Make Ahead

This chicken confit utilizes our favorite piece, the thigh. You can of course substitute your favorite part of the bird when making this deeply flavored chicken dish at home. We like to keep any extra seasoned fat in the refrigerator—we use it like bacon fat, sautéing vegetables, potatoes, fish, and anything else we happen to be cooking. The thighs pair nicely with Green Beans Amandine (page 203) for a lighter meal, as a replacement for the duck in a classic confit salad, or with roasted potatoes and bitter greens for a hearty winter supper. It’s a versatile preparation whose do-ahead nature makes it easy to put together a great meal in a hurry.

This micro stock makes a great base for tomato soup, either hot or cold. It can also be used for soaking or finishing pasta, poaching fish or vegetables, or making Bloody Marys. The hoisin and hibiscus flowers (available from tea companies and gourmet supermarkets in the specialty tea section) round out the natural flavors of the tomatoes and give the stock that little something extra that makes the difference between good and great.

Green beans and almonds are a classic combination. Here we’ve given it our own interpretation by pairing the blanched green beans with an almond-yogurt dressing. We like French feta for this because it tends to be sweeter and less salty than Greek or Bulgarian feta. This is a wonderful cold dish that travels well for picnics or meals on the go.

This preparation takes fresh strawberries to another level. Paired with whipped or sweet cream, these berries are pure indulgence. They can be served over pancakes, waffles, or French toast for brunch, spooned over pound cake, or paired with biscuits for shortcake. They can even make a relatively healthy dessert spooned over nonfat Greek yogurt with a grating of fresh cinnamon or nutmeg to liven things up.

Butter is the direct result of churning. You can use an electric mixer, a bowl and a whisk, or even a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid (shaken vigorously for ten to fifteen minutes) to make butter. Our tool of choice is the food processor. It works quickly, is easy to control, and is easy to clean—all good things in our kitchen. Use the best cream you can get your hands on because the better your cream tastes, the more delicious your butter will be.

One of the benefits of finding a great container of yogurt is that you can save some of it to make more of your own batch. You can bump the action of natural yogurt cultures and increase the thickness of the finished product by adding powdered milk in the ratio of 1/3 cup (26.6 grams) powdered milk per quart (1,040 grams) of milk. Some cultured yogurt recipes call for the addition of gelatin, pectin, or carrageenan to thicken the finished yogurt. You can substitute powdered milk there as well, starting with 1 tablespoon (5 grams) per quart (1,040 grams) of milk and gradually increasing the ratio to reach a thickness you like. The yogurt will keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.

We love crème fraîche. Its slightly viscous, silky texture and sweet-and-sour flavor make it a staple in our kitchen. It probably goes without saying, but the better your cream, the better your crème fraîche.

Homemade ricotta is nothing like the supermarket version. It is luxurious, with a sweet, rich flavor that will make you appreciate why this cheese is such an integral part of Italian cuisine. The addition of heavy cream gives it an amazing texture. This ricotta can easily hold center stage on a plate. We like to serve it alongside baked pastas, as a condiment of sorts, instead of inside them. Its sweet creamy flavor is a wonderful contrast to the intense flavors of lasagna or baked ziti. Sweetened with a touch of honey and spread on good toast, it is a wonderful pick-me-up for the mid afternoon slump. In cheesecakes, it is revelatory. Even better, it’s easy to make. A little bit of effort will net you something truly indulgent.

One of the benefits of making your own mozzarella is the ability to eat it fresh and warm. This is not an experience you can get from the store-bought product unless you happen to be there as they are making the cheese. If you’re going to eat it right away, you can forgo the ice bath at the end of the recipe and serve it instead. It’s an unforgettable experience and one that any cheese lovers worth their salt should try at least once.

This is the classic pudding of our childhood. Chocolate pudding is the ultimate comfort food, and this version is decadent without being overpowering. Use your favorite good-quality chocolate here because it will make your pudding that much better. A dollop of unsweetened whipped cream or lightly sweetened heavy cream poured over the top takes this to yet another level, although Aki has been known to eat it straight out of the container with a spoon. Jell-O pudding has nothing on us.

A beautiful soft-boiled egg, warm and served from its shell, perhaps with crisp fingers of buttered toast, is enough to make the heavens sing. We have been lucky enough to experience different versions of this egg at Per Se, Elements in Princeton, and Momofuku Ko. Each preparation and presentation inspired us and raised the question of how to consistently prepare and serve this elusive culinary delight. Alex began by weighing our eggs to see if all large eggs were the same size. They were close, with about a two-gram differential in our sample. We bought a pot of water to a boil and added the eggs. We cooked the eggs for five minutes and fifteen seconds in gently boiling water and then placed them in an ice bath. The eggs were cooked the way we wanted them and were relatively easy to peel. It may seem finicky to specify a cooking time in minutes and seconds but the devil is in the details. Deciding which details are important and paying attention to them is essential to consistent cookery.

