Category Archives: sidedishes

The Amazing Potato Gratin
(and Le Creuset GIVEAWAY)

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: October 17, 2012

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 Creuset is GIVING AWAY ten—yes, TEN!—of these gratin ...

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Also posted in aromatics, baking, From Scratch, Giveaway, Recipes, Technique | Tagged butcher & larder, Chicago, El Ideas, events, Floriole, gratin, Le Creuset, Salumi, The Publican | Comments closed

Persian Rice

By Emilia | Published: April 9, 2012

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

Also posted in aromatics, Article, Ethnic Cuisine, Recipes, Uncategorized | Tagged aromatics, crunch, new york times, Persian, Rice, spices, texture | Comments closed

Pressure Cooker Beans 3 Ways At Once

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: February 24, 2012

American three-bean salad/Photos by Laura Pazzaglia

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).

A pressure cooked bean salad.

HOW: With steamer basket, aluminum foil ...

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Also posted in Guest Post, Kitchen Technology, Kitchen Tools, pressure cooker, Recipes, Salads | Tagged beans, hip pressure cooking, Laura Pazzaglia, pressure cooker, recipe, salad | Comments closed

Israeli Couscous with Butternut Squash

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: February 6, 2012

Israeli couscous with butternut/Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

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 ...

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Also posted in aromatics, Recipes, Technique, Vegetables | Tagged couscous, david lebovitz, lemon confit | Comments closed

Do-over: Charleston, Eve, & Grits

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: December 13, 2011

Shrimp and grits. photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

One of hard things about writing books is that they are in constant flux and then they are permanent. Thanks to the organic nature of blogs, I can make amends. When I was at the Culinary Institute of America, one of my best and favorite teachers was Eve Felder, who taught Garde Manger. She was the Cheshire Cat of chefs, perched high on stacked stools, who taught us that "Cooking is alchemy, cooking is magic!" And she was right. Righter than I knew, in fact. I'm heading to her native city, Charleston, South Carolina, and so she's been on my mind. When I wanted to do a butter-poached shrimp for Ruhlman's Twenty, I naturally wanted to pair it with grits. Who did I call for grits finesse ...

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Also posted in american regional cuisine, Appetizers, aromatics, chefs, Food Writing, From Scratch, Recipes, Seafood, Seasonings and Spices, Technique | Tagged Charleston, CIA, Eve Felder, shrimp and grits, South Carolina, twenty | Comments closed

Category Archives: sidedishes

The Amazing Potato Gratin
(and Le Creuset GIVEAWAY)

Persian Rice

Pressure Cooker Beans 3 Ways At Once

Israeli Couscous with Butternut Squash

Do-over: Charleston, Eve, & Grits

ruhlmanphotography.com

Info on Donna's Ratio Chart and Photography

Kitchen Tools

Recipes