My Name is June. I Like To Cook

The Grinch Who Stole Thanksgiving

2011-11-18T06:24:00.001-05:00

All the Whos down in Whoville loved Thanksgiving a lot...

Thanksgiving doesn't come in a box!

I know that's not the way the story starts, but that line popped into my head the other day while I was perusing the pre-Thanksgiving grocery store ads to see what was going to be on sale and what I would plan on buying. Each ad featured stuffing mix in a box, canned cranberry sauce, and the vile combination of ingredients needed to create that horrible holiday staple known as green bean casserole.

It just made me reflect on how our perception has changed on what constitutes homemade and what we consider good enough to serve on special occasions.

Homemade doesn't mean you prepared it at home. I would hardly consider the frozen ravioli I buy for a quick dinner to be a homemade meal. Home-cooked, okay, I'll grant you that, but there is a difference and if there is a time to make the effort to prepare something extra-special and homemade, it's Thanksgiving. How does a meal from a package show your family that you love and care about them? How does semi-homemade celebrate the harvest and the bounty that our local farmers have bestowed upon us? How does stuffing from a box taste like anything remotely resembling food?

I've heard the arguments from friends who don't like to cook that their families don't care and they *like* the yams from a can and the crunchy onions on top of the green beans. I don't buy it. Their families love them and wouldn't want to complain about their cooking. Plus, they may not know any better, having never been exposed to a real homemade Thanksgiving meal.

So, if I were the Grinch, I'd creep in and steal all the food from a box. But, I'd leave behind some fresh vegetables and a loaf of stale bread with which to make stuffing!

So, let me just throw this out there: this Thanksgiving, replace just one dish with a better, homemade version and see how it goes. Just one. Tomorrow, I'll even give you a timetable for preparing a whole homemade feast. You can take whatever parts of it you like. In the meantime, here's my post from a couple of years ago about how to cook a turkey.

My amazing daughter

2011-11-11T07:26:00.001-05:00

In a non-cooking related post, last night I attended my daughter's high school play performance. It was called "What I want to say, but never will" a play written by a high school English teacher. He posed three questions to teenagers:

1. What do you want to say, but never will
2. Who do you want to say it to?
3. Why won't you say it?

The monologues presented by the students were funny, sad, disturbing. It was really more than just a play about teenage angst and the typical topics of sex, abuse, suicide, and peer relations, although it touched on all of those subjects. I think the deeper context was about how we, as the adults in teenagers lives, need to really listen to them. I was struck by how many of the monologues were directed at parents who seemingly wouldn't listen or wouldn't understand; I think that perhaps that is only the writers' perceptions, but we as parents need to do a better job of making sure that our kids know they really can talk to us about anything. Of course, I think the way to do that is to really listen to them to begin with, and not just tell them, "You can tell me anything". That actually rings kind of hollow and false.

It was a great play. I'll be back again tonight to see it again. The play was interspersed with musical numbers, the kids really are very talented. Here is my Hannah's musical performance. It was amazing.

What's Not for Dinner

2011-10-30T07:37:00.001-04:00

I've been pretty ill this past week. I'd rather not go into the grim details, but I'm hopefully on the mend now. My family will be so glad to have me back. You see, there was no dinner for three nights straight last week. Unless you count leftovers, and apparently, my husband does not.

After listening to his grumbling about not having a decent meal all week, I promised him I would cook him a nice meal last night. The kids were both going out to parties, so I took the opportunity to make something they both hate: Butternut squash risotto. In my opinion, there is nothing more fabulous than any kind of creamy risotto. It is a meal in itself. It doesn't need anything else to go with it. So imagine my consternation when Dear Hubby started complaining about there being no meat. No Meat? Who needs meat when you you have sweet winter squash and sage and cheese and rice? I mean, really. I placated the man by throwing some chicken sausage with asiago and red pepper on the grill. I ended up having pizza at the party where my son was going, but after several days of not eating, it tasted really good. And I did have a bite of risotto. It was fabulous.

Notes on the recipe: I used a kabocha squash instead of a butternut. You can use a delicata or acorn, or whatever winter squash you happen to have around. I baked the squash in the oven for about an hour and it was so soft I was able to just stir it into the risotto instead of dirtying up the Cuisinart to puree it first.

Today, I'm going to roast a chicken for him. That should make him happy.

2011-10-23T08:04:00.000-04:00

Apple Picking with Teenagers

It is a sad and wonderful thing to see your kids grow up.
When they are little it seems like they will be with you forever. But somewhere around the age of twelve or thirteen, you start to realize that this person you created, this child you carried and nurtured and hugged and fed and laughed with is soon going to leave you. It is exciting to think about all the possibilities that await them, but you realize that it also means they must move forward. And they can't or won't always take you with them. So you start to try to hold on just a little bit more, and you try to find more reasons to get them to spend time with you.

I know whereof I speak. I've already done this. Twice. Two of my four kids are on their own. My oldest is expecting my first grandchild. (More on that in a different post!) My second oldest is still in college, but doesn't come home very much. He is a Marine reservist and that keeps him busy. I see him maybe once a month. I miss him.

So while I still have two kids left at home, I try to hold onto those times when we do things together, when we can laugh and talk and just enjoy being together. And of course with teenagers, that's not always easy to do. They have lives you know. Or they don't want to go with you. It can be hard to carve out that time at home when there is always so much to be done, so I try to make them go places with me. The problem is, they don't always want to go.

Take yesterday, for example. Hannah and I wanted to go apple picking. Dad had a music rehearsal and couldn't go, but I told Alex to be ready to go at 3pm. "What?", he asked, looking stricken. "Why do I have to go? I hate apple picking."

His sister looked at him incredulously. "How can you hate apple picking?", she said. "What is there to hate?'

"It's stupid", he said, repeatedly pushing the video game controller button.

"Well," I said, "You're going. So get up, get your shoes and get in the car."

One of the things I have learned from all these years of parenting is that a sullen teenager can ruin your day without even doing anything. So when Alex put on his teenagerish attitude, I knew I had to strike preemptively.

"Alex, you know you're my baby and I've had three other teenagers to practice on, so I'm going remind you that I didn't put up with this stuff from them, and I'm certainly not going to put up with it from you. You can change you attitude and decide to have a good time or I'll torture you when we get home."

He looked at me and smiled. "Torture me?? Wow, Mom, you're so loving and kind."

Now the thing is, he knew that what I meant by torture was that I wouldn't leave him in peace to play video games. No, instead he knew I would find plenty of chores for him to do and vegetables for him to have for dinner. Well, he was getting the vegetables either way.

So off we went to the apple orchard. And yes, we had a great time. The funniest moment of the day? When Hannah picked an apple, held it up and said, "Look, it's like a tiny planet you can hold in your hand. A planet that's on fire."

Here's some photos of our day.

Hannah and Alex frolicking

Wagon ride up to the orchard

Hannah walking into picture frame just as I was shooting

Alex being a goof

OH, what now?

2011-10-18T08:11:00.001-04:00

I might be having trouble deciding what is blog worthy, now that I have decided to not limit myself to blogging about food.

So here are random thoughts.

Having a cleaning lady come once a month makes life worth living.

I'm not terribly crafty, but I have a bit of an obsession with scrapbooking. I think that makes me officially a middle-aged cliche. I don't care. I have fun.

I actually had a recent comment on a really old post. It is actually one of my favorites, because I still run into people all the time who love this company's products. And I just. don't. get. it. You can read the post here

I love the Pioneer Woman. She rocks.

I will never be a successful food blogger. Why? Because I take crappy photos if I take them at all. The food blogs I read have absolutely gorgeous photos. And I have a crappy camera.

I would like to go to one of those Blog Her conventions, though. I read there's lots of free swag. I love free swag.

I am going to be a grandmother! Even though I am only 35. I can't wait! I'll probably have to start making my own organic baby food for my granddaughter. It'll be so worth it.

And, because almost every blog I read has photos, here's a random one:

This is my two boys at family day for my older boy's reserve unit right before they went to Africa for the summer. They let the kids ride in their LAVs, and Alex was the first one. Yes, I scrapbooked this photo, Because I am a cliche.

What now?

2011-10-15T07:38:00.001-04:00

So now that I've decided to blog again.....all of a sudden I can't decide what to write about.

What's going on in my kitchen?

Not too much these days. The whole working thing has limited my time so much I find myself not planning anything for dinner and then having to come up with something on the fly. It actually got so bad the week before last that I spent a good deal of last weekend cooking ahead so that we wouldn't have to eat yucky food for dinner this past week. It actually worked pretty well.

This time of year I am inundated by squash and cabbage. I decided to make Deb's Butternut squash soup, which is really easy, really tasty, and the kids really like it. Plus, it freezes well. I posted the recipe on here before, but I'm too lazy to search for it and link to it. Do it yourself, if you're interested.

I also made a curried rice with cabbage and bacon from Bon Appetit. It was really simple and quite tasty. It made great lunches for Steve, and Hannah liked it too. I think Alex might have wept if I'd tried to make him eat it, although I do love torturing the boy with vegetables. Why is it that young boys don't like vegetables? Actually, that's not really true, there are quite a few he likes, but just not the variety that the rest of us like. And he is better than his brother; I don't think anything green passed that boy's lips from the time he was six until he was sixteen. And now he'll eat anything. Anything. And he does. A lot. But he's a Marine, so he's allowed.

Another great do-ahead I made was wontons. Wonton soup is one of my favorites and wontons are really pretty simple to make and they freeze wonderfully. Of course I also had some chicken parts in the freezer so I made chicken stock, too, so now I am all set for an easy, really satisfying dinner.

Here's all you do to make wontons:

Mix 1 lb ground pork with 1/4 C chopped scallions, 1 tsp sesame oil, and 1 T minced or grated fresh ginger. (No! You may not use ground ginger! Unless you live in Brazil and have no access to fresh ginger. In which case, you probably can't get wonton wrappers, either, so you're screwed.) Put 1 tsp ground pork mixture in each wonton wrapper, moisten the edges and fold over into a triangle. Cook for about 5 minutes in boiling water, then remove to a soup bowl. Cover with hot soup stock and drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil. You can also boil some sliced cabbage with the soup stock, if you like.

Wontons can also be deep-fried and served with a plum sauce. Freeze wontons in a single layer on a cookie sheet and then store in a Ziploc bag after they are frozen. Defrost before cooking.

Wontons are one of the most popular appetizers I have ever served. People swoon over them. I'll save the story of the "hamtons" for next time!

Another Try

2011-10-13T05:46:00.000-04:00

It has been exactly a year since I've written a post for this blog.

Why did I stop? (again)

Several reasons.

I just don't seem to have time.

It is really hard to come up with new things to talk about every day.

My shtick was getting old.

So, what's changed, why post after all this time?

Well, nothings really changed.

I have even less time, because I have two jobs and a family. And one of my jobs takes a whole bunch of my time, but is so much fun. I have really thrown myself into my work to an extent I haven't ever done before. It is fabulous.

It will probably still be hard to find things to write about every day. Or two or three times a week. But I'm going to do it, at least for a little while!

I may not write just about cooking anymore. And I am not going to look for things to make fun of in other people's cooking. I will still be right about all things culinary, but I may not pronounce it with such gusto.

So, why decide to go back to blogging?

Welllll, for a couple of reasons.

I have found it getting more difficult to write for my job. Writing for my job was actually easier when I was blogging on a regular basis. Exercising those muscles and all of that.

I miss the interaction with people who leave comments, both good and bad. But of course I hate those filthy spammer comments. So pardon me for still moderating comments. I promise I will approve everything except spam, so please leave some comments!

Thanks for reading and for your encouragement. I promise not to suck as much tomorrow.

Sauerkraut

2010-10-14T07:54:00.000-04:00

Western NY is the country's largest producer of cabbage. Oh boy, you say, rather flatly, I love cabbage. Um. I think.

Cabbage is not a terribly exciting vegetable, I'll admit. I'm not a big fan of cabbage rolls, cabbage is not my favorite reason to eat corned beef, but I do like coleslaw. And sauerkraut.

I know what you're thinking: "But June, sauerkraut is gross. It is slimy and mushy and you always say we shouldn't eat canned vegetable."

Guess what? You're right. Sauerkraut is slimy and mushy and you shouldn't eat canned vegetables. But I'm not talking about sauerkraut from a can. I'm talking about homemade sauerkraut.

Homemade tastes nothing like the pucker-your-mouth in disgust stuff that comes out of a can. And guess what? It is pretty easy to make.

You may recall that I ordered a ridiculously small crock to use for pickles. Yeah, that didn't work out, but I made pickles anyway. The crock, however, is the perfect size to use for a small batch of sauerkraut.

So, the first thing you do is slice the cabbage. I used the slice disk on the cuisinart, the shredding disk would make it too small. I used a really small cabbage, probably only about two pounds. After slicing, I put it into a glass (non-reactive, get it?) bowl and sprinkled it with pickling salt, (about 2 T) juniper berries (1 Tsp) and caraway seeds (1 tsp). I mixed it with my very clean hands (or you could wear gloves). Then the fun begins.

You have to pack the sauerkraut into the crock really tightly, a little at a time. I used a potato masher to tamp it down. At first, it seems you may not get it all in, but keep going. You can pack a lot of cabbage if you take out all of your aggression on it! Once it is packed tightly, you need to weigh it down a bit. Most recipes tell you to put a plate and a heavy weight, and you can do that, but I used a piece of wax paper and a ziploc bag full of water.

After a couple of days, take the weight off of it and skim the top of any gross looking scum. Do this every two or three days, making sure the cabbage stays submerged in the brine. After about four weeks, put it in the fridge. It will keep for a long time. It will have a nice mellow flavor.

Make a reuben. Or choucroute. Or a hot dog. I don't care, just try it.

Excuse the background mess in the last picture. I just got done packing school lunches and making smoothies for breakfast with the giant drink mixer. You can also see the cool meat slicer in the background. I bought a hunk of ham on sale and sliced it for sandwiches myself, cause I am just that awesome.

Wine and Whine

2010-10-10T09:57:00.000-04:00

Last night I hosted Wine and Whine. It seems we haven't been able to have as many of our Women Who Wine (and Whine) get togethers as we used to, so I was really looking forward to it. I wasn't disappointed.

And I should have taken a picture to post. I am really bad at photography and I know I should work on improving it, because it seems pretty important in the food blog world, but generally, I find it a pain. And we all know by now that if I find it a pain, I'm generally going to skip it.

So there are no photos, but there was lots of fun and good food.

Here are the rules of the wine and whine (ok, they're not really rules so much as just the way things evolved): one of our group of ladies picks a date and tries to get everyone else to clear their calendars. Everyone brings food and wine. It's a collaboration. When Laura can make it, it is a great opportunity for a certain blogger to make fun of her offerings. Like the time she brought Cheese Doodles wrapped in bologna. Which the kids actually really liked. And the time she brought an award winning spam-ball pate frosted in cream cheese. (One of the most vile things I have ever tried. And believe me, I only tried it so I could make fun of it.)

Last night, we were not blessed with Laura's presence, she felt like she just had to have dinner with her parents who were in from out of town. I hope next time she gets her priorities straight, though. A few others had to do annoying things like work or spend their one free night a week with their families. But my hard-core women were here: Priscilla, Jan, and Deb. We had a fabulous time.

I hadn't made too much of a plan because these gatherings are intended to be low-stress, casual, and no pressure. Also, because I wanted to see what looked good at the Public Market in the morning. I found last of the season green tomatoes and 3 for a $1 butternut squash. I grabbed both.

I made a Butte tsrmilk Ranch Cayenne dressing that really complemented the fried green tomatoes well. It was really easy.

Buttermilk Cayenne Ranch

1 1/4 C mayo
1 C Buttermilk
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/4 C snipped chives
1tsp salt
2 tsp cayenne
1/4 c grated parmesan

Mix everything together. Chill. ( I like to use my immersion blender to make this.)

Speaking of immersion blenders, Deb thought she was ordering one, but instead she ordered this Hamilton Beach Commercial Drink mixer.

It is FANTASTIC!!!!
Deb decided it was too big for her kitchen and bestowed it upon me! Hannah came home and saw it and shrieked with delight. She actually jumped up and down. This morning, I popped a carton of plain greek yogurt, some frozen blackberries from Priscilla's bush, honey, and pomegranate juice into the metal cup and whirred it all up. The only thing I can say is "amazing". With no effort on my part, no pulsing, no stopping to stir, nothing, it powerfully blended everything until it was perfectly smooth. And delicious. I may have a smoothie obsession starting. Or a margarita one.

Jan made delicious salsa and guacamole. Prissie made a fantastic fig and mesclun salad with a port wine reduction vinaigrette. Jan also made really tasty, yummy cherry tomatoes stuffed with bacon, mayo, and green onion. I used to make these a lot, they are the perfect little bite of salty bacon, creamy mayo, sweet tomato, and a little kick from the green onion. Just hollow out the tomatoes with a melon baller or spoon and stuff with the bacon mixture, just enough mayo to hold it together.

Wine night was great, next time, maybe Laura will show up with Cheez Whiz and saltines again, can't wait.

Another upcomnig review and Eggplant

2010-10-06T20:56:00.003-04:00

It's official. I'm selling out. I am going to accept more free stuff to review. Okay, I don't really consider it selling out because I'm only reviewing stuff I probably would have bought anyway, from places I probably would have bought it. Places like CSN stores. CSN has over 200 stores with everything from dining sets to cookware, clothes, shoes, you name it, they've got it. So, I'll be ordering this egg cooker and I'll see what I think.

In the meantime, I need to tell you about what I've been cooking and also rant a bit. First, the rant: if you happen to want to raise some money, and you happen to put on a fundraising dinner, try to at least make the food taste good and don't even think about making people pay good money for food from a box. If you have a really good main course, don't ruin it by taking shortcuts on the sides. I'll support you, but next time, I might just give you a donation and tell you to keep your bad food. Life is too short to eat bad food. And calories are too precious to put bad tasting ones in your mouth! "Nuff said? I think so, consider yourself warned.

The end of the harvest is here and several of my friends have dumped unwanted produce on me, assuming (correctly) that I can turn their would-be compost into a feast! And I have!

My dear friend, Deb, brought two enormous eggplant and a plethora of hot peppers my way. She crinkled her nose at the eggplant she had received in her weekly CSA allotment and resigned herself to the fact that she had no time to figure out what to do with all of the peppers. Well, I did have time. In fact, I kinda stole an idea from her, although I changed it up a bit. Deb takes those cute little multi-colored sweet peppers, whacks the top off of them, stuffs hot Italian sausage into them and then grills them. They are quite tasty. She may be a little mad when she realizes that she could have done an equally easy and tasty recipe with the yellow Italian frying peppers she gave me. I cut them in half down the middle, stuffed them with chicken and wine sausage mixed with Parmesan and breadcrumbs and then drizzled them with olive oil and stuck 'em in the oven. Mighty tasty.

The eggplant ended up as stir fried Chili Garlic Eggplant. You know, a little bit Chinese-y. First, cut up the eggplant into cubes, salt it lightly and set it to drain over the sink or a bowl for a good 30 minutes. Then, squeeze out all of the liquid you can from it. Next, heat a couple tablespoons of oil in the wok (wait, I can't believe I just said that: heat the wok until it smokes, then add the oil, geez, I must be losing my touch) anyway, then add a couple of tablespoons of chopped ginger. Stir once, add the eggplant. Cook, stirring for about five minutes, or until the eggplant is cooked through. Add about a tablespoon of chili garlic sauce from the Chinese section of the store. Be careful, it is really hot. You can always add more when the dish is done, but you can't take any away. Add a half cup or so of soy sauce and 2 T of sugar. Cook for a couple of minutes, until the sauce reduces. Stir in a handful of chopped green onions and serve with sticky rice.

Note: you might want to use Tamari, because regular soy sauce can make the dish really salty if you use too much; you can also thicken the sauce with a little cornstarch mixed with water, if you like your sauces the way they are in your take-out Chinese. But guess what? Chinese people don't really do that very much.

Brazillian Mango

2010-10-01T20:16:00.000-04:00

No, it is not a hairless mango. Mangoes don't have hair to begin with and certainly would never undergo such a ridiculous and painful procedure.

Today, at the Chinese food store, I spotted a sign that said "Brazilian Mango". They were hard and green, but I had to buy one, because my loyal reader, The Reader (I do know her name, but she kinda went cuckoo over the whole online privacy thing, so I'll respect her wishes and not use her name!), is an expat living in Brazil. She is always going on and on about the fruit there. So of course, I have to try it. I'm going to wait until it is soft, even if it doesn't change color (which it might, you never know). I'll let you know if is good or not. I haven't ever had a mango as good as an atulfo or champagne mango, but we'll see. Champagne mangoes are smaller than regular supermarket ones and yellow instead of red/green. My kids will eat boxes of them. I love it when I find a healthful food of which they can't get enough. I'll buy a big box of them, even if it $20. At Weggies, they cost around $3 a piece, when they have them, but at the Chinese store they average $1.50 a piece.

Update on the SNAP challenge, wherein I attempt to feed my family for $18 for one day, for all three meals: it is not going well. Yes, I suppose I could trot out some oatmeal for breakfast (kids hate it) and serve canned spaghetti sauce and pasta for dinner with no meat and canned green beans for dinner, but I am trying to do something better than that. I am still planning. Imagine if that was all you or I ever had to spend on food. Which I guess is the point of the challenge. We need to support our local food pantries because they supplement the diets of people in need above and beyond what food stamps provides. Believe me, I don't think anyone is living high off the hog on food stamps. I think they are scraping by and I think the fresh vegetables and good quality protein the food pantry provides are crucial to the families' well being. So, I'm still thinking and I have a half written blog post about it. I figure I'll take a regular day and cost it out item b y item and compare it with my SNAP challenge day. But tell me, how am I supposed to get through a day without using extra virgin olive oil or or real butter? I'll tell you, it ain't gonna happen.

Savor Rochester and Hunger Challenge

2010-09-27T19:46:00.001-04:00

Blogging is a kind of a small world. You read a blog, you follow a blog, they read your blog, you read some of the blogs they follow, it gets very circuitous. Another Suburban Mom reposted something from Amid Life’s Crisis (which I don’t follow, but have read) about Hunger in America. This was kind of an interesting coincidence, because just the night before she posted this, I attended a fundraiser for Foodlink, our local food bank provider. It was fun and delicious (for the most part, with a few notable exceptions) and it supported this vital service to the poor in our community. I took Alex and he was the only kid there, but boy, was it his kind of event.

He is willing to try just about anything because I have forced him from a young age to eat a bite of everything on his plate. He has learned that even though he may think it sounds bad or that he won’t like it, often he is surprised and finds that he enjoys it.

Now, mind you, I am not being self-righteous and smug about my kids not being picky eaters. Alex still manages to be fairly picky, the difference is, I just don’t care. You don’t like spinach you say? Oh well, eat it anyway. Because. I. said. So.

And Alex’s big brother the Marine Foodie was perhaps the pickiest child eater ever to live on the face of the earth. When enforcing my “take a bite of everything” rule one Christmas Eve dinnerwhen he was four, Marine Foodie promptly threw it back up. His father told me to not ever force him to eat anything, ever, again. I think he ate only ten foods for his entire childhood. He came around, though, sometime between his fifteenth and seventeenth birthdays. Now he’ll eat anything. And loves it. (Of course, being in Iraq camping out in the desert eating only mre’s will do that for you, too.)

So I determined with my subsequent children to go back to enforcing my rules. And this has turned planning dinner from “What can I make that picky eater will eat?” to “What new recipe should I try tonight?”

Which brings me back around to the Savor Rochester Fundraiser. There was a lot of good food. The tuna tartare tacos with sriracha, guacamole, micro greens, and caviar from One were amazing. The best thing there. Alex tried it, but didn't really care for it.

There was also a lot of pulled pork. (Which Alex DID like!) Yes, barbeque is very popular now and there are so many good places to get it, and pulled pork is easy to keep hot and serve over a three hour time period, but it takes no imagination whatsoever.

A vegan restaurant (yes, I know, what possessed me to sample the vegan food? Well, Alex stepped up to their booth and I followed. I didn’t want to be rude, so I tried it) offered butternut squash risotto. I love butternut squash risotto. Butternut squash risotto is one of the best comfort foods in the world. Unless you make it with minute rice and no cheese. Yes, that’s right, I said minute rice. This café (it shall remain nameless) concocted something they purported to be risotto with what had to be minute rice. It stuck together. It was not creamy. It was mushy. I couldn’t even taste the butternut squash. It was one of the most awful things I have ever tasted. Now, if I were going to try to make a vegan version of it, I would simply substitute vegetable broth for the chicken stock. I don’t know what I would do about the Parmesan cheese, I suppose you could leave it out and add more salt. I don’t know, but I would not use minute rice. Period.

Which brings me back around to the Hunger in America issue.

I am a food snob. I know this, you know this. My monthly food budget for four people is around $1200 a month. Or about $40 a day. This is over twice as much as a family of four receives on food stamps. And $40 a day for four people still doesn’t seem like a lot to me.

Some agency in the Midwest has issued this challenge: feed your family on $4.50 per person per day for a week.

The SNAP Hunger Challenge Rules

Spend no more than $4.50 per day in total, per person, for all meals including beverages.
Don't use food already on hand unless you deduct the value from your weekly amount. Salt and pepper don't count, but all other seasonings, cooking oils, condiments, snacks and drinks do.
Don't accept food from family, friends, coworkers and others.
Try to include fresh produce and healthy protein each day.
Keep track of expenses, food choices, etc. and share your experiences on your blog

There is no way I can do it for a week. But I’ll try to do it for a day. I’ll start the day right off the top with $1.25 in the hole from a pot of Starbucks French Roast. I will. Not. Start. My. Day. Without. My coffee. And Folgers doesn’t count as coffee, it counts as brown, tasteless water.

I don’t know what I’ll cook, but I’ll let you know.

I know it will not be some of the menus that I browsed on frugal living and couponing blogs recently. Maybe you can’t do it for any length of time without relying heavily on cheap, processed foods, but I am determined to make a reasonable menu that my family will like (for the most part). I’m thinking I’ll try to do it after I shop this week so that I can keep track of what everything costs. Wish me luck, I’m going to need it.

