Shrimp in Lobster Sauce - For Bill

This recipe really is for Bill and not just because it's easy. It isn't actually part of my repertoire, but it's my Aunt Rita's recipe, and my cousin Bill and I were discussing it the other night, and I told him I thought I had it written down somewhere. I found it, Bill, so here it is.

½ pound ground pork
1 tablespoon green onion
1 tablespoon chopped carrot
1 tablespoon chopped celery
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons light vegetable oil (probably should use peanut oil here)
2 pounds raw cleaned shrimp
1 cup chicken stock
1 egg, beaten

Blend together

2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon soy sauce

In a heavy skillet brown the pork, vegetables, and salt and pepper in hot oil. This will take about 5 minutes. Add shrimp and stir-fry until they turn pink. Add chicken stock, and cook, covered for 10 minutes. Add beaten egg , and stir for two minutes. Add remaining ingredients, which have been well-blended. Stir until thickened. Serve with rice.

Now I know my friend Peggy, the shrimp maven from Charleston, would never let shrimp cook for what will amount to 15 minutes here. So after you try the recipe this way, I would suggest you try it a different way, which would be to add the shrimp at the point that the chicken stock has cooked for 5 minutes. That way the shrimp will only cook for about 8 to 10 minutes total.

Omelette Moliere

Adapted from An Omelette and a Glass of Wine by Elizabeth David

So far I have not mentioned Elizabeth David - Elizabeth David who has given me many, many hours of pleasure - reading - cooking - eating. Her writing is scholarly and funny, pure rapture. Her recipes are clear, if not simple, and as bare bones as possible, never contrived. There is not one ingredient too many. It's her recipe for chocolate souffle that I use. She has been the inspiration for many cooks, Paula Wolfert and Laurie Colwin, to name just two. Imagine the ecstasy of spending an afternoon in France eating and drinking and talking with Elizabeth David and her friend Richard Olney. At least they left directions for us to follow in their footsteps. I prefer this omelette (Elizabeth David's spelling) for lunch or dinner rather than for breakfast with, as Ms. David says, a glass of wine.

The recipe actually calls for 3 eggs, but I don't know anyone, including me, who will eat 3 eggs at one time; however, you might want to make it with 3 eggs and then split it with someone for a very light lunch.

If you follow these directions and use beautiful fresh eggs and butter, you should end up with a soft bright golden roll plump and spilling out a little at the edges.

2 eggs
1 tablespoon parmigiano-reggiano
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon gruyère
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Beat 1 tablespoon of finely grated parmigiano-reggiano with 2 eggs. Heat the pan on the stove for about a minute. Put a tablespoon of butter in the pan. When the butter bubbles and is about to change color, pour in the eggs.

Add one tablespoon of gruyère cut into small dice and one tablespoon of heavy cream. Tilt the pan towards you so that some of the mixture from the far edge runs into the middle. Then tilt the pan away from you. In the time it takes to do this twice, the gruyère will have started to melt, and your omelette is ready. Fold it over in three with a fork, and slide it on to the plate. Serve instantly.

Asparagus

While we were sitting around a pool at Lake of the Ozarks, Dell McAbee told me how she cooked asparagus, and I have used her method ever since. You cook them flat in a skillet, saute pan, or saucier – it’s easy, and it’s foolproof.




Dell's Asparagus

Take your asparagus, and snap the ends so they break off leaving the fibrous stalks behind. Trim the bottoms off neatly with a sharp knife.Lay the asparagus flat in a skillet, fill the skillet with water, and salt the water.


Bring the water to a boil, turn the heat down, and simmer for 4 (this is usually about right) minutes. The timing, of course, depends upon how thick the asparagus are. You can poke a stalk with the point of a small sharp knife or a cake tester to see if it's done, or taste the asparagus as you go along (as you would strands of spaghetti).

Alternatively, remove the pan with the asparagus in it from the heat as soon as it comes to a boil, clap a lid on the pan, and let it sit for 8 minutes.

Asparagus are delicious with hollandaise sauce, hot tossed with butter or olive oil and sprinkled with Maldon salt, or chilled to serve vinaigrette.

