Fettuccini Carbonara

Quixotic Quest



For some years, writer and humorist Calvin Trillin has been waging a campaign against turkey and in favor of Spaghetti Carbonara for the traditional Thanksgiving meal. His reasons for this campaign are: 1) "turkey is basically something college dormitories use to punish students for hanging around on Sunday;" 2) Christopher Columbus was Italian; and 3) a 300-square-foot platter of Spaghetti Carbonara would probably be a welcome challenge to those who make floats for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I didn't remember Trillin's campaign while enjoying deep-fried turkey on Thanksgiving day. Nor did I recall Trillin when I decided to fix Fettuccini Carbonara this past Sunday evening. But Trillin's quixotic quest did occur to me when I read that Anne had also made Carbonara Sunday night.

Fettuccini/Spaghetti Carbonara had been a favorite of mine since college when I waited tables at a restaurant where it was a specialty. Over the years I’ve made it many times using a recipe based largely on what I remembered from watching the chef fix it. Then, number of years ago, I spent a week in Italy. We rented a villa outside of Rome and used it as a home base to explore Rome and southern Tuscany. One morning we visited the ruins of the Emperor Hadrian’s Villa and afterward had a late lunch at a restaurant there. I ordered Fettuccini Carbonara. It was a revelation.

When it arrived it was a bright lemon yellow. The color turned out to be egg yolks --multiple egg yolks. My version included a single whole beaten egg. What I was served had at least two yolks in it with no whites and no cream. It was unctuously rich and luscious.

The version below serves two and is still basically what I’ve made for years, but I learned a lesson about the eggs in Italy.

Fettuccini Carbonara

4 oz fettuccini (or spaghetti)
4 oz pancetta, 1/4" dice
1/4 white wine
3 ea egg yolks -- beaten
2 tbsp olive oil
4 ea scallions -- sliced 1/4" thick
2 ea garlic cloves -- sliced
2 oz parmegiano -- grated
1 oz pecorino -- grated
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

Add olive oil to a skillet or saute pan over low heat. Add garlic and cook until garlic is golden. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon and discard. Add pancetta and brown. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of oil. Increase heat to medium, add wine, and reduce by half. Remove from heat.

Simultaneously, cook pasta. When pasta is done, drain and return sauce to medium low heat. Whisk egg yolks into sauce, taking care to avoid having eggs curdle and cook, whisking steadily, until slightly thickened. Whisk in cheese. Mix sauce and pasta, plate, and with dress with scallions and a healthy dose of black pepper. Serves 2.

If you can't get pancetta, you can use ordinary bacon, but I think ham is a better choice.

Technorati: Food | recipe | main dish | pasta | carbonara

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Pear/Raisin Pie

Deliciously Odd



My cooking tasks for this year's Thanksgiving were squash soup, rolls, and dessert. The pears seem to have been exceptionally good this fall, or perhaps I've just been in an exceptionally pear frame of mind. But whichever it is I've been eating a lot of them and as I considered desserts for Thanksgiving something involving pears was the first thing that popped into my mind.

I found this recipe at Epicurious and it was distinctly odd -- mainly because it looked like it would be good but I couldn't figure out what it would taste like just by reading the recipe. Orange marmalade and vanilla extract? I just had to give it a shot. It was great!

The marmalade and vanilla disappeared into the background while the brandy added a noticeable richness. The flavor of pear permeated the entire dessert like a blanket of snow on a landscape. If you, like me, are already considering Christmas dinner, I highly recommend it.

Pear/Raisin Pie

Dough for double-crust pie
6 tbls orange marmalade
1/4 c (packed) raisins
2 tbls sugar
2 tbls brandy
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 1/4 lb firm Anjou or Bosc pears -- peeled, cored, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 tbls cornstarch
1 ea egg yolk beaten with 2 teaspoons milk (for glaze)

Heat oven to 400F.

Heat marmalade and brandy in a small pan over low heat, stirring to blend. Mix marmalade mixture in a large bowl with raisins, sugar, vanilla extract, and spices. Add pears and cornstarch and mix.

Roll out dough for bottom crust, lay in a pie plate, and mound with pear mixture. Roll out dough for upper crust and cover pie, sealing edges. Brush the top of the pie with the egg glaze and cut slits in it to release steam.

Bake on the center rack of the oven for about 50 minutes; cool. Serves 8.

Technorati: Food | recipe | dessert | pie | pear

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Squash Soup

Makeover



Squash soup is a great idea, but too often it fails in execution. It's often banal, watery, and insipid. Something more like flavored squash juice than a true soup with soup's promise of savor, depth, and nuance. I had a bowl of soup like that not long ago and its lack of character irritated me. So for Thanksgiving I set out to create something more like what I imagined squash soup could be.

I scanned lots of recipes and I figured out why so much soup was watery -- squash is watery. So I decided to drain it after it was cooked. So I roasted the squash the day before making the soup then scooped the flesh out into a large sieve set over a bowl. After a night in the refrigerator I had over a cup of liquid in the bowl. I suppose I could have reduced the juice and included it in the soup, but instead I just threw it out.

Next, I wanted to add a distinct edge to the soup. Cumin or curry powder were too obvious, too predictable. After some thought I hit on horseradish. Horseradish has sort of a grassy flavor that I thought would draw a hard line against the soft flavor of the squash.

Maple syrup seemed like a sweetening agent that would complement the harshness of the horseradish and I thought buttermilk would add richness without ameliorating the effects of the horseradish and maple syrup.

The result, though not perfect, was mighty good. It was thick, rich, and full of flavor -- a very long way from bland or insipid.

Squash Soup

1 ea buttercup squash -- 2 1/2 - 3 lb (butternut can be substituted)
1 ea leek -- cleaned and cut into strips
2 tbsp butter
3/4 c buttermilk
3/4 c chicken stock
2 tbsp maple syrup
4 tsp prepared horseradish
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg
salt to taste

Cut squash in half across equator, clean out seeds, and place cut side down in a baking dish. Add about 1 inch of water to baking dish and cook in a 400F oven until tender -- 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Scrape flesh out of squash into a 2 qt bowl -- do not mash -- and refrigerate overnight. Drain accumulated liquid.

Melt butter in a 2 qt sauce pan over medium low heat and then sweat leeks until translucent. Add 1/2 cup of butter milk, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, and all remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer and heat thoroughly.

Puree squash mixture and return to sauce pan. Soup should be thick, but still then enough to require a bowl and spoon to eat. Add additional buttermilk and chicken stock to achieve desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings -- in particular you may need a bit more maple syrup depending on how sweet the squash was. Serves 4.

Note: This is much better if soup is allowed to meld overnight in the refrigerator.

