Category Archives: Main Course

Cooking for One or Two: What You Got

Posted in Main Course by

bec closeup twoBy Rebecca Borman

As you can tell from Kris’s daily musings, we are a family of foodies.  All of us like to eat.  Most of us are pretty good cooks.  Of the three sisters, I consider myself the least talented cook.  Kris excels at making delicious comfort food for big crowds.  Jen can enjoy some yummy meal in a restaurant and then recreate it for a gourmet dinner.  To be sure, I fed my family for years, but no one is ever going to name me cook of the year.

But, there is one thing I do pretty well.  It’s what I call “what you got” cooking.  It comes from a Louisiana phrase…”What you got goes in the pot.”  I do a lot of “what you got” cooking.

To understand why, you need to know something about me.  I cannot stand to throw away food.  If there’s a leftover, I’ll eat it.  If there’s something I can freeze, it gets frozen.  And, then, I’ll come up with a way to use it.

Recently I was trying to figure out what to have for dinner.  I hadn’t gone to the grocery store as I should have.  So, I opened the freezer door, hoping I would find a small pork chop or chicken breast I’d forgotten about.  Nope!  But, I always have 3-oz packages of taco meat, made with homemade taco seasoning.  As a bonus, I had frozen tablespoons of the green chili my son made last weekend.  And, tucked behind some bananas was a package of white corn tortillas I had frozen, separated by waxed paper so I could take them out individually.  (It’s an illness.)  I always have a bag of lettuce, salad fixins, and salsa in my frig, so I was ready to prepare a killer taco salad.

I fried the torts in a little canola oil and let them drain on paper towels to cool.  Meanwhile, I mixed the green chili (made with turkey meat) and the taco meat (made with extra lean ground beef) and put the mixture into the microwave to warm up.  As that was happening, I worked on the salad:  chopped butter lettuce, finely chopped red onion, a few Kalamata olives, a piece of avocado, and a fresh and yummy Roma tomato.  By now, the torts were cooled and crispy and could be broken into pieces onto the plate, topped by the lettuce and veggies.   The meat mixture was nice and warm; that went on next. A few scoops of salsa, and I had a feast.  I could have added a little shredded Mexican cheese, but why tamper with perfection?

Bec meal

For me, this was a satisfying dinner.  It was very low in calories and fat, but bursting with flavor.  It used up some items in my refrigerator and freezer.  And it cost me, well…almost nothing.  Can’t beat that for a throw-together meal!

Chicken Dance

Posted in Main Course, Meat Dishes, Recipes by

There’s a little cabin in the sky, Mister

For me and for you

I feel that it’s true somehow

Can’t you see that cabin in the sky, Mister

An acre or two of heavenly blue to plow

We will be oh so gay

Eat fried chicken every day

As the angels go sailing by

          -From the Broadway Musical “Cabin In The Sky” (1940) (Vernon Duke / John Latouche)

 

When my sister Jen heard that I was frying chicken for my family Sunday night, including the visiting Vermonters, she told me she thinks I might be the only remaining person in the world who still fries chicken.

“Well, there might be five or so in the entire world,” she said, “but you’re the only one I know of.”

There you have it. Fried chicken. It’s what’s for dinner.

Sunday night was the first time I was able to prepare a meal for the whole gang since they arrived.

“What would you like me to cook for you?” I asked our daughter.

“Whatever you would like,” she said. (She’s more polite than the rest of the family.)

“It doesn’t matter to me,” I said. “What sounds good to you?”

The sheepish look she got in her eye should have given me the answer immediately.

“Weeeeelllll,” she said, “I have been hungry for your fried chicken.”

Whaaaaaaaat? Heather too? She’s got celiac disease and can’t eat gluten! Doesn’t that count for something?

There isn’t a single time – not one single time – that I ask Bill McLain what he would like me to make him for a special dinner that he doesn’t say fried chicken. It runs in the family. It’s the one thing I make that will bring everyone to the table in a way that, say, eggplant and kale casserole doesn’t.

I fry chicken the way my mother fried chicken. She was taught how to fry chicken by my grandmother. I only learned as an adult that it isn’t necessarily the way everyone fries chicken. And, in fact, I only learned a couple of months ago from a Food Network program that I fry chicken the way they fry chicken in the Midwest as opposed to the South. Thanks Amy Thielen from Food Network’s Heartland Kitchen. I thought I was an anomaly. The main difference is that you fry the chicken until it’s brown, but not completely cooked, and then finish it in the oven. Instead of being really crispy, it’s more tender and falls off the bone. Yum.

Frying chicken is messy. There really is no way around that fact. The grease splatters. If I don’t get snapped by grease at least once in the chicken frying process, I’m doing something wrong. I have ruined many a shirt by frying chicken without wearing an apron. Shame on me.

By the way, I used gluten-free flour to accommodate our daughter.

So am I really the only remaining person who fries chicken? Do you or does someone you know fry chicken?

I have provided this recipe before, but it’s worth repeating……

My Family’s Fried Chickenfried chicken

Ingredients
1 frying chicken, cut into 10 pieces (my mother always cut each breast into two pieces}
1-2 c. flour, well-seasoned with salt and pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper
Butter and vegetable oil, half and half, deep enough to fill a pan to a depth of about a quarter of an inch

Process
Preheat the butter and oil in the fry pan until it’s hot enough to sizzle if you flick a drop of water into the pan. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour, shaking off the excess. Lay the pieces skin-side-down into the hot oil. Cook until it’s nicely brown, 5-6 minutes. Turn over and do the same on the other side. It doesn’t have to be cooked all the way through. Only fry a few pieces at a time or your shortening will cool down too much and your chicken pieces won’t brown nicely.

