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???

Fish in paper is a classic preparation that will totally make you feel like a rock star in the kitchen. It’s super-easy and it’s all about the presentation. All you have to do is toss some veggies and white fish in a parchment package along with some wine, and let them steam themselves. When your guests open their packages, they get a big burst of aromatic vapor and a lovely piece of gently cooked fish on perfectly cooked veggies. Just remember that because you seal the packages, you only get one shot to season everything—if you miss your opportunity then this will taste like a diet dish. You have to season well BEFORE you seal the deal.

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 first encountered this sauce while working in Umbria, and it’s one of my favorite summertime pastas. To me, this is Mother Nature’s last blast, her crescendo before fall. This is where you take everything she has to give, all those glorious summer ingredients, and toss them together to let the wonderful flavors marry. Then you just barely heat everything up, never actually letting the veggies cook, so they maintain their fresh flavors. Punctuate this with a salty grate of ricotta salata and say, “Mmmmm . . .”

Where I come from, corn is the epitome of a summer vegetable; we used to drive out to the fields to get ours fresh and just leave our money in a can on the side of the road. So in this dish I combine corn with lovely little cherry tomatoes sautéed until they burst out of excitement, letting their delightful juices flow! Add some bacon and this sauce just steps up, pokes you, and says, “Hi, I’m summer, glad to see you!”

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.

I look forward to tomato season all year—then when it comes, I always eat too many and practically overdose on them! But what’s better than tomatoes with olive oil, vinegar, and a little salt? Tomatoes with goat cheese! What more can I say about an in-season heirloom tomato salad with other fabulous summer stuff thrown in? It’s perfection.

My mom is a florist so I love flowers—especially big orange ones like zucchini blossoms! I make zucchini blossoms stuffed full of creamy ricotta cheese and then fry them until they’re golden and crispy. In my opinion, zucchini blossoms are nature’s perfect little packages. What’s better than a crispy, crunchy, cheesy flower? A crispy, crunchy, cheesy flower on a bread salad—a gorgeous mix of perfectly ripe tomatoes, basil, cucumber, red onion, and bread, which softens when it absorbs all the veggies’ wonderful juices.

This is a classic that everyone should know how to do well. The trick here has nothing to do with cooking and everything to do with using only seasonal ingredients. When summer tomatoes are pristine and basil is at its peak, that’s when you want to whip this baby up. By the way, it’s pronounced “broo-SKET-ta”—NOT “broo-SHETT-ta.”

I love to make these for company because the polenta can be made WAY in advance. And you can top the cakes with almost anything—I like to use a nice stinky cheese, but after that really anything goes. Tomatoes give you a nice burst of sweetness, but dried fruit is fun, some fresh herbs, whatever you want! No matter how you top them, these corn cakes are little bites of melty, cheesy deliciousness.