Fast, Fresh & Green (13 page)

1 TSP HEAVY CREAM

1 TBSP FINELY GRATED PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO

1
Heat the olive oil
in a medium (9- to 10-in/23- to 25-cm) nonstick skillet over mediumlow heat. When the oil is hot (it will loosen up), add the shallots and a pinch of salt and stir with a silicone spatula to distribute them in the oil. Cook, stirring, until the shallots are softened and just a light golden brown, about 4 minutes. (Don’t brown too much or the shallots will taste slightly bitter.)

2
Add half of the spinach
and another pinch of salt and stir and fold the spinach with tongs until most of it is wilted and dark green, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the remaining spinach and stir well again until the spinach is almost completely wilted, another minute or two. Remove the pan from the heat, add the cream, and stir to incorporate. Add the Parmigiano, stir well, and serve right away.

Serves 2

Who doesn’t love sautéed mushrooms? That is, of course, if they’re cooked properly. I have a few tricks to help you pull this off. First, I start with brown cremini mushrooms, which I think have a meatier texture than white button mushrooms. Then I quarter or halve them (rather than slice) so they maintain their appealing heft. I cook the mushrooms on pretty high heat, until—and this is most important—all the moisture they give off during the sauté has evaporated. (Don’t worry if the pan looks dry at first; the mushrooms give off moisture as they cook.) I look for an appealing orangey-brown color (the tasty stuff) to know they’re done.

These sautéed mushrooms, come with an easy sauce. Actually, it’s more like a glaze, and it adds not only a lot of flavor, but a nice sheen, too. Use them in a warm spinach salad, as a topping for a sirloin steak, or even as part of an antipasto selection.

1 TBSP SOY SAUCE

1 TBSP FRESH LEMON JUICE

2 TSP DARK BROWN SUGAR

2 TSP KETCHUP

½ TSP WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE

2 TBSP UNSALTED BUTTER

2 TBSP EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

1 LB/455 G CREMINI (
baby bella
) MUSHROOMS,
quartered if large, halved if small

¾ TSP KOSHER SALT

2 TSP MINCED FRESH GARLIC

FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER

1
In a small bowl
, whisk together the soy sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and 1 Tbsp of water and set the bowl near the stove. Put a shallow serving dish near the stove as well.

2
In a 10-in/25-cm straight-sided sauté pan
, heat 1 Tbsp of the butter with the olive oil over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted, add the mushrooms and salt, stir right away, and continue stirring until the mushrooms have absorbed all of the fat.

3
Let the mushrooms sit
and cook for 2 minutes, then stir once. Don’t worry; the pan may look crowded and dry, but keep the heat up at medium-high. Let it sit and cook, stirring infrequently (they will squeak when you stir them), until the mushrooms are shrunken, glistening, and some parts have developed a deep orange-brown color, about 10 minutes (the bottom of the pan will be brown).

4
Turn the heat down to low
, and add the garlic and remaining 1 Tbsp butter. Stir and cook until the butter is melted and the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk the soy sauce mixture again and very carefully add it to the pan. You’ll need to scrape out the brown sugar, but don’t stand directly over the pan as there will be sputtering. Stir and cook just until the liquid thickens slightly and coats the mushrooms, 15 to 20 seconds more. Season with a few grinds of pepper and quickly transfer the mushrooms and all of the sauce to a serving dish.

Serves 4

METHOD: Walk-away sautéing

EQUIPMENT: 10-in/25-cm straight-sided sauté pan, heat-proof spatula, tongs, wooden spoon, liquid measure

HEAT: The stove top—not too hot

RECIPES:
Foundation Recipe for Walk-Away Sautéing •
100

Gingery Sweet Potato and Apple Sauté with Toasted Almonds •
102

Dark and Crispy Pan-Fried Red Potatoes
• 103

Sautéed Broccoli with Mellow Garlic and Thyme •
105

Caramelized Green Beans and Sweet Onions •
106

Sautéed Turnips with Ham and Molasses •
107

Southwestern Butternut Squash Sauté •
108

Smoky Spanish Carrots and Fennel with Toasted Hazelnuts •
109

Bacon and Rosemary Sautéed Brussels Sprouts and Baby Bellas •
111

Something pretty cool is going to happen to you if you cook from this chapter. You will learn (or improve your ability) to cook using all of your senses—sight, smell, touch, taste, even hearing. This is kind of scary and exciting at the same time, because what I’m really saying is that this method is not an exact science. But that’s actually a good thing in terms of flavor, because the transformation these vegetables undergo during cooking is nothing short of magic.

