January 14, 2016 · 4:44 pm

LODI

I have been a little quiet in the blogosphere for awhile. We are in Lodi, California, where we will be staying for the month of January. Some time ago I wrote about Lodi when we attended the California State Chili Cookoff Championship https://fromthefamilytable.com/2014/10/26/california-chili-cook-off-championship-2014/ . That’s not the reason we are here this time.

Why, you might legitimately wonder, does one choose to spend January in Lodi? For us, the answer is a bit complex. First, our children have been encouraging us to find a place that could be used as a family retreat. The Sierras are not far away, and that is where two of the families ski and escape the city. Second, we have always wanted to explore this part of California, as we don’t know much about it, and it has a rich history. Finally, we might be able to find a relocation home; we certainly can’t afford LA or the Bay Area.

Lodi is an interesting little town of about 70,000 a half hour away from Sacramento and two hours from San Francisco. It is really all about wine.

As you know, California is responsible for much of the USA’s wine production, and some of it will compete with the finest wines in the world. There are four large wine growing areas in the state: North Coast, Central Coast, South Coast, and Central Valley. These areas are divided into over 130 smaller regions, called AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) according to weather, temperatures, soil, and other growing characteristics. At the same time, some wine fanciers often count only eleven regions where they think high quality wines are produced. These include Los Carneros, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Livermore in the North Coast; the Sierra Foothills; Paso Robles and Monterey in the Central Coast; Santa Barbara and Santa Inez in the South Coast; and Lodi in the Central Valley. Lodi is the only Central Valley place to be included even though wine production in the Central Valley is enormous.

That’s where Gallo is located – headquartered in Modesto – along with Bronco Winery headquartered in Ceres. Gallo produces many labels including those old college favorites, Boone’s Farm and Carlos Rossi along with the label you can only read if you peel off the brown paper sack – Thunderbird. Bronco Winery is operated by a newer generation of the extended Gallo family. They, too, produce many brands, but probably their most famous is Charles Shaw, Trader Joe’s signature “Two Buck Chuck”. The grapes come from ever-expanding plantings throughout the Central Valley.

In all fairness, Lodi has a giant production facility, too.  Constellation Brands, headquartered in New York and the largest wine producer in the world, several years ago paid over $1 billion in cash to buy out Robert Mondavi. Their Robert Mondavi Woodbridge winery sits at the edge of town. (That’s where the chili cookoff is held each year.) But the essence of the local wine-making mystique is set in the 80 or so family-owned wineries that produce only a few hundred or thousand cases of wine each year.

It is impressive how many different varietals are grown in the nearby area, but the main grape is Zinfandel, and Lodi seems determined to make it a competitor with the varietals popular in Sonoma and Napa. This is not the cloying white Zinfandel of a couple of decades ago. I haven’t seen a bottle of that since we’ve been here. These are stylish, well-made wines that can sometimes run over $100 a bottle.

Here are a few you might look for in your local wine store: Klinker Brick, McCay Cellars, Harney Lane Wines, Michael David Winery.

Estate Crush Cinsault
Old Zin Vines Zinfandel
McCay Cellars Trulux Zinfandel
Klinker Brick Old Ghost Zinfandel

Unfortunately, the food to go along with the wine is a little disappointing. Places we have enjoyed are the School Street Bistro, The Dancing Fox Winery and Bakery (The food not the wine.), and a small little bistro away from the downtown, Zin Bistro. The latter is a tiny store-front in a strip mall run by husband/wife chefs and owners; it is a great discovery. The night we were there, their rockfish was cooked perfectly – moist and flaky – and their braised lamb shank was delicious with a gremolata and mashed potatoes. So far we think they make the best food in town, although we have a couple of white-tablecloth places still to check out.

Zin Bistro
Wild mushroom crostini at the Zin Bistro
Rockfish with mushroom sauce
Lamb shank with gremolata and mashed potatoes at Zin Bistro

We’ve already visited Sacramento and been on one side trip to Yosemite to babysit while Sarah and Evan did a demonstration at the Ahwahnee Hotel’s annual Chefs’ Holiday. More travels and food to report later.

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December 30, 2015 · 10:37 am

BRISKET AND LATKES

We are in the midst of our final family visit for the holiday season. Our son, his wife, and their two daughters are visiting from Silicon Valley. We had a couple of days of quiet, and now there is once again pandemonium. We enjoy it.

The family arrived the day after Christmas. We had old fashioned New Mexico posole, as we weren’t sure when they would arrive with all of the bad weather in this part of the country.

