Food for Thought

Pinch Me

2016-08-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

There is a flaw in most recipes ... and that has to do with measurements ... in particular the term "pinch." A pinch of salt can be but a few grains or as much as a third of a teaspoon ... and recipes don't distinguish between these extremes. Therefore may I propose the following clarification to this term "pinch"? I suggest that cookbook or cookblog authors use an antecedent as to the number of fingers used ... e.g., "two-finger pinch" (thumb and pinkie) or "2F pinch", "3F pinch", and all the way up to "5F pinch". This way, cooking recipes can keep us from over or under spicing our dishes.

If this protocol were observed then our foods would not be undersalted or overspiced ... and the world would be a much more regimented place. I promise to follow this instruction in future recipes here ... I might even go back a remedy some of my older posts.

Zosia’s White Borscht

2016-03-31T08:30:00.001-07:00

Around our home, we have many traditions ... one of which is the Polish one to mark Easter with a bowlful of Zosia's (Sophie's) white borscht sometime in the late morning ... while we are beginning to prepare for our Easter repast. This is a unique and very flavorful dish which evokes the old country. Here is the process of preparation as passed down from Zosia:

2 good quarts of cold water in a large enamel cooking pot
1 Polish Kielbasa (we get ours shipped from the East Village Market in NYC, 212-228-5590)

1 piece of smoked slab bacon (with the bones in ... optional ... from the same supplier)

Simmer these ingredients for 30 minutes ... don't boil!

Remove slab bacon and kielbasa and set aside

¼ cup flour (sour rye flour if available)
½ cup water
1 tbs salt
Mix together and slowly add to the above

Simmer for an additional 30 minutes

Add juice of one lemon

Add ½ cup of dried Polish mushrooms (try the Kielbasa supplier)

4-6 fresh egg yolks

1 pint sour cream

Wisk together and temper with a little of the hot liquid

Slowly add this mixture to the soup wisking all the while

Warning! if you boil this soup, it will break ...

Serve with peeled and chopped up hard boiled Easter eggs, small pieces of Kielbasa and the slab bacon.

Grate fresh peeled horseradish root on top (to taste ... very traditional). Try your local supermarket for the horseradish root ... they often have it around Easter.

Seven-Day Pickles

2014-12-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

We made this recipe for sweet pickles a few times when we lived in North Carolina. Their unique taste and crisp texture still lingers with me. Found this recipe again on cooks.com and revised it as per below.

Ingredients:

7 pounds cucumbers, washed.
Enough fresh cold water to cover the cucumbers
2 tablespoons salt
1 quart apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons pickling spice
8 cups sugar

Follow this seven-day process:

Day One:

Pack the cucumbers in a huge jar or food safe container. Cover with boiling water.

Cover the container and let it sit overnight.

DayTwo:through Day Four

Drain. Repeat day one each day for three days. Using fresh water every time.

Day Five

Drain. Trim off the ends of the cucumbers, then slice (a mandolin is best) into 1/4″ slices. (Note: we cut them into crayon-thin spears.)

Combine vinegar, salt, sugar and pickling spice. Bring liquid to boil and pour over cucumbers.

Cover and let it sit overnight.

Day Six:

Drain syrup and bring back to a boil

Pour this vinegar mixture over the cucumbers.

Cover and let it sit for 24 hours.

Day Seven:

Repeat Day Six.

Pack the pickles into sterilized jars – pints or quarts, whatever size you want, depending on how many you think you will eat in one sitting. (Not that you can’t keep these in the refrigerator or on the shelf for months.) Make up any shortfall of liquid by adding a little more vinegar ... just until the pickles are covered.

Cap the jars.

Chill the pickles well before serving.

Caesar Salad ala Janina

2014-12-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

Croutons:
One small loaf of crusty bread cut into 1" cubes. Toss with olive oil and toast for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with kosher (or sea) salt.

Lettuce:
One large head of Romaine lettuce. (Do not use packaged lettuce ... it often has an aftertaste.) Trimmed of darkest leaf ends, washed well and spun dry. Chop into bite sized pieces.

