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!

A Surfeit of Burgundies

For decades Dr. Hal has frequently declared, "My wife only drinks good Burgundies." He's got that right, but the truth of the matter is that his dictum applies to food as well as wine. And so, a recent craving for gooey, cheesy gougeres led me to a most pleasant imaginary sojourn in the province of Bourgogne which resulted in a somewhat extravagant dinner in the Burgundian style accompanied by a pair of outstanding vintage wines from the wine cellar that's really a walk-in temperature controlled insulated plywood box in the garage.

I have been to Burgundy twice, the first time on a wonderful bike trip circa 1979, and the second time on my first "grandes vacances" with Dr. Hal in 1989. Needless to say, I'm ready to go back any time! While the basic bones of Burgundy, the hills and vineyards, look very much like the Napa valley, only in Burgundy do you turn a corner to encounter a medieval chateau (real not faux) or a priceless Northern Renaissance altarpiece tucked away in an old hospital. But at the moment I was just touring inside my head, and it was time to hit the road!

My first stop on this culinary journey was a 1957 guide to the foods of France- Bouquet de France: An Epicurian Tour of the French Provinces authored by the founder and long-time editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, Samuel Chamberlain. Mr. Chamberlain also illustrated this impressive tome, which I picked up in Caliban's, a used bookstore in Pittsburgh. It once belonged to a lady named Joan M. Kaplan, whose name is stamped on the cover in gold. Mrs. Kaplan, wherever you may be, please know that your book has found a happy home! While I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the fantastic meals awaiting anyone touring Burgundy by car (I imagine a sporty little two seater roadster), the recipes were not too appealing.

So, I moved on to Mireille Johnston's The Cuisine of the Rose: Classical French Cooking from Burgundy and Lyonnais (1982). I considered attempting some classic Burgundian dishes- Escargots Bourguignonne ( I don't think so!), Jambon Persille, Coeurs a la Creme, Coq au Vin. Thinking about these recipes helped shape my preliminary menu, but with a vegan dinner guest coming, I had to move away from the preponderance of butter, cream, and cheese which seemed to be listed as ingredients for every recipe. As Dr. Hal volunteered to devise his own Boeuf Bourguignon, I was left to round out the meal to my own, and our vegan guest's satisfaction.

The results of further rifling through my collection of French cookbooks was this
Menu -
Les Gougères
Grill-Braised Boeuf Bourguignon
Potatoes Savoyarde
Beans Maitre d'Hotel
Salade au Chou
Mousse Au Chocolate

Wines-
- 1999 Vincent Girardin Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune (white)
The white was really very good, even after 14 years.
- 1997 Domaine Chandon de Briailles Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune (red)
The red, while good, had faded some and would have been better a few years ago.
Sadly, both of these are now really too expensive to contemplate purchasing, the curse of very small production and a worldwide market. (Commentary by Dr. Hal)

Les Gougères
I can remember the first time I ever ate a gougere. It was from a bakery in Beaune, as big as my fist, crisp and brown on the outside, unctuously egg-y and cheese-y within.

1 1/2 c. whole milk + 1/4 c. for brushing the puff tops
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 (i.e. gruyere) 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 two at a time, making sure each two are completely blended before added the next ones. Stir in two cups of the cheese and the mustard.

Butter a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper. Form heaping teaspoonsful of dough 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.

Grill-Braised Boeuf Bourguignon a la Dr. Hal
In the first French Chef episode, circa 1963, Julia Child makes a Boeuf Bourguignon, and you may recall that it is featured as a daunting recipe in the movie Julie and Julia.  Boeuf Bourguignon is actually a pretty simple recipe- you brown the beef, braise it in red wine, add onions and mushrooms, thicken the sauce, and serve.

It seemed like another candidate for the grill-braised approach, which I have written about for short ribs.  The idea is to grill the meat first over high heat, giving it a serious browning without added fat.  next the meat is braised in a covered BBQ, oven, or on the stovetop, the sauce is thickened, accompaniments are added, and it is then served.

