Recipes

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

The Zin Cup is a sort of British sangria in which Pimm’s is mixed with red zinfandel and ginger beer. Sprightly and a little cheeky, the drink has been the top seller at Nios since its opening. Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

This is a martini that’s about as wet as it gets, and it happened to be Julia Child’s favorite cocktail. It’s one part gin to five parts vermouth. “It’s a great, crisp summer drink,” said Ben Ward, the head bartender at Libation. It’s also much closer in spirit to the way dry vermouth is consumed in Europe — as a solo aperitif, rather than a meek cocktail modifier. Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Muddled tomatoes and herbs are mixed with gin then topped with a bracing fizz of tonic water. It's the cocktail as salad, or vice versa. Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Arrows Restaurant in Ogunquit, Me., had a request for a signature wedding cocktail utilizing cocoa powder. The bartender devised one in which gin is shaken with red currant sorbet and cocoa-infused simple syrup, then served in a glass rimmed with cocoa powder. It’s a lively, complex drink — a far cry from the weak gin-and-tonics that once defined wedding reception drinking. Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

Jonathan Miles

Jonathan Miles · NYT Cooking

This classic grape-and-grain mixture came to us from Christopher Tunnah, the general manager and beverage director at the Bedford Post in Bedford, N.Y. It's as jolly and red as a Santa suit, and it derives its Dickensian tang from the nutmeg hints in Angostura bitters and the clove-studded orange flavors of orange bitters. Craving seconds is easy. Jonathan Miles

John Willoughby · NYT Cooking

John Willoughby · NYT Cooking

John Willoughby · NYT Cooking

If you’re looking to boost flavor, spices are a natural. There are perhaps no cuisines that use spices more deftly than those of India. Borrowing a technique commonly used there, I sweat a trio of aromatic spices before adding the liquid to a braised chicken-thigh dish. The final flavor of the dish, earthy but somehow still delicate, is wholly satisfying.

John Willoughby · NYT Cooking

Traveling in Morocco 30-some years ago, I had eaten tagines — stews distinguished by being cooked in the pot of the same name — that I did not recall as involving any browning. This method is described as “starting the tagine cold.” It involves heating the lamb gently along with spices and other aromatics, allowing the flavors to fully penetrate the meat. At that point it is covered and cooked until tender. When I tried the “cold start” approach, substituting a low heating of the lamb with aromatics and a little butter for the usual hard sear in olive oil, it worked like (well, kind of like) magic. The overall flavor of the dish was less robust than one that began with browning, but it was equally flavorful, in a gentler way.

John Willoughby · NYT Cooking

John Willoughby · NYT Cooking

In this Turkish method, vegetables (and sometimes beans) are cooked in plenty of olive oil — usually with tomatoes, onions and one or two other ingredients — until they have almost lost their shape. Then they are cooled and served at room temperature, when their flavors are at their fullest. Very often an herb or citrus juice is added just before serving for a little spark; thick yogurt and lemon wedges are standard accompaniments. It’s probably obvious that these dishes are pretty much ideal for warm-weather meals. They not only can be made in advance, but also must be, so they can cool down. Even a day or two ahead is fine; just take them out of the refrigerator about 45 minutes before serving.