Sayonara, Summer!

Bye-bye sweet basil!

Summer in Atlanta, where did you go?  I realize I just returned from New Orleans where it was really hot and steamy, but what happened here?  Suddenly it's cool in the mornings, there are different varieties of birds at the backyard feeders and it's completely dark by 8pm these days.  There was even a sharp-shinned hawk with a freshly-killed squirrel out there today (yikes - I'm keeping a close eye on those little white dogs of mine).  Hold on!  I'm not ready to let go of fresh, sweet corn, vine-ripe tomatoes, dinner on the patio and casual outdoor grilling.  Stop already!

Nonetheless, autumn is quickly approaching and I realized I had better get my act together and harvest what was left of the basil I planted last spring before it keeled over.  There was a lot of it.  Enough to keep me in pesto until spring comes around again and I can plant a brand-new crop.

I adore pesto.  I love its versatility.  You can throw it over a block of cream cheese (or better yet, herbed garlic cheese) and you have an instant appetizer.  Smear a little goat cheese on a baguette slice, top with pesto and maybe a roasted cherry tomato half and run it under the broiler for a delicious snack.  It has a wonderful affinity with salmon (preferably King) and it's delicious with grilled chicken as well.  My favorite dish, however, is a bowl of whole wheat penne tossed with pesto and some leftover grilled chicken. The idea may be ordinary, but the taste is not.

PESTO

(Note:  these are basic proportions.  Adjust as you see fit, depending upon the amount of basil you have and whether or not you want more or less garlic, pine nuts, cheese, etc.)

1 cup fresh basil leaves (washed and dried), packed
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
Kosher salt to taste
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted and cooled
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Place basil, garlic and salt in the bowl of a food processor and grind to a paste.  Add pine nuts and cheese and pulse to blend.  With machine running, slowly pour in olive oil until mixture becomes smooth.  Taste to adjust seasonings.

Yield:  approximately 1 1/2 cups

A couple of things:

For my favorite meal, cook up some whole wheat penne until just done but still al dente or "to the bite."  Drain pasta, reserving at least 1 cup of the pasta water.  Return penne to the pan and add a generous dollop of pesto and toss well.  Add enough pasta water to thin it out a bit.  Throw in some sliced leftover chicken if you have it and toss over medium heat until the whole thing is heated through.  Taste to adjust seasonings.  Easy enough?  (And yes, I have made this for company!)

One of Andy's old friends has always refused to eat anything green (he's now in medical school, heaven help us).  He loves my pesto, though!

If you hate pine nuts, you can always substitute toasted walnuts (or pecans, if you live in the south).  I, however, prefer to stick with pine nuts.  Don't skip the step of toasting them, either in a skillet or in the oven.  It adds a significant depth of flavor.

You can freeze your pesto as long as it is wrapped well.  When ready to use, just thaw in the refrigerator for a day before using.  Pretend it's summer.

Stocking up!

Dulce de Leche vs. Dulce de Leche

I've been collecting recipes since I was in college.  Yup, that's a long time ago.  For years I kept all of those clippings in manila folders, frantically going through them when I was searching for something specific I THOUGHT was in there.  I usually didn't find what I was looking for.

Several years ago, I pasted all of those clippings in notebooks and indexed them.  ON. MY. COMPUTER.  Does any sane person do that?

That said, it's now extraordinarily easy for me to find recipes when I am looking for them.  My own personal recipe trove! 

So now I have all these recipe "books."  Of course, I'm not quite sure what to do with all of the clippings I've acquired since then.  Guess I will have to figure that one out later.

And my point?  Do I ever have one on this blog?

Yeah.  Here it is.  I am going to start cooking and posting based on these accumulated recipes.  At random. 

The first one?  Dulce de Leche Brownies from David Lebovitz.  I met him years ago in NYC.  He is the pastry and dessert chef extraordinaire  http://www.davidlebovitz.com/index.html   I fell in love with his partner, Kip and we stayed in touch.  Sadly, Kip is no longer with us, but his memory lives on. 

Before you can make these, you have to have a cup of dulce de leche on hand.  Huh?  What's that?  Well, basically it is caramelized, sweetened milk that lends itself to all sorts of incredible dessert recipes. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_de_leche

Sometimes you can find it in the grocery store, but I'm never that lucky, so usually I just caramelize sweetened condensed milk.  But here's where that silly indexing of mine came in handy.  I actually found a recipe in there for a homemade version of dulce de leche from Alton Brown.  Since I am a food snob, I decided to make it in lieu of the canned stuff.  Good call, Liz!

