Delicious Recipes for a Sweet New Year

Happy New Year and l'shana tova to all those who celebrate. If still deciding what to make, why not try my "Tamarind Brisket" and my "Almost Confit Chicken." May it be a sweet year for everyone. Tamarind Brisket with Spring Shallots and Tiny Potatoes Ask your butcher for the “first cut” and make sure to leave some of the fat on the brisket for best results.

Note: You may cook 2 or 3 potatoes per person (there is a lot of food so you may only want to do 2.)

5 pound boneless beef brisket ¼ cup olive oil 2 pounds peeled onions 1/4 cup tamarind concentrate* 2 cups orange juice 2 cups tomato puree 2 cups beef broth 4 large cloves garlic scant 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 12 large shallots, (about 12 ounces), peeled and halved lengthwise 1 or 1-1/2 pounds tiny round thin-skinned potatoes (16 or 24), scrubbed not peeled

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a very large enamel casserole with cover, put 2 tablespoon oil. Season meat with salt and pepper and brown over high heat, about 4 minutes per side.  Remove meat.

Cut onions in half through stem end.  Put cut side down on board and slice very thin.  Add 2 tbsp. oil to pot and add onions.   Cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened and golden brown. Return beef to pot and put on top of onions.

Put tamarind in a bowl.  Whisk in orange juice, tomato puree, and beef broth.  Push garlic through a garlic press and whisk into mixture.  Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Pour mixture over brisket.

Bake 1 hour, covered. Turn brisket over, cover and  bake 1 hour longer. Add potatoes and shallots. Bake 1 hour longer.

Transfer brisket to cutting board. Let cool 15 minutes. Thinly cut across the grain and reassemble slices to original form.  Transfer back to pot.  Spoon liquid over meat and cover pot.  Cook 30 minutes longer until very tender. Add salt to taste.  Serves 8

*Available in Indian food stores and Middle Eastern markets.  It comes in small plastic jars and is called concentrate of tamarind.

“Almost Confit” Chicken with Melted Garlic

8 large bone-in chicken thighs, 8 ounces each 14 large garlic cloves, peeled 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, plus sprigs for garnish 6 fresh bay leaves 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper freshly ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Put the chicken in a large bowl.  Press 2 garlic cloves through a press and rub into the chicken.  Add the thyme leaves, bay leaves, allspice, white pepper, and 1-1/2 teaspoons salt.  Grate some nutmeg over the chicken and toss.  Place the chicken in a roasting pan, skin side down.  (I use an enamel paella pan.)  Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake 45 minutes.  Turn the chicken skin side up and scatter the remaining garlic cloves around.  Re-cover and bake 1 hour longer.  Turn on the broiler. Uncover the chicken and broil several inches from the heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the skin is crispy.  Discard the bay leaves and garnish with thyme sprigs.  Serves 4

And check out the food maven's website for a good honey cake recipe.

Tastes of the Week

January 1 to January 8, 2012 A home-style Chinese banquet: What better way to welcome the tastes of a new year than at a Chinese banquet.  Not in a restaurant, mind you, but in the comfort of someone's home. And so, just a few days ago, our friends and neighbors, Simon Liu and Susan Goldberg-Liu, invited us to a "dumpling fest" at their gorgeously restored brownstone. Along with their son Max (just home from Paris) and daughter Emma, our daughter Shayna learned to fill and fold her first dumplings (see photo), while Simon tended to his homemade chicken broth in which they all were poached. We had dumplings of shrimp and sausage, some of "just sausage" as Shayna's still shy of seafood, along with some naked fishballs. They reminded me of Italian gnudi, which are ravioli without the ravioli skin. Rounding out the meal were roast duck, pork and cuttlefish purchased in Brooklyn's vibrant Chinatown, where Simon has his art-and-restoration studio. It was all washed down with a rioja from Spain and a sauvignon blanc from Argentina. Everyone said no thank you to the barrage of chocolates and gingerbread men that followed, and then, of course, we ate them all.

