Monday, September 30, 2013

Fantasy Birthday Dinner

I had a small birthday over the weekend, small as in not one of those birthday years that end in zero or five.Truth be told, and I really never thought that I would say this, the older you get the smaller and less significant those birthday years become.

My mother promulgated a great sense of celebration and specialness to her children's birthdays. This was related to the fact that when it came time for her own mother, a child immigrant whose real birthdate was lost in a Ukranian shtetl, to choose a date for her birth, she chose the same day as my mother's. Growing up I always rather liked the idea that my mother and grandmother had the same birthday, but my mother absolutely hated it, and felt that her special day had been "stolen" by her mother. Consequently, doing what many parents do to heal themselves, we were always given fabulous birthday parties with lots of guests, gifts, and most of all, spectacular tiered birthday cakes, baked & decorated by my mother herself, cake decorating being her chosen artistic outlet. As an adult, I would never consider going to work on my birthday unless it was totally unavoidable, and usually try to pack the day doing things that I love - nice meals, friends, shopping, a spa visit, etc.

Last week I started mulling over what I would cook for a special fantasy birthday dinner, and with my chef de barbeque's assistance it came to pass in an abbreviated but most satisfactory form:
Menu
Fromage d'Affinois & Asiago fresca with panzanella crackers
Gazpacho Andaluz
Popovers
Bistecca alla Fiorentina
Vegetables en brochette
Al Di La's Torta di Pere (Bittersweet Chocolate & Pear Cake)

The man of mystery himself- Mr. Vincent Price

The gazpacho recipe is my adaptation of one served at Botin, a restaurant in Madrid founded c. 1725. Yea these many long years ago (well, about 30 years ago) I actually ate gazpacho at Botin, but the recipe comes via a truly delightful vintage 1960's cookbook- A Treasury of Great Recipes by Mary and Vincent Price. Yes that Vincent Price, star of many a bloodcurdling B monster movie, who evidently was quite a gourmand when he wasn't sipping blood. The cookbook is a compendium of recipes from what were at the time some of the world's most illustrious restaurants, many of which, sadly have closed their doors- from dinner at Tour d'Argent in Paris to breakfast on the Santa Fe Super Chief. Probably the most amusing recipe is the one for frankfurters from the newly opened (at the time) LA Dodgers stadium, Chavez Ravine.





Gazpacho Andaluz
serves 4-6.

6 slices white bread, cubed
3 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded & chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 quart tomato juice

1 clove garlic
2 Tb wine vinegar
1/2 t. cumin
salt & pepper
3 Tb olive oil

Garnishes
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 lg. tomato
1 cucumber
Baguette slices rubbed with garlic and olive oil, and toasted. (Recipe here.)

Layer the bread and chopped vegetables in a large bowl. Pour tomato juice over all. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Puree the soup in a food processor with the garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and cumin. Correct the seasonings. Chill for at least 2 hours.

Chop garnish vegetables and mix together. Sprinkle on top of each serving of soup. Serve cold with baguette croutons.

Hard to match the satisfaction of pulling these babies out of the oven!

Perfect Popovers
Palo Alto baking goddess Flo Braker's recipe. Declared by our guests to be better than Neiman's (Marcus, that is.) To prevent sticking, be sure to generously butter the muffin cups and extract the popovers asap.

2 eggs
1 c. whole milk at room temp
1 Tb melted butter
1 c. flour
½ t. salt

Adjust the oven rack to the lower third of the oven; and preheat the oven to 400°. Generously grease 6 popover cups or a large muffin size tin with butter.

Combine the eggs, milk, melted butter, flour, and salt in a blender or food processor; process for about 40 seconds. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times and blend until the mixture is completely smooth.

To make by hand, whisk together the eggs, milk, and butter in a large bowl. Add the flour and salt and beat until very smooth.

Pour the batter into the cups or tin, filling each ½ to 2/3 full. Bake until the popovers are puffed and golden brown, 35-40 minutes. Do not open the oven door during baking or the popovers will collapse.

