Amuse Food

No Wonder They Had Servants

2010-01-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

I have always been inspired by Julia Child and I know I’m not alone in this. She inspired a nation and generations to gastronomical pursuits. However I was most recently inspired by the movie Julie and Julia. I had read Julie Powell’s book several years ago and was shocked when I heard it was going to be a movie and surprised with how well the movie came out. The core thought in Julia and Simon Becks books was that since most household in America lacked domestic help, women did their own cooking and to that end needed assistance with recipes and techniques. Two of the featured recipes in the movie were the Boeuf Bourguignon and the Raspberry Bavarian. The Bourguignon was the first dish that Judith Jones, Julia’s long time editor and advocate in New York cooked from Julia’s opus. It was the dish that convinced her to push for the publishing of her book, and it was also the dish that Julia Powell, the blogger who was cooking through Julia’s book prepared for her dinner with Judith Jones, who was unable to attend. The Raspberry Bavarian was to be the dessert for the Judith Jones dinner and ended up in a broken heap on the N.Y. City sidewalks as Julie was taking it to work to be shared with her coworkers.

Watching those two scenes it occurred to me that I had never made Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon. I had made it, but not her recipe. The Bavarian I had made, but not for years. I always have a formal Christmas Eve dinner attended by my daughter’s Godparents which ends with us decorating the Christmas tree and my husband suggested that would be a good time to make the stew, and I agreed.

I decided that I needed to follow the recipes as written. Take all the steps and see if I thought the end result was as amazing as the characters in the movie thought. Doing a bit of research on the internet it was interesting to see that this recipe got many stars for being complicated. It isn’t really, it seems like it because there are so many steps but all you’re doing is cooking parts of the stew separately. You start with blanching the lardons of bacon, for me this is the most irritating step. Why not just cook them slowly until their fat is rendered and then remove the bits of meat with a slotted spoon and drain off most the fat? But, no matter, that wasn’t how it was written so I moved on. I patted the meat dry, browned it on all sides, removed it and sautéed the carrot and onion, once the vegetables were browned I returned the beef and bacon to the pan, sprinkled it with flour and did her oven browning technique, I added the wine a rich beef stock, and the remaining stew ingredients and tucked the casserole into the oven as directed. Fortunately years of cooking have taught me how to smell when something smells done because two hours into the 3-4 recommended hours in the book my stew smelled done, and it was. The meet was a deep mahagony and fork tender. I cooked the mushrooms and onions each separately as described in the recipe and added them to the stew. The recipe also directs you to remove the meat and thicken the sauce, my sauce was thick and unctuous and this step wasn’t needed. I served the stew on its own with slices of fresh baguette and a classic butter lettuce salad with an herb vinaigrette. I felt that something that complex in flavor didn’t need pasta, rice, or potatoes. It was delicious and smelled divine. One of my friends who cooked this recipe for her Christmas dinner had the same experience as me regarding it being done in two hours and not needing to thicken the sauce so I’m guessing there must be a difference in the water/fat content in beef today vs. beef in 1961. I’m used grass fed beef which might be a leaner stew meat.

The raspberry Bavarian is a good ol’ classic dessert. First you dissolve some plain gelatin in raspberry juice (I used the juice from the frozen raspberries). Then you make a crème anglais that’s thickened with some corn starch. You add the smoodged berries to the custard and strain it and dissolve the gelatin in the hot custard and pour it into a mold. In keeping with the old fashioned feel of the menu I served mine in fluted champagne glasses with a rosette of cream topped with a perfect raspberry. Any dessert in a stemmed glass captivates me. It seems so elegant, hoaky I know, but it reminds me of extra fancy restaurants when I was a kid.

It really was the perfect Christmas Eve dinner, homey and special at the same time. I’d like to say it’ll become our tradition but I know it won’t. There are always too many recipes to try.

A Spanish Christmas

In honor of my niece’s return home after a semester as a foreign exchange student in Spain I decided we should have Paella for Christmas Dinner, or Lunch depending on how you looked at it. We ate around 4:00 so Linner or Dunch? I asked my niece if she’d prefer a classic American Christmas since she’d been eating Spanish food for several months or would she like a Spanish meal and she jumped on the Spanish meal. I had Spanish olives and cheeses to start, Paella with chicken and seafood, a Moroccan Orange and Red Onion Salad with a Cumin Dressing, and Orange Granita over Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert, it was a perfect meal.

