…from the Perspectives’ KitchenHow you doin’? You’ll be shocked by the color and the bold flavor of this dish. The best part is that it’s a simple weeknight-easy recipe—it takes just 20 minutes and a handful of steps. The crimson noodles are cooked in a concoction of aromatics, merlot and fresh herbs, giving them a crimson color and an unexpected depth of flavor. When served, they look like a simple, colorful, nest of noodles with Parmesan and parsley, but they have a lively flavor—garlicky, rich and herbaceous with a pleasing flavor thrill of heat. Crimson Spaghetti is the perfect last-minute date night fare. You can make it with a cup and a half of leftover wine and just a few at home staples and the beautiful crimson noodles and wonderful flavor will surprise and delight every time. Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes Yield: 4 Servings Ingredients 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for topping 4 teaspoons minced garlic 1 teaspoon medium crushed red pepper flakes 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1" pieces, divided 1-1/2 cups Merlot wine 4 fresh thyme sprigs 2 fresh rosemary sprigs 2 fresh sage sprigs Kosher salt, to taste 8 ounces spaghetti, dry 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, for serving 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnish Directions
ChefSecret: You can also use an Italian Chianti instead of Merlot. Quip of the Day: Never underestimate the power of well-cooked spaghetti. It can really noodle its way into your heart.” ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross. #Entree #CrimsonMerlotSpaghetti #Spaghetti #Merlot #Parmesan #Dinner #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024
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…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen How you doin’? When I was growing up my mother used to think of “cute” names of meals to make them more inviting—dinner omelets we called Conglomeration—eggs mixed with most anything. Taste Ticklers were sweet and sour Danish meatballs. Egg salad with avocado was Green Egg Surprise. Everything was a surprise in our house. You would have thought she had trouble getting me to eat—that wasn’t true. I haven’t thought about Egg Surprise in years until I saw a recipe in the Gelson’s flyer recently. What is Green Egg Surprise? It’s very green egg salad made with perfectly ripe avocados, a little chopped garlic, dill and parsley, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. It’s super creamy and fresh and I love adding the herbs to the mix for more flavor thrills. The herbs give the salad a nice flavor and spring flair without squashing its essential egginess. Even without all the mayo, this tastes like a great egg salad we all know and love. The beauty of avocado egg salad, of course, is that it’s easy to make—you can even let the kids help you out by doing the mashing. And then it’s just a matter of piling it on a toasty everything bagel. Yes, it will taste great on any sort of bagel, but the combo of creamy, herby, crunchy, oniony, seedy and garlicky is pretty damn magical. Bagel sandwiches are a no-brainer for a fancy midweek lunch or weekend brunch. Bagels are always delicious, and people are generally surprised and delighted to see egg salad—it’s one of those classics that most of us forget to make at home. Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 25 minutes (eggs) Yield: Serves 6 Ingredients 2 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted 6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and medium diced 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnish 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 2 tablespoons minced garlic 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons kosher salt or to your taste 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to your taste 6 everything bagels, cut in half and toasted And, yes… there is no mayonnaise Directions
ChefSecret: If you don’t have fresh dill or parsley on hand, you can use chives, tarragon or cilantro instead. I cook my eggs just until the water boils. I take the eggs off the heat and let them steep in hot water for 17 minutes. Then I plunge them in cold ice water with ice cubes until completely chilled. Surprise—those eggs will be perfect. Quip of the Day: Where can you go to learn more about eggs? The hen-cyclopedia. ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your favorite recipes, pictures or thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. Recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross. #Entree #Salad #Sandwich #Bagel #EggSaladSurprise #Avocado #AvocadoEggSalad #EverythingBagel #Bagel #Lunch #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024 …from the Perspectives’ KitchenHow you doin’? When I’m in a pinch for time, I make something with shrimp. For all its quick-cooking ease, shrimp always makes any meal a bit special. This skillet recipe is no exception. It finishes with its dark red glaze, slivers of green onion, and wheels of charred Meyer lemon. It is a gourmet dish with rustic flavor back notes… the shrimp tastes amazing with a wonderful texture (if you don’t overcook them) that just might replace buffalo wings for happy hour. It’s the charred Meyer lemons that make this dish such a standout and while they may seem like a fancy ingredient, making them is as simple as sliding halved lemons under the broiler for 10 to 15 minutes. That little bit of concentrated heat imparts so much depth of flavor and sweet complexity… it’s one of my favorite kitchen techniques. Once the juice from the charred lemons marries with the other ingredients, wonderful things happen. The honey and sambal oelek, brightened by the citrus notes, make a sweet-savory glaze that clings to the shrimp and creates a delightfully crunchy, sticky caramelized exterior. Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Servings: 4 to 6 Ingredients 1-1/2 pounds extra jumbo shrimp (16-20 count), peeled and deveined 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup unsalted butter 1/4 cup honey 3 charred Meyer lemons, divided 1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce 3 tablespoons minced garlic 2 teaspoons sambal oelek 1 teaspoon vegetable oil 2 tablespoons minced green onion bottoms, plus more sliced tops for garnish Optional: Serve with steamed rice and your favorite vegetables on the side. Directions
