Canned Tomato

Crystal’s “Mamaw” Cook served these delicious stuffed peppers with a delectable buttered bread-crumb topping. These bad boys are sauce-free, and preferred that way so that the taste of the pepper comes through. But neither Crystal nor Mamaw Cook will take offense if you want to add a little sauce. (See opposite for a tomato sauce that’s a great match for this dish.)

Chances are, if you grew up in the South, you have eaten your fair share of grits. You’ve probably eaten your share of shrimp, too. It’s no wonder that these two Southern staples come together in one of the best dishes of all time. Crystal grew up eating grits almost every morning and had always considered them a breakfast dish—until the day she was served shrimp and grits for dinner. That was when her obsession began. Instead of seeking help, Crystal continued to make shrimp and grits on her stove top, working and reworking the dish to find the perfect recipe. Her work definitely paid off. Here is her winning combo of smoked Gouda cheese grits and Cajun spiced shrimp, topped off with an herbed tomato mixture. Perfection indeed.

Chicago’s best-loved food is deep-dish pizza. Do it up right, just as they do in the windy city, with heaping portions of spicy, hot Italian sausage, green peppers, fresh mushrooms, and onions. You can cheat a little and use refrigerated dough, but if you don’t want to upset the mob, try making your own dough from scratch (see page 194). Chicago-style pizza and our beloved home of Austin, Texas, have more of a connection than one might realize. Reportedly, the famous Chicago-style deep-dish pizza was invented by former University of Texas football star Ike Sewell. Go Horns!

The King Ranch Casserole is as much a part of Texas history as the Alamo. So imagine when Crystal—originally from Georgia—marched into Sandy’s kitchen with some ideas on how to improve the dish. Yep, you guessed it. Disaster. You just can’t mess with Texas. Our recipe hasn’t budged from the original, which has been in Sandy’s family for as long as she can remember. Our fellow Austinites share the same love for this traditional recipe and have made the King Ranch one of our most popular menu items. Enjoy!

From Russia with love! Our stroganoff has all the velvety richness of the original comfort-food favorite, with just a little kick (we can’t help ourselves—we’re from Texas, where Tabasco sauce is practically a food group). Our secret ingredient is tomato soup! We added the soup to brighten up the overall flavor of the dish. But don’t worry, our variation of this classic is still enough to make you want to Cossack-dance your way back for seconds.

This dish reminds me of summertime as a kid. Growing up we had a vegetable garden and we always grew zucchini—one of those veggies that if you grow some, you get a ton. So my mom was constantly coming up with different ways to use all the zucchini we had hanging around—we had stuffed zucchini, grilled zucchini, zucchini bread, you name it. (I took more zucchini bread to my teachers at school than you can imagine!) This preparation of stewed zucchini was one my favorites. Zucchini with tomatoes and cheese . . . HELLO? What’s not to love???

To me cauliflower is an underappreciated vegetable, and for no good reason. It’s one of my very favorites and I return to it again and again for many different preparations. I love it because you can cook it to death, literally hammer it, and it just gets better! I find it goes absolutely beautifully with seared fish and a bright parsley salad—this dish is ballsy, bold, and rustic all at the same time.

I’m gonna jump right out there and say that lamb is my favorite meat. And this is probably my favorite dish—to both cook and eat. I love that lamb shanks look like something out of the Flintstones, even though one shank is the perfect size for one person. On a cold winter night when I’m home making dinner for my family, this is definitely my go-to recipe. Like any braise, it takes a bit of effort to get started, but once you get them going, you can just toss the shanks in the oven and let them go on their lamby way.

Historically, short ribs have been a throwaway piece of meat. But in the restaurant business, part of the job is figuring out how to make the most of every ingredient—which means turning a cheap cut of meat into a super-special meal. However, the secret to braising is out, which means short ribs are no longer an inexpensive cut. Still, with my big brown braising technique, they are totally amazing and well worth splurging on. Be sure to cook these LOW and SLOW—that’s the secret. Take your time getting these lovelies nice and brown, then shoot them in the oven and treat them like a stepchild. Just forget about ’em until they’re tender and crazy delicious!

