I don’t have the patience to boil Mason jars and lids and all that. But I love me my pickles, especially when this year’s garden cranks out so many cucumbers!
This is such an easy way to make great pickles, it’s almost unbelievable…and no water is needed! The salt extracts just enough moisture to make it work. This method works great if you want fresh pickles to eat immediately, but if you want to keep them for long periods of time, you’ll have to go back to the old tried-and-true methods.
Fortunately for me, I devour these pickles as soon as they’re ready!
I originally used a plastic bag for this, but a plastic container also works well. Use what you have.
fresh cucumbers sea salt or Kosher salt a handful of fresh dill a couple of cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Cut the ends off the cucumbers and then slice them lengthwise, in half or in quarters. Lay them neatly next to each other in one layer in a container, or on a piece of plastic wrap, skin-side down. Sprinkle the salt over the cucumbers. Sprinkle some of the chopped garlic on top. Then, tear off some fresh dill and lay it to cover the pickles.
If using a container, you should be able to get a second row of pickles on top of the first, again sprinkling with the salt, garlic, and topping with dill.
Placing the lid on the container, squeeze out as much air out of the container as you can.
If using plastic wrap, roll it up tightly and place it inside a Ziploc bag, and seal it.
Put the container or bag in the fridge overnight. Making sure the lid is tightly sealed on the container, flip it over every few hours. (I always put a plate underneath it when it’s upside down in case it leaks a little.)
The plastic wrapped pickles don’t need to be flipped.
The pickles will be ready to eat the next day, but they’re even better after 48 hours.
I tried this one yesterday: pickles, sliced carrots, and even small onions in the same mix. Delicious!
Ever since I had char-grilled oysters in New Orleans, I’ve been obsessed. I’ve made them at least once a month since I’ve been back. But the other day, I went to my local seafood store and I saw some beautiful clams, and I thought: Why not try those on the grill?
I had some friends over a couple of days ago, and I made my Oysters Rock-a-Fellow recipe for them, and I had some leftover gooey cheesy stuffing that goes on top of the oyster. I thought: Why not use it on the clams and then put them on the grill?
A hybrid recipe of two previous recipes, and it really worked!
The first step is to make the gooey cheesy stuffing mix ahead of time.
1/4 cup unsalted butter 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 1/4 cup low-fat milk salt and pepper 3 cups (tightly packed) fresh arugula, finely chopped, about a 5 oz. container 6 oz. mild cheddar cheese (the white one), grated 6 oz. mozzarella, grated Fine bread crumbs (Using GF breadcrumbs will keep this dish gluten-free)
Melt the butter in a pan and add the onion and garlic. Sauté until translucent, then add the milk, salt and pepper, and the arugula. Sauté for a few minutes, stirring, so that all of the arugula wilts down. Slowly add the cheddar until it all melts, then add the mozzarella, stirring slowly, until you have one big gooey mass of goodness in the pan.
Pour the gooey cheese mix into a shallow pan and place it in the fridge for a few hours. It will firm up and you will be able to cut it easily into cubes that you will then place on top of the clams.
Once the cheese mixture has firmed up, and it’s time to cook, start a hardwood charcoal fire in your grill.
Open the clams and put them on a tray, topping each clam with a cube of the firm cheese and arugula stuffing mix.
Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top of each clam.
When your charcoal grill fire is hot, place the clams on the grill and cook until the cheesy topping melts and the clams have a nice char to them.
They will be lava hot when they come off the grill, so give them a few minutes before eating!
Back from a trip to Poland and Lithuania with my daughter, where I literally ate my weight in herring.
I know a lot of folks aren’t as crazy about herring as I am. But I was raised in a Lithuanian home, and it was everywhere. Growing up on Long Island, outside of New York City, there were dozens of great Jewish delis that served herring in white cream sauce, one of my favorite ways to enjoy it.
These days, I don’t need to go home for it when the craving hits me. Instead, I go to my herring hack.
