What do you do when you need something to go on top of fish, but you lack anything to make it with? Well, if you just happen to have an orange, a lemon and a lime on hand, you can whip up an easy salsa. Then what do you do when you don’t have any fresh jalapeno or serrano pepper on hand? You use some chipotle chile in adobo sauce to heat up the juices!

Going online, I saw a few recipes and the inspiration for this one came from Martha Stewart’s website. I didn’t stray too far from that online recipe, although I changed proportions and the type of heat used. I wasn’t about to make a trip to the grocery store, so I made do with what I had. The orange was almost over the hill. The lemons were fresh from our tree, and the limes were a gift from friends who have a tree. I had cilantro, fortunately. And a shallot – I almost always keep a shallot or two in a little bowl on my kitchen counter. They come in handy, and when you need them, well, you really need them.

Use all of the orange and lemon segments. First, though, zest part of the lemon and orange (using all of the zest would have been too much) and also zest a little bit of the lime, and use the juice from half of it. Add finely minced shallot, a little tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil, some salt and pepper, and a little tetch of the chipotle chile in adobo sauce. Use your own judgment about how much – it’s hot, so be careful. Add and taste, add and taste! The recipe calls for a little sugar – honey is nice, although I used a substitute so my DH wouldn’t have a problem with the carbs in it – honey or agave would be the ideal sweeteners for this. Or sugar. Finally, add cilantro, and you’re done. I let it sit for about 20-30 minutes while I finished up the salmon in the Sous Vide (20 minutes at 140°) and made some corn to go with. It was an easy dinner and very tasty. Very healthy.

Easily this could be a salsa for chicken too. I’d make more of it, that’s all. The chipotle chile adds heat, of course (you don’t have to use it, though), and it also tinted the liquid just a little bit on the brown side – you can see it in the top photo. Rice would be a good side for this as it would soak up some of those liquids that spread all over the plate. Nothing wrong with those juices, but we wasted them as they floated around on the full plate.

What’s good: it’s very easy; healthy; tasty; just a little bit spicy. Yes, I’d make it again.
What’s not: really nothing at all. I liked it.

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Although it’s post-Thanksgiving, and very few of you will be even slightly interested in a recipe for cranberry sauce/jelly, I didn’t really want to let it sit in my holding pen (drafts) until next year, so I’d best post it anyway! It’s SO simple – it contains nothing but fresh cranberries, port wine, sugar, juniper berries, and black pepper. It stews briefly, then you let it cool and sieve it to remove all the skins and the spices. It doesn’t catch all the seeds unless you have a really good sieve.

Cranberries have a lot of natural pectin in them. That was news to me – more food chemistry to keep in mind – not that I’ll ever need to know that again! When you make this cranberry gelée (that’s French for jelly and it’s pronounced like zhe-LEH), you know that it doesn’t have to be reduced down or any kind of thickening agent added because it just naturally “gels.”  You can see how thick it is by looking at what’s stuck to the side of the bowl in the photo above.

In our family I always make an adaptation of my mother’s old recipe for a raw cranberry relish that contains fresh cranberries, a fresh orange, an apple, sugar and powdered ginger. But we DO have a couple of family members who prefer the old-fashioned stuff – they’d probably prefer it straight out of the can – but they eat 2 T. of it and what in the world do I do with the remaining 2 cups of it? Most years it is poured down the garbage disposal once it’s languished in the refrigerator long enough to grow green stuff on it. So I just thought I’d make it this year. It’s really good. I truly liked it – most people at our Thanksgiving dinner table took some of both, and everyone seemed to like them equally. The port wine used in this isn’t so prominent that it tastes boozy. Not at all. But you can taste it.

Actually I don’t own any of the Canal House Cookbooks. I’ve read about them, though. This recipe was at Food52, which I read several times during the 2 weeks leading up to Thanksgiving in case there were some nuggets of new recipes. Under the heading of “genius recipes” I found this recipe. It looked easy enough (it was) and it sounded like it would have some really good flavor (it did). I may even make it again next year. Meanwhile, it was used in turkey sandwiches numerous days after Thanksgiving.

