Affection for My Cookbooks

I have great affection for my cookbooks for any one of a number of reasons. Here are just a few:

I love to read them and imagine the flavors of the recipes.

I love the personality of the writer that comes through in the books.

I love that they provide me with an incredible wealth of ideas that I could never come up with on my own, especially about ethnic cuisines, like Persian.

I love how beautiful some of them are and I love the gorgeous photographs, misleading as they may be.

I love to “test” a new cookbook to see if the recipes are accurate, well-conceived, and well-written. I watch out for egregious errors: 2T for 2t, for example, can cause serious damage if the ingredient is salt, chipotle chili pepper, or baking powder. But I also watch for excitingly new combinations and methods. The end result of the testing is, of course, a nice meal. Yum. Yum.

I love that they are artifacts and reflections of the culture of which I am a part. Joy of Cooking from the 50s is different from Joy of Cooking in 00s. Food fads come and go like skirt lengths. Now we’re back to fondue.

I love that over time they provide a history of my cooking experiences. Notes I have written in them over the years tell me what I fixed for Thanksgiving dinner in 1994 or how my sons, Franz and Ben, now grown, reacted to a new dish (“Yuck”), or how I changed the recipe to fix it or to suit my taste.

Do you love your cookbooks? I would love to know the ways.

Menu 4: One Plate Meals

My sweetheart, Katherine, is a great fan of one-dish meals. Or rather one-plate meals. I could attribute her liking of these simple meals to the fact that she is the dishwasher in the household and hence her job is made considerably easier with the one plate dinner. Some pots and pans, of course, but not as many, and two plates which can be tucked into the dishwasher without much fuss. More importantly, though, I think that her spirit is nourished by a meal that is less complicated, by one dish with abundant flavor, such as the Bacon-Tomato-Corn Ragout that follows, on a bed of something soothing and comforting, in this case Creamy Polenta. It is straightforward and delicious. And that’s it.

Bacon-Tomato-Corn Ragout with Creamy Polenta

10 thick bacon slices, cut crosswise into ½-inch pieces
Note: Buy the best you can like Niman Ranch or a good local producer
2 tablespoons olive oil or bacon fat
2 medium onions, sliced
Pinch of red pepper flakes or smoky hot paprika
2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 3 ears) or frozen corn if you are desperate
7 Roma tomatoes, peeled if you want, seeded, cored and coarsely chopped
Note: I tried heirloom tomatoes. They were too juicy for this dish. If you want to use them, drain them really well before adding to the ragout.
½ cup chopped fresh basil
½ cup shredded basil for garnish
Fleur de sel or other large grain finishing salt
One recipe of Creamy Polenta (see recipe below)

1. In a medium skillet, cook the bacon pieces over low to medium-low heat, turning to achieve uniform crispness. Transfer to a paper towel to drain.
2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil or some bacon fat over medium heat. Add the onions and red pepper flakes or paprika, reduce the heat to medium-low and sauté until they are soft and amber, at least 20 minutes.
3. Add the corn, increase the heat to medium, and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and three-fourths of the bacon pieces and continue to cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Add a little more bacon fat if you think the dish needs it for heightened flavor. Stir in the chopped basil.
4. Reheat the Creamy Polenta and make soft flat mounds in the middle of 4 warm plates. Spoon the ragout over the top. Sprinkle with the shredded basil, the remaining bacon pieces, and a sprinkling of fleur de sel or other salt.

4-5 Servings
Adapted from Sara Perry’s Everything Tastes Better with Bacon

Creamy Polenta

3 cups milk
Note: You can substitute other liquids if you desire.
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal

1. Combine the milk, butter, sugar, and salt in a heavy saucepan and heat to a simmer.
2. Slowly add the cornmeal, whisking constantly. Lower the heat and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture has thickened and leaves the sides of the pan, about 10 minutes.

Note: If you make this ahead, leave it in the saucepan or place in a microwavable bowl. You will need to add more milk or other liquid to loosen it up before serving. Warm it on low heat on the stove or in the microwave. Keep adding liquid and stirring until it is the consistency of mashed potatoes and nice and warm. You may need to add a bit more salt.

6 servings
Adapted from Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins’ The New Basics

terlintas sesaat lalu

utk seorg teman berjantina lelaki ;



entah kenapa kan.

aku rasa kau dah lain.

kalau aku ada buat salah.

aku minta maaf.



tapi. aku mungkin lupa lagi sekali kot.

aku bukan siapa-siapa

nak jadi kawan yg hebat.

mahupun berguna.

lupa.

aku ni. kosong.

Pan Fried Salmon Fillet with Dill Cream Sauce

Salmon is one of my favourite types of fish. It can be expensive, however, especially if we are fortunate enough to have the chance to buy wild salmon, which are of course under threat today in so many ways. It is vital, therefore, when we are cooking salmon, that we do not overcook it. Like tuna, salmon should retain that under-cooked, moist centre when we put it on the plate.

The quantities in this delicious recipe are stated per person.

Ingredients

1 salmon loin fillet (skin on - this is very important)
2 medium potatoes
3 or 4 florets of broccoli
2 tbsp double cream (use heavy cream in the USA)
1 large pinch of dried dill weed
1 small garlic clove (optional)
2 tsp plain flour
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Butter and sunflower oil for frying

Method

The first step is to get the potatoes on to boil. Especially if the potatoes are new, I like to leave the skins on but this is of course optional. Chop them to the desired size and put them in salted boiling water to simmer for half an hour.

When the potatoes have been on for twenty minutes, put the broccoli in to a separate pot or pan of boiling water. It is imperative that we do not overcook broccoli as it will become soggy and extremely unpalatable. Eight minutes only is the timescale for boiling broccoli - no more!

Put a little sunflower oil and a small knob of butter in a non-stick frying pan and gently heat. Spread the flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper before patting the skin side only of the salmon in it. Shake off the excess flour and place the salmon skin-side down in the frying pan. Turn the heat up to medium.

Drain the broccoli and subsequently the potatoes. Add a little butter and dill weed if required to the potatoes and swirl them around to fully coat them.

When the salmon appears from the side to have cooked just over half-way through, switch the pan off and remove it from the heat. Turn the salmon fillet (s) over and leave them to finish cooking in the residual heat while you quickly prepare your sauce.

It is imperative that you use double or heavy/whipping cream for the sauce. Single/light cream will split during the cooking process and ruin your sauce. Gently heat the cream in a small saucepan, along with the crushed garlic if required, until it begins to simmer. Add the pinch of dill, stir well and you are ready to plate up.

Place the salmon on the plate skin-side up. The skin should have crisped up and peel off easily, perhaps with the gentle aid of a knife. Add the potatoes and broccoli and finally spoon the sauce over the salmon.