Spanish cheeses are pretty easy to find these days, I had done my grocery shopping at Whole Foods and was easily able to find an assortment. One that is referred to as Drunken Cheese, a goat cheese that’s marinated in wine is very common in Spain, according to my niece. She said they had it daily. I’m an old hand at making Paella, we frequently made it for catering it’s a dish that has a little bit of something for everyone. It’s easy to make vegetarian but I prefer the flavor when I make it with Linguica and chicken stock. I start my Paella by browning chicken pieces (usually thighs) in a combination of butter and olive oil, once browned I set them aside and add sliced onions, fennel, and garlic to the pan. I cook these until they have softened and toss in some red or yellow peppers cut into strips, once those have softened I add the rice, salt, & pepper, I get the rice kernels coated in the oil and toss in the saffron. I return the chicken to the pan and add some slices of linguica. Next I add broth, crushed tomatoes, and white wine and bring that to a simmer, once simmering I add the seafood (typically prawns, clams, and mussels), cover it and let it simmer on low for about 30 minutes. In the end I toss in a couple of handfulls of frozen peas. I always serve Paella with Rouille or Romancesco Sauce (a roasted red pepper and garlic sauce).

I love the classic Moroccan orange, olive, and onion salad. It goes well with the Paella since the Paella is such a rich dish the lightness of the salad helps balance the meal. Granita is super easy to make and a generous spoonful over a small scoop of the best vanilla ice cream you can buy makes a really refreshing dessert.

Paella

Serves 6-8

2 T olive oil

2 T butter

6-8 chicken thighs

2 T flour

Salt and pepper to taste

1 onions, thinly sliced

1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 red or yellow bell pepper, seeded and julienned

A generous pinch saffron

1 C basmati rice

4 oz linguica sausage, sliced thin

1 C chicken stock

1 C crushed tomatoes in puree

1 pound prawns, deveined

12-16 clams or mussels

About a ½ cup frozen peas, thawed

Combine the butter and olive oil in a large skillet. Lightly coat the chicken in flour and season with salt and pepper. Brown the chicken and remove from the pan. Place the onions, fennel, and garlic in the pan and sautee until the vegetables are soft, add the red or yellow pepper and sautee until the pepper is wilted. Place the saffron in the pan and stir to combine, add the rice and stir to coat the rice with the oil and butter. Add the browned chicken and linguica to the pan, pour the stock and tomato sauce into the pan and bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, add the prawns and shell fish and cover the pan and cook about 30 minutes. Remove any unopened clams or mussels and thow them away. Sprinkle the peas on top and serve the Paella.

Moroccan Orange and Onion Salad

Serves 6-8

Enough spinach or arugula to feed 6-8 people

3 oranges, peel cut off and thinly sliced

½ red onion, peeled and thinly sliced

½ pint Moroccan or Greek salt cured olives

¼ C parsley leaves

¼ C olive oil

2 T red wine vinegar

¼ tsp. cumin

1 tsp. honey

¼ C orange juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Place spinach or arugula on a large serving platter, arrange the orange slices over the greens, onion slices over the oranges and sprinkle the olives over all. Tear leaves of parsley off of the stems and scatter over the olives. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until blended and pour over the salad.

Orange Granita

Serves 6-8

¾ C sugar

½ C water

Zest of two oranges

Juice of one lemon

Juice of six oranges

Combine water, sugar, and zest in a small pan, place over high heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved remove from stove. Stir in the orange and lemon juice. Pour mixture into a shallow pan and place in the freezer for two hours. After two hours rake the mixture with a fork so that you have small shards of ice. Return to the freezer for about 30 minutes and stir the mixture up with a fork again. It’s now ready to eat. It’s best eaten within 48 hours of making it. Fluff up the granite with a fork before serving. I place a small scoop of vanilla ice cream in a serving dish and top with a generous large spoonful of granite.

Donna Hay vs. Martha Stewart

I have a long history with Martha Stewart. I used to work for her back in the 80’s in Connecticut at Turkey Hill. She was an unknown caterer then. Her rise to fame was just beginning. I worked for her right around the time her first book Entertaining was published. I’ve watched her career with interest and amusement. Somewhere along the way I discovered Donna Hay. You could call Donna Hay the Martha Stewart of Australia but that’s doing both women a disservice. Both of them have beautiful magazines filled with stunning photographs and fabulous ideas. Martha’s magazine hit the stands in the late 90’s and Donna launched hers in 2002. Recently I decided to do my own show down with Donna Hay and Martha to see who’s recipes were better. Every year I have a large party on New Years Day which provided me with a great audience for my challenge. I decided to do appetizers giving me an opportunity for greater variety. I chose three appetizers each, and two cookies each. Martha’s recipes came from her new dinner cookbook and Donna’s recipes came from her last two magazines. On first flush Donna’s appetizer recipes appeared a lot more innovative and intriguing and Martha’s cookie recipes were more appealing.

