Recipes By Mark Bittman
981 recipes found
Pork-and-Green-Chili Stew
Shrimp in Yellow Curry
Many Thai dishes are not unlike what we call curries, but although they may contain curry powder, they are more often based on a combination of herbs and aromatic vegetables, rather than dried spices. A typical curry might feature a mixture of garlic, shallots, chiles, lime leaf, sugar and galangal (or ginger). This simplified version leaves out the lime leaf and sugar, but benefits from the addition of a couple spoonfuls of fish sauce at the end of cooking. It is brightly flavored, but blessedly easy to toss together on a weeknight.
Shu Mai-Style Burgers
These burgers are inspired by the pork and shrimp filling of a shu mai dumpling. This gives you uncommon flavor in a burger — not only from the shrimp, but also from the combination of Asian ingredients — with adequate fat.
Hard-Cooked Eggs in Tomato-Onion Sauce
This is the eggs-as-meat-style main course of hard-cooked eggs simmered in tomato sauce. Though the main recipe here is Mediterranean, and you often see this preparation in southern Italy (it’s good over pasta), it is equally well known in India, where it is served with chapatti or other bread, and where the spicing is more assertive and the results even more surprising.
Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Fried Sushi Cakes
Jean-Georges Vongerichten's recipe here, for fried cakes of sushi-style rice topped with chipotle mayonnaise and raw scallop, then painted with a thin glaze of a soy-honey mixture, is just irresistible. (If I were an award committee, I’d give it “best of the year.”)
Baked Eggs With Onions and Cheese
Eggs can be baked on a bed of almost anything -- cooked spinach and sliced tomatoes come to mind immediately -- but the trick in every case is to avoid overcooking. The consistency of baked eggs should be like that of fried eggs, with a barely cooked white and a soft, runny yolk.
Grilled Steak and Vegetables With Tortillas
Here's an idea: Spend the same $30, or $50 or $100 or $300 on meat that you now spend each week or month, but buy less and buy better. You might compare this to an annual purchase of 20 $5 T-shirts made by child labor versus one of five $20 T-shirts made by better-paid and better-treated workers from organic cotton. Expensive meat from real farms is a more extreme example of this less-is-better policy. Then cook the meat differently than you used to. Take this vague interpretation of fajitas, one that focuses on grilled vegetables and makes beef a supporting player. A pound or so of tender, fatty rib-eye or sirloin goes a long way with this recipe. And it makes a lovely impression if you present it whole before slicing or chopping. You can cook everything in a cast-iron skillet (you will most likely need more than one, or you will have to cook in batches) instead of on a grill.
Rice With Poached Eggs
Polpettone Stuffed With Eggplant And Provolone
Polpettone might be thought of as meatloaf, but the vegetable stuffing transforms it into something much juicier and more complex.
Grilled Lobster
Kale, Sausage And Mushroom Stew
Chile Garlic Paste
If you’re looking for more heat without the characteristic smokiness of the chipotle, just add a few ordinary dried red chiles. For Mexican-style chile paste, add a bit of cumin, and some oregano or epazote. With good curry powder or garam masala you’d produce the kind of paste you see in northern India. You can make a blend similar to harissa, the classic paste from North Africa, by adding coriander and cumin. If you use fresh herbs or aromatics (including garlic), refrigerate the finished paste and use it within a day or so for maximum freshness and oomph. If all your seasonings are dried, the paste will last a couple of weeks at least. Remember this, though: Chiles can burn. If you have rubber gloves, use them. If not, every time you touch a chile, wash your hands with warm soapy water several times and be careful not to touch your eyes. The heat belongs on the table.
Latkes
These crisp potato pancakes are the ultimate in holiday comfort food. (Don’t skip the sour cream and applesauce!) Get them sizzling away in a heavy-bottomed skillet until beautifully browned, and arrange them on a plate lined with paper towels as they finish. They won’t last long.
Green Mashed Potatoes
These addictive mashed potatoes are equal parts potatoes and greens, lending texture and fresh flavor to the classic side dish. The amount of oil here is significant, but we all know that what makes mashed potatoes really good is fat. Use the best olive oil you have. (For everything you need to know to make perfect potatoes, visit our potato guide.)
Braised Turkey
Whole-Duck Cassoulet
There is a clear order of operations to this cassoulet. Cut up the duck; remove the skin from the legs and refrigerate them overnight. At this point, you can make the stock or pick up the recipe the next day. But you’ll need the fat from the stock in order to make the confit. And you’ll use the fat from the confit to brown the meat. But this recipe isn’t that demanding; it just takes time. You can do it.
Mark Bittman's Rouille
Cassoulet With Lots of Vegetables
Cassoulet is one of the best of the myriad of traditional European dishes that combine beans and meat to produce wonderful rich, robust stews. This recipe maintains that spirit, but is much faster, easier, less expensive, and more contemporary, emphasizing the beans and vegetables over meat. (That probably makes it more, not less, traditional, since meat was always hard to come by before the mid-20th century.)
Charred Peppers
Corn Flan
Bisque
Beef Stew With Prunes
Braised dishes like this beef stew may feature green, orange, yellow or red vegetables but their most appetizing color is brown, the shade of brown whose glossy darkness shouts intensity and richness. The key to achieving that glorious color and flavor is sufficient browning of the meat. Don't rush. The good thing is, this savory-sweet stew can almost be ignored while it is cooking and can be made in advance, the night – or even two – before you serve it. Couscous makes a great accompaniment, as does saffron rice, because those bring out the color of the stew. Plain crusty bread is another great option. This is simple cold weather food at its most appealing.
Tortilla