Now that I have made it "from scratch", I will never look back.  Yeah, it takes some time, but there is little work involved and the payoff is worth it.  While the canned version was good, it still had that "canned" taste.  The homemade version was just pure milky caramel.  Oh, this makes me SO happy!

DULCE DE LECHE (1)

(2) 14-oz. cans sweetened condensed milk

Pour the condensed milk into a large glass baking dish.  Cover with foil and place in a bain-marie (that means place it in a larger pan filled with hot water to come halfway up the sides of the glass baking dish).  Preheat oven to 300-degrees and bake for about 1 1/2 hours or until mixture caramelizes and is golden brown.

Yield:  approximately 1 cup

DULCE DE LECHE (2)  (from Alton Brown)

1 quart whole milk
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (available at Whole Foods)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Combine milk, sugar and vanilla paste in a 4-quart saucepan.  Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves.  Reduce heat to low and add baking soda.  Continue to cook on VERY low heat, stirring occasionally until mixture is a dark caramel color.  This will take approximately 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  Strain mixture and store in refrigerator in a sealed container for up to one month.

Yield:  approximately 1 cup

At the end of the day (that would be the end of this experiment), I was left with something that looked like the caramel sauce I usually make (see previous blogs).  But yet ... this tasted different.  The milk tempered it, made it less stringent and it lingered longer in the back of my mouth.  Sorry, don't want to sound like I am tasting wine, but it was radically different from the usual caramel.  Verdict?  Suck it up and take the three hours it takes to make this stuff....

Since it took me three hours to make it tonight, I did not get around to making the brownies.  Sorry, everyone!  That will be tomorrow's blog.  Sleep well.

Need Some Mint?

If so, look no further than my yard.  I've got tons of the stuff, just waiting to be used up.  If you live anywhere nearby, give me a shout and I'll be happy to share some with you.  Seriously.

While I may be a pretty good cook/baker, alas, my gardening skills leave something to be desired.  I keep threatening to plant a vegetable garden every year but somehow I know it will probably be an exercise in futility.  If I don't manage to kill it, the tree rats (oops, squirrels) will get it so why bother?  I did manage to plant some seeds last week in one of those plastic greenhouse things, but so far nothing has sprouted.  Figures. 

Not a sprout or seedling in sight.  Looks like the damn Sahara desert!

Oh, but mint.  Now that's a whole different story.  You just plant it once and it keeps on going year after year.  Just like the energizer bunny.  Ha, maybe it's really just a weed that tastes good.  No wonder I can grow it successfully!

I'm kind of sentimental about my mint, though.  That's because it came from the house we moved out of three years ago.  You remember - that wonderful, old (repeat "OLD") house where our kids grew up and where we spent some mighty good years.  My then-next-door neighbor gave me a few cuttings from her garden which I planted .  They multiplied by about a billion.  I brought some of it with me to our new house where it continues to flourish.  I consider it my personal heirloom mint.

So be forewarned, unless you come by and take some off my hands, you may be seeing a few more mint recipes here.  Last night I used it to make chimichurri sauce, which is a mixture of fresh herbs, olive oil and vinegar with a few flavors thrown in.  Originally Argentinian, it's now become more or less mainstream, but don't let that deter you.  It's normally used as a marinade for beef, but I decided to use it as a sauce instead.  Even Henry, who is usually suspect about anything he thinks may be spicy, declared it a winner.

This is local, grass-fed beef (London broil)

CHIMICHURRI  (adapted from Bon Apetit)

1 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
1 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup good red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
   (or more or less to taste)

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.  Taste to adjust seasonings. 
Use it as a sauce for grilled meat (I grilled off two London broils,
sliced and topped them with the chimichurri) or use as a marinade
before grilling.

Yield:  about 1 cup

Of course, this didn't cause the slightest dent in my mint crop.  Mojitos, anyone?

End of an Era

Gourmet Magazine is no longer. Sigh.

Print media is quickly becoming obsolete. So is letter-writing (although I still believe in writing "thank you" notes). Makes you wonder how long books will be around. Sigh.

I took my mom to Sam's today so I could buy her a new TV. The one she had died the other day and, bless her heart, she called a TV repairman to come to the house. As you can imagine, he (covertly, I hope) laughed at her and told her it wasn't worth repair and it would be cheaper to buy a new one.

So we hit Sam's and found a perfectly decent 19" flat screen. I loaded it into the cart and kept going. Then I realized she wasn't following me. She was standing in front of the display, looking very perplexed (wait a minute, this is my mom, who is pretty much with it. Remember, she is the one who entertains all the time and drinks her fair share of wine, along with her friends). I asked her what was wrong and before she could answer, I knew.

