Guest Blogger Jeff Gordinier

    author Jeff Gordinier

     

    Listen, I get it. You’re stuck in the house. You’ve been cooking meals at home for months and months, by now, and your early surge of kitchen enthusiasm has begun to fade into numbness. You want to feed your crew healthful dishes, and you want to incorporate different flavors, but you’re drawing a quarantine blank — you can’t think of anything new to cook. The good news is that cookbooks are your friend.

    Flipping through a cookbook can help refresh the synapses and remind you of tastes and techniques you’ve been wanting to play around with. And we happen to be living through a golden age of cookbooks, especially volumes that overflow with innovative approaches to plant-based cuisine.

    You know that feeling when you’re standing in the produce aisle at the market, staring at the usual suspects and wondering how to hit the reset button? Well, give a great chef a vegetable and that chef can imagine something interesting and delicious to do with it.

    So, let’s ask the chefs.  Each week we’ll feature a delicious vegetable that you can always find at the market – along with a recipe from an acclaimed contemporary cookbook.

    The ideas are out there. It’s just a matter of giving them a try… this week, we’re featuring a recipe for Shaved Cabbage Salad with Chili Oil, Cilantro, and Charred Melon

     

    *Jeff has been a journalist for 30 years and is the author, most recently, of Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World. He has contributed to publications like The New York Times, Esquire, Travel + Leisure, Departures, Details, Elle, Entertainment Weekly, and Outside, and he has appeared on television shows like Chef’s Table and Somebody Feed Phil. Gordinier lives in Westchester County with his wife, Lauren Fonda, and his four children, Margot, Tobias, Jasper, and Wesley.

     

    Shaved Cabbage Salad with Chili Oil, Cilantro, and Charred Melon

    from Ruffage: by Abra Berens

    shaved cabbage salad with chili oil, cilantro, and charred melon

     

    I tend toward cantaloupe for this dish. Charring the pieces in an exceedingly hot frying pan caramelizes the sugar and lends a bitter quality to contrast the internal sweetness. I cook only one side to ensure good color; also, when I’ve flipped them the pieces overcook and fall apart. This process is also great for pineapple or under-ripe mangoes and is equally successful done on the grill. If using the juiciest melons of summer, cut them into larger pieces to maintain some structure. I generally eat this dish as a side, but it could be a full meal especially if combined with some chickpeas, stewy black beans, or a grilled piece of fish.

     

    Ingredients:

    • ½ melon (1 lb | 455 g) melon, cut into ½-inch (12‑mm) cubes
    • Neutral oil
    • ½ head red cabbage (1½ lb | 3 cups | 680 g), shaved thinly, avoiding the core
    • 1 bunch cilantro (1.2 oz | ½ cup | 34 g), stems and leaves, roughly chopped
    • 2 limes (1 fl oz | 30 ml), zest and juice
    • ¼ cup (60 ml) chili oil (page 55)
    • 2 Tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
    • ½ tsp (3 g) salt

     

    Directions:

    1. Heat a frying pan (preferably cast iron) until it’s screaming hot. Add just enough melon cubes to cover the pan but with space between, as with roasting vegetables. Char in batches if necessary. Don’t stir; let the melon brown and char; there will be smoke, and that’s OK.
    2. Add a glug of neutral oil to loosen any pieces sticking to the pan and continue to fry the melon until it’s got a golden crust on the pan side (you’re charring just one side) and has loosened from the pan, about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat.
    3. Combine all the ingredients except the melon and toss to coat evenly. Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired. Scatter the melon over the top and serve.

     

    Chili Oil:

    You can make this more complicated by adding other spices, like star anise, citrus peel, and other peppers, but I find the most basic form works well for me and is so easy to make that I will whip it up at the last minute. It also lasts for ages so there is no reason to not make a double or triple batch.

    Heat ½ cup (120 ml) of the oil until it shimmers. Remove from the heat and add the chili flakes and salt. Let sit until fragrant, about 3 minutes, then add the rest of the oil to cool it and keep the pepper flakes from burning. Let cool and store in a jar on the counter. It will get more nuanced as it ages.