Tasty

by Finamore, Roy

• ISBN13: 9780618240333
• ISBN10: 0618240330
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-04-14
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary

For the past twenty years, Roy Finamore has shaped America's most popular cookbooks, publishing such influential authors as Martha Stewart, Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa), and Lee Bailey and working alongside chefs and other food authorities to help them streamline their recipes. Now, in Tasty, he shows you how to make the most of your time and have fun in the kitchen. Tasty proves that a meal doesn't need to be showoffy to be uncommonly good. When you serve food from this book, your family and friends will sit up and take notice, and you'll be relaxed and smiling when you sit down at the table. Among the simple but exceptional dishes in Tasty: Buttermilk Pancakes with Hazelnut Butter: breakfast with a minimum of effort; unbelievably light and fluffy. Sicilian Spinach Pie: perfect for a lunch or picnic, with the easiest pastry you've ever made. Fresh Pea Soup: with three common ingredients, it's ready in five minutes. Chicken Milanese: Crisp chicken and tart salad -- the kind of food you crave when it's hot out. Pork Roast with Fruit Stuffing: a fine company dish or Sunday supper. Chinois Noodles: Asian-inspired and equally good warm or cold. Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake: Whip cream, add eggs and a few dry ingredients, and you've got cake! As Roy says in his introduction, "Good simple food is meant to be shared and enjoyed. Cook often."

Author Biography

ROY FINAMORE has worked as a cookbook editor for thirty years, most recently at Clarkson Potter. Among the authors he has published are Martha Stewart, Ina Garten, Tom Colicchio, Diana Kennedy, Anne Willan, Gale Gand, and Lee Bailey. A cooking teacher, as well as a sought-after cookbook collaborator and food and prop stylist, his books include Tasty, which won a James Beard Award, and One Potato, Two Potato.

Table of Contents

Introduction	10	(4)
Notes for the Cook	14	(10)
Breakfast	24	(20)
Lunch	44	(40)
Soup	84	(30)
Weeknight Dinners	114	(58)
Weekend Cooking	172	(76)
Sides	248	(64)
Salads	312	(34)
Nibbles	346	(32)
Condiments	378	(20)
Dessert	398	(65)
Credits	463	(2)
Index	465

Excerpts

Homemade Ricotta Makes about 1-1/2 cups This is so creamy and so good. Truth to tell, it's not ricotta. Real ricotta is made with whey, and the best ricotta is made with the whey from sheep's milk, the leftovers in the Pecorino process. Hence ricotta, which means twice cooked. The milk is heated for the Pecorino, and then the whey is heated for the ricotta. But are you going to be making Pecorino? I don't think so, and this is a pretty terrific way to get to the tender curds of ricotta. Fast, too. You've got options for serving this. See the box. The photo is on page 68. 1 quart whole milk 1 cup heavy cream 1 scant teaspoon coarse salt 2 tablespoons white vinegar Line a strainer with a double layer of dampened cheesecloth and set it in a bowl (deep enough so the strainer doesn't sit on the bottom of the bowl). Rinse a large saucepan with cold water (for easier cleanup). Pour the milk and cream into the saucepan. Add the salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat; a skin may form on the surface. Continue to cook until you see bubbles all over the surface. When the milk is simmering, turn off the heat and pour in the vinegar. Leave it alone for about 1 minute, then stir slowly and gently. The milk will start separating into curds and whey (the liquid); you are looking for the whey to become clearish, which will take about 1 minute of gentle stirring. Pour into the strainer. Lift the strainer out of the bowl and pour out the whey, then set the strainer back in the bowl and let the cheese drain for 15 minutes. The ricotta is ready to serve now, and it will be soft and moist. Gather up the corners of the cheesecloth and lift. Set the cheese in your other palm and unfold the cloth. Invert a bowl or plate over the cheese in your hand, flip it over, and lift off the cheesecloth. You can also refrigerate it, covered, for later; it will be denser, more like cottage cheese. Serving Homemade Ricotta At the cocktail hour, pile the ricotta in a bowl, drizzle it with extra-virgin olive oil-enough so you have a ring of oil around the cheese-and sprinkle it with coarse sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Or grains of paradise (crunchy seeds from West Africa, with a floral scent and the heat of black pepper). Set it out with slices of semolina bread. This could also be lunch. You've made a big green salad or you have a platter of Roast Peppers with Capers and Anchovies (page 332). You have a great loaf of bread. You've got the ricotta in a bowl with the oil and salt and cracked pepper. You slather pieces of bread with the cheese and eat it with the salad. Use this to make Ziti with Ricotta (page 162), making sure to add the goat cheese, since this ricotta is very sweet. It's enough for 1 pound of pasta. Or use it in a lasagne. Ricotta can also be dessert or a sweet breakfast. Sprinkle it with a tiny bit of sugar and some cinnamon or drizzle it with tupelo honey and eat it with a spoon. Fresh Pea Soup Serves 4 If you've never had a soup made of fresh peas, you're in for a treat. It doesn't get much more refreshing than this. The photo is on page 153. Coarse salt 3 pounds English peas, shelled (see Note) 1/2 head tender lettuce (Boston, Bibb, leaf), chopped 3 cups water 2 tablespoons shredded fresh mint Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Have ready a large bowl of ice water. Salt the boiling water very well, so it tastes like sea water, then add the peas and lettuce. Bring back to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Taste a pea: it should be heated through. Drain the peas and lettuce in a colander and then plunge the colander into the bowl of ice water to re