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5 fancy finger foods for New Year's Eve: Start that party in style!

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Buckwheat blini with crab salad

By Leslie Brenner

Start off a New Year’s Eve celebration with a delicious bang, end with a flourish, and it almost doesn’t matter what you serve in-between. You could even just make dinner out of fancy finger foods. Here are some snazzy ideas, from five of my favorite cookbook authors.

Buckwheat Blini with Crab Salad

These tender little blini — from Roxana Jullapat’s Mother Grains — are just incredible. If crabmeat is too expensive, you can top them instead with a smear of crème frâiche and a bit of smoked trout or salmon. Either way, they’re dreamy with Champagne.

Andrea Nguyen’s Mushroom Pâté Puffs

Easy and elegant, these hot hors d’oeuvres are made using frozen puff pastry. They’re from Andrea Nguyen’s Vietnamese Food Any Day.

Cacio e Pepe Cheese Coins

Savory cheese biscuits with their edges rolled in cracked pepper: And yes, they’re as insanely good as they sound. Whether you’re entertaining at home or headed to friends’ and want to bring something stupendous, you can’t do better than this. They’re adapted from Nancy Silverton’s The Cookie That Changed My Life.

‘Wine Style’ Marinated Mushrooms

Add toothpicks to these terrific, juicy little mushrooms and they become finger food. They’re from Wine Style by Kate Leahy. Oh, and they’re vegan.

Claudia Roden’s Buñuelos de Bacalao

Cod fritters — a popular tapa in Spain — make terrific New Year’s Eve bites. Claudia Roden’s version, from her momumental cookbook The Food of Spain, starts with fresh cod rather than salt cod, so no overnight soaking is required. They’re a real treat.

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Dreamy and indulgent, gratin dauphinois — French potatoes au gratin — is a spectacular holiday side-dish

By Leslie Brenner

It’s hard to think of a side-dish more luxurious than gratin dauphinois. Not much more than thinly sliced potatoes layered with butter and cream, it’s soft and luscious on the inside, with a gorgeously browned (“gratinée”) crusty top that adds fabulous texture. It’s simple and perfect — the ideal accompaniment to all kinds of roasts and other meats and poultry.

RECIPE: Gratin Dauphinois

Traditionally, the dish is made without cheese, but if you prefer a cheesy version, go ahead and scatter grated Gruyère on top before baking.

Want to learn more about its history? Here’s a deep dive:

READ: “To make a traditional gratin dauphinois, back away from the cheese”

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Bake a classic French lemon tart, to make your holidays bright

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By Leslie Brenner

It may seem counter-intuitive, but winter is citrus season — which works out fabulously, as citrus flavors are so bright and sunny.

That’s why a classic French lemon tart — tarte au citron — makes such a lovely ending to holiday celebrations of any kind.

I’ve been perfecting this tart recipe for eons. It features a tender, crisp, buttery short crust that doesn’t require rolling out (yay!). I like making the curd the day before I want to bake, so it has time to chill; it’s also nice to make the crust up to the point of chilling it in the tart pan, so all that’s left to do the day-of is blind-baking iand cooling it, then filling and baking it again.

Are you in possession of some Meyer lemons? Go ahead and use them — that’s wonderful, too.

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Making out-of-this-world heirloom-corn tamales is totally within your power!

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By Leslie Brenner

[Editor’s note: This article was first published, in slightly different form, on Dec. 8, 2021.]

If you’ve always wanted to try making tamales for Christmas, but something inevitably got in the way (yep, it sounds pretty intimidating!), this is a great year to dive in with your maiden effort. It’s super fun, the rewards are great, and it’s easier than you might think.

Best of all, heirloom corn masa harina is now widely available. It makes tamales that are about a thousand times better than those made with Maseca or other commercial masa harina. I love the product from Masienda, which is now available at many fine supermarkets (including Whole Foods Markets), as well as through Amazon. Choose any color you like — yellow, white, blue, red, or more than one. King Arthur also sells an organic masa harina that’s much better than Maseca.

READ: “The Masa Life, Part I: How heirloom corn masa harina can transform everyday cooking”

How do blue corn tamales filled with duck in dark mole sound? Or vegan tamales filled with roasted sweet potato and vegetable picadillo — served with salsa macha? Yes, I thought so!

Why tamales, why now?

Until a few years ago, I thought that making tamales might not be worth the trouble. Most tamales I’d ever eaten — even those that came wrapped in great reputations — had just been OK at best. Usually the masa was not terribly flavorful, often on the heavy side, with not enough (or not delicious enough) filling.

Then I tasted Olivia Lopez’s tamales, made with masa fashioned from heirloom corn. (As you know if you’ve been reading Cooks Without Borders’ Mexican cooking features for any length of time, we are super fortunate to have Olivia as our resident Mexican cooking expert.) Of course much of her tamales’ lusciousness is thanks to her skill and palate — as chef and co-owner of Molino Olōyō in Dallas, the smashing tamales Olivia has been selling since last year through her Instagram feed quickly developed a cult following. (She doesn’t yet have a brick-and-mortar location.)

But another big part of the reason for Olivia’s tamales’ great flavor is the quality of the heirloom corn from Mexico that she nixtamalizes to make her masa.

For a story I published in The Dallas Morning News a few years ago, Olivia developed a recipe for a Sweet Pineapple Tamal using then-newly available heirloom masa harina from Masienda, and the tamales were spectacular.

And so (Christmas lightbulb illuminating — ding ding ding!) for the holiday season, Olivia developed and shared with us two savory tamal recipes using heirloom masa harina.

They’re out of this world — and believe it or not, not difficult to make.

First is the vegan tamal — one that gets its lushness from coconut oil, rather than the usual lard. It’s filled with roasted sweet potato and a vegetable picadillo. “That picadillo is inspired by the one my Grandma Margarita used to make,” says Olivia. The confetti-like sauté of onions, carrots, tomato, chiles, golden raisins and more is also versatile beyond tamales; if you have any left over, you can use it to fill tetelas, sopes or quesadillas. (I filled tetelas with a little extra picadillo and roasted sweet potato — fantastic.)

Sweet Potato and Vegetable Picadillo Tamales, prepared using Masienda heirloom masa harina, from Olivia Lopez’s recipe

In Mexico, Olivia tells us, tamales are usually eaten on their own, generally not with any salsa. “Usually you just have them with atole,” she says. “Masa on masa!” (Atole is a sweet, hot drink made with masa.) But she loves the late-autumn/early winter flavors of the vegan tamal with salsa macha — and we happen to have a great recipe for that, as well (Olivia’s!).