Dressing:
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons good mayonnaise
1 teaspoon anchovy paste (if not using chopped up anchovies)
1/2 cup good olive oil
2 dashes of Tabasco sauce
1 crushed large garlic clove
1 tablespoon salt

Parmesan cheese:
Grate a good half cup of fresh good real Parmesan cheese

Dress the lettuce with about half the dressing and cheese (and, if desired, 3 or 4 chopped-up anchovies). Just before serving add more dressing, cheese, and croutons. Toss well.

Bon Appetit!

Mom's Strawberry Sherbert

2014-12-02T10:57:00.001-08:00

This dessert is so simple and so good.

Ingredients:
One quart good, ripe strawberries, destemmed and picked over
Three egg whites, stiffly beaten
Juice of one lemon
Simple syrup made with two cups sugar, three cups water -- boiled until well dissolved

Mash and combine berries, lemon juice with simple syrup and briefly continue to boil
Air-cool mixture and put in a freezer tray with the beaten egg whites on top
Place in freezer until almost frozen
Remove to a bowl and beat with (electric) mixer until light and frothy
Return to freezer (in tray) until fully frozen

Enjoy with, say, almond cookies.

Strawberry/Pecan Meringue Pie

2012-07-21T07:16:00.002-07:00

This is an old, old Pavlova recipe offered up by a forgotten friend, Sharon Davidson, of Stuyvesant Town (NYC) fame. It has the meringue on the bottom and has been a popular dessert treat in our house for many years. This recipe was recently requested by a newer friend, Judy. So here it is (almost verbatim):

In a (copper) bowl beat until stiff three egg whites, gradually adding one cup of sugar and one teaspoon of good vanilla. Put 24 Ritz crackers, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 cup of pecans into a blender and pulverize. Fold this mixture into the egg whites. Pour into 9 inch greased pie pan and spread into a pie-crust form. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F., then cool on a rack.

Core, clean, slice and lightly sugar one pint (or more) of strawberries. Whip 1/2 pint of heavy cream with 2 tablespoons of (demerara) sugar and a splash of framboise (if available, if not, some good rum). Fold in the strawberries and fill the cooled pie shell. Place a few saved strawberries on top to decorate. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

Afterwards: My wife now tells me you can substitute more pecans for any or all of the Ritz crackers.

Super Shrimp Platter

2012-05-23T09:28:00.001-07:00

My son, George, served a shrimp platter at his daughter's recent Communion party. They were sublimely perfumed and delicious ... the best I have ever had ... and I've eaten a lot of shrimp in my lifetime. They were so good that I had to document his recipe. So here it is:

Take two pounds of uncooked shell-on shrimp (of whatever size your budget will permit ... and, if you can find them, never frozen ... but, if frozen, defrost them first in the refrigerator overnight) and de-shell/de-vein them ... leaving the tail shells on if you wish.

Bring to a boil a copious amount of well-salted water. Add a few nice bay leaves, a tablespoon of mustard seeds, and a tablespoon of peppercorns. Then add the cleaned (and briefly rinsed) shrimp. Bring the water back to a boil and boil briefly (about two minutes) making sure all the shrimp have turned pink. Drain out all the water and place the shrimp in a large freezer bag with lots of ice (crushed, if possible). Put this in the refrigerator while you make the cocktail sauce.

To make the cocktail sauce: In a small bowl place 1/2 cup of Heinz ketchup, a tablespoon of good-quality prepared horseradish, a few squirts of Worcester sauce, the juice of half a lemon, and the zest from this same half lemon (this ingredient is important).

Serve the cold shrimp nestled on lots of cracked ice on a large platter (or platters) with the cocktail sauce centered thereon. Add a garnish of watercress or finely-chopped iceberg lettuce if you are of a mind. Enjoy with some ice-cold beer (and invite me).

My Tomato Salad

2011-08-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Now, as they are in season, vendors are almost giving away tomatoes. Take advantage of this largess and try my tomato salad recipe:

Peel three or four large dead-ripe tomatoes (this is important ... try dipping them in boiling water for a few seconds to loosen the skin) and cut them into bit-sized pieces. Put this into a large bowl. Clean and dice a small bunch of scallions and add them. Chop a good four or five sprigs of Italian parsley and add to the bowl. If you want, you can also add chopped fresh basil and oregano (I often don't.) Add a good five-finger pinch of salt and about six grinds of fresh black pepper. Squeeze in a half a juicy lemon through your fingers to catch the seeds. Add about four dollops of good olive oil and about three of a good (but not great) balsamic vinegar. Mix well and refrigerate until cold. (I know, I know, you are not supposed to refrigerate tomatoes ... but trust me on this.)

