Stalking the Waiter

Philosophizing even more than usual...

2007-01-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

Reducing Fat

We all need some fat in our diets. Our livers need it to function. Our skin and hair would be very dry and unattractive without it. For those people with a "fat tooth," though, it's probably very difficult to give up the fatty mouthfeel that reduced fat preparation eliminates.

Perhaps I should have called this section, "Reducing Oiliness." Because that's more my concern that reducing the actual fat content, i.e., it's not a health or calorie thing. It's a mouthfeel thing. My vinaigrette would make a chef weep, not with joy, but in sorrow. I may use a very good oil and a rich full bodied vinegar, but my preferred proportions are two parts vinegar, three parts oil and one part water. Yes, water. I dislike the feel of oily greens, and I like the lightness increasing the vinegar and adding water give. It's my dressing. I'm not trying to make anyone else use it. Well, that's a lie. ;+) I've given that recipe out enough times.

There are those of us who don't have a fat tooth, who have never liked greasy foods, for whatever reason, who would like to occasionally buy prepared foods or baked goods but find them too oily. However, most low fat prepared foods are either so "fat free" as to be totally unpalatable - fat is where the flavor is much of the time - or they've got that unctuous mouthfeel to the point that it's like eating a bowl of lard. Fake lard.

Let me say, the thought of eating fake fat makes me queasy. No criticism of those folks who don't mind it, but I can't do it, at least not knowingly. I don't understand why food makers can't just cut back on the fat. Why do they have to replace fat with some manufactured chemical substitute? Why does it have to be "fat free"? Why can't they just reduce the fat?

Most recipes are still good with less fat and much better for you than eating Frankenfat, I'm sure. And breading, for that matter, all too often present in fried types of dishes - could we have a low fat version that isn't breaded and has less real fat and no fake fat? Does Chicken Marsala not taste just as delicious without the breading? INMSHO, it does.

Reducing Sweetness

Then there's cutting down on sugar. In this country, can't vouch for elsewhere, sweetened foods are sweetened to a tooth aching degree. Soft drinks, cakes, candies, cookies and so on are far sweeter than they need to be to make the recipe work. A certain amount of sugar is required to make a cake a cake or a candy a candy. I know this. But, obviously, the "sweet tooth" folks are running that part of the food industry.

Probably told this story before, but one of my friends had just put the last of a triple batch of Toll House Cookies into the oven and was cleaning up, when she found the bowl of white sugar sitting behind the flour bag. So, half as much sugar, and that half the less sweet brown, and the cookies were wonderful. Really, some of the best I'd ever had. Of course, I'd always thought the recipe used too much sugar but, still, a perfect example. Do I use white sugar in my Toll House Cookies? Not anymore.

So why can't they make reduced sugar products rather than just replacing the sugar with an artificial sweetener, which is almost always disgusting?

On the other hand...

Why do people go overboard? Sugar FREE! Fat FREE! Safeway has a flavored sparkling water. When it first came out, I tried the peach. Ambrosia. Really. Delicate, fragrant peach flavor with fizz. Just about perfect for my tastes. Then, I don't know, the sugar police closed them down??? For several years now, they've only made the "sugar free" flavored waters. Ack, ack, ack. Put a nasty tasting chemical in with that beautiful, delicate peach flavor? What were they thinking? How much sugar did they think was in there that they had to, for the good of the free world, remove it entirely and put in drek to replace it?

I can do reduce fat and sugar and eliminate breading or batter coatings in my own kitchen, so it's not a major issue for me. But you just have to wonder. (Shhh. No one mention my addiction to Popeye's Fried Chicken.)

And another thing...

While I'm complaining, what's with so many restaurants putting soooo much salt in the food? Do they not realize there are salt shakers on the tables (or you can get little packets at the fast food places)? And, darn it, we're mostly smart enough to figure out how to use them.

Quickie – Chocolate Milk

2006-11-18T20:31:00.000-08:00

I heard this on the news today. A study done at some university discovered that chocolate milk was a more nutritious and effective sport drink than Gatorade or similar beverages. Athletes could exercise longer without tiring, and it did just as good things for their electrolyte balance and the nasty tasting stuff.

I'm an athlete. Heh.

Epiphany: Fruit Scones and Cheesy Eggs

2006-11-17T13:41:00.000-08:00

There are some good things about package mixes. Really. There are. I was never particularly fond of scones. They seemed too dry and just too much of a mouthful, like those huge muffins you can't escape these days. Then I was making up some "breakfast nook" gift baskets, and I came across packaged mix for Famous Fair Scones.

According to urban legend, these scones were served at the San Francisco World's Fair in 1915. An enterprising fellow from Washington got the recipe and set up concessions to sell them at fairs in his home state, where, let me tell you, they were a big hit from everything I can find. He then sold that recipe to the Fisher Flour Mills, also in Washington, and the rest seems to be history. End of history lesson.

I bought several bags of the scone mix but was reluctant to put it in a gift basket without trying it first. And there's some more history. They were divine. Even I loved them, as did the friends I had taste test them for me. Do I need to say that none of those bags of scone mix ever made it into a gift basket?

But, then, one dark and stormy night, I wanted tea and scones. Imagine my desolation when I discovered that my cupboard was bare. Thus began my search for a recipe for those babies. I eventually found an old Fisher Mills baking pamphlet on eBay and snatched it up. And, yes, right there, in the precious little booklet, was a recipe for scones. They weren't called Famous Fair Scones, but, when made, they were all but identical in taste, texture, and deliciousness.

Here's the version of the recipe I start with.

Famous Fair Scones

Ingredients

2 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
3 scant tsp. baking powder
3 Tbsp. shortening
3 Tbsp. butter
2/3 c. milk
dash salt

Directions

Mix dry ingredients.
Cut in shortening and butter.
Add milk and stir gently until just mixed.
Turn out on lightly floured board and knead lightly for 5 or 6 turns of the dough.
Divide into thirds. Pat each into a 4-5” circle.
Cut each third into quarters and place on a cookie sheet.
You can let this rise up to 20 minutes if the room isn't too warm - don't want to lose all the oomph in the leavening.
Bake at 425 degrees for about 7 minutes or until golden.

My Riffs

The recipe is tasty as is, but I generally make it into ginger-blueberry scones, with cut up crystallized ginger and Trader Joe's dried wild blueberries. I sprinkle the top with granulalated sugar before putting them in the oven, to give it a little crackle on top, and they are wonderful.

Wait! There's more. How could you doubt it? I like my scones fairly light and moist, so I substitute about a third of the flour with cake flour - Swansdown is the brand in my area, but King Arthur (and possibly other makers) also packages it for markets.

Sometimes I add some grated cheddar cheese and chopped olives/green onions/Ortega chilis for something less dessert-ish. They make a nice snack, but they're also good for little sandwiches - just make them round, slice the cooked scones horizontally, and there you go.

It was this cheese addition that gave me the epiphany of the title. Every time I made them with just blueberries, I had visions of cheesy scrambled eggs* in my head. What a yummy sandwich that would make, I thought. Just make the scones round for easier assembly. But what made it perfect was the inspiration to throw ham into the mix.

Specifically, I buy shaved ham at the deli, then scrunch up individual slices on cookie sheets, IOW, don't worry about lumps or wrinkles, and frizzle it in a hot oven (450°) for several minutes. You just want it to dry a bit and crisp up, so watch it so that it doesn't burn.

To Serve
Slice each scone in half, put on a slice of frizzled ham, top with a scoop of eggs and the other half of the scone. It may sound strange, but it's delish.

Want another idea? Scramble your eggs with chopped chives and drop in teaspoon-size chunks of goat cheese when the eggs are almost done and stir gently. The heat of the eggs will make the cheese creamy and melty and give you lovely tangy bites of goodness as you eat. Serve on openface scones. Mmmmmm.

*Use grated cheddar (or cheese of your choice) and mix it into your eggs, a little at a time, as you scramble them over medium heat. It makes a creamy scramble with the cheese melted and incorporated throughout.

Yams. Who knew?

2006-11-16T00:58:00.000-08:00

It's almost Thanksgiving. Time for candied sweet potatoes, or yams. Get out your brown sugar and marshmallows. Right? Well, maybe.

I was turned onto the deliciousness of yams by a kid who was a very picky eater. She would not eat veggies, except under threat of death, but she loved yams. The first time I ate at her house, we had yams baked in their skins, then mashed with a little butter. It was surprisingly good. I decided I liked yams, too. ;+)

So, being me, I started playing with ideas for using yams in my everyday cooking.

I now nuke them in a plastic bag to conserve their moisture, lest they become impossibly stringy and tough, but in addition to butter, I add a little garlic or garlic salt. What can I say? I love garlic.
They're also very good cut up in chunks and steamed or boiled and added to curries. Just keep them hot and fold them in at the end.
I tried frying leftover yams, like you might a potato, but discovered that pan frying can be iffy – they have so much sugar in them that they burn easily. Deep frying, however, if you have the patience and don't mind the cleanup, works well with yams precooked very al dente.
They're good in combination with other "roasted" veggies as a side dish or salad, dressed with extra virgin olive oil and freshly ground pepper, or a bit of balsamico vinaigrette – use a light hand with the balsmico, you just want a hint of flavor from it.
And, my favorite, they make a tasty and different potato salad.

This last is the one I've experimented with the most. I've made it with a curry mayonnaise and bits of diced candied ginger. This is totally yum and so good you almost don't need anything else. I've also made it with regular mayo, just like an ordinary potato salad, if there is such a thing at your house. The hardest thing about this is keeping the potatoes firm enough not to turn to mush. I'd recommend steaming the cut up pieces and carefully monitoring their consistency.

More potato salads. Who would have guessed?

Potato Salad with a Twist, a Tiny Epiphany

2006-11-15T11:28:00.000-08:00

I love potato salad. I make it all year round. It used to be just for picnics or large summer gatherings - boil five pounds of potatoes, peel until you can't stand the sight of them, then comes the dicing. Ergh! When suddenly, I had a minor epiphany: You don't have to make huge batches of potato salad. You can make it one serving at a time, just a single potato's worth. Duh.

Yeah, there was I thinking, but if I make potato salad just for a couple people or, gasp, just for me, what will I do with all the leftovers? I'll be eating potato salad until something really ugly happens. Well, it sounded logical at the time.

So, now I buy either Red Bliss or Yukon Gold new potatoes and nuke them for salad. Sometimes

I like eggs mashed into my salad
or olives, Lindsay's best or Kalamata or green and pimento stuffed
usually something pickle-y, like chopped up pickles or capers
or I mix part sour cream with my mayo
or I add mustard - anything from bright yellow French's to brown and grainy
and I slice green onions in, sometimes diced Vidalias, sometimes just chives.

In short, being able to make potato salad one potato at a time, means I can have a different kind of potato salad every time, and no leftovers unless I want them.

I know y'all were dying to know that.

What Are People Willing to Eat in a Restaurant?

2006-11-14T11:26:00.000-08:00

I'm not talking about grotty stuff because you know people will eat darn near anything, if they think it's cool. Just how open-minded, or bellied, are people when they eat out? When they eat out in a pretty tame, maybe family-style restaurant? Or a deli?

I think about this as I'm cooking at home. I'm hit with an idea, and it's like an epiphany: People would love this! ;+) Well, some people.

A recent ephiphany involves a cucumber salad that I adore...

cucumbers very thinly sliced, unpeeled (wash and dry it first), on a mandoline or one of the bamboo slicers, and degorgéed (salted, drained in a collander for an hour or two, then squeezed dry)
onions (I use Vidalia or that type), sliced ditto but without the degorgé
a dressing of vinegar, oil and sour cream

Throw it all together, mix and taste, adjust vinegar/oil, salt and pepper, and it's done. Simple, basic, generic even. But that's the beauty of it. There are so many things you can do with it just by varying the type of vinegar, the cut of the veggies...

leave out the sour cream and use rice wine vinegar instead for a milder, less rich salad with an Asian flavor
use red wine vinegar and olive oil and throw in some nice fresh tarragon and/or oregano, no sour cream, and you've got something akin to a stripped down Greek salad
use yoghurt instead of sour cream, chop in some fresh mint and it's suddenly very refreshing and great with spicy foods of the Middle Eastern/Indian persuasion
leave out the sour cream, change the cut of the cucumbers by peeling, cutting in half lengthwise, "spooning" out the seeds, then cutting into 1/2-inch thick C-shapes, cut the onions into wedges or omit, throw in fresh herbs, maybe a handful of robust olives, and you've got the basis for a Salade Niçoise, or a great salad to have with grilled tuna or salmon.

As they say, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Anyway, this particular epiphany came because, when the weather is hot, I like to serve this salad with roasted or grilled meats and fish. I make a Gyro-like meat mixture* which I make into sausages, burgers or meatloaf (to slice very thinly, for serving in pita bread, à la Gyros), or eat in the usual fashion, which is perfect with it.

I was looking at some leftover roast beef, with my bowl of cucumber salad sitting there, trying to get my attention, and I thought (here's the epiphany part): Wouldn't these make a great sandwich together? A big crusty roll, toasted in the oven or on the grill, the rare roast beef with the salad piled on top, then the other half of the roll. Messy, but it would be delicious.

Men would probably like it, at least the manly men types who would happily eat their weight in red meat, if allowed. Heck, if you made it in not so huge portions, and eliminated most of the drip factor, a lot of people who like deli foods would love this. Right? Of course. Really, if you took most of those salads, some leftovers of associated entrées, you could put them together in a pita pocket for a delish meal or snack. Voilá!

The restaurant part, as mentioned in the title, is because I've never quite given up the idea of having a small restaurant, or a B&B with a restaurant as part of the destination.

I just love to riff. More epiphanies to come.

* I got this recipe from the "Homemade Sausage Cookbook" by Bertie Selinger et al. Unfortunately, it's long out of print, but a search online shows that it is still available, even in Europe, if you're willing to pay the price. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a good book for making sausage at home. The recipes are specifically designed for the home cook, but they are as exotic, varied and flavorful as anyone might wish.

Bird Flu Means No Star Anise???

2006-11-13T16:57:00.000-08:00

I just read an article online about the anti-flu drug, Tamiflu. It's used in some countries to treat the flu, most notably Japan, which has the highest consumption in the world. There are some serious side effects, especially in children, like dementia, confusion, thoughts of suicide, but...right now, it's the silver bullet health organizations are hoping will save lives if there is ever an actual bird flu pandemic. Scary prospect any way you look at it.

Foodies may be interested to hear that the basis of Tamiflu's molecule is a compound found in star anise. According to the article, "Tamiflu production is now taking up most of the crop."

So, does that mean it's going to be harder to find star anise? Will it suddenly cost $10 for a single "star"? What about Five Spice Powder? Anyone seen any reflection of this in their shopping? (assuming anyone is still checking this blog)

I see that this is my first post in over six months. How embarrassing. I've thought of little blurby things, like this, to post, but haven't done it. However, I just don't have the time to devote to the big articles and fighting the image battle, so I'm going to post more often but less expansively. ;+)

Necessity Being the Mother...a fried chicken fantasy

2006-05-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

Our stovetop died a couple weeks ago. One night during dinner, it made a quiet little whoomph, like something bursting into flame, or maybe a baby mortar round. I checked, but nothing was burning, all seemed to be okay.

The next day, when I turned on one of the burners, it hummed at me, and the humming grew louder and louder. Then I started hearing crackling sounds. Turned off the burner and backed away. I gave it a day and tried again. Same thing. Clearly we needed a new stovetop.

Do you have any idea how many choices there are in stovetops??? What I yearned for was one with a grill included, but they all require a downdraft, and we have a drawer under the stovetop. So, without spening a few thou for new cabinets, that wasn't going to happen. What I also really, really want is a gas stovetop, but that's not going to happen either. We live in the country, and the supplied services consist of PG&E and telephone. We have well water and septic systems. If we want gas, we have to buy a huge tank and get pipes laid to bring it to the house, and, of course, have the gas delivered. Sigh.

And, do you know, I just can't get myself to make a decision. Because I really want that grill included. So, while I am angsting about not being able to have what I want without remodeling the whole kitchen, I've been trying to think of reasonable ways to cook without using a burner. There's the microwave, but you can't fry chicken in a microwave, or do a stir fry, or boil pasta. I'm a little slow off the mark, because it wasn't until a few days ago that I thought about the oven.

Oh, I broiled a steak one night, but what I really wanted was some nice crispy chicken. Not deep fried, but sauteed until it was crispy on the outside and done in the middle. Then, brainstorm! None of that pathetic "spray a cookie sheet with pam etc." for me. I took my great big chicken fryer, about 14" across, put in some of that lovely chicken fat I have in the freezer, cranked the oven up to 400, and gave it a few.

When it was good and hot, I seasoned the chicken pieces and put them skin side up into the now sizzling fat - they'd crisp up from the oven heat and would keep the underlying meat from getting dried out. Ooh, listen to the lovely hiss as they settle in. :G:

I reduced the heat to 375 F, and, after about half an hour, I checked. They were gorgeous, crispy on both sides and done just right. Mm-mm-mmm. ;+) I hadn't realized how much I was missing a piece of cooked meat until then. I feel so clever, although it's not all that amazing a concept, but it amazed me.

What Kind of Cook Are You?

2006-04-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, I copped out and am resorting to BlogThings for content. I do have, in my head, a post on canellini beans, but life is being very demanding at the moment, so you get BlogThings. ;+) But, at least this one is appropriate.

You Are an Excellent Cook

You're a top cook, but you weren't born that way. It's taken a lot of practice, a lot of experimenting, and a lot of learning.

It's likely that you have what it takes to be a top chef, should you have the desire...

Are You A Good Cook?

Out of the Loop

2006-03-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

Keybord issues. Missing letter, on lptop, witing for repirs. LOL!

Weekend Cat Blogging #41

2006-03-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

Because my camera and my laptop refuse to communicate, Blondie is making a return visit. This time she's eating with the younger, smaller possum. They are sharing what I think may be leftover pizza. Blondie could get along with Bigfoot. :G: She eats with all the other animals. One of these days I'll catch her eating between the possum and one of the foxes on film. Until then, it will remain an urban (rural?) legend.

That is not a very flattering pic of the possum. She looks like she got her snout wounded in a fight. Not one of the cutest animals around, but they are cute in their actions - they pick up food in their "hands" (five little black fingers) and really enjoy their meal, making a lip-smacking sound, although they don't appear to have lips. Tiny pleasures.

For lots more cute kitties, visit Clare and Kiri at eatstuff for the WCB roundup.

Weekend Herb Blogging #24 - Mustard Cress

2006-03-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

Probably ten years ago, I bought my mustard cress seeds from Shepherd's Garden Seeds (see farther down for info on them) so I could use the leaves in tea sandwiches for a bit more zip than plain cress. That worked out really well - they tasted great, with their peppery bite and mustard zing.

The leaves in this pic are a little the worse for wear. It was taken in full winter, and it's another herb-like plant that had gone to seed and naturalized. I imagine the squirrels and possums took some sample nibbles but found the leaves too strong for their taste, or the plant would be gobbled off at the ground. I'm not sure whether I'll try transplanting a couple of these volunteers or just wait for their seeds.

I did some Googling and discovered quite a few recipes using mustard cress. It's appparently quite popular in England, and readily available there. Here are some links to recipes that sounded good:

Thai Squid Salad - If you don't like squid, I imagine you could substitute scallops or shrimp
Jamie Oliver's Paprika Sirloin Steak Wrap - this has the whole menu, but the mustard cress is in the potatoes
Crabmeat with Wasabi Mayonnaise - the recipe is for a sushi-like presentation and the cress is used as a garnish. Terminology: I'm guessing a punnet is a sprig, and a crab stick seems to be one of the long pieces of meat from a crab leg.

Also interesting on that last site, bento.com was an explanation, with photos, of how to make that lovely shredded daikon garnish. I could eat a whole bowl of this with wasabi-soy sauce "dressing." It's a pretty good site for recipes, and, if you're traveling to Japan or live there, it has info on restaurants.

A few simple uses for mustard (or any) cress:

in a simple sandwich of tomato or cucumber or chicken or just bread and butter
throw a few leaves into a salad for a little bit of bite
toss individual leaves in a cold shrimp vinaigrette or potato salad
garnish deviled eggs or a deviled egg sandwich
use small sprigs on an herb pizza with Florence fennel and sweet onions

Buy the Seeds

Without spending a lot of time, I only found one source of the seeds, Sand Mountain Herbs. Before buying seeds or other gardening materials online, check the company out at the Garden Watchdog Guide to Gardening by Mail. You can search by company name or by the type of plant/seed you're looking for. Some of the comments on Sand Mountain read like ads, and they have one very negative review, so keep that in mind if you decide to use them.