Our second tamal — blue corn filled with pato en mole oscuro (duck in dark mole) — has a saucy flourish as well: a quickly put-together chimichurri-like salsa made from dried tart cherries, chives (or scallion tops), parsley and lime. “It balances the rich, earthy mole,” says Olivia. Beautifully, I would add.

Tamales de Pato en Mole Oscuro (duck in dark mole), with Tart Cherry-Chive Salsa — prepared from recipes by Molino Oloyo chef and co-owner Olivia Lopez

The tamal’s filling is achieved by roasting duck legs (easy), then saucing the shredded duck in a dark mole that’s also easier to put together than I imagined. (Empowering!) You can use the duck fat that renders when you slow-roast those legs to enrich the masa, or use olive oil — again, no lard. Our instructions have you wrap the tamales in banana leaves before steaming, but corn husks work just as well. The vegan tamales call for corn husks, but they’re also interchangeable — as is the color of heirloom masa harina you use, yellow, blue, rose or white.

Don’t freak out when you see the long recipes — the reason for their wordiness is we’re holding your hand tight, to make sure you’re comfortable with what may be a new process, and to ensure you get great results. To that end, we put together a tip sheet.

And finally, here is the recipe for Olivia’s Sweet Pineapple Tamales. We love pineapple’s sunny and bright flavor during winter’s chill — makes us (almost!) feel we’re in Colima, Mexico, Olivia’s home town. If only!

Want to keep the Sweet Pineapple Tamal vegan? Easy to do — the crema garnish is optional. And all three are gluten-free.

Happy Tamalidays!

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Recipe of the Day: Claudia Roden's Green Olive, Walnut and Pomegranate Salad

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By Leslie Brenner

Gorgeous and festive, this salad — adapted from Claudia Roden’s Mediterranean — is ideal for this time of year, when pomegranates are still looking great in the markets. With green olives, walnuts and scallions and a lot of parsley, it’s tossed with a tangy dressing based on pomegranate molasses and finished with pomegranate seeds.

It’s a specialty of Gaziantep, Turkey.

If you’re like me and you keep packages of walnuts in your freezer, toast them for four or five minutes in a 350-degree F / 175-degree C oven to bring them back to life before roughly chopping them.

It’s a perfect starter to precede the Palestinian dish Chicken Musakhan, saucy Lamb Meatballs, Chickpeas and Swiss Chard with Yogurt or Moussaka. You can also serve it as part of a vegan mezze, or bring it to a potluck or Friendsgiving.

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Want to channel star chef Kwame Onwuachi in your kitchen? Make his jambalaya

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By Leslie Brenner

There may be no more exciting chef on the American cooking scene these days than Kwame Onwuachi. The creator of highly acclaimed New York City hot spot Tatiana and author of two books seems to be everywhere.

In September he opened a new restaurant in Washington, D.C, Dōgon, and then last month added a 4-seat tasting counter within it, called Sirius.

Pete Wells profiled Onwuachi in the New York Times [read the story without a paywall through Dec. 3, 2024].

Last February, I wrote about Onwuachi’s jambalaya. The dish carries deep meaning for the chef, whose Baton Rouge-born mother made it for him when he was growing up.

READ: “Kwame Onwuachi’s jambalaya is a thrilling expression of a Creole classic”

The jambalaya Onwuachi included in My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef is hands-down the best I’ve ever had. Our adaptation streamlines his version for home cooks.

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Ten iconic soups from around the world

By Leslie Brenner

The calendar and the thermometer may disagree about whether it’s soup season yet, but many of us could probably benefit from some comfort in a pot. Here are 10 iconic soups (none of them cold!) from around the world.

Ashkenazi Chicken Soup (a.k.a. Jewish Penicillin)

Because I grew up with it, I’m leading off with Ashkenazi Chicken Soup, also known as “Jewish Penicillin.” My mom’s recipe is traditional, passed down through grandmas and aunts. It always tastes like love and hits the spot.

Miso Soup

Japan’s most world-famous soup is easier to conjure than you might think. Once you prepare dashi (which comes together in about 15 minutes), you just stir in miso and add tofu and garnishes. Keep the dashi on hand for more rounds of super-quick miso soup.

RECIPE: Miso Soup

Ash-e-Reshteh ~ Persian New Year’s Bean Soup

Traditionally served for Norooz, Persian New Year, ash-e-reshte is also terrific whenever it’s chilly out and you want a lift. It calls for mixed dried beans, so it’s perfect for using up bean odds and ends. It’s also packed with parsley, spinach and scallions, making it highly restorative. Our version is adapted from Naomi Duguid’s gorgeous book, Taste of Persia.

Ye Ocholoni Ina Doro Shorba ~ Ethiopian Peanut-Chicken Soup

Peanut soups are popular throughout East and West Africa, as Jenn Louis explained in her wonderful 2020 book The Chicken Soup Manifesto. This one — from Ethiopia — is rich, soothing and warmly spiced.

Tom Kha Kai

Thailand’s tangy coconut-galangal chicken soup is not only one of the world’s greatest soups; it’s also one of the world’s greatest dishes. You may be surprised that this make-at-home version — from Leela Punyaratabandhu’s Simple Thai Food — can be easily as good as what you get at your favorite Thai restaurant. Maybe even better!

RECIPE: Tom Kha Kai

Minestrone

There are plenty of mediocre minstrones sloshing around American soup pots, but a minestrone can be so good it can make you cry. Ours, made with turnips and Tuscan kale, may require a handkerchief.

Classic Split Pea Soup

Ridiculously easy to make (time does all the work), classic split pea soup is one of those formulas that needs no embellishment. It’s simple and perfect.

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Frankie Gaw, the talented blogger behind Little Fat Boy, describes Beef Noodle Soup as “the national dish of Taiwan” — can’t get more iconic than that! His Uncle Jerry’s recipe comes by way of Gaw’s delightful cookbook, First Generation.

Canja de Galinha ~ Brazilian Chicken and Rice Soup

“For us, it’s our chicken noodle soup.” That’s how Brazilian-born Junior Borges describes canja de galinha. We were thrilled when the James Beard Award-nominated chef shared his updated version of his grandmother’s recipe with us.

Pozole Rojo

We have two recipes for Mexico’s iconic hominy soup: one relatively easy and good, the other elaborate and worth the extra effort if you’re ambitious.

The ambitious one begins with dried corn kernels — our recipe shows you how to nixtamalize them. (Nixtamalization is the same process used to make dried corn suitable for grinding into masa for tortillas.) It’s a big production, for sure, but well worth doing at least once if you love Mexican cooking. If you’re going to go to all this trouble, you’ll want to use heirloom corn.

The easier one — from Mely Martínez’s The Mexican Home Kitchen — uses hominy from a can.