A New Year's leg of pig: I often make an extra turkey on Thanksgiving because, in my opinion, it's not a party without copious leftovers for guests to take home. With that in mind, I encouraged my husband to roast an entire leg of pig for New Year's Eve even though were only eight for dinner and even though he pointed out that, after allowing for the bones, we'd have over two pounds of pig per person. Dutifully, he cut deep slits into the meat and stuffed them with a chop-up of fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, hot peppers, sea salt and an immeasurable quantity of garlic -- these being the seasonings for a classic Italian porchetta. The resulting roast looked like a bronzed sculpture sitting on our kitchen counter, and after he'd carved enough for double portions it still resembled a Henry Moore. No matter, I simply invited another shift of friends for lunch on New Year's Day and after slicing off food for a dozen guests, there it was, slightly diminished, but still hulking. Eternity has been described as "two people and a ham" (perhaps by Dorothy Parker). After a couple of meals of leftover leg, a roast pork ragu with penne rigate and several sandwiches of garlicky pork, sriracha, sliced tomatoes, arugula & pickled red onions, we just tonight saw the last of it -- except for stock made from the bones, which reside in our freezer waiting for a day in some uncertain future when our appetite is at last restored. Mozart and Sausages: No more flowers for me. Instead send me pork products from La Tienda and regale me with marzipan candies that evoke days gone by. Such were the gifts from my brother and sister-in-law last week. Part birthday gift, part holiday tidings, these edible treasures were firsts for me. First the candy: Known as Mozart Kugeln, packed in a delightful red tin with tiny portraitures of the composer, these are deluxe confections exquisitely filled with marzipan, made from "fresh green pistachios, almonds and rich hazelnut-nougat, enrobed with delicious milk and bitter chocolates." They have been made in Germany for more than 150 years and delighted my guests who unwrapped each elaborately-foiled candy with great affection. Add to that, a selection of Spanish sausages so fine as to make one swoon. From La Tienda, a family-owned company who gleans the best artisan products from Spain and ships thousands of order per week to homes across America, came three amazing products -- one entirely unknown to me -- sobrasada Mallorquina, a semi-soft chorizo that is meant for spreading on crusty bread. It is superb. Add to that, a cured sausage Sorio made with smoked paprika, and a Spanish-style salami flavored with black pepper instead of the more typical paprika.  (www.latienda.com)

Arthur Schwartz's Pasta and Lentils: A vegetarian gift to all for the New Year. In Italy, lentils are good luck for the new year and so this is my wish for all. Made by the maestro himself, we enjoyed it tremendously on New Year's day. Click here for the recipe. 

One hunded wine glasses: We washed at least this number by hand. A variety of shapes and sizes, for champagne, wines, moscato passito di Pantelleria, and Liquore Centerba, a digestif made with 100 herbs -- which was very helpful at the end of such a week.

Here's to a delicious 2012.

What We'll be Eating in 2012

For decades I have tracked trends, and as a chef, author and consultant, have created many of them. Some have lingered longer than most marriages, yet others still hover around obscurity or are merely a reflection of personal wishes. Some were so ahead of their time as to be forgotten or "invented" by someone else. That said, as we embark upon a new year of eating, cooking, shopping, blogging, ipad-ing, app-ing, reading, listening, watching, and drinking, here is my list of predictions: Kibbutz-style entertaining:   Have a party, invite a bunch of friends, tell them to bring something. Who needs to show-off any more? Generosity begins the minute you open your door. You set the table, provide the booze and make a main course. Your friends can build the menu around it. You do the dishes. Fun, right? It's the best way I know to get together with your friends more often; take the pressure off cooking, and focus on the conversation around the table.

Eating in your Zip Code: Moving deeper into the locavore trend is that of eating food grown or produced in one's own zip code. It is a suggestion I made in 1993 in my first book Little Meals -- where I talk about growing herbs in my window box and planting tiny edibles in my back yard. Today, chef's are growing "dinner" on their roof tops, in school yards, and home cooks in Brooklyn are planting patches of dirt in their driveways. After all, it's hard to find cardoons in the supermarket. The gratitude grid: Since everyone is so confused about what to eat and not to eat, how to define organic, how to know which species are endangered, how to determine what is healthy and not, I say a wonderful way to begin is with Mindfulness. Mindful of what it took to grow your food, the life that was sacrificed so that you could have your food, and respect for the time and care it took to prepare your food. I promise you that your pleasure will be doubled in everything you cook or consume. Try "cooking in silence" if you'd like to really experience what I'm talking about. Write down the most meaningful or pleasurable food experiences you've had to make them last. (I always think I'm going to remember, but don't!)

Better breakfasts and healthy lunches:  I know a very big company longing to find the next big healthy thing for people to eat in the morning at Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, etc. It's a noble start. And with programs like Edible School Yards and Wellness in the Schools, I know this year will bring about the change in school lunch programs we've all been hoping for. Real food = healthy food: I predict that a "real food" movement will accompany the slow food movement that has captivated chefs from all over the world.  More emphasis on eating whatever is real as opposed to eating whatever is healthy. Pure and simple.

Ingredients to try: Cardoons, parsnips, kale, Chinese broccoli, mussels (making a comeback), new varieties of fish (including cuttlefish and herring!), persimmons, red quinoa, unhulled barley (great in risotto), spelt flour, leatherwood honey, buttermilk, beef shin, fresh chamomile, long beans, fresh lychees, mangosteens, congee (hot rice porridge) for breakfast (or dinner), hibiscus, coconut (oil and water), Thai fish sauce (my secret ingredient).

New foods you'll soon see: Hummus made from everything other than chickpeas!, real Iberico ham from Spain, soft, spreadable chorizo, cross-cultural dumplings, pappa al pomodoro (instead of risotto or pasta), yellow marinara sauce (from yellow tomatoes and yellow peppers), Pão de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread), cakes made with olive oil, good wine from Bulgaria, eating weeds and unknown edible plants, moss and lichens, jams and jellies made from vegetables, beans in everything (healthy and cheap), "bulgogi saucing" and "rendangs" ("dry stewing"), the dishes of Southern India, a few French classics making comebacks.

