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!