If you can keep from eating this all yourself, serve what is left to your good friends and family ... with a good crusty bread to soak up the juices.

Catch a Tory

2011-08-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

I've never cooked chicken cacciatore before ... but tonight I tackled it (without benefit of a recipe) ... and it turned out pretty well. Today I bought four chicken thighs for $4.35 and decided to try my hand at this dish. Here's how it went:

Rinse the chicken thighs and dry them thoroughly. Salt and pepper them liberally on both sides. Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat. Add a good olive oil (I actually used peanut oil tonight ... I couldn't find the olive oil) and heat until smoking. Add the chicken thighs and cook them until well browned. Remove the thighs to a plate and add one well chopped onion ($0.30), three slivered garlic cloves ($0.25) and one well diced Italian pepper ($0.50). Then add a good sprinkling of red pepper flakes and some fennel seeds to taste (I like a lot of them). Put a big can of good whole tomatoes ($1.69) in a big bowl and squeeze them to a pulp and then add them to the frying pan. Add a good pinch of salt and some more black pepper grinds, a palm-full of dried parsley flakes, a bay leaf, and a good pinch of oregano.

Cook this sauce for about ten minutes and then return the chicken thighs to the pan along with a can of drained artichoke hearts ($1.89) or just artichoke heart bottoms and any juices from the thighs. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook another fifteen minutes or until the chicken is real tender. (A few things I could have added but didn't -- some chopped-up sun-dried tomatoes and a good splash of red wine.) In a separate pot boil a good quantity of salted water and cook some cappellini ($1.29). Serve the chicken cacciatori over the pasta with a liberal sprinkling of Romano cheese. Enjoy. (You pick the side entrees ... maybe oil and garlic broccolini and a balsamic-vinegar tomato salad, see: My Tomato Salad.)

So, for around ten dollars I main-course fed very generously three people (with enough left for my lunch tomorrow.) We all said it was delicious. Not bad for a chicken-cacciatore tyro.

Brussels Sprouts

2011-08-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

I despised Brussels sprouts until at least the age of forty. Now I love them. (I suspect that it was they way people had cooked them for me.) Here is a recipe that may make you love them as much as I do now:

Buy a tub of Brussels sprouts and rinse them in cold water in a colander. Now clean them by removing any discolored outer leaves, cutting off the darkened stem end down about ¼ inch, and notching the fresh-cut stem end with a ½ inch deep cross. Place them all, cleaned, in a pot of cold salted water to cover. Bring to a rolling boil and cook for about five minutes or so until softened. Return them to the colander and rinse in cold water. Now cut them all into half-moons through one slit in the stem end. Heat a large frying pan with about two tablespoons of butter and the juice of half of a lemon. Add the Brussels sprouts and four grinds of fresh black pepper and a pinch of ground nutmeg. Now stir and sauté them until they are dark brown all around. (It’s alright if a few appeared blackened … they are the best tasting.) Sample one and add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve piping hot (important!)

Lily Livered

2011-08-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

Not many people like liver. I love it and, if you follow these dictates, you might like it too. The process is quite simple and in three steps:

1) Cook some nice bacon until crisp in a large cast-iron frying pan. Drain on paper towels and wipe out the pan with more paper towels.
2) Saute a thinly sliced onion or two in sufficient butter until golden brown but not burnt. Salt and pepper and remove to a warm plate. (Optional)
3) It is important to prepare the calf's liver by removing the outside membrane and any large internal veins. (The calf's liver should be very pale and fresh ... not gamey ... otherwise forget it. Beef liver is what has ruined most people's taste for this dish.) Add more butter to the frying pan and a good dollop of peanut oil. Heat until wisps of smoke appear. Salt and pepper the liver liberally, lightly flour it, and add to the frying pan. Sear quickly until you get a brown crust on both sides but the inside is still a little pink. Remove to a serving dish. Add a little white wine or water to the frying pan to make the au jus. Top with the fried onions and/or the crisp bacon.

