Recipes By Mark Bittman
974 recipes found
Raw Beet Salad
This is a beet recipe for someone who is skeptical of their earthy, rooty flavor. Uncooked beets are less sweet and earthy than they are when boiled or roasted. This is a messy affair, so peel and grate them near the sink.
Garlic Soup
This superior recipe comes from chef Juanjo López of La Tasquita de Enfrente in Madrid.
Asparagus Salad with Soy-Mustard Dressing
There are real differences between skinny and fat asparagus spears, aside from appearance, and it's worth attending to them. With either, you must first break off the woody bottoms (magically, they snap off in pretty much the right place every time), a quick but necessary chore. But it is always worth peeling thick asparagus, from stem to the bottom of the flower bud. The best way to do this is with a vegetable peeler. Lay each spear on a flat surface and give it a few quick strokes. The difference between peeled and unpeeled thick spears is substantial. When they are peeled, they can be cooked for considerably less time, leaving them bright green and perfectly crisp-tender, rather than a soggy mess. They're done when you can easily insert a skewer or a thin-bladed knife into the thickest part of the stalk. (If you don't peel them, the soggy mess is just about the only way to get the skin tender.)
Vegan Worcestershire Sauce, Two Ways
Scrambled Tofu With Tomatoes, Scallions and Soy Sauce
Eggs are nicely mimicked when you scramble firm tofu with vegetables or grains. The point is not to fool anyone into thinking he is eating eggs, but to create a scramble that is easy and satisfying.
Japanese-Style Rice Salad
Whether it’s tender and tasty short-grain, astonishingly fragrant basmati or superchewy red, brown and black varieties, rice is one salad ingredient that does not deteriorate when dressed. It absorbs and thrives on the addition of liquids.
Loaded Miso Soup
Many vegan dishes (like fruit salad and peanut butter and jelly) are already beloved, but the problem faced by many of us is in imagining less-traditional dishes that are interesting and not challenging. Miso soup is a more adventurous, though no more complicated, option to try.
Pasta, Beans and Tomatoes
Many vegan dishes (like fruit salad and peanut butter and jelly) are already beloved, but the problem faced by many of us is in imagining less-traditional dishes that are interesting and not challenging. Here is a more creative option to try.
Indian-Style Rice Salad
In most cases, rice salads can be dressed not only minutes but hours in advance, making them ideal for entertaining or for just cooking ahead. Cook the rice a bit in advance, and dress it before it gets too cold. (While leftover rice — even from Chinese takeout restaurants — is close to ideal for fried rice, it doesn’t work nearly as well as fresh-cooked rice for salads.)
Greek-Style Fish With Marinated Tomatoes
In summer I want a dish that tampers with the tomato-fish formula as little as possible. So instead of cooking the tomatoes, I marinate them, and instead of braising the fish, I grill or roast it. Neither fish nor tomatoes need much help.
Asparagus Salad, Italian-Style
Here, raw asparagus is simply dressed with lemon juice, olive oil and Parmesan shavings.
Braised Chestnut Chicken
Cardamom-Scented Oatmeal Pancakes With Apricots and Almonds
Oatmeal, always underrated, is the foundation of this pancake. But the ingredient that really makes this recipe shine is the cardamom, a spice that has been treasured in Europe for centuries and has been subtly employed since then in pastries throughout the northern part of the continent. These pancakes are incredibly tender, with a little chew from the grain and the dried fruit, but beyond that they’re exotic. Here are flavors and textures that ordinary pancakes could never approach.
Salmon Burgers
For this recipe, you’ll want to grind part of the salmon in a food processor: It’ll bind the rest, which can be coarsely chopped to retain moisture during cooking. Some bread crumbs keep the burger from becoming as densely packed as (bad) meatloaf. This approach, along with a few simple seasonings, produces delicious burgers in not much more time than it takes to make one from ground chuck. The only real trick is to avoid overcooking. Whether you sauté, broil or grill this burger, it's best when the center remains the color of … salmon. Two or three minutes a side usually does the trick.