As you remove the chicken pieces from the pan, place them into a roasting pan. (Conversely, you can place them temporarily on a plate and return all of the pieces to the pan to finish. Make sure your pan is oven-proof and has a lid if you choose this option.) Cover the roasting pan with aluminum foil and place into a preheated 350 degree oven for an hour or so until the chicken is cooked through and falls off the bone.

Nana’s Notes: I’m convinced the key to good fried chicken is a cast-iron pan. I would never fry chicken any other way. I’m a cast-iron using fried chicken snob. What can I say?

Finding Nemo’s Southern Cousin

Posted in Main Course, Recipes, Whimsies by

tom's home cookinI am heavily influenced by what I read in books, especially when it comes to food.  For example, a couple of weeks ago, I read a mystery called The Lost Ones by one of my favorite authors, Ace Atkins. The series is about a former Army Ranger who returns to his roots in a small town in Mississippi and becomes sheriff. Since this isn’t a book review, I won’t tell you how much I liked the book, though I will offer the link so you can decide for yourself.

However, in what almost seemed like a theme, throughout the book, the characters ate fried catfish. Seriously, I can’t tell you how many scenes took place over a plate of fried catfish. There was even a discussion by some of the characters about how you can tell if a person eating the fried catfish is a Yankee because he or she will use a knife and fork. Southerners use their fingers.

I don’t know if that is true. But what I can tell you is that since I read that book, I have been hungry for fried catfish.

In the past, I would have called up one of my friends and we would have gone to M&D’s Barbecue for some fried catfish. Unfortunately, that restaurant closed several years ago because the owners apparently didn’t pay their taxes. Kids, always pay your taxes.

Since they closed, I have been completely lost in my attempts to find good southern food, specifically barbecued ribs and fried catfish. But I was reminded in the past week or so that there is a restaurant in the Five Points area near downtown Denver that offers really good southern food, including fried catfish.

Bill and I considered taking light rail to Tom’s Home Cookin’ as there is a train stop steps away from the front door. But it would involve a change of trains and Bill is busy painting everything in our house that doesn’t run away from him (I try to keep moving to be safe), so he didn’t want to take that much time. So we drove. It took probably twice as long. What can I say?

Well, one thing I can say is that the restaurant was amazing. It is such a good example of a couple of guys having a REALLY good idea and carrying out that idea in sublime fashion. The menu changes daily, except for a few items (such as fried catfish and fried chicken). Each day offers a simple menu. You choose your main dish (today choices included meatloaf, roast beef and gravy, barbecued pork, as well as the standard catfish and chicken). You choose two sides and your choice of beverage (which includes sweetened iced tea). You order at a counter. They don’t take credit cards. You aren’t allowed to have a person save a table; it’s first come, first served. And absolutely NO USE OF CELL PHONES IS ALLOWED, as it is a very small restaurant. They are opened Monday through Friday from 11 to 3. Period.

It sounds very crabby, but the two guys who own the restaurant and work the counter couldn’t possibly be friendlier or nicer. The line yesterday, and apparently every day, was out the door at 11:30. People of every age, gender, nationality, color, and economic background were represented. Suits, shorts, skirts, and jeans.

My catfish was delicious and I was a very happy diner. I am not offering a restaurant review, though I would give Tom’s a good one. I’m just impressed that a couple of guys had such a good idea and are apparently so successful. God bless America!

During Lent last year, I got a notion to make my own fried catfish on a Friday instead of going out for our standby cheese pizza. I used a recipe supplied by Food Network’s The Neely’s, and, if I must say so myself, my result was very good. It’s just that any time you have to fry anything, it involves a lot of cleanup. And I always worry way too much about where I’m going to go with the leftover grease. It seems easier just to eat out.

Nevertheless, I am going to provide you with the recipe so that you can enjoy yourself some fried catfish. A side of macaroni and cheese, some cornbread, and spicy collards provides just about the perfect Lenten meal. (Well, except for the Lenten sacrifice part.)

By the way, I ALWAYS eat my catfish with my fingers. How else?

Memphis-Styled Fried Catfish, courtesy Patrick and Gina Neely and Food Networkkris fried catfish meal

Ingredients

1 c. yellow cornmeal

1 T. paparika

1 t. cayenne pepper

¾ c. buttermilk

1 T. hot sauce

4 catfish fillets, skin and bones removed, rinsed and patted dry

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Peanut oil for frying

Process

Preheat a deep-fryer to 375 degrees.

Mix the cornmeal, paprika and cayenne in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, add the buttermilk and the hot sauce. Season the catfish with salt and pepper. Dredge in the buttermilk and then the cornmeal and spice mixture.

Drop carefully in the hot oil. Fry for 4 minutes until crisp. Remove to a paper towel lined sheet tray. Season with salt and pepper.

Nana’s Notes: I used a skillet with a couple of inches of oil in it rather than a deep fryer. It worked fine. The Neelys offered a recipe for a remoulade sauce, but if I can’t dip my catfish in hot sauce, why bother? I made collard greens and homemade cornbread, and it was delicious.

