Tag: vegetarian

Or rather can be made vegetarian.

JGV’s Gently Cooked Salmon with Mashed Potatoes and Broken Chive Oil

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People always ask me if the recipes on this blog are mine. Some of them are, but I also love trying out great recipes that I hear or read about. In all honesty, does it really matter? I mean, how original are anyone’s recipes anyway?

Enamored as I am of the New York Times‘s Dining Section, I picked up The Chefs of the Times a couple years ago. It’s a terrific cookbook. The contributing chefs are a “who’s who” in the culinary stratosphere: Romano, Vongerichten, Samuelsson, Boulud, Palmer, Portale, Keller, Richard, Trotter, et al. Each chef has a chapter devoted to them. What is great is that, as a preface to each recipe, each chef has composed a short written introduction about what they wanted to achieve and how they became satisfied with their finished product.

It is reassuring to keep in mind that for all their talent and ingenuity, chefs don’t exist in a vacuum. The concepts they are hoping to make reality on a plate are influenced by all kinds of things: nostalgia, personal experience, individual taste. I would also suspect that many of them owe a great deal more to Julia Child and Mastering the Art of French Cooking than they would admit in public. Certain taste combinations? They had to taste them first somewhere. The specific smoothness of mashed potatoes, for instance, that they are seeking? They must have compared theirs to either the incomparable smoothness of someone else’s potatoes, or the chunkiness of another’s.

Regardless, these little introductions are great windows into someone else’s creative process. It is true though that if you read a lot of cookbooks, you do start to see how much everyone’s recipes resemble one another. Everyone seems to have a version of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s molten chocolate cake for example (if there was ever a recipe to which one person can lay the claim for “I was the first,” it would be this:  JGV’s extremely lucky “mistake”).

Sometimes, you just make a recipe so many times, you stop actually needing to consult a recipe anymore.

This is one of them. I don’t even remember what the original recipe was. I make it a little differently every time, but the components are the same, as is the technique. This is from The Chefs of the Times. It is a Jean-Georges Vongerichten recipe and a damn good one. You can look up the original, or you can just feel your way through this one and make it your own.

Ingredients:

Factor in one portion of salmon per person. You want to ask your fish monger for a center-cut fillet, about 2 to 2 1/2 inches wide. Skin on. Ask them to kindly remove the bones if you don’t want to do it yourself.

Estimate about one Russet potato per person. This will give you enough fluffy mashed potatoes for each guest, and just enough leftovers to eat cold out of the fridge at 3 o’clock in the morning the next day.

About 2 tablespoons of butter per potato

Heavy cream or milk, or a combo of both

About a tablespoon of grapeseed oil per person

About a tablespoon of roughly chopped chives per person

Salt and white pepper (optional) to taste

Special equipment:

A hand-held blender, food processor, or blender

How to prepare:

1. There are a million ways to make mashed potatoes. Some people like really loose spuds, some people like it like Spackle. For this recipe, I like the potatoes creamy, but not too watery. Bring a pot of well-salted water to boil. While you are waiting for the water to boil, peel the potatoes and cut them into large dice. Boil them until you can easily crush a piece of potato against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Drain the potatoes in the pot. Add the butter and mash the potatoes with a potato masher. Add some heavy cream, milk, or a combo of the two, and continue to mash the potatoes. Keep adding as much liquid as you like, a little bit at a time, until you have achieved the consistency that you want.

2. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 250° (this is JGV’s genius idea). Lay the salmon fillets out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can put them skin-side up or down, depending on what you like better (I prefer up). You can smear them with a little grapeseed oil, but I’ve forgotten sometimes and no one has noticed. Put the salmon in the oven and set a timer for about 10 minutes. I’m serious. Just 10 minutes!

3. While the salmon is in the oven, blend or process the chives with the grapeseed oil and a little pinch of salt.

4. After 10 minutes, check the salmon. The meat should flake. It might look undercooked, but if it flakes and the skin comes off easily, it is done. If you would like it more done, just leave it in the oven for longer, checking it again every 2 minutes or so. Remove the skin. You can scrape any gray, fatty stuff or white protein off of the fillets before plating the dish.