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Beer Bread II

Beer Bread, Take 2



Some months ago I made a loaf of beer quick bread. It was mighty tasty but had the drawback of all quick breads -- no real structure. This made it unsuitable for uses like sandwiches because it would fall apart. Nor was it a candidate for rolls, although muffins would have been doable. At any rate, what I wanted was a yeast-based beer bread.

When Thanksgiving came rolling around I decided beer rolls would be good with dinner as well as for making turkey sandwiches so I set out to craft a such a bread.

I wanted a whole wheat bread because I thought it would play best with the beer. But it's sometimes tricky to get a good rise out of 100 percent whole wheat (the fragments of bran tend to cut the gluten strands) so I needed to add some bread flour to increase the bread's lightness. I added sugar because beer and whole wheat tend to be a somewhat bitter and I chose Killian Red as the beer thinking it would be hearty enough to stand out and yet not overwhelming. Here's the recipe I came up with:

Whole Wheat Beer Bread
2 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp sugar
12 oz warm beer
2 1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c bread flour -- separated
1 1/2 tbsp butter -- melted
2 tsp salt
1 ea egg
1 tbsp water

Using the paddle attachment thoroughly combine yeast, whole wheat flour, 1 1/4 cup bread flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and sugar. Add butter to warm beer and, with mixer running, pour beer into dry ingredients. As the dough forms swap paddle attachment for dough hook.

Knead for six minutes at medium speed. The dough should be slightly sticky but should clear the bowl. Add additional flour if needed. Dump dough onto a floured board and knead another minute or two until dough is fairly smooth (it won't be as smooth as a white bread) and resilient. Allow to rest 5 to 10 minutes.

Clean and dry mixing bowl and spray with a nonstick spray. Shape dough into a ball and place seam-side down in bowl. Spritz top lightly with cooking spray and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in bulk -- 60 to 90 minutes.

Punch down dough and turn out onto floured board. Lightly knead dough and form into a flattened ball. Allow to rest five to 10 minutes.

To make a loaf, shape dough into a rectangle that will fir in a 9" x 4.25" greased loaf pan. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in bulk.

To make rolls, using a dough scraper cut dough in four equal quarters. Set three quarters aside and cover. Shape remaining quarter into a flattened ball and divide into four quarters. Shape each quarter in to a ball and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Flatten each ball. Repeat for remaining dough, cover, and allow to rise until rolls double in bulk.

Heat oven to 425F for loaf or 400F for rolls.

In small bowl, beat together egg and water. Brush loaf or rolls with egg mixture and bake on middle oven rack. Rolls will need about 25 minutes, the load will need about 40 minutes. Monitor closely to avoid overcooking.

Cool on a wire rack.

The rolls turned out beautifully and were good with dinner as well as making great little turkey sandwiches. But there are a few things I would change the next time I make this.

First, I think I would use 2 tablespoons of honey instead of sugar and reduce the amount of beer by that amount. Mix the honey with the beer before adding to dry ingredients.

Second, I'd use a stout or porter instead of lager or ale in order to get more assertive beer flavor.

Third, the rolls were getting dry by day three and I think substituting oil for the butter might extend the shelf life another day.

Technorati: recipe | bread | yeast | beer

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Ham & Bean Soup

Gaseous Diffusion Reactor



Beans, beans, they're good for the heart...

Winter arrived in East Tennessee with a vengeance this week. Daytime temperatures haven't been that bad -- low 50s and high 40s. But it's been dropping into the 20s at night. Good sleeping weather. And good soup weather too.

I thought about making a ham and barley soup I came up with last winter, but, as I've mentioned before, I've been trying to learn to like beans, so I decided to try making bean soup. But not just any bean soup. I wanted to pack as much flavor and savor into it as I possibly could. I wanted the beans literally bursting with goodness and I started by making stock from a smoked ham hock. Long, slow simmering on the stove wrested most of the flavor from the hock and aromatics.

Then I cooked the beans from dry to tender in the stock so they'd absorb as much of the savor as their desiccated little bodies could hold. Additional aromatics and pieces of country ham added to the cooking liquid took the soup right over the top. But it was worth it. One bowl of this stuff and you're ready dig ditches in permafrost. And the lower intestinal effects were rather over the top as well.

Bean Soup

1 ea smoked ham hock
1 ea onion -- quartered
1 stalk celery -- 3" pieces
1 ea lg carrot -- 3" pieces
2 ea bay leaves
1 lb navy beans -- picked over
1/2 lb country ham -- fat trimmed off
1 ea onion -- diced
1 stalk celery -- sliced into 1/4" thick rounds
1 ea lg carrot -- sliced into 1/4" thick rounds
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp rubbed sage
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 qt water -- simmering

Place ham hock, quartered onion, large pieces of carrot and celery, and bay leaves in a large soup pot. Add 5 quarts cold water and set over medium heat. Bring to a vigorous simmer (**do not boil), reduce heat to low, and cover. Cook for about three hours. Cool.

Pour stock through a strainer into a large bowl. Discard vegetables. Cut up meat from ham hock into small pieces and add to stock. Cover and cool to room temperature or overnight in refrigerator.

Heat oven to 300F. Put beans in oven-proof soup pot and add all remaining ingredients except water. Place pot over medium heat and bring to a vigorous simmer (**do not boil). Cover and place on a lower, but not the lowest, oven rack. Cook for about four hours, checking every hour and adding enough additional hot water to keep beans well covered.

Remove from oven, adjust seasonings and amount of water. Serve with hot sauce on the side. Serves 6.

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Time Well-spent

Time Well-spent



Adam of The Amateur Gourmet published a thoughtful and well-written essay today on why he likes cooking and the rewards of delayed gratification. In fact, it's the first post of his I've read that prompted me to leave a comment. However, I cook, not for delayed gratification, but for extended gratification. Thanksgiving is a prime example.

About a month ago I was having lunch with my parents and my mother asked me if I'd had deep-fried turkey before. When I said, "Nope," she said one of their neighbors had volunteered to fry one for them for Thanksgiving. Of course we had to try it. It didn't even require thought. The rest of the dinner required thought and so, not ones to procrastinate when it comes to food and cooking, we began planning this year's T'day dinner.

For me this involves: rechecking all of my current cooking magazines; remembering dinners past; scanning my recipe archives; searching the 'Net; flipping through cookbooks; and just sitting quietly and thinking. A pile of books and magazines, marked with Post-Its gradually expands around the coffee table. A yellow legal pad collects notes and ideas. An index named T'day grows in my browser.

Three weeks before the event a phone call establishes who's doing appetizers, side dishes, desserts, and so on as well as current thinking about specific dishes. More refinement takes place and another phone call ensues.

By this past Friday I was fairly sure what I was fixing for this year's feast (Butternut Squash Soup with Maple Syrup and Horseradish, Whole Wheat Beer Yeast Rolls, and Pear and Raisin Pie with Bourbon Sauce). I slept on the menu a couple of times, then put together a shopping list and hit the stores yesterday.