 

Cooking for One or Two: Going Asian

Posted in Cooking for One or Two, Main Course, Meat Dishes by
jennifer   By Jennifer Sanchez
       Maggie and I give each other a subscription to Food Network Magazine each year. I enjoy cooking and taste-testing new recipes. I found this recipe in the April 2014 edition. I would say 75% of new recipes I try, I never make again. But I knew this recipe was a winner the first time I tasted it.
     I’ll share the recipe without cutting down the quantity. The first time I made it I cut the sauce in half and cooked only a small rack of ribs for myself. I made it recently for my kids on Maggie’s first night visiting in Colorado. It was a hit. As a matter of fact, BJ and I learned quickly not to come between Maggie and this sauce! She was dipping any and all food at the table in it.
     The sauce is delicious but my best take-away from this recipe was that these cooking instructions for the ribs cooks them perfectly. Follow the timing exactly as the recipe states and you won’t be disappointed.
     I served this with the Blue Cheese Cole Slaw Bec introduced me to, sweet potato fries (frozen, I love Alexia brand) and garlic bread. If you have Maggie over for dinner, double the sauce.
Hoisin ribsHoisin Baby Back Ribs, courtesy Food Network Magazine
Ingredients
1 c. of hoisin sauce
1/3 c. rice vinegar (not seasoned)
¼ c. of honey (I never have honey at home so I used Agave Nectar. It doesn’t get hard like honey does over time)
2 T. low-sodium soy sauce
2 T.  Sriracha (Asian chili sauce
1 2-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated with a box grater
3 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press
3 2-lb. racks baby back pork ribs
½ c. ketchup
Process
Combine ½ cup of the hoisin sauce, the vinegar, honey, soy sauce, Sriracha, ginger and garlic in a 6-quart slow cooker. Add the ribs and turn to coat with sauce. Cover and cook on low, 6 hours.
When the ribs are cooked, transfer 1 cup of the liquid from the slow cooker to a medium bowl; whisk in the remaining ½ cup hoisin sauce and the ketchup.
The recipe calls to transfer the ribs to a foil lined baking sheet and brush both sides generously with the sauce, then broil bone side down until browned and bubbling, 3 – 5 minutes. I did that final part on the grill.
Transfer to a cutting board and slice into individual ribs.
     If this sauce doesn’t appeal to you, substitute this cooking process with whatever sauce you prefer.

Feeling Herby

Posted in Main Course, Meat Dishes, Recipes by

bush pickup truckI know I’ve told you this before (and let me just add that by time I post my 365th blog, there will be absolutely nothing that I haven’t told you before; bet you’re all looking forward to that), gardening is one of those things that I want to like to do, but simply don’t.

When we bought this house in Denver, the owners apparently were avid gardeners and enjoyed their backyard. One of the notable things about this house for me, in fact, was the raised garden bed in the back yard. ( Remember – I WANT to like to garden.) The homeowner told me the soil was chock full of nutrients and good for growing all sorts of vegetables, “even celery” I remember her saying. Like that meant anything to me.

But for the next three or four growing seasons, I gave it the ol’ college try. I would talk Bill into helping me turn the soil in the spring. (And by help me, I mean he would do it and I would watch.) I would plant seeds for early vegetables such as radishes and carrots and lettuce. I would push beans into the ground, thinking about all of the yummy ham and green beans I would make mid-summer. I planted five or six tomato plants, determined that I would can what we didn’t eat. Zucchini, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, even cauliflower and broccoli.

With great excitement, I would watch the little plants sprout. But pretty soon I saw weeds begin to sprout too. That’s when the trouble began. You see, I hate to weed. So before too long, there were more weeds than plants, and I could almost hear my beans gasping for air. And what wasn’t being overpowered by weeds was being eaten up by pests. Slugs? Ewwwwww.

After a few years, Bill got tired of turning over the soil for a garden that would not live to harvest. Thus ended my short-lived gardening career.

Instead, we accepted a donation of a children’s play set and had it placed right play areaon top of where my garden used to sit. The kids have had many, many hours of fun. And I’ve gotten my garden vegetables from farmers’ markets.

As sort of an aside, there is an area in our yard with a grouping of evergreen bushes. When we moved into the house, the former homeowner had carefully pruned the trees into the shape of three birds. That, too, was a short-lived experience. Here’s what the area looks like now…..

bushy pickup

At one point, Bill used his electric pruner and when he was all finished, we decided it resembled a pick-up truck. You can see the very slight resemblance even yet….

But no birds. Who do you think we are? Walt Disney?

Now I’m very happy to have three tomatoes planted in the ground – a yellow heirloom, an Early Girl hybrid, and a grape tomato. I also have one potted red heirloom tomato plant that seems to like its location on our patio. A basil plant sits in the ground amidst my petunias.

the screamI mostly focus my attention these days on my herb pots. I have one pot of Italian parsley. Another container holds dill, oregano, sage, thyme, and chives. I used to plant my herbs in a strawberry pot – you know, those tall pots that have the little pockets on the side? But each spring when I would go to empty out the dirt in order to refill the pot with fresh soil and herbs, invariably a centipede would be present and my heart would momentarily stop. I looked like the screamer in Edvard Munch’s famous painting. Now I go for a flatter pot from which I can easily dump the dirt into the garbage with my eyes closed, thereby negating the need to see a centipede and recreate The Scream.