5. Put a nice mound of mashed potatoes on a warmed plate. Top the potatoes with a piece of salmon. Drizzle the broken chive oil on top of the fillet and around the plate. Serve immediately.

Bruschetta with Ricotta, Wild Arugula, and Olive Oil

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This combo comes courtesy of Salvatore Brooklyn, makers of some of the finest whole milk ricotta this side of the pond. You can even make your own ricotta as they have made their recipe available to all. It is ridiculously easy to do, tastes fabulous, and gives you crazy bragging rights when your guests coo, “Oh my gosh! You made this!?”

In a pinch though, you can use store bought ricotta. Just try to buy the best and creamiest you can. Whole milk please. Full fat = superior mouth-feel.

To assemble, top toasted bread with a large schmear of ricotta. Artfully arrange a few leaves of peppery wild arugula. Drizzle with some super duper extra virgin olive oil. Finish with a sprinkling of flaky Maldon Salt or Fleur de sel.

And isn’t the plate so pretty? A wonderful gift from a wonderful friend!

Homemade Ricotta

Ingredients:

1 gallon of whole milk, the fullest and fattiest that you can buy

A good, healthy pinch of salt

The juice of one lemon

Special equipment:

Cheesecloth

A kitchen thermometer (somewhat optional)

How to prepare:

1. In a large pot, heat the milk and salt over high heat. Heat the milk until it reaches 190°, or you can just watch it until it reaches a good simmer (that’s about 180-190°). Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Stir the lemon juice in very gently and slowly. You just want to distribute the acid evenly. A vigorous stirring will break the curds up a lot. Let the pot sit undisturbed for 5 minutes or so.

2. Line a colander with cheesecloth. Place the cheesecloth-lined colander over a large bowl to catch the whey. Pour the curds and whey into the colander and let the curds strain on their own. Don’t squeeze the curds or press down on them. You can let it strain for an hour, but when the cheese looks like the consistency that you like (some people like looser ricotta, some people like denser ricotta), turn the cheese out of the cheesecloth and use it right away, or transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate it until you want to use it.

Pipe Rigate with Broccoli and Capers

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Most people know, but few believe, that I was a vegetarian for 11 years. I have no regrets. What started as an act of pre-adolescent self-rightiousness turned into a decade-long stint. It left me with a deep appreciation of weird, gnarled tubers and difficult squash, as well as a persistent, daily craving for bitter leafy greens.

When I moved to France (an act that effectively ended my vegetarianism), I took with me only two cookbooks: The Paris Cookbook by Patricia Wells and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. Wells’s book was a huge influence on me; it became my neighborhood guidebook, as many of her featured haunts were less than a few meters from my apartment in St-Germain-des-Près. However, it was Madison’s book that became my daily go-to, a constant source of information and inspiration. She showed me what to do with and how to eat so many of the things that I saw in the markets and had never prepared before.

Over the years, I think that I have cooked almost every recipe in the book. If you do every recipe in any cookbook, you start to feel a real intimacy with the cookbook author. Madison was a great teacher. I credit my food fearlessness, not to the hip, new restaurant du jour serving liver and brains, but to Madison. Rutabaga? Bring it on. Kohlrabi? Yeah, baby! Celeriac? Love it!

Another thing Madison taught me? Recipes are great to follow, terrific for ideas, but ultimately you have to find your own style. Now when I turn to her book — or any book for that matter — I feel confident to change it up, switch things around, and adjust it to my taste.

This recipe is originally from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, but of course, I’ve played with it a little bit.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of broccoli

3/4 pound of pipe rigate, lumache, or conchiglie

1/3 cup (or more) extra virgin olive oil

2 fat cloves of garlic, finely minced

1/4 cup of capers, rinsed

Red pepper flakes to taste

The juice from half a lemon

Freshly grated Parmesan

How to prepare:

1. Cut the tops off each stem of broccoli and divide the tops up into small florets. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the stems. Cut the stems into bite-sized pieces, roughly the same size as the florets.