The French Chef recipe uses salt pork or bacon for lardons in the stew.  They are rendered first and their fat is used to brown the meat.  The grilling does not require additional fat, but some pork product is needed to enrich the flavor.  A  smoked pork chop,weighing about ½ lb, makes a fine substitution.  Though smoked, the flavor is very subtle and does not overwhelm the recipe.  The original recipe also calls for 18-24 small fresh white onions, which must be individually peeled.  This is by far the most tedious aspect of the recipe and is replaced here by frozen onions, which are great.

While certainly in Burgundy a Pinot Noir would be used for the cooking wine, I don’t think this is the best choice, as a suitably hearty Pinot would be quite expensive.  An alternative choice would be a fairly big Zinfandel or something in the Rhone wine family, a Syrah or Grenache based wine.  This matches better to the heartier flavors from the grilling and they are not priced as dearly.

Thus we have for the meats:
½ lb smoked pork chop
3 lbs boneless beef chuck
¾ bottle of hearty red wine
1 can beef broth
1 ½ Tb tomato paste
3 cloves mashed garlic
1 bay leaf
½ tsp thyme
salt and pepper

Cut the beef chuck into strips about 1.5” wide and 1-1.5”thick.  These will be grilled then cut into individual chunks for the stew.  Try to make the cuts when possible along the natural edges of the muscle, and cut away any extra fat or silver skin.  Salt and pepper the meat and grill it  over high heat for a couple of minutes on each side, or until the surface is significantly browned.  Try to brown as many sides as possible.  When done, transfer the meat to a cutting board and finish cutting it into individual chunks, around 1-1.5”.

Cut the pork off the bone into lardons about ¾ -1” long by ¼”x ¼”.  Brown these using a bit of oil in the pot that is going to be used to braise the stew, I use a large cast iron pot, but any heavy covered casserole, large enough to hold the ingredients, will be fine.  I suspect that an enameled pot is probably traditional.

Add the grilled meat, the wine (about ¾ of a bottle or so, leave yourself a glass), and the other ingredients to the pot.  The idea is to have the combined braising liquid to almost cover the meat.  Bring the stew to a simmer on the stovetop. It can then be cooked on top of the stove over low heat or in the oven at 325 degrees for 2-3 hours, until the meat is very tender but not completely falling apart.  The temperature needs to be regulated so that the braising liquid is just at a moderate simmer, with some steam bubbles evident.

Preparing the onions and mushrooms.
1 lb white mushrooms
½ Tb olive oil
1 ½ Tb butter
¼ tsp salt

1 package (14 oz) frozen small onions
1 Tb butter
about 3 Tb water
½ tsp salt

Clean and cut the mushrooms into halves or quarters depending on their size.  Heat the butter and oil in a large sauté pan until the butter begins to stop foaming, then add the mushrooms and salt.  Continue over medium high heat until the mushrooms are browned and most of the moisture has evaporated.  Set aside.

Put the frozen onions, along with the butter and water, in a sauté pan and heat until boiling.  Cover the pan so that the onions can steam until mostly thawed, about 3-4 minutes.  Remove the cover and let the remaining water evaporate, then continue sautéing over medium heat until the onions start to brown, about another 5-10 minutes total.  Set aside.

When the meat is done, remove it to a separate bowl.  If there is a significant amount of extra fat in the broth, it can be skimmed off, but this is not really necessary.  If there seems to be too much liquid and its flavor seems thin, it can be reduced over medium high heat to make a richer sauce.  If there seems to be too little liquid, extra beef stock can be added.

Boeuf Bourguignon components- onions, meat, sauce & mushrooms

Thickening the sauce.
3 Tb butter
3 Tb flour

Cream the butter and flour together in a small bowl with a rubber spatula or a fork.  Heat just the braising liquid in the pot to the simmer.  Whisk a few spoonfuls of hot braising liquid into the butter-flour paste until all lumps are gone, then gradually add the mixture to the pot of braising liquid.  Whisk the sauce until the thickener is fully combined and the sauce has thickened.  Add the meat, onions, and mushrooms and bring the stew back to the simmer, stirring occasionally. Correct the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste.