All of the grandkids, and Kaiya in particular, love to rub their hands on the fresh herbs, thereby releasing the fragrant smell. They will sniff their fingers and excitedly pick off a piece of the herb plant and put it in their mouth to taste. My goal this summer is to teach them to cook with herbs.

Here’s one yummy recipe….

Scallopine Saltimbocca, Roman Style, courtesy Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen

Ingredients

4 portions veal, chicken, turkey, or pork scallopine

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 slices Italian prosciutto, cut in half crosswise

8-12 large fresh sage leaves

All-purpose flour

3 T. extra-virgin olive oil

6 T. butter

¼ c. dry white wine

1 c. chicken stock or chicken broth

Process

Season the scallopine lightly with salt and pepper, keeping in mind that the prosciutto is cured with salt. Cover each scallopine with a half-slice of the prosciutto. Tap the prosciutto with the back of a knife so it adheres well to the meat. Center a sage leaf over the prosciutto and fasten it in place with a toothpick, weaving it in and out as if you were taking a stitch.

Dredge the scallopine in the flour to coat both sides lightly. Tap off excess flour. Heat 3 T. olive oil and 2 T. butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat until the butter is foaming. Slip as many of the scallopine, prosciutto side down, into the pan as fit without touching. Cook just until the prosciutto is light golden, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook until the second side is browned, about 2 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining scallopine, adding more oil if necessary.

Remove all the scallopine from the skillet and pour off the oil. Return the pan to the heat and pour in the wine. Add the remaining 4 T. butter and cook until the wine is reduced by about half, about 3 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a vigorous boil. Tuck the scallopine into the sauce. Simmer until the sauce is reduced and lightly thickened, about 3 – 4 minutes.

To serve, spoon the spinach in a mound in the center of each plate. Arrange the saltimboccasaltimbocca over sautéed spinach. Spoon some of the pan sauce over the scallopine and serve immediately.

 

Something’s Fishy

Posted in Main Course, Recipes, Whimsies by

Desert-IslandWhen asked that inevitable small gathering question — What food would you take on a desert island if you could only take one? – well, for me, it would have to be pasta. Specifically, spaghetti. Practically speaking, you could gather and catch all sorts of things that you could put on pasta and have an entirely enjoyable meal. Think of the lemons and limes you could squeeze onto the pasta, along with all of the fresh seafood.

Because, friends, while I love a red sauce with meatballs and Italian sausage, and I think a good Bolognese sauce is out of this world, there is nothing I like better than pasta with clams or shrimp or calamari or scallops or – oh my word – lobster.

I love most kinds of seafood – both fish and shellfish. Off the top of my head, I actually can’t think of a kind of fish that I don’t like. And here’s the thing – spending my formative years in the heart of cattle and corn country, fish and shellfish were not big on the list of things we ate while growing up.

Being a cradle Catholic, I well remember the days when you couldn’t eat meat on Friday. Mom would throw together a salmon loaf or a tuna casserole or maybe heat up some fish sticks on Friday. Dad would be crabby. But then she and Dad would stay up until midnight so that she could fry him a skinny steak and some eggs.  But I don’t remember her ever preparing any kind of fresh and delicious fish. At least not when I was a child.

There’s probably a reason for the lack of fresh fish in her cooking repertoire – no fresh fish available. I have no recollection of any fish being sold in the grocery stores. Perhaps you could have found some frozen fish, though I’m not even sure about that. I don’t remember finding fish on the menu of any restaurants except perhaps for trout almondine. Anglers might have pulled fish out of some of the nearby lakes, and there were probably some kind of fish swimming in the Missouri River that borders eastern Nebraska, but none made it to the Gloor table.

So why do I like fish so much?

Bill is a different story. He tolerates some fish. Up until about a year ago, I would have told you Bill dislikes all fish. After more than 20 years of marriage, I finally figured out that he really only dislikes salmon – which is the fish I always tried to feed him. He would never complain, but his face always looked so sad when I placed the salmon down in front of him. Now I know I can serve him a mild white fish like tilapia, and he only looks a little sad.

“Did your mother ever make fish when you were little?” I asked him the other day.

He said yes, but pretty much like my mom did. Tuna casserole, perhaps trout almondine. Since Bill’s father grew up in North Carolina, I imagine fish wasn’t what he was yearning for after a hard day’s work at the steel mill either. But Bill said there was one kind of fish the entire family enjoyed. There was a restaurant called Phil Schmidt’s in Hammond, Indiana. Every once in a while, Rex and Wilma McLain would pile the four kids into the Buick and drive to Hammond for lake perch. I hope I can try fresh lake perch before I die.

You either like fish or you don’t. The majority of our grandkids like most fish. Dagny says no thank you to fish of any kind, as does Kaiya. But the other day Bill and Alastair went on an outing that included lunch, and when Alastair was asked what he wanted, instead of the hamburger Bill expected him to order, he chose fish and chips. Alastair will ALWAYS choose fish of any kind. You should see him when I make mussels.

I’ve been going on and on about fish because the last recipe I’m going to post this week includes scallops. This recipe is a bit different from the others I have searchposted this week in that it is a recipe I have made many times. However, it comes from a cookbook from which I make exactly two recipes – this one and Spaghetti Carbonara. I could actually just copy these two recipes down and give away the cookbook. However, I happen to really love this particular cookbook despite its limited use by me. So it maintained its place on my bookshelf following the Great Cookbook Giveaway.

