Knitting & Blogging Lapse in the Summer Heat

When it gets hot, I lose energy. I am enervated to the height of sloth by a slight rise of the thermometer. Add in sultry humidity, and I am the human equivalent of a floppy, wet rag.

Eating is a problem in the summer for me. I have no appetite, even though my stomach grumbles along. At this point I reach into my past and make my mother's bean salad. It's cold, delicious and once I make it in the cool of the evening, I have breakfast, lunch and dinner made.

Mom's Bean Salad (with my variation)

1 can each, rinsed and drained:

Garbonzo Beans
Cut Green Beans
French-style Green Beans
Cut Wax Beans
Dark Red Kidney Beans
Light Red Kidney Beans
Black Beans
Whole Kernel Corn

Add:
1 Red Onion, sliced very thin
1 Cup Cider Vinegar
1/4 Cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. sugar

Marinate overnight. Serve as main dish or on lettuce for a hearty salad. Keeps well in fridge for 1 week.

Venison Bourguignon - OMG, can stew really taste this good?

I spent yesterday cooking, oh-so-happily.

After seeing Julie & Julia, I have been obsessed with the legendary Boeuf Bourguignon recipe that got Julia Child published after ten long years of recipe testing. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I have never cooked even one recipe from Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). I was, in a word...intimidated.

I know. I have a Culinary Arts degree, I am an excellent cook, but somehow, I just never took the Julia Child plunge.

I watched Julia's The French Cook on PBS when I was in elementary school. I would walk my brother home each day for lunch (our new school had no cafeteria, until I was in fourth grade), and I would make lunch for the both of us. We would then munch away the blistful hour, watching Jeopardy! with Art Fleming, and then Julia's show. My dreams from childhood then became: appearing on Jeopardy! and learning to cook like Julia.

Having made it as a contestant on Jeopardy! in 1994 (and acquitting myself honorably), the only thing left was to cook like Julia. I was going to school in 1994-95 in Culinary Arts at Adirondack Community College. Though we made tons of classic French sauces (in the footsteps of L'Escoffier), we never made anything with them. Our experiments ended up in the soup pot for the cafeteria, who controlled our budget.

After seeing the movie, though, I was inspired. I checked out Julia's book and vintage videos from the library, and decided to take the plunge. Having a freezer full of venison, it seemed like a great place to start.

First, you need to know--the stew was AWESOME. My whole house smelled terrific while it was cooking, and I spent the whole day salivating. What I thought would be complicated, was so easy. Though detailed, Child's instructions were step-by-step, with no surprises. I was tempted to fiddle with the recipe, but squelched that impulse, wanting to know how it would turn out if I just followed it exactly. It was perfect.

And even if you have no venison (my only divergence from the printed recipe), it would be excellent with a cheap cut of beef (use Lean Chuck, Sirloin or Top or Bottom Round steak):

Boeuf Bourguignonne by Julia Child

[Beef Stew in Red Wine, with Bacon, Onions, and Mushrooms]

6 oz. chunk of bacon - Remove rind, and cut into lardons (sticks, 1/4" thick & 1 1/2" long). Simmer rind and strips for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 qts. of water. Lift out bacon pieces and rind to a side dish and dry on paper towels. ( Pam's note: Keep water boiling and add 24 small boiling onions for 10-30 seconds. Drain and rinse onions in colander under cold water)

Preheat oven to 450.

In a dutch oven or 5 qt. pot - Saute the bacon in 1 Tbls. Olive Oil over moderate heat for 2-3 minutes and brown lightly. Remove bacon & rind to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Reheat fat until almost smoking.

3 lbs. lean beef, cut into 2" cubes - Dry the meat well in paper towels. It will not brown if it is damp. Saute it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon in the side dish.

When all the meat is browned, add 1 sliced carrot and 1 sliced onion to the hot fat. Brown the vegetables and remove to the dish with the meat & bacon. Drain all fat from the dutch oven.

Return meat, bacon and vegetables to dutch oven, and toss with 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper, and 2 Tbls. flour. Set dutch oven in the lower third of the hot oven and bake for 4 minutes. Remove, toss again, and return to oven for another 4 minutes. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust). Remove from oven, and turn oven down to 325.
Add to the meat in pot: 3 cups full-bodied young red wine (I used 1.5 cups of cabernet, 1.5 cups shiraz), 2-3 cups beef broth, 1 Tbls. tomato paste, 2 cloves mashed garlic, 1/2 tsp. crush thyme, 1 crumbled bay leaf, the blanched bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove, then cover and place in the 325 oven for 3-5 hours. Meat is done when tender to the fork.

While the meat is cooking, prepare onions and mushrooms:

Peel the 24 cooled onions by cutting off both ends and removing peel with fingers. Poke paring knife into the root end about 1/4", cutting a "cross" so the onions won't burst when cooking. Heat 1.5 Tbls. butter and 1.5 Tbls. canola oil in a saute pan. Wait until the butter stops foaming, then add onions. Roll them around by shaking the pan over medium heat for about 10 minutes, browning on all sides.

Add: 1/2 cup beef broth, 4 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf and 1/4 tsp. crushed thyme. Cover and simmer at very low heat for 40-50 minutes, until tender but still holding shape, and stock is evaporated. Set aside.