Serve with butter and jam of your choice.
Makes 6-8 popovers.  (Flo Braker; SF Chronicle, 1993.)


Bistecca alla Fiorentina
We have gorged on many wonderful specimens of this fine thick cut Porterhouse steak. The one eaten at Mamma Gina in Florence in 2007 has been memorialized on our computerized photo frame, and more recently a nice one was shared among three of us at perennial favorite Cantinetta Luca in Carmel last July. This recipe is courtesy of Saveur magazine, issue #157.
Serves 4


2 (1½″- 2 " thick) bone-in porterhouse steaks (3½ lb.) at room temperature
¼ cup olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 sprigs rosemary
Lemon wedges, for serving

Heat a charcoal grill or set a gas grill to high; bank the coals or turn off burner on one side. Brush the steaks with half the oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the steaks on the hottest part of grill, flipping once, until browned, 4-6 minutes. Using rosemary sprigs as a brush, baste the steaks with the remaining oil. Cook to desired doneness, 4-6 minutes more for medium rare, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 125°. If the outside starts to burn before the steak is fully cooked, move to the cooler side of the grill until done. Let steaks rest 5 minutes; slice against the grain along the bone. Serve with lemon wedges.


Vegetables en brochette
For 4 people. Just made this up on the fly.

4 small zucchini, ends removed & cut in 1" chunks
8-10 large mushrooms, stems trimmed & cut in half vertically
8 (or more) 1" diameter boiling potatoes
1 red bell pepper, seeded & cut in 1 1/2" squares
1 green bell pepper, seeded & cut in 1 1/2" squares
olive oil for brushing
salt & pepper

6-8 12" wooden skewers, soaked for 1 hour in water

Parboil the potatoes for about 20 minutes until they are just cooked. Alternately thread the vegetables on skewers. Brush with olive oil and cook on the grill along with the meat, turning once or twice. cooking time is about ten minutes.


Al Di La's Pear- Chocolate Cake from Smitten Kitchen failed quality control- too done on the outside and underdone in the middle. Having had an underdone cake disaster earlier in the week, I went overboard, or rather, overbaked. Will try it again soon using a tube pan. Instead I offer a tried and true family recipe
Nadine’s Cheesecake (photo to follow)
While people from the East Coast usually say this isn’t rich enough, it's rich enough for us! The legend in our family is that this recipe was the origin of Saralee’s cheesecake. In the 1940's a member of the family from Los Angeles that started Saralee was hospitalized in Fresno, and my grandmother didn't know her well enough to justify buying her flowers, so she baked her a cheesecake instead. When the woman recovered she asked for the recipe, and little did my grandmother know what would become of it!

1 1/2 boxes vanilla wafers
1/2 c. butter, melted
3/4 c. sugar
3 Tb flour
1/4 t. salt
24 oz. cream cheese, room temp.
6 eggs, separated
2 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. sour cream

Preheat the oven to 325°.
Crumble the vanilla wafers into crumbs and mix with the butter. Press them onto the bottom and sides of a 9 1/2” springform pan. Refrigerate.

Blend the sugar, flour, salt, and cream cheese together until well mixed, then add the egg yolks, vanilla, and sour cream. Blend well, until smooth.

Beat the egg whites until stiff, and fold them into the cream cheese mixture. Pour the batter into the crumb-lined pan. Bake 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 hours, until nicely browned on top. The cake may crack a little. When done, cover the cake with a clean dishtowel and leave in the turned off oven until it has cooled. Refrigerate until serving time.

Sprinkle top with powdered sugar before serving.













Monday, September 2, 2013

Mother-Daughter Chard Challenge


The Picky Eater was home on furlough for a few weeks recently and was cooking in overdrive, trying  to take advantage of all the great summer produce. One Sunday we were entranced by the baby chard offered by a vendor at our farmers market, which led her mother to conceive of the Chard Challenge. We purchased a double bag of chard and were off to the races, as it were, with a week of green & purple tinged leaves flying around the kitchen.