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The south of France shimmers and delights in the engaging cookbook ‘Niçoise’ — until it doesn’t

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By Leslie Brenner

A cookbook starring the delights of France’s “sunniest city” — Nice? Count me in!

That was my thought last summer when I learned that Rosa Jackson, who has run a well known cooking school in Nice for the last 20 years, had published a cookbook. On the cover: a pan bagnat, the juicy sandwich layered with tuna, tomato slices, crunchy vegetables, basil, egg and anchovy that’s a signature in the south of France. Jackson includes a recipe for the roll that gets soaked (pan bagnat means “bathed bread”), so I was even more excited.

On top of it, the inside cover features glowing blurbs from food-world luminaries including Alain Ducasse, David Lebovitz, Molly Stevens and Susan Hermann Loomis.

I dove right in and was instantly charmed — first by Jackson’s delightful introductory essay. Did you know that Niçoise cuisine developed in part by putting its own twists on dishes from Piedmont and Liguria? I didn’t. “Somehow, apart from salade Niçoise and ratatouille,” writes Jackson, “Niçoise cooking has remained a bit of a secret, even in France.” Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen’s inviting photography helped make the case, irresistibly.

Next I was smitten by a summery Salade de Couscous, couscous salad. You find these all over France, and Jackson gives hers a ratatouille-inspired spin, adding small-diced zucchini, bell peppers and onions to the grains. Raisins, cinnamon and cumin pay respect to North Africa; fresh mint and parsley and lots of lemon add lift. This is so good! I’ve made it several times since. Next time I’ll double the recipe, as it’s terrific just-out of the fridge.

Tian de Courgettes et de Chèvre (zucchini baked with eggs and goat cheese) is somewhere between a frittata and a crustless quiche. The zucchini blossoms topping it are optional.

Jackson’s Tian de Courgettes et de Chevre — zucchini baked with eggs and goat cheese — also got an encore. It’s especially nice when you can find zucchini blossoms, which I couldn’t the first time around.

A recipe for Choux Farcis (stuffed cabbage) in a brilliantly simple tomato sauce was wonderful, too, as was a thick, luscious Flan Pâtissier — vanilla custard tart.

After that, it’s complicated

There are so many good ideas in this book; for instance, I’ll be using that quick-to-make tomato sauce with all kinds of things. Jackson’s aesthetic is utterly appealing and she has a great palate.

But a number of recipes I tested were flops — or would have been, had I not made radical adjustments.

Carré d’Agneau, Croûte aux Herbes (rack of lamb with mustard-herb crust), which we saved from over-roasting

You don’t have to be an expert to know that racks of lamb you first sear and then roast for 35 to 40 minutes will be way past the desired medium-rare. And goodness, no — an internal temperature between 150 and 160 degrees F (60 and 70 C) — does not result in medium-rare meat! (See the chart in J. Kenji López-Alt’s The Food Lab, which says 150 is medium-well and 160 is well-done.) After spending something like $75 for those ingredients, I’m glad I didn’t follow that recipe to the letter.

However, the bright green, super herbal and garlicky Provençal Breadcrumbs Jackson concocted to coat the lamb were so good on their own that I tried them, as directed, on her Tomates Provençales. Jackson describes the finished tomatoes in her headnote as “meltingly soft but crunchy.” After 2 minutes searing on a frying pan and 20 minutes in the oven, mine were soft enough to eat without teeth. The recipe had called for baking them a whole hour.

Saddest of all, the thing I was most excited to make — that juicy sandwich known as Pan Bagnat, Nice’s iconic treat, the sandwich that graces the cover of the book — was an unmitigated flop. The rolls I was instructed to bake for them turned out beautiful-looking, but terribly, inedibly dry, and there wasn’t a tomato in the world whose slices were juicy enough to revive them. They sure looked pretty, but I had to reclaim their fillings and turn them into a salad.

How can a cookbook with so much that’s wonderful include such egregious mistakes? Has the world of cookbook publishing changed so much since I last published a title that no one tests recipes nor copy edits, nor holds authors accountable for the workability of their recipes anymore? Do editors and publishers stop to think about the small fortunes readers are forking over at the supermarket to excitedly recreate the dishes so lovingly styled and photographed in the books that, by the way, the reader also spent a pretty penny to procure? Or is the assumption that no one actually cooks these things?

If Niçoise were an anomaly, I’d probably have let it go, and simply skipped reviewing it. But these are the kinds of errors I’m finding in so many new cookbooks these days, especially cookbooks by well known authors published by top publishing houses.

In a world that’s small, where cookbook authors probably have no more than one or two degrees of separation from the writer publishing a review, it’s not easy to be so critical. My hope, though, is that Niçoise — which again, has so much going for it — sells well enough in its first run that it gets reprinted, that the first edition’s errors will be corrected in the second printing, and that it goes on to become a fabulously successful backlist title. (That’s the publishing term for a book that stays in print for years or even decades.)

I’ll keep my copy, mistakes and all, on a prominent shelf, there for when I want to be inspired and transported to the South of France.

Niçoise: Market-Inspired Cooking from France’s Sunniest City, by Rosa Jackson; photography by Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen; W.W. Norton & Company, $39.00

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Kamala Harris' favorite foods (gumbo! lamb meatballs! roast chicken!) are ideal for debate night dinners

By Leslie Brenner

What’s better than dinner and a show? Dinner and a show when the show is a presidential debate!

In preparation for the match-up between President Biden and former president Trump back in June, we chased down the favorite foods of presidents and former presidents for inspiration.

This time around, we have a very different situation: Vice President Kamala Harris, a dedicated home cook and true food lover with wide-ranging tastes, will be pitted against the former president, a fan of fast food and overcooked steak.

This blows the what-to-cook on debate night issue wide open, with some exciting possibilities. In my household it definitely won’t be overcooked steak. Instead it will be one of the Vice President’s favorite foods.

Shrimp, Andouille Sausage and Okra Gumbo

We’ll be serving up bowls of gumbo as the debaters get underway.

In an interview posted to her YouTube channel, Harris talked about why the Louisiana specialty is one of her favorite foods:

“I love gumbo. I was raised by my by mother, and then my second mother, Ms. Shelton, who was from Louisiana, and she made the best gumbo — and I  have been  a lifelong gumbo apprentice learning how to make gumbo my whole life. I’ve never mastered it like she did, but that’s one of my favorite foods probably.” — Vice President Kamala Harris

Bowls of it (served with Louisiana hot sauce, which Harris also loves) will be easy to manage TV-side, and we’re in high okra season. A fine situation all around.

Perfect Easy Roast Chicken

Roast chicken, another Harris favorite (she shared her method with Glamour magazine four years ago), would also be a terrific choice — great with potato salad and greens (yet another Harris favorite).