Wipe 1 lb. mushrooms with paper towels and cut into quarters. Heat 2 Tbls. butter and 1 Tbls. oil until foam subsides, then add half the mushrooms. Shake pan and toss for about 5 minutes, until browned. Remove to side dish. Repeat with remaining mushrooms. Set aside.

When meat is done, remove from oven. Strain all liquid into saucepan, clean the dutch oven, then put the meat and vegetables back into the pan. Add the reserved pearl onions and mushrooms.

Heat the liquid to a rapid boil, skim all the fat off with a spoon, and reduce to about 3 cups, until it is thick enough to coat a spoon.

[Pam's Note: I was hungry at this point, so I hurried it by adding beurre manee, equal parts of soft butter and flour, stirred to a paste and whisked into the broth until it thickened]. Pour sauce over meat and vegetables and toss to coat. Simmer for 2-3 minutes over medium heat, sprinkle with chopped parsley, then serve.

Accompany with salad, the rest of the red wine and good crusty bread & real butter.

Fabulous.

(It's supposed to be even better the second day, after being refrigerated. Just reheat gently, stir gently and serve).

Pickle & Peach Joy; Corn Grief

While Jeannie and I were making a joyful mess in the kitchen over the weekend,


the ever-present varmints were having a picnic outside, with my corn as the main course:

Jean and I sighed and cleaned up the mess. Then I took it as a sign that it was time to harvest the remaining ears--obviously, someone thinks the corn is ready to consume. My little patch yielded 18 small ears (minus 5 from the critters' dinner party). Not bad for a first experiment.

J and I were so pleased with our 10 pints of Bread & Butter Pickles! The canning water bath was still hot, so we pulled 2 quarts of last year's peaches out of the freezer and made 5 pints of Peach Jam. After all that hot stove work, I was still dithering about what to have for dinner. I made a half-hearted attempt at defrosting some chicken and poblano peppers. We briefly thought about going out for Mexican food, but when Jean expressed a desire for a margarita and we told her this was a dry county--no margaritas in this venue--we quickly decided on pork tenderloin leftovers, hash browns and steamed green beans. And much wine. And the last of the awesome apple pie I made on Friday.

Awesome Apple Pie

1 pie crust

Mix together and pour into unbaked crust:

8 tart apples (I used 4 Winesap and 4 Granny Smith), peeled, cored and sliced

Juice of 1 lemon

2 Tbls. cinnamon

1 Tbls. brandy

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup Pie Filling Enhancer (from KA Flour Company)

1/4 cup Boiled Cider Syrup (from KA Flour)

1 tsp. vanilla

Topping

Mix together with fingers until crumbly:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

3 Tbls. cold butter

Spread over the apple filling and press down lightly. Spritz lightly with water, just until topping is moistened.

Bake 20 minutes at 450, then cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes more at 350.

Bill left for Illinois yesterday, and is on his way to St. Louis with his dad this morning. Jeannie left for Kentucky in the early afternoon. I went to the movies, and spent a happy two hours with Julie & Julia.

Julia Child was my heroine when I was growing up. I used to watch The French Chef on my lunch hour when I was in elementary school. She was my secret crazy aunt, and I knew even then that she was changing the world with her whisks (no one in America had ever seen a whisk until her TV show!), her butter and her wine. Bon apetite indeed. Obviously, I loved the movie.

And now, I am up early, keeping my ambivalence at bay while I figure out what to wear and how to get to WORK at the appointed time. A new adventure.

Adirondack Death Sauce

After yesterday's post about okra, including a mention of my staple Adirondack Death Sauce, some have requested the recipe. Here it is:

Adirondack Death Sauce (as in "so good you want to jest lay down and die...")

In Large Saucepan or Dutch Oven combine:

1 1/2 Cups Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 Cup White Wine
1 Cup Water
1 Tbls. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1 Tbls. Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/2 Cup Catsup
2 Tbls. Salt
3 Tbls. Worchestershire Sauce
3 Tbls. Yellow Prepared Mustard (not dry mustard)
3 Tbls. Brown Sugar
2 Tbls. Maple Syrup

Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Cool and store in glass bottles (wine bottles with a cork work well) in a cool, dark place.

Makes a little more than a quart--I usually quadruple it and make a gallon or so at a time--it will last for about 3 years.

I developed this when we lived in New York. It's great with all meats, but especially pork. A splash into a pan of sauteing pork chops, a glug into a pot roast liquid, or use as a spicy chicken marinade before grilling. It's hellaciously spicy, a little goes a long way.

Fried Okra

To live in the south is to embrace okra. This humble vegetable thickens gumbo in Louisiana and adds slimy texture to Carolina stews, but here in Tennessee, we treat it like every other food--we FRY it! Since moving here, I've had fried yams, fried taters, fried green beans, fried grits, fried chicken salad (don't ask), fried zucchini, fried eggplant and even fried dill pickles.

Bill is still a non-believer when it comes to okra, but he'll pretty much eat anything if its been breaded and fried. I'm usually the opposite--grill it, bake it, steam it or broil it, but keep my food out of the deep bubbling vat o' fat, please. But okra is one of those strange oddities--I think the only good way to eat it is fried. It tastes crispy and green, without the mucilinigious breakdown other cooking methods expose.

I made a pot roast the other day with a 7-pound hunk of boneless pork loin on sale for only $3 because it was the last date of sale. I figured the safest food prep would be to simmer the darn thing for many hours, so I browned it and then poured in apple juice and the spicy Adirondack Death Sauce I make every couple of years and keep in corked glass bottles in the basement.