Piergoies-channeling my inner Pole

2010-09-23T06:51:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I happened to catch a few minutes of Diners, Driveins, and Dives on Food Network. I don't watch much Food Network anymore, since it turned into Food Competition Network, but I was surfing and Triple D was on at the time. I like the show a bit, it features a spiky-haired guy traveling around and eating food from some of the country's best down- to- earth eateries. They all feature homemade everything. None of them rely on frozen, pre-packaged, anything, in other words, the kind of restaurant at which you'd actually want to eat.

Can you guess I don't like chain restaurants much? I don't really see why I should pay money to have someone heat up frozen, pre-packaged food for me. If I want that, I can do it myself. If I go out to eat, I want something I wouldn't make at home, or something that someone makes better than I do. (Is there such a thing?)

On this particular episode, the spiky blond guy was visiting an Eastern European place in Minnesota. I am not a huge fan of Eastern European food, it seems pretty bland to me, and not terribly interesting. But they showed the restaurant's homemade vareneky, or pierogies. They looked amazing. Nothing like the crap that comes out of a box. Since Rochester seems to lack a Ukranian/Polish restaurant, and since my Russian sister-in-law's pierogy is more like a cabbage filled bread than a savory dumpling, I decided to make my own. I couldn't find any recipes for the one's they make at the place in Minnesota, so I settled for finding a few different recipes and turning it into something approximating what I saw on the show. I don't know how it compared for taste, but mine were excellent. And not really terribly hard to make. One batch was enough for four of us for dinner, with no leftovers, and only a little fighting over the last two.

June's Pierogies

For the filling, I used leftover mashed potatoes and mixed in some sauteed onions and grated cheddar cheese. That's it. Pretty darned simple, huh?

Dough
3 C Flour
1/2 C Sour Cream
1/2 C softened butter
1 Egg

Mix all ingredients with a dough hook in a stand mixer, or kill yourself and mix by hand, I don't really care. I know which one I'll be doing. Roll out until 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 3 in circles, fill with 1 T filling (you want them pretty full, you should just barely be able to close them.) Seal by pinching together. Boil a few at a time in salted water until they float.

After you have cooked them all, put some butter in a saute pan and add at least one sliced onion. If you really like onion, add two. Saute it gently until browned and caramelized. Remove the onion and add more butter. add the pierogies a few at a time and lightly brown on both sides. Serve immediately with the onions and a side of sour cream mixed with horseradish.

30 day Menu

2010-09-12T20:19:00.000-04:00

A turkey-cooking challenged friend of mine(who overcame her difficulties with about 30 minutes of phone coaching by yours truly) recently begged all of her friends to send her their 30 day menu plans. I was horrified. Not because I am against being hyper-organized, but because I have read some of those thirty day menus. They tend to rely heavily on the crock pot and prepared or convenience foods, e.g. dump some packaged baby carrots over a piece of chuck roast, top with a package of onion soup mix and cook on low for 10 hours. Can you say "yuck"?

These menus also deprive you of taking advantage of that lovely piece of produce that you run across at the farmer's market or even at the grocery.

I think a better strategy to getting dinner on the table is to keep a well-stocked pantry and some key ingredients which you can use to get some dinner on the table without too much fuss.

Like tonight, I made an awesome Chinese meal without going to the store for one thing. In my freezer I had ground pork and dumpling wrappers. In my fridge, I had eggplant, ginger, green onion, leeks, chili garlic sauce. In my pantry, I had rice noodles, Korean beef stock, dried shiitakes, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar and garlic.

I made:
pan fried pork and scallion dumplings
Leek and shiitake soup with rice noodles
stir fried eggplant with chili garlic sauce.

I didn't have a plan before this morning. While drinking my coffee I think about what I have, what I want, and how much time I have that day. Does dinner ever get away from me? Yes. Do I find myself at 5:00pm wondering what I am going to make? Yes. But, I can usually get something on the table by 7 without too much fuss.

I'm sorry I don't have time to post the recipes tonight. I will try to get back to it and add them later. Kisses.

New school year - 5 easy school lunches

2010-09-09T07:36:00.001-04:00

Things are starting to slow down a bit, fresh produce frenzy-wise. Not that we aren't still inundated, but we are beginning to be sated, a bit. The sweet pickles turned out great, even without a pickle crock. The main thing is to use a non-reactive container, i.e. glass or ceramic. Since I lacked a large enough crock, I used my largest glass bowl. the shape is not ideal for submerging all the cukes in the brine, so I placed a pie plate on top and weighted it down with a gallon jug of olive oil. Three days later I had sweet pickles. Some will make their way into school lunches....

Today was our first day back. Back to our routines, back to shuttling kids, back to more structured cooking.

Structured cooking? What is that?

Well, instead of throwing something on the grill shortly before dinner, I have to actually think and plan. the kids must get to bed and so dinner at 8:30 is no longer an option. I need to have a plan no later than noon. Earlier in the day is better even than that.

And school lunches. I have been making them now for twenty one years. Sigh. We all know packing school lunches is the bane of our existences.

So I probably don't have any suggestions for you that you haven't read a million times already, but I do have some thoughts

Here are my top five tips:

Use different kinds of bread. There is nothing more tiresome than opening a lunch box to the same thing. Every. Day. You would get tired of it, wouldn't you? That ham and cheese you packed yesterday can be completely transformed by turning it into a wrap. Same fillings, whole new lunch.
Don't get stuck in a sandwich rut. Anything that can be eaten cold is good: think picnic food.
Stock up on small containers, small size blue ice packs, and multiple sizes of ziploc bags.
Try to cut veggies into packable sizes once a week. Then store in ziploc bags with a damp paper towel. Figure out what vegetable your kids like enough to eat cold: my boy likes broccoli and carrots and not much else.
And my new obsession: bento. What is a bento? Well, it means "lunch" in Japanese. A bento typically consists of a rice ball, some type of protein, and veggies. A very healthful lunch, indeed. The components are packed tightly into a small container and artfully arranged. I have started to stock up on bento boxes and accessories, but these are not necessary. A small square sandwich container from the grocery store works just fine. The first bentos I made had homemade sushi (it's not as hard as you think, I'll talk about it some other time), diced peaches, Japanese pickles, and mini carrot pineapple muffins. I didn't take any pictures, sorry. The kids (and hubby) went nuts over them. Other varieties have been less popular, but some others have also been big hits. Leftovers are great for bentos; tuck some leftover chicken on top of some rice and surround by some veggies. Include a packet of soy sauce from your last takeout Chinese food. I keep threatening to pack them some crazy bentos in their lunch boxes.They insist other kids will make fun of them. I ask them why they would care what other people think. Haven't I set a good enough example when it comes to this? Nonetheless, it is fun to torture them. I will take pictures of some of my bentos and post them as I do them.

Here are my "recipes" for out of the ordinary lunchbox entrees. Hey, if they'll eat it, I'll make it.

Peanut butter wrap

Spread a flour tortilla with peanut butter. Sprinkle lightly with Honey Bunches of Oats cereal and drizzle very lightly with honey. Roll up.

Baba Ghanoush with pita
Roast an eggplant in the oven for about an hour, until tender. Let cool. Peel, and toss the flesh into the processor, along with 1/2 c tahini, 1/4 c lemon juice, salt, 3 cloves of garlic, and a dash of cayenne. Serve with pita.

Veggie Wrap
Spread a pita, tortilla, or softened lavash cracker with mayo. Lay two pieces of a quartered pickle, four tomato quarters, three or four broccoli florets, and lettuce or sprouts down the center. Roll up. (My husband can't stand these. He calls them "broccoli sandwiches" I love them, but then I'm a girl. Girls like vegetables.

Cobb Salad
Line a small container with chopped lettuce. Arrange on top: diced tomatoes, crumbled bacon, diced hard cooked egg, avocado, and diced cooked chicken. Pack a separate container with blue cheese dressing

Guacamole
Pack celery and carrot stick and tortilla chips with a container of guacamole. Sprinkle the top with a little lemon juice to keep it from browning.

There, now that was pretty easy, wasn't it? See, even you could do it.

Review of what was supposed to be my new pickle crock

2010-09-04T08:23:00.001-04:00

It is really my own fault. I didn't read the description carefully enough, or I would have realized that the ceramic Emile Henry crock with the wooden lid I was ordering was too small. I really just looked at the picture and placed my order. After all, for almost $50 one could reasonably expect a pretty big crock, right? Wrong. For nearly $50 I received a 1.5 quart ceramic crock with a wooden lid. Don't get me wrong, it is a really nice crock; the lid has a rubber seal and fits really tightly and I love the shape and color. I just thought I would be getting more of it!

I need a pickle crock because I plan on making sweet pickles. And Priscilla has one and I don't, therefore, I must have one. I guess I'll have to go borrow hers. I think I'll use mine for making brandied peaches or maybe super small batch of refrigerator bread and butter pickles. Now those are fantastic. And really easy, too.

48 Hour Bread and Butter Pickles

3Cups vinegar
3 cups sugar
1/2 Cup uniodized salt
1 large onion, sliced
1 T mustard seed
1 tsp tumeric
pickling cukes

Layer onion and cukes in a 1 gallon glass jar (or several smaller ones), mix rest of ingredients and pour over. Ready to eat in 48 hours Keeps in refrigerator for 1 year.

I serve these as a side with sandwiches all the time. Guests have been amazed by them. They are unexpectedly good and no one makes bread and butter pickles anymore. Plus the ones from the grocery store are disgusting, which is why most people say they don't like bread and butter pickles. If you just go ahead and take my advice and make them, you'll be so surprised by how good they are you'll want to come to my house to thank me personally. Feel free to.

For my sweet pickles I use the recipe in the Ball Blue Book of Canning. Go buy it, it's like six bucks on Amazon. It has lots of good info for anyone new to canning. The sweet pickles will be ready in five days. Leave a comment for a chance to win a jar. If you live outside of Rochester, I'll mail them to you. I'll count the comments and enter them number into random.org and let it pick. Comment by next Friday.

Tomatillos-not tomatoes at all

2010-08-30T08:43:00.000-04:00

Today's great find at the farmstand was tomatillos.

Tomatillos (pronounced toe-ma-tee-yos) are not green tomatoes. They are related to the Cape Gooseberry (whatever the hell that is) and are a staple of Mexican cooking. Ever eat green salsa? Yup, tomatillos.

I like to use them for a really nice Chili Verde. (Green Chili for all of you Spanish illiterates) I do not make it like Grandma Foodie. Hers is good, really good, and not that mine is better, but (okay it's better).

Chili Verde

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
I Poblano, Anaheim, or Hatch chili, roasted, seeded, and chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/2 C Water
6-9 tomatillos, husks removed, roughly chopped

Saute the garlic and onion in 1 T olive oil until translucent. Add chilies and tomatillos and cooks until tomatillos soften, about 8 minutes. Transfer to food processor. Add water and puree until smooth, but a little on the chunky side, add cilantro and pulse a few times. Season to taste.

Now, you have two choices: you can add this sauce on top of a pork butt or shoulder and a couple of potatoes in the crock pot and cook it together for about 8 hours. Or:

You can cook a pork butt or shoulder on top of the stove (cover with water and simmer until tender, about 2-3 hours. Add a couple of potatoes the last thirty minutes. Drain, shred the pork, add the tomatillo sauce and heat through. Serve with flour tortillas.

Normally, I don't approve of cooking much of anything in the crock pot. But the one thing I will cook in there is tough pieces of meat that need to cook for a long time. That's it, though. don't let me catch you making some horrid casserole or chicken, or God knows what in it. Crock-pots are for losers

Salsa-On the Grill!

2010-08-26T18:34:00.000-04:00

My head is spinning with all the veggies available at the Farmer's markets and farm stands right now. I am doing my best to incorporate it all into my daily dinner plans, as well as putting some of it away for winter.

Hannah and Alex have been asking me to make burritos for dinner. Nothing special, just some average beans, rice, guacamole, lettuce, etc. Last night I ~~got tired of the begging~~ finally got around to it. I had some leftover baby back ribs in the fridge and while this is far from traditional, I took the meat off the bones and used the meat in the burritos. We let everyone make their own, so I set out dishes of the aforementioned guac, lettuce, rice, cheese, beans (Oh, BTW, Grandma Foodie has the best way to make quick beans for Mexican dinner: Take 1 can of pinto beans, undrained and one can of refried beans. Mix together and add a ton of chopped garlic and an insane amount of black pepper. Heat on top of the stove, or put into a casserole dish, top with cheddar cheese and heat in the oven until hot and the cheese is melted.)

And I also put out a big bowl of just made salsa that I grilled. Yes, I grilled it.

Does that make no sense to you?

You just haven't lived yet, then., because the grill is the perfect place to prep the ingredients for your homemade salsa. Char everything, then whir it all together in the food processor. Eat it immediately, because it is actually best hot. Yes, hot. The flavors of the chilies and tomatoes really stand out just as it's made. Fry up some tortilla chips (yes, I said fry some tortilla chips; you really wouldn't want to use chips from a bag. They're just so, so, bleah! Not as good as ones made from stale corn tortillas.

I had just returned from the farmer's market, having bought way more tomatoes than I could really use, (if there is such a thing) and as I was putting them away, I had a revalation: make salsa to go with the burritos.
My salsa on the grill can be made quickly and easily and it is hands down the best homemade salsa I have ever eaten (not to toot my own horn; okay, I'll toot my own horn). You simply must try it. No arguments. I don't want to hear your whining. Just do it now. While the tomatoes and chilies are still ripe and before you need a parka to stand outside and use the grill. (BTW, you can make this salsa with supermarket roma tomatoes in the broiler during the winter. I'll let you.)

Salsa on the grill
2 jalapenos
4 cloves garlic
1 onion, halved
6-8 tomatoes, halved
1 bunch cilantro
juice of one lime
salt and pepper

Heat the grill to medium. I like to use one of those grill pans to do the tomatoes and garlic, but everything else can go straight on the grill grates. Grill until charred on one side and flip and do the other. Try not to let the onions get too burned. Here is what my grill looked like

I was also grilling poblanos and corn, obviously.

After everything is nicely charred, put ONE jalapeno and the garlic and onions into the food processor and chop briefly with on and off turns. You can add the other jalapeno later if you want it spicier, just try it first. Add the tomatoes and pulse again. Add the cilantro and pulse again. Put into a bowl, add the lime juice and salt and pepper. Eat a bunch before you tell everyone it is done because you won't get any after they know it's ready.

Chili Rellenos

2010-08-25T17:08:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I stopped by the Lima Farmer's Market to pick up some fresh basil and tomatoes for dinner. I found a nice surprise there of some lovely, just picked poblano chilis from Werner's Farm in Rush on 15A just south of 251. The farmer was surprised by how excited I was and asked me what I would do with them; he told me that people have been askiing about them and he had never used them, didn't know what they were good for.

I like them in my Succotash Burritos, but there is really only one answer when asked what to make with poblanos: CHILI RELLENOS!

What is a chili relleno, you ask? (Well, if you ask, you're obviously not from California, plus it means you've never eaten one. So sad.) A chili relleno, is a stuffed chili. Stuffed with cheese. Gooey, melted cheese, encased in a slightly spicy pepper shell. Dipped in egg batter and fried until puffy and golden. In other words, Mexican comfort food. Chili Rellenos can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Or all three. In the same day.

Chili Rellenos
6 Poblano chilies
1/2 lb Monterrey jack cheese
3 eggs, separated
3 T flour
salt and pepper

Roast the poblanos over a gas flame or grill until the skins are blackened and blistered. Put into a paper sack for 10 minutes and then remove, cut off the top and peel or scrape the skins and seeds off, trying not to break the chili open. Stuff with a piece of cheese, you want it pretty full. Set aside and do all of the chilies

Meanwhile, combine the egg yolks and flour and salt and pepper. Beat the whites until stiff. Gently fold the whites into the yolks. Slide the chilies into the batter, then slip into a frying pan with 1/2 inch of hot oil. When puffy on the bottom, gently flip over and cook until the other side is golden, puffy, and the cheese is melted. Serve with red chili sauce, if desired.

Cheater Chili Rellenos
A little Mexican lady at the Farmer's market gave this recipe to Grandma Foodie:

Roast the chilies, open them up, put a layer of cheese on top and pop in the microwave. Top with salsa. It's pretty damn good. My kids love them.

Also, here's a tip: roast a whole mess of the chilies at once and then put the extras in the freezer. They probably won't work for regular rellenos, but they will be fine for the cheater ones. Or to put in omelets or chili verde, or salsa, or succotash burritos, well, you get the idea.

Review and a great Tomato Breakfast

2010-08-24T12:46:00.000-04:00

In a week or two I'll be posting a review of some newly acquired kitchen equipment. You know you need to know what I think! I don't have an extensive collection of kitchen equipment, what I do have I could probably fit on both of my dining tables, but I use almost all of what I have and I have a few esoteric items, like my rectangular tart pans which I bought in order to make a Martha Stewart Flag tart recipe. (I wanted to shoot myself by the time I was done. Or perhaps Martha.) (BTW, that was a joke for those of you with no sense of humor. The author wishes to state she has no intention of stalking Martha Stewart or causing her any bodily harm. I'll just think bad thoughts as I am trying to alternate red and golden raspberries in neat rows.)

Yesterday, we continued our obsession with tomatoes, this time at breakfast. I split a baguette, popped it under the broiler for a minute to toast, then topped it with fresh mozzarella mixed with fresh basil, olive oil, salt and pepper. I popped it back in the oven and melted the cheese. When I took it out, I put some sliced tomatoes on top. Of course I sliced the tomatoes first and seasoned them with my favorite Hawaiian sea salt. (Still running low, Grandma Foodie? Anybody?)

Never use a substitute when you can use the real thing

2010-08-23T07:35:00.001-04:00

I might be able to overlook it if it were the middle of winter.

Then again, I probably wouldn't.

Basil in tube from the freezer is inexcusable.

If it happened to be winter, and if I happened to live in some remote outpost (like Brazil, maybe?) where fresh, fragrant sweet basil were not always readily available, I just might be willing to let it slide. BUT,

It is the middle of summer, fresh basil is everywhere.

It is everywhere in big bunches, most of the time for about a buck.

The big bunches keep for a couple of weeks at room temperature if you put them in a nice big vase of water. (With the added bonus that they look great on your kitchen counter)

So, last night I was speaking with my good friend Deb, who asked me how I had made the cantalope wrapped in prosciutto a few weeks ago. Well....you wrap prosciutto around cantalope. Well, but what was it that I drizzled on top? Oh, a basil, lemon vinaigrette and some chopped marcona almonds. So Deb says, "Great, I have all of that! I'm squeezing basil right now!" WHATTTT??????

There really is no excuse. I don't buy it when she says she can't taste the difference. Is it possible that she suffers from a lack of taste buds? Or has she been deprived of real basil for so long that she can no longer remember the difference? Or should I just call her a dork? I'm not sure, but I will be performing a basil intervention. I am going to get her one of those big bunches and deposit it on her counter. It will be like the old advice about if you want to learn how to cook, buy a ham....(By the time you figure out what to do with all that meat, you'll have learned to cook.)

So, by the time she gets to the end of that bunch of basil, she will never resort to that crap in a tube again.

(Here is my confession, though: I do buy lemongrass in a tube and keep it in the freezer; it is not available fresh at my closest market and I often do not know in advance that I need it, if I do know, I buy it fresh.)

Here is a great use for basil: Pistou or French pesto.

Pistou

In a mini processor (or use a big one, or use a mortar and pestle) combine 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp salt, 1 C basil, and 1/4 C olive oil. Whir it until smooth.

Here is a great recipe using pistou:

Toast two slices of baguette. Top with two poached eggs, 2 T pistou and shaved parmesan. Try not to eat more than two, we wouldn't want you to get high cholesterol.

Endless Summer-Blackberries

2010-08-22T07:22:00.002-04:00

About seven or eight years ago, my friend Priscilla planted a blackberry bush. About five years ago, it started to produce more than a handful of blackberries in a season, maybe about a quart total. So I said to her,"Hey, I want to make a pie, can I have some blackberries?" Her answer,"Keep your hands off my blackberries, or I'll kill you." Ok, I can understand, blackberries were a limited, precious commodity. Starting two summers ago there was a blackberry explosion. Now, instead of threats of bodily harm if I touch her blackberries, Priscilla instead begs me, "Please get over here and pick some g-d blackberries!" I am happy to oblige.

Yesterday, I took about a cup of blackberries, a cup of blueberries, 1/2 cup of sugar, and a tablespoon of water and set them on the stove to cook. When they were syrupy I added about a teaspoon of cornstarch dissolved in an equal amount of water and let it come to a boil. The whole thing took about 5 minutes. Then I whipped some cream and made some crepes. Everyone was very happy at breakfast

Alex eating Blackberry crepes

I also have been making blackberry peach pies, blackberry custards, and blackberry sorbets. I also freeze the blackberries (in a single layer on a cookie sheet, then put them in ziptop bags once they are frozen. Don't be a moron and put them un frozen into ziptop bags, you'll end up with a big glob of berries.). You can use them in just about any recipe in which you would use fresh blackberries. Oh, one more quick recipe! Blackberry-yogurt popsicles:

Puree about 2 cups of blackberries in the food processor; add 1/2 cup of cooled simple syrup (you know how to make that, don't you? Equal parts sugar and water, heated until the sugar dissolves), 1 8 ounce container vanilla yogurt, and about 1/4 c of honey. Freeze in ice-pop molds. My kids loved the fresh, tangy-sweet taste. So much so, they didn't save one for me. Oh well, back to the blackberry patch, I guess.

The other summer obsession: tomatoes

2010-08-21T06:26:00.001-04:00

A fresh picked tomato is probably the world's best food.

A refrigerated, bad, supermarket tomato is probably the world's worst food.

I love good tomatoes almost more than anything. My perfect, ideal breakfast is a bagel (water-boiled, not from a package, from a good bakery) cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers, Vidalia onion, and nice thick slice of a really good tomato. Grandma Foodie always remembers to sprinkle the tomato with some salt and freshly ground pepper and let it sit while the bagel toasts. It macerates the tomato a bit and makes it juicier and tastier.

No one person could ever write a comprehensive guide to eating and cooking with tomatoes. The uses for them are just too overwhelming to catalog.

My friend Deb has a fabulous recipe for a tomato tart. I liked it even though she uses cheese from a can. (Cheese from a can! Really, Deb, you're a decent cook, you should know better! Just think how delectable the tart would be with some real cheese.) To make the tart, slice the tomatoes and salt them lightly. Put them on a paper-towel lined plate (use several thicknesses) and put another layer of paper towels on top. Put a heavy plate on top of them and maybe even a heavy skillet on top of that. The idea is to weight them down well and press them. Leave them for an hour or two. Meanwhile, take a package of puff pastry and form it into a rectangular tart shell. You can cut off some strips around the edges and build them up on top of the pastry, or you can use your handy dandy rectangular tart pan with the removable bottom. (My friend does the former, I do the latter.) Then, prebake the shell for about 7 minutes at 425. When partially baked, but not brown, take it out, let cool slightly, then brush with olive oil. Layer the tomatoes, salt and pepper, thyme, and parmesan cheese. (not from a can, please!) Pop it back in the oven and bake until the pastry is done.

I may have a few details wrong, but hopefully Deb will correct me. After all, I am improving it by specifying that one should never use cheese from a can with something so delectable.

The other thing we have been eating all the time is a simple tomato salad. I slice big juicy beefsteaks into thick, juicy slices, sprinkle them with Hawaiian red sea salt (I forgot to buy some more when I was in California! I don't think I've ever seen any around here. What shall I do? Grandma Foodie? Anybody?) fresh thyme, pepper, feta, and a dressing made from 1 T brown sugar, 2 T red wine vinegar, and 3 T olive oil. Or just sprinkle with olive oil and balsamic glaze.

You must also make some BLTs. Get some good, crusty sourdough and some thick cut applewood unsmoked bacon. Toast the bread, spread liberally with mayo. Add some avocado to the sandwich if you like. Or a spoonful of basil pistou to the mayo.There is nothing quite like the crunch of the bread playing against the salty bacon and the explosion of juicy tomato. Simply fantastic.

The point is, eat ye tomatoes while ye may. They're going to be gone soon and they won't be back until next summer.

Playing with Food

2010-08-20T09:37:00.000-04:00

So I have a bit of a new obsession: bento.

Bento means "lunch" in Japanese. It is usually packed in a box, the food is tightly packed into the box and arranged attractively.

In typical Japanese fashion, however, it can be a little over the top.

I ran across a blog called Just Bento and was intrigued by the healthful, beautiful food I saw there. In particular, I saw one bento that contained some interesting sushi rolls, Japanese omelet slices, some stewed bean, and some fruit, all packed together, but separated into individual compartments. I decided to try to replicate it one Saturday. I put some rice in the rice cooker and started dicing some peaches. I sliced cucumbers for the sushi and pulled a can of Japanese gourd strips out of the pantry. I whisked together eggs, mirin, sugar, and soy for the omelets. I whipped up a batch of mini carrot-pineapple muffins.

An hour later I had a very unusual lunch ready for my family. It was a huge hit.

And then I started looking at bento sites and bento accessories on the internet.

You haven't quite lived until you've seen some of the crazy things these people do with lunch.

So I started persuing ebay for bento accessories. Packages started arriving from Japan. And yes, yesterday, I made a bento for Steve that contained sesame spinach, brown rice, cannelini beans with honey and soy, and two mini hamburgers. And I cut out cheese in the shape of teddy bear heads (complete with eyes) and laid them on top of the hamburgers.

Yes, I have completely lost my mind.

I can't wait to torture the children by packing them some "cute" lunches. Alex says he'll likely get stuffed into a trash can. Hannah says they're sure to make fun of her. It should be fun!

Camp food or I have no words

2010-08-19T05:38:00.001-04:00

I'm up early today as usual. I made my coffee and started looking through my Facebook and email. One of my friends is going to some type of family camp out with other people in a group to which she belongs. She pleaded for ideas for meals to bring. One woman actually said to bring canned chicken, tortillas, ranch dressing, and cheese for chicken wraps.

My response: I have no words.

I didn't want to insult a woman whom I have never met. I reserve that only for those whom I truly love.

However, I might barf if someone tried to serve that to me.

I love to camp, although I don't do it anymore. My dear husband finds that as he has gotten older he no longer enjoys sleeping on the ground. Astounding to me, since he spent his youth wandering aimlessly around the country sleeping wherever he could.

I suppose I should go with Priscilla, but her brand of camping is a bit extreme for me. I require access to plumbing and ice. She dehydrates food and poops in the woods. No thanks. In fact, she was packing this week for her annual backwoods canoe psycho white water expedition.