What’s good: the port wine-y flavor – I think I liked that the best, yet it doesn’t overwhelm it. Also how easy it was to make. Truly. Good flavor. If you go to the Food52 site (link above) you can read about all the variations people did to the recipe (like, no juniper berries? use cloves or rosemary).
What’s not: really nothing. But, it is just cranberry jelly/sauce!

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The good news is this stuff above has zero fat in it. Unless there is a trace of fat in the tomatoes. Just remember that tomatoes are actually a fruit. We tend to forget that. And actually, this saucy stuff took a bit of sugar, even though tomatoes are in their sweet prime here these days.

When I read the write-up and recipe over at Kate in the Kitchen, I was intrigued. I went off and did something else for several hours, and then got to thinking about Tomato Jam. It just sounded so interesting. I remembered it was from Kate’s blog (fortunately) so I quickly re-found it and saved it to my recipe software. Kate got the recipe from the cookbook: Herbivoracious: A Flavor Revolution with 150 Vibrant and Original Vegetarian Recipes. You can find the recipe at the Herbivoracious website.

In the ensuing couple of weeks I’ve thought about it several times. I take that as a sign that I’m supposed to fix something if I can’t get it out of my mind! Then when my DH happened to mention that our corner farm stand was offering 10+ pounds of tomatoes for $10, I said sure, do it. So obviously, I had a few tomatoes to use up. After two rounds of caprese salad, I gave a couple of tomatoes away, then STILL had about 8 tomatoes. Tomato jam, coming up!

The jam is cinchy easy to make. Truly. I tweaked the recipe just a little – both from the original and Kate’s too, but not by much. I used less salt, less sugar, and maybe a tetch more rosemary. I love rosemary (Kate doesn’t, so she used lemon thyme, oregano and parsley, I think she said, instead of the rosemary). As you can see, the recipe can be altered to suit you or your family. You and your taste buds.

The tomatoes are peeled raw (top photo)  – providing you have the Messermeister Pro Touch Swivel Peeler (otherwise you need to dunk them in boiling water for a minute and peel them hot) and chopped, then combined in a good, sturdy pot with all the other ingredients (lower photo) to simmer gently for an hour or more. It oozes out a lot of juice, but by simmering it long and slow, eventually all the watery juice boils off, leaving you with a jam consistency.

The recipe below makes about 1 cup. But you may want to make more. It surely could be canned too (in a water bath), then you could put it on your pantry shelf for up to a year. You could freeze it in small containers and it would keep for at least a year also. Or, make it in a small batch and use it up within a week. I’d really be surprised that it wouldn’t keep longer than that – it’s got a lot of sugar in it – it’s like fruit jam, so why wouldn’t it keep? If anybody knows more about that I’d welcome comments. I have a condiment in the refrigerator that I made 6 months ago (the sauce from the Ribeye Steaks with Amazing Glaze). It’s still just fine – no mold or off flavors.

What I didn’t know was what I was going to DO with the stuff. So okay, I have about a cup of tomato jam. Now what? I went on the trusty internet – amazing what you can find if you look – I discovered it’s great over cream cheese. (It was fantastic that way – loved it!) It makes a great condiment on meat sandwiches. It can be used instead of ketchup. And it can be served on toast in the morning too. I’m thinking it would be great on a piece of grilled fish. Or grilled chicken. There are plenty of recipes for tomato jam out there – all different. Every one of them has a little different use for it.

What I liked: the flavors, of course. I just love complex flavors and there are ample (from the tomatoes themselves, the rosemary, the lemon zest although you really can’t pick that out, and the lemon juice). This jam is very versatile.

What I didn’t like: well, if I’d made a big batch, apparently it would take awhile to cook it down (maybe more than 2 hours) but doing just this batch was fine. Love the stuff. Nothing I didn’t like!

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It’s been years ago that I found this recipe on a MasterCook (that’s the recipe software I use) user’s group recipe exchange. What got me was what she wrote about it – that she makes it up on Sunday, uses it for a family barbecue and always has leftovers to use all week long on everything you can think of – chicken, fish, even tomatoes and other veggies.

