Foods with memories

Today I was wolfing down a blood orange at my kitchen counter, and was reminded of the first time that I ever saw or ate a blood orange- February 1973 in Florence, Italy. Almost swooned, fell in love and  have remained faithful to this day. None of those pathetic pink "Cara caras" for me! And could it get any better than when, in the last decade, growers in California started producing them and they now are available throughout the winter in my local grocery store and farmers market. Sheer bliss for a woman who is willing to pay (don't tell my husband) $7. for a quart of imported Italian blood orange juice.

Moving on from the blood orange, my musing veered to tortellini- one of the other delights of living for four months in a pension on the Lungarno Guiccardini, in a tiny room with a rooftop view of nearby Basilica Santo Spirito, and 5 plump tortellini floating in our dinner brodo just one special night a week. Maybe Thursdays? Seems possible.

Then my thoughts drifted to other amazing foods that are indelibly printed on my memory...
- the pain au chocolat I ate every morning on my way to the metro during my first stay in Paris- blissfully unaware that eating in transit was considered a Gallic faux pas.
- the peach ice cream at Fauchon that flooded my olfactory senses and then faded just as quickly.
- My first gougere, a 5 inch glob of gooey cheesy pate de choux (cream puff dough) in Beaune circa 1979.

David Lebovitz's authentic "giant"Burgundian gougeres. Find his recipe at David Lebovitz.com 

Gougères
For modern palates, these work best if made as small appetizer puffs.

1 1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. butter
1 1/3 c. flour
salt
Tabasco
pinch nutmeg
6 eggs
1 Tb Dijon mustard
2 1/2 c. coarsely grated Swiss cheese

Preheat the oven to 425°.

Heat the milk and butter together until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once. Cook for about 2 minutes – until the mixture forms a ball and comes away from the sides of the pan.

Off the heat, beat in the salt, a few drops of Tabasco and the nutmeg. Beat in the eggs 2 at a time, making sure each 2 are completely blended before added the next ones. Stir in 2 cups of the cheese and the mustard.

Butter a cookie sheet and form heaping teaspoonsful about 3 inches apart. Brush the tops with milk and put a bit of grated cheese on top.

Bake about 20 minutes, do not open the oven door during this time. They are done when they look puffed and golden brown.  Serve warm. Makes about 30 puffs.

- This amazing Julia Child & Company "Gateau Victoire au Chocolat, Mousseline"  cake that I made for a Sunday lunch in Modesto in 1978 that required me to race back and forth across town while the cake baked in the oven at my catering business and I was simultaneously cooking at home. (Recipe on p. 187 of the "white" volume.)

Earlier this week while watering my front yard, I took a moment to eat a handful of wild strawberries from our volunteer strawberry patch. Sweet and raspberry-ish, I recalled my first taste- a tiny but very pricey dish of fragoline di bosco for Easter lunch dessert at Ristorante Cammillo on the Borgo San Jacapo. (Quite impressed that I managed to unearth that little factoid!)

What is interesting to me is that the foods that I remember best aren't from any of the elaborate restaurant meals that I have been lucky enough to have eaten; they are simpler foods that cross my path every day, (well, maybe not the pain au chocolate or gougeres!)

Of course, most of anyone's food memories are associated with one's family, and most likely are holiday related. Not so much in my case, as our family's faulty dynamics made many holidays more of an ordeal than an occasion. But, I do have my dear sweet mother to thank for my love of fried matzoh, her grandmother's nut strudels, and shish kebab.

My father frequently held late night gin rummy and poker parties at our dining room table. When I was a little girl I would wake up, sneak into the room, sit quietly in a corner and watch them play (and eat). My mother always prepared amazing food for them, including this shish kebab.

Shish Kebab
The first time I made shish kebab myself was in college; actually, it was for my inaugural dinner party. I vaguely remember making a cheesecake for dessert, and that I thought mushrooms were extravagantly expensive at $1.00 a pound.

5-6 lb. leg of lamb, boned

Marinade
1 t. each salt & pepper
1/2 t. thyme
3 Tb parsley, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 t. oregano
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3/4 c. olive oil
red wine to cover

2 onions, quartered
2-3 bell peppers, cut in chunks
25-20 mushroom caps, stems trimmed

Cut the lamb into large chunks. Whisk marinade ingredients together. Put the lamb in a bowl and coat with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight.

