I look forward to riffing on the flavor profile next time – there was a suggestion for Asian flavors in the comments, and I can see SE asian with lemongrass or ready curry paste, and Japanese with wasabi, right off the bat.
3 Likes
I think capers add so much … love them!
2 Likes
Guess what? We’re mirroring COTM for all things baking and sweets!
6 Likes
Thai Basil Chicken
Made this to use up my basil before the frost hit. I didn’t like the proportions of the sauce and didn’t have the golden mountain sauce, so used the sauce from Simple Thai Cooking instead—less oyster sauce and adds fish sauce and dark soy.
This was pretty tasty. I did add a bit of water and steam because I hate crisp green beans, then added the sauce. Served over rice. But forgot to take a picture.
7 Likes
Linking the NYT Baking COTQ :
1 Like
BUTTER CHICKEN
This is my daughter’s favorite at Indian restaurants and I had most of the ingredients so I gave it a go. I find the nyt Indian recipes usually lack something I can’t quite put my finger on. This, while delicious, was a distant cousin of the restaurant version. Maybe not enough butter or missing some particular seasoning? I also didn’t marinate the chicken very long due to a recipe reading fail. I would probably make this again if I can figure out how to doctor it closer to restaurant butter chicken.
5 Likes
Butter chicken or tikka masala will never taste “right” if they aren’t finished with a little kasuri methi at the end (dried fenugreek leaves).
Aside from that, this recipe cooks the chicken like a basic curry, which it is not – for both butter chicken or tikka masala, the chicken is marinated and grilled separately, and added to the sauce only to finish. The char from that adds to the flavor.
I looked at the other NYT recipes for variations on the theme, and none of them are much better. Try Maunika Gowardhan.
(Fwiw, the best butter chicken I ever made was using homemade vodka sauce that I doctored with more aromatics and spices and finished with cashews and cream, lol.)
4 Likes
Thank you for the tips!!!
1 Like
I find lots of NYT recipes of all ethnicities are lacking something, often authentic seasoning/ingredients or too much simplification. Some of the recipes are stellar, however.
4 Likes
They’re a nice introduction to dishes for folks who may be intimidated by more specialized websites, or recipes overwhelming them with unfamiliar seasonings/ingredients.
In case anyone likes hard copies, the Sunday NYT has their top 25 most requested recipes as a separate magazine in yesterday’s paper.
I will be keeping my copy, as a cookbook. 
4 Likes
@marietinn, nice to see you here!
1 Like
Bluefish Dijonnaise
Simple recipe, I’ve done some version of this a hundred times, I love bluefish and it’s local here.
Best part of this recipe: heating the skillet in the broiler. I did it for about a half hour.
Worst part: remove skin. I did not and did skin side down in my cast iron pan and it got crispy 
Served with an arugula salad just dressed with oil and lemon - some lemon over the fish. Delicious.
10 Likes
This is great but go Mark Bittman and add some lime zest and juice and it’s even better!!
1 Like
I added lemon juice but no zest ( my lemon was getting soft ) but yes, it would benefit from the acid. Plus I did 1:1 mayo to Dijon vs the recipe 3:4 Dijon to mayo.
2 Likes
Would not have thought to add thyme to fish.
It’s a Rick Moonen recipe — remember him on top chef masters, and also that folks loved his cookbook as COTM on Chowhound.
Can anyone explain why some of the comments say to soak the bluefish in milk first?
Milk soak is to remove the fishy-ness of the oily fish. Mine was very fresh plus I love oily fish so no need in my mind!
2 Likes
I’m looking for her and don’t see her name, but yes, great to have her join us!
@LulusMom1 She liked this post, which is where I saw her.
1 Like
SLOW COOKER BUTTER BEANS WITH PECORINO AND PANCETTA
I couldn’t find dried large beans so I went with navy beans. I can see that the texture of a larger bean may be better with this recipe, but it was enjoyable and easy nonetheless. I would double batch this next time to have throughout the week for lunches. Simple to put together and served hot over greens with some crusty bread on the side, this was a satisfying dinner. Fussiest part was browning the pancetta,but well worth it for the salty punch and crispiness it added.
11 Likes
