Five recipes that show how important texture can be

A mixture of textures is an important facet of a scrumptious dish. Crunchy and creamy, chewy and runny, crisp and tender: a part of cooking is studying find out how to play substances off one another in attention-grabbing and interesting methods. (And it doesn’t cease with texture, in fact. Consider the push and pull of flavour in sweet-and-sour sauce, or the mingling of cold and hot in an ice cream sundae with heat fudge sauce.)

That’s a theme in our 5 recipes under.

Baked cod with buttery cracker topping

Baked, stuffed fish is an old-school restaurant staple in New England; coated in lemony, butter-soaked cracker crumbs, it’s a beautiful method to eat gentle white fish like cod or haddock. The dish has a protracted historical past and depends on two substances New Englanders have in abundance: recent seafood and crackers, that are descended from sailors’ hardtack. Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Boston Cooking-Faculty Prepare dinner E-book has a recipe for cracker-stuffed halibut, seasoned with butter, salt, pepper and onion juice. Some fashionable variations use saltines, others use butter crackers like Ritz, and plenty of enrich the crackers with crab meat. This recipe is a simple weeknight variation: as a substitute of rolling the fish up across the stuffing, which requires lengthy, skinny filets, it’s generously coated within the stuffing and roasted till the cracker topping is toasted and the fish flakes.

By: Sarah DiGregorio

Serves: 4

Complete time: 25 minutes

Substances:

115g butter-flavored crackers, reminiscent of Ritz (about 1½ sleeves or 24 crackers)

5 tbspunsalted butter, melted

Handful minced recent chives

Handful minced flat-leaf parsley

½ lemon, zest and juice, plus extra lemon wedges for serving

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

4 (170-225g) fillets of cod, haddock, halibut or different white fish

Coarse salt and black pepper

Candy paprika, for serving

Technique:

1. Warmth the oven to 220C. Put the crackers in a medium bowl and use your hand to crush them till they’re finely crushed (some coarser bits are OK). Add 4 tablespoons of the melted butter, the chives, parsley, lemon zest and onion and garlic powders, and stir to evenly mix, ensuring to moisten all of the crumbs.

2. Put the fish fillets in a big, ovenproof frying pan. Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon butter over the fish and switch to coat. Season the fish on all sides with salt and pepper. Mound the cracker combination on prime of the fish, overlaying it (some cracker crumbs will fall off the fish).

3. Roast within the oven for 10 to 16 minutes, relying on the thickness of the fillets. Plan for about 10 minutes per inch; the fish ought to flake simply, and the juices ought to be bubbly across the edges. Squeeze the lemon juice excessive. Sprinkle with paprika, and serve with further lemon wedges on the facet.

Prawn piccata spaghetti

The zesty piccata sauce of recent lemon juice, briny capers and wealthy butter is the inspiration behind this weeknight seafood pasta. Plump, meaty prawns pair completely with the pantry-staple sauce, which is easy but recent and vibrant. The chopped prawns are gently cooked over low warmth in a shallot and garlic-infused olive oil to maintain them tender. Peas are a simple method so as to add a vegetable with pops of sweetness (thawed frozen corn would additionally work nicely). The dish is completed with recent parsley, however different herbs like basil, chives or dill would yield equally scrumptious outcomes.

By: Kay Chun

Serves: 4 to six

Complete time: 25 minutes

Substances:

Salt and black pepper

450g spaghetti

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1 medium shallot, finely chopped (25g)

3 garlic cloves, minced

450g cleaned prawns, chopped into 1.5cm items

140g thawed frozen peas

2 tbsp capers, plus 2 tbsp caper brine

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp chopped parsley, plus extra for garnish

Technique:

1. Carry a big pot of salted water to a boil over excessive. Prepare dinner spaghetti in accordance with package deal directions till al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain pasta.

2. Whereas the pasta is cooking, warmth the oil in a 30cm nonstick frying pan over medium and soften 1 tablespoon of the butter in it. Add shallot and prepare dinner, stirring, till softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic till aromatic, 30 seconds.

