Thanksgiving Prep

I am interrupting work on a blog entry on eating in Philadelphia to offer a few favorite Thanksgiving recipes- appetizers, side dishes, and desserts. The Picky Eater's daddy is the king of all things turkey in our household, and we mere peasants would never consider treading on his domain! And, undoubtedly you are wondering, "What in the world does the Picky Eater eat at Thanksgiving?" The answer is not much. In fact, she has often considered herself to be cruelly starved in the hours before the turkey hits the table when everyone else is holding back in anticipation. For the record, the Picky Eater's Thanksgiving menu, such as it is, consists of homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, peas with shallots, and fruit crisp.

As with most families, our Thanksgiving selection has been honed over the years to all time favorites that never disappoint. That said, I usually like to try a new dessert or side dish every year, just to mix things up a bit.

Thanksgiving menus require a certain degree of planning for single oven families. With the big bird taking up residence for 4-5 hours prior to the meal, everything else has to be cooked on the stovetop, baked ahead, or squeezed into that last golden 30 minutes when the finished turkey is "resting" before its final stage appearance. I like to rely on recipes that can be mostly done ahead and finished up at the last minute.
So, for those of you casting about for your Thanksgiving menu, here are a few suggestions:
Appetizer
Smoked Trout Pâté 
3/4 lb. smoked trout fillets (boneless)
1/2 c. very finely diced onion
1/2 c. chopped fresh chives
1 c. mayonnaise (Best Foods)
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
lemon juice to taste

Crumble the trout into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to chop. Transfer to a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Do not process them all together in the food processor – you’ll get green glop. This takes a little handcrafting, but it’s worth it.
Serve with baguettes or rye bread. Serves 4-6. From Joyce Goldstein's Back to Square One.


Side Dishes
Broccoli and Cauliflower with Buttered Crumbs
1 ½ lbs. broccoli
1 head of cauliflower
8 Tb (one stick) butter + 2 TB to butter the baking dish
6 Tb chopped shallots
2 cups fresh bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Cut the broccoli and cauliflower into medium size florets with short stems. Steam until just tender, then ice down or immerse in cold water to stop the cooking. Drain in a colander.

Butter a baking dish large enough to accommodate the vegetables. Arrange the florets in the dish, alternating the broccoli and cauliflower to make a colorful arrangement.

Heat the butter in a medium sauté pan over medium heat until foaming. Stir in the shallots and bread crumbs, and sauté until the crumbs are brown.
** Can be made a few hours ahead to this point. Do not refrigerate- just place in a cool spot.

Distribute the crumbs evenly over the vegetables in the baking dish.
Bake in the pre-heated oven 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables are heated through. Serves 8.

Sweet Potato Pone
No one in even my extended families likes sweet potatoes; so I only get to make this when we have guests. It's really yummy, if you like this sort of thing!
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1 lb. sweet potatoes
¼ c. melted butter
½ c. light corn syrup (or maple syrup)
½ c. flour
½ t. cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. salt

Preheat the oven to 325˚.
Mix the eggs and milk together and grate the peeled potatoes directly into the mixture; stir to coat. Blend in the melted butter and syrup. Sift the dry ingredients into the sweet potato mixture and stir to combine well.
Pour the mixture into a buttered 1 ½ quart baking dish and bake in a preheated oven for two hours, stirring once during the first hour. Serve either warm or cold.
Serves 6. (From: Marian Morash's The Victory Garden Cookbook.)

Desserts
Apple Crisp Tart
This was a favorite of my father’s. I always made it for Thanksgiving, and often for Christmas too.

Tart dough
2 c. flour
pinch salt
3 Tb sugar
10 Tb butter, chilled
2 Tb shortening, chilled
1/2 c. ice water

Put flour, salt, sugar into the food processor. Cut the butter and shortening into 1/2” bits and drop in. Process for 3 seconds. Stop. Add the ice water and turn on the machine. Process 2-3 seconds, until the dough has just started to mass around the blades.

Form the dough into a flat cake, wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour. Roll the dough into a 12” circle and fit into a 10” pie or tart pan.

Pre-bake the shell: Preheat oven to 400°.  Bake tart shell lined with foil and filled with pie weights (or rice) for 15 minutes. Remove, turn oven down to 350°, and bake until crust is golden, 10-15 minutes more. Let cool.

Apple Filling & Topping
5 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored & chopped
1 c. chopped blanched almonds
3/4 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, chilled and cut into bits
1/4 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°.
Combine the almonds, flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon in a bowl. Blend together until the mixture resembles meal. Mound the apples in the shell. Sprinkle the nut mixture over them.

Bake the tart 40 minutes, until the topping is browned and the apples are tender.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Serves 8-10.  (Gourmet Magazine, November 1974.)

Fruit Crisp
The Picky Eater's favorite Thanksgiving dessert. Just as nice with fall fruits - apples, pears, dried cranberries or cherries - as with summer ones.
Topping
1 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. ginger
8 Tb cold unsalted butter
Fruit filling
5-6 c. fruit: nectarines, blueberries, pears, apples, etc.
1/4-1/2 c. sugar, depending on sweetness of fruit
2 Tb flour

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Topping: Mix flour, sugars, salt and spices together in a medium mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
Fruit Filling: Cut fruit into 1/2" slices. Toss with sugar and flour. Pour the fruit into a 9-10" baking dish. Sprinkle the topping evenly on top.

Bake 25-30 minutes, until the top is browned and the juices are bubbling up around the edge. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Serves 6.  (From Bradley Ogden’s Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner)

If you have some cooked pumpkin leftover from your pies, and aren't totally sick of eating, you can proudly serve this scrumptious streusel filled coffeecake to family and guests over the long weekend.

Pumpkin Streusel Coffeecake
Streusel
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 tsp. allspice
2 tsp. butter
In a small bowl combine all ingredients with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

Cake batter
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour a 12 cup bundt pan.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together. Add eggs and beat well. Add pumpkin, sour cream and vanilla. Beat well. Gradually add the flour mixture.
Spread half the batter in pan. Sprinkle streusel evenly over batter. Top with the remaining batter. With a sharp knife "cut" a squiggly line down through and all around the batter to glue down the srteusel.

Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes. Invert on wire rack, remove cake, allow to cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Asian Noodle Love

The Picky Eater LOVES her noodles!! So expect, dear reader, to see more than a few pasta-centric entries. She especially holds a special tender little place in her heart for Asian Style noodles, from ramen to udon, she slurps them all; at least as long as they are meatless and don't taste too spicy or weird.

Formal udon eating.
Note the green beans in the lower left.

Gombei Love
We loved the Sunday at Gombei (our local family-style Japanese restaurant and always on Sunday) that she ordered udon for the very first time. prior to that historic occasion, her standard order was Gombei green beans and white rice. It hardly seems worthwhile to take your kid out to a restaurant to eat white rice! For years it was plain udon- just noodles and broth. But in the last months before leaving home the Picky Eater branched out, consuming vegetable udon, sans tofu, lotus root or any other suspicious looking legume. Still, it was progress.

The Picky Eater was also quite fond of their yummy onion rings, and was ready to make them her regular meal. Because they are a special order item, and have inherent lack of nutrition, her dad put the kabosh on that in an instant. She is also known to snitch pieces of squash tempura from other unsuspecting diner's plates.

Other than the local grocery store, Gombei is probably the only local place where we count as "regulars." So, regular, that the wait staff there pretty much has all the possible variants of our order memorized- "Large plate" or unagi don, "large plate" or teriyaki chicken, udon and green beans. At our last Gombei meal before departure, the Picky Eater asked her dad and I when we would be eating at Gombei again. In non-collusioned unison, we simultaneously answered "Never!" After 15 years of twice monthly or more Sunday meals there, we had had enough. And true, to our word, we haven't been back.

