HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD WITH BUTTERMILK GREEN GODDESS DRESSING

 Heirloom Tomato Salad with Green Goddess Buttermilk Dressing

Serves 6

A taste of summer

The South’s heirloom tomatoes don’t just have great names—Arkansas Travelers, Spear’s Tennessee Greens, Mortgage Lifters, Cherokee Purples—they also have amazing flavors, putting any standard supermarket hybrid to shame. This stunning salad lets the tomatoes shine, paired with corn and cucumber for refreshing crispness, and all enveloped in a tangy, herb-infused buttermilk dressing.

INGREDIENTS

• HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD (SERVES 6)

◦ 6 ripe garden tomatoes, sliced inch thick

◦ 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced

◦ Kernels from 1 cooked ear Silver Queen corn

◦ 2 thick bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

◦ 1 tablespoon sliced fresh chives

• GREEN GODDESS BUTTERMILK DRESSING (MAKES ABOUT ¾ CUP)

◦ 1/3 cup whole buttermilk

◦ 1/3 cup mayonnaise

◦ 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

◦ 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

◦ 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

◦ 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

◦ 1 tablespoon sliced fresh chives

◦ 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

◦ 2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon

PREPARATION

1 For the Heirloom Tomato Salad:  Arrange the tomato and cucumber slices artfully on a platter. Drizzle with half of the dressing. Sprinkle with the corn kernels and bacon. Garnish with the chives. Serve with extra dressing on the side. (Any remaining dressing will keep, refrigerated, for up to 1 week.)

2

3 For the Green Goddess Buttermilk Dressing: Combine the buttermilk, mayonnaise, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, chives, dill, and tarragon in a blender. Blend until smooth.

4

From The Southerner’s Cookbook

COCONUT CAKE

Gâteau d’Hélène (Coconut Cake)

Recipe from Simone (Simca) Beck

• YIELD
1 (8-inch) cake (about 8 servings)

• TIME
1 1/2 hours, plus cooling and chilling

This coconut cake was adapted from a recipe by Simone (Simca) Beck, best known as Julia Child’s co-author on “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” She called it “Gâteau d’Hélène: a white cake filled and iced with coconut cream and apricot.” The recipe, published in Ms. Beck’s 1972 book, “Simca’s Cuisine” (Lyons Press, 1998), capped what she called a “carefree lunch” because it could be made ahead. Indeed, this cake is best baked, filled, frosted and refrigerated for at least an hour (or up to two days). Kind of like a madeleine, its layers are purposefully a bit dry, as they need to hold a dousing of orange juice and rum. The whipped cream filling and frosting is soft and dreamy. It’s an elegant celebration cake. —Dorie Greenspan

Featured in: A Coconut Cake For The Ages. 

French, Cakes, Apricot Preserves, Orange, Rum, Shredded Coconut, Dessert

Mark as Cooked 121 ratings

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CAKE:

• ¾ cup/170 grams unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan

• 1 ½ cups/192 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

• 1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar

• Finely grated zest of 1 orange (save the juice for the filling)

• 3 large eggs, at room temperature

FOR THE FILLING AND FROSTING:

• ¼ cup/60 milliliters orange juice

• 2 tablespoons dark rum (or more orange juice)

• ½ cup/160 grams apricot preserves

• 1 ½ cups/360 milliliters cold heavy cream

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ⅓ cup/66 grams granulated sugar

• 1 ½ cups/128 grams unsweetened shredded coconut

PREPARATION

1 Make the cake: Center a rack in the oven, and heat to 325 degrees. Butter an 8-inch springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper, and butter the paper; dust with flour and shake out the excess.

2 In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and sea salt.

3 Working with a mixer, beat together the butter, sugar and orange zest on medium speed for about 4 minutes, until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in, and scraping often.

4 Reduce the speed to low, and add half the flour mixture, beating until it almost disappears into the batter. Add the remaining flour mixture, and beat until it is incorporated. Give the batter a last stir with a spatula, then scrape it into the pan, smoothing the top.