I think the gal who uploaded it was Terry Pogue – at least that’s the name I have on my original sheet for this. Whether it’s her original recipe, I don’t know. I also found it online at www.cookingjunkies.com and her name is associated with the recipe there as well. I just want to give credit where it is due. I’d want other people to do the same for me. The point is – I have no idea whatsoever what the title means or where it came from.

It’s not news that I love cilantro. And avocados, so putting the two together can just be a perfect duo for me. What makes this different is the addition of vinegar and water (plus the green onions, serrano chiles and a little bit of olive oil). We were grilling ribs (it wasn’t meant to go with the ribs since they had lots of barbecue sauce on them already) and some Italian sausages, so I made up a batch of the sauce – it makes a LOT – and served it that way. Not everyone at our dinner took any of it to go with the sausages, but those who did said they liked it a lot. I liked it a lot. Next time I think I’d make a 1/3 recipe (using one avocado) which would be fine for a dinner for 4-5, I think. It had to have made nearly 3+ cups of sauce. I gave half of it to our daughter-in-law, Karen, and I still have a big bowl of it! You don’t use a lot of it. It doesn’t stick much to the meat – you kind of dip it into it and try to get some onto the fork. It’s not a smooth sauce at all – it’s chunky and liquid, actually. Which is why I added less vinegar and water to it than indicated. Perhaps it depends on how much cilantro is in a “bunch,” too. Seems to me that cilantro bunches have less cilantro in them than they used to – do you agree? Maybe making the cilantro mixture in the blender would also emulsify it better as well. I just stirred it in at the end. The avocados are diced up and added after you’ve mixed everything else.

What I liked: the piquant taste (piquant=tart, from the vinegar), but it goes exceedingly well with a piece of protein. There’s almost no fat in it – I added about 2 T. to the entire recipe, so really hardly any at all. With all that acid, the avocados stayed perfectly green for many days.

What I didn’t like: it was just a tad too soupy to me, so that’s why I’ve reduced the vinegar and water in the recipe below – add more if you think it needs it. You don’t want it floating all over your plate!

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If you had told me a month or so ago that I’d be CRAZY about asparagus pesto, I’d probably have thought you were brain-addled. Asparagus – well, I love it – but as pesto? It’s kind of hard to get your mind around that combination. You’ve gotta try it, though!

The oldest mention I found online about this pesto is from 1999, a Gourmet magazine issue. It’s not quite this same recipe, but very similar. I mean, pesto is pesto, meaning it’s a type of condiment – the main ingredient of course, be it basil, or cilantro, or Italian parsley – and in this case it’s asparagus. And it gets mixed with pine nuts (also a usual staple in pesto, although I’ve had it with walnuts too), garlic, olive oil and Parmigiano cheese. All yummy ingredients in my mind! But to put them together amazes me. Who THINKS these things, I want to know? More creative cooks than I, certainly. This recipe came from a cooking class with Phillis Carey, who keeps managing to find new and different ways to cook. It’s why I keep going back to her classes – she keeps me interested. And learning. I wouldn’t go to cooking classes if I didn’t learn something!

In the class she offhandedly mentioned that the sauce is good on fish or shrimp, and to serve it with coconut rice or buttered orzo. Or, to make it a pasta main dish – as a pasta sauce with fish or shrimp (or salmon). All those things sounded good. She prepared it with salmon and napped the sauce on top of it. So I’ve made it two ways so far – over pasta as a side dish, and with salmon. Both fantastic. Both worth making. But if you have left overs (as I did) then you’ll know you can make it other ways too. I think it could also be served as an appetizer with toasted bread.

One of the questions you might have – does it still taste like asparagus? Yes it does. And I wouldn’t have made it myself if you’d lose the asparagus flavor – why do that when asparagus has such a unique taste. But yes, the asparagus flavor is quite prominent. You also taste the Parmigiano. You can’t pick out the pine nut flavor, but am certain it wouldn’t be anywhere near as good without them.