This was a completely suggestive throw down, fraught with the inequities of my whimsy…and in the end, there was no winner, or I should say there were two winners, all six appetizers and all four cookies were delicious, all recipes were keepers.

Donna Hay

-Zucchini Fritters with Pancetta Salad

Thinly sliced zucchini is tossed in a batter and pan fried topped with a salad made from fennel, watercress, and pancetta.

-Salmon Bundles with Dipping Sauce

-Chunks of salmon fillet and chives wrapped in rice paper and panfried until the salmon is cooked and the rice paper crispy served with a soy dipping sauce.

-Puff Pastry Tarts with Onions and Blue Cheese

-Puff pastry rounds topped with caramelized onions and blue cheese served with arugula.

-Double Chocolate Cookies Half Dipped in White Chocolate

- Very deep chocolaty rolled cookies dipped in white chocolate.

-Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

A buttery crispy thin cookie, a real crowd

pleaser.

Martha Stewart

-Spicy Shrimp

-Prawns sautéed in oil splashed with chili garlic sauce with a touch of sugar.

-Celery with Spicy Filling

Very simple, very delicious. Celery stuffed with a mixture of cream cheese and horseradish.

-Crostini with Garbanzo Bean Topping

-Grilled bread topped with a salad of garbanzo beans, olives, and parsley

-Spicy Lemon Cookies

A crispy lemon shortbread with a touch of coriander.

-Chocolate Fudge “cookies”

A almost flourless mixture of chocolate, butter, and espresso powder baked in muffin tins (I used mini muffin tins). Very deep, dark and rich.

Jamie Oliver’s Tart

2009-12-12T02:39:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Jamie Oliver’s new show. I wasn’t a huge fan of his when we was sprinting around the globe as the Naked Chef, but then he backed out of the lime light for a bit (at least in the US) and spent time using his celebrity and passion for food to create programs of a more charitable nature, and now he’s back. Instead of having groups of young 20 somethings climb the stairs to his loft apartment for a quick party, he’s now sitting in his rugged farm creating dishes that come straight out of the earth. His new show is very relaxed, very real, and very appealing, even down to the handwritten credits at the end. In fact the juxtpostion of the oh so unreal and very plastic Sandra Lee right after him was so jarring that I actually had to email the Food Network to lodge a complaint.

In any case, who knows how true it all is, the quaint farm, chopping ingredients on a board balanced on his lap, cooking in an open flame…whatever…I’ve bought it hook line and sinker!

Recently his show focused on asparagus and of the many wonderful ideas he presented I was most captivated by the potato asparagus tart. Almost every Sunday my daughter and I walk to the Farmers Market, so the past Sunday I picked up asparagus and fingerling potatoes. I found some English cheddar at Trader Joes and picked up some of their delicious puff pastry (had to go to two TJ’s to find it, and I bought 3 boxes when I did since they seem to be out of it a lot-all the while muttering at myself that I should just make a batch and keep it in the freezer…it isn’t that hard to make, just time consuming…but I digress). Jamie made his with filo, but I wanted the extra body of puff pastry. Besides, once you’ve thawed a box and used about ¼ of it for a recipe and rewrap and re –freeze the rest of it, you’ll never really use it and end up throwing it out in three months so I thought I’d just skip that step.

Jamie flies through the recipe in no time flat, as he does everything, and it really is a simple recipe. First blanch the asparagus and set it aside. While the asparagus is blanching take some potatoes (I used 6 large fingerling potatoes), peel them, cut them into chunks and put them on the stove to boil. Once the potatoes are done, drain them and mash them with butter, cream, salt, pepper, and a generous portion of grated cheddar cheese. Whisk three eggs into the potato mixture and spoon it into a pastry lined pie pan or tart pan. Arrange the asparagus on top and brush with melted butter. I baked mine at 375 for about 40 minutes. It was delicious! It came out exactly like his. Those eggs give the mashed potatoes an almost custard like consistency and the cheese, and the asparagus, and the buttery crust, wow, just perfect. In any case this one’s a keeper.