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Red Curry Shrimp

Adapted from the October 2003 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine, and included in the Bon Appetit Cookbook

Serves 4

Ginny told me about this recipe at Westhampton Beach one fine day. If you like Thai food, you will like this. Olivia and Chris will like it. It's easy, and it's fragrant. You may want to serve this with a little cooked jasmine rice in the bowl.

1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
1 13.5 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 8 ounce bottle clam juice
1¼ pounds uncooked large shrimp, peeled
⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Salt
1 lime, cut into 8 wedges

Cook the red curry paste in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the coconut milk and clam juice and bring to a boil, whisking until curry paste dissolves. Continue to boil, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens enough to coat a spoon. This will take from 5 to 7 minutes. Lower the heat, and add the shrimp to the sauce. Cook, turning occasionally, for about 4 minutes -- just until the shrimp turn pink and are opaque in the center. Turn the heat off, and stir in the cilantro. Season to taste with salt. Divide shrimp and sauce among 4 shallow bowls. Garnish with lime wedges and serve.

Radish & Fennel Salad

Adapted from The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

Sheila, absoslutely one of the best cooks I know, recommended this recipe to me from Jamie Oliver's first cookbook, The Naked Chef. When I bought that book, I didn't know I would end up buying every subsequent one. I've never made one of his recipes that was a dud. This is crunchy and refreshing. I could eat it right now just thinking about it.

3 cups fresh fennel (reserve leafy stalks)
1½ cups red radishes

Cut tops and stalks off the top of the fennel, and set aside. Trim the bottom of the fennel bulbs, and remove the outside leaves if they seem a bit tough. Cut the bulbs in half, and slice as thinly as possible from root to top. Slice the radishes thinly

Put the radishes and fennel into a bowl, and cover with cold water and some ice. Leave for about 15 minutes, until the radishes and fennel are really crisp. Drain, spin in a salad spinner to get them really dry, and put into a bowl. Dress with Olive Oil and Lemon Juice dressing. Optinally, chop the fennel tops and sprinkle on top of the salad.

Olive Oil and Lemon Juice Dressing

Mix together:

2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons olive oil
A pinch of Maldon Salt that you crush with your fingers
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pasta Amatriciana

Adapted from Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

Serves 4

This is one of my favorite meals - tomato sauce with pancetta and chili pepper served over pasta. The perfect pasta is bucatini (perciatelli), but penne, rigatoni, and mezzi rigatoni are also good. Get your pancetta from a reliable source because the strength of this dish depends upon the quality of the pancetta. The best I've gotten in New York City is at DiPalo's on Grand Street in Little Italy (now very little Italy) and Eli's on Third Avenue.





2 tablespoons light vegetable oil
1 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 slices of pancetta (fat and lean), ¼-inch-thick, diced
1½ to 2 cups of Italian plum tomatoes, diced, with their juice (a 14½ oz. can is fine)
Dried crushed red pepper to taste
Salt
3 tablespoons freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino-romano cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound pasta

Put the oil, butter, and onion in a saucepan, and turn on the heat to medium. Sauté the onion until it becomes colored a pale gold. Add the pancetta, and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring once or twice. Add the crushed dried red pepper, and cook for 20 to 30 seconds. do not let it burn. Add the tomatoes and a good pinch of salt, and cook in the uncovered pan at a gentle simmer for about 25 minutes. Taste and correct for salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remember, the pancetta and the cheeses are likely to be salty, and the sauce will have reduced a little by now, so be sparing with the salt.

Toss the pasta with the sauce, then add both cheeses, and toss again.

Broccoli - For Bill

Adapted from a recipe by Andrew Weil

Serves 4

This is a good recipe because it is delicious served hot but also delicious with lemon juice squirted over it once it is chilled, which means it's better than okay to have leftovers.  Plus, broccoli is so good for you!  You can cook this so the broccoli is crunchy, soft, or in between the two, whichever way you like it.  I do broccolini (a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale) this way too, just trimming the bottom ends off and following the same directions.