Spotted on her staging area:
Balsamic glaze
Dijon mustard
Olive oil

In other words, just because she has to bring food that requires no refrigeration, doesn't mean she is going to eat crap.
I am not a camping food expert. I do not know how to dehydrate Dinosaur BBQ beans. I do, however, know how to cook over an open fire. And you can make some tasty things.

Key tips:
Make sure your perishables have plenty of ice. Keep dinner items in a seperate cooler that is not used to store drinks and frequently needed items. Double bag everything to minimize cross contamination.
Pre-prep as much as possible so that you just have to put dishes together rather than start from scratch, i.e. chop onion, garlic, and herbs and store in individual bags. Pre-portion or measure ingredients for each meal.
Here is a great, easy recipe for camping. Why eat bad food just because you are out in nature?

Shrimp Scampi
Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Add 2 T chopped garlic. Add 1 lb cleaned and deveined shrimp and cook until pink and opaque. Add 2 T capers and 2T chopped parsley. Squeeze a lemon over the whole thing and eat with crusty bread. You can try to cook pasta over the open fire to have with it, but that is hard to do unless you have a great, super hot fire.

More corn recipes and some random thoughts

2010-08-18T12:40:00.000-04:00

I had resolved to blog at least once a week, but I did miss last week. I was on vacation. Sue me.
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I was feeling completely inadequate because my sister in law is a fabulous cook, better than me, if that is possible. She whips out food with panache and ease, often just making it up as she goes along. Most of the time it is out of this world. She did make some sub-par muffins on our last day, so I felt slightly vindicated., even though it was only partially her fault. I goaded her into making some muffins for our mother in law, who had just been released from the hospital. My sister in law lacked enough honey, buttermilk, and eggs to make them, but she soldiered on anyway. I guess I have to give her credit for at least making something edible, even if it wasn't up to her usual standards. We all have those days.

We are still in the midst of our annual corn orgy. We took a one week break while we were in DC, since they only have old corn (by old I mean not picked that day) available at Whole Foods. The day before yesterday, I made a corn chowder. Today we will have plain old corn on the cob with lime tarragon butter and a grilled balsamic marinated top sirloin with roasted tomatoes. Corn salsa is probably on the horizon for the weekend, and herbed corn cakes with cilantro-jalapeno hollandaise made an appearance a week or so ago. I did take the lazy way out with the hollandaise and used the blender method (hey, at least I didn't stoop to using a packet. I do recommend mastering real hollandaise, though. You'll never regret it. But since it is summer I gave myself a break. My family noticed, though.

Since the corn cakes were such a hit with my guests, that is the recipe I will leave you with. It is loosely based on one from Bon Appetit, but I have altered it a bit.

Herbed Corn Cakes

1 Cup flour
1 tsp baking pwd
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 T oil
1 c corn kernels. from about two ears
1/2 c cheddar cheese
1/3 cup shallots or green onions, diced
2 T fresh parsely, minced
2-3 dashes Tabasco
pinch cayenne
3 ounces bacon, cooked and crumbled, drippings reserved

Sift dry ingredients, whisk in milk, egg, and oil. Stir in rest of ingredients. Cook in bacon drippings like pancakes. Serve with your favorite not from a packet hollandaise to which you have stirred in minced jalapeno and 1/4 cup minced cilantro. I usually double the recipe and it still barely makes enough.

Chicken and dumplings

2010-07-31T09:57:00.002-04:00

Laura called. She wanted a whine and wine night, one in which we all sat around and made dumplings. Asian dumplings, you know potstickers, wontons, shiu mai, gyoza, call them what you will, little noodle wrappers stuffed with vegetables, meat, shrimp, whatever. There are a million filling recipes for Asian dumplings. Of course, mine is the only one I recommend, because it tastes great, and I got it from Priscilla, who lived in China for 5 years and learned how to cook there. (Which is why she still uses oil instead of butter to fry eggs and omelets. Have you ever had an omelet made in oil? Not good.)

So Laura sends me her list of ingredients, which were all wrong. I won't go into detail, suffice it to say, I had most, but not all, of what she needed. No, that's not true, I did have it all, but not in sufficient quantities. I know, I'm such a loser.

Well, we decided we'd take a trip to the Asian grocery to stock up and, oh, while we were at it, we might as well get pedicures. And make sure we had everything for Laura's fabulous cosmos. (her secret is Rose's lime juice. Brilliant.)

As we eased ourselves into the pedicure thrones and dipped our toes into the swirling warm water, we began to talk about the upcoming evening's festivities and Laura's pedicurist perked her head up when she heard the word "dumplings"

"You're making dumplings? How do you do that? Do you use flour?"

"Well, yes and no," I replied, slightly puzzled. An Asian girl is asking me how to make dumplings? I could understand that if she knew me, of course, but she's never laid eyes on me before. "My good friend makes the wrappers herself, but she can't come tonight so we're cheating and using wrappers from a package."

"Oh, you're making Asian dumplings. I thought you were making chicken and dumplings. I'd really like to know how to make that."

Well, darling, it couldn't be simpler. I'll even let you cheat and use Bisquick. The recipe is on the box. The rest of you, though, get out the flour.

Chicken and Dumplings, Grandma Foodie Style (sort of)

Saute a sliced onion and a sliced carrot in a little oil until limp. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and brown on both sides with the onion. Add enough chicken stock or water to cover and simmer until chicken is almost cooked through, about 25 minutes. Plop big spoonfuls of dumpling dough on top of the stew and simmer, 10 minutes.

***Note: I can't believe I forgot to write this: after you remove the chicken and the dumplings, reduce the stock and add some sour cream to thicken. Spoon it all over the dumplings.

Dumpling dough
1 C sifted cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Break 1 egg into a 1 cup measuring cup. Add milk until the cup is half full, beat well and stir into the flour mixture. Add more milk if necessary, but keep the batter as stiff as possible.

Now, if you hate this recipe, tell me. If you think it sounds good, tell me. I need some comments, people! I know I let you all down by taking such a long blogging break, but your feedback is what keeps me motivated! I'd love to hear from you, good or bad. I can take it.

Succotash Burritos

2010-07-24T09:14:00.000-04:00

It's July and the corn is finally ready!

If you don't live in the Northeast or mid-west United States, you probably don't have an appreciation for what this means. And you've probably never eaten a decent ear of corn in your life. Although I grew up in Southern California, I was fortunate enough to visit my grandparents in Western Massachusetts every couple of years as a child. This meant (among other really fun things) that we would get to eat the famous "butter and sugar" corn fresh from the corn stand while we were there. It is really something amazing. Not just a bi-color corn, it is a super sweet variety. Now, the thing about corn is that the MINUTE it is picked the sugar in the kernels starts to convert into starch. Sugar=sweet, starch=not sweet, so it if you think you can buy good corn at Wal-Mart, you are sadly mistaken. Also, you are not terribly smart and have no palate. But, if you live outside of the great corn growing areas you probably don't have much choice. Too bad for you.

Those of us in the Northeast wait anxiously for the summer corn feast. I have a local stand that grows butter and sugar corn and I usually go there. (Grandma Foodie says it is still not as good as the Massachusetts variety, but she is stubborn and rarely admits to being wrong. You know I'm right, Mom. Love you.)

As I mentioned, the sugar in corn starts to convert to starch IMMEDIATELY, so it is IMPERATIVE to only buy enough ears for the dinner you plan to cook that day. Another good trick is to go buy corn late in the day. During peak season the farmer sometimes doesn't pick enough for the day and has to go out and get some more. So while you may get corn that was picked that morning, you may get corn that wasn't picked until an hour or two before you arrived. I have been at the corn stand a few times when the farmer was coming in from the field to deliver more corn. We had an early dinner. Best corn ever.

Now, there is nothing better than a fresh ear of corn dropped into some boiling water, popped out a few minutes later, slathered with butter and salt and chewed straight off the cob. Nothing better. But corn is so good it begs to be used in many other dishes, too. And with the plethora of other fresh veggies at this time of year it is a no-brainer to try to think of some ways to use all that bounty. (Thanks for the bushels of zucchini, neighbor. Remind me to pretend not to be home tomorrow.) I developed this recipe loosely based on one I saw a few years ago in Saveur magazine.

Succotash sounds disgusting, but all it really means is corn and potatoes mixed together.

Succotash Burritos

3 ears of corn, kernels cut from the cob
1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 smallish potatoes, diced and parboiled for 10 minutes
1 zucchini or yellow summer squash, diced (remove the seeds if it is too big and seedy.)
A 1/2 cup container of chicken stock from your freezer or 1/2 can if you are a loser
1 Hungarian hot pepper, seeded and diced (Hungarian hot peppers are long and yellow and thin. You can use something like a Hatch chili or a roasted poblano if you can't get Hungarian. You want a medium hot pepper with some heft. In other words, not a jalapeno.)
1 cup shredded jack or cheddar cheese
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
Tortillas
Salsa

Saute the onion, garlic, red peppers and Hungarian peppers in 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 T butter until soft and slightly browned. Add the cumin, chili powder, potatoes, corn, and zucchini and saute until vegetables are crisp-tender. Add the chicken broth and cheese and cook until the cheese is melted and the chicken broth has mostly bubbled away, about 1 minute. Fill warm tortillas with the succotash and top with salsa.

I might have some more corn recipes soon. If I'm not too busy eating corn.

German Potato Salad

2010-07-17T06:46:00.000-04:00

A new reader has asked me for a recipe for German Potato Salad. This made me incredibly happy, for two reasons: 1. I have a really good recipe, and 2. He didn't give me a terrible recipe for something and tell me how good it was. In fact, if I am to believe his Facebook posts, he makes his own Caesar salad dressing. There is a man you can respect. (I'll wait patiently for him to do something foolish in the kitchen, though, and then I'll, well, you know what I'll do!)

Grandma Foodie is the orginator of the German Potato Salad recipe and I'll assume she got it from Great Grandma Foodie. We are of German descent. So German that my Grandfather once offered (not too jokingly) to pay $1000 to anyone who would name their child Wolfgang. When I found myself pregnant (again!) I joked with him that I was going to take him up on the offer. My Grandfather was not a quiet man, so I can't say he demurred, but he straight out told me that he only meant the offer for someone with our family's name. Which I had never possessed. So, Alex, my youngest child, consider yourself lucky that you narrowly escaped being named Wolfgang. And that you get to eat German Potato Salad.

German Potato Salad
1 onion, chopped
1/2 pound of bacon
1-3 pounds of potatoes
3 T flour
1/3 C vinegar
2/3 C Water

Fry bacon until crisp, remove from pan and crumble. Saute onion in bacon drippings until tender. Boil, peel (if desired) and slice potatoes into a large bowl. Remove onion with slotted spoon, add bacon and onion to potatoes. When ready to serve, heat drippings, add flour and stir until paste like. Add vinegar and water and stir until thick. Pour over warm potatoes and mix.

Cherries, Cherries, and more Cherries

2010-07-10T08:29:00.001-04:00

I think I wrote last year about how my friend Priscilla discovered that I had a sour cherry tree on my land. And then I discovered that I had seven more, along with two huge mulberry trees. We discovered this at the tail end of the cherry season and so only got a few pints of cherries. I may be falling into this trap again this year, it seems I never have time to go out and pick and I am fearful of letting the kids climb on ladders on unsteady ground without me. (I know, you're completely surprised by that much maternal instinct in me, my general philosophy is to let them do just about anything as long as they won't die. But in this case, the risk of severe bodily injury is enough for me to prohibit the activity unless I am there. Then it's fine)

So I must pick cherries today, before it is too late. Then I am going to try to preserve some of them whole, by cooking them with sugar on a one to one ratio (that means 1 cup of sugar for every cup of cherries). I'll bring them to a boil, let them cool, bring them to a boil again, let them cool, repeating this about four times. According to my sister-in-law this will keep the fruit whole. Then I'm not sure if I'll just keep them in the fridge or if I'll can them. We'll just have to wait and see.

My friend Deb devised a fantastic recipe for using all the cherries she and her family picked on the 4th of July at a local u-pick fruit orchard She took the pitted cherries and cooked them with balsamic vinegar and a little sugar. You can buy a similar product at the market for about $5 for a cup. Her version is just as good. We topped Brie with it and practically wet our pants it was so good. She tells me that she cooked a pork loin in the crock pot with it and it was phenomenal. She forgot that I generally make fun of people who cook things in crockpots. I'll let it go this time.

Too hot to cook? Eat this!

2010-07-07T21:50:00.001-04:00

My trip to California went well. Grandma Foodie had a successful surgery and I practically had to tie her to a chair to keep her from doing too much.

She decided to have a dinner party while I was there to cook it for her. Ahem. I made tostones for an appetizer, something I had never done before. I peeled plantains and smashed them and fried them, then filled them with shrimp wrapped in prosciutto and a rum butter sauce. Yum. (Make sure to get the green plantains, the black ones don't hold their shape. Wait, probably none of you are ever going to make tostones; it requires an old fashioned tostone smasher. I'll probably never make them again, either as I neglected to spirit the tostone maker away in my suitcase, an oversight I assure you, because I fully intended to wheedle it out of Grandma Foodie. they were that good. Amazing, really.

The weather in California was really nice considering my folks live out in the middle of the desert. While I do prefer the coastal areas of California, the Inland Empire does offer some amazing Mexican Food. We ate at a little place called Las Bonitas. Awesome food.

So I return home to miserably hot weather. We do not own an air conditioner since, as former Californians, we consider it to be not too hot here during the summer. Except this week. It is 95 with high humidity. Let's just say that if I could get a waterproof computer I would never leave the pool.

It is obviously too hot to cook. But we still have to eat and after a week of pasta and hamburgers my family wants real food. So I made Chinese Chicken Salad. No cooking, only prepping. Night Night, I'll be in the pool.

June's Chinese Chicken Salad

One Supermarket rotisserie chicken, meat taken off the carcass
3 heads Romaine lettuce, chopped (yes, with a damn knife, I'm too hot and cranky to tear it up)
Red pepper strips (fresh, not jarred, not roasted)
2 large green onions, sliced
2/3 cup peanuts
Celery, if you want it
Sliced pea pods, if you want them, I don't care
Rice vermicelli, fried until puffy (Ok, so you have to cook this part. Heat up your deep fryer or a pan with at least 1/2 inch of oil. Drop the dried (not fresh, Deb) noodles into the oil and submerge. Flip them to the other side. All the dried part must touch the oil or they will be hard and unchewable instead of light and fluffy and crunchy.

Dressing:
Dissolve 1/2C honey in 1/2 cup rice vinegar. Heating it on the stove will make it better, but you don't have to if it is too freaking hot.
Add 2T soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil. Mix in salt and pepper to taste then add 1 C vegetable oil. Mix well, toss, eat on paper plates so there is nothing to wash and you can go sleep in the pool.

Secrets

2010-06-26T11:51:00.003-04:00

Sometimes people like to try to shock me. They tell me their dirty little secrets. "Oh, June, I have a really easy way to grill asparagus. I spray it with Pam first and then plop it on the grill." or "Oh, you know a great way to make steak? Bake for 20 minutes at 350."

Seriously, people have actually said these things to me, and once I was served baked steaks. Really.

But the other day, I got one of the best dirty little secrets ever. I am out in California helping Grandma Foodie while she recovers from some not major, but not minor surgery. I made plans to meet some old friends from high school whom I had not seen in close to thirty years. (Yes, alright, I am that old.) Making plans in California is not a necessarily easy task. One must consider the time of day, direction of travel and which parking lot of a freeway on which one will have to sit. We finally settled on a hole in the wall place called Esther's taco house The girls worried I might not like it. They are readers of this blog. They said they were afraid of me. Okay, I can see that, people confuse my sarcastic online demeanour with my sweet real life personality. (Stop ;laughing. It's true. Sometimes.) But, happily the taco place was good, as was the company. It was a blast, girls.

One of my old friends looked sheepishly at me and and told me that one of her best dishes is chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) stuffed with stove top and baked with,wait for it, wait for it,CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP.

I was nearly speechless. After all, how do you chastise someone you haven't seen for thirty years?

Well, something like this: "You've got to be kidding me? And your husband hasn't divorced you ? "

She did tell me that she had tried one of my recipes but that it didn't turn out very well. The she told me she had changed it. 'Nuff said?

I don't have another good recipe for stuffed chicken breasts, I have published one before. Maybe it's too complicated. So here, Michelle, is a simple one, just for you, from another source. Can't wait to see you again.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24597677

Potato Salad

2010-06-20T07:57:00.000-04:00

Somehow people seem to think making potato salad is hard. Or maybe they just think making good potato salad is hard. My husband and son used to attend karate classes at a dojo where they would have a year-end picnic and a holiday party. I once brought my potato salad and everybody raved about it. (Of course they did. It was my potato salad, after all). After that, my husband would come home from classes in advance of these parties and tell me he signed me up to bring potato salad because everyone asked him to. I mean, these people were crazy for my potato salad, like it was difficult to make or something out of the ordinary. It seemed like a no-brainer to me; anyone could make potato salad, it requires nothing more than, oh wait, that's right, my well-developed skills in the kitchen.

Well, for those of you who are afraid of potato salad, or who think yours is sub-par, I will bestow upon you my potato salad recipe. The orgins of this recipe are of course with Grandma Foodie, but I have altered it a bit. Grandma Foodie puts sour cream in hers, and you can, too, if you wish. I just happen to think mine is better.

The other thing is that there are no exact measurements for this recipe. I was making it this morning for a picnic today and I tried to pay closer attention to approximate measurements, but they are all just approximations. You'll have to use your judgement. You might want to taste mine first. Pool party is at three. Bring wine.

Dill Potato Salad

Boil 5 pounds of red-skinned potatoes until fork-tender. Do not peel. While they are still hot cut them into 1 inch chunks. You can do smaller or larger. I like a combination of sizes for texture and creaminess. Put them in a bowl and pour about a 1/2 cup of olive oil and 1/4 c of red wine vinegar over them while they are still hot! They won't absorb the olive oil if you wait until they cool. Season with salt (need I say kosher?) and pepper (fresh ground?) and toss well. Let cool.

Meanwhile, chop 3 stalks of celery and a medium red onion. Hard boil 3 eggs. Peel and chop the eggs and add them and the celery and onion to the potatoes. Stir in about 1 1/2 cups of mayonaise. It might take a little more than that, but it certainly won't take less. Add at least 1/4 c of fresh dill, finely chopped. In a pinch you can use dried, but it will take a little less. Then you have to taste it. Does it have enough dill? Is it too dry? Does it need salt or pepper? That's it, people. It's not that hard.

Oh, and if you're coming for swimming, bring your own towels. You don't want to annoy me by leaving me with heaps of dirty towels, do you? I might not give you any potato salad.

Frozen Yogurt

2010-06-19T08:29:00.001-04:00

You all know that I am the furthest thing away from a health food nazi you can find. Don't get me wrong, I like healthful food as long as it tastes good, but you can keep your cardboard rice cakes and no-fat, dairy free, sugar free, taste free brownies and chocolate chip cookies made with whole wheat flour, splenda, and I can't-believe-it's-not butter. (My children have all been forced to bake these at school. Fortunately, they had a good upbringing and they tasted them, sneered inwardly to themselves and then politely stated that they weren't hungry. My opinion of school "cooking classes" is, ahem, low.) I think you should eat fresh, freshly prepared unprocessed food and enjoy it.

So, normally, I don't eat frozen yogurt. It usually tastes like it was trying hard to be ice cream and not quite succeeding.

A year or two ago, as I was in the midst of some turmoil in my worklife, a friend decided to cheer me up by having a Cusinart Ice Cream Maker sent to me from Goodmans.net. It didn't help the work turmoil, but it sure helped to know someone cared and wanted me to have some happiness.
So I got to work making ice cream. We had some great successes. Plain vanilla ice cream takes on completely new dimensions when it is devoid of thickeners and artificial ingredients. Cream, milk, sugar, and vanilla combine into silky, creamy, decadence, especially when eaten with some fresh peach cobbler or strawberry shortcake. (Confession: I make shortcake the way my mother does, with Bisquick. the recipe is on the box. Yes, I know it is pretty much just a biscuit and easy to make without a mix, but I need it to taste like it did when I was a child. Which means bisquick. Besides, it's pretty easy)

One night, the kids were whining for dessert. (Not a terribly attractive quality, especially since they're not anywhere near being preschoolers anymore) They wanted to go down to the ice cream shop and get a cone. Not that I am opposed to that idea, but it was late, I was in my jammies and I didn't have any cash. I looked in the fridge for some cream to whip up a batch of ice cream for them. Gasp! Can you imagine that I was out of cream? Pratically unthinkable. I did, however, happen to have a carton of plain yogurt. I suddenly had an ephiphany, and I dumped the yogurt into the ice cream maker along with some sugar, vanilla, and fresh peaches. Twenty minutes later, the kids were happy and smiling. And they had eaten something better for them than ice cream.

I have since also made frozen yogurt by using vanilla yogurt. It is really no different, you just don't need to add sugar and vanilla as these are, duh, already in it.

Today I discovered the first of the sour cherries are ripe on my trees. I picked as many as I could from the low-hanging branches. I am putting them in the ice cream maker along with a carton of yogurt and a squeeze of lemon juice to brighten the flavor. It will be amazing, Just get yourself an ice cream maker, you know you want to.

Rack of Lamb and Garlic Scape Pesto

2010-06-12T12:51:00.003-04:00

I love getting up early and going to the local farmer's market, the Rochester Public Market. Don't get me wrong, I do not consider myself a Locavore; I don't like the holier-than-thou politically charged implications of that word. I will eat grapes from Chili in winter and lettuce from California and and peaches from Georgia when local produce is not available. But the truth that is plain for anyone with a palate to taste is that the food that gets to your table direct from small family farms in the fastest amount of time tastes better. And no, I'm not talking about organic food either. Some food tastes better if it is organic and other food tastes the same. I go for whatever looks and tastes good, because as you know if you've read this blog even once before, I'm all about quality.

I got up at 4:30 this morning (don't think I'm weird, I can't help it. I just wake up) and I headed out the door around 5:00 to go downtown to one of the oldest farmer's markets in the country. What did I have in mind to buy? Well, strawberries for one. No, they are not the incredible California strawberries you get at a stand on the side of the road in spring in my home state; they are small, but bright red and sweet local berries. And they are delicious. Next best thing to my beloved California berries.

I also wanted radishes. Big, succulent, red ones, crisp to the bite and the knife with a little bit of a spicy finish. Hmm, I like to drop in salad, of course, and they are great with an herbed cheese spread made with thyme, parsley, garlic, chives, cream cheese, salt and pepper with a little sour cream thrown in to thin it out to spreading consistency. Top a grilled piece of baguette with the cheese and a slice of just picked radish and you are in heaven. Or, try the snack given to French school children after school: a radish with a bit of butter and some sea salt. I like re Hawaiian salt for this purpose.

What I was really after were garlic scapes. Garlic scapes are the green part of garlic that grows and flowers. Garlic is a bulb, you know. They have a mild, slightly garlicky, slightly spicy taste. When made into pesto the flavors intensify and you get a spread with a real kick. You can use it just like you would any pesto: on pasta, on pizza, as a base for yummy crostini with melted fresh mozzarella and prosciutto. Anything goes! I am going to stir some of the pesto into an orzo risotto and serve it alongside the American rack of lamb I got at the market for $10 a rack! Locally we usually pay almost $16 a pound for Frenched rack and these are a pound each. I am going to grill them simply, after rubbing them with olive oil, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper. Can't wait for dinner!

Garlic Scape Pesto

10 garlic scapes, roughly chopped
1/2C parmesano-reggiano
1/4 lightly toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil, or enough to get the texture you like

Put the scapes in the food processor and pulse until they are finely ground. Add the olive oil, cheese, pine nuts and whir until uniform consistency. Season with kosher salt. (Shout out to a dear friend who shall remain nameless: get some damn kosher salt, you dweeb. And some decent Parmesan. And for those of you who don't know me, I only call people I like dweebs.

Grilled Flatbread with Carmelized Onions, Mushrooms, and Blue Cheese

2010-06-05T08:39:00.000-04:00

When you live in Upstate NY you really learn to appreciate the different seasons. Having lived in California until I was 32 years old, I always romanticized fall and winter and thought how great it would be to live somewhere with real seasons. Not that California, doesn't have seasons. It does, Hot and hotter. Then rain and mudslides. But here it is different. If you are hearty enough to make it through the winter you are rewarded with the three other seasons. (Of course, winter is brutal and lasts about six months. But hey, the cold keeps out the riff raff. They all move to Florida)

So, it is now summer. (Fade in Gershwin, "And the livin' is easy....") Needless to say, the way I cook changes tremendously from season to season. Summer is a riot of fresh produce, from raspberries to tomatoes and corn and everything in between. But the thing that changes most in summer is the method by which I cook. I know I am not alone in making grilling my primary way of getting dinner on the table. But steaks, hamburgers, and chicken do get a little monotonous, so I mix it up quite a bit. Grilled flatbread is a particular favorite in our house.

Grilled flatbread can be topped anyway you please, or used as a foil for some great dips. Topped like a pizza, even the kids will love it. Tonight, I plan on sipping some champagne on the deck, listening to the birds, and enjoying this version of grilled flatbread as a first course. Haven't decided what will come after it yet. But rest assured, it will be good.

Grilled Flatbread with Caramelized Onions, Mushrooms, and Blue Cheese

The secret of this flatbread is to use GOOD blue cheese. Point Reyes Blue or Maytag are my favorites. Just don't use anything labeled "blue cheese crumbles". I am convinced that people who don't like blue cheese have only ever had bad blue cheese or bad blue cheese dressing. Try spending more than .99 a pound on it and you might be surprised by how happy it makes your mouth.

1. Slice an onion. Heat 2 T olive oil in a skillet and add the onions. Cook slowly until the onions begin to caramelize. Season well with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

2. Saute mushrooms a la Julia Child: in other words, use a combination of butter and olive oil, season well, and don't crowd the pan. They will brown nicely if they have enough room. Do two batches if you have to. Read Julia's recipe for sauteed mushroom in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" It will transform your life. If you don't have the book, wait a minute, you don't have the book? Really? Are you worthy enough to read my blog? At least go check it out from the library and give it a once over. Seriously.

