Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times (41 page)

1.
Put the dried mushrooms in a small bowl and cover them with boiling water. Put the noodles in a large bowl and cover them with hot water. When the mushrooms are soft, drain, reserving their soaking liquid; trim and slice them.

2.
Put the oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add the garlic and stir; add the shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, for about a minute. Stir in the mushrooms and chile paste.

3.
Drain the noodles and add them to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about a minute. Make a well in the center of the noodles and pour the eggs into this well. Scramble, gradually integrating the egg with the noodles; this will take less than a minute. Stir in the nam pla and sugar. If the noodles are clumpy, add about ½ cup of liquid to allow them to separate and become saucy (use more liquid if necessary, but do not make the mixture soupy). Add salt to taste, then stir in the bean sprouts and basil if you like. Serve.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 20 MINUTES

YOU CAN FIND
fresh Chinese-style (and Japanese-style) wheat noodles at most supermarkets these days. They’re a great convenience food and, for some reason, seem to me more successful than prepackaged “fresh” Italian noodles. Here they’re briefly cooked and then combined with a stir-fried mixture of pork, vegetables, and Chinese sauces; it’s very much a Chinese restaurant dish.

Both ground bean sauce and hoisin sauce can be found at supermarkets (if you can’t find ground bean sauce, just use a little more hoisin), but you can usually find a better selection (and higher-quality versions) at Chinese markets. Usually, the fewer ingredients they contain, the better they are.

1.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, put a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork, crumbling it to bits as you add it and stirring to break up any clumps; add half the scallion, along with the garlic and ginger, and stir. Add the stock or water; stir in the bean, hoisin, and soy sauces and cook, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat and keep warm.

2.
Cook the noodles, stirring, until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and dress with the sauce. Garnish with the remaining scallion, drizzle the sesame oil over all, and serve.

VARIATIONS

• Toss the noodles with 1 cup bean sprouts or lightly stir-fried snow peas before dressing.

Fresh Chinese Noodles with Chicken, or Meatless Fresh Chinese Noodles

Substitute ground chicken or turkey for the pork; or eliminate the meat entirely, sautéing the scallion, ginger, and garlic in a couple tablespoons of peanut oil.

FRESH SALSA

PICO DE GALLO

PAN-GRILLED TOMATO SALSA

CHIPOTLE-PEACH SALSA

PARSLEY-VINEGAR SAUCE

MARJORAM “PESTO”

CREAMED PARSLEY SAUCE

SUN-DRIED TOMATO SAUCE

FIG RELISH

DRIED MUSHROOM PUREE

RED PEPPER PUREE

BASIC VINAIGRETTE

MAYONNAISE

BETTER COCKTAIL SAUCE

SHALLOT-THYME BUTTER

HORSERADISH-GINGER BUTTER

GARLIC-OREGANO BUTTER

CHILE-CILANTRO BUTTER

MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS

TIME: 20 MINUTES

THIS RECIPE IS BASIC—
make it a few times and you’ll find ways to vary it to perfectly suit your tastes.

1.
Broil the tomatoes as close to the heat source as you can get them, until blistered and a little blackened, 5 to 10 minutes.

2.
Put them in a blender, skins and all, with the onion, garlic, chile powder, and a big pinch of salt. Whir until chunky, then stir in the cilantro by hand. This is best used right away but will retain decent flavor, refrigerated, for a day or two.

MAKES 2 CUPS

TIME: AT LEAST 1 HOUR, LARGELY UNATTENDED

THIS IS WHAT
most Americans are talking about when they say salsa. You can make it hot or not, as you like; it’s a good use for less-than-perfect tomatoes and an excellent sauce-side dish accompaniment for anything grilled, particularly seafood.

1.
Core the tomatoes (cut a cone-shaped wedge out of the stem end) and chop them. Toss them with the scallion, garlic, lime juice, salt, pepper, and chiles if you like. Set aside until you’re ready to eat, or for about an hour.

2.
Toss in the cilantro and serve.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 20 MINUTES

THIS RELISH IS
good with a bit of minced jalapeño or habanero chile if you like hot food. If you have them on hand, don’t hesitate to add up to a quarter cup of fresh herbs, like basil, oregano, or marjoram.

