62 blanco recipes

Medianyky, traditional Ukrainian honey cookies spiced with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg, topped with almonds and sugar crystals. A fragrant holiday cookie with Old World charm.

Roasted Long Island duck with a gastrique sauce made from caramelized sugar, red wine vinegar, and duck stock, garnished with fresh grapefruit sections. A refined, restaurant-level dish.

Oxtails braised 4 hours in red wine with tomatoes and capers, then stripped, stuffed into cabbage rolls with Parmesan, and baked golden. Served on mashed potatoes for the ultimate comfort meal.

Gelo di Mellone, a traditional Sicilian watermelon pudding thickened with cornstarch, studded with pistachios, chocolate, and candied citron, finished with cinnamon.

While Schwartz describes the name for this Israeli dish as slightly pretentious, he notes that it won a cooking competition and found its way onto the menus of five star hotels. He recommends serving it over a bed or bulgur pilaf.

Traditional Swiss Basel Leckerli: honey-spice cookie bars with cinnamon, cloves, candied peels, kirsch, and almonds under a crackly sugar glaze. Makes 50 to 60 bars that keep for weeks.

Hawaiian papaya chutney with fresh pineapple, ginger, golden raisins, almonds, and white wine simmered in a tangy vinegar-brown sugar base. A tropical fruit chutney for grilled meats and curries.

Steamed fish and vegetables in stove-top papillotte: halibut and sugar snap peas steamed in plastic over diced tomatoes and basil. A clean, light, restaurant-style dinner in 20 minutes.

Cherry and almond Christmas cake: maraschino cherries, apricots, ginger, and almonds macerated in amaretto and brandy, baked into a lighter apple-puree batter, then soaked in more amaretto. A boozy, fruit-packed festive cake that keeps for a month.

Curried turkey salad with papaya, kiwi, toasted almonds, and a warm chutney-yogurt dressing served in crispy tortilla bowls over fresh spinach.

Traditional English piccalilli with cauliflower, cucumber, pearl onions, and green tomatoes in a turmeric-mustard sauce. Homemade mustard pickle that improves with keeping.

This dish is best at room temperature, although it is good hot or cold also. I have given just the basic recipe; you can add all kinds of things, like corn, fresh tomatoes, cilantro, scallions, blanched chayote squash, etc.

Ratatouille is a Provencal vegetable stew that is popular all along the Mediterranean coast. It is a summer dish, best when the vegetables are in season and at their peak.

Chinese shrimp balls (pai chiao hsia chiu) rolled in stale bread cubes and double-fried until shatteringly crisp. Served with Sichuan pepper-salt dip. 30 pieces.