Adding Flavor to Simple Recipes

Well, it’s clear that I haven’t had a chance to post much here recently, and I haven’t been doing many cooking challenges lately either. Sometimes life gets too hectic. With that in mind, I am returning my focus to simple recipes, and I will post a bunch of them here.

By simple recipes, I mean recipes that have only a handful of ingredients, no more than five total, including salt, pepper and oil. Or quick but complete dinners that you can put together in one pan. These are the kinds of recipes that you will memorize after making them two or three times, so that you can easily whip one up on a weeknight even if you’re dead tired, or you can pull out when you’re not sure what to make with that ingredient you picked up on sale.

These recipes are great to add to your repertoire, but the problem is that they can become boring after a while. That’s why it’s a good idea to have a ready-made arsenal to add pizzazz to any recipe. You can vary the flavors depending on your mood and what you have available.

Here is my list of sure-fire ways to quickly and easily boost the flavor quotient in a simple recipe:

• Garnish it with fresh herbs after cooking.
• Sprinkle in a little citrus juice or vinegar at the end of cooking.
• Add minced chiles or red pepper flakes for heat.
• Substitute heavy cream, sour cream, plain yogurt or melted butter for some of the oil.
• Sprinkle with grated Parmesan or other cheese or with crumbled bacon (you can substitute bacon grease for some of the oil as well).
• Mix in slow-roasted tomatoes, roasted red peppers, pesto or other ready-made ingredients from the pantry.
• Substitute or add similar vegetables.

As I post some of my favorite tried-and-true simple recipes, I’ll provide examples of these flavor boosters. But never be afraid to experiment. Cooking is more fun that way!

Italian-style Chopped Salad with Chicken and Parmesan Crostini

Sorry it’s taken me so long to post this. The week has not been off to a great start, thanks to an ice storm that has left me housebound with a semi-sick toddler. Here is the dish I developed to meet my husband’s challenge last week for a satisfying salad that works as a meal.

The verdict:

• Husband: thumbs up! Comments: “delicious,” “flavorful,” “satisfying,” so I guess I scored on all counts.
• Toddler: thumbs down! He didn’t even try the deconstructed version I made for him. Comments: “I don’t like tay-mos,” which is a bold-faced lie, by the way.
• Me: thumbs up! Would I make this again? Definitely!

I love chopped salads, so I decided to start from there, and I went with Italian flavors because Italian is my husband’s favorite cuisine. The salad even has all the colors of the Italian flag: red, green and white. I thought it looked great on the plate. I wanted to combine a lot of textures and bold flavors in the dish, and also to incorporate some protein and bread to make it really satisfying as a meal.

For the base of the salad I used two greens, romaine and butter lettuce, which I sliced into ribbons. I wanted to use baby spinach, but when I got to the store that day, absolutely all of the salad greens were gone. We were scheduled to have an ice storm, so I figured that had to have something to do with it. I’ve heard of runs on milk and bread in the face of adverse weather, but not runs on salad, so I guess people really are eating healthier these days. I grabbed the only lettuce that was left: a head of butter lettuce. Fortunately, it worked out, because my husband loved both the lettuces I used.

The rest of the components suggested themselves: broiled chicken for heft; green beans for crunch; grape tomatoes and picante peppers for acid and brightness; mozzarella cheese for a creamy contrast; and Parmesan crostini fill in for the bread. The recipe follows. Please note that I didn’t measure exact amounts, so use your best judgment if you decide to make it. As written, this recipe feeds 2, but it can be easily doubled or tripled.

Italian-style Chopped Salad

For the chicken:

Place 1 boneless chicken breast in an oven-safe pan. Salt and pepper both sides, and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle the top with grated Parmesan, dried oregano and the zest and juice of ½ lemon.

On the stovetop, cook the chicken uncovered over medium-high heat until it is halfway cooked through. Turn on the broiler and transfer the pan to the oven. Finish cooking the chicken through — the top should be browned and the Parmesan melted — and set aside to cool. Slice thinly.

