Homemade Ricotta

Adapted from The Food Lab by J. Kenji López-Alt (W. W. Norton, 2015)

Makes about 1½ cups

I use a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup for this.

To 3 cups whole milk and 1 cup heavy cream—or 2 cups whole milk and 2 cups heavy cream if you want it to be very rich—add 1/2 teaspoon salt (kosher, or Italian sea salt) and 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar.

Heat the milk and cream mixture in the microwave until it reaches 165°F on an instant-read thermometer. In my small microwave, this takes about 8 minutes. You can certainly do this on top of the stove instead.

At this point, stir it gently for about 5 seconds. It should already be separating into curds and whey.

Transfer to a fine sieve lined with a white mesh vegetable bag or cheesecloth.

Cover the top with plastic wrap and let it reach the desired consistency. The more it drains, the "drier" it will be.

The texture I like is almost like ice cream. Since I am usually using this to make manicotti, it gets thinner with the addition of eggs (and a little heavy cream), so this is a perfect texture for me to start with.

Note: The best ricotta I ever purchased was made by Salvatore Brooklyn. The recipe I use is adapted from J. Kenji López-Alt’s in his seminal work, The Food Lab, but there are other good recipes to check out—FOOD52 and Smitten Kitchen, who also likes Salvatore. If you don’t have or use a microwave, Jennifer Perillo’s recipe on FOOD52 is the way to go. It was the first recipe I tried, so I know it works!

My Ricotta

Vic's Chicken

Serves 2 to 4, depending on quantity and appetite

Do not substitute chicken breast halves here—the white meat does not take well to this method.

I usually cook the chicken in a 10- or 12-inch cast iron skillet, depending on the number of pieces I'm roasting.

Please read the whole recipe through before you start, as steps are taken to avoid contamination from any bacteria that may be on the raw chicken.

If you have time, salt the chicken pieces all over, place them on a rack on a platter, and refrigerate for a few hours. This is dry brining and will help the chicken to crisp. However, more often than not I skip this step because I haven't planned it long enough in advance—and it's still great.

Best-quality-you-can-get bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs or whole chicken legs, as many as you like
(My preferred chicken is Bell & Evans, and I drive a long way to get it.)
Vegetable oil (I usually use expeller-pressed grapeseed)
Salt
Pepper – be generous
Garlic powder
Whatever dried herb you like with chicken (I use GREEK oregano from Kalustyans)

Preheat the oven to 400°F. If you have a roast setting, use it now.

Have the pan you’re going to roast the chicken in ready on the counter or stove. Slick a tiny amount of oil in the pan and wipe any excess out with a paper towel.

Also set a plate or platter large enough to hold the uncooked chicken next to the sink.

Then place a sheet of aluminum foil in the bottom of the sink. Put the chicken pieces on the foil, and drizzle with a little oil. Season generously with salt (unless pre-salted), pepper, garlic powder, and dried herbs. Rub everything in with your hands to coat the chicken evenly.

Transfer the chicken to the plate or platter next to the sink, then place the pieces into the roasting pan.

Now, to avoid contamination, throw away the foil, wash the sink thoroughly, and wash your hands before touching anything else.

Put the pan in the oven and roast until the chicken is very, very crisp—45 minutes to an hour. I usually cook it for an hour because the result I want is extremely crisp, well-done chicken. I baste occasionally while it’s cooking, but I do not turn the pieces over.

Note: This is something I have basically been making since I was twenty years old, and my grandmother made it long before that. Since it goes with so many side or starter dishes, I often make it for company. We usually eat this once a week.

Really Good Ragu

Adapted from The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater (Fourth Estate, 2005) and FOOD52

Serves 2 generously (sauces 8 ounces of pasta)

I’ve been making Marcella Hazan’s iconic Bolognese sauce for years, and I believe it’s the real thing. I’ve even used it to stuff inside my grandmother’s crespelle, turning it into cannelloni. But as delicious as it is, it isn’t very saucy—and sometimes something with a bit more sauce and umami depth is exactly what I want. That’s what I found in The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater.

(If you haven’t discovered Nigel Slater yet, I think Appetite (Clarkson Potter, 2002) would be a good place to start.)

Because I want this to be saucy, I’ve increased the amount of tomatoes from 1 cup to a full 400g can, and decreased the meat from 1 pound to 1/2 pound.

I’ve been led to believe no self-respecting Italian would even think about serving Bolognese over spaghetti. But English people do, Nigel Slater does, and now sometimes so do I. That said, this sauce is especially good on rigatoni—or even better, mezzi rigatoni—because it snuggles into the tubes.

Please try to find Italian tomatoes and Italian pasta cut with bronze dies and slow-dried, like Pasta Setaro or Faella. The difference is noticeable. I often serve this on a plate with a vegetable instead of a salad. And I highly recommend opening a particularly delicious bottle of red wine to use in the sauce and drink with dinner.