I buy a jar of Blue Hill Bay herring in wine sauce, available at Whole Foods. Blue Hill Bay is distributed by what I consider the best salmon/herring/smoked fish company in the country: Brooklyn’s own AcmeSmoked Fish.
I grab a couple of sweet onions, like Vidalias, and I peel them and slice them as thinly as possible.
I take a quart-sized container with a lid, and I line the bottom with some of the onions. I then pour some of the contents of the jar of herring into the container. I then take a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream (gotta be Breakstone’s–I’m a New Yorker) and place it on top. Then I keep working in layers: onions, herring, sour cream…until it’s all gone and jammed into the container.
I place the lid on the container and shake it vigorously to combine the ingredients. Then I place it upside-down in a dish (in case of spills) and put it in the fridge.
A few hours later, I’ll turn the container right side-up and let it sit in the fridge some more.
The wine sauce will blend with the sour cream to make a delicious cream sauce, and the onions will slowly break down and soften.
Of course, you can combine everything in a large bowl and then move it to a container, but it gets messy. My layering method avoids the need for clean-up.
After a few hours–if I can wait that long–it’s time to eat! A slab of bread is always good on the side.
I have to say my herring hack is good. Maybe not New York Jewish deli good. But good enough to satisfy my craving!
After making a batch of this for my daughter this week, I got a bunch of requests for the recipe. So here we go!
Chicken parmigiana, much like pizza, is a bit more difficult to make than you might think. Sure, there’s plenty of crappy chicken parm out there, made with processed frozen chicken cutlets, bad sauce and cheap cheese. But to make a really fantastic, mind-blowing chicken parm, that takes a little practice!
The key to this recipe is simple: don’t skimp on the quality ingredients. And my recipe makes a lot. Trust me: you will want leftovers.
The recipes for my Italian bread crumbs and my “Don’t Call It Gravy” tomato sauce are at the bottom.
Gooey, cheesy, orgasmic.
6 Chicken breasts, the best quality you can get your hands on Italian bread crumb seasoning (see recipe below) 3 eggs vegetable oil for frying “Don’t Call It Gravy” tomato sauce (see recipe below) Fresh mozzarella cheese oregano
Thaw the chicken breasts. Lay them flat on a cutting board, and you’ll see where the chicken tender is on the side of the breast. Cut the tender off and set aside, leaving the breast which is thinner at one end and thicker at the other. Slice the breast in half lengthwise at the thicker end, keeping the knife level, so that you wind up with 2 pieces of breast meat that are the same thickness, but one will be a longer piece (the bottom) and one about half its size (the top part you sliced off.) Do this with all the breasts.
By slicing the breasts lengthwise into evenly thick pieces, it will take the same amount of time for them to cook. (I prefer not to pound the hell out of the chicken breasts until they’re flat as a pancake.)
Pour the vegetable oil into a large frying pan. (I like to use corn oil or grapeseed oil.) Next to the pan, set up two bowls: one with my Italian bread crumb seasoning (recipe below) and in the other: crack the eggs and whisk them.
Now it’s your standard breading procedure: chicken meat in the egg, then in the breadcrumbs, coating well. Shake off the excess and place carefully in the pan of olive oil when the oil comes to temperature (about 350) for frying.
Fry the chicken in the oil until it’s golden brown. You want it cooked all the way through, but not overcooked. Place the fried chicken pieces on a wire rack to drain the oil. Do this with all the chicken. The fried chicken at this point is delicious all by itself: chop it and use it in a salad, or make a chicken sandwich. (By the way, if there’s breading left over, use it on the chicken tenders you cut off, and fry them up. My daughter gets these instead of store-bought chicken tenders, and she loves them.)
Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Ladle out enough sauce (recipe below) to create a thin layer on the bottom of the baking sheet. Place the fried chicken breasts on top of the sauce. Cover the breasts with more sauce, then place shredded mozzarella on top. Sprinkle the top with a little oregano.
Place the baking sheet in a pre-heated 350 degree oven and bake until the cheese has melted and just starts to brown. Serve it with pasta.
