Ingredients

Dressing:

• 3⁄4 cup canola oil
• 1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 3⁄4 tsp. dry mustard
• 1⁄2 tsp. Worcestershire
• 1⁄4 tsp. sugar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Salad:

• 1⁄2 head iceberg lettuce, cored and shredded
• 1⁄2 head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1⁄2 bunch watercress, some of the stems trimmed, chopped
• 2 oz. blue cheese, preferably Roquefort, crumbled
• 6 strips cooked bacon, roughly chopped
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into 1⁄2" cubes
• 2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1⁄2" cubes
• 1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and cut into 1⁄2" cubes
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1⁄2" cubes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsp. minced chives

Preparation

Make the dressing: Combine the canola oil, olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, Worcestershire, sugar, and garlic in a blender. Purée the ingredients to make a smooth dressing and season with salt and pepper. Set the dressing aside (or refrigerate, covered, for up to 1 week).

Make the salad: On a large platter, combine the iceberg and romaine lettuces along with the watercress. Arrange the blue cheese, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, chicken, and avocado on top of the greens in neat rows. To serve, drizzle salad with dressing, season with salt and pepper, and top with chives. Alternatively, toss everything together in a bowl.

Saveur

Ingredients

• 4 Cornish game hens, patted dry with paper towels
• 8 thin slices of butter
• 4 sprigs each of fresh rosemary and thyme (or herbs of choice) plus some extra leaves of each
• 4 large cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 lemon, scrubbed well and cut into quarters
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup dry white wine
• ½ cup chicken broth

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Pat the hens dry with a paper towel. Use your index finger to loosen the skin on the top of the hen and slip a thin slice of butter under the skin on top of each breast. Add a few rosemary and thyme leaves (or herb of choice). Repeat for each hen. Put a quarter of a lemon in the cavity of each hen along with a clove of garlic and a sprig of fresh rosemary and thyme (or herb of choice). Truss the hens by tying the wings and legs.

Rub each hen all over with some extra virgin olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place then hens on the rack of a roasting pan lined with aluminum foil, spacing them out so they are as far apart from each other as possible. This will enable their skins to get browned and crispy.

Place the hens in the preheated oven and roast for 25 minutes.

While the hens are roasting, combine the chicken broth and wine in a bowl.

After the hens have been roasting for 35 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Pour the broth/wine mixture over the hens and continue to roast for 30 minutes, basting the hens with the juices at the bottom of the pan every 10 minutes or less. The hens are done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees F and the juices run clear. If you prefer darker skins, turn up the temperature to broil for a couple more minutes, watching closely to prevent burning.

Carefully remove the hens and pour the juices from their cavities into the roasting pan. Transfer the hens to a warmed platter, remove the trussing string, and tent with aluminum foil to week warm. Pour the juices from the roasting pan into a saucepan and boil for about 5 minutes until the liquid is a thin sauce-like consistency. Serve the hens whole per guest or cut in half lengthwise and place cavity-down on each serving plate. Drizzle the sauce over the hens and garnish with fresh herb sprigs and a slice of lemon. Serve immediately.

Daring Gourmet

Ingredients

• 1 to 2 pounds vegetables
• Aromatics, such as onion, garlic, or leeks
• Olive oil or unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper
• 4 to 6 cups stock

Preparation

Choose and weigh 1 to 2 pounds of vegetables. Cut up the vegetables and aromatics, and heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil (or butter, ghee, or the fat from rendering some bacon, chicken, etc.) in a Dutch oven over medium heat. (Also, you could add ginger or chili peppers right here.)

Sautee the aromatics until fragrant and soft (five minutes), brown the vegetables, and season them with salt, pepper, and spices (dried herbs like mint, sage, or oregano, curry powder, cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, smoked paprika, and smoked or truffled salt).

Add 4 to 6 cups of broth and bring to a simmer. Add a sprig of fresh herbs now if desired. Turn the heat down to low and cover the pot. Let cook for about 30 minutes, then check the soup. Are the vegetables as soft as you would like? If you want to leave the vegetables intact, take the soup off the heat now. If you want the vegetables very soft for pureeing, keep cooking until they are falling apart.

Whether you are leaving the vegetables intact or pureeing the soup, make sure to taste the soup as it finishes cooking. If it seems flat, add some vinegar or lemon juice. If it is too salty, thin out with some extra broth or dairy. You can also add leftover cooked pasta, a few crumbles of cooked ground turkey or beef, cooked strips of chicken breast on top of each bowl, 1/4 cup of rice, quinoa, or another grain (simmering until done), or a can of beans, chickpeas, or tomatoes, and simmer until warmed through.

Once the vegetables are very soft, you can puree the soup in a blender or with a stick blender if you like. Rewarm gently after blending. When pureeing the soup, you can add flavor and creaminess by adding beans, tofu, coconut milk, yogurt, or other dairy such as cream, mascarpone, or even cream cheese. Finish the soup with something acid like lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, or fruit vinegar. Or drizzle on a little oil like chili oil, smoked olive oil, or something else a little special.

