4 pounds pork spareribs, separated
¾ cup soy sauce
2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and minced
8 scallions, roughly diced
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoon orange zest
2 cloves garlic, minced

1. Combine ribs, ½ cup soy sauce, ½ of the ginger, scallions and fennel in a large pot. Add water to cover. Cover and simmer until cooked through, 20-30 minutes.
2. Cool to room temperature in cooking liquid, then drain, or just refrigerate covered, in the liquid overnight.
3. Combine ¼ cup soy sauce, remaining ginger, broth, syrup, zest and garlic in a wok or large skillet over high heat and cook down to thicken (5-7 minutes).
4. Add ribs and stir-fry about 5 minutes until ribs are coated in a thick glaze.
Note: Alternately, follow steps 1, 2 and 3 but brush the sauce onto the ribs as a glaze on a hot grill.

15 Rice paper rounds
½ cup Hoisin Sauce
1 tablespoon chili garlic paste
3 tablespoons chopped peanuts
1 pound firm tofu, cut into ½ inch thick spears and flash fried
or 1 pound shrimp, cooked and shelled, or ½ pound of each
1 large carrot, shredded long (cut lengthwise into strips almost to the top, then use a peeler along cut side to make long shreds)
1 medium cucumber, seeded, long julienne
1 fist-full of romaine Lettuce (I haven’t decided how much lettuce to use)
2 or 3 Scallions, cut into long ribbons
1 cup cooked rice stick noodles
½ cup cilantro leaves
½ cup mint leaves

1. Soak the rice paper in warm water until soft but not limp. Layer between damp paper towels and set aside.
2. Mix hoisin sauce, chili garlic paste and peanuts in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Right before serving, combine 1/15 of the remaining ingredients on each of the sheets of rice paper, roll like a burrito and cut in half at a diagonal. Serve cold with sauce for dipping.

Peanut Sauce

1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons Sriracha
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 cup veggie (chicken if you aren’t feeding vegetarians) broth
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
4 scallions, finely chopped

1. Mix all ingredients.

Asian Pesto Sauce
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup lime juice
1 cup cilantro leaves
1/2 cup Thai basil
1/2 cup mint leaves
1/4 cup scallion
1 green chile, seeded
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper.

1. Combine in blender.
2. Blend.

Coconut Curry Sauce
1 tablespoon oil
1 large onion, diced
2 gloves garlic, minced
2 inches fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
1 14-ounce san coconut milk
1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1. Add oil to large pan over high heat. Add onion and garlic, stir-fry until softened.
2. Add all but the last three ingredients and fry 2 to 3 minutes more, until aromatic.
3. Add last three ingredients and simmer to thicken, about ten minutes.

1 cup mango (or other) juice

1 teaspoon sodium alginate

1 cup water

1 teaspoon calcium chloride

1. In a small saucepan, add the sodium alginate to the juice, gradually sprinkling while whisking vigorously over medium heat. If you have one, use an immersion blender instead of the whisk before turning on the heat.

2. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for one minute.

3. Remove from heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and let cool to room temperature. A short stint in the freezer will expedite the process.

4. Combine water and calcium chloride in a bowl, stirring to dissolve.

5. Pour cooled juice into a plastic squeeze bottle or large syringe and drip it into the water until the bottom of the bowl is covered in a solid layer of spheres. Let sit one minute while you clean the goo out of your strainer.

6. Place strainer over a second bowl, then pour the contents of the first bowl through the strainer.

7. Rinse the pearls in the strainer and transfer to a kitchen towel to dry.

8. Repeat until you run out of juice.

Serve within an hour, because when I nipped one the morning after, it had gelled all the way through. Not bad, but not as exciting.

Note: another interesting variation is the mango noodle. Rather than dripping, I put the tip of the syringe into the water and pressed the plunger steadily while moving the tip back and forth. The resulting strand was over three feet long, but I could only lift out foot-long lengths before it broke. Like the pearls, it was liquid in the center, essentially a gummy straw filled with juice.

As I’ve mentioned, frying any filled pasta with a parmesan crust is a great way to elevate any humble lump of dough. For Sweet Potato Gnocchi, it becomes a whole new dish.

1/2 cup finely grated parmesan or other hard cheese
salt and pepper to taste
unsalted butter
sage
1 batch Sweet Potato Gnocchi

1. Place cheese, salt and pepper in a bowl with tight fitting lid and shake to mix.
2. Combine 1 tablespoon butter and a 1/4 teaspoon of sage in a sauté pan over high heat.
3. In batches, toss a dozen or twenty damp gnocchi in the cheese mixture until coated.
4. As the butter begins to brown, add the batch of gnocchi, shaking the pan constantly and loosening with a spatula if they begin to stick. Flip as needed and remove from pan as soon a both sides have browned.
5. Pour any remaining butter over the gnocchi and serve immediately.
6. Repeat steps 2 through 6 until all gnocchi have reached enlightenment.

