RESEP MASAKAN ORIENTAL

As many of you hardcore foodies know, there’s a southern tradition of eating beans and greens on New Year’s Day to help bring good fortune in the coming year.  By eating “poor” the first day of the year, you supposedly ensure prosperity and good luck the rest of the year. I think I speak for all superstitious, Italian-Americas when I say, that totally makes sense. Whether you believe in such things or not, you should still try this year’s edible good luck charm, Utica Greens. This delicious Upstate New York vegetable casserole comes in many forms, but usually contains some combination of bitter greens, usually escarole, pancetta or prosciutto, hot fresh or pickled peppers, and bread crumbs. I’m adding some cranberry beans, so you all get rich in 2014, but that’s totally fine since the locals often add chunks of potatoes, and once you start doing things like that, all bets are off. Whether side dish or main course, this is a perfect winter vegetable magnet, and I hope you give it ...

When I went to culinary school in the early Eighties, the chef instructors used “Green Beans Almondine” as a prime example for the kind of stodgy, clichéd, faux-fancy, vegetable side dishes that we were supposed to eradicate shortly after graduation.  This was the dawn of a new age of American cookery, and something so old-fashioned as green beans almondine had no place along side our newfangled raspberry vinaigrettes and cajun fish. There was only one problem with this prohibition...green beans and almonds tasted really good together, and made for a lovely side dish once in a while. Of course, fearing you’d be laughed out of the young, hot cooks club (hot from heat, not from hotness) you just didn’t dare make or serve such a dinosaur. Anyway, to make a long story short, I’ve finally done a green beans almondine video, but added roasted garlic and blue cheese to it, just in case any of my old classmates are watching.  I actually did this at Thanksgiving, sans nuts, and it g...

As many of you know, I also do recipe videos for About.com, but what you don't know, and would probably never guess, is that out of all the recipes I've produced for them, the most popular is a Brussels sprouts dish! It's called 60-Second Brussels Sprouts , and you can see the original post here . As the name suggests, the recipe calls for a super-fast sear-and-serve approach. Here, we're at the other end of the spectrum. These actually get cooked twice, and for a much longer time. The secret here is a quick blanching in boiling salted water, and then 15 or 20 minutes in a really hot oven. The searing heat and natural goodness of the vegetables do most of the work, so nothing more than a little brown butter and seasoning are needed. This would make a very nice side dish to your holiday feast, and I can't think of a main course, especially one made from some type of succulent animal, that this wouldn't pair wonderfully with. If you can't find the Cipollini on...

This cauliflower gratin would typically be “truffled” with truffle oil, but I’ve never been a big fan. Truffle oils are almost always synthetically produced, one-dimensional, and way too overpowering.  So, in this otherwise humble gratin, we’re going to use another, much more delicious delivery system…truffle pecorino. For less than $10 worth of cheese, I think you can get a much nicer, truer truffle flavor – plus, it’s cheese. By the way, if you know they actually make this cheese with synthetic truffle oil, please keep it to yourself, and don't spoil it for me.  This stuff is pretty easy to find in fancy grocery stores with decent sized cheese departments, but if you can’t, I’ve seen it online at even better prices. It’s worth the effort to find, and turns this already great casserole into something truly special, and with side dish season in full swing, I really hope you consider giving this truffled cauliflower gratin a try. Enjoy! Ingredients for 6-8 Portions 6 tbsp mel...

The holidays are when we get to do things we deny ourselves the rest of the year. We give and get gifts we can't afford. We get drunk and tell relatives and friends what we really think of them. And, we eat things so rich, decadent, and delicious that we would never think of making other times of the year. Here's one of those I recently produced for About.com. This amazingly delicious Green Bean and Blue Cheese Gratin video recipe is such a great combination of flavors. I had this dish at a restaurant in San Francisco called Bruno's and it was love at first bite. Green bean gratins and casseroles are nothing new around the holidays, but the addition of the tangy blue cheese makes for a very memorable side dish. Sure it's rich and loaded with butter-fat, but who cares? Did you hear what Aunt Edna just said about you!? Enjoy. Click here for the transcript and ingredients.