But Gombei is great for families with kids- the food is fresh, fast, comforting, and well priced, and beer is served (for the grownups). They have back room seating for small messy eaters. We even held some of the Picky Eater's birthday dinners, with 10+ kids, there, and they never messed up an order. Give our regards to Gombei if you end up there.

Gombei -  Menlo Park      
1438 El Camino Real   Menlo Park, CA 94025
650 329-1799

Home Noodle Love
There are also a couple of stock home prepared Asian noodle recipes that the Picky Eater was partial to. The first is based on "Orchid's Tangy Cool Noodles" from The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking by Barbara Tropp. It makes me feel incredibly ancient to admit that I first made this recipe for a picnic lunch  prior to a Julio Iglesis concert at the Greek Theater in Berkeley in 1983.

Chinese Noodle Salad
1 lb. fresh Chinese noodles                                                                                                                (works fine with dried pasta of any shape too, cook it until just al dente)
Dressing:
3 1/2 Tb sesame oil
3 1/2 Tb soy sauce
1 1/2 Tb balsamic vinegar
2 Tb sugar
2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. hot chili oil
4 Tb thinly sliced scallions

Cook the noodles in a large pot of unsalted boiling water until just done, about 2-3 minutes. Drain and cool under cold running water. Whisk dressing ingredients together, and toss with noodles. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight and add the scallions just before serving.

Noodle salad with chicken

Noodle salad a la Picky Eater

This recipe invites additions of anything that strikes your fancy. Well, anything that is compatible with soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and sesame oil. The Picky Eater likes hers on the plain side (surprise, surprise!) with just frozen peas and grated carrots. But, I have been know to add any and all of the following:
    Shredded cooked chicken
    cooked shrimp
    cucumber matchsticks
    peanuts
    sliced snow or sugar snap peas
    thinly sliced radishes
    celery
    sliced mushrooms
    bean sprouts
    cilantro
    sesame seeds

Noodle Pillow with bell pepper saute

The Crispy Noodle Pancake
When I told the Picky Eater this morning (PST) that I had made a noodle pancake last night, she let out a sigh of longing. So, I guess it goes on the list of things to do when she's home. This is also from Barbara Tropp (starting to get the picture that The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking is the only Chinese cookbook that I own? Wrong ! I also own her China Moon Cookbook!)
Again, she asks for fresh Chinese noodles; we experimented with dry pasta noodles, but they don't have the glutenous quality required for the pancake to stick together.
Pot-Browned Noodle Pillow
8 oz. fresh Chinese noodles (thin)
2 tsp. Asian sesame oil
1 tsp. salt
4-5 Tb peanut or corn oil for pan frying (use 2 Tb if cooking with a non-stick pan)

Equipment: an 11-12" heavy frying pan or two 7" frying pans (divide everything in half if using the smaller pans) with lid(s).

Fluff, separate and untangle the noodles in a colander. Boil them in a large pot of unsalted water until cooked but still firm, about 2 minutes. Drain the noodles and run cold water over them until they are cold. Drain again, and toss in a bowl with the sesame oil and salt.

Swirl half the corn/peanut oil in the frying pan over medium high heat until it will sizzle one noodle. Turn the heat down to medium, and coil the noodles into the pan in a flat, even layer, pressing and pushing them together with a spatula. Cover the pan and cook 5-7 minutes, until the underside of the pancake is brown and crispy.

Flip the pancake over (it can also be inverted onto a plate and slipped back in the pan cooked side up), drizzle the additional oil around the edges of the pan and swirl to distribute the oil. Press the pancake down again, cover and cook until browned on the 2nd side, for about 5-7 minutes more.

Slide the pancake onto a cookie sheet lined with 3 layers of paper towels, and let it drain for  a minute or two. Slide onto a platter, cut into wedges, and serve with a stir fry mixture of your choice. The pancake can be made up to 2 days ahead and reheated in a 400 degree oven until hot and crispy.
Serves 2-4.

Easy Stir Fries
Sometimes making a stir fry seems like an awful lot of chopping, measuring, and mixing, especially when it includes a variety of vegetables and seasoning. Here are a couple of fairly easy ones:

Szechuan Chicken
2 whole chicken breasts, skinned & boned
2 Tb soy sauce 2 Tb cornstarch
2 egg whites
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
6 Tb peanut oil
1/2 red chili pepper flakes
2 green peppers, cut into thin strips

Sauce
1/2 t. chopped fresh ginger
2 Tb dry sherry 
4 Tb soy sauce
1 Tb honey  
2 Tb rice vinegar

Cut the chicken into 1/2” strips. Mix the soy sauce, cornstarch, egg whites, and garlic. Add the chicken, mixing well. Refrigerate, covered, at least 30 minutes.

Make the sauce:  Mix the ginger with the sherry, then add the rest of the ingredients. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok or sauté pan. Add the pepper flakes and cook briefly. Drain the chicken pieces, add to the pan and stir fry 2 minutes. Add green peppers and cook 2 minutes more. Pour in the sauce and cook, stirring, until it comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and serve.

This can also be refrigerated and reheated before serving.
Serves 4-6. From The Picnic Gourmet by Joan Hemingway.)

For vegetarian noodle fans, try topping your noodle pancake with a simple stir fry of broccoli, onion, and red bell peppers.
Veggie Stir Fry with Garlic 
1 lb. broccoli crowns
1 onion
2 red bell peppers
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

2 Tb corn or peanut oil, or other high temp cooking oil
1 Tb. finely minced garlic
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tb. soy sauce
1 Tb. unseasoned Japanese vinegar
1 tsp. sesame oil
pepper

Cut the broccoli into flowerets; peel, quarter, and slice the onion. Split the peppers, remove the seeds and inner ribs and cut them into 1" squares.

Heat the cooking oil in a wok or large flat fry pan over medium heat until a bit of garlic sizzles, then add the garlic and stir about 5 seconds. Add the sliced onion, and stir-cook for about 1 minute. Add the broccoli, stirring again for 1 minute, and then the bell peppers, also stir-cooking for a minute or so. Sprinkle in the salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, and stir together. Cover the pan and let the vegetables steam over low heat for a couple of minutes, until just tender. Stir in the cilantro, sesame oil and a generous amount of pepper. Serve on top or on the side of the noodle pancake, or with rice. Serves 3-4.

End your Asian noodle repast with these yummy sesame seed cookies. Be sure to underbake them; they turn hard and crispy on the outside as they cool.
Sesame Cookies
2/3 cup sesame seeds
7 Tb. butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Toast the sesame seeds, stirring occasionally, in a dry saute pan over low heat; it will take about 5 minutes. (You can tell that they are toasted when you can smell them.) Set them aside to cool.

Stir the flour, baking powder salt, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Beat the softened butter with the two sugars in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Gradually stir in the flour and mix until just incorporated, then stir in half (1/3 cup) of the sesame seeds. Refrigerate the dough until firm, at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and adjust the oven racks to accommodate two cookie sheets. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough into 1" balls, and then roll each ball in the remaining sesame seeds. Place the cookie balls about 2" apart on the cookie sheets, and flatten each ball slightly with the palm of your hand. Sprinkle the cookie tops with any leftover sesame seeds.

Bake the cookies for about 10-15 minutes, depending upon your oven, until just golden brown. Do not brown! They may seem too squishy when you remove them from the oven, but they will harden significantly as they cool.
Makes 24 cookies.

Vegetarian Cooking That the Rest of Us Can Stand- The Cookbook Guide

Meat vs. Veg

Sometimes my place at the dinner table seems to be in the proverbial position between a rock (dedicated carnivore husband) and a hard place (equally resolutely vegetarian daughter.) So, what's a cook to do?
Over the years the solution that has played out best for us is a vegetarian main course with a side of meat.