Put the florets from a head of broccoli in a pan that has a lid. Add 2 to 3 smashed cloves of garlic, 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and ¼ cup water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and cook for about 10 minutes. The liquid should have evaporated by then, and you will be left with olive oil coated, garlicky broccoli. Sprinkle with Maldon Salt to taste.

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Spicy Roast Chicken

I preferably eat dark-meat chicken, so I usually cook some whole legs with the breasts. However, this recipe, which calls specifically for bone-in chicken breasts, is really good, and I urge you to try it if you are cooking for white-meat lovers. Smelling it in the oven will make you smack your lips.

Spicy Roast Chicken

Adapted from The Wednesday Chef , who got it from The Bon Appetite Cookbook edited by Barbara Fairchild

Serves 4

24 ounces whole cherry tomatoes (about 4 cups), stemmed (do not substitute grape tomatoes)
¼ cup olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
1¼ teaspoons dried crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, divided
4 bone-in chicken breasts (10 to 12 ounces each) or wholechicken legs
Salt

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper, and 1 tablespoon thyme in a large bowl to combine.

Place the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet (a half-sheet pan is good). Pour the tomato mixture over the chicken, arranging the tomatoes around the chicken. Sprinkle with salt.

Roast until the chicken is cooked through, and the tomatoes are blistered. The recipe calls for 35 to 45 minutes depending on how you like your chicken cooked. Remember, white meat chicken cooks faster than dark meat chicken.
Transfer the chicken to plates. Spoon the tomatoes and juices over the chicken. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon thyme and serve.

Bolognese Meat Sauce

This might not be the most beautiful meat sauce you ever saw, but to me it certainly is the most delicious.

Even though the instructions look a little intimidating because it cooks for a long time, this recipe is easy, but it is important that you follow the directions exactly. Just be patient. This also makes delicious filling for cannelloni, but that's another story.

Bolognese Meat Sauce

Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

Serves 4

1 tablespoon light vegetable oil
3 tablespoons butter, plus 1 tablespoon for tossing the pasta
½ cup chopped onion
⅔ cup chopped celery
⅔ cup chopped carrot
¾ pound ground beef chuck
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 cup whole milk
Whole nutmeg
1 cup dry white wine (what you would like to drink with it)
1½ cups canned plum tomatoes, cut up with their juice
1 pounds pasta (spaghetti, pappardelle, rigatoni, and mezzi rigatoni are good)
Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table

Put the oil, butter, and chopped onion in a pan (I use a 3-quart saucier), and turn the heat to medium. Cook until the onion is translucent, then add the chopped celery and carrots. Cook, stirring the vegetables, for about 2 minutes.

Add the ground beef, a large pinch of salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Break up the meat with a wooden spatula, stir well, and cook just until the beef has lost its red color.

Add the milk, and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Don't rush this step. Add a tiny grating - about ⅛ teaspoon - of nutmeg, and stir. Don't use pre-ground nutmeg here.

Add the wine, and let it simmer until it has evaporated completely. Again, don't rush this step - be patient; it's worth it. Add the tomatoes, and stir thoroughly to coat all the ingredients. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at a very, very low simmer, with just a random bubble breaking through to the surface now and then. You might have to use a heat diffuser here. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours, stirring from time to time. If the sauce dries out, add ½ cup of water (not broth) whenever necessary to keep it from sticking. At the end, however, no water at all must be left, and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt.

Toss with cooked drained pasta, adding the extra tablespoon of butter, and serve with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese on the side.

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Chicken & Grape Salad

Adapted from The Nantucket Open House Cookbook by Sarah Leah Chase

I use two recipes for chicken salad. One is very plain for sandwiches, usually made with leftover chicken breast (since we eat all the yummy dark meat for dinner) from a chicken I have rotisseried, and this one. It's not revolutionary but hard to beat when you want chicken salad to eat from a plate and not in a sandwich. 

The ingredients may seem somewhat plebeian, but listen to what Sarah Leah Chase says:

While ingredients such as dried thyme, garlic powder, and store-bought mayonnaise reflect the culinary naïveté of my adolescence, the ensuing years of food sophistication spent cultivating window boxes of fragrant fresh herbs and whisking together countless varieties of homemade mayonnaise have yet to yield a more perfectly comforting and soothing chicken salad that this original "Ritz," rendition.