5 Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack, let the cake cool 20 minutes, then run a table knife along the edges and remove the pan’s sides. Invert the cake onto the rack, remove the bottom of the pan and the parchment, turn the cake over and cool to room temperature right side up.

6 Cut the cake into three layers; flip the top layer so that the crumb is exposed.

7 Prepare the filling and frosting: Stir together the orange juice and rum (if using), and using a brush or spoon, lightly moisten each layer with the liquid, then spread with apricot preserves.

8 Working with a mixer, whip the cream just until it holds soft peaks, and add the vanilla. Working on medium speed, add the sugar in a slow, steady stream; stop beating when all the sugar is incorporated and the cream is firm. Spoon about 1/2 cup of the cream into a small bowl, and stir in about 2/3 cup of the shredded coconut. You’ll have a very thick mixture.

9 Place the layer that was the top of the cake on a serving platter, jam side up, and cover with half the coconut cream. Top with the middle layer, jam side up, and spread with the remaining coconut cream. Place the last layer on the cake, jam side down. Using an icing spatula or a table knife, frost the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream, then coat with the remaining shredded coconut.

10 The cake can be served now, but it tastes and cuts better after it’s been refrigerated for at least an hour. 

RUSSIAN SALAD

 Russian Salad

• YIELD
6 1/2 cups (about 12 servings)

• TIME
1 hour

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Heami Lee for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Sophia Pappas.

Basically a vegetable-studded potato salad with mayonnaise, Russian salad is hugely popular all over the world for family gatherings and festive events. It’s a beloved, traditional party dish riffed on almost everywhere but my own home: I’d only ever seen pasty, congealed versions I would never wish to eat until I tried this one from Vladimir Ocokoljic, served at his Serbian restaurant Kafana in New York City. While not quite as demanding as his aunt back in Belgrade, who used to slice even the peas in half, Vladimir insists on the tiny dice (each ingredient should match the size of a pea) and emphatically dislikes any sweet pickles (only gherkins or cornichons are a fit), making the finished dish delicate, luscious and savory. Whisking pickle brine into the mayonnaise creates a liquidy slurry, loose enough to dress the salad without its becoming smushed and gluey. —Gabrielle Hamilton

Russian, Salads And Dressings, Vegetables, Carrot, Cornichon, Egg, Frozen Pea, Mayonnaise, Potato, Appetizer, Side Dish

Mark as Cooked 236 ratings

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INGREDIENTS

• Kosher salt and black pepper

• 3 medium yellow potatoes (about 1 pound), washed

• 5 thin carrots (about 1/2 pound), washed

• 10 ounces frozen peas

• 4 large eggs, fridge-cold

• 3 ½ ounces boiled ham

• 1 cup drained cornichons and 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of their brine

• 1 scant cup Hellmann’s mayonnaise

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PREPARATION

1 Bring a large pot of water to boil. Season with salt.

2 Add whole potatoes to the boiling water, and cook 15 minutes. Add whole carrots to the cooking potatoes, and cook both another 10 minutes. Remove potatoes and carrots with a spider when easily pierced with a cake tester or a very thin knife blade, and set aside in a bowl.

3 Add frozen peas to boiling water, and using the spider, remove them to a separate bowl as they float, until all peas have floated and been transferred to the bowl.

4 Gently add the eggs, and allow to boil 10 minutes.

5 While the eggs cook, peel the potatoes and carrots under cold running water by rubbing them gently with your fingers. Rinse the peas under cold running water to cool.

6 Once the eggs are cooked, drain them, and peel under cold running water.

7 Neatly dice the potatoes, carrots, ham, eggs and cornichons to the same approximate (and rather small) size as the peas, aiming for uniformity. Gently toss them all together in a large bowl.

8 In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise with the cornichon brine, and pour over the salad. Toss gently with rubber spatula or using your fingers until the salad is well coated. Season with several hearty grinds of black pepper.