Farmers Market

2009-12-12T02:30:00.000-08:00

Never underestimate the power of eating things as fresh as possible. Yesterday I stopped at the Montclair Farmers Market and purchased some fresh cod and a bundle of spring onions among other things and took them home. I was hungry when I got home so I decided to go ahead and cook my daily “catch”. I placed a frying pan on the stove to get nice and hot while I prepared the fish. I dusted the fish with flour, salt, and pepper , I added some olive oil to the pan and placed the fish in it. While the fish was cooking , I thinly sliced one of the red spring onions and tossed it in the pan around the fish so the onions could soften. I flipped the fish and cooked it a few minutes on the other side. I had some cooked artichokes in the house so I trimmed the artichoke heart and cut it into quarters and threw it in the pan as well. Once the fish was cooked I squeezed half of a Meyer lemon over all. It was absolutely delicious!

The fish was tender, moist, and almost sweet. The onions melted in your mouth and the artichokes and lemon added the estringency needed to round out the dish. It was a wonderful lunch that was ready to eat in about 10 minutes.

I also picked up some strawberries, mushrooms, and grass fed rib eye steaks. A good steak needs no more than salt and pepper on it, so that’s what I did. About an hour before I was going to cook the steaks I seasoned them liberally with salt and pepper. I like doing that because I think seasoning them ahead intensifies their flavor. I place a cast iron skillet over a high flame and let the pan get piping hot! I turn on my oven to 375. I sear the steaks on each side and then slam the pan into the oven for about 8-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the steaks. Once the steaks are done I let them rest for 5 minutes before serving. While the steaks were cooking I sautéed the mushrooms with shallots, butter, and sherry. I gave them a quick seasoning of salt, pepper, and fresh thyme. I served the steaks with the mushrooms and some steamed asparagus. It was a simple supper composed of perfect ingredients, the best kind!

I became obsessed with making fresh strawberry ice cream. Partially because I had some strawberry “drippings” left in my fridge. I had sugared some berries the week before and saved the rosy sugar water that collected in the bottom of the container that I had the berries in. It was such a lovely strawberry syrup. I made a classic cooked custard vanilla ice cream. I cleaned and halved a pint of strawberries and put them in a small pot with about 1/2C of the strawberry syrup, brought that to a boil, turned off the head, mashed the berries and poured that all into the ice cream base. I then let the mixture sit overnight to get good and cold. On the night that we had the steaks I churned the ice cream. It was delicate, sweet, and fruity. The perfect accompaniment to the hearty flavors of steak and mushrooms. If any ice cream lasts for more than a day or two I’m going to try to scoop it into little balls and dip it in ganache, I kind of wonderful fresh flavored bonbon. I’ll let you know how it comes out.

Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen

2009-12-12T02:25:00.000-08:00

Watching Giada sit under the large tree in the courtyard eating a fresh fig flatbread and campfire pie is what drove us to take a day off from work on a sunny spring day and head to St. Helena to eat at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen.

Cindy is Cindy Pawlcyn a long time restaurant veteran who’s known for Mustards Grill amongst other places. And her Backstreet Kitchen is her cozy warm big pale yellow house with a smoker in the yard and a long zinc bar that serves up delicious cocktails. It’s a fun place, a place that I’m sure I would go to regularly if I lived in St. Helena.

We arrived at noon with reservations (something we recommend) and since it was a warm sunny day we asked to sit outside to have the full Giada experience. We ordered cocktails, lemon drops (you describe it) and a Thai-Tin-Tini, a juicy blend of gin, lime juice, cilantro, and a cayenne rim, absolutely delicious. Fortified with cocktails and bread and butter we ordered lunch, one roasted artichoke with lemon caper aioli, one greens with pecans, and one (what did you order). The artichoke was tasty, nicely charred in spots and enhanced by dipping into the aioli. Our entrée selections included gnocchi (don’t remember how it was served do you?), slow cooked pork (you), and mushroom Tamales, our entrees looked delicious and were mildly seasoned, everything we tasted that day was a little under seasoned.

Dessert consisted of Campfire Pie and (? I don’t remember, I know we got two). The Campfire Pie lived up to its warm gooey name and was a thoroughly satisfying chocolaty mess! The ? was?

The kitchen seemed to be having a tough time that day, everything was running behind, our reservation was for noon and we weren’t finished with lunch until 3:00. We were fine with it since were on a mini vacation anyway, but if you were having a quick business lunch I could see how the length of service could be a problem. We however were quite content to sit in the sun under the shade of a tree smelling the wood of the smoker, sipping delicious cocktails and imagining we had no concerns or responsibitiesl.