And because the Farmer's Market was overflowing with everything I already grow here at home (except okra), I brought home a bag of the little darlings and decided to experiment with Bill's palate to see if he would eat or balk at the side dish.

Easy Fried Okra

A small bowlful of okra pods, sliced into 1/2" rounds
1/4 cup low-fat milk

Let sit for about 10 minutes. Stir until it gets a little goopy.

Heat 1/4" peanut oil in a skillet until hot.

Stir together:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
salt & pepper

Dump into okra and toss lightly. Turn the whole mess into the hot oil. It should sizzle aggressively. Separate the okra and let cook until browned, then flip them all over to brown on the other side.

Lift out with a slotted spatula onto paper towels, drain and eat while they're hot and crunchy!

Bill ate them and raved. He even took the last one.

Not so easy, but oh so good!

The challenge with Eggplant Parmesean is to avoid the greasy, soggy mess that it too often becomes. Could I make a toothsome, lower-calorie alternative to the usual? It took a lot of prep work, but it was the best Egg Parm I've ever made:

Eggplant Parmesean

2 lbs. eggplant, sliced crosswise into 3/4" slices
1/4 cup kosher salt

Salt the eggplant slices and place in a large colander in the sink. Let drain for 2-5 hours, tossing occasionally with hands. Rinse thoroughly with cold water, then drain and press slices firmly between layers of paper towels with the palms of your hands.

Preheat oven to 425 and place a large sheet pan in the oven. While heating, make 3 bowls or pie plates with the following mixtures:

4 slices white bread, processed to fine crumbs
1/2 cup shredded parmesean cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

2 eggs, beaten

Place half of the eggplant slices in a bag with the flour mixture and shake until coated. Shake off excess from each slice, dip in beaten egg and then in crumb mixture. Lay on a rack to dry. Repeat with remaining slices.

When sheet pan is hot, remove from oven and add:

3 Tbls. canola oil

Tilt pan to coat. Lay eggplant slices on the sheet pan in one layer and return to oven.

Bake for 10 minutes, then carefully turn slices over. Bake for another 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350, and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

While the eggplant is sizzling, make the sauce:

Heat in large saucepan:

1 tsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, pressed

Heat just until garlic becomes fragrant, then add:

1 large can of diced tomatoes, processed to a chunky puree
10 basil leaves, roughly chopped

Simmer sauce on low heat until the eggplant is done.

In a 9 X 13 baking dish, place 1 cup sauce. Layer half the eggplant slices over the sauce, then top with:

1/2 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Place a Tablespoon more of sauce on the center of each slice, then layer the remaining eggplant on top.

Again, place a Tablespoon of sauce on the center of each slice (leaving most of the eggplant unsauced, to keep it crispy), sprinkle with:

1/4 cup part-skim mozzarella, shredded
1/4 cup parmesean, shredded

Return to the 350 oven and bake for 15 minutes until bubbly and brown. Let cool for 10 minutes, sprinkle with more chopped fresh basil, then slice into squares and serve.

Yum. As I said, a whole bunch of trouble and many dishes to wash, but for a special dinner, it was worth it!

Summer Food

Ray, Elaine & Betsy arrived back from Vermont last night. Now I have people to cook for again! As I took out the frozen ribs I cooked last week (on sale at Walmart!), I suddenly got to hankering for some real summer food for tonight.

To me, summer means corn-on-the-cob, fresh peaches and plums and berries, sliced homegrown tomatoes, and macaroni and potato salads. I make quite a few variations on potato salad, but the one I wanted to go with the ribs is this one:

Three-Potato Salad

6-8 Red Potatoes
3-4 White Potatoes
1-2 Sweet Potatoes

6 stalks of celery, including leaves, chopped
1 Vidalia onion, diced fine
4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

2 Tbls. cider vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2/3 cup fat-free mayo
1/3 cup real mayo
Salt & Pepper

1. Peel sweet potato(es). Chop into 2" chunks and microwave along with other potatoes until just fork tender. (Microwaving keeps the kitchen cool and doesn't waterlog the poor things like boiling them). When done, place in a bowl and let cool until you can handle them without burning your fingers.

2. Cut all potatoes into 3/4" to 1 " chunks. Sprinkle with vinegar and lemon juice.
Add celery, onion and eggs. Gently fold in mustard and mayo, then salt and pepper to taste. Chill.

I love the combination of flavors, with the sweetness of the yams, the tang of lemon and vinegar, and the smooth mellowness of the white and red-skin potatoes (don't peel those!). The fat-free mayo is for virtue, the real mayo for flavor.

I have gotten to the point that whatever I put in my mouth has to be absolutely delicious. I spend so much time on the elliptical, huffing and puffing to get rid of those excess calories, every bite has a price. It's a price I'm willing to pay, as long as I get some pure pleasure out of it!

Chicken Redux

I have had such a hankering lately for that most pedestrian of dishes--chicken salad. Since a distressing quantity of my Super Easy Lemon Chicken was still hanging around in the fridge, I came home from knitting group on Friday, and made this:

Addictive Chicken Salad

4 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
2 cups diced celery
1 medium-sized sweet onion (Vidalia)
1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans
1 Tbls. pickle relish
Enough Mayo to bind loosely
Salt & Pepper to taste

I've been living on this for the past two days. I eat it on lettuce leaves, or ciabatta bread, topped with sweet-hot mustard, or mixed with a Tablespoon of barbeque sauce. I firmly believe that our bodies crave what they need, so what is in this humble chicken salad that makes it so compellingly delicious?