The stew is ready to serve or it can be reheated later.  It can also be cooled, refrigerated and reheated in a day or two with no ill effects.  It can also be eaten cold from the refrigerator for breakfast, again with no ill effects.

Vegan-esque Stove-Top Potatoes Savoyarde
Adapted from The Way to Cook by Julia Child
I've had bad luck with these layered potato gratins- even when I parboiled the potatoes in advance my gratins always seemed to end up soupy and raw. This delicious specimen turned out to be an exception to the rule, it was perfect!. To please our vegan dinner companion I used olive oil, vegetable broth, and left his portion sans cheese. Made me feel like a chef reborn!

3 cups thinly sliced onions
2 Tb olive oil
2 1/2 lbs. boiling potatoes
2 cups vegetable broth
big pinch of dried herbs de provence or a mixture of dried basil, thyme, and oregano
1 large clove of garlic, pureed
Optional: 1 1/2 cups grated Swiss cheese

Over medium heat saute the onions in the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan large enough to ultimately hold all the onions and potatoes. Stir occasionally and cook until they are limp and tender, about 10 minutes or so. Remove the onions to a bowl.

While the onions are cooking, peel the potatoes and cut them into slices 1/8" thick. To avoid brown ugly potatoes, drop the slices into a bowl of cold water as you do them.

Add one cup of vegetable broth, the dried herbs, and the pureed garlic to the frying pan and bring it to a boil. Add the potatoes and onions, making rough layers as you do. Season well with salt and pepper and add enough broth to come two thirds of the way up the potatoes-onion mixture. Cover the pan and simmer for 15-20 minutes, watching to make sure that the liquid doesn't boil over, or until the potatoes are tender and the broth is almost all absorbed.

Just before serving, reheat the potatoes on medium-low and sprinkle some or all of the top with the Swiss cheese. Put the pan under the broiler, about 4-5 inches from the element, and broil until the cheese is nicely browned.
Serves 6

Beans Maitre d'Hotel
You can make this tasty bean dish with your own home cooked or canned beans. I had some exotic Rancho Gordo "Vallarta" beans festering in the cupboard that were begging to be cooked. Described as "Super rich heirloom bean originally from Jalisco, Mexico, now a favorite among Napa's best chefs." You could use any bean that you have festering - Julia C. suggests black beans, Great Northerns, navy beans, cannellini, pinto, etc. Find detailed instructions for cooking beans in my post Cassoulet & Company.

3 cups cooked beans or two cans of your beans of choice
2 large cloves of garlic, pureed
3 Tb olive oil
1/4 - 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
handful of fresh chopped parsley and/or other green herbs (basil, oregano, thyme)
salt & pepper

If using canned beans, drain them in a colander, rinse with hot water, and drain. Briefly saute the garlic in the olive oil in a saucepan. Fold in the beans, let them heat through, and gently stir in the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving toss in the chopped parsley or herb mixture. Serves 4-6.

Salade au Chou
An improvised mix of Napa cabbage, Japanese watermelon radishes, roasted cauliflower, and Dijon mustard vinaigrette

Mousse Au Chocolate Ambassade d'Auvergne
Adapted from Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells.                                                                                   The Ambassade d'Auvergne is an old time Paris restaurant that specializes in the cuisine of it's namesake region, the Auvergne, which is located to the southwest of Burgundy. Pardon the liberty taken here, but this mousse is like eating the world's most delicious chocolate bar, but even better, because it's nice and creamy too. I was trepidatious about adding the orange liqueur because I don't like my chocolate flavors interfered with, but found that the small amount of liqueur served to intensify them without tasting "orange-y."

8 oz. bittersweet good quality chocolate (Lindt, etc.), broken into pieces
3 Tb orange liqueur (Grand Marnièr or Cointreau)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
8 Tb (4 oz) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
8 large egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
5 large egg whites

Place the chocolate, orange liqueur, and vanilla in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Stir until melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, and allow to cool until lukewarm. The mixture may seem to "seize up" at the beginning, but will smooth out as you continue to mix the butter in.