By the way, in the same way that I WISH I liked to garden and I WISH I liked baseball, I WISH I liked to fish. I look longingly at the folks standing in the river on the way up to Estes Park wearing rubber boots to their knees and casting their flys. I know!  I can spend the day fishing, come home and grill up the fresh trout, serve it with the green beans I harvested from my garden, and listen to the Colorado Rockies on the radio. In my next life.

Scallop Sauce with Olive Oil, Garlic, and Hot Pepper, courtesy Essentials of Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

Ingredients

1 lb. fresh bay or deep sea scallops

½ c. extra virgin olive oil

1 T. garlic, chopped very fine

2 T. chopped parsley

Chopped hot red chili pepper, to taste

Salt

1 to 1-1/2 lb. pasta

½ c. dry, unflavored bread crumbs, lightly toasted in the oven or in a skillet

Process

Recommended pasta: As in so many other seafood sauces, spaghettini, thin spaghetti, is the most congenial shape but spaghetti is an equally valid choice.

Wash the scallops in cold water, pat thoroughly dry with a cloth towel, and cut up into pieces about 1/8 in thick.

Put the olive oil and garlic in a saucepan, turn on the heat to medium, and cook, stirring, until the garlic becomes colored a light gold. Add the parsley and hot pepper. Stir one or twice, then add the scallops and one or two large pinches of salt. Turn the heat up to high, and cook for about 1-1/2 min, stirring frequently, until the scallops lose their shine and turn a flat white. Do not overcook the scallops or they will become tough. Taste and correct for salt and hot pepper. If the scallops should shed a lot of liquid, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and boil down the watery juices. Return the scallops to the pan, turn them over quickly, then turn off the heat.

Toss thoroughly with cooked drained pasta, add the bread crumbs, toss again, and serve at once.

scallops

Nana’s Notes: I always use the little bay scallops as I think they are sweeter and more bite-sized for this dish. Since the use of Parmgiano Reggiano cheese is eschewed with seafood in Italy, the bread crumbs provide a little extra flavor and crunch. I absolutely LOVE this sauce, and always serve it with spaghetti. Serve with bread to dip in the olive oil. It would work perfectly on a desert island.

By Essentials of Italian Cooking from Amazon here.

By Essentials of Italian Cooking from Barnes and Noble here.

When I Grow Up

Posted in Main Course, Meat Dishes, Recipes, Whimsies by

imgresA couple of years ago, I entered a contest offered by Real Simple Magazine in which contestants wrote – in 500 words or fewer – about a memorable cooking experience they shared with a  friend. I have no idea how many people entered the contest. It could have been thousands; it could have been five. All I know is that I was selected to be one of the five finalists.

I didn’t win. The winner was selected by readers’ online votes. I launched an ambitious Facebook campaign, but seeings as I only have 62 Facebook “friends,” the campaign didn’t really pass muster. But hey, being one of the finalists was impressive, no? Well, unless only five people entered….. .

I love to write, and I think that it is something that I don’t particularly suck at. (Except that I just ended that sentence with a preposition.) Here’s the thing. From the time I was a little girl, that’s what I wanted to do for a living – write. I vividly remember my BFF and I writing stories in elementary school – not for a homework assignment, but just because we wanted to write stories. We turned them into our third grade teacher, who likely had a good laugh over them, but accepted them graciously. I would LOVE to see those stories now. I wonder if Miss Gaspers saved them? She could be a millionaire when I become a famous writer. See? I still want to be a writer when I grow up.

The funny thing is that when I was 18 and entering college, what I decided to major in was Human Development – specifically, teaching preschool. No writing. By that time, either I had forgotten that I liked to write or I simply didn’t have the slightest idea what sort of careers involved writing.

Between the time I quit the University of Nebraska (intending never to return to college) and began attending the University of Colorado (after realizing I didn’t want to be a Safeway checker my whole life), Watergate happened. Suddenly it was cool to be a journalist. I earned my degree in journalism and my advanced degree in communications. Boom. My third grade dream was finally being fulfilled. I actually did spend my entire professional life writing at least some of the time.

I bet there aren’t many people who actually have a career as an adult doing what they dreamed to do as a child. After all, there just aren’t that many openings for NBA players or princesses. I only know two: our son David always wanted to be a lawyer, and is; and my niece Maggie always wanted to be an elementary school teacher, and was a great one until she quit to be a great mom. In fact, I can picture Dave in his kindergarten class wearing a little tiny suit with a little tiny bow tie explaining torts to the rest of the class as they played with finger paints.

I began wondering what my grandchildren want to be when they grow up. So I asked. Here is the rundown:

Addie (11): Math Teacher or Business Owner

Alastair (9): Architect

Dagny (8): Entomologist

Maggie Faith (6): Teacher or “a normal mom” (as opposed to an abnormal mom?)

Kaiya (5): Teacher

Mylee (3) Doctor

Joseph (5) Fireman and superhero (not mutually exclusive I’m happy to say)

The two little boys can’t talk yet, so their dreams remain a mystery for the time being.

Impressive. They are our future, my friends.

