Sriracha-Grilled Tofu / Sweet Chilli Sauce / Preserving Olives

Recipe: Sriracha-Grilled Tofu

Make a spicy version of tofu dae-ji, the Korean BBQ dish.

Blog Post & Recipe: mirin

Leng's sweet chilli sauce is not, as you might expect, thick and viscous, rather it is thin, and light and golden, and so very lovely, mostly because it uses quite a lot of mirin.

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Blog Post & Recipe: Preserving Olives

With this method you may end up with olives that are slightly more bitter [than they are when you use a more involved method], but after tasting our friends and considering this process was much nicer on the environment as less salt would be poured down the drains, we were convinced. Also, it’s no where near as much hassle.

And to complement yesterday's interview with Simon Hopkinson, we have an interview with Fergus Henderson.

Asked how he knows when the meat is done, Fergus pushes up his round glasses and says, "It's sort of Jedi Knight, cooking meat. It's—you know Star Wars, the first one? Luke Skywalker's flying down the valley of the Death Star, shooting his missiles, and he hears this voice: 'Luke, put away your sights. Feel the Force.' So he puts away his sights. Feels the Force. Shoots his missile and blows up the Death Star. The same way when you're cooking: You should feel the Force and be a Jedi Knight."

As Fergus puts the Force-felt hunk of meat back onto the counter and tents it with foil, he says, "Now it's resting happily, having an emotional moment."

Ancient Roman Olive Paste / Perfect Hollandaise Sauce / Gambas Al Ajillo

Blog Post & Recipe: Classical Cooking

Cato’s recipe for this olive paste is included in “The Classical Cookbook,” a book of recipes from ancient Greece and Rome

Blog Post & Recipe: How to make perfect hollandaise sauce

The trick, according to food science god Harold McGee, is "heat the egg yolks enough to obtain the desired thickness, but not so much that the yolk proteins coagulate into little solid curds and the sauce separates".

Blog Post & Recipe: Gambas Al Ajillo

But while present, the aroma of garlic wasn’t overpowering. That’s because the garlic wasn’t grated, the bits were more like pungent punctuation marks rather than a blanket of overwhelming stink. This allowed room for the sweet, briny flavor of the shrimp to come through, which was complimented by the earthy sweetness of the peppers.

Salt-Cured Fresh Olives / Lentils with Chocolate / Cara's Top 12 Recipes of 2010

Blog Post & Recipe: Salt-Cured Fresh Olives

The process is simple. Layer fresh black olives with pure sea salt.

Blog Post & Recipe: Lentils with Chocolate. No, really.

Certainly not a common dish anywhere, lentils with chocolate can be found on both sides of the Atlantic in northern Spanish, especially Asturian, and Portuguese cuisine, as well as throughout Latin America. The lentils are usually served soupily with a humble garnish of fried, garlicky croutons and a good glass of red wine

Blog Post & Recipes: Cara's Top 12 Cravings of 2010

Includes links to her husband's Top Twelve and another Top Twelve chosen by her readers.

It seems like all the other bloggers are choosing there Top 10 in 2010, but I started this round-up series by letting my husband pick his favorite dish from each month. So when it it was time for my readers' choice re-cap, I had to play fair and give you 12 recipes too. So why stop now? Here are my Top 12 in 2010.

Chicken Tequila Burgers ... Sesame Maple Ginger Tofu ... Baked Pumpkin Falafel ... Sizzling Haloumi with Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes ... Shakshouka ...
Greek-Style Tomato-Braised Cauliflower ... Asian Tuna Salad ... Sweet PB & Berry Omelet ... Sockeye Salmon with Sweet Roasted Corn & Strawberry Salad ... Hummus with Honey and Moroccan Spices ... Lentil & Eggplant Moussaka ... Baked Pumpkin Cranberry Oatmeal Pudding

Chicken Mug-Pies / Pot Roasted Chicken / Fennel & Olive Pasta on a Fried Egg

Blog Post & Recipe: Chicken Mug-Pies

I baked all of them at once, and refrigerated half for another night, covered in foil; they reheated nicely in the oven at 350F for 20-30 minutes, keeping the foil on to protect the crusts from over-browning.

Blog Post & Recipe: Pot Roasted Chicken for Rainy Autumn Days

I used to make it in a Crockpot when I was very busy and it would cook all day until we needed it. Nowadays I don’t have such a thing and I’ve reverted back to the way my grandmother would have cooked it, in a heavy covered Dutch oven.

Blog Post & Recipe: Fennel & Kalamata olive pasta on fried egg

Thick bucatini pasta coated in a sweet red sauce and topped with diced kalamata olives and sautéed fennel. Served on top of a perfectly fried egg! The yolk adds so much to the flavor of the red sauce.

So the trick to making sauce that tastes like it’s been simmering for hours is to cook it down to a thick pasty texture and then rehydrate it by adding a ladle or two of starchy pasta water to the pan. You should also use tongs ...