It's now Tuesday and this afternoon I'll be baking squash for the soup and making the rolls (which I won't bake yet). Tomorrow I'll make the soup and pie and bake the rolls. Then, Thursday afternoon, I'll head over to my parent's house. By the time we sit down to dinner I'll have spent over a month thinking about cooking that one meal.

This isn't delayed gratification -- it's extended gratification.

I enjoy the time I spend doing research and planning as much as I enjoy the cooking and then the eating. There is tremendous pleasure to be had in successfully remembering where to find a recipe posted on a blog last year or reading dozens of recipes for beer bread made with yeast dough.

Although I don't spend over a month planning most meals, I do plan almost all of my meals because I enjoy that aspect of cooking so much in its own right. This isn't to say my plans don't change based on what I find at the store, but the idea of going grocery shopping without a plan is anathema to me. There is simply too much fun to be had before the cooking even begins.

Technorati: Food | essay | holiday | Thanksgiving

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Cookie Swap

Consorting with Cookies



My mother was never much of a baker. It wasn't that she couldn't bake when called upon -- she had the skills -- she just wasn't particularly interested. That said, I do recall, when I was quite young, my sister and me decorating a ginger bread house she'd baked. And of course there was the Bourbon Cake, which she continued to make every year until just a few years ago. But cookies were never part of our holiday tradition.

Aside from the Bourbon Cake that she made and the fruit cake my father made (both at Thanksgiving and then aged) the only other baking I remember occurring every year was Bisquick Sausage Balls, which became my traditional holiday job when I was 11 or 12. In fact, I still make them.

I'm sure I've baked cookies on occasion, but in truth, the only time I remember doing so is last Spring when I made these Applesauce Cookies. They're very tender, light, and moist -- muffin-like -- and not tremendously sweet. They also keep well for up to four days in a plastic bag.

Although moist, the Ranger Cookies are almost the opposite of the Applesauce Cookies. They're heavy, chewy, and quite sweet. I looked at a bunch of recipes for them and about half the recipes called for cornflakes and the other half for Rice Krispies. As you can see, I went for cornflakes. Fresh out of the oven you can distinctly taste the cereal, but after about eight hours the flavors meld together.

Applesauce Cookies
Recipe found on GeoCities

2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c sweet butter
1 c sugar
2 ea eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 c unsweetened applesauce
1 c walnuts and raisins

Heat oven to 375F.

Sift flour, salt, and spices together. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla extract. Stir soda into applesauce and combine with creamed mixture. Gradually mix in sifted dry ingredients, stir in nuts and raisins.

Drop by tablespoons full 2 or 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake 12 minutes or until done. Makes about 30 cookies.

Ranger Cookies
Adapted from a 1952 recipe by the LA Unified School District

1 c butter, at room temperature
1 c granulated sugar
1 c brown sugar, packed
2 ea eggs, well beaten
2 c sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c rolled oats
2 c cornflakes
1/2 c coconut

Heat oven to 350F.

Cream butter with granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time.

Sift flour with baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Stir into butter mixture. Add vanilla extract, oats, cornflakes, and coconut and stir until blended.

Drop by tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheet. Flatten to 3-inch diameter. (Use square of wax paper to keep dough from sticking to fingers or whatever you're using to flatten dough.) For small cookies, drop by rounded teaspoon. Do not flatten.

Bake larger cookies at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes. Cookies should be slightly soft when removed from oven. Bake smaller cookies at 375 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes 30 large cookies or 6 dozen small cookies.

Technorati: recipes | cookies | applesauce | ranger | meme | shf | imbb | cookie swap

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Grits & Cookies

Grits & Cookies



I briefly toyed with having a mushroom omelet for breakfast so I could title this, "Breakfast of Champignons," but the truth is I've never made a mushroom omelet for breakfast. Occasionally I eat cereal for breakfast, but not very often so that ruled out "Cereal Killer." And although I bought fresh fruit yesterday, I decided against "Fruit of the Loam" because the pears and bananas are still unripe. So I decided to skip the puns and just eat what I often eat on a Sunday morning -- grits.

For those of you unfamiliar with grits, they are a form of coarse corn meal and a staple in the Southern United States. The best grits are stone-ground and are extraordinarily good. But they take an hour or so to cook, which is far beyond what I'm willing to invest in an ordinary breakfast. So, as a rule, if I'm having grits for breakfast I go with Quaker Instant Grits. This fits my Sunday morning routine well.

I typically sleep late on Sunday mornings as I did this morning. I woke up at 7:00, went back to sleep until 7:45, and then spent another luxurious 20 minutes drifting in and out of that wonderful half-dreaming state -- dreams lit by morning sun filtering through the blinds -- reserved for lazy Sundays when nothing more important than a little housekeeping is planned.

Rising, I pulled on my robe and headed downstairs where "Weekend Edition" from NPR was playing on the radio. Sweetthing, my cat, was waiting patiently for her breakfast and the coffee was hot and waiting for me to pour a cup.

I pulled open the blinds, letting bright sun shoot across the living room floor, and stepped out onto a frosty walk to get the paper. Sitting on the couch I took a big gulp of hot coffee (black, no sugar), lit a cigarette, and released the Sunday paper from it's orange rubber bands.

Sweetthing stretches out in the sun pouring through the patio door as I divide my attention between the news in the paper and the news on the radio -- pausing to play the puzzle game with Will Short. I finish my first cup of coffee and pour another, lighting a second cigarette. At 10:00 the radio shifted to music, "St. Paul Sunday." Sweetthing has had to shift position once to stay in the sun and the sun is finally beginning to spill across my dining table. In 15 minutes it will be perfect for photographs. Another 10 and it will be gone.

I put some bacon in my cast iron skillet. The bacon is made by a local man everybody calls "JS." JS makes great country ham but I think it's his bacon and country sausage that are most deserving of acclaim. The bacon is deeply smoked and already half cooked from it's two-week stint in the smokehouse. The sausage, coarser than any commercial product, is richly seasoned and manages to be comfortably familiar and strangely different in flavors too subtle to identify.

I pull out a block of Sweetwater Buttermilk Cheddar (made at a dairy south of here) and, when the bacon is done, I slip the bowl of instant grits and water into the microwave. A minute later the grits are ready. I add fresh butter made by an Amish collective down near Atlanta, salt and pepper, grated cheese, and crumbled bacon. And because I made cookies yesterday for IMBB and SHF, I added a couple of applesauce cookies to the plate. (More on them later.)

Aside from the cookies, this was a pretty typical Sunday breakfast and morning: News, coffee, music, cat, grits, bacon.

