Monday, February 8, 2010

"A book of verse beneath the bough,


 A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness –
Ah, wilderness were paradise enow!"

A Loaf of Bread, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam -
illustration by Edmund Dulac.

Quatrain by Omar Khayyam in his 12th century Rubaiyat.

Loaf of bread baked by B.Loved today while I was resting
from our no-knead bread recipe. The world is right even without
the jug of wine... for now.

Friday, February 5, 2010

The will to live

This afternoon B.Loved went outside, camera in hand to bring me a sign of Spring and in the process brought me a sample of how when there is a will, there is a way:


A dead leaf, gossamer transparency, a souvenir of winter embracing a branch of the hydrangeas, and a bud, coming through, still wrapped in the embrace of its presence. Life, perpetual, ethereal, pushing through death to reach for the sun. The eternal cycle, a renewed promise of tomorrows yet to come for us to fill with love and the warmth of the summer.


Here is wishing you the most peaceful and promising weekend filled with laughter and warmth no matter what the weather may be where you are.


Photos by B.Smith (aka B.Loved)

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Sometime a great notion or....

how to use a leftover chicken in a great chicken salad!


This recipe was given to me by Vincent Price once when I was teaching a cooking class at a charity event in a California Winery. He loved the dish I was making and when the class was over he came over, we were introduced and he was most generous with his compliments and as cooks are bound to do we continued to talk food. This was in the early seventies, and the Waldorf salad had not yet lost the luster it would in the coming years and this was a takeoff on that salad, and one that to my understanding he had created himself. 

Anyway, it is a delightful throwback in time and perfect to make if you cook two chickens for dinner, one to eat right away and the other for a cool summer dinner the following day. In our case since we can never do a full chicken justice it is perfect by halving the recipe and having it the following day. Without further ado, here is my favorite chicken salad:


1 roasted chicken cut into bite size pieces.
4 ribs of celery sliced into 1/4 inch slices
About 2 cups of spring onions, scallions, green onions or whatever name you know them by, sliced thin
3 apples, peeled, cored and cut into bite size pieces
1 cup walnuts ( I use pecans)
1 cup golden raisins ( I have used dried cranberries plumped in wine - they were to die for - as a substitute)

Dressing

2 cups of mayonnaise
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons curry powder (if using Madras or any other hot curry powder be careful not to overpower the dressing, it must be a balance between sweetness and heat)
2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
Splash of lemon juice
Fresh tarragon pulled from the stem and the leaves torn.

Make the dressing first and taste it until you are happy with the balance. It is hard to really tell the amount of curry for this recipe because it all depends upon the kind of curry you will be using. I usually use 1 tablespoon hot curry and one of mild. Once you find the right balance you will know because you will want to eat the dressing by the spoon and forget about the rest. But don't.

Put the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently until they are completely covered with the dressing. Then add the torn tarragon leaves on top. It can be made ahead by a couple of hours and leave in the refrigerator, but take it out and let it come to serving temperature, about 15 minutes before serving.


I like to serve this salad over a bed of arugula because the bitter taste sets off the wonderful flavors of the rest of the ingredients. In the summer time some sliced strawberries if they are a bit tart add not only color but another note to a veritable symphony of flavors and textures. A sprinkle of toasted coconut has never done anything to take a thing away from this beauty as well. Tonight I didn't have any fresh tarragon so I used the light celery leaves chopped to add a bit of color and some delicious raspberries from California for the same reason I use the strawberries.

Enjoy it, this salad to me brings greetings from the summer to come when eaten on a gray day, and if you really want the world to sing with you, just make Ms. Moon's Angel biscuits to go with it. Trust me, I know biscuits and her biscuits leave all other biscuits in the dust covered with tears. Here is her recipe:


Ms. Moon's Angel biscuits.



Wednesday, February 3, 2010

e-mail from Summer

Dear Allegra,

Just a short note to let you know that I am on my way; Here, a little sample of what is coming with me.



 Please don't let SAD get you. Just turn on the lights and think how wonderful everything will be once I am there.

Love,

Summer

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Soup for whatever ails you



Remember how I said that my early childhood memories were tied to food in some magical, irreversible way, as if there was some kind of osmosis going on that I cannot understand, but that brings a sense of well being when remembering them both emotional and physical?