3. Preheat your grill to medium. Brush both sides of a flatbread with olive oil.( I buy mine at the public market, but you can find decent ones at the supermarket next to the pita breads. They are called Naan, or Tandoori Naan, or pocketless pitas.) Season with salt and pepper and put on the grill. Grill one side until slightly crisp and slightly browned,a bout 2 minutes. Turn over and top with sliced fresh mozzarella, the mushrooms, onion, and sprinkle liberally with blue cheese.Turn the heat down and close the lid on the grill. heat until the mozzarella melts and is slightly bubbly, about 5 minutes, moving the flatbread to indirect heat if the bottom starts to get too brown.

And don't forget to eat it with a nice Spanish Cava. I prefer Segura Viudas.

Crab cakes and grilled caesar salad

2010-06-01T19:51:00.000-04:00

I couldn't decide what to make for dinner tonight until the last minute. I considered several options, from fettucine with anchovies and tomatoes and fried capers, to Thai coconut lemongrass soup. I finally settled on crab cakes, artichokes, grilled flatbread with cherry tomato bruschetta, and grilled Caesar salad.

Grilled Salad?

YESSS!!!!

It is unbelievably good and easy. And it appeased Hannah since she loves it and she was disappointed that I wasn't making the fettucine.

So, how do you grill a salad, you ask?

Start with some hearts of romaine. Plan on 1/4 to 1/2 per person, depending on how much you like salad.

Quarter the hearts(don't remove the stem) and place them in a shallow dish which can hold them all. Then, pour a LOT of olive oil over them. (I may have been gone a while, but if you have forgotten that you must use extra virgin, first cold press then I may have to come over and beat you severely. Or something. Maybe just chastise you whilst consuming all the wine in your house. Unless it comes from a box.) So, after it is nicely coated, roll the quarters around in the oil until all sides are coated. Throw in two or three cloves of garlic per head of lettuce and let the whole thing soak for at least twenty to thirty minutes while you make the rest of dinner.

Heat the grill to high. Put the lettuce on and watch it carefully. Turn it frequently. It may actually catch on fire. Don't worry. Pick it up and blow it out. When it is nicely charred and wilted. (I said charred, not blackened) put it back into the shallow dish with the leftover olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with shaved Parmesan. Or Asiago, or romano. Eat. Just not the hard core end. You can throw that away. Unless you want to suck all the garlic oil off first. Be my guest.

No recipe today

2010-06-01T06:35:00.000-04:00

I had almost decided to stop blogging.

It wasn't actually a conscious decision at first. Mostly, I was overwhelmed with work, helping to launch the new version of the website I work for. It seemed every waking hour was spent at the computer and I could barely cook a decent dinner, let alone write about it. So a month went by, then two. And soon I just decided that I just wouldn't do it anymore. But then there was the begging....

Priscilla keeps hounding me relentlessly. "You need to get back to blogging," said in the semi- bitchy, demanding tone that means she is going to bend me to her will no matter what.

And so here is this post by way of explanation. And since I now have four minute until I wake the kids and make them bagels for breakfast, I will post a link to a piece I wrote for the website I work for. This is a review of a piece of kitchen equipment I had been wanting, mostly to make a fabulous dish that we made last year for my daughter's wedding. My mother actually brought her meat slicer in her RV with her, because after all, you never know when you will want to make Seared Carpaccio of Beef with Fried Capers and Parsley Oil. So, I got a slicer and reviewed it. I didn't talk about making the carpaccio, because that is not the audience for it, nor was I my usual snarky self. (Well, maybe a little). So, here is the review.

PS. I also wrote the review of Greek Peak Indoor Waterpark that is on the homepage of that site, if you want to read that.

I promise to try to blog at least once a week and to rip someone's cooking or cooking practices to shreds in the near future.

5 things you should always have in the fridge

2010-03-08T20:49:00.000-05:00

As I keep trying to convince you people, if you just keep a few basics around the kitchen you can easily create a meal even if you fail to plan. Here are five things I always have in the fridge, aside from the obvious like eggs and mayo and mustard.

Butter. This is the one thing you must never run out of. Buy large quantities when you find a good price. It doesn't really go bad, but I know people who keep extra in the freezer. I don't usually, but I always have at least three pounds in the fridge. You won't find margarine of any kind unless my son is home, in which case I will grudgingly supply him with Smart Balance. Then we argue about the merits or lack thereof of each of them. Bet you can guess which side I fall on. I'm not going to engage in a butter argument with you, so don't bother leaving an anti-butter diatribe in comments. Life without butter is not worth living.
Buttermilk. Buttermilk is wonderful stuff. You can use in an endless variety of baked goods as well as salad dressings and even homemade ice cream! It has a long shelf life. Really long. I don't think I have ever thrown away buttermilk. If it is getting close to the end of its shelf life, make pancakes for breakfast. Even if you are ridiculous enough to make pancakes from a mix, use the buttermilk in place of the water or milk. It makes your pancakes so tender. Pancakes without buttermilk are almost not worth eating. Buttermilk pancake mix is a lame substitute, especially when you consider that making pancakes from scratch requires less than five minutes effort to mix. Flour, baking powder, sugar, eggs, butter, and buttermilk. That's it. One bowl, one liquid measure, one pyrex prep bowl to melt the butter in the microwave. How easy is that?
Cream. It makes everything better. Just a tablespoon or two. I don't use it every night, not by a long shot, but if I have cream I know I can always come up with something for dinner.
Parmesan or Romano cheese. Again, if you have some on hand you can turn rice into risotto, garnish pasta, make a gratin, it is indispensable. It also virtually never goes bad, so there is no excuse for not having it.

Capers and Sundried tomatoes. Okay, so that's two things. I couldn't decide which I needed more in the fridge. Both are great for adding some zip to sauces. And I can't live without capers on my smoked salmon and bagel and cream cheese for breakfast. Can't. Don't try to make me.

So of course there are lots of other things I think you should always have in the fridge. Start with these and let me know how it goes. I'll give you some more essentials soon.

Carne Asada

2010-03-06T06:13:00.001-05:00

Boy, it seems I can only get around to posting on weekends. I am absorbed in work that I am really happy to be doing. I have a day job that is nice. The people are nice, it is low stress, but I also have another job that has exciting possibilities and people to work with who energize me and really value me. So when I find myself at my computer at 5:00 am I gravitate towards that work. Plus, no one has really annoyed me with their cooking or lame comments on food lately.

Today is Dear Hubby's birthday. He is now old enough to get a senior discount at the movies. I asked him what he wanted for dinner and he requested a Mexican Fiesta. We think it might be warm enough to fire up the grill today (40 degrees is my minimum grill temperature. I find that if you try to grill when the ambient temp is lower than that the grill doesn't get hot enough to sear the meat.) so I will make Carne Asada. Last night I mixed the marinade and put in four nice skirt steaks to soak overnight. Here in the great north we can't get the fabulous Carne Milanesa steak that we always had in California. I'm not sure what cut they used, but it was so thinly sliced that after it was marinated you only had to grill it for about thirty seconds per side. Then you would quickly slice it and wrap it in a nice warm tortilla with some salsa and guacamole, squeeze a lime over it and you were in heaven. Mexican food is just not the same here in New York. Sad.

My sister, of The Joy of Gluten Free, has a great recipe for Carne Asada marinade. Here it is.

1 C orange juice
1 C beer
1/2 C olive oil
1 sliced onion
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 C chopped cilantro
Juice of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper

Mix it all together and throw in the meat. As I said, I now use skirt steak. Just try to use something thin and tender. Grill it quickly so that you don't dry out the meat (Oh, perfect opportunity to take a jab at my BFF Prissie. She overcooks all meat. She hates meat, so she feels she has to ruin it for everyone else.) and serve it with warm flour tortillas, salsa, and guacamole. Yum! Happy Birthday, Honey!

Horning in

2010-02-28T07:27:00.000-05:00

My sister has started a blog. Gee, I guess some people think anyone can do this. She is even going to publish recipes! The nerve.

Her blog, The Joy of Gluten Free Living is about, well, eating and living gluten-free. Sounds like a complete drag to me. Not the blog, the gluten free. Imagine, not being able to tear into a loaf of crusty bread, sizzle it in olive oil and butter and then top it with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. The horror!

But, I know there are many people, my sister included, who get violently ill when they eat gluten. Joy (get it, The Joy of Gluten Free Living?) has mastered this lifestyle and she looks and feels great. She is happy and healthy and has overcome not only this health issue, but another major one as well. (It's an amazing story, I'd tell it, but that would be violating HIPAA. Wait, I'm not bound by HIPAA. Hmm...)

If you face this challenge in your life, go read her blog.

I'll give you a great recipe to start you off. I think it's GF, but Joy can tell you for sure.

Pork with Peach Salsa

3/4 lb pork tenderloin
Olive Oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
3 ripe peaches (yes, this is a great dish for summer, but you can get peaches now, if you're willing to pay...)
1 T lime juice
1 1/2 tsp honey
2 T chopped cilantro
2 jalapeno chiles, minced
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Line a baking sheet with foil. Brush tenderloin with olive oil, sprinkle cumin and oregano over pork, roast 25 minutes.

For the salsa: Cut peaches into small dice. Mix in lime juice, honey, cilantro, and jalapenos, season to taste.

Remove pork from oven and let rest 10 minutes. Slice, plate and top with salsa.

I suppose to round out this meal you could serve some rice and salad. I'm no expert at the GF thing, If need that, go ask Joy. If you don't just make the pork anyway, It is awesome.

How to Economize on Food

2010-02-24T17:32:00.001-05:00

It's tax season. In New York State, it's always tax season, but now is the double whammy, county property taxes (as opposed to school property taxes which are due in the fall, to the tune of $5K) along with income tax season. I could rant about taxes, but that is not the purpose of my blog. Instead, I will talk about how I pinch pennies to pay those damnable taxes. After all, everyone has to economize at some point.

I used to disdain stores like Aldi and Price Rite. Inferior quality, low-brow, ghetto, I thought. Then Priscilla beat me about the head and shoulders until I came to my senses. There is nothing wrong with going to the low-rent grocery store to buy basics. But that is it. Don't be distracted by cheap meat or frozen food. By basics, I mean eggs, sugar, oil, milk, cream cheese, sour cream, bacon, etc. The prices are significantly lower than stores like my favorite, Wegmans.

In the summer, I go to farmer's markets where the produce is better than anything you can get in a store. That's a no-brainer, I'm sure you all do that. Or at least you should. And if you don't, I will think you are foolish, or worse. And we all know we don't want that.

The other great place to grocery shop is at small, ethnic markets. The chinese grocery is great for buying really fresh produce in the winter. A bunch of cilantro will cost $1.99 at the big grocery, and .50 at the Chinese store. They also have the most wonderful mangos, atulfo, or champagne mangos. Weggies sells these beauties occasionally for $3.00 a piece. I buy a case (because my kids will inhale them) for $12.00.

I go to the Amish store for bulk items like the five different kinds of flour I told you must have. (I think I have more than that, but you mere mortals can content yourself with five. It is good to have a freezer to store all this bulk flour in because it doesn't get bugs in it from sitting.

Oh Lord, I can't finish imparting my wisdom right now, those children think they need to do their homework. More later...

Boeuf Bourguinon Goes Teenage

2010-02-21T13:39:00.000-05:00

So Hannah really wanted to cook for me for my birthday. She started thinking about it the day before. She asked what she should make and I told to go down and look in the freezer and see what kind of meat we had. She came back up and rattled off a few choices. Then she had an "Aha" moment. She asked, "What kind of meat do you make Boeuf Bouguinon with?" I was so impressed with the way she was thinking, I let it go by without even correcting her grammar. Why, a chuck roast will do, I told her. She brought one up and put it in the fridge to defrost overnight.

Here is a picture of Hannah with her girl scout troop she is third from the left.

The next day, I left around 11:30 to go to the New York State Ice Wine Festival. Now, I don't like sweet wine, at all, but a friend invited me to go and I decided to keep an open mind. I am really glad I did. Although most of the wine was dreadfully sweet, a few were actually complex enough for me to appreciate them. A Cabernet Franc was superb.

Ice wine is wine that is made with grapes that have been allowed to freeze on the vine and are then hand picked in the freezing cold. It is really expensive, mostly I'm sure because it is really a drag to pick grapes in the snow. Or worse, freezing rain.

The festival was actually quite nice. Vendors were sampling everything from wine ice cream and chocolate flavored cigars to microgreens and cupcakes. There was fake blackjack to be played and a guy throwing fire batons. They were serving cocktails outside on a bar carved out of ice. A jazz combo played nice music. Then we went to lunch and had fabulous crepes. Thanks, Deb!

When I came home, Hannah had cleaned up from the pancakes I made for breakfast and she had done a really nice, thorough job. She started to make a cake and stew. (Is it alright to call Julia's masterpiece stew? Not really, but I'm tired of typing Boeuf Bourguinon every time. Oops, did it again.) It took four hours and two trips to the store. She got nervous along the way, but a little (nice) encouragement from me (this means I didn't call her a dork) and she did just fine. The cake was incredible. I don't even know what recipe she used and I was busy drinking champagne and cosmos with Meagan, but it involved melting chocolate chips and raspberry jam and then drizzling that into whipped butter. It was (and still is) yummy.

All in all, a great birthday, now back to reality.

Fantasy Birthday Dinner

2010-02-20T09:47:00.000-05:00

Well, the Mendon Foodie is another year older today. Ugh! Not that I mind, really. I like myself so much better as a wise (okay, wise-ass) 40 something (okay, late forty-something) than I ever did before. When I hit forty, I left behind caring what other people thought of me, (to a large extent) and decided that what I thought about myself was most important. However, I still reserve the right to judge your bad cooking. You can judge me if you want, I just won't care.

I am taking a well-deserved birthday break from cooking today. I did make eggs and toast this morning, but only because I wake up at ungodly hours of the morning and I just don't think it would be humane to force Steve to get up at 5:30 to make me breakfast when he didn't come to bed until 2:00. A wonderful friend invited me to lunch today, at the restaurant of my choosing. I chose Simply Crepes. I prefer restaurants where they actually cook the food, as opposed to heating up something frozen. And don't kid yourselves, most of the national chains cook food that comes to them pre-done in some fashion. Do you think Pizzeria Uno could make the pizza taste the same at every store if they relied on the workers to make it from scratch? Hardly. I haven't written too much about restaurants as this is really a cooking blog, but I think I may have to delve into that topic with more frequency. I don't go out to eat very often, as I usually think what I can make at home is better, but a restaurant where they really cook, and care about the quality is a treat. I shall enjoy it today.

So breakfast is over, lunch is in the bag, what about dinner?

Well, if Steve could cook ( he thinks he can cook, mostly he stirs things. And when he tries to cook he makes giant messes. He can use every dish in the kitchen to cook some pasta and heat up some leftover red sauce.) I would have him make something along these lines:

First, I would want something to start that goes well with champagne. You all know by now how I feel about champagne, or rather, sparkling wine, since champagne is out of my budget, mostly. I love Perrier Jouet and would be exceedingly happy to start out with a bottle of it. To nosh along with it, perhaps Smoked Salmon with Crispy Shallots, since it is winter and we can't use the grill. Otherwise, I would probably want some grilled shrimp with a pistachio chutney or perfectly grilled flatbread or pizza with goat cheese and kalamata olives and basil.

Next, I must have a fabulous salad. Maytag blue cheese, glazed walnuts, korean pear, and artisan baby lettuces with a honey-red wine vinaigrette. Nothing better. Ever.

For a main course, I think I would have Steve make something meaty. You can't go wrong with a nice expensive cut of meat. I am partial to rack of lamb, rib eye steak, and veal chops. With no grill available until spring, my mouth waters thinking about the juicy, buttery meat sizzling right off the grill, with a mint chimichurri sauce to really bring the flavor alive. (And yes, I know the grill still works and I not too wimpy to stand out there and grill in the cold, but experimentation has taught me that the ambient temperature needs to be at least 40 degrees in order for the grill to get hot enough to sear meat properly.)

Dessert? Hmm, creme brulée maybe?

And so, I'm also not leaving you with any recipes today, just go cook something good. And send me the recipe. Think of it as a birthday gift to me. If I like it, I'll publish it. If I don't like it, well, just this once, I won't make fun of it.

You see, I think what it boils down to is that I think good food doesn't have to be complicated. Fresh, good quality food doesn't require fancy preparations, just some care and good techniques. So skip the romaine in a bag and wash the damn artisan baby lettuce once in a while. It's worth it. Let me know how it goes.

Pork and Porcini Ragout

2010-02-14T07:25:00.001-05:00

I don't believe I can add much to Priscilla's fabulous guest post. I know you're not used to such a love fest here, but it is Valentine's day and we did drink Champagne. The Pork and Porcini ragout (circonflex over the "u", I'd put it myself, but blogger doesn't have it and I am too lazy to copy and paste from word) was one of the best I have ever made, thanks in part to the Benton's Country Bacon and Prosciutto that Prissie contributed to the collection of pork products. Pork is Prissie's one and only favorite meat, in its many forms. She can't stand beef, tolerates chicken, likes lamb a bit, but loves all kinds of pork. It's a good thing she is only nominally Jewish, she'd starve if she had to keep kosher. This recipe is really pretty easy to make and boy is it good, if I don't say so myself.

Pork and Porcini Ragout (yeah, yeah, circonflex and all that)

2 carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 Italian sausages, cut into chunks
1 boneless pork loin chop, cut into small dice
3 slices bacon, cut into lardons
2-3 slices prosciutto, slivered
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 C dried porcinis, soaked in hot water until softened
1/2 cup mushroom, sliced
1 28 ounce can tomato puree
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 or so fresh basil, chiffonade
salt and pepper

Heat 2 T olive oil in a heavy bottomed, preferably enameled, dutch oven, or heavy skillet. Saute the bacon, pork loin, and sausage until browned and cooked through, about 7 minutes. Remove from pan with slotted spoon. Add carrots, celery, shallot, and garlic and saute until slightly caramelized, about 3-4 minutes. Add white wine and scrape up browned bits from bottom of pan. Add tomato puree, prosciutto, reserved meats, porcinis, mushrooms, and basil and simmer for about 30 minutes or longer. Add some of the porcini soaking liquid, but watch out for the sediment on the bottom, Yuck. Add a little water if it gets too thick. Season with salt and pepper. Add cream at the end. Serve over pasta.

Taking over for a Drunk Cook

2010-02-13T19:17:00.000-05:00

Well, this is a true pleasure. The Mendon Foodie has been undone by her own cooking and a little too much champagne. As June's NPLP (non-practicing Lesbian partner - aka BFF, part time wife, almost sister), I, Priscilla, have been allowed access to June's Blog site. Of course it is the day before Valentine's Day -and I have declared 2/13 as NPLP night - the night that Best friends celebrate by cooking for each other and drinking way too much Champagne. So ditch your husbands, boyfriends and one night stands and find a girlfriend you love and start cooking.

Here is what June and I are having for dinner: Champagne....(oh my God, she just kissed my forehead), some bruschetta thing that June made up, salad, and Porcini Ragout. First of all I want to thank June for preventing me from saying "ragout" it public. Did you know, this word is pronounced "Ragu" ? - something that I thought only Chef Boy-R-Dee made for my kids when no one was looking. (Wait, June just poured me more champagne. God, I love her) Anyhow, June can give you the recipes - I'll just provide the ambiance. June made the bruschetta with Wegman's Organic Miche Bread (NOTE: there is a circonflex over the "i" according to the MENDON FOODIE). As far as I am concerned it was just plain good bread. She fried it up in olive oil and butter and somewhere she added a little garlic. Once the bread was all fried up, she melted buffalo mozzarella and threw on a bunch of sliced cherry tomatoes with fresh basil, olive oil and garlic. It was so good, I almost thought of leaving my husband and crossing to the OTHER side. Almost. She just didn't make enough for me to have a second slice. Anyhow, I will leave the ragout thing for her to write about tomorrow as June overcomes her 2/13 NPLP hanghover. Likewise for the salad which the Mendon Foodie has asked me to inform everyone is incredible. Here is the thing about being the NPLP of the Mendon Foodie. IT IS GREAT. I totally believe her when she says that the salad is AMAZING. I mean you guys get to read her blog, but I get to eat her food. So here is to you - all you readers - DON'T be jealous because I actually get to eat June's food. Find your own NPLP - just make sure they know how to cook.

Yours Truely,

Miss Prissy.

Rack of Lamb-What I always cook for Valentines's Day

2010-02-13T08:09:00.001-05:00

What a boring title for a post! My blogging mentor, Laura, instructs me that I must revise my titles- although she likes them, they are not good search engine fodder. I'll see how it goes, I'm not sure if I can have boring post titles.

But what, dear June, does that have to do with Rack of Lamb? Nothing, of course! So here's the deal: I think it is ridiculous to try to secure a reservation for Valentine's day weeks in advance to an over-priced restaurant which will be too crowded to get good food and good service anyway. I think the smart thing to do is to splurge on a nice, expensive piece of meat that you wouldn't ordinarily buy and cook at home for your Valentine.

Arghhh! (Laura also told me I have to keep my paragraphs shorter. Three to four sentences. I'm not liking it. I totally have more to say in the last paragraph. I'll continue below)

So, what are my choices, June, for good expensive meat that I can cook easily and not ruin? Well, I like rack of lamb. It is easy to cook, doesn't take too long, and you don't have to do too much to it to make it good. Other choices are: thick veal chops, filet mignon, scallops, and the obvious lobster and crab. Any of these are going to set you back a few bucks, but think of how much you would spend to go eat these in a restaurant! And you can make it better at home anyway!

Here's my super easy, can't screw it up rack of lamb:

(Oh, and lamb can be cooked to medium and not be ruined, it is very forgiving in a way beef is not.)

Heat oven to 450 degrees

Combine in a bowl
1 c fresh breadcrumbs, tear a baguette into small pieces or pulse in a food processor
1 green onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
2 T chopped fresh parsley
2 T chopped fresh mint (I'll buy it even though it annoys me to buy it in the winter. It is an invasive weed. Everytime I see mint in my garden, I pull it. And I still always have enough to make any recipe calling for any amount of mint.)
2 T toasted pine nuts
salt and pepper

Combine above ingredients in a bowl.

2 T Dijon mustard

Coat roasting pan with 1 T olive oil. Put roasting pan in the oven and heat for about 5 minutes. Season lamb with salt and pepper and place fat side down in roasting pan. Roast for 15 minutes. Take out of oven and spread 1 T Dijon on fat side of lamb. Press half bread crumb mixture onto lamb. Turn over and repeat on the other side. Roast for 15 more minutes until 130 degrees in center for rare.

You can roast potatoes alongside the lamb, even in the same pan. Cut them into small chunks and toss 'em in. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper. Baste them with some lamb fat when you take out the lamb to put on the breadcrumbs.

Serve with a mixed green salad with shaved parmesan, arugula, and a lemon vinaigrette. Maybe throw in some sauteed mushrooms with the salad. Roast some asparagus or baby artichokes to go with the lamb, too. Get a good bottle of red wine. Isn't this better and more fun than going out? Maybe your Valentine will be so appreciative, he'll do the dishes. Or something else.

Something funny happened on the way to the kitchen...

2010-02-11T07:05:00.001-05:00

Funny cooking story of the day, from my cousin, Julie in Cali:

Tonight I tried a new recipe, Turkey Noodle Casserole from Rachael Ray, topped with gruyere and breadcrumbs. I put it in the broiler to melt the cheese/brown the crumbs. Had it too close to the heat so the breadcrumbs burned. I thought I 'd scrape them off. Hubby gets the idea to try the Shop Vac. It was working until ...he got "greedy" and sucked up a 4th of the cheesy topping.

This was so funny I almost cried. Of course there are more things wrong with this than just the visual of her husband sucking cheese with a shop vac, but that mental picture makes me laugh so hard. Shop vac and casserole do not belong in the same context. Almost any Rachel Ray recipe is annoying, mostly because she is annoying. Turkey Noodle casserole must be bad, just from the name. (I just googled it. I think I might gag just from reading the recipe.) Make it if you want to make something disgusting. I am still laughing so hard I can't even think of a good alternative to this vile concoction.

And a note to those of you who can't remember the definition of roasting (and you know who you are):Roasting anything is always done in an open pan in a nice, hot oven. Covering anything you want to roast results in steaming, not roasting, you dweeb. But hey, that's what I'm here for. Now to figure out what to do about my cousin...

Filthy Spammers

2010-02-08T20:16:00.000-05:00

I am sorry that I have had to turn on word verification for comments. I really didn't want to, but I have been getting a lot of spam comments lately. I also didn't want to moderate comments because it leaves the impression that a blogger may reject comments she doesn't like. I wouldn't reject them, I would just give it back as good as I got it!

So, the word verification is a compromise. I am moderating comments on posts older than two weeks as that is where a lot of the spam ones end up. Thanks for going along with the word verification.

And remember: leave a comment!

Quick Dinner

2010-02-08T16:22:00.000-05:00

I had planned on making stuffed chicken breasts tonight, but lost my motivation. I still need to cook dinner, though, and those chicken breasts are still staring at me in the fridge. I also have no time tonight and dinner needs to be done by 5:00pm as we are being forced to go to a stupid "Wellness Night" at school where the administrators will all parade around in designer track suits and the gym teachers will act like they are important to our children's education. Oh, and they will promote their frozen organic low-fat baked chicken nugget lunches. I might want to puke. But I won't because we will have eaten a fabulous meal beforehand and I won't be tempted to eat their plain yogurt topped with granola and raisin snacks. I decided to pan-roast the chicken breasts with some sage and lemon and serve them with sauteed mushrooms and roasted carrots and sweet potatoes. Dinner's in the oven right now, it took less than twenty minutes. Here was my plan of attack:

1. I peeled six carrots and cut them into pieces. I cut two sweet potatoes into chunks. I threw all of it on a baking sheet, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled salt and pepper, dusted it all with cumin, tossed it in the oven at 425.
2. I heated 2 T of olive oil in an oven-proof skillet. I removed the breast bone(the long white one) from the breasts that still had it, but left the rib bones. I will re-iterate for those of you who may have forgotten: BONELESS, SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS ARE THE STUPIDEST FOOD ON THE PLANET, if you don't count spam, or organic, low-fat, baked chicken nuggets. The skin and bones add flavor and keep it from drying out. Which it will, if you take them off. I sprinkled them with salt and pepper and put them skin-side down in the heated skillet and let the skin get nice and brown. While they were browning, I threw in some chopped sage. When the skin side was brown, I turned them over, squeezed a lemon over them, threw the rest of the lemon into the pan with the chicken, and then put the whole thing in the oven. It will be done in about 40 minutes. In a few minutes I will start sauteing the mushrooms in butter, making sure not to crowd them so that they brown so nicely, a la Julia Child. See you at wellness night. I'll betcha to get there in time you made organic, low-fat, baked chicken nuggets. Sucker.

