Exploring a cookbook: The Zuni Cafe cookbook

I bought the Zuni Cafe cookbook about 4 or 5 months ago after seeing so many comments on how great the chicken is and after browsing it a few times in various book stores. Judy Rodgers, the author, spent a great deal of time in France. One technique she picked up there was sort of new to me (at least in this incarnation)--she believes in generously salting meat several days before cooking. She emphasizes the importance of top quality, seasonal ingredients and gives very detailed instructions on preparation. Although the dishes generally aren't complicated to prepare, some of the recipes (e.g. the chicken) involve a 3-4 page narrative. I've made a half dozen dishes from the cookbook and they've all been stellar. Forgive a few repeat pics I've posted previously.

Zuni cafe roast chicken with bread salad: The bread salad is what makes this involved. The bread salad is made with day-old peasant style bread, arugula, pine nuts, currants and a light vinaigrette. The chicken preparation is really simple. You just have to remember to salt it a few days in advance.


Roast leg of lamb with buttermilk mashed potatoes. Again, really simple preparation on the lamb. Generous salting a few days in advance. She writes that bringing the lamb close to room temperature before cooking is crucial. Unfortunately, I didn't get good pics of the rarer meat (my fave). You'll have to take my word for it that these pics don't do the little lamb justice.



I made the mock porchetta for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to get pics but that was probably my favorite recipe. I added a sausage and fennel stuffing from another cookbook which put it completely over the top. Really awesome. A few family members are still talking about it.

Pasta with roasted tomato sauce and braised bacon.
The roasted tomato sauce is made by roasting canned tomatoes with a little olive oil.
Braising the bacon is supposed to approximate guanciale.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the final product, but let me just conjure an image of a slab of bacon (Paulina Market) surrounded by vegetables and slowly braising over 2.5 hours and the kind of aroma that releases in one's home. If I could bottle that into a perfume.... The braising really draws out the flavor and counters the bacon's smokiness a bit.
Here's the bacon pre-braise:

I still have some left--I think I'll saute it up and make a little carbonara.

And, last night's dinner, onion panade with chard. This was sort-of a savory bread pudding/super-charged stuffing.
I'm not a big chard fan--usually I find it harsh and metallic tasting. But mixed in with day old bread cubes, slow-cooked onions and lots of gruyere and baked in a casserole dish for close to two hours--yum.




I should add that the flash made this look pale but it was pretty dark golden brown.




I'd love to hear other experiences with this cookbook.
Here are a few 'Exploring' links from LTH
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
The Glory of Southern Cooking
The New Spanish Table
Authentic Mexican

A longtime favorite of mine from the book is the asparagus soup with pancetta and rice. Yum-o.

I am so glad you started this thread. I love this cookbook and the roasted chicken is my favorite roasted chicken, which I make often when I entertain. There are so many recipes that I make from this cookbook that I will try to post back with pictures when I do. One of my other favorites is the saffron-infused Zuni Fideus. Comfort food for me.

This cookbook has been on my "wish list" for some time now. But your review and photos have pushed it to the top - it will be the next one I buy!

I was actually just looking at the fideus recipe. I'll have to try that next. The asparagus soup sounds great, too. I'm glad to hear that others are enjoying this cookbook as well.
I forgot one more recipe...
Inspired by sazerac and kanin in this post, I made a rough approximation of the Zuni short ribs (they're supposed to be braised in Chimay, I used some other type of dark Belgian ale) last winter. IIRC, I browned the short ribs, let em cook in the slow cooker, smeared them with dijon and broiled for a few minutes. They were great. I'll have to try it again with the right kind of mushrooms (I think I only had dried porcinis in the pantry).

thaiobsessed wrote:Inspired by sazerac and kanin in this post, I made a rough approximation of the Zuni short ribs (they're supposed to be braised in Chimay, I used some other type of dark Belgian ale) last winter.

Not to get all beer geek on you, but the beer in your photo is Brother Thelonious, a Belgian-style ale brewed by North Coast Brewing in Fort Bragg, California..

More on topic, thanks for the write-up and photos. I have been thinking about getting this cookbook for a while (I already make the roasted chicken based on a version of the recipe on the internet), and will certainly add it to my list now.

I've made the short ribs before as well (I used the Chimay). It came out good. My kind of recipe - a little Chimay for the pot, a lot of Chimay for the cook . . .

Pasta With Spicy Broccoli & Cauliflower

Even the "minor" recipes in this cookbook are good. I bought a head of broccoflower on sale, was wondering what to do with it when I came across this recipe, which calls for both cauliflower and broccoli. Perfect.

