I am a lifelong lover of anchovies, and the Italian dish Bagna cauda, or hot bath, is one of the most decadent things you can do with some raw, fresh vegetables. It's also a great preparation for everything from steaks to seafood to pasta, but I had the idea to turn the major components into a marinade for flank steak. But instead of using anchovies, I reached for my favorite fish sauce. Instead of butter I chose olive oil, and apropos of nothing, I added some Bobbie's Boat Sauce, because it makes great flavors greater. Cook this steak hot, serve it rare, and enjoy the results.
My take on Moules Marinière, these are effortless and cry out for improvisation, so don't be afraid to add cured meat, or try with clams instead. Serve over pasta or with just a great, crusty baguette, and spoons for slurping.
Tteok, dduk, or gara-tteok are all names for the chewy, distinctive Korean rice cakes featured in traditional soups, and the more modern street-food, ddukbokki. You can find them in most Asian markets and, refrigerated, they have a long shelf life. If you have these, Boat Sauce, soy sauce, and gochujang on hand (as you should), you have the essential tools for making this dish with whatever might be on standby in your fridge.
I have been playing with slow-cooked salmon for 20 years, since learning a method from Jean-George Vongerichten and Mark Bittman in their collaborative cookbook, Simple To Spectacular, which may now feel a little dated but has yielded some very rewarding dishes for me over the years. Your fish is cooked in an oven-proof pan at low temperature, so the flesh retains near-raw translucence but is cooked enough to flake. Because I like the contrast of a maillard reaction, I've taken to searing the fish on the flesh side in butter right before it goes in, and then make the simplest pan sauce of (more) butter, browned and nutty, hit with Boat Sauce. From there you can add some quality capers, or some slivers of preserved lemon, a finely diced shallot, or all 3 of these things, or nothing. A squeeze of lemon is never inappropriate.
This recipe comes from the mind of my gifted cousins Liza Jernow. A chicken that is “spatch cocked” has the backbone removed and is pressed flat. It cooks faster than a whole, un-cut chicken and the skin will get crispy faster. A long marinade will add more depth of flavor in the meat, but you can make this without the wait if you’re pressed for time, as well as use pieces of chicken (bone in, skin-on) and start temping at 30 minutes.
While not "light" by any means, this is a warming, bright, and uplifting kind of unctuousness that we could all use more of right now. The Indian spice blend garam masala comes in really handy as a sort-of dry rub for the tofu here, and if neither that nor fenugreek are in your spice cabinet right now, I highly endorse adding them.