Am I boring you?

2010-02-07T08:14:00.001-05:00

My friend Priscilla told me yesterday that the reason she hasn't read my blog in a while is that I have become too tame. Priscilla is a great friend, a great erstwhile writer, and a great cook. Her Christmas letters are legendary. Her husband won't let her send them to his family, mostly because she can't write one without using the word penis. In a Christmas letter.

She said that my blogs were still good, informative, but I hadn't ripped anyone a new one in way too long. Mind you, it's not that I can't find targets, but I live in a small town and I do want to be able to go to school concerts without running into ex-friends whom I have excoriated. And it's not that I don't like them, but really, after all, if you can't cook, don't pretend that you can. I don't pretend that I am a chef, but my standards rise slightly above the Sandra Lee school of take-it-out-of-a-box-and-doctor-it-up. I also think that if you use disgusting ingredients to feed your family, you should keep it to yourself.

Which brings me to my boss. Now, you might find it ironic, (I certainly do), that I work part-time at a church. I am the secretary. My job as the church secretary is a welcome respite, a job in which they are always happy with my work, in fact they are delighted to have me. (As they should be. I am seriously underemployed in this job.) My boss, the pastor, is a really nice guy, with a sense of humor. He is easy to work for. But, you may ask, what does this have to do with cooking?

The pastor thinks he can cook. I have told him that I have a food blog. I have told him that on my blog I make fun of people who can't cook or cook stupid things. He has no self-awareness about his cooking choices. And that makes it really hard to make fun of him, because I wouldn't want hurt his feelings. Really, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, I just want to lift you out of your dreary kitchens and bring some spark to your dinner table. And we have to learn from example, don't we? My good example, other's bad ones? I feel it is my job, my calling, to point out your shortcomings. And lift myself up as a role-model. (now, if you can't read those last sentences with a little humor, just go away.)

So, the other day, the pastor is chatting in the office with one of his colleagues who happened to drop in, and he mentioned that he had spent some time the previous evening with another friend. "We went back to my house and I whipped up some pâté." I raised my eyebrows. "Really?" "Yeah, I opened a can of spam and added some pickle juice and mayonnaise and we ate it with crackers." My eye started to twitch. My tongue started to bleed because I had bitten it so hard. I inhaled deeply to suppress my latent urge to sneer. I looked at him and said, "You're just begging me to make fun of you on my blog, aren't you?" He gave me a blank look and went back to talking about his late night feast with no realization that it was the spam pâté to which I was referring. I went back to typing. That is the kindest thing I have done in a month. But you can't say I didn't warn him....

In his honor, because after all, he is a good boss, I will make Chicken Liver pâté with Pistachios today and I will bring him a ramekin of it tomorrow. This recipe makes a lot. And it keeps for two weeks. The first two local people who comment will receive their own ramekin of this treat. If I like you.

2 sticks softened unsalted butter, plus 4 tablespoons melted
3 large shallots, thinly sliced (1 cup)
2 pounds chicken livers, trimmed
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup dry Marsala
1/2 cup chicken stock
11/4 cups salted roasted pistachios, 1/2 cup chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 teaspoon chopped thyme

In a large skillet, melt 4 tablespoons of the softened butter. Add the shallots and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the chicken livers, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat, turning a few times, until firm, about 4 minutes. Add the Marsala and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer, turning the livers a few times, until the livers are light pink in the center, about 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the skillet mixture cool for 5 minutes.
Transfer 10 of the livers to a plate. Transfer the contents of the skillet to a blender and puree. Cut the remaining 1 1/2 sticks of softened butter into tablespoons. With the machine on, add the butter and blend until it is completely incorporated.
Scrape the puree into a large bowl. Cut the reserved 10 livers into 1/2-inch pieces and fold them in, along with the whole pistachios, parsley and thyme. Generously season the pâté with salt and pepper. Spoon the pâté into four 1 1/2-cup ramekins. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
Pour 1 tablespoon of the melted butter over each pâté to seal it, then garnish with the chopped pistachios. Cover the ramekins and refrigerate until the butter is firm, about 20 minutes

The pâté can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Made this up yesterday

2010-02-05T06:49:00.000-05:00

Last night I planned on making some Chinese dumplings for dinner, and I did. When one makes dumplings for dinner, one needs to augment the meal with some other vegetables, or rice, or something. I hadn't really planned beyond the dumplings, so I looked in the fridge and cupboard and came up with a few things. Here was the menu:

Dumplings
Japanese spicy cucumber pickles from a package (Oh Horrors!)
Rice, with Japanese rice Furikake
Tea eggs
Eggplant with Chili Garlic Sauce
Korean beef soup with shitakes and spinach

So, the one I made up on the spur of the moment was the soup. And boy was it good. Why did I call this soup Korean? Because I used a Korean beef stock base. I know, I know, I always tell you that buying stock is wrong and stupid and for lazy people who like to throw away their money. And generally, it is. You don't need another lecture on the evils of $3 cartons of stock. Okay, yes you do. Throw some bones in a stock pot, (I'll even let you do it in the crock (shudder) pot.) and simmer. How hard can it be? But in this case, the Korean soup stock base is something I probably can't duplicate. I tasted it first when we were down in DC and went to the fabulous H Mart, about which I have already told you. Remember? Are you paying attention?

The beef base and Japanese rice condiments

Korean Soup

Soak a handful of shitake mushrooms in hot water until soft, about 20 minutes.
Heat 3 cups of water and add two tsp of soup base. Simmer until base is disolved, about five minutes. Add shittakes and several handfuls of fresh spinach. Cook until spinach wilts. Add a tsp of sesame oil and a tablespoon of soy sauce. Eat. Yum.

Spinach Salad

2010-02-04T05:26:00.000-05:00

This recipe for Spinach Salad came from my sister. She used to own a little cafe and people would clamor for the recipe for the dressing. She wouldn't give it out. But she gave it to ME! Now that the cafe is closed, I feel she wouldn't mind if I published it.

I had planned on taking a picture of Hannah making the dressing, but I decided to shoot some impromptu video. It's not great, but hey, don't watch if you don't want to.

I filled the memory card on the camera before I finished the video. Oh well. We topped some lovely spinach with bacon, hard cooked eggs, red onion, and mushrooms and drizzled the dressing over the top. One of my favorites! Hannah's, too!

Aunt Joy's Spinach Salad
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/4 c wine vinegar
1/4 c sugar
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried minced onion
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp poppy seeds

We also made Roasted Garlic Pesto with shrimp and linguine. Really good. I pan-seared the shrimp instead of just sauteing them. I like the nice brown crust pan searing gives shrimp. Maybe that'll be my next video.

Turkey Leftovers, the sequel

2010-02-03T15:34:00.000-05:00

It appears my dear cousin doesn't keep up with my blog, as she asked me on Facebook today for ideas for turkey leftovers. I am so utterly gracious, I will give her some new ones in addition to the ones here.

I am just going to link to a few recipes today as I don't have time to enter any. Here is green mole from Bon Appetit. I made this a few years ago and it was great. Just make the sauce and then heat the leftover turkey in it.

Another easy leftover turkey recipe: Get some Dinosaur Barbeque sauce and make some hot turkey sandwiches with cole slaw.

Here is my Grandma Toni's/ Grandma Foodie (my mom)'s recipe for cole slaw, It is the best EVER!

Thinly slice cabbage. Add chopped celery and red onion. Put in MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF sliced GREEN OLIVES WITH PIMENTO. This is the KEY ingredient. They used to put a bottled dressing on it that is no longer available. I find this recipe to be a good substitute.

1 1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
salt, to taste

Mix it all together and toss.

English Chicken Curry

2010-02-01T17:46:00.000-05:00

Grandma Foodie is off in Florida visiting relatives and cooking dinner for massive crowds almost every night. She called and requested I put up this recipe from her dear friend in California, Sandy. Sandy is from the U.K. and this recipe is an authentic version of English Curry, which as you may (or may not) know is the British adaptation of Indian food from Colonial days. While the Indians may turn up their noses at it, I would not. You'd be bloody daft not to try it, too. (Do you like my sly British vocab references? I find myself ever so clever. Simply brilliant.)

The point is: this is damn good stuff. I made it to take down to DC with us on our recent trip. It is a great dish to make ahead, you can adjust the quantity as needed, and everybody loves it. Even my mother-in-law. Which is saying something, because, hey, if it is not Italian, it is "so unusual".

As Sandy said, this is her own made-up recipe, so adjust the spices as you like. It also has no measurements. Sorry., but it will be good practice for you.

Sandy's Chicken Curry

Add plenty of sliced onions to pan and fry in ghee or oil for about 20 minutes, slowly until golden brown. Add lots of chopped garlic and fresh grated ginger. Fry for two minutes. In another pan, add ghee or oil and add garam masala, cumin, coriander, tumeric, red pepper flakes, and curry powder. Use them to your taste, but use a little at a time.

Add onions to spices after they have been fried. In another pan, brown chicken thighs for a few minutes, then add to onion mix along with a couple of chopped tomatoes, use canned if you like, half a cup of coconut cream, and salt and pepper. Sandy also adds some par-boiled, chopped potatoes, but you do as you like. Simmer with lid on for 20 mins, then with lid off for 10 mins. Add a little water or cream if it is too dry. Serve sprinkled with cilantro and over basmati rice.

There you go, Grandma Foodie, get cookin'.

Saturday Night with Six Teenagers

2010-01-31T11:05:00.001-05:00

Hannah had a sleepover last night. As I write, the girls are slumbering away. When they wake up, they will find breakfast burritos and crepes waiting for them. Last night, I made them Indian food. They are organizing a sock-hop dance for the younger girl scouts in our area. They have picked a Bollywood theme and last night they were doing some planning for the event. We ordered Indian garb, they watched Bollywood movies, danced Bhangra and ate food they had never had before. They learned about another culture by having fun with it. Now they can pass some of this along to the littler girls. Isn't this what girl scouts is supposed to be about? I think so. I think its great. These girls have been together since first grade and they are turning into fine young women who love and support each other. And they don't seem to care if the other kids at school know they are still girl scouts.

I wanted to make them interesting food that wasn't too spicy. I happened to run across this recipe for chicken masala from Bon Appetit the same day they asked if they could sleep over. It was perfect. I think the chicken could have used more garam masala, but other than that, it was a great introduction for them. I purposefully made this rather than a more traditional masala as I didn't want them to be turned off by the spiciness. The rest of the Bon Appetit menu included cumin-roasted carrots and cucumber raita. I also made potato samsoas and an onion dal, and served some flat bread I had picked up at the Indian market. Oh, and guacamole, because they requested it.

Here are the recipes for breakfast burritos and onion dal:

Breakfast burritos

1 six ounce chub chorizo (Mexican chorizo, not the hard Spanish kind)
2 small potatoes, or one medium, grated coarsely or very finely chopped
10 eggs, beaten
6 ounces grated cheddar cheese
Flour Tortillas

Crumble the chorizo into a frying pan and cook until it looks like the chorizo is almost melted, about 4 mins. Add the potatoes and saute until they are cooked through, stirring often, and adding some butter to the pan if it looks like the potatoes will stick. Stir in the eggs and cook until set. Make sure you add some butter to the skillet before the eggs if it looks like the eggs will stick. The last thing you want it is a big mess of stuck on egg in your pan. Yuck. And hard to clean. Just put in some damn butter, will you?

You can either stir the cheese into the egg mixture now, or top each burrito with some as you make them. I like to stir it in as it seems to melt better.

Heat the flour tortillas in the microwave for a few seconds so that they are nice and hot and soft, or cook them individually on top of the stove burners the old-fashioned way. I usually go with heating them on the burner like a little old Mexican lady, but if I have to make a bunch of burritos I do them in the nuker.

Fold like a burrito and wrap in foil. They will stay hot for a while. They can also be saved this way and heated later in the oven or microwave. Or make a bunch and freeze them and the kids can heat them for school-day breakfasts.

Onion Dal
This recipe is easily doubled, which I usually do, because it is really good.

6 T oil or ghee
scant 1/2 cup masoor dal (red or yellow lentils)
1 small bunch scallions, chopped
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 cove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 3/4 c water
1 tsp salt

Garnish
1 fresh jalapeno, minced
1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped

Heat the oil and add scallions, cooking until slightly browned. Add ginger, garlic, chili powder, and tumeric. Stir fry the spices for a minute or two. Add the dal and the water, reduce heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes until dal are tender. Add salt, stir, and garnish with jalapeno and cilantro.

Will Spring Ever Come?

2010-01-29T07:17:00.000-05:00

I have hit the winter doldrums full throttle.

I want to cook warm, comforting foods, soups, stews, risottos, but I'm going nuts trying to come up with some recipes that the kids won't turn up their noses at. Not that I care too much, mind you. I am of the belief that if I cook it, you will eat it. I'm not making alternative menus just because the little darlings don't like my lentil and ham soup. Which is really good, by the way. It seems the little darlings mostly want pasta. And I get sick of pasta.

What I am dreaming of right now is chives. I keep thinking about those tender green shoots erupting from the earth, tempting me to make chive and marcona almond puree to drizzle over bruschetta smeared with salted ricotta cheese. Or chive and cheddar biscuits. Or chive-flecked flans floating in a clear mushroom chicken broth.

I miss the farmer's market. Yes, it is still open this time of year, but you must brave the cold and all they really have right now are potatoes and onions and stuff flown in from Florida or California or Chile. I crave fresh garlic scapes and overly-large green onions, daring you to bite their heads off.

Boy, am I waxing poetic.

If your kids won't fuss too much, go ahead and try this soup. It is really good. maybe they'll like it.

Ham and Lentil Soup

1 ham bone or ham hock
6 cups water
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 c red or yellow lentils (I used yellow urid dal lentils from the Indian store because that's what I had on hand)
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 bay leaf
1/2 c chopped onion

Throw everything in a pot. Cook for a couple of hours until lentils are soft and ham falls off the bone. Remove bone from soup, shred ham and return meat to soup. Serve with nice crusty rolls.

The Nerve of Some People

2010-01-28T06:16:00.000-05:00

Really. I know some of you are actually taking my advice and trying a few of my recipes here and there. But seriously, if you have more readers than I do, you really shouldn't try to humiliate me by taking over my territory. Especially if you're all nice, and happy, and wholesome (at least on the surface. I know what lurks behind all the goody-two-shoes stuff.) People might get the wrong idea, they might think you can be encouraged to try some new recipe instead of beaten into submission where you just cry, "Okay, June, I'll do it! Please just don't hurt me anymore!" (Substitute "Mom" for "June" and you have a glimpse at my parenting style, too.)

But, invade my turf she did. And she did it well, too. Try her suggestions. I have been baking a similar, although slightly less complicated, version of 5 minute bread for a couple of years now. Alex calls it "Little slices of heaven."
http://rochester.kidsoutandabout.com/main-articles/EasiestArtisanBread.html

Best Chocolate Pudding Ever

2010-01-26T16:59:00.001-05:00

We have been chocolate deprived around here for a while.

I haven't been baking, all the Christmas goodies are gone and I just don't buy packaged cookies, but you knew that.

I was thinking today while driving Hannah home from the orthodontist that I might have to bake some chocolate chip cookies today, but that just didn't seem to ignite my fire.

What I really wanted was something creamy.

I thought about making chocolate mousse. The last time I made chocolate mousse, I think I used every bowl in my kitchen. I didn't have the energy to wash that many bowls.

Then I had an "Aha!" moment.

What would be creamy and delicious, not that far off from chocolate mousse and not use every bowl I own? Why chocolate pudding of course!

I found this recipe. I made it. Because I could. And because I had all the ingredients already in the house. You probably do, too. So make it.

(I don't keep whole milk in the house all the time, so I used 2 cups 2% milk and 1 c cream, which I do keep in the house all the time)

Silky Chocolate Pudding
Adapted from John Scharffenberger
Serves 6
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole milk
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped ( I used toll house chocolate chips, augmented with some milk chocolate chips to give it more milk chocolately-ness, but you could use bittersweet if you like dark chocolate.
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (Don't even think about using the artificial crap.)
1. Combine the cornstarch, sugar and salt in the top of a double boiler. Whisk in the milk with a wire whisk. Place over simmering water and stir occasionally, scraping the bottom and sides. Use a whisk as necessary should lumps begin to form. After 15 to 20 minutes, when the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of the spoon, add the chocolate. Continue stirring for about 2 to 4 minutes, or until the pudding is smooth and thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
2. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer (or skip this step if you’re a slacker like me who is absolutely certain that there is nary a lump her puddin’) into a serving bowl or into a large measuring cup with a spout and pour into individual serving dishes.
3. If you like pudding skin, pull plastic wrap over the top of the serving dish(es) before refrigerating. If you dislike pudding skin, place plastic wrap on top of the pudding and smooth it gently against the surface before refrigerating. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days (ahem, good luck with that).

Cream of Mushroom soup

2010-01-25T08:19:00.000-05:00

I haven't railed against a disgusting packaged food for a while. I think I'll rectify that. Recently another blogger from far away suggested that one of the things she misses about living in the states is Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.

All I can say is "Ewww".

I don't know if I can think of a more vile concoction. It's gelatinous plop and the sucking noise it makes as it slides out of the can in one cohesive glob make me almost want to vomit in my mouth. It certainly doesn't inspire me to want to cook anything. Grandma Foodie did used to make green bean casserole with it at Thanksgiving and as a child I did enjoy it, but I haven't eaten that vile amalgamation in decades. Bon Appetit did publish a nice alternative to the recipe found on the back of the onion can a few years ago. Even nicer if you frizzle some shallots as a topping.

But since it is past Thansgiving, we shall leave those musings for next fall. I can't think of any thing else for which one would consider using cream of mushroom soup. I don't think anyone would just make it straight from the can and eat it as is, would they? Maybe a certain culinarily challenged neighbor (who shall remain nameless).

But really, mushrooms are simply too marvelous to make any second rate substitutions. (Think mushrooms in a can. Double Eww). I could write volumes about my favorite mushrooms recipes. So, I'll leave you with a couple of them. They are both fabulous and both creamy.

Stuffed portobellos

4 portobello caps
1 shallot, minced
2 T butter
1 T flour
1/2 cream
1/4 cup parmesan or mozzarella, depending on how gooey you like it. Use mozzarella for gooey, parmesan for sharper. Or use both, I don't care.
2 Cups fresh spinach, blanched.
1 T sundried tomatoes or pine nuts, whichever strikes your fancy. Or neither.

Saute the shallot in the butter until soft. Add the flour and whisk until combined. Add the cream. Stir in the cheese and spinach and sun dried tomatos or pine nuts. Fill the mushroom caps and stick 'em in the oven for about 10 minutes until the caps are cooked through. Run under the broiler quickly to brown the tops, adding a bit more parmesan, if desired.

Chestnut porcini soup (adapted from Bon Appetit)
1/3 cup dried porcini mushrooms (about 1/2 ounce)
3 cups hot water
2 cups vegetable stock or canned vegetable broth
2 1/4 cups peeled roasted chestnuts (about 1 1/4 pounds) or jarred chestnuts (about 12 ounces), coarsely chopped
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons dry Sherry
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
2 large shallots, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 small rutabaga, finely chopped
Combine porcini mushrooms and 3 cups hot water in medium bowl. Let stand until porcini mushrooms soften, about 15 minutes.
Drain porcinis and put in a saucepan. Add porcini soaking liquid to saucepan, leaving any sediment behind in bowl. Add vegetable stock and chestnuts to same saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes to blend flavors. Puree soup with your hand stick blender or in the regular blender. just be careful if you do in the regualr blender. Do small batches, otherwise you'll have hot soup all over yourself and your kitchen. (Been there. Done that) Return soup to saucepan. Add cream and 1 tablespoon Sherry. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.
Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add shallots, carrot and rutabaga; sauté until tender and beginning to brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon Sherry. Season with salt and pepper.
Ladle soup into bowls. Top with vegetables and serve.

Looking for inspiration

2010-01-18T15:55:00.001-05:00

I am having a no-inspiration day. I can't decide what to cook for dinner. I have quite a lot of stuff in the fridge and freezer that needs to be used, so most likely I will throw something together with what's lurking around.

I have some prosciutto and peas and cream, so it is possible I will make pasta with those ingredients. How easy is that? This easy:

Cook pasta until al dente. That means don't overcook it; if you go as long as it says on the package it will be a mushy mess. It needs to still have a little texture left.

While the pasta is cooking, heat some cream in a small pan. Add chopped prosciutto and thawed peas. When hot, add some Parmesan. I also like to add a little lemon zest sometimes. It gives it a nice clean flavor.

So go ahead, you should pretty much have all the stuff to make this all the time. If you are as cool as I am.

Guacamole

2010-01-17T10:06:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I spent the day cooking for the 50th birthday party of a friend. I agreed to do the catering for her party for fifty of her friends. Why did I do that, you ask? Because I am a masochist. Or crazy. Or I simply can't say no. Or just because she is a friend and I could. Pick one reason. Any of them are valid.

The cool thing is that Grandma Foodie showed up in town on Friday on an unrelated mission. But while she was here, I recruited her to help. So yesterday we cooked. And we cooked. And we cooked some more after I knocked an entire tray of completed enchiladas on the floor. Yes, I did. It happens. Nobody's perfect. I'm fairly close, but not quite there. Yet.

The challenging part of making this food was that it needed to be largely gluten free, as well as kosher, and contain no nuts or nut oils. So I chose to make Mexican. You can do a lot with cheese and corn. We made cheese and chili enchiladas, Mexican Caeser salad, rice, beans, guacamole, salsa, black bean and corn salsa, and arepitas.

Grandma Foodie and I cook well together. She usually has better ideas than I do, (hey, I had to get it from somewhere didn't I?) and she is just as happy to be a sous chef as a head chef and plus she makes a great dishwasher/organizer. We have differences of opinion about food sometimes, but I am always right and she is always wrong, except when she isn't. One of the areas we disagree on is guacamole. I make great guacamole. Best. Anywhere. Just ask anybody who has eaten it. Grandma Foodie thinks, however, that one should put tomatoes into one's guacamole. All I have to say about that is: fine; go ahead; if you want to ruin your guacamole; but hey, you do whatever you want.

Here is the best guacamole on earth. All measurements are approximate, you'll have to adjust it until it tastes good, like mine. Which I guess is a problem if you've never tasted my guacamole. Just do your best.

Guacamole
2 ripe avocados
Juice of 1/2 to 1 lime
1 large clove chopped garlic
1/3 c chopped red or green onion
Cayenne or Tabasco. Or some of both.
Salt to taste. (A lot, probably at least a teaspoon, maybe more)

This recipe is easily adjusted to larger quantities. yesterday, we made fourteen avocado's worth.

Mash avocados with a fork. Add other ingredients. The ones that will need adjusting are the lime juice, salt, and cayenne/ Tabasco. Start with a little, taste, add more. You can always add more, but you can't take it out. Fry some corn tortillas for chips, Tostitos are for losers.

Pay it Forward

2010-01-11T16:29:00.000-05:00

So of course by now you've figured out that I consider bestowing my knowledge of cooking on you as paying it forward. I know, I share, you benefit. But I can only be so crass for so long. Once in a while I have to let down my smart-assy-ness and show juist a bit of sincerity and humanity. I am not hard-hearted, after all.

I received a "kreative blogger" award from my friend over at Hope Radio. I am supposed to list seven things about myself that you don't know and then pass the award on to seven other bloggers.

Here we go:
1. I've been told by more than one person that they were afraid of me when they first met me.

2. I will only insult you if I really like you.

3. When I was 18 I carried out groceries at Corona Del Mar Gelson's for Harriett Nelson.

4. I didn't know I was pregnant with my third child until I felt her kick at 4 months.

5. I told my daughter at age 7 that Ben and Jerry's Rain Forest crunch contained alcohol, so she wasn't allowed to eat it.

6. I once road my horse home from the bar drunk (me not the horse) putting the snaffle bit backwards in his mouth. He didn't buck me off. When I dismounted, though, I fell flat on my back on the grass. He put his head down next to me and ate the grass.

7. My favorite thing is to drink champagne and cook dinner for my family while listening to jazz. You probably already knew that, though, so it shouldn't count.

So, here are my "Kreative Blogger" awards. That's "Creative Blogger for the un-spelling challenged.

Here's my problem, though: all my favorite bloggers already got this award!

Hope gave it to my favorite blog of all time" Castra Praetoria. This guy went to Iraq about the same time as my son did. It was so good to read some funny stuff and see some pictures of places I knew Ben had actually been. He still writes some very funny, biting, and insightful commentary. Plus, he's a Marine who likes martial arts, just like my boy. (Did you all not know that Ben is not only a big-badass Marine, he is also a second degree black belt in Karate? He can kick your ass. Or protect it, as he felt the need to protect me when I took off down a dark alley in New York City following a Chinese woman who promised me cheap knock-off handbags, He thought I was nuts and proceeded to practically run after me. I was fine. Since he wasn't a Marine at the time, he didn't know that I am as tough as they get. I raised a Marine.)

Laura is also a great blogger. She of course, started this blog for me and wrote the first post. She also wrote my profile, which makes me laugh so much I have never changed it. I'll have to admit I like her old blog better when she wrote about her life in our little Fisher Price village as she calls it. She now blogs as part of her job and while I am not terribly interested in all of the bird stuff, she remains a great writer and a fabulous photographer, even if she isn't so great in the kitchen. (Although I don't know, she DID make Boeuf Bourguignon yesterday. I may be getting through to her). Read the old blog, linked above to read a very funny, well written story about ME!

Another old blog (do you see a theme here) is Priscilla's. I wish she would start up again.

I also love Janet Reid's blog. I have no aspirations to publish a book, but she is so funny, she makes me want to send a query just to see if I could get a response. Or a mention in her blog as a dumb-ass.

I have also recently started reading TexasHeather's blog. While she is not a smart ass, she is a good ole Texas girl who finds herself transplanted to Brazil. Good Stuff.