Shepherd's Garden Seeds - This was a great company for ultra chic veggie and herb seeds. They were one of the first companies to have seeds for true haricots verts or cipolline and various other hard to find European plants and herbs. It was a small operation in Felton, CA. Their beautifully illustrated catalogues and seed packets won awards, and their descriptions were beautiful. It was criminally easy to over-buy, wooed by the lovely descriptions.

I'm not sure why, but several years ago Renee Shepherd sold the company to Whiteflower Farm. It lost a lot of it's chic appeal, and I've heard that service and quality were diminshed. However, I never ordered from Whiteflower, so I have no personal opinion. But, good news, Renee Shepherd has opened Renee's Seeds, still in Felton. You can order online or by phone, but they have no print catalogue. I went trolling for some of the things I used to buy from them, and they're still there, looking just as delicious as ever. I don't know if it's still possible, but you used to be able to order by phone and pick it up in Felton instead of waiting. Worth asking if you live in the area or are going to be visiting.

I'm off to order;

Windowbox Basil (love its tiny, peppery leaves)
Siam Queen Thai Basil (what a wonderful garnish or salad ingredient
Aline Mignonette Strawberries (wonderfully fragant, tiny berries)
Edamame Beans (why buy when you can grow and know they are truly fresh)
Rolande Beans (true French haricots verts)
Romeo Carrots (little round butterballs of carroty goodness)
Jewel Toned Beets (seeds for red, yellow and pinwheel beets)

Can't you just picture those Romeo carrots with the baby Jewel Toned beets as a salad, or even freshly steamed or baked. Sweet and colorful. When I lived in San Jose, I had the Rolande beans growing in a planter box on the deck - bush beans require very little growing room. It used to spook my roommate. We'd be sitting there in the evening, enjoying the temperature drop and the peace and quiet. He'd notice that there were tiny little beanlets on the plant, maybe an inch long and very thin. The next afternoon, they'd be full grown. ;+) I love fresh green beans!

I'm getting excited now just thinking about all these goodies. I'm going to be growing them in containers on the deck and trying to figure out some way to shield them from the marauding wildlife. I planted three dozen pepper plants of various kinds in San Jose, along with tomato plants. Between the squirrels, possums and raccoons, there were very few intact fruits for eating. Very frustrating. Up here, we have deer and foxes as well, and, in the summer, when it's dry, there are less edible weeds around, so they raid the veggie garden. I sympathize, but I want my veggies.

My First Award!

2006-03-11T22:38:00.000-08:00

Owen at Tomatilla has posted the results for Paper Chef #16. Haalo, last month's winner, was the host and judge. I was thrilled to be one of the winners:

Best Original Screenplay goes to B’gina from Stalking the Waiter for her heartwarming tale of friendship, loss and laughter.

If you haven't seen it (and want to), it's the entry below this one. :G:

It was fun doing my script, since I didn't have the time or energy to cook the actual food. Why don't you think about participating next month? It's a lot of fun.

Paper Chef #16 - It's Hard Out Here for a Shrimp

2006-03-07T22:57:00.000-08:00

Just for fun. I had the shrimp and the other ingredients (minus the verjuice), but my life has been seriously OBE lately, so, here's my cinematic ode to Paper Chef #16. Like most screenplays, it's all in my mind. (Now, if the formatting doesn't go all to hell, it will be sweet.)

It's Hard Out Here for a Shrimp

INT. B'GINA'S KITCHEN -- LATE AFTERNOON

B'GINA stands at the kitchen island, with food, including
basil and prawns, laid out in front of her.

She is holding a piece of paper from which she will read.

Her cat, LOULOU, is at her feet, watching, waiting for one
of those prawns to maybe hit the floor.

B'GINA
Let's see. Basil, verjuice...
(looks confused)
Prawns and something movie-inspired
or movie-associated and/or something
round. A shrimp ball is round.
A shrimp ball on a bed of basil leaves?
Looks down at LOULOU.

CUT TO:

CU: LOULOU STARING UP AT PRAWNS (3 BEATS)

B'GINA (CONT'D)
Or maybe mold it into the shape of
an Oscar statuette?
(back to printed list)
Make something to eat while watching
the Oscars.
Looking inspired, she crosses to the refrigerator and opens
the door. There, on the center shelf, right next to the
bottled water and a carton of Whipping Cream is a package of
Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry.

B'GINA (CONT'D)
I knew I thawed this for a reason.
She takes the cream carton and the box of puff pastry out. She opens
the box and slides the contents out.

LOULOU
Want shrimp now!
(only, of course, in
cat language)
B'gina ignores her as she rolls out the dough on a sheet
of parchment, pressing firmly but gently to smooth any cracks
where it was folded. When it's nice and smooth, she uses
a small plate as a template to cut it into two circles.

Then the fun begins.

B'GINA
Boy, LouLou, the fun is beginning
now.

LOULOU
(cat speak)
Yeah, yeah. How about dropping one
of those shrimp my way?
B'gina begins to cut freehand, teardrop-shaped holes,
carefully so as not to cut the parchment, in one
circle so it looks like an old movie film reel. She slides
the whole thing onto a jelly roll pan and pokes many holes
in them with a fork.

B'GINA
This is going to be sooo cool, once
I have baked these pieces according
to package directions.
She puts them into the oven. She shells the prawns and
sautes them in butter, olive oil and garlic. She removes
the cooked shrimp to a bowl.

LOULOU stalks off in disgust.

B'GINA (CONT'D)
This is amazing. I have enough shrimp
left for a shrimp ball.
She puts some of the shrimp into the food processor, adds a
package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, chopped onion and
cayenne pepper. She processes them until smooth.

B'GINA (CONT'D)
I have no idea what verjuice is, so
I'm going to use Marsala instead.
She turns the heat back on under the pan with the shrimp juices,
adds a couple Tbsp. of Marsala and some of the Whipping Cream.
Stirring, she simmers it until it's well incorporated and
thickening.

We see LOULOU sneaking behind B'GINA, eyeing the work island.

LOULOU
(cat speak)
I bet I can jump up there and eat at
least half those shrimp before she
finishes futzing with that sauce.

B'GINA
(looking over her
shoulder)
Would you like a shrimp, Baby?
She offers LOULOU one of the shrimp.

LOULOU scowls but takes it, after first licking it thoroughly.

LOULOU
(cat speak)
Hmph. She takes all the fun out of
being a huntress.
(chomps prawn)
Sound of timer OC.

B'GINA
Time to take the puff pastry out.
Wow. Everything is going to be done
at the same time for a change.
She puts the solid circle of cooked pastry on a plate, then
sets the one with cutouts on top.

B'GINA (CONT'D)
Oh, no! I still have to get basil
into this thing.
She rolls a stack of basil leaves into a tube and slices it
very thinly, across the length, making a basil chiffonade.

B'GINA (CONT'D)
(doing the things as
she says them)
There we go. Now I spoon the Shrimp
into the holes in the top pastry
circle. I'll drizzle the sauce over
the whole thing and sprinkle on the
basil chiffonade I just made, and it
will be astoundingly wonderful.
INT. B'GINA'S FAMILY ROOM, EVENING

The television is on, showing the ending of the Oscar show.
Everyone is waiting in dread for the Best Movie winner.

B'GINA hurries in carrying the dish she prepared earlier,
Cinematic Shrimp. In her other hand she has the shrimp ball
she made.

She sets the Cinematic Shrimp on the coffee table. No one
notices, as they stare tensely at the television. LOULOU,
too, stares at the screen.

JACK NICHOLSON
(on television)
And the winner is...Crash.
Applause from the television can be heard over the silence
in the family room.

Everyone looks back and forth at each other in wild surmise.
(Heh, I've always wanted to say that.)

B'GINA
Well, hell.
The plate with the shrimp ball tilts in her hand. We watch,
in slo-mo, as it falls onto the Cinematic Shrimp, splashing
sauce and breaking the pastry shapes.

B'GINA (CONT'D)
Oh, no!
Everyone stares in horror.

Except LOULOU who sees her chance to do her huntress thing.

B'GINA sees LOULOU move and scoops her up.

B'GINA (CONT'D)
Oh, no you don't.
Everyone laughs and the tension is broken.

B'GINA (CONT'D)
This wasn't quite what I had in mind.
(looking at the smashed
pastry dish)
But I guess it's appropriate.
(gestures dramatically
at the dish)
I present to you my latest culinary
masterpiece, "Shrimp Crash."
General hilarity as LOULOU struggles to get loose.

FADE TO BLACK

Dude! Today, for Lunch, I Had an Excellent Cheese Sammie!

2006-03-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

Hey, how much more all-American can you get than a version of the tuna melt? This one's good for a meal, a snack, or appetizers.

As you can see, the melted cheese gets pulled down as you cut through the warm sandwich. This is a good thing, and we'll pretend that I did it on purpose. Because, you can really heap the tuna filling up and, when you cut it, and that cheese stretches, it holds it onto the bread! Amazing. Do try this at home, Kiddies.

For my tuna filling, I add a bunch of stuff, depending on what's on hand and what I feel like eating. Here's my choices, but you can pick your own favorites, or leave it plain.

Sliced or chopped olives
Sliced green onions or diced regular onions
Sunflower seeds
Mashed up hard boiled eggs
Diced pimento/roasted red pepper
Chopped pickles of whatever variety
Capers
Sliced or diced raw peppers
Diced or grated carrots
Diced celery

As they say, your choices are limited only by your imagination. There is one thing I consider essential, though - the shredded Parm. If you mix that in with the tuna, it will soften and begin to melt as the sandwich cooks, making it mmm-mmm creamy. I put provolone on top this time because that's what I felt like, but you can use cheddar or jack or American, but you want it to be something reasonably firm and that will melt.
Instructions

Slice a baguette or French/sub roll in half, lengthwise.
Put it on a piece of aluminum foil and bend the foil up around it, but leave some room.
Mound the tuna mixture on the bread and distribute evenly.
Sprinkle with red pepper flakes, if desired.
Top with sliced cheese. Try to keep the foil from touching the cheese, or it will be a mess to get apart after the cheese melts.
Cook in a fairly hot oven, 400F degrees until the cheese starts to melt; 5-7 minutes should do it.
Turn on the broiler and leave the oven door open. Stay there and keep an eye on it. It can go from golden to charred in a single moment of distraction.
Remove from the oven and let stand for five minutes.
Serve as is or slice into fingers. This is where the melted cheese pulling down when you cut into it is a good thing.

Pete Wells Loves Cheese Sandwiches

Weekend Dog Blogging #24

2006-03-04T02:20:00.000-08:00

I am a dogless food blogger. But, this week, while I was sitting around watching the guys work on our septic system, this lovely, large, somewhat elderly gentleman strolled by. I don't know enough about dogs to guess what kind he is.

According to the tag on his rather cool looking collar, his name is Toby, and he has staff to answer his phone, number included.

He seemed kind of shaky when he arrived, and it was a warm day. So, I brought him some cat food and kibble and a bowl of water. He snarfed it all down, made a quick check of my kitchen - I'd left the door open - then settled down to rest and digest. :G:

For more doggie pics, visit Sweetnicks for the Weekend Dog Blogging roundup.

Weekend Cat Blogging #39

2006-03-04T02:19:00.000-08:00

This week I have two visitors for you - two of the feral cats I feed. This is Tortie and Blondie.

The darker cat doesn't show it very well in this photo, but she's an all-over tortoiseshell with a tiger stripe. The little blonde cat looked all white at first, but now she's showing some pale orange markings. I don't know if that's a natural effect of maturing, or if it has to do with it being winter with less sun to fade her, or, even, if it's got something to do with having a steady diet for a change.

They each have very different personalities. Tortie is a little scrapper, aggressive and will even let me pick her up briefly when she's after food. :G: Blondie is very shy, making big eyes at anything she's unsure of. She never gets close enough to touch, althought I'd love to give her a cuddle.

For lots more adorable kitties, drop on over to visit Clare and Kiri at EatStuff for the Weekend Cat Blogging roundup.

Weekend Herb Blogging #22 - Keffir Lime Leaves

2006-03-04T02:07:00.000-08:00

I had never seen Keffir limes or their leaves before my first Thai meal, at Krung Thai (the original location), in San Jose. But once I got a taste of Thom Ka Gai and those unusual and fragrant leaves, well, I was hooked. I discovered, very happily, that the OSH near my house had a Keffir lime tree, and I snatched it up. As you can see in the photo below, the leaves are sort of double, like two leaves stacked end-to-end. And the perfume! If I ever find a Keffir lime essential oil, I will buy it by the gallon.

The classic use for the leaves and juice, for me, is Thom Ka Gai, a soup also made with coconut milk, lemon grass and, in this case with chicken (Gai), although you can also use prawns (not sure of the Thai word for that). Here's a recipe for a Thai fusion risotto, using that soup as the liquid. It's a little unusual, perhaps, but it makes a wonderful dish.

If you've never made risotto, here's brief description of the process. This is one of the things I use my StirChef for. It's an energy saver, mine.

FYI, here's a photo of the limes themselves. They have a wrinkeld, ridged brain-like look to them. These are green, in the sense of being unripe. When ripened, they are a color similar to key limes. Their juice seems very sour to me, but I've never had straight lime juice from regular limes, so I can't really compare them. They smell like heaven, though.

Oggi, per pranzo, ho mangiato un panino del formaggio.

2006-03-04T02:05:00.000-08:00

Thursday Cheese Sandwich blogging, late. I don't know if we're continuing to do this, but there are enough good cheese sandwiches around to make it worth the effort of keeping at it. BTW, if that Italian sucks, I got it on Babelfish. From what I still retain of one semester of Italian, it sounds reasonable to me. :G:

I stopped at The Fruit Basket on the way home from San Rafael the other day, and I bought a lot of goodies. Among them was a large, hot salame (P. G. Molinari and Sons, SF), and sweet Italian red onion. I had some fresh Mozzarella and sourdough bread at home, and, voila, or whatever the Italian equivalent of that is (ecco???), a cheese sandwich with moxie.

Fresh mozzarella is usually paired with tomatoes or roasted red peppers, which are foils in color and in flavor. I wasn't in the mood for either of those, though, and I had something red I did feel like eating - the hot salame. That gave me hot-salty and bland flavors. So, sliced sweet red onion gave me another color contrast, as well as another dynamic to the flavor and texture - crunchy as opposed to soft or chewy.

I made the sandwich open faced because it's pretty that way, and another thick slab of bread on top was just more than I wanted. I drizzled a little olive oil over the top, added a healthy squeeze of lemon juice (1/2 a lemon's worth) and a sprinkling of sea salt. Ordinarily, I'd have ground on some pepper, but using hot salame made that superfluous. Some chopped fresh parsley or basil would have added a fresh zing to the other, heavier flavors, but I didn't have any fresh - next time. It was a wonderfully complex group of flavors and textures, and I'll definitely do this one again. Maybe I'll go all crazy and do it not even on a Thursday.

Camera rant: Now, if I had a decent camera, that would have been a gorgeous picture. I so hate posting these crap pics, but it's either that or no pics. I used to sell my photos. I had shows of my photos. Grrrrr. These are just so ugly.

Those of you who, like me, grew up with SLRs that were actually adjustable probably know what I mean, but I'm so frustrated with this dang camera, which is indeed a digital SLR. However, for me, one of the big points of the non-digital SLR is the ability to focus at will, by turning a focusing ring.

How can you make a camera with no way to focus it, except to sway in the breeze until things become clear??? Now they want to focus for you. Only my camera obviously needs corrective lenses. I get everything into focus, push the button, it does it's little half click where it adjusts the light and focus, putting everything out of focus, then finishes the click, giving me a lovely, out-of-focus pic. So, for me to get a focused pic is just dumb luck and forget about aesthetics.

I've got a new Kodak, after swearing I'd never buy another product from the sucking Kodak company, and I've given myself many a virtual head slap for getting talked into this. The Olympus with extra lenses was only $200 more. I love all my Olympus cameras. I don't think they can make a bad camera. Why, oh, why do I do this to myself??? What are some of you shooting?

Pete Wells Loves Cheese Sandwiches

Weekend Herb Blogging #21 - Sicilian oregano

2006-02-25T02:32:00.000-08:00

This not so great photo is of some Sicilian oregano which has naturalized itself. That's really a polite way of saying the darn stuff has gone wild. These plants have a history, in that my mother got cuttings from a friend whose grandmother brought them over from Italy with her like a hundred years or so ago. They're supposed to be different from the usual oregano you buy in nurseries here, and it does look a bit different.

Oregano is used extensively in both Italian and Latin American cooking, probably because it goes so well with tomatoes. One of my favorite dishes using oregano is a Vera Cruz-style tomato sauce with olives. The classic dish is made with red snapper, but I also use it with chicken (thighs are best). The leftover sauce is heavenly, and makes a nice meal over rice, with a small salad.

Vera Cruz-style Tomato Sauce

This recipe is supposed to have originated in Vera Cruz, Mexico. Can't prove it by me, but it is one of the most wonderful tomato concoctions I've ever tasted. I am not a fan of cooked tomatoes, so that's saying something. Also, it has two of my favorite things in it - capers and olives.

The fish used should be white fleshed and flake when cooked (red snapper, tilapia, butterfish) - nothing dense like tuna or swordfish. I also use this with chicken thighs. These directions rely on canned and dried ingredients, but use fresh if you have them.

Ingredients

2 cans Readi-cut tomatoes or other stewed tomatoes
2 Tbsp. dried onion flakes
2 tsp. dried oregano
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 Tbsp. capers
1/2 cup (or more) green, pimento-stuffed olives
1/2 cup dry sherry

Procedure

Pour the tomatoes into a skillet or sauce pan over medium heat.
When the tomatoes start to simmer (just below a boil), add the remaining ingredients.
Heat through until you smell the alchohol starting to evaporate.

If you're using this with fish, when the sauce is warmed pour it into a casserole dish and scoot the fish in. Bake at 350F degrees for 20 minutes.

For the chicken, remove the skins from chicken thighs (save them!*) and brown them in an ovenproof pan. When they are browned on both sides but not cooked through, add the sauce ingredients. Cook briefly on the stove so the sauce is heated, then put the whole thing into the oven. Bake at 350F degrees for 30 minutes.

* If you're not afraid of a little saturated fat, these chicken (or turkey or duck etc.) skins have some flavorful uses. You must cook them very slowly, until they have rendered most of their fat. I season the skins lightly on both sides - seasoning depending what I'm in the mood for - then cook them using a bacon press to keep them flat in the pan. If not held down, they will curl into little balls and not give up their fat or come out crispy and delicious.

When you're finished, you'll have some lovely, slightly seasoned chicken fat and some very crispy chicken skin. Break the skin up like crisp-fried bacon and use it in salads, on baked potatoes, and so on, as you would bacon bits. It has much less fat than bacon, none of the chemicals, and tastes great.

Pour off the chicken fat and keep it in the refrigerator or freezer in a closed container. If the container is only partially filled, press a sheet of plastic wrap over the fat to prevent ice crystallization. This lovely, pale golden chicken fat makes the best fried potatoes you've ever had, except, possibly, if you've had ones done with duck fat.

For this week's roundup of herb blogging posts, visit Kalyn's Kitchen. Lots of nice pics, good info and yummy recipes.

Weekend Cat Blogging #38

2006-02-25T01:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, while LouLou I were wandering around the back forty looking for something to photograph for Weekend Herb Blogging - well, I was looking, LouLou was just along for the stroll - the sound of rushing water caught our attention. LouLou was very curious but smart enough not to fall into the drainage ditch, which was full and fast-running after all the recent rains we've had recently.

I chose this pic because it shows one of her more unusual features. ;+)

Click on over to EatStuff to visit Clare and her very flexible kitty, Kiri, and see the roundup of all the Weekend Cat Bloggers.

New Stuff in Old Places

2006-02-23T12:22:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't been able to do any real food blogging for a while, I went through some more of my old columns and found a couple recipes to add to old posts. I've added a recipe for lightly pickled veggies to the WHB-Wild Bay post, and a recipe for using lemon balm to the WHB-Lemon Balm post, albeit only as a garnish, but this one has a pic!

I'm also finishing up a post or two that has been languishing as a draft. I've finished the one on making dried cheddar for using on daintly, crispy, little cheese toasts for a tea party. A lof of noodling around, but so worth it.

So, if you've got a minute, check them out.