Arrange the lamb on metal skewers, alternating with pieces of onion, pepper, and mushroom.
Grill over hot coals, turning frequently, and brushing with the marinade.  Serves 10.
(From The Gourmet Cookbook, Vol. 2 [1957].)

My father introduced us to Nasi Goreng, which he ate when he was a surgeon on a troop hospital ship in the south Pacific during World War II. The Indonesian cooks on board taught him how to make it. I developed a version similar to my mother's, based on a Sunset magazine recipe. It is decidedly unauthentic, as access to Indonesian bottled sauces was non-existent in Modesto circa 1958.  The last time that I made Nasi Goreng was for the Picky Eater's first birthday, yeah these many decades ago. But, a request for it has recently come from my niece, and in the near future the kitchen will once again be redolent with fried rice, egg, shrimp and pork.

Dr. Sam's Nasi Goreng

There are many components to this recipe, so they are best prepared the day before and assembled before serving. The rice, in particular, must be cold when "fried," and is best chilled overnight.

Meatballs

2 lb. ground sirloin

4 scallions

4 Tb cilantro

3/4” chunk fresh ginger

1 Tb soy sauce

1 Tb sherry

1 Tb sesame oil

1 t. salt

black pepper

2 eggs

peanut oil

Process all ingredients, except the peanut oil, together in 2 batches. Form into 3/4” meatballs. Chill. Sauté in peanut oil over medium-high heat until just brown. (Don’t overcook.)

Chicken

4 whole chicken breasts, boned and cut in narrow strips

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 c. peanut oil

1 Tb curry powder

sprinkle of cayenne pepper

Marinate the chicken in the other ingredients for 1 hour. Stir fry in a medium-high pan until just cooked.

BBQ Pork

Use 1 quart purchased from your favorite Chinese take-out place. (Trust me, it's better that way.)

Shrimp

1 1/2 lb. fresh bay shrimp

3 Tb. butter

Rinse and drain shrimp in a colander. Briefly sauté in the butter.

Egg Pancakes

8 eggs

salt

1/4 c. water

peanut oil

Cook thin egg omelettes in peanut oil over medium-high heat. Turn out on a foil-lined cookie sheet. When cool, cut into small strips.

Rice

3 cups raw long grain  rice (9 cups cooked)

Cook half the rice at a time. Put dry rice in a large bowl, cover with cold water, and stir with your hand for 10-15 seconds, until the water turns milky white. Drain the rice in a colander, return it to the bowl, and repeat the rinsing process 5-6 times, until the water is nearly clear. Drain for the last time in the colander.

Put the 1 1/2 cups of rice in a 4-41/2 quart lidded pot, and add 3 cups water. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, cover pot and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes, then move pot off the heat and let it sit 15-20 minutes. Do not lift the pot lid at any time. When finished, spread the rice on a baking sheet and refrigerate until cold and dry.

 

Assembling the Nasi Goreng

All ingredients

2 onions, chopped

peanut oil

soy sauce

1 bunch cilantro

3 bunches green onions

Stir fry the rice in 4 batches with peanut oil, adding 1/2 a chopped onion to each batch, tossing it to heat through – try to avoid "stirring" as much as possible so that the rice won't clump. Stir fry each batch 5-10 minutes. Then add 1/4 the chicken and pork. Sprinkle with soy sauce and stir fry 5 minutes more. Stir in the meatballs, shrimp and egg. Continue cooking until they are heated through. Garnish with sliced green onions and cilantro leaves.

May be made ahead and reheated in a 350° oven. If making ahead, add the shrimp and egg just before reheating.  Serves 12-20.

The Picky Eater insists that I also include one of my food nightmares. Near the top of the list is the fateful evening I sat alone in a Nazare (Portugal) restaurant with a fishbone caught in my throat. After about fifteen minutes as I sat there trying to compose an explanation and ask for help in my limited French, miracle of miracles, I swallowed it! That night I had a second brush with mortality, when vibrations emanating from the discotheque on the floor above caused my hotel room ceiling to partially collapse, sending a chandelier crashing onto the foot of the bed- with me in it. The incredulous hotel night clerk took some convincing to give me another room. I certainly lost two of my nine lives that night!

Picky Eater Picks: Best Desserts 2016 & 2017 (So Far)

For reasons best left unexplained, Travels with the Picky Eater has gone off the rails a bit in the last couple of years, but at the moment, under intense pressure from said child, your humble author is back at the keyboard and pleased to announce our best of the best desserts 2016-17.