The next night, we celebrated our son’s new position with champagne, blinis, sour cream, and salmon roe. Then Christmas crackers for the girls. Finally, brisket that had been cooking all day and served with potato latkes along with green beans and mushrooms. It was a festive evening, indeed.

The recipe for brisket is Susan’s. She got it from a friend many years ago when we lived in Houston. Since then, it has been a big family hit. Sarah took the recipe with her to New York City where she often made it for family meal in the restaurants where she worked. She says that whenever it was served, cheers went up from all of the cooks and servers. The secret to success is long, slow, braising with flavorful seasonings. Plan on at least 10 hours of cooking after an overnight marinade.

My daughter-in-law makes wonderful latkes, so I faced that challenge with a little trepidation. There are lots of recipes out there for latkes, and most folks are convinced that their mother’s are the best. I have modified the recipe in Amanda Hesser’s The Essential New York Times Cook Book (W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 2010). The book is an outstanding modern replacement for Craig Claiborne’s classic, The New York Times Cook Book. The latkes got my daughter-in-law’s approval, so I guess they were alright.

RECIPES

Brisket

Marinated brisket
Brisket in the middle of cooking
Sliced brisket

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons liquid smoke
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion salt
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • salt and pepper
  • 4-6 pound brisket, trimmed

Method

  1. Combine the liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings in a flat roasting pan
  2. Marinate the brisket in the marinade, covered, overnight in the refrigerator. Turn occasionally, and pierce the meat with a fork to make sure the meat absorbs the marinade
  3. Place the pan, covered, in the middle of an oven set at 200°F. Cook at least 10 hours, turning frequently. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
  4. When well done, remove from the oven, slice on the diagonal thinly, and serve immediately. Should serve 4 to 6.

Potato Latkes

Latkes frying
Latkes frying on the second side

Ingredients

  • 2 large russet potatoes, peeled
  • ½ large yellow onion
  • 2 jumbo eggs, separated
  • 1 tablespoon potato flour
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
  • peanut oil for frying

Method

  1. Grate the potatoes and onion. Purists will insist on a grater. A food processor fitted with the grater blade is the fast way.
  2. With your hands, squeeze as much of the liquid from the grated potato-onion mixture as you can. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
  3. Stir the egg yolks, potato flour, salt, and pepper into the mixture, using your hands to make sure the ingredients are evenly combined.
  4. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold into the potato mixture.
  5. In a large cast iron skillet, heat about ¾ inch of peanut oil until it casts a sheen. In handfuls, drop the potato mixture into the hot oil being careful not to burn your hands. Fry until the bottoms of the pancakes are golden brown. Turn carefully and fry the other side until it is golden. Remove from the oil. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately while still warm. Makes about 8 large latkes.
Green beans and mushrooms
Brisket, latke, and green beans

 

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December 26, 2015 · 10:00 am

ViVO GALLERY – ART AND POETRY

For the last several years, ViVO Contemporary Gallery on Santa Fe’s famous Canyon Road has staged an interesting show in which local poets (of which there are many!) compose and read a poem related to works of one of the nine artists who are members of the coöperative that owns the gallery. I have been fortunate to have been asked to participate in the project for several years.

Two years ago, I worked with Joy Campbell who fashions sculptures from old books. She folds the pages of the books into intricate shapes that merge into beautiful and amazing constructions.

 

Here is the poem that I contributed to give a verbal link to Joy’s lovely work:

Old Books

Folded.
Folded again and again
until words disappear
and letters turn to lacy ribbons
hiding the work of
poets and professors who
had filled glacier-white pages
with thoughts and ideas
they hoped would last forever.
Black lines trapped their musings,
held for all to see,
bound together, edged in gold,
scented with sweet musk of leather.

Pages yellow, words fade,
and the book becomes a tattered relic
on a high shelf – the words forgotten.
Just when the trash heap seems certain
there is new life.
Pages, words are folded on themselves,
lost from sight and touch.
In their place are
phantasmagorias, towers of Babel
that transcend language,
visions not communicated
by words alone.
The creator knows what I can only guess.

My memories are inky letters on a page,
engraved upon
the convolutions of my brain and buried
deep within the fissures.
Those memories grow more difficult
to see and hear.
At times they disappear,
hidden by ribbons woven
of spider webs and mold.
Still, they are not ready to be discarded,,
and ask to be transformed, renewed,
if that is possible.