2 pounds sweet potatoes
2 pounds russet potatoes
2 large eggs
1/2 cup finely grated manchego cheese (or substitute pecorino, romano, parmesan, etc.)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups all-purpose flour

1. Bake all potatoes (sweet and russet) at 375 for 45 minutes or until very soft and the sugars in the sweet potatoes have begun to caramelize.
2. Peel and grate or rice potatoes. Combine with egg, cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Sift in flour, incorporating gradually.
3. In a large saucepan, bring 6 cups water to a boil. Salt and taste water (TSB says it should “taste of the sea.” I just think it should taste as salty as you would like your gnocchi to taste).
4. Fill durable zip-top freezer bag with dough and snip one corner to create a half-inch diameter hole.
5. Over the boiling water, squeeze dough out of the bag with one hand, while using a knife in the other hand to cut it off in 3/4-inch lengths. Skim off dumplings as they rise to the surface and shock them in cold water. Cook pasta in batches, changing water mid-way if it becomes too cloudy and sticky with flour residue.
6. Optionally, gently press each gnocchi with a fork before shocking it to give it the characteristic ridges of gnocchi that are not possible to make before boiling because of the soft, sticky nature of the dough. This flattening is also advantageous if you intend to sear or otherwise fry the gnocchi.

Serve with alfredo sauce or brown some unsalted butter with sage in a sauté pan and pour over warm gnocchi.

1 pound elbow pasta
8 tablespoons unsalted butter plus more for dish
3 cups panko flakes
2 pounds extra sharp cheddar, grated
8 ounces Monterrey Jack, grated
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups whole milk
1 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Note: the only salt I used was in seasoning the water for cooking pasta, so don’t forget to salt the water before you add the noodles.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, butter a large baking dish and grate the cheese while pasta is cooking. (For the love of God, buy a food processor. The 11-cup Cuisinart is the perfect size for grating two and a half pounds of cheese)
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons of butter and integrate panko and two cups of cheese. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. Return pan to heat and melt remaining butter.
4. Add flour, red pepper flakes and pepper and stir constantly over medium heat for three minutes.
5. Whisk in milk, bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly and simmer for 3-5 minutes to thicken.
6. Add cream, cheese and mustard and turn off the burner. Stir until sauce is a uniform consistency.
7. Incorporate cooked pasta and pour into the buttered baking dish.
8. Spread panko mixture across the top and bake 20 minutes or until golden brown on top and bubbly throughout.

1.5 pounds bosc pears (about three on the larger side of average), peeled, seeded and diced
3 cups water
1/2 lemon, seeded and diced (rind and all)
1.5 cups brown sugar
1 medium sweet white onion
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
1.5 cups cider vinegar
1 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon cayanne
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1. Heat water to a boil in medium saucepan and add pears, cooking until soft (10-15 minutes).
2. Strain pears, and set aside in a mixing bowl, returning cooking water to saucepan.
3. Bring water back to boiling and add sugar and lemon. Cook down to a syrup on medium heat (20-30 minutes).
4. While syrup simmers, grate ginger, dice onion and combine all ingredients not currently cooking.
5. Mix everything into the saucepan and simmer for about 1/2 hour, until liquids have reduced, cranberries have plumped and onions have become translucent.

It’s great on poultry or fish, sandwiches, with a cheese plate and of course with Indian food.

Of all things, I was flipping through a book on ecologically sound design practices, and between the pages, stuck to a drool-stained magazine page featuring the 7 bowl system from elBulli designed for Ferran Adria, was a pair of post-its labeled Matt’s Mac. I can’t be sure how many refinements and tests went into this recipe, and it isn’t complete, but I think it is the ingredients and measurements that I used to love, so I am going to compare and integrate it with recent attempts next week.

1 pound elbow pasta, cooked
6 tablespoons unsalted butter plus more for dish
2 cups panko flakes
2 pounds sharp cheddar, grated (about 7 cups)
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups 2% milk
2 cups heavy cream
8 ounces gruyere, grated (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, butter a large baking dish and grate cheese while pasta is cooking.
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and integrate panko and one cup of cheddar. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. Return pan to heat and melt remaining butter.
4. Add flour and stir constantly over medium heat for three minutes. Season with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
5. Whisk in milk, bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes to thicken.
6. Stir in cream, cheese and mustard until sauce is a uniform consistency. Remove from heat.
7. Stir cooked pasta into the sauce and pour into the buttered baking dish.
8. Spread breadcrumb mixture across the top and bake 25 minutes or until golden brown on top and bubbly throughout.