Technorati: Food | essay | meme | breakfast

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Perestroika

Perestroika

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Marinated Lamb Chops

The Girl



It was December of 2001 and, despite having protested for years that I'd never live in California, I'd moved to Sacramento three months before. On this particular day, the Thursday evening after Christmas, I was driving around the town of Sonoma in a steady, chilly, drizzling rain looking for my B&B.

One of the nice things about the publishing business (I was a magazine editor at the time) is that it's no problem for a monthly magazine to just take a week off with minimal notice. I mean lock the doors and leave a message on the answering machine and everyone take a long holiday. Provided you still hit the two or three drop-dead dates for getting the current issue out the door this is relatively painless for a small company. So we'd given everyone the week between Christmas and New Years off and I decided to take my first trip to The Wine Country.

My problem at the moment was I couldn't find the B&B I had reservations at. I had a map I'd printed out from MapPoint but for the first (and so far, only) time MapPoint had led me astray. I tried calling but there was no answer. Finally I spotted a UPS truck and I accosted the driver as he got out to make a delivery. Luckily he knew where the place was and so, about 6:30 I pulled into a gravel driveway next to a rambling house that appeared to be some sort of strange hybrid of Queen Anne and Craftsman bungalow.

I got out, and dashed up the stairs to the front door. Locked. Coming back down I missed a step in the dark and fell, badly bruising my back and hip. I hobbled around back. There was a light over the back door but it, too, was locked. In desperation I limped over to what I'd thought was the garage and found a note on the door addressed to me along with a key to the house and my room. I dumped my bag in the room and sore, wet, and hungry went looking for supper.

Sonoma has a lovely town square -- in the daylight, with the sun shining. But on a wet Thursday night in that purgatory between holidays it's not particularly welcoming. More or less by default, I walked into a restaurant named The Girl and the Fig. Surprisingly, it was packed. It looked like my day was only going to get worse

There was a large woman in jeans and sweater working as hostess who told me there'd be about a 15 minute wait and asked if I wanted to wait at the bar. Apparently she'd sized up my frame of mind because she escorted me to the bar and told the bartender: "Take care of him." A few minutes later she came back and directed me to an empty bar stool. And I'd just ordered my second bourbon and water when she returned to take me to a table.

The waitress recommended the costelette (Italian marinated lamb chops). They were excellent and the wine she suggested was an equally excellent match. In fact, the service could not have been better -- attentive, competent, and ubobstrusive. When I got the bill, my first drink had been comped: the bartender had taken care of me.

A couple of weeks later I did my best to recreate the recipe and this is what I came up with:

Costelettes

4 ea lamb chops
1/2 c olive oil
1/3 c fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic -- crushed
1 sprig rosemary -- bruised by rubbing between palms
1 pinch salt

Combine everything except lamb chops in a one gallon ziplock bag and allow floavors to meld for several hours. Add chops to bag and marinate for about 3 hours, turning over every now and then.

Grill chops on a charcoal grill to preference -- about 4 minutes per side for medium rare. Serves two.

It was somewhat cloudy for the rest of my visit, but I had a great time touring wineries and playing tourist.

I went back to the restaurant twice more during the two years I lived in California and also ate at the sister restaurant, The Girl and the Gaucho. It was always good. And the hostess who recognized someone in need of some TLC? She was The Girl.

Sidebar: I fixed Stephen's Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta, Garlic, and Basil to go with the costelettes -- except that basil didn't strike me as the right herb. So I used fresh tarragon instead. Very good!

Technorati: recipe | main dish | lamb | Italian

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Braised Red Cabbage

Bile That Cabbage Down, Boys



Steamed cabbage was, if not frequent, at least common in the house where I grew up -- particularly in the winter. And I'm inclined to say that's why I like cooked cabbage. Except that cole slaw was frequent in the house where I grew up -- particularly in the summer. And I don't care for cole slaw. On the other hand, I do like raw cabbage sprinkled with a bit of salt. So let's just say I'm conflicted on the subject of cabbage.

Nevertheless, I definitely like it cooked. As I thought about what to have with the Chicken Paprikas the other night it occurred to me that cooked cabbage is a popular middle European dish. This worked for me.

These days I usually steam cabbage in the microwave and I usually buy green cabbage. But this time I decided to go with red cabbage (to shore up my anthocyanin count) and I decided to braise it with apples and onions. Nothing particularly creative, but it was, in fact, a near-perfect complement to the paprikas.

Braised Red Cabbage

1 ea onion -- peeled and sliced into half rounds
2 tbsp bacon grease
1/2 ea red cabbage -- sliced and cored (about 4 cups)
2 ea apples -- peeled, cored, and cut into thin wedges
1/4 c Madeira
2 tbsp cider vinegar
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Heat bacon grease over medium heat I a sauté pan. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add all remaining ingredients, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes or until cabbage is tender. Serves 4.

I used Braeburn apples in this. Lately they've become my favorite apple. They have a nice winey flavor, slightly tart, and just sweet enough to make a good eating apple. They also do well in cooked dishes -- holding their shape and flavor. Consequently I've taken to keeping them around as a staple apple even when I buy other apples.

Technorati: recipe | side dish | cabbage

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Chicken Paprikas

Csirkepaprikas



My parents arrived about 4:00pm. They'd flown in to Boston, rented a car, and driven up to Nashua, New Hampshire where I was living at the time. If they'd flown in to the Manchester airport I would have picked them up, but I rank driving in Boston right up there with having a root canal -- and the worst bit of Boston driving is to and from the airport. So I made them drive.

It could have been worse. Although it was bitterly cold, it had quit snowing the day before so the roads were clear, and Christmas was still a couple of days off so the traffic was no worse than usual. They were going to spend the night at my house and then we were driving up to my brother's house in Vermont for Christmas.

I'd had to work the day they arrived (although I left early) and I didn't want to dash home and cook dinner. I wanted to show them my new house, sit down and a have a cocktail or two in front of the fire, visit a bit, and then whenever we were hungry just set the table and eat. All things considered, some sort of stew or soup that I could make a day or two before seemed the best bet. But what kind of soup or stew?

I knew they'd like whatever I fixed, but I wanted something a bit out of the ordinary: Something that satisfied one's expectations for soup or stew and still managed to surprise. I had just the dish -- Chicken Paprikas.

It's a solid, rib-sticking, savory meal that, like many such dishes, improves with age. It's also unusual with its spikey flavors of paprika and dill rounded off with sour cream. I figured on a cold winter night after a day in airports and planes it would be perfect on noodles with a salad. It was.