For the dressing:

Combine in a jar:

• the remaining zest and juice of the lemon
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 4 tablespoons good-quality olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper

Shake to combine well and set aside. You may have to mix the dressing again just before dressing the salad.

To assemble the salad:

Trim 2 large handfuls green beans and snap in half if the pieces are long. Blanch for a minute or two in boiling water, then transfer to an ice bath.

Wash and halve about half the contents of a container of grape tomatoes.

Cut 1 ball of fresh mozzarella into cubes.

Thinly slice a small handful of peperoncini or piquante peppers packed in vinegar.

Thinly slice into ribbons 1 small head romaine lettuce and ½ head butter lettuce. Toss in a bowl with half the dressing.

Place some salad greens on each of two plates. On top arrange the green beans, tomatoes and sliced chicken. Drizzle the remaining dressing over. Scatter the peppers and mozzarella over the top.

The crostini:

Cut 4 thin slices of bread from a French baguette. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Mound freshly grated Parmesan on top. Put under the broiler for 1-2 minutes (watch closely!) until the cheese is melted and the crostini have browned. Serve immediately on the side of the salads.

Chicken Parmesan

The latest issue of Fine Cooking had a recipe for quick chicken Parmesan, which I made last Sunday night. It was so delicious that we could not stop devouring it. The main tweak I made to the recipe was to substitute my own tomato sauce for the quick sauce in the recipe. I made the sauce that afternoon, let it simmer for a while to build flavor, then passed it through a food mill to make it smooth. Taking a little extra care with the sauce elevates chicken Parmesan to the sublime, I think.

Chicken Parmesan

Yields: 4 servings

• 2 cups tomato sauce, preferably homemade
• ½ cup flour
• Pepper and salt to taste
• 2 eggs
• 1½ cups panko breadcrumbs
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken cutlets or 8 chicken tenders
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan
• 4 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced thinly
• ¼ cup basil leaves, chopped

If the tomato sauce is chunky, pass it through a food mill. Bring the sauce to a simmer.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray it with nonstick cooking spray.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Season the chicken with salt. Prepare 3 shallow dishes: the flour mixed with some pepper in the first; the eggs beaten with 1 tablespoon water in the second; and the panko breadcrumbs in the third. Coat each piece of chicken in the flour, shaking off the excess. Then dunk it in the egg, followed by the panko. Brown the chicken in the skillet on both sides until the crumbs are golden, 1-2 minutes per side.

Transfer the chicken to the baking sheet. Spoon some tomato sauce over each piece (you should have sauce left over). Sprinkle Parmesan over each piece, and then top with a slice or two of mozzarella. Bake the chicken until cooked through, 5-7 minutes.

To serve, mix the basil into the remaining sauce. Spoon some more sauce on each plate. Lay the cutlets on top of the sauce. Be sure to serve with some crusty bread for mopping up the extra sauce.

Summer Eggplant Parmesan

It was Tomato Fest at area farmers markets this past Saturday, which meant that every stall had bowls of fresh tomatoes set out for sampling. From cherry tomatoes to thick slicing tomatoes to my favorite, the sweet-tart green zebra-striped ‘maters, it was snacking heaven. Our garden tomatoes haven’t ripened yet, so of course we had to buy plenty.

Fresh eggplant also on hand and basil from the garden inspired the above dish of summery eggplant parmesan. I usually consider eggplant parmesan to be a heavy dish, but it can be lightened considerably by eliminating the eggy breading that typically coat the eggplant slices before frying.

My husband made the tomato sauce from roma tomatoes, but you can use this recipe to make your own sauce. Cook the tomatoes down until they are very thick and smooth. You don’t even have to puree this sauce, although putting it through the food mill does get rid of the skins.

I lightly sauteed thin eggplant slices in a little olive oil first so that they would be tender in the casserole. In a baking dish, layer the tomato sauce, sauteed eggplant slices, sliced fresh mozzarella (the kind packed in water), slivered basil leaves and grated Parmesan. Add another layer of everything, starting with sauce and finishing with even more sauce and a generous covering of Parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly, 20-30 minutes. Delicioso!