Chicken Salad Tostadas

Or serve assemble-your-own chicken tostadas. Simmer up a pot of beans, set out salad greens and shredded roast chicken (either leftover or pick up a supermarket rotisserie bird) and let the layering begin. Harris mentioned in her Glamour interview that chicken tostadas are one of the many ways she repurposes leftover roast chicken.

Did you know that lamb meatballs are part of Vice President Harris’ repertoire? In 2018 she told The Cut about some that she made “with mint and parsley and a little cilantro.” Sounds a lot like our lamb meatballs with parsley, mint, garlic and pine nuts — which would make an outstanding debate night treat. You could serve them with rice (a Harris family favorite) or couscous.

RECIPE: Lamb Meatballs

Yangzhou Fried Rice

And speaking of rice, fried rice is also highly appreciated in Harris’ household. “We actually love fried rice,” the Vice President told chef Tom Colicchio four years ago. “We’ve been doing a lot of fried rice.”

Hard to imagine a dreamier debate dinner.

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Got zucchini blossoms? Bake them into a gorgeous tian de courgettes

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By Leslie Brenner

Next time you see a pile of beautiful squash blossoms in your farmers market, or happen upon them in your summer garden, consider this: You don’t have to fry them uniess you want to.

If you’d rather not stand over that hot oil, make this Tian de Courgettes et de Chèvre, from Rosa Jackson’s new book Niçoise: Market-Inspired Cooking from France’s Sunniest Region. A tian, if you’re unfamiliar, is a baked vegetable dish from Provence, named for the earthenware dish it’s baked in. Jackson gives hers half a dozen eggs, some cream and crumbled goat cheese; she describes it as “like a baked frittata or crustless quiche.”

I love it because the eggs, cream and cheese round out the flavor of the zucchini, with basil as a lovely accent. The zucchini blossoms get halved, brushed with olive oil and laid on top of the tian in a sunburst pattern, and the result is gorgeous.

I first made the dish during a part of the summer that was so hot here in Dallas that we weren’t getting zucchini blossom in the market. Jackson calls the blossoms “optional,” so I went ahead and made it without. Pretty damn good!

Now that it has cooled a bit, the blossoms are there for the snagging, so I was excited to make It again with the sunburst final flourish.

Even better. Do try it, should those blossoms beckon.

If you enjoyed this story, we think you’ll like:

READ: “Zucchini and friends: late summer’s greatest plate-mates”

EXPLORE: All the French recipes at Cooks Without Borders

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Zucchini and friends: late summer’s greatest plate-mates

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By Leslie Brenner

Nature has a remarkable ability to create harmony on a plate. That’s why if you stick with what’s emphatically in season, it’s hard to go wrong.

This time of year, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, okra and corn are bountiful in American markets and gardens, and they’re incredibly easygoing. Throw them together in nearly any combination in pan or on grill, their flavors start singing, and everybody wins.

You might think of zucchini as their bandleader. Cartoonishly prolific in late summer, the affable summer squash plays well with everyone. So do tomato, its umami-packed pal, and peppers, whether sweet or hot. They’re all Meso-American in origin, as is corn. Zucchini is a cultivar of Cucurbito pepo, which gardeners have been growing in parts of what’s now Texas and all over Mexico for 8,000 to 10,000 years.

Okra is in peak season as well. Not a native to the Americas, its appearance here was diasporic; it was grown by in the Carolinas by enslaved African people. Today, stateside, it’s mostly grown in Florida and Texas.

Eggplant is also an immigrant to America, having traveled here — and to the Mediterranean — from Asia. Botanically it’s a cousin to tomatoes and peppers, all being nightshades.

So, how to throw them together deliciously?

Try a shrimp sauté with zucchini, tomato and corn, like the one shown above. It shows best with wild shrimp from the Gulf, which the Meso-Americans would also have enjoyed. Our recipe includes serrano chiles, crisply grilled okra and lots of cilantro, but it’s endlessly riffable. Recently I skipped the okra, swapped the serranos for sweet, mild red bell pepper, and used fresh basil in place of cilantro — giving it a Cal-Italian vibe.

Shrimp sauté with zucchini, corn, red bell pepper and basil

RECIPE: Shrimp Sauté with Texas Veg

Whether you’re doing a shrimp sauté (chicken works great too) with this group of veg, or just throwing the vegetable pals together in a pan, herbs and spices can add pizzazz and depth. Besides cilantro and basil, thyme, parsley, marjoram, oregano work great with these guys.

Oregano is front-and-center in one of my all-time favorite dishes by Yotam Ottolenghi, Stuffed Zucchini with Pine Nut Salsa. Cherry tomatoes and lemon zest add bright exclamation points. Enriched with egg and rounded out with breadcrumbs, it makes a fine main course, as well as a spectacular accompaniment to grilled lamb or chicken. The dish may have been born across the pond, but it’s very much at home on either side of it.

Stuffed zucchini (courgettes) with pine-nut salsa from Ottolenghi Simple

Zucchini and friends, Mediterranean-style

What if eggplant is one of the friends? Think Mediterranean, and reach for a roasted ratatouille.

Why roasted? Disenchanted with watery, soggy renditions of the French favorite, I thought maybe sending the eggplant, peppers, zucchini and garlic into the oven for a spell would deepen their flavors and keep them more distinct.

It did indeed, and now I’d never make ratatouille any other way.

It’s a delightful dish for summer-into-fall.

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A gorgeous salade niçoise may be the perfect Olympics-watching platter

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By Leslie Brenner

[Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles about dishes suited to watching and celebrating the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.]

It’s cool, it’s French, it’s healthful, it’s grazeable and it’s a meal on one plate: That’s why the composed salad known as salade niçoise is the ideal offering for Paris Olympics-watching.

Our version of salad niçoise is not the original real-deal: Citizens of Nice, France (from where the salad gets its name) might kick you out of their town for including potatoes and green beans, rather than fava beans and raw artichokes, the OG ingredients.

That’s OK: Dishes evolve, and sometimes it’s for the better. It’s hard to argue that what much of the world, and even France outside of Nice, calls a salad niçoise isn’t terrific. Slices of ripe tomato, cooled cooked potato, hard-boiled eggs, haricots verts, flaked tuna, radishes, anchovies and niçoise olives set on greens and dressed with vinaigrette is a marvelous thing. (The OG version used only olive oil, no vinegar, and didn’t always include tuna!)

How to elevate your evolved salade niçoise game? Use the best jarred or canned tuna (preferably olive-oil-packed) and anchovies you can find, Cook the eggs carefully so their yolks are more jammy than powdery. Use deliciously ripe heirloom tomatoes, and finish the salad with radishes and basil leaves — both of which the OG version often included.