While it may be true that my daughter is a certified picky eater, the chard challenge provided ample evidence that her mother is a certified picky cook. While the Picky Eater whipped up a delicious white bean and chard soup with ease, her mother ran through three different recipes and used up about 6 pounds of chard, not to mention quantities of onions, eggs, butter, etc, and countless hours of her time before she got it what she thought of as right!

So, let's start with the Picky Eater's recipe, which will provide good hearty eating from now until next spring. Just be sure to cook the beans a little longer than she did- apparently she likes them crunchy, not soft and toothsome, as her parents (and the rest of the world) do.



Roasted tomato sauce
5 medium tomatoes
1 shallot (peeled)
5+ cloves of garlic (peeled)
Salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roast the tomatoes, shallot and garlic until they have caramelized and slightly shriveled about 40 minutes. If the garlic or shallots get really dark before the tomatoes are done, pull them out so they don't burn.  Chop the lot up with a mezzaluna or food processor (if doing it by hand, remove large bits of skin), add more salt if you think it needs it.

Infinitely tastier than something from a can!
White Bean & Chard soup  [dorm substitutions in brackets]
Makes 4 servings

1 carrot
5-6 cloves of garlic
1 rib of celery
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 sundried tomato halves
1/2 pound white beans
Enough water / stock to cover plus 2"
1/2 chard bundle, stems removed

Chop the carrot and celery up fine, then saute them and the garlic cloves (left whole) in olive oil over low heat until they are soft and slightly fragrant.  [If you're working with limited facilities, I suggest buying dried vegetable flake and substituting about 1/2-1 tablespoon and adding that when you add the beans.]

Add the beans, chopped tomato mixture, and stock / water (I use one can Swanson's chicken stock and add water until it's the right height) [powdered stock or bouillon cubes work well if you make them 1/2 the concentration the directions say].  Simmer (BARELY and UNCOVERED) until the beans are the consistency you like (creamy but not mushy or crunchy).  If necessary (depending on the saltiness of your stock) add additional salt after ~1.5 hours of cooking, when the soup starts to smell like beans and not like vegetables.  You may need to add more liquid, just keep it from going completely dry.  Relax.  This is really flexible.

When the beans are just about done, chop the chard leaves into long strips.  When the beans are actually done, add the chard ribbons and stir around until wilted.  Remove from heat. [Let cool, ladle into 4 plastic bags and freeze.  You can reheat it over the next 2-4 weeks for dinners]

Nothing to it, right? Prepare yourself for my travails.

I started with the "Torta d'Erbe" from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It used a yeasted pastry crust, which only required a quick rise, no pre-baking, and was less rich than a traditional pastry dough. Filling ingredients were chard, sorrel, scallions, parsley, ricotta, eggs, milk, gruyere cheese ... I was good on everything but the sorrel and ricotta, so I decided to omit them and go for a quiche style filling.  Cross checked the recipe against a Leek & Swiss Chard Tart from Smitten Kitchen.  So far, so good.  Crust rolled out like a breeze, filling went together, no sweat. Popped it in the oven.


Looked like a photo from Bon Appetit coming out of the oven. Took a couple of bites.... disappointment! Soggy bottom crust more or less ruined everything else, and the chard had an unappealingly strong metallic taste. Should I try it again- pre-bake the shell? Paint the bottom using Dijon mustard or beaten egg white as a sealant? Forget it? Time to move onward and upward.

Spent more time marking recipes in Veg Cooking for Everyone while waiting to pick up Picky Eater at dance class. Couldn't decide which to go with. The Picky Eater suggested trying a variation on a giant spinach, mushroom and ham turnover (Pantin aux epinards, Simone Beck) in From Julia Child's Kitchen that I had reminisced about making in the distant past. Okay, let's try it with the yeasted pastry and chard. Had some Canadian bacon to substitute for the ham. Stop at the grocery for a couple more pounds of chard and extra gruyere. Make the pastry, cook the chard, make the onion flavored bechamel, saute the mushrooms with the ham and cooked chard. Roll out the pastry into a 12" x 18" rectangle. Spread out the filling (which is looking a little meagre.) Seal, brush with egg wash, and bake the tart.