Here’s the big picture: You’ll start with hearty vegetables (like carrots or Brussels sprouts) and cut them into even (usually medium-size) pieces. You’ll combine them with some aromatics—like mushrooms, garlic, or onions—and cook them slowly in a decent amount of olive oil in a sauté pan until they’re tender and deeply golden. Often a bit of pancetta or bacon and some fresh herb sprigs go in the pan, too. The pan will look quite crowded, but that’s intentional. The vegetables will help each other cook by giving off some of their own steam. (That’s why this method is great for low-moisture vegetables and not so great for things like zucchini, which would get mushy cooked this way.)

The finer point is this: There is an ideal amount of heat and time to both brown the vegetables slowly and cook them through. It’s a slow, gentle heat (usually what’s labeled “medium” on my stove, but it could be “medium-low” on yours). With a generous amount of olive oil, the vegetables will usually be perfectly cooked in 25 to 30 minutes. You may have to do a little fiddling around—adjusting your heat or adding a little more olive oil—when first trying these recipes on your stove and with your pan.

Usually the vegetables don’t brown at all in the first several minutes of cooking (at least they shouldn’t!). They will release their moisture (you will hear a gentle sizzle), and you’ll only have to stir them occasionally (you can
walk away
). About halfway through cooking, the vegetables will begin to brown (and sizzle a little more loudly). Sometimes, though, if the heat is initially too high or there isn’t enough olive oil, browning can happen more quickly, before your vegetables have had a chance to start getting tender. The solution here is to simply turn the heat down—the browning will slow down, giving the vegetables more time to become tender.

Also, depending on the vegetable mix, sometimes the pan can get dry. A little more olive oil and a little lower heat is the solution here. One thing not to worry about: The bottom of the pan will almost always get quite brown. This happens with all of the sautés as the vegetables are in the pan for so long that some of their proteins and sugars begin to stick to the pan. In some recipes, I call for washing up a little of this to make a bit of sauce. But when there is an especially large amount of browning on the bottom of the pan, some of it will have become bitter, so I don’t go crazy scraping it up. Don’t freak out, no matter how much buildup there is; if you’re using a good, heavy stainless-steel pan, it will wash right off with soap and hot water.

I first learned this method from the late chef Leslie Revsin (who was the first female chef at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York years ago). In her post-restaurant career, she wrote lots of articles for us at
Fine Cooking
magazine, but none more enlightening than one on a cooking method she called slow-sautéing. Leslie liked to use a cast-iron pan for her recipes, and I often use mine when I’m improvising on a weeknight. But for this book, I developed the recipes using a heavy-duty, straight-sided stainless-steel sauté pan, which more folks are likely to own (especially after reading this book!).

For most of these recipes, I like to stir with a heat-proof silicone spatula (as opposed to my tongs, which some people have alleged are surgically attached to me). These veggies want to be babied—gently stirred. In turn, they will reward you with lots of good flavor.

In this chapter, you might find that starting with one of the recipes in the list on
page 97
is the best way to learn this technique. (I recommend the green bean recipe—it’s very straightforward and tastes good even if it’s slightly under- or overcooked.) Then you can go back to the foundation recipe any night you like and improvise your own combination. But either way, I think you’ll find this unusual method delivers very satisfying results.

One pan, some chopping, a little stirring. Then it’s time to sip a glass of wine or open the mail. The beauty of this technique is its manageability, especially once you’ve done these recipes a few times. As I said in the introduction to this chapter (please read it before tackling this recipe), at first you may need to do a little finessing—turning the heat down if the veggies are browning too fast, maybe adding a little more olive oil if the pan seems dry. So I’ve limited the variety of vegetables in this foundation recipe to make things easier. Unlike other foundation recipes in the book, this one does not have a table of vegetables with lots of choices. Your choices are limited to those in the ingredients list, but they are varied enough to make some really yummy combinations possible.

