Dayrecipe Food Community

Makes 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4cup orzo (rice-shaped pasta)1 1/2tablespoons olive oil
• 1medium white onion, thinly sliced
• 6garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2jalapeño chiles, thinly sliced
• 3/4pound skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into matchstick-size strips
• 5cups low-salt chicken broth
• 1/4cup fresh lime juice
• 1large tomato, seeded, chopped
• 1/4cup chopped fresh cilantro
• fresh cilantro sprigs

DIRECTIONS Cook orzo in pot of boiling salted water until just tender. Drain well.

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and chiles. Sauté until onion begins to brown, about 4 minutes. Add chicken; sauté 1 minute. Add broth, lime juice, and tomato. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes. Mix in orzo, then chopped cilantro. Season soup with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into 4 bowls. Garnish with cilantro sprigs.

Toni Grekin of Deposit, New York, writes: “This recipe was given to me by my friend Barbara Leeds. It’s wonderfully rich and overwhelmingly addictive.”

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 2cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting pan
• 1teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4teaspoon salt
• 1/2teaspoon baking powder
• 1cup walnuts (3 1/2 oz), toasted
• 2teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/4cups sugar
• 1 1/2sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus 2 tablespoons melted
• 2large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes
• 1cup sour cream
• 1teaspoon vanillaspecial equipment:a 10-cup bundt pan (10 inches in diameter)

DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter bundt pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.

Pulse walnuts, cinnamon, 1/4 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt in a food processor until nuts are chopped. Add melted butter and pulse once to combine.

Beat together remaining 1 1/2 sticks butter and remaining cup sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a handheld. Reduce speed to medium and add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in sour cream and vanilla until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes more in a standing mixer or 4 minutes more with a handheld. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, scraping down side of bowl occasionally and mixing until just combined.

Sprinkle half of nut mixture evenly in bottom of bundt pan. Spoon half of batter over nuts and smooth with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle batter in pan with remaining nut mixture and top with remaining batter, smoothing top. Bake in middle of oven until cake begins to pull away from side of pan and a tester comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.

Cool cake in pan on a rack 1 hour, then run a thin knife around outer and inner edges. Place rack on top of pan, then flip to invert cake onto rack. Cool completely.

Jason Corrigan, chef at A Touch of Garlic in Springfield, Massachusetts, writes: “In the past, I’ve worked at large restaurants, catering to hundreds of people every night. That alone taught me every possible shortcut to speed up the cooking process: For instance, slicing raw potatoes to reduce boiling time, pounding meat thin so it cooks more quickly, and of course, the mise en place — getting everything prepped so you’re just reaching for ingredients at the last minute.”

Pounding the meat reduces cooking time.

Makes 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 3tablespoons butter
• 2large shallots, sliced
• 1 1/2pounds mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 1tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1cup zinfandel
• 1/2cup ruby port
• 1/2cup low-salt chicken broth11 1/4-pound top sirloin steak, about 3/4 to 1 inch thick
• 3/4teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots; sauté 2 minutes. Add mushrooms; cover and cook 5 minutes. Uncover and sauté until mushrooms are browned, about 10 minutes. Add flour and stir 1 minute. Add Zinfandel, Port, and broth. Boil until sauce thickens enough to coat spoon thinly, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Meanwhile, place steak between sheets of waxed paper. Using mallet or rolling pin, pound steak to 1/2-inch thickness. Coat both sides of steak with 3/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in another heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add steak to skillet and cook to desired doneness, about 2 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer steak to work surface; do not clean skillet. Add mushrooom sauce to skillet; bring to simmer, scraping up any browned bits.

Thinly slice steak; transfer to platter. Spoon mushroom sauce over and serve.

Makes 6 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 1orange
• 1750-ml bottle merlot
• 4cups water
• 1cup sugar
• 2cinnamon sticks
• 1tablespoon pickling spice
• 6anjou pears, peeled, stems left intact, 1/4 inch cut off each bottom to flatten

DIRECTIONS Using vegetable peeler, remove peel (orange part only) from orange, forming long spiral strip. Transfer peel to heavy large pot. Halve orange; squeeze juice into pot. Add next 5 ingredients. Boil over high heat 3 minutes. Add pears, reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until pears are tender, turning pears occasionally, about 45 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer pears to large bowl. Simmer liquid uncovered in pot until reduced to 4 cups, about 10 minutes. Pour liquid over pears; cool. Chill until cold, at least 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)

Place 1 pear in each of 6 shallow bowls. Pour liquid over pears and serve.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 30 min

Makes 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• for tartar sauce
• 1cup mayonnaise
• 2tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1tablespoon finely chopped shallot
• 1tablespoon sweet relish
• 2teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1teaspoon whole-grain or coarse-grain mustard
• 1/4teaspoon salt
• 1/4teaspoon black pepperfor fish
• 1cup yellow cornmeal (not coarse)
• 3/4teaspoon salt
• 1/2teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2teaspoon cayenne
• 3/4cup all-purpose flour
• 2large eggs
• 1/4cup milk
• 4(5-oz) flounder fillets
• 3/4cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS Make tartar sauce:
Pulse all sauce ingredients in a blender until parsley is finely chopped.

Cook fish:
Stir together cornmeal, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne in a shallow bowl. Stir together flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne in another shallow bowl. Lightly beat together eggs, milk, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a third shallow bowl.

Pat fish dry and dip fillets, 1 at a time, in flour, shaking off excess, then dip in egg mixture, letting excess drip off, and dredge in cornmeal until evenly coated. Arrange fish in 1 layer on a sheet of wax paper.

Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then fry fillets, 2 at a time, turning over once, until golden and just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Serve fish with sauce.