Finally, use real niçoise olives if you can find them — it’s getting harder and harder in my neck of the woods. If you can’t, kalamatas will do.

For Olympics-watching, you might want to put out the salad un-dressed, with a pitcher of vinaigrette on the side, and let everyone drizzle their own. A sliced baguette, maybe a French cheese or two for après-salade, and you’ve got a dinner worthy of a podium finish.

RECIPE: Salade Niçoise

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When heirloom tomatoes meet nuoc cham, outrageously good salads happen

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By Leslie Brenner

Kitchen memory from when I was a wee thing: My mom biting into a large, ripe farm-stand tomato she held in her hand. She sprinkled a little salt on its exposed flesh before taking the next bite, then the next, and the next. Tomato gone. Bliss on my mom’s face. That was the most important lesson I’d ever learn about seasonal produce.

This was in the mid-1960s, in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. Farmers markets hadn’t yet taken hold of Southern California, but there were occasional farm stands scattered throughout the big valley. Ours, which we called “the corn stand,” was a couple miles away from our house. The way I remember it it was kind of a summer pop-up, bursting with stone fruits, corn. zucchini and yes, glorious tomatoes.

In those days, most Americans didn’t know how to zhuzzh ingredients just enough to make them sing and set them confidently on the table. The only basil in our houses was dried, probably ancient, and lived in a jar on the spice rack.

For my mom, that kind of simple, intuitive “cooking” only took place in the kitchen, around noon. Her favorite summer lunch was a tomato sandwich: slice of Wonder bread spread with mayo, slices of ripe tomato on top, sprinkle of salt, topped with another mayo-ed Wonder slice. When she cut it in half, you could see the juices of the tomato running pink into the mayo and white bread. It was not sophisticated, but it made the most of the tomato in a way that moved her. Both the sandwich and the tomato eaten out-of-hand dated back for her to the days when she was a kid in New Jersey during World War II, and her family had a victory garden. I can almost smell those Jersey tomatoes on their vines.

Only last year did I learn — from a New York Times Magazine story by Eric Kim — that a similar sandwich is classic in the American South. Kim had the brilliant idea to amp up the savoriness of the sandwich by sprinkling a little furikake (Japanese seasoning) on its mayo. Of course: As Kim explained in his accompanying recipe, the umami-rich furikake helps the tomatoes “taste even more of themselves.”

Wow — tomatoes are already high in umami (the fifth taste, often described as “savory”). Amping that up is such an interesting idea.

Inspiration in a bowl

That got me thinking about a salad I’d recently fallen in love with at Loro, a restaurant near my home in Dallas, Texas: cantaloupe, tomatoes, arugula and cucumber dressed with a tangy, lightly sweet, chile-inflected lime vinaigrette that sung with umami — maybe from fish sauce?

I had to figure out how to achieve something like this at home, and on a regular basis.

A dressing assist came from cookbook author Andrea Nguyen, who had put out a call for ideas for her to tackle in her Substack newsletter, Pass the Fish Sauce. Andrea conjured a wonderful Nước Chấm Vinaigrette — which I tweaked a little to get a dressing that works brilliantly in tomato salads.

Tomato, Cantaloupe and Cucumber Salad with Nước Chấm

A jar of it in hand, and lucky enough to be in possession of a beautifully ripe cantaloupe and some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, I pulled together a salad: chunks of the melon and tomato, plus avocado, smashed cucumber, a few mint leaves plucked from a pot on my patio and a happy dose of that dressing. And yes, Vietnamese fish sauce. Easy-to-find Red Boat, especially its less-easy-to-find Phamily Reserve, is probably my fave.

It was as captivating as I’d hoped.

Next day, I made another — no melon this time; this was tomatoes, cukes and avocado, with cilantro instead of mint and that same Nước Chấm Vinaigrette. Also wonderful! (That’s the one pictured at the top of this story.) The basic recipe lends itself to endless variations.

Now that tomatoes are back in season, I know what I need to do: Mix up a jar of the Nước Chấm Vinaigrette. That way when gorgeous tomatoes come my way, I’ll be ready to pounce.

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Paris Summer Food Games: An artichoke vinaigrette puts France at your fingertips

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By Leslie Brenner

[Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles about dishes suited to watching and celebrating the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.]

The French aren’t famous for eating with their fingers, but their approach to artichokes is a notable exception. Pull a leave off, dip the base in sauce (if the sauce is served on the side), scrape the base with your teeth and eat — that’s as French as it is American.

And because artichauts à la vinaigrette can be made ahead, chilled and then eaten cold (with your fingers!), they’re perfect for so many summer endeavors, from picnics and potlucks to having friends for drinks and apps, to snacking in front of the TV during the Paris Summer Olympics.

Our recipe has you pour the vinaigrette over the artichokes while they’re warm, but you could just as easily chill the boiled artichokes unadorned, and serve the vinaigrette separately, for dipping.

Need a quick primer on how to trim them for cooking? Find it in this article. And here’s the recipe:

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Paris Summer Food Games: Your Favorite Chocolate Mousse

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By Leslie Brenner

[Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles about dishes suited to watching and celebrating the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.]

We’re less than three weeks away from the opening ceremony of the Paris Summer Olympics. The two weeks of sports-watching that follows will certainly be even more fun with French snacks.

What could feel more French than keeping glasses or jars of chocolate mousse stashed in the fridge? Whip ‘em out to celebrate gold medals — or console yourself for a lackluster performance.

Our recipe makes a fabulous mousse — one thats easy and infinitely customizable. Flavor it with orange liqueur, coffee, amaretto, peppermint extract, Cognac or cardamom. Top it with whipped cream, cacao nibs, shaved chocolate, colorful sprinkles or whatever suits your fancy.

Sound like a plan? Here’s the recipe:

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Flavor on ice: cold soups for a hot summer

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By Leslie Brenner

When the going gets hot, cold soup is the answer.

My four favorite chilled soups — cacik, gazpacho sevillano, green gazpacho and cold beet borscht — are all wonderful in very different ways. In fact, they each have such distinct personality that you can keep them in rotation all season long and they’re always a thrill and a chill.

The first three can be made without even turning on the stove; the fourth — my mom’s borscht — requires simmering, but just half an hour’s worth.

Cacik: electricity not required

The traditional Turkish cold cucumber-and-yogurt soup known as cacik, which gets lovely herbal character from fresh mint and dill, requires no more elaborate equipment than a box grater and a whisk; I love how low-tech it makes me feel. Just grate some cukes, chop some herbs, whisk it all into yogurt with a little olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, and you’ve got cold comfort in a bowl. Not cold enough? Add a few ice cubes.