While you can certainly buy ranch spice blend in the supermarket, we prefer to make our own. It just tastes fresher and we can fine-tune the seasoning exactly the way we like it.

This is an excellent technique for a dinner party or any occasion when you want to spend time with your guests instead of standing over the stove. The risotto will be firm and toothsome, but you can treat this as traditional risotto and finish it with a dollop of extra virgin olive oil or butter and some freshly grated cheese for added creaminess. It’s a nice change of pace served with sautéed chicken with a quick pan sauce of white wine and fresh herbs, crispy skate in brown butter with capers, or a garlicky stir-fry of seasonal vegetables.

One summer we worked as private chefs on a ranch in Montana. One of our jobs was to oversee the chefs in the employee kitchen. We watched as they lamented the crew’s love of ranch dressing, culminating one evening when a guy poured it on his lasagna. We were fascinated by how much people loved the flavor of ranch and slowly began to weave it into our repertoire just for fun. These gnocchi were one of our first experiments and are still one of the best.

Spaetzle is a German word meaning “little sparrow,” an evocative description of these small dumplings that have a long, irregular shape. Traditionally, they are boiled, tossed with butter, and served alongside rich, saucy dishes. We like to fry spaetzle in butter because it gives them a delicate crispy edge to contrast their tender texture. They are a nice change of pace from traditional starches like potatoes and pasta. The sourdough spaetzle’s light texture and tangy flavor are equally at home with meat or fish; they can be tossed with fresh peas or fava beans and finished with tarragon, sautéed with wild mushrooms, or combined with bite-size ratatouille for an interesting twist on a classic. Use them in place of rice or small pastas in your favorite preparations and you’ll see what a difference they can make.

The tang of these doughnuts provides an excellent counterpoint to the cinnamon sugar that coats them. Beware; these doughnuts tend to disappear quickly, especially if there are people in the kitchen when they emerge from the fryer. The doughnuts can also be dipped in warm ganache made with equal parts chocolate and cream. We’ve even been known to turn these into bomboloni by filling them with vanilla pastry cream and serving them with chocolate dipping sauce. Lemon curd or good jelly, perhaps lightened with a little whipped cream, are also nice fillings. A little caramel sauce is never an unwelcome accompaniment, whether the doughnuts are stuffed or plain. But really, the cinnamon sugar does pretty well all by itself. Warm doughnuts are one of life’s special pleasures, and once you experience them, you’ll want to make these again and again.

Good pizza is all about the crust. In our mind great pizza is thin and crisp on the bottom. It has a tender crumb with a complex flavor from a long, slow fermentation. There are usually large, irregular air bubbles that hint of the resiliency of the crumb. Biting into a slice, you experience the contrast between the shattering crust, the soft chewy crumb, and the sweet, complex flavor.

These sticky buns can be prepped in the skillet the day before, stored in the refrigerator, and baked in the morning for a decadent weekend breakfast indulgence—although they are so good that sometimes we just make them for lunch and ride the sugar high into the afternoon. Soft raisins make a big difference. If yours are dry you may want to soak them in water at least overnight. Instead of rolling out individual buns, we score the top of the bread for easy cutting and bake it as a whole. That way you can control the portion size and the bread itself cooks more evenly—no more doughy centers. We love that.

We love the complex flavors of this puree. We like to serve it with the Twice-Cooked Scallops (page 25). It also goes well with salmon, turkey, corned beef, and the Root Beer–Braised Short Ribs (page 226). The smokiness gives the mixture a rich meaty taste and enhances the sweetness of the dried fruits. Rest assured, though—even if you don’t have smoked fruits, you can use the regular dried version and still enjoy something special.

Preserved lemons should be in everyone’s pantry. They taste like sunshine, adding bright acidity and color to a dish. We often mince the preserved lemon and use it to season crab salads, enrich pan sauces for fish and meat, and flavor pastas like our preserved lemon noodles. Thinly sliced and fried, they can go sweet or savory depending on how you season them. Chopped up with fresh garlic and parsley, they make a wonderful replacement for classic gremolata. Create a tangy finishing sauce for grilled meat and vegetables by mixing them with olive oil and minced herbs. You can slide them under the skin of your roast chicken for an amazing lemon chicken. Even a simple bowl of noodles with butter and cheese is given unexpected zest with the addition of some preserved lemon.