The recipe specifically calls for Hellmann’s Mayonnaise; however, I would recommend that you use whatever commercial mayonnaise is your favorite. When I lived in Atlanta, mine was Blue Plate; when I lived in Virginia, it was Duke's.  But I lived in both places a long time ago, and I can’t get either here.

Chicken and Grape Salad
Adapted from The Nantucket Open House Cookbook

Serves 6

3½ pounds poached chicken breasts (recipe follows)
5 ribs celery, peeled with a vegetable peeler
1½ cups seedless grapes, halved
1½ teaspoons dried thyme
1½ teaspoons garlic powder (do not use fresh garlic however much you're tempted because it will be way too strong)
Salt to taste
3 cups commercial mayonnaise, your favorite brand (not salad dressing)

Remove chicken from the bone, and cut into 1-inch cubes. Coarsely chop the celery. Toss chicken, celery, and grape halves together. Season with the thyme, garlic powder, and salt. Bind the salad with the mayonnaise. You want to use a lot of mayonnaise to make the salad very moist and creamy, but start with 1 cup, adding more as needed. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 1 hour before serving.

Poached Chicken Breasts

3½ pounds chicken breast halves on the bone
Onion slices
Carrot slices
Celery leaves
Parsley sprigs
White wine or vermouth

Fill a large saucepan with water, and spike it with a few splashes of white wine or dry vermouth (I use Noilly Prat). Scatter several onion slices, carrot slices, celery leaves, and parsley sprigs over the top, season with a dash of salt, and add the chicken breast halves. Bring the pan to a full boil, and then turn off the heat. When it is cool, remove the chicken breasts from the liquid, leaving the vegetables behind, and carry on with the recipe.

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Plain Chicken Salad For Sandwiches

I just mix mayonnaise with a little softened butter and salt to taste and toss it with small chunks of chicken and some chopped onion and celery. I butter the inside of each slice of sandwich bread, which keeps it from getting soggy if the sandwiches are to be eaten later.

Cucumber & Sour Cream Salad

I make this all the time. That's because it's so good, it's really easy, you can make it any time of the year, and it goes well with so many of the things I cook.

I use all different kinds of cucumbers - English, Kirby, and regular.

The amounts of ingredients are vague because you have to sort of eye-ball it depending on how much you want to make, so read the recipe in its entirety before you start. Also, now that Greek yogurt is readily available , depending on what you are serving this salad with, you may want to try it in place of or mixed with the sour cream. Full-fat yogurt is best; I wouldn't go all the way down to zero per cent here.

Serves 2 to 4

1 English cucumber, or 2 Kirby cucumbers, or 1 large regular cucumber:
English – wash, score with a fork, cut in half, scoop out seeds, and cut into half moons
Kirby – wash, score with a fork, and cut into thin slices
Regular – peel, cut in half, scoop out seeds, and cut into half moons.
Sugar – start with 1 tablespoon, but be prepared to add more
Cider vinegar – about 2 teaspoons
Salt to taste
Sour cream – about ¼ cup
Dill (optional - for taste)
Paprika (optional - for color)

Take a small bowl and put in sugar - more than you think. Start with 1 tablespoon, but you may need to add more when you're tasting the dressing at the end.

Moisten the sugar with cider vinegar - less than you think (you can always add more of this to taste too) - enough to dissolve the sugar. Start with 2 teaspoons vinegar to 1 tablespoon sugar, and be prepared to adjust. Add a pinch of Maldon Salt. Mix well.

Spoon in about ¼ cup sour cream. You can use low-fat sour cream, although I do not. However, don’t use non-fat sour cream. That’s a product, not a food. Whisk ingredients together. At this point taste and add more vinegar, or sugar, or salt, if necessary.

Add the cucumbers, and stir.

Right before serving, sprinkle with chopped dill (I just snip it with kitchen shears). Also, you can sprinkle on a little paprika when serving. Both are optional; the dill adds flavor, the paprika, color.