Best New Cookie 
Commercial (& unattainable in North America)
"Border Crunch Ginger Biscuits"                            
The Picky Eater discovered these spicy, almost mouth burning, biscuits at Partridges, an upscale Chelsea (London) food emporium. Sadly, when we tried to procure a supply for export they were sold out! With the help of her intrepid garden tour director, the P.E.'s redoubtable mother ordered eight boxes online from a shop in the Border Counties, had them shipped express to her Windsor hotel, and carted them back across the pond.
So far, attempts to recreate them using the esteemed Paul Hollywood's mother's recipe have failed rather spectacularly.

Homemade (but modeled after a favorite bakery cookie)                  
"Ina Garten's Spicy Hermit Bars"   We searched many a website for these spicy raisin and nut filled bars, which was not easy given the fact that we didn't really know what they were called. Trust Ina Garten to provide an excellent version, which was further improved by the addition of a generous portion of nuts.
These bars need to be slightly under baked. With a terrible tendency to under bake as a matter of course, paranoia set in and I managed to almost over bake them. Fortunately, after a couple of days in a closed container, moisture from the icing seeped into the bars and made them just about perfect. Also well reviewed by a friend who has pretty much lost his sense of smell, but could taste the "spiciness" on his tongue.

Spicy Hermit Bars
Makes about 24 bars

1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature) or for non-dairy consumption, 1/4 cup margarine & 1/4 cup shortening
1 cup light or dark brown sugar (lightly packed)
1 extra-large/large egg    (Did you know that the equilvalency charts claim that large/extra large eggs are equal? It's a mystery to me why Ina always lists extra large when large is the industry standard for recipes)
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
2 cups all-purpose flour (plus 2 tablespoons)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup crystallized ginger (minced, not in syrup)
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
Icing
1 cup confectioner's sugar (sifted)
dark rum

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the egg, scrape down the bowl, then mix in the molasses.

Stir together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mixing until just combined. Mix in the raisins nuts, and crystallized ginger. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured board, form it into a disk with lightly floured hands, and cut it in half. Roll each half into a log 12 inches long and place them 3 inches apart on the prepared sheet pan. bake for 20 minutes, the logs will still be soft in the center.

Meanwhile, whisk the confectioner's sugar with 5 to 6 teaspoons of rum to make a pourable glaze. While the logs are still warm, drizzle the glaze back and forth across the logs with a teaspoon. use more glaze if a thicker icing is desired. Allow to cool. Cut each log crosswise into 1 1/4 inch-wide bars.

Best New Cake

Commercial: The Bakewell Tart at Toms Kitchen, 27 Cale St, Chelsea, London SW7. Buttery crust, frangipane, and fresh poached apricots- what could be better? Evidently, there is some debate about the difference between a Blackwell tart and a Blackwell pudding, of the sort which only an Anglophile food enthusiast can appreciate, and it appears that the Tom's Kitchen version is another variant. Bye the bye, Tom's Kitchen also serves excellent fish and chips and an unctuous version of macaroni and cheese with truffles optional.

Homemade: "Poppy Seed Lemon Cake"
A delicious moist and tender cake, based on another Ina Garten recipe, with indulgent double toppings- a glaze applied while the cake is warm and an icing after it has cooled. As a foodie snob, I used to avoid Ina Garten's recipes, mainly because someone once told me that I looked like her when I was in the hospital, and also because she was just too popular. Well, her popularity is well founded. Her recipes are solid, simple to execute and reliable- they always taste great and don't fail. I put her in the Pantheon of cookbook authors' recipes whom I trust enough to make for company without a trial run through. Only Ina, Julia Child, and Deborah Madison rest in this personal Hall of Fame.

Poppy Seed Lemon Cake
Serves 8-10

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature (plus more to grease the cake pan)
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
Grated lemon zest of 4 lemons
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup poppy seeds
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt (use 2% or whole fat)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Lemon Icing
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 Tb unsalted butter, at room temperature
pinch of salt
1  Tb lemon juice
2 Tb  hot milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 10 cup bundt pan.

Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, and the lemon zest.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds in a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, the buttermilk (or sour cream or yogurt), and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Distribute the batter evenly in the bundt pan, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Make the glaze:
Combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a measuring cup or bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. When the cakes are done, allow to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans and set them on a rack set over a tray or sheet pan; and brush the glaze over them. Allow the cakes to cool completely.