Chicken Paprikas (Csirkepaprikas)

2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs -- cut into 1" cubes
5 tbsp olive oil -- separated
1/2 lb mushrooms -- sliced
1 ea onion -- diced
1 ea sm ripe bell pepper -- cut into 1/2" x 2" strips
2 cloves garlic -- sliced
1 c chicken stock
1/3 c white wine
1 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tbsp hot Hungarian paprika
salt and pepper
1/4 c minced fresh dill
1 c sour cream

Liberally season diced chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Brown chicken 1/2 of chicken and reserve on a plate. Add another tablespoon of oil and brown remaining chicken. Reserve.

Add another tablespoon of oil and sauté mushrooms until they begin to brown. Add onions and peppers and cook until onion is translucent. Add garlic and cook another minute.

Add white wine to pot and reduce, scraping up the browned bits. Return chicken to the pot along with chicken stock, paprika, and tomato sauce. Bring to a simmer, cover, and reduce heat to low -- do not allow to boil. Cook at a medium simmer for one hour. Stir in dill and serve over egg noodles with a dollop of sour cream. Serves 6.

The next day dawned clear and we had a beautiful drive through snow-covered contryside to the cabin on a lake where my brother and his family lived. It was a good visit.

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Juniper Berries

Jennifer Juniper



One of my favorite meals is my version of choucroute, the famous Alsatian sauerkraut and pork dish. A key ingredient in good choucroute is juniper berries. The berries add a distinctly resinous flavor that complements the pork and sauerkraut, heightening their flavor.

Probably the most well-known use of juniper berries is as the flavoring in gin. In fact, the origin of the name gin is genever from Middle Dutch and literally means juniper. Like so many flavored alcoholic beverages, gin was originally used medicinally and juniper oil (the ingredient added to gin) was reputed to be a diuretic as well as an aid to relieving gas. Modern herbalists use juniper to fight bladder infections. By the way, if your urine begins to smell like violets you're probably overdoing it on the juniper.

The berries are the fruit of the evergreen juniper shrub (juniperus communis) that grows four to six feet high throughout the northern hemisphere. The berries take two to three years to mature gradually turning from green to a dark blue and both mature and immature berries may be found on the same plant -- which means the berries must be hand picked. Once picked, the berries are dried and turn almost black.

I first had juniper berries in choucroute and immediately fell in love with the flavor. Since then I've frequently added them to pot roasts and chili, used them in marinades for lamb kabobs, added them to homemade sausage, and included them in barbeque sauce. I understand juniper is delicious with game, particularly boar and venison, but haven't had an opportunity to try it.

Like most of my herbs and spices, I get juniper berries from Penzeys Spices. I've found the best way to use them is to put a few (perhaps a tablespoon) in a small plastic bag and smack the bejeezus out of it a couple of times with a meat mallet. Once all the berries are somewhat flattened I dump them on a cutting board and coarsely chop them with a knife. Because they're resinous I wouldn't run them through a spice mill, you'll never get it completely clean again.

Juniper Marinade

1/2 c red wine
1 c olive oil
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 ea lemon -- zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic -- crushed
1 tbsp juniper berries -- crushed
1/4 tsp dry sage leaves
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Zest and then juice the lemon. Mix all remaining ingredients together in a ziplock bag and add meat. Refrigerate for eight to 24 hours, occasionally shaking bag to mix things up.

Technorati: recipe | marinade | juniper berries

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Cannelloni

Roll Your Own



We live in a world of personal services not too different from that of the most elite in ages past. Weekly maid service is a fairly common middle-class prerogative. Lawn service companies handle our landscape maintenance needs. Personal chef services are growing more popular. People are hiring personal nutritionists and trainers. More and more those chores we perform outside of work are those we choose to perform -- not those we must.

One of the things this choice implies is a deep interest in the chores we do select. For those who cook this is often reflected in the desire to at least know how to perform even the most subsidiary of tasks. Such people make their own stock -- not just because it tastes better but because a sauce or soup isn't truly their own unless it begins with roasting the bones, simmering the stock, and straining the fat and particulates out.

Last spring Owen at Tomatillo! assembled a list from his readers of 50 things every cook should do. The list included things like "make your own cheese," "grow your own" herbs or vegetables, "bake a loaf of bread," and "roast your own coffee." There were a lot of such do it yourself items on the list. For some reason, one such task that didn't appear on the list was make your own pasta.

Making pasta was something I first tried five years ago when I bought an Atlas pasta roller and made up a batch of fettuccini. It was good and fairly easy to make, but not good enough to make up for the hassle of cleaning up afterward. In fact, it took as long to clean up as it did to make. The machine collected dust until I ran across a recipe for cannelloni that really appealed to me. So I hauled out the Atlas and made cannelloni, thus discovering why I had the thing.

Store-bought pastas, whether dried fettuccine or linguini from the refrigerator section, are good enough, even excellent. Make a sauce, cook the pastas, and you're set. But if you want something different in a stuffed pasta like shrimp cannelloni or squash ravioli then you must make your own. And in that case the wonderful possibilities for fillings make cleanup a minor hassle.

This recipe springs from that recipe in Cuisine at Home that first persuaded me that making my own pasta is sometimes worth it.

By the way, the tomato sauce is based on a sauce I had at Arrivederci in Scottsdale, Arizona. This is the restaurant where I got the recipe for Veal with Artichokes.

Cannelloni with Tomato Cream Sauce

Pasta
2/3 c all purpose flour
1 ea egg
Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic -- minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 c chicken stock
1/4 c white vermouth
1 ea can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp anchovy paste
1/2 c heavy cream
Filling
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 ea onion -- coarsely minced
1 clove garlic, large -- sliced
2 oz mortadella
2 oz prosciutto
1/2 c parmesan -- grated
2 tbsp fresh parsley -- chopped
1 ea egg

Pasta
Place flour in a food processor. With motor running add egg. Dough should quickly form a ball. If dough is too dry, add water a teaspoon at a time to running machine. If dough is too wet, add additional flour a tablespoon at a time and then process. Form dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until ready to roll out.

Sauce
Heat oil over low heat and add garlic and thyme. Cook until garlic is fragrant and beginning to brown. Add stock and increase heat to medium high. Reduce liquid by half. Add vermouth and reduce by half again. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and anchovy paste. Cook until most liquid evaporates.

Transfer to food processor and puree. Mix in cream and set aside.

Filling
Heat oil over medium high heat. Add ground beef and brown. Add onion and cook until translucent -- about two minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute until garlic is fragrant.

Put meat mixture and all remaining ingredients into a food processor and pulse several times until mixture resembles coarse sawdust.

Heat oven to 450F.

Roll pasta dough according to the directions for your machine until quite thin (8 on the Atlas). Cut into 6" squares. Spread a couple of heaping tablespoons of filling in each square and roll up loosely. You should have at least eight cannelloni.

Spread a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish large enough to hold the cannelloni without crowding. Place rolls seam-side down in dish. Spoon remaining sauce over the top. Sprinkle with additional grated parmesan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until cheese browns.

