white potatoes usually require an hour.
RECIPES REVEAL COOKING PATTERNS
Technique in cooking schools includes knife skills and such cooking terms as dry and wet heat or braising and frying. I break it down a bit more by type of food as well as technique. You will notice there are similarities in how certain dishes are made. Soups almost always start with “first, caramelize the onions.” Then there is an addition of chopped vegetables and heated broth, waiting, and then blending, possibly adding a little cream at the end. Once you learn these patterns, you will feel free to try your own ideas, use what’s handy, and launch a whole series of recipes. That’s how I created many of the recipes in this book.
LEFTOVERS ARE NOT ALWAYS LEFTOVERS
As noted in the Roasted Turkey Breast with Fennel recipe (see page 187), some foods also taste great after the first time you serve them. Think of them as building blocks for other dishes. The leftover turkey breast can be transformed into a Waldorf salad, turkey enchiladas, and, of course, turkey breast sandwiches. The trick is to look at food with imagination. What does it taste like? How would this finished dish work as an ingredient? When our three kids were living at home, this trick was a time- and life-saver. I often slow-roasted an extra-large pork butt on Sunday, and it reappeared throughout the week in various transformations without the word leftovers passing from anyone’s lips.
SOME EXAMPLES
MASHED POTATOES: For a hearty breakfast the next morning, mix in a bit of grated parmesan and possibly a bit of kosher salt, and form into patties. Fry in butter until crispy and brown on each side. Serve with a fried egg for a hearty breakfast.
ROASTED PORK BUTT: Shred and pile into corn tortillas with a salsa for soft tacos.
RICE PILAF: Add cooked rice to soups for added texture. Our kids loved something called Cheesy Rice. They heated rice pilaf with grated cheese (whatever was around) in the toaster oven or microwave. Sometimes they added toasted nuts to the mess. It was amazingly good comfort food.
PLAIN RICE: The basis of rice pudding, cooked rice adds heft to vegetable casseroles, such as Vegetable Tian (see page 164).
COOKED GRAINS, SUCH AS QUINOA OR BARLEY: Repurpose with a strongly flavored vinaigrette, a generous amount of chopped flat-leaf parsley, and chopped tomatoes for a delicious salad. Add crumbled feta and you’ve got a complete meal. See also Three Salades Composées (see page 148).
COOKED BEETS: Dice and add a flavored vinaigrette, a few crumbles of goat cheese, and chopped toasted walnuts.
“BATCH PROCESS”
When Eric and I were dating and he was a single dad, his favorite term about anything that had to do with housekeeping was “batch processing,” which included washing the dishes and similar tidying-up chores.
While not entirely agreeing, I did fall into a rhythm of cooking certain foods ahead of time on the weekends and then finishing them throughout the week. Such tasks included grating cheeses, toasting nuts, baking sweet potatoes, making chicken broth and freezing some of it, starting crème fraîche or other sauces, pickling cucumbers or mushrooms, mixing yogurt or ricotta herbed cheese, and soaking and cooking beans. This preparation extends to all fresh foods upon purchase. I take time to wash and dry all lettuce and other soft-leaf vegetables before putting them away. During the week, when I came home after a long day, these inspiring “ready-made” ingredients made dinner easy and creative and provided some very healthy snacking for the kids.
WHY LET MEAT REST?
Roasts of beef, pork, lamb, and whole chicken should be allowed to rest 15 to 20 minutes after being removed from the oven so that the meat can finish cooking (internal temperature will go up another five degrees) and so the juices will reabsorb into the meat. A roast that is carved immediately will lose a great deal of its internal moisture.
HOMEMADE IS NOT ALWAYS BEST
This seems sacrilegious, but there are certain ingredients that really are too complex and fussy for most of us and can, in fact, discourage us from home cooking. I buy pizza dough already made from a number of sources, phyllo dough from various Armenian markets, pasta, and good-quality mayonnaise and mustards. However, when feeling ambitious and time allows, by all means try anything. Eric once tried croissants—he never did this again.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO COOK VEGETABLES AT THE LAST MINUTE
We all have memories of gray-green beans, overcooked and mushy, from long-ago family dinners. To make good-tasting vegetables without last-minute stress, throw them into boiling salted water, cook until their color heightens—bright green for green beans, for example. Drain and immediately cool in a bowl of ice water. Once cooled, remove them with a slotted spoon, dry completely with a towel, and save them until mealtime to heat in a sauté pan with warm, foamy butter, salt, and herbs or spices.
Roasting is another way to cook vegetables without stress. Cut thick slices of root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, beets, onions, or potatoes), mix with a coating of olive oil and salt, and spread over a parchment-lined half-sheet pan. Bake until done—a bit caramelized and browned—for 35 to 45 minutes in a hot oven (about 400°). Another great way to cook vegetables without fussing is to cut carrots, turnips, onions, and potatoes into quarters and place under a chicken for roasting. They act as a rack for the chicken, which flavors the meat. I love symbiosis.
AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST, USE YOUR SENSES AS WELL AS TIME TO KNOW WHEN FOOD IS “DONE”
Ovens vary in temperature; the freshness of vegetables can change cooking times; a hot day can mean a faster rise for bread. Trust your eyes, nose, and touch when cooking—not just the timer.
“If the plate is a canvas, ingredients are like paints to me. I seek, I mix, I match, I make companions of enemies. Delivering a thought- and soul-provoking canvas is always my goal. I make complicated things look easy and easy things interesting.” Minh Phan, with a basket of inspiring ingredients gathered from a favorite community garden in Pasadena.
PROFILE: MINH PHAN
Minh is a committed outlier, someone who has straddled cultures, communities, geographies, and a carefully balanced space between business expertise and idealism. She came to this country as a one-year-old, leaving South Vietnam with her father, a member of the South Vietnamese navy, and her mother, then twenty-four. Her father’s prescience about the South’s changing political fortunes ensured that the Phan family was safe and settled in Wisconsin immediately after the fall of Saigon. The leave-taking was dramatic, with little time to pack or say good-bye.
Wisconsin’s food culture of brats and beer may be the diametric opposite of Vietnamese food, known for its complexity, refinement, and intense flavors. Both parents worked, and the various bits and pieces foraged from the refrigerator gave their preteen latchkey daughter even more license to experiment with unlikely food pairings—an experience that served Minh well as a chef in later years.
Minh describes her mother, Lanh, as a phenomenal cook, managing a full menu of exquisite food every night even after a full day at work. For Vietnamese