I have a soft spot for Marine bloggers. One Marine's view is really good.

and Cake Wrecks is hysterical,

You'll notice a distinct lack of other food bloggers. That's because I don't read them. Most of the time, they just irritate me.

And I haven't written about food at all today. No time to post any recipes, Hannah needs to check her Facebook. Like, Now, Mom!

For dinner, I'm making pan-seared salmon with a lemon-sherry reduction, roasted broccoli, some type of yet to be determined risotto, and salad with blue cheese and some kind of fruit, probably dried apricots and toasted pecan. Wait, make that prosciutto wrapped baked salmon. See, I have a plan. A nice, changeable plan.

My good friend Laura

2010-01-10T19:03:00.001-05:00

Ever the fun-lover, Laura gave us all a good laugh last night at wine night by bringing her special appetizer. As we texted her, "Get your a** down here. What's taking you so long?" She replied, "I'm putting the finishing touches on my appetizer! Be there in a minute." I shuddered with fear and texted back, "Please don't." But show up with an appetizer she did. Here it is:

Yes, that is saltine crackers and american cheese, artfully arranged on a platter. It is all in the presentation, right?

She is such a good sport, it is hard to make fun of her for her single-minded interest in birding. She talked so much about the crows she was tracking yesterday that today I noticed the gathering of them she told us about. This was ironic, because at the time, Laura was in her kitchen, exhausting herself over Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. Now, Laura did not decide to make this all on her own. She asked me this morning for ideas about what to do with her pork roast. Well, what kind of pork roast, I inquired. She couldn't remember exactly, so she called her husband. "A beef top round" came the answer. So, there we have just a little bit of insight into Laura's approach to food: she can't even recall exactly what it is that she wants to cook. As she good-naturedly giggled that away, I suggested to her that she made Ms. Child's signature dish. I pulled out my copy of MTAOC and coached her through the recipe. "You can do it" I told her. "Julia brought this dish to American housewives on the first episode of The French Chef. I was practically a cheerleader with my encouragement. I even lent her my enameled casserole because she didn't own a suitable fire-proof, oven-safe dish. The last text I received from her said "My beef bougnonne or whatever smells out of this world, but you failed to tell me it would be an hour and half of prep. You lied. Laying on the couch exhausted." Well, not really, Laura. It probably shouldn't have taken quite so long, but hey, it did and I hope you find the reward worth the effort. There is a lot to be said for spending time in the kitchen, making something special that will reward you far more with its taste and your own sense of accomplishment. You go girl, I'm proud of you.

Here is the recipe. My caveat: bacon with rind can be hard to find. Feel free to leave it out.

Ingredients:

Serves 6

Kitchen Supplies:

9- to 10-inch, fireproof casserole dish , 3 inches deep
Slotted spoon

Boeuf Bourguignon:

6 ounces bacon
1 Tbsp. olive oil or cooking oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef , cut into 2-inch cubes
1 sliced carrot
1 sliced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. flour
3 cups full-bodied, young red wine , such as a Chianti
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 tsp. thyme
Crumbled bay leaf
Blanched bacon rind
18 to 24 small white onions , brown-braised in stock
1 pound quartered fresh mushrooms , sautéed in butter
Parsley sprigs

Remove rind from bacon, and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the stewing beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sautéing fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove casserole, and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers
very slowly for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.

When the melt is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.

Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables. Recipe may be completed in advance to this point.

For immediate serving: Covet the casserole and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley.

For later serving: When cold, cover and refrigerate. About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to the simmer, cover, and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

Copyright © 1961, 1983, 2001 by Alfred A. Knopf.

Foccacia

2010-01-09T09:56:00.001-05:00

Tonight I am going to Priscilla's for Women Who Wine (Whine) Night. The rule is that everyone brings either a bottle of wine or an appetizer. Or both. Usually we have so much food we can't eat it all. Most of the time it is all really good. We have only one friend who doesn't cook at all, but she shops well. I may have mentioned that I am bringing the arepitas from food and wine magazine. But I also decided that I needed to be sure to get the lion's share of attention for my cooking so I decided that I would make a foccacia to go with whatever stewishy thing P makes. I make really good foccacia.

The cool thing about making it is that you can make a really simple pizza-like dough and do whatever you want to it. The key is to drizzle it with lots of olive oil and Parmesan. Anything you add after that is up to your whim and the contents of your refrigerator. I like Kalamata olives, rosemary, caramelized onions, garlic, and lots of salt and pepper. Make lots of indentations with your fingers to hold all of your best green, extra virgin olive oil. Kids love foccacia. Sometimes it is hard to get them to eat the rest of the dinner it is so good. But as I am sure you can guess, I don't really go for picky-eater kids in my house. I made it. You're eating it. 'Nuff said. And believe me, if you stick to that, consistently, your kids will enjoy a wide variety of foods. Mine love the bibimbap that I last wrote about, fernbrake and all. They also like Vietnamese, Italian, Russian, Mexican, Chinese, and well, just about anything. I grew up the same way, Grandma Foodie is a great cook, and she likes to experiment, too. It has served us all well to enjoy lots of different kinds of cuisine.

So try this. You'll like it. Adapted from Tyler Florence.

Foccacia

2 teaspoons rapid-rising dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt or fleur du sel
1/4 cup olive oil
Cornmeal, for dusting

Toppings:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
10 Kalamata olives, pitted and quartered
1 cup shredded Parmesan
1 tablespoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
2 T sun-dried tomatoes

Directions

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, proof the yeast by combining it with the warm water and sugar. Stir gently to dissolve. Let stand 3 minutes until foamy. Turn mixer on low and slowly add the flour to the bowl. Dissolve salt in 2 tablespoons of water and add it to the mixture. Pour in 1/4 cup olive oil. Mix until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and fold over itself a few times. Form the dough into a round and place in an oiled bowl, turn to coat the entire ball with oil so it doesn't form a skin. Cover with plastic wrap or damp towel and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Coat a sheet pan with a little olive oil and corn meal. Once the dough is doubled and domed, turn it out onto the counter. Roll and stretch the dough out to an oblong shape about 1/2-inch thick. Lay the flattened dough on the pan and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, coat a small saute pan with olive oil, add the onion, and cook over low heat for 15 minutes until the onions caramelize. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Uncover the dough and dimple with your fingertips. Brush the surface with more olive oil and then add caramelized onions, garlic, olives, cheese, salt, pepper, sun dried tomatoes and rosemary. Bake on the bottom rack for 15 to 20 minutes.

Bibimbap

2010-01-08T05:47:00.000-05:00

My sister-in-law introduced us to a new dish: bibimbap. You have to like it just for the name. Sounds kinda funky, doesn't it? Bibimbap is a Korean dish of rice, vegetables, and meat with a sweet-hot red chili sauce and a fried egg on top. It is one of those great dishes that can be really simple or quite complex depending on the contents of your pantry and your whim. Traditionally, it is served with carrots, bean sprouts, lettuce, mushrooms, and fernbrake. I have also made it with nori, daikon pickles, and bell peppers. You can pretty much use any vegetable you want.

Here's what to do:

Marinate some thinly sliced beef in some Korean barbeque sauce. I buy it. You can make it if you want. Sliver some carrots, lettuce, and soak some dried shittakes. Saute the carrots for about two minutes in 1 T sesame oil. Arrange those ingredients on a platter along with some sliced daikon pickle. Put some sliced nori in a separate bowl.

Soak some fernbrake (dried bracken, pretty much it's dried ferns) for 30 mins or so. Boil them for another thrity minutes, then drain, squeeze out any excess water and cut into two inch pieces. Mix in 1 clove of garlic and 1 T soy sauce. Heat 1 T vegetable oil in the same pan you did the carrots in and saute the fernbrake for two to three minutes. Arrange on the platter. Heat 1 T vegetable oil in the same pan and saute the marinated beef, Put it on the platter.

Dish some cooked rice into a bowl and arrange your choice of veggies on top. Top off with a fried egg, and some Korean chili paste. If you can't find that, try some sriracha sauce, you can get that anywhere. Mix everything together. Drizzle with sesame oil if you like. Eat it.

Went to DC for Grocery Shopping

2010-01-05T15:46:00.000-05:00

So sorry I have neglected you again. My dear husband (is there an emoticon for "gag-me"?) took the kids down to his hometown to visit with relatives. We stayed at the home of his brother and his wife. His wife is a fantastic cook. She consistently makes delicious, original, gourmet (I actually hate that word) food from high quality, fresh ingredients. I wish I could find a way to insult her, but it is not possible. She introduced me to a fantastic new food from Argentina, arepitas. They were so good. A dough of corn masa is mixed with queso fresco (fresh cheese) and chorizo, then rolled out and fried until golden. Super, super yummy. I'm making them this Saturday to take to Priscilla's for wine night. Because i have to bring the best food to wine night. It is a matter of personal pride. Imagine if I, the Mendon Foodie, were outdone. Not acceptable to me. But luckily, I have a great recipe in hand with which to show off, thanks to Irina.

In addition to eating eating all of Irina's fantastic food, I went grocery shopping. Museums, you say? Monuments? Hell no, I went for the marvelous ethinic groceries and Trader Joe's stores that we don't have up here in the frigid north. I bought real chorizo, good tortillas, crema, and different quesos at the Dominican grocery. I stocked up on Grade B maple syrup and lentil crisps at Trader Joe's. But the best of all was H Mart. H Mart had aisles and aisles of every kind of asian ingredient possible. They had a man roasting nori (seaweed) right there. It was so fresh and tender, it melted in my mouth. Employees don't just offer samples of prepared food, they use featured ingredients to make incredible Korean foods. We tasted sea bass, four kinds of kimchee, dumplings, tofu, chicken, and probably at least three or four other dishes. One of my favorites was fish cake soup. If you can locate the ingredients at your local asian market, try this soup. You can make it in about 15 minutes and you will be so happy you did.

2 tsps Korean beef broth base (I suppose you are surprised I'm not berating you into making your own beef stock. Normally, I would, but this soup was so good, I'm afraid to mess with it. If you can't get Korean beef broth base, go ahead and use your homemade stock from the freezer.)
3 cups water
5 dried anchovies
1 jalapeno, diced
3 green onions
6-7 Korean fish cakes

Heat the water, beef broth base, and anchovies on the stove until simmering. Add the fish cakes and jalapenos. Cook until fish cake is heated through. Sprinkle on green onions right before serving.

So, I think I'll be taking you on an Asian cooking adventure for a while. I'm all stocked up on sesame oil and gyoza sauce, so I'll post some of the better recipes as I go along. Priscilla will no doubt have lots to say, but even though she lived in China for five years doesn't mean she knows everything about cooking. Neither do I, but whatever I so write about, I am sure about. So take my advice.

Picture of the fantastic Argentinian dinner Irina made.

Deb, even grocery store workers deserve a day off on Christmas

2009-12-27T07:58:00.000-05:00

I know we are all conditioned to twenty four hour a day access to grocery stores, but even they are closed on Christmas. My friend, Deb, discovered this to her dismay when she attempted to buy supplies for her Christmas dinner on Christmas morning. Quel Surprise! Well, I, the Mendon Foodie, bailed her out. In my well-stocked fridge I possessed the green beans and sweet potatoes she desperately needed. So she trekked down here to score some vittles to go along with her turkey (which she HAD remembered to get earlier in the week). And here, I will admit, she also bailed me out. Yes, I, the MENDON FOODIE, thought I had enough potatoes for fifteen people. I was sadly mistaken. Just as I was about to start calling all of neighbors, humbling myself and admitting to less than perfect menu planning, Deb bailed me out with five pounds of potatoes. The miserly amount of potatoes I possessed before that would have caused a lot of pushing and shoving amongst my guests to score an amount adequate enough to support the crispy shallot and Riesling gravy topping. But all was well, thanks to Deb. It was a mutually beneficial trade.

While she was here and we were chatting, I asked her if she needed anything else. She said she was fine, she was making a pie for dessert and she was even going to make the crust herself. Now, I have been hammering it into her head that it is not that hard to make a crust. I even showed her she could do it with very little trouble. All you need is a cuisinart and a rolling pin. And some pie flour. Yes, pie flour. If you think the only kind of flour you need in your kitchen is all-purpose, you are sadly mistaken and should beg me for the privilege of being my cooking apprentice. Really. Because you really need at least five kinds of flour.

Pie flour has low gluten and will yield flaky, tender pastry.
Bread, or high gluten, flour will give you high rising bread. The extra gluten allows more space to develop which traps the air and makes bread rise better.
All-purpose, unbleached flour. Make sure you buy unbleached.
Wondra or pan-searing flour. For dusting protein before browning and for lump free sauces. You can stir it in without mixing it with liquid and it will not clump. Awesome stuff if you have misjudged your sauce and it is too thin.
Cake flour, similar to, but not interchangeable with, pie flour.

I will let you get away with just having those five. There is also corn flour, rye flour, whole wheat flour, and probably many more I can't even think of at the moment. But stock your kitchen with those five. Now.

So, I magnamimously bestowed two cups of pie flour on Deb and sent her home to make pie and turkey. I proceeded to make Porcini mushroom and chestnut soup with sauteed root vegetables. It was awesome. As was the rest of my Christmas dinner.

Happy New Year.

A Christmas Gift for Laura

2009-12-24T10:25:00.000-05:00

I have been cooking my brains out now for two straight days. Tonight we have the Feast of the Seven fishes, with only five fishes this year. We'll have Shrimp Bisque, scallops wrapped in bacon with maple mustard cream sauce, spicy calamari with lemon aioli, salad with shrimp, avocado, and oranges, and linguine with clam sauce. No time to post the recipes now, comment if you want a specific recipe and I'll post it after Christmas.

So my gift to Laura, she whom I have tormented and abused in this space for so long?

I will write about my grassland birds.

I live on five acres in semi-rural Mendon, New York. We mow a couple of the acres, but the rest is wild. We call it our meadow, but Laura calls it grassland. It is so wet it could conceivably be called a wetlands. We have animals of every sort: deer, of course, skunks, raccoon, fox, chipmunks, moles, voles, rabbits, squirrels, you name it, if it is indigenous to our region, we have it. But the thing of which we do have the most variety is birds. I can't even begin to tell you or name all the kinds I have seen in my backyard. Two of my favorites though are the hawks and falcons which lazily float above the weeds and then dive suddenly for their kill. Once Laura pointed two of them out who were doing some sort of mating ritual in the sky. It was lovely. My other favorite bird activity on my land is when hundreds of smallish birds gather on my lawn en masse. They are quite small, and unremarkable looking, but I love to see when they gather and then just as much, when they suddenly depart, all together, as if some unheard signal went racing through the flock. I have seen beautiful, if ordinary, birds in my yard: bluejays, cardinals, robins, canadian geese on their way south or north, some bird which runs across my driveway when I approach, apparently to distract me from finding its nest.

My all time-favorite though? A recent sighting of a ring-necked pheasant just on the edge of the field. He was glorious. I though he was a wild turkey until Laura set me straight.

Now, Merry Christmas, Laura, shall we have some recipes on Birds, Words, and Websites? Oh, that's right, she's about a good a cook as I am a nature writer.

Cheese Beroges

2009-12-17T07:49:00.000-05:00

So, I am wracking my brain, trying to decide what to cook for Christmas Eve and Christmas. I don't usually do the same thing year after year, like a lot of people do. I find it boring and uninteresting. I don't cook the same things over and over for non-holiday dinners, either. Most people have about fifteen recipes they fall back on repeatedly. Think about it: that means you're eating the same meals about twice a month. I do admit, I have recipes that I go back to again and again, after all, they are good, really good, but I try to mix it up most of the time. Also, my cooking tends to be seasonal. I use what is fresh and cheap and local, when it is available.

Last year, my daughter, the Gates Foodette, relieved me of having to plan and cook two fabulous dinners and a brunch within two days. She had Christmas Eve at her house. It was really good, and fun, and my stress was much less. She is now doing the newly-married-how-to-please-both-families dance, so she will be spending Christmas eve with her husband's family and Christmas Day with us. That means I am back to making big meals two days in a row. Am I worried? Am I tired? I will be...

Here is one of my strategies for lessening stress: make as much ahead as possible. Appetizers and hors d'oevres are probably my favorite part of any meal and I like to take them over the top. A simple, yet fabulous recipe for a make and freeze ahead appetizer is Cheese Beroges. These cheese-filled phyllo triangles can be put together and frozen between layers of waxed paper and then baked frozen, straight from the freezer. If working with phyllo makes you crazy, just keep this in mind: it doesn't have to look perfect. If the dough rips a little here and there, just keep going. The multiple layers will cover those imperfections.

Cheese Beroges

1 C shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese
1 egg yolk
1 T minced parsley
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 pkg phyllo, thawed

Mix first three ingredients and set aside. Place one sheet of phyllo on work surface and brush with melted butter. Cut phyllo into 2 in long strips, starting from the short end, so that you have about four narrow, long strips. Place one tsp of cheese mixture at one end of phyllo and fold into triangles. Brush with more butter. Layer them into a container as you go, or cover with plastic wrap so they don't dry out. Bake at 450 degrees for about ten minutes, until golden brown. Serve hot.

I'll try to update this post with pictures when I make them, but no promises. It's a busy time of year and I have to cook. Don't you?

Random Thoughts on Cooking

2009-12-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

Usually, I try to keep a theme to my posts. Today, I have just had random thoughts about cooking going through my head.

Green bean casserole with mushroom soup and canned onion rings is wrong.
Baking bacon in the oven makes wonderful bacon and it is easy and less messy than frying. Trying coating it with maple syrup and black pepper, too. Yum.
Making up ALL of your own recipes doesn't always result in fabulous food.
Check your cookie making supplies before starting to bake cookies. It sucks to find out at the end that you don't have powdered sugar to make a glaze for your fabulous chocolate surprise cookies.
Cooking dinner should always be done with a glass of wine at hand.
People who have long lists of foods they don't like annoy me.
There is "white trash food" out there that is good. I just haven't found any of it yet. Except maybe jello.
If your only problem with Tastefully Simple food is that it is too expensive you really need to read my blog more.
Should I make turkey for Christmas? We just had it for Thanksgiving. But it was REALLY good.
I think I'm going to make the feast of the seven fishes again for Christmas eve dinner, but leave out Mario Batalli's disgusting salt cod balls. Okay, don't say it, don't even think it.

Meatballs

2009-12-10T07:57:00.000-05:00

Alright, I know I am your cooking guru, and you anxiously await my every dictum from on high, but really, all the shameless begging for recipes is too much. It is Christmas, you know, and I have much cooking to do, let alone churning out blogs twice or three times a week. But, actually, when you beg for specific recipes, it does make my life a little easier...I don't have to pull blog posts out of my rear.

So here are a couple of meatball recipes for Stephanie. The first one is Nonna's, my Italian mother-in-law. They are a family favorite, but a little bland for my taste. The second is my kicked up one. (Lord, I hate that phrase, kicked up, but I couldn't think of a more descriptive adjective. I must be losing my edge).

Nonna's meatball

Have the butcher grind you a pound of sirloin. (This part seems a bit ridiculous to me and I never actually do it, but Nonna does, so I include it here.)
To the ground meat add:
1/2 C parmesan cheese
1/2 breadcrumbs
2 T chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 c minced onion

Add and lightly mix in 4 eggs. Yes, 4 eggs. It seems like a ridculous amount, but that is how much she uses.
Wet hands and form into 3" flat balls. Saute in olive oil and add to sauce to finish cooking.

Okay, that's it. I guess my second meatball recipe isn't actually that much different, I just made a few changes. To the meat add 2 T chopped parsley, 1 tsp cayenne, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 cup ricotta cheese. Yes, ricotta. It makes for incredibly moist and tender meatballs.

So, give it a try. Remember, the two keys to good meatballs: don't overmix, they'll get tough, and don't overcook in the saute pan before you put them in the sauce, they'll get dried out. Buon Appetito!

Grandma Foodie's Hello Dolly recipe

2009-12-07T13:38:00.000-05:00

Apparently, Grandma Foodie lost her copy of her own cookie recipe. A really good one. We call it "Hello Dollies", but I've seen it called "Magic cookie bars", "5 layer cookie bars". I like the Hello Dolly name, because I loved the movie when I was a kid and I think that name is more fun than the others. Here it is, Mom. Everyone else, make it cause it's really good.

Hello Dollies

Melt 1/2 cup butter and mix with 1 C graham cracker crumbs. Press into the bottom of an 8 x 8 square pan. Sprinkle with 1 C chocolate chips, 1 C coconut, 1 C butterscotch chips, and 1 C chopped walnuts. Spoon one can of sweentend condensed milk over it and bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. Sool, cut into squares, and then hide them from your children and eat them all yourself.

Christmas Cookies

2009-12-07T07:04:00.003-05:00

This year, I'll not only be baking Christmas cookies for my family and friends, I'll be sending a big box to some COLD soldiers in Afghanistan. No, they are not Marines, but I love them anyway. As I have said, they are out in on the edge of the earth, and they don't have adequate cold gear. I already sent some caps and gloves and some inferior packaged cookies, but now I must get on to sending them some homemade love. Because, after all, when we cook for our family and friends, when we put our time and our best effort into it, isn't that what we are doing? If we didn't care we would serve Hamburger Helper and chips ahoy. Does it take all that much more effort to make a pasta in fifteen minutes than to make Hamburger Helper? (Well, really, I wouldnn't know, because I have never made it. the Littlefoodie, 15 year old daughter, had it served to her at a friend's house for dinner once. She said it was vile.) And although I do buy packaged cookies from time to time, chocolate chips can be whipped out in 45 minutes if you have a stand mixer and large cookie sheets. Which I do, don't you? Shouldn't everyone have these?

Last year, right before my son left for Iraq, a friend of mine and her daughters made him the most enormous pan of Crusciki (these are a Polish fried cookie drenched in powdered sugar. Their joke is "How long will a Crusciki keep? No one knows, they are always gone by the end of the day") Anyway, the point is, they wanted to show him their love and appreciation, even though they barely knew him, and they did it by investing their time and energy. Could they have gone out and purchased Crusciki or some other gift? Yes. But IT WOULDN'T HAVE MEANT AS MUCH. And believe me, he felt the love. And ate ALL the cookies. Himself. Now, I have asked her for the recipe before, and she did say she would let me publish it, but so far, no dice. You can find a recipe for it on Martha Stewart.com. If Deb coughs it up, I will edit this post and publish it.

So, I will start baking soon and will send some of my family's favorites over to the soldiers. Here is one which I will be sending.

Jam Thumbprints

2/3 C soft butter

1/2 C sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 3/4 c flour

Cream butter and sugar, add yolks and almond extract. Add flour. Shape into balls and press a thumbprint in each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool and fill with jam (homemade currant jelly is great, homemade raspberry will also do). Dust with confectioner's sugar.

Indeed my computer did crash in March of this year. (But I probably have it backed up. While my mind is not inferior (see comments), I may be a little forgetful at times!

*Note, Gates Foodette caught a mistake, the above recipe has been edited since first published. Sheesh.

Chrusciki (Polish Bow Ties)

12 egg yolks
about 5 level tablespoons of sugar
teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
5 VERY heaping tablespoons of sour cream
5 cups of flour (more or less)
A whole can of vegetable shortening for deep frying
Powdered sugar -- a box (you'll need slightly less than a box)

Combine ingredients:

In a LARGE bowl, combine egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Stir until the mixture is a uniform shade of dark yellow. Add the sour cream, and again stir thoroughly until the lumps of sour cream are broken up and the mixture is a uniform light yellow. Then, gradually add the flour until you get a stiff dough.

Knead:

At this point, you have two options: Divide it into four balls and knead each one until your arms feel like they're going to fall off, or divide into two balls and put one into your KitchenAid mixer fitted with a dough hook. My grandmother of course had only Option 1, but I opt for my mixer. It really takes a quite a while to knead, a good 10 minutes in the mixer, which means each ball gets about 15-20 minutes by hand. (My grandmother would recruit the kids to help. I used to do it while watching TV) If you see the dough sticking to the bowl, add a little more flour, but don't add too much or the dough won't be elastic enough. What you want is a very smooth, soft, uniform medium yellow -- it gets a little darker as you go on. I have found that you can only do half the recipe at a time in the mixer.

Roll out the dough:

After it is well-kneaded, divide the dough into manageable pieces -- usually six or eight. Take one of the balls and turn onto a floured surface. Roll out with a rolling pin until very thin--my grandmother used to do roll until she could vaguely see the pattern of her vinyl tablecloth underneath.

Shape the dough:

With a butter knife, cut the dough into long strips about 1-1/2 to 2 inches wide. Cut each strip into lengths of about four inches so you have a lot of rectangles. In the middle of each rectangle cut a small (1 inch) slit going lengthwise.

Pick up one of the rectangles. Take one end of the rectangle and gently bend it toward the center, threading it through the slit in the center and pulling it out back into a rectangle. The rectangle will now have twisty sides and look kind of like a bow tie. Set the bow tie gently on a plate or platter and move on to the next one. It will take a little while to shape all of the rectangles, and you'll notice that the dough from the first ones dry out a little. This is fine. You should end up with well over a hundred chrusciki, I actually never counted. It depends on how big you make each rectangle.

Deep fry:

When you're about 2/3 way through shaping the chrusciki, you can put the vegetable shortening in a large pot with high sides and turn the heat on medium-high so that the shortening melts and heats up while you're finishing shaping the chrusciki.

When you're ready to start frying, take a platter and cover it with paper toweling or a paper bag (which will absorb the grease). It needs to be close, but not too close, to the pot on the stove...close enough so that you don't drip oil between the pot and the plate, but not so close that there is a danger of it catching on fire.

Test out the temperature of the shortening by carefully laying one chrusciki in the pot. It should sink to the bottom and immediately be covered with bubbles and come up to the surface. If it takes more than a few seconds, wait a little while until the shortening is hot enough. When it's right, you'll see that it gets golden really fast, so take care to flip it as soon as you see any browning, usually about 20 seconds or so. As soon as the other side is even a hint of golden brown, it's time to take out. Use a plastic slotted spoon--I use one of those spaghetti utensils and it works great.

But you don't need to fry them one by one! No, you take a handful of raw chrusciki and gently lay it on the surface of the shortening. And then start stirring, flipping gently, until they all seem to be a uniform gold, then remove them from the oil and lay them on the paper-covered platter.