Chill until ready to serve. Does not keep particularly well overnight, but two hours in advance works well. Can also do a few minutes before serving.

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Turnips Dauphinoise

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Quick Cook

Serves 4

If my memory serves me correctly, Polly discovered this recipe, which is "a good thing." Most, if not all, of the recipes in this book originally appeared in a much-loved monthly column written by Martha Stewart for House Beautiful magazine.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds small white turnips, peeled and thinly sliced
1¼ cups heavy cream, heated
Fresh thyme leaves to taste
Salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a shallow dish (earthenware, porcelain, or glass - a Pyrex pie plate will do nicely).

Arrange the turnip slices slightly overlapping in a circle in the dish, and dot with butter. Pour the hot cream over the turnips, and sprinkle with thyme and salt.

Cook for 45 minutes or until the turnips are tender, and the cream has thickened.

Fennel & Olive Salad

Adapted from Southern Italian Cooking by J. C. Grasso

Jean and Derek were visiting 920 South St. Asaph Street in Alexandra. After taking off to spend the day at The National Gallery, when they came back in time for dinner, they brought this book as a present. It's a good one. This salad is good too - crunchy, piquant, and easy.

Fennel & Olive Salad
Adapted from Southern Italian Cooking by J. C. Grasso

Serves 4

2 heads fennel, trimmed (tops removed, root end removed, and outer leaves removed if tough) and cut into chunks
12 olives (green or black or a mixture of the two) pitted and cut in halves or quarters (you can even use canned black pitted olives for this)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper

Add vinegar to a salad bowl. Add a pinch of Maldon Salt. Let sit for a couple of minutes. Add olive oil and whisk. Add chunks of fennel, olives, and parley, and toss. Add pepper to taste, and toss again.

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Crab Cakes

Adapted from Beat This! by Ann Hodgman

This is a hilarious book with a lot of good recipes. These crab cakes are particularly good, and the orange sauce to serve with them is delicious.  

This recipe makes eight crab cakes to serve 4, but it can successfully be halved to serve 2.

Crab Cakes
Adapted from Beat This! by Ann Hodgman

Serves 4

1 cup fine fresh breadcrumbs
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup minced onion
1 large clove garlic, minced
4 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
¼ teaspoon cayenne
2 ounces butter, melted
1 pound fresh lump crabmeat, picked over
All-purpose flour for dredging the crab cakes
2 tablespoons light vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (not for cooking; just for keeping crab cakes warm after they are cooked).

Melt the butter; I do this in the microwave.  Let it cool but not cool enough to solidify.  Beat the eggs, then combine them with the breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, onion, garlic, the melted and still liquid butter, and seasonings.  Mix well.  Gently stir in the crabmeat. Shape mixture into four patties.  Refrigerate for an hour.

Remove the crab cakes from the refrigerator, and dredge them in flour. (They will be rather fragile so handle them carefully.)

Heat the oil in a frying or sauté pan until very hot, and cook the patties for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until brown and sizzling. Remove, and keep warm in the oven while you make the orange sauce.

Orange Sauce
Adapted from Beat This! by Ann Hodgman

(This is really an orange beurre blanc.)

2 shallots, minced
1 cup fresh orange juice, boiled until reduced to ¼ cup
¼ cup dry white wine
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into bits
¼ cup heavy cream

Boil the shallots, reduced orange juice, and wine together in a stainless steel or enameled saucepan until the liquid is reduced to ¼ cup. Whisk in the butter bit by bit, until it is all absorbed. The sauce will be almost as thick as a mayonnaise. Remove the pan from the heat; then whisk in the heavy cream.

The butter and cream must be whisked in at the last minute, but the first part of the sauce – the shallots, wine, and reduced juice – may be prepared ahead of time. Just heat the ¼ cup you have before proceeding with the rest of the recipe starting with whisking in the butter.

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Banana Nut Bread

Adapted from The Green Thumb Harvest by Johanna and Patricia Halsey

Makes 2 loaves

You think you don’t need a recipe for banana bread. But you do. It goes well with luncheon buffets, plus it’s a good thing to have hanging around the house (except for the fact that you keep sneaking a little piece here and there).