2. Boil the pasta in a large pot of salted water. When the pasta is half-way cooked (about 5 minutes), add the broccoli florets and stems. Continue to cook, uncovered, until the pasta is al dente. Drain the pasta and broccoli into a large colander and wipe out the pot.

3. Heat the oil, garlic, and capers over medium heat until fragrant. Add as little or as many red pepper flakes as you like (I like a lot). Sizzle the red pepper flakes in the hot oil for a few seconds, being careful not to let them burn. Add the pasta and broccoli back to the pot with the lemon juice. Toss everything together well.

4. Turn off the heat and transfer everything to a large warmed bowl. Shower the pasta with freshly grated Parmesan and serve immediately.

Very Easy Macaroni and Cheese

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Let’s try this again.

After my brothers poo-pooed my mac and cheese last year, I tried another version this year for the holidays. This time I only used pre-shredded Cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Parmesan — nixing the fancy schmancy Gruyère and smoked mozzerella that are so near and dear to my heart.

And the Parmesan? I used the real stuff. The nutty, fragrant, pungent stuff. A great big wedge of it. To fake out my family, I covertly grated it and surreptitiously snuck it into an empty green Kraft shaker bottle.

Ha! Take that picky eaters!

My brothers also have an aversion to bread crumbs (?!) which led me to make a quick substitution: crushed-up potato chips.

The result? Super easy. Super creamy. A little bland, but the dish was scraped clean.

Score!

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons of unsalted butter

1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

About 4 cups of whole milk, chicken stock, cream, or a mixture of all three

Salt and pepper to taste

1 pound of your favorite shape of pasta

8 ounces of shredded sharp Cheddar

4 ounces of shredded Monterey Jack

4 ounces of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup of crushed plain potato chips

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 3- to 4-quart gratin dish or another shallow baking dish.

2. In a kettle of salted boiling water, cook macaroni until just al dente. Drain well.

3. In a heavy saucepan, melt just 6 tablespoons butter over moderately low heat. Add the flour and cook the roux, stirring with a wooden spoon, for about 3 minutes. Add the milk, stock, or cream, a little bit at a time. Don’t stop stirring. Slowly add more liquid until you have roughly 4 to 4 1/2 cups of sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring the sauce regularly, until it has thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. In a large bowl, combine the macaroni, the sauce, the shredded cheeses, and Parmesan. Transfer the macaroni mixture to the prepared dish and spread it out evenly.

5. Sprinkle crushed chips over the top of the macaroni and cheese.

6. Bake the macaroni in the middle of oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbling. Let rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Broccoli and Cheddar Cheese Soup

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Doesn’t it feel good to be back home after two weeks away? The kitchen especially feels calm and cozy, ready for warming soups and stews — the kinds of things you crave when the weather is nippy.

This recipe is super easy, as are the recipes for most creamed soups. It can be endlessly adapted for other vegetables, with or without the cheese.

Ingredients:

2 shallots, finely chopped

2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 tablespoon of olive oil

2 small heads of broccoli, or one large one

1 quart of chicken or vegetable stock, or milk, or water

1/2 cup of heavy cream

4 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

Special equipment:

A hand immersion blender. You can also use a regular blender or a food processor.

How to prepare:

1. Separate the broccoli florets from the stem. Cut the florets so that they are roughly the same size and shape. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the stem to get rid of the tough outer layer. Slice the stem into 1/2 inch rounds.

2. In a medium to large-sized pot, heat the butter and olive oil together over medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté them until they start to brown. Add the broccoli florets and stems, tossing to evenly coat them in the butter-shallot mixture. Add the stock. Cover the pot and lower the heat. Simmer until the broccoli is fairly tender.

3. When the broccoli is tender, use an immersion blender to purée the broccoli in the pot. Stir in the heavy cream. Turn the heat back on low and add the cheese, stirring conscientiously to make sure that it all melts and does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Once the cheese has melted and is evenly incorporated in the soup, turn off the heat and adjust the seasoning.

