THE HOME COOK : The Good, the Bad and the Delicious

There are good recipe concepts and bad ones. One of the worst I remember was for Beef Wellington. The beef was first partially cooked (you can never get rid of the twice-cooked taste), coated with a mixture of mushrooms and onions, and finally the whole thing was wrapped up and baked in pastry. I never tasted a Beef Wellington that wasn’t either soggy and overdone or almost raw.

The following recipe for Tuscan Bean and Tuna Salad is an example of a first-rate concept; it also has the advantage of being versatile. You can make this salad into a warming, filling soup by simply decreasing the 6 cups of beans to 4 and adding all the ingredients except the tuna to 8 cups of chicken broth. Let it simmer for 10 minutes, then stir in the tuna and serve. It is also very good with Italian sausage instead of tuna.

The Sticky Orange Cupcakes are nice with a bowl of strawberries or peaches. The one critical step is to amply butter the muffin tins, so the honey and the orange slice in the bottom of the tin are easily removed. This recipe can also be made into a cake layer, but in that case you must line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment and use ample butter. This is also an ideal breakfast muffin . . . Although muffins are technically breads and cupcakes are cake, who cares when it tastes great?

TUSCAN BEAN AND TUNA SALAD

6 cups cannellini beans, cooked (or any white cooked bean)

Salt

Coarsely ground pepper

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 pound cooked tuna, flaked

Few sprigs Italian parsley

Place beans in large serving bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Combine vinegar and olive oil and stir. Pour over beans and toss to mix well. Add basil and chopped Italian parsley and toss to mix. Add onion and tuna and mix. Garnish with sprigs of Italian parsley. Makes 6 servings.

STICKY ORANGE CUPCAKES

2 oranges

1/4 cup honey

2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2/3 cup milk

5 tablespoons butter, melted

Finely grate zest from oranges. With small sharp knife, remove remaining white peel. (If necessary, trim oranges all around so that slices will fit into bottom of muffin tins.)

Cut oranges into about 1/4-inch thick slices, removing any seeds. Spread 1 teaspoon honey in bottom of each well-buttered muffin tin and place 1 orange slice on top. In large mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In another bowl, combine eggs, milk and melted butter. Stir well with fork or whisk. Add flour mixture and stir to mix.

Spoon batter over orange slices, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees 15 to 20 minutes, or until wood pick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and serve warm or cool. Makes 12 cupcakes.