Herbs & Spices
481 recipes found
Arroz con Gandules (Puerto Rican Rice With Pigeon Peas)
Every step and ingredient adds something important to this recipe from the Puerto Rican-born chef and writer Reina Gascón-López. Annatto seeds steeped in oil give the rice its signature marigold hue. The banana leaf imparts a subtle tropical aroma to the rice as it cooks. Olives, ham, beer and peppers with their brine offer salt, fat, acid, umami and a bright pop of color. The sheer number of flavors layered into this dish make it a delight to unpack. The most exhilarating layer is the last one: pegao, the crisp, glassy shards of rice at the bottom of the pot. Gandules (pigeon peas) make this version of rice and beans distinctly Caribbean. Ms. Gascón-López prefers to start with dry gandules, which her family sometimes ships to her from Puerto Rico, then flavors the pot with some sofrito, a bay leaf or two and a smoked pork neck. If you have trouble finding dry pigeon peas, they are often labeled as toor at Indian grocery stores.
Spiced Caramel Syrup
While this syrup was created by the pastry chef Daniel Skurnick to pour over his Franco-Chinese steamed ginger-milk custard, it’s a good recipe to have handy when you want something to pour over cooked fruit, ice cream or pudding – I like it paired with vanilla, chocolate or butterscotch. It’s a quickly made syrup flavored with peppercorns, cloves, nutmeg and ginger. Mr. Skurnick says you should cook the caramel until its color is “Irish-setter red” before adding the spices – it’s a perfect description of what you’re looking for.
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.
Cheesy Chicken Parmesan Meatballs
This one-dish dinner takes inspiration from chicken Parmesan, but eliminates the fuss of breading and frying chicken cutlets. Instead, chicken meatballs are the star, delivering an equally comforting and satisfying meal. The unexpected secret to these tender meatballs is tofu, which keeps them juicy. Simply press pieces of tofu between your fingertips to create small crumbles that resemble ground meat. The addition of ricotta creates a creamy texture, as well as great flavor. The meatballs are simmered in marinara sauce with red bell peppers, which infuse the sauce with fresh flavor and natural sweetness. Sharp and tangy provolone completes the dish, although mozzarella could be used for milder flavor. Enjoy over buttered egg noodles, or with crusty bread to sop up the sauce.
The Love Unit
Ryan Magarian, a bar consultant in Seattle, developed a cocktail he calls the Love Unit for the Hyde Lounge in West Hollywood. His clients were deeply skeptical when he told them the Love Unit contains vanilla rum, grapefruit juice, basil leaves and red bell peppers. “Everybody kind of went, ‘No way,’ ” Mr. Magarian recalled. And yet the Love Unit has found a loyal following.
Braised Lamb Shanks With Peppers
Hearty and aromatic, this braised lamb dish, adapted from my mother, Annette Gertner, takes inspiration from the Middle East by way of Eastern Europe. It simmers mostly unattended and even benefits from being made earlier in the day — or even a day or two in advance — and reheated. The four shanks yield four copious portions. (The recipe will serve six if every guest does not insist on having a bone.) Orzo alongside will sop up the sauce.
Roasted Ripe Tomato Salsa
With two types of tomatoes – standard Jersey and plum – this salsa takes full advantage of summer's bounty. Herbes de Provence and shallots stand in for the traditional seasonings of cilantro and onions, which means it skews slightly, and delightfully, French. We like it with grilled fish or chicken.
Tomato Relish
10 minutes
Piperade
Green peppers are featured in many traditional Basque dishes. This piperade can be served as a main dish, usually with the addition of ham; a side dish, or a condiment.
Shrimp Burgers
You can make a burger out of anything, as most home cooks know; the challenge is in choosing a central element that delivers superior flavor and texture. Shrimp, like scallops, contain a high amount of natural gelatin, which allows you to incorporate a considerable amount of flavorings without worrying about the burger falling apart. If you purée just a portion of the shrimp, leaving the rest — along with the flavorings — just roughly chopped, you produce a good-textured burger with powerful flavor. Feel free to vary the heat, reducing or increasing the amount of chile. And as with any burgers, these can be seasoned pretty much according to your whim. No grill? Go ahead and pan-fry these burgers with a little bit of oil over medium-high heat.
Slow-Smoked Brisket
This brisket is pretty close to Nirvana for Texas barbecue fanatics who rely on backyard equipment. No smoker is needed, no mops or mesquite — just time and fire and a reliable thermometer. The long, low smoke replicates the results of the bigger, hotter pits used in Central Texas: fork-tender, peppery meat, each bite bathed in drippings and juice. Use potato rolls or thick white bread to soak it all up.
Grilled Sea Scallops With Corn and Pepper Salsa
These summery grilled scallops are served with a kicky corn salsa, made bright green with puréed raw tomatillos, punched up with jalapeño and lime. Look for dry-packed or diver scallops, which means they are quite fresh (and haven’t been dipped in a solution of sodium bisulphite, a commonly used preservative). Large scallops, about 2 ounces each, are ideal for grilling or pan-searing. Serve with small boiled potatoes.