Soon, it will be all gone...and then I'll have to find something else to eat compulsively.

Chicken

I get so bored with eating poultry. On the one hand, chicken is the most versatile of protein sources--on the other, it always tastes like chicken. Last night, I decided to do something different and came up with this:

Super-Easy, Super-Lemon Chicken

Preheat oven to 475.
Grate the zest from 2 lemons onto waxed paper and mix with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. sugar.
Loosen the skin on 3 large, bone-in chicken breasts, and rub 1-2 tsp. of zest mixture into meat under the skin of each breast. Place in 9 x 13 roasting pan, blot dry with paper towel. Season with salt & pepper.
Juice the 2 lemons and add to 1 can low-sodium chicken broth; add remaining zest mixture; pour into bottom of roasting pan.
Roast for 30-40 minutes, until skin is very brown and crispy, and internal temp of chicken is 165F. Let rest while making sauce:

Pour off liquid into saucepan, skim off fat. Cook juices on medium-high heat until reduced to 1 cup, about 5 minutes. Add a cornstarch slurry (1 tsp. cornstarch to 1/4 cup water), a little at a time, until sauce thickens.

Eat. (I remove the skin and don't eat that, as tempting as it is--but leaving it on during the high-heat roasting keeps the meat moist and juicy).

You could also do this with a whole chicken--just remove the backbone with poultry shears, open up (butterfly) and press to flatten. Use 3 lemons instead of 2, and stuff 2 Tbls of the zest mixture everywhere, including the thighs and legs. Roast 45-60 minutes, until thigh internal temp is 170-175F.

Maple Vinagrette

I'm posting this recipe because I think this is the dressing I'm going to use on the salad for the wedding reception. I'll need the recipe, and if it's on a piece of paper, chances are that I'll lose it before I get to Seattle.

Sarah's Maple Vinagrette

1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. basil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 Tbls. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbls. lemon juice
3 Tbls. maple syrup
1 clove garlic, crushed
2/3 c. oil

South'run Greens

When my guests and I visited the Farmers' Market on Tuesday, I got talked into buying a bag of "greens." The seller said they were kale, although it didn't look like any kind of kale I've ever seen. He raved about how tender and sweet they were, and by golly, they did look fresh and inviting, and before I knew it, I was walking away with a whole bag of them for a dollar.

On the last night Molly and Alexandra were here, I chopped up two slices of bacon and two onions and put them in a stockpot. I then added the washed greens and a little water and cooked them down for about 45 minutes while I made some brown rice and quickly sauteed some salmon.

Wow! What a revelation! With a little squeeze of lemon juice and some salt and pepper, it was like the best spinach ever! And I could almost feel the vitamins coursing through my system.

I may get this Southern thing down yet, although don't hold your breath waiting for me to come around on the issue of biscuits and gravy...

A Wasted Five Days...

I'm always surprised when I get sick with a cold. Thankfully, it happens so rarely; I usually catch one upper respiratory infection every 1-3 years. But it seems that a cold lasts 5-7 days, no matter what you do, no matter what drastic measures are employed. Today is day five, and the vector of infection is finally dissipating. I can't really say that the soup, the juice, the sudaphedrine, the lemon drops, the Zicam, the steam or the six naps a day did anything to hasten the eventual end. You just have to wait it out.

So here it is, five days since I was first felled by this beast. Five days of lying on the couch, watching hurricanes and political shenanigans. I feel pretty normal, just a little stuffiness and drippiness hanging on. Today will be a light activity day, even though I'm chomping at the bit to shake out of the boredom that has suffused my existence for almost a week.

Maybe I can cut down to just two naps today.

Quick Onion Soup For Sickies

Thinly slice two medium to large onions and place them in a dry, cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until onions begin to soften and turn brown, stirring and turning, for about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle onions with 1 Tablespoon of sugar and continue to stir until onions are a deep brown. Dump onions into a saucepan.

Pour 1/4 cup of red wine into skillet and scrape up all the browned bits. Dump over onions.

Add 2 or 3 cans of beef broth, chicken broth, or a combination of both to the saucepan, and heat to a simmer. Add 1 Tablespoon of brown gravy mix or au jus mix and stir until dissolved.

Dice 1 slice of swiss cheese into small bits, about 1/4" square. Dump into eating bowl. Pour or ladle hot soup over cheese.

Sip slowly, inhaling onion fumes and sighing deeply. Take a nap when finished.

Pickle Joy!

There is something so primal, so satisfying to me about canning. To have a pantry full of sparkling glass jars, full of good things to eat when summer is long gone, is my security blanket. Last night, I made our year's supply of bread & butter pickles:

It's hot work, what with a steaming canning kettle and one of simmering vinegar solution, plus a pan with lids and rings bubbling away on the back burner. But immensely satisfying, as if I alone have the power to feed my family despite any impending future famine.

I made my first jam in 1973, when visiting my college roommate in Oregon. It was plum, and I was fascinated and hooked. I threw myself into it with abandon when I got home, without adequate research, I'm ashamed to admit. I canned lamb stew in a water bath around 1976, not realizing that meats and vegetables required pressure canning. Luckily my mother called me when the jar I had given her started oozing and smelling bad, and I narrowly avoided fatally poisoning anyone. After that debacle, I was off to the library and agriculture extension office, and I learned how to do it properly.