As a dedicated griller, the Daddy has been in the habit of scorching up a pile of assorted meat products on Sunday night, which usually lasts until about Thursday, when we scrounge some chicken sausages out of the freezer, and start the cycle all over on the weekend.

With the Picky Eater's early proclivity for plain, bland food, our vegetarian main dish selection was pretty limited- pasta with garlic in oil, pasta in quick homemade tomato sauce, Mexican rice (no chiles), cold Chinese noodle salad, barley pilaf, Annie's Macaroni and Cheese, Near East box pilaf. Pretty BORING after the first fifty repeats!!

Trawling for recipes in my modest collection of vegetarian cookbooks was notable for its lack of success in tempting the Picky Eater's taste buds, but I had to acknowledge that the veggie to meat ratio we had was a good thing. As a result I have made friends with my vegetarian cookbooks, and after venting about a few pet peeves, will recommend a few keepers for cookbook collections.
My Gripes
1. Vegetarian recipes tend to need a lot more flavor support to make them taste interesting, which usually translates to a lot more work. What sort of work? Most often a ton of preliminary steps, like the concoction of vegetable based stocks, the separate chopping and/or blanching of a long list of vegetables and herbs, or the preparation of a bread or dough element that needs time (1 hour +)  to chill or rise.

2. Recipes with weird ingredients that don't even show up in an upscale grocery store, let alone a Save Mart or Safeway. Seitan? Black Chinese mushrooms? Nigari tofu? Any chance of suggesting a substitution?

Chilaquiles Casserole-
Looks yummy on the outside,
a watery mess on the inside!

3. Where's the fat? (and sugar?) I know, we should all be minimizing fat and sugar in our diets on a daily basis, but where's the fun in that? Most contemporary vegetarian cookbook authors are also committed to low fat diets, which I think is great (and they all look pretty skinny) but it always compels me to use more than that meager tablespoon or two of olive oil or brown sugar. I go for the feast or famine philosophy, and if I'm feasting I expect enough butter, cream, or cheese to keep what I'm eating from tasting like dirt.

4. Odd food combinations or cooking techniques that make judgement calls impossible. Knowledgable cooks can usually draw on their previous cooking experiences to inform decisions when unexpected cooking events occur. But, many vegetarian recipes go where I, with what I consider to be a fairly broad rage of cooking experience, fear to tread.

View of the kitchen after preparing
 "Baked Buckwheat Noodles
with Brown Butter and Cabbage"

A perfect case in point is my attempt to make the "Baked Buckwheat Noodles with Brown Butter and Cabbage" from the Greens Cook Book:
Reason for selection: I had no idea what the dish would taste like from reading the recipe.
Ingredients not normally stocked in the pantry: Four
Preparation time: over 60 minutes
Pans and utensils used: 1 saute pan, 1 saucepan, 1 baking dish, 2 bowls, 1 colander, 2 measuring cups, 1 strainer, & a piece of cheesecloth
Vegetables & herbs peeled and chopped: Five
Cooking processes (sauteing, boiling, etc.): brown butter, boil potatoes, boil noodles, saute vegetables, grate cheese, assemble casserole, bake    
Result: uninspiring

Instead of going to all that effort, try these "Roasty" Potatoes and Carrots, a long time Picky Eater favorite:
“Roasty” Potatoes & Carrots

Note: Quantities are arbitrary; the trick is to avoid crowding your roasting pan. If you do, the vegetables will steam and not develop a nice crispy crust.

1 lb. small (creamer) boiling potatoes, halved
3-4 carrots, peeled and cut into 2” x ½” sticks
4-5 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
Sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme
3 Tb olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425°.

Oil a 9”x 13” pan with 1 Tb of the olive oil. Place the potatoes and carrots in a largish bowl and toss with the remaining oil. Scrape vegetables and oil into the roasting pan. Tuck the herbs and garlic in amongst the vegetables, distributing them evenly around the pan. Liberally season with salt and pepper.

Roast the vegetables in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until tender and caramelized. Stir once or twice during roasting. Serves 3-4.
Watch out! These are very hot when they first come out of the oven. Adventurous eaters can squeeze the roasted garlic cloves and smear the sweet soft garlic onto their vegetables.

My Recommendations

That said, there are plenty of things to like about vegetarian cooking and cookbooks. Here are my favorites, also all more or less Picky Eater approved:

Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. This 700 page+ tome is the Princess Di of vegetarian cooking. Elegant, straightforward recipes offer infinite variety and consistent excellence without chaining the cook to the stove. In the spirit of Green's Restaurant, where Deborah Madison got her start, the recipes are an eclectic mix of American and world cuisines which really resonates with the way we cook today.

The Picky Eater, ultimate discriminator, has marked more than 25 recipes which interest her, close to an Olympic record for her. While the scope of this cookbook might seem intimidating, it is still a good choice for the neophyte vegetarian cook. Typical is this carrot recipe, which the author states is "Simple but truly fine."
Carrots with Shallots and Parsley
1 1/2 lbs. carrots, peeled
2 Tb butter or olive oil
3 Tb minced shallots (in a pinch you could substitute scallions)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Salt and papper

If using large carrots, cut them into rounds or matchsticks making them uniform in size; if using baby carrots, leave them whole. Steam them over boiling water until they just yield to the tip of a sharp knife- 5 to 12 minutes, depending upon size. Can also boil them in the water if you don't have a steamer.) Drain well.

Melt the butter or heat the olive oil in a medium skillet. Add the shallots and cook them over medium heat until they begin to color, about 3-4 minutes. Add the cooked carrots  and parsley. Toss well and cook a few minutes more. Season to taste with salt & pepper.

A PICKY EATER ORIGINAL RECIPE!!
The Picky Eater has a favorite frozen pea recipe which is a  rift on these "Carrots and Shallots" that she adapted from America's Test Kitchen:
Peas and Shallots
2 Tb butter or olive oil
3 Tb minced shallots
1 cup broth (vegetarian or chicken)
1 cup frozen peas (not defrosted)
Salt and pepper

Melt the butter or heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add the shallots, and cook until soft. Stir in the broth and reduce it over high heat until it just coats the bottom of the pan. (Reduce it more than seems necessary because the peas will throw off water. Reduce the heat to medium, add the peas and cook just until they are hot. Season with salt and peeper to taste.

The Greens Cook Book (Deborah Madison) and Fields of Greens (Annie Somerville), collections from the consistently fabulous (for 30+ years) and scenic San Francisco vegetarian restaurant, Greens. A good number of these recipes I would classify as "weekend" cooking, taking time and planning. But, others make quick, tasty meals, especially the pastas and salads. Most will require a trip to the grocery store. A long time favorite of ours, both at the restaurant and at home is the classic Greens' recipe for

Green's Black Bean Chili
2 c. black beans (or 3 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed)
1 bay leaf
6 garlic cloves, peeled
3 Tb oil
3 yellow onions, peeled & diced
2 bell peppers (green, red, or any color), diced
1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, chopped
1 oz. oil packed sun dried tomatoes (about 4), chopped
4 t. ground cumin
4 t. paprika
1 Tb chili powder
1 Tb oregano
1 t. cayenne pepper
2 t. salt or to taste
2 oz. can diced green chiles
4 Tb cilantro, chopped

A note on the beans: Soaking, draining, and rinsing dry beans eliminates most of the gastrointestinal disturbing elements that cause so much bean avoidance. Canned beans are quicker, but....

If using the uncooked beans, either put them in a saucepan, cover with water to 1" above the level of the beans, and soak overnight. Or use the quick-soak method: Cover with water as instructed above, bring to a boil, boil for two minutes uncovered, remove from the heat and let sit for one hour.