Love that ribbon!

Combine the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat, gradually increasing the mixer speed to medium high, until thick and pale yellow, and form the "ribbon." (Whites are stiff enough to make a ribbon trail from the beater that holds its shape.- See photograph.) Be patient, this can take a while. Next beat in the chocolate mixture while it is still warm. If necessary (only one mixer bowl), transfer the chocolate-egg yolk mixture to a large mixing bowl.

Wash and dry the stand mixer bowl until totally clean and dry, otherwise the egg whites won't whip properly. Place the egg whites in the clean mixer bowl. Beat the whites until they are stiff but not dry.

Stir one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Do this slowly and patiently. Do not overmix, but be sure that the mixture is well blended.

Pour the mousse into a large serving bowl (1 1/2-2 quart capacity). A plain white soufflé dish looks "very French." Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate the mousse for at least 6 hours before serving. Makes 8-10 servings.

Pernil, ¿por qué no?

A guest post by my (erstwhile) better half.

Hal’s Variation on Mark Bittman’s Variation on Pernil

A few years ago, Mark Bittman of the New York Times published his favorite 25 recipes.  Of these, one for roast pork in the Porto Rican style, a so-called Pernil, caught my attention.  A wet rub of onion, garlic, spices and vinegar was spread on the outside of a giant fresh pork shoulder and then slow cooked in the oven until very tender.  See the original write-up in the NYT- The Minimalist: Let the Oven Do the Work.

I tried this a couple of time with good success, but there is always room for improvement.  For one thing, his recipe called for spreading the mix over the exterior of the roast, and only just before cooking.  The roast was also in the oven for around 4 hours or so, resulting in a (well, wonderful for me) smell of roast pork that took a couple of days to dissipate.  It seemed that these were two avenues for improvement.

I now bone out the small “7” shaped bone from the roast, and also take advantage of the opportunity to clean out some of the fat and membranes, etc., from the interior of the roast.  Don’t worry, there is still plenty of fat for both flavor and moistness of the finished roast. The wet rub is then allowed to marinate the interior of the meat for at least a few hours (or overnight) before cooking.

The second main “improvement” was to move the cooking outdoors.  In my case this is in a large, covered charcoal grill, under mostly indirect heat.  This keeps the smell and heat outdoors, and increases the smoky character of the outside of the roast.  It also makes it suitable for summer cooking, when it would needlessly heat up our un-air-conditioned homestead. My grill is big enough to cook both the Pernil and a boned and rolled, full turkey breast at the same time, just in case you have a crowd coming for dinner.

But, I digress.  I have made some alterations to the spice mix, adding a fresh chili and smoked paprika for additional flavor and bite, while keeping the original concept still intact.

The cooking time will be somewhat variable, depending on equipment and style, but it will take about 3-5 hours under most circumstances.  You are looking for low and slow, not fast and hot.  The starting product is sold in my local grocery as a pork shoulder roast, is usually about 6-8 lbs as sold, and looks something like this:

At my upper-end market, this pork roast is around $3.50 a pound, so even a very large roast is affordable.  They probably don’t sell this sort of thing at Whole Foods.  If you happen to have a Mexican market in your area, I assure you they will have this at a good price.

There is a little bone hidden inside this roast, which must be removed.  This is not too difficult; just take your time.  Neatness does not matter too much, as the whole thing gets re-wrapped in the end.  After my boning, and after removing some of the extra fat, we have:

At this point the wet rub is made, in a food processor.  Combine:

1 whole onion
4 cloves garlic (or more if you prefer)
2 Tbs fresh oregano or 1TB dried
1 Tb ground cumin (don’t leave this out)
1 large fresh chili, I usually use Pasilla, which is readily available, but Anaheim would be OK
1 Tb salt
1 Tb paprika, smoked is preferred
2 tsp ground black pepper
Olive oil as needed (a couple of Tb, I suppose)
1 Tb red wine vinegar