Back to the Real Simple contest. As I said, I did not win (which would have gotten me an assignment as a guest writer for their magazine). My consolation prize? A cookbook entitled dinner tonight: done! (really with the annoying lack of capital letters and the exclamation point). I felt a little like Charlie Brown when he opened his mailbox and found only a rock. Oh well.

dinner tonight: done! was one of my cookbooks that I had never used. So annoyed wassearch I, in fact, that I had never even cracked it open until this week. Lo, and behold, it actually has some good recipes. Guess I will retrieve my ball and bat and go back to the playground. Even if it has that exclamation point in its name and the author thinks (s)he is e.e. cummings.

Out of all of the recipes, I chose ham. Random, I know. But the ham I had for Easter brunch tasted so good to me and I thought the recipe sounded good. It was. In deference to my husband who isn’t a fan of asparagus, I used green beans.

By the way, the recipe titles also don’t have capital letters. Sigh.

ham dinnerapricot-glazed ham with potatoes and asparagus, courtesy Real Simple’s dinner tonight: done!

Ingredients

1 3-lb. boneless ham

¼ c. apricot preserves

1 pound fingerling or some other small potatoes (about 12)

Kosher salt and pepper

1 pound asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 T. olive oil

1 T. white wine vinegar

1 T. prepared horseradish

¼ c. fresh dill sprigs

Process

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place the ham on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and cook until heated through, 50-60 minutes, spreading the ham with the preserves after 20 minutes of cooking.

Meanwhile, place the potatoes in a large saucepan and add enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil and add 1 t. salt. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, 15-18 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the potatoes to a colander. Run under cold water to cool, then cut into quarters.

Return the water in the saucepan to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook until tender, 2-3 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, horseradish, ½ t. salt, and ¼ t. pepper. Add the potatoes and asparagus and toss to combine; fold in the dill. Thinly slice the ham and serve with the vegetables.

Buy dinner tonight: done! from Amazon here.

Buy dinner tonight: done! from Barnes and Noble here.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Lost Art of Cookbooking

Posted in Main Course, Meat Dishes, Recipes, Whimsies by

bookshelf (1)At last count (which was about 10 minutes ago), I had 51 cookbooks. Out of those 51 cookbooks, I likely haven’t prepared a single recipe from, hmmm, probably three-fourths of them. Out of the ones from which I have cooked, I have probably only made one recipe out of all but three or four.

That leaves about 35 cookbooks that do nothing in the way of helping me prepare dinner. And only three or four that have been more than simply thumbed through.

And that’s nothing. At one point I had two bookshelves – each with two shelves – completely full of cookbooks.  Book stacked on top of one another. Books overflowing with handwritten recipes stuffed inside. One day I simply couldn’t look at the mess any longer. I was  brutal in determining whether the cookbook stayed or went to Goodwill where perhaps it would get a new home in which the cook-of-the-house would pay it some attention. Adopt-a-book.

Needless to say, I love cookbooks. I thoroughly enjoy reading recipes – even recipes for food I would never make. I particularly like cookbooks that have stories that go along with the recipes. I kept some good examples of those types of cookbooks.

I regularly comtemplate the notion of my compulsive cookbook purchasing. Recently, while still in Arizona, I began wondering if others share my love of cookbooks. I started asking my nieces and nephews the names of their favorite cookbook.

“Excuse me?” they all asked. “Favorite what?”

That’s when it became clear to me that no one uses cookbooks any longer. And if I’m being honest, including me. If I need to know how to make something, I go to the internet, just like everyone else.

A couple of my nieces told me they cut recipes out of magazines or print out recipes that they find online and keep them in a notebook. All of them use Pinterest. But no cookbooks.

I asked Bec if she had a favorite cookbook. She admitted that since she had moved so frequently – most recently from northern Virginia to Phoenix – she didn’t hang on to a lot of cookbooks. But she recalled that when she was first married, she used a Cooking for Two cookbook a great deal. I’m guessing it was  published by Betty Crocker and she probably received it as a wedding gift. All of we Baby Boomers had cookbooks published by Betty Crocker. The big Betty Crocker Cookbook is still my go-to cookbook for everyday cooking. I pull it out every single time I make homemade pancakes or biscuits-from-scratch.

Jen told me her most-used cookbook is one of Lidia Bastianich’s Italian cookbooks. I will be reviewing Lidia’s newest cookbook on Friday. I have every single one of Lidia’s cookbooks. I use some more than others. My Lidia Bastianich Italian American Cookbook is one that I still frequently use. There are red sauce or olive oil stains on many of the pages. That is the sign of a good cookbook.

This week my plan is to blow off the dust from four different cookbooks and prepare a meal from each. Some I will not have tried before; others are part of my existing repertoire.

The first cookbook I pulled off the shelf is called Screen Doors and Sweet Tea, searchby Martha Hall Foose. It is one of my favorite cookbooks, though I haven’t prepared a single recipe from it until last night, when I made Country Fried Steak and Gravy. Along with each deliciously southern recipe, Foose gives a story about the recipe’s origin or a family memory relating to the recipe. Though I grew up in the Midwest as opposed to the South, the small-town experiences she describes are nearly identical.

In fact, the name itself is the reason I bought the cookbook. To this day I am a big fan of screen doors. I vividly remember our back door being open all summer long during my youth. In the evening, we would hear the June bugs hitting the screen as they flew towards the light in the kitchen. Ewwwww. The sound of a wooden screen door slamming – thump….thump,thump – is etched in my mind and reminds me of summer.

Do you have a favorite cookbook?

