Saute

These tacos are a great way to enjoy the harvest from your late summer garden. The delicate orange-and-yellow flowers of squash plants are a prized treat through out Mexico and the southwestern United States. Squash blossoms are an ideal partner to the green chiles grown in Hatch, New Mexico, widely available in the Southwest during late summer and early fall (see Sources, page 167). If you can’t find New Mexico green chiles, you can use Anaheims, their slightly less robust California counterpart, found in produce markets throughout the country. I like to serve these tacos with a cold, citrusy beverage—margaritas for the adults and limeade for the kids. The tartness of the limes beautifully complements the warm, buttery cheese that oozes out of the taco with each bite.

As à la meunière means “in the manner of the miller’s wife” in French, it’s no surprise that this preparation often calls for the fish to be coated with flour before being sautéed, to promote browning.

Beans are wonderful for making dishes that are hearty enough to serve as the main part of a meal or, in smaller portions, as an accompaniment to meat, fish, or chicken. Besides protein, they lend chewy texture that holds up well when tossed with vinaigrette. This dressing is made by deglazing the pan that was used to sauté the mushrooms and aromatics with vinegar, then whisking in oil. You may find that you have some left over; if you like, toss it with frisée or other salad greens, then serve the lentils over the greens. The lentils are also delicious with sausages, pan-seared tuna or roasted salmon, and duck confit.

This simple yet timeless Italian dish demonstrates beautifully the process of sautéing: cutlets—most often chicken or veal—are dredged with flour, then sautéed in a mixture of olive oil and butter, a typical combination that is practical and flavorful. The flour encourages the chicken to form a light crust (and helps thicken the pan sauce), the butter helps it to brown, and the oil raises the smoke point so the butter doesn’t brown too much before the chicken is cooked through. A simple pan sauce is the only accompaniment, and is designed to make good use of the tasty browned bits left in the pan from cooking the chicken.

This sauté makes good use of an abundance of summer vegetables, the small amount of cream adding a touch of richness without overwhelming the fresh flavor of the produce. A chopped ripe, small tomato would be a colorful addition.

In Sicilian cooking, raisins and nuts—often pine nuts, but almonds and walnuts are also common—are frequently used to lend sweetness to bitter greens and vegetables, including chard, spinach, and kale, as well as broccoli and cauliflower. They also add textural contrast to a dish of sautéed greens, as in this chard recipe. You can make a simplified version by omitting the shallots, nuts, and raisins, and starting at the point where you cook the garlic and red-pepper flakes in oil.

Unlike when poached, eggs that are fried are intended to brown ever so slightly, with a hint of a crust around the edges that contrasts wonderfully with the soft, runny yolk. That’s the hallmark of eggs prepared “sunny side up.” When a fresh egg is cracked into a skillet, the thickest part of the egg white clings around the yolk. To ensure that the white sets throughout, you need to break the thick albumen sac, and distribute the whites evenly. Fried eggs are often served on toast or as a component of a heartier breakfast dish such as Huevos Rancheros.

Duck breast, long considered a delicacy in French cuisine, is exceptionally moist and tender when properly prepared. The breast is small enough to cook in a pan (rather than having to roast the whole bird) and it needs no flour or added fat to develop a crisp golden crust. You do need to follow a few special rules, however, as duck has quite a bit of fat under its skin. Duck should always be cooked sufficiently to render out its fat, some of which is poured off and reserved for another use (such as roasting potatoes or sautéing vegetables). To render fat, the duck is cooked first on its skin side, then turned over to finish cooking through. The desired degree of doneness depends on whom you ask; some cooks insist that the breast meat should always remain pink, while others would have you cook it further (the USDA, for example, recommends cooking to 170°F). In the recipe that follows, the time given should result in a medium-rare (pinkish) interior after the duck has rested, so cook it longer if you prefer it more well done. The rich taste of duck makes it a fine partner for fruit, especially orange (think of the French standby, duck à l’orange). Here it is served with a sweet-and-sour sauce called gastrique, made by caramelizing sugar and then deglazing the pan with an acidic liquid, such as vinegar or citrus juice (this recipe uses both). This dish would pair particularly well with mashed or pureed turnips or sautéed bitter greens.

