Honkman

New Orleans Red Beans and Rice from “The Bean Book” by Steve Sando - using his Lila beans, andouille sausage, onions, garlic, celery, green bell peppers, bay leaves, thyme, ancho chili, cayenne pepper, mustard, parsley and scallions. Served over rice - it’s always great to taste how much more flavorful these heirloom beans are compared to “regular” ones and really transform a dish

Shrimp Burger with Fries - shrimps are minced in the food processor (1/3 very fine, 2/3 in larger pieces) and mixed with mayonnaise, cayenne pepper and scallions. After forming patties, you coat them with fine ground panko crumbs. Served on a toasted brioche bun with lettuce and tartar sauce and with fries

Sesame Stir-Fried Kimchi Pork based on a Milk Street recipe - stir-fry with pork tenderloin, kimchi, shiitake, scallions, garlic, toasted sesame seeds, soy sauce, mirin and toasted sesame oil. Served over rice

Potato Salad with Green Beans and Cucumber-Yogurt Dressing - mix of potatoes and green beans (both steamed separately) with a dressing made from diced cucumber, dill, oregano, yogurt, mayonnaise and white wine vinegar. Served with some sausages

Veal-Cabbage Gulasch with Sage and “Spatzenknoedel” (Flour Dumplings) from an essen & trinken recipe - the veal gulasch is a mix of cubed veal breast, green cabbage, bacon, shallots, garlic, sage, flour, marsala wine, caraway seeds and bay leaves cooked in veal stock. Finished with some lemon zest and juice and a little bit of honey. The spatzenknoedel are dumplings made in franconia by mixing flour, eggs and milk and cooking some balls of the dough in water until they float. The gulasch is topped with some crispy fried sage leaves and a drizzle of the sage butter.

Chicken Breast with Sesame Vinaigrette and Pan- Roasted Winter Vegetables with Miso, Ginger and Honey - chicken breast was cooked sous-vide (147F, 3 hours), very quickly pan-seared and served with a vinaigrette made by pureeing soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic, kewpie mayonnaise, canola oil, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, toasted sesame seeds and scallions. For the vegetables, carrots, parsnips, brussels sprouts and shallots are quickly pan-seared in a cast iron skillet, mixed with butter, white miso, ginger and honey and finished in the oven. Served with some fries

Thai inspired Red Curry Chicken - using red curry paste, lemongrass, makrut lime leaves, thai basil, galangal, fresno chili, shallots, fish sauce, lime juice and coconut milk to build the foundation. And cooked eggplants, snow peas, cherry tomatoes, rotisserie chicken, pineapple and lychee in it. Served over jasmine rice

“Green” Salad with Tomato Dressing and Burrata based on a recipe from essen & trinken magazine - the salad has blanched green beans, green asparagus and snow peas, pan-seared zucchini and broccolini, radishes and chervil. The dressing is made by pureeing dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, mustard, smoked paprika, orange juice, olive oil and champagne vinegar. Served with burrata drizzled with olive oil

Uni tastes like the ocean

Dan Dan Mian - chili paste made by slowly roasting ground sichuan peppercorns, sichuan chili powder and cinnamon in oil and then mixing with soy sauce, tahini, hoisin sauce and zhengjiang vinegar. Baby bok choy quickly blanched and ground pork stir fried either ginger, garlic and ya cai. Served with Chinese wheat noodles and topped with scallions

Shrimp Étouffée from Chef Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen - using (much) less butter and (a bit) more vegetables. First making the roux with oil and flour until dark brown, when it’s still hot but not any longer on the stove you add the vegetables (green bell peppers, celery, onion) and spice mix (black, white and cayenne pepper, basil and thyme) and let it cool down. Afterwards, you slowly add the mixture to the broth in another pot and cook it briefly. In another pan you briefly cook shrimps and scallions before adding the roux mix, more spice mix and some more broth. Served over rice

Pork Cutlet with Garbanzo Salad - salad had garbanzo beans, arugula, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, feta and parsley with an olive oil- lime juice vinaigrette. The thin-cut pork cutlets were pan-seared with red onions, garlic and fresno chili and for the last few seconds sprinkled with parsley, basil and mint