My favorite of the two was with the salmon, and I’m including the full recipe for that below. Using a unique broil/bake method to cook the salmon. It’s so easy to do, and very, very tasty. Make the asparagus pesto several hours ahead (or even the day before) and cook the salmon at the last minute. The salmon is marinated for 20 minutes, then it’s baked – actually on the broil setting – but you put the pan way down low in the oven – so the salmon browns beautifully and cooks through without having to turn it over (such a nuisance, especially if there is skin attached). The salmon is so moist and succulent this way. Do put it on a heated plate, though, then spoon the pesto over the top. Don’t cover it – you want to see the beautiful browned salmon.

What I liked: every single solitary thing about it. Taste, texture, versatility and with salmon? Delish.

What I didn’t like: absolutely nothing at all. Very worth making.

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Like parsley? Like garlic? Well then, you’ll like chimichurri sauce, an Argentinian jewel to accompany grilled meats. VERY simple to make!

It was about 20 years ago that I first heard of chimichurri sauce. We went to a Brazilian restaurant in our area and were entertained with the very elaborate and dramatic meal containing several courses and the long sword of grilled meat they delicately sliced off at the table, right onto your plate. Each person had his/her own little bowl of chimichurri to use on the meat, or you could dip bites into it. I liked it enough that I asked for seconds, and asked the waiter for more information about what was in it. We’ve been served it several times in the interim at other restaurants that have some kind of grilled meat.

Actually chimichurri is an Argentinian invention, and as I did some research about it I’ve discovered that variations abound, like any other culture/country related dish. As an example Italian Bolognese sauce (or Sunday Sauce, as it’s often called), even Mexican salsa, or the British favorite, lemon curd. So it is with chimichurri. One I found from an Argentinian, said that they never add oil to their sauce. Hmmm. I’ve only had it with oil. Many others add tomatoes – to some it’s an essential part of the dish. I didn’t add them, preferring to make it more green only. So, you see, you can make it your own if you wish. This recipe may not be authentic at all, but I’ll just say one thing – it’s fabulous!

My hubby and I are still taste-testing grass fed beef, and am happy to report that we found a local purveyor we really like. Before I tell you about it/them, I want to try the steak another time. You know that adage, first time’s a charm? We’ll make certain the second steak is equally good before I share. So we grilled the said ribeye steak in our time-honored method (see Grilled Ribeyes with Amazing Glaze) but didn’t do the Amazing Glaze this time because I was making the chimichurri sauce.

Not having a favorite recipe for it, I looked up several before deciding what to do. Eventually I made it simple on myself and used the food processor. I took ingredients from several recipes and made my own combination. I whizzed it up just a tad too long – you really want to have some parsley texture – the parsley got a little lost when I pureed it. Read the instructions before making this – read it all the way through. I also used lemon juice in mine because I didn’t have any limes on hand. But lime is the preferred citrus for chimichurri.

With just half a recipe I still have nearly a cup left after the one dinner. So you might not want to make the whole thing unless you’re feeding a crowd. I think garlic loses its pungency too, after it sits in the refrigerator for even a day, let alone a week! Probably wouldn’t keep that long anyway.

What I liked: the potent garlic and parsley flavors. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. It has powerful flavors – you need to love garlic and parsley for sure! It’s also VERY easy to make.

What I didn’t like: nothing really – just don’t over-process it- leave some texture.

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Another experiment with sous vide cooking. This time I made pork shoulder (pork butt), cooked it at 140° for 48 hours. And I served it with a very tart North Carolina vinegar sauce instead of the usual ketchup-based barbecue sauce that’s more typical. Mostly I did that because my DH is a diabetic and very rarely eats pulled pork because the traditional BBQ sauce just sends his blood sugar skyrocketing.