Country-Fried Steak,courtesy Screen Doors and Sweet Tea, by Martha Hall Foose

Ingredients

1-1/2 lb. beef round steak, tenderized and cut into 4-inch pieces about ¼ inch thick

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 t. baking powder

1 large egg

Vegetable oil for frying

1 small onion, thinly sliced

¼ c. cake flour

2 c. whole milk

Hot pepper sauce

Process

Pat the steak dry. In a bag, combine the all-purpose flour with 1 t. salt, 1 t. pepper, the cayenne, and baking powder. Add the steak pieces one at a time and shake in the flour to coat. Set the coated steak aside.

In a small dish, beat the egg with 2 T. water. Dip each flour-coated steak piece in the egg wash and then shake in the bag with the flour again to coat well. Set the steak on a rack for about 15 minutes to dry slightly and to help the coating adhere.

Set a wire rack over a baking sheet lined with newspaper or paper towels. In a 10-inch skillet, heat ¼ in o oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Place Country Fried Steakthe steak pieces in the skillet and cook until the sides begin to turn golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Carefully6 turn and rearrange the meat, cooking until no juices are running out and the crust is a deep brown, about 4 minutes. Set the steaks to drain on the wire rack.

Pour all but ¼ c. of drippings out of the skillet. If there is not enough oil left in the skillet, add enough to make ¼ cup. Add the onion. Heat the skillet over medium heat and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Sprinkle the cake flour evenly over the hot oil, stirring constantly. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly brown. Slowly stir in the milk until smooth. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce.

Return the fried steak pieces to the skillet with the gravy and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Nana’s Notes: I used top round that I pounded with a tenderizing hammer. Next time I would buy cube steaks. They are already tenderized and are thinner. The round steak is plain and simply kind of tough, and it really needs to be no thicker than a quarter of an inch. With that change, this recipe was a winner.

Buy Screen Doors and Sweet Tea from Amazon here

Buy Screen Doors and Sweet Tea from Barnes and Noble here

 

 

Cooking For One or Two: Cooking from Down South

Posted in Cooking for One or Two, Main Course, Meat Dishes, Recipes by
My sister Jennifer Sanchez is going to become a regular contributor to Nana’s Whimsies, offering us her unique perspective on cooking for one or two.
cooking for one
          Many years ago, thirteen to be exact, I was met with the challenge of cooking for one. For nearly all of my adult life I had cooked for a family and suddenly this changed. It took a long time to adjust to cooking for one but over many years I believe I have this down pat.
          When I was first single I knew a couple of things. One, I was never going to be the person who ate a bowl of cereal or a bowl of popcorn for dinner. The second thing I figured out quickly was dining on a Lean Cuisine after a long day at work wasn’t going to work for me. I thought surely if I ate it with a glass of wine, that would pull it up a notch. Blah, yuck, gross.
          On occasion I’ll post on Nana’s Whimsies and give you ideas for cooking for one or two. Yummy dinners that are as satisfying as cooking for a family.
          I love to watch Food Network. And I love to read new recipes. One thing I most alwaysjennifer do is cut the recipe in half and sometimes in thirds. I always find that it works perfectly that way.
          Be forewarned, I make a few changes to every new recipe I try. For example, this recipe called for melted butter in the sauce. I’ve never added butter, so I can’t tell you if it’s better that way. Paula Deen would say it is better that way!
Caroline Style Barbecue Chicken,  courtesy of Food Network Magazine
Ingredients
¼ cup yellow mustard
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
1/8 cup packed light brown sugar
¾ tsp of mustard powder
1 tsp hot sauce
¼ tsp of Worcestershire sauce.
Process
Whisk all ingredients in a bowl and prepare a bone in chicken breast to grill. Sprinkle some olive oil over the breast and season with garlic salt and course pepper. Let the chicken breast sit in the sauce for approx 10 minutes.
Grill the chicken, basting with the mustard sauce during grilling.
Jen's dinner
          I think chicken can be tricky to get done on the grill so if the meat has nice grill marks but the outside seems to be close to burning, turn off one side of the grill and let the meat finish cooking from the heat of the grill. In the winter I’ve made this in the oven as well and it is equally as good.
I served it this night with steamed broccoli (steamed in the microwave or baked in a hot oven in the winter) with a little of the mustard sauce sprinkled on top of that. I made an artichoke as well.

 

Make Yourself Homely

Posted in Main Course, Recipes, Whimsies by

I’ve mentioned two or three thousand times that my paternal grandparents came to the United States from Switzerland in 1924. I never asked them directly why they did so, but I imagine the economy had been impacted by World War I, and perhaps they even saw the handwriting on the wall regarding another imminent war. Ask your parents and grandparents question now, Kids. It will soon be too late.

amerika1905

This is the actual ship upon which my grandparents sailed from Bremen to NYC in 1924.

As you know if you paid attention during World Geography, Switzerland is a small country bordered by Germany, Austria, Italy, and France. The language spoken by the Swiss people depends upon the nearest border country. In other words, some people speak French and some speak Italian. But the majority of folks speak German, or at least a form of German. My understanding is that the formal written language is German, but I can tell you from personal experience that the spoken language is a Swiss dialect form of German. I studied some German, but never was able to understand a word my grandparents spoke when they weren’t speaking English.

When my grandparents settled in Columbus, my grandfather – who now had his own business – immediately took lessons to learn to speak English. I don’t think he was required to do so; he just presumed that to successfully run the bakery, it would help to know the English language. He always spoke perfect English.