Weekend Herb Blogging #20 - Lemon Balm

2006-02-19T02:52:00.000-08:00

Here's some lemon balm that's naturalized itself. It was a nice little green surprise as I was walking around with my camera today. Being a member of the mint family, lemon balm will spread like crazy if you don't keep it contained. But, since the garden here has been neglected for years, there are only a few isolated clumps left.

I used to have a mint bed in the garden, and it all spread, as expected. But after so many years, I find that only the lemon balm remains. If you've never seen/smelt it, it has a very lemony scent, with a hint of grassiness. It's nice in iced tea, as you might add a sprig of mint. Or you can make a tea from a good size bundle of the leaves. Mix some into butter for a lemony compound butter to use in tea sandwiches for a little different flavor.

Try chopping a few leaves in a salad, or use a chiffonade in the water when poaching fish or, even, chicken. It's a pretty versatile herb, since there are so many places where a little lemon is a good addition. You can even use it in potpourris or other room scenting applications.

Here's a simple recipe using lemon balm as an edible garnish. And I even have a pic! Sorry it's so out of season.
Apricots, Chevre and Honey
This is so simple and so delicious. Just halve an apricot for each serving, put a scoop of chevre beside it, and drizzle a little honey over it. Garnish with either lemon balm or a flavored mint, and that's it! It’s both colorful and exotic with the very different tastes and texture of the ingredients.

For this week's roundup of herb blogging posts, visit Kalyn's Kitchen. Lots of nice pics, good info and yummy recipes.

Weekend Cat Blogging #37

2006-02-19T02:20:00.000-08:00

Wary after last week's battle to defend her territory, LouLou starts her patrol from the battlements.

After her first cautious peek, she takes a better look, checking the ground below her for interlopers.

Now, downstairs, behind the castle gates, she again proceeds with caution.

Uh oh, she's spotted me. Do you think she'll let me pass???
As you can see, LouLou's boo-boo from last week's fracas is nearly healed. I hope it will be the last of her war wounds.

For all the skinny on the cute kitties this week, be sure to visit Clare and Kiri for the wrap up on Weekend Cat Blogging.

Four x Eight Meme

2006-02-12T16:56:00.000-08:00

Or, maybe, in my case, seven. Mrs. D, over at BellyTimber, has tagged me for this meme. I knew it was only a matter of time. ;+)

Four Jobs I've Had in My Life:

Medical Writer
Intelligence Analyst
Teacher in a hotel and restaurant program
Writer

Four Movies I Could (and I do) Watch Over and Over:

Bringing Up Baby
Most of the Thin Man films
Most of the Pink Panther films
Movies that make me laugh

Yeah, call me shallow, but I like movies that make me laugh myself sick. I haven't seen much in years that would do it. Maybe something with Owen Wilson, though. Hmmm. Could be.

Four Places I've Lived:

San Francisco
Baltimore
Tucson
Sanapanoma

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch: I'll have to pass on this one. I don't watch television enough to even know what's good.

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation:

London
New York
New Orleans
York, PA

I should also confess that I haven't been anywhere at all in years.

Four Websites I Visit Daily:

He Wrote/She Wrote
Kinja (don't have to play blog favorites that way :G:)
Google
IMDB

Yeah, I know, it's pitiful, but that is my life, searching for information and a little gossip.

Four of My Favorite Foods:

Popeye's Fried Chicken
Fresh baked bread
A nice, dense chocolate cake with whipped cream on top, lots and lots of whipped cream
Pasta with garlic, olive oil and curly parsley

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:

Port Townsend, WA
Leeds, UK
Someplace sunny and luxurious, with a beach, where people would wait on me hand and foot.
Or, failing that, Carmel. Yeah, I know, cold and damp and people with attitude, but still.

I think everyone I know has already done this meme, so no tagging. You lucky bastards. :G:

Trader Joe's Meme, and a stealth cheese sandwich

2006-02-11T17:06:00.000-08:00

I saw this on Albion Cooks, a new food blog by a Brit lady in the SF Bay Area. I'm definitely up for this one. I've been a fan of TJ's for about 15 years, since I was living on the East Coast and only coming home for visits.

Here are my five favorite TJ's discoveries:

TJ's housebrand Dijon Mustard. This ain't no Grey Poupon - that guy in the Rolls would probably faint if he got a taste of this. Because it is Zippy, with that capital Z being well-deserved. I love this on sandwiches with hefty hunks of meat - like meatloaf or a thickly sliced ham, or heavy, bland cheeses - like provolone or Monterey Jack*. In either case, sliced cucumber is a great foil for both the heaviness of the filling and the zip of the mustard.
Ready to bake pizza dough. It comes in regular, wheat and herb, I believe. The only problem with this is that you need to buy it in a TJ's that has a good turnover. When I lived in San Jose and shopped at the one in Campbell, it was always fresh. In fact, if you didn't get there early enough, it was GONE! Where I am now, it sits for several days and isn't so hot. But still a good, time saving product, under the right circs.
These aren't food, but TJ's always has them, and their price is the best: Ricola "breath mints." Originally marketed as Ricola Pearls, they are sugar free. I bought some one time when I was having an allergic reaction to something, that consisted of a horrible, tickly, constant cough. I couldn't bear the thought of sucking on the usual sugar pills we call cough drops, and without one in my mouth, I coughed, incessantly. Whatever you call them, these babies are still my "cough drop" of choice, and only 49 cents a box.
Glaceed ginger. They have the crystallized, which is dirt cheap, or they have the moister, more luxurious version at two or three times the price. For baking, I use the cheap. For noshing, I go for the luxury version - wonderful with a handful of almonds and a dollop of softish cheese.
Marcel et Henri pates, and all those other charcuterie kinds of things they have at such great prices. Depending on your location, sometimes they have a really hot salame, or a spicy finocchiona, both of which I adore. But my first ever visit to TJ's was for a glom of their M et H pates to take back to Baltimore with me. Heaven.

I'm not going to tag anyone, because I don't know who has access to a TJ's. If you do, and you love their stuff, tag yourself. Let me know so I can see what your faves are.

* 23 Feb - I didn't do a cheese sandwich blog last Thursday, so, this will be my token Pete Wells loves cheese sandwiches post. I'll do a real one at some point, or points. Heh.

Weekend Herb Blogging #18 - Weeping Rosemary

2006-02-11T14:50:00.000-08:00

It may be only February, but when the day is sunny, the bees are out doing their thing. This is really a better pic of the bee than of the rosemary, but he was photogenic. :G:

This is actually the weeping form of the herb, which has shorter "leaves." I'm not sure what the correct term is for those needle-like things that carry the rosemary essence. I have much more of the regular rosemary, but there wasn't so much flowering and pollinating going on with them.

Rosemary is good for seasoning strongly flavored meats. For example, if you do the thing with roast beef or leg of lamb, where you make a slit and slice in a slice of garlic, you can put a sprig of rosemary in, too, for a really aromatic boost to the flavor.

And, of course, rosemary is used on focaccia, chopped and sprinkled on with a gloss of olive oil, maybe some onion, or salt and pepper, roasted red pepper etc.

Rather than type in a long recipe, or pair of recipes, I'm going to link to Italian Food Forever, my go-to site for Italian recipes. You need to start with a biga*, then the focaccia, itself.

It was a recipe like this that I grew up knowing as pizza. My mom made it with tomato, not sauce, but rubbing verrrry ripe tomato over it and sprinkling on herbs. I imagine, being as my family was Norweigian and German, it was easier to just call it pizza than to try to explain about focaccia. So, I never knew what real pizza was until I was in junior high or high school. :G: So, if you like a hearty pizza, you can use this recipe, too.

For this week's roundup of herb blogging posts, visit Kalyn's Kitchen. Lots of nice pics, good info and yummy recipes.

* From Wikipedia, here's the definition of a biga:
Biga is a type of sourdough starter used in Italian baking. Many popular Italian breads, including ciabatta, are made using a biga...
Also, rosemary :
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant evergreen needle-like leaves that are used in cooking. It is native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae...

WCB#36, LouLou - Warrior Princess

2006-02-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

Mistress of all she surveys, LouLou has never been happy with all the animals I feed on the deck. Yesterday, she was outside and saw the big male, who starred in last week's WCB#35, and decided to run him off.

He probably weighs at least 50% more than she does, is male and half her age, but that's never stopped my little Warrior Princess. Even after he backed off, once he saw me, she was still after him. So, she's got her battle scars, but she's probably thinking, "You should see the other guy."

I should have used Fireworks to turn her eyes green. :G:

For more kittie goodness, visit Clare and Kiri at EatStuff for the WCB roundup.

Weekend Cat Blogging #35

2006-02-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

Tip-toeing Through
the Kibble

This week I'm introducing one of the feral cats that I feed. I caught him mid blink. He's a big boy, blind in one eye, but he can sure home in on the food. Yes, that's kibble he's standing in. He's a total hog and would eat everything if I'd let him, but I have to make sure the smaller females get a chance at the goodies, too.

One of these times, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to get some really interesting critter pictures, like the fox on one side of the food and the possum on the other, or the blonde female eating with the possum or the fox. ;+) It's a regular Peaceable Kingdom out there, amazingly. The only fighting that goes on is some hissing between the more aggressive cats.

Hammy, Yammy Goodness

2006-02-03T16:43:00.000-08:00

Riffing on Leftover Ham
While my mother was in the hospital earlier this year, I got into the habit of shopping at the nearby Safeway. With all the flooding and road closures, it was one place I was sure of being able to get to. Unfortunately, due to a combination of the holidays and the flooding, they were very low on supplies. In the meat department they had almost nothing - a few roasts and some hams were about it. Ordinarily, I wouldn't buy a huge ham unless I was planning a party. It doesn't freeze well, losing texture dreadfully when you thaw it. But I surrendered because I had no options. (I bought a roast, too.)

Spiral-sliced ham. That had to have been invented by some guy. :G: Sorry, if I've just insulted the whole male gender, but something that gimmicky and, well, counterproductive seems like a kind of guy idea. Think Tim the Toolman Taylor. :G: You can't get a single, intact slice. You have no control over the thickness of the slice. Because there's more surface area accessible to the air, it will spoil more quickly. It's just a really bad idea from a foodie perspective, but I guess it looks cool on a buffet???

Anyway, I'm a few days past desperate for groceries. What can I say? Every time I procrastinate about grocery shopping, when I finally bite the bullet and am ready to head to the store, something happens that I can't go. So, we're out of nearly everything that isn't in a can or a box, but I still have some ham! I'm to the point on the critter where the spiral slicing ended, so I can slice it however I want. Yay.

Here's where riffing is a must. So, ham. Grits/polenta wander through my mind, or should I say flow? I've been craving them for a while but haven't bothered. So, tonight I'm going to make them. Ham and grits. Sounds like a Southern breakfast. But I don't like plain grits. What I love with ham is yams. No fresh ones in the house, though, only canned (for emergencies). Hmmm. What about mixing some canned yams into the grits, making them polenta, IMO? If you can mix pureed root and winter veggies into risotto, then why not into polenta, too?

How to cook the ham? Well, I could cut full slices and pan fry them and make a kind of red eye gravy. Or I could bake what's left and slice it as needed. We'll see how time is going.

Seems like it needs something else. I've got some leftover roasted red peppers. I could julienne them and saute them in a little olive oil with some sliced garlic. That would work if I bake the ham. Or, I guess it would work with the slices as well...do the peppers in the "gravy" I make after frying the ham. Or, to lighten up what could be a very heavy meal, I could do a little salad - if my hearts of Romaine are still useable, and slice the peppers into that. My mouth is starting to water. Either I've come up with the perfect plan, or I'm just getting really hungry. Hmmm. It's 5 PM, and I haven't eaten yet today. Could be a little of both.

Recipes

Zippy Baked Ham

This will be simple. I'm going to:

rub the ham with a mixture of cayenne and Chinese Five Spice Powder warmed in a little peanut oil (to take the harsh edge off),
tent it with aluminum foil, and bake it at 350 F until it's warmed through.

I'll use the meat thermometer to check the temp. Since this is ham, it won't need to be up to the raw pork mark. I just want it to be pleasantly warmed for eating.

Golden Polenta

This is a 30 minutes or less meal, so, I'm using Quick Grits. Both Albers and Quaker make it, and there are several smaller companies with a similar products on the market. I'm not giving proportions since this is using up leftovers, and you may have more or less than I. Base the amount of polenta you make on the amount of yams you're using, in roughly equal proportions.

Make your instant grits in a pan large enough to comfortably hold the yams, too.
Use canned or leftover yams, mashed or whipped until smooth.
Melt butter in a small dish in the microwave. Add ground coriander*.
Over low/medium heat, combine the whipped yams with the polenta and butter-coriander mixture. Stir, until they are a uniform color and warmed through.

Romaine and Pepper Salad

I ended up baking the ham (did I already say that?), so I sauteed the roasted red peppers in a little of the pan juices and poured them, hot, over my Hearts of Romaine. Sort of like a hot spinach salad. Twas quite tasty.

* For a large can of yams, use 3-4 Tbsp. of butter and 2 Tbsp. of ground coriander. Use that as a basic guideline and adjust to fit the amount you're making.

Dried Cheddar - The Great Experiment

2006-02-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

I came up with this idea when I was doing a lot of tea parties and preparing to teach a class on doing catered teas. I wanted something that would be light, crispy, and definitely not greasy, so it would fit in well with a nice, ladylike tea spread. There are numerous recipes for cheese toast kinds of things, but they're all pretty heavy and greasy.

Things like boxed Mac and Cheese or Hamburger Helper have powdered cheddar packets, but I was not willing to go there. No. I was pretty sure I'd never find dried cheddar of any quality available retail, so, I decided to make my own. This was one of those experiments that I devised, figuring I'd have to make several stabs at it before I succeeded. But, glory be, it came out right the first time.

Although this project takes time, it's not labor intensive. It has to be done over a period of a day or more, and it's a bit fussy. Basically, you sweat the oil from your chosen cheese, blotting it up with paper towels, until you have a fairly dry cheese. Yeah, tedious, but the end product is soooo good.

Method
Choose a good cheddar (or any other sharp) cheese. The less oily the cheese, the less time it will take to dry. The idea is to end up with a coarse, non-greasy powder that will store well in the fridge without turning rancid or molding.

Preheat the oven to "warm" - the lowest setting.
Grate the cheese.
Line the bottom of a jelly roll pan with paper towel and spread the cheese on it. Give it some room - the more crowded it is, the longer it will take. Depending on how much cheese you're working with, you may have to use more than one pan.
Put the pan in the oven and turn off the heat. You don't want to melt the cheese, just slowly warm it enough so the oil seeps out.
Check every couple hours. Blot the droplets of oil carefully with paper towels. If the cheese, pan and oven are cold, reheat the oven to warm again and turn off.
When the paper towel lining the pan starts to get saturated with oil, carefully dump the cheese into a bowl, reline the pan, and return the cheese to the pan.
Repeat steps 5 and 6, as needed, until the cheese becomes brittle and doesn't give off any more oil.
At this point, it should have lost most of its oil, but blot it with a paper towel just to be sure. Pour the cheese into a blender or food processor and process to a coarse powder.

Depending on how OC you are (obssessive compulsive, not Orange County), you can buy Melba Toast or other pretoasted thin breads, or you can bake or buy an unsliced Pullman loaf and DIY. If you go for the DIY, you're going to need a good bread knife. What you want is a knife with a finely serrated edge, or you won't get smooth, attractive slices. The Burns Bread Knife is my bread knife of choice. I couldn't get a usable pic, but it has tiny serrations cut into the edge in groups, alternating angles. It cuts any bread, but it's especially good for a bread with a fine crumb that you want to slice thin because those little teeth go right through it without tearing for smooth, perfect slices.

Slice off the crusts, then slice the loaf very thinly - between 1/4 and 1/2" thick, keeping in mind that it is going to shrink as it toasts. If it's too thin, it will be brittle too fragile to be practical.
Cut the bread into shapes, simple triangles or strips are fine.
You can toast them in a toaster or toaster overn, or use the broiler. You want them to get barely golden on both sides.
When they are golden on both sides, remove the rack to the countertop and let them cool. You can stop at this point and pack them away in a sealed container to keep them from getting soggy.
When you're ready for the final steps, very lightly butter each bread shape - put just a little butter on your knife. You should be able to hear the blade scrape across the crunchy surface. This is only done to hold the dried cheddar on the bread until it's toasted.
Sprinkle your dried cheddar over the buttered shapes. Don't overdo it. They only need to be lightly cheesy.
Turn the oven to high (450F) and preheat.
Put a cooling rack into a jellyroll pan, and set the cheese-topped bread shapes out on it. When the oven is preheated, put the pan in and watch until the cheese melts - it won't really melt, but it will combine with the bit of butter and adhere to the toasted bread shapes.
Remove from the heat and let cool.

I usually sliced my Pullman loaf horizontally, which is a pain to do. But it gave me long, thin sheets of bread to cut into shapes. I had an antique silver cracker basket with the ends in the shape of coquille shells. I got a cutter in that shape and used that for my toasts. They looked really cool in the basket. The only problem I found with these was that the tea party guests wouldn't touch any of the sweets until they devoured all the toasts. I thought about making more for subsequent parties, but cheese toasts do not a tea party make, so I kept to a single loaf of bread. However, for a cocktail party, you could probably put out nothing else and have happy guests.

Weekend Herb Blogging #17 - Wild Bay

2006-01-28T15:36:00.000-08:00

The California bay laurel, Umbellaria californica, grows in wild profusion in my part of the California Wine Country (as elsewhere, I'm sure). These are not the "true" laurel, Laurus nobilis, but their leaves can be used in cooking.

Dry them as you would true laurel and add them to soups or stews. Although the flavor is very similar, these leaves are much stronger than their "noble" relative. Use about half what you would of true laurel. For example, one leaf in a large pot of flageolet beans is plenty. If you have access to California bay leaves, experiment with them, to see how much is palatable for you.

Lightly Pickled Veggies

I wish I could remember the proper name for these, but I don't. I got the recipe from a Guatemalan friend I worked with at UCSF. They’re lovely and light as part of a hot weather buffet or snack tray. Berta used to make a huge batch for her annual entertaining the coworkers party, and they vanished with amazing speed. They’re cooked only long enough to give them a little pickle flavor. They should definitely still have their crunch.

Ingredients:

Baby carrots or carrot sticks
Cauliflower, broken into florets
Salsify, cut in pieces to match the carrots
Celery sticks
Green onions
Water, enough to let the veggies move around without crowding
Bay leaf
White vinegar
Salt
Sugar
Peppercorns

Preparation:

Put the water, bay leaf and peppercorns in a large enough pan to give the veggies room to move around. Set it over medium heat.
While the water is heating, wash all the veggies and drain.
Cut the tops off the green onions about an inch above the white, just enough to give them a flare of green, and remove the root end.
When the water is warmed, begin adding vinegar, salt and sugar, tasting as you go until you like the acid/salt/sugar balance – it should be a little tart. As a starting point, if you used a gallon of water, start with a cup of vinegar. Add the salt and sugar by pinches – it’s easy to get too much.
Add the solid ingredients, like carrots, caulilflower and salsify, first. Don’t let the mixture boil; just keep it at a simmer (just below a boil)
After 15 minutes, add the green onions and celery. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Remove veggies from the liquid with a slotted spoon and let cool to room temperature. You can chill them if you like. They keep well in the refrigerator for at least a week in their cooking liquid, but they will be come more strongly flavored.

To serve: Arrange decoratively on a platter. They’re a good accompaniment for poached fish or grilled chicken breasts.
Leftovers – if you have any of these veggies left over, which I doubt, you can slice them up in a salad for nice bits of zingy flavor.

Caution: It's probably best not to pick leaves from roadside trees or trees on public lands, unless you can ascertain that they haven't been sprayed, making them toxic and not fit for food use.

Weekend Cat Blogging #34

2006-01-28T14:12:00.000-08:00

Kiri's on the road again, so this weekend Boo over at MasakMasak is the master of ceremonies. Drop on buy and get the cat blogging roundup for this week. Now, without further ado, I present to you my own little feline mistress.

In a bid for world domination, Princess Louise (ruler of the Snuggle People on the Planet Bump) has revealed her alien Pupil of POWER!!! Be afraid. Be very afraid.

{tags Weekend Cat Blogging}

Blog Party #6 Retro Party

2006-01-18T03:12:00.000-08:00

Blog Party - This sounded like a fun one - a retro cocktail party with munchies, drinks and snacks from the 40s through the 60s, prime cocktail party time. As usual, I didn't read the fine print. The entries are due today. I can write this up and hope I'll get it put together for the pics in time for the roundup, which is what I'm going to have to do. Early to bed tonight, for early to rise tomorrow.