At least once a week I’m experimenting with my SousVide Supreme Sous Vide Water Oven. Not every dish I’ve made has made it to a post on my blog, as I’m not experienced enough yet. One pork dish I made was not very good (pork chops were too thin, I think, so it overcooked). I’m liking the long, slow cooking for more things – the less tender cuts. Not steaks and such – they are best with relatively little sous vide cooking. I had a big chunk of pork in the freezer – I’d purchased a gigantic pork shoulder a month or so ago, at a great price and cut it up into smaller cooking portions. But I didn’t have a sous vide cooker then. So the meat was just vacuum sealed with nothing whatsoever in it. I decided to just go with it that way. Nothing else in the pouch but the meat. No salt. No pepper. No onions or seasonings of any kind. I knew I’d need to doctor it up with seasonings later.

So I did some reading about barbecue sauces. Goodness, but there are a lot of different types. I knew there was a Memphis style, and St. Louis style, but that was about it. Referring to one of my Steven Raichlen books, Barbecue! Bible: Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades, Bastes, Butters, and Glazes, I hunted through all the dozens of possible permutations, trying to find one that was low on sugar. We’re mostly tuned into such sauces containing lots and lots of ketchup. Then I read about the sauce that is the favorite with folks in North Carolina. It’s a vinegar sauce and has nary a teaspoon of tomato in it – like ketchup or tomato paste.

So here’s what’s in it – onions sliced thin, apple cider vinegar, water (not pictured), red chili flakes, sugar, salt and pepper. It’s not cooked. You merely combine the ingredients in a bowl (non-reactive) and stir it up. I made it ahead because I wanted the onions to soften a bit in there, which they did. Not only did they soften in texture, but the soaking takes away some of the fresh astringency from raw onions. I covered it and just let it sit out on the counter for several hours.

What you need to know about this sauce is that you combine it with the shredded pork and the meat just absorbs a lot of the vinegar sauce. No, it’s not sour (because the meat has a lot of sweetness to it). You’d think it would be sour. I was unsure enough about this sauce that I took a piece of pork and gingerly dipped it into the sauce to sample it. Oh my. GOOD. Amazing, I thought.

I cut up some green cabbage and put just a little bit of the vinegar sauce on it and served that with the sliders – to put onto the sandwich itself. The meat – so tender and juicy. I added about a cup of the onions and vinegary sauce to it and let it sit for about 5 minutes before I set out the slider buns, the meat, the cabbage. I let everyone make their own sliders. I also made a delicious cabbage salad which I’ll post in a couple of days.

What I liked: the texture and taste of the pulled pork. It was incredibly tender after 48 hours of sous vide. The vinegar sauce was outstanding. I loved it! For left overs I put out regular barbecue sauce (bottled) and some eaters had some of that too.

What I didn’t like: nothing. It was really, really good.

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. . .This recipe hardly even deserves an entire recipe box listing – it’s just pork shoulder, vacuum sealed, done in the sous vide for 48 hours. Done.

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Have you made lemon curd before? I’ve made it oodles of times, but not since last March. I wrote it up here on my blog then. I read a description of lemon curd in the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook – they called some versions teeth-achingly sweet. Gosh, yes. That’s what mine was in 2011. The folks at ATK decided to fix it, and yes, they did. This is my new go-to lemon curd recipe. I didn’t enhance the photo at all – it’s all the egg yolks that give it that deep golden color.

I’d offered to take lemon curd to a friend’s home for a St. Patrick’s Day book group meeting. Each year the hostess and her wonderful husband make an Irish repast for our group. And mid-way through our book meeting they also serve multiple desserts. They make raisin scones too, and it’s for the scones that I usually offer to make lemon curd.

Remembering that last year’s version was too sweet, I pulled out cookbook after cookbook and compared the recipes. Some had nearly double the amount of sugar per lemon juice quantity of others. Whoa! No wonder I was overwhelmed with the sweetness! I should have just gone to my well-used The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. Every recipe turns out superbly from that cookbook. With copious lemons on our Meyer trees, it came together in a hurry. I really liked the addition of a few tablespoons of heavy cream at the end. It just smooths it out, somehow. I chose not to strain it (to remove the bits of lemon zest and any eggy things). I chilled it in a bowl over ice and gave it to the hostess. But not without a couple of teaspoons to taste, of course! It’ll be my forever favorite, I suspect.