The Creator knows what I can only guess.

This year I am working with Vincent Faust, a sculptor whose media are hunks of steel, metal pipes, cables, and steel rods. His tools include welding torches and foundry equipment. He finishes his pieces with an industrial process that uses powdered pigments. The results are incredibly complex pieces in vibrant colors.

I don’t know yet what my poem will be. I only hope it grabs the ear as strongly as Vince’s sculptures grab the eye.

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December 23, 2015 · 11:08 am

CHOCOLATE BIRDS’ NESTS

Whenever grandchildren visit, we try to find something that they can help cook. They enjoy being in the kitchen, and it is fun to watch them having a good time. For 18-month- and four-year-olds, the recipes need to be fast and simple. Attention spans aren’t long at those ages. The recipes should also be mess-less, but that is usually not possible.

We have made these candies for years, going back to when our own children were little. Simple they are; mess-less they are not. I guess that licking fingers is part of the fun. The candies are always a big hit and disappear quickly after they have set up. The recipe should make about 30 candies,, more if you can make them smaller. You can add nuts or use other flavors of baking chips, but at least with our kids, nuts are not a big seller and they can be dangerous for very little ones.

Melting the chocolate chips
Chow mein noodles
Miniature marshmallows
Chocolate birds’ nests cooling

RECIPE

Chocolate Birds’ Nests

Ingredients

  • 2 12-ounce packages chocolate chips
  • 2 5-ounce cans chow mein noodles
  • miniature marshmallows (optional)

Method

  1. Melt the chocolate chips over very low heat in a saucepan large enough to hold added chow mein noodles, stirring frequently to prevent scorching of the chocolate.
  2. When the chocolate is completely melted, remove from the heat, add the chow mein noodles, and stir until the noodles are completely coated with the chocolate. Stir in some miniature marshmallows if desired.
  3. By tablespoonfuls, drop the mixture into piles on sheets of wax paper. Cool for at least 2 hours or until the chocolate has become firm.
  4. Eat. If there are any left over, store in an air-tight container.

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December 21, 2015 · 2:24 pm

CHRISTMAS VISITS

This week we’ve had Sarah and her two boys – ages four and one-and-a-half – visiting. It has been a different sort of visit than Carol’s last week. A lot more Christmas excitement, visits with Santa, and games and playing.

One of the big events was the Christmas Glow at the local botanical garden. First there was the snow. None of that in the boys’ California. Everyone got bundled up, but the roaring fires set up along the paths were welcome, and we stopped at every one. The unmistakable smell of burning piñon gave a distinctive Santa Fe touch. The lighted sculptures and laser lights glowing on the snow made it magical. Hot chocolate was a favorite, and then we went home for a snack before bedtime.

Warming up by the fire
Visiting Santa wherever he may be
Lights in the Santa Fe Botanic Garden
Garden sculpture
More lights and sculpture
Laser lights on the snow
Laser lights

Last night, Chef Sarah made the meal. First, we stopped by the Cheesemongers of Santa Fe for the makings of a cheese plate, and then we went to the grocery store for the makings of dinner. Besides the cheese, appetizers included French breakfast radishes with Rich Table house-cultured butter and Welsh Halen Môn smoked sea salt.

French breakfast radishes with Rich Table house-cultured butter

French breakfast radishes with Rich Table house-cultured butter

Sarah selected the cheeses. My favorite was the Bent River from Minnesota, but a close second was the Alpencase. The Ameribella stood on its own.

Cheese tray

Cheese tray

The main event included baked red snapper, bucatini with green peas and guanciale, and romanesco with roasted marrow sauce. The bathroom scale this morning told the tale.

Romanesco
Roasting bones and bone marrow
Romaesco pan-grilled with bone marrow sauce
Gunaciale
Bucatini with guanciale, green peas, mint, and chèvre
Baked red snapper
Dinner

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December 13, 2015 · 11:06 am

QUICK QUICHE

This project started with a Nordic Ware 8.5 or 10 inch quiche and tart pan (not sure about the measurements – wider at the top than the bottom) that I bought from our local kitchen store for another project. The pan is a little deep for some tarts, but it is perfect for pie-like fillings, and it seemed to insist that I make a quiche. The removable bottom is convenient for unmolding the quiche, but an ordinary pie pan will work just fine.

