There`s an old southern compliment that often is paid to a cook who has made an exceptional dish: She`s told she has put her foot right in it.
That adage isn`t practiced in The Tribune`s test kitchen, but the same sentiments nevertheless are expressed when we find a recipe that transcends the more than 1,000 tested throughout the year.
As we have done in many years past, Food Guide staff members gathered in early December to debate the merits and demerits of the hundreds of recipes processed by the test kitchen during the last 12 months.
Our mission: To select one dozen of the best recipes published in The Tribune`s food pages in 1987.
Our evidence: dog-earred recipe clippings, glowing testimonies from family and friends, splattered pages from well-used cookbooks and, not the least, reports from our readers.
As the dozen winning recipes indicate, we resisted those which were slavish imitations of trends.
Instead, we chose dishes with gutsy, robust flavors such as a garlic and chili pepper-flavored cioppino, a peach cake roll that`s unbeatable in the taste department and a crepe served with a delicately flavored roasted red pepper sauce-all classic recipes which go a step further than their original inspirations.
Some of the recipes are simple, like the lemon yogurt muffins and mushroom-ginger soup. Others are more complex, like the winter borscht. But whatever the level of cooking difficulty, the end result in each of these sets of directions is worth the effort.
So it is with fond memories of pear kuchen, chef Paul Prudhomme`s baked chicken and Vietnamese beef and mint salad that we present these outstanding dishes once again as The Tribune`s best recipes of 1987.
At Amerique, 900 N. Franklin St., chefs Jennifer Newbury and Dennis Terczak have gone back into the American culinary repertory and created a zesty garlic and chili pepper-flavored version of cioppino, the San Francisco classic fish stew.
CHICAGO CIOPPINO FROM JENNIFER NEWBURY AND DENNIS TERCZAK
Six to eight servings
Preparation time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Croutons:
1 pound loaf Italian bread, cut into 24 half-inch slices with crusts trimmed
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
5 cloves garlic, crushed, peeled
1 bunch Italian parsley, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Broth:
1 orange
1 large carrot, diced fine
1 small Bermuda onion, peeled, finely diced
1 rib celery, finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed and peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon saffron threads
Pinch thyme
1/4 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 1/2 cups white wine
1 can (32 ounces) Italian-style plum tomatoes
2 leeks, white and some of green, diced
1 red pepper, stem and seeds removed and diced
2 cups fish stock or 2 bottles (8 ounces each) clam juice
1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
Seafood:
18 littleneck clams, soaked in cold water and scrubbed
54 mussels, soaked in cold water, scrubbed and beards removed
2 pounds jumbo whitefish or salmon fillets, cut into 6 or 8 serving portions
12 jumbo shrimp, peeled to the tail, butterflied and veins removed
1 pound cleaned fresh squid or scallops
1. For croutons, toast bread slices until well browned. In a large skillet, melt butter with 5 cloves crushed garlic. As soon as butter has melted, remove from heat. Add parsley and salt to taste. Immerse toast slices in butter mixture to coat both sides. Remove croutons and reserve.
2. For the broth, peel rind from orange, cut away white pith and cut skin into fine julienne strips. Drop in simmering water and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and reserve.
3. In a very large saute pan or heavy pot (do not use cast iron or aluminum), cook diced carrot, onion, celery and garlic in olive oil until they begin to soften. Do not brown vegetables. Add drained orange strips, pepper flakes and saffron. Cook until vegetables are just tender. Add thyme, black pepper, bay leaf and wine. Cook until wine has almost evaporated.
4. Meanwhile, add tomatoes to pan and break apart with fork. Add leeks, red pepper, fish broth or clam juice and salt to taste if needed. Cook until vegetables are just tender, 10 to 15 minutes. (Recipe may be done ahead to this point.)
5. For the seafood, heat broth to a boil, lower heat to a bare simmer and add fish in the following order: clams and cook for 2 minutes, mussels and cook for 1 minute, whitefish and cook for 1 minute, shrimp and squid and cook for 1 minute. (Cooking times are approximate. Shellfish should be open, and whitefish, shrimp and squid should be just cooked.)
6. Use a slotted spoon to distribute seafood equally among large, deep bowls. Ladle vegetables and broth over the seafood, garnish with croutons and serve at once.
This dessert netted Ann Zorek of Chicago $10 when she submitted the recipe to our ”Favorite Recipe” column. The peach cake roll is one Food Guide staffers made time and time again during the fresh peach season.
PEACH CAKE ROLL
10 to 12 servings
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Baking time: 12 to 15 minutes
Cake:
1 cup sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Peach filling:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioners` sugar, sifted
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup finely diced fresh peaches
Confectioners` sugar for garnish
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 10 1/2- by 15-inch jellyroll pan with greased wax paper. For cake, sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; set aside.
2. Beat eggs in large mixer bowl until thick and lemon-colored, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in granulated sugar. Add water and vanilla and beat on low speed. Gradually add dry ingredients, beating just until batter is smooth. 3. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 12 to 15 minutes.
4. Remove cake from oven and loosen cake from edges of pan. Immediately invert cake onto a clean towel that has been sprinkled heavily with confectioners` sugar. Carefully remove wax paper. Trim off stiff edges of cake if neccessary. While cake is hot, use the towel to roll it, beginning with the narrow end. Let cake cool completely on wire rack.
5. For peach filling, beat softened cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add sifted confectioners` sugar and mix well. Add almond extract and mix well. Add finely diced peaches and mix gently.
6. When cake has cooled, carefully unroll cake and spread with peach filling. Carefully roll cake up again. Sprinkle outside with confectioners`
sugar. Wrap loosely with towel and store in refrigerator until serving.
Beverly Dillon, The Tribune`s test kitchen recipe tester and ”Menu of the Week,” concocted this delicious entree of crepes with roasted red peppers and mushrooms. Roasting peppers is easy, and once you have mastered the technique and tasted their wonderful smoky flavor, you will be hooked. The dish can be served for brunch, lunch or a light dinner. Serve it with a Caesar salad and homemade croutons and fruit spritzers.
