This is our favorite snack finger food in the world. You can carry them anywhere, eat them on the run, stop at a park bench, or sit back and munch them in mid flight to some hastily planned destination. They are one of the healthiest snacks you can make for yourself and your family.
This fabulous Vietnamese dish is an umami bomb explosion of flavors. The contrast between the fire charred pork and the crunchy peanuts and the garden fresh lettuce and veggies with the luscious spicy sweet and sour dipping sauce is so exotic it’s just other worldly. Legendary in Vietnam as the ultimate street food, this is one of our absolute favorite dishes using pork. Give this one a whirl, it will transport you to an amazing umami world! Enjoy!
The very first time that Rebekah and I went to lunch together we were just “friends”. That first meal was at a sidewalk restaurant on Sunset Blvd called Le Petite Four, and it was amazing. We both worked at the same TV/film production company in LA and this lunch was “totally professional”. The only problem was that I was insanely in love with her.
This meal is our riff on the classic Mughal cooking of India, (see our Tandoori Turkey recipe), which reflects a love for simmered creams, yogurt marinades and intensely aromatic spices in meals like this gravy based Sabzi Kurma, which traditionally uses just vegetables.
We love the exotic flavors of this fabulous Thai soup, spicy, a bit sweet and salty, creamy, with fresh lemongrass and galangal flavors, with a sumptuous umami taste. It’s easy to prepare and is crazy addictive with an intoxicating aroma.
We are thrilled to bring to you one of our favorite dishes from our friend, Dale Gray, the beloved cook behind the Instagram account @thedaleyplated and her amazing blog, and her beautiful new cookbook South of Somewhere. This dish is inspired by classic Spanish cuisine which first sears the chicken in olive oil and then, when the chicken is removed to rest, the hot oils are joined by the garlic, onion and chorizo, and simmered until aromatic and turning a rustic red from the paprika in the chorizo.
I had a close friend who was Cajun and he once took me to a small village in southern Louisiana where he grew up, not too far from the town of St. Martinville, famous for the statue of Evangeline, the High Priestess of myth and poetic legend among the Cajun and a powerful symbol of the Acadian diaspora. (The real person’s name was Emmeline Labiche, and the truth is better than Romeo and Juliet, but that’s a story for the next cookbook.) I had written about the Cajun people in a novel so I was familiar with their culture, food and society. One reason for my passion for Cajun food is that my mother’s side of the family has roots in the French Canadian community of Acadia and thus are the remnants of the Acadian people, who were cast out of their homes and lands by the English army in 1755 to wander unwanted along the Eastern seaboard of America for decades. They finally found a home in the bayous of Louisiana, so it’s completely understandable that traditionally the Cajuns are a people who wanted to be left in peace.
This beautiful and savory dish is served in most local restaurants in Spain, it is a national treasure of their cuisine. This intensely flavored dish is made with one single large cast iron or enamel pan, what could be more simple.
When you have boneless skinless chicken thighs the most luscious umami dish you can imagine is just a simple one pan recipe, taking only 25 minutes. An umami feast and so easy!
If you are a lover of classic American chowders, like Boston clam chowder, you will love this rich sumptuous Manhattan style.
This dish is so much fun, and kid approved in our home. These jumbo pasta shells are stuffed with tasty Italian sausage and three of our favorite Italian cheeses… ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella.
This is the perfect dish for using leftovers in the frig, especially rice, and staples in the pantry. This is our take on a street food legend… spicy fried rice!
Paella is the signature meal of Spain, a national pride, and yet almost no one fully agrees on how exactly it should be made. It is a controversial meal for many reasons… starting with the simple fact that it is a huge shallow pan loaded down with complex and expensive ingredients which completely vary from home to home, town to town, restaurant to restaurant, and from region to region in Spain. Paella in Madrid is very different from that in Seville. But at the same time, like Bouillabaisse from France, Paella is a classic meal so identified with the soul of the country that it naturally comes laden with emotion, memory, tradition, pride, and a sensory longing for the authenticity of the time and place of one’s upbringing.
This insanely umami side dish is simple yet sumptuous, and it’s perfect for snacking, parties, family dinner or as a side dish for special family gatherings. And it’s so quick and easy… just gather up a bunch of baby Yukon Gold potatoes, smash them with a kitchen mallet so that they are slightly broken and a little bit flattened, to better soak up all the luscious creamy cheesy umami sauce, and then wrap each one in strips of Prosciutto.