Drain and rinse the soaked beans, cover them with fresh water by a couple of inches, and bring them to a boil with the bay leaf and 3 of the garlic cloves. Lower the heat and let simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally, and replenishing water if needed. (The water will cook away, but they should always be covered by some.)
If using canned beans, skip these steps.

In a skillet, heat the oil, then sauté the onion and garlic over medium heat until they soften. Add the bell peppers and cook another 5 minutes or so.

Put the cumin, paprika, chili powder, oregano and cayenne pepper in a small skillet over medium heat and toast only until you can smell them. (Do not burn.) This step mellows the flavors of the spices.

Add the spice mixture to the sautéed vegetables, and sauté a minute or two longer, stirring to scrape up the spice mixture. Add to the beans, along with both tomatoes and canning liquid. If using dry beans, bring back to a boil and simmer 1 hour longer, or until the beans are tender.  Using canned beans? Simmer for 30 minutes or so to allow the flavors to blend. If the beans seem too soupy for your taste you can either cook them down longer or remove some of the liquid. Add canned green chilies and salt and black pepper to taste. Just before serving, stir in the cilantro.

Serve with steamed rice ( I use basmati), grated cheese, more cilantro, salsa, sour cream, avocado, green onions, or whatever you like. These beans are also good mashed in burritos or tostadas.
Serves 6.

I am not a huge fan of dessert recipes from vegetarian cookbooks. In general, they don't generally include enough of the aforementioned fat and sugar for my taste. But, they tend to be strong on fruit based desserts such as these baked apples from Fields of Greens, which are yummy for breakfast with yogurt.
Baked Apples Filled with Nuts and Currants (or Raisins)
1/3 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted
(toast in a 350 degree oven for 5-8 minutes until just toasted, beware of burning)
4 medium baking apples (I used Granny Smiths & Golden Delicious)
1/3 cup raisins or currants
Zest of one orange, minced
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tb brown sugar
Apple juice, about 1 1/2 cups

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Chop the nuts and combine them in a small bowl with the raisins, orange zest, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

Peel around the top third of the apples, and partially core them, leaving about 1/2" of core at the bottom. (I made the cavity in each apple quite spacious in order to accommodate a maximum of filling.) Pack the filling into the apple cavities.

Stand the apples in a baking dish and pour in enough apple juice to fill the dish to a depth of about 1". Cover with foil, and bake for 40-60 minutes (or longer, depending upon size) until they are tender and can easily be pierced by a knife. Check them as they bake. Serve warm or cold with yogurt, creme fraiche, sour cream, or whipped cream, depending on your pleasure and your pantry. Serves 4.

The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash isn't strictly vegetarian, but it has so many great classic vegetable recipes that it deserves a mention. Marian Morash's husband was the producer of Julia Child's cooking shows, and Marian was one of her assistants. Russell also produced a 1970's-80's PBS gardening show, "Crockett's Victory Garden," which demonstrated and promoted home vegetable gardening. During a segment of the show, Marian would demonstrate a recipe using something from the victory garden's current crop. And so, a cookbook was born.

Arranged by vegetable, this book provides extensive information on preparation methods for each, accompanied by a plethora of over 700 recipes, any of which I would prepare for company without a second thought. It must be admitted that there are some vegetables I will never cook with- fennel, endive, parsnips, to name a few; but my 1st edition copy from 1982 is well thumbed and well loved. Several of our Thanksgiving standard recipes are from The Victory Garden (saving those for a holiday post); but I have also made many other of the recipes and consulted this book often when it came to technique when developing my own recipes.

Written before fear of fats took hold, this cookbook abounds in generous helpings of butter and cream, which can easily be modified if desired. The recipes run the gamut of elegant to homey, and it is one vegetable cookbook where I embrace the dessert and bread recipes. Think Julia Child's cuisine without the haute. Here are two favorites from the onion chapter:
Soubise (Onion & Rice Braise)
1/2 cup rice
2 lb onions (sweet onions preferred)
6 Tb Butter
2 Tb oil
Salt
1/2  cup grated Parmesan
Lemon juice
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Drop the rice into boiling, salted water and boil for 5 minutes., then drain. Peel and chop the onions. Heat the butter and oil in a baking dish in the oven. Carefully stir in the onions, rice and 1/2 tsp. salt. Mix to coat well with the butter and oil.

Cover the pan and bake, stirring occasionally,  for 45-60 minutes or until the rice is completely tender and the onions are soft and golden. Mix in the cheese, salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste. Makes 4 cups.


Onion Dinner Rolls
This recipe must be started either early in the day (allow 9 hours) or the day before you want to bake. One critical secret to successful bread dough is making sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature. In this recipe, watch out for the eggs and butter.

2 packages active dry yeast
1 1/4 cup warm water
3 eggs (room temperature)
4 1/2-5 cups flour
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup sugar
2 c. chopped onions
2 tsp. salt
7 Tb butter, softened

In the bowl of a mixer, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water and let it stand for 10 minutes. Add the eggs, 2 1/2 cups flour, remaining 1 cup warm water, butter, sugar and salt. Beat at low medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour to make a soft, slightly sticky dough.

Cover the dough, put it in a warm spot in the oven, and let it rise until it is doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. Punch down the dough and refrigerate it at least 6 hours or overnight.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator 3 hours before baking.

Sauté 1 1⁄2 c. onions in 2 Tb butter until wilted and golden. Cool.  Divide the dough in half. On a floured board, roll each half into a 1⁄2” thick rectangle. Spread each rectangle with 2 Tb softened butter, then spread with sautéed onions. With the long side facing you, roll the rectangle into a jelly roll shape. Cut into 1” thick slices, and place cut side down into greased 2” muffin tins. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk.

Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter, and brush over the tops. Sprinkle with the remaining 1⁄2 c. of raw onion. Bake in a preheated 400 ̊ oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.
Makes 20 rolls.

Vegetarian Kitchen Doyennes
Any discussion of vegetarian cooks and cookbooks is not complete without  mentioning of Martha Rose Shulman and Mollie Katzen. Over the last 40 years they have authored a veritable library of vegetarian and vegetable oriented cookbooks. And, for many reasons, they loom large in my personal Pantheon of eminent women. But, my stuffed apple breakfast calls, and I leave them for another day.

Bon Appetit!

For the Love of Peanut Butter

The Picky Eater reports that she has resumed her romance with peanut butter. The current object of her affections is Butterscotch Peanut Butter purchased at Kauffman's in the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. She stores it in the tea pantry down the hall in the dorm, takes it to the dining hall to slather on her morning bagel, and dips in for a spoonful or two when she's feeling peckish.


The Picky Eater is so fond of Kauffman's peanut butter that she took the time to send me a link to their online sales site. Sadly, butterscotch only appears to be available in situ, but the Picky Eater is confident that I will enjoy the honey roasted or chocolate flavors equally as well. Just in case all this talk has you craving fresh ground peanut butter, here's the website link:

http://www.kauffmansfruitfarm.com/standard/store/grid1.aspx?id=%20%20159

Due to a well-meaning, but misguided mother, the Picky Eater lost her taste (burn out) for PB & J school lunch sandwiches in second grade. Thereafter followed the chocolate lunch years- a container of Brown Cow full fat chocolate yogurt for breakfast and lunch almost every day for about eight years, rather like eating pudding two meals a day. Foolishly, Brown Cow downscaled their packaging and the thin foil tops caused one too many chocolate yogurt leaks in the backpack, and that was the end of that revenue stream. While PB & J never really took hold again as a school lunch staple, it did slowly creep back into her diet during the high school years. She and her dad are both happy to eat it spread on whatever bread product is lying around. The Picky Eater, as would be expected, is selective in her choice of jelly/jams; she opts for Bonne Maman Wild Blueberry, while her dad, with the exception of orange marmalade, uses whatever jar is almost empty. This is what Bonne Maman has to say about its Wild Blueberry Preserves:

"The distinctive allure of wild blueberries in a velvety-sweet gel creates an entirely delightful and robust blueberry experience."