MY “DON’T CALL IT GRAVY” TOMATO SAUCE
It’s not hard to make a good tomato sauce. But it takes a little work to make an amazing tomato sauce. Honed from a recipe handed down by a friend-of-a-friend’s Italian grandma, it is one very important part in two of my favorite Italian comfort food recipes: my meatballs…and my chicken parmigiana recipe.
1 medium onion, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 10 cups ground and peeled tomatoes…or 3 cans (28 oz.) tomatoes (real San Marzanos preferred) 2 teaspoons each: dried oregano, basil and parsley 3/4 teaspoon each anise seed and fennel seed 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 2 bay leaves 1 small can (6 oz.) tomato paste 1 teaspoon sugar, optional
Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add the onions. Cook until onions are translucent, then add the garlic. Stir for about 10 seconds.
Add the tomatoes and cook until the orange foam disappears, stirring frequently.
Add the oregano, basil, parsley, anise seed, fennel seed, salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Stir to combine. Add the tomato paste, stirring well. Let the sauce just come to a boil (which helps the paste thicken the sauce), then reduce it to a simmer, and cook uncovered for at least an hour, stirring constantly, until the sauce reaches the consistency you like.
MY ITALIAN BREAD CRUMB SEASONING
This is the one part of the recipe (other than the optional pasta) that keeps this dish from being gluten-free. So I use gluten-free breadcrumbs, even if I don’t need to. I buy a loaf of Udi’s frozen gluten-free bread, toast the slices, and them put them in a food processor. I dare you to tell the difference between these and breadcrumbs with gluten!
1 Udi’s loaf, toasted and ground into breadcrumbs 2 teaspoons dried parsley 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic 1/2 teaspoon granulated onion 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
It’s been a few years since I visited New Orleans, and it was great to see that many of the old food destinations were still there: the Napoleon House, Café Dumonde, Acme Oyster House, and across the street from it: Felix‘s OysterHouse.
My friend, Rick, told me I had to try the char-grilled oysters at Felix‘s. He hadn’t been there, but he read a lot about them and they were supposed to be amazing. Well, that’s all the encouragement I needed, and I made a beeline to Felix’s that very day.
When you think about it, it’s no great culinary feat to grill an oyster. But yet, I never thought of doing it on my own. The dozen oysters I devoured that day were buttery, garlicky, with a hint of char and smoke that made them absolutely delicious, quite easily the best oysters I’ve ever had in my life.
I knew that as soon as I came home from this trip, I would have to try to make these myself. I have to say I came pretty darn close!
If you don’t use a charcoal or wood fire to make these, you’re simply leaving out one of the most important ingredients to the entire recipe. A gas grill or a kitchen stove can cook an oyster, but the only way you can take it to the next level is by putting it on open flame, a wood-burning flame.
This recipe is good for about a dozen oysters. Using gluten-free breadcrumbs makes this recipe gluten-free.
The first step is to get your hardwood charcoal fire started. I use a charcoal chimney and newspaper–never any lighter fluid.
Once the coals are lit, head to the kitchen…
4 tablespoons salted butter 2 tablespoons minced garlic 2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated (I use Parmigiano Reggiano) 4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
Combine the butter, garlic, parsley, and cheese in a sauté pan over medium heat. All you’re looking to do is to melt the butter, so once it’s melted, take the pan off the heat and this mix is ready to use.
Shuck your dozen oysters. Remember: they will shrink a little bit while cooking, so don’t be afraid to go for bigger ones.
Lay the opened oysters in a pan, carefully trying to preserve as much of the oyster liquor (liquid) in each shell as possible.
When the hardwood charcoal has heated up, and you’ve spread the coals evenly on your grill, you are ready to cook the oysters. You want the grill to be hot.
You don’t need to put the oysters directly on the hardwood charcoal. Putting a grill over the coals is fine, and it keeps the oyster shells from tipping over.
Before placing the oysters on the grill, sprinkle each one with some of the breadcrumbs. Then place the oysters on the grill, being careful not to burn your hands!
Using a spoon, pour some of the butter mixture into each oyster shell. It will flame up! That’s OK. Use up the entire butter mixture for all 12 oysters.