This is a dish we love to make for its gorgeous look and amazing flavors. We use olive oil, Porcini mushrooms or cremini mushrooms, Giant Beans from Greece for their incredibly dense creamy flavors, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, Cara Cara oranges for their unique flavor, Spanish chorizo with its smoky paprika flavor, and we sometimes use Cajun Andouille sausage for it’s immense smokiness and depth of Cajun flavors.
The Cajun people of Louisiana have a long, proud and emotionally powerful history and tradition… and they are a strong part of my Mother’s side of the family. She was French-Canadian, and was born within the bloodline of the Acadian people.
When we think of the Oktoberfest, we always think of Smoked Kielbasa, seared on the grill and then simmered in sauerkraut with caraway seeds. This is Grandmother approved as the real deal. On a hot buttered bun with mayo and/or mustard it is umami bombi. This feast causes a kind of crazy desire in the crowd for more… until food coma ensues. If the weather at your home is getting colder, rainy, blustery, snowy or just kind of lacking any sunny stuff… this is the ultimate comfort food. If you want to enjoy an October feast at home, this one is so much fun. Don’t forget the beer! Enjoy! Ingredients… 2 pounds Kielbasa sausage (grilled or broiled until charred)2 pounds sauerkraut (purchased in a glass jar or from a deli)1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes (steamed or boiled until just slightly tender)1 tablespoon caraway seeds (slightly ground)1 tablespoon light brown sugar1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon black pepper2 ounces unsalted butter Cooking… Steam or boil the potatoes until just slightly tender, cut into quarters and set aside. Grill or broil the Kielbasa sausages until charred and juicy, cut into halves or thirds and set aside. In a stockpot or large pan, on medium heat, simmer the sauerkraut until it just begins to bubble. (Please don’t drain or rinse the liquids that come with the sauerkraut, they are wonderfully tart and packed with nourishing probiotics and umami flavors.) Add the caraway seeds, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, butter, potatoes and the Kielbasa sausages. Simmer on low heat for at least 20 minutes, we prefer to simmer for a least an hour. This is how Grandma makes this legendary meal. She approves!
This one is the umami bomb of Thai street food, the most exotic flavored and juicy lip smacking chicken ever put on a stick.
These bad boy salmon steaks were two inches thick and came into our market so shimmering and fresh… for us, that was an instant yaasss!
Rebekah is a California girl, born and bred, but I grew up in a little town in Illinois, and my geographical boundaries were Lake Michigan, corn fields and factories. It was a time and a place where there was almost zero opportunity to experience exotic foods, flavors and cuisines. Butsince I was a boy, I just naturally craved the exotic… coconut, limes, mint, spices,and the smell of garlic and ginger. Thai and Vietnamese meals have all that stuff,and when I figured that out in college and beyond, those are the restaurants Iwould always seek out… and I learned from all those meals how to make them.
This bad boy is not your momma’s Sloppy Joe’s… no ketchup, yellow mustard or chili powder. This version is super umami, with wonderful complex flavors and by far the best one we’ve ever tasted.
I go deep-sea fishing in Key West just about every year and that’s where we first discovered one of the greatest sandwiches on planet Earth… the Cuban Sandwich. Since the 1800’s, there were a great many Cuban workers in Key West in the cigar factories, and this was their favorite go-to lunch. And since Cuba is only about ninety miles away, families sailed back and forth with ease to Kew West for more than a hundred years. Most folks in Key West claim the Cuban sandwich originated right there, although the folks in Tampa and Miami would probably beg to differ. But one thing is for sure… I often heard an old expression… “the Cuban sandwich was born in Cuba and educated in Key West”.
Every once in a while we like to look back at some of our favorite savory homemade pizzas and share them. We love homemade pizza, it brings the family together like no other meal!
We have probably ordered this umami bomb dish more times than any other Thai restaurant meal. When it’s prepared authentically it is haunting.
The cloying sweet dish that you get in Chinese takeout restaurants called Orange Chicken, with a commercial nod to the American love of the “sweet” in the sweet/sour equation, is quite different from the home cooked orange chicken that is made in the homes of Szechuan (also spelled Sichuan) province. The Chinese characters for this meal literally translate as “dried citrus peel chicken”. That authentic meal is redolent with tart citrus flavors… as well as the naturally occurring sweet/sour umami flavors brought by Chinese black vinegar, Shaoxing wine, fermented broad bean chili paste, dark soy, and Szechuan peppers. In this feast we have attempted to reestablish the cultural bedrock, the touchstone of this legendary feast, which reveals and the Szechuan grandmothers’ savory traditions, where the flavors are all distinct, layered, complex and addictive.