This recipe essentially fries cauliflower and broccoli. The one modification I made (apart from the broccoflower) was that I added bacon. But essentially, the ingredients are:

Broccoflower (I separated the larger bits from the smaller ones, figuring I'd throw the smaller ones in partway through the sauté process) and bacon:


Apart from a short pasta, the recipe calls for (clockwise) garlic, minced capers, chopped black olives and lightly crushed fennel seed (not pictured: about 8 pinches of crushed red pepper; anchovies, which are optional and I didn't have on hand):


After crisping the bacon and removing it from the pan, I added about 1/4 c. olive oil, in which you sauté the larger pieces of the broccoflower in the sizzling oil, along with capers; after a few minutes, you add the smaller pieces, the garlic, fennel seed, crushed red pepper and more olive oil. The key is not to fuss with it; if you stir too much, it will steam the broccoflower instead of crisp and brown it. The edges of the broccoflower should start to brown and crisp. At the end, you add the black olives, the bacon and some chopped fresh parsley, cook another few minutes and serve with pasta:



Taste -- as Judy Rodgers writes, "every flavor should be clamoring for dominance."

That looks beautiful! I'm not a big cauliflower fan but that looks delicious. Further proof that you can never go wrong by adding pork products to anything...

thaiobsessed wrote:That looks beautiful! I'm not a big cauliflower fan but that looks delicious. Further proof that you can never go wrong by adding pork products to anything...

I was thinking along the same lines. Looks delicious, love bacon.

I think I'll break out the Zuni Cafe cookbook for tonight's dinner.

Thanks for the inspiration Wendy.

Enjoy,
Gary

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi (pp. 221-26)

I’m on a roll lately with the Zuni Café cookbook. This time, I made the Zuni Ricotta gnocchi.

First, you take about 2 c. of drained ricotta, which you beat vigorously with the paddle on a KitchenAid:



Then you add two eggs, about 1 T. melted butter, a good grating of nutmeg and about 1/4 t. salt and beat again vigorously until you get a “batter:”



Take two sheet pans: line one with ½” of flour, and line the other with parchment and a light dusting of flour.

This is the tricky part. Take about 2-3 t. of batter and drop it into the flour. Because the batter is so wet, if you place too much batter in, it will fall apart. Basically, you’re aiming to coat the ricotta with just enough flour to keep it together. Drop about 4-6 pods at a time. (1) Roll them over in the flour with your finger, then shimmy the pan until they’re coated with flour. (2).

(1) (2)

After they’re well-coated, fish out the pods, rock them back and forth in your palm to make sure they’re well-formed (but don’t touch them with your finger), then place them on the flour-dusted pan. (That this part of the process is kind of like kitty litter is not lost on me.)

Eventually, you’ll have this:



Before you get to far into this process, you’re advised to “test” a gnocchi in a small pan of simmering water. Basically, you want the gnocchi not to be too wet or too dry, and testing it will determine that.


Poached gnocchi


Finished poached gnocchi, cut in half, ricotta inside

Unfortunately, these ricotta were destined for the freezer. I will post back when I cook and sauce them and let you know how they go.

aschie30 wrote:then shimmy

I've made gnocchi before, but never seen a technique like this. I'll have to try it. But the part I'd really like to see is Wendy shimmying.

I'm dying to know how these turned out - in some ways, they look easier than potato gnocchi - and the fact that they have a creamy cheese filling is an extra bonus. Do make sure you report!

Thanks for posting this! I'm so glad to see a little tutorial. I've been eyeing that recipe but I sort of wondered how they stayed together. I even have some ricotta in my fridge from JP graziano. I may have to give this a whirl this weekend. Until then, I'll be practicing my shimmy .

I'm another fan of the shortribs in Chimay. This was an easy option for Christmas Eve 2007, and was festive with red chard (stems stir-fried with garlic, leaves chopped and steamed separately), and a green olive tapenade with croutons to soak up the savory, bitter juices. This has become a dish I crave!

So, I made the ricotta gnocchi this weekend. Thanks for the pictorial, aschie30. It was actually quite helpful, especially the suggestion to keep the gnocchi small. The dough is actually a little tricky to work with. I think it helped to refrigerate the gnocchi after they were formed but before boiling. Mine came out a little wrinkly and dented (unlike aschie30's and the picture of nice smooth ovoid dumplings in the cookbook). But, they tasted pretty good. I tossed these (very gently) with browned butter and sage. And some crispy bits of pancetta. I'd definitely make these again.


If anyone has tips on making these look a little more appetizing, I'm all ears.
Josephine, that is an absolutely beautiful plate of food! I'm going to have to try the short ribs again. The first time I made them it was before I had the cookbook so I just kind of approximated the recipe.

A longtime favorite of mine from the book is the asparagus soup with pancetta and rice. Yum-o.

Thanks for the rec!