Not all sauté recipes start with dredging the meat in flour. Instead, this recipe demonstrates how meat can achieve a nice sear simply by relying on the high heat of the pan (and a little science, called the Maillard reactions; see page 126). To encourage browning, you must make sure the meat is dry, as moisture will hinder the process. First, pat the meat dry with paper towels and wait to salt it until just before cooking (since salt will draw the juices to the surface). The sautéed meat will leave golden-brown bits behind, so you’ll want to deglaze the pan and incorporate them into a pan sauce. This one is made with a fragrant combination of brandy, shallots, apples, and raisins (all good partners for pork) and finished with cream, which thickens as it simmers, giving body to the sauce.

Try this technique with any mild, flaky white fish, including sole, tilapia, or turbot, all of which work nicely with the sauce. Brown butter—or buerre noisette, created when butter is cooked until the milk solids turn golden brown—is one of those à la minute (cooked to order) sauces that should be a part of any home cook’s repertoire, since it can be altered in countless ways. Nuts are classically paired with browned butter, as their flavors are complementary; citrus juice or wine balances the richness; and other ingredients, such as herbs, provide complexity. Since this recipe is so quick to prepare, you need to have your mise en place at the ready before you heat the pan. Toast and chop the hazelnuts, suprême the citrus, and put salt, pepper, and flour in separate dishes (for seasoning and dredging the fish) set near the stove.

Liver is another good option for sautéing, since it cooks so quickly, inside and out. A simple dredging in seasoned flour is all that’s required; soaking the liver in milk first will mellow its flavor and tenderize the meat. Be sure to pat the liver dry before coating; otherwise the flour will form clumps, which can fall off in the pan. Liver and onions is a classic dish, and can be prepared by caramelizing some sliced onion (two onions would be plenty for four servings) in butter before browning the liver. Then finish by returning the onion to the pan just to heat through. Or serve with Tomato and Onion Confit (on page 306), as pictured.

Cavolo nero, a variety of kale, means “black cabbage” in Italian and is a staple of Tuscan cooking. It has a distinct, earthy flavor that I love and that complements many of our heartier preparations.

Using vinegar and chiles in an aggressive way is something Matt picked up from Mario, and I love it. I have a thing for acidic food in general—vinegar in particular. If you were to follow me around the kitchen at Mozza as I tasted various sauces and condiments, what you would hear most often is, “It needs salt” or “It needs acid.” This needs neither. Broccolini, also called baby broccoli, looks similar to broccoli but with longer, thinner stalks and smaller florets. It’s a hybrid between conventional broccoli and Chinese broccoli and is slightly sweeter than broccoli. We also make this dish with Romanesco, an Italian heirloom variety of cauliflower.

Caponata, a traditional Sicilian eggplant preparation, is the perfect example of agrodolce, the Italian word for combining sweet and sour flavors in savory dishes. When people order this antipasto at the Pizzeria, we suggest they also get an order of Fett’Unta (page 65) to absorb the delicious flavors of the caponata. Caponata is an ideal dish to serve at a party, because you can prepare it in advance and serve it at room temperature.

Whoever named sweetbreads had an ingenious idea—to give such a nice-sounding name to a part of the animal, the thymus gland, that doesn’t sound all that appetizing. I’ve found that despite the clever name, otherwise open-minded eaters are often squeamish when it comes to eating sweetbreads—a shame, since they can be out of this world. These are seared so they have a crisp exterior and creamy interior. Sweetbreads and artichokes are a pretty typical Italian pairing, and one that I love. While this isn’t a difficult dish to make, it does require several steps, so plan ahead.

Just when I think we have perfected a dish, I come across a version that someone has done better, and that’s what happened here. I always thought we did a great job with the chicken liver pâté we served at the Pizzeria, and it is one of the most raved-about items we serve. The combination of pancetta, lemon, and capers is delicious, and we hand-chop it, which gives it great texture, so I was totally happy with these crostini until I went to the Spotted Pig in New York City and had theirs. April Bloomfield, the chef, served her chicken livers on bread that was doused with—not drizzled and not brushed, but drowned in—olive oil, which made the chicken liver taste that much better. When I came back from that trip, we started doing the same thing, drowning the toast for our chicken liver pâté in the best finishing-quality olive oil we have. After I copied April’s bread, I think our version of chicken liver crostini went back to number one—or at least we’re tied for first place.