Serve with mashed or escalloped potatoes (see: Escalloped Potatoes) ... topped with the au jus and sided with maybe sauteed Brussels sprouts (see: Brussels Sprouts). Enjoy! (And you know it is very good for you too!)

On the Cheap

2011-08-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

For those who like veal and don't want to spring for expensive veal leg meat, you can often find veal stew meat at a considerable discount at your local supermarket. This is frequently shoulder meat but, sometimes, better cuts are remaindered as stew meat at about one third the price of leg meat. When you find such a deal, first make sure that it is fresh and, second, that it is pale ... almost white. Buy about a half a pound per person since it will lose some bulk both in trimming and cooking. Also acquire a package of tiny baby carrots, some tiny red, white, or fingerling potatoes (or pick the smallest ones out yourself), a package of frozen pearl onions, and a package of small white button mushrooms.

To prepare this stew give yourself at least two hours. Start by trimming the stew meat of all gristle and unnecessary fat ... and cutting it into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces (I like it smaller to match the size of the other ingredients). Then salt, pepper and flour the meat liberally. Heat some canola oil in a large stainless steel frying pan and brown the veal well on all sides. Then add a good tablespoon of butter and the cleaned mushrooms that have been cut to the size of the veal chunks. Saute them until they take on good color. Add the baby carrots and two cups of chicken or veal stock ... not beef stock as we are trying to keep this dish pale in color and delicate in flavor. For herbs, may I suggest about a teaspoon of fresh chervil or half a teaspoon of dried. Lacking this herb, substitute the same amount of tarragon. Also add a large bay leaf and, maybe a bouquet garni if you have one.. Cover and simmer for about an hour.

Uncover and add the pearl onions and potatoes ... halved if too big ... and simmer for another 20 minutes adding liquid or water as required. (Note: if you don't include potatoes here, serve this veal stew over cooked white or wild rice.) When ready, if the stew is not the texture of tomato soup, add a roux made with a tablespoon each of butter and flour or, better yet, arrowroot. Adjust the salt and pepper levels if required and simmer for another five minutes. Remove the bay leaf and the bouquet garni. Serve with a nice cold dry white wine (Chenin Blanc), a nice tart green salad (dandelion greens dressed with a vinaigrette ... see Recipe), and a crusty baguette. Enjoy.

Ham I Am

2011-07-09T00:28:00.002-07:00

Ham steak is a nice menu change. I usually fix it this way.

Take a large cast iron frying pan and melt a heaping tablespoon of bacon fat in it. Swish it around. Now fry the ham steak (old-fashioned kind ... bone in ... plenty of contained fat ... no cuticle of plastic edging) for a few minutes. Sprinkle the top lightly with ground cloves and a tablespoon of dark brown sugar. Turn it over and repeat this process. Flip back and forth until it is well coated and done but not burnt. Remove from the pan and carefully add a quarter cup of water (or apple cider) to make a "red-eye" gravy.

Cut and serve with buttered mashed potatoes and string beans. Pore some gravy on the mashed potatoes. (The cook gets the piece with the bone marrow ... the best part.)

Eggplant Parm

2011-05-15T17:09:00.000-07:00

Last week, in between tutoring gigs, I stopped for lunch at a place called Ziti's on Speen Street in Natick, MA and ordered its eggplant parmigian ($7.95). It was sublimely delicious. So tonight I tried to duplicate it here at home. I came very close.

First get a firm, fresh, standard eggplant. Peel it and cut it into 3/4 inch rounds, discarding the ends. Then place two layers of paper towels on a cookie sheet and, salting the eggplant pieces liberally on both sides with Kosher salt. place them on the paper towels. Cover them with another two layers of paper towels and another cookie sheet and then something heavy (say a big cast-iron frying pan.) Let them stand for at least an hour. Remove and discard the paper towels. Pat the rounds dry. Then grind fresh black pepper on both sides.

