Smoke Signals

What does the message say? Depends on the smoke. If it enhances paprika, it speaks of a richness and depth of flavor the flame’s intensity imparts only after it smolders. When the heat is gone, more subtle and mysterious tastes emerge and accent the pepper’s own easy, fleeting, and never quite tasted, fire. It’s this…

Runneth Over

Nearly bursting with goodness, these lettuce cups are. A satiny summer salad featuring shrimp, avocados and lobster – yes, lobster! – fills each leaf with a light yet succulent meal. Perfect punctuation for a cooling breeze breaking up the swelter, either a comma or an exclamation point. Fine Cooking dreamt of such refreshment when it…

Will It All Fit?

Maybe not. So much jostles in this week’s soup, it’s unlikely one stockpot will hold everything. What…in one bowl? Come on, you’ve got to be joking. Yet somehow, Tom Kha manages it. Here’s a Thai prawn and scallop soup which contains not only the titular seafood – two kinds at that – but power hitters…

Concentrate

All right, here’s a challenge.  How do you take a pot of shrimp and pasta, perfectly prepared to delight you and dinner guests, then pour in five cups of stock, and avert disaster?  Not just that, but bring it instead to triumph, much better than what originally was intended?  Quite a baffler.  Is there a solution?  There…

Dabbling in Stocks

Stocks are simple, really. Pick a good one and, if things work as they should, a modest investment up front will yield generous dividends for a long time. This applies to investments, and doubly so to soup stocks. This site doesn’t have much to say about financial planning, though, which leaves only one topic, a…

There Once Was a Chef on Nantucket…

Who used oysters and clams by the bucket Until one day the market ran dry So the chef asked, “Why not give lobsters a try?” To those who think chowder means clams, I say…” The rest has been lost, but you might speculate. Point is, summer often includes a trip to the beach, and shore…

Two for One

Really, it’s a marvel of applications.  Create one creamy, savory garlic-butter sauce flecked with chopped cilantro, and use it for both parts of today’s meal, the shrimp and the baguette.  Use the same grill even to cook both.  One sauce, two creations – Shrimp Scampi and Garlic Bread.  What a bang for that particular buck!…

Paella’s Long-Lost Cousin

So to speak. When the Spanish Empire was in full swing, the mother country influenced much more than just political affairs. She kept matters culinary within her orbit too. Local ingredients and techniques offered countless varieties, but they all flowered from a common inspiration. Such is the case with Caracas-Style Rice with Shrimp. Sure, it…

Master of Disguise

Before you is risotto.  Looks about right, especially with the shrimp.  Smells good too, as there’s a faint trace of lemony freshness.  Risotto is made with rice, right?  Maybe it is, usually, but in this case, the grain of choice is a pasta, orzo.  The pasta even looks like rice, it’s cooked al dente, just…

It’s Quick

That’s the whole concept of tempura – once the oil is hot enough to begin bubbling, lightly battered food is dipped in it just long enough to flash cook it and to seal in the flavors.  The batter actually protects the food from the oil and ensures the edibles are steamed, not fried, and that…