Blue Cayenne

“We all are Citizens of the World. What’s good for you, must be good for all. If you are lost, share a plate of food with a stranger… you will find who you are.”
— Chef José Andrés

Need a hero?

How about considering Jose Andres?

His work with his non-profit World Central Kitchen is the real stuff of heroism.

With World Central Kitchen, Andres has built a charity organization (rated the maximum four stars by Charity Navigator, by the way) that feeds people in crisis all over the world–sometimes in very dangerous locales.  From Gaza to Spokane, WCK is there. They were even in my community this year when we had a toxic leak that disrupted lives and communities. The goal of the organization is to provide locally-cooked dishes specific to the region for people displaced by war and catastrophes of all kinds. 

So, I send him contributions for WCK’s work. I buy his cookbooks, too. Zaytinya. The World Central Kitchen Cookbook, and Vegetables Unleashed are among the titles on my shelves. They are excellent cookbooks. If you collect cookbooks, you might consider them. They are available through your local bookstore, through Thrift Books and on Amazon. Andres, by the way, has a collection of about 1500 rare cookbooks and culinary manuscripts including a rents and receipts book belonging to Thomas Jefferson’s chef, Honore Julien, a 1631 Spanish cookbook Arte de Cozina discussing royal court dining and the use of new foods from the New World, and a prized 1931 first edition of The Joy of Cooking. Andres says The Joy of Cooking volume, in particular, is a prized possession. He used it, he says, when he immigrated to the United States from Spain in 1991 to learn about the spirit of America and American cooking. 

Andres is Spanish born. He is yet another American immigrant success story, immigrating here in 1991. Andres’ accomplishments and accolades are myriad. He has won several James Beard Awards and is the winner of a National Humanities Medal. He served as co-chair of the U.S. Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. He holds honary doctorates from Harvard and Tufts and founded the Global Food Institute at George Washington University. 

This Cauliflower Gratin recipe is from Vegetables Unleashed. In the introduction to the recipe, Andres pays homage to his mother’s cooking, particularly her understanding of how to turn cauliflower into a sweet and tender dish covered with bechamel sauce and cheese, a dish he says remains one of his favorite dishes to serve his family on a cold autumn or winter’s night. 

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. You’ll thank Andres and his mom when you taste this creamy, rich and comfrorting dish.

This has long been a “viral” hit among the many popular recipes in the Ottolenghi cookbook world. The Hot Charred Tomatoes With Cold Yogurt dish even graces the cover of one of Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbooks, Ottolenghi Simple. 
You can buy the cookbook through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.

It is late summer here as I write this post. Tomato season is at its peak. This is the perfect time to enjoy this dish. It makes a beautiful presentation on your table, too.

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.

At my local farmers’ market, the stone fruits are winding down. The cherries are gone. The apricots are so ripe they’re squishy by the time you get them home. Peaches and plums, however, are still available in abundance. 

As you know if you read this blog, plums are my jam. So, I’m in a very good place right now. 

This recipe for Cafe Sperl’s Plum Squares  is from Diana Henry’s cookbook Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: Food to Warm the Soul. Cafe Sperl is a Viennese coffee house that dates back to the 19th Century when it catered to the likes of  archdukes, musicians and prominent military figures. 

You can order this cookbook through your local bookstore or on Amazon here. This cookbook was published in 2005 and was recently reissued. It is Diana Henry’s ode to cold weather cooking. So, if you are sweltering in this summer’s heat wave, perhaps this cold-weather recipe will help you escape into dreams of colder times and climes. 

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. This delicious recipe can be made with apricots as well as plums.