Tart and quiche pan with removable bottom

Tart and quiche pan with removable bottom

I confess that making a quiche from scratch is usually more than I want to undertake, so this time I decided to use all of the short-cut methods I could find. This approach included buying a ready-made pie crust from the refrigerator section at the grocery store, along with pre-diced ham. I could have also used ready-shredded Swiss cheese, but shredding my own seemed simple enough.

With a little rolling, I made the pie crust big enough to fit easily into the pan. I baked it blind, so even though the crust started out at the edge of the pan, there was a little shrinkage and the sides were not as tall as they could be. I chilled the unbaked crust for a half-hour in the refrigerator to reduce shrinkage – which it did – but there was still some. The other challenge of baking blind is that you need to prick the bottom of the crust with a fork to prevent it from rising in the middle. Then, when you fill the partially baked crust with a liquid to be baked, you run the risk of leaks. I dealt with that problem by making a thick paste of flour and water so that when the crust had cooled but had not been filled, I dabbed some of the paste on all of the fork holes to seal them. No leaks, but as additional insurance I baked the filled quiche on a baking sheet. I also baked it in the pan even though one should be able to remove the pan before you bake the filled quiche. I’m just naturally cautious.

Finally, figuring out when the quiche is done is always a challenge. Usual instructions include stabbing the center with a knife to see if it comes out clean, or jiggling the quiche to see if the center is too liquid. You don’t have to do either of those tricks. If you watch carefully while the quiche is baking you will notice that it first begins to firm up around the edges in a ring, and that ring of cooked quiche works its way to the middle until the whole pie top has the same appearance. That’s the sign it is done. You don’t want it to overbake or it will be rubbery, but you don’t want it to underbake or you will have soup. For me, watching the top cook inward remains the most reliable way to determine when the quiche is done.

Fresh from the oven and still on the baking sheet.
Finished quiche up on a jar so that the ring can be removed.
Ready to serve
A generous slice

RECIPE

Quick Quiche

Ingredients

  • 1 9-inch prepared pie crust, thawed if frozen
  • paste made of equal parts of flour and water
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • ½ medium red onion, diced
  • 5 medium mushrooms, coarsely chopped
  • 2 jumbo eggs
  • 1½ cups heavy cream
  • salt and pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 4 ounces diced ham
  • ½ cup grated Swiss cheese
  • 1 tablespoon chilled butter cut into 16 small pieces

Method

  1. Follow directions on the package for preparing the pie crust. On a flat surface, roll it out with a rolling-pin so that it will fit into your baking pan with a little extra over the edges. Transfer the prepared crust to the pan, pressing it firmly against the bottom and the sides. Do not trim the edges until you have chilled the unbaked crust. Prick the bottom in several places with a fork. Chill in the refrigerator for 3o minutes.
  2. When you are ready to blind-bake the crust, remove it from the refrigerator, trim off the edge of the crust with your finger. If you are using a regular pie pan, crimp the edge as you would normally. Line the pie shell with a square of non-stick aluminum foil, non-stick side down, and pressing firmly. Fill the foil lining with beans or pie weights, and bake the pie shell in the middle of an oven preheated to 400°F for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven, and remove the foil and weights. Prick the bottom again with a fork in several places and return to the oven for 2 more minutes or until the crust has very lightly browned. Remove from the oven, and cool completely. Inspect for holes made by the fork. Dab any holes with the flour/water paste and set the crust aside until you are ready to fill it.
  3. In a medium sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the onions and cook until they are translucent. Add the mushrooms, cover, and cook for a minute or two until the mushrooms give up their liquid. Remove the cover and continue to simmer for a few minutes until the liquid has boiled off and the mushrooms have started to brown. Remove from the heat. Cool completely.
  4. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs until well combined. Add the cream, salt and pepper, and nutmeg. Stir in the cooled onion/mushroom mixture. At this point, you can refrigerate the mixture until you are ready to complete the quiche.
  5. When you are ready to bake the quiche, spread the diced ham on the bottom of the partially baked pie shell. Ladle the egg, cream, onion, and mushroom mixture over the ham. You should have about 2½ cups of the liquid which should just fill the Nordic quiche pan about ¾ full. Do not fill more than that, or the filling may over-run the sides of the crust when it puffs up during baking.
  6. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top of the filling, dot with the bits of butter, and bake in the upper third of an oven preheated to 375° for about 40 minutes. Toward the end of the baking time, check the top of the quiche to see if it has set to the middle. When the quiche is set, turn off the oven, crack the oven door ajar, and let rest for 10 minutes.
  7. Remove from the oven. If you are using a tart pan, balance the pan on a wide support so that the ring can fall away. With a broad spatula, transfer the quiche to a serving plate. If you have a hard time removing the quiche from the pan bottom, just serve it with the bottom on the plate – not as elegant, but it will work.
  8. Serve while warm. Makes excellent cold leftovers. Should serve 4 to 6 depending on what else you are having.