Now place the big cast-iron frying pan on high heat, covering the bottom generously with extra virgin olive oil. When quite hot, start frying the eggplant rounds in batches (adding lots more oil as required) until nicely browned on both sides ... removing them to more paper towels. (No egg wash and bread crumbs ... why the extra calories?) Finally, in the remaining oil, saute three minced garlic cloves, red pepper flakes to taste (I used about four shakes), a pinch of salt, some fennel seeds, and a large can of good crushed tomatoes. Cook about five minutes. Then place about a cup of the tomato sauce on one of the cookie sheets (should have at least 1/2 inch sides), then the eggplant slices, and a good slice of fresh mozzarella cheese on each. Spoon the rest of the tomato sauce over the cheese and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Bake in the top half of a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes until the cheese is brown and bubbling.

Eat until you burst. No need for anything else. And the next time you are in Natick, MA stop by Ziti's and say thank you (over a plate of its eggplant parm.)

Lots of Lox

2011-01-29T17:53:00.000-08:00

Bagels and lox are the quintessential Sunday morning treat. I had forgotten much of the ceremony surrounding this treat until my friend, David, reminded me of it a few summers back. First start with a parcel of very good smoked Nova Scotia salmon (lox). I have found the the thinner and paler pink it is, the better it is. Avoid supermarket specials and go for the hand-cut Nova, if you can find it.

Next the bagels ... I like those that come with everything (a wide variety of seeds). I slice them at least into thirds lengthwise (for thinner round discs) and toast them until they are brown but not burned. The guest of honor (or my wife) gets the piece with most of the seeds. (Here's where it's better to be married to someone with diverticulitis.)

Then the cream cheese ... try to get the kind without the gum agar if you can find it. Otherwise, I like whipped Philadelphia cream cheese. Spread this thickly on each toasted bagel section (a schmear).

This is followed by at least two pieces of lox and a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice. One may substitute thinly-sliced smoked sturgeon or smoked sable for the lox (sometimes I like this even better.)

Now on top place some very finely minced purple onion and some nonpareil capers ... and a sprig of fresh dill. The tomato slices are really not necessary.

Serve with a cup of good steaming hot coffee and a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice (Valencia, preferred).

Now do the New York Times crossword puzzle (in ink of course).

Jeanette’s Famous Pulled Pork

2011-01-14T06:41:00.000-08:00

This is a great party treat … serves at least ten hungry folks.

For the meat: Get one 5-7 pound pork shoulder (with the bone in). Put it in an oven bag along with 1½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 2 tablespoons flour. Shake it to cover and add a good splash of water. Bake in a slow oven (250-300 degrees) for about 4 hours. When fully cooked, remove and let it cool. Then pull all the meat off the bone into shreds, discarding bone and any gristle only … not the fat.

For the BBQ sauce: sauté in a large stainless steel or enameled pot (important, do not use aluminum!), in one cup of canola oil, one chopped large onion and two minced garlic cloves until wilted. Add one cup ketchup, one cup water, one cup good cider vinegar, one cup of white wine, one cup dark brown sugar, 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce, one cup good prepared brown mustard, one tablespoon thyme, one teaspoon liquid smoke (optional, depending on where you are from), 3 tablespoons of salt, 8 grinds of black pepper, and the juice of one lemon. Bring BBQ sauce to a boil then reduce to a simmer.

Add the pulled pork to the sauce and simmer, partially covered for about one hour.

Serve with lots of big hard rolls (Northerners) or big soft rolls (Southerners,) a large bowl of coleslaw (in my mind, a must, to be put on the pulled pork) and the hot sauce of your choice (Tabasco or Frank’s) … and, of course, all the other party goodies like potato salad, french fries, and/or baked beans (including mucho ice-cold beer ... try "Presidente" from Puerto Rico). Enjoy ya’ll!

Vinaigrette

2010-12-25T06:31:00.000-08:00

I don’t remember where I learned this one, but it never fails to bring raves. I've had to give this simple recipe to numerous friends.

Put a large pinch of kosher salt in the bottom of a wooden bowl. Slice up one large or two small cloves of garlic and place on top of the salt. Use a hefty and narrow-tonged fork or even a mortar to crush the garlic well into the salt … making into a paste. Add a good dollop of Dijon mustard and the juice of one-half a juicy lemon (or all the juice of a not-so-juicy lemon). I also like to add a big splash of good red-wine vinegar now. Mix it well with a fork adding about 3 or 4 turns of a pepper mill. If you must add an herb, try chervil ... about 1/2 a tablespoon. Next drizzle in about 4 or more tablespoons of good extra-virgin olive oil, mixing all the while with the fork to create a creamy emulsion.