Nice to think that there are childhood comfort foods that last a lifetime.

Musings on Peanut Butter
Writing about peanut butter naturally leads to a lot of thinking about peanut butter, which in my case took two directions- "Where did it come from?" and "What should I cook with it?" For the answer to the first question I consulted Harold McGee's 1st (1984) and 2nd (2004) editions of On Food and Cooking: the Science and Lore of the Kitchen. In the first edition Mr. McGee tells us that over half the peanuts used in the United States are made into peanut butter which is mostly eaten by children. The 2nd edition adds that peanut butter was developed around 1890 in either St. Louis or Battle Creek, Michigan (by the same Kelloggs of Rice Krispies fame), and how it is processed, including the addition of 3-5% hydrogenated shortening in commercial brands like Skippy to prevent oil separation.

There are other considerations when it comes to peanut butter -  smooth or chunky?, hydrogenated or natural? The first is just a matter of preference, with most children, it seems to me, coming down on the side of smooth. With the latter one must pick one's poison -  bad-for-you hydrogenated oils or the aggravation of peanut oil dripping down the sides of the jar and slopped on the kitchen counter, leaving behind a dry, unspreadable mass in the jar.
Our 1975 edition of Joy of Cooking warns against the limited nutritional value of commercial peanut butters which do not contain the protein rich germ of the nut due to its propensity to taste bitter and turn rancid. Joy recommends making your own at home:
Homemade Peanut Butter
In a blender or food processor combine 1 cup of fresh roasted or salted skinned peanuts, 1 1/2 - 2 Tb flavorless vegetable oil, and 1/2 tsp salt. Process until as smooth as desired. refrigerate and use within 2 weeks.

Cooking with Peanut Butter
Peanut butter's strong and distinctive flavor puts some limitations on it's use in cooking. Anything you make with peanut butter is absolutely going to taste like peanut butter with a few other flavorings on the side. So, recipes tend to blend it with other strong flavors- both sweet and savory- chocolate, garlic, red pepper, vinegar, soy sauce. Truth be told, around our house most peanut butter is consumed au natural. One recipe that I have made in large, i.e. 20 pound, quantities is this ...

Thai Noodle Salad

12 oz. linguine
4 Tb Asian sesame oil
8 green onions, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tb minced peeled fresh ginger
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. soy sauce
3 Tb unseasoned rice vinegar
1 1/2 Tb chili-garlic sauce
Additions (your choice):
2 c. mung bean sprouts
1 c. finely shredded carrots
1 thinly sliced red or yellow bell pepper chunks
1/2 English cucumber, sliced into 1/4' x 1" pieces
1 c. sugar snap peas, sliced into 1" pieces
Chopped cilantro to garnish

Cook the pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Transfer the pasta to large bowl, and add 3 tablespoons sesame oil and toss to coat.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 6 green onions, garlic, and ginger; sauté until onions soften, about 2 minutes. Add honey, peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, and chili-garlic sauce; whisk to blend. Simmer sauce 1 minute. Cool to room temperature. Pour over pasta and toss to coat. Add additional vegetables of choice and mix well, or mound with vegetables on a platter (see photo.) Sprinkle with the remaining green onions and chopped cilantro if desired. Makes 8 side-dish servings.

Cookies!!

Always willing to experiment in the name of a good cause, I devoted a day to trying a few new peanut butter recipes. First, the obvious- Peanut butter cookies. After comparing recipes in America's Test Kitchen's The New Best Recipe, David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert, Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts, The Village Baker's Wife by Gayle and Joe Ortiz, and on Martha Stewart's eponymous website, I decided to modify the already tweaked-to-death ATK recipe with some suggestions from David Lebovitz, and this is the result:

Left to right: Chocolate chip, plain and peanut butter and jelly, and M&M peanut butter cookies.
Our taste testers voted the chocolate chip version "best of show."

Peanut Butter Cookies 
(with variations- Chocolate Chip or M&M Peanut Butter Cookies or Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints)
note: This cookie dough should be refrigerated at least 2 hours before baking.
Makes about 36 cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp.baking powder
1 tsp. salt
8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup white sugar, plus extra for baking
1 cup crunchy peanut butter (ATK recommends a commercial hydrogenated brand- just this once!)
2 lg. eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup salted, dry-roasted peanuts, ground to resemble breadcrumbs
Optional: 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, or 1 1/2 cups M&M's, or for Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints - 1/2 cup strawberry (or flavor of choice) jam (should be thick)

Stir the flour, baking soda and powder, and salt together in a bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat in the peanut butter, then the eggs one at a time, and the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture and then the ground peanuts, both until just incorporated, along with the chocolate chips or M&M's, if using.

Refrigerate the dough for two hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and arrange the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Put about 1/2 cup of sugar in a wide, shallow bowl.

Pinch off pieces of dough and roll them into one inch balls. Drop the cookie balls into the sugar, and shake them around to cover in sugar. Place them about 3 inches apart on the cookie sheets. If making plain peanut butter cookies,  flatten each slightly and make a crosshatch pattern with the back of the tines of a fork.

Bake, about 15-18 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through baking, until the cookies are brown around the edges but still look uncooked in the middle (to maintain their chewiness). When the cookies seem firm enough to handle, move them to wire racks to cool.

For Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints, bake the cookies until they look puffy, about 10 minutes. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and make an indentation in the center of each cookie with the handle end of a wooden spoon. Bake about 5-8 minutes more, until the edges are golden, and cool as directed above.

When the cookies are completely cool, heat the jam in a small saucepan, stirring until it has just softened, about 30 seconds. Spoon about 1/2 tsp of jam into the center of each cookie. Store in a single layer for up to one week.

Peanut Butter Makes a Meal
With a veggie noodle salad and a dessert, it made sense to make a meal of it. Hence, a recipe for...

Beef and Chicken Satay Skewers

1 lb. boneless beef (my household meat expert recommends sirloin or chuck- we used London Broil and it was a little tough)
2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
7" wooden skewers
Double recipe of teriyaki marinade (recipe below)
Satay peanut sauce (recipe below)

Prepare the marinade. Slice the beef against the grain into 1/4" wide strips and place it in a container with 1/2 of the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least three hours or overnight.

Slice the chicken breasts lengthwise into long thin strips. Place them in a second container with the remainder of the marinade. Also cover and refrigerate for three hours or overnight.
Soak the skewers in water while the meat is marinating.

When ready to cook, preheat the broiler with the oven rack about 5" from the heating element. Thread the meats on the skewers and lay the skewers on the slotted upper rack of a foil lined broiling pan,  placing the blunt ends of the skewers along the outside edge of the rack. Brush the meat with the marinade. Broil the skewers for about 7 minutes, turn them, baste with marinade and broil on the second side for 5-7 minutes, until the meat is browned on the edges and cooked through (the beef should be medium rare inside). Cooking time may vary depending upon your oven.

One pound of meat makes about 8 skewers. Serve with peanut satay sauce.

Teriyaki Marinade

6 scallions, chopped

1/2 c. soy sauce 

5 cloves garlic, crushed

2 Tb oil 

2 Tb brown sugar

2 Tb sherry 

1 Tb sesame oil   

pepper 

Optional additions: 2 Tb cilantro, chopped, 1 tsp. ground cumin (best with the beef) and/or 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

 Combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add meat or chicken and marinate several hours or overnight. Use for boneless chicken breasts, chicken pieces, or beef. After marinating, the meat can be grilled, broiled, or baked. Brush the meat with marinade during cooking. 