For a long time, I canned everything from our big garden--tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans (pickled, to avoid the pressure canning), zucchini. I made salsa and spaghetti sauce, crab apple jelly, applesauce, even mango chutney when I found a box on sale. Then sometime in the late 1990s, I started to calm down. The pantry was bursting at the seams, I realized that a #10 can of tomatoes cost about $2 (as opposed to my quart jars of tomatoes, which probably cost about $5 apiece), the kids were growing up and didn't eat applesauce at every meal anymore, and I had jars of jelly in the closet that were 10 years old and turning brown. The whole point of preserving food was to avoid waste, and here I was, wasting food, the ultimate sin.

Like all things Pam, I had taken the bit and gone totally overboard. Bill made the rule at that point--preserve no more than we can eat in a year. It's a good rule. So now with our two-person family, 6 quarts of pickles seems like just enough.

And as I sat knitting after removing the jars from the stockpot last night, listening for the "tink-pop" of the lids sealing down as they cooled, I felt...smug.

Zesty & Crunchy Bread & Butter Pickles

5 Quarts Cucumbers, cut into 1/2 inch chunks

4 Medium Onions, sliced thinly

1/2 cup Kosher salt

In a large bowl, sprinkle cut cucumbers and onions with salt, cover with ice cubes, let sit for 2-3 hours. Drain and rinse thoroughly. Pack tightly into hot, washed, quart jars.

In a large pot, combine and simmer:

6 cups Cider Vinegar

4 cups sugar

4 teaspoons each: celery seed, mustard seed, and prepared horseradish

2 teaspoons each: turmeric, ground ginger and whole black peppercorns

Pour into jars, release any air bubbles, adjust caps, and process in water bath for 15 minutes.

Let sit in a cool, dark place for at least 6 weeks before opening.

So Much For My "Alone" Day...

Bill left on his trip at about 11 am. I saw him off down by the pond, where I was picking blackberries (again!) and wished him a happy journey. Echo and I trudged back up to the house and puttered about. I turned the A/C on full blast, and turned on the fans. I set out some chick-flick movies to watch later. I took a nap. Ah, solitude!

I woke to the sound of someone banging around in my house. Bill? Did I sleep round the clock until Sunday afternoon? No. Bill had trouble with the motorcycle in Kingsport, so he turned around and came home. He declared that it was cold in the house, turned up the thermostat, turned off the fans and parked himself on the couch to watch All-Time Top Ten Tanks (and presumably, The Men Who Love Them...), flipping from that to the Hitler Channel (which I call Hitler's Favorite Recipes) and back again. Sigh. There went my afternoon and evening plans of quiet alone time.

Since I was already overheating again, I decided to bake a cake:

Summer Fruit Claffouti

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9" round cake pan.

Melt 1/4 cup unsalted butter in the microwave
Beat 1 egg and 1 cup sugar until thick and lemon-colored.
Add 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt
Add 3/4 cup milk, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and the melted butter.
Beat until smooth, Pour into pan.

Mix fresh or frozen summer fruits with 1/3 cup sugar (I used frozen peaches and frozen blackberries) and spoon onto top of batter.

Bake 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clean.

I knitted. I cooked dinner. I ate dessert (I only eat dessert when I have issues). Tomorrow is another day, as Scarlett would say.

Today, I will get my day of rest. Bill and Ray are going to the gun show in Grey and then to Bristol Caverns, and I am trying for round two of Pam's Day Off.

With luck, I won't see either of them until suppertime.

What's For Dinner?

Most people wake up thinking about what to have for breakfast. I wake up wondering what to have for dinner. Does this make me odd?

Bill and I have been working our way through the mountain of leftovers from the hordes of houseguests in April. We finally made it through the refrigerator leavings last night, and now we can get started on the leftovers I stashed in the freezer. We still have most of a pork roast lurking in there, along with a packet of home-grown asparagus from Elaine's mom, lovingly transported from Vermont in an ice chest. And the four steamed new potatoes I saw way back on the fourth shelf last night. That will make a nice dinner tonight. Okay, now I can get out of bed, dinner plans are taken care of.

Cooking for two is hard sometimes. I'm used to preparing groaning quantities of food for family and the friends they dragged home, and I'm still having a difficult time scaling down my cooking to something Bill and I won't have to be eating night after night. Cooking for one when he's gone is somewhat of a sacramental exercise for me. I like taking the time and trouble to cook something wonderful for myself; I like the meditation of it, and the respect for myself it signifies. But the eating of it, alone, is dissatisfying.

Cooking for Bill is easy though, because he will eat whatever I put in front of him, as long as it's on time. Years of eating at set hours on a ship has given him a stomach with a timer, if not a discerning palate. And some nights, when we're both feeling lazy or busy, we'll just have snacks instead of a meat-and-three-sides plate. One of the things I really like about this guy is that he thinks that anything I cook is wonderful.

But what I really crave, what I really want, is Reuben Hush Puppies. These high-calorie bombs of fried goodness is what I've been hankering for, despite my disciplined healthy dinner plans.
I may just have to make them and get it over with, and then pay for it on the elliptical exercise machine for the next month.

The list of ingredients is long, but they are easy to prepare. They make great leftovers too. They must have about 100 calories each, and no one can eat just one. They are my downfall.