9 Refrigerate overnight, and serve cold.

CHOCOLATE PUDDING Raspberry Cream

 Chocolate Pudding With Raspberry Cream

By Yossy Arefi

• YIELD
2 servings

• TIME
25 minutes, plus chilling

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Julia Gartland for The New York Times (Photography and Styling)

This rich, creamy chocolate pudding is a comforting dessert for two that comes together in no time at all. Use Dutch-process cocoa powder for the richest chocolate flavor, but natural cocoa will work too, if that’s what you keep around. This pudding is also easy to dress up for any occasion. Raspberry cream and a handful of fresh raspberries adorn this version, but you could also top with a dollop of whipped cream or crème fraîche.

American, Custards And Puddings, Cornstarch, Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder, Heavy Cream, Milk, Raspberry, Vanilla, Snack, Dessert, Valentine’s Day

Mark as Cooked 256 ratings

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup/240 milliliters whole milk

• 1 large egg yolk

• 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon/75 grams granulated sugar

• 5 tablespoons/30 grams Dutch-process cocoa powder

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• Pinch of kosher salt

• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

• ½ cup/80 grams fresh raspberries

• ⅓ cup/80 milliliters heavy cream

PREPARATION

1 Add the milk and egg yolk to a measuring cup. Whisk to combine.

2 Add 5 tablespoons sugar, the cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt to a medium saucepan, and whisk to combine, breaking up any lumps. Whisk the milk and egg yolk mixture into the sugar mixture until smooth.

3 Set the pan over medium-low heat and cook the mixture until it thickens and starts to bubble, stirring the mixture constantly with a rubber spatula and making sure to scrape the corners and bottom of the pan. Once it bubbles, cook for an additional minute until thick and creamy, taking extra care to scrape the bottom and sides of the pan to avoid scorching the mixture, 6 to 8 minutes total. If you do get a few small lumps, whisk the mixture vigorously for a few seconds to smooth them. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

4 Spoon the pudding into two small serving bowls or glasses, and press a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of each pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Chill for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

5 When you are ready to serve the pudding, make the raspberry cream: Combine 1/2 teaspoon sugar with about 4 raspberries in a small bowl. Mash them together with a fork and macerate. In a medium bowl, whisk the cream with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla to medium peaks. Dollop the mashed raspberries over the top of the whipped cream and fold a few times. (The mixture should be streaky.)

6 Top the pudding with the remaining raspberries and a dollop of the whipped cream. Serve immediately.

SWEET POTATO CORNBREAD

• SWEET POTATO CORNBREAD (YIELD: 1 9-INCH LOAF OR 12 MUFFINS)
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1¼ cups yellow cornmeal
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. nutmeg
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 1¼ cup milk
• ½ cup sweet potatoes, baked and mashed

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. In a large bowl, loosely sift the dry ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, oil, and milk. Add the sweet potatoes and mix well.
5. Add the sweet potato mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until combined, being careful not to overmix.
7. Pour into a greased 9-inch baking pan or spoon into a 12-cup muffin tin. Bake at 450° for 20 minutes or until the cornbread is golden.

BIRRIA

 

BIRRIA

• YIELD
8 to 10 servings

• TIME
2 3/4 hours

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero.

Birria, the regional stew from Mexico saw a meteoric rise in popularity recently, as a soupy style made with beef, popularized by birria vendors in Tijuana, took off in the United States. The chef Josef Centeno, who grew up eating beef and goat birria in Texas, makes a delicious, thickly sauced version based on his grandma Alice’s recipe, mixing up the proteins by using oxtail, lamb on the bone and even tofu (you can, too). Preparing the adobo takes time, as does browning the meat, but it’s worth it for the deep flavors in the final dish. The best way to serve birria is immediately and simply, in a bowl, with some warm corn tortillas. But make sure to put any leftovers to work: Extra meat, pulled from the bones, can be shredded for crisp quesabirria tacos, fried in the birria fat for cheesy, lacy edges. And the leftover broth, or consomé, is ideal for a comforting bowl of birria ramen, with an egg and some fresh herbs on top. —Tejal Rao

Featured in: The Birria Boom Is Complicated, But Simply Delicious. 

