Recipes By Mark Bittman
973 recipes found
Ultimate Clambake
A clambake is one of those absurdly demanding culinary tasks that can still be performed by normal people — that is, nonchefs. I’ve worked through all of that. And if you follow my “recipe” (which includes phrases I don’t often employ, like “find about 30 rocks, each 6 by 4 inches”), you should have a memorable experience. Few meals are more beautiful than a well-executed clambake. And because demanding culinary tasks are in vogue, at least for a certain hard-working segment of the sustainable-food set, it seems like the right moment for a clambake revival.
Pork Rillettes
There’s nothing like a dip to please a crowd, as Mark Bittman wrote in 2011. There are the classics, of course: your French onion dips and potted shrimp. And then there’s rillettes. “Rillettes are incredible: smooth, fatty and intensely flavored,” he wrote. It’s not a fast recipe, with the pork shoulder cooking down for almost 3 hours, but with some patience, you’ll have something Mr. Bittman described as a “showstopper.”
Broccoli Stir-Fry With Chicken and Mushrooms
Grown-Up Granita
This concoction feels granita-like to me, granita being — as you may know — a sort of slushy Italian dessert usually made from water, sugar and fruit or other flavorings. Obviously, this isn’t that. In fact, I cheat completely, beginning with a pint of good-quality sorbet and then simply adding the other ingredients, two of which contain alcohol.
Raw Butternut Squash Salad With Raisins and Ginger
This is a very simple yet very delicious salad, and it appeals to ominvores and vegans. The natural sweetness of raisins and squash are cut through by sherry vinegar and black pepper, and ginger lends complexity.
Black Kale and Black Olive Salad
This sophisticated-looking number centers on the dark green version of kale known variously as black, Tuscan or lacinato kale. The leaves are cut into thin ribbons, but left raw, then combined with cut black olives and a dressing of olive oil and sherry vinegar. Shower some Parmesan over the top and you have a recipe that can hold its own on any table, at any time.
Chicken Meatballs, Italian Style
Grilled Chicken Breasts Stuffed With Herb Butter
Sichuan Celery and Tofu Salad
This otherwise simple salad, adapted from a dish at Szechuan Gourmet in Manhattan, may require a trip to a Chinese market for Szechuan peppercorns and pressed tofu. And you’ll need to make your own chili oil! But here’s the thing. The effort, which really isn’t much more than difficult shopping, produces an elegant dish that is worth whatever shoe leather or mileage you’ll expend getting the ingredients together. It is astonishingly good. And we’ll even allow one substitution. You can use regular celery instead of the Chinese version!
Layered Vegetable Torte
Getting this vegetable torte right takes a little time. You really must grill (or pan-grill) or roast all the vegetables well — they have to become quite tender — before assembling the torte. Ultimately, you want the vegetables to almost melt together. Grilling is the technique of choice because it gives the vegetables a hint of smokiness.
Salade Lyonnaise
Whether Lyon ever was the gastronomic capital of France is debatable, but it sure has spawned some great dishes, including salade Lyonnaise, not the most simple salad ever made but one that approaches perfection in a way others do not. The combination of bitter greens (traditionally frisée, though escarole, dandelion, and arugula all work beautifully), crisp bacon, barely cooked eggs and warm vinaigrette is really unbeatable.
Inside-Out Lamb Persillade
Boneless leg of lamb is a good choice because it is nicely suited to stuffing. Most supermarkets and butchers carry already-boned leg of lamb, and if they don’t they’re capable of doing it for you quickly. Toss on the persillade and fold one half of the meat on top of the other. Then roast it. The persillade stays put and flavors the meat beautifully. You won't serve a prestigious cut, but you'll serve a meaty, great-tasting one.
Escarole Soup With Rice
Simple Pad Thai
Pad Thai is essentially a stir-fry and requires little more than chopping and stirring. It comes together in less than a half-hour. First you'll need rice stick noodles, which are pale, translucent, flat and range from very thin to more than a quarter-inch wide; you soak them in hot water until they’re tender. Meanwhile, make a sauce from tamarind paste, now easily found in larger supermarkets or online. The paste, made from the pulp of the tamarind pod, is very sour, but more complex than citrus. (It can vary widely in its potency, so be sure to taste as you go.) Made from fermented anchovies (and much like the garum of ancient Rome), fish sauce (nam pla) is another important ingredient. Honey and rice vinegar round things out.
Chickpea Tagine With Chicken and Apricots
Tagines, the slow-cooked, deeply aromatic stews of North Africa, are traditionally made and served in distinctive clay pots, often with lamb, and usually over couscous. This isn’t a traditional version: It’s fairly quick, and it relies on a heavy-bottomed saucepan rather than a tagine. With chicken thighs, bulgur, chickpeas and dried apricots, it comes together to produce an Americanized version that is a super one-pot dinner, fast enough for a weeknight despite the long ingredient list, and infinitely variable.
Chilled Lettuce Soup
Whole Wheat Muffins
Winter Citrus Salad with Honey Dressing
This citrus salad requires only that you overcome the notion that salads must be green; it’s a novel and wonderful antidote to sorry-looking lettuce. If you’re lucky and can find blood oranges, use them; same with the odd, supremely delicious and usually quite pricey pomelos.
Crisp Nori Chips With Toasted Sesame Oil
Pasta With Beans and Mussels
Fried Squid
While cooking squid I tried innumerable coatings. I have two conclusions to report: If you like cakey batter, make what amounts to a thick pancake batter. If you just want a little bit of crust (this is my preference), dredge lightly in flour; it doesn’t get any simpler or better.
Miso-Ginger Dressing
This classic Japanese dressing elevates a simple green salad into something restaurant-worthy. We also like it spooned on top of a pile of sautéed spinach or drizzled over a piece of grilled fish.
Mark Bittman's Mayonnaise
West African Peanut Soup With Chicken
This West African soup is about as different from a traditional European chicken-in-a-pot soup as you can get, flavored with ginger, garlic and chiles (sounds Chinese, yes?), and incorporating vegetables like sweet potatoes and kale. Then of course there are the peanuts. When it comes to the peanut butter, “natural” peanut butter, made from peanuts and salt and nothing else, works best. Chunky or creamy? It doesn’t matter much. Finally, it’s nice to time the cooking so that the sweet potatoes do not quite fall apart.