I haven’t read the whole book yet and so didn’t see his remark about farfalle but we actually like farfalle as it has slightly different textures and tends to keep sauce quite well

Pasta Fagiole (Variation 3) from Six Seasons of Pasta by McFadden - nice variation which gives a more rustic touch to this dish. Hot Italian sausages are formed in patties and seared hard to get a good crust with some smashed garlic, red pepper flakes and tomato paste. Once you add hand-crushed tomatoes, pinto beans and rosemary, you break up the patties and garlic and mix it with farfalle and a parmesan-pecorino mixture. Served with some panko crumbs and olive oil

Agreed - living on n California there are many great things to buy in supermarkets/shops but I miss sour cream (and creme fraiche) and similar dairy ingredients from Europe. Most sour cream in the US is barely OK and the better stuff is very expensive

Meatloaf with Pork Tenderloin Filling and Mustard Sauce from an essen & trinken recipe - meatloaf is made with a mix of ground pork and beef, bolillo roll soaked in milk, shallots, garlic, egg, mustard and tarragon. When you form the meatloaf you incorporate in the middle some strips of pork tenderloin. The meatloaf is baked in the oven for 45 minutes. The mustard sauce is made with shallots, brown sugar, port wine, vegetable broth, heavy cream, potatoes and bay leaves, pureed and finished with regular mustard and sweet mustard. Served with roasted diced, roasted potatoes, frisée salad and pea shoots.

Orecchiette Pugliese from an older Gourmet Traveller Magazine - you cook broccoli stems and florets until tender and puree them in the food processor. Using a bolillo roll you make fresh breadcrumbs in the oven, sauté them with garlic, fresno chili and lemon zest until brown and once cooled add grated pecorino. You saute gunaciale, garlic and another fresno chili until slightly browned, add the cooked orecchiette, broccoli puree and some pasta water. Finished with the bread crumbs mixture

Shiitake Mushroom Frittata with Pecorino Romano based on a CI recipe - frittata started on the stove and finished in the oven and made with eggs, shiitake, milk, scallions, sherry vinegar and pecorino

Chicken and Green Bean Stir-Fry - in the wok with chicken breast, green beans, scallions, fresno chili, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice and finished with some arugula microgreens. Served over rice and topped with a fried egg

Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup - diced eggplant gets roasted under the broiler. Half of the eggplant is cooked with diced tomatoes, red onions, garlic, ras el hanout, cumin, raisins, bay leaves in vegetable broth. After pureeing everything you add the other half of the roasted eggplants and finish with toasted slivered almonds, cilantro and lemon juice

Nadan Khozi - Kerala-Style Chicken Curry based on a Milk Street recipe - boldly flavored curry with chicken thighs marinated in a mix of coriander, garam masala, turmeric and sirarakhong chili and afterwards cooked with red onions, serrano chili, garlic and ginger in chicken broth and coconut milk. Later you add potatoes and cherry tomatoes and finish with some cilantro and lime juice. Served over rice

Green Thai Vegetable Curry from an essen&trinken recipe - green curry paste and garlic get first sautéed before adding butternut squash, carrots, eggplants, chili, ginger, makrut lime leaves, lemongrass and palm sugar and cooked in coconut milk and vegetable broth. Mushroom, cherry tomatoes and scallions are added later, before finished with cilantro, cashews and lime juice. Served over rice

A variation on Murgh Keema - ground chicken is cooked with eggplants, onions, garlic, chilies, garam masala, tomatoes, parsley and cilantro. In parallel, you sauté some red onion slices, almonds and pomegranate seeds. Everything is mixed and served with rice noodles

Too lazy and in many eastern European shops you can buy pretty good versions

Ajvar-Chicken with Carrots - chicken breast is quickly pan-seared, before smeared with ajvar and finished in the oven. Carrots, chickpeas, red onions and garlic are sauteed and cooked with a mix of vegetable broth and ajvar before finished with sour cream, mint, parsley, lemon zest and juice