Reuben Hush Puppies

Mix in a bowl:

1 cup leftover cooked Corned Beef, diced (or 4 oz. deli wt. diced)
3 slices Rye Bread with seeds, pulverized in food processor or blender to crumbs
1/2 cup sauerkraut, squeezed dry and minced
1/2 cup dill pickle, diced
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup scallions, thinly sliced
1 egg
2 Tbls. dill pickle juice
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Mix together--batter will be very wet and sloppy. Refrigerate 15 minutes.

While it's chilling, cut a chunk of Swiss cheese into 24 pieces --1/2" squares -- and heat 2" peanut oil in a 2 quart deep saucepan --you're shooting for 350 degrees.

Use a Tablespoon or medium scoop, press a cube of Swiss cheese into the middle and enclose completely in the wet batter, and drop into hot oil using a soup spoon (you can do about 6 at a time in a 6" wide saucepan).

Cook for about 3 minutes, turning occasionally until crisp and very brown, drain on paper towels. Check temp of oil and adjust heat, make another 6 wet balls and cook those. Etc. Serve hot with 1000 Island Dressing as a dipping sauce.

Postscript: After a dinner of these, plan on spending 60 minutes a day on the elliptical or treadmill until you lose those extra 5 pounds you gained from eating these until swooning and overstuffed. Meditate on the sin of gluttonous overindulgence.

Venison!

Our friend Keith brought us venison yesterday, just when I was wondering what to cook for dinner! He brought us so much, Bill had to plug in the extra freezer. What a wonderful gift! Now Bill says he's lost his motivation to continue hunting, but since he's probably leaving soon, that activity was going to end soon anyway.

I never thought about venison, one way or another, until we lived in New York. For many people there, venison is the meat of choice, the taste of childhood, a reminder of lean times or sometimes just the tradition of autumn. Though Bill never shot a deer there, friends always shared packets of venison--wives of hunters gave it away when they were tired of eating it or when they needed freezer space.

At first, I was nervous. I had always heard that game meats were, well, gamy and strong tasting. I scoured specialty cookbooks, which suggested strong-flavored sauces, juniper berries and gin, vinegar and wine, medicinal-smelling aromatics. What a surprise when venison turned out to be like a fine aged steak, tender and flavorful, lean and delicious!

When our final project in culinary school was due, I elected to use farmed venison for one of my meal centerpieces and devised a recipe using homemade blackberry vinegar and blackberry jam as a base for a pan sauce. It was a hit with our diners (I remember my mom and dad came to that meal at the college, my final exam for the program--my dad chose the venison, to my surprise). My brother raved about it too, once when he came to visit and I served him what I call "The Other Dark Meat," using frozen blackberries and raspberries that time.

So now we have venison in Tennessee too. Last night, I cooked it like this, with just things I had on hand in the pantry:

Heat a large skillet and spray with non-stick coating. Lightly sear 1/2" thick pieces of venison for only 1-2 minutes per side, while pressing 1 or 2 garlic cloves into the skillet. Remove to a plate while making the sauce. Deglaze the skillet with a little red wine, sprinkle in a packet of onion soup mix (I had no beef broth or brown gravy powder, so I used this instead), add about 1/2 cup water, 1 Tablespoon of whole-grain mustard and 1/4 cup of blackberry jam. Bring to a gentle boil and reduce slightly to a sauce consistency. Taste for seasoning, adding salt & pepper. If the sweet-tart balance isn't right, adjust using sugar or acid (lemon juice or cider vinegar). When sauce is right, add back in the venison pieces and accumulated juices and turn in sauce to coat. Serve with roasted potatoes and vegetables.

It was delicious, better than I remembered.

Challah & English Muffins

Amaze your family & friends! I have to do all of this kneading stuff by machine, (Bill has to do the hands-on part), but look forward to when I can do this again myself. I decided I'm taking Dr. Brenin and Drs. Goldbergs some Challah for a thank you gift tomorrow, and the English Muffins recipe is just for fun--my son thought I was amazing the day I tried these for the first time as a snack for his friends.

English Muffins

1 cup milk
2 Tbls. honey (trick--spray measuring spoon with PAM or pour oil into measuring spoon, then pour back into bottle--then measure the honey, it will slide right out)
3 Tbls. Butter, cut into 3 pieces

Heat all in saucepan until butter begins to melt. Turn off heat, whisk. Leave to cool to less than 110 degrees.

In large bowl mix :

1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
1 pkg active dry yeast (2 tsps.)

When milk mixture has cooled, add to water and yeast, then add 3 cups flour. Beat 100 strokes with a wooden spoon.

Add more flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and beat until a dough forms and is not sticky anymore. Turn out onto floured surface, flour hands and knead dough for 3-5 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Let rest 5 minutes.

Cover two cookie sheets with waxed paper and sprinkle with cornmeal (or cornbread mix). Set aside.

Roll out dough (with a can or bottle, if you don't have a rolling pin) to 1/2" thickness. Cut out with a 3 1/2" cutter (empty pineapple can works great here) and place on cookie sheet. Re-roll scraps until all dough is cut out--you should get about 18 out of this batch. Turn rounds over several times on cookie sheets to cover with cornmeal. Cover with a clean dishtowel and let rise in a warm place for 35-45 minutes.

Heat ungreased griddle or skillet over MEDIUM heat. Place muffins on surface and gently cook 5-10 minutes per side until browned. Remove and cool.