I thought I'd do three beverages, each with an appropriate munchie. Being born and raised in California, my take on this may be different from those who grew up or whose parents entertained in different parts of the country. I've raided my mother's and my aunts personal cookbooks for these, so I know they're authentic. :G:

First we have the Mediterranean represented by Retsina with Gyros meatballs and Tzatziki dipping sauce.

Then we have the East, serving either Sake or Sapporo with Rumaki marinated in garlic chili sauce and brown sugar.

And last, going probably back to my grandmother's era, the classic Martini with Art Deco Caviar Canapes, not that my grandmother was in the least a Martini kind of lady.

Something for everyone.

Recipes:

Gyros Meatballs

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Ingredients

1/2 pound each ground lamb and ground beef
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1 tsp. oregano, crumbled
1/4 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. hot paprika or half that of cayenne
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. olive or peanut oil

Instructions

Put everything into a large bowl and smoosh it around, with your scrupulously clean hands, until it is well mixed.
Form into bite-size meatballs, keeping in mind that they will shrink some as they cook.
Put a wire rack onto a jellyroll pan, and put the meatballs onto the rack.
Cook in the oven for approximately 20 minutes.
Using a tongs turn them about half way through.
Check one at about 15 minutes, by cutting into it and seeing if it's still pink, or use a pen thermometer - it should be 160 degrees. They will continue cooking after they are out of the oven.

Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients

1 pint sour cream
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. olive oil
Salt, to taste.

Instructions
Put everything in a bowl and whisk together until well incorporated.

Serve the meatballs on a platter with toothpicks and have the bowl of Tzatziki nearby.

Rumaki

Preheat broiler

Ingredients

1 pound chicken livers
Water chestnuts (1-2 cans)
1 tbsp. Chili Paste with Garlic
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 lb. bacon, not thick sliced.
Toothpicks, soaked in water to keep them from burning under the broiler.

Instructions

Trim any bits of fat or stringy stuff from the chicken livers and cut into bize-size pieces, keeping in mind the size of the water chestnuts, so not too small.
Mix chili sauce, brown sugar and soy sauce and pour over chicken livers. Marinate for at least half an hour but not more than an hour.
Drain water chestnuts and pat dry.
Drain chicken livers and pat dry.
Cut bacon slices in half.
Assemble by taking one piece of liver and a water chestnut, wrap a half slice of bacon around them and secure with a toothpick.
Same setup as for the meatballs: Put a wire rack onto a jellyroll pan, and put the Rumaki onto the rack.
With the overn rack at about four inches from the heat source, broil the rumaki for approximately 5 minutes on a side, turning with tongs.
When the bacon is done, the liver should be cooked through,too, but cut one open to be sure.

Caviar Art Deco Canapes

Ingredients

Two colors of caviar
1-2 hardboiled eggs, pressed through a sieve for a very fine grain
Crustless, thin sliced white bread
Room temperature unsalted butter
Very finely chopped onion
sour cream

Instructions

Butter the bread lightly before cutting into 2 inch squares.
Using a straight edge, lay it diagonally across the squares.
Carefully spread a single layer of one color of caviar onto one of the resulting triangles.
Do the same with the other color on the opposite side of the straight edge. Carefully remove the divider to keep the line between them as straight as possible.

If you have the patience or the inspiration, you can make checkerboards of alternating colors of caviar, or concentric circles, etc. You can either garnish the sandwiches with the onion and/or sieved egg, for example, running a narrow strip down the dividing line between the caviars, or putting a small dollop on either section, or serve them and the sour cream, alongside, with a small spoon or fork for guests to garnish their own.

Cheers and bon appetit!

Pork, Pork, Everywhere - Very Slow Pig Weekend I

2006-01-16T02:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I missed the Pork Blogging Weekend or Slow Pork or something. Ah, Slow Pig. I didn't remember it until the day after we had the delish BBQ ribs for dinner. Then I was at a loss for something else pork so soon, but, now, I'm thinking about adobo. Too bad I'm not going to be eligible for the prizes; they sound super.

After reading about rillettes over at Becks & Posh, I was reminded of how tender and succulent a good pork adobo can be. The first way I learned to cook adobo was my best friend's mother's recipe. It was almost like a sauerbraten in flavor - based on cider vinegar and pickling spices, although she was from the Philippines. This was my benchmark adobo, until I met Procsy, a nurse, also from the Philippines, but a different part, with a very different style of cooking.

Procsy's adobo is based on lemon and garlic, two of my favorite things. She used the traditional combination of chicken and pork, and it was a mind blower. Her recipe is one of those things I have to make in small batches, because I just cannot leave it alone. In thinking about it, it seems to me that if you did the adobo thing to flavor the meat, then cooked it slowly with a lot of it's fat, until it was tender enough to turn into paste, then you'd have a highly flavored rillette of pork and chicken. Hmmm. But would it be good on toasted crusty bread??? I'll have to think about this.

My appetite is telling me an open-face sandwich with butter lettuce, the rillettes on top and...and...something...

To be continued. Why strain my brain when I've already missed the boat, and it's the middle of the night? :G: Tomorrow.

Amazing Discovery - Butter Tempers Tomato Sauce

2006-01-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

I was watching America's Test Kitchen this weekend, and they put butter into a slightly acid sauce to bind it and to reduce the acidity. I wish they'd said why butter can do that.

It's something I've been wondering about for years. Way back in college I discovered that putting a pat of butter, on top of the tomato sauce, on top of my pasta made it much less acid. I have no recollection, now, why I would have done such a thing, but I did. For most people this would not necessarily be a good thing, but I get a rash if I eat too much acid food. I'm not giving up my pickles and hot sauce, so the tomato sauce gets buttered. I've done that for years every time I eat tomato sauce at home. :G: And I'm still wondering why it works that way.

Anyone have a clue?

Riff Alert - Groundnut Soup

2006-01-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

After reading through some of your comments, I was inspired with a new idea.

Groundnut Soup
Cookie would like it peanuttier and Kathy is going to try it with Garam Masala. So, what about a more peanut heavy, spicier version of the Groundnut Soup, swirled with a yam puree seasoned with ground coriander and something like maple syrup or just brown sugar. The soup would be thick enough to support swirling it with the heavier puree, and the heightened spiciness would be a great foil for the milder, sweeter yam. Sounds good to me. Pretty, too, with the taupe soup and the brilliant orange of the yam. Yum. :G:

Pepperoni Pizza Polenta etc.

2006-01-14T01:12:00.000-08:00

Serves 6-8

This is just what it sounds like, basic (cheese) polenta topped with tomato sauce, pepperoni and cheese before baking. Kids love this, and I’ve seen adults eat an amazing amount, too. If you have polenta left over (or made an extra big batch for the Polenta Florentine) this dish takes only a few minutes to assemble and bake before the meal is ready. Just put together a green salad while the dish is baking for a complete meal.
But don't stop at pepperoni, if your pizza tastes run to something more exotic. Feta or goat cheese, a variety of pitted olives, roasted veggies, other kinds of meats - add whatever suits your fancy for this polenta pizza.
I usually make this in a casserole dish so it’s mostly polenta and less fatty and salty, but you can also use a shallow pan so the polenta is more like a pizza crust (you’ll need more tomato sauce). Caution, make the polenta at least an inch thick, however, or it could get tough in the baking.

Ingredients:

4 cups Cooked polenta
1 cup Basic Tomato Sauce* or canned Pizza or Spaghetti sauce
2-3 cups Grated cheeses (Jack, Parmesan, etc.)
Sliced Pepperoni, to your taste
Optional: olives and green onions,sliced

Instructions:

Spread Polenta in a baking dish.
Top with tomato sauce and grated cheese.
Arrange the pepperoni slices on top.
Sprinkle with olives and green onions, if used.
Bake at 350 until heated through and cheese is melted, about 30 minutes.
Let rest at least 10-15 minutes before serving so it will set up a bit.

* Basic Tomato Sauce
I’ve been making this sauce for many, many years, and, for me, it has the best flavor combination. It's light but zesty, and I find the acid of the vinegar freshens the tomato flavor and the sugar brings out its richness. You can add tomato paste, meats, wine, broth, more herbs, whatever, to tailor it’s flavor to your own preferences, but it’s wonderful on pizza or spaghetti, as is.
I’m giving you proportions for using only 1 medium can of tomato sauce, but you can scale it up to pretty much as large as you want. I make this in big batches, let it cool, then pour it into sandwich or quart size zipper bags. I lay them out on cookie sheets in the freezer. When they’re frozen, you can stack them up to save space. Then just grab one or as many as you need for your recipe, pop the frozen sauce directly into a saucepan and simmer over low-medium heat until they’re thawed and heated through, or thaw them standing in a microwave safe container in the nuker.

Ingredients:

1 medium can tomato sauce
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped fine
Pinch basil or summer savory
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
Pinch sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

Put all the ingredients into a saucepan and simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes, longer if you want a thicker sauce. If it starts to bubble and spit, you’ll need to reduce the heat.
Taste for seasoning: too vinegary, add a tiny bit more sugar; salt and pepper.

Fancy Grits - Cornmeal by Any Other Name

2006-01-13T01:48:00.000-08:00

Here is another old column being recycled. I wrote it at about this time of year, so it fits. This time it's a trio of corn meal dishes to prepare ahead, if desired, and bake when needed:

Polenta Florentine
Pepperoni Pizza Polenta
Tamale Pie.

I'm spreading it over three posts, again. Also, I use my StirChef, which I told you about in this post, to make both my Polenta and my sauces for these recipes. I'm happy with the Instant Grits, but since I got the StirChef, I'm more likely to use the real, slow cooking, needs constant stirring thing.
The holidays are behind us, but winter is still here and colder than ever. This is a good time for hearty, satisfying meals. Cornmeal, in this case in the guise of polenta, makes a variety of stick-to-your ribs dishes which can serve as elegant or hearty entrees and side dishes.
As you might expect, I have my own approach to the Italian classic dish. I’ve served Polenta Florentine at a lot of buffets. The first time I did, it was dubbed “fancy grits” by a southern friend. Polenta, grits and plain old cornmeal or masa are all the same food, just ground and prepared a little bit differently.
I, personally, like spinach in Italian dishes, the Florentine style, with cream sauces. I also like the Italian way of combining tomato and cream sauces in the same dish. So it was that I came up with my version of polenta, Polenta Florentine. Serve this as either an entrée with salad or veggies, or as a side dish with a simple grilled or roasted meat or fish.
I’ll leave it up to you as to which form your “polenta” base will take: the true, from scratch polenta, a cornmeal cereal, or an “instant” grits product. If you’re a purist and have the time and patience, by all means buy the true polenta. Otherwise get one of the packaged cereal products. The differences will be in the coarseness or fineness of the grinding of the cornmeal, the color and, of course, in the ease of preparation.

Basic Polenta
I use the same liquid ingredients for my polenta dishes, no matter which cornmeal product I'm using, a mixture of broth and milk (evaporated milk, milk, even half and half). This gives the polenta a bit of flavor and creaminess it doesn’t have when prepared with water; however, if you are watching fats or calories, you can use water or all broth.
You’ll want to make enough to have 6-8 cups of the cooked polenta to fit your casserole dish. You can add grated cheeses while it’s still hot on the stove - I use a mixture of cheddar and Monterrey Jack, stirring them in as they melt. If you quit here, you’ve got Cheese Grits or Polenta, but this makes the basis for these three polenta dishes.

Polenta Florentine

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1/2-3/4 cup Tomato sauce, straight from the can
Pinch Basil or summer savory
6-8 cups Cooked polenta, still warm
Baby spinach, rinsed and patted dry (stems chopped off) or frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry
4 cups Generic White Sauce*
2 cups Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated or shredded
Optional: A sprinkling of paprika for added color

Preparation (instructions for layered dish):

Pour tomato sauce to thinly cover the bottom of a casserole dish (9-inch square to small lasagne size). Sprinkle on herbs.
Pour on half the polenta and spread it evenly over the bottom. Sprinkle with half the cheese.
Mix the spinach with half the white sauce, spreading over the cheese and polenta.
Pour the remainder of the polenta over the creamed spinach, carefully, so as to maintain the layers.
Spread the remaining white sauce over the polenta and top with the rest of the cheese (and paprika, if used).
Bake at 350 degrees until heated through and the top has turned golden, about 30-40 minutes, if you started with warm polenta.
Let set for a 10-15 minutes before serving - it will hold its layers better and not be so likely to run all over the plate. However, you could serve this in a cream soup bowl without offending me.
Make your salad and garlic bread while you wait.

Alternatively, you can prepare this in individual au gratin dishes, using only one layer of polenta and topping with creamed spinach and cheese.
* Generic White Sauce
This sauce and can be used as a base for a variety of dishes requiring a white sauce.
Makes about 4 cups
Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Butter
1 clove garlic, crushed or chopped fine
1/2 cup white flour
dash white pepper
dash nutmeg
Optional: splash of dry sherry
1 can broth** (about 14 oz.)
1 cup milk
Optional: 2 tbsp. grated parmesan or romano cheese
Salt to taste

Preparation:

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, cook and stir until the garlic is coated in butter.
Add the flour and white pepper. Stir continuously until the flour is beginning to turn barely off-white and has lost its raw smell. This is a roux.
Combine the broth and milk. If you're using the sherry, whisk it in now. Then, whisk and stir vigorously as you add the other liquids to the roux. Continue whisking gently until the sauce has thickened.
Add the cheese, if used, and stir well.

**anything but beef

Ten Mysterious/Weird Things - I've been tagged!

2006-01-12T00:10:00.000-08:00

Cookiecrumb, over at I'm Mad and I Eat, tagged me for this meme where you list ten facts about yourself that mostly nobody knew. Heh. So, we can't call them secrets, can we?

Okay, here I go, as usual, in no particular order:

I once nearly ran over Woody Allen in a parking lot in Sausalito. He seemed to think I was cute in my little sports car, though, so he didn't mind.
The first time I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for a crowd, I'd never roasted a turkey, my oven ignition was literally being held together by chewing gum, and the kitchen faucet exploded and was "repaired" by me with liquid solder. Hey, it worked. Oh, and did I say this was a crowd of people I worked with, and I was in the house alone, sans parental supervision/assistance??? It was all good, except we had one divorce come as a direct result of that day, and, no, it's not what you're thinking.
I made my first sale as an artist, selling a drawing to the Uncle Wiggly column in the newspaper for $2, when I was about six years old. And, from an adult perspective, isn't that a rather obscene name for the kids page???
I am really turned on by a guy who can wear a boa with panache. A straight guy.
My hair is halfway down my back and growing, because I can't make up my mind what I want to do with it. The last time I couldn't make up my mind about my hair, it was six inches below my waist for several years.
I once made a semi-pet of a possum. She would have been a total pet, but I had too many mixed feelings about the appropriateness of the idea. Still miss the little doll, too, what a personality.
I don't have a sweet tooth (and I'm allergic to chocolate, the one sweet I find irresistible), but I can't be trusted alone with a ham, a roast chicken, a rare beef roast, an antipasto platter...you get the idea.
I've never ridden on a motorcycle, although I've dated several guys who drove them, even was engaged to one.
I once moved an overstuffed chair in a VW Beetle convertible. Heck, I once moved a wicker sofa in my little sports car, top down, of course. Remarkably versatile, convertibles.
I can be hypnotized by delicious scents, flavors, colors. Hmmm. Sounds not so much, although I love most kinds of music. Odd.

Well, there you have B'gina. And I wonder what kind of bizarre picture those miscellaneous facts paint. Smiiiiling.

Almost forgot to tag some folks. What a great way to find out more about someone. So, I'm going to tag five very interesting people:

Naughty Lady, Saskia Walker
Susan at Farmgirl Fare.
Clare at Eatstuff.
Sam at Becks and Posh.
Adam at The Amateur Gourmet.

Sorry if any of you have already been tagged. These memes are everywhere!

Winter Soups with Tradition III - Groundnut Soup

2006-01-10T03:44:00.000-08:00

This is the last Holiday Soups installment: Groundnut Soup. A traditional lunch dish in many African countries, now a staple of Kwanzaa celebrations. This soup is rich, with the peanut butter making it creamy. Be sure to use natural, unsweetened peanut butter. It's filling and so, so mellow and good. I don't make this soup very often, but every time I do, I wonder why it took me so long to get around to it.
In Ghana, the dish usually contains tomato, and it tends to be spiced up with red pepper flakes or hot curry powder. In the Sudan, the dish is milder, sometimes made with milk, sometimes with lemon. I’ll give you the recipe for the basic soup, and let you decide which flavor enhancers you prefer. If you use the curry powder or other dry spices, add them to the oil when you sauté the onions and garlic. It takes some of the harshness out of their flavor and gives a more well-blended taste.
This recipe has turkey as an ingredient because it was originally developed for an article on holidays, and at holiday time we're likely to have turkey left over. However, true Groundnut Soup does not use meat. To keep this vegetarian/vegan, use a vegetable broth or water for the liquid.

Ingredients:

1 Onion, diced
1-2 cloves Garlic, minced
1-2 tsp. Hot curry powder
OR
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon and small pinch Ground cardamom
2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil
1-2 cups Turkey, shredded or cut small
Broth to cover
Optional: Tomato paste (1 small can) or 2 tomatoes (chopped small)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Optional: Hot pepper flakes
Peanut butter (1-2 Tbsp. per cup of liquid)
Garnish: Pimentos, diced (optional)

Instructions:

Sauté onion and garlic (and dry spices if used) in the vegetable oil until just beginning to turn golden. Garlic burns very easily, giving it a bitter taste, so keep the heat at medium and stir while cooking.
Put all the remaining ingredients, except the peanut butter, in a soup pot and simmer.
When the liquid is warm, ladle some into a bowl and combine it with the peanut butter, stirring until well-blended. Add back into the pot.
Serve hot with a starch, like rice or bread.
You can provide a dish of chopped pimentos for garnish, which adds a nice mild sweetness.

Winter Soups with Tradition II - Gumbo

2006-01-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

This is the second installment from my old Holiday Soups column, with a few revisions to bring it up to date: Gumbo, as zesty as you want to make it, as luxurious as you like. We associate gumbo with New Orleans and Louisiana, but it's popular throughout the southern states.
It's traditional on Christmas eve to go to Midnight mass, then come home to a simmering pot of gumbo. Sounds like heaven to me, especially up North where the winters are cold, cold, cold. After all the hardship that's been visited on that part of the country this past hurricane season, we should all cook a belated pot of gumbo to remind us of how important the recovery of the region is to our country, and maybe send them a little good luck for a change.
The first time I tasted gumbo was at the home of my friend, Lisa, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We were passing through on our way driving from Baltimore to San Francisco, in February, and she wanted to show us what southern hospitality was all about. She had some gumbo from the holidays in her freezer. She set it to thaw and simmer on the stove while she made a pot of rice. I don’t remember what all was in it, shrimp and chicken I know, but it really sang to me. So, I set off on a search for my own perfect gumbo.
The key to any gumbo is the roux. If you develop a real fondness for gumbo, you might want to make a large batch of roux to keep in the refrigerator to save time. It's best made in a cast iron dutch oven, the gumbo pot of choice for me. It needs to be a heavy bottomed pan to keep from scorching the roux. If you only have something lightweight, reduce the heat, watch it carefully, and never stop stirring.

This step can be time consuming, taking as long as an hour, but...here's where I insert a plug for about the handiest gadget I've ever come across. It's called a StirChef*, and it stirs sauces and other kinds of things that need constant attention, so you don't have to. Really. I use it for making this roux, allowing me more time to assemble and prep the other ingredients.
Filé powder also helps to flavor and thicken the mixture, as does okra, if you aren't put off by its texture. The variety of ingredients is limited only by your palate and you pocketbook. I’ve listed many, so just choose the ones you like, use them all, or add some of your own. If you can get crawfish and prefer them, use them instead of the shrimp. You can use whole chicken pieces and whole sausages, but they will require more cooking time.

