Quick meals - quick and easy recipes - page 137

Guacamole may be the most popular accompaniment to tacos, nachos, or tostadas, but this crema is just as easy and flavorful. Using a food processor to blend an avocado with sour cream, cilantro, and lime juice creates a smooth sauce that works great as a dip for Chorizo Scotch Eggs or as a topping for Black Bean Cakes with Fried Eggs.

CHOW’s former food editor Aida Mollenkamp turned me on to the Black Manhattan, a variation on the traditional whiskey and sweet vermouth drink made with amaro, which she first discovered at San Francisco’s Alembic. In this version, I throw back in a little of the sweet vermouth, as well as a touch of deep, dark nocino, an Italian green walnut liqueur, which gives the whole drink a smooth, nutty finish. Don’t forget, this recipe makes enough to serve you and a friend!

Inspired by the idea of making a camping cocktail, we thought it’d be novel to use a little pine liqueur to bring the taste of the great outdoors to the canteen. We found the punchy, herbal liqueur a little tricky to mix with, but ultimately we were able to balance it out with some dark rum and a little pineapple juice. This recipe is scaled to fit into a canteen, and serves four.

Adding a bit of pumpkin purée, cinnamon, and nutmeg to a basic cream cheese frosting gives it holiday appeal. It’s also easy to make: Just beat butter and cream cheese together in a mixer, then add powdered sugar and spices, and throw in the pumpkin at the end. Use it to frost pumpkin cupcakes, carrot cake, or ginger cake.

Dicing the avocados, cucumber, and pineapple gives this guacamole a chunkier salsalike texture rather than the standard smashed or smooth style. The cucumber and pineapple lighten the mixture and add fresh, sweet, and acidic flavors. Try it on fish tacos or for chip-dipping and margarita-sipping. What to buy: Look for avocados that give slightly when pressed but are not completely soft. We used Hass avocados.

Making nachos at home gives you the freedom to use a tastier, fancier cheese instead of processed nacho cheese, but those nicer cheeses quickly harden, or separate and become gloppy. To keep your melted cheese perfectly smooth, Scott Heimendinger, director of applied research for Modernist Cuisine, shares this trick from the Modernist Cuisine at Home cookbook: Simply add sodium citrate. What to buy: Sodium citrate, or sour salt, is an emulsifying sodium salt that comes from citric acid. It ha...

Mango lassis are commonly served at Indian restaurants, but their thick consistency and sweet flavor can be like drinking a milk shake with your meal. This savory and refreshing version of the yogurt drink from Chef Susan Feniger of Street restaurant in Los Angeles is flavored with fresh mint and cumin, and lightened by the addition of sparkling water. What to buy: Indian black salt, also known as kala namak, is a sulfurous-tasting salt used in Indian and Pakistani cuisine.

Simplicity reigns in this salad of butter lettuce and pumpkin seeds. The roasted garlic and apple juice in the vinaigrette add a welcome twist. What to buy: If you want to intensify the pumpkin flavor, make the vinaigrette with pumpkin seed oil. Game plan: We roast garlic a few times a week and keep it around to add a subtle layer of flavor to dishes. Put a whole head of garlic in a 400°F oven and roast until the cloves are soft when pressed.

The flavour in this rich caramel sauce is balanced out by the addition of bourbon and espresso powder. Start by boiling butter, brown sugar, and cream, plus some light corn syrup to keep the caramel from crystallizing. When it’s ready, flavor it with bourbon and espresso powder for a boozy sauce that adds a little extra pizzazz to a scoop of ice cream or a slice of Mississippi Mud Cake. Game plan: The sauce can be made up to 4 days ahead.

This festive holiday punch is made with tart pomegranate and lime juice, aged Jamaican rum, simple syrup, and a touch of orange bitters. Just before serving, top it off with your favorite dry sparkling wine, like cava, Prosecco, or champagne. And to make it extra festive, we’ve included instructions on how to make a beautiful pomegranate-and-lime ice block to keep it chilled. Game plan: You can make the punch base and chill it up to 8 hours ahead.

Though braising sounds like a time-consuming effort, this recipe from Ana Sortun, chef and owner of the Mediterranean restaurant Oleana in Cambridge, Massachusetts, can be pulled off in less than 30 minutes. The mix of Mediterranean ingredients like anchovy, raisins, capers, olives, pine nuts, and lemon lends tons of bright flavor and unexpected complexity without extra fat or calories.

This autumn-inspired drink uses sweet maple-flavored liqueur with apple brandy, sparkling apple cider, and a bit of lemon juice to balance it all out. What to buy: We like Sortilège maple liqueur for its smooth and not-too-sweet blending of whisky and maple syrup.

This shortcut version of the classic Spanish romesco sauce—a combination of tomatoes, red peppers, bread, and almonds—is an easy, quick dip to prepare for cocktail parties. Its flavors pair well with anything from vegetable crudités to grilled chicken breasts and pasta, but one of our favorite ways to serve it is with roasted shrimp. Try pairing it with easy homemade chimichurri sauce for a garlic twist on this classic dipping sauce.

Champagne and club soda lighten up this deep-red punch made with claret wine, brandy, and dark rum. Fresh orange and pineapple slices add a hint of citrus and bright color. What to buy: Wines labeled “claret” are red wines that contain a blend of Bordeaux grapes. You can find them in most well-stocked wine shops or online.