Serve with bread or crackers.

Fresh Sage and Onion Dressing

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Every Thanksgiving, I try a new recipe for stuffing or dressing. I’ve done it all — wild rice, pears and butternut squash, pancetta and chanterelles, sausage and fennel — and every year I’m happy, but never thrilled with the result.

In pursuit of a recipe that I can love and look forward to making every year, I decided to go very traditional this Thanksgiving: sage and onion.

I adapted this recipe from one originally published in 1975, and republished in Gourmet Magazine (RIP) in 2002. It calls for a whopping cup of butter! That’s two whole sticks! As much as I love butter, I really thought the amount was excessive; I wanted light and fluffy dressing, not greasy, leaden bread.

I also swapped the requested amounts of bread. I like cornbread stuffings, so instead of the asked for 8 cups of white bread and 4 cups of cornbread, I opted for 8 cups of cornbread and 4 cups of white bread. Don’t worry so much if it ends up being something more like 7 and 5, or 6 and 6. As long as you have a total of 12 cups of bread crumbs, it will be fine.

Gourmet’s recipe calls for you to make your own buttermilk cornbread. I suppose you could just use store-bought cornbread, but the recipe they recommend is so easy and fool-proof that I strongly urge you to try it. It makes a tremendous difference in flavor.

I think that in assembling the dressing, you could even reduce the amount of butter even more without any reduction in luxury of taste. I ended up using more stock than specified in the original recipe. I would say add a cup, and then more stock a little bit at a time, until the dressing is as moist as you would like. The recipe didn’t call for the addition of any cheese, but I think a good cup of Parmesan would go well here.

Ingredients:

8 cups of coarsely crumbled buttermilk corn bread*

4 cups of coarse fresh bread crumbs (from a small white loaf, crust removed)

1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh sage

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

1 sticks (1/2 cup) of unsalted butter

2 medium onions, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 cup of chopped celery

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup of turkey or chicken stock

1/2 cup of heavy cream

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Spread all the bread crumbs out in 2 shallow baking pans and bake until dry, about 15 minutes total.

3. Briefly cool the crumbs in the pans and then transfer them to a large bowl. Stir in the parsley, sage, salt, and pepper.

4. Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat. Add the onions and cook until the onions are softened, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the celery and cook for about 5 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to the bowl with the crumbs and toss well. Add the eggs, stock, and cream and toss well. Transfer the stuffing to a buttered, shallow baking dish. Bake, covered, in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until browned, about 30 minutes more.

Note:

You can assemble the stuffing 2 days ahead. Chill it covered, unbaked. Bring it to room temperature before baking. If reheating or baking later, you might want to sprinkle some more stock over the stuffing before putting it in the oven.

Buttermilk Corn Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup of all-purpose flour

3/4 cup of yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of well-shaken buttermilk

2 large eggs

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

2. Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

3. Whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, butter, and sage in another bowl. Add this mixture to the flour mixture. Stir everything until just combined. Spread the batter evenly in a buttered 8-inch square baking pan and bake in the middle of oven until golden, about 25 minutes.

4. Cool the pan on a rack. Once cooled, coarsely crumble the bread. The corn bread can be made and crumbled up to 3 days ahead, and kept in a sealed plastic bag at room temperature.

Maple Syrup Sweet Potatoes Topped with Tiny Marshmallows

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The first time that I ever saw Gary Vaynerchuck was on Conan O’Brien. Brought on the show to teach Conan how to taste wine, he gagged his way through a routine as slap-stick as it was slap-shtick. As I watched him swallow glugs of Sauvignon followed by mouthfuls of fresh grass, I thought to myself, “Is this guy for real?”

Vaynerchuck has since built himself a sizable empire of influence. I read somewhere that he is the most followed wine critic after Robert Parker. I can’t speak to whether or not those following him are doing it for the wine or the antics, but I can say that this recipe, adapted from one in Food and Wine’s feature on him last month, is the best that I have for the holidays. The dark maple syrup rounds out the nuttiness of the roasted sweet potatoes, and the kick of cayenne is divine.

