Condiments + Sauces + Jams

Seared Fish with Green Gazpacho Sauce

March 8, 2012 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

As winter beats a hasty retreat here in the Northeast, my thoughts are turning to vibrant, fresh and lighter spring dishes. While this gazpacho sauce is certainly something that you could make year round, it's bright-green hue just screams spring, don't you think?

I first saw this recipe in Bon Appétit a few years back, and the sauce looked so beautiful that I knew I'd have to try it one day. Be careful not to over-process the sauce as the crunch from the cukes adds a welcome texture to the finished dish, but by all means play with the other ingredients to make this plate your own. Feel like adding basil, tarragon, thyme, or dill to the sauce? Go ahead….I'll never tell.

Love Your Heart and Cook These Herb Stuffed Pork Chops with Blueberry Gastrique

February 24, 2012 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

My how time flies. It hardly seems a year since Jess @ Sodium Girl invited me to participate in her 2011 "Love Your Heart Recipe Rally", and I contributed this low salt re-work of a Ming Tsai pork dish. Well, it’s that time again. Time to head back into the kitchen and take a dish that I normally make without regard to sodium content, and re-invent it as a dish that I’d be happy to serve to Jess herself if she were ever to grace our table with her presence....you're always welcome, you know.

Pork Tenderloin with Coconut Cranberry Sauce

November 30, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

We are huge fans of Ming Tsai in this household, so when I found his latest cookbook at a deep discount at our local (and sadly, closing) Borders Books, I grabbed it. The book, Simply Ming One-Pot Meals is chock full of Ming's trademark East-West recipes that are simple enough to cook on any given weeknight…huzzah.

Tomatillo and Avocado Salsa

October 3, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

This little ditty has fast become one of our favorite condiments to have on-hand. Vibrant, light and fresh, it is equally at-home as a sandwich spread, a fajita topping, or a dip for chips. It's got a nice kick without being too much, and the acidity from the tomatillos and the 1/2 lime make your mouth sit up straight and give thanks. Hallelujah!

Never cooked with or eaten tomatillos before? Well, that's gonna change…..NOW!

Plum and Ginger Jam

September 21, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

A couple weeks back my wife bought some lovely looking plums at the farmer's market, they looked so meautiful in their little wooden panier. Sadly, they didn't taste nearly as good as they looked. Actually, to be fair, they tasted just fine, it was their texture that was all kinda funky.

Now, I am not a big fan of plums, love prunes, but fresh plums….not so much.

Not sure why, but plums (with the exception of the Mirabelle's that I fell in love with in France) have never done much for me. That said, if we've got some nice fresh ones in the fridge I'll be a good little soldier and eat them.

Unless, of course, they have a mealy-nasty texture that makes me want to gag. If that's the case I'm not touching the buggers. Not surprisingly, everyone else in the family felt the same way about the poor little fellas, and they sat forlornly in their cute woven basket for about a week before I finally decided that I had to make a project out of them or throw them away.

Green Tomato Chutney

July 29, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

This is a recipe I found last fall when I had an abundance of green tomatoes from my garden, and found a lot more at my local farmer's market that were practically being given away. At about the same time I made my batch of chutney, my friend Winnie at Healthy Green Kitchen posted a version of this very same chutney (what is it they say about great minds?), so I decided to hold mine back for a later date. When I saw a farmer selling a bunch of green tomatoes at Thursday's farmer's market (many farmers don't just sell green tomatoes at the end of the season), I was reminded of this tasty treat and wanted to get the recipe out to you.

Winnie adapted her awesome chutney by altering the spices and sugar some, mine is just as Tom Colicchio wrote the recipe in his great cookbook, Think Like a Chef . Try either recipe, or play doctor and come up with your own spin. Either way you go, you'll end up with a dead-simple recipe that will yield a delicious condiment that will enhance anything you serve it alongside. Really, this is good with beef, pork, lamb, poultry, seafood…you name it.

Enjoy – Steve

Momofuku’s Fried Chicken

July 15, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

What came first the chicken or the egg? Well, in this instance I can definitively say the egg came first.

Yes, it was Chef David Chang's slow poached egg that first made its way into the Oui, Chef kitchen to much acclaim from the whole gang here (and many of you out there that tried it). We had so much fun with his egg that I've been curious to try one of his other recipes, and what could make more sense after trying his egg, then to give his chicken a whirl. This recipe comes from his tremendous cookbook Momofuku , which is not just a fab collection of recipes, but a real glimpse behind the scenes to give the reader a sense of what makes Chang tick.

Radish and Basil Pesto

June 6, 2011 By Steve Dunn 4 Comments

With summer just around the corner, our attention is drawn to fresh herbs, greens and veggies, and light quick preparations that highlight their goodness. This little ditty is delicious as a sandwich spread, tossed with whole wheat pasta, as a crudité dip or bruschetta topping, or stirred into some smashed potatoes to make them pop. Heck…serve a dollop along side a juicy grilled steak, piece of fish, or chicken to add a little blast of summer to your plate.

Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Cranberry-Raspberry Sauce

April 19, 2011 By Steve Dunn 20 Comments

Muppet and I pulled this dessert together about a week ago in honor of some international guests we had visiting. We had the pleasure of hosting three Chinese college students who had won a negotiation competition in China that my wife has been involved with. Part of their “winnings” was a trip to the US to further study our legal-mediation system, and for a bit of good old fashioned tourista time.

They stayed with a host family in Boston for a bit, where they attended a Celtics “WIN” at the garden, and joined us for a visit to the MFA and saw the newly installed Dale Chihuly exhibit, which was quite fabulous. Then they came to stay with us on the South Shore where they were able to visit the Plymouth Plantation, and the Cape Cod National Seashore among other things.

Cumin Spiced Pork Chops with Ginger-Pineapple Relish

April 1, 2011 By Steve Dunn 18 Comments

In case you hadn’t yet noticed, I LOVE PORK. I can’t think of a beast more giving (in a culinary sense), than our friend the noble pig. From the belly, to the hock, the loin, the shoulder, and the jowl, the pig offers so many tasty cuts of meat, that can be cooked in such a wide variety of ways, that the sky’s the limit as to what you can create with a little imagination. That said, and I hope I don’t disappoint too many of you nose-to-tail folks out there, while there are those who will eat just about anything that can be gleaned from a pig, I do have my limits.

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