You may have noticed that I didn't boil the pasta. The first time I made cannellone I forgot to boil it. I remembered to boil it the next time and didn't like it as well. The pasta is so thin that it cooks in the oven and the result is supremely delicate.

Technorati: recipes | pasta | cannelloni

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Apple/Ricotta Coffee Cake

Brunch Is Served



The folks at the local Williams-Sonoma have asked me to do some cooking classes this winter and, in preparation, I've been testing some recipes. I plan to do at least one and maybe two classes on seasonal brunches.

My history with brunch is another collection of memories tied to the Christmas holiday. In my family the tradition was to get up on Christmas morning and gather around the tree with a mug of something warm. My siblings would have hot chocolate while my parents and I had coffee. (Oddly, my pediatrician started me drinking coffee when I was about nine. It was supposed to reduce the frequency of my asthma attacks.) At any rate, we would then take turns opening gifts. We did this by turns so that each gift could be properly appreciated on its own and the giver properly thanked.

Opening gifts took awhile and we were all hungry by the time we finished. My parents would have planned a large and late breakfast often involving things we wouldn't ordinarily have eaten for breakfast such as tomato soup, open-faced cheese sandwiches, or, one of their favorites, cream chipped beef on toast. And so I formed a love for large late breakfasts (if not for cream chipped beef on toast) that continues to this day.

Sometimes one or the other of my parents would fix a coffee cake and as kids there was something wonderfully sinful and special about having cake for breakfast. So as I planned a winter brunch menu I thought an apple coffee cake would be a good place to bring fruit into the meal. After a bit of research I managed to slap several recipes together and come up with this. Best of all, it enabled me to get rid of the half carton of ricotta cheese I had in the fridge.

Apple/Ricotta Coffee Cake

Cake
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c butter -- at room temperature
1 c granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 ea eggs
1 c ricotta cheese
Streusel/Filling
2 ea cooking apples -- peeled, cored, and diced
2/3 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c quick cooking oats
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsps butter -- cut into small pieces
2 tbsps shortening -- cut into small pieces
1/2 c pecan pieces

Heat oven to 350F. Grease a 9" springform pan with butter and dust with flour.

Streusel/Filling
Peel and dice apples (about 1/2" dice) and toss with lemon juice. Set aside.

Place remaining streusel ingredients (except pecans) in a food processor. Add butter and shortening. Pulse about 10 times then process for 5 to 10 seconds until there are no visible lumps of fat.

Cake
Mix together 1 3/4 cups flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl.

Using an electric hand mixer or the paddle attachment on a stand mixer beat 1/2 cup butter for about 30 seconds, then beat in granulated sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and ricotta cheese to batter. Mix on low speed after each addition until combined. Note: this batter will be rather thick and stiff.

Spread 1/2 of the batter into the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the filling mixture and then the diced apples. Spoon remaining batter over apples. It will not spread smoothly so be gentle and use dollops of batter. Sprinkle with remaining topping and nuts.

Bake 45-50 minutes more or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool at least 1 hour on a wire rack.

The cake turned out delightfully moist and delicious with very nice textural contrasts between cake, apple, and strusel. It was still quite fresh a couple of days later.

Technorati: Food | dessert | cake | apples

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Sourdough English Muffins

Hiram Done Good



After reading the paper on Sunday mornings, I do my chores. For years this has meant vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms, dusting, washing clothes, and watering plants. For the past year every other Sunday has included an additional chore -- feeding my sourdough starter.

Although I've occasionally gone as long as three weeks between feedings, every two weeks has proven ideal for my starter. I have to keep a reminder set in Outlook both because it's a bi-weekly event (meaning beyond my ability to remember) and because if I use the starter before scheduled feeding the schedule changes to every other Sunday from that point, whatever the previous schedule may have been.

Feeding involves mixing a cup of starter with a cup of water and two cups of flour and then returning it to the refrigerator in its glass canister. However, this means the base starter never warms up to vigorous activity.

When I pulled out the starter on Sunday to make the calzone I decided to completely refresh it by bring the entire mixture up to room temperature, feeding it, and giving it a day to work. While I was at it, I figured I'd make the sourdough English muffins I've been meaning to make in addition to the calzone dough.

So I did just that. I warmed up the entire batch of starter, fed it well, and gave it a day to revitalize. I made the calzone dough and the English muffins using a recipe I found at Annes Recipes.

Sourdough English Muffins Recipe

1 pk yeast
1/2 c lukewarm water (90F to 105F)
1/2 c basic sourdough starter, room temperature
1/3 c instant nonfat dry milk
2 1/2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 c lukewarm water (90F to 105F)
3 to 3 1/2 c all-purpose, flour
Cornmeal

Proof the yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Thoroughly mix in starter, dry milk, sugar, and salt. Stir in remaining water. Add 3 cups flour and mix at low speed with paddle until smooth.

Swap paddle for dough hook and knead at medium speed for four minutes, adding additional flour as necessary. Dough should be somewhat moist and slack. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead another two to three minutes.

Transfer dough to greased bowl, turning to coat all surfaces, cover with plastic and let stand in warm draft-free area until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Lightly dust work surface with flour, punch down dough, and turn out onto surface. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness and cut into 3" rounds. Line a pair of baking sheet with wax paper and dust with cornmeal. Place rounds on baking sheet, dust tops with corn meal, and cover with plastic wrap. (Note: rounds should be at least 3/4" apart.) Dough scraps can be kneaded back together, rolled out, and additional rounds cut.

Let muffins rise until almost doubled -- about an hour.

Heat a griddle over medium low heat. Lightly brush with butter. Depending on griddle size, transfer four to eight muffins to griddle using a spatula. Cook muffins on each side for about seven minutes until browned. Transfer to a wire rack and cool. Makes about 12 muffins.

The muffins are great. Very chewy with a nice sourdough tang and although they weren't as holey as commercial muffins, they were much more so than any English muffins I've made in the past. Hiram done good.

Hiram? That's the starter's name.

Technorati: Food | bread | sourdough english muffin

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Calzone

Pocket Pizza



As I noted in an earlier post, November 3 was John Motagu's birthday anniversary. Although it's doubtful that the 4th Earl of Sandwich was responsible for the invention of even the English sandwich, much less the entire genre of fillings wrapped in bread, he may indeed be the source of the English word for these handy edibles.

Although the most common comestible that comes to mind when we hear the word "sandwich" is two slices of bread with various dry fillings such as roast beef and onion or bologna and cheese, I think things such as Cornish Pasties, empanadas, and chimichangas can also be considered sandwiches.

The Italian version of these sandwiches where the filling is cooked inside the bread is the calzone. This another of those common dishes I've never gotten around to making before. The first step was to make the dough for filling and so I hauled out my sourdough starter and hit the Internet to see what I could come up with. I found the basis of this recipe at What's Cooking America.