4 tablespoons butter
About 3 ounces pancetta, cut in 1/4-inch cubes
1 small to medium onion, chopped
2 plump garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, peeled and chopped
4 ounces cremini mushrooms, chopped the same size as the onions, carrot, and celery
1 bay leaf (I use Morton & Bassett)
1/2 pound ground beef – the best you can get
1 400g can Italian whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
1/4 cup red wine (good enough to drink with dinner)
3/4 cup stock (I use Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base)
Freshly grated nutmeg – a little
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup heavy cream (use a light hand)
Freshly grated Parmesan, to taste

Don’t leave out the bay leaf or the nutmeg—they both add a lot to the sauce. And remember to be parsimonious with the cream; you don’t want the sauce to be creamy.

Melt the butter, then cook the pancetta without letting it color—3 to 5 minutes—to render some of the fat. Stir in the onion and garlic, then the carrot and celery, then the mushrooms. Cook over medium heat, stirring often.

Turn up the heat a little and add the ground beef, breaking it up. Cook for about 3 minutes without stirring so the meat starts to brown. Stir again. Add the tomatoes, wine, stock, bay leaf, nutmeg, and a little salt and pepper.

Reduce the heat until the sauce is just gently moving. Partially cover the pan and cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally and checking to make sure it doesn’t dry out.

Pour in the heavy cream slowly, using a light hand. Stir and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, keeping in mind that you don’t want the sauce to get thick. Taste and adjust seasoning.

I usually serve this over rigatoni or mezzi rigatoni (but sometimes spaghetti) with freshly grated Parmesan—but use whatever pasta shape you like.

I order these from Gustiamo

A half bottle of Amarone

Hard-Boiled Eggs

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

Makes 4 to 6 eggs

I’ve found this recipe to be foolproof. I usually make 4 eggs at a time, but you can make 6. There is no exaggerating how nice it is to have some hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator.

These eggs are essentially steamed, not boiled.

Put an inch of water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil over high heat. Put a basket steamer in the pan and carefully add the eggs to the steamer.

Cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook the eggs for 13 minutes—no longer.

While the eggs are cooking, get a bowl of ice water ready using 2 cups of ice cubes and 2 cups of cold water. I keep it in the sink.

When the 13 minutes are up, take the pan off the heat, put it near the bowl of ice water, and use a pair of tongs to carefully move each egg individually to the bowl. Let the eggs sit in the cold water for 15 minutes before peeling.

Depending on the age of the egg, there is usually an air cell at one end—usually the larger end. I find the easiest way to peel these eggs is to kind of "smash" the large end and, starting from there, peel under running cold water.

I was a charter subscriber to Cook’s Illustrated and have been “with them” from the beginning—from Christopher Kimball to J. Kenji López-Alt, to where they’ve landed now. Even with all the changes, their mission has stayed on track. They remain an excellent source of inspiration, reliable recipes, and unbiased product reviews.

There’s a group of Cook’s recipes that has stayed in my repertoire since I first found them:

– Shrimp Salad (which includes a great way to cook shrimp for shrimp cocktail)
– The Best Sangria
– Triple-Chocolate Mousse Cake
– Basmati Rice, Pilaf Style

If you’re a digital subscriber to America’s Test Kitchen, as I am, these are all available there. This recipe—along with their method for soft-boiled eggs—is one of the most-used in my kitchen

Caviar and Egg Mold

Adapted from Cook and Love It: A Collection of Favorite Recipes and Entertaining Ideas, published by The Mothers' Club of The Lovett School, Atlanta, Georgia. Contributed by Polly Pater and Deddy Bartenfeld

Serves 6 to 8 as an hors d'oeuvre

4 hard-boiled eggs, mashed
⅓ cup butter, softened
¼ to ⅓ cup mayonnaise (Use your favorite. I like Ojai Organic Mayonnaise.)
⅓ cup chopped scallions or shallots
Lemon juice
Salt to taste
½ cup sour cream (I use full-fat—Fage is my first choice; Breakstone my second)
Caviar, about a quarter of a cup (or more if you want to be extravagant)

Line a small bowl with plastic wrap.

Combine all the ingredients through salt. Pack the mixture into the bowl, cover with more plastic wrap, and chill well. As the butter chills, it will harden.

Unmold the bowl onto a serving plate; frost with sour cream, and top with caviar.

You can serve this with crackers, which makes it easy to put out, but I like it best with buttered white toast points—and that is what I do if the timing works with what I’m doing.

There is excellent American caviar now available. I have tried Paddlefish and Hackelback and enjoyed both very much. However, if you can find the lightly salted Spanish grey mullet roe called Mujjol “caviar,” you are in for a treat. It is usually very well priced and delicious, especially if served with sour cream on a salted potato chip accompanied by a shot of very cold vodka or a glass of Champagne. It is worth looking out for and would work well here. Of course, Beluga caviar would work well here—and anywhere!—and a little would go a long way.