The Kitchn

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1½ pounds sweet Italian sausage
• 1 lb. red grapes, halved lengthwise (3 cups)
• 1 onion, halved and sliced thin
• ¼ c. water
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• ⅛ tsp. salt
• ¼ c. dry white wine
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano
• 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp. chopped fresh mint

Preparation

Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Arrange sausages in pan and cook, turning once, until browned on 2 sides, about 5 minutes. Tilt skillet and carefully remove excess fat with paper towel (no, really, you want a dry skillet at this point). Distribute grapes and onion over and around sausages. Add water and immediately cover. Cook, turning sausages once, until they register between 160 and 165 degrees and onions and grapes have softened, about 10 minutes.

Transfer sausages to paper towel–lined plate and tent with aluminum foil. Return skillet to medium-high heat and stir pepper and salt into grape-onion mixture. Spread grape-onion mixture in even layer in skillet and cook without stirring until browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is well browned and grapes are soft but still retain their shape, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Reduce heat to medium, stir in wine and oregano, and cook, scraping up any browned bits, until wine is reduced by half, 30 to 60 seconds. Remove pan from heat and stir in vinegar.

Arrange sausages on serving platter and spoon grape-onion mixture over top. Sprinkle with mint and serve with crusty bread or over polenta.

Ingredients

• 6 oz. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
• 6 oz. sugar snap peas, strings removed, cut into 1-inch lengths
• Salt and pepper
• 3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. minced shallot
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 c. farro, cooked to package directions, cooled
• 6 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3 tbsp. chopped fresh dill
• 2 oz. feta cheese, crumbled (½ cup)

Preparation

1. Bring 2 quarts water to boil in large saucepan. Add asparagus, snap peas, and 1 tablespoon salt. Cook until vegetables are crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to rimmed baking sheet and let cool for 15 minutes.

2. Whisk oil, lemon juice, shallot, mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper together in large bowl. Add cooled vegetables, farro, tomatoes, dill, and 1/4 cup feta to dressing and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste and transfer to serving bowl. Sprinkle salad with remaining 1/4 cup feta and serve.

Ingredients

• 2 c. short-grain brown rice
• Salt
• 10 oz. boneless pork ribs, trimmed
• 1 tbsp. hoisin sauce
• 2 tsp. honey
• ⅛ tsp. five-spice powder
• Small pinch cayenne pepper
• 4 tsp. vegetable oil
• 8 oz large (26-30) shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed, and cut into ½-inch pieces
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil
• 6 scallions, white and green parts separated and sliced thin on bias
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1½ tsp. grated fresh ginger
• 2 tbs. soy sauce
• 1 c. frozen peas

Preparation

1. Bring 3 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add rice and 2 teaspoons salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender, about 35 minutes. Drain well and return to pot. Cover and set aside.

2. While rice cooks, cut pork into 1-inch pieces and slice each piece against grain 1/4 inch thick. Combine pork with hoisin, honey, five-spice powder, cayenne, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and toss to coat. Set aside.

3. Heat 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add shrimp in even layer and cook without moving them until bottoms are browned, about 90 seconds. Stir and continue to cook until just cooked through, about 90 seconds longer. Push shrimp to 1 side of skillet. Add 1 teaspoon vegetable oil to cleared side of skillet. Add eggs to clearing and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Using rubber spatula, stir eggs gently until set but still wet, about 30 seconds. Stir eggs into shrimp and continue to cook, breaking up large pieces of egg, until eggs are fully cooked, about 30 seconds longer. Transfer shrimp-egg mixture to clean bowl.

4. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add pork in even layer. Cook pork without moving it until well browned on underside, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip pork and cook without moving it until cooked through and caramelized on second side, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to bowl with shrimp-egg mixture.

5. Heat sesame oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add scallion whites and cook, stirring frequently, until well browned, about 1 minute. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant and beginning to brown, 30 to 60 seconds. Add soy sauce and half of rice and stir until all ingredients are fully incorporated, making sure to break up clumps of ginger and garlic. Reduce heat to medium-low and add remaining rice, pork mixture, and peas. Stir until all ingredients are evenly incorporated and heated through, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in scallion greens. Transfer to warmed platter and serve.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp. plus ¾ c. panko bread crumbs
• 2 tbsp. minced parsley
• 2 tbsp. mayonnaise
• 4 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 scallion, sliced thin
• 1 small shallot, minced
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• ¾ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 (1 ¼ pound) skinless salmon fillet, cut into 1-inch pieces
• ½ c. vegetable oil

Preparation

1. Combine 3 tablespoons panko, parsley, mayonnaise, lemon juice, scallion, shallot, mustard, salt, pepper, and cayenne in bowl. Working in 3 batches, pulse salmon in food processor until coarsely chopped into 1/4-inch pieces, about 2 pulses, transferring each batch to bowl with panko mixture. Gently mix until uniformly combined.