The oysters are ready when you see that golden brown color all around the edges of the oyster shell, when most of the liquid in the shell has evaporated. Don’t let them dry out completely.
Using tongs, remove the oysters from the flame and enjoy! Just be careful…they can be lava hot!
Lamb seems to be one of those meats that people either love or hate. Growing up in a home where my Mom served it pretty often, and did a pretty good job of cooking it, I happen to love it, and actually crave it now and again.
I buy much of my meats from Cooks Venture, a company that humanely raises a special breed of chickens, and also sources high quality meats from all over the world.
When I saw a New Zealand boneless lamb shoulder roast on their website, I had to buy it. Though New Zealand lamb can be a bit gamey to many people, I love that flavor, and there is no better quality of lamb than that from the land of the kiwi.
I knew I wanted to marinate the roast, and there was no way the marinade would penetrate into the meat if it was rolled and tied like it came in the package. So I decided to cut the string that wrapped the lamb roast, and unroll it, so that every inch of that lamb would make contact with the marinade.
Tied…
Untied and unrolled.
Once I marinated the lamb overnight, I rolled it back up, retied it as best I could, and cooked it in a 350 degree oven until the roast registered 120 degrees on my meat thermometer: medium rare.
I finished the lamb on my outdoor grill over hardwood charcoal to get a little smokiness and char.
The marinade I used can be used for any cut of lamb you might want to cook. (I love the small lamb chops that look like mini t-bones. Their flavor is incredible.)
1/2 cup olive oil 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped 1 tablespoon Kosher salt 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon dried oregano 3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl, mixing well.
Lamb and marinade ready for an overnight in the fridge.
Place the lamb in a Ziploc bag, and pour in the marinade. Seal the bag tightly, squeezing any excess air out of it, and squish it around carefully, so that the marinade makes contact with every part of the lamb.
Place the bag on a pan (to prevent accidents in the fridge) and place it in the fridge overnight. Give it a squish every few hours if you can.
The next day, remove the pan from the fridge and let the lamb come up to room temperature.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Carefully remove the lamb from the bag (I do this over the sink), discarding the marinade.
Marinated, seasoned, re-rolled and re-tied. Ready for the oven.
If you’re using an unrolled lamb roast, like I did, roll it our flat on a cutting board and season it with salt and pepper.
Carefully roll the roast up the way it was originally and tie it with string, as best you can.
Place the roast on a baking sheet and bake it until the meat reads 120 degrees on a meat thermometer…that’s medium-rare.
Out of the oven and onto the grill…
While the roast is in the oven, start a hardwood charcoal fire.
When the roast is out of the oven, place it on the grill and grill it on all sides until it has some nice grill marks and char.
Let the roast rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing. (Cut the strings off before you do.)
Chuck roast is an inexpensive cut of beef, but it requires a little TLC to make it tender and tasty. I had a couple of grass-fed chuck roasts in the freezer, and decided to try two different ways of seasoning them before cooking them low and slow.
With the first, I used Asian spices…
2 lb. chuck roast, preferably grass-fed
1 tablespoon Chinese five spice 1 tablespoon Kosher salt 1 tablespoon granulated onion 1 tablespoon granulated garlic 1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Pre-heat the oven to 250°.
Let the chuck roast come to room temperature before cooking.
Combine the Chinese five spice, salt, onion, garlic and pepper in a bowl.
Rub the spice mixture all over the chuck roast, and then wrap the roast in aluminum foil. Place the foil in an oven-proof pan and bake the chuck roast for about 2 hours, until it’s tender. Carefully pour of the fat before the next step.
In a separate bowl, mix the hoisin sauce and sesame oil, and brush it all over the chuck roast. Put the roast back in the oven, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, until a nice glaze forms on the meat.
Let it rest for 15 minutes. Slice the chuck roast on the diagonal for maximum tenderness.
With the second chuck roast, I went with Italian style seasonings, also with tasty results.
