Grace in the Kitchen
Make tamales superfast by using store-bought rotisserie chicken and wrapping them in plastic to shorten steaming time. // © Tina Rupp
Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.
It seems like a common thread is developing here that could be read as laziness. I like to think of it as efficiency and distillation. That and being able to get dinner on my table (and those of my working readers) at a reasonable hour. Tamales traditionally take a long time to prepare: The meat for the filling needs slow braising, the masa needs time to develop, the corn husks need time to soak, the tamales require time to assemble, and they take a surprisingly long time to steam.
Of course it's worth it, but not at 5:45 p.m. on a Tuesday evening after a full day at the office—or in my case, the kitchen. So, I've come up with a few shortcuts. First, I shred rotisserie chicken and fold it into the masa along with the rest of the filling ingredients. Then after forming the tamales, I wrap them in plastic to reduce steaming time to about 25 minutes (enough time to put together a salad and side vegetables). SEE RECIPE »
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Grace in the Kitchen
Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.
A quick trip to the farmers' market yielded huge bunches of basil, parsley and mint, which got put to good use, thanks to my food processor. I love adding butter to my pesto—it gives it such a sweet richness, especially when served with warm pasta, steamed beans or grilled corn. This time, I grilled some thick, well-oiled slabs of peasant bread, spread a good layer of pesto and topped them with gorgeous heirloom tomato slices. Divine! SEE RECIPE »
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Grace in the Kitchen
Fill the dill griddle biscuits with the salmon-and-egg scramble for an excellent breakfast sandwich. / © Tina Rupp
Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.
Who says you can't have brunch and camp at the same time? Just because I have no electricity, running water or plumbing doesn't mean I'm not civilized. These dill-spiked griddle biscuits are delicious with smoked-salmon scrambled eggs. I'm not a huge fan of baking mixes, so I came up with my own version using self-rising flour, powdered milk and vegetable oil; it only needs water to bring it together. If you omit the dill and add more sugar and chocolate chunks, you can have sweet griddle scones, which make great s'mores. SEE RECIPE »
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Grace in the Kitchen
BY
| POSTED AUGUST 2, 2012 AT 10:00AM EDT
This casual riff on classically French mussels with white wine uses cilantro, jalepeños and lime. / © Stephanie Foley
Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.
It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly mussels can be transformed from hard little nothings to soft, delicate yummies. Sometimes, though, the "French" thing with white wine and herbs is just too effete, and I want something more un-French—like pickled jalapenos, lime juice and cilantro. Yeah, this does have crème fraïche, but sour cream is just as good. SEE RECIPE »
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Grace in the Kitchen
This riff on a classic Vietnamese sandwich uses classic borscht ingredients like chopped beets and horseradish mayonnaise. / © Con Poulos
Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.
Honestly, what's better than a sandwich? It's the most efficient vehicle for total food-to-face delivery. It seems, though, that every storefront houses either a burger joint, cupcake café or Vietnamese sandwich shop. Though I will never get tired of traditional banh mi, I was looking for something different when I came up with this riff, which uses quick-pickled carrots, beets and horseradish—classic borscht ingredients—to make a clever and unusual Moscow Banh Mi. SEE RECIPE »
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Grace in the Kitchen
Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.
I love using contrasting flavors and textures in dishes. Sweet and tangy leeks and peas and soft and crispy chicken and skin are all so lovely together. One of my favorite things is to toast thick slabs of country bread and serve this on top, letting all the gorgeous juices soak into the bread. SEE RECIPE »
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Grace in the Kitchen
F&W's Grace Parisi smartly substitutes dried jerky for traditional but harder-to-come-by carne seca in this Brazilian stew.
Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.
Whenever I made feijoada, which was pretty often, having lived with a perpetually homesick Brazilian au pair for two years, I would rack my brain for a source of dried beef, or carne seca. After getting my husband a membership to the Jerky of the Month Club for Father's Day, it dawned on me that jerky was a perfectly acceptable alternative. This easy version is one I make when we're out camping, because everything is either dried or vacuum-sealed, needing no refrigeration. A perk: Using jerky that is highly seasoned requires even fewer ingredients. Between the andouille and beans, there's no need to add salt either. SEE RECIPE »
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Grace in the Kitchen
BY
| POSTED JULY 27, 2012 AT 10:00AM EDT
Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.
Our staff is pretty tough when it comes to recipe critiques—especially something as "fringe" as tofu. They hear "come to the kitchen to try a tofu blah blah blah…" and either come by reluctantly, or tune it out altogether. I had to tempt them back with a pork sandwich in the same message. In this dish, extra-firm tofu is marinated in a fragrant mix of coriander, fennel, black pepper, bay, paprika and garlic for 48 hours to soak up the spices' flavors. Then it's grilled and sandwiched with sweet pickles, lettuce, tomato and BBQ mayo in brioche buns. This "burger" ended up getting more kudos than the pork sitting on the adjacent platter. Texan and big meat guy Ray Isle was impressed—that's extraordinarily high praise! SEE RECIPE »
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Grace in the Kitchen
Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.
Two smells I do not like lingering in my house (though I do like eating the food): curry and salmon. And now they are both in a single dish—tandoori salmon! But here's the beauty: It gets cooked outside on a grill. The neighbors poke their heads over their fences, intrigued and enticed by the aroma, but once I serve it, there's no trace left except what's wafted onto my clothes and hair. SEE RECIPE »
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Grace in the Kitchen
Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.
A short while ago, a friend and I were swapping campfire stories—mostly about what we cook over an open fire. He mentioned skewering a slab of bacon and a hunk of cheddar on the end of a long stick and slowly toasting them until they're sizzling and melted. He then slapped them between a hard roll and enjoyed a yummy sandwich. Thinking it sounded delicious, I tried it myself. Unfortunately, just as the cheese reached maximum melt-itude and I was reaching for my bread, the hunk oozed off the stick and onto the coals (thankfully, I had a backup of PB&J). Not one to give up, on the next camping trip, I brought prosciutto to wrap around the cheese, thus enveloping it in a crispy, meaty crust and keeping it on the stick! SEE RECIPE »
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