I believe I’ve posted a few “fool proof” methods for cooking “perfect” rice, but this Persian version takes the grand prize, and it’s not even close for second. The beauty of this method is that it doesn’t rely on any specific measurements, or even exact times. This will make some of you very nervous, but just go with it. As long as the pot you use to boil and steam the grains is large enough, this will work exactly as shown. Since we are basically steaming rice that’s already been par-boiled and drained, there are never any issues with too much, or too little water. By the way, I’ve only made this a handful of times, and so I’m sure there are many things I could improve on. I hear that soaking the rice in cold, salted water before boiling it helps improve the texture even more, which I find kind of hard to believe. I mean, is there a level of rice perfection that goes beyond perfection? Probably too deep a question for a food blog about rice, so I’ll simply close by saying, I hope yo...

Every year around holiday time, I see people posting recipes for low-fat and no-fat mashed potatoes, which I find as sad, as I do perplexing. There’s no sane doctor alive, or bartender for that matter, who will tell you eating a scoop of these mashed potatoes a few times a year will, in any way, negatively effect your health. So what’s up with the reduced-fat holiday potatoes? Isn’t that the reason we try to eat well all year, so on Thanksgiving we can bathe guilt-free in gravy? Sure, serving your loved ones potatoes with a pound of butter in them on a regular basis would be cause for alarm…or at least a glance at any recently purchased life insurance policies…but for truly special occasions, it’s crazy not to enjoy such a pleasure. By the way, this is no viral-video gimmick. Those star chefs you see Anthony Bourdain dry-humping every week (sorry, I was channeling my inner Anthony Bourdain) all use at least this much butter, and as legend has it, some even flirt with equal parts. Of co...

Some recipes you only make once a year because they're just so-so. Other recipes, like this dish of scalloped oysters, you only make once a year because they're too good. Scalloped oysters are so rich and decadent, it's a recipe you save for those very special occasions. Happily, we have a bunch of those coming up. This great holiday treat features the briny bivalves baked in a creamy, buttery casserole. One word of warning: if you don't love cooked oysters, you should probably not make this. By the way, scalloped oysters is one of those recipes that are actually better warm, than piping hot, which is another reason it makes such a great choice for large family gatherings. I hope you give this a try. Enjoy! Scalloped Oysters Ingredients: Makes 12 Side Dish Servings 3 cups saltine crackers, coarsely crushed 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 3/4 cup melted unsalted butter 1 quart shucked oysters with liquor 1 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons chopped Italian Parsley salt and fresh...

I thought I was posting a video to show off the advantages of doing mashed potatoes ahead of time, but then I realized all that was nothing more than a diversion to distract you from the fact that I’m really trying to trick you into using an alternative to the standard holiday potato side dish. These mascarpone mashed potatoes are certainly close enough to the classic recipe to keep any purists in the family happy, but the addition of the mild, creamy Italian cheese, a touch of egg yolk, and copious amounts of butter, elevate this to “special occasion” status. Besides being a delicious change of pace, the advantages of the casserole delivery system are obvious. You don’t have to time your potato mashing so precisely, and this keeps warm in the casserole dish a long time, so it’s really nice for larger groups. As always, feel free to alter this to your tastes. I do add a substantial amount of butter, but a few times a year I feel like I’ve earned that right, and do so unapologetically. ...

Thanksgiving, the holiest of American foodie holidays, is almost here. I'll assume you already have a great turkey and gravy recipe, so today we are focusing on the side dishes (if you don't, please check out our critically acclaimed, two-part video series, How to Make Turkey and Gravy ). Any Thanksgiving dinner expert will tell you, it's not a great turkey that makes the meal, it's what you pair it with. What good is a beautiful bird dressed with a bunch of so-so sides? I was just about to make an inappropriate "gorgeous dress, with shabby lingerie" analogy, but I think you get the point. So, without further adieu (that's French, like the good lingerie) , here are some of my favorite side dish recipe videos, all of which would make a lovely addition to your holiday spread. Enjoy! Creamed Spinach Creamy Corn Custard Pecan and Apricot Sourdough Bread Stuffing Green Bean and Blue Cheese Gratin Lime and Chipotle Glazed Sweet Potatoes Celery Root and Potato ...