Sourdough Pizza Dough

1 1/2 c sourdough starter, room temperature
1 tbls olive oil
1 tsp coarse salt
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1/4 c shredded parmesan

Mix all ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer using the dough hook at low speed. Increase speed to medium and knead for five minutes. Note: Depending upon how wet your starter is, you may need to add water while mixing or additional flour while kneading to achieve a smooth, workable dough. (Add water or flour a tablespoon at a time and allow time for additions to be incorporated.)

Allow dough to rest for 30 minutes before rolling out for pizza.

Preheat pizza stone or tiles on a middle lower rack to 500F -- ideally 45 minutes to an hour before baking.

Dough may be refrigerated for several days prior to rolling out. Store in a zip-lock bag sprayed with nonstick spray. Allow to come to room temperature before rolling out.

Makes enough dough for two 12" pizzas

Tomato, Cheese, & Sausage Calzone

1 ea 28 oz can diced tomatoes -- drained
2 tbls olive oil
2 cloves garlic -- sliced
1.4 lb Italian sausage -- cut into 1/4" rounds
2 tsp dried Italian herb mix (I like Penzeys)
1/2 ea onion -- diced
1/2 ea red bell pepper -- diced
1/2 lb Italian sausage
1/3 c chopped olives
2 oz provolone -- sliced into thin strips
1 oz cheddar -- sliced into thin strips
1 oz parmesan -- shredded
2 tbls butter -- melted

Preheat pizza stone or tiles on a middle lower rack to 400F -- ideally 45 minutes to an hour before baking. (Note: this is lower than the temperature for a pizza because the calzone needs to cook longer.)

Brown sausage in a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Drain on paper towel.

Wipe grease out of skillet with a paper towel and return to heat. Add olive oil and garlic and cook until garlic fragrance is releases -- about one minute. Add tomatoes and herb mix. Cook until most liquid evaporates. Remove from heat and let cool.

Roll out dough about 1/8" thick and cut into two or three 7" rounds. Combine dough scraps and knead until cohesive. Roll out and cut into two more rounds for a total of four rounds.

Divide all ingredients (except butter) evenly on half of each round leaving a border at least 1/2" wide. Moisten border and fold over dough to create a crescent shape. Cut slits in the top of the calzone.

Using a peel dusted with corn meal, slide calzones onto stone.

Bake 10 minutes. Brush calzone with butter and cook another 20 minutes or until nicely browned.

The sourdough makes a delicious pastry but I recommend using all purpose flour instead of bread flour as bread flour results in a tough crust.

Technorati: Food | calzone | sourdough pizza dough

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Bourbon Cake

Marvelous Stuff!



Thanksgiving is America's best holiday. It's unencumbered with gifts and cards and similar commercial holiday paraphernalia. There is no long, drawn-out prelude to the holiday beginning after Labor Day. And although the point is giving thanks to whichever deity one believes in, it doesn't harp on the issue -- a shared prayer at the dinner table is generally regarded as sufficient. Following that prayer is the high point and main point of the holiday -- an over-the-top feast shared with family and friends. What more could one ask for? And why, if this is the way I feel, am I bringing it up a month early?

Bear with me.

Growing up, everyone in my house contributed something to the feast whether it was making cranberry relish or baking a pie. Lots of focused, shared activity and good smells. Around four in the afternoon, if it wasn't raining, my father would organize a walk. We'd tramp through the sere fields and bare woods of our farm. Often it was cold, but if it wasn't cloudy as well Dad would take pictures of us. (Something I particularly hated.) Then we'd return to a waiting fire and the last minute organization of the meal.

Like many families, the day after Thanksgiving marked the beginning of the Christmas season. Unlike most families this didn't mean shopping. Instead Mom and Dad would begin preparing the Christmas feast. Dad made his eggnog base (which then aged for a month) and a fruit cake. Mom made her mother's (Mummo's) Bourbon Cake.

With an electric mixer, she'd beat the butter and sugar together in a large stainless steel bowl and then mix in the eggs, flour, and bourbon producing an unremarkable cake batter. Then Dad would haul down "the big bowl" for the final step.

The big bowl, cut from a single block of mahogany, was about 20" in diameter and about 7" deep. It needed to be big to accommodate the exertions required to incorporate a pound of nuts and a pound-and-a-half or raisins in a single bowl of batter. Once mixed, the cake went into a tube pan and then baked for 3 1/2 hours, filling the house with the most wonderful odors.

When the cake had cooled it was doused with more bourbon, wrapped in aluminum foil, and sealed in a cake tin. Then, once a week until Christmas, the cake would be uncovered and doused with more bourbon. Although potent, even as kids we were permitted a very thin slice of it when it was finally served. We loved it. In fact, everyone who tried it loved it. The cake was rich, moist, spicy, chewey, and pungent with bourbon. Marvelous stuff!

I've posted the recipe before, but I wanted to post it again -- and do so in time, for those of you interested in a holiday cake recipe dating back to the early 1900s (or earlier), to make it. Note: a good stand mixer obviates the need for "the big bowl."

Mummo's Bourbon Cake

1 c butter -- softened
2 c sugar
4 c flour -- sifted
4 ea eggs
1 lb pecan pieces
1 1/2 lb white or golden raisins
1 c bourbon
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp soda
1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 275F. Sift 1 cup flour and mix with nuts and raisins. Sift remaining flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and soda together. Grease a tube pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next one. Alternately add bourbon and flour. Add nuts and raisins.

Pour into tube pan and bake 3 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and cool thoroughly.

Sprinkle generously with additional bourbon and wrap in aluminum foil with a couple of apple wedges to keep it moist. Each weekend leading up to Christmas, unwrap cake and sprinkle again with additional bourbon.

My mother no longer makes the cake, but I have her tube pan and her recipe and I'm trying to make it every year and share it with my parents and siblings. Fortunately, it's pretty much immune to spoiling so mailing it to Vermont or Virginia isn't a problem. And given that I made it almost a month early this year, it should be particularly well-seasoned.

Technorati: Food | dessert | cake | bourbon cake | holiday

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Sweet & Sour Pork

One from Column A



The problem with most Asian dishes is that everything happens at the last minute. At least it seems like it to me. This isn't a complexity issue -- I like making dishes with lots of steps and ingredients. It's a laziness issue -- I prefer dishes I can make over a period of several hours. Soup is a good example.

I might begin at 9:00am on Sunday morning by making the stock. Then I'll do some office work before coming back and prepping vegetables, which go into the refrigerator to wait. Maybe I'll watch This Old House and The New Yankee Carpenter before de-fatting and straining the stock. Then I read a magazine. And so it goes until 7:00pm when I eat dinner. This example, although accurate, is a bit extreme even for a lazy cook like me.