We made this for dinner last night. It's a fairly simple soup and I planned to use homemade chicken stock but when we started making it, I realized I was out. So, I had to sub store-bought broth. Still, I thought this soup was great and easy to make. I will definitely add this to my weeknight rotation. You saute onions, add stock, water and rice and simmer, then add sauteed asparagus and pancetta and finish with lots of fresh ground pepper. Can't wait to try this again with homemade stock.

aschie30 wrote:Unfortunately, these ricotta were destined for the freezer. I will post back when I cook and sauce them and let you know how they go.

I took some of my frozen gnocchi out of the freezer this morning to be defrosted. Here they are after cooking in boiling, salted water and sauced with this recipe which has cream, spinach, peas and crushed red pepper:



I was really pleased. The gnocchi is very light, as is the bright, lemony sauce. I'll have to try something different for the next batch I take out of the freezer.

Aschie30--Your gnocchi look lovely. Mine were kind of bumpy.

I tried a new Zuni recipe this weekend: Corn and Shrimp bisque.
This wasn't my favorite thing I've tried. It was good, but didn't really justify the effort.
That being said, I think this one really needed fresh sweet corn and I used frozen, so I'm planning to try it again when I can get my hands on good corn.

For this recipe, I made a seafood 'fumet' using lobster and shrimp shell I had frozen


The bisque recipe calls for sauteing carrots, celery, onions, a dried chile and a bay leaf for 5-10 minutes, then adding coarsely chopped shrimp (still in their shells) and cooking 5 more minutes. Then enough fumet to cover the shrimp and veggies is added and the mixture is simmered for 15-20 minutes. Then you add corn and let it simmer until tender. You puree the whole mixture and strain it to get out bits of shrimp shell and add some additional sauteed corn.
Prior to adding corn and pureeing:


After pureeing:


The bisque had a really nice, mellow shrimp flavor, but again, I'll wait for better corn before I make this again.

aschie30 wrote:One of my other favorites is the saffron-infused Zuni Fideus. Comfort food for me

So, the arrival of Morel and English Spring Pea season seemed like a good reason to try the Zuni Fideus recipe.
After reading MHays post, I tracked down morels at Green Grocer (great store with a really lovely proprieter, by the way) and some nice lookin' peas at Whole Foods.



The recipe calls for toasting broken up capellini. You add the pasta to an onion/tomato mixture and gradually add in stock (similar to making risotto). The dish gets finished off in the oven to get the top a little crispy.

Toasted pasta


Slow-cooked onions and garlic with some tomatoes and saffron added:


In process:


Finished product:


I added a little parmigiano. This was a great spring dish--just delicious. I would definitely make this again.

Well, the chicken with bread salad has become a standby at my house. Last week, we decided we wanted to make it, but alas, no good bread in the house. We pulled some from the back of the freezer (wasn't in such great shape) and doctored up the recipe by topping the finished product with cippoline onions braised in balsamic vinegar and red wine. I still think I like the recipe 'as written' but with the onions--it was pretty darn tasty.



Tonight we tried a new recipe: Pasta with corn, sage and pancetta. I made black pepper fettucine which was a nice match. We found reasonably good corn for this recipe and it was delicious but that perfect batch of summer sweet corn would make this dish absolutely 'to die for'. I can't wait to try this again with great corn (anyone on corn recon--feel free to post on any sitings). I've been trying to eat a bit healthier and this recipe involved a healthy dose of butter (o.k. plus pancetta and a nice dusting of parm) but I thought it was definitely worth it. With a nice glass of Ognissole primitivo from Fine Wine Brokers it was a lovely spring/summer meal.

Just wanted to add that I tried the above pasta with good summer sweet corn. I decreased the recommended amount of butter, even though Judy Rodgers cautioned against this (I'm sort of trying to be good at times and the recipe calls for up to 1/2 lb of butter--I used about 6T all told with 6 ears of corn). It turned out great (probably better than the last batch because of the corn). I didn't miss the butter, though maybe I would have if I had tried it before with both lots of butter and good corn.

I made the Zuni Pappa al Pomodoro recipe last night. You sweat a cup of onions with a pinch of salt, add chopped tomatoes and basil stems, remove the basil stems and add basil leaves and chunks of stale bread, then let the whole thing sit so the bread absorbs the liquid and breaks down a little. Plus, you add several generous swigs of olive oil along the way. I've made this before from another cookbook. The Zuni recipe was different in that it did not call for any stock--the only liquid comes from the tomatoes and olive oil and the consistency was pretty porridge-like. I pureed it with my stick blender (not called for in the recipe). It was quite good--it helped that I got pretty good tomatoes from the Lincoln Square farmer's market (only 'pretty good' because I got spoiled by really great tomatoes at the Green City Market last weekend). I think I like my Pappa a little less thick. In fact, I'll probably thin the leftovers with a little stock. But the flavor was great.

