aj12754's Reviews
47 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 47Sort by: Title 
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Website: Epicurious
This was just fine, not really memorable, but we enjoyed it. Best the day it's made.
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Super easy and a nice change of pace as an accompaniment to an Italian dinner. Tangy and refreshing. If you don't care for fennel, celery is a recommended substitute.
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This recipe came to the rescue when I realized I was missing one of the ingredients for the Jacques Pepin salmon recipe I had planned on for tonight. It is a very good weeknight choice and I will definitely make this again but with two tweaks. First, I will replace the butter with EVOO -- healthier, but also I find salmon rich enough that the butter seemed to be overkill. And second, I will up the amount of lemon juice since I like a stronger hit of acid to counterbalance the richness of the salmon. I did like the tarragon and fennel flavors with the salmon.
This is also the kind of recipe that is easy to make for one or 100 people.
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I was very surprised at how delicious this turned out to be, even after I discovered I had used up the last bottle of clam juice in the pantry and had none for the soup. The recipe called for seafood stock or a mix of vegetable stock and clam juice. I used the last of an open carton of chicken stock and some water.
Even so, the broth was just the star of this simple version of bouillabaisse, a type of soup I'd never tried before. The aromatics are fennel and onion, and a couple of cloves of smashed garlic. Once those are sauteed in some EVOO, you add the broth, some saffron soaked in OJ (I tossed in the 2 T. of OJ as well), a strip of orange zest, and some canned tomatoes. The soup is then brought to a boil and boiled until it is reduced by half at which point you reduce the heat to medium (per the recipe) and add the fish -- I went to a simmer and was glad I did since I was using tilapia and shrimp and didn't want either to overcook and become tough. The soup is finished off with some chopped parsley.
While the soup was reducing I made my first rouille, using the Epicurious recipe below but using a different technique (from a YouTube video). I am sure my approach was flawed, my resulting texture a little odd, but it was great in the soup,along with a slice of toasted Italian bread.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rouille-238412
I'd love to try this again with mussels.
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Very nice overnight brine for pork loin or pork chops. Brine has fennel, coriander, and bay leaves. I really like what the bay leaves add to the brine.
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We liked this gratin quite well. Although I made a couple of changes to the recipe, the basic technique here for a vegetable gratin is very solid.
I read the reviews at epicurious before preparing the dish, taking one reviewer's suggestion to add caramelized onions to the mix to amp up the flavor. I also used a cheddar-jack mix rather than parmesan just because I had it on hand and wanted to use it up. I also used panko rather than fresh bread crumbs because this is what I always do when fresh bread crumbs are called for in a recipe and I am never sorry to have done so.
I would say that it's fairly important not just to drain but also to to then press the excess water out of the broccoli (which I did) before composing the gratin as a number of epicurious reviewers commented on getting a watery end product (which I was able to avoid thanks to their heads-up).
The recipe was easily halved to feed my family of two.
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I was quite surprised by the tastiness and creaminess of this healthy four ingredient soup --the three in the title and chicken stock. Oops ... it's five I guess if you count the 3 T. butter you saute the leeks in.
The recipe calls for 1.5 lbs. of broccoli crowns and a quart of stock and I found the crowns needed to be chopped into fairly small pieces in order for all the broccoli to be completely submerged in the stock.
There's a bit of a debate at the Epicurious website as to how effective an immersion blender is when making this soup. I suspect it works better if you have already chopped the broccoli into fairly small pieces. Because I like a really smooth texture, I used my regular blender and was happy with the smooth and creamy (with no cream) result.
10-15-11 -- Had this soup for a dinner tonight and it was even better after a few days in the fridge.
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This was fine -- just not as good as I expected ... for me, the ginger seemed to compete with the tartness of the grapefruit rather than complement it.
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This recipe has been on my "to try" list for at least 12 years. I first saw it more than 10 years ago in the Thanksgiving 1998 issue of Bon Appetit and I generally run across it at least once a year when I pull out my old November Bon Appetits to plan my Thanksgiving meal.
Still -- somehow it never quite made the holiday menu. But it popped up when I did a Google search for recipes using apple cider (I have a gallon of it and just can't seem to use it all up).
I'm very glad I finally got around to this one -- it has a nice balance of sweet and savory and my husband was a big fan of the cider cream. Although we had it for a light dinner, I think this works better for lunch or as a first course soup.
Served with a foccacia topped with caramelized onions, garlic, kalamata olives, rosemary and parmesan.
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I made this a few weeks ago and kept forgetting to review it -- probably because I found it pretty forgettable as egg/breakfast dishes go. My husband liked it better than I did but neither of us really loved it. I felt like something was missing -- some spice or herb to pump up the volume a bit.