Well, this past week I got up here and there, mostly there because gravity and I had a serious discussion and gravity was determined to win it. Stubborn as I am I took to bed not to give up and stayed there most of the time, feeling both miserable and at the same time plotting my revenge against this force that keeps me from doing what I want. And what I wanted the most was a bowl of Hot and Sour soup. The real thing, the same soup Second Sister used to bring to my bed - only after nanny would leave with me her chicken broth with lemon - saying "no, that no good for sick baby. This good and you better soon".  Their rivalry for the children's affection was epic and of course we were the blessed beneficiaries of that which educated my palate in ways that I could have never done for myself I am sure.

Indeed I was not only better after eating it but covered with sweat which I suspect got rid of whatever was ailing me at the time, although I am certain my Mother would correct me by saying that horses sweat, men perspire and women glow. Was I brought up in a Victorian household or what? Don't answer that. Anyway, this is the real thing. Do not try to make it unless you can really get all the ingredients. It isn't worth your time or the flavor. But if you can get them, be prepared. This must be what Chinese Nirvana tastes like if one could taste it. It is great and although they used Tapioca starch or flour at home, I find that cornstarch works just as well, providing one adds just enough to thicken it and not enough to build a brick. Yes, it takes time to build the blocks of ingredients that go into it, but anything worth having is worth working for and this is one of those pivotal meals where body and soul are deeply satisfied and the day after tastes just as good if not better. So here, Second Sister Hot and Sour Soup:


click on the picture to see all the ingredients


 From left:

Marinated Pork sirloin
peanut oil
Cloud Mushrooms
Chinese Black Mushrooms
Chopped ginger
Thinly sliced Shiitake Mushrooms (we like dried ones better)

Egg beaten with Sesame oil
Chicken broth
Dark soy sauces with vinegar and hot pepper oil
Organic firm tofu
Tiger Lily shreds
Chopped green scallions
Fresh bamboo shoots sliced into slivers
Cilantro leaves
Ingredients

Pork marinade:
4 ounces of Pork sirloin, sliced thin and cut into strips
4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Peanut oil to sautee the Pork
 
8 dried wood ear mushrooms - also called cloud mushrooms
8 dried shiitake mushrooms
A handful of tiger lily buds - also called Golden Needles
1/2 cup of thinly sliced bamboo shoots ( in our Oriental markets we can find some already cooked, whole and packed in such a way that there is no need to boil them to take away the bitterness when fresh,  but I imagine one could use canned ones if soaked in cold water for a while to take away that "tin flavor" I find rather unappetizing, and then drained well )
1 slice of fresh ginger the size of a silver dollar about 1-inch thick, chopped very fine.
1/2 brick of firm tofu cut into small dice size
6 cups chicken broth

Dark soy sauce called also Double black soy sauce but any soy would do.
Chinkiang Vinegar - or red wine vinegar
Pepper to taste( I use Szechuan pepper but white would do)
Hot chili oil, to taste, optional
3 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 egg, beaten with the sesame oil

4 scallions sliced green tops included
Fresh cilantro, leaves pulled from the stem.

Marinate the pork for at least one hour in the refrigerator making sure all of it is covered with the marinade. This gives you time to get the rest of the ingredients ready. Soak the dry mushrooms in hot water for at least 30 minutes. When using dry Black Chinese mushrooms after soaking them, rinse them and squeeze them between your fingers to get as much water out as possible. Then cut the mushroom around the stem and discard the stems. Soak the lily buds and after twenty minutes rinse and dry them well. Cut off the hard end, you will know it because it looks just like what it is, the hard end of a lily. Shred the lilies into two or three shreds.

Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot.

In a skillet put some peanut oil, enough to sautee the pork in small batches, add the chopped ginger and the pork and sautee just until it changes color. Add to the chicken broth with all the mushrooms, bamboo shoots, lily buds, and the tofu. When it comes back to a boil add the soy sauce, vinegar and pepper to taste. Now here everything is up to the person who is both making and tasting the soup. Since I use unsalted chicken broth I may need to add some salt remembering that soy sauce can be quite salty but, since I like my soup really dark and strong, I start by adding about a quarter cup of soy and then half as much vinegar, but I start small and keep on adding until I find the balance I am after. I do not believe we all have the same palate when it comes to foreign foods in particular. So go with your palate and add carefully since obviously we cannot subtract anything here.