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December 10, 2015 · 10:18 am

CORZETTI WITH SAUSAGE AND CLAMS

Our daughter, Carol, has been visiting us for a few days without her family. For her it has been a relaxing time with no chauffeuring duties to swimming, school meetings, the morning school rush, and cooking. She has been doing some work from her office, but she has also found time to sleep a little late, to shop, and to eat out.

Carol has her own big library of cookbooks, but it is different from my collection, so she has spent time leafing through some of my newer acquisitions. She also enjoys working in the kitchen with Susan and me, and we enjoy that, too.  We agreed to cook together on a recipe that appealed to her. She found a recipe in Flour + Water (Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, 2014), the eponymous cookbook from the San Francisco restaurant owned by Thomas McNaughton, a friend of Sarah and Evan.

The recipe she chose was entitled, “Corzetti with Sausage, Clams, and Fennel”, page 186. It involved making pasta – which sounded like fun. The challenge was to re-create the corzetti. Oretta Zanini de Vita (Encyclopedia of Pasta, translated by Maureen B. Fant, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2009) describes the pasta dating back to the thirteenth century and consisting of a bit of pasta dough with two thumb indentations to resemble an “8”. That shape was apparently for commoners because by the Renaissance the pasta was often pressed with special wooden stamps that included coats of arms and other designs. These days you can buy corzetti stamps on the Internet. They are designed to cut the pasta into circles with an imprint on both sides. The little devices are often made of exotic woods and quite beautiful. Trouble is, you have to make a lot of corzetti to justify the purchase as the stamps run $60 or more.

We made do with what I had: a 1½ inch ring from my nest of pastry cutters and a wooden mold that I use for butter and springerle cookies. Carol and I wound up imprinting only one side of the pasta, but that was effort enough for two cooks. The finished pasta, though, cooked beautifully, and the sauce was delicious. It all turned out to be a perfect meal with a nice Italian red, a tossed salad, and a fresh baguette. Pistachio gelatto finished it off. This recipe should serve four generously.

Note: Fennel “pollen” is a common ingredient on the West Coast as wild fennel grows prolifically along the roadsides from south of Big Sur to north of the Bay Area. The yellow “pollen” (I think it is actually the flowers and seeds) is often foraged by chefs from the Bay Area. Ground toasted fennel seeds will make an adequate substitute.

RECIPES

Pasta

Make a flour well
Eggs and egg yolks added to the flour well
Kneading the pasta dough
Atlas pasta machine at the ready
Sheet of pasta
Nest of pastry cutters
Pasta sheet cut into circles
Wooden butter/springerle mold
Pasta circles stamped with the wooden mold

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1½ teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
  • water

Method

  1. Heap the flour in the middle of a large, flat, clean surface. Form a well in the middle. Add the salt
  2. Add the eggs, egg yolks, and olive oil to the well, and with a fork, combine the eggs and oil, being careful not to incorporate any of the flour. When the eggs are combined, gradually pull bits of the flour into the mixture until it is completely incorporated. Sprinkle in a few drops of water if you cannot incorporate all of the flour.
  3. Draw the mixture into a ball. Knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and slightly shiny. Add a few more drops of water if necessary. Wrap with plastic film and let rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
  4. When you are ready to roll out the pasta, cut the dough in fourths, working with one piece at a time and rewrapping the remaining pieces.
  5. Pat the piece of dough into a flattened, elongated piece and run it through the pasta machine rollers at the widest setting. Fold in thirds and run through the rollers once more. Repeat the process one more time. Then run the dough through the rollers, decreasing the setting by steps until you have reached the thickness you desire.  (Different machines will have different settings.) You shouldn’t need to flour the dough, but if it is too sticky, lightly dust it while you roll it out.
  6. Place the rolled dough under a clean kitchen towel while you roll out the remaining pieces of dough.
  7. With a 1½ inch circular pastry cutter, cut the sheets of pasta. Then, using a stamp of the same diameter, press firmly on each dough circle to form an imprint. Separate the imprinted circles from the remaining dough (Save that for some other use.) and let rest until you are ready to boil it.