Ingredients:

9 sweet potatoes, about 12 ounces each

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil

1 stick of butter

1/3 of a cup of dark maple syrup

3/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Salt to taste

Cayenne pepper to taste

1 1/2 – 2 cups of mini marshmallows.

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Set a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the middle rack. Rub the sweet potatoes all over with oil. Prick each one evenly on all sides with a fork. Roast the potatoes directly on top of the foil for about an hour, or until easily pierced with a paring knife. Remove the potatoes from the oven, and let them rest until they are cool enough to handle.

2. Split each potato lengthwise and peel the skin off of each half. Put the peeled potatoes in a large saucepan that can accommodate them all. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes over gentle heat. With a wooden spoon, stir in the butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt and cayenne to taste. Continue stirring until the potatoes are smooth and hot.

3. Spoon the potatoes into a 9 x 9 dish.* Top with the mini marshmallows. Bake the potatoes in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the topping is nice and browned. Alternatively, you could also place the dish under the broiler and broil the top until the marshmallows are toasted.

Note:

You can make the dish ahead too. Bring the mashed sweet potatoes up to room temperature before topping it with the mini-marshmallows. Reheat the dish in the oven until the potatoes are hot and the marshmallows are browned, about 20 minutes at 350°.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown-Butter Pears

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This recipe is from this month’s issue of Food and Wine magazine.

Though it seems like a lot of work, the cheesecake comes together quite quickly and has a incredibly light and refined texture. Browning the pears in butter took longer than the recipe specified (maybe I should have not been so lazy and divided up the pears into batches), but they were still a delicious topping to have.

In the future, I might experiment with some kind of Concord grape topping instead. Purple and orange can look so nice together, and the punchier grapes might be the tangy hit of acid that can turn a great dessert into something sublime.

Ingredients:

For the cheesecake:

8 ounces of gingersnap cookies

2/3 of a cup, plus 2 tablespoons of sugar

Salt

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened

12 ounces of cream cheese, softened

1 cup of canned pumpkin puree

1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

For the brown-butter pears:

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter

3 large, ripe Bartlett pears, peeled and cored*

1 teaspoon of sugar

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. In a food processor, pulse the gingersnaps with 2 tablespoons of the sugar and a pinch of salt until fine crumbs form. Add the softened butter and process until moistened. Using your fingers, press the gingersnap crumbs into the bottom of a buttered 9-inch springform pan in an even layer. Bake the crust for about 10 minutes, until it is lightly browned. Let the crust cool slightly, then wrap the the bottom of the pan tightly in aluminum foil so it’s watertight. You might need to overlap several sheets to make sure that you have everything covered and sealed. Set the pan in a large, deep skillet or a small roasting pan.

2. Using a paper towel, wipe out the food processor bowl. Add the softened cream cheese, pumpkin puree, vanilla extract and the remaining 2/3 cup of sugar to the food processor bowl and process for about 30 seconds until smooth. Add the eggs and pulse to blend. Add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and process for about 30 seconds, or until smooth.

3. Carefully pour the pumpkin filling over the gingersnap crust. Set the skillet in the oven and carefully pour in enough hot water to reach halfway up the side of the springform pan. Bake the cheesecake for about 50-55 minutes, until the filling is barely jiggly in the center. Carefully transfer the skillet to a rack and let the cheesecake cool. Remove the aluminum foil. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the cheesecake and refrigerate the cheesecake until it is firm, at least 4 hours or overnight.

4. Cut the peeled and cored pears into thin wedges with a sharp knife. In a large skillet, cook the butter over moderately high heat until it is lightly browned and nutty-smelling, about 3 minutes. Add the pear wedges and cook, turning until they are softened and lightly browned. Add the sugar and cook, turning until the pears are more browned and glazed, about 1 minute longer.

5. To serve, remove the springform ring. Cut the pumpkin cheesecake into wedges and serve with the warm pears.

Tips:

To easily core a pear, cut the pear in half and use a melon baller to remover the core.

This cheesecake can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Warm the pears up on the stove before serving.

