Category Archives: recipes etc

handy cross reference catagories

09.26.07
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From Salad to Soup

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It was a few hours before the Giants’ game and I wasn’t hungry yet, but I would be when I got to the game. Ballpark food is so expensive, and truth be told, not that great. Although there’s something to be said for steamed hot dog in a warm bun with yellow mustard and chopped onion. That’s four bucks and I can’t have just one, which means going down in the fourth inning or so and standing in line for another. I have trained myself to buy only one eight dollar beer, though.

A pasta salad would be good, and good for me, but I wasn’t in the mood for the Asian noodle salad that I’ve made in the past for ball games.

I dived into my recipe archives. With the Internet, there are a gazillion recipes out there, many good, most bad. In addition to all the free sites, food company sites and blogs, I subscribe to the Cook’s Illustrated website for the tried and true. I do have a bone to pick with CI, it seems to me that if I subscribe to their magazine, and have for years, I ought to get the website for free, or at least at a healthy discount. I enjoy leafing through the magazine when it comes in the mail; it’s a pleasant experience. But NO, the website is the same price as the magazine and there are no deals to be had. The website is a different experience. Even if you “browse” the current issue on the web, it’s not like turning those pages of heavy matt stock. But the website has the archives and easily searched recipes. I gave up the magazine. Bummer. But I digress. Continue reading →

09.11.07
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Tomatoes Tomatoes Tomatoes

A Week’s Tomato Binge

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Labor Day weekend, brought a tomato glut to my corner of the world.

Of course the Wednesday food sections were all over tomatoes with Revisiting the Caprese by Janet Fletcher in the Chronicle and So Many Tomatoes to Stuff in a Week by Melissa Clark in The New York Times. Mark Bittman of the Times chimed in with a Tomato Paella video.

Thursday, I snagged San Marzanos at Andy and Julia’s Marquita Farm t_andynjulia.jpgThursday box night at Piccino café in Dogpatch. At the Saturday Farmers Market, which seemed unusually busy, I got a couple of heirlooms from my regular heirloom guy and later saw some more that were so beautiful I couldn’t pass them by. Last, but not least, I got a basket each of red and yellow cherry tomatoes. That should be enough for a week’s tomato binge.

We got a head start with Janet Fletcher’s Tomato Bread Salad with Burrata, accompanied by grilled shrimp. For this, we put together a salad of toasted bread cubes, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives, capers and basil leaves with a red wine vinegrette. The salad was composed around a fine piece of Burrata, the very fresh Italian mozzarella, and we finished it with grilled shrimp, uncalled for and unnecessary, but divine. Oh boy! Continue reading →

08.28.07
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Tomato Water

I hate to throw away flavor! That’s why I save chicken and meat bones, mushroom stems and the like.

Now that it’s heavy duty tomato season, tomato cores and skins just bursting with tomatoness demand a choice: toss, compost, do something. When I peel and core one or two tomatoes, I generally stuff the skins and core into a bag of bones in the freezer for use in the next stock.

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On this day, I used five Early Girls to make a tomato base for soup. That seemed enough to make tomato water. What th’ hell is that? Continue reading →

08.23.07
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Panini

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We were at a friend’s house for lunch on Sunday. Panini was served. Ummm Good. Our hosts raved about their Cuisinart Panini Press and another guest said she had bought one just like it at Crate and Barrel.
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When I was standing in line for the Get Green event at Macy’s, an All Clad Panini Set was on display, right beside me, a simple non-stick, 10×12 inch grill pan and a heavy metal weight with a handle, slightly smaller than the pan. I checked the price, $130!!

Lordy! I can do that with my cast iron grill pan using the lid from my cast iron skillet for the weight. Continue reading →

08.15.07
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Get Green

In spite of the struggle over the Farm Bill and the chronic ineptitude of the current administration, I am encouraged by the movement of individuals, local governments and organizations, and now, Macy’s — for gosh sakes — to embrace sustainability. I was delighted to see the announcement for this event and took the opportunity to attend. This was the first of a series of three.

the announcement
Local chefs and farmers pair up at Macy’s
CUESA is partnering with Macy’s Cellar for a series of three cooking demonstrations and farmer/chef interviews. This Tuesday, August 14, Chris Cosentino of Incanto and Doug Stonebreaker of Prather Ranch Meat Company will show that meat lovers can be green too. Seating is first-come, first-served starting at 6 pm in the Union Square Cellar Kitchen at Macy’s. A $10 donation to CUESA will get you a seat at the demonstration, a sample of the featured dish, a glass of wine from Benziger Family Winery, a canvas Ferry Plaza Farmers Market tote, and a sample of Origins‘ new organic skin care line.

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The bag was provided by Origins. Thanks Origins!  

I attended and it was great! Continue reading →

08.14.07
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Hominy Posole Pozole Dried Corn

I don’t like Mexican food. There’s melted cheese all over everything. Burritos are so big, it takes me three days to eat, and besides, they’re not very good. Tacos break and stuff spills down the front of my shirt. I just avoided Mexican food. Yuk.