To serve, split muffins with a fork and toast. Can be kept in plastic bag for 3-4 days.

Challah

Combine:
1 Tbls. yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup warm (105-115) water
Let proof for 5 minutes

Combine in large bowl:
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbls. salt
Make a deep well in the flour mixture and pour in the proofed yeast mixture.

Add:
2 cups 105 degree water
3 slightly beaten large eggs
1/4 cup oil
3 Tbls. sugar
1/8 tsp. saffron

Beat well until a ball of dough forms, then turn out onto a floured board and knead about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turn, cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down and divide dough into two sections, kneading each for several minutes. Cut each section of dough into 3 parts and roll into long tapered cylinders. Braid 3 ropes loosely, starting in the middle and braiding out to each end--tuck ends in. Lay each braid on a greased and floured baking sheet. Cover and let rise until almost doubled.

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg beaten with 2 Tbls. milk) and sprinkle with poppy seeds if desired. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 and bake about 45 minutes longer.

New Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe!

I wish I could say that these are great, but I haven't tried them yet. Maybe you would like to try and report back? This came via email from King Arthur Flour Company, and their recipes are usually pretty reliable. Anyway, it looked intriguing:

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Crispy on the outside, Soft and moist (but not "wet") on the inside, absolutely packed with chocolate chips, these are the quintessential soft chocolate chip cookies. AND—they’re 100% whole grain! Who could ask for anything more?

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (5 5/8 ounces) brown sugar, lightly packed
3 tablespoons (2 1/4 ounces) honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) cider vinegar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups (8 ounces) King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, organic preferred
2 2/3 to 3 cups (16 to 18 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350E:F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
To prepare the dough: In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugars, honey, vanilla, espresso powder, and salt till smooth. Beat in the vinegar, egg, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir in the flour, then the chocolate chips, mixing JUST till combined.

Drop the dough, by tablespoonfuls, onto the prepared baking sheets. A tablespoon cookie scoop works well here.

To bake the cookies: Bake the cookies for 10 to 11 minutes, until they’re starting to brown around the edges. Remove them from the oven, and allow them to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Yield: about 3 dozen cookies.

No Painkillers and the Healing Properties of Dinner Parties & Zinfandel

"You planned this!" Bill said last night as I poured myself a well-deserved glass of red wine, (replying to his initial protests that I had gone 24 hours without opiates or acetaminophen).

Ah, I've missed my wine with dinner. Is there anything more sublime, more salubrious than a glass of California Zinfandel? I don't think so. Just one glass, thank you, and I feel like a normal person again.

When friends start coming again for dinner, that's when I know recovery is assured. Dinner with Shirley, Ray, Joe, Les & Bill was great last night. I was all about the easy preparations last night--Shirley and I did the cooking part, the boys finished watching their football game and then served us, and everyone but me did the dishes. Now that's big-time fun, people! The hostess retired for bed at about 7:30 without apologies.

Hoisin-Sauced Pork Tenderloin (for 6-8 people)

Marinate in large zip-lock bag for 3-6 hours:
2 Pork Tenderloins
1/3 cup Hoisin Sauce (found in Oriental food section)
1/4 cup reduced-sodium Soy Sauce
3 Tbls. sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 Tbls. canola oil

Heat grill pan (or cast-iron skillet or BBQ grill) and spray with non-stick spray. Lift meat from marinade (reserve for sauce) and sear all sides of pork tenderloins in grill pan, then cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, making sure drippings don't burn to pan--add water 1/2 cup at a time to keep meat moist and bottom of pan simmering. Add reserved marinade and cook meat, turning as necessary, until instant read thermometer reads 150. Remove meat to platter, keep warm. Simmer sauce over high heat until thickened and glossy--pour over meat and serve, slicing tenderloin crosswise. Garnish with sliced scallions if desired.

(If only serving 2-3 people, just cook one of the tenderloins and use half the marinade--freeze the other for later in the zip-lock bag--just defrost and cook normally as above).

(If grilling tenderloin on the BBQ, place marinade in small saucepan, add 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil--then reduce to desired consistency for sauce)

Roasted Garlic & Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes

2 heads garlic
Olive oil
8 Red-skin potatoes, unpeeled, chopped into 1" chunks
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
3 oz. soft goat cheese
Chives, snipped
Salt & Pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Cut heads of garlic in half across the "equator." Set with cut sides facing up and drizzle with olive oil. Place on a sheet of foil and wrap loosely to form a packet. Roast in oven for 1 hour. Cool.

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash with butter & milk.
Squeeze roasted garlic from the papery heads into potatoes, add goat cheese and chives and mash to desired consistency. Season with salt & pepper.

Pam's Tasty Hammy Quichey Football Snacky Thingys

1 tube reduced-fat Crescent Rolls
3 oz. cooked ham, diced in 1/4" pieces
3 oz. swiss cheese, diced in 1/4" pieces
1/2 onion, minced
1 egg
1 Tbls. Dijon mustard
1 Tbls. Whole-grain mustard
1 Tbls. Honey Mustard
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Unroll crescent rolls, separate into 4 rectangular pieces--roll to flatten slightly and seal diagonal seams. Cut each rectangle crosswise into 3 roughly-square pieces. Place one piece in each mini-muffin cup.

Mix ham, cheese, onion, egg, mustards and pepper in a small bowl. Using a teaspoon, divide filling amongst the 24 muffin cups lined with dough. Gently fold any overlapping dough toward the center of each cup.