RECIPE: Cacik

Garnishes for Gazpacho Sevillano

Gazpacho Sevillano: a cold soup with rich history

Probably the most famous cold soup in the world, Gazpacho Sevillano is the tomato-happy classic born in Spain and loved all over the world. You may be surprised to learn that the original gazpacho Sevillano was made with bread, garlic, salt, olive oil and vinegar — no tomatoes (or cucumbers or peppers); its creation pre-dated the arrival of tomatoes in Europe. That’s why cooks who want to respect the soup’s origin story always include bread.

In Spain, the ideal is the smoothest gazpacho possible, and cooks love to have fun with the garnishes. The riper and more flavorful the tomatoes you use, the better your gazpacho will be — which is why I only make this soup in the summertime.

The Greenest Gazpacho: Tangy, vegan, gluten-free and nutty-rich

To make Gazpacho Sevillano’s beautiful green cousin, just throw everything in the blender or food processor and whir it up. But the flavors and vibe couldn’t be more different: This one tastes deliciously green. Cucumber, green bell pepper, celery and parsley are the purée’s vegetable players. Garlic and sherry vinegar add pizzazz, and raw almonds or cashews add body and richness. Lots of assorted fresh herbs on top make it a show-stopper.

Joan’s Cold Beet Borscht: Ashkenazi favorite

This is the cold soup I grew up with; it was one of my mom’s specialties — passed down from generations in her family. It’s one of my favorite summer foods.

Truth is, though, it’s similar to the cold beet borscht enjoyed by the Eastern European Jewish diaspora around the world. It’s very simple: Grate beets, then boil them with a handful of their leaves, plus salt. Add lemon juice and sugar, then chill and garnish with sour cream, chopped radishes and cukes, and whole boiled potatoes (if you feel like it).

It’s insanely good — way better than its humble ingedients would suggest.

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Debating what to cook for the debates? Make it presidential

By Leslie Brenner

Depending on where in the United States you’ll be watching, the first presidential debate of the 2024 election season will be broadcast right around dinnertime. Why not munch, as you watch, on some presidential favorite foods?

We’ve got you covered with recipes and ideas that would appeal to the current candidates, as well as past nominees.

Biden v Trump

Trump reportedly enjoys overcooked steaks — along with all manner of fast food, especially Big Macs. Not our jam at Cooks Without Borders! But potato chips, which he also loves (who doesn’t?), definitely are. Biden, on the other hand, adores chocolate chip ice cream, and likes to keep bunches of red grapes on hand.

Potato chips certainly make great TV munchies; so do red grapes, though they’re not in season (if you’re seeing them now, they’re probably from South America).

If you want a salty snack from the Democratic side, go with nuts: Peanuts were Jimmy Carter’s trademark, and Barack Obama was teased for snacking on exactly “seven lightly salted almonds” every evening.

More substantial fare

Presidents, and presidential candidates, have tended to have rather simple tastes — with a few notable exceptions. (We’re looking at you, Thomas Jefferson and John Kerry.) Even JFK, who famously brought in a French chef, René Verdon, to head the White House kitchen, liked simple things, according to the John F. Kennedy President Museum and Library, such as “lamb chops, steak, baked chicken, turkey (white meat) and mashed potatoes. He also was fond of seafood and baked beans.”

John Kerry — who was the Democratic nominee in 2004 (and later served as Secretary of State under President Obama) — was a closet gourmand. On the campaign trail he acted like a burger guy, but apparently it was all for show. “After the Kerry party chewed their burgers and slurped their Diet Cokes and Frosties,” reported the New York Times Magazine, “they retreated to their bus, where they were greeted with a meal smuggled in from the Newburgh Yacht Club: shrimp vindaloo, grilled diver sea scallops and prosciutto-wrapped stuffed chicken.” His opponent George Bush père, for his part, was known more for what he hated (broccoli!) than what he loved.

Chilled Pea Soup with Mint: a favorite of W

The second Bush president was actually fond of something that would make an outstanding debate-night TV dinner: Fresh pea soup with mint. This is according to Foodtimeline.org, which cites the late Walter Scheib, who was W’s White House chef.

We happen to have a fantastic recipe for it — though ours uses frozen peas (a state secret!).

Served chilled, Ridiculously Easy Minted Pea Soup makes a fine debate-night TV dinner.

RECIPE: Chilled Minted Pea Soup

From enchiladas to quinoa to salmon: Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton was partial to chicken enchiladas when he was president, and our Chicken Enchiladas Verdes would make a delightful debate-nite treat — especially as it can be made ahead and re-heated just before showtime.

Pre-plant-based Bill Clinton would probably have loved these chicken enchiladas.

You can serve the enchiladas on their own, or with Mexican Rice or Frijoles de Olla — or both!

RECIPE: Chicken Enchiladas Verdes

Later, for health reasons (a quadruple bypass!), Clinton adopted a strict vegan diet, and was said to eat a lot of quinoa. That makes me think he would love a spin on tabbouleh that comes from the Zahav cookbook: It swaps quinoa for bulghur and includes peas, parsley, red onion and mint.

Also great for debate night.

RECIPE: Zahav’s Quinoa, Pea and Mint Tabbouleh

Clinton wound up adding fish into his plant-based diet at the behest of his doctor, who wanted to steer him toward “good, quality protein” and not as much starch.

Poached salmon! What could be more perfect for a summertime TV dinner? Again, it’s entirely make-ahead, and it has the advantage of being served cold.

Cold Poached Salmon: Great for Clinton, but don’t offer this to Biden.

RECIPE: Cold Poached Salmon with Dill Sauce

Do not, however, offer poached salmon to President Biden, should he stop by your place for dinner while he’s on the campaign trail. According to his sister, Val, he is not a fan.

Reagan loved mac and cheese

According to Foodtimeline.org, Ronald Reagan stuck with the “plain foods of his early days” once he landed in the White House. “These include such homey dishes as Macaroni and Cheese, Meat Loaf, and Hamburger Soup.” Hamburger soup! Mac and cheese sounds better, and even it’s a bit wintry, it’s also super comforting — which we may appreciate on a night that’s bound to be divisive.

Chocolate chip ice cream — and then some

Whatever you choose on the savory side, President Biden’s favorite treat will be a great way to finish. Or maybe you’ll be watching from the East Coast, where the debate starts at 9 p.m., the perfect hour for ice cream.

You could go buy a pint or two of garden-variety chocolate chip, or you could whip up something really special: homemade Gianduja-Stracciatella Gelato.

The Italians, you see, invented chocolate chip ice cream — with a method known as stracciatella. To achieve it, you add melted chocolate to your ice cream when it’s done being churned, but still in the ice-cream machine: When it hits the ice cream, it hardens into “chips.”