Upside-down foods: Using fruits as vegetables and vegetables as fruits; red wine from predominantly white wine regions and vice versa; sweet things in savory dishes, savory things in sweet dishes; frozen appetizers and hot desserts; legumes, grains, herbs and soups at the end of the meal; cakes made with beets, turnips, and winter squash; blueberry gazpacho; poultry marinated in fish sauce (it's amazing.)

"Pantone" produce: Every fruit and vegetable in the world will now come in a variety of colors. It's where food and fashion meet -- fashion words becoming food words and vice versa. Saw some real pretty orange eggplants and dark magenta carrots at the farmers market the other day. Nice. It's a rainbow out there.

The cupcake bubble burst: As soon as anyone prints the calorie content of a frosted cupcake, it will all come to a screeching halt. I won't be the one.

The Spice Trade: Food transformation with the world tapestry of spices. There's the spice man, Lior, in New York who is creating spice blends as though they were perfumes. There are nutritionists and herbalists who are prescribing spices instead of medication. I've long predicted that za'atar should be sprinkled on every piece of pizza. Sumac as the new salt (it's also tart), ground seaweed as a common flavor enhancer (lots of umami.) Turmeric as a health booster. Like that.

Radical simplicity:  I wrote the book (Radically Simple -- just voted as one of the most important cookbooks of the last 25 years.)

A woman chef for President: A decade ago I wrote a screenplay about a woman chef who runs for President. Could 2012 be the year some fabulous, personable, smart, focused, intelligent such person arrives on the scene? The plot of my screenplay presaged the tv show Commander in Chief starring Gena Davis and foretold the arrival of a woman chef at the White House. And it predicted the food movement and healthy eating as a political platform, i.e. that of Michelle Obama. Hollywood, are you listening?

Happy New Year. May it be filled with delicious things.

Tamarind Brisket

So it's the day before Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) and I'm cooking up a storm and don't have much time to write. That said, I wanted to share a favorite new way of making my holiday brisket. Up until now the base of my brisket was onions, onions, onions (a bay leaf and dry vermouth, too.) But for the last few years I have been making it intriguingly sweet-and-sour with the addition of tamarind paste, orange juice, tomato puree, ground cloves, onions and lots of shallots. Tomorrow evening we will be nine for dinner (whereas my close friend Helen Kimmel has 25 guests each night!), including the food maven Arthur Schwartz and historian Bob Harned, Bob and Becky Spitz (Bob is currently writing a new biography of Julia Child and Becky is writing a book, too), Dale Bellisfield, clinical herbalist and health care practitioner, who is also an urban bee keeper! It is her honey that we will be having to drizzle over apples (symbol for a sweet new year.) Dale's beautiful daughter, Samantha (a fabulous men's wear designer) will also be joining my husband, my beautiful daughter Shayna, and me around the table. #1 son is in California but I wish him a happy new year, with lots of love. And l'shana tova to all of you who celebrate the holiday. Here's the recipe:

Tamarind Brisket with Spring Shallots and Tiny Potatoes Ask your butcher for the “first cut” and make sure to leave some of the fat on the brisket for best results.

Note: You may cook 2 or 3 potatoes per person (there is a lot of food so you may only want to do 2.)

5 pound boneless beef brisket ¼ cup olive oil 2 pounds peeled onions 1/4 cup tamarind concentrate* 2 cups orange juice 2 cups tomato puree 2 cups beef broth 4 large cloves garlic scant 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 12 large shallots, (about 12 ounces), peeled and halved lengthwise 1 or 1-1/2 pounds tiny round thin-skinned potatoes (16 or 24), scrubbed not peeled

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a very large enamel casserole with cover, put 2 tablespoon oil. Season meat with salt and pepper and brown over high heat, about 4 minutes per side.  Remove meat.

Cut onions in half through stem end.  Put cut side down on board and slice very thin.  Add 2 tbsp. oil to pot and add onions.   Cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened and golden brown. Return beef to pot and put on top of onions.

Put tamarind in a bowl.  Whisk in orange juice, tomato puree, and beef broth.  Push garlic through a garlic press and whisk into mixture.  Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Pour mixture over brisket.

Bake 1 hour, covered. Turn brisket over, cover and  bake 1 hour longer. Add potatoes and shallots. Bake 1 hour longer.

Transfer brisket to cutting board. Let cool 15 minutes. Thinly cut across the grain and reassemble slices to original form.  Transfer back to pot.  Spoon liquid over meat and cover pot.  Cook 30 minutes longer until very tender. Add salt to taste.  Serves 8

*Available in Indian food stores and Middle Eastern markets.  It comes in small plastic jars and is called concentrate of tamarind.