Book Review Nigella Express

2009-12-06T22:34:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I get annoyed by the plunging necklines, moans while eating the food and flirting with the camera from the American Food Network hosts, but somehow with Nigella's british accent it is charming. She is a beautiful woman who clearly knows food. Her flavor combinations are good and her recipes are simple and satisfying. There’s the occasional odd combination of things that the British favor, pickled vegetables, nutella and lots of sausages, but I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve tried.

The premise of this book is good homemade food made quickly, not only are the recipes fast but the combination of ingredients are engaging and the recipes inspire us (or me) to entertain. I love having people over, but I work full time and typically have about an hour to pull things together when I have people over, this book is a great companion for this lifestyle.

I love her lust for life and for food, there should be more people like her cooking on TV.

So far these are the recipes I’ve tried:

Broccoli with Mustard Caper Sauce-nice and buttery, I only use salt cured capers, their flavor is much more interesting than the brined kind, so that’s what I used when I made this, it’s delicious. I would happily use this sauce on seafood, chicken, or just about any vegetable.

Red Shrimp with Mango Curry-really good curry with a touch of sweet.

Quick Calamari with Garlic Mayonnaise-excellent, nice crispy calamari and of course anything is good dipped in Garlic Mayonnaise.

Caramel Croissant Pudding-a very intriguing recipe and one I’ve talked about before. You make a classic caramel with sugar and then whisk in the hot cream and eggs and pour it all over day old croissants. It has a nice caramel flavor, I would like this made with brioche or challah.

Brandied Bacony Chicken-this one is a keeper, the chicken comes out moist and deliciously flavored with the bacon and brandy. Do follow her advice and pour the pan drippings over the lentils and make the lentil salad. It is absolutely delicious!

Gougons of Sole with Dill Mayonnaise-wonderful crisp and light. I bread these and place them in a single layer to freeze, once frozen I store them in ziplock bags and can have freshly fried crunchy “fish sticks” in moments.

Maple Chicken and Ribs-what could be easier, chicken, ribs, and maple syrup thrown together in a pan, it all comes out sticky sweet and slightly smoky.

Scallops and Chroizo-almost anything tastes great with chorizo-this makes a paella tasting dish in short order.

Sweet Corn Chowder with Toasted Tortillas-very satisfying and tasty soup.

Roquamole-very delicious and rich, quacamole with Roquefort in it, very decadent.

Margarita Ice Cream-she has a very quick ice cream recipe that uses cream and powdered sugar that makes a good frozen dessert, my family ate all of this.

Halloumi Bites-this is another one that has become a family favorite, how can you not like warm, slightly melted bits of cheese! Shop around for your Halloumi the price can vary tremendously.

I have tried a dozen recipes and they were all very good, the book is definitely worth the price!

Cocktails, anyone?

2009-12-03T23:55:00.000-08:00

When I invited my guests over I was thinking it would be an easy little party since I had the day off. Well, the day flew by as days often do and I found myself in the store at 4:30 buying ingredients for guests who were coming at 6:00! Fortunately there were only two guests coming, but being a “food professional” I have a reputation to uphold. My menu was based on what I could put together fast with what I had in the house. The cocktail was easy, my buddies are big fans of the Lemon Drop. Coincidentally I had a jug of Odwalla lemonade in my fridge along with a bottle of lemon vodka and Lemoncello liquor, so all that remained was a quick assembly of simple syrup and a couple of lemons from my neighbors tree. I had some cooked asparagus and kale left in the fridge from a recent trip to the farmers market, so I chopped it up, mixed it with some crumbled blue cheese and made turnovers with them using frozen puff pastry. While at the store I bought a ciabatta which I split in half lengthwise, drizzled with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, spread generously with pesto sauce that I had on hand and topped with mozzarella, this I broiled until the cheese was brown and bubbly. All that was left was toI cut this into strips and serve it. I had some shrimp balls in the freezer that I bought from Whole Foods so I baked them off as well. Dessert was chocolate mousse, my old stand by recipe that can be thrown together in 15 minutes and is a sure crowd pleaser. I got it all done in 45 minutes. Was the house clean, dusted and straightened up? No, but there was a linen on the table with fresh flowers in the middle, the dishes were clean and the food was freshly prepared. The cocktails were appropriately strong, so who cares?