Gianduja is a Piedmontese confection combining hazelnut paste and dark chocolate; it’s the inspiration for Nutella. Streaked with stracciatella, it’s outrageously good. Our recipe’s adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.

RECIPE: Gianduja-Stracciatella Gelato

Don’t forget to tune in Thursday evening!

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Cookbooks We Love: David Lebovitz's 'The Perfect Scoop' is the only ice cream book you'll ever need

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Our photo of ‘The Perfect Scoop’ shows the 2007 first-edition paperback, but our review refers to the 2018 updated and revised edition.

Our photo of ‘The Perfect Scoop’ shows the 2007 first-edition paperback, but our review refers to the 2018 updated and revised edition.

By Leslie Brenner

[This article updates one that was originally published on July 18, 2021.]

The Perfect Scoop: 200 Recipes for Ice Creams, Sorbets, Gelatos, Granitas and Sweet Accompaniments (revised and updated), by David Lebovitz, photographs by Ed Anderson, 2018, Ten Speed Press, $24.99

Backgrounder: David Lebovitz, who launched his career as pastry chef at Chez Panisse back in the 1980s, has an outstanding Substack newsletter chronicling his food-life in Paris; there’s also a lot of wonderful material (including recipes) on his blog and website. He is the author of many excellent books, including Drinking French, Ready for Dessert, My Sweet Life in Paris and others (he has published nine in total), and The Perfect Scoop is our favorite of them all. Originally published in 2007, Lebovitz revised and updated it in 2018, adding a dozen new recipes, and it is that edition that’s the basis of this review and the recipes we’ve adapted.

Why We Love it: Lebovitz is the undisputed king of ice cream, and we’ve been making his frozen desserts since way back when the book was first published. The recipes always work perfectly as written, but they’re eminently riffable, and even provide such a strong foundation that if you’re a confident cook, you can probably start creating your own recipes. Besides chapters on the frozen desserts themselves, there are also chapters on Sauces and Toppings (Classic Hot Fudge, Cajeta, Candied Red Beans), Mix-Ins (Butter Pecans, Peppermint Patties) and “Vessels” (Ice Cream Cones, Crêpes, Profiteroles, Brownies).

We’ve made or tasted probably at least a dozen frozen desserts in the book, which besides ice cream, also includes gelatos, sorbets, sherbets and sorbettos, frozen yogurts, ices, granitas and ice pops. Recently, we made up a batch of Lebovitz’s Watermelon Sorbetto, pouring into ice-pop molds and turning it into not-too-sweet watermelon paletas (so good!). His Lavender-Honey Ice Cream is one of our favorites ever; Peach Ice Cream is a Philadelphia-style (no eggs) classic you’ll love all summer long; Cinnamon Ice Cream is classic as well. At Christmastime, Egg Nog Ice Cream is killer, and any time of year, Lemon Sorbet is a terrific version of classic lemon Italian ice. (You’ll have to buy the book to get those recipes, but believe me, you won’t be sorry.)

Gianduja Gelato with Straciatella from ‘The Perfect Scoop’

Gianduja Gelato with Straciatella from ‘The Perfect Scoop’

A few years ago we fell in love with (and wrote about) the Gianduja (hazelnut-chocolate) Gelato swirled with the Stracciatella (Italian-style chocolate chips) found in the Mix-Ins chapter.

Matcha Ice Cream from ‘The Perfect Scoop’

Matcha Ice Cream from ‘The Perfect Scoop’

Lovers of Japanese sweets will adore Lebovitz’s green tea ice cream. Made with matcha and rich with egg yolks, it is quite simply the best we’ve ever tasted.

Tangerine sorb edit.jpg

You’ll have to save for the winter, when mandarins (also known as tangerines) are in season and at their most flavorful, to fully appreciate Lebovitz’s Tangerine Sorbet. But do keep it in mind — with an incredible purity of flavor, it’s one of our all-time favorite winter desserts.

Nectarine Sorbet from ‘The Perfect Scoop’

Nectarine Sorbet from ‘The Perfect Scoop’

You’ve Gotta Try This: In Southwest France, where I’ve spent a lot of time over the last three decades, my French in-laws have a delightful custom of slicing a ripe peach into their red wine glasses at the end of dinner. The peaches get macerated, turning them into a glorious, light dessert, so fab with the red wine. Years ago, I tried to develop a peach ice cream recipe that would replicate those flavors, but never succeeded. Lo and behold Lebovitz’s recipe for Nectarine Sorbet, which he suggests scooping into wine glasses and letting everyone pour in red wine to their taste. Dare I say it’s even better than the real thing!? The sorbet on its own is pretty magnificent — and easy to make, especially as nectarines don’t require peeling.

Nectarine Sorbet is marvelous in a glass of red wine.

Nectarine Sorbet is marvelous in a glass of red wine.

Still Wanna Make: Oh, man — where do I start?! Chartreuse Ice Cream is high on the list (will do that soon!), and so are Toasted Almond & Candied Cherry; Aztec Chocolate; Toasted Coconut; Dried-Apricot-Pistachio; and Prune-Armagnac (all ice creams). Among the dairy-free recipes, I feel a batch of Pineapple Sorbet coming on soon. And doesn’t Cucumber-Gin Sorbet sound like fun?

I’m guessing you’re half-way out of your seat and ready to churn; make sure your ice-cream-maker insert is in the freezer.

If You Don’t Yet Have an Ice-cream Maker: Do spring for one — it’s well worth it if you love ice creams and sorbets as much as we do. Our 15+ year-old Cuisinart finally died a month ago, and I bought a new one with a larger capacity — the Cuisinart ICE-70. It’s not inexpensive, at about $139 (at the moment), but I appreciate that it can churn up to 1 1/2 quarts of ice cream. (Note that it is not the 2 quarts its specs suggest; a full review is coming soon!) The New York Times Wirecutter highly recommends the much less pricey Cuisinart ICE-21 (my purchase was also based on a positive Wirecutter review, among others), but at three-quarters capacity, I believe that would cause overflow problems with many recipes, including some of Lebovitz’s.

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Paris Summer Food Games: A Quintessential Quiche Lorraine always grabs the gold

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By Leslie Brenner

[Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles about dishes suited to watching and celebrating the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.]

Whether you’re scheming a weeknight dinner, having friends over for Sunday brunch or watching the Olympics in front of the TV, a terrific quiche will serve you well.

Our recipe is for a Quintessential Quiche Lorraine — the classic, with bacon and caramelized onions, in a beautiful batter based on eggs, with lots of cream.

Would you like cheese in your quiche? Grate up some Gruyère, Comté or Emmenthaler and layer it in. (Our recipe includes a cheese variation.) You can also make it vegetarian, swapping some sautéed mushrooms or spinach (or both!) for the bacon, or just about any cooked veg that strikes your fancy.