My grandmother, on the other hand, didn’t study to learn English. Now don’t get me wrong. She

Grammie knittinglearned English. She just didn’t take formal lessons. She learned it by talking to people and working the front end of the bakery.

Imagine that. Imagine suddenly living in a place where you didn’t speak a word of the language. Bill and I struggled with language enough during our big adventure, and that was only for three months, and as tourists, we could get away with a lot. For Grammie and Grandpa, English was going to be the language they spoke for the rest of their life. I’ve always been amazed at how well they adjusted.

And especially my grandmother – learning the language without a single lesson. Now don’t get me wrong. She didn’t speak perfect English. But she spoke her version of English and it was certainly understandable by everyone. In fact, it was absolutely perfect to our ears.

If you have ever studied a foreign language, you probably know that there are certain words that you just don’t translate well. It might take five or six words to explain what a word means, and then it still doesn’t quite fit the bill.

Grammie had a lot of words like that. Dad picked them up, and so did Mom. In fact, we all learned what really was, for all intents and purposes, a secret language. Our spouses had to learn them, and our children have listened to them since birth.

Since most of them are either Swiss/German words, or a variation of such, I am not certain how they would be spelled. Many likely would require an umlaut, which is a symbol placed over a vowel indicating a slight variation in the sound. My keyboard doesn’t include the umlaut, and most would have trouble pronouncing it anyhow. You just have to work with me here.

I will give the word, spelling it the best I can, give as much of a definition as I can, and then use it in a sentence.

So:

Fuscht — mess around with, as in “Will you quit fuschting with your hair.”

Blurt — stupid, silly, as in “The TV show Nashville is becoming very blurt.”

Honyock (pronounced hun-yock) — little stinker, as in “Austin Joseph Jensen is a honyock.”

Bundy — a group of people who are a handful (important distinction). So, this word requires a bit of explanation. Here’s what I mean: The congregation at my church would not be called a bundy. However, there is a family that comes to church every Sunday. They take up the whole pew. The family consists of a couple of Grandmas and Grandpas, some grown children and their spouses, and some grandchildren. The grandchildren are constantly crawling back and forth on the pew, going from one grandma to another. During the handshake of peace, everyone has to hug everyone else, and it causes quite a disruption. This family is a bundy.

Frufra — backside, as in “She fell down and landed on her frufra.”

Rappsli — grating, as in “I am going to rappsli some Swiss cheese.”

Schmutzig – this, of course, is an actual German word, meaning dirty, as in “How could you have gotten your clothes so schmutzig in such a short time?

Klotch – hit, as in, “I just got klotched in the head.” In fact, I think klotching was always in the head. I don’t think one got klotched in the stomach, for example.

Knible – rolling pin, and mostly the ones without the handles.

Schweinhunt – this is another actual German word, literally translated as pig-dog. In German, it is highly offensive. In our case, it was almost an affectionate rebuke that meant you were being naughty. My brother said he was often called a schweinhunt.

Kaput – another German word meaning end. For us, it meant a final end, and generally of a piece of machinery, a car, or something that was totally and finally broken.

Boobly – this was Grammie’s word for the little topknot made out of yarn that she put on every single hat she ever knitted or crocheted for us. People frequently wear hats with booblies. For example, the NFL football players this past year all wore stocking caps with booblies. However, something tells me Peyton Manning didn’t refer to his topknot as a bloobly. It was.

Schnabel – Well, I’m not going to translate this one for you. Use your imagination.

While we have all picked up the words as a natural part of our vocabulary, it is interesting to note that it doesn’t seem like our children have. Perhaps we don’t use the words as often as our parents and grandparents did. Or maybe our kids just prefer to use words that are actually in the Webster Dictionary. Still, it makes me kind of sad to see these words pass into obscurity.

The title of my post, by the way, comes from something my grandmother used to say when someone would come to visit her at her home. I’m not sure she ever knew her error, and no one seemed to have their feelings hurt.

Do you have any family words that you use?

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned a delicious French toast casserole that I made for Easter brunch, and someone asked for the recipe. I am happy to provide it, and highly recommend you try it when you have calories to spare.

french toast casseroleBaked French Toast, courtesy Ree Drummond, The Prairie Woman, and Food Network

Ingredients

Butter, for greasing

1 loaf crusty sourdough or French bread

8 whole eggs

2 c. whole milk

½ heavy cream

½ c. white sugar

½ c. brown sugar

2 T. vanilla extract

Topping

½ c. flour

½ c. firmly packed brown sugar

1 t. cinnamon

¼ t. salt

Freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces

Process

For the French toast: Tear the bread into chunks, or cut into cubes, and evenly distribute in the pan. Crack the eggs in a big bowl. Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover the pan tightly and store in the fridge until needed (overnight preferably). Or you can make it and bake it right away.

For the topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and some nutmeg in a separate bowl. Stir together using a fork. Add the butter and with a pastry cutter, mix it all together until the mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in the fridge.

When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the casserole from the fridge and sprinkle the topping over the top. Bake for 45 min. for a softer, more bread pudding texture or for 1 hour-plus for a firmer, crispier texture.

Serve with butter, syrup and berries.

Nana’s Notes: This casserole is decadent. It is the best baked French toast I have eaten. I served it with real maple syrup. We reheated leftovers yesterday, and I think it might even be better the second day.