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A few years ago I had a wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil at a restaurant and really disliked it ... so I thought I just didn't like the flavor of truffles since I knew I liked wild mushrooms. But I received a small bottle of truffle oil as a gift and looked for a recipe to to give the truffle flavor a second try.
This was a really nice soup and the bacon, cheese (I used parmesan rather than pecorino romano since I didn't have any of the latter on hand) and truffle oil worked really well together in this creamy soup although I was quite sparing with the truffle oil. I was also quite sparing with the cream, using less than half the amount called for since the soup had a nice creamy consistency even without the heavy cream.
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This was just ok -- and it could I think have been so much better with just a few changes. I did make a few changes based on some of the recipe reviews at epicurious, specifically increasing the amount of cauliflower and omitting the cornstarch. I also used a mix of leek and onion rather than only onion. So far, so good.
But the soup just needed a greater depth/complexity of flavour. I would do this soup again because the cauliflower/stilton combination has potential, but next time I'll add some thyme and a bay leaf to the soup while it's simmering ... and some nutmeg when the cream is added. And maybe add white wine or vermouth between the saute and the simmer phase.
Note: we finished up the rest of this soup two or three days later and the flavor definitely deepened and improved in the fridge.
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Step Two in the campaign to lower my husband's resistance to lamb ... and it was a success. Really nice summer meal.
The burgers are seasoned with garlic, cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon, cayenne and cilantro. After grilling, the recipe suggests that the burgers be slathered with tapenade and served in a pita pocket. I offered both tapenade (a commercial brand made of sun-dried tomatoes and olives freshened with a bit of lemon juice and EVOO) and tzatziki -- and both were equally good.
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Kind of a sad little stir fry -- nothing very interesting going on here. All the usual suspects (garlic and ginger and soy) are here but the result is much less than the expected sum of the parts.
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Very nice recipe for empanada filling -- fragrant and savory with a hint of sweetness. Mildly spicy. Easy to do 1-2 days ahead of serving.
Did not use the suggested store-bought pizza dough for the empanada dough.
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Like a lot of people, I am always looking for quick weeknight meals and this one is a breeze (maybe 15 minutes) and quite tasty and healthy. The citrus glaze is easy & very flavorful, a blend of orange and lemon and ginger. I use a cara cara orange that was a little more tart than sweet, and a Meyer lemon, and ended up adding a wee bit of honey to sweeten things a tad. I made a full recipe of the sauce since I was serving the fish over rice.
I used the Costco individually frozen tilapia filets for this recipe and was very happy with the quality of these.
The rice was more than a little boring and I think next time I might try this with a variation of the Zuni Cafe citrus risotto, but using oranges in place of the grapefruit. Or maybe a citrus-y wild rice dish.
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Very pretty spring-summer colors in this crab salad. Although my taste buds are compromised, the fact that every plate was cleaned by my dinner guests is a pretty good indication that the dish worked.
I didn't make the cumin apple chips because reviews at the website were mixed on those. I served the salad on endive leaves, but next time I think it would be better and prettier on a leaf of butter lettuce. Served with an appetizer portion of a chilled asparagus soup (Fine Cooking).
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I liked this quite a bit -- I liked the tartness of the fresh cranberries and using the food processor makes quick work of cutting the butter into the dry ingredients. A slice of his bread -- and a nice little chunk of blue cheese-- was a tasty accompaniment to a dinner of sweet potato soup. It was also quite tasty with a cup of coffee the following morning.
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I probably haven't made this salad for five or six years but that's simply a product of my bad memory. An over-abundance of the mint purchased to make another recipe prodded my memory and happily so as this is just as good as I'd remembered.
This is a really simple and delicious and refreshing summer side dish. You'll need about an hour to marinate the cucumbers with salt, sugar and red wine vinegar prior to adding the tomatoes (I use cherry or grape tomatoes until the Jersey tomatoes reach their peak), mint, and EVOO.
Works equally well with basil -- and no one is likely to complain if you toss in a little feta or mozzarella.
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These were delicious...and kind of adorable to look at. They are very easy to do, but it is delicate work peeling them in a way that leaves the whites intact enough to fill.
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I really didn't know I wanted to make a fennel soup until I began looking through a Patricia Wells cookbook (At Home in Provence) and saw a recipe for Caramelized Fennel Soup. But my husband is not a big fennel fan and her version was basically fennel, stock and a bouquet garni. So I thought I'd check around on-line and found this recipe at Epicurious and liked the idea of pairing smoked fish with fennel.