Makes enough for 1 lb. of meat.   

Peanut Satay Sauce

This is a nice medley of flavors that doesn't allow the peanut butter to predominate. And, a yummy way to enjoy peanut butter without having it stick to the roof of your mouth!

Adapted from a Martha Stewart cold noodle recipe.

1 large clove of garlic

a 3/4" piece of ginger

1 Tb (or more to taste) chile sauce

7 Tb smooth peanut butter

3 Tb sugar

4 Tb vegetable oil (not olive)

2 Tb rice vinegar or the juice of one lime (whichever you have in the cupboard)

4 Tb water

Peel and halve both the garlic and the ginger. Process them together in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until smooth. Additional water can be added for a thinner sauce.

What's your favorite peanut butter? Or favorite peanut butter recipe? Send in your nominations and they will be published in a future blog. Best recipe entry will win a PDF copy of An Edible Life: Memories and Recipes.

Stale Bread

The Slow Food Snail au pain- that's a lot of stale bread!

With the Picky Eater out of the house our level of bread consumption has been significantly reduced, but that hardly deters the grocery shopper from picking up a loaf or two a week. For someone who grew up on Wonder Bread, casually choosing between Acme, Semifreddi, Grace Bakery or La Brea at any of the local food emporiums seems equivalent to gathering gold nuggets that are just strewn on the ground.

While we used to have a manageable quota of leftover bread, mainly pesky baguettes, getting hard and dry, we have now worked ourselves into crisis mode- with stern orders for "no more bread!" shouted every time I go out the door. (Not a very effective deterrent.)

So, what can be done? Enter several delightful ways to deal with your stale bread, dependent only on what else you have floating around the kitchen, and the limit you want to put on your caloric consumption. For the minimalist there are what we call garlic croutons- easy to make and so yummy to eat that they disappear like proverbial hotcakes at our house:

Garlic Croutons (more accurately described as 'Garlic Toasts')

12  Baguette size 1/2"-thick slices of bread, pieces from large loaves should be cut in half or thirds
2-4 Tb olive oil
2-4 Tb butter
1-2 cloves garlic
(Can you tell that this is an improvisational recipe?)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Press the garlic through a garlic press into a microwavable 1 or 2 cup measuring cup or bowl. Add the olive oil and butter. Heat 30 seconds or so, until the butter is melted.

Use a pastry brush to brush both sides of the cut bread with the garlic mixture, and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake for 5-7 minutes on one side, turn the croutons over and bake them on the other side for about the same length of time- they will brown on the underside.

Cool at least slightly before eating, although at our house they magically evaporate in minutes. If you have any left, eat them with salad, soup, almost anything. Best eaten the same day they are made- the Picky Eater's dad says that if you're a fan of cold pizza for breakfast, then you'll like day old croutons.

Variation: For an extra special treat you could sprinkle the tops with grated parmesan and run them under the broiler until the cheese melts and browns- Yum!!

French Toast
Always the first line of offense with stale bread, at least during those long lost happy Sundays when the Picky Eater ate something besides Nutz over Chocolate Luna bars for breakfast.

We usually just punt on this, but here's a real recipe, with a few additions, from Marion Cunningham's 1979 edition of The Fanny Farmer Cookbook.


3 eggs
2 Tb sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 c. milk
6 slices of stale bread- anything except something savory
1-2 Tb butter
Maple syrup

Beat the first six ingredients together in a shallow bowl- a pie pan works well. Soak each piece of bread in the egg mixture, turning once.

Heat 1 Tb of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cram as many slices of egg soaked bread in the pan as possible. Cook, browning on each side and making sure that the bread slices are no longer soggy. If the bread is browning too much before the inside is cooked, turn down the heat. Add butter as needed for additional batches of bread.

Serve with maple syrup. Serves 3 + people, depending upon their appetites.

As an alternative to guard duty at the stove, you can make Baked French Toast, but it tastes best if assembled the night before you want to bake it. So, which is it- advance planning or standing facing the stove? Baked French Toast is also a good strategy if you're making French Toast for more than two or three people- no cooking shifts & everyone gets to eat together.

Baked French Toast
Retrieved from Epicurious.com, an anno domini 2000 Gourmet recipe, also with alterations.

8-10 1"-thick slices of stale French bread or challah
1/4 c. butter, softened
3 eggs
1 2/3 c. milk
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
3 Tb brown sugar

Butter a 9"x13" baking dish. Generously butter one side of each slice of bread and arrange them in the baking dish, squeezing to fit.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour the egg mixture over the bread. Cover and refrigerate until the bread has absorbed the egg mixture, at least one hour or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and remove the casserole from the refrigerator while the oven is heating.

Sprinkle the bread with the brown sugar. Bake, uncovered in the middle of the oven until the bread is puffed and the top is golden, about 30-45 minutes.
Serve immediately with syrup or jam.

Panzanella
 I spend a lot of my life feeling guilty because I don't really like lettuce salads unless they are full of good stuff like blue cheese and nuts, and doused in vinaigrette. So, it has been a mental relief (and a boon to my stale bread supply) to stuff myself on bread based Italian Panzanella salads, and at least feel like I'm getting some vegetables down my gullet while also satisfying my lifelong love affair with carbs.

The basic ingredients for Panzanella are stale bread, fresh tomatoes, onions, olive oil, and vinegar. This base is enhanced with fresh herbs like basil or parsley, and whatever else is hanging around your refrigerator or cupboard. Purists say that the tomatoes should be vine ripened; but, trust me, while I would never use canned tomatoes or those sad specimens that you see in the store in January, you can make a perfectly respectable Panzanella with less than stellar tomatoes.


America's Test Kitchen also went through their usual gyrations to determine how to make Panzanella properly. They focused on making sure that the bread was nice and hard by toasting it in the oven, and then letting the salad sit for at least 10 minutes before serving so that the bread cubes could absorb the tomato juices. Now, it is true that I have been know to toast and even singe fresh bread to dry it out for Panzanella, I don't really have the moral fortitude to let it sit before I eat it. In fact one of the aspects I really like is the random flavors of the bread cubes- some are still crunchy, some are soaked in balsamic vinegar  or olive oil, and the ones at the bottom of the bowl are always totally soggy.

Anyway, enough pontification. Here's a rough recipe:

For one or two people

2-3 slices dry country style bread, cut in big cubes
4 medium or larger ripe tomatoes, cored and cubed
2 green onions or one shallot or 1/4 of a red onion, finely chopped
1 c. cubed hothouse cucumber (or other vegetable)
6 basil leaves, snipped or shredded or chopped fresh parsley, or 1/4 tsp. dried Mediterranean herb mixture
1-2 Tb balsamic vinegar
2-3 Tb olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Put the bread in a bowl and then add the vegetables and herbs. Combine gently with a rubber spatula. Drizzle on the olive oil and vinegar and gently toss to mix. Make sure to add enough olive oil to flavor everything. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

These salads are incredibly flexible. During what the Picky Eater calls my "obsession" with Panzanella this summer (it has been my main meal at least 3-4 times a week for the last six weeks) I have added these items to the basic salad:
cucumber, shelled edamane, sausage chunks, shrimp, tuna, olives, goat cheese, bell peppers, garbanzos, roast chicken, hard-boiled eggs, red onion, etc.

The other night I used some stale rosemary/onion Pizza Bianca that my cooking buddy Roberto made last weekend. It was totally yummy, and even easier than usual, because I didn't have to chop any onion!!