Compare it with a stirfry. Although most prep can be done in advance, at some point you must take a deep breath and plunge in with no pause until dinner is ready. Prep vegetables. Start rice. Assemble ingredients. Make sauce. Cover rice. Season meat. Heat oil. Dredge meat. Cook meat. Reserve meat. Cook veggies. Remove rice from heat. Add meat to veggies. Add sauce. Serve. And then if you want something else, do it all again.

I realize I'm exaggerating here, but, as I said, this is the way it seems to me. So I don't cook Asian dishes very often.

Nevertheless, I had an urge for sweet and sour pork the other night and didn't want to go out. So I made it myself. This recipe is exceptionally simple and quite good.

Sweet & Sour Pork

1 lb pork loin -- cut into 3/4" dice
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 ea md. red bell pepper -- cut into strips
1/2 ea md. Spanish onion -- cut into chunks
1 ea 8 oz can pineapple chunks
1/4 c water
Sauce:
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp pineapple juice
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp ketchup
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt

Whisk all sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat Whisk together cornstarch and soy sauce and coat pork thoroughly. Brown pork in skillet on all sides. Stir in water, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add pepper and onion and cook, covered, an additional 10 minutes. Add pineapple chunks and sauce mix and cook until sauce thickens. Serve over rice. Serves 4.

Technorati: Food | main dish | pork | sweet-sour

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Eponymous Lunch

Eponymous Lunch


John Montagu (1718-1792), the Fourth Earl of Sandwich


Italian Grinder

Happy birthday, John.

Technorati: Food | sandwich

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Pumpkin Pie

Sincere Pie



Although my mother taught all her children to cook, I don't recall anything of my siblings' efforts -- with one exception. When Loren was 11 or 12 he decided one Halloween to make pumpkin pie from the Jack-o-Lantern. I've no idea what prompted him. And I vaguely recall my mother trying to talk him out of it (at 11 he'd have needed a lot of help). But he was determined.

I don't recall the results of his efforts either, but I suspect that given the fact that it wasn't a cooking pumpkin it wasn't very good. At any rate, it was a one-time deal.

I don't recall if I've ever made a pumpkin pie, though I'm sure I've never made one starting with a raw pumpkin. But for some reason I formed the urge to make a pumpkin pie from scratch this fall, so I bought a cooking pumpkin, researched recipes, and made a pie to go with my Cheddar Chowder.

It turned out ok, if not great. The pumpkin was a bit bland, but tasted fresher than any pumpkin pie I remember eating. The spices weren't assertive enough, either, and I've tweaked the amounts in the recipe below. I added some rum and really liked it. For a topping, I whipped cream with maple syrup and that was really good with the pie.

Even though this effort wasn't great, I think I'll try it again using the recipe below on Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Pie

2 c pumpkin puree (see below)
1/2 c heavy cream
3 ea eggs
1/2 c light brown sugar, tightly packed
1/4 c rum
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1 pinch ground cloves
1 ea 9" pie shell

Heat oven to 375F.

Whisk together cream, eggs, sugar, rum, and spices. Thoroughly mix in pumpkin puree. Pour into pie shell and set on lower middle rack in oven.

Cook 40 minutes or longer until center is set. Cool on rack for two hours. Top with maple whipped cream. Serves eight.

Maple Whipped Cream

1 c whipping cream
2 tbsp maple syrup

Whip cream to soft peaks. Gradually whip in maple syrup and continue whipping until cream is stiff.

Pumpkin Puree

1 ea 4 lb sugar pumpkin

Heat oven to 350F.

Cut pumpkin in half crosswise. Scoop out seeds and pith. Place pumpkin halves cut-side down in a roasting pan and add 1 1/2" of water to pan. Bake 60 - 90 minutes until pumpkin is very soft. Allow to cool.

Scoop flesh into a food processor and process until smooth. Scoop puree into a sieve and set over a bowl to drain for at least one hour.

Technorati: Food | dessert | pie | pumpkin

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On a Serious Note

On a Serious Note



My first post to Seriously Good was on October 12, 2003 -- a recipe for Sangria. I don't recall what prompted that particular subject but I do recall what prompted writing the blog.

I'd been laid off as editor of Microsoft Solutions three weeks before and, as someone who'd been editing (and writing) for a living for eight years (and writing longer than that) I thought I needed an outlet. After a flurry of posts that October, I slacked off -- a lot. I just didn't feel like writing. But a year later the urge began to re-establish itself.

Each blogger has his or her reasons for blogging. In my case, and despite the nearly year-long hiatus, I simply have to write. And I have to write for an audience. A private journal doesn't satisfy my need -- for me a journal would be masturbatory. Writing is communication and requires someone to communicate with.

An audience forces you to think about choosing the correct word: Is "epiphany" best or does "revelation" or "discover" work better in this context for this audience?

Do I want to make the readers stretch a bit here or should I reassure their biases? Perhaps the basic macaroni and cheese recipe with a cheddar cheese sauce deserves more reflection -- has a larger context -- than is readily apparent. Should I present it as an example of American culinary history? Or perhaps it's just an excuse for feeling the world really isn't as bad as it sometimes seems. A cheesy haven.

Which type of lead should I use? For example, do I want to declare or share? Should my first sentence be, "Pancakes are a universal food showing up in most cuisines from Asian to Native American." Alternatively, "I don't know what prompted my father to make pancakes some mornings, I don't recall a rhyme or reason to his impulse, but sometimes instead of oatmeal or cream of wheat or even scrambled eggs he would treat us to pancakes."

Is the point of this article the recipe or is the recipe more an illustration of some other message? Sometimes a pork chop is a metaphor, and sometimes it's just a pork chop.

The point is, all of these questions are moot, the craft of writing irrelevant, without readers, without an audience. And so, while looking for paying gigs as a writer, I began this blog. But why cooking?

By training I'm a computer programmer and the articles I'd written and magazines I'd edited had all been about programming. By avocation, though, I'm a cook. And oddly enough writing about programming and writing about cooking aren't all that different. Like programming, cooking is essentially a technical subject and like programming it's a combination of art and science. Someone once described cooking as, "seat-of-the-pants chemistry." (Come to think of it, that may have been me.)

So I decided to publish a cooking blog. I named it Seriously Good because that was a phrase my cooking buddies knew me for. If I shared a recipe and said it was "seriously good" they figured it was. Following the initial fits and starts I finally settled in and began publishing regularly. When I discovered other food bloggers and saw what they were doing with photography I started working on my own skills -- which has been an unexpected pleasure.

Moments ago I got an email from a cook who had run across my blog and asked me for help with some problems she's having making pretzels. She represents the final reason I started this blog: Helping and sharing with other cooks.

Technorati: Food | blogging

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