You’ll want to pick one hearty vegetable (say, cauliflower), combine it with an aromatic vegetable (say, cremini mushrooms), and add some pork (say, pancetta) if you like. You can also put a few fresh herb sprigs into the mix. (If you don’t use pork, include the herb sprigs for sure.) For finishing the dish, I’ve given you a small amount of liquid (chicken broth), acid (juice or wine), and butter to introduce a little bit of moisture. As I have noted elsewhere, I like to cut broccoli and cauliflower florets in half so that the cut side can lie flat in the pan and brown better. Other vegetables in this recipe should be cut for maximum browning surface, too. Don’t slice vegetables too thinly or they will break down before they’re properly browned.

In this recipe, the bottom of the pan will often get very brown toward the end of cooking. Starchy vegetables like parsnips, in particular, will leave lots of browned bits. Do not worry about this. You can add some more olive oil if the vegetables need moisture, but otherwise continue to cook until the vegetables are browned and tender.

Please be sure you’re cooking in a heavy-duty 10-in/25-cm straight-sided sauté pan. (A slope-sided skillet of about the same size will work all right, too, though because of its openness it doesn’t allow quite as much steaming to occur.) And use all of the olive oil the first few times you make this recipe. Some vegetable combinations will work all right with just 3 tablespoons, but others will brown or dry out too quickly.

1 TBSP LOW-SODIUM CHICKEN BROTH

2 TSP FRESH LEMON OR LIME JUICE, SHERRY, WINE, OR OTHER SPIRITS

1 LB/455 G HEARTY VEGETABLES
(Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, carrots, or parsnips)

6 OZ/170 G AROMATIC VEGETABLES
(red, yellow, or sweet onion; fennel; large shallots; brown mushrooms such as cremini, a.k.a. baby bella)

¼ CUP/60 ML EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL,
and more if necessary

2 OZ/60 G THINLY SLICED HAM, THINLY SLICED PANCETTA, OR BACON,
cut into 1-in/2.5-cm pieces (optional)

3 TO 5 SPRIGS FRESH THYME, ROSEMARY, OR SAGE
(optional)

¾ TO 1 TSP KOSHER SALT

½ TBSP UNSALTED BUTTER

2 TBSP CHOPPED TOASTED PINE NUTS, HAZELNUTS, ALMONDS, PECANS, OR WALNUTS
(optional; see tip on
page 36
)

1
In a small bowl
, combine the broth and lemon juice and set aside.

2
Cut your vegetables
into similarly sized pieces. Broccoli and cauliflower should be cut into florets about 1½ in/3.75 cm long and 1 in/2.5 cm wide (cut through the middle of each large floret). Turnips should be cut into wedges about 1 in/2.5 cm long and ¾ in/2 cm wide. Cut carrots and parsnips slightly on the diagonal into coins or half-moons. At the thinner end of carrots or parsnips, cut oval shapes on a sharp diagonal about ¾ in/2 cm thick. At the thicker end, cut the vegetable in half lengthwise first, and then slice into half-moon-shaped pieces about ½ in/1.25 cm thick. Cut onions and fennel into large dice or into pieces with ¾- to 1-in/2- to 2.5-cm sides. Quarter large shallots and medium mushrooms; cut larger mushrooms into six pieces. You should have 12 to 14 oz/340 to 400 g vegetables after trimming.

3
In a 10-in/25-cm straight-sided sauté pan
, heat the ¼ cup/60 ml olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot (it will shimmer and loosen), add the hearty and aromatic vegetables, the ham (if using), the herb sprigs (if using), and the salt, (¾ tsp if using bacon or pancetta). Use tongs to toss everything thoroughly and to coat with the oil. Reduce the heat to medium-low or whatever seems moderate on your stove. You should hear a gentle sizzling.

4
Cook, stirring with a silicone spatula
, only occasionally at first, but more frequently as the vegetables (and the pan) begin to brown, gently sliding the spatula under the vegetables and loosening a little of the browned bits when possible. Continue cooking until the vegetables are all well browned and tender (check with a paring knife or the tines of a fork), between 20 and 35 minutes, depending on the vegetables, the heat, and the pan. The bottom of the pan will be very brown, depending on the vegetables. When done, broccoli and cauliflower will remain somewhat firm; they don’t need to be completely limp, but they should be somewhat pliable. (If they aren’t, add a little more olive oil and continue to cook for a few more minutes.) All other vegetables should feel fairly tender when poked with a paring knife or the tines of a fork.