The actual salad contents can vary greatly, but how about a package of mesclun-mix greens, a bunch of halved cherry or grape tomatoes and three sliced-up scallions? And maybe even some crumbled up blue cheese?

Italian Sub

2010-12-13T02:47:00.000-08:00

Call it a Hoagie, Hero, Grinder, Po’ Boy, Torpedo, Submarine or whatever, it is a classic Italian treat and here is my version. Again first, please buy high quality cold cuts and bread otherwise the end product will be second rate.

Slice the Italian bread (poppy- or sesame-seeded is good) lengthwise … the crustier the better. Now drizzle some good red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil on the top and bottom cut sides of the bread and then sprinkle with Italian or Greek oregano. Now layer in the following (order can be reversed … see picture):

- thinly sliced real Italian mortadella (a must in my opinion)
- deli-thin Genoa salami slices
- deli-thin Provolone cheese slices
- chopped olive medley (optional)
- deli-thin capicola slices (hot or sweet according to your taste)
- paper thin imported prosciutto ham slices (go ahead splurge)
- deli-thin Swiss cheese (very optional … as this is not traditional)
- shredded Iceberg lettuce
- chopped or sliced ripe tomato
- chopped sweet onion (or scallions)
- chopped or sliced roasted Italian peppers (hot or sweet according to your taste)

Give the whole thing an extra sprinkle of oregano and drizzle of olive oil and red-wine vinegar. Do not, I repeat, do not heat this sandwich or use any mayonnaise. Serve it as described. Use a bib or tuck a dish towel around your neck as eating this treat will be messy.

Enjoy!

A Thanksgiving Warning

2010-11-24T23:32:00.000-08:00

Something to avoid on Thanksgiving. Click here.

A Wine Whiner

2010-11-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

Upon further reflection, I probable should have published this blog post over here.

Navy Bean Soup

2010-11-16T23:02:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back, at the Commons Lunch in Little Compton, Rhode Island, I had a steaming bowl of delicious navy bean soup. I’ve kept thinking about how good it was and how I wanted to reproduce it for my family. I came very close last night so I thought I would share this success.

Rinse well a package of dried navy beans and then place them in a pot of cold water. Bring this pot to a rolling boil and boil for two minutes and then turn off the heat, cover, and let it stand for a hour.

In a much bigger soup pot sweat, in about two tablespoons of good olive oil, one finely-chopped onion, two finely-chopped stalks of celery, two cleaned and finely-chopped carrots and a hand full of finely-chopped parsley. If you have some left over ham use it, but I bought a bone-in ham steak and cut it into pieces. Add the ham (and bone) to the soup pot along with 6 peppercorns and 6 allspice berries and about a good two quarts of water. No salt yet! Start boiling this mixture and, when the beans are ready, add them along with their soaking liquid. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for a good two hours.

Next take a 15.5 ounce can of stewed tomatoes and, after chopping up the tomatoes, add it to the soup. Now, add salt to taste (less than a teaspoon). If need be, retrieve the ham pieces and mince them finer. Remove the bone, but add the marrow and the minced ham back to the pot. Re-cover and simmer for another half hour.

Serve with crusty bread and butter. (Even my wife loved this soup and she hates beans.)

Ala Porcine

2010-11-16T03:08:00.000-08:00

Schnitzel is a quick and delicious departure from normal American fare. You can make it with expensive veal if you wish, but I usually use pork and defy most diners to tell the difference.

First find some nice, almost white pork tenderloin. Cut it into two inch sections and the pound these sections flat (about ¼” thick) with a tenderizing mallet. The results should be about six inches across. Salt and pepper these schnitzels on both sides, then do the quick-frying three step: dip in seasoned flour first (shaking of the excess), then a beaten egg (or two), then seasoned breadcrumbs or Panko (again shaking off the excess), and pan-fry in hot oil (corn or canola oil is fine) till golden brown on both sides. (The seasoning for the flour and breadcrumbs is open for creative flair, but I use salt, pepper, dried parsley flakes, and sometimes onion powder.) Top with the traditional lemon slice.

