soda Buttermilk Parfait
These seriously elegant and tongue-tingling parfaits are an excellent dessert to have in your year-round repertoire and are as perfect in the formal dining room under the chandelier as they are in the backyard tent on picnic tables under the paper streamers. Alternating thin precise layers of lemon soda gelatin and tangy buttermilk gelatin takes patience and focus, but once built, they can sit, covered, up to a week in the refrigerator. Be sure to pull them twenty minutes before serving to allow the fully chilled and set parfaits to relax a little, tempering to a perfectly jiggly consistency — then try not to giggle as you eat that first zingy lemony spoonful.