Bring a taste of the world to your table

For 10 years, Saveur magazine has traveled the world for interesting dishes that you can make in your home. Editor-in-chief Colman Andrews was invited on "Today" to talk about the seventh annual "Top 100" food items issue, and it looks like after years of the Atkins craze, carbs are making a big comeback. Check out his favorite recipes from places like Hungary, Italy and Kentucky.

Croquetas de Pollo (Chicken Croquettes)
Makes about 40 croquettes
The renowned Versailles Restaurant in Miami shared with us the recipe for its popular croquetas.

2 cups chicken stock
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and halved
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts and thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
Salt
3/4 pound butter
1-3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup milk, hot
Freshly ground white pepper
2 eggs
3 cups fine dry bread crumbs
Vegetable oil

Put stock and 2 onion halves into a medium pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add chicken and salt to taste, and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Strain chicken, reserving 1/2 cup of the stock, and discard onions. Let chicken cool, then grind in a meat grinder fitted with the medium-hole plate into a bowl.

Finely chop remaining onions. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add 1-1/4 cups of the flour and cook, whisking, for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in hot milk and reserved stock. Return pan to medium-low heat and cook sauce, whisking, until thick, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a large wide dish and let cool. Mix in ground chicken. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.

Beat eggs in a shallow dish. Put bread crumbs and remaining flour into separate dishes. Gently shape chicken mixture into 40 1 x 3-inch logs; dredge each in flour, coat with egg, and dredge in bread crumbs.

Pour oil into a heavy pot to a depth of 2 inches and heat over medium-high heat until temperature registers 350° on a candy thermometer. Fry croquetas in small batches until golden brown, about 1-1/2 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Season with salt to taste. Serve with lime wedges and soda crackers, if you like.

Lángos (Hungarian Fried Potato Bread)
Serves 4
These fried potato-bread rounds were traditionally made at home and rubbed with a clove of garlic. They've become a popular snack in Hungary, and might well be found today topped with sour cream, chopped dill, ham, or cheese.

1 pound russet potatoes, pricked with a fork
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk, warmed
Vegetable oil
Salt
1-1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 450°. Bake potatoes directly on oven rack until tender when pierced, 50 to 60 minutes. Peel potatoes while still hot, then pass through a potato ricer or a food mill into a large bowl and set aside. Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm milk in a small bowl and let rest until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. Add milk mixture, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to potatoes in bowl, and stir well. Add flour and stir dough with a fork until a rough ball forms. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until very smooth, about 10 minutes. Shape dough into a ball and transfer to a well-greased bowl, turning to coat.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to let dough rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Pour oil into a large heavy-bottomed skillet to a depth of 1 inch and heat over medium heat until temperature registers 375° on a candy thermometer.

Meanwhile, divide dough into 4 equal balls on a well-floured surface and cover with plastic wrap. Dust 1 ball of dough with flour, then stretch it into a 7- to 8-inch disk. Fry in the hot oil, turning once, until bread is puffed, dimpled, and deep golden, 1-1/2 to 2 minutes per side. Repeat process with remaining dough balls. Transfer breads to a rack to let drain as they're cooked, turning once. Rub with a raw clove of garlic or slather with sour cream, if you like, and season with salt. Serve hot.

Vangi Bhath (Spiced Rice With Green Peppers and Cashews)
Serves 6
Mavalli Tiffin Rooms calls this a vangi (eggplant) dish, but the cooks make it with green peppers instead.

1-inch ball tamarind pulp
1-1/4 cups basmati rice, rinsed well
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 teaspoons chana dal (hulled, split, dried small chickpeas), soaked for 2 hours, then drained thoroughly
1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1 cup raw unsalted cashews
2 to 4 serrano chilis, stemmed and thinly sliced
8 fresh curry leaves
1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into large dice
1 cup frozen peas
Pinch ground turmeric
3 tablespoon vangi bhath powder
1/2 tablespoon jaggery (Indian brown sugar)
Salt

Put tamarind into a medium bowl, add 1/2 cup warm water, and use your fingers to help dissolve some of it. Let soak for 5 minutes, then use your fingers to dissolve more of the softened tamarind. Strain juice through a sieve into a small bowl, pressing on any remaining pulp. Set juice aside, discarding solids. Put rice into a medium pot, add 2 cups water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until rice is tender, 15 minutes. Remove pot from heat and let rest, undisturbed, for 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add chickpeas and fry until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Add mustard seeds and fry until they begin to pop. Add nuts, chilis, and curry leaves and fry, stirring often, until nuts are golden, 6 to 8 minutes; transfer to a bowl. Add peppers to pot and fry until tender, about 5 minutes. Add peas and turmeric and cook until peppers are soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Add vangi bhath powder, jaggery, and salt to taste; fry for 2 minutes. Stir in nut mixture and rice, then tamarind juice, and cook until rice is hot. Adjust seasonings.

