Eugenia Bone's new cookbook asks home chefs to take a close look at their own kitchen and spend a little time up front making key ingredients (through canning and preserving) to reap the time and flavor rewards down the road. While adjusting your culinary mindset might take a little time, we asked her for a few tips home cooks can start using right now.
Save meat marinades. "Bring them to a boil for ten minutes to sterilize and then use as a sauce."
Save the water from boiling beets and rhubarb. "The boiling beet water can be used to make granite and the boiling rhubarb water can be used to make drinks."
Save pickling juice. "Use it in cooking and salads in lieu of vinegar."
Zest lemons and oranges before using them. "Zest holds really well in the fridge or freezer."
Save the sweet, fruity syrup leftover from fruit preserves. "Use it to sweeten tea and lemonade, to poach pears, and to make co*cktails."
Make a tart in fifteen minutes. "Butter a non-stick skillet, add fresh or preserved whole or sliced fruit, cover with puff pastry, bake until golden and puffy in a 350 degree oven, and then flip over onto a board."
Don't be afraid of small portions. "It's handy to make 1 pint of stock (mushroom stems, corn cobs, and cabbage cores make great stock). Or water bath process a single pint or half pint jar of fruits or pickles in your asparagus steamer."
Substitute. "Substitution is the first step in recipe development, so go ahead and try that spinach recipe with Swiss chard."
Below are Bone's five favorite fall recipes from the cookbook -- think of these recipes as inspiration for the week ahead!
Artichokes Constantinople-Style:
This is a recipe my friend Neni Panourgia taught me (I am doing a blog with her called The Greek Kitchen Ecosystem). It is a highly flavored oil braise with carrots, potatoes, pearl onions, and dill. Now that I am making homemade bread on a regular basis, I find a vegetable entrée with a hunk of bread and a glass of wine is the perfect dinner for my old man and me.
Chicken with Pork Stuffed Cherry Peppers:
You know those marinated cherry peppers in the grocery store, the unstuffed ones? Stuffed with a bit of pork, they make a simple braised chicken super indulgent because it contains two proteins. In Le Marche, where my father is from, our relatives always serve two proteins at Sunday lunch (like rabbit cooked with brandy and chicken cooked with green olives and rosemary). The dish just says celebration to me, and yet it is inexpensive and simple enough to eat on a Tuesday.
Pea Pesto:
This takes a few seconds to make and has a brilliant green color and fresh, zesty flavor. It is so versatile, I use it to sauce spaghettini that I've cooked in stock; toss with sautéed swordfish, onions and vinegar; make sandwiches with prosciutto, pea pesto, and Parmesan butter; and serve on a toasted English muffin with a soft poached egg on top. It freezes beautifully and is just so elegant and uncomplicated.
Ricotta:
Since learning how to make ricotta, I don't buy it anymore. Fresh ricotta is dreamy, delicate, and easy, easy, easy. I make it and then prepare fried ricotta balls, which I stuff with lemon curd or homemade jam and dust with powdered sugar. Or I make a rich ricotta pie with marinated mushrooms or artichokes. Mainly though I use ricotta as a garnish for bitter vegetables like sautéed broccoli rabe, or on pasta, say, with pea pesto. And wow, whey! What a treasure that is. I poach pork in the whey with sage, Tuscan style. It makes a silky sauce that is so much better looking than poaching pork in milk, which looks like a baby threw up all over it.
Orange Olive Oil Pound Cake:
You probably have most of the ingredients on hand to make this luscious pound cake. The batter is rather thin, but not to worry: the end product is seriously moist, rich, and orangey. You really don't have to garnish it with whipped cream or fruit or anything. I love to serve it after braised Pork Shoulder with Oranges, or with a cup of tea in the afternoon.