When they cool after a minute, you can transfer them to a large bowl and sprinkle powdered sugar through a sieve onto the chrusciki, turn over and sprinkle again. You'll see that the chrusciki are very delicate and flaky, so you need to be gentle when turning. It's best to work with a partner, here...one monitoring the stove and the other putting the cooked chrusciki in the bowl and adding powdered sugar.

There is an old family joke that goes like this: Question: "What is the shelf life of chrusciki?" Answer: "No one knows, because it never lasts long enough to put back on the shelf."

And how do you pronounce chrusciki? Kroose - cheeky. If you're adventurous, you can roll the R.

June's notes on the recipe (which I have never made, but I just wouldn't be me unless I had a cooking judgement to make: get one of those "spiders" from the asian market. They are about five bucks and they are the best thing ever for removing things from the hot oil. Don't tell Deb, I'm getting her one for Christmas.

On to Christmas

2009-12-01T17:57:00.000-05:00

Well, Thanksgiving is finally over and we had a great one. I made the entire menu out of Food and Wine magazine. Alsatian Brined turkey with Fig and Almond Stuffing. It was incredible.

My sister in law is a great cook, too and she and I enjoyed cooking a few other things together as well. One of which, bibimbap, I had never eaten. It was simple enough for a quick weeknight menu and really good and satisfying. You can find a video and recipe for it here, although I don't think I will ever make it with ground beef. I conveniently had two rib eye steaks in the freezer which were already marinated in Korean bbq sauce, so we pulled those out and used those instead. Now, after you look at the recipe, ask yourself, "Do I have to make it as elaborately as she did for a simple weeknight dinner?" And what do you think the answer is? Well, no, you can make just a few of the vegetables if you're tired, or lazy, or not as awesome as me and my sister in law. (And to my other sister in law, we love you for reasons other than your cooking. Mostly because we have rarely eaten your cooking and take your word for it that you aren't a cook. Although everything I have ever had that you made was good. Except that once. 'nuff said.) So, what are the key components of bibimbap for those of you who aren't as good as I am at getting to the heart of the recipe? Bean sprouts, lettuce (the recipe calls for spinach, but finely chopped raw lettuce is better), carrots,shitake mushrooms, korean chili paste, sesame oil, and egg. And the fun part is, you can chop everything, lay it out on a platter and let everyone top their own rice and mix, then give them an egg for the top. Everyone gets it just the way they like it, spicy, saucy, mild, lots of veggies, little veggies. Who knows, you might even get your kids to eat something other than a chicken nugget. (That is a completely different post).

So give it a try. I'll let you skip the fernbrake. Just find an asian grocery and get yourself some Korean chili paste and sesame oil and you're good to go.

But since we just had that, tonight I am making a stuffed chicken breasts with fennel and pomagranite sauce and roasted carrots, parsnips, and sweet potatoes. As a matter of fact, it is roasting now in the oven even as I write.

For the vegetables:
Peel and cut carrots, parnips, sweet potatoes, and the leftover fennel from the chicken stuffing, coat it all with olive oil and salt and pepper. Throw it in the oven along with the chicken. It might take a little longer than the chicken, but it should be close.

I posted the recipe for the chicken earlier in the year here, but tonight I used fennel instead of leeks, pomagranite seeds instead of any of the other mentioned fruits, and leftover baguette instead of either foccacia or challah. You need to be flexible, mix it up sometimes, as long as you have a good sense for what will work and what will not. I know several of both kinds of cooks.

Speaking of good cooks, I need to send a shout out to my oldest, (I mean the one I've known the longest, not oldest as in elderly) dearest, friend, Diane. Diane is a great cook. She and I have spent many happy times together cooking when I lived in California,a nd although I don't see her as much as I would like, she is always close to my heart.

My God, can you stand that much sincerity from me? I have to go have a drink before I start singing Kumbye-ya.

Pumpkin Pie and some shameless begging (for a good cause)

2009-11-24T16:21:00.001-05:00

I think it must be Priscilla's sister leaving comments and begging me for pumpkin pie recipes. She must not realize that I am SO busy filling the larder that I barely have time to make a decent pre-Thanksgiving Tuesday night meal for my own family let alone post recipes for her! BUT, since she is the sister of my closest friend in the entire world, I'm going to do it. Besides, if I didn't Priscilla might hurt me. Or refuse to bring me and my husband gas when HE runs out because he can't manage to leave early enough to get me to my eye surgery appointment on time AND stop for gas. At 1:00 in the afternoon. But Prissie made it all better. There is nothing like having a friend that will do that for you, who you can insult in the same trip and she will just smile at you and give it back as good as she got. I love her. Truly.

But, if you want my pumpkin pie recipe, you'll have to read to the end and let me guilt you into doing something that will make you feel great in the end. You can make a difference. (Oh, geez, that sounds trite.) Ok, I'm ordering you to make a difference. Just do it. Like all things, because I said so. What do I want you to do, you ask? Go read this post, and give the woman some money. It doesn't have to be a lot. Anything will help. See, the thing is, there are some soldiers in Afghanistan who are cold. Yes, I said COLD. Do you like to be cold? I don't and as I always say, why should I should be cold when we have the technology to prevent it. These soldiers are living out in the middle of nowhere in Afghanistan, far from a FOB, (forward operating base). They don't have the right stuff. It is almost Christmas. You are here, in America, safe and warm. See where I am going with this? Go. Give ten bucks. Or more if you can. What's ten bucks? To the soldiers who are risking their lives in service to our country, it is the difference between being cold and warm. So do it. Please.

http://hoperadio.blogspot.com

So now that I have berated you, I will give you my pumpkin pie recipe. Happy Thanksgiving.

Pie Crust

Super Simple pie crust:

2 Cups cold flour (I use pastry flour when I can get it. I store the bag in the freezer so it is ready to go when I am)

1 stick cold butter cut into small pieces

1 tsp vinegar

2-3 T ice water

Pumpkin pie filling

Cook a small sugar or pie pumpkin in the oven until tender. Just put it in whole. It takes about an hour. Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and then the pulp. You'll need about two cups.

Mix 2 Cups pumpkin with
1 1/2 cups cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
2 eggs

Pour into a pie shell. Bake 15 minutes at 450 and then lower the heat to 350 and bake about 45 mins more until a knife inserted into the pie comes out clean. Cool and serve with whipped cream,

Now, couple of notes: (after all, i wouldn't be me if I didn't tell you what to do, would I?) If you can't get a pie pumpkin you can use canned. Your pie just won't be as good as mine. You can use canned evaporated milk instead of cream, again, your pie will suck. You can use pumpkin pie spice, if you're stupid and like to waste money. Pumpkin pie spice is the spices I listed in the recipe in those proportions, mixed together. You should have all of those spices in your pantry right now, so go ahead and buy pumpkin pie spice if you have money to burn. Or send Hope the money you have to burn and just get out your measuring spoon instead. Peace.

Thanksgiving Salad

2009-11-22T07:07:00.000-05:00

Last night I attended an impromptu pizza and beer party. We had a long day at a Lego Robotics competition, and some of the parents invited everyone over to decompress and for the boys to celebrate their hard work.

I threw this salad together quickly. Everyone loved it. Of course. It is based on a recipe that I found about twenty years ago in some cookbook for kids. The book contained recipes for "authentic" Pilgrim dishes. I don't know if they actually were authentic, but this one at least was good. This "Sallet" does make a lovely first course for your Thanksgiving table. I don't remember the name of the book, or any of the actual proportions of the ingredients in the salad. But does it really matter? Salad is one of those great things that is pretty hard to ruin, unless you douse it in so much dressing that you have a plate of soup left after all the greens are eaten. And believe me, I have had plenty of salad with WAY too much dressing on it. The point is, you want to put just enough to coat the lettuce nicely, but not have it puddle in the bottom of the salad bowl. Try adding dressing a bit at a time and tossing, then adding more if it seems too dry. You'll thank me. You always do.

Pilgrim Sallet
Fill your salad bowl with equal parts spinach or baby salad greens, some sturdy lettuce, like romaine, and cabbage. Yes, cabbage. Just do it. Did I mention that you should TEAR the lettuce first? Do I have to tell you people everything? The one I made last night had about twelve cups of greens, enough for probably eight to ten people, or six who really like salad.

Next, add a half of an English cucumber, sliced. (Don't buy those horrible spongy things that pass as cucumbers in most supermarkets, you know, they call then "cucumbers". No flavor whatsoever. Add some sliced red or green onion, half a red or about three green, and 1/4 cup or so of almonds, pecans, and walnuts. It is better if you toast them first, they have more flavor, but since I was too lazy to toast them yesterday, I will give you a pass, this time. Also add a couple tablespoons of each of chopped sage, parsley, and mint. You have a choice of adding fresh raspberries, pomegranate seeds, currants, or golden raisins. Pick two and add about 1/2 cup total.

For the dressing, I used 1/2 cup of sugar, dissolved in 1/2 cup of cider vinegar, then I added 1/4 cup of walnut oil and about 3/4 of a cup of olive oil. I seasoned the vinegrette with about a teaspoon of kosher salt and a teaspoon of fresh ground pepper. The original recipe calls for plain vinegar and vegetable oil, go ahead and use them if you want, but your salad won't be as good as mine. The cider vinegar is a nice match for the sweetness of the fruit, the walnut oil adds that nice nutty quality, obviously, and I just like olive oil. But hey, you do whatever you want. I'm feeling generous and uncharactistically unbossy. Must be because I love Thanksgiving so much. Or I'm just thankful I don't have to go to another Lego competition for at least a year.

Troop Widget

2009-11-19T07:06:00.000-05:00

I just placed a widget at the bottom of the page (cause that is the only place it would fit where you could still the whole thing.) It is link to Xerox's Let's Say thanks webpage. They will print and send a card that you personalize to troops stationed overseas. Cool. Hubby works for Xerox, so I might as well give them a plug, especially cause they are doing something this cool. Take a minute. Do it, before I hurt you. And while you're at it, you might consider sending a package to someone fighting for our country. You can find names at AnyMarine.com. Or you can go over to the Hope Radio blog that found from reading a different mil blog called Castra Praetoria. Both are great. Hope sends packages to deployed Marines all the time, I know she could hook you up to send a package to someone. Just don't send a package to Any Soldier. It won't get there.

Christmas is coming, and Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines are seperated from their families. They willingly do this, to fight terrorism and defend our country. You can buy good stuff to send at the dollar store. Beef jerky, tuna and chicken packets, condiment packets from fast food places, and SOCKS. Lots of SOCKS. Have you ever thought about not taking a shower or washing your clothes for a month? Can you even imagine? Infantrymen do this all the time. The Marine foodie slept in a hole in the ground and only made it back occasionally to a FOB (forward operating base) to get a shower, hot meal that didn't come from a box, and to get his clothes cleaned. He and his company were out, interdicting suicide bomber vests and weapons caches to actually save people's lives. He is safely home now, happily eating my cooking (who wouldn't happily eat my cooking?) but, there are still plenty of people serving our country who deserve our support. Although my son was in Iraq, he requests that if I am going to send stuff, I send it to Afghanistan.

Look at this picture and see if you think you shouldn't send stuff:

That is a picture of the 5th Marines in Helmand province last July. It is cold now and they are still doing this. Send something. You can get a free box at the post office and it will only cost $11 to mail it. You can find lists of what to send online. Just do it. Please. Happy Thanksgiving.

The Beef

2009-11-18T15:42:00.000-05:00

I think I forgot to tell you that the beef is good. Really good. It is probably the best beef I have ever eaten.

It is a Beltie. Belted Galloway, that is. It comes from a local farm, about twenty miles away, called Green Arpent Farm. They don't have a website. I don't even have their email address. Actually, Deb is the only one who has their contact info. I better be really nice to her and not insult her cooking, even though she did recently use a pie crust from a box, because if I piss her off she might not give me th contact info! Oh, Deb, it really is okay if you use pie crust from a box. Really. I don't think any less of you. I still respect you. (Is that believable enough?)

And clearly, next year, I am going to need more beltie beef. A lot more. Like I might possibly get the entire half a cow. OK, I know it is a steer, but I like saying cow. Sue me.

So far, I have barbequed some steaks, made beef stroganoff with some of the sirloin, sloppy joes for the kiddies (okay, that is pretty lame, but hey, they're kids, they like them.) and pan seared another steak, finishing it with a simple garlic butter. Yum um um Y.

This is grass-fed, no antibiotic, no hormone beef. I didn't think it could make that big of a difference, but wowwee, did it. And the price worked out to around $4.00 a pound, so it is very affordable. I only got an 1/8 of a share this time, but next time, like I said, the freezer is getting packed. If you can buy one, do, If not, beg me for an invitation. I like to watch people beg.

Turkey Leftovers

2009-11-16T20:50:00.000-05:00

I thought I would get a jump on the after Thanksgiving what-to-do-with-all-those-damn-leftovers dilemma for all of you whiners who constantly harass me. "June, what do YOU do with turkey leftovers?"

As part of my pre-blogging research, I asked Priscilla what she thought was the best way to deal with the leftovers. Here are HER top answers

I hate turkey
Throw them out
Make sure you only make enough turkey for Thanksgiving dinner so you don't have leftovers.
Turkey soup is rude. Make it, and then throw it out before you have to eat it.

Now, you have to understand that Priscilla is a great cook, but a very picky eater. She pretty much hates everything that isn't chocolate or a vegetable. And a few things that are vegetables. I mean, this is a woman who was able to easily live in a communist country for five years with no access to butter. I mean really.

So, if you are like Priscilla and really don't like turkey, just make enough for your dinner. How much is that? 3/4 to 1 lb per person. That's for turkey with bones. If you buy a boneless turkey breast for Thanksgiving, or worse, a tofurkey, you are un-American and don't deserve to live in our country. Go move someplace else.

Last year, I wrote a post about how to cook a turkey. You can find it here.

So, after you have cooked the turkey and are facing a huge pile of leftovers, what to do? Well, here's what I do.

I don't make turkey soup. Grandma Foodie makes a really good one, but mine sucks. Well, it doesn't suck, but I can never get it as good as hers, so why bother?
Curried turkey salad. Here is the recipe, just substitute cooked turkey for chicken.
Turkey enchiladas.

Soften corn tortillas by quickly frying them on both sides in vegetable oil until soft. Fill the center with cooked turkey, chopped onions and about a tablespoon of cheddar cheese. Roll and place in a greased 13x 9 pan. Keep going until it is filled. Pour red chili sauce over all and top with more cheese. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Red Chili Sauce: Heat 1 T oil in medium saucepan. Add 1 chopped onion and 1 clove of chopped garlic. Saute until softened. Add 5 dried New Mexico chilies, which you have soaked in hot water until soft. (About 10 minutes) remove the stems and seeds. Saute briefly and then add 3 cups of hot water. Simmer 20 minutes. Puree in blender or food processor. Or buy some at the supermarket.

Turkey Mole

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter1 cup finely chopped white onion
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup chicken broth
4 cups shredded turkey
Tapatio, Tabasco or other hot sauce

In large saucepan, melt butter over moderate heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add tomato paste, almonds, chili powder, oregano, cocoa powder, cinnamon, cloves and cumin; stir well to combine. Add stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in turkey and cook until warmed through, about 3 minutes.
You can eat this as is, like a stew, served with flour tortillas and sour cream for garnish. Or make it into tacos or burritos.

And those are my ideas for leftover turkey. Maybe Priscilla would even eat one of them.

Apple pie filling and the Great Beef Experiment

2009-11-05T19:27:00.000-05:00

If you live in Western New York, like I do, each fall you go into an apple picking, apple eating, apple buying frenzy. It is a sickness, really. New York is the second largest apple producer in the country and damn proud of it. So in the fall, people tend to go a little crazy, apples are cheap, and beautiful, and delicious. We went out to a local apple farm last weekend to go on a haunted hayride through the orchard. See? I can be a nice mommy every now and then. Unfortunately, when we got there the orchard was too muddy for the hayride. How to make it up to the kids? Easy, buy them fresh pressed cider, donuts, and apples. Of course, we got a little carried away with the apples. And then a friend told me she had gotten carried away with the apples and she was bringing some my way. Before I could protest, I had nearly half a peck of apples. (How much is a peck, anyway? It's a lot of apples.) So I am making lots of apple recipes, quite a few of which I have written about before. I decided today that I had so many apples I needed to preserve some of them. I had already made apple butter and home canned apple sauce tastes like baby food. So what to do? I remembered that the same friend who gave me the apples likes to cook her apple pie filling before she puts it in the pie. She says you get more appley goodness. I have been a little skeptical, but I thought, well, I've got all these apples and if I make it, then I can freeze it. So I looked up a recipe. It looked a little gruesome to me. Why the need for so much water and cornstarch? It seemed like a miserly amount of cinnamon to me. No nutmeg. So, I revised. First, instead of water, I used apple cider. I had a lot! But I only used about 4 cups of apple cider instead of the ten cups of water it called for. I also had only had the patience to peel and cut 16 cups of apples, so I went with that. I added only about 1/3 cup of cornstarch, tripled the cinnamon, added a half a tsp of nutmeg, and reduced the sugar to three cups. Here is a picture:

Now, don't get me wrong, it tastes good. Really good. But it does taste a little like canned apple pie filling. And that is where I think the online recipe person went wrong. She was trying to be thrifty and use fewer good ingredients and more filler. Hence, a cup of cornstarch and 10 cups of water. She was making thickened apple flavored water for her pie. Mine has to be thicker than hers or at least have more apples. Therefore, I win. As usual. Should you try it? Probably only if you have so many apples they're coming out your rear. Otherwise, stick to normal apple pie. I'm going to have to ask my friend to make me an apple pie so that I can judge her recipe. Shhh, don't tell her I have a blog.

On a completely different note, MY COW CAME TODAY! I split a 1/4 of a cow with a friend. Grass fed, no antibiotics, no hormones, local beef. Will it be any good? Don't know yet. I'll let you know. So far, my research tells me you need to be sure not to overcook it. Sear it, lower the heat, cook until barely warm in the middle. If you like your meat anywhere past medium rare, you're a heathen. you don't deserve my fabulous beltie beef. Tonight, I am going to pan-sear a t-bone. I don't usually buy t-bones, but several arrived and so I shall cook them. Why don't I cook t-bones, you ask? Because they are just like Porterhouse, ONLY WITHOUT THE FILET. Here are some pics of my booty. I'll let you know how it tastes.

Demi-glace

2009-11-01T08:12:00.000-05:00

So this morning someone was searching for recipes using demi-glace and landed on my blog. The post they landed on described how I made demi-glace and then gave a recipe for English Muffins. A little convoluted, but I never promised you a well-thought out blog. These are just my random musings on food and how I know almost everything there is to know about it. And you don't. So, I do feel a little guilty that I never published any more recipes using the holy grail of brown sauces. So here is one more.

Serve as a topping to any kind of beef or lamb or as a side dish to whatever you feel needs some mushroomy goodness.

Sauteed mushrooms with demi-glace a la June.

1 Lb mixed mushrooms, (crimini, shiitake, hen of the woods, porcini (you can even use dried porcinis. Just soak them first)

2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1 T lemon juice
salt and pepper
3 T red wine
1 T demi-glace
Fresh chopped parsley

Heat olive oil and butter in saute pan. Add sliced mushroom and cook until mushrooms are soft and slightly brown and most of the liquid is absorbed. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Remove mushrooms from pan. Add wine to pan and reduce until about a tablespoon. Add lemon juice, demi-glace, and parsley. Add mushrooms back to the pan. Adjust seasoning.

Pumpkin Stew

2009-10-31T09:41:00.000-04:00

Are you ordering pizza tonight to scarf down while you pass out chocolate to the trick or treaters? Really? Lame. Really lame. There is still time to make something good. After all, it is Saturday, you have all afternoon to cook, because since you're a good parent like me, you have abdicated all responsibility for the young 'un's costumes to the young 'uns. It's good for them. Makes them use their little noggins to come up with something original using only duct tape and the leftover tulle from the wedding. Can you say "Mummy"?

So, while the little ones thrash about desperately trying to complete their costumes before sundown, pop this fun stew into the oven and you can pull it out just as the first little monsters show up at your door and demand protection money in the form of chocolate. And let's not even get into those of you who are too cheap to spring for anything better than a mini tootsie roll. Puhleeze. It's once a year. But then, who am I to judge? We live so far off the beaten path that I have never had a trick or treater darken my door. I have to go sit on a friend's porch, but not before we eat the traditional Halloween pumpkin stew. Grandma Foodie used to make it every year when I was a kid. But I'll bring a pumpkin roll and a bottle of wine with me to Priscilla's, so she'll be happy to see me. I might even bring her a bowl of pumpkin stew.

Pumpkin Stew

3 T vegetable oil
3 cloves minced garlic
2 chopped green peppers
2 chopped onions
2 lbs beef stew meat
2 chopped tomatoes
1 T sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 pkgs frozen corn
3 diced potatoes
3 smallish sweet potatoes, diced
2 C beef bouillon
8 peach halves
1 medium pumpkin (if you can find a pretty large pie pumpkin, they are sweeter and not stringy)
3 T butter
11/2 tsp salt

In a large dutch oven, brown garlic, peppers, onions, and stew meat in oil. Add tomatoes and salt. Simmer 20 minutes. Add corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, bouillon, and peaches and simmer 40 minutes.

Brush inside of pumpkin with butter and sprinkle with salt. Add stew and put lid on and bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until pumpkin is tender.

Pork and Apples

2009-10-27T18:54:00.000-04:00

So I probably haven't done enough rhapsodizing about pork, but I can't really think of anything too entertaining to say about it. I'll just give you another recipe instead.

Italian sausage with apples

Heat 1 T olive oil in a saute pan and add whatever amount of Italian sausage you want. Just make sure you don't crowd it too much. Brown. Reduce heat and add 1/2 an apple per serving. (For those of you who are math challenged: if you put in 1 sausage, add a half an apple, if you put in two sausages, add a whole apple. Now multiply). Cook until the apples are soft and the sausage is cooked through. Stir in 1 T cider vinegar. Eat. Preferably with soft polenta.

Soft Polenta

6 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
3/4 cup whole milk
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Bring the water to a boil in a heavy large saucepan. Add 2 teaspoons of salt. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the mixture thickens and the cornmeal is tender, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the cheese, milk, butter, and stir until the butter and cheese melt. Makes a lot. You can cut in half if you want. You can alsocut the leftovers into slices (it hardens as it cools, so serve it immediately) and fry in oil and serve with fried eggs for breakfast.

Pork

2009-10-26T16:19:00.000-04:00

An old friend from high school recently posted a link on Facebook about how viruses incubate in pigs and then jump to humans. He suggested perhaps we have one last giant bbq and be done with them once and for all.

Wwwwhhhhaaaaattt? Be done forever with perhaps the world's tastiest meat? I shudder at the thought. (If not at the thought of influenza spreading hither and yon via the delectable porcine morsels.)

Pork has perhaps the most uses and versatility of any meat on the face of the earth. What would life be without bacon. Or prosciutto? Or the myriad number of sausages that can be made from pork? Just think about how integral small amounts of bacon can be to a simple dish like Brussels Sprouts pan seared with golden raisins and carmelized onions. The dish is simple to make, but without the salty smokiness of two strips of bacon it would be merely ordinary. Or the easy versatility of prosciutto. Wrap it around some melon or figs and pop open a bottle of Spanish Cava and you have a party. (You do have at least two bottles of some type of bubbly wine ready to go in your wine rack at all times, don't you? I do.)

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Golden Raisins

2 strips (or up to four if you really like bacon. But keep it to two and you won't feel as guilty)
1 Lb Brussels Sprouts, cleaned, trimmed, cut in quarters
kosher salt
pepper
1/2 C golden raisins
1 onion, sliced and carmelized in two T of olive oil
1 1/4 C chicken stock

Cut the bacon into lardons, (that is thin, matchstick sized pieces) and cook in a saute pan until crispy. Remove bacon, but leave the drippings. Add the Brussels sprouts and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken broth and cook until reduced to a few tablespoons and the sprouts are tender,about fifteen minutes. Add the raisins and onions, cook a couple of minutes until heated through, season with salt and pepper.

And gee, we haven't even scratched the surface of the wonderful delights of pork. We still need to talk about all of the fabulous uncured cuts. And we haven't even mentioned ham. Here is another recipe, though to whet your appetite, for mustard glazed spareribs

Mustard Glazed Spareribs
1 rack pork spareribs
Rosemary
Garlic
salt
pepper
1/3 C brown sugar
1/4 C dijon mustard
3 T cider vinegar
1 T molasses
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard

Season both sides of ribs with minced rosemary, chopped garlic and salt and pepper. Wrap in foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Combine brown sugar, dijon, vinegar, molasses, and dry mustard in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil then turn down and simmer for two or three minutes.

Remove ribs from oven and baste with sauce. Finish cooking on the grill until lightly charred. Fight with your family over who gets the last rib.

Party Time

2009-10-24T08:42:00.000-04:00

Today I am having a welcome home party for the Marine Foodie. Yes, he's been home about three weeks now, but not everyone has had a chance to see him. And he needed some decompression time first. So I cook. And the Foodette daughter cooks. And we decorate together. (OK, she has the "vision" I just get to execute it.)

I love having parties. I just hate the cleaning. I like when people come and have a good time and are totally impressed with me. Although I don't like gushing. I know they're impressed, why wouldn't they be? They don 't have to actually say it. I can tell by the eyes gleaming with joy. And the coming back for seconds. And the swooning.

Here is a picture of the pre-party preparations:

And what are we serving? Well, since this is a party for the boy, I mean man, we are serving Man food. Southern Man food, if you want a theme.

Apps:

Hush puppies

The boy's favorite, Buffalo wings

Lobster Cannolis (another one of the boy's favorites

Deviled Egg Spread with toast points

Black eyed pea dip (daughter is making, I don't know the recipe.)

Dinner:

Two bean chili

Cornbread

Sweet Pototo Casserole

Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon Lardons, Carmelized Onion and Garlic, and Truffle Oil

Apricot and Pecan Salad

And for dessert

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Banana pudding

Don't you wish you were coming? Well, if you live in Rochester, NY and would like to tell a Marine that you're glad he's home, you are invited. Just don't bring any food from a box to share, I'm not good at smiling and pretending I'm not appalled. And believe me, it has happened. Once, I had a party and someone brought those frozen cream puffs from BJ's STILL IN THE FREAKING BOX! I couldn't believe it.I tried my best to be gracious, not sure if I succeeded. It's fine if you don't like to cook, just bring wine instead, at least you won't humiliate yourself.