Sausage and Clam Sauce

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds Little Neck clams
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil + more for sautéing the sausage
  • 1 shallot, thinly sliced
  • 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
  • 2 cups + ½ cup white wine
  • 8 ounces bulk pork sausage
  • 1 medium red onion, diced
  • ½ teaspoon fennel pollen (if you can’t harvest your own fennel pollen, dry-toast fennel seeds and grind finely in a spice grinder. Substitute ½ teaspoon of the ground fennel
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
  • 1 tablespoon snipped chives
  • grated Romano cheese (optional)

Method

  1. Scrub the clams and let them stand in cold water in a colander for a few minutes to give up their sand. Drain.
  2. In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over a high flame. Stir in the shallot and cook until translucent. Add the sliced garlic, 2 cups of white wine, and the washed clams. Cover and cook until the clams open, about 10 minutes. Remove the clams and continue to boil the liquid until it has reduced by half. Cool the liquid completely.
  3. Remove the clams from their shells and return to the cooled liquid. Refrigerate until ready to use.
  4. Wipe the sauté pan clean and return to high heat. Add a tablespoon or so of the olive oil. Then stir in the sausage and brown on all sides, breaking it up as you cook it. Stir in the red onion. Cook until the onion is translucent, about 2 minutes.
  5. Stir in the fennel and minced garlic. Continue to cook until the garlic is lightly browned (Do not burn!). Add ½ cup of white wine and boil until it has almost completely evaporated.
  6. Add the chicken stock, the clams, and their cooking liquid. Bring to the simmer.
The finished dish
Served with a crisp baguette, butter, and an optional grating of Romano

Assembly

  1. Cook the pasta by adding it to a large pot of boiling, well-salted water. Return to the boil and cook for 3 – 5 minutes or until the pasta is al dente. Be careful not to overcook.
  2. Drain the pasta and add to the sausage and clam sauce. Simmer the mixture for 2 to 3 minutes until the sauce thickens a bit. Adjust the seasoning with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
  3. Divide the pasta and sauce between four plates, top with parsley and chives, and serve immediately. Top with optional grated Romano cheese.

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December 6, 2015 · 11:58 am

SANTA FE STYLE COQUILLES ST. JACQUES

The pressure started on Thanksgiving and will extend into January. The pressure, of course, is to keep the weight off in the face of food, food, food. Because of that, we have been trying to eat wisely, including a lot of seafood. I found some frozen scallops at the local Sprouts, and thought they would be tasty even though I wasn’t sure how I would prepare them.  Scallops are delicious grilled over an open flame, but I have already abandoned the outdoor grill for the winter. Besides, that approach is reserved for big diver scallops, and the frozen ones were smaller – about 36 to the pound.

My other favorite ways to do scallops are the two recipes for coquilles St. Jacques in the first volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. One of the recipes is in the Parisian style with a thick cream sauce. The other is in the Provençale style with herbs. I decided to meld the recipes and add some touches that would be reminiscent of Santa Fe. That would mean ground chiles, cilantro,  and perhaps a few pine nuts.

Along with the scallops, I decided to use up some leftover grits from the refrigerator. (Grits are definitely not Santa Fe.) To give them some added flavor, I added egg and chopped parsley.

Rinse sand from the scallops
Parsley for the grits cakes
Sliced mushrooms
Minced scallions
Ready for the oven
Santa Fe style coquilles St Jacques with grits cake

RECIPES

Santa Fe Style Coquilles St. Jacques

Ingredients

  • ½ pound (about 18-20 medium) scallops
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter + more for topping
  • 5 medium cremini mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 scallions, minced
  • 1 cup white wine
  • water to cover
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • ½ cup milk
  • 2 egg yolks
  • ½ cup cream
  • 1-2 teaspoons ground Chimayó red chile (to taste)
  • ¼ cup pine nuts (optional)
  • ¼ cup chopped cilantro
  • salt and pepper
  • ¼ cup asadero cheese, grated (Use Swiss cheese if you can’t find asadero)

Method

  1. Heat the butter over medium-high heat in a small sauté pan. When it has stopped foaming, add the scallops and brown them lightly. Remove from the heat, reserving the browned butter.
  2. In the same pan with the reserved browned butter, combine the browned scallops, mushrooms, scallions, and wine. Add enough water to just cover the mixture. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the scallops and mushrooms. Return the liquid to the boil and reduce to about one-half. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour and milk.
  3. In a bowl, beat the eggs lightly and stir in the cream. Beat in the still-hot wine and milk mixture. Return to the heat set at low, stirring constantly until the mixture has just thickened. Do not let it get too hot or the eggs will scramble. Remove from the heat, and stir in the chile, cilantro,  and optional pine nuts.
  4. Mix the sauce with the scallops and mushrooms. Transfer to 2 well-buttered ramekins. Top with grated cheese, dot with butter, and heat under a pre-warmed broiler until the top is browned and bubbling. Serve immediately.