She was looking for a replacement TV. The only ones on the display shelves were flat screens. She had no idea that what she used to have (a cumbersome old dinosaur) isn't manufactured anymore. It was an amazing disconnect. And yet --- why would she know otherwise?

She's an avid reader. She participates in a book club and goes to the neighborhood library on a weekly basis. She can even manage to drive there (scary thought and of course she drives one of those old Buicks - you know, the ones we curse at when we find ourselves behind one of them). But please, oh please, let "real" books stay around for awhile. She doesn't know how to use a computer. What would happen if her only option was a Kindle?

Well, I guess she could always take solace in her kitchen. As I mentioned before, she's a really good cook and she entertains her q-tip friends a lot. Here is her recipe for what we have always called "Ice Cream Sauce" although I have no idea why. It's not very PC as it has a raw egg in it. To hell with that, I say, just make sure you get your eggs from a reputable source (I get mine from a local farmer) and go for it.

I could eat this stuff from a spoon, with nothing else. Alright, who am I kidding here? I could happily slurp it up by the ladleful (is that a word?) But what you really want to do is spoon it over (in large quantities) some warm gingerbread that you have made yourself. (Do I need to post a recipe for that? If so, let me know in your comments and I will happily oblige). It's one of the best autumn desserts I know.

Baba's Ice Cream Sauce

1/2 pint heavy cream
1 egg
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup melted, unsalted butter
1 teaspoon rum extract

Whip the cream with a hand-held mixer. With the same beater, beat the egg in another small bowl until foamy. Beat in the sugar, salt and melted butter. Using a spatula, fold this into the whipped cream. Stir in rum extract.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

Thanks, Mom. Enjoy your new flat screen!

Miss you, Dad

I come by my food addiction honestly. At age 83, my mom cooks incessantly. I'm not kidding. She is always making food for someone who is ill or malnourished or something. I think she just looks for people who are in need so she can cook. Oh yeah, and she entertains constantly. She's always throwing cocktail parties for her q-tip friends. They drink a lot of wine, too. Go Mom.

But the heart and soul of my food addiction comes from my Dad. Next week marks the 11th anniversary of his passing. I still miss him. But I rejoice in my wonderful memories. My dad never forgot a meal. You could ask him what he ate on September 18, 1968 and he could probably tell you. He loved to cook, too. He developed his own recipe for Beef Bourguignon which is kind of interesting, given the revival of that dish today thanks to Julie and Julia. Of course, his called for a can of golden mushroom soup which embarrasses me to even tell you, but whatever.

He once went to Galatoire's in New Orleans and had a dish involving eggplant and crabmeat. He loved it and immediately recreated his own version. Several months later, Bon Apetit (yeah, he was an avid reader back in the day) published the restaurant's recipe. He tried it but decided that his own version was much, much better. He called it "Stuffed Eggplant a la Edwin."

And then there is the crab story. Being from Baltimore, he loved nothing better than steamed crabs. So one day we went to the local farmer's market and bought several big boxes of live crabs. We took them home and then Mom and I decided to go shopping, leaving Dad to deal with all of those clawing, energetic crustaceans.

You can guess what happened next. As he was transferring the boxes of crabs to the back yard (headed for the big pot of boiling water waiting on the grill), the bottom dropped out. Can you say "Jail Break?" The things went everywhere! Even by the time we got home, my dad was still trying to coax them out from underneath the shrubbery. I'll bet some of them are still rejoicing today that they were spared from our feast that night.

His last name was Cromwell. Guess it's only fitting that, some years ago, Henry and I traveled to London and stood gazing upon the statue of Oliver Cromwell just outside Parliament. I knew immediately that I was a direct descendant. Two words: THUNDER THIGHS!

Here is his recipe for barbecue sauce. It's the best. Make it, marinate your chicken in it for as much time as you can, then throw it on the grill. Use medium heat, as it will caramelize quickly.

Here's to you, Dad!

Ed Cromwell's Barbecue Sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1/3 cup water

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon dried mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a saucepan. Add onion and saute for 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes over low heat. Cool, then use to marinate chicken.

(Note: because I am Jewish and so I always cook way too much in terms of quantity, I always double or quadruple this recipe. But hey -- that's just me).

P.S. the book in the picture was his favorite barbecue book. It is stuffed with his recipe clippings also. It makes me happy to look at it from time to time.......