Mexican, Meat, Soups And Stews, Beef, Cilantro, Crushed Canned Tomato, Guajillo Chile, Poblano Chili, Dinner, Main Course

Mark as Cooked 638 ratings

INGREDIENTS

• 2 poblano chiles

• 5 guajillo chiles, seeded, stemmed and halved lengthwise

• 5 pounds bone-in beef shoulder, cut into large pieces, or goat or lamb stew cuts on the bone

• 1 tablespoon fine sea salt

• ¼ cup neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed

• 1 medium white onion, finely chopped

• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

• 6 garlic cloves, peeled

• 2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger

• 2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano

• 2 teaspoons toasted white sesame seeds

• ½ teaspoon ground cumin

• 4 cloves

• Fresh black pepper

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 2 fresh or dried bay leaves

• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

• 2 limes, quartered

• Corn tortillas, warmed

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PREPARATION

1 Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

2 Prepare the chiles: Use tongs to place the poblano chiles directly over the open flame of a gas burner set to high. Cook the poblanos until totally charred all over, turning as needed, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap so the poblanos can steam. After 10 minutes, use your fingers to pull the blackened skins away from the poblanos, then remove the stems and seeds. Roughly chop the poblanos and set aside.

3 While the poblano chiles steam, place a large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches to cook the guajillo chiles evenly in one layer, flatten the chile halves on the hot skillet and toast them for about 15 seconds, turning once. Put the chiles in a bowl and add 2 cups hot water to help soften them. Set aside.

4 Prepare the meat: Season the meat all over with the salt. Heat the oil in a large, oven-proof pot over medium-high. Working in batches, sear the meat on all sides until well browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side, transferring the browned meat to a large bowl as you work.

5 After you’ve seared all the meat, add the onion to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes. Return all the meat to the pot.

6 Meanwhile, add the tomatoes, vinegar, garlic, ginger, oregano, sesame seeds, cumin, cloves and a few grinds of black pepper to a blender, along with the chopped poblanos, toasted guajillos and the chile soaking liquid. Purée until smooth, scraping down the edges of the blender as needed.

7 Pour the blended mixture into the pot with the meat. Add the cinnamon stick and bay leaves, along with about 4 to 6 cups of water, enough to amply cover the meat.

8 Cover and cook in the oven until the meat is fork-tender, about 2 hours.

9 Divide among bowls and sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing on top, and a side of warm tortillas.

SHRIMP CREOLE

 Shrimp Creole

• YIELD
4 servings

• TIME
50 minutes

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Christopher Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Much like gumbo, this shrimp and tomato stew starts with a roux that thickens and adds a distinct flavor (though many takes on shrimp Creole skip the roux altogether). Next, the “holy trinity” of Creole cooking — onion, celery and bell pepper — is simmered in the roux. You’ll want to stir the bottom of the pot constantly to prevent the roux from sticking and burning, and make sure to keep a close eye: A burned roux can’t be saved. Creole cuisine relishes improvisation, so feel free to add other veggies or a different protein, or omit the hot sauce and add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in its place. This spicy stew is traditionally served over steamed white rice, but is also delicious served over brown rice or other whole grains, like quinoa.

Featured in: A Shrimp Creole For Our Times. 

Creole, Bell Pepper, Creole Seasoning, Shrimp, Tomato Sauce, Dinner, Main Course

Mark as Cooked 523 ratings

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CREOLE SEASONING (OPTIONAL):

• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika

• 1 tablespoon chili powder

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less, if desired)

• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

• ½ teaspoon black pepper

FOR THE SHRIMP:

• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

• 2 teaspoons homemade or store-bought Creole seasoning

• ¼ cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick)

• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour

• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

• 2 celery ribs, thinly sliced

• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce (no salt added)

• 1 to 2 teaspoons hot sauce, to taste (optional)

• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

• ½ teaspoon dried thyme

• ½ teaspoon dried oregano

• ½ teaspoon dried basil

• 2 dried bay leaves

• Fine sea salt and black pepper

• ¼ cup chopped scallions

• ¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves and tender stems

• Steamed rice, for serving

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Ingredient Substitution Guide

PREPARATION

1 Make the optional Creole seasoning: Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir together. The seasoning makes about 1/4 cup; store it in a closed