1.
Heat a large skillet, preferably cast iron or nonstick, over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, raise the heat to high, and cook until lightly charred on one side, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn and cook the other side very lightly, about 1 minute. If necessary, work in batches to avoid crowding the tomatoes.

2.
Combine the olive oil and vinegar in a large, shallow dish and, as the tomatoes are done, turn them in the mixture. Season and serve as a side dish or as a sauce for grilled or roasted fish or chicken. (This can be refrigerated for up to a day or two; bring to room temperature before serving.)

MAKES ABOUT 4 CUPS

TIME: 1 HOUR

“CHILES IN ADOBO”
are chipotles (wood-smoked jalapeños) in tomato sauce, sold in cans. They’re available at any market with a good selection of Mexican foods. If you can’t find one, substitute hot chile powder or even cayenne. This is lovely with any grilled meat.

Combine all the ingredients and let them marry for up to 1 hour before serving.

MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP

TIME: 10 MINUTES

WHEN YOU GET
past using parsley as a garnish and sprinkle a handful on top of a dish just before serving, you begin to appreciate the bright, clean flavor of this common herb. And when you realize that it remains in season far longer than basil, rosemary, or other popular herbs, you get a further sense of its value. You can also blend parsley with vinegar to make a sharp, spiky sauce that is an ideal accompaniment to the simplest grilled, broiled, or roasted meat—great on well-browned steaks, pork, or chicken, or on
Salmon Burgers
.

1.
Put the parsley in a food processor along with the oil, garlic, a pinch of salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. With the machine on, drizzle the vinegar through the feed tube until the parsley is pureed.

2.
Add 1 tablespoon of water and pulse the machine on and off a couple of times; taste. The mixture should be sharp, but not overpoweringly so. If it seems too strong, add a little more water (the texture will be quite loose, something like thick orange juice). Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Pass the sauce at the table, using a spoon to serve it.

VARIATIONS

• Add toasted walnuts or pine nuts, about 2 tablespoons, after the water. Pulse just until the nuts are chopped.

• Add the chopped white of a hard-cooked egg or two.

• Add grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or other hard cheese to taste, at least 2 tablespoons.

• Substitute a shallot for the garlic to weaken the sauce’s bite.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

MARJORAM IS RELATED
to and resembles oregano, but its flavor is better. Oregano is a good but not perfect substitute. This sauce is excellent over simply cooked seafood.

1.
Combine the marjoram and garlic in a blender or small food processor. Process until finely minced, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula once or twice if necessary. Add the vinegar and most of the oil and process until smooth.

2.
Add the capers and anchovies if you like and pulse the machine on and off a few times; you want to mince, not puree, the mixture, so don’t overprocess.

3.
Stir in the remaining oil, along with salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature.

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

TIME: 10 MINUTES

PARSLEY IS THE
most reliable and underrated herb in the western culinary world. Although we’ve come a long way from the days when its major role was as a decorative sprig on the side of a plate, we still don’t use it in the kinds of quantities we could. Here it is cooked like a vegetable—like spinach, really—to create a delicious, fresh-tasting sauce that I frequently serve over pasta but that also makes an interesting foil for simply grilled or broiled chicken breasts.

1.
Put the butter or oil in a deep skillet and turn the heat to medium. When the butter melts or the oil is hot, add the shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.

2.
Add the parsley and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add the cream and turn the heat to low. Season the parsley mixture with salt and pepper and serve at once, with the cheese if you like.

MAKES ABOUT 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 2 HOURS, LARGELY UNATTENDED

YOU CAN BUY
sun-dried tomatoes already reconstituted and soaked in olive oil, but they’re expensive. It’s certainly easy enough—and only slightly less convenient if you think ahead—to begin with dried tomatoes. They’re almost as tough as shoe leather when you buy them but can easily be reconstituted: Soak them in hot water to cover until they’re soft, about an hour. (You might change the water once it cools to hasten the softening.) Drain the tomatoes and marinate them in a good fruity olive oil to cover (a half cup or more) for at least an hour.