Make the icing:
Put the powdered sugar, butter, and salt in a small bowl. Pour the lemon juice, hot milk, and vanilla over them and whisk until smoothly blended. When the cake is completely cool, spoon the icing over the top of the the cake and spread it over the sides.

Best Presentation- Desserts: A tie between the "English strawberries with honeycomb, rose water ice cream and prosecco gelee" at Manicomio, Duke of York's Square, Chelsea, London.

and the "Dome of chocolate and blackberry mousse" from the Silver Grille, 206 E. Main St, Silverton. OR 97381.

Both were delicious, and it is up to you, gentle reader, to decide which is the lovelier.

Best Retro Dessert: "Nabisco's Chocolate Wafer Icebox Cake"
Much to the satisfaction of harried home cooks, in the 1970's a cookbook was published with the title
Best Recipes from the Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Jars. (The newest edition was published in the spring of 2017.) Convenience foods were a miracle of the post WWII era, and staff home economists at processed food corporations worked long and hard to attract consumers to their products with delicious quick and easy recipes. This was (and still is) a favorite in the Picky Eater's dad, amongst its many (mostly male) fans.

Chocolate Wafer Icebox Cake
Serves 12

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (9 ounce) package chocolate wafer cookies

Best the cream in a mixer using the whisk attachment on high speed (or an egg beater) until stiff peaks form. Gently stir in vanilla.
Spread 1-1/2 tsp. whipped cream onto each wafer; stack 3-4 at a time, and stand them on edge on a platter. to make a log.  Frost the log with the with remaining whipped cream.
Refrigerate the cake for 4 hours. Cut into diagonal slices to serve.

The Maida Heatter Lifetime Achievement Award: "Chocolate Dump Cake"
Since the 1970's Maida Heatter, a.k.a. "the Queen of Desserts," has been making the world a sweeter and more chocolaty place. She is the author of nine classic dessert cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts.  Ms. Heatter is a member of the James Beard Foundation Hall of Fame, has been named to Cook's Magazine's Who's Who in Cooking, and was one of the first people inducted into the Chocolatier Hall of Fame. A centenarian as of 2016, she continues to bake joyfully in her home in Miami Beach, Florida.

This cake, with its cake mix and instant pudding origins, isn't my usual modus operandi, but my mother made it for family birthdays for many decades, and it is well loved by my niece Samantha. Nadine always showered the rich chocolate ganache icing with a bevy of M&Ms.

Chocolate Chip Dump Cake
Serves 10-12

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 box vanilla or chocolate instant pudding
4 eggs
¾ c. water
½ c. oil
1 c. sour cream
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. chopped nuts

Chocolate icing:
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
1/3 c. whipping cream
1 Tb. sugar
2 Tb. butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together all the cake ingredients except the nuts and chocolate chips until well blended. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips.

Bake in a well buttered and floured bundt cake pan for about 1 hour. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about thirty minutes, and then turn it out onto a cake rack. When the cake has cooled, drizzle the icing over the cake and let it run down the sides.

Note: This cake can also be baked as a layer cake or cupcakes.

Make the chocolate icing: Melt all the ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is almost all melted. Allow the icing to cool slightly before use.

Best Town for Chocolate Lovers: Oaxaca, Mexico

Oaxaca is one of the few places in the world where chocolate is a cultural and dietary tradition woven into daily life. Families routinely have their chocolate ground and flavored to their own personal specifications at chocolate processing shops such as Soledad or Mayordomo. Walking into one of these shops is to enter a chocolate lover's dream. The air is permeated with the scent of chocolate, you are invited to sample a variety of chocolate flavored with cinnamon, almond, vanilla, moka, etc. and watch grinders vibrate as the beans are processed. Or, order a hot chocolate drink to sip in the cafe at the rear. Soledad even offers hotel rooms above the shop, where I have no doubt that the sheets are impregnated with the perfume of chocolate!

As well as an ingredient in drinks and confections, chocolate is a basic component of some moles, another flavorful essential of Oaxacan cooking. There are seven basic flavors of moles which employ local chiles and spices, but for inventive Oaxacan cooks, the sky is the limit. If you visit, don't miss the lamb chops with dark mole at Casa Oaxaca. At the chocolate shops you can also purchase house made moles to take bring home.

With it's heritage, friendly people, food, mezcal, and incredible artistic heritage, Oaxaca is an unforgettable travel destination!

So, there you have it, our picks for this year. Enjoy!! We always do.....