Entrees

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie

December 20, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

This big trough of awesomeness is a slight adaptation of a recipe I saw recently in Fine Cooking magazine, which is fast becoming one of my favorite food publications. In my continuing effort to purge the fridge of long held condiments I decided to try this dish as a means to polish off some cerignola olives and peppadew peppers we had lying about. Yeah….this baby was a two-fer in our quest to pare down the number of bottles, cans and plastic tubs we've accumulated over the past year.

While it meay be that we turned to this dish as a fridge cleaner, we'll go back to it again and again (and again, if Arthas has anything to do with it) because it flat-out rocks with salty, sweet and umami tastes in perfect balance. Those of you feeling the urge to run screaming from this cottage pie because just seeing the name is dragging up memories of grade-school lunch ladies serving you a dish of the same name, DON'T. This dish is as far a cry from the cottage pie of your elementary school youth as Barbara Streisand is from Ke$ha.

Do I make myself clear?

Rapini with Sausage, Cranberries and Polenta Cakes

December 12, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

I'm a huge fan of rapini (broccoli rabe) and sausage with pasta, in fact, next to a good carbonara it's probably my favorite pasta dish. It's such a great combination of flavors and textures, bitter, sweet, salty, spicey…you name it, and that dish has it. The other day I was hankerin' for a big bowl of the stuff, but when I checked the pantry I found we were out of gluten-free pasta, and as I'm trying hard to keep the missus wheat-gluten free, I decided to twist the dish up a bit and make it with polenta instead.

Ming and Muppets Chicken Noodle Soup

December 9, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

Doesn't that rich chicken stock look delicious?

We call this Ming and Muppet's Soup because at it's base is a poached chicken and broth that comes from a recipe I adapted from Ming Tsai, and that appears in his great cookbook Simply Ming – One Pot Meals . Ming serves his dish Chinese style, with each diner getting as piece of chicken and a cup of the broth to dip it in. The other night when Muppet was begging for some homemade chicken noodle soup, we turned to Ming's chicken dish and just took it a few steps further by adding a couple more ingredients, and serving it over pasta for an unvbelievably tasty soup.

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.

Curried Cod with Kale-Cannon and Tomato Olive Sauce

November 15, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

Every year around this time I am sure to find my wife standing before our open refrigerator slowly shaking her head side to side, shoulders slumped forward, already wearied by the enormity of the task ahead. You see, my wife is big on advance planning, and about three weeks before Thanksgiving she starts to concern herself over the ability of our fridge to handle the seasonal onslaught of cooking that accompanies our holiday entertaining.

Fennel Soup with Chorizo

November 8, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

I’ve never had the opportunity to eat in a Gordon Ramsay restaurant (Santa, are you listening?), but I do own a few of his cookbooks, and while I’m not a rabid fan of his TV shows, I’ve enjoyed a few episodes over the years. I know lots of people hate the guy, or at least the personality he puts forth on TV, as he berates contestants on Hell’s Kitchen or The F Word, but I have to say that I appreciate his approach to cooking.

He may be an challenge to work with, but his application of classical technique to the very best ingredients he can find, and his ability to conjure bold, yet approachable flavors for his guests, has earned him a spot among the very best chefs in the world. I’m a fan.

Crispy Chicken Thighs with Olives, Lemon and Fennel

November 5, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

Here is yet another Thomas Keller recipe that we at Oui, Chef can wholeheartedly endorse. As you all must know by now, we are big fans of braised chicken, as we’ve cooked this dish, this one, and this one over the past couple of years. We love these dishes not just for their bold, deep flavors, but for their economy as well. It really is hard to beat chicken for feeding a crowd on the cheap.

This braise marries some of our favorite flavors, sweet fennel, briny olives, and bright, fruity citrus. All of these elements combine with the rich, moist thigh meat and meld into a truly satisfying meal. As with most of his recipes, Keller offers up a trick for this dish that will change the way I finish all chicken braises in the future.

Carnitas Tacos

October 25, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

I have discovered homemade carnitas, and I am in love.

Not sure why it took me so long to make carnitas on my own, I mean I've loved them in great Mexican take-out joints for years, but for some reason never thought to make them myself. As you all know, I am a big fan of braising, and my favorite dish of all time is duck confit (another dish I've never made….doh!), so it should come as no surprise that carnitas and I are made for each other.

Lamb Tagine with Chickpeas and Apricots

October 21, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

I found this recipe in the latest Bon Appétit and knew immediately that we had to make it. As the weather turns cooler here in the Northeast, braises like this tagine come screaming back into fashion. With the exception of freshly baked bread, there is nothing to compete with a delicious braise in the way it fills a home with hearty aromas and warmth. As it had been some time since we've had lamb around here, this dish was a perfect way to hop back into cool weather cuisine.

Chard and Jarlsberg Soufflé

October 18, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

How many of you tremble at just the thought of making a soufflé?

I know, I know….I used to too.

But you know what? Of all the things in this world that you might legitimately fear, making a soufflé shouldn't be one of them. Really…. all the stories you've heard about having to tip-toe around the oven, or the need to speak in whispers when a soufflé is baking are all ridiculous. I'm not sure who started these nasty rumours, but I guarantee you that with just a little attention paid to timing, you too can deliver delicious and ethereally light soufflés to the table without breaking a sweat.

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