2 lb. chuck roast, preferably grass-fed
olive oil
1 tablespoon Kosher salt 1 tablespoon granulated garlic 1 tablespoon granulated onion 1 tablespoon oregano 1 teaspoon black pepper
Pre-heat the oven to 250°.
Rub the chuck roast with olive oil, and then rub the spices all over it, placing it in the foil and wrapping it. Place the foil in an oven-proof pan and bake it for about 2 hours, until tender.
Carefully pour off the fat, and let the meat rest for 15 minutes before slicing on the diagonal.
I love wonton soup. So every once in a while, I make my own version of it in large batches at home. The great thing about wonton soup is you can put whatever you want in it. After all, it’s your recipe.
I use whatever homemade stock I happen to have in the freezer. I’ll go out and buy some veggies, but I also use whatever veggies I might happen to have in the fridge that need to be used up. And I use a LOT of them.
I always have Asian spices and seasonings in the fridge or on the shelf, so that’s never a problem. And then it’s a matter of meat or seafood, or in this case, a little bit of both.
I had homemade chicken and pork stock in the freezer, so those went into the pot. I had a couple of pork chops in the freezer, so I decided to use those. I also had some frozen shrimp. And my cheat is frozen chicken dumplings, which add great flavor and pasta to the soup.
I found these at my local store, but any dumplings you like will work.
There are no exact measurements for this, because it really is based on what you have, how much you want to make, and what flavors you like. But this is the basic rundown of how I made my last batch…
16 ounces homemade chicken stock 8 ounces homemade pork stock 24 ounces water 2 medium onions, diced 2 carrots, diced 1 medium head of broccoli, chopped 1/2 head of a medium cabbage, finely sliced 2 6-ounce boneless pork chops soy sauce hoisin sauce Chinese garlic sauce rice vinegar sesame oil oyster sauce frozen peeled and deveined wild-caught American shrimp frozen chicken and vegetable dumplings
I thawed the chicken and pork stock and poured it into a large pot along with the water. I put it on high heat.
I diced the onions and the carrots and put them in the pot. I chopped the broccoli and put it into the pot. I prefer to slice the cabbage thinly with a knife, so that it still retains some texture. I put that into the pot.
I let the pot come to a boil and let it roll until the veggies started to get tender.
Meanwhile, I thinly sliced the two pork chops into strips and placed them in a bowl. I added the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chili, garlic sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil to the pork and tossed it around it to marinate.
While the veggies were boiling, in a frying pan, I added some oil and stir-fried the marinated pork. Once it was nice and caramelized, I poured it into the pot with the veggies.
It’s very easy to overdo the salt with this recipe, so I seasoned as I went, adding a little more soy sauce, hoisin, and oyster sauce, tasting all the time.
Once the veggies became tender, but still had a bite to them, and the liquid in the pot had reduced a bit, the soup was officially done. It was at this point that I decided what else I wanted to add to it.
For this particular meal, I decided I wanted the shrimp and the dumplings. So I took a handful of frozen shrimp, cutting them into smaller pieces, and put them in the bottom of a sauce pan. I also took about a dozen of the frozen dumplings and added them to the same sauce pan.
Because there is a lot of soup in the large pot, I ladled out the amount I wanted into the sauce pan with the frozen shrimp and dumplings, and brought all it to a boil over high heat. The dumplings cooked in just a few minutes, and the shrimp even more quickly than that. The soup was done.
Because the dumplings cook so quickly, as does the shrimp, I chose not to add them to the large pot, because reheating the soup would make all of that mushy. When I reheat the soup, I can add new batches of dumplings and shrimp, so that they are perfectly tender and flavorful. (Or simply leave them out altogether, depending on my mood.)
I put some of the leftover soup in containers to freeze, and some in the fridge to enjoy the next day, reheating it with whatever ingredients I chose the next time.
These delicious “chunx” of pork are full of fantastic Asian flavors and go great with broccoli and rice…or just by themselves. Plus, I used inexpensive boneless pork sparerib meat, which saves a few bucks.