Serve these schnitzels with sides of red cabbage and apple sauce. To make the red cabbage: melt in a frying pan a good tablespoon of bacon grease (a must), add a small onion diced finely, sweat the onion for a minute or so and then add a jar of red cabbage (I’ve only ever seen one size of red-cabbage jar.) Heat thoroughly for a few minutes and then serve. The apple sauce is more complicated: get a large jar of good apple sauce, chill well, and serve with a topping of cinnamon. (French fries would be good too ... nice and hot ... and maybe even the cucumber salad from my previous blog post here.)

Should serve four. Enjoy. (Make sure you have hired an oompa band and a zaftig female server.)

Unencumbered Cucumber

2010-11-06T18:34:00.001-07:00

Here is a traditional German salad dish that is devoid of sour cream. (Not that that version isn’t good too.) And it is quite simple.

Peel and slice two medium cucumbers into 1/8 inch pieces. Next, peel, half and slice a small Vidalia (or other sweet) onion. Place all these slices in a bowl and cover with ice cubes. Place in the refrigerator for at least half an hour. In the meantime mix 5 tablespoons of good sharp cider vinegar with three tablespoons of sugar (can be light brown), a good pinch of salt and about four pepper mill turns … all in a small glass. Mix well and place this glass in the freezer until you are ready to remove the cucumber and onion slices. Drain and pat dry these cucumber and onion slices and top them with the well-chilled vinegar dressing. Sprinkle with chopped fresh dill or coriander seeds (pictured) and serve immediately ... as the secret of this dish is for it to be well chilled.

Goes will with chicken or pork dishes.

Beefy Stew

2010-10-05T02:17:00.000-07:00

I made a beef stew last night and it turned out so well I thought I would share it. I found 1½ pounds of sirloin beef on sale so I decided to greet our change to autumn weather with a hearty meal. You can use round steak or even chuck steak for this recipe but cut it up in pieces about 1 inch square. (I think that supermarkets sell you beef stew pieces that are too big to cook and eat easily … and need to be at least halved. Cooks Illustrated magazine recommends sirloin steak tips for beef stew.)

Dice one large onion and sauté it in a few tablespoons of olive oil. (Bacon grease would also be good.) Use a Le Creuset pot if available, otherwise, a cast iron one. Add a few chopped up garlic cloves and cook till transparent. Salt and pepper the meat well and brown it along with the onions and garlic. Next add a small package of mushrooms, cleaned and halved. Now clean and chop three carrots, two celery stalks (with leaves). Add them. After things are well amalgamated add a bouquet garni (I used a teaspoon of powdered bouquet garni from Penzey’s Spices. See here), one bay leaf, a half teaspoon of dried thyme, two tablespoons of chopped parsley, three squirts of Lea and Perrins, five peppercorns, five allspice berries, a third bottle of Bogle old-vine zinfandel, and a container of good beef stock (Emeril’s was good). Bring up to a simmer. Halve 7 or 8 baby Yukon Gold potatoes and add them. Mix well with a fork a heaping tablespoon of flour with an equal amount of softened butter and stir well into the pot. Continue simmering this concoction on the back of the stove for at least one hour (two is better). Then remove the bay leaf (and bouquet garni, if not powered) and adjust the seasoning. Serve with the remaining bottle of Bogel’s zinfandel and a crusty baguette. Enjoy!

Now, when done, if it is still light out, go out and rake some leaves.

DOH!

2010-09-21T06:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had a "DOH" moment and I would like to share it to show that all us cooks get goofy sometimes. I spoiled a wonderful pot of onion soup by not following the recipe carefully. I was salivating as I again tried to duplicate Julia Child's great recipe for onion soup (Mastering the Art of French Cooking, page 43). I bought all the ingredients and cleaned and cut up a large leek (a small digression), six large yellow onions, a few garlic cloves (another improvisation) and was sauteing them in butter and olive oil in a large Le Creuset pot. Now, I noticed that Julia calls for adding three tablespoons of flour after the onions are well cooked down. I cut this critical corner and added the flour near the beginning of the process. Needless to say, the flour burned and, not only spoiled the soup, but I had to spend almost an hour cleaning the Le Creuset pot. (It's still not perfect.)

The moral is -- sometime, but not always, recipes mean what they say. (Perhaps critical steps need to be in bold type?)