However you design that quiche, a slice of it will want to share the plate with a simple green salad. You can’t get more French than that!

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Leeks Ravigote, trending in France, belongs on your TV table this Olympic summer

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By Leslie Brenner

[Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles about dishes suited to watching and celebrating the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.]

Before we know it, all eyes will be on Paris for the start of the Olympic games, and likely as not that will put many of us in the mood for a French TV dinner or lunch.

One dish I know will be on my Olympic team is poireaux ravigote — poached leeks dressed in an herb-packed, caper-happy, shallot-y vinaigrette with boiled egg. The snazzy salad-like starter has been showing up on fashionable tables all around France. It’ll shine on your table, too, whether it happens to be the one in your dining room or the coffee table in front of your TV.

Here’s a little background. The French love leeks, and a similar dish, poireaux vinaigrette, has long been one of the country’s most popular bistro dishes.

A few years back, restaurants started giving their poireaux vinaigrette (and their asparagus vinaigrette, and their artichokes vinaigrette) a lovely flourish of chopped hard-boiled egg: Mimosa is what that’s called. Before long, poireaux mimosa, asperges mimosa and artichaut mimosa were everywhere.

Then, last fall, a new leek prep started popping up here and there: poireaux ravigote. The effect is tangier and much more herbal than a straight-ahead vinaigrette, with lots of punch from those capers and shallots; the tang and punch are balanced by the soft richness of egg. Somehow, leeks, with their gentle allium lusciousness, are the perfect vehicle.

Will ravigote be the new mimosa? Who knows?! But I couldn’t wait to replicate it when I came home.

Origin of the dish

As it turns out, sauce ravigote goes way back — at least as far back as Auguste Escoffier’s 1903 bible Le Guide Culinaire, in which Escoffier describes the sauce as “suitable for calf’s head or foot, mutton foot, etc.” Escoffier’s ravigote is a type of vinaigrette that includes capers, parsley, chervil, tarragon, chives and minced onion, along with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Egg doesn’t appear; otherwise its very similar to what we’re seeing these days on leeks.

As for that calf’s head, in France that’s known as tête de veau. It’s a boiled dish with a long and treasured tradition — in fact, there are still tête de veau festivals all over France. And where there are tête de veau festivals, the boiled calves head inevitably is served with, you got it, sauce ravigote. Tête de veaux with sauce ravigote is also sometimes served in very casual restaurants known as bouchons. A restaurant in Paris, La Ravigote, reinvigorates the tradition.

Tête de veaux is so rich it wants a tangy sauce to balance it; look at it that way, and it’s easy to understand why the original version didn’t include something like egg. And why you might want it with something lean, like leeks.

I don’t know when or why chopped egg made it into ravigote, but I do know that Daniel Boulud included it in a recipe for sauce ravigote he published eight years ago in Saveur magazine. He mentioned in the headnote to that recipe that the sauce may be prepared hot or cold.

The Wikipedia entry for Sauce ravigote echos the idea that it could be hot or cold, adding that the hot version is “classically based on a vegetable or meat broth, or a velouté,” and that the cold sauce is based on a vinaigrette.

Boulud’s version — a cold one — incorporates both ideas: It’s based on stock, but then vinegar and seasonings get blitzed in, followed by sunflower oil. A vinaigrette built on a stock base. He suggests serving it with fish, grilled meat or — “if you’re feeling gutsy,” tête de veau. No mention of leeks.

There are recipes for leeks ravigote all over the French reaches of the internet, though many — such as those published by the magazine Marie Claire and Femme Actuelle — are undated, so who knows how long they’ve been floating around. Dating back to 2010, there’s a recipe from a site called Marmiton for a terrine of skate with leeks and sauce ravigote; interestingly, it’s rated as “très facile” (very easy). Following the eight steps to make the terrine, it tells us to serve the terrine chilled with a sauce ravigote — the only guidance for the sauce offered parenthetically, as “vinaigrette + échalotes ciselées + câpres.” (Translation: vinaigrette + minced shallots + capers.) No mention of herbs, and definitely no eggs.

The earliest recipe for poireaux sauce ravigote I have found is from 2013, by chef Jean-Pierre Vigato, posted on his personal website. His post comes with the title “Une façon amusante de préparer les poireaux vinaigrette!” — an amusing way to prepare leeks vinaigrette. It’s all there, with a vinaigrette that includes herbs, shallots and capers, along with a few cornichons — and egg. For the egg, he has us coddle four eggs, and whisk the coddled yolk of one of them into the sauce, before roughly chopping the other eggs and adding them in as well.

Choose slender leeks, if you find them, with long pale parts. Fatter ones can be halved vertically. Be sure to keep part of the root intact so they don’t fall apart.

Our version of sauce ravigote

When I started playing with the dish, I found I preferred adding the chopped egg last, finishing the dish with it rather than incorporating it into the sauce, so the bits of it stay more distinct.

But let’s back up and talk about leeks; you’ll want to choose them carefully. In France, where people are accustomed to cooking with them, it’s easy to find nice ones, but in the United States, depending on where you live, it can be challenging.

Choose slender ones, if possible, and definitely those that halve long whitish parts — it’s the light part that simmers up nice and tender. If all you find are leeks that are mostly dark green, with maybe only an inch or two that’s whitish, just skip it: Those leeks are better suited for flavoring a stock. (And if you’ll notice, those dark green parts are often very thick — they’ll be tough.)

Last time I made leeks ravigote, I found a few lovely slender leeks, and a few that had nice white parts but were much thicker. I bought them all and cut the thicker ones in half vertically.

Start by trimming them: Slice off the bottoms, but be sure to leave a small part of the root. That keeps them attached so they don’t fall apart when you cook them. For the slender one’s you’re leaving whole, slice those vertically almost all the way through — again, leave them attached at the bottom — and then rinse them carefully, separating the layers gently with your fingers so you can rinse out any soil. Cut them off at the top where the pale part ends; hopefully you’ll have leeks that are at least 7 inches / 18 cm or so, and maybe as long as 12 inches / 30 cm. (which is even better). Use kitchen shears to snip off any dark green parts that creep down on some of the layers (as shown in the photo above).

After that, it’s smooth sailing. Simmer them in salted water till they’re tender. While they’re cooking, boil an egg for exactly 9 minutes, and make the vinaigrette — with Champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar), Dijon mustard, olive oil, shallot, capers and herbs (parsley, chives, dill and tarragon). Chop the egg, drain the leeks, dress them with the vinaigrette and finish with the chopped egg.

Ready? Set? Ravigote!

RECIPE: Leeks Ravigote

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