So here is the chili recipe, which is really good, but I'll admit once again, that I got it from Grandma Foodie. Still, you have to have a certain amount of panache and two kinds of chili powder to pull it off, dontcha? And I do.

2 1/2 pounds chuck meat,small dice
    1/4 cup olive oil
    1 1/2 large onions,finely diced
    1 1/2 tablespoons garlic, minced
    3/4 cup dark beer
    1 16-ounce can diced tomatoes
    1-2 chipotle chilies, in adobo sauce, pureed
    1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
    1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
    1 tablespoon cumin
    2 cups chicken broth
    3 cups black beans
    6 tablespoons line juice
    Salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large dutch oven. When hot add meat and brown, add onions and garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add beer and reduce by half, add tomatoes, chipotles, chili powders and cumin. Stir well and cook for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add the stock, cook until meat is tender 1 to 2 hours. Add the beans and simmer 15 minutes more. Degrease if necessary. Add the lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with avocado relish, cheese and cilantro on the side. may be made 2 days ahead and reheated.

Julie and Julia

2009-10-21T07:55:00.000-04:00

I just started reading Julie and Julia and so far it is rather entertaining, if not just a little pretentious. Was it really necessary for her to tell us that she scattered her Pottery Barn flatware all over the floor? The thing that is slightly annoying to me is this: I started learning to cook out of Mastering the Art of French cooking before that girl was even born! I could have done this project! Why didn't I think of it first? But, at least I made Pommes Anna for dinner last night, along with the last of the tamales I put together from the leftover ingredients. I know, weird combination, but sometimes you have to go with weird, just because you can put a meal together from the disjointed bits you have in the fridge that need to be used up. So, Pommes Anna is a marvelous dish, potatoes and butter, salt and pepper. Nothing else. I can't publish the recipe, copyright issues and all, but here is what she says about it in her book:

"It was created during the era of Napoleon III and named, as were many culinary triumphs in those days, after one of the grandes cocottes of the period. Whether it was an Anna Deslions, an Anna Judic, or simply Anna Untel, she has also immortalized the special double baking dish itself, la cocotte a pommes Anna, which is still made and which you can still buy at a fancy price".

So look up the recipe in your copy of Mastering the Art of French cooking" And if you don't have one, get one. If you want to be a great cook. Although you still probably won't make too many of the recipes. More apple recipes tomorrow.

Summer's last Hurrah

2009-10-17T14:49:00.000-04:00

You couldn't say that we are having Indian summer in any sense of the phrase. It is cold and windy. Did I mention cold?

I was starting dinner last night and was contemplating what kind of salad I should make. I thought back to the eldest daughter's wedding and the fabulous Green Goddess dressing we made for the dip for crudites. "Hurry!" I thought, "get the last herbs out of the garden before the damn frost gets them!" I grabbed my shears and headed for the bedraggled herb patch. I found just enough left of the herbs that I needed. I dropped them into the processor along with the other ingredients.

The brown squiggly stuff is anchovy paste. Yes, anchovy paste. Get over it. It is not gross, it adds a salty richness and subtle depth to quite a few things, this recipe included.

I whirled the ingrdients around and in less than a minute had the lovely emerald green goodness that is Green Goddess.

Then I whipped up some homemade croutons, boiled an egg, chopped some scallions, and tore up some lettuce. (I keep lettuce cleaned and ready to go in a plastic bag in the fridge. Wash the lettuce, put in plastic bag and add a paper towel. It keeps for a week, but it doesn't usually last that long. If you buy salad in a bag, you're just stupid. Or lazy. Or lazy and stupid. Or lazy, stupid, and you have too much money.) Then I tossed it all together in a wooden salad bowl. You wouldn't use anything else, would you? It was marvelous and made me sad that summer has come to an end. Now run out to your herb garden (do I really have to say it? Just plant one) and gather up the last remnants. It'll make you happy.
Green Goddess Dressing (Courtesy of Grandma Foodie)

1 C Mayo
1 C sour cream
1/2 chives
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T parsley
1 T Tarragon
3 T anchovy paste
1T chopped green onion

Mix. Serve on lettuce with hard boiled egg, homemade croutons, and scallions.

Croutons
My mother, otherwise known as Grandma Foodie, makes some of the best croutons I have ever eaten. She takes white bread (they can be made with just about any kind of bread, though) and cuts it into cubes, then puts them in a SINGLE LAYER (can you tell that is the really important part?) in a saute pan in which enough butter has been melted to cover the bottom with a little olive oil and garlic powder has been swirled into it as well. Brown on one side, flip them and brown on the other side,m adding more butter as needed. Put them in a bowl, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (although leave this off for Green Goddess) and DO NOT LET ANYONE TASTE EVEN ONE! Because if you do, they will eat them all and you will have to make more.

Apples!

2009-10-13T14:20:00.000-04:00

If you are lucky enough to live in upstate New York, like I do, then you know we are full-tilt into apple season. If you haven't had the presense of mind to go to your nearest orchard in the last couple of weeks, you'd better get off your duff and do it soon. I have my own apple tree, which this year yielded enough apples for me to make six pints of apple butter. Yup, lots of small, teeny tiny apples. Lots of work. But worth it! Next year, I am going to spray the tree so that I get bigger apples. So this year, I am heading to the orchard. With some beautiful panoramic views of the valley below and the crisp fall air and some great chilled cider and fresh fry cakes, what could be better? So get goin'.

Now what do you do with all of those bushels of beauties once you have them? Well, there are countless things, of course, like the apple butter I just mentioned. But if that is too much work for your lazy butt, here are a few simpler, quicker ideas.

Apple Sauce
Yes, I know you probably already know how to make applesauce. You peel and core a random amount of apples and put them in a pan with a little water. Then you cook until they are soft and mash them with a potato masher so that they retain some chunkiness. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla to taste and put on top of potato pancakes. REALLY good.

Apple crepes
I serve apple crepes a lot. I cut and core apples (no need to peel) and saute them with butter until soft. Then I add brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and serve them inside freshly made crepes and top with whipped cream. Yummy.
Crepes
Sift:
3/4 C flour
Resift with:
1 tsp salt
3 T sugar
1 3/4 tsp baking powder

Combine:
2 eggs
3 T melted butter
1 to 1 1/4 C milk
Mix the wet ingredients quickly into the dry. Cook by swirling 2T batter into a hot, well- greased 7" skillet or crepe pan. Or adjust the amount to fit the size of your pan. You just want to swirl the batter around in order to get the thinnest possible crepe. Cook just until top is set, then flip and cook for about 5 seconds on the top side.

Apple cake
This is my mother's recipe and a family favorite. Pretty simple to prepare

2 C sugar
2/3 C oil
2 C flour
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt C chopped walnuts
5 green apples, thinly sliced

Beat eggs and oil until foamy, Add rest of ingredients. Bake in a greased 9 x12 pan 45 min. at 350 degrees.

Frosting

Beat 2 C powdered sugar. 3 Tsp melted buter, 2 tsp vanilla and 6 oz cream cheese. Frost cake. Eat. Enjoy, Then eat another piece.

And here is a fabulous recipe from the Original Pancake House. Make it. You will never regret it. Except that you waited this long in your life to eat this.

Cheesy Grits

2009-10-12T09:57:00.000-04:00

This northern girl, born and raised in California, emigrated to Upstate New York, has limited experience with grits. I know, you're shocked. "I thought June knew everything there is to know about food," you're thinking. Well, no, I don't. But here's the thing that I think makes me a good cook and a good foodie: I am not afraid to try anything. I think where everyone gets off track and in a slump and thinks they are a bad cook is because they are not willing to try new things. There is a woman I know, however, who should not try anything new unless I am there personally supervising her. She once tried to make the butternut squash soup recipe I posted some time ago. The problem was, she forgot to roast the garlic and thought she could speed it along by microwaving it a bit. Ah-hem. Do I really have to say it? NO!!! My eye started twitching uncontrollably when she told me what she had done. Not good. And then she couldn't understand why her family didn't like it. I think she should try again while I supervise her with a cosmpolitan in my hand. And after two cosmos, I'll just take over and make it myself. And she knows it, too. Anyway, trying new foods and new recipes is a great way to keep your perspective fresh, keep your mind interested, and enjoy your life. So, about a year ago I had grits for the first time. They were good. I had always thought of grits as a vile, slimy, not-as-good-as-oatmeal paste. Not true! Which demonstrates the need to keep an open mind. Grits are creamy and smooth, warm and delicious. I ran across a recipe for cheesy grits and I decided to try it. It was fabulous. I served it with some pan-seared shrimp, making that southern classic, shrimp and grits, although I could happily eat just the grits.

Cheesy Grits

3 C Water
2 C Milk
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 C Grits (not instant)
2/3 C sharp cheddar
Scallions (optional)

Bring the milk, water, onion, and garlic to a boil and simmer for five minutes. Add the grits and cook, stirring often, until the grits are thick and creamy. Add the cheese, salt and pepper, and scallions. Eat!

The Well-Stocked Pantry Chapter Four

2009-10-11T12:25:00.000-04:00

I still am working on the comprehensive list of pantry items. It may well take me into next year. But here is a dissertation on salt. Now, you thought all you needed in your kitchen was a carton of iodized Morton's, right? WRONG, you neanderthal!

There are no less than five ESSENTIAL kinds of salt that you must stock in your well-stocked pantry, along with some optional ones. If you stock the optional ones, you may even rate a pat on the back from me, instead of one of my over-the-top-of the-of-the glasses-how-can-you-be-so-stupid looks.

Here is a picture of all of the salt currently in my kitchen. I am out of two kinds: Fleur du sel, and canning salt.

They are:

Quick cure: meat curing salt, for the Canadian Bacon I AM going to make. Soon. Optional.

Sel du gris, for sprinkling on foccacia before baking, or adding to soup. It dissolves quickly.

Regular iodized salt: I've had that carton for a very long time. Never use it. Regular salt has a metallic taste from the iodine. I use kosher salt instead. Must stock, mostly for emergencies, when you run out of other kinds of salt or need to put out a grease fire if you're an idiot.

Kosher Salt, I keep it in a little bowl (in the foreground) and use a little spoon to sprinkle it on everything. Generously. Must stock. Not optional. It is the work-horse of salt.

Sea salt. Great flavor, can pretty much be used interchangeable with kosher for everyday salting. Must stock!

Smoked Maldon Sea Salt. A red salt, the best salt ever for bringing out the flavor of tomatoes and other raw vegetables. Use in salads, crudities, sandwiches. It's not optional for me, but I'll let you slide. I just won't respect you as much.

Popcorn salt. I actually make my own by pulverizing kosher salt in the food processor. Not optional, if you like popcorn. Which I do. A lot. But not that vile microwave stuff. I pop my own on the stove, in the wok, which is the perfect shape, and dress with unsalted butter, popcorn salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese. And then I eat it while sipping champagne.

Canning Salt. You read my post on making pickles, right? Right? Not optional.

Fleur de sel- a fine grained finishing salt. Sprinkle it on pastas and grilled meats after they are cooked.Optional, but you're a heathen if you don't have it.

Hawaiian Red Sea Salt- another great finishing salt. Adds a touch of color and a unique flavor to cooked veggies and grilled foods. Optional.

Now, I am NOT going to debate whether or not you should use salt, or cut back on salt, or anything related to the amount of salt we should eat. Read this and decide for yourself if the science behind the anti-salt campaign is valid or not. I'm coming down on the side of not, but you decide for yourself. And don't bother trying to lure me into a debate about it. I'm right, you're wrong. End of story. Or my head might just explode and then where would you go for good food advice?

A bag full of produce

2009-10-10T07:52:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine stopped by yesterday with a bag full of assorted veggies from her veggie co-op. "I can't use all of these," she said. "I thought maybe you could do something with them." I thanked her and she went on her merry way. I opened the booty to see what I had. The bags contain: an eggplant, some cilantro, some chilis, two heads of lettuce, a red cabbage, and a green cabbage.

So, what to do with all of this? Tonight, we are having a family dinner with my daughter and her husband and my son who is freshly back from Iraq. Will I be able to incorporate some of the odd assortment? You bet. Not to say that I will use it all tonight, but certainly the eggplant will become Napa Valley goat cheese and eggplant ravioli for a first course. The lettuce will become the base for the carmelized pear salad that I wrote about not long ago. We will also have cedar-planked salmon, sauteed leeks, and butternut squash risotto. For dessert we are having a pear and maple crumble. Don't you wish you were coming here for dinner?

The cabbage presents a little more of a dilemma. It's a lot of cabbage. People are not always fond of cabbage. What shall I do? Wait! I have it! Last year, my sister-in-law made a really simple, yet wonderful Russian Piroski. She made a basic rich yeast dough, and filled it with cabbage which she sauteed until nicely browned. I think she added onion and dill. It was really good and the kidlets liked it a lot. (Big surprise. Kids and cabbage? It was that good.) I think I'll call her.....

The Well-Stocked Pantry, Chapter Three

2009-10-08T18:30:00.000-04:00

I had been working on a comprehensive list of the entire Mendon Foodie's well-stocked pantry, as per Hope's request. But alas, it is taking a REALLY long time, and I am pretty sure I can only do it if I leave out half of the items I currently have. (Really, I have five different kinds of chili powder and three kinds of paprika.)

Also, we just picked up the Marine Foodie last night. This morning I made him homemade Eggs Benedict, (made everything myself except the Canadian Bacon.) You'll find the English Muffin recipe in an earlier post and the homemade Hollandaise is from the Joy of Cooking. It is hard to make good Hollandaise from scratch. You'll need to follow the directions very carefully and ruin several batches before you get it right, not that I did that, but you will. Here is a picture of the happy reunion:

Tonight I made him his favorite dinner: Roasted Garlic Fettuccine Alfredo with pan-seared scampi.

So, I thought since I don't have time to finish my pantry post, I would post a some pictures of my pantry so that you can see what I am up against: Keep in mind this is only the top half of one of my pantries. I also have a pantry the size of a hall closet, but it is slightly messy, so I'm not posting a picture of it.

I'll try to post some of these recipes and a list of pantry items by the weekend.

The Well-Stocked Pantry, Chapter Two

2009-10-04T15:25:00.000-04:00

So, we have already established that you can probably call me up to come over and borrow almost any arcane ingredient. Dried shitake mushroom? Yup, got 'em. Tapioca starch? You bet. But what about less arcane ingredients, what do I keep on hand in the way of, say, oil?

In my pantry right now I have: extra-virgin green olive oil, pure olive oil (I know, you're shocked. I'll get to that in a moment), canola oil, sesame oil, pumpkin seed oil, walnut oil, chili oil, and peanut oil.

Pumpkin seed oil is great swirled into a squash soup at the end. It is strong and bold. It is also great by itself as dressing on a salad of mache. Walnut oil is a must when making a salad with apples or pears, or apricots and pecans. Chili oil is great for adding heat to asian sauces, while sesame oil gives them depth and a nutty flavor you can't get with anything else.

The uses for extra-virgin olive oil are of course endless and you don't need me to point out to you the best uses for it. I have always used it for cooking. I recently, however, became a convert to using pure olive oil for pan-searing. I can hear you gasping, collectively. "But, June, how COULD you?" Some of you are probably swooning right at this very moment, your faith in me shattered. You are thinking that you may never be able to trust me again.

Well, get over it! I attended a class on pan-searing with my mom, just for fun. (Not that I had anything to learn, mind you, but I like being at the top of my class.) I nearly sneered at the chef in disgust when she used pure olive oil. She convinced me, however. When pan-searing, you want to get a nice crust on your food, searing it quickly to seal in the juices, keeping a nice even temperature. Pure olive oil has a higher smoke point than extra-virgin, and in a dish where you will be finishing with a sauce, pure olive oil will do just fine. You can also get the higher smoke point with grapeseed oil or canola oil, but the pure olive oil will give a deeper flavor to the dish. Just don't let me catch you using it in sauces, dressings, pastas, or sautes. I will berate you mercilessly. And you know it. Don't tempt me.

The Well-Stocked Pantry, Chapter One

2009-10-02T20:38:00.000-04:00

You can read a lot about what you should keep on hand to have a well-stocked pantry. I won't bore you with telling you to keep canned mushroom soup and dry bouillon. If you like to cook you probably keep the things around with which you like to cook. In my case, that does not include canned mushroom soup. There are a few canned/processed convenience foods I keep around, but for the most part I stock my pantry with things you can use to make stuff. It's not exciting: flour, pasta, sugar, rice, etc. But what kinds of things might you find in my kitchen that are not in yours, you ask?

Well, how about ten different kinds of vinegar? Yes, I have at least ten different kinds. Maybe more. I stock the ordinary white, which mostly gets used for cleaning things rather than cooking with, but I also keep apple cider, red wine, white wine, champagne, two kinds of balsamic (one cheap, one expensive, sherry, cassis, rice, and Chinese black. Vinegar is of course a necessity in salad, but it also adds depth of flavor to soups, sauces, and fricasees. It is the base for beurre blanc, an enhancer in bordelaise, there are so many ways to use it I'm sure there must be a book about it. I just haven't read it.

Last night I added a tablespoon of cider vinegar to a saute of Italian sausage and apples. It just livened up the apples. Rice vinegar makes a nice dressing for sliced cucumbers when you add a sprinkling of sugar. Chinese black vinegar is fabulous as a dip for pan-fried dumplings and champagne vinegar is the base for the aforementioned beurre blanc. Add some sliced basil, diced tomato and cucumber and it is divine over baked or pan-seared salmon. I use a moderately expensive balsamic to dress the ubiquitous caprese salad, which no matter how ubiquitious is still one of my favorites. The cheap balsamic is reduced to make balsamic glaze, a trick I just learned from my mother. Why use pay $7.00 for a little bottle when you can make your own? I like the cassis vinegar on a salad with anything sweet in it: pears, blue cheese, walnuts. I usually use it very sparingly and in combination with red wine vinegar, just to add a hint of sweetness, in place of adding sugar to the dressing.

Which vinegar is my favorite? At the moment I would have to say that the 7-year old Spanish Sherry vinegar is tops. It makes a lovely, exceedingly smooth dressing with no harsh bite.

Sherry Vinaigrette
2 T minced shallot
2 T aged Sherry vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 C Extra virgin olive oil.

Soak the minced shallot in the vinegar for 5-10 minutes. Whisk in the oil, slowly, until emulsified, season to taste. Toss field greens with just enough vinaigrette so that they glisten. Do not overdress your salad. Generally, people drown their salad in about twice as much dressing as needed. Let the sharpness of the dressing enhance the delicate nature of the lettuce, not completely mask it. Take my advice. I'm always right, aren't I?

Fall

2009-10-01T14:48:00.000-04:00

Fall is here and no, I do not want to hear your complaining about how long it has been since I have posted. The Mendon Foodie was very busy this summer planning and executing the Gates Foodette's wedding. (That would be my daughter.) Here is a picture. We didn't cater the wedding, but we did do the cold hors d'oeuvres, with considerable helper from Grandma Foodie. We served: Carpaccio of Beef with fried capers and parsley oil, shrimp cocktail shooters, endive stuffed with salmon spread, crudites with homemade Green Goddess dressing, salumi with assorted olives, some damn fine but very expensive cheese, and a cascade of fruit. You'd have to see it to believe it. It was truly amazing. If you're nice to me I might invite you to wedding hors d' oeuvres reenactment day, which we are planning on having for the Marine foodie, who missed the wedding and is returning home this week from Iraq. Oooh Rah. Leave a comment and I'll consider inviting you. If you promise not to bring any food.

Now that I have made your mouth water with food that nearly impossible for mere mortals to prepare, I will deign to grant you a fabulous recipe that anyone (almost anyone, I have a friend or two who shall remain nameless, L, who would still probably find a way to mess it up.) It is pretty simple and straightforward, yet sophisticated enough to impress all of your guests. It uses the ingredient that I cannot get enough of this time of year: pears.

Caramelized Pear Salad

3 Bartlett pears
3 T sugar
1/4 c butter
4 oz prosciutto
olive oil
butter lettuce
Balsamic glaze (you can buy or make. To make, boil balsamic vinegar until it is thick and syrupy.)
crumbled blue cheese (if you use anything other than Maytag or Point Reyes blue or a similar quality you are a heathen and shouldn't be allowed to cook.)

Peel, core, and cut pears into medium thick slices. Toss them with the sugar. (If you want to slice them ahead of time, drop them into a bowl of water with some lemon juice in it.) Heat a saute pan and melt the butter. Add the pears and cook on one side until they have nicely caramelized. Turn them over and cook the other side, adding more butter if necessary to prevent the sugar from burning. Remove the pears to a plate and let cool slightly. Wrap each slice with prosciutto. Toss lettuce with olive oil to coat and arrange lettuce on individual serving plates. Arrange 4-5 pear slices on top of the lettuce and sprinkle with blue cheese. Drizzle with balsamic glaze and start drooling, cause it is REALLY good.

Pickles!

2009-07-24T07:01:00.000-04:00

What are you doing this summer? Are you relaxing by the pool? Going to the beach? No? It's too rainy? You don't have enough money for a vacation? Too bad. Me neither. What am I doing? I am basking in the bounty of the summer harvest. Summer in upstate New York is a marvelous time. The produce is so fresh, so yummy, and so overwhelming! My friend Priscilla recently decided to make jam with all the fruit she had around. Blackberries and strawberries, gooseberries, tood been haunting her in her freezer since last summer. I love her strategy: she grows berries, but as they ripen only about a cup at a time, she freezes them until she has enough to make a pie or jam. Well, she procrastinated enough that she had fruit enough to make forty-eight jars of jam! yes, that is forty-eight. It took her ten hours. I helped for two of those hours and she gave me twelve jars. What a great friend. I think I have enough jam to last three years. Too bad you're supposed to use it within a year. I guess we'll have to have lots of trifle, and those homemade english muffins I published the recipe for a while ago.

I can't wait for the fresh, local, vine-ripened tomatos. I love summer tomatos so much that I don't really eat them much the rest of the year. They just don't taste right. The ones in the grocery in January don't make me swoon. A nice, ripe, August tomato had the power to send me practically to the moon with enjoyment.

And corn. There really isn't anything more to say about corn. Don't EVER buy corn at the grocery store if you can help it. Here in God's country we have corn stands every couple of miles. Farmers sometimes set a cart of corn and a coffee can for money at the end of their driveways. If you are lucky enough to have such a place, buy the corn the day you need it. Try making corn chowder. It is fantastic.

There is so much wonderful stuff this time of year, I couldn't possibly talk about all of it. I'll leave you with this recipe, from my mother's best friend. It makes use of the small, gherkin cucumbers that you can grow so easily or buy in huge baskets at the farmer's markets right now. This recipe makes a gallon of pickles, but I have done half a recipe. You could probably also do a quarter recipe. They will keep for a year in the fridge. I don't like to can these, they lose their crunch.

48 hour pickles
3 C vinegar
3 C sugar
1/2 C uniodized (pickling) salt
1 large onion, sliced
1 T mustard seed
1 T celery
1 tsp tumeric
cukes

Layer onion and cukes in a gallon jar, mix rest of ingredients and pour over. See if you can make yourself wait the whole forty-eight hours before eating them. I can't.

How Time Flies

2009-07-18T08:24:00.000-04:00

Has it been a month already since I last posted? I can't believe it. It is really hard to keep this up, the pressure from my loyal fans is almost too much. What if I have nothing to say? Okay, that's not really the problem. What if I have nothing I can say without deeply offending someone? Okay, that's not the problem, either. And it's not procrastination, either. I can't really figure it out. But enough of my introspection.

The party at Deb's was wonderful last month. It was very fun, and touching, and the food was really good. Even the food that I didn't make. Which was most of it.

Deb made a deceptively simple appetizer that is sure to please almost everyone: sausage stuffed mini-sweet peppers. You know, the ones that are about 2-3 inches in length and come in a variety of colors? She sut off the tops and stuffed them with spicy italian sausage and them grilled them. Fantastic and yummy. My other favorite thing was garlic scape pesto. She left out the parmesan because her hubby doesn't like it, but it was still really good. She even gave me a big container to bring home. I smeared it on some bruchetta toasts, topped with goat cheese and stuck them under the broiler. Really, really good. The garlic scape pesto has a tang that hits your palate right up front and almost knocks it out. But then it gets more complex as the intial jolt of flavor mellows into a multi-layered perfume. If you can still get garlic scapes this late in the season, make it.

The other thing she made that was really good was strawberry shortcake. No pre-made awful sponge cake for her. No, she took the Mendon Foodie's advice and baked a simple shortcake biscuit. My mom even makes the recipe from the side of the Bisquick box and even it is FAR better than the horrible little yellow disks they set out next to the strawberries at the grocery store. Just make a biscuit and add a little sugar. Pretty simple. Deb served the local fresh picked strawberries with some homemade almond ice cream. WOW! A truly great combination.

I pronounce Deb a soundly good cook. (But I'm sure I'll find SOMETHING about her cooking to make fun of. It is only a matter of time, you know.)

Smoked Salmon Endive Appetizers

2009-06-18T09:17:00.000-04:00

I wish I could take credit for inventing these. They are really good, impressive looking, and really easy. Alas, my friend Priscilla came up with them in between psycho solo whitewater canoe excursions. There is no accounting for taste when it comes to outdoor activities, but she sure hit the mark with these!

Separate one head of Belgian Endive into individual leaves. Place a piece of smoked salmon into the endive. Top with dill sauce and a sprig of dill and serve.

Dill Sauce

1/4 C sour cream
1/4 C mayo
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced fresh dill
1 tsp lemon juice

Mix it all up. Also good on unsmoked salmon.

Garlic-Lemon Chicken

2009-06-15T17:18:00.001-04:00

I told you I was trying to get back to it. Here I am, a mere two days later, posting yet another fabulous recipe. Of course, it is all because of my friend Deb, who is giving a party in my honor. How could I not help her? I suggested this marinade for chicken. It is wonderful and I have made it for parties for years.

For 3 1/2 lbs of chicken you will need:

1/2 c lemon juice
4 tsp grated lemon peel
2 1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp dijon mustard
3 cloves of crushed garlic
1 C olive oil

And it is really not more complicated than whirring it all together in the food processor, doing the oil last in a slow, steady stream.
Marinate the chicken for a day or so, then grill. This chicken is great with grilled bell peppers and chili hollandaise, but totally fine on its own, as well.