3. Cut back warmth to medium-low, add the prawns and season with salt and pepper. Prepare dinner, stirring often, till the prawns simply flip opaque, 4 to five minutes. If the prawns are performed earlier than the pasta finishes, take away the pan from warmth.

4. Return pasta and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water to the massive pasta pot and warmth over medium. Add the prawn combination, peas, capers, caper brine and the remaining 3 tablespoons butter, and season with salt and pepper. Stir vigorously till sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Take away from warmth and stir within the lemon juice and parsley.

5. Divide pasta in bowls and garnish with extra parsley.

Garlic hen with guasacaca sauce

Easy to make, versatile in use and sophisticated in flavour, guasacaca sauce is likely one of the great condiments of Venezuelan delicacies. Creamy from the addition of avocado with a vibrant and tangy herb and lime base, it makes an evocative pairing for any vegetarian, seafood or meat dish. Right here, it accompanies a traybake dinner of roasted hen and carrots however will just do as nicely with something from the grill.

By: Yewande Komolafe

Serves: 4

Complete time: 45 minutes

Substances:

½ cup (60ml) olive oil

3 massive garlic cloves, peeled

680g carrots, scrubbed, trimmed and reduce into 5cm lengths (1.5cm huge)

Salt and black pepper

1.2-1.4kg bone-in, skin-on hen thighs, drumsticks, breasts or a mixture, patted dry

1 avocado, pitted and chopped

1 jalapeño, stemmed and chopped

2 tbsp rice vinegar

Zest and juice of 1 lime

Massive handful chopped parsley leaves with tender stems

Massive handful chopped coriander leaves with tender stems

Technique:

1. Warmth oven to 220C. In a medium bowl, mix ¼ cup oil and grate in 2 garlic cloves utilizing a zester. Add the carrots and toss to coat. Calmly season with salt and black pepper and switch to a baking tray, reserving the garlic oil within the bowl. Add the hen to the bowl and coat with the remaining garlic oil. Organize in a single layer on the tray skin-side up between the carrots.

2. Roast till carrots are tender, and hen is cooked by way of with crispy pores and skin that’s browned in spots, 35 to 40 minutes.

3. Whereas the hen cooks, in a meals processor or blender or utilizing a mortar and pestle, mix the avocado, jalapeño, vinegar, lime zest and juice, remaining garlic clove, half the chopped parsley and coriander, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Purée or pound into a rough combination. With the machine working or whereas mixing with a pestle in a mortar, slowly drizzle within the remaining ¼ cup olive oil and 1 tablespoon room temperature water. Purée or stir till the sauce is clean and creamy. Style and modify the seasoning with extra salt if mandatory. The sauce may be made just a few hours upfront and refrigerated in an hermetic container.

4. Scatter the remaining parsley and coriander over the hen and carrots. Switch to particular person plates together with any pan juices. Spoon just a few tablespoons of the guasacaca sauce on the facet for dipping. Serve heat with extra sauce on the facet.

Stir-fried lettuce with crispy garlic and fried eggs

In Chinese language tradition, cooked lettuce is an emblem of excellent luck. In Cantonese, the phrase for lettuce is sang choy, and in Mandarin, it’s sheng cai, which sounds just like the phrases for “rising wealth” in every language. Stir-fried lettuce is often served as a mattress for braised mushrooms or just as a inexperienced facet dish. Right here, stir-fried lettuce, fried eggs and crispy garlic chips perch on a mattress of rice, a easy meal with comforting flavours and textures. The enjoyment of this preparation is that the lettuce retains a recent crunch even after cooking; iceberg is most well-liked, however romaine will provide you with related outcomes. Vegetarian stir-fry sauce is a product bought in Asian grocery shops, however you can even use oyster sauce. For a shortcut, skip the fried garlic and prime with store-bought crispy fried onions or shallots.