Striped Bass in Grape Leaves
Crispy Chicken Thighs With Peppers, Capers and Olives
The Italian technique employed here — sautéing chicken with a weighted pan on top — is called al mattone. It yields a crisp, burnished skin and very juicy meat. Instead of the usual spatchcocked bird, this recipe calls for large bone-in, skin-on thighs. Cook them in a cast iron pan, if you can, for even heat, but any heavy skillet will do. For a bit of smokiness, the chicken may be cooked (in the cast iron pan) over a charcoal grill. The accompanying sweet pepper stew can be made up to a day in advance and reheated, and starting your seasoning early — an hour ahead or up to 24 — will result in the tastiest chicken.
Sea Scallops Grenobloise
Muhammara (Red Pepper and Walnut Spread)
Freeze vegetables at the height of the season, when they are at their Technicolor best, and you'll be rich with cooking options for months to come. For example, this muhammara, the Middle Eastern red pepper and walnut spread, can be made with either fresh red bell peppers or ones that you have chopped and frozen. The version made with frozen peppers is a little looser and lighter in color than the version starting with fresh peppers, but otherwise you sacrifice nothing having started with frozen produce — the two final spreads are similar in taste.
Grilled Tuna Rice Salad Provencal
Libyan Aharaimi (Fish in Tomato Sauce)
Traditionally this Libyan Jewish dish is made with tomato paste, water and fish steaks, and served on holidays like Rosh Hashana. This twist on the classic uses the last of the summer tomatoes, reducing their purée into a thick, concentrated gravy. A few added spices make for a tangy sauce in which to poach sea bass or other fish fillets. Be careful to cook the fish just until slightly firm and flaky to ensure it stays tender. Serve it as an appetizer, as Libyans do, or as a main course. A simple bulgur pilaf makes a nice accompaniment.
Salt-Baked New Potatoes With Pink-Peppercorn Butter
This way of cooking recently harvested new potatoes, by burying them in a plaster of damp salt and baking them, is a triple pleasure: effortless, tasty and very fun. The salt crust seasons the potatoes perfectly, just as it would if you’d boiled or steamed them in salted water, but the airtight seal concentrates their special flavor and texture. They come out dense, waxy and almost creamy. Bring the pan of cooked potatoes to the table right from the oven as is, so everyone can puzzle over the curious-looking white crust, and then delight over the discovery of the piping hot little beauties revealed inside once the surface is cracked. Dig them out and swoop through the butter before popping into your mouth, their skins so paper-thin they snap when you bite into them. Their appeal is irresistible.
Duck Breast With Braised Belgian Endive, Shaved Cauliflower and Green Peppercorns
Duck breasts are remarkably delicious, easy to cook and almost as tender as beef tenderloin. Once seasoned, the breasts go skin-side down in the pan and stay there for 20 or so minutes while the skin crisps, the fat renders out and the meat gently cooks to a perfect rosy medium. Along the way, you pour off the accruing melted fat every few minutes into a heatproof jar, and when it has cooled, you can save the duck fat in the freezer. It has such a special flavor; it would be a pity to throw it away. We use the duck fat for the best roasted potatoes but also love it for cooking trout and char and salmon fillets, and recommend roasting cauliflower and baby white turnips in it as well, for the most special combination of clean, juicy and luscious.
Five Spice
At once musky and sweet, with a pronounced kick, five spice is traditionally made from equal parts cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds, star anise and peppercorns (usually Sichuan or white). This one, adapted from Kian Lam Kho, the author of “Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees: Essential Techniques of Authentic Chinese Cooking” (Clarkson Potter, 2015), includes Sichuan peppercorns to give the mix a characteristically numbing, tingly sensation on the tongue known as mala. Once the spices are toasted and mixed, the blend can be used both whole (simmered into stews, braises and soups) and ground (added to sauces, roasted meats and vegetables). Or, stir some salt into the ground blend and use it as a piquant table condiment: It’s wonderful sprinkled on everything from barbecued meats to scrambled eggs.
Pan-Fried Skate Wings With Capers
Tiger Vegetable Salad
A bright toss of cilantro leaves and scallions, this dish, called lao hu cai, is somewhere between a salad and a garnish, adding coolness, salt and juice to the mix.
Cold Tomato Soup
The most beautiful tomatoes may not always be the best ones. Often, it’s the gnarly, misshapen, split-topped tomatoes that are the sweetest. You can also seek out the nearly overripe must-sell-today tomatoes, which can sometimes be found discounted at farmers markets. Those are perfect for this kind of chilled soup, a no-cook delight that is best made at the end of summer when tomatoes are at their best. Add toast and avocado for a more substantial meal.