Ingredients:

1 cup each Flour and vegetable oil
3-4 Onions, cut into segments, top to bottom
1 cup Celery, chopped
2 cups Red and green bell pepper, chopped
3 cups Turkey, pork or chicken, shredded
1 lb. Shrimp, peeled
1 lb. Sausage (Andouille or Linguiça), sliced
2 or 3 Bay leaves
10 cloves Garlic, diced finely
2 qts broth
to taste Salt, white and cayenne peppers
Optional: Sliced okra, chopped greens, chopped tomatoes
File powder
Hot long grain rice for serving

Instructions:

Make the roux by combining the flour and vegetable oil in a heavy soup pot. Cook and stir over medium heat until the roux turns a caramel color, but not blackened. So, watch it carefully and stir continuously. Some people prefer a darker roux for spicier ingredients like the sausage. If that's you, continue cooking until the roux is a hazelnut brown.
Sauté the onions, celery and sausage in a little vegetable oil until veggies are softened and sausage is lightly browned, and set aside. NOTE: If you're using whole chicken pieces, brown them here, as well.
When the roux is colored, add the liquid in a stream, whisking as you add. If it's too thick, add more broth.**
Add the remaining ingredients (minus "sea food") and let the gumbo simmer until the everything is cooked/heated through.
Add the shrimp or crawfish. Simmer just long enough for them to cook.
I pass the file powder at the table for those who like it. If you put it into the pot, do it at the end or it can get stringy and yucky.

Serving:
Put a mound of rice into a large soup bowl and spoon the gumbo over the top.
Provide hot sauce for those who can never get enough heat.

* A few years ago, I talked to the guy who developed the StirChef. I wondered how strong that motor could be, when it was run by just a few flashlight batteries - could it handle polenta/cornmeal, a very heavy dish? Well, they wanted to know how strong it was, too, so they tested it on cement. :G: Yeah, if it can handle cement, it can handle polenta. I have two of them. When I make my Polenta Florentine recipe, which requires both polenta and a bechamel sauce, I can have both of them cooking at once without having to worry about the stirring and the watching. Heaven.
** Alternatively, you can cook the bulky ingredients (meat and sausage) in the liquid ingredients first. Remove them, using a slotted spoon or tongs, and set aside. Then add the liquid to the roux.

The 2006 Food Challenge or This Year I Dare II!

2006-01-09T21:23:00.000-08:00

I've thought of another item to add to my first three:
Baking bread - I used to bake bread at least once a week, pizza also at least once per 7. I was so used to it that I never used a recipe. I haven't made bread, aside from some abysmal stuff in a bread machine, in years, and I want to get back to that. So, my fourth challenge will be that, by the end of the year, I'll be making bread at least once a week again. I think homemade bread tastes and smells (!) wonderful, heavenly, delicious, all of that. Plus it's got better texture and body than almost all storebought. I'd like to be nearly self-sufficient on the bread front again. I find that being out of bread is one of the things that most often prompts a trip to the market, and that's just plain sad.

Oh! Here's number five:
Homemade mozzarella - I've been wanting to try this for years, ever since I was teaching in Baltimore and had to make weekly trips to the (world's best) Italian deli, Mastellone's*, on Harford Road, for fresh mozzarella and other goodies. It's really not that hard, a little time consuming and requires a little equipment, but I've got a year to get my act together.

*Very nice couple, BTW, and they have some things there I've never managed to find now that I'm home in California, again, like a sheep's milk Romano with black peppercorns in it. It's soft enough for eating but hard enough to grate. Ambrosia. I was addicted to that stuff. Oooh, and big, fat capers packed in salt, still in the barrel they came in. Just a really great source for authentic Italian (and some Middle Eastern) deli-type stuff. If you live in Baltimore or are visiting, go there!

Mastellone Deli & Wine Shop
7212 Harford Road
Baltimore, MD 21234-7702
(410) 444-5433

The 2006 Food Challenge or This Year I Dare!

2006-01-09T19:11:00.000-08:00

That's a New Year's challenge from Ilva at Lucullian Delights. Instead of a New Year's resolution, you choose to make, and blog about, five foods/dishes that intimidate you, that you may have tried and failed at, five things that are going to push your cooking envelope. :G:

Here are my challenges, two of them also on Ilva's list:

Souffle - I've never made a souffle. I've never had a souffle I liked. So, my challenge will double the jeopardy: not only make a souffle, but make one so sublimely wonderful that I'll like it and add it to my repertoire. Oh, my goodness, I think I'm already in trouble.
Choux Paste - I love cream puffs, eclairs, profiteroles, all those little puffs full of heavenly goodness. My mom used to make them when I was growing up, but I haven't had homemade ones since then. I understand that they're quite simple to make, so I'm going to give it a go and probably gain 20 pounds from eating all that heavenly goodness.
Ice Cream - I haven't made ice cream in years. It's a lot of work, even with the technological toys we have available. You see, I don't want to make just one flavor, I want to make several, at the same time, together. Do you see?
When I was catering and entertaining a lot, I had a couple of Salton (IIRC) ice cream makers that made two containers at a time. Many moves later, they are who knows where. I'd make different fruit flavors, each with a different, pronounced color and flavor, and serve baby-size scoops of all of them in one dish - colorful and delicious. I haven't done this in years, because the recipe I used for each flavor was different from the others. Doubling my challenge, once again, I'm going to come up with a base that I can use for all my fruit flavors so that I am not too lazy to do this anymore. (And I've got to find those ice cream makers!)
...

To be continued. I need to think about my two other entries. Those three have been nagging at me for ages. Thank you Ilva for pushing all of us to break down those barriers, whatever their origins.

Doing a Flyby

2006-01-08T01:55:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't been blogging with any regularity lately, but life has hit me with multiple whammies. I'm flu-ing, so nothing has any flavor or appeal. The Aged Parent is in the hospital, until a few days ago a bizarre series of detours around flooded roads to reach. At least the roads are open, again.

I'm thinking about recycling some food columns I did several years ago, just to keep the blog alive. If so, you'll be seeing a couple posts in a few days time. Until then, it's going to be quiet here.

Winter Soups with Tradition I - Posole

2005-12-28T11:45:00.000-08:00

I mentioned the possibility of recycling some old food columns here, as fillers until life settles down. The first three posts I'm using are from a Holiday Soups issue from my old Foodeez! column. Sorry to resort to this, but they're good recipes and useful info. Hope you enjoy them.

Hearty, warming soups are some of the rewards of surviving the chills and ills of winter. This time of year, for those of us on the cold weather part of the cycle, soups are thicker, richer and as comforting as a warm blanket. Three of those soups are traditional holiday fare in various cultures - Posole, Gumbo and Groundnut Soup. I'm going to do all three, but each on a separate day. I should have done this before Christmas, but it's been pretty crazy for me, lately. This installment, I'm giving you Posole.

Posole is a hearty, zesty soup common to the U.S. Southwest and Latin America. It’s heart is plain old hominy, but in this wonderful combination, even if you think you don’t like hominy, you’ll love it. This is an easy version, taking advantage of canned products you can buy at the supermarket. It uses red enchilada sauce, rather than cooking the dried peppers, and canned broth to save precious time when you’re already stressed from too much to do. Half an hour, including cooking time, is about all it should take.

The trad meat for this is pork, but you can use just about anything, really, even a white fleshed fish would probably be good (but add it toward the end so it doesn't disintegrate). You could add some greens, if you like, or some other veggies, to your preference. Use either golden or white hominy - I even substituted garbanzos (cecis) once when I was desperate.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 cups Shredded turkey
large can Red enchilada sauce
large can Hominy
1 qt Broth (chicken, vegetable or turkey)
2-4 cloves Garlic, minced
pinch Basil or oregano
to taste Salt and pepper
Optional Cornmeal for thickening

Instructions:
Simmer until all ingredients are heated through. If you have a little finely ground cornmeal, you can stir in a couple of tablespoons as a thickening agent a few minutes before you're ready to serve.

Spoon into bowls. Garnish with sour cream/crema, a sprinkling of grated cheese, or sliced green onions. Serve with warmed tortillas or a nice crusty bread.

Merry Christmas and Joy of the Season

2005-12-25T00:12:00.000-08:00

For those of you who celebrate Christmas, hope yours is merry, bright and everything you want it to be. For everyone, I wish you all the joy of the season and hope that your experiences are good ones.

B'gina

Limoncello – The Great Experiment

2005-12-19T01:24:00.000-08:00

Every recipe I've seen for Limoncello calls for vodka. So, since I was planning to make the stuff, I bought a 2 litre bottle of Vodka when I did my shopping. Then I got home and saw the two litre jug of Barcardi light rum sitting in the cupboard and had a minor epiphany. To wit...I don't like vodka. I think it stinks bigtime. There is little to no diff between Vodka and any of the other supposedly flavorless eaux de vie (I really have to go back to French class. I have no idea if that's correct.)

So, my first diversion from the path of righteous—, the recipe will be to try it with rum instead. In fact, maybe I'll do a small batch of each and compare them in a few weeks. Who knows, maybe all that lemon zest will even out the flavor differences. I'd really love to try it with Tequila, but that stuff turns my feet into pontoons. Seriously, I could probably walk on water with those things on the ends of my legs. Clearly, my kidneys do not approve of Tequila, although my tastebuds prefer it above all others.

A small digression - A couple of years ago, I took about a litre of rum, tucked maybe 8 of the red chilis (like you'd use for Kung Pao Chicken) into the bottle and let it rest until the chilis were getting a bit pale and wan. I think flames erupted from my mouth when I tasted it, but a little spritz of that in a Feelthy Martini™ (made with Bacardi, of course) – I love olives and their brine – and you have a thing of beauty and zing. Ah, poetry. And a dash in Gazpacho or Salsa doesn't hurt either.

Zesting, zesting, zesting. Why did I not pack my microplane zester with the other kitchen stuff? What was I thinking? Right now I'm thinking it would be worth another trip to the store tomorrow to get a new one. But, no, I don't want to wait.

Oops! I see now why I had that jug of Bacardi. Or should I say, "that Bacardi jug." It's full of peanut oil. :G: I got one of those five gallon things of peanut oil once at OSH. It was some amazingly great price, on sale at turkey frying season (don't ask). Since I use peanut oil almost exclusively for cooking, unless I want the olive oil taste and aroma, this seemed like a prize. And it was, because peanut oil in the supermarket, if you can even find it, is not cheap. Anyway, I was decanting the vast amount of peanut oil into anything I could find, including, it would seem, and empty Bacardi jug. Annoying now when I wanted to try a rum-based Limoncello, but a nice surprise otherwise, since my peanut oil supply is getting low.

In comparing Limoncello recipes, I see that most of them call for a 1:1 simple syrup. I wonder if you could make a 2(sugar):1 instead and use less of it, diluting the alchohol less but maintaining the same level of sweetness. I believe I shall give that a try.

So, Limoncello will be some with vodka, some with Bacardi (soon as I buy some), with 2:1 simple syrup. Pity it takes several weeks to find out how the variations worked out. I'll post the recipe then, assuming it's potable. I hope it is, or that I find my zester soon, because I don't think I'm up for all that zesting again without it, any time soon.

Riffing, more...I bet you could make a version of "rum" balls with Limoncello, just leave out the chocolate, for a really lemony bite. Or make "orangecello" and keep the chocolate. Mmmm. I love orange and chocolate. Or leave the chocolate out of the cookie portion, but roll it in melted chocolate. Drooling? Moi?

My December To Do List

2005-12-15T01:02:00.000-08:00

No, buy pressies isn't at the top. That's easy enough to do online, plus I have it mosly covered already. Shop early. Shop often. Words to live by. Er, by early, I mean all year long, unceasing effort to find the right gifts for those I love. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

To Do List:

Make some yoghurt cheese, hence some yoghurt. I haven't done this in several years, don't know why I stopped. But it's very tasty. It used to be one of my standards for serving with before dinner drinks, with some nice sliced baguettes and a few mixed olives. Mm-mm good! With echoes of that cream cheese and olive mixture of a few days ago.

Make some Limoncello and play with some other version of this. I went looking for the bottle of Limoncello I had been keeping in the freezer, the better to thicken it and make it icy cold. Much to my annoyance, I discovered that my ex-roomie, who professed to dislike it, apparently had a change of heart at some point. Or many some points. So, time to do another thing I've been meaning to try. Already got the vodka and the lemons, so it's only a matter of time.

Experiment with making salt-preserved limes. I like the way salt-preserved lemons taste in cooking, but it seems like such a waste to scrape out the pulp. However, after a few weeks soaking in salt, it is pretty disgusting. And, naturally, if you can do that to lemons, I wondered why you couldn't do it to limes, too. Of course, the first difficulty is that limes don't have those nice thick and relatively soft surfaced skins. So, I'm going to play with the concept and see if I can come up with a salted lime whose peel is edible and whose innards are likewise. I'm envisioning something you could slice, thus decreasing the proportion of peel to pulp. We'll see. Can salt-preserved oranges be far behind? Yeah. Don't know if I'm up for another challenge of the citrus variety just now.

Make some yeastless pitas - see if the magic still works. This is another thing I haven't done in years. The whole yeast dough, popping them in the oven and hoping for the best is more than I have patience for. I had an old "Middle East Cookbook" that was printed in maybe the 50s, and it had a recipe for yeastless pitas. The puff came from a hot skillet, rather than yeast. Incidentally, this is also the source of my all-natural yoghurt recipe. Again, we'll see. As Susan over at Farmgirl Fare so wisely points out, unpuffed pitas make dandy individual pizzas. I'll extrapolate from that to include the non-yeast variety. If all else fails, I'll make a curry and call it flatbread.

Finish my hotsie novella so I can have it waiting for the editor of my dreams when she gets back from Christmas break. - I wrote the better part of two novellas during NaNoWriMo for my 50k. One is sooo close to being finished, just a scene or two and I'm there, edited and everything. So, I want to finish, do another polish, run it past my CP and get it in the mail. They say the publishing world shuts down over the hols. That being the case, I want it there waiting when they get back.

Rearrange my office so my desk faces the window. I'm tired of facing the wall. It's been ages since I faced a window. This is my home office, of course. Cubicle dwellers can be excused if they've forgotten there are such things as windows. I spent all day yesterday sorting and shifting things. I have two big, industrial strength filing cabinets that will have to be moved, so it's going to be a long, drawn out process. But worth it, in the end.

How much of that do you think I'll get done? I've got both milk and half-and-half for making yoghurt cheese, so that I have to do, or waste them. I'll be blogging the experience, either in one long post, or over a period of days, as the project progresses.

The pitas are super quick, since they don't require any rising time, just resting after kneading. So, that will be a single post, including recipe and description. Say it with me, "Puff! Puff! Puff! Yay!" At least I hope it will be "Yay." Wish I had a video of that. It's a kick seeing it pop.

The salted-limes I will probably wait until I have news to impart - either forget this, or yum, I have created something wonderful. The limoncello well, if anyone needs the recipe, I can post that, but it's pretty much a non-event. Although it's got parts. So, maybe, yes, I will post the deets.

Sometimes it doesn't pay to get out of bed...

2005-12-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

Off to the supermarket for the big shopping. You know, the one where you're out of everything, including paper products, vitamins and dishwasher detergent.

Right at the top of my list, if I hadn't, yet again, forgotten to bring it with me, was eggroll and dumpling wrappers. I've read multiple posts recently about making pot stickers, siomai, eggrolls and lumpia, to the point where I'm really itching to do it. They're something I make fairly regularly, at least the smaller, dumpling size ones, but I never replaced my last packet of wrappers. I haven't made or eaten an eggroll in ages, and I'd love to make a big batch to have some for the freezer. Ditto the dumplings. So, of course, I got home and realized that I had totally forgotten them.

Then there was the guy on a mission in the market, who barreled down the aisles at speed and with wanton disregard for the safety of other shoppers. I watched in horror as he rounded a turn, nearly taking out a toddler. But her mom was faster and grabbed the tyke, pulling her to safety. My mother was along, and she was in one of those little drive around carts because her knee is too bad to allow her to do that much walking. I really intended to warn him when she backed up unexpectedly. Honest, I did. But she was too fast for me. Oops. Right up his tail pipe. :G:

And in the checkout line. Why is it that some folks have just never gotten with the cart-goes-in-front-of-you program??? Why do they insist on dragging it behind them. Because then the next person can't get to the conveyor to unload their groceries, and the bagger at the other end has nowhere to put their bagged groceries. Meanwhile they, the backward shopper, stands there, oblivious, staring into space. I had pretty much lost patience by the time I was at the checkout, though, so I asked the woman ahead of me if she couldn't put the cart in front of her so I could unload. Well, she did it, but she gave me a look that said I'd made some kind of obscene suggestion, and she wanted to get far, far away from me. Maybe it's one of those CYA things. :G:

So, I've got my mother's stuff and my stuff, and I'm trying to keep it separated. My mother, in her cart, is behind me in the line. We're nearing the end of her stuff, but there's this one 12-pack of Pepsi, part on the conveyor, part on the end of the counter, and it's just not moving. The woman behind my mother has been glaring at us, and huffing, before returning to her fugue state, for ages. Impatient, wouldn't you guess?

Yet, I, my mother and the checker are all staring at her, watching that lone pack of Pepsi sitting there, while the conveyor whirls away and...she does nothing. I finally said, "Excuse me, but could you give that Pepsi a shove so it will move with the conveyor?" I got a glare, then she flipped a hand as though she were shifting one piece of paper, huffed again and turned away.

I've about had it now. "Don't hurt yourself," I mutter under my breath along with a few choice expletives, but, miracle of miracles, her limp-wristed flutter was just enough to get the Pepsi moving. I look up at the checker, and he's doing his best not to laugh. I apologize, explain that it's one of those days when I can't get out of my own way, or anyone else's, apparently. He grins. "You mean the kind where you tie your shoeslaces, then get up and discover you've tied yourself to the bed post?" Yeah, that was about the size of it.

Then there was the cement truck that seemed to feel left turns had the right of way, and he had no qualms about running over another vehicle who foolishly disagreed with him. I'm very fast on the brake pedal, thank you, or we'd be part of a metal sandwich. And the guy who got impatient at the quarter mile long line for the stop sign, drove his extra large pickup with the greatly overcompensating tires down the wrong side of the road until he was nearly to the front, which is to say right next to me, and puts on his turn signal. Like I'm going to stop and wave him through. Not today. Well, that's not true. I wouldn't have let him cut the line even if I'd been in a good mood. Do not play chicken with B'gina.

Is it any wonder we had soup for dinner? I didn't trust myself with sharp objects. Oh, and I noticed coming home that it's a full moon. Probably explains a lot.

That's What I Get for Reading

2005-12-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

This may sound gross, or not, depending on if you're one of those folks who loves or hates weird combinations, but here we go.

I recently read Jennifer Weiner's, "In Her Shoes." In the book there is a childhood recollection of going to some upscale department store and having tea and little sandwiches in their cafe, little cream cheese and olive sandwiches. This started a whole childhood reminiscence for me because that was one of the finger sandwiches my mother used to make for tea with the church ladies.

My first and last opportunity to sit with the ladies when they had their tea party, my mom made those sandwiches. And it was one of those very sandwiches I was delicately nibbling when I totally disgraced myself, to be banished forevermore. Well, not really, we moved, and she never started up with the new church ladies. BTW, we didn't have to move because of my faux pas. Really.

Anyway, I was sitting next to one of the older ladies, sipping my tea, munching my sandwich, making intellectual (or so it seemed to five year old me) conversation, when disaster struck.

Mom had a good turnout that day, and ran out of chairs. So, I was relegated to the piano stool, the backless piano stool. Pity I didn't remember it was backless before I copycatted the lady across from me by crossing my legs, thus causing me to tilt backward...where no chair back waited to support me. LOL! As you can imagine, I went over backwards, not only sending my tea cup and partially eaten sandwich airborne, but one of my feet took out the cup and nosh of the nice older lady next to me as I went over. I still have to laugh, although I was mortified at the time. So, cream cheese and olive sandwiches definitely freighted with meaning for me.

Next, I was rereading Janet Evanovich's, Ten Big Ones, the tenth in the Stephanie Plum series. Stephanie has an ongoing love affair with peanut butter. She loves peanut butter and olive sandwiches, too, no doubt the black olives that come in cans, rather than the green olives of my mother's tea sandwiches, but olives still.

So, it hit me. Bam! (not an Emeril reference) Cream cheese on one slice of bread, peanut butter on the other, and sliced, green, pimento-stuffed olives pressed between them. I obssessed over it. I tried to resist it. And I did, temporarily, since this inspiration hit at about three in the morning. But the next day, I had to try it out.

And it was scrummy. Creamy, bland cream cheese, rich and a little sweet peanut butter, both spiked with the briney, pickley zing of the olives. Delish. My one caveat is that, unless you like heavy foods, start small. I made a whole sandwich of it, and it took me the whole day to finish it. Just too much of a good thing.

Now, I have to give my creation a name...Plum Fussel? For Stephanie and Mrs. Fussel, the nice lady who was such a good sport about having me kick her tea and crumpets out of her hand and all over her nice dress? But that's misleading, makes you expect there to be plums in it, doesn't it? How about Fusseletta? Like Muffuletta, because it's got olives and a couple other good things. Yeah, I like the sound of that.