As you decide on what to include in your fabulous array of vegetable side dishes for the upcoming holiday feasts, keep one thing in mind. No guts, no glory. For some reason, normally adventurous cooks when faced with a house full of hungry relatives, play scared. It's probably driven by the desire to want everyone to enjoy everything (you know that's impossible, right?). Serving something too exotic just doesn't seem prudent. I take a different approach. Since these holiday meals are one of the rare times we get to serve multiple side dishes, I think it's the perfect occasion for springing a surprise or two. This lovely red curry butternut squash certainly fits the bill. Sweet, spicy, and mysterious – this turkey-friendly side dish won't be everyone's cup of tea, but for those at the table that let it work its magic, it promises to be one of their favorite parts of the meal. Like I said, there are plenty of other side dishes on hand, so even if the worse case sc...

It’s always nice when you start out making one thing, and it unexpectedly turns into something else, which ends up being far better than you expected. Such was the case with this quite homely, yet amazingly delicious sweet corn and wild mushroom spoonbread. I was trying to do a simple, wild mushroom-studded, sweet corn casserole to reinforce our holiday side dish repertoire, and before I knew it, I was eating the best, most flavorful cornbread dressing I’d ever tasted. Not only that, but we completely eliminated the step of having to make corn bread first! Of course, I wish I could do stuff like this on purpose, but like my golf buddies used to say, “better lucky, than good.” The only drawback, as I obsessed over in the video, was the less that stellar appearance when it came out of the oven.  I may try some type of gratin topping next time, but honestly, this was so wonderful tasting that I can’t even pretend to be upset over such superficial concerns.  I hope you give it a ...

Sorry about that S.A.T. flashback. It's not easy to post dressing recipes this time of year, because of the annoying fact that they have two names - dressing and stuffing. They're the same recipe, except stuffing gets cooked in the turkey, and dressing bakes in a casserole dish separately. I fear that if I call it a Pecan and Apricot Stuffing, then someone searching for a delicious dressing recipe won't find it, and visa versa. I tend to go with stuffing since dressing is also something we put on salads, and that adds another level of confusion. Thus concludes my stuffing and/or dressing rant. By the way, I'm going to repost this video recipe in July and remind you that dressing/stuffing is a great and easy side dish, and there is no reason to only eat it at holiday meals. Think of all the stale bread that goes in the trash in an average year. I estimate it to be about 570 pounds per person (this is just a guess and could be a little off). Enjoy…and not just at Thanksgi...

Here we go again, delving into the treacherous topic of changing up your traditional Thanksgiving side dishes. This time, it’s an old-fashioned cracker dressing vying to be that surprise, uninvited guest. Sure some you alternative lifestylists may go for the cornbread, but generally, bread-based variations rule the day. There’s a great reason for th is ; they’re easy, delicious, and most importantly, very familiar. Therein lies the problem. Why mess with past success? Your loved ones wait all year for your Thanksgiving feast, so why take the chance of disappointing them on the big day? You have the entire rest of the year to do that. Anyway, I’m not going to try and convince you that this is a superior dressing, or that you should change your regular routine, but if you’re someone wh o's looking for a change of pace dressing, that’s still very familiar and comforting, this could be the one. Of course, you can use whatever ingredients you normally add to your bread dressing, and ...

