Recipes By Mark Bittman
974 recipes found
Mark Bittman’s Tamales
Making tamales doesn’t have to be difficult. With a little planning, you can have this traditional treat at hand. Start the night before, setting the husks to soak overnight. The next day, mix the masa marina with some chicken stock, lard, salt and baking powder. Lay the mixture onto the husks along with shredded meat, wrap and steam them in a rack. It’s a perfect project for the intermediate home cook, hoping to broaden a skill set. If it feels like a lot, invite a friend over, crack open a couple of beers and make it a party.
Pumpkin Parfait
This no-bake dessert, inspired by an idea from my colleague Suzanne Hamlin, does require a few hours in the freezer. Still, the active working time is about 20 minutes. You start with canned pumpkin purée, stir in cream, milk and spices, and freeze. Several hours (or days) later -- when you're ready for dessert -- you cut up the frozen purée and put it into the food processor, which makes it smooth and creamy. Layer this ingenious creation with lightly whipped cream if you like – or not.
Basic Phyllo Dough
It seems scary at first, making your own phyllo dough. But with this recipe, we learn that although phyllo means leaf, that leaf need not be the paper-thin kind we’re used to seeing in Middle Eastern pastry. A Greek chef, Diane Kochilas, gives the lesson here, and she’s not overly careful of the dough, she patches holes where needed and she uses a good amount of olive oil. It’s delicious.
Chicken With Mushrooms and Wine
The boneless, skinless chicken breast is as simple to prepare as a burger, nearly as ubiquitous and generally seen as both classier and “healthier.” But in the kitchen, it has two major shortcomings. First, its intrinsic flavor is minimal, more akin to pasta than to even an egg. (An egg is exciting by comparison.) Second, preparing a burger isn’t that simple: unless you’re looking for well done, you have to get the timing just right. In preparing chicken breasts, the cooking time should be just long enough for all but the last traces of pink to vanish — and no longer. The breast can be done in as little as six minutes, for a thinnish one subjected to high heat, or it might take as long as 10 minutes or even a bit more — but never 20, unless you are cooking the thing on a radiator. Overcooking is easy, and the results are predictably undesirable. Here's a simply wonderful way to prepare the humble breast with just a little wine (practically any kind will do) and mushrooms.
Fast Scallion Pancakes
This isn’t the dense scallion pancake you see served in Chinese restaurants, which is made with what amounts to bread dough. But this recipe is inspired by that pancake. Made with a simplified, scallion-laden batter, it is a fork-tender pancake reminiscent of a vegetable fritter. The flavor is great, and the preparation time is about 20 minutes, an improvement on the hours you’d need to let typical scallion pancake dough rise. They are good not only as a side dish, but also as a platform for stews and juicy roasts — place a couple on a plate and spoon the stew on top. And although I still associate them with Asian-flavor dishes, omitting the optional soy sauce makes them a perfect accompaniment to braised foods that use European seasonings. (If you omit the soy sauce, also feel free to use any vegetable oil, or even good olive oil.) The same formula can be used to make pancakes with other members of the onion family, especially shallots and spring onions.
Panelle
You may have eaten panelle served as “chickpea fries,” and that’s not a bad name for them. You make a thick porridge of chickpea flour, spread it evenly into a pan and let it cool. As with thick polenta (which this resembles), you can then cut the paste into any shape you like — diamonds, squares or French fries, and fry until golden. They are not only among the easiest things to fry (there’s very little spattering), but they’re also gorgeous, and better than “real” fries in just about every regard.
Braised Veal Breast With Mushrooms
Lean but Good Potatoes
Here, olive oil replaces butter for a healthier twist on classic mashed potatoes. Sautéed garlic and rosemary add flavor. Don't forget to season generously with salt and pepper.
Pasta With Chestnuts And Mushrooms
Sour-Cherry Old-Fashioned
Sour cherries are too tart to eat raw, but go down amazingly easy when you muddle them with sugar and douse them with whiskey in this spin on a classic old fashioned.
Lancashire Cheese-and-Onion Pie
Simon Hopkinson was best known as the founding chef of Bibendum, the London restaurant started by Terence Conran in 1987, then left Bibendum to spend his time writing columns and cookbooks, consulting and doing television. Much of his food is dead simple, but he’s perfectly capable of churning out more complicated items. Here's a reproduction of an over-the-top main course that is traditional and surprising in many ways.
Microwave Mixed Rice
Leftovers are the simplest thing to take to work for lunch. Sometimes you just end up with them. But if you are planning ahead you can cook a little more than you are going to eat at dinner so you have the makings of the next day’s lunch. This combination of cooked rice, vegetables and meat can accompany virtually any sauce you can imagine putting on it: vinaigrette, sesame dipping sauce, tahini sauce, pico de gallo, onion chutney, pesto, hummus. Simply pop it in the office microwave for a couple of minutes and eat.
Soft-Shell Crab Poor-Boy
Ask your fishmonger to clean the crabs for you, because though the process is a quick and easy one, it's not for the squeamish. There's not much cooking here. Sometimes crabs spatter, so it's best to fry them in oil that's not smoking hot.
Frisée With Pickled Cherries, Pistachios and Brie
Sweet-tart pickled cherries are a wonderful —and unexpected—addition to any summer salad, while their acid-spiked pickling liquid makes for a stunning vinaigrette.
Stuffed Pork Loin With Figs
The end result of stuffing the loin with figs is quite fabulous. The figs are imbued with the flavor of the meat. The meat gains moisture, sweetness and complexity from the figs. The presentation is considerably lovelier than an unadorned roast.
My Favorite Bread Stuffing
Crispy Pork Cheek, Belly or Turkey-Thigh Salad
Slow Cooker Short Ribs With Chinese Flavors
Slow cookers get a bad rap in the world of accomplished chefs, but Mark Bittman loves his. He calls it his "Monster of Braising," and he claims to use it every day. Here is his recipe for braised short ribs with soy sauce, honey, cinnamon, star anise and ginger.
Rice Noodles With Chile and Basil
Chinese-Style Vegetable and Veal Stew
Scallop Gumbo
Gumbo is like many regional dishes: there are nearly as many interpretations as there are cooks. Most include the common Louisiana trinity of vegetables: green peppers, celery and onion. Some include meat, often a spicy sausage like andouille, in addition to or in place of shellfish. And while some gumbos rely on okra as a thickener, others use a roux, a combination of flour and fat cooked until brown and tasty. What I like about this gumbo is that it borrows a little from many approaches to create a lighter, more contemporary dish: a one-pot meal that’s ideal for any occasion calling for a crowd-pleaser.
Savory Cold Mango Soup
Deep-Fried Spring Onions
This dish is inspired by something similar served at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. It works as a side, of course, but also as an hors d'oeuvre served with drinks. More spring recipes.