Pulse until relatively smooth, but not completely pulverized:

Spread this mixture over the inside and outside of the boned pork, and let sit, refrigerated, for a few hours or overnight.  The roast then needs to be re-tied back to something like its original shape, using heavy cotton string, as shown:

At this point, fire up the grill, either with charcoal or propane.  The idea here is to slow cook the roast, but it is helpful to put a bit of heat onto the roast at the beginning to both give some color and flavor and to speed things along.  I put the charcoal off to one side, have the roast near the coals for ~10 minutes per side at the start, then move it off to the side for extended cooking.  For a large roast, additional coals will need to be added after ~1.5 hrs.  After a couple of hours the internal temperature should be up to 120 degrees F or so.  At this point you want the temperature to slowly get to around 150F to 165F.  At the lower temperature the meat will be moist with some fat still evident.  This is where I like it.  At the
higher temperature (and significantly longer cooking time) it will get more like a fall-off-the-bone (if there was one) roast pork.  I am rarely that patient.

The roast can rest, covered, for 15 minutes up to probably an hour or so.  Since there is no bone, it can be very easily sliced, to produce:

Pour a hearty red wine or beer, have some veggies and a pilaf or roasted potatoes, and all will seem right with the world, if just for a few minutes.

Fantasy Birthday Dinner

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

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

Last week I started mulling over what I would cook for a special fantasy birthday dinner, and with my chef de barbeque's assistance it came to pass in an abbreviated but most satisfactory form:

Menu

Fromage d'Affinois & Asiago fresca with panzanella crackers

Gazpacho Andaluz

Popovers

Bistecca alla Fiorentina

Vegetables en brochette

Al Di La's Torta di Pere (Bittersweet Chocolate & Pear Cake)

The man of mystery himself- Mr. Vincent Price

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

Gazpacho Andaluz
serves 4-6.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

Sprinkle top with powdered sugar before serving.

A Carnivore's Delight: Grill-Braised Short Ribs

For your reading (and eating) pleasure, a guest post from my partner-in-cookery....

Looking good enough to eat!

As The Picky Eater's Daddy, it is my place to encourage the carnivore in us, even if vegetables do occasionally pass my lips.  As such, I am particularly keen on short ribs, which have risen from relative obscurity as restaurants have discovered that they can take what used to be trash meat and present it as a $28 entrée in many of the restaurants around here.  This same thing happened to Osso Bucco in the 1990’s and flank steak in the 1960’s.

I do enjoy beef short ribs, however, and the restaurant versions are usually very good.  This is due, I think, to their initially roasting the ribs (and perhaps the veggies) in a hot convection oven to really get them very well browned, then using very rich red wine with many added spices, with significant reduction of the braising liquid for service.  At home I have never been too happy with the usual oven versions.

The usual short rib recipe is to brown the ribs in a casserole (I use cast iron) on the stove top, brown some onions, carrots and the like on the stove top, then pour in the red wine and stock and braise in the oven.  This process does take ~3 hrs total, and, in the summer tends to heat up the house (no air conditioning in the homestead) and makes the place smell like braised beef for a couple of days (not such a bad thing, perhaps).

I have converted a roast pork recipe (a variation on Mark Bittman’s Pernil) and a roast turkey breast for the grill to be able to reasonably cook these during the summer.  I took it on myself to try the same thing with short ribs.  The impetus for this was a recent America’s Test Kitchen (Cook’s Country) recipe for grill-braised pork, where pork shoulder “steaks” were grilled first, then braised on the grill in a BBQ sauce concoction, then grilled briefly at the end of the cooking to put on a bit of glaze.  It occurred to me that the same treatment could be used for short ribs.  There is little about this on the web, a couple of recipes using stout or beer, but no traditional red-wine based braise that I could find quickly, but there are some precedents, see for example sausage maker Bruce Aidel's Fine Cooking Magazine article on Barbeque-Braising.