For over twelve generations, since the 1640’s, the Halsey family has lived and worked the land at a farm on the east end of Long Island, The Green Thumb, in Water Mill, New York. Once a chicken farm, then a potato farm, The Green Thumb now grows four hundred varieties of organic produce with the commitment to grow the best food possible for a healthier planet. The Green Thumb Harvest cookbook included recipes from their clientele, some of whom, according to Craig Claiborne, numbered among the best (and most famous) cooks in the Hamptons. Marcy Olive, who contributed this particular recipe, said that her great-grandmother won first prize with it at the Wabash, Indiana, County Fair in 1889. If you try it, you'll be glad you did.

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup milk
1 cup sweet butter, softened
2½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs, beaten
3½ cups unsifted unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2½ cups mashed very ripe bananas
2 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 loaf pans.

Pour the lemon juice into the milk, and stir until the milk is curdled. These are the liquid ingredients. Set aside.

Put the flour, baking soda, and salt into a separate small bowl. Stir with a fork then sift onto a piece of aluminum foil. Bend the foil to make a "point" so you can pour these ingredients easily. These are the dry ingredients. Set aside.

Beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla until creamy in a bowl large enough to hold everything. Add the eggs, and mix thoroughly. These are the creamed ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients alternately to the creamed ingredients. Stir in the bananas and nuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans, and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Print Recipe.

Tomatoes Stuffed with Zucchini

Adapted from Quick Cuisine/Italian by Anna Maria Victor

Serves 6

This is very pretty and nice to make in the summer when tomatoes, basil, and zucchini are all at their best.

6 tomatoes, tops sliced off and pulp scooped out, discard pulp
Salt
¼ cup olive oil
6 medium zucchini, unpeeled, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
3 tablespoons chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a shallow baking dish that will hold the tomatoes in a single layer. Sprinkle the insides of the tomatoes lightly with salt, and turn upside down on paper towels to drain.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Stir-fry the zucchini over medium-high for 6 minutes. Add the basis and stir-fry for two more minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Season with salt.

Heat butter in a small skillet, and sauté garlic and 2 tablespoons of parsley for 1 to 2 minutes. Spoon some of this mixture in the bottom of each tomato.

Then fill the tomatoes with the zucchini-basil mixture, and top each tomato with a little of the additional tablespoon of parsley. Place in the baking dish, and bake for 15 minutes uncovered.

Pasta e Fagioli

Adapted from Eat This...It’ll Make You Feel Better by Dom Deluise

Serves 2

When I was in school, I made this all the time. It tasted good, was cheap and easy, and I had a couple of vegetarian friends who sometimes ate with me, and it’s vegetarian too. This is from a fun cookbook. I can’t say it’s one of my absolute favorites, but if you look it up on Amazon, you will see twenty reviews, each one with 5 stars. It’s not the cooking of people who live in Italy, but it is the cooking of Italian-American immigrants, so those of us who are second - or in my case third - generation Italian-Americans will recognize this food. Marcella Hazan would not. This cookbook has a lot of vegetarian recipes in it, and that’s because we were stuck for so many years with meatless Fridays. I think Olivia will like this since she’s in school now, and this is a quick, healthy feed. Walter Jones will like it too.

2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce (don’t get fancy; this is better than tomatoes here)
1 cup water
1 large can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (most people I know prefer Goya over Progresso, but use your favorite)
1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
Parsley
Grated cheese – parmigiano-reggiano or pecorino-romano or a mixture of the two

Cook macaroni al dente and set aside. Put the oil in a saucepan, add the garlic, turn on the heat and cook the garlic gently in the oil until just starting to color. Add the tomato sauce. Fill the tomato sauce can with water, and add it tothe tomato sauce in the pan. Cook this or 10 minutes. Add the beans, stir gently, and simmer on a low flame for 10 minutes more.

Add cooked pasta to the pan. Stir gently. (If it gets too thick, add a little more water – but I don’t usually have this problem.) Turn off the head, and add chopped parsley. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Serve immediately or else the pasta will absorb the liquid.