Potatoes au Gratin
The humble potato gets the red carpet treatment in this easy yet luxurious recipe for potatoes au gratin. Sliced Yukon Gold or russet potatoes (you can use either, but don't use a combination as they cook at different rates) are layered with half-and-half or heavy cream, topped with butter and grated cheese, then baked until golden and bubbly. Feel free to play around: Add leeks, onions, garlic or more cheese between the layers. Experiment with fresh or dried herbs. It's incredibly adaptable and practically foolproof. Just don't forget to season with salt and pepper as you go. Like all potato dishes, it needs plenty of seasoning.
Pasta With Prosciutto and Whole Garlic
This pasta dish, known as maccheroni alla San Giovanniello in Italy, is amazing in the summer months, when there are good fresh tomatoes around. But you can make it any time of year with canned tomatoes. You could also make it with much less prosciutto, really just enough to season the oil — a quarter cup or so. No matter how much you use, start with a hunk of prosciutto so you can dice chunks; you don’t want little thin slices. If you've got great basil, you can even skip the cheese. If you use fresh tomatoes, you can blanch and peel the tomatoes if you don't like the skins, but it's not really necessary.
Salmon in Fig Leaves
While this salmon dish evokes pure summer in California, it’s easily done almost anywhere. The salmon is king salmon, and its season is summer, which coincides perfectly with the ripening of figs in all but the northernmost parts of the country. There is nothing better than a good fig, but for this recipe, incorporate the underused leaves, which make a perfect package for the fish, contributing a kind of nutty flavor to it.
Tomato Nam Prik
Nam prik, the classic Thai dipping sauce, is made more complex and intriguing with the addition of tomatoes. This version of the sauce is perfect alongside a grilled rib-eye.
Pasta With Butter, Sage And Parmesan
Like many simple sauces, this one takes less time to prepare than the pasta itself. Fresh, fragrant sage is my choice of herb here, but substitutions abound. Try parsley, thyme, chervil or other green herbs in its place. Or cook minced shallot or onion in the butter until translucent. You may even toast bread crumbs or chopped nuts in the butter, just until they're lightly browned. In any case, finish the sauce with a sprinkling of Parmesan, which not only adds its distinctive sharpness, but also thickens the mixture even further.
Wintertime Tomato Soup
Though canned tomatoes are not exactly heirloom, they often are older varieties bred for flavor, not for sturdiness in shipping. Roasting them intensifies their flavor and adds a layer of complexity. Stop cooking them in the oven when the edges of the tomatoes begin to blacken.
Creamed Spinach Sauce
Playing steakhouse chef means dreaming up the sauces and side dishes that you would most like to see on the table. Creamed spinach gives you a classic steakhouse experience in sauce form, and makes the perfect accompaniment to a grilled rib-eye.
Pasta Alla Gricia
The star here is guanciale, which is cured jowl. It is increasingly easy to find, but if you don't have it, use pancetta or even bacon. (It won't be authentic, but it will be really good.)
Pasta With Chickpeas, Chorizo and Bread Crumbs
If you're a planner, you can soak and cook dried chickpeas for this easy pasta dish, but if you're not, no worries. Using two or three cans makes it a real cinch; you'll have it on the table in about 20 minutes. First, brown the chorizo or kielbasa and set aside. Toast the bread crumbs in the same pan with a smattering of minced garlic, and set that aside, too. Dump the chickpeas into the pan with a bit of their liquid and let that reduce a bit while the pasta cooks. After draining the pasta, toss it with the chickpeas and sausage, and heat through. Serve it in big bowls with bread crumbs scattered over the top and a few aggressive grinds of the pepper mill. Our favorite pasta shape for this recipe is conchiglie, or shells, because the chickpeas nestle inside like they belong there, but it will work with almost any small cut pasta.