The key to these recipes is that the grill does a much better (and less messy) job of browning the meat than frying in oil on the stove top.  This is probably due to the moisture in the meat being quickly evaporated on the grill, allowing higher surface temperatures on the meat, resulting in better browning.  Additionally, some added flavor is likely imparted to the meat during this grilling.

As browned vegetables are usually used in the braising, I also grilled these after the meat, again generating better flavor in the vegetables (onions, carrots, chili, and celery) than is easily accomplished on the stove.

To get more flavor in the meat, it is marinated in a mixture of red wine and spices, in fact in the same braising liquid that is to be used later.  This helps flavor the meat and also combines with the meat juices during the browning on the grill.  I don’t think the exact measures of the following ingredients are very important, in fact, none of this was measured at the time, so use your best judgment.  Be a bit careful with the salt, however, as eventually the reduced braising liquid will be used for the sauce, and much of the salt will remain in this concentrated liquid.

I balked at the initial price of $6/lb for the short ribs at one mid-range market, but found them in a local Chinese grocery for $4/lb.  God knows what Whole Foods charges.
Thus we have:

Grill-Braised Short Ribs

5-8 lbs beef short ribs as desired
1 disposable aluminum roasting pan, to fit ribs and veggies snugly in a single layer
1 bottle red wine, something robust, I used a cheap (but drinkable) zin-cab-syrah blend out of a box (Target Vintner’s Blend, 2011 as if it really matters)
1 large onion, sliced or quartered
2 large carrots, cut in half the long way
2 large celery stalks, cut in 6” lengths
1 mild chili pepper, such as poblano, seeded and cut in two lengthwise
2+ cloves garlic
2+ tsp black pepper
1 Tb salt
1+ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp chili powder or cayenne or both, as desired

Put the ribs and all of the spices in either a large heavy plastic bag or container, and add enough red wine to just cover the meat and massage briefly to mix.  Let sit in the refrigerator as convenient, say 3-6 hrs.

I use a large covered charcoal grill, so light up a chimney of charcoal, or run a propane grill relatively high until ready for action.   Place the coals on one side of the grill to leave room for the braising off direct heat. Remove the meat from the marinade and start to grill, letting each side (or, well, most of the sides) brown very well, a few minutes per side depending on the heat level.  No reason to hurry here.  Occasional fat flare-ups seem to enhance the flavor. While doing this, transfer all of the marinade to the disposable pan and start to heat it on the grill towards boiling.

When finished grilling the meat, transfer the meat to the pan in a single layer, and grill the vegetables over the coals until also quite browned, a few minutes per side.  Add the vegetables to the pan and make sure the liquid comes up at least 2/3 of the way over the meat, as the liquid will cook down some during the braising.  If more liquid is needed, add more red wine or chicken stock (never water).

Place the pan over the hottest part of the grill and heat until boiling, then either turn down the grill or move the pan off direct heat.  Cover the pan with heavy aluminum foil to reasonably seal the pan.  The heat should be regulated to have the liquid bubbling slowly, for about 2-2.5 hrs.  You can peek after an hour or so to make sure the liquid has not evaporated.  If so, turn down the heat some or add some additional wine or stock.  Once you think it is going well, leave it alone with the cover closed.  With a charcoal grill, the heat will naturally reduce over time, which is not really a problem with this sort of recipe.  The picture shows the ribs at the end of the 2.5 hr braising.  This is what you are looking for.

When done, transfer the ribs to another covered pan and strain and de-fat the braising liquid into a sauce pan.  Reduce the liquid by around half, tasting for salt, which can be added at this point if necessary.  This liquid should be strong and very flavorful.   Serve the ribs with some reduced sauce, perhaps over garlic mashed potatoes or polenta.  A young syrah is a good match for this sort of thing, but pretty much any good, rich red wine will do.  You went to all this trouble to cook the meat; have something worth drinking.  I had a 2009 Provenance Cabernet Franc, which was very nice, thank you.

I simultaneously cooked a ~2” thick boneless chuck the same way, which turned out pretty well, but without the maximum flavor of the short ribs.

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.