Really traditional contadini recipes (sorry, I was just dying to use that word) call for thick slices of bread to be soaked in water, squeezed and crumbled into the salad bowl. Try this method if it appeals to you.

Now, doesn't it feel good to have one less small cross to bear in life? The stale bread quandary solved!!

From the Archives #2: The Picky Eater's Guide to Eating in the Southwest (well, New Mexico)

Note: My mom is still slaving over the PaRiS Guide; so here's the rest of the old article about restaurants in New Mexico.

You could make a lot of guacamole in this mortar!

A few years back we went to Santa Fe and Taos in New Mexico for a vacation. It was my second visit there, so I knew there were some restaurants that would be okay for me. I was sort of worried that my parents might want to try someplace new. And, of course they did. So, here’s my diary of a few places to eat in New Mexico if you eat like me:

Meal #1: The Frontier (Albuquerque)
Rolled off the plane and into a PT Cruiser – not exactly my parents’ style. Wheeled over to the Frontier for lunch, a restaurant my mom found on the “Road Food” website. My parents eat enchiladas and burritos smothered in sauce. I eat garlic French fries. I resisted trying one of the homemade tortillas until my parents practically shoved it down my throat. It turned out to be pretty good – soft, fresh, and bland.
My mom ordered one of the Frontier’s world famous cinnamon rolls to share with me. It was huge, but swimming in something that tasted suspiciously like margarine. The John Wayne portraits and quasi-Native American décor were funky.

Meal #2: Café Pasqual’s (Santa Fe)
It was snowing when we got downtown. We had some time to kill, so my mom found the bead shop off the Plaza that I liked the last time we were in Santa Fe. My dad bought me a string of pearls for a pre-birthday birthday gift. We still had time to kill before our reservation, the shops were closed, and it was too cold to walk around, so my mom suggested that we get a drink in the bar at the La Fonda Hotel. This was weird, because my mom almost never drinks. I had a bad feeling about this.

The bar, called the “La Fiesta Lounge,” was warm and dimly lit. There was someone playing the guitar in the corner. The walls were painted with murals of old Santa Fe. If it hadn’t been a bar, I might have liked it. My dad ordered a beer, which is no big deal, but my mom ordered a Margarita! I refused to have anything, and just sat and glared at my mom, watching for signs of drunkenness. She just seemed to get a little more cheerful. Finally it was time for us to go to Café Pasqual’s.

Even though we had a reservation, we had to wait for our table in the crowded little entry. Usually people just stand outside on the corner until their table is ready, but with the snow getting heavier, everyone was crammed inside. Our table was definitely worth waiting for. Pasqual’s has two levels, and we were on the top one, which is like a balcony overlooking the main floor. They have lots of papel picados, which are Mexican paper cuttings, and other bizarre Southwestern-ish things for decorations.
My parents both got the “Plato Supremo,” a Chile Relleno, Chicken Mole Enchilada, Napo's Tamal, and Cilantro Rice for $27.00. I thought it all looked suspiciously spicy and slimy, especially the tamale wrapped in banana leaves, but they had their plates cleaned in a jiffy. I had the garlic mashed potatoes, which I had last time, and knew would be great. My parents made me get some sautéed sugar snap peas, which also turned out to be pretty good. We were all too stuffed to have dessert. And the waiter forgot to bring my dad his beer, which was fine with me, since it would have been his 2nd one of the evening.

Peppers & tomatoes
at the Santa Fe Farmers' Market

Meal (really a snack) #3: Santa Fe Farmers’ Market
If you go to Santa Fe, try to be there on Saturday, so that you can go to the Farmers’ Market. It is one of the best. There is a lot of handcrafted merchandise that I really like, like soaps with herbs, and things made with beeswax. Of course, they also sell food there, and we really liked the Mediterranean flatbreads that came in both sweet and savory flavors. There’s a bakery that only sells at the market, and I am prepared to certify that they make the best challah in the Western United States. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about, because at home I eat about half a loaf of Campbell Baking Company challah a week.

Meal #4: The Trading Post Café (Taos)
We drove to Taos so that my mom and I could go to our favorite yarn store, La Lana. I like to spin fiber, and my mom likes to buy yarn. It seems like she buys yarn more than she knits with! After La Lana, we went to the Trading Post Café for lunch. I really liked it when we were there two years ago, and it was just as good this time.

They have great fresh bread there, which is very important for me; because that means I can always make a meal out of the bread if I don’t like what I ordered. My parents took a long time to decide on what they wanted, because the waiter told them a huge list of specials of the day, and mom had trouble remembering them. She finally ordered corn chowder with cilantro oil, and a plate of seashells with shrimp and scallops in them that were sitting on a pile of tortilla chips. She also got salsa and guacamole. She must have liked it, because she shared the soup with my dad, but she wouldn’t share the seashells. My dad got a big salad with disgusting looking pink pieces of salmon spread all over it.
I got plain pasta with butter. I think they make their own pasta there, because it reminds me of the great pasta they used to have at Stokes Adobe restaurant in Monterey (CA). After all the bread and pasta and seafood and salad, we were too stuffed to have dessert.

After lunch, my mom dragged us to her favorite place in Taos, next to La Lana, the Millicent Rogers Museum. It’s in an adobe house way out of town. The lady who lived there, Millicent Rogers, was an heiress and a famous fashion plate in New York. When she moved to Taos, she started buying Native American crafts, especially jewelry, like crazy. In fact, the claim is that she, all by herself, revitalized the Southwestern Native American craft market. In her house, you can see some of her collection – pottery, rugs, religious folk art, etc. I always enjoy the rugs, because I’m interested in weaving; and am amazed by all her silver and turquoise necklaces and bracelets. After that we drove back to Santa Fe along the windy road that goes through Chimayo.

Meal #4 Tecolote Café (Santa Fe)
I probably shouldn’t even be mentioning this restaurant, because I drew the line with my mom and refused to eat breakfast here. So, she went by herself and came back raving about the atole ́ pin ̃on pancakes (that’s blue corn and pinenuts for the non-Spanish speakers). I was happy to have a good old chocolate yogurt and some stale baguette, and to keep her from dragging me there for another meal, which is what she wanted to do.

Now, if you ask me where my favorite place to get food in New Mexico is, I would answer, in a second, the Whole Foods store in Santa Fe. They have a counter where I could get fresh udon noodles to take out, and I even figured out that I could ask the guy to leave off the spinach, so I got just what I wanted, plain noodles and broth. Plus, they have chocolate crackle cookies that are almost as good as my mom’s, and fresh baguettes. My mom likes to get the New Mexican style dishes like quesadillas and chili-rub tri-tip, and the salads. There was even a lady making homemade tamales on the weekend. They have everything I like there, so it felt almost like home, which is what I like when I travel, at least as far as food goes!

Food outlets mentioned:
Café Pasquals’ – 121 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe. 505-983-9340. Serves breakfast, lunch, & dinner.
Frontier Café – 2400 Central Ave. SE, Albuquerque. 505-266-0550. Open 24 hours.
La Fiesta Lounge (in the La Fonda Hotel) – 100 E. San Francisco Street, Santa Fe. 505- 982-5511. Live music every night.
Santa Fe Farmers’ Market (in the Railyard) –1607 Paseo De Peralta # 1 Tues. & Sat 7 am -12: pm; Thurs. 4-7 pm.
Tecolote Café – 1203 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe. 505-988-1362. Serves breakfast & lunch.
Trading Post Café – 4179 NM 68 at NM 518, Rancho de Taos. 505-758-5089. Serves lunch & dinner. Whole Foods Market – 753 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe. 505-992-1700.

