sidedishes | Michael Ruhlman

Happy New Year’s Eve day! Every first of the new year I make a big pot of hoppin’ john—and re-post this recipe—black-eyed peas and some kind of cured pork, yes for good luck, but mainly because black-eyed peas are an underappreciated treasure. Nutritious and earthy and economical and deeply satisfying as frigid weather pushes down on us and we look out at the horizon of winter with no May in sight. David Tanis wrote a good piece on black-eyed peas in the Times and their ancient history. He adds greens (symbol of cash) and suggests serving with cornbread (symbol of gold). But I like it humble, without hope or fear: bacon is the cured pork, tomatoes and onions for flavor, and beans beans beans. Wishing all a healthy and fruitful new year. Hoppin’ John 1 pound Read On »

My daughter was assisting Donna during these videos for Le Creuset cookware (which I love, and am genuinely honored to be working with this company; seriously, not worthy, but I try). After the shoot, Addison said, angrily, real anger, “Why don’t you make that potato cheesy thing for me?!” “Good lord,” I said, “I’d make them all the time if I thought you’d eat them!” [I didn’t say, “Because of all the things you refused to eat when I tried to make good food for you!”] I cherish her but she’s difficult. Fact is, these are the easiest, best potatoes ever, and in this Le Creuset gratin dish, they not only cook perfectly, they’re gorgeous to serve. Watch the video—shallots are key, and I love that you can start the dish on the stovetop. And Le Read On »

An exotic crunchy rice dish to add to your recipe list, via New York Times.

The guest post on pressure cooking eggs was so popular, I’ve asked the blogger Laura Pazzaglia of hippressurecooking.com for more posts. Here she comes through with an innovative way to cook three different types of beans, each requiring different cooking methods, simultaneously in a pressure cooker. There’s some whacky shit in here, like freezing the green beans. But it’s fascinating. Take it away Laura!—MR Beans x 3 by Laura Pazzaglia Pressure cook beans with three different cooking times at the same time with perfect results for each using the three heat-zones: boiling on the bottom (hottest), steaming (hot), and protecting beans from direct contact with steam in a foil wrap (warm). HOW: With steamer basket, aluminum foil and approximate cooking times. Beans in steamer basket must be pre-soaked. Cooking time for steamed beans is about “twice” Read On »

I almost never “do” recipes. I’ve written a book that if anything is an anti-recipe book. I set out on this culinary journey in part because, as I wrote in Making of a Chef, I sensed that recipes were nothing more than a tease, that the real cooking lay beneath the recipes. This is not to say that recipes are bad. Say you made a really killer stir-fry and wanted to be able to do it over and over, or you wanted your best friend to give it a try, you’d want to follow a recipe. If you want to recreate a dish, you need a recipe. I could probably make a decent oatmeal raisin cookie just by figuring it out, but I’d feel better at least glancing at a few recipes. The whole of Read On »

Posts Categorized: sidedishes

Hoppin’ John

The Amazing Potato Gratin
(and Le Creuset GIVEAWAY)

Persian Rice

Pressure Cooker Beans 3 Ways At Once

Israeli Couscous with Butternut Squash