Cranberry Sauce with Grand Marnier and Candied Orange Peel

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Cranberry sauce from scratch is so easy to make, and tastes so much better, that I have always wondered why anyone bothers with the sauce out of a can.

People do love the canned stuff though.

Shopping for Thanksgiving dinner with my boyfriend became an exercise in Abbott & Costello-esque absurdity as he kept putting a can of jellied cranberry sauce in the cart, and I kept removing it and putting it back.

“But it has rings that show you where to slice it!” he whined as I removed the can one last time.

Now, I must admit a fondness for tubular food: sausages, Boston Brown Bread, cannolis. Even the occasional Twinkie finds its way down my gullet about once a year.

But if you have ever had whole berry, home-made cranberry sauce, you know how really wonderful this condiment can be. No longer an afterthought plopped out of metal cylinder, real cranberry sauce can bring just the right hit of acid to the richness of the assembled dinner plate. Done right, it smells like the holidays: candied citrus, cloves, cinnamon. All warmth, sugar, spice, and everything nice.

The very basic recipe involves just three ingredients: cranberries, water, and sugar. It is essentially jam, which sounds intimidating to make but really isn’t.

To that, there are nearly endless variations. Feel free to play with it. No Grand Marnier? How about some rum? Or brandy? Try O.J. No orange peel? Got a lemon? Nope? No problems. Apples? Why not! Raisins? Throw in a handful for fun. Just feel your way through it. It will taste marvelous, I assure you.

And the other beauty? It can be made days before dinner, leaving you free to worry about something else. Even better, as the flavors meld together, it will be much yummier on day 3 than day 1.

Ingredients:

12 ounces of fresh cranberries

1 cup of water

1 cup of sugar

The zest from 1 untreated, organic orange*

1/4 cup of Grand Marnier or Cointreau, plus 1 tablespoon

3-4 whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick

A pinch of salt

Special equipment:

A citrus zester

How to prepare:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine all the ingredients. Bring everything to a boil, stirring continuously to dissolve the sugar. Once the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat so that it is at a slow, constant simmer. Continue to stir so that it doesn’t burn. As the sauce comes together, you might notice some foam or scum that appears on the surface. Don’t worry about skimming it off as it will dissipate as the sauce thickens.

2. Continue to simmer and stir until the mixture begins to jell. If you are slightly unsure what this means, you can put a small plate in the fridge and periodically test the thickness of your sauce by putting a dime-sized drop on the cold plate. If you drag your finger through it and the sauce doesn’t run back into the void you have created, it has nicely jelled and you are done. This whole process can take up to ten minutes or so.

3. Pour the sauce into a container, cover, and place it in the fridge. It will become more solid as it cools. Before serving, stir in 1 tablespoon of whatever alcohol you used if you would like extra boozy sauce — and who doesn’t?

Note:

Most citrus fruits (oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lemons) are coated in a food-grade wax to preserve and protect the fruit. It also makes them really shiny. If you are cooking with the rind or peel of any citrus, try to look for fruit that has not be spray-treated with wax. Most fruit labeled “organic” should be untreated. How can you tell for sure?  Just scratch the surface of the fruit. If you see some clear wax on your finger nail, move on.

Finnish Ruis Bread with Sliced Cheddar and Cucumber

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Last week’s trip the the New Amsterdam Market yielded all kinds of goodies. A smoked duck breast here, a bushel of Winesap apples there, and a couple rounds of Finnish Ruis bread from Nordic Breads rounded out our market basket.

Chewy and deliciously dense, these Finnish rye breads are perfect for all kinds of tasty toppers. Following the example of Nordic Breads’ bakers, we smeared lightly toasted halves of bread with good unsalted butter, topping this with thin slices of cloth-bound cheddar cheese and cucumber. Each round is reasonably thin, so it is a good idea to cut each round in halves or quarters before splitting them. In a pinch, I would imagine that a good, dark, heavy rye bread would do. Once assembled and finished with a little Maldon salt, these sandwiches make a very wonderful snack or light supper.