Cheers, Mrs. Fussel, wherever you are!

{tags In Her Shoes Ten Big Ones Jennifer Weiner Janet Evanovich olives}

MeMeMe-Meme! Ten Favorite Foods

2005-12-08T22:35:00.000-08:00

That's me warming up to sing for my supper...er...my meme? Cookiecrumb tagged me for this one. I know it is part of her sneaky plan to make me be a better blogger. Bless her.

She was in a bit of a quandary as to what constituted one's favorite foods, and I'm right there with her. Are we talking ingredients? Or are we talking dishes? Do beverages count? I'll assume price is no object, although I don't seem to have a lot of expensive tastes in ingredients. Not that there aren't pricey things that I love, but they're not in my all time Top Ten.

Let's see. Ten things I couldn't live without, perhaps? In no particular order:

Avocados - I grew up spoiled with beautiful avocados right from my Great Aunt's tree. Every winter we got a big carton of avocados, individually wrapped and cusioned in newspaper. It's a California childhood memory. One of the things that will make me forever grateful to have been born and raised here. Then, the last place I lived, I, too, had an avocado tree. It needed topping, and the only way I could harvest the fruit was to wait for a storm with high winds, then rush outside in my slicker and paw around in the wet ivy looking for windfalls. But they were the creamiest, smoothest avocados I've ever eaten. A little bit of avocado lore - they type of avocado pit you plant won't guarantee what kind of avocados your tree will grow. I understand they cross polinate with everything, so they will always be a surprise.
I can eat an avocado plain, or with a little salt and a squeeze of lemon, or in a salad, or filled with something yummy, like baby shrimp and Roquefort Dressing; or a scoop Gorgonzola Crême and topped with a perfect pecan half (had that on the Bateau Mouche at lunch once, and I've never forgotten it); or filled with a zippy tomato mayonnaise, sort of a Bloody Mary aspic made with a good mayo (mmm, my mouth is watering). Then there's the fact that avocados are so wonderful in sandwiches, with something salty, like ham or in a BLT (making it a BLAT); in a pita bread with Gyros, as odd as that may sound; or as a garnish for my tofu - veggie curry.
Avocados are bland and creamy so they lend themselves to a ton of different uses. Nope, can't live without them. And if I can do a mini rant on the subject of finding a "ripe" avocado in the market...DO NOT, under pain of really bad karma, press your thumb into the fruit. Anything will dent when you do that. All it does is leave the avocado for some poor unsuspecting slob who won't discover until they've peeled it that it's full of bruises. What you must do is cup it in the palm of your hand and give it a sort of side-to-side, gentle squeeze with the outsides of your hand - no fingertips. But, really, unless you absolutely have to use it within the next day or two, why not just buy them firm and let them ripen. They don't have to be squishy to use, shouldn't be, in fact. Oh, and they're loaded with tacopherols and monosaturated fats, the good kind.

Rare Porterhouse - both sides of my family originated in the Midwest, on farms. That may have been a couple of generations ago, but the meat and potatoes eating gene is still alive and well today. I think a Porterhouse is my favorite steak. I like a nice Prime Rib (adored the House of Prime Rib and their heavenly Creamed Spinach) or Filet, but that's such a tender, sedate cut. The Porterhouse has its filet portion, but it's not all filet. I think it has a better flavor, too, for my tastes. And rare, well, let's hope I don't ever find myself going barking made from MCD.
A Porterhouse can be grilled or sauteéd with nothing more than a little S&P and be delish. I like to put some really good olive oil in the pan and use Lawrey's Garlic Salt, the kind with the flakes of dried garlic and parsley in it. This is one instance where fresh isn't best. Then, do you eat it plain? Or with some kind of steak sauce? Smothered in (crimini)mushrooms sautee'd in butter and garlic, pan deglazed with brandy or balsamico, and a healthy grinding of fresh pepper? Or a scoope of that same Gorgonzola Crême that was so good on the avocado - pretty darn fine melting over a freshly grilled steak? Or Steak au Poivre or Steak Diane? Who cares if those aren't meant for Porterhouse? Live a little.

Popeye's Fried Chicken - Chicken, in general, but Popeye's, in particular. Oh, Baby, oh, Baby, I am addicted to this stuff. It's not an out of control addiction, but only because I have to drive about 45 minutes to get my fix. When I lived in Maryland, they had Bojangles chicken, which was the acme of Southern Fried Chicken chains, as far as I was concerned - biggest chickens, juiciest meat, best flavored batter, never overcooked or dry, and the best price. Just perfect. Then, to my great sorrow, the Bojangles restaurants in the Baltimore area were closed down, killed by the competition, that being Popeye's, a much bigger chain.
So, with great regret, I switched my loyalties to Popeye's. And a good thing, too, because now they have them here in the SF Bay Area - not many of them, but a few. Never soggy or over-herby, whether spicy or mild, they are my favorite. They will never be as good as Bojangles, but they're far better that KFC and its knockoffs. Plus, they make a wicked tasty Red Beans and Rice. Zippy, creamy beans with buttery rice. Mmmm. Nothing like you'd get in New Orleans and vicinity, but delicious all the same.
I did manage to make a pilgrimage to get some Bojangles chicken when I was driving across country, going the Southern route. It was bliss. It was Nirvana. It was everything I remembered it as being. If you're still around Bo, hang in there. I'm coming back for you.

Crunchy Iceberg Lettuce - As Cookiecrumb said in this post, "Iceberg lettuce. Do not snob out." Yes, I love the nice buttery leaf lettuces, and the baby greens and the frisée and radicchio and spinach etc., but nothing stands up to hot taco filling, or a fresh off the grill hamburger, or hot bacon in that BL(A)T, like iceberg lettuce. And nothing gives you a beautiful chiffonade like it. And nothing stands up to heavy salad dressings or sandwich fillings (chicken salad) like it either. And, in the summer when it's hot and you need a way to cool off, a nice big salad with cruncy iceberg lettuce will do the trick every time.

Milky, Sweetened Tea - at one point in my life, I was pathologically anemic. Every sneeze turned into bronchitis or pneumonia. In the last semester of my senior year of High School (Go Lowell!), I was so ill that I had a home nurse for a while. She got her nursing degree in England. And invalids did not drink their tea black, no. I grew up on Chinese restaurant tea, black and strong. I was too sick to put up much of a fight, but I was outraged at having milk and sugar put in my tea. Now, I can't do without it. Even sometimes in light fragrant teas like Jasmine or mint. Sounds gross, doesn't it? But putting milk in Jasmine tea is what gave me the idea for a Jasmine flavored Blancmange, which was exquisitely delicate and fragrant. So, I'm good with that preference. There's something in tea, can't remember what, that's a great antioxidant, so that's a bonus. Plus, I'm allergic to coffee, and I have to have my hot caffeine source.

Toast - Well, I guess I could have said bread, but I have to have toast with my tea, so toast it is. I like most kinds of bread turned into hot buttery toast. One of my favorite toast-type things is toasted French, Italian or Sourdough bread with butter and Marmite. Marmite is one of those things you either love or you hate, but I love it. And it's a good Vitamin B supplement, if you're a tea drinker, because tea inhibits the absorption of B Vitamins, or something along those lines. There are so many things that go well on toast, too, like Creamed Tuna, or some of those Sautéed Mushrooms, or a Hot Turkey Sandwich, or a Rueben or a BL(A)T. Or toast crusty bread in the oven topped with garlic and butter or olive oil. Got to have toast.

Papaya - I suppose this seems kind of trivial, when there are so many other fruits easier to find and cheaper to buy, but nothing tastes like a good papaya. The first time I tried one, I was stunned by the perfume of its flavor. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but I thought I might like it. I was right. It wasn't long before I was craving papaya.
Like avocados, papayas can be eaten freshly seeded and peeled. They also give a lovely scent to a fruit salad. Or you can slice or cube them and add them to a salad. Or halve, seed and peel them and fill their cavity with, mmm, Raspberry Sherbet, fresh raspberries or blueberries, a good Vanilla Ice Cream. Love 'em.

Lovely, Runny Egg Yolks - Is there anything more decadently rich and creamy than a warm, runny egg yolk? Sorry if you're one of those folks who are grossed out by runny yolks. Dip a corner of a toast point or the end of a toast soldier, with or without Marmite, into the yolk and savor its goodness. And for real overkill, I like to make a fried egg sandwich, where the yolks are still partially soft, on toast with a slice of good old Kraft American, and I am in heaven. High cholsterol heaven, to be sure, but the combination of the bland yellowness of the egg yolk with the salty yellowness of the cheese. Where did I put my drool cup?

Potatoes - Fudging a bit here. My favorite potatoes are the soft-skinned, new potato varieties - Red Bliss, Yukon Gold, White. I like them cooked, cut up and mixed with a little butter. I like them cut up in a potato salad. Then there are the Russets, which you have to have for baking. And they seem to make a better mashed potato, too. Or maybe it's just that that was my family's masher of choice when I was growing up, so they taste the best to me.
And I'm including Yams in this category. I love yams, baked and mashed with garlic, sautéed with garlic, of course. They're wonderful in a veggie curry, or in a grilled veggie salad with a lime vinaigrette. And they're very good for you - lots of beta carotene.

Milk - I put it in with the tea above, but milk is just an essential, whether you drink it from a glass, add it to tea or coffee, make a pudding or chowder with it. And yoghurt, and cheese. You have to have milk for those things. Right? Ice Cream, if we assume milk inlcudes cream and it's byproducts, like butter, crême frâiche/sour cream? Where would gastronomy, at least in the West, be without those things?

Seafood - Growing up in San Francisco, I'm a fan of Dungennes crabs. But, after living in Baltimore, I also love the Maryland Blue Crabs, mainly as crab cakes. If you don't grow up with those bitty crabs, they're far too much work to pick. Fortunately, in Marlyand, the picked crabmeat, even the lump, is mostly a reasonable price.
Prawns or shrimp in all sizes are wonderful. I love them in salads, in stir fries over pasta, in a cocktail. And I love lobster with drawn butter - simple things are often best. However, one caveat, I can't do the throwing live things into boiling water thing. I pays my blood money to the fishmonger, and he makes the kills.
Fish, not so much, but I do like salmon on occasion, or tuna (canned, or grilled, or as Sashimi), and Tilapia or Red Snapper cooked in the Vera Cruz style, i.e., with garlic, tomatos, and olives. That is a savory, zingy dish that benefits from the blandness of the fish but never tastes fishy.

There. I think that was ten. Basically, I want my ingredients because I can cook my own meals, except for the Popeye's. I don't like all the mess involved in deep frying.

So, who can I tag? Let's see, going for variety:

Barb Ferrer, a writer friend, Cuban American, who grew up in Florida and will undoubtedly dazzle us all with her choices...as soon as she gets back from New York.

Deb Grabien, ditto, the writer and New York parts (she's a Brit), plus I hear she's a killer pastry chef.

Danno, an afficionado of New Orleans cuisine, although he lives in the Midwest.

Emi Lipe, who will be attending Greystone in St. Helena. Emi's new to the food blogging world, so drop on by and say hello.

Kathy, a mom who cooks and does all kinds of crafts. I first saw her cooking skills when she entered The Amateur Gourmet's fundraiser for Katrina relief this autumn. She's fantastic.

{tags avocado papaya Porterhouse Steak Popeye's Fried Chicken Maryland Blue Crabs Iceberg Lettuce}

Avocado and Papaya Salad - I Laugh at Winter!

2005-11-30T03:48:00.000-08:00

So, I made my 50k for NaNoWriMo, which means I will actually have time to cook food and blog about it.

And, because it's about time things started working right, I have gotten my baby digital camera to talk to the laptop, so pictures should ensue.

Later - Well, that was a bust. I'm going to have to drag a lamp into the kitchen or something. The fluorescent lights above frosty panels just don't give enough illumination for photography, and my flash pics have hot spots. Did I ever tell you I once made money selling my photographs in small galleries? Of course, that was 35mm. Different beast altogether.

With the hope that I will iron this out in the near future, I'm starting off with something simple but colorful - a salad of avocado and papaya slices with pomegranate seeds for an accent. Although this would be tasty with a variety of dressings, I'm going with a honey-based vinaigrette, a la Poppy Seed Dressing, but without the poppy seeds...and without the honey - I like corn syrup better, less likelihood of allergies.

I like the idea of avocado and papaya together for a couple of reasons. One being that their colors, though both soft, contrast nicely. Their flavors are also mild, but where the avocado is creamy, the papaya has a sweet perfume - nice together, but they need something to set them off. Pomegranates are in season, so I threw on a few bright, jewel-like red seeds for the contrast, some fresh ground pepper - I like Szechuan for zip - and it's beautiful and delish, too. I fanned the slices out into a ring, alternating colors, and mounded some pomegranate in the middle, with a few sprinkled on the plate, too. That's like taunting you, isn't it? It's delicious, never mind how it looks. :G:

Riffing
If you left out the pomegranate, this would be superb sprinkled with a crumbled veined cheese, like Gorgonzola or Roquefort. The extreme saltiness of the cheese would make the sweet papaya zing and meld beautifully with the creamy avocado. A good grinding of black pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon or a drizzle of a fairly light vinegar of your choice, and this salad takes on a whole different character.
{tags avocado papaya pomegranate gorgonzola corn syrup }

EoMEoTE - well, sort of

2005-11-29T20:06:00.000-08:00

So far, the parameters of the EomEoTE events have always been outside my interest or capabilities. Since the same is true this month, I'm doing a pseudo-EoMEoTE for my own entertainment.
Do you remember those One-Eyed Susan breakfasts? The ones where you cut a circle in the middle of a slice of bread, butter it on both sides, pop it in a sauté pan over medium heat, and crack an egg so that the yolk fits in the hole??? I do, with great fondness. I still make them on occasion.

And another thing I haven't had in a while but that I used to love was either zucchini or eggplant fritters, the way Bertha Woodward used to make them. Well, she only did zucchini, but the same techniques/ingredients apply for eggplant. Those were yummy, too. But picture one of those fritters, with a hole in it's middle, just about finished cooking, then you break your egg so the yolk fits in the hole. By the time the fritter is finished, the egg is ready.
The basic procedure for the fritters is:

Peel and slice the eggplant, cutting a hole in the middle of each slice about 1" across, salt and let set in a collander for 30 minutes to an hour. This will sweat out some of the bitterness and excess moisture - that technique is called degorgé.

Set out three plates, one each with flour mixed with a little S&P, beaten egg, and grated or shredded Parmesan.

Dip the slices in flour, shaking off the excess, then in egg, ditto, and, finally, in the cheese, pressing it into the coating.

In a sauté pan, heat about a half inch of oil (I like peanut) until it shimmers. Add the coated slices of eggplant..

After about three minutes, crack an egg over each slice, so the yolk ends up in the middle. Give it a minute for the egg to set, then turn carefully, so you don't dislodge the cheese or lose the egg yolk.

When the egg is cooked to your taste and the fritter fork tender, you're ready to remove them to a papertowel-lined plate or cookie sheet.

Riffing:
Of course, these would be great, as is, with some sausage and toast, but think how it would taste served over either a nice cheesy polenta/grits or a kind of giant crostini - thick slice of crusty bread, toasted. Yum.
Tomato sauce would go nicely with the polenta/grits. With the toast, you could go pseudo-Eggs Benedict with a Greek, Moussaka-ish twist, and use an Avgolemono Sauce.
I'm sure you can think of other options.
{tags eggplant EoMEoTE One-eyed Susans}

Amazing Discovery - Carrot Magic!

2005-11-20T23:42:00.000-08:00

Maybe there are some food scientists out there who can explain this, but, FWIW...

Have you ever noticed that if you have carrots in a salad with a creamy, salty dressing like Roquefort or Ranch, that they taste a lot like coconut? Those dressings really bring out the sweetness in a carrot. I think that's pretty magical.

Also, you know how cooking cabbage or Brussels sprouts can stink up the whole house/apartment building? Well, I discovered, years ago and quite by accident, that if you steam or simmer carrots in the same pot with the cabbage, there is NO CABBAGE STINK! None. Is that not magic?

{tags carrot cabbage Brussels sprouts}

Love New Orleans and Its Food? Write a letter.

2005-11-20T21:38:00.000-08:00

No finger pointing about what was not done or the assistance that wasn't there during and after Katrina, but now it's time to make up for all of that. There are a lot of people in a position to screw the people of New Orleans and southern Louisiana and, as a result, deprive the rest of us, not to mention the world, of one of our most exciting cultures.

Why do people feel like they can just say, "Eh, New Orleans, scrap it. We'll build our ports farther north." New Orleans is more than just a port or a spot close to the oil fields, it's people and music and food. It's a way of living and a state of mind. It's a part of what makes our country what it is. Homogenized is fine for milk, but I like a little variety in my people, food, music, and certainly my way of thinking and living.

So, read the editorial from the Times Picayune. (no registration required)

And here's the list of people to contact, from the same source:

The fate of greater New Orleans' levees lies with the committees and lawmakers below. These leaders won't know how you feel about the need to upgrade greater New Orleans' flood-protection system unless they hear it from you.

Making contact can take a little effort. While some members have public e-mail addresses, others only accept e-mail via forms on their Web sites. However you communicate, use your own words, and speak from the heart.

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER

Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.; 509 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3344; Web site: www.frist.senate.gov.

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss, chairman; 113 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-5054; e-mail address: senator@cochran.senate.gov.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., ranking member; 311 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3954; e-mail address: senator_byrd@byrd.senate.gov

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska; 522 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3004; Web site: www.stevens.senate.gov

SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman; 393 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3324; Web site: www.gregg.senate.gov

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., ranking member; 530 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-2043; Web site: www.conrad.senate.gov

SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman; 453 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-4721; Web site: www.inhofe.senate.gov

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., ranking member; 511 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-2651; e-mail address: max@baucus.senate.gov

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.; 235 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-2976; Web site: www.house.gov/hastert

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; 217 Cannon House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-6536; Web site: www.blunt.house.gov

HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman; 2112 Rayburn House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-5861; Web site: www.house.gov/jerrylewis

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., ranking member; 2314 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-3365; Web site: www.obey.house.gov

HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE

Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, chairman; 303 Cannon House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-2911; e-mail: nussleia@mail.house.gov

Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., ranking member; 1401 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-5501; Web site: www.house.gov/spratt

HOUSE RESOURCES COMMITTEE

Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman; 2411 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-1947; e-mail: rpombo@mail.house.gov

Rep. Nick J. Rahall II, D-W.Va., ranking member; 2307 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-3452; e-mail: nrahall@mail.house.gov

HOUSE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman; 2111 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-5765; Web site: www.donyoung.house.gov

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn, ranking member; 2365 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-6211; Web site: www.oberstar.house.gov

This is my first time adding tags, so I hope I'm doing it right.

{tags New Orleans Katrina Rebuild New Orleans}

Amazing Discovery - Fixing Provolone

2005-11-20T16:15:00.000-08:00

Here I go again.

You know how provolone is pretty much a big hunk of waxy white cheese with barely any discernible flavor? It's fine in sandwiches with salame or pepperoni or something equally vibrant, but if you want to pair it with a nice, mild peppered ham, well, not so good.

I was making open-faced sandwiches with said mild ham, provolone, avocado and tomato. Because of the open faces and the avocado-tomato combo, it seemed natural to drizzle on a bit of EVO and add a nice squeeze of lemon. Some sea salt and a few grindings of pepper, too? Yes! That was so good. The provolone really seemed to fit then.

So, now, whenever I want to use provolone in a sandwich with mild-flavored accompaniments, it gets the EVO, lemon, sea salt, fresh ground pepper treatment. This is good.

Solutions, not just workarounds (like using a different cheese). That's what I like.

Weekend Cat Blogging #24

2005-11-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

Since I've been busily trying to catch up on my NaNo word count, and I don't want to poop out after only one week, I'm going to post a pic of one of my dearly departed sweeties. This is Joey.

As you can see, Joey perfected the art of learning by osmosis. By the way, that's the unabridged dictionary, to give you an idea of how big a boy he was.

When I lived in Tucson, one of my bosses said he wandered in off the desert. He was seriously dehydrated but seemed otherwise okay. He finally asked one of us in the office if we'd take him because he was afraid his huge dogs were going to hurt him. They played so rough, and the cat didn't have the sense to avoid them.

He first went to a couple with a little boy, but the kid was convinced the cat was going to eat his face. I have no idea why. The mind of a child. So, I inherited him. The first night I had him, I had to shut my bedroom door and put a towel along the crack at the floor because he stunk so badly. The next morning when I opened the door to get ready for work, the odor nearly knocked me over.