Fried Grits Cakes

Ingredients

  • 1½  cups leftover cooked grits
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup chopped parsley
  • salt and pepper

Method

  1. Combine the grits, egg, and parsley until well mixed.
  2. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
  3. Divide into two cakes and fry in about ¼ inch of peanut oil over a medium flame until the cakes are browned on both sides. Serve while still warm.

 

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November 22, 2015 · 9:26 am

CHEF BRUCIA’S YAM PIE

You may be tired of pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. That’s what Chef Giuseppe Brucia said many years ago. I have written about him before. He is an Italian trained in Switzerland, and was chef of Ristorante Firenze and the Cambridge Club in Shreveport, Louisiana. I attended one of his cooking classes nearly 40 years ago, and there he showed us how to make his substitute for pumpkin pie.

His English was not very good, and the recipe had been transcribed in a sort of shorthand by a volunteer who knew nothing about cooking. On top of that, measurements were either in restaurant terms or approximate, and some of the ingredients were restaurant grade not readily available to the home cook. Nonetheless, I tried to adapt the recipe so that it could be included in the family cookbook. Even with all of those disclaimers, I think you’ll enjoy making the pie – and eating it. Another warning, it is a bit complicated to make, especially the crust. You can save a lot of time and effort by simply using a ready-made pie crust. I’ve used a cake pan with removable bottom to give straight sides and to let the finished pie stand on its own, but without a fluted edge, the crust will shrink. A regular pie pan will work just fine.

The main ingredients
Cake pan with removable bottom
Lining the pan with dough
Trimming the dough
Potato ricer for the yam purée
Filling
Ready for serving
Ready for eating

RECIPES

Chef Brucia’s Sweet Pie Crust

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 11 ounces (22 tablespoons)  unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 3 ounces heavy cream
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon milk

Method

  1. Sift flour directly onto work surface. Make a hollow in the center
  2. Place the butter, salt, sugar, and egg in the hollow. Gently mix together with your fingers, being careful not to mix in the flour. Add 2 ounces of cream and incorporate into the mixture.
  3. With your fingers, gradually draw the flour into the mixture, continuing until all of the flour is incorporated and the dough holds its shape. Add additional cream as needed until the dough is smooth and soft.
  4. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight. Roll the dough to fit a 9-inch tart or cake pan. Arrange the dough so that it fits snugly without stretching. Run a rolling pin across the edge of the pan to trip the dough. The dough may shrink if you have stretched it while lining the pan.
  5. Bake blind in a 350° F oven for 12 minutes, weighting down the shell with aluminum foil filled with beans or pie weights. Remove from the oven, and remove the pie weights. Paint with a glaze made by mixing the egg yolk and milk together. Return to the oven for 2-3 minutes to brown. Remove from the oven and cool.

 

Chef Brucia’s Yam Pie

Ingredients

  • 1 large yam
  • ½ cup water
  • 10 tablespoons sugar, divided
  • 2 fresh oranges (should yield about ½ cup of stained juice)
  • 5 ounces (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter
  • 1 package (0.25 ounces) unflavored gelatin
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk

Method

  1. Peel and dice the yam into 1 inch cubes. In a saucepan, combine the diced yam with the water and 5 tablespoons of sugar. Bring to the boil and then simmer, covered, until the yam is soft. Drain the yam, reserving the cooking liquid. Puree the yam in a potato ricer, food mill, or food processor.
  2. Using a microplane, zest the oranges, setting the zest aside. Juice the two oranges, strain the juice, and set aside.
  3. In a small saucepan, combine the cooking liquid, orange juice, and butter. Bring to the boil, and heat until the butter is melted.
  4. Sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over ¼ cup cold water and let bloom for 5 minutes. Heat gently for 15 seconds in a microwave until the gelatin is dissolved.
  5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, egg yolk, and the remaining 5 tablespoons of sugar. Add the dissolved gelatin and whisk together.
  6. Combine the orange and egg mixtures and heat gently while stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. (About 155°F. Do not heat too fast or too high or you will wind up scrambling the eggs. If you wish, use a double boiler over not in boiling water.) Remove from the heat and stir in the yam puree and reserved orange zest until well incorporated.
  7. Pour the completed filling into the prepared pie shell. You may have some extra filling depending on how high the edge of the crust is. Don’t overfill. Refrigerate for at least one hour or until set.
  8. Cut into 6 to 8 wedges and serve by itself or with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