What I liked: it’s easy. Delicious. Just the right amount of sugar to lemon ratio. It will keep for several weeks too, if it were to last that long. I gave all of it to my friend, so there isn’t any left over here at my house! Guess I’ll just have to make it again. I scaled down the recipe to use 4 egg yolks and 1 whole egg, FYI.

What I didn’t like: nothing at all. Perfection.

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This barbecue sauce is so different than almost anything you’ve ever tasted. Who would ever – ever – think of making a barbecue sauce with watermelon? You need to like sweet BBQ sauce, however, to like this. It’s really very sweet. If that meets with your taste, you’ve just got to try this.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a cooking class with a different instructor. It was all about flank steak (pictured above). I really thought we were going to learn all about the meat itself – the chemistry of it, I suppose – the why of flank steak recipes. Flank steak is such a different cut of meat. Not that the instructor didn’t mention a couple of facts about flank steak – she did – but it was about 2 sentences and then she was off and running with a recipe. I expected at least one recipe (out of 5) that required a marinade, when in fact, not even one of them was marinated.

Now my understanding about flank steak is that, of course, it’s extremely lean. Probably the leanest beef cut in the animal.

Here in the photo at left you can definitely see the lengthwise striations (the grain) in the meat – an important point since those long meat strands contribute to the toughness of the meat. Your butcher will have removed the fat flap and silverskin, so all you really see is the very lean meat. In the photo at right you can see the very thin slices that are ideal for flank. The thinner the better. You always want to slice flank steak across the grain. And if you can do it on an angle, you’ll get a nicer (bigger) slice of meat, and it’s a more attractive portion for serving.

Flank steak used to be considered a poor man’s meat, since the cut was not as desirable as other steak types. And it still is a distant cousin of  a Porterhouse, of filet mignon. Yet it’s not inexpensive today – over time it became more popular and therefore the cost of flank steak has risen considerably in the last 50 years. The problem with flank steak is that it’s a muscle meat – it is exercised with every step a steer makes. See the chart above – the flank is on the underbelly (see turquoise section just above the steer’s privates). Hence it has lots of connective tissue which is why it’s often a tough piece of meat.

There are two methods of tenderizing flank steak – with an enzyme (like papaya, pineapple, fig, kiwi and ginger) or with an acid (citrus juices, soy sauce, vinegar). Both methods work and they both have their pluses and minuses. One of the minuses is that enzymes mostly sit on the top of the meat and if you marinate meat for very long the exterior of the meat becomes mealy when cooked – because the enzymes don’t penetrate the meat, but stay over-concentrated on the surface. I’ve had that happen but never understood why. I learned more about flank steak in 10 minutes of reading my reference book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen this morning than I did in a 3-hour cooking class. That is my go-to book for understanding the science/chemistry of just about any food I might consume. And as for marinating – definitely my choice is to use an acid – and if it marinates overnight at least, you’ll end up with a much more tender piece of meat.

Now, back to the cooking class. I may not prepare a single one of the meat recipes from the class, although IF I decided to marinate the meat, all of the recipes would be improved. In all 5 recipes, the meat was too tough for me. And hard to eat in a classroom setting with just a regular knife. There were 3 sauces that went with the flank steak (one a salad dressing, and two sauces). It’s the sweet barbecue sauce that I’m going to share today. It was very good. Really, very, very good.

You need to love a sweet sauce, or you won’t like this at all. Since my DH is diabetic, I’ll need to use very little of this sauce on anything I might make. It contains a lot of ketchup, which also contributes to its sugar content. When I tasted the first bite of the finished sauce my mind immediately did a Proust-ian moment, the whole thing about our memories of food, like Proust’s madeleines. Anyway, my brain said watermelon rind pickles, a memory I dredged up from my childhood and long-lost relatives. There aren’t any watermelon rinds in this sauce, though – it must have been the proportion of acid to sugar that made me think pickles. But that gives you a clue as to whether you can taste the watermelon in this barbecue sauce? Yup, you sure can! I’m going to try a few of these recipes in coming weeks – using a marinade. I’ll let you know how they turn out, but meanwhile, the sauce is excellent and worth making. And if you ever have some leftover watermelon and everyone is tired of it – you now know what to do with it!