Some years ago Rebekah and I were in Paris, gathering ideas for new meals to make and to our surprise found inspiration in the ubiquitous French classic, the quiche. We had just left the Picasso museum and we found ourselves in a light drizzle, so throwing on our raincoats we headed out into the streets, but being hungry, we ducked into a nearby bakery right on the corner, that specializes in quiche. The glass case held six different styles, and they were sold by the slice. So we sat outside, under an umbrella in the warm gentle rain and dove into three or four different tastes… their version of the Lorraine, the St. Jacques and the Ratatouille, as well as other versions unique to their bakery. We were astonished at the tastes. The only word that fits the moment is savory. And, of course, romantic in a way that only Paris can be.
This is one of the most popular and beloved curry dishes of all, served in Indian restaurants around the world. It’s insanely creamy and luscious, with wildly aromatic spices many of which are probably in most kitchen cabinets. This is an easy dish to make and yet deeply savory and umami.
For us, this the most savory of all our chowders… combining caramelized salmon with the fresh corn cob kernels. The smoky burnt bits of the salmon are crazy good with the blistered cherry tomatoes and the intensely fruity and umami flavors of the mushrooms… all in a creamy sherry and tarragon sauce.
Shakshuka isn’t just for breakfast anymore! This fabulous Middle Eastern feast is also a wonderful stuffing for grape leaves. Give it a whirl, these are the best stuffed peppers we ever had!
This feast, known as Kori Gassi in the Tulu speaking Bunt community of Mangalore, on the west coast of India, is a wonderfully pungent chicken gravy dish. This is a fabulous umami bomb from the Land of Spices… India.
Imagine yourself at a beautiful two person mosaic tiled table, in a Greek cafe, leaning back against the cool of the white washed plaster wall, in the shade, away from the blazing sun. There is a glass of ice cold crisp local white wine in your hand, or maybe some tangy ouzo… and across from you is the love of your life. You turn slightly and look out at the turquoise blue sea, the briny air penetrating and clean… carrying the scent of the wild thyme and mint on the hillsides. The waiter with the white apron brings two plates of the house specialty, octopus marinated in red wine vinegar, olive oil lemons, garlic and oregano… and then grilled on searing hot charcoal. And on the side, marinated gigantes beans and seared arugula. Sometimes life is perfect.
We usually wolf down our po’ boys right there in the kitchen near the stove, hot and spicy, the oysters crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside, and the tartar sauce all over our fingers.
This dish is the ultimate exotic feast from South Asia, combining fantastic spices and umami flavors into one wildly savory dish. We don’t find these flavor combinations in any other cuisine. When the spices of Malaysia and Persia were combined with the local Thai flavors like cilantro, lemongrass, garlic, galangal, wild onions or shallots, fish sauce, peanuts, tamarind, spicy peppers and coconut cream, a feast was created out of the fusion of culture, commerce and conquest… and the wild tastes that were created make this curry one of the most beloved in the world. Polls of culinary experts have rated Massaman Curry as the best dish in all the world. But within traditional Thai cuisine itself, it exists only in the south… and even at that, the unique combination of spices that are used in Massaman curry are not generally used in other Thai dishes.
This is an authentic fiesta from central Mexico, it is not Tex/Mex in origin. This deceptively common meal takes its inspiration from the varied dried chilies, spices, fresh vegetables, jungle fowl and wild pig (peccary) perfected by the Aztec Empire. The spices they treasured are actually closer to the exotic and aromatic spices of India than the flavors from the beef culture of West Texas. Coriander, allspice (the taste of cloves), oregano, anise, cinnamon bark, wild onions and garlic vine were all available to the Aztec people, and they cooked over a smoldering fire, which made their chili perfectly smoky as well.
In the tangled lush heart of the island of Jamaica, a tree grows abundantly that we call allspice, and which the Jamaicans call pimento. This tree is revered by the locals because it provides the essential flavor of classic Jamaican cuisine. The dried and ground berries become the spice we also know as allspice, and the Jamaicans often use the wood from the trees in their 55 gallon oil drum BBQs to grill and smoke Jerk chicken and fish. Even the leaves are used for cooking, tossed into the fire to flavor the smoke that penetrates the meats and vegetables, resulting in one of the greatest grilled feasts in the world.
Of all the regions of Italy, the further South you go, the more things heat up. Our hearts are always with Tuscany, but other regions of our bodies and souls are more South, finally arriving at the epicenter of a dizzy feeling of ardor… Sicily. This dish, Shrimp Puttanesca, is ground zero in sexiness.