Once the broth comes to a soft boil again, add the cornstarch - Second Sister used to stir only in one direction and make sure I understood that, no telling why. I just do it. When it begins to thicken, remove from the heat and again, stirring only in one direction, add the egg beaten with the sesame oil. Pour into serving bowls and add the chopped scallion, cilantro and a dash of hot pepper oil if you like.



This is to me the best Hot and Sour soup I ever tasted. Still is, maybe because I truly believed when she said to me "This good and you better soon". Love and food, never too far apart when the cook tells you that. Indeed. Enjoy this with my love and gratitude for all of your caring during these trying times.


Monday, January 25, 2010

Silence due to a series of tiny inconveniences





A little inconvenience...
 and then Ménière's,
  and 
 Tinnitus  joined the party,
this sent me into a deep depression,
 but other than that, the play was really great.
 Missing you all and hoping to be back soon,


Yours truly
Mary Todd Lincoln


 






As dictated by a very inconvenienced Allegra



Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Just being me




Sunday, January 17, 2010

Transformation Sunday

Remember this?



This was the guest bedroom, a silent source of guilt that tripped me every time I went by which meant about twenty times a day.  Guilt. Yes, guilt. We are two humans and 3 trusted companions of the canine and feline persuasion. We do not have guests but maybe once or twice a year, so why all that space to have just a bed? Guilt is bad let me tell you. The worst part of guilt is its persistence. Walk by the guest bedroom, feel guilty. Simple equation that drove me truly crazy.  So finally today I showed guilt the door and here are the results:




We slowly collected all the books around my atelier, whatever was housed in baskets and piles, and created a nest for the two of us to sit and read. Or to have a drink, or to do whatever we want, and guess what? No guilt. Not a single solitary gram of it. A room of our own.



Across from the incredibly comfortable chairs, we had those for years and they are big and solid and French who only deposit their derrière in wide and comfortable chairs, one of the things I like about the French by the way, are my childhood chairs holding my collection of bears. This is not a room to impress anybody with its sophistication. This is our room, to feel surrounded by the things we love, to cuddle a cup of tea or a bear when the getting gets on the other side of comfort.  And too, the chair is not two shades of red, it is the difference between the two types of light, one halogen attached to the bookcase and the other incandescent from the old reading lamp. Just click on the photos if you want to see what all is there.



So here is how we spent our Sunday. We didn't do it all at once, I took plenty of breaks and you can see how happy the bears are. So am I. No more guilt and books and bears. Something is truly right with my world tonight.




Saturday, January 16, 2010

The three hundred dollar bread crumbs


Many years ago in a kitchen far, far away I opened a box and smiled. There are smiles and there are smiles, but none in my book can compare to a cook's smile when a new cookbook, a new knife or a new piece of equipment gets into the kitchen. Oh, I know. I melt often when I get some vintage beads no longer made and I spend hours some times literally fondling them, some gems so pure that you can only hope they were good to the people who mined them and some pearls so dark that you can only see the darkness of the Moon in them. But this is the story about another passion of mine and a firm belief that good tools made any job a joy.



This is an OmniChef food processor. In its day it was revolutionary. This was before the late Carl Sontheimer took the Robot Coupe and turned it into a more familiar Cuisinart. It was so lovely to have this little food processor to make mayonnaise instead of stirring it until my shoulder felt like it would fall off its socket, and/or until the fork felt like it was growing out of my hand- never the whisk as the whisk brings too much air to the mayonnaise or so Chef Narces would remind us, put the fork flat against the bottom of the soup plate and stir carefully, slowly, drops of oil at the time or it would curdle. No, you cannot save mayonnaise once it has curdled, I don't care what anyone says. I can tell and if I can tell anyone can. And some of the best mayonnaise I have ever made was made in this humble OmniChef, soft and with glistening peaks of olive oil, a dusting of dry mustard, the juice of fresh lemons. So, because I am faithful by nature and although I may be flighty in many other ways but never to those who lead to my kitchen's equipment, I still have the OmniChef.