Chard & Onion Panade with Fontina (pp. 227-230)

Loved this recipe, which is basically soggy bread; well, bread soaked with a chickeny Zuni stock and vegetables. (I made the Zuni stock last Sunday.) For my bread, I used D'Amato's round peasant loaf; day-old. This recipe really brings out the best in the chard - it crisps up on the top and its bitter characteristics provide an acerbic but welcome counterpoint to the rich broth-bread and cheese. I baked this at 250° for 2h 45 m while I went out to do some errands. The aroma when I walked in the door was amazing; it smelled like a chicken soup on steroids. If you don't want to bake this for 2+ hours on a weeknight, you can bake it at 325° for 1h 30 m, but Judy says that a slower bake results in a more succulent panade. Personally, although I liked the crustier, more savory top, I preferred the drippy, succulent, broth-drenched pieces of bread. So, I'll try to stick with the slower bake in the future. Go soggy bread!

aschie30 wrote:...which is basically soggy bread

And lots of cheese, which doesn't hurt.
Just gorgeous. I'm going to have to try this one again. D'amatos sounds like a good choice for this...

thaiobsessed wrote:Just wanted to add that I tried the above pasta with good summer sweet corn. I decreased the recommended amount of butter, even though Judy Rodgers cautioned against this (I'm sort of trying to be good at times and the recipe calls for up to 1/2 lb of butter--I used about 6T all told with 6 ears of corn). It turned out great (probably better than the last batch because of the corn). I didn't miss the butter, though maybe I would have if I had tried it before with both lots of butter and good corn.

thaiobsessed wrote:I made the Zuni Pappa al Pomodoro recipe last night.

Either I'm subconsciously channeling this thread, or we're cooking really seasonally, thai, because, recently, I made both the pasta with corn, sage and pancetta (I used bacon) and the Pappa al Pomodoro. Like you, I decreased the butter significantly (1 stick for about 5 large ears of corn ~ 3 cups total). Also, I added one-half ball of fresh smoked mozzarella to the finished pasta prior to tossing it with the corn mixture. Even with the decreased butter, this dish was fantastic. Buttery corn, smokey, salty, bacon, and sage, crisped in the butter. Next time, I won't be so lazy and make fresh pasta to go with it.

As for the Pappa, I didn't stick blender it, so mine was porridge-like (if by porridge-like, you mean, instead of sipping it, you're chewing it). One of my favorite soups in the City is the Pappa al Pomodoro at Cafe Spaggia, which is like a tomato soup thickened with bread, but with some chunks of bread still left in it. So, in the future, to try to get that consistency, I will use 3 lbs. of tomatoes (instead of 2) and maybe stick-blend 1/2 of the soup. But, as they say in the judging on Top Chef, "the flavors were there." In fact, these two recipes highlight to me how good Judy is at taking the best of the season and simply -- but effectively -- bringing out their best. Zuni on!

What a great cookbook.

BTW-Here is a video demo of the ricotta gnocchi. Seeing the shaping technique was an a-ha moment for me.

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguide ... udyrodgers

Jeff

jvalentino wrote:Here is a video demo of the ricotta gnocchi

Thanks for posting on this, Jeff. Despite aschie30's great description, I had a hard time putting a proper shimmy on for these and mine came out a little lumpy.

aschie30 wrote:these two recipes highlight to me how good Judy is at taking the best of the season and simply -- but effectively -- bringing out their best

I'm with you. I've become quite addicitive to the pancetta, corn and sage (and butter) combo, which is unfortunate because I'm due to have my cholesterol checked soon.

I've been eating a lot of seafood and beef lately, so I needed the Roast Chicken with Bread Salad tonight.

I have a hard time following a recipe, no matter how much I like it. So, I tweaked the dish with excellent results. I made the basic bread salad with onion rather than scallions and added two ribs of celery in 1/4 inch dice. To the bread salad I added quartered sauteed prune plums (glazed in the pan I used for the onions and celery). I tossed in a judicious amount of very finely minced parsley. This herb and the celery were intended as a bridge to the sauce I happened to have on hand, Darra Goldstein's Georgian tkemali, which I made with some sour red plums earlier in the season. I guess the sauce wasn't strictly necessary, but I enjoyed it with the chicken. It was a nice variation on the Zuni chicken, one I would make again. And next time, I will make the dish even more Georgian by using walnuts instead of pine nuts in the bread salad.

Josephine -

Thanks for the inspiration. I love-love-love Zuni's roast chicken and I just happen to have some prune plums (Stanleys) on hand for your variation. I plan to make it soon and hopefully will post back.