Snack

This recipe was created for my friend Bill, who told me he couldn’t get his daughter to eat fruit. I asked him what her favorite food was and the response was “ice cream.” (Well, what would you say?) These pops are mostly fruit, with just a little bit of “ice cream” made from low-fat Greek yogurt and sugar substitute. But when the pureed fruit was mixed with it, she couldn’t tell the difference. At just about 60 calories a pop, you can eat these all summer long.

As basic as a grilled cheese sandwich is, there are ways to make it badly (I’ve had a few of those) and ways to make it beautifully. This is how it should be: The bread should be toasted and crispy (hence the broiling), the cheese should be warm and melted but not running out of the sides, and there should be a little something extra to truly take it over the top. Here, a little orange marmalade adds a touch of sweetness to the otherwise savory elements.

Mozzarella sticks may have single-handedly brought down the American health-care system. It’s fried cheese. Luckily, there are high-quality, reduced-fat mozzarella products available now, and in this recipe there is no deep frying. Fra diavolo means “brother devil” in Italian; in cooking terms, the phrase refers to fiery food. This favorite snack may be more angelic now, but the sauce is still devilish—in a very good way.

When you are too exhausted to move, this simple supper stands you back up. Actually, it makes a nice Sunday brunch or late-night snack as well and can easily be adjusted to feed from one to some.

This is a great late-night snack or easy lunch. It’s my version of stracciatelle or “rag” soup. Basically, it’s an Italian egg-drop soup. I make mine really full of egg “rags” or ribbons because when I eat chicken noodle soup I would make a bowl of noodles with a little broth. It’s best to eat this really fresh and hot, so if you’re cooking for one or two, just cut the recipe in half.

Quiche—hold the crust and the work!

As satisfying to me as a big, chewy, still-hot everything bagel schmeared with lots of cream cheese, but these have better crunch and way less carbs!

Unreal! Forget Buffalo wings—not only are these healthier than deep-fried wings and way lower in fat, they simply are the best chicken wings you’ll ever have! They are super, über-snacks that can be a simple supper, with salad or veggies on the side. The only carbs come from natural juice and honey. Unlike the small, snipped wings served in some bars and restaurants, homemade wings are larger and have more meat. Allow three or four for a full dinner portion per person, though my sweetie and I can eat all twelve if we’re watching a double feature that night!

When you’re watching the big game it’s important to have some smashmouth, tough-guy food like this.

Australia has these cool meat pies made of pastry crust stuffed with a slowly simmered, finely ground meat mixture. The pies can be topped with ketchup, and man, are they good! They taste like a ritzy version of a sloppy Joe. This is my sped-up version of a down-under favorite. Serve the pies with a green salad.

We pursued the idea of using low-methoxyl pectin to create a fruit and vegetable adhesive that would allow us to create entirely edible terrines that were held together with an almost invisible but flavorful glue. This technique was the result of that exploration. First, we make fruit-flavored solutions with 0.5 percent calcium lactate or calcium gluconate. The choice of one over the other is based on taste. Calcium lactate is derived from lactose and has a slightly acidic taste. Calcium gluconate is derived from glucose and tastes slightly sweet. Calcium lactate has slightly more available calcium than calcium gluconate, although not enough to make a difference in most applications. You will sometimes find blended calcium under the label calcium lactate-gluconate. Then we impregnate the fruit with the calcium by vacuum sealing them together. It takes about five minutes for the calcium to be absorbed by the fruit, after which time we open the vacuum bag and pat the fruit dry. Next we dissolve 3 percent pectin in water at 203°F (95°C) to hydrate it, then let it cool. Once the pectin is cool, we brush it on one piece of the calcium-infused fruit and lay another piece on top. Then we vacuum seal the fruit to compress it together and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight. The following morning when we cut open the bag, we will find that the fruit has been sealed together with a pectin gel. The pectin gel is soft and seamless in the preparation. The resulting presentation is as beautiful as it is delicious. We enjoy the terrine sliced and served with seared scallops and crumbled blue cheese on hot days, and served warm with crispy soft-shell crabs on cool evenings. Even slicing and topping it with thinly shaved prosciutto is an elegant preparation.

We originally developed this recipe with homemade ramp kimchi. Then we tried it with the Red Cabbage Kimchi. You could substitute any other pickle of your choice. To make these spicy, crunchy snacks, first we puree the kimchi with tapioca flour to form a dough. We chose tapioca because it has a very bland flavor, allowing the taste of the added ingredients and seasonings to stand front and center. We rolled the dough into thin sheets and steamed it for fifteen minutes to gelatinize the starch. We then dehydrated the steamed dough in a low (180°F/80°C) oven, flipping it over every so often until the sheets of dough were dry and brittle. Using this method we needed the dough to dry out to a level of 4 percent moisture for optimum puffing to occur. Since we were unable to effectively evaluate the exact percentage of moisture, we decided that completely dry was the best way to maximize our results. Then we broke the dehydrated dough into pieces and fried them in 400°F (205°C) oil. The kimchi cracklings puffed beautifully, tripling in size and creating gorgeous, crispy pieces that resembled traditional cracklings or fried pork rinds. A quick sprinkling of salt and we were happily crunching away.

Applesauce is a classic example of a delicious and down-home recipe that sometimes suffers from syneresis, or separation of liquid from the gel. In this recipe, we use crabapples for a slight twist on the original. We like them for their tartness and color; they make a beautiful pink sauce. You’ll find that crabapple sauce will make a striking counterpoint for a variety of dishes, both sweet and savory. The little bit of xanthan gum added at a ratio of 0.1 percent of the total weight of the other ingredients makes it almost perfect.

Adding homemade nonfat Greek yogurt is one of our favorite ways to add the richness of dairy to recipes without making them heavy. It has a wonderful creamy texture and tang that balance the sweetness of white chocolate. It’s important to use a good-quality white chocolate because it makes a real difference in the flavor of the ice cream. We like Valrhona, although several premium brands are available in supermarkets and gourmet stores. You can deepen the flavor by caramelizing the chopped white chocolate in a 250°F (120°C) oven for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. Depending on the season, this frozen yogurt is wonderful with fresh berries or macerated citrus slices.

We decided to try cooking hard-boiled eggs at 158°F (70°C), hypothesizing that cooking them at slightly above their coagulation temperature would give us the best results. This did not work as we had planned because by the time the whites were fully set to our satisfaction, the yolks were overdone. We then cooked eggs at 167°F (75°C) and pulled them from the water at fifteen-minute intervals. At fifteen minutes the whites were just set, opaque yet without enough structure to hold them together. The yolk held together and was very pliable, resembling softened Play-Doh in texture. At thirty minutes the whites were firm enough to be peeled but still a bit soft for our taste. In cooking eggs at this temperature we found that even eggs cooked for as little as thirty minutes produced some hard-boiled-egg characteristics. Knowing this, we can produce a range of hard-boiled eggs with yolks at varying degrees of firmness, depending on the desired results.

We love the dark, rich flavors of the classic dessert bananas Foster. One time when we had an overabundance of bananas we decided that creating a bread featuring these flavors would be ideal. We used muscovado sugar, an intensely flavored sweetener, to help mimic the caramelized notes of the original dish. We combined baking powder and baking soda to maximize our leavening and ensure a light, tender bread. It’s darned good all on its own, but we’ve also used it for French toast and bread pudding with fabulous results. Leftover bread can be toasted or grilled and slathered with butter for an excellent breakfast or snack.