Bake about 18-22 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbly. Let cool about 3 minutes, then remove and serve.

Fake Crab Dip

1 - 8 oz. pkg non-fat, low-fat, or regular cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/3 cup catsup
2 Tbls. prepared horseradish
1 - 12-16 oz. pkg surimi (imitation crab meat)
juice of 1/2 lemon

Topping:
1/3 cup catsup
2 Tbls. prepared horseradish

Beat softened cream cheese with a fork until smooth. Add catsup and horseradish and beat until pale pink. Fold in crab meat and lemon juice.

Mix remaining catsup and horseradish together, pour over the top of dip. Serve with crackers or sturdy chips.

Thanksgiving Recipes - Desserts

While I was not sleeping in the hospital, I took the time to look at what the food mags have come up with this year for fall recipes. I rarely suggest that cooks "try out" new recipes on guests (unless they are that kind of guest, and you people know who you are!), but since we're going to have a quiet couple's dinner ourselves this year, here are some of the things I'd like to try for the first time (maybe you think they are interesting too):


Fresh Pear & Cranberry Pie
Recipe for a Single Crust Pie
8 cups sliced, unpeeled red and/or green ripe pears (7-8 total, 3-3 1/2 lbs.)
1 cup fresh cranberries
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbls. cornstarch
2 Tbls. apple cider or water
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 Tbls. sugar
2 Tbls. caramel ice-cream topping, + more for drizzling

Preheat oven to 375.
Prepare and roll out pastry for a single pie crust, forming a high fluted edge to keep filling from bubbling over.
Arrange half of pears in prepared shell; sprinkle with half the cranberries. Arrange remaining pears on top of cranberries--reserve the remaining cranberries for later.
In bowl, stir together sugar, cornstarch, cider and nutmeg; pour evenly over fruit.
Cover pie with foil
Bake 40 minutes; remove foil and sprinkle with 1 Tbls. sugar. Bake, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes more or until pears are tender and juices are bubbly. Remove from oven and place on rack to cool.
In a small saucepan, combine remaining cranberries and 2 Tbls. caramel topping. Bring to boil and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and spoon over hot pie. Drizzle pie or decorate plates with remaining topping as desired.

Harvest Fruit-topped Chocolate Cake
Cake:
8 oz sour cream
1 cup water
2/3 cup canola oil
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup whipping cream
Topping:
1 unpeeled red pear
1 unpeeled granny-smith apple
1/3 cup dried cranberries
2 cups apple juice
1 cup sugar
Caramel ice-cream topping

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9" round cake pans.
Combine sour cream, water, oil, eggs, sugar, vanilla, baking powder and soda, and salt in extra-large bowl. With a large whisk, stir until combined. Add flour, cocoa & spices and whisk vigorously until smooth. Pour into the two prepared pans.
Bake 30-35 minutes until center springs back after being touched lightly. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and cool layers completely.
Finely chop chocolate and bring cream to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate until smooth. Cool, then chill until spreadable, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, prepare fruit topping:
Slice pear lengthwise, slice apple horizontally. Bring sugar and apple juice to a boil and add fruit. Return to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 2 minutes. Remove from head and let stand for 5 minutes. Strain and discard syrup, cool fruit to room temperature.
Place one cake layer on serving plate and spread with half of the chocolate/cream mixture. Top with second layer and spread with remaining ganache. Arrange fruit in single layer on top of cake, pour caramel topping over fruit, allowing to drizzle down the sides of cake. Serve immediately (does not store well).

White Chocolate-Cranberry Blondies
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate
1 cup fresh cranberries

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 11" x 7" x 1 1/2" or a 9" x 9" x 2" baking pan with foil; coat foil with non-stick spray.
Beat butter with wire whisk or mixer; add sugars, baking powder, soda & salt. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and mix until combined.
Stir in dried fruit and white chocolate. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle with fresh cranberries--do not stir, just press lightly into surface of dough (stirring with streak the bars).
Bake 25-30 minutes, cool for at least 1 hour. Lift foil out of pan and cut into bars.

May be served with Cinnamon Whipped Cream-- combine 1/2 cup chilled whipping cream with 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon. Beat until soft peaks form.


Caramel & Chocolate Pecan Bars
Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup toasted pecans, halves or chopped
Topping:
2/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine all crust ingredients except pecans in a medium bowl. Beat until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Press into bottom of ungreased 13 x 9 baking pan.
Place pecans evenly over unbaked crust.
Combine 2/3 cup butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar in 1 qt. saucepan. Cook over medium head, stirring constantly until entire surface of mixture begins to boil. Boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Pour mixture evenly over pecans and crust.
Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until entire caramel layer is bubbly (do not overbake). Remove from oven. Immediately sprinkle with chips; allow to melt slightly. Swirl melted chips over bars, leaving some whole for effect. Cool completely and cut into bars.

Blue Ribbon Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Coarse sugar for topping

Heat oven to 375.
Combine butter & sugars in large bowl, beat at medium speed until creamy.
Add egg and vanilla, continue beating until well mixed.
Reduce beater speed to low; add flour, cream of tartar and baking soda. Beat until dough forms a ball.
Shape dough into 1" balls, place 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten dough balls to aabout 1 1/2 " with bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Sprinkle with coarse or decorator sugar, if desired.
Bake 7 - 9 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute and remove from cookie sheets.