What I liked: the watermelon flavor that certainly came through. The sauce is reduced down (the watermelon provides a significant amount of fluid to the sauce, so it needs to be rendered down to a thicker consistency). It would be good on any meal – beef, pork or chicken. I wouldn’t do it on fish – not the right kind of sauce for fish. It should keep for weeks in the refrigerator.

What I didn’t like: really, nothing. It is sweet, though, so I’ve reduced the amount of honey added to the sauce as you’re cooking it.

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Oh my goodness. Oh my gracious goodness, are you going to like this stuff. I could hardly keep my tasting spoon – that very spoon you see in the photo – out of the cruet.

It has so many possibilities – on a salad, yes, even a green salad. Or on sliced tomatoes. On green beans. On steamed cauliflower. On broccoli – oh yes, broccoli for sure. Or on some sliced beef (fresh out of the oven or with leftovers), or some sliced leftover pork roast. Or a dunk for shrimp. Or, or, or! The list could be endless.

The venerable duo of Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs have their own website. If you’re not already reading it, you should be – Food52. They’re the hard-working team who created (edited and wrote) the monstrous cookbook, The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century. Sorry for mentioning that book so frequently, but I surely do love that cookbook! Anyway, after Amanda and Merrill collaborated on that book, they decided to start something else because they so enjoyed working together. That’s what Food52.com is all about. That’s food 52 weeks a year, and a good part of their blog come from contributions from home cooks just like us. This recipe included.

As a part of their blogging (and it’s an ongoing thing) they have contests for everyone’s favorites. I think the duo does most of the honing down of lists, then they ask readers to try them, taste them and vote. As a result of that contest, a book was written, The Food52 Cookbook: 140 Winning Recipes from Exceptional Home Cooks. I gave the cookbook to two of my friends for Christmas. I wanted one for myself, but I know where all the recipes are on the site, so I printed out the ones I knew I’d want to try and have already prepared two of them. So far, so good! If you want to look at the contest winners, you can do just that with this link. This particular recipe by “linzarella” won for a category they call “wildcard.”

This dressing – or sauce – has such an unusual list of ingredients – it drew me in immediately. It’s yogurt, some crème fraiche, honey, lemon juice, lemon zest, Dijon, prepared horseradish, salt and pepper. That’s it. Combine it in a bowl, or even easier put it into a lidded jar and shake. Done. How easy is that?

Having read what people had to say about this recipe, I know that it’s delicious on green salad, even though that probably wasn’t its original intent. As Linzarella explained about her development of the recipe, she isn’t a fan of chiles, so she uses horseradish as a way to gives things a kick. What would it be good on? Sliced tomatoes. As a dip for artichokes. Or asparagus. It has a hint of sweetness to it, and you don’t use much on any one serving. I could even see it as a dollop on sliced oranges. You might think the horseradish would overwhelm – it doesn’t AT ALL. Unless you don’t like horseradish, in which case stop reading. It could be a dip – for vegetables even. And I’m always wanting some kind of something to put on top of leftover meat or fish – like chicken, shrimp, sliced beef (this would have a natural affinity for sliced roast beef), even pork, or lamb. Ah, halibut. My mouth is watering . . . Someone suggested it would be good with corned beef and cabbage. Sounds divine. Or if you’re wicked, just spoon it out of the bowl directly to mouth. Do note, using about a tablespoon per serving, there are just 22 calories and 1 gram of fat. This recipe is going onto my Carolyn’s Favs list, just so you know, in case that tells you anything!

The photo at right shows some of those Kumato tomatoes (they’re really good in case you haven’t tried them) with a dollop of the sauce on top, some freshly minced rosemary and a few little pieces of kumquat. And a little pepper too. This was absolutely delicious!

What I liked: oh, ahhh, just everything about it. Can’t wait to find other things to use it on … . .

What I didn’t like: can you guess? Nothing at all!

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