This dish is a real classic and very popular in restaurants all over the world. As always with Italian dishes, Scampi requires the highest quality ingredients to be really memorable. Here in our wild savory kitchen, we are always looking to find the most umami flavors possible, along with the most authentic ingredients. We have always felt that the usual Shrimp Scampi you would be served in a restaurant… which is generally just lots of butter, garlic and Italian parsley… wasn’t explosive enough in taste. We wanted to make a memorable version… and this is it.
Of the 14 regions in the city of Rome, my favorite area to wander around with Rebekah is Trastevere, arm in arm, taking our time… strolling within its maze of narrow winding cobblestone streets. We like to get lost there. First we go to the Coliseum, stare in awe, and then we head for Trastevere to eat.
This extravagant and decadent umami bomb feast is simple and quick to prepare but fantastically savory… for us, this is the ultimate comfort food. We have combined the cheesiness of Au Gratin with the creaminess of Scalloped Potatoes, along with smoked meats, mushrooms, and herbs of Provence like tarragon, thyme, sage and rosemary.
In our wild savory kitchen, we are always searching for new flavor combos, creating dishes which explode with umami tastes that are unique. This simple little feast is a mashup of different cuisines, like worlds colliding in your mouth.
This is a taste of rustic Italy, where we first learned the meaning of the word “abbondanza”. This is the Italy of our deepest memories, authentic and imposing, like the looming Medieval fortified hill towns of Tuscany.
For us a pot of clams and pasta brings a certain serenity. Living along the coast of the Monterey Bay, we are always amazed at the abundance of the ocean… but at the same time, shellfish makes us ravenous. Sweet, meaty, briny… they embody the taste of the sea. Toss in some chewy spaghetti or some hair fallen from an angel to soak up their natural juices released when steamed, some tomatoes for a summery freshness, each chubby clam simmering in the lemon/garlic/butter/wine reduce sauce… and you have a little feast that is both simple and extravagant.
Some meals are simply perfect. This light pasta is amazing on a lazy summer day with ice cold champagne, or a romantic warm evening with rose. Actually, it’s wonderful any time and any place on Earth, because this little feast will make it a special event.
Cuban hash, called Picadillo, is one of the most popular dishes in Cuba and after making this little feast several times, we are also head over heels in love. Most often we prepare this little feast with pork, but sometimes we use ground turkey thighs from free range and air chilled birds.
Black bean sauce is very deep in our memory, a passionately held love affair from all the fabulous meals we enjoyed in the Chinatowns of Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. They were seafood dishes filled with authenticity and gravitas, and packed with Umami. This little feast brings those extraordinary dishes into our own wild savory kitchen.
For years we have returned again and again to this simple savory feast… it’s like an old trusted friend. We just tossed this chubby duck inside the clay pot along with tons of veggies, stuck it a cold oven, set it to 475 degrees and got back to the family fun. An hour later, time to feast. It’s that simple.
Imagine yourself at a beautiful two person mosaic tiled table, in a Greek cafe, leaning back against the cool of the white washed plaster wall, in the shade, away from the blazing sun. There is a glass of ice cold crisp local white wine in your hand, or maybe some tangy ouzo… and across from you is the love of your life. You turn slightly and look out at the turquoise blue sea, the briny air penetrating and clean… carrying the scent of the wild thyme and mint on the hillsides. The waiter with the white apron brings two plates of the house specialty, Greek Shrimp, fresh from the sea. And on the side, marinated gigantes beans and seared arugula. Sometimes life is perfect.
For us, the intensely fruity and haunting flavors of this wild mushroom called Chanterelle, which we hunt for in the mountains, combines magically with the fresh corn cob kernels and the smoked bacon umami flavors. And then we add the sweet briny rich crab taste of the sea, all in a creamy Sherry and Tarragon herb broth. It’s one of the most savory and umami packed chowders we’ve ever made.
We love the delicate finessful flavor of halibut, but there was always something slightly missing in its depth of flavor. Without the powerful umami flavors of tuna or swordfish, the rich exquisite oil-rich salmon, or the dense flavorful flakes of snapper, sea bass or mahi mahi, halibut seems to need some umami richness. Usually in restaurants, halibut is drowned in creams or butter to avoid its tendency to dry out. This little feast solves all those problems… with Italian prosciutto!
This little feast explodes with flavor because of the wildly contrasting tastes… the buttery rich umami seared scallops match perfectly with the spicy red curry, crunchy green haricot vert green beans and the bright sweet cherry tomatoes bursting with flavor, all contrasting wonderfully with the richness of the coconut cream and the savory fish sauce.