ChefSecret: The sturdy glaze helps the shrimp hold up well for day-after bowls, salads, and tacos. Slice those leftover lemons into julienned strips and use them to add a bit of extra punch to your leftovers. Can’t find Meyer lemons? Just use 1 regular lemon and 1 lime. Quip of the Day: Q. What do you call a store where you negotiate for off-the-book shrimp transactions? A. Prawn Shop ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your favorite recipes, pictures or thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. Recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross. #Entree #MeyerLemonHoneyShrimp #Shrimp #MeyerLemon #Honey #Dinner #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024 Ancient Scrolls from Almost 2,000 Years AgoHow you doin’? In my last book I talked about the importance to mankind of food and drink to culture. “The Anthropology of Man Can Be Traced More Accurately Through the Foods & Beverages Of Time Rather Than Just The Richness Of Art, The Prose Of Literature, The Rhythm Of Music Or The Structure Of Architecture.” Well, listen up… an ancient scroll from almost 2,000 years ago has finally been decoded. Quite the step up from the bits of hieroglyphics we ‘learned’ in high school Ancient Egypt classes, this task needed the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to be worked out. The Herculaneum papyri are made up of about 1,800 scrolls and ended up buried in ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. These scrolls were excavated from an ancient Roman villa, but it’s been an absolute slog trying to unroll and read them. So, the Vesuvius Challenge was set up in March 2023 to try and decode them, offering a mega prize pot of $1million to crack the code. Papyrologists (yes, they’re a real thing) worked with the contest, believing the Roman scroll contains ‘never-before-seen text from antiquity’. Might it be politics, religion, pros, poetry or maybe something else? Three students managed to read 15 columns in a scroll, helped out by AI-powered coding machines. Youssef Nader in Germany, Luke Farritor in the US, and Julian Schilliger in Switzerland will get to share the $700,000 prize money after managing to read over 2,000 letters. Nat Friedman is one of the challenge’s organizers and TIME reports that after printing out the winning submission he said: “All this has been in this dreamlike digital world in my imagination before. Seeing it on paper, rolling it up, it just made it so tangible.” This winning submission totals four passages, each of 140 characters. TIME explains: “With at least 85% of the characters in each of those passages recoverable by professional papyrologists. It also contains a further 11 columns of text.” The text in question is a piece of Epicurean philosophy on the subject of cuisine pleasure… that’s right, Epicurean philosophy! The winning submission shows ancient Greek letters on a large patch of scroll, and the author seems to be discussing the question: are things that are scarce more pleasurable as a result? The scrolls were excavated from an ancient Roman villa, Herculaneum. The author, whose identity is unconfirmed, doesn’t think so: “As too in the case of food, we do not right away believe things that are scarce to be absolutely more pleasant than those which are abundant,” one passage from the scroll reads. In the final section of the scroll, the author appears to criticize his intellectual adversaries, who 'have nothing to say about pleasure, either in general or in particular, when it is a question of definition'. Professor Alice Roberts dubbed this discovery ‘the archaeological discovery of my lifetime’. Although, there is yet a whole load to be discovered with the combined efforts of the Vesuvius Challenge resulting in about five percent of one scroll being read. And the contest confirmed on X: "In 2024, our goal is to from reading a few passages of text to entire scrolls, and we're announcing a new $100,000 grand prize for the first team that is able to read at least 90% of all four scrolls that we have scanned." So, what might they have discovered—a recipe for spiced, Roman-Style Meat Balls? Roman Meatballs with Pompeiian Tomato Sauce Prep time: 25 minutes Cook time: 40 minutes Total time: 1 hour 5 minutes Ingredients For the meatballs 1/2-pound lean ground beef 1/2-pound ground pork 1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs 1/2 cup Italian grated Parmesan cheese 2 tablespoons fresh chopped Italian parsley 4 cloves minced garlic 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper olive oil (for browning the meatballs) For the sauce 1/2 cup virgin olive oil 1 medium finely diced yellow onion 4 cloves garlic, whole 1-28-ounce can of San Marzano Italian-style tomatoes (imported from Italy) 1-28-ounce can of tomato purée 3 tablespoons freshly chopped Italian parsley 2 teaspoons dried thyme kosher salt to own taste fresh ground black pepper to own taste Accompaniments 1-pound dried spaghetti extra chopped parsley for serving Fresh basil added options red pepper flakes for serving grated Pecorino Romano Directions To make the meatballs
To put it all together
Chefs Secret: No need to add olive oil to the drained pasta… you’ll just end up with unnecessarily oily pasta. Quip of the Day: After a long day of conquering, Julius Caesar liked to unwind with a nice Roman-ade. ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross. #Entree #RomanMeatballs #SpaghettiAndMeatballs #PompeiianTomatoSauce #HerculaneumPapyri #Dinner #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024 …from the Perspectives’ KitchenHow you doin’? In Cooking Lesson #353: Quick Wok-Fried Slippery Beef I talked about the process of velveting beef. I’m not going into the whole history of that technique, so you will have look it up on the Perspectives’ website. I will go so far to say that this is the secret that makes the meat from your Chinese restaurant tastes so moist and tender. It's all down to a simple cooking technique called velveting. You can use this process with any kind of meat, and it will ensure succulent and tender results every time. It's a technique you can easily master at home and will change the way you make stir-fry recipes in the future. The method works by locking in the juices and keeps the meat moist when you cook it over a high heat. It is a little more work, but the combination of the marinade and the quick blanching in hot water ensures moist and succulent meat. Velveting chicken makes it as moist and tender as what's served at the best Chinese restaurants. Here is my China Rose recipe. Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Marinade time: 30 minutes Yield: 2 servings Ingredients 1 large egg white 1 tablespoon Chinese rice vinegar 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 pound skinless, thinly sliced boneless, skinless chicken thighs 8 cups water 1 tablespoon peanut oil Directions
ChefSecret: Don't limit this chicken to just Chinese dishes. The velveted chicken can be stir-fried with any vegetables and sauce, or set atop egg noodles or stored for a few hours in the refrigerator before cooking. Quip of the Day: Q. What does a Chinese restaurant serve for Easter? A. Colored egg rolls! ------------------------------------------- Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. ------------------------------------------- To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross. #Entree #Chicken #SlipperyChicken #VelvetingChicken #CantonStyleChicken #Dinner #ChinaRose #2024Recipes #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024 |
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