I LOOOOOVE meatballs—who doesn’t? This is my interpretation of the classic Italian-American dish. What makes these meatballs special are two things: First, I cook the onions before putting them in the meatball mix. Second, I add water—this helps ensure a moist ball every time!

I used to go to Lupa, Mario Batali’s Roman trattoria on Thompson Street in Manhattan, and eat preserved tuna belly with beans. It was SOOOOO good! The tuna belly—which is a highly underrated ingredient—becomes succulent and delicious when it’s slow-poached, and that’s exactly how I cook it. I use it in a pasta sauce that’s full of tomatoes, fennel, and lots of garlic to create a wonderful tomato-y, perfume-y, olive oil-y dish that just screams of Sicily. One of the great things about tuna belly is that because it’s considered the throwaway part of the fish, it’s really cheap. You have to spend some time cleaning it, but usually if you pay a bit more you can get it already prepped from your fishmonger (much easier!). If you can’t find tuna belly or don’t feel like making it, a good substitute is Sicilian tuna packed in olive oil.

When I’m in the mood for tomato sauce, Amatriciana is my go-to. It’s all about onions, spicy tomatoes, and pork products. Guanciale—cured pork jowl—is the key here. It has a sweeter, more interesting flavor than bacon. In a pinch, pancetta can be substituted, and in a double pinch bacon will suffice (though it does add a smokier flavor, so be warned). What else can I say? This sauce makes me want to dive into the bowl head first with my mouth wide open!

I love beans—any time, any way. And while my preference is to cook my own beans (see page 55), I’m the first to admit that sometimes a can of beans is a lifesaver. For this recipe in particular I have no problems using canned beans, and you shouldn’t either. Having a few cans in the pantry means whipping up this dish is easy—it’s one of my very favorite things to make when I want something super comforting to slurp up and stick to my belly while sitting around watching TV on a Sunday afternoon.

Everybody likes fried food (if you say you don’t, you’re lying!), and these little guys are fried food done beautifully: a ton of zucchini held together by just a little bit of batter. They’re the perfect combination of salty, crispy, cheesy, and spicy all rolled into one. And, they’re a cinch to make: Do all your mise en place ahead of time; then you can make the sauce and the batter at the same time. Once you’re prepped, fry these babies until they’re really dark and crunchy. What we want here is crispy, crunchy, and dark. Woo-hoo!

Making your own tomato-based sauce to dip your cheese straws into or to spread on your pizza is super-easy. At the bakery, we usually toss something together with whatever spare veggies and tidbits we have lying around. The foundation, however, goes a little something like this.

This is one of the dishes I turn to when unexpected guests drop in. The sauce comes together in less time than it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta, but the results are always impressive. Begin the sauce as soon as you put the water on to boil, because it’s better if the sauce is ready before the pasta, rather than the other way around.

A dear friend from London gave me this recipe and a bit of good English advice: The key to great shepherd’s pie is the ketchup. So taste the turkey mixture before adding it to the baking dish and add another spoonful or two of ketchup if desired. The chili powder gives good flavor but no heat, so don’t let it scare you.

Similar to ratatouille, this Sicilian classic is a vibrant stew made with eggplant, roasted bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, raisins, and olives mixed together with lots of good olive oil. It’s one of those dishes where the final product exceeds the sum of its parts. Fruity olive oil is essential to the success of this dish; it is the facilitator of all the ingredients. Caponata can be served warm or at room temperature, as an antipasto, a side dish, or a topping for Crostini (page 27) or pizza.

Marie called most any dish that she added wine to “French,” and her French pot roast was a star of the genre. The paprika and bell pepper are additions from the late writer Laurie Colwin, who along with Marie would top my list of people to eat pot roast with.