Randi's Rice Salad

Okay, okay. This sounds like a recipe from a woman's magazine. But it's not; I got the recipe from Randi, one of my best friends when I lived in Atlanta. It's really very good.

Just remember to serve it at room temperature, not cold. It's delicious as an accompaniment to cold poached salmon topped with a mayonnaise/sour cream/caper sauce and Fried Peppers. All of that can be made ahead of time, and together it makes a very pretty plate - the yellow rice, the salmon (should I say the salmon salmon?), and the red peppers.

As things happen, Randi and I have lost touch - but this recipe has made me think about her, and I'm going to try to find her, especially since yesterday when I was cleaning out Anthony's attic, I came across a book she gave me inscribed "Friends Forever."

1 recipe The Best Way to Cook Rice made with oil, not butter, and no butter added at the end of cooking
1 or 2 small jars marinated artichoke hearts, drained, reserve liquid and chop artichokes
4 green onions (scallions), chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
12 olives - black, or green, or mixed - chopped

Mix the above ingredients and toss with the dressing.

Dressing

Beat together:

¾ teaspoon curry powder
⅓ cup mayonnaise
Artichoke liquid remaining in the jars that held artichoke hearts (taste to see how much you want to add – this will, of course, depend on whether you’re using one or two jars of artichokes)
Salt and pepper to taste

The Best Way to Cook Rice

Adapted from Craig Claiborne’s Kitchen Primer

Serves 4

This is a rice pilaf recipe that originated from Pierre Franey. I make it all the time.

The Best Way to Cook Rice
Adapted from Craig Claiborne’s Kitchen Primer, attributed to Pierre Franey

2 tablespoons butter or oil
1½ tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 cup converted rice (Uncle Ben's is converted rice)
2 drops Tabasco Sauce, original red
1½ cups chicken broth
1 bay leaf (don't leave this out; it adds a subtle, lovely fragrance to this dish.)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Melt the butter or heat the oil in an ovenproof saucepan with a lid, and add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is just translucent.

Add the rice, and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds. Add the chicken broth, tabasco, bay leaf, and salt to taste, if necessary (but be careful in case the broth is salty), and bring to a boil. Stir once with a chopstick. Cover, and place the saucepan in the oven. Bake for 18 minutes. Remove from the oven.

At this point, if you remove the pan from the heat without lifting the lid, it can sit for 10 minutes.

Toss the grains of rice lightly with a fork, and remove the bay leaf before serving. You can stir in a little butter if you like. This will make it more creamy, so if you want it dry, don't do this. That will depend on what you want to use it for or what you want to serve it with.

You can altelrnatively cook this on top of the stove. To do so, at the point right before you would put the saucepan in the oven, turn the heat on the burner to the lowest setting it can go down to (you might need a diffuser for this), and simmer. After 16 minutes lift the lid for a second to see how far along it's come. It should still take about 18 minutes. Once done, as stated above, you can let it sit for 10 minutes, removing from the heat and keeping the lid on.

Baked Eye of Round

Eye Round Roast
Adapted from Southern Living Party Cookbook by Celia Marks

Eye Round Roast
1 teaspoon or so of vegetable oil for browning the meat

Seasoning Mixture

Mix the following together to use as a dry rub:
Lawry's Seasoned Salt
If you don't want to use Lawry's, use kosher or fine sea salt
Garlic powder
Black pepper
About 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed (I grind it in a coffee grinder that I only use for spices because I never buy ground rosemary)

If convenient, season the meat with the above mixture 2 days before cooking.

Dry rub the entire surface of the meat liberally with the seasoning mixture. Wrap the seasoned meat tightly in aluminum foil, and refrigerate.

About an hour before cooking, remove the meat from the refrigerator to get to room temperature. Brown the meat on all sides in just enough oil to grease a skillet . Place the browned meat on a flat rack in a shallow pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes to the pound for rare or 20 minutes to the pound for medium.

Cut into thin slices to serve.

Because this meat is so lean, you won't have enough drippings to make gravy. It is delicious hot, warm, or at room temperature.

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