After reading the reviews from people who had tried the recipe, I made a few changes:
1) I used more fennel and two rather than one leek.
2) I had to use a mix of fennel and anise seed as I was just about out of fennel seed.
3) I used one rather than two russet potatoes because I often think that potatoes can dominate a soup and we like less starchy soups generally.
4) after sauteing the fennel and leek, I deglazed with Pernod, before adding the potato and stock.
5) I garnished with creme fraiche, fennel fronds, and smoked trout rather than smoked salmon. I used the trout for two reasons -- I had it on hand and it just seemed better to me for this dish than salmon.
I loved it ... but even better, my fennel-doubting husband pronounced it company worthy. I agree with him. The only changes I might make going forward are:
1) maybe a little squeeze of lemon juice (maybe not)
2) for a dinner party, I think I might like an even silkier texture so after blending, I'd pour it through a strainer or chinois.
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This was a very tasty summer meal -- and a recipe selected solely because I fell in love with these cute little cherries at Whole Foods. Just beautiful they were ... and before I knew it they were in the cart.
This savory rather than sweet sauce -- which combines the cherries [much quicker and easier to pit than I'd expected -- a quick squeeze and the pit just popped right out], balsamic vinegar, red wine, a bit of sugar, a cinnamon stick, a shallot and some chicken broth -- takes about 30 minutes, and then is finished with some lime juice to taste and salt and pepper.
The recipe calls for adding some corn starch to thicken the sauce -- which I did -- but the sauce remained fairly runny while warm.
My husband liked it enough to suggest picking up more of the cherries, making more sauce, and canning it so as to have it available in the dead of winter to serve with duck or pork tenderloin.
There is enough left over that I'd like to try the now cooled (and thereby thickened) sauce as part of a cheese course, possibly with this Jacques Pepin recipe for mini savory cheesecakes.
http://www.kqed.org/w/morefastfoodmyway/episode216.html
Update 7/28 -- these cheesecakes (reviewed separately) went very well with the sour cherry sauce.
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The flavor of these flatbreads is great although I had a little trouble getting the dough to the right consistency -- I ended up using quite a bit more yogurt than the recipe called for. But then, I never make bread so it was all new to me. My flatbreads also needed to be rolled a bit thinner than I did. But even so, these made a really tasty accompaniment to the Moroccan chicken soup these were served with. And they were easy enough, and my family liked them enough, that I will try them again.
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Well -- following this recipe was supposed to result in medium-rare lamb chops. But not for me. Although the herb marinade gave great flavor and aroma to the dish, the lamb was far beyond medium-well when it came out of the oven. Very disappointing.
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I badly needed a harbinger of spring today and A&P came through with some lovely-to-look-at (and not bad tasting even though it is a bit too early in the season) asparagus.
This dish actually managed to bring a hint of spring to this cold and rainy and windy day in the NE. I read the reviews of the recipe on Epicurious and followed the lead of several reviewers who supplemented the lemon zest the recipe calls for with some lemon juice. The reviewers were right - the zest alone did not give it quite enough of the lemony punch.
I did think the asparagus/shrimp balance was weighted a little too heavily on the former so I added some of the cooled asparagus tips to my side salad. Pretty tasty.
Recipe can also be found in the May 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine.
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A nice, quick soup that is at its best if you take a bit of extra time to really brown the mushrooms, sauteing in batches if necessary and without much stirring. The thyme cream -- the element that makes this a special soup and one suitable for entertaining -- has to be made about three hours beforehand but otherwise this is a snap to pull together. The soup can also be done ahead and reheated.
I made a half recipe, and substituted onion for leeks because that's what I had. I also deglazed the pan with a little French vermouth after sauteing the the mushrooms and onions. The recipe calls for the addition of a few tablespoons of flour to thicken the soup and even though I used less than called for, this soup was -- in my husband's words -- "one step away from creamed mushrooms over toast." Still tasty but I'd probably cut out almost entirely or even completely omit the flour next time.
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I would make this again in a red hot minute. A wonderful accompaniment to a brined pork loin or pork chops. Special enough to be part of an entertaining menu. Loved it.
Here is the link to the pork brine.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Brined-Pork-Loin-with-Onion-Raisin-and-Garlic-Compote-106313
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Rich, savory, and delicious ... perfect for a really cold snowy day. This soup --- along with a fire in the fireplace, a good red wine, and some crusty bread, and you have the makings for a great winter meal.