2. Place remaining 3/4 cup panko in pie plate. Using 1/3-cup measure, scoop level amount of salmon mixture and transfer to baking sheet; repeat to make 8 cakes. Carefully coat each cake in bread crumbs, gently patting into disk measuring 2 3/4 inches in diameter and 1 inch high. Return coated cakes to baking sheet.

3. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place salmon cakes in skillet and cook without moving until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip cakes and cook until second side is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer cakes to paper towel–lined plate to drain 1 minute. Serve.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails left on
• 4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp. ouzo (or Pernod)
• 5 cloves garlic, pressed
• zest of one lemon
• 1 sm. onion, diced medium (about ¾ cup)
• ½ medium red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced medium (about ½ cup)
• ½ medium green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced medium (about ½ cup)
• ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
• 28 oz. can diced tomato, drained, ⅓ cup juices reserved
• ¼ c. dry white wine
• 2 tbsp. coarsely chopped parsley
• 6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled (about 1½ cups)
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh dill

Preparation

1. Toss shrimp, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon ouzo, 1 teaspoon garlic, lemon zest, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper in small bowl until well combined. Set aside while preparing sauce.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, red and green bell pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and stir to combine. Cover skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables release their moisture, 3 to 5 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until moisture cooks off and vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes longer. Add remaining 4 teaspoons garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and reserved juice, wine, and remaining 2 tablespoons ouzo; increase heat to medium-high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until flavors have melded and sauce is slightly thickened (sauce should not be completely dry), 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low and add shrimp along with any accumulated liquid to pan; stir to coat and distribute evenly. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are opaque throughout, 6 to 9 minutes for extra-large or 7 to 11 minutes for jumbo, adjusting heat as needed to maintain bare simmer. Remove pan from heat and sprinkle evenly with feta. Drizzle remaining tablespoon oil evenly over top and sprinkle with dill. Serve immediately.

Ingredients (per hamburger)

• 3 ounces (86-88 grams) ground beef (<=80% lean)
• 1 1/4 ounces (36-40 grams) grated cheddar cheese (mixture of sharp and mild)
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 hamburger bun or (soft) Kaiser roll
• 4-5 dill pickle slices or “chips”
• Mayo and mustard
• Oil or shortening for frying

Preparation

Get a nice big dutch oven and add enough oil or shortening to be two inches deep. Install your fry/candy thermometer to the side of the pot and crank the heat to medium high. Your thermal destination is 320 degrees F.

Turn on your broiler and position rack in top position. This is a perfect time to use your toaster oven if you have one.

Meanwhile, weigh out the meat portions for however many burgers you want to make. Roll into balls and set aside. Do not refrigerate.

Grate the cheese. If you want 4 burgers, obviously you need 5 ounces total. Six would be 7 1/2, eight would be 10 ounces. Toss this cheese with the spices until all the powder has stuck to the cheese.

Place a thin layer of mayo on the bottom of the buns. Place half the cheese mixture on top of this. Spread mustard on bun tops and place the rest of the cheese on this. You should have half the cheese on the bottoms (on mayo) and half on the tops (on mustard). Place these under the broiler so that the cheese will melt as you cook the burgers.

When the oil hits 320 degrees F, place one of the meat balls on an upside-down sheet pan. Dip a wide metal grill spatula in the hot fat then use it to smash and spread the meat ball out into a 5 to 6-inch-wide disk. It will be irregular around the circumference and that’s good as all those irregularities will become crunchy goodness. The meat will also shrink by a couple of inches. Gently scrape the patty/wafer off the pan with the spatula and gently drop into the fat. Cook one minute, no more, no less. You can cook up to three patties at a time, but watch the oil temp and don’t let it drop to under 300 degrees F.

Remove meat to a paper towel to drain briefly then place it on the bun bottom right away. Place the pickles on top, then the bun top. The goal: bread/mayo/cheese/meat/cheese/pickles/mustard/bread.

Consume or wrap in foil and hold for up to half an hour.

Alton Brown

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4-5 potatoes, cubed
• 5 1/2 c. fish stock
• 1 lb. fresh salmon fillet, cubed
• 2 c. whole milk
• 1 c. fresh dill, finely chopped
• 5 bay leaves
• dash sea salt
• dash pepper
• dash allspice

[CP: To test the next time I make this: juice of 1/4 to 1/2 of a lemon?]

Preparation

Place the potato cubes in water to keep them from discoloring. In a soup pot, simmer the chopped onions in the butter over medium heat until soft .Add peeled and diced potatoes and then enough water to just cover the potatoes. Turn up the heat to high, cover, bring to a boil and cook the potatoes until they are just soft, adjusting the heat down as necessary.

Add the cubed salmon to the pot and cook until it is mostly opaque (this will take about 5 minutes, if that). Do not stir the soup so as not to break up the salmon. If you want to keep the Salmon cubes looking like cubes, once the salmon is cooked, remove from the soup and set aside. Add the fish stock, milk, bay leaves, and spices. Cook for 5-10 minutes.

Take off the heat and stir in the fresh dill. If you removed the salmon cubes, transfer the cooked salmon into individual bowls and ladle the soup over them. Serve with rye bread and butter.

Alternative Finland