It funny how certain food memories stick in your brain, and this maple walnut cranberry sauce is the result of one such remembrance. I can’t tell you when or where, but sometime during my formative years I saw a cranberry sauce loaded with chopped walnuts, and I totally freaked.  Not outwardly, as I have a decent poker face, but inside I was like, “what the hell is that?” That’s how it was for me early in life. If I saw a food prepared differently from the way I’d always seen it, I just assumed it was a terrible idea. Like ketchup on a hot dog…okay, so I happened to be right that time, but generally it’s not a great attitude to have. As I pondered this season’s annual Thanksgiving cranberry sauce, and which styles I hadn’t tried yet, I remembered how off-putting that walnut-studded version was, and I decided to face my demons. I’m happy to report, as usual, I was totally wrong. It works perfectly. Besides the nuts, I really enjoyed the job the maple syrup did sweetening the acidic ...

If someone calls your green bean casserole “soupy,” it’s usually not a compliment. Here though, it’s completely appropriate. I wanted to rework the iconic Thanksgiving side dish, and wondered what would happen if I brought in some of the tastes and textures that make French onion soup such a favorite. Somewhat strangely, the final product didn’t remind me at all of French onion soup, but was quite delicious nonetheless, and would certainly be well received around your holiday table. Caramelized onions and melted Gruyere cheese are never a bad idea together, and would make for a great alternative to the old, canned fried onion-topped version. One small change I would make next time, and that I’ve added to the ingredients list, is a small splash of sherry vinegar added to the onion mixture. As you hardcore foodwishers know, that is the secret ingredient in our famous French onion soup recipe , and I believe it would have better balanced out the sweetness of the dish. Of course, it goes ...

Of all the traditional Thanksgiving side dishes, sweet potato casserole scares me the most. Luckily, for the vast majority of holiday meals, I’ve been the one who got to decide on and cook the menu. But there have been the rare occasions when I’ve been a guest at someone’s home, and subjected to the horror that is the mini marshmallow-topped dish of sweet potatoes. Don’t get me wrong, when it comes to food, I’m as opened-minded as anyone...hey, one time, I actually ate a McRib...but I just don’t understand taking something already as sweet as sweet potatoes, and topping it with one of the sweetest ingredients ever. Sure, my topping has some brown sugar in it, but I think it’s balanced nicely by the crunchy savoriness of the pistachios. I also forgo the usual scoop of sugar in the filling for a much smaller amount of maple syrup (which, contrary to what you learned in school, is a one-syllable word). The result is a rich and decadent, yet not cloyingly sweet side dish. By the way, as I ...

As promised, here’s the celery root purée seen underneath our recently posted crispy pork belly video . To be honest, I’m not a huge root vegetable guy, but celeriac, as it’s called in certain parts, is something I really enjoy. Plus, I’m a sucker for ugly produce. I joked in the video that celery root tastes like celery, if celery actually tasted good, and for the most part this is true. The flavor is quite mild and pleasant, and the texture is somewhat similar to mashed potatoes. Considering this stuff is only about 5% starch, somewhat similar it’s pretty good. This simple puree is a very versatile side dish, but the tasty root will also work sliced thin and layered in a gratin, either with or without the aforementioned potatoes. I hope you give this great fall and winter vegetable a try soon. Enjoy! Ingredients for 6 portions: 1 large celery root, about 1 pound 1 lemon salt to taste 2 tbsp butter 1/3 cup cream or milk, or as needed to adjust texture cayenne to taste

As I enjoyed this very tasty Brussels sprouts with warm bacon dressing recipe, I was reminded Thanksgiving side dish decision time is rapidly approaching. It’s that annual dilemma where we’re forced to choose five or six recipes among hundreds of potentially awesome options. What makes this decision so tough is that you want things that are traditional and comforting, but at the same time, want to keep the menu fresh and interesting. You love those buttery mashed potatoes, and yet you’ve wanted to make twice-baked potatoes for years. You always make Grandma’s chestnut stuffing, but that spicy cornbread version you saw on Pinterest sure looks amazing. What do you do? Do what I do; keep the starchy cornerstones classic, and switch up the vegetable sides instead. Go ahead and do your favorite and familiar potato, stuffing, and gravy recipe; but when it comes to tired old dishes like green bean casserole, or peas and carrots, let your freak flag fly. As long as you have a few comfort food...