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I found this recipe while looking for something different to do with some sugar snap peas I had left-over from another dish. The original recipe called for a mix of fresh peas and sugar snap peas but I didn't have the former. So I made the dressing, skipped the regular peas, blanched and shocked the sugar snap peas, added them to the dressing along with some sliced English cucumbers and a red pepper that was hanging around in the fridge begging for something to do. Mixed 'em all up and served on a bed of baby lettuce also left over from last night's dinner. It was delicious and had the added virtue of using up some fresh produce I'd purchased for other dishes. Hate hate hate to waste food so I love it when I am able to use up the odds and ends in the fridge. Served as a side for a sear-roasted salmon with a lemon-ginger butter. Jasmine rice completed the dish.
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Another team Soupereasy/AJ Project.
We decided to spend an afternoon with phyllo dough and four fillings. The first two recipes came from Epicurious and the last from the Fine Cooking website (apparently from one of their cookbooks and not in the magazine). So this review is also posted under FC.
The fillings and links are listed below.
Goat Cheese and Red Pepper
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Goat-Cheese-and-Red-Pepper-Phyllo-Triangles-with-Olive-Frisee-Salad-106994
Zucchini with Basil and Pine Nuts
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Phyllo-Triangles-with-Basil-Zucchini-and-Pine-Nuts-316
Creamy Leeks with Feta, and Creamy Leeks with Blue Cheese (this was just our variation on the leeks with feta).
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/creamy-feta-leek-borek.aspx?nterms=50150,50026,54286,50176
All the fillings are easily made in advance.
We found the goat cheese and red pepper nice but a trifle bland, so we added a little heat with some Thai-style sweet chili sauce and liked the result very much. This was probably my favorite one.
The creamy leeks, one batch with feta and a second with blue cheese (omitting the oregano in the blue cheese version), were both lightened and brightened with a dash of lemon juice. Of the two, we both preferred the leeks with feta (this was soupereasy's top pick), and agreed that the leeks with blue cheese would be better as a crostini topping.
There was nothing wrong with the zucchini-basil-pine nut version -- but nothing really special either. Good. Tasty. But not really memorable -- I think I like the more traditional spinach-basil-pine nut combo better.
We used two boxes of the phyllo dough and almost a pound of butter. We ended up with about 40 triangles, most of which are now in our freezers to be reheated for appetizers and snacks. A very fun day.
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This is a Kylie Kwong recipe and is also available in her cookbook, Simple Chinese Cooking. Serves 4.
I really enjoyed the subtle (and non-greasy) flavor of this dish -- my husband thought it was a little heavy on the ginger, but I liked the balance of the dish. Some folks might like a little more garlic.
If you don't have malt vinegar, apple cider vinegar works just as well. I didn't have any frozen peas but I would add them next time to up the veggie quotient.
I made the rice earlier in the day and refrigerated it so it would be dry enough to work in the dish.
It's a very good use for left-over pork tenderloin (which I always have when I buy the Costco double pork tenderloin) as it calls for 12-16 oz. of boneless pork. Also -- a great use for leftover rice.
Am looking forward to the leftovers for lunch today.
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Easy, can be done-ahead or served warm, pretty to look at, and very tasty. Excellent as a side for marinated and grilled skirt steak. Good for casual summer entertaining.
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Light, refreshing, healthy and easy. Very nice side dish for the charmoula lamb burgers also at the Epicurious website.
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I read the ingredients list here (red cabbage, sauteed pancetta, currants plumped up in warm balsamic vinegar, a little EVOO, some toasted almonds chopped up, and a handful of chopped parsley) and expected to love this. Except I didn't. I couldn't quite put my finger on the problem but my husband did ... the pancetta didn't work. I also think that the balsamic vinegar could have used a bit of honey or brown sugar to add a little sweetness to the salad.
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Very easy and very delicious. The sauce is red wine and dried fruit (I used dried cherries, apricots, and golden raisins) and it is really tasty. I made a half recipe and next time I might up the amount of sauce a bit.
Served over Tyler Florence's mashed potatoes with a side of roasted green beans. Paired with a very nice Cotes du Rhone available at Costco that matched up perfectly.
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Well -- after really enjoying the turnip soup I made him, my father-in-law began to reminisce about his mother's stew with turnips and rutabagas. So I decided to try a turnip & rutabaga soup for him. Big mistake. Huge. At least this version was ... very sweet. Just not good. At all.
Followed the recipe pretty exactly, only adding a bit of onion to the leeks and I pureed the entire pot of soup instead of only half, leaving the rest chunky.
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I kind of love it when I find a recipe that allows me to make use of the last of this or that -- and this one allowed me to use up the last of a sweetened cranberry sauce I'd made to serve with a lemon pot de creme.