The Metamorphosis of the Picky Eater

This is a terrible admission to make, sort of like revealing "who done it" in a mystery story, but sometimes a thought grabs hold of you and it won't let go. The secret I am about to reveal came as rather a shock to the Picky Eater's dad and I - somehow over the last year, unbeknownst to us, the Picky Eater came out as a foodie!! It all started with her repeated readings of Anthony Bourdain's scandalous Kitchen Confidential and Bill Buford's Heat, the latter a heady mixture of tales from the depths of Mario Batali's NYC restaurant kitchen mixed with musings on Italian culinary history and recountings of internships learning the arts of pasta making and butchery in rural Italy.

Bolstered by years of watching America's Test Kitchen and vintage Julia Child episodes on PBS, the Picky Eater quietly started experimenting in the kitchen- a few sauteed shallots with her frozen peas, couscous cooked in tomato soup, some attempts at risotto. Then she started marking recipes in cookbooks with post-it notes. Before we knew it, there were piles of paper thin handmade pasta sitting on every open surface (granted there aren't too many of those in my kitchen), and requests for porcini mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes. Then she spent the summer making crepes and sauteed mushrooms for her friends, and generally bossing them around in the kitchen.

When asked about her evolution, the Picky Eater responded, "Well, with parents like you, wasn't it inevitable?" WE CERTAINLY DIDN'T THINK SO!! Her dad and I were convinced that once she left home her diet would consist entirely of bananas, Luna bars, baguettes, box macaroni and cheese, and 1% milk.

Handcrafted Butternut Squash Ravioli-
they taste as good as they look!

But, the Picky Eater, being who she is, has her own idiosyncratic style. Ingredients are confined to the narrow list of foods she likes, of course. Recipes are consulted, but never faithfully followed. Her mother's slavish care to have the exact ingredients a recipe asks for and careful measurements are met with ridicule. Ruefully, it must be admitted that her improvisational cooking is usually pretty successful. (But, of course, she hasn't tried baking a cake that way!)

So, without further ado, I present two of the Picky Eater Gourmet's standout recipes and one baking improvisation of her mother's (just to prove that she can do it!):


Butternut Squash Ravioli with Honey and Sage

For the pasta:
¾ cup semolina flour
1 ¼ cup All-purpose flour
3 eggs
½ Tb olive oil
Dash of salt

For the filling:
1 medium butternut squash
1 Tb oil
2 Tb butter
½ cup parmesan
½ cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper

For the sauce:
3 Tb butter
2 Tb honey
5 small sage leaves, cut into strips

1. Halve the squash and remove the seeds and the stringy stuff around them.
2. Rub the cut sides with oil and place the squash cut side down on a baking sheet.
3. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until soft.
4.  Scoop out 2 cups squash and beat with butter, parmesan and bread crumbs.  Flavor with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
5.  Make the pasta dough my combining all the ingredients and kneading until it is flexible but not sticky.  If you need to add more water or flour do so.  If you have another pasta recipe you use that is probably fine.  Let sit for 45 min at the minimum, but longer is better.  Place it under plastic wrap to keep from drying out.
6. Roll out by hand or using a pasta machine.  I used the 2nd thinnest setting on our machine.

7.  Lay out dough strip and place filling along half it’s length.  I used 1 teaspoon per ravioli, with a 2” ravioli stamp.
8.  Fold over the strip of dough and stamp out the ravioli.  Press the edges dough to ensure they are closed.
9.  If there’s a wait between making the ravioli and cooking them, flour a baking sheet and place them in the fridge.  Be sure you flour the sheet or the ravioli will stick.
10.  Start heating a pot of water for the ravioli.  Put the butter in a skillet over medium heat.
11.  Once the butter is hot and bubbling, add the sage.  Wait until the sage begins to give off a strong aroma and add the honey.  Cook over medium heat until the ravioli is done.  If the honey begins to smell burnt add a little pasta water.
12.  When the water comes to a boil add salt and the ravioli and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the pasta casing is tender.  Remove with a slotted spoon, toss with honey and serve.

Adapted by Callie from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison.

Lavender Honey Ice Cream
This was one recipe where the Picky Eater measured her ingredients.

3 cups whipping cream
1 cup half-and-half
1 sprig lavender
9 large egg yolks
1 cup lavender honey

Makes 1 quart. Make the custard a day ahead.

Heat the cream and half-and-half to boiling in a saucepan with the sprig of lavender, and let steep 1 hour. remove the lavender and reheat the cream to boiling.

Whisk the egg yolks until completely blended. Then whisk in 1 cup of the hot cream, then whisk in the rest of the cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 3-5 minutes. Do not boil (unless you want lavender flavored scrambled eggs.)

Strain the custard into a mixing bowl and place immediately in a larger bowl filled with ice water. Heat the honey over low heat until liquified, then stir into the custard. Chill the custard overnight in the refrigerator. Freeze in an ice cream maker, following the manufacturer's instructions.

From The Mediterranean Kitchen by Joyce Goldstein.

Garnish your lavender honey ice cream with...
Crystalized Lavender

Lavender blossoms
1 –2 egg whites
1 cup finely granulated white sugar
Tiny, clean, artist’s brush
Cup of cool water
Wax or parchment paper for drying the flowers
Paper or cotton towels


1. Cut the nicest blossoms you can find at their peak of bloom, taking care to keep enough stem on them to allow you to hold them easily (3 to 4 inches).

2. Use only unsprayed flowers.

3. After picking the blossoms, gently – but thoroughly – wash them in cool water to remove every single speck of dirt, dust or unexpected life form.

4. Dry gently with absorbent paper or cotton towels and place each stem in a glass of cool water, until you are ready to frost the flowers.

5. Beat the egg whites with a whisk or fork, until they have lost their original heavy texture and become a bit frothy.

6. Place the sugar in a soup bowl - this will be used to dip the flowers.

7. Taking a single flower at a time, use the tiny brush to gently – but completely – coat the entire flower blossom, one petal at a time. Do NOT immerse the blossom in the egg white, as it causes the flower to take-up too much egg white. It will then not harden properly.

8. Dip the egg-washed blossom into the sugar, taking care to get the sugar onto each petal. Gently shake off any excess sugar.

9. Place the blossom on wax paper – or parchment paper – and snip the flower blossom off its stem-holder.

10. Allow the blossom to completely dry and harden.

11. Store in an airtight container – they will keep for weeks.

Adapted from Suite 101

Chief Cook & Bottle Washer Improvisation-
Polenta Cake with Olive Oil, Chocolate and Dried Fruit
adapted from Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz

1/2 c unsalted butter (or substitute), softened, plus more to grease the cake pan
3/4 c polenta or cornmeal, plus 2 Tb
1 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c mild olive oil
5 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c sugar
1 c chopped good quality chocolate
2/3 c dried cherries
2/3 c golden raisins

Chocolate glaze:

2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/3 cup sugar
3 ounces semi- or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 10 cup bundt or kugelhopf pan with a tablespoon or so of butter and sprinkle on the extra polenta.

Stir the flour, polenta, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together the olive oil, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla.

Use a mixer to beat the 1/2 cup butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Slowly dribble in the egg mixture and beat until completely incorporated. Hand stir in the flour and cornmeal mixture until just mixed and then stir in the chocolate, cherries and raisins.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the upper center of the oven until the cake has pulled away from the sides of the pan, is firm on top, and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, and then invert the cake on the rack to cool completely.  Makes 10-12 servings.

Polenta Cake on left, with Devils Slide cookies, and Ginger Cake

Chocolate glaze (from Chowhound)
When the cake is cool, drizzle on this glaze (work quickly):
In a small saucepan, bring the water, corn syrup and sugar to a simmer over low heat. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, swirling pan to submerge it in hot syrup. Whisk the mixture until smooth. Pour the warm glaze over cake and drizzle it down the sides- you will only have a couple minutes to work with it before it sets up.