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November 14, 2015 · 9:19 am

PECAN PIE

When Mom Mom and Pop Pop lived on their East Texas farm, Thanksgiving was a holiday that the whole family anticipated. Mom Mom would spend weeks planning the menu and then days setting a festive table. All of the children and their respective families would arrive as early in the week as they could to help with wood chopping, cooking, and schmoozing. The giant turkey was the centerpiece of the celebration, but what everyone was really looking forward to was dessert with pumpkin and pecan pie – enough that everyone could have a slice of both, along with whipped cream, of course.

The pecan pies were a joint effort. Pop Pop would sit on the front porch for days cracking pecans with his trusty impact nut cracker, and Mom Mom would use the freshly-shelled nuts for her famous pecan pie. Her version was well known among the ladies in town, and she did several versions from one-bite tassies to lindividual pies to the real thing. She had a secret that she never passed on to the town ladies, who always made their pies with Karo syrup. Mom Mom used only brown sugar and never passed on the secret to anyone except her daughters.

Of course, there must be hundreds of recipes for pecan pie, and there will be plenty more in newspapers and magazines as Thanksgiving gets closer. This recipe, though, is special. It comes from Jessica Maher and was published in the November, 2015 issue of Texas Monthly.

Jessica and Sarah have been close friends since college days. They rowed together in the women’s eights at the University of Texas at Austin. But unbeknownst to one another, their lives followed amazingly similar paths. After college, both were casting about for careers (Sarah decided it was hard to make a living with a major in Spanish and a minor in Italian.) They both wound up going to culinary school in New York, and then their paths crossed again. They both worked for a time at Bouley in Lower Manhattan. Subsequently they both moved on to other New York restaurants, but they kept in close touch. Then they both married chefs, moved away from New York, opened up restaurants while having two kids each, and wondering what to do with their spare time. To this day, though, they stay in touch, often calling one another at least every week.

Jessica and Todd have a very successful restaurant in Austin, Texas, named Lenoir. For a number of years they have been prominent in the Austin restaurant scene, and their place has gotten excellent reviews in Texas Monthly, a publication no good Texan does without. (They call themselves the “National Magazine of Texas.”) This recipe, complete with a gorgeous image, comes from the November issue.

RECIPE

Jessica Maher’s Perfect Pecan Pie

Right from the oven
Pecans
A messy but delicious slice

Ingredients

  • pie crust for 9 inch pie, unbaked
  • 2 cups pecans (45 halves reserved for top)
  • 1 cup dark-brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup Lyle’s golden syrup*
  • 1 tablespoon bourbon
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • big pinch salt

*Note: Lyle’s golden syrup may be a bit hard to find in the US. It is one of the most popular brands of an English product made during the production of cane sugar. Dark treacle is a thick syrup that has some of the characteristics of molasses. When it is filtered and decolorized it becomes light treacle, also known as golden syrup. Unfortunately there are no good substitutes. Light Karo has added vanilla. Dark Karo may have too much flavor. Maple syrup is not as thick. Some suggest mixtures of honey and Karo or straight agave syrup. The short answer is there is no substitute. Supposedly Lyle’s is carried at Whole Foods and World Market, but if all else fails, you can order it online.

Method

  1. Use your favorite pie dough recipe or a prepared, unbaked crust
  2. Spread the pecans in a rimmed baking pan and toast in the middle of an oven preheated to 250° F for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently until the oils begin to release and the pecans become fragrant. Watch carefully to avoid scorching. Remove from the oven, cool, set aside 45 halves for the top and chop the remaining pecans coarsely.
  3. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, syrup, bourbon, and butter. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.
  4. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, and salt together. Then whisk into the sugar mixture.
  5. Spread the chopped pecans over the bottom of the pie crust fitted to a 9 inch pie pan. Then pour in the batter. Arrange the pecan halves on top of the pie in concentric circles, starting from the middle.
  6. Bake in the middle of an oven preheated to 350° F for 45 to 50 minutes or until the filling is just set and the crust is golden brown.
  7. Rest for at least one hour on a cooling rack or overnight. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

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