After a quick trip to the vet, and a harsh talking to by the vet, from which I defended myself by explaining that I'd only had him overnight, he was hooked up to an IV and spent the day getting rehydrated. Voila! No more stinky kitty. He was so scrawny, though, and ragged, and aggressively affectionate, that I was afraid I'd finally found a cat I couldn't love. But he won me over, and he got fat and sassy and was just a big furry bunch of love. I'm glad he had a good home for a few years anyway.

Amazing Discovery - Kiwi

2005-11-19T19:43:00.000-08:00

Well, I don't know how amazing it really is. Could be I'm the last person in the world to realize this, but...did you know that you could cut a Kiwi fruit in half and eat it from its skin with a spoon as if it were a bowl, albeit a hairy bowl???

The skin seems so thin and shreds so easily when you try to peel them, plus you get that juice all over your fingers. However, the skin is really quite sturdy and you can scoop out the pulp without making so much as a single fissure in its wrapping. :G:

Of course, if you're wanting the Kiwi for looks, that is, showing it's sparkly black seeds, you're still gonna have to peel and slice the suckers for the best display.

Weekend Cat Blogging #23

2005-11-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

This is my first appearance at WCB, but I wanted to show Kiri and Clare that I was thinking of them. You can tell by my expression that I won't tolerate ill-behaved dogs. "Off with his head," I say. Or more fittingly, slap his owner in the Royal Dungeon. HRH, LouLou.

B'gina here. As Princess LouLou's mum, I, too, want to send my best wishes to both Clare and Kiri. I hope that neither of you suffers any lasting ill effects. We all owe so much to you guys for being the keepers of WCB for so long. And thanks to all of you at Masak-Masak for taking up the slack while Clare and Kiri are recuperating.

Take care and a big hug from both of us.

Paper Chef #12 - Another Bare Nekkid Entry

2005-11-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

Yes, boys and girls, it looks like I am still photo-less. I've tapered off the posts, because they just aren't the same without pictures. Got a new power cable, now my laptop tells me that my camera has no pics in it. But the camera shows them to me, so, the kids seem to have issues with one another. I do have a couple pics from the Internet, but nothing of the food, itself. Anyway, to the Paper Chef. I hope this makes sense, since I'm about to fall asleep as I write it up. :G:

This month's ingredients are:

Fish sauce

Basil

Oranges

Lamb

Hmmm. Lots of playing around room there. Let's see what I can think up.

Oranges in a salad with the basil and some "Sweet" Onions, as a variant on the Orange and Red Onion Salad.

A basil jelly as a play on Mint Jelly with lamb? Basil is a member of the mint family, after all. (Notice I'm avoiding the lamb?) Here's a link to a generic recipe for Mint Jelly, if you like this idea.

I should do something with the orange zest or the peels. They've got a lot of flavor, and lamb can stand up to it.

Fish sauce - can use that as part of the marinade for the lamb, assuming I marinate it.

Candied basil leaves as a garnish or part of the salad.

Coating the outside of the lamb (assuming a rack or leg) with garlic, orange zest and fish sauce.

Some kind of lamb sausage with the orange zest as one of the flavorings.

And the list goes on and on. And I was running out of time, so, this is the menu I wound up with.

Greek Lamb Trainwreck
Orange, Basil and Onion Salad with Feta
Poppyseed-Style Dressing

I'm not giving proportions because it's going to depend on the volume you're using. If someone wants a ball park guestimate, email me, and I'll try to oblige. I don't measure when I cook, unless I'm preparing a recipe for a class where I have to give amounts, so, failing that, it's my best guess. You'll need enough basil for the Trainwreck and the salad. You'll also need enough oranges to have juice for both recipes, as well as the sliced oranges for the salad.

Greek Lamb Trainwreck
I call it this because it's a conglomeration of traditional Greek bits and pieces. It's mostly Pastitsio, with an orange-flavored Avgolemono and ground lamb, with Florence Fennel. I also put a layer of tomato sauce on the bottom, as I find that that extra tang goes well with pasta dishes made with cream sauce.

NOTE (added Wed, 9 Nov): Orange and meat is not as bizarre as it seems. What actually gave me the idea for this dish was a Greek pork sausage flavored with orange zest. I got that recipe from a wonderful sausage cook book which is, unfortunately out of print, The Homemade Sausage Cookbook, Selinger and Rechner (ISBN: 0809258641). It's worth it if you can find it used, since it's a wonderland of familiar and exotic sausages from around the world. Bertie Selinger was a cooking teacher and Cordon Bleu trained, so her instructions are clear and all food safety precautions are noted and explained. A great book.

You can see a list of southern Mediterranean sausages and their ingredientshere. There are four or five sausages which contain orange as a flavoring, which, I admit, surprised me. BTW, this is a good informational site, by Clifford A. Wright, I assume, based on its domain name.

Pastitsio Ingredients:

Ground Lamb

Crushed Garlic

Chopped Fresh Basil

Florence Fennel bulb sliced in 1/4" thick slices

Fish sauce

Pasta for Pastitsio

Tomato Sauce (plain, from the can)

"Avgolemono" sauce

Florence Fennel looks like a pregnant celery with green hair. Photo courtesy of linders.com.

This is just one brand of macaroni pastitsio, but it gives you an idea what it looks like. I'm lucky to live in an area where we have produce stands (The Fruit Basket) run by a Greek family. They sell this type and many other unusual pastas under their own label.
Filling Instructions:

Mix the ground lamb with crushed garlic and chopped basil

Sauteed lamb in olive oil in a hot pan, something like stir fry.

When it's nearly cooked, add the sliced fennel and a small splash of fish sauce (it's very salty). Keep tossing until the fennel is warmed through - it doesn't need to "cook."

I used the traditional Pastitsio pasta, cooked according to package directions. I leave the pieces whole, and lay them in the baking dish in strips.

Sauce: Rather than repeating this basic recipe, I'll give you the link. This version is thick, almost like a Hollandaise. You might want to thin it with a bit more broth, and multiply it for this dish. And, of course, use orange juice instead of lemon.
So, here's the assembly:

Pour a layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of the baking dish (a brownie or lasagne shape of pan)

Lay the pasta strips over the tomato sauce, top with a layer of the cooked lamb and fennel.

Repeat for a total of 2-3 layers. I like to end with pasta, but it's up to you.

Pour the sauce over, giving the dish a few shakes so that it will settle down into the layers.

You can top this with cheese, if you like. But if you've got enough sauce that it covers the top, that will turn a nice golden color on its own.

Bake at 375 degrees F. for about 30 minutes. It should be heated through, the sauce bubbling a bit, with a golden color. Keep and eye on it so the sauce doesn't burn on top. If it's getting too dark, lower the heat to 350.

Orange, Basil and Onion Salad

One or two oranges, peeled and slice horizontally

One "sweet" onion (Vidalia, Texas, Maui etc),, sliced in 1/4" slices and separated into rings

Fresh basil cut in ribbons - roll leaves in cigars and cut crosswise

Feta, cubed or crumbled in large large pieces.

Fresh ground pepper

Optional: Chop some of the green "hair" from the fennel.

Poppyseed-style Dressing
I wanted a sweet-ish dressing for this. So, I used a recipe for Poppyseed dressing but left out the poppyseeds.

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 Tbsp. white vinegar

2 Tbsp honey or corn syrup

1 teaspoon fresh orange juice

Salt, to taste

Using only half the honey/syrup, whisk all ingredients until emulsified. Taste fir sweetness. When you have the sweetness to your preference, add salt to taste.
Layer orange and onion slices, top with dressing, garnish with basil, feta and fresh ground pepper (and chopped fennel tops).

I was pretty satisfied with this pairing, but I think if I make it again, I'll put some orange zest in with the ground lamb before cooking it. Also, I'd probably candy thin strips of orange peel and use them as a snack with espresso or something. I was too pooped to be bothered. The peels are in the fridge, though, pending a more energetic moment.

Technorati Tag: Paper Chef

Eggs as Crepes

2005-10-19T03:18:00.000-07:00

Quite a few cultures use eggs to make something resembling a crepe. Sara at The Delicious Life just wrote about one - Omo Rice, a Korean dish that has an egg "crepe" topping a veggie-filled fried rice. Looks very tasty.

I love regular crepes, but these egg crepes are much simpler and quicker to make. It's not too much trouble to make just one or two, and you can't do that with batter crepes. This recipe is for a rolled "omelette." I fill it with whatever I have on hand. The fillings can't be too chunky, and they need to be used sparingly. One of my favorites is ham and asparagus.

For the basic omelette:
2 eggs
1 tsp. ice water
1 tsp. peanut oil (olive or vegetable oil are fine, too)
Optional: herbs, thinly sliced green onions, sesame seeds, finely chopped sun dried tomatoes or olives

Using a fork, beat eggs with ice water. This seems to help emulsify the mixture. You only need to break up the yokes and combine them with the whites. You don’t want them frothy - this adds air and will not give you a crepe-like omelette.

In an 8" or 9", non-stick saute pan, heat oil, making sure it coats the bottom of the pan. If you've got one of those silicon basting brushes, they're ideal for this.

READ BEFORE YOU PROCEED: When the pan and oil are hot (barely a minute) pour in the egg mixture and immediately swirl to coat the bottom of the pan - it will be thin and will cook almost instantaneously.

It’s going to be fairly fragile, so, starting at one side of the pan, use a spatula to start it rolling over itself, then tip the roll out of the pan onto a plate.

Unroll the cooked egg crepe/omelette. Lay a thin layer of fillings in the middle two thirds and roll it up.

Put the open flap side down and serve.

This is one of those dishes where, as they say, "your options are limited only by your imagination." Serve with a small salad of some kind, rolls, rice, whatever seems right. Garnish with salsa, avocado, sour cream/yoghurt, Marinara sauce - whatever suits your fillings.

Stand by for pics. I will lick this problem.

Infused Oils - A Treat for the Cook's Soul

2005-10-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

When you think about a special meal you've had or a dish you particularly loved, you see the food, remember its flavors. Aromas are a big part of how we perceive flavors, so they are very evocative and can produce strikingly detailed memories of tastes, situations, people, places, events. So, when you cook, why not work on creating those memories with some intent? Is that cheating? Mmm, perhaps, but they're your memories, too.

Years ago I made a batch of olive oil infused with rosemary and lemon. I used an inexpensive but very fragrant olive oil, fresh rosemary and lemon peel. I cooked with it a lot. It's flavor wasn't strong enough to give the food a flavor of herb and citrus, but, boy, when I was cooking, I was in heaven. And, when guests came over, it drew them to the kitchen like a magnet. For someone who thinks of cooking as a social activity, well, that was great.

Technique
Most recipes for infused oils tell you to warm everything. This is because heat helps to release the essential oils from the infusing materials, and incorporate them into the medium oil. But, if you heat the oil, you're compromising its freshness and shelf life. You'll need to either keep it refrigerated afterward or use it quickly.

If you're working with olive oil, especially a good fresh, grab you by the throat olive oil, you don't want to do this. Just sitting in a bottle on the shelf is diminishing the tacopherols in the oil, those great antioxidants intrinsic to olive oil. You want to preserve them; so, what can you do?

Use more infusing materials and "bruise" them thoroughly. Don't mash them up, but make sure they're releasing their scent. They should be very strong smelling before you put them into the oil. Citrus peels you just need to twist (be sure not to get any of the bitter, white pith with the peels) so that you see the beads of oil pop out on them.

If you're using hot peppers, you can slit them open first. The heat is in the seeds and interior membranes. If it's garlic, give each clove a good whack with the bottom of a bottle or back of a spatula. One safety note: If you use garlic to infuse oils, keep them refrigerated and remove the cloves after a couple days. There is a danger of botulism if the garlic is left in too long or isn't refrigerated. I would think that reserving the garlic infused oil for applications where it's cooked would be pretty safe, but I'm not a food safety expert. It might be better, if less natural, to buy food safe garlic oil instead.

You can use food safe essential oils to flavor cooking oils without using heat, making this is a good alternative for any number of flavors/scents you might want to add to oils for cooking or seasoning/dipping. Just be sure that you are getting food grade or food safe oils.

Heat is one of the few things that is adequately transferred by infusing oils. The rest of the aromatics are going to be mostly to give the cook and guests that rush of olfactory delight that comes with great aromas - aromagasm? :G: And why not? It's good for your soul.

Ma Po Dofu, Riffing

2005-10-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

After that vegan curry the other day, I had a taste for more tofu. More tofu with avocado. They're such a good contrast, smooth and mild against firm and tangy. Before I moved last year, I had an avocado tree in the yard. And they were the smoothest, most divine avocados I ever had. I really miss that. And the lemon tree next to the back deck. And the neighbor's orange tree. And the other neighbors apricot and loquat trees. And my plum trees. You know, I was living right on the edge of downtown San Jose and had more fresh produce available in my and my neighbors' yards than I do now, and I'm living in the country. Something wrong there.

Anyway, in thinking about what to do with the tofu today, I decided that I'd make a modified Ma Po Dofu. Well, that's where it started. Looking at the recipe and seeing Sichuan peppercorns, I thought about Hot and Sour Soup, which also uses them. So, a soupy Ma Po Dofu? Or a Hot & Sour MPD? Then, too, I had neither pork nor beef thawed, but I did have a chicken I had intended to roast. Hmmm.

As an aside, there's a fun article about Sichuan cooking and it's heat here. It's author, Ted Anthony, grew up in Singapore, so was accustomed to very spicy food at an early age. He chronicles his search for the ultimate in mouth numbing pain, in the Sichuan Province of China.

Back to my riffing. What if it were an Italian H&SS? Red wine vinegar or balsamico instead of white cider vinegar? Maybe some egg noodles instead of bamboo shoots. Cayenne instead of white pepper or Sichuan peppercorns? Or red pepper infused olive oil (like this or this, or make your own) instead of Hot Sesame Oil or Chile Oil to float on the top? My mouth was watering. But...but...what happened to my Ma Po Dofu?

I'll tell you what happened. I remembered I had some leftover, cooked, boneless pork loin. I took a piece of that and used the family machete* to cut it into shoestrings - not quite the same as ground pork, but it wasn't bad and I liked the shoestring shape.

* It's huge and was custom made for my mother. I'll put up a pic of it one of these days when I figure the whole image thing out.

Most of these ingredients are available in the International or Gourmet aisles of your supermarket, if you don't have an Asian market nearby.

Tip: When you're using an unfamiliar condiment or flavoring ingredient for the first time, rather than just throwing it in and hoping for the best, taste it first. The best way to do this is to treat it as it will be treated in the recipe. For example, the Hot Bean Paste will be diluted by broth, so, warm a little broth, or even water, and put a tiny dab of the Paste into it. Now, taste the broth. This will let you know how hot it is and any nuances of flavor, e.g., sweet or salty, it might have. Sesame Oil or Hot Chile Oil are usually poured over the finished dish. So, float a little on some warmed broth and take a sip. You'll feel much braver about trying new things if you know what to expect from them.

Ingredients:

1 package of firm tofu, cut into 3/4" cubes

2-3 Tbsp. peanut oil

2-3 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped very fine

1/4 pound cooked, boneless pork, cut in shoestrings

1 or 2 green onions (scallions) sliced thin, on the diagonal

1-3 tsp. Hot Bean Paste (use Chile Paste if you can't find this, and add a pinch of sugar)

1-3 Tbsp. Kikkoman Lite Soy Sauce

1 can (14 oz.) broth - divided

2 tsp. cornstarch (mixed with 3 oz. of the broth)

Garnishes/condiments: Sesame Oil (the dark, toasted kind), crushed Sichuan Peppercorns, sliced avocado

Notes: I like my green onions fresh and crisp, so I add them and the pork at the end, after the mixture has thickened. Likewise, the Sichuan peppercorns may be too much for some folks, so I put a bowl on the table for those who want to sprinkle some on their serving. Sesame Oil does not take well to a lot of cooking, so, I almost always treat it as a condiment. I call for Kikkoman Lite Soy because I really love the flavor of it, and it's less salty than many.

By all means, start on the lower end of the Bean Paste and Soy Sauce measurements if you're unsure of how hot or salty you want this. You can always taste it and add more once you've added the broth. The process goes quickly because the pork is already cooked, so, it's only a matter of heating the tofu through and getting the broth hot enough, long enough to thicken it.

When all ingredients are prepped and measured:

Heat oil in a sauté pan or wok over high heat until it just starts to smoke.

Stir in the hot bean paste and garlic.

Add the tofu and soy sauce, using a spatula or other flat utensil, flip it carefully and keep it moving for perhaps a minute.

Add the broth. It will hiss and steam if the pan is hot enough. If not, bring it to a boil.

Add the broth-cornstarch mixture gradually, keeping it all moving so it doesn't lump.

When the sauce is thickened, add the green onions and shoestring pork.

Serve alongside cooked rice, with a few avocado slices per plate, with the other garnishes available.

Comment Spam

2005-10-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, but those comment spammers are busy little bees. I'm being pretty rigid in what I allow. This is all about the food, after all.

One woman nearly squeaked by with her plug for her site that sells chocolates. Unfortunately, for her, that comment was on the A Haiku for the Waiter post, rather than the one on New Gourmet Chocolates. \;+) Gotta be more sneaky, people.

I certainly don't want to discourage legitimate comments, or be exclusive by only allowing members to comment. So, I'm turning on word verification. I'll see if that helps.

Thanks, B

A Haiku for the Waiter II

2005-10-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

O, lovely waiter
insouciant, you grin, wink,
why not a bow tie?

The little devil must have been reading my mind. He's got a new logo.

Eating Vegan

2005-10-14T01:47:00.000-07:00

Oh, my goodness. I had to come back and edit this because I forgot one of the main ingredients. If I'd had the pic...TOFU. Yes, there is tofu in this curry. See below for complete recipe.

I was too busy and hadn't yet started this blog when Becks and Posh issued their IMBB challenge last month to create a vegan meal. But I'm going to post this recipe anyway. I don't know why I came up with it in the first place, unless it's because there are just some times when you have to take a break from meat and dairy, but here is my:

California Vegetarian Curry

This is very simple to make. I make a fairly mild curry sauce, but you can make it to your preference. Mellowing the spices in the oil is essential, or their taste will be far too harsh and will not give you the composite flavor you're looking for.

What makes it California, in my mind, is the avocado and the fact that the veggies still have body. If you decide to use miso and haven't used it before, be aware that it is very salty.

Serve over cooked rice - I prefer Cal Rose, but use whatever you like best. I bet it would be great on basic brown rice, too. This serves two reasonably hungry folks, or more if there are side dishes.

Ingredients:

1 medium-size garnet yam, peeled and cut into oblongs, about 2"x1/2"

1 whole sweet (Vidalia etc.) onion, peeled and cut into wedges (from top to bottom)

1 whole green bell pepper, cored and seeded, and cut into 1" cubes

1 barely ripe avocado, cut into 1/2" cubes*

1/2 a block of firm tofu, cut into 3/4" cubes

Peanut oil, 2-3 Tbsp.

Curry spices or prepared Curry Powder, to taste

Vegetable broth (Swanson makes a decent canned broth) - separated

1-2 Tbsp. Cornstarch, depending on how thick you like your sauce.

Optional: a dab of Miso for a fuller flavor, crushed garlic

Procedure

Prepare all the veggies (see Note on the avocado).

Heat peanut oil in a saute pan over medium heat.

Add the curry spices/powder and cook, stirring until their raw smell mellows - just a few minutes.

Add yam and garlic (if you're using it), and cook, stirring occasionally until a knife just penetrates the yam. Don't overcook it, or it will turn to mush.

While the yams are cooking, combine 1/4 cup of the broth with cornstarch.

Add the onion, bell pepper and tofu. Continue cooking only until they are heated through - the veggies should still be crisp at this point.

Add the remaining broth (and the miso, if you're using it), stirring to incorporate the curry seasonings.

Give the broth-cornstarch mixture a stir, and add it gradually to the pan, stirring continuously, until it is incorporated and the sauce is thickened.

Taste for salt and adjust, if necessary.

Serve over rice and garnish with the avocado.

* Note on preparing the avocado: Cut the avocado in half, lengthwise and remove the pit. Using a paring knife, cut slices, 1/2" apart at the widest part, from top to bottom in each half, being careful not to pierce the skin. Then cut slices across from side to side, again, 1/2" apart. This will give you cubes, or as cubes as you can get from something ovoid. Put the pit back in and put the halves together - this will keep them from discoloring. When you're ready to put them on the curry, use a large soup spoon to carefully scoop the cubes out of the shells.