But of course Carl who I had known from my years in New York - he was in "cunni-cut" as my children used to say - convinced me that I "needed" a Cuisinart, even offered to send me one for free but I like to buy my own equipment so I can feel free to critique or criticize whichever, depending upon the actual performance of the piece, rather than because of the friendship - and in the case of a gift - would make it impossible for me to breach a sense of  "I cannot say that because..." So I bought my very first Cuisinart when it first came available from him directly but he sent me a second bowl as a present anyway.

If one is to believe in signs from the Universe there was little left to interpretation about the relationship I would have over the years with my Cuisinart(s). Whoever packed the darn thing put the blade sideways so when I lifted the cardboard box where it resided, it managed to cut my thumb so deeply it required six stitches. Welcome to my world.

I have had at least four different Cuisinarts. In my restaurant I always used a professional Robot Coupe which is the equivalent of going from a Maserati to a Fiat 400 when you cook at home with a Cuisinart. That is, when they were at least somehow awkward but useful.  A couple of years back when we were still entertaining a cast of thousands often enough to justify it we bought a 14 cup Cuisinart. Shock of shocks! As Steve Martin would say "citizen's divorce".

I have no idea who owns the faulty brain behind all the "safety features" but the so called features (in computerese feature is used as a synonym for bug) are anything but safe. It is not a matter of making everything align with the stars crossing the firmament at the time you are cooking, it is a matter of the top ever aligning to the base of the darn thing, period.





So, a week or so ago, in the middle of all my misery when I try to escape into the kitchen to create love, I looked inside the bread drawer and there it was half a loaf of pecan bread I had made a couple of days earlier with the no-knead recipe and it was going to waste. Breadcrumbs coming up. Or so I thought.

Enter the Cuisinart, out the window nearly goes the Cuisinart. I don't know why it just struck me as one more thing to make my life miserable at that moment. And right there and then, not in anger or frustration but in determination I marched back to the bedroom, got back in bed, got the laptop and spent an entire day and half the night doing research. Citizen's divorce in the making.

Today this beauty arrived and I am in hog heaven.I can't wait to start romancing it. It has just the right motor, a wider feeder tube, I won't have to plead with the top to go onto the bottom and stay there, and won't have to wait until it decides I have suffered long enough and go on for who knows what reason and among the reviews I read about my former Cuisinart more than one person said exactly the same thing. If an appliance could be described as neurotic Cuisinart takes all the prizes. So, after more than 30 years of a somehow uneven marriage, I am changing partners; while I would never recommend a KitchenAid blender even to my first enemy, I have used my professional mixer for nearly 30 years and I couldn't live without it. And so KitchenAid food processor, welcome to my world. I hope you know that I will talk about you often, and share what I glean from the way you perform.



(That should be enough of a threat to keep things buzzing along in the kitchen, wouldn't you think?)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, get into the kitchen to make some love and share it. Nothing tastes as good as sharing love and bread.


Thursday, January 14, 2010

Sharing what I cannot eat...yet





It begins like this...



salt is added...



as in Kosher salt...



fifteen minutes after simmering...



garlic, bay leaf, a bit of rosemary, olive oil, vinegar and...
Aleppo pepper!




Who would have thought that a humble little mushroom could become such a delight to the senses? When is that bread going to be ready...? I better check the tomatoes too...




Ready for the oven? hmm...not yet. Maybe some grated fresh garlic on top of the butter, some chopped rosemary, some Maldon salt flakes, and a bit more butter...



Now they are ready for the oven. I will bake them with the roasting tomatoes that way everything becomes Italian there!



Sliced organic tomatoes, local Elephant garlic, sea salt, sugar, chopped rosemary, olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar, and what are those red things all over them?



Look! Aleppo pepper! you would think I love the darn pepper... Well now we will have to share nationalities I guess. Syrio-Italian? Italo-Syrian? let's call them just delicious. Once cooked they keep well in the refrigerator covered with some virgin olive oil and we use them instead of sun dried tomatoes. I guess I must be getting better...I may not be able to eat tonight but I find great delight in sharing the food with you.





 
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