By: Hetty McKinnon

Serves: 4

Complete time: 20 minutes

Substances:

1 head of iceberg lettuce (about 680g)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tsp vegetarian stir-fry sauce, or oyster sauce

¼ tsp sugar

Salt

Black or white pepper

2 tbsp plus ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 (2.5cm) piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

4 eggs

Steamed rice, for serving

1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

2 spring onions, inexperienced and white components, finely sliced

Maggi seasoning sauce, for serving (non-obligatory)

Technique:

1. Utilizing a pointy paring knife, run it across the core of the lettuce, then gently pull it out. Take away any discoloured outer layers of the lettuce and discard. Tear the lettuce into massive chunks. Wash the leaves and permit them to empty after gently shaking in a colander.

2. In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, vegetarian stir-fry or oyster sauce, sugar and ¼ teaspoon salt. Season with pepper.

3. Warmth a big (30cm) deep frying pan on medium-high. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil to evenly coat the pan, then add the ginger and prepare dinner for 15 to 30 seconds, till aromatic. Add the lettuce and stir-fry for two minutes, till it begins to wilt. Pour the sauce over the lettuce and stir-fry for an additional 1 to 2 minutes (take care to not overcook, as you need your lettuce to retain some crunch). Style and season with salt, if wanted. Place the lettuce (and all of the pan juices) in a bowl and put aside. As soon as your pan is cool sufficient to deal with, rinse it out and dry.

4. To the identical pan over medium-high warmth, add the ¼ cup (60ml) olive oil and sliced garlic. Stir continually for 3 to 4 minutes till the garlic turns a pale golden brown. (Watch fastidiously! It burns rapidly.) Take away the garlic from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to empty; it should proceed to brown and crisp because it cools.

5. To the remaining oil within the pan over medium-high warmth, add the eggs and prepare dinner untouched till whites are set, 2 to three minutes.

6. To serve, place a mound of rice in a bowl, prime with lettuce, some pan juices, a fried egg, crispy garlic and a scatter of sesame seeds and scallions. End with a tiny drizzle of Maggi seasoning sauce, if utilizing.

Bean and cheese burritos

Mexican refried beans are a cinch to make at dwelling on a weeknight because of some staple pantry objects and some primary recent substances. Buttery canned pinto beans are good on this dish, breaking down right into a creamy, silky combination (black beans would additionally work nice). Whereas the beans are sometimes fried in lard or bacon drippings, this vegetarian model builds flavour with caramelised onion, bell pepper, garlic and smoked paprika as a substitute. Pico de gallo provides a contact of tang to counter the wealthy beans. Pan-frying the wrapped burritos ensures a golden, irresistibly crispy exterior and an inside that oozes with melted cheese.

By: Kay Chun

Makes: 6 burritos

Complete time: 40 minutes

Substances:

¼ cup (60ml) safflower or canola oil

25g finely chopped yellow onion (from ½ medium onion)

75g finely chopped inexperienced bell pepper (from ½ pepper)

Salt and black pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 (425g) cans pinto beans, ½ cup of bean liquid reserved and the remainder drained

125g shop-bought or home made pico de gallo or salsa

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

6 (22-25in) flour tortillas

2 cups (225g) shredded sharp cheddar

Bitter cream and scorching sauce, for serving

Technique:

1. In a big nonstick frying pan, warmth 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium. Add onion and bell pepper, season with salt and pepper, and prepare dinner, stirring often, till gentle golden and tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in garlic till aromatic, 1 minute. Add pinto beans, pico de gallo, smoked paprika, reserved bean liquid and ½ cup of water, and produce to a simmer. Prepare dinner, stirring and mashing often with a potato masher or the again of a spoon, till liquid is absorbed and combination is thick, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Switch refried beans to a bowl, and wipe out skillet.

2. Unfold ½ cup of the refried beans within the centre of every tortilla and prime every with a handful of the cheese. Fold the brief sides of the tortilla over the filling; fold the underside of the tortilla up and over the filling and tightly roll.

3. Within the pan, warmth 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium. Add 3 burritos seam facet down and prepare dinner till golden, turning often, 3 to five minutes. Switch to serving plates and repeat with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and three burritos. Serve heat with bitter cream and scorching sauce on the facet.

© The New York Occasions