Then I bought Rick Bayless‘ book, Mexico: One Plate at a Time. I made a few dishes and they were good, but complicated, and often using ingredients that are hard to find.

Then Andy Griffin of Mariquita Farm wrote about cooking and eating with his Mexican farmhands, and his wife, Julia Wiley published simple recipes in their newsletter. Those were good and simple.

Then I discovered Rancho Gordo, a seller of dried beans at the Farmers Market. I love beans. Their website has many recipes, some of which are Mexican, or at least Southwestern. Those that I’ve made I really liked.

So I modified my dislike. I don’t like American Chain Restaurant Mexican food.

So what about those titular words? Hominy Posole Pozole Dried Corn

I was confronted with these words on the Rancho Gordo website and became confused.

I know from hominy. I ate canned hominy as a kid. I liked it fine; white, solid puffs that were kind of rubbery and chewy and had a mild corn taste. I think my mother used it as a side dish, like canned corn or peas. It’s not something you love or hate and you rarely see it on a restaurant menu. When I moved out and married, hominy dropped out of my life, but not entirely. We’ve had a can of hominy in the pantry for a few years. I never felt inclined to open it.

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Rancho Gordo, my go-to place for dried beans, had this intriguing package labeled CORN HOMINY POSOLE, White CORN. The kernels are white and flat and look like what my Grandpa called Field Corn. He grew Field Corn to feed the hogs, hard and flat and yellow, the kernels were relatively large, not for human consumption. For us, he grew Sweet Corn. But I digress. Continue reading →

08.09.07
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Grilling Again

Meat ‘n’ Potatoes
Yellow Bean Salad

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Back when the kids were growing up, we grilled all the time. Sometimes in winter, I would brush the snow off the grill to light a fire and grill dinner on the back porch. Then I built a cover for the porch — big enough to protect the grill, and me, but open enough to allow the smoke to dissipate quickly.
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The grill of choice was the Weber Kettle Grill, sturdy and tough, it would go through hot Boston area summers and frigid winters and last for years. And we used it relentlessly, beyond dogs, ‘burgers and flank steaks (an inexpensive cut at the time) to lobster, whole fish and even a suckling pig.

Soon enough, gas grills were invented, but they were big and clunky and ugly, and worst of all, not pure. Anyone who would use a gas grill was surely a wuss. Continue reading →

08.06.07
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Stretch

Frankfurter, Beans and Tomatoes

Even I don’t cook fresh and from scratch all the time, especially for lunch. The other day I got to lunch late from the “office” and I was hungry. There were no appealing leftovers and no emergency cans of soup, gosh; I haven’t bought a can of soup in a long time.

So, I hit the can cupboard and found a can of black beans and a can of stewed tomatoes. That’ll be good with one of my newly discovered frankfurters from Marin Sun Farms. Those are good, rich, beefy flavor and natural casings that snap when you bite into them.

I browned the frank in a skillet, put it on a plate and stuck it in the toaster-oven to keep warm while warming the plate.

The beans went in the same skillet, along with drained and chopped tomatoes. I mixed that up and let it bubble gently for a few minutes to thicken.

Once plated, I sprinkled the mess with raw, chopped sweet spring onion for a nice crunch and sparkling flavor addition.

That made a yummy lunch, and there were about two cups (one POM jar) of bean tomato mixture left over.

Stretch,
The next day I got out:

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Continue reading →

08.02.07
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Flank Steak = Six Meals

Grits and Flank Steak

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The remains of a grilled flank steak chill out in the meat drawer of the fridge. A flank steak runs a little under two pounds — way too much for a meal for two. It was a dear purchase from Marin Sun Farms, but it has already provided four meals.

My leftover flank steak generally goes into a steak salad, but I wanted something different for this last remaining hunk of steak.

Carol mentioned that at her conference at Westerbeke Ranch, they were served creamed chipped beef on toast, a humble dish in such a resort setting. But she said it was very special, more like toast points with a creamy, beefy dipping sauce. That’s one idea, but maybe I could come up with something other than toast as a partner for the beef. Continue reading →

07.31.07
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A Chicken's Liver

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a one-liver pate;

When you poach a chicken, there are these giblets in the cavity of the beast. What does one do with those? And why am I ”Eats – for – One – guy” poaching a whole chicken?

Second question first:
In this case, I’m using the chicken meat and the broth that the poaching creates in Brunswick Stew. If I weren’t doing that, poached chicken meat can be used in chicken noodle soup, for chicken salad, for chicken hash, for chicken sandwiches, to fill tacos or quesadillas, to throw into canned soups or to add to leftover, already-made soups to make them more interesting and hearty. And you’ve got the chicken broth, for free, as a bonus. I freeze mine in stackable quart containers. Continue reading →