Pantin unfolded.
Kitchen looks like a disaster area.


Looks impressive coming out of the oven. Proof (or lack thereof) is in the eating- filling to pastry ratio is too slight, as expected. Chard still tastes tinny. Time to admit defeat? Never!

A little more filling would have been nice.
Guests coming over for dinner on Sunday. Another chard opportunity. What about gnudi, aka gnocchi verdi from Canal House Cooking vol. 7, substituting chard for spinach and serving with tomato sauce in lieu of sage butter? Splurge on artisan whole milk ricotta. Dig some homemade tomato sauce out of the freezer. Prepare mixture the day before. Poach immediately before serving. YES!! They don't disintegrate during cooking, the tomato sauce is light and doesn't mask the flavor of the gnudi, which isn't metallic. Wish I had chopped the chard more finely. Success at last!


Gnocchi aka Gnudi Verdi
Love the word gnudi! It refers to the fact that these are basically a ravioli filling standing on their own, not encased in a pasta prison.
Adapted from Canal House Cooking volume 7 byMelissa Hamilton & Christopher Hirsheimer
Serves 4-6

This dough must be refrigerated 3 hours or more (overnight) before cooking. Once you have the chard prepared the dough comes together very quickly.

2 pounds fresh chard leaves
1 1/2 cups (16 oz) whole milk ricotta
1 Tb melted butter
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Salt & pepper 6 Tb of flour

4 Tb additional butter, melted
Grated Parmesan
Fresh tomato sauce (recipe below)

Cut away the leaf sections of the chard from the stalks, and discard the stalks, Wash the chard leaves in a colander without shaking dry, and place them in a large saucepan. (The water clinging to the leaves is enough to cook the chard in.) Cook over medium heat until just tender. When cool, squeeze the chard  dry by the handful over the colander. Finely mince and place in a large bowl.

Mix together the chard, ricotta, 1 Tb melted butter, Parmesan, and eggs with a rubber spatula. Season to taste with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Sift the flour through a sieve into the chard mixture and use the spatula to mix it just enough to incorporate the flour. The dough will seem soft and a little sticky.

Refrigerate in a covered container for at least three hours, or make it the day before and refrigerate overnight.

About 20 minutes before serving heat the tomato sauce over low and keep it warm. Fill a wide pan with water to a depth of about 3 inches. Season the water with salt and bring it to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Adjust the heat to keep the water barely simmering. Fill a measuring cup with cold water and pull out two tea spoons. Retrieve the chilled gnudi dough. Dip the spoons in the water and use one to scoop up some dough. Use the other spoon to shape the dough into an oval dumpling shape aka quenelle. Hold the spoon in the simmering water for a second and the gnudi will slide off and sink to the bottom of the pan. Cook 6-10 gnudi at a time until they float to the surface and feel firm, about 4-5 minutes. Hold the gnudi in a buttered & covered casserole in a warm (250 degree) oven until they are all cooked, serving as soon as possible.

To serve, smear a generous spoonful of warm tomato sauce on the bottom of a flat soup dish. Attractively arrange 3-5 gnudi on top, drizzle them with a little melted butter, and toss on a sprinkling of grated Parmesan and a bit more salt and pepper.
Forming / poaching the gnudi.
Fresh Tomato Sauce
(from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison)
Makes 2 1/2 cups

3 pounds ripe tomatoes, quartered
3 Tb chopped fresh basil or 2 tsp mixed dried Italian or Herbes de Provence
Salt & pepper
2 Tb olive oil

Put the tomatoes in a heavy saucepan with the herbs. Cover the pan and cook the tomatoes over medium-high heat, keeping an eye on them to sure that they don't scorch. When they have broken down, after about 10 minutes, remove from the heat, cool slightly, and briefly puree the tomatoes in a food processor. If the sauce is not as thick as you want, return it to the pot and cook over low heat, stirring often until it is the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the olive oil.

Freezes nicely.