The leftover sauce is mixed with some red wind vinegar and shallots. Meanwhile some EVOO is mixed with Dijon mustard and brushed on both sides of seasoned salmon fillets. The remaining mustard-oil mix is added to the cranberry mixture. The salmon roasts 12-14 minutes then broiled for another 30-60 seconds until the top is browning in spots. The sauce is spooned over each fillet before serving.
We enjoyed this and it will probably enter my post-Thanksgiving "use up the leftovers" recipe rotation. But I think I might try adding the sauce just before the broil.
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It is a little difficult for me to give a fair review of this recipe as it appears that neither my husband nor me really like sea bass very much ... something I didn't know until I made the recipe.
But I do like the technique and the other flavors here and I will probably try this with another white fish at some point.
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Very good weeknight meal. I used 16 dried cherries rather than 8 fresh ones, and I cut the dried cherries in half before adding them to the sauce. Rather than making the sauce while the seared duck rested per recipe directions, I made the sauce about an hour beforehand and added some duck fat to the sauce just before serving. Really nice and the baked sweet potato with a bit of butter and sea salt went well with the duck.
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A little labor intensive given the time it takes to slice the sprouts, but a mandolin makes relatively quick work of that. Add crushed toasted walnuts, pecorino Romano cheese, and a lemon and EVOO dressing. Salad looks very appetizing on a buffet, but I found that the addition of a little honey to the dressing helped smooth out and balance the flavors.
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This salad was a big hit in my house. Because my husband dislikes watercress, I used baby arugula instead. The recipe called for a sweet red apple -- which I thought I had ... but didn't ... so I substituted a Granny Smith. No doubt a sweeter apple would have been a better flavor complement to the other elements of the salad ... but the Granny Smith was just fine. We definitely enjoyed the dressing (whipping cream, horseradish, some dill, and a little EVOO and apple cider vinegar) with the slightly bitter lettuce and the smoked trout. Will definitely make this one again ... with a Gala or Fuji apple next time.
Recipe can also be found in the November 1998 Bon Appetit.
The recipe was written for a Thanksgiving issue of the magazine so it makes a huge amount of dressing -- I easily made a 1/4 recipe of the dressing, more than enough to dress two salads.
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Pretty straightforward Asian noodle side dish. I used Udon-like noodles, made with spinach so a pretty green color that looked lovely with the matchstick carrots and zucchini. The matchstick veggies make this a little more labor intensive but it ends in a pretty dish presentation wise. I added 2 tsp. of toasted sesame oils to the dressing (vegetable oil, ginger, soy sauce, line juice, and sugar) and was glad I did since I think it would have been a little bland otherwise. I baked 2 salmon fillets to go with, then flaked and added them to the room temperature noodles.
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Following some of the reviews at the Epicurious website, I skipped the addition of dried apricots and cut the amount of sugar, as I was looking for something more savory than sweet. I was happy with the result, which I added as a topping for a grilled English cheddar sandwich.
I made half a recipe and used dried rather than oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes.
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This was surprisingly tasty given that it was seasoned only with salt, pepper, and a bay leaf. I am a sucker for pureed vegetable soups anyway, and this was very nice in spite of the fact that I skipped the buttered pecans. Adding the pecans, either buttered or candied, would be a nice touch if I was making this soup as a first course for guests. We also skipped the suggested sour cream or creme fraiche and never missed it. Again, with guests, I'd offer one or the other.
Kind of oddly I think, the recipe has very specific instructions for how to cut up the sweet potato and regular potato [next time I'd do all sweet potatoes] the recipe calls for. I ignored these and did about a 1 inch dice on both. After all, they are just going to simmer and then be pureed.
Served with a fresh cranberry & walnut quick bread, also from epicurious.
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This was my first raita so my basis for judging is limited, but I thought this was excellent. I served it with Ground Coriander and Cilantro flatbreads (posted a separate review for these but I will say they were perfect for the raita). Next time I will probably do a smaller dice on the cucumber but other than that I would make no changes. Very simple and tasty.
This recipe originally appeared in the May 2008 issue of Bon Appetit.
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The caper vinaigrette makes all the difference to this dish ... it really enhances the trout and is perfect with the white beans. Made a few changes to the recipe, substituting fennel for the shallots in the vinaigrette, broiling rather than pan-frying or grilling the fish, and we found our beans needed quite a bit more liquid than the recipe called for.
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One of my all-time favorite summer salads. A snap to put together and very light (no oil) and refreshing on a hot summer day.
My supermarket doesn't carry the glaze but you can get a small but over-priced bottle at Williams-Sonoma ... or if you have an Italian grocery nearby, you can usually find it there.
The recipe does give directions for making the glaze on your own -- but I ended up burning the heck out of my small saucepan. A real chore to clean up after.
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