Hot Brown
Serves 4
This open-faced sandwich was created at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Ky.

For the mornay sauce
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1-3/4 cups milk, hot
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Half of 1 beaten egg
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

For the sandwich
8 thick slices white bread, such as shokupan, crusts trimmed, bread toasted and halved
1 pound sliced roast turkey breast
4 tablespoons freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
1 ripe tomato, cored and cut into 8 wedges
8 slices bacon, cooked
Leaves from 8 sprigs fresh parsley, chopped

For the mornay sauce: Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking constantly, until pale golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in milk and cheese. Return pan to heat. Cook sauce, whisking constantly, until thick and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Put egg into a medium bowl and gradually whisk in half the sauce. Add egg mixture to sauce in pan, whisking constantly. Beat cream in a small bowl until soft peaks form, and then fold cream into sauce. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

For the sandwich: Preheat broiler. Heat 4 ovenproof ceramic individual serving dishes or gratin dishes under broiler. Remove dishes from broiler, put 2 pieces of toast in each dish and cover with 1/4 of the turkey. Spoon 1/3 cup of the mornay sauce over turkey. (You will have leftover sauce. It will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 days.)

Sprinkle cheese over sandwiches. Put 2 of the remaining pieces of toast and 2 tomato wedges around each sandwich. Broil sandwiches until sauce is browned, 5 to 6 minutes. Put 2 pieces bacon on each sandwich and garnish each with parsley.

French Toast
Serves 2
This recipe is an adaptation of one calling for stale brioche, from Larousse Gastronomique (Clarkson Potter, 2001). We discovered that rich, buttery, thick-sliced shokupan (Japanese white bread), left out to dry for a day, makes an excellent substitute.

1-1/2 cups milk
6-1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
2 eggs
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons butter
4 slices thick-sliced shokupan (Japanese white bread), left out to dry for 1 day

Put milk and 6 tablespoons of the sugar into a small saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into pan with milk, then add pod to pan. Bring milk mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often. Pour milk mixture into a wide bowl and set aside to let cool, then discard pod. Whisk eggs, salt, and remaining sugar together in another wide bowl and set side.

Melt half the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile, soak 2 of the bread slices in milk mixture, turning them once, for 10 seconds per side, then dip both sides of each bread slice into eggs. Fry soaked bread slices, turning them once, until golden brown on each side, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Repeat process with remaining butter, bread, milk mixture, and eggs.

Serve French toast sprinkled with a little sugar and with maple syrup poured on top, if you like.

Tagliatelle Soufflé
Serves 8 to 10
The recipe for this dish — essentially an airier version of macaroni and cheese — is an adaptation of one from "Pino Luongo's Simply Tuscan" (Doubleday, 2000).

Salt
11 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup flour
4 cups milk, hot
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly ground white pepper
1 cup freshly grated Emmentaler
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
4 egg yolks
12 ounces dry, or 1 pound fresh, tagliatelle or fettuccine
6 egg whites

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°. Grease a deep 4-quart straight-sided baking dish or a heavy pot with 1 tablespoon of the butter, then set aside. 

Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking constantly, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and gradually whisk in milk. Return pan to medium-low heat and cook béchamel, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Add nutmeg and season generously with salt and pepper. Remove pan from heat, whisk in grated cheeses, then set aside to let cool slightly. Add egg yolks to sauce, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Set sauce aside to let cool, stirring often.

Blanch pasta in the boiling water for 1 minute if using fresh pasta, or for 2 minutes if using dry. Put 5 tablespoons of the cooking water into a large bowl. Drain pasta and add to bowl. Add remaining butter and toss well. Add sauce, toss well, and adjust seasonings. Beat egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form, then fold into pasta mixture in two batches. Transfer to prepared dish or pot, evening out surface with a rubber spatula. 

Bake soufflé for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° and continue to bake until puffed and golden, about 10 minutes more. Serve immediately.

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