I love the contrasting flavors, colors and textures in this dish - the sweet smoothness of the yams, the stronger flavor of the sweet onions, the "coolness" of the peppers, the bite of the tofu, and, for me, the avocado finishes it off perfectly.

My apologies for still not having pics with any of these posts, but I'm having trouble getting my images in. This is such a gorgeously colorful dish that it really needs to be seen. If anyone knows the Blogger secret, I'd be thrilled to hear it. And, yes, I'm using the image button at the top of the post window.

A Haiku for the Waiter

2005-10-14T01:41:00.000-07:00

O lovely, Waiter,
A moment of your time, please,
Could you add capers?

New Gourmet Chocolates

2005-10-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

Two premium, domestic chocolate makers, both in the San Francisco Bay Area (go us!), Ghirardelli and Scharffen Berger have announced chocolates with increased cocoa content for today's more demanding consumer.

Ghirardelli

Ghirardelli is coming out with new, dark baking chocolates - Bittersweet, Bittersweet Chips and Extra Bittersweet, which will have a higher percentage of cocoa, up to 70%, with the increased percentage to be shown on the package. "With an increasing number of chefs and recipes specifying the cocoa percentage of chocolate ingredients, Ghirardelli’s new packaging helps consumers accurately select precise levels of intensity of baking chocolate."

Popular with bakers and chefs for their easy melting properties and satiny smooth texture, Ghirardelli baking chocolates were named "Favorite Dark Chocolate" by Cook's Illustrated last year. The new, more potent chocolates will be available in Safeway, Albertson's and Kroger this Fall. No specific date given, so, they may be there already.

Calling all chocolate chefs: Ghirardelli and Ladies Home Journal are sponsoring a contest to find the "most intense chocolate dessert recipe." There are some very nice prizes, too, so start working on your recipes! It doesn't open until 15 October, and LHJ is being very anal, so that link won't work until Saturday, apparently. Think I'll enter this one, myself, although I'm not really a dessert person.

I'm a long time fan of Ghirardelli chocolate, having grown up with it being the ne plus ultra of chocolate. They've been in business for 150 years, making chocolate from the bean to the bar. My family lived in a flat a couple blocks up the hill from the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory, before it became Ghirardelli Square. My mom tells me the aroma of choclate could be maddening when you just had to have some, like in the middle of the night. So near, yet so far.

Their site hasn't been updated to reflect these new super chocolates, so, for more information, contact:
lhenry at baxtergroup dot biz
mtoteda at baxtergroup dot biz

Scharffen Berger

The Berkeley, California chocolate maker is releasing two new chocolate bars: "the Gianduja, a rich and dark chocolate bar with tones of roasted hazelnut, and El Carmen, an exceptional chocolate with red fruit flavors and a smooth, clean finish."

Gianduja is a classic hazelnut and dark chocolate combination. I Googled the name and found sources that said it originated in Switzerland and others which were equally adamant that it was of Italian origin. Who cares? This is Nutella for grownups.

El Carmen is a limited production chocolate, made from cocoa beans from a single Venezuelan farm. There's a word for that, but I'm having a brain fart and can't think of it. Anyone?

Both of these are available from the Scharffen Berger site and their shops.

Yes, even Tarzhay

Not to be left out of the increasing sales of upscale chocolates, Target is debuting a line of their very own boutique chocolates. The new line is called Choxie. Described as being made with the very best ingredients, including the highest quality cocoa, they will be in recognizable forms - barks, truffles, and so on, but the flavors will be anything but standard. Some combinations listed in the article I read are: Chile Limon Truffle Tiles, Toffee Almond Crunch and Chai Tea Truffle Temptations. Priced reasonably, from $1.80 to $12, they're definitely worth a try.

Who'd of thunk it? Target being the place to get your upscale chocolate fix.

Info: choxie at mbooth dot com

Not to Obssess About Duck, or Anything

2005-10-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

I started thinking about recipes last night, as I was falling asleep. I think I do this because I almost always go to bed hungry. I've got to get my sleeping and eating schedules better coordinated. The Cassoulet was way too trad a use for my leftover duck bits. They'd make an excellent gumbo ingredient, though. I've got some Andouille, so I may gumbo those babies tomorrow. What should I use for the sea food, though. Maybe nothing?

I was also thinking about the next duck I cook. I really, really love Peking duck. It's so thrifty the way they use up all the bits, even the just skin parts, by putting them into pancakes or sticky buns with Hoisin Sauce. So, maby I'll do the whole duck the way I did this one, with the Chile Paste rub and, for something a little different, try making baby pitas with rice flour. Theoretically, that should puff like wheat flour, I think, unless it's just too glutinous, and I do mean in the sense of sugar. I'll try that tomorrow and see if it works. Pitas like that, with the sweetness inherent in rice flour, would be delish with something zippy like this duck.

If the rice flour pitas work out, I'll have to think of more things to do with them. Barbecue would go great. Hmmm. Thinking. Ooh, Mu Shu. Instead of those leaky pancakes, put them in rice flour pitas. Now, we're cooking. Or, we, er I, will be...soon.

Trendy Ingredients

I guess I must be hide bound in some ways, because the list of the hot new ingredients from Bon Appetit, courtesy of Epicurious and the food blogger who provided the link (sorry, I closed the window and don't remember who it was), pretty much left me lukewarm. I suppose if you're a restaurant chef or caterer to the stars, this is a reasonable list, but, for me, no.

Pea tendrils - pea plants look a lot like sweet peas, the flower. They climb, and they grow little green tendrils to cling to things as they grow. However, a lot of peas are now bred to be bushes, so, very little tendril, unless you get the vining kind. I just wonder what they're doing with all the peas from these vines. There's a heck of a lot more pea than tendril, even on a vining plant. And how do they harvest them? I believe I can rest assured that however it's done, they will be expensive. Now, since I grow peas occasionally, it's nice to know that the tendrils are edible, but I don't think I'd order them in a restaurant.

Meyer Lemon - this is new??? Maybe newly fashionable. They're nice lemons. I've often had Meyer Lemon trees where I lived, so I've used them in a lot of recipes, but really.

Baby Beets - again, no news there. They were trendy, oh, ten or more years ago. Maybe they're back in fashion now. I do love beets, though.

Kurobota Pork - from what I've read, this is just basic old, not bred for leanness pork. It has more fat, hence is moister and has more flavor. But do we need to go to Japan to get it? Couldn't every country that raises pigs (is that the correct term) do the same thing? It would seem logical that small farms everywhere would still have good old pre-engineered piggies to start from. Huh. Or is this Kurobota Pork just reverse engineered, so to speak, rather than being naturally moister and more flavorful???

Wagyu Beef - this is confusing, so read this to get a handle on it. Suffice it to say this is another very fat, ultra-marbled meat product from Japan.

Heirloom Potatoes - like the baby beets, they've been a fad already, or maybe it's because I'm in California, and we have a lot of farmers markets(?), but they are fun, so, enjoy. I really love the fingerlings, little finger-shaped potatoes that you can eat up in a couple bites.

Pomegranate - what can I say? I love them, they're a curiosity, but how long will a fad last when you have to deal with a mouthful of seeds with every bite?

Organic Chicken - well, I've had organic chicken. I was raised on the stuff. It's okay. Meh.

Black Cod - O...M...G Also known as butterfish. I used to buy this stuff when I was in college because it was dirt cheap. Also very tasty, buttery like it's name. Now it's a hot ingredient, so it will cost the earth. Just like Tilapia. It's a lovely fish. It used to be what poor immigrants from Mexico and points south cooked. Now, it's fashionable, or getting there, and the price is going up. So, what do the people who used to cook with tilapia because it was the only fish they could afford do? I could do a rant on chefs making things trendy, but it takes stores jumping on the bandwagon, greedy bastards, raising their prices, to make it happen. Why can't something fashionable be a reasonable price? So cranky, and I'm not even hungry.

Burrata Cheese - this is a fresh cheese, for all practical purposes, made only in Italy. I'm sure there are individual delis or boutique cheese makers who make this elsewhere, but you have to find them before you can get the domestic version. I've never had this, but from what I'm reading, it's like a creamy ricotta core in a fresh mozzarella wrapper. You eat it as you would the mozzarella, an Insalata Caprese for example, but when you cut into it, the center oozes out all thick and creamy. I have mixed feelings about this. :G: They have pics here and here, so you can see what I mean. I'd definitely give it a try if I found it. Maybe minus the tomatoes.

Paper Chef #11 - Fall Foods

2005-10-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

This is my first ever entry in the food blogging community's frequent comps. This is Paper Chef #11, a monthly event, so it will be one year old next month, it looks like. The topic, as chosen by Stephen of StephenCooks.com is Favorite Fall Foods. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the ingredients are: duck, nut butter, ginger and pears.

Photos are optional, and, unfortunately, if I have them at all, mine will be late. Yes, my battery charger remains among the missing and the camera battery was low. I did take some shots with my trusty SLR, but that means getting prints and scanning them or doing one of those other magic things to wind up with digital images. Anyway, if they come out, at some point I will append them to this post, with a note to that effect.

I chose a fairly eclectic combination of dishes, but I think they go very well together, and they made a delicious and satisfying meal. The duck, Bosc pears and yams were once seasonal fare available only in the colder months, but, now, we can get them year round. Those of us who live where Summers are hot, though, are less inclined to eat the richer foods before the weather starts to cool. I think this combination of ingredients makes a perfect Fall dinner. Here's my menu.

Spicy Groundnut Soup
Smoky Oven Roasted Duck Breast
Yam Puree with Coriander
Salad of Fresh Greens with Pears

I served a chilled Ch. Ste. Michelle 2003 Gewurztraminer with the soup and main courses. It's typically spicy character and fruity flavors goes well with rich or spicy foods.

The Planning

Although I love groundnut soup, it's not something I often think of cooking, so, thanks to whoever suggested nutbutter as one of the required ingredients. Roasting a whole duck seems like a waste of time, unless you're making something like Peking duck, where the skin is as important as the meat. My duck recipe was similar to Peking Duck in many ways, but without the air drying, and I just didn't want to take the oven time.

I wanted a good partner for the duck, and I, at first, thought of doing a stir fry of sweet fennel, red bell peppers and sweet onions. But this is a Fall meal, so I decided to go with something simpler and more in keeping with the theme - baked, puréed yams. All of the dishes in the menu are rich, so I chose to finish with a light salad of baby/bitter greens with unadorned Bosc pears.

First, A Description of the Meal

We started with steaming bowls of Spicy Groundnut Soup. This is a wonderful soup for cold weather, just rich and heavy enough to take the chill away. Slightly creamy from the peanut butter, it had grace notes from a variety of spices, with heat provided by a dollop of chile paste, if desired.

The main course was a half, sliced, duck breast apiece, with a glistening, translucent sauce made from a white balsamico reduction of the pan juices. As I prepared it, the skin was crispy and a rich, almost mahogany hue, with a spicy bite to it. The flesh was tender with a band of darker brown next to the skin and a hint of smoky sweetness.

On the side, I served a rich, slightly sweet purée of yams. Their mild but complex seasoning made them an excellent accompaniment to the spicy duck breast.

To finish the meal, we had a salad of baby greens, with frisée and radicchio, and slices of perfect Bosc pears. The dressing was light, a little sweet and a little spicy, and the cool sweet flavor of the pear rang clear as a bell with that background. Throughout the salad were crunchy and chewy flavor accents from seasoned bits of rendered duck skin and glacéed ginger.

We were too full to contemplate dessert right after the meal, but, about an hour later, we were ready for a cup of tea and homemade ginger-macademia shortbread. I think I enjoyed the planning and the preparations as much as the meal. Well, almost. I'm so glad I decided to baptize my new food blog by participating in PC#11.

The Process

Spicy Groundnut Soup - I first tasted this soup at a fund raiser for a linguistics organization. Every year, they had an international banquet which was essentially a potluck supper with paying guests. The version of Groundnut Soup I had there is still my favorite. I guess we all prefer the first we taste of something, as long as it's good. It's the benchmark for all other versions.

The soup was between a broth and a puree in consistency, a good place for my textural preferences. Not too peanutty, but with a luxurious feeling in the mouth. Only moderately spicy, it was made to please the greatest number of palates. Because I wanted to emulate that soup, I made my broth using bones from the duck, warming spices, like cumin, turmeric and a tiny hint of cardamom, and garlic mashed with a little bit of salt. When the flavor was where I wanted it, I began whisking in the peanut butter, until I was satisfied with both taste and consistency. Recipes usually recommend that you use an unsweetened peanut butter, but I prefer the smoothness the sweetened variety gives to what could otherwise be almost a curry flavor.

I provided a small dish of Chile Paste with Garlic (right out of the jar) as a garnish for those who wanted a bit more fire. I used this same Paste in prepping the duck, so there were echoes of the flavor in both courses.

Smoky Oven Roasted Duck Breast - I wanted the duck breast to have a somewhat sweet, smoky flavor. This is where my secret ingredient came in. I brined the whole duck, using a combination of salt and brown sugar. The secret ingredient was Lapsang Souchong tea. I added a couple small scoops of the leaves to the brining water. I was aiming for a hint of smokiness, maybe some darkening right under the skin, without turning the whole thing brown and overpowering any other flavor. It was the first time I'd tried this, and, I'm happy to say the result was exactly what I'd hoped for.

My duck was frozen, so I thawed it in the brining solution, overnight. While I preheated the oven, I gave the bird a swipe with a wet paper towel to get off any clinging tea leaves. Then I cut off the wings and separated the breast from the rest of the bird but didn't bone it. I made a mixture of the Chile Paste, more brown sugar, and a little sea salt. I rubbed this over the duck breast and roasted it in the oven - on a rack, with a foil tent over it and a little water in the bottom of the pan. I find this browns and crisps the skin nicely but eliminates the need to baste.

In the meantime: I removed the legs and set them aside with the wings, then peeled the skin off the rest of the duck. This got a good rub on both sides with the chile paste mixture, as well as extra salt. Then, I rendered the skin in a saute pan, slowly, held flat by a bacon weight. This gets out virtually all the fat and leaves you with flat, crispy sheets of deliciousness. I blotted them on paper towels. Then, I crumbled them up into fairly small pieces, as you would crumble bacon.

When the duck breast was done, I removed it to a plate to rest for a few minutes before removing it from the bone. I poured off most of the fat from the pan where I rendered the skin. I deglazed the pan with a white balsamico. When all the bits of fond were loosened, I added the duck pan juices to it. I cooked this down to a fairly thick consistency, perhaps like a heavy oil.

Yam Puree with Coriander - The yams were baked along with the duck. To serve them, I split them and scraped out the softened flesh, added a mixture of butter and olive oil, crushed garlic, a pinch or two of brown sugar, and ground coriander to my taste. It's a fairly sophisitcated rendering of the traditional Sweet Potato Casserole so popular with Thanksgiving turkey dinners.

Salad of Fresh Greens with Pears - The salad was simply a bed of greens, frisée and radicchio foremost, with the sliced pears. I saved a bit of the pan reduction to make a very light dressing with just a squeeze of lemon to thin it. The toppings were the crumbles of spicy rendered duck skin and finely chopped glacéed ginger.

Cook's Treats
Tomorrow, I'll probably make something with the remainder of the duck. I still have the wings and legs, not a lot of meat. I may cook them with some canellini beans, using some of that zippy rendered duck fat, for a cassoulet. Or I might debone the meat, chop it and make potstickers with more of the chile paste mixture I used on the duck skin, and some of the glacéed ginger. Those would be good for the freezer, as a first course for a future dinner. I'll use the rest of the rendered skin on veggies, baked potatoes, potato salad, or just to munch.

Paper Chef #11 - Progress!

2005-10-10T02:45:00.000-07:00

Yay! I found a duck today. It's being brined, actually thawing, in my secret brining solution. I now have all my ingredients - the four called for in the comp, and ones I'm adding, so, tomorrow is a big cooking day.

It's late, and I'm really hungry. I don't know why I have no appetite before about 2 in the afternoon, but I'm ravenous all night. It makes it difficult to share meals with people whose stomachs are on a more normal schedule.

Off to bed to dream of succulent duck with crispy skin. If the growling of my stomach doesn't keep me awake.

More thoughts on Paper Chef #11

2005-10-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

I think I literally dreamt of this half the night, but I have a lot of good ideas. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like a duck is going to be available, although someone mentioned a local farm that raises ducks and geese. However, I don't think I'm up for quite that experience. I need the remove of a nude thing vacuum sealed in plastic between me and that cute thing with feathers running around quacking.

The rules allow substitutions if one of the ingredients isn't available, though. I'll try calling the rest of the markets in town to see if they mightn't have one in their freezers. If not, it will be chicken, I suppose. Anyway, my ideas are for duck, so that's the way I'm writing them.

For the nut butter I'm going to do a spicy Groundnut Soup, a peanut soup which originated in Africa but also seems to be popular in the South, where they grow lots of peanuts. :G: I'm going to use the pear in a salad, probably with frisée and some other baby lettuces, or maybe radicchio. It may be harvest time, but I live in the California Wine Country, so baby lettuces are readily available in markets, if not in my own garden.

I'm thinking of brining the duck in a secret ingredient for a special Fall flavor. I'm smiling, pleased with myself. If it works out, it will be fantastic. I've done something similar with duck before, and it was a smashing success, so we'll see. The duck course will most likely be only the breast - don't feel like fooling with serving issues for the rest of that very bony bird. Although I do have plans for a cook's treat with the legs. We'll see. We'll see.

I'm also going to get a secret ingredient from the duck to use in my salad. Also, I'm not sure whether it will end up on the duck or the salad, but I'm going to do a white balsamic reduction of the pan juices after I've cooked the duck. Of course, white balsamic doesn't have the caramel color and flavor of traditional balsamic, but it has a nice body and sweetness that will make either a lovely light sauce or give some real body to my salad dressing.

I'll get the ginger in there, too. I already have plans for it. :G: Tomorrow I go for the duck. And hope my camera battery is charged enough for the pics. It's got a very weird recharchable battery that takes a special cord, which I've mislaid. Even if I have no pics, I'll have a tummy full of good stuff to remember it by.

{tags duck peanut Groundnut brining white balsamic}

secrets

2005-10-07T23:55:00.000-07:00

My secret is that I'm a picky eater. I'm one of those people who goes into restaurants, checks the menu and usually can't find anything she loves just the way it is. So, it's "hold the..." or "could you have the chef throw on a few capers" or "could you bring me some pepperoncini in their brine with some chopped garlic and olive oil"? That last makes a great "salsa" with fried calamari. It has a nice bite to it that cuts the greasiness of the fried squid. I first had that combo at a VFW Hall "Diner" in Rhode Island. Now, for me, it's the only way to go.

And, yes, I love capers - little zingy bits of sharpness and saltiness that go with so many things - like Pasta Aglio é Olio - so that's a fairly common request from me. I do check out the menu to be sure that capers are something they use before I ask. I mean, I can survive without my capers, but why, if I don't have to?

This blog is going to be a platform for my pickiness and for sharing the results of my search for the perfect meal with the world (or whatever portion of it wanders through my door). Some of the foods will be ultra trendy, but others will be totally casual and comforting. So, onward.

My first post I'm going to walk you through the early stages of my entry for Paper Chef #11. If you want to know more about the PC contests, click here.

The ingredient list:

Duck

Nut Butter

Pears

Ginger.

I can see lots of possibilities already. But first, I'll have to see if I can find a duck without going to extremes to obtain it - that would be having to drive 50 miles to the nearest gourmet grocery or pay FedEx overnight charges to get it by, well, tomorrow? Not going to happen.

Nut butter and ginger, of course, make me think of something Asian, like Saté. And a nice, fresh, unadorned pear would be a lovely foil for something rather rich like that - nut butter and duck, heavy, heavy, heavy. It would also work well with something hot. Ginger can provide a lot of heat, by I think it might overpower the duck. Hmmm. I'll have to give this some thought.

Oh, and why did I call this blog, Stalking the Waiter? Two reasons, or sort of one and a friend. I recently discovered the Waiter Rant blog, which I adore. If you haven't seen it before, take a look. He's a waiter in NY, and he writes very candidly about what goes on behind the scenes in a restaurant, and what those polite smiles are hiding as our waiters/waitresses bring us our dinners. Heh. The "friend," is that a diner like myself would drive Waiter up the wall.

And I drink tea. (You'll have to read his blog to get that one.)

{tags capers pepperoncini calamari duck
ginger garlic salsa Bosc pear}