3 pounds boneless pork ribs 1/2 a large onion, diced 1/2 cup soy sauce 4 tablespoons hoisin sauce 1 teaspoon Chinese chili garlic sauce Zest and juice of 1 lemon 2 star anise 2 cinnamon sticks 1/2 cup maple syrup 4 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade
This recipe is similar to my Asian bacon recipe, only it uses a cheaper, easier to find, cut of pork: boneless sparerib meat. You can usually find packages of this meat in a 3-pound size at most supermarkets.
The rib meat is fatty, however, and often has some gristle. So I trim as much of that away as I can to keep the tasty bites tender.
I cut the pork into 1-inch cubes, and toss them in a bowl with the diced onion. I add the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and Chinese chili garlic sauce to the bowl and mix everything really well.
I will let the pork marinate for 2 hours at room temperature, remixing every half-hour or so. (If the pork needs to stay out longer, I put it in the refrigerator, bringing it back to room temperature when I’m ready to cook.)
I preheat the oven to 350°.
I line a baking pan with nonstick aluminum foil and place the pork and onion pieces on it in a single layer, reserving any leftover marinade for later.
I bake the pork and onions for 30 minutes.
While the pork is in the oven, I get a large pot and place the lemon zest, lemon juice, star anise, cinnamon sticks, maple syrup, and chicken broth in the pot. I bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer.
After the pork and onions have cooked for 30 minutes, I remove them from the baking pan and place them in the pot, pouring in all the juices that might be in the baking pan. At this point, I can add any leftover marinade into the pot as well.
Bringing the heat under the pot back on high, I continue cooking until the liquid in the pot starts reducing. As it reduces, I turn the heat down as well, so I don’t burn any sugars in the pot. I stir the pork pieces once in a while.
Soon, the liquid will be reduced to a glaze. I keep tossing the pork in that glaze until it looks nice and shiny and gooey and sticky. And that’s when they’re ready!
Somebody in marketing made a fortune when they took a product that had been around since 1945 (the convection oven), renamed it an “air fryer,” and sold millions of them. I still call my old oven a convection oven, but whatever you call yours, this recipe will work in it.
I love cauliflower roasted, boiled, baked–whatever–but my daughter does not. But when she had it air-fried at a restaurant, she suddenly fell in love with the stuff, and I knew it was time to make some at home.
Cutting a head of cauliflower into florets is an easy thing to do. But it’s even easier to buy a bag of cauliflower florets already cut up at a supermarket or membership warehouse.
If you want this recipe to be gluten-free, do what I do: buy a loaf of Udi’s frozen white bread, toast it in the oven, and then let it dry out a bit at room temperature. Place it in a food processor and whiz it up for larger crumbs. I like my breadcrumbs fine for this recipe, so I then move them to a blender and grind them fine.
Fine grind.
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets 2 large eggs 1 cup of breadcrumbs (I like them unseasoned and finely milled) spray can of olive or avocado oil
There are many versions of sweet and spicy Asian-inspired sauces and glazes out there. Simply choose the one that has your favorite ingredients. This one works really well with the cauliflower.
Combine these ingredients in a saucepan and bring it up to a medium heat. When it comes to a boil, take it off the heat and let it cool. (I double this recipe simply because the sauce is so good, and I’ll want to put it on other things, like chicken.)
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Scramble the 2 eggs in a bowl.
Add the breadcrumbs to another bowl.
For the oven, set up a slotted metal tray to sit on a baking tray, so that there’s airflow underneath it. The cauliflower goes on the slotted tray, and the baking tray catches any breadcrumbs that may drop. Spray some oil on the slotted tray to keep things from sticking.
Take your cauliflower pieces and place them in batches in the egg, coating them completely. Then move them to the breadcrumb bowl, tossing them to get covered. Once they’re nicely coated, place them on the slotted tray. Do the same with the rest of the cauliflower.
Spray the cauliflower with the oil, and place them in the oven, baking for 30–45 minutes, depending on how cooked you like them.
I’ve seen restaurants that completely coat the cauliflower with the sauce, but I prefer to drizzle it on, with some extra on the side for dipping.
Live the Live ™ 