cooking

The opposite of money

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Give a man a ribeye and you can eat in twenty minutes; teach a man to cook a pot roast and dinner will be ready in six to seven hours.Last week I talked about cooking with ingredients that are scarce and expensive.

This week is all about the ingredient that money can’t buy—time.

Salad bars and prepped produce in grocery stores can be a convenient time saver.  But you will absolutely pay for it.  Usually 3-4 times the price of its un-messed-with cousins.“Peasant” food; tough cuts of meat, slow cooking beans, humble, tough grains all take time to prepare.  On the other hand, choice cuts of meat and tender, young vegetables only suffer if they stay on the heat too long.

Frozen dinners and pre-cooked meals from your local store’s hot bars more expensive by a factor or five.  Like my mom says, “Boy, they sure saw you coming”.  It may be nice to quickly grab ready-to-eat dinner, and sometimes necessary, but doing it night after night will triple or even quadruple your monthly food budget.

It’s all about the time.

Like last week, this week’s recipe uses mushrooms; but here the much less costly button-style.  It’s risotto that can be breakfast, lunch or dinner.  It’s not fast, and has to be tended.  All of the components are relatively cheap and just need flavor to be teased from them.

Bacon and egg risotto

b&e risotto

3 slices bacon cut into ¾ inch strips

1 pound button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1 large shallot, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups Arborio rice

½  cup Marsala wine

4 ½ cups chicken stock (approx)

12 ounces frozen peas

¼ cup parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons butter, divided

Salt and pepper to taste

6 eggs

1 tablespoon vinegar

Put stock into saucepan, and set to medium-low.  (You only want stock to simmer; turn down if it starts to boil.)

Put bacon into other saucepan, and render on medium-low until it is brown and crispy.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Pour off the bacon grease until you only have about 1-2 tablespoons in the pot.  Add mushrooms and season.  Sautee until the moisture has released and cooked out.  Add shallot and cook until the veg starts to brown around the edges.

Stir in risotto, garlic and one tablespoon butter.  Cook until the rice starts to brown just a bit.

Pour in Marsala, and cook until it’s completely absorbed.

While the wine is cooking out, put a shallow bottom pan on the stove, fill with water, and add vinegar.  Turn on medium and bring to very gentle simmer.

Constantly stirring, add about 1/2 cup of hot stock to rice pot until the liquid is absorbed, then add more.  After about 3 cups stock, start tasting for doneness and seasoning.

At this point, start poaching eggs, 3 at a time for about 4 minutes.  Remove from water with slotted spoon, and place on a plate covered with a clean kitchen towel to dry.

When the rice is cooked through, add peas, butter and cheese.  Gently stir until butter is melted.

Place about 1 1/2 cups risotto on plate and put 2 poached eggs on top.  Garnish with crispy bacon.  Serves 3.I won’t try to sugar-coat this for you.  It takes a good hour start to finish.

But done correctly you will have a trendy restaurant dish that patrons pay big bucks for.

Because even though money can’t buy time, some people will still try to charge for it.time_is_money-wallpaper-800x600Thanks for your time.

Don’t hide your ‘shrooms under a bushel

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I have no idea how I lucked out, but I did.

Normally chanterelle mushrooms sell for about thirty dollars a pound.  Consequently, I’ve never had the pleasure of their company in my kitchen.

But a while back I was in Whole Foods.  I don’t whether it was a mistake, there was a glut on the market, or it was a straight-up holiday miracle, but those puppies were selling for $4.99 a pound.  I filled a bag, and skipped all the way home.  The whole time I expected someone to grab me because there’d been some type of grievous mushroom error.

Nope, I made it back to Chez Matthews, chanterelles in hand.

I then pondered preparation.

Spinach salad: one of my favorite recipes with mushrooms.

We eat mushrooms a few times a week, in all kind of dishes.  But I didn’t want to dim their star power one bit.  It would be like having Aretha Franklin over only to ask her to sing “Happy Birthday”.

So they would not languish in gravy, or meatloaf, or soup.  I wanted my windfall to b.e the star.

About the same time I was in Lowes Foods and bought a bag of completely adorable cherubic red skinned potatoes.  They were literally the size of a shooter used in a game of marbles.  Actually they’re known as marble potatoes.

To celebrate these two delightful, earthy treasures, I decided to do a simple roasting.  This would keep them close to their natural state.  I wouldn’t try to manipulate the flavors either, but just bring out the very best of them that I could.

If you don’t happen to luck out and find some fresh chanterelles that you can afford without a second mortgage, any type of mushroom can be used.

Oven-roasted chanterelles and potatoes

roasted chanterelles

1 ½ pounds (approx) marble or grape-sized potatoes, washed, but left unpeeled

1 ¼ pounds (approx) chanterelles or other wild mushrooms, washed and cut into bite-sized pieces.

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Place a large pan into oven and preheat to 450 degrees.

Place potatoes and mushrooms into a large bowl, and drizzle with oil.  Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat.

When the pan and oven are up to temp, pour vegetables onto pan into one even layer.  Bake for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender, and mushrooms are brown and crispy around the edges, stirring every 10 minutes.

Serves 4-6.

Although The Kid might strenuously disagree with this statement, I usually don’t like to lecture.  But in this case, I feel that I must make a point.

I’m not sure that we always remember how fortunate we are as Americans.  The quantity and quality of our choices with which to stock our pantries is almost obscene.  Within thirty minutes of my house there are probably fifty different places to shop for our dinner.  The only limits are money and imagination.

Even if I am cooking something as common and prosaic as hamburger, tomatoes or egg noodles, I feel the need to honor the food.  To treat each ingredient as lovingly and skillfully as I am able.  Not only am I paying basic respect to the cow, farmer, or noodle maker, the flavors that result will reflect the care I have taken.

Heavy sauces and complicated cooking procedures originally became popular to hide wonky, and even rancid food.

But because of the plethora of choices, and superlative quality the best thing we can do is to get out of our food’s way and let it shine.

Thanks for your time.

A spicy tale

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Boy, I raised one thoughtful spawn.

Very close, very old friends of The Kid just had a baby (not quite one of those new year babies—they missed it by about 36 hours).

But since it’s not possible to wrap up sleep and deliver it all tied up with a pretty bow, my child did the next best thing; the gift of time was chosen.

Homemade wild rice chicken chowder and a lentil stew were made, along with something sweet with which to nibble.  The chowder and stew were prepared and are in the chill chest in freezer bags.  But because of The Kid’s work commitments, I volunteered to bake and pack up the cookies.

When the couple was asked for their confectionary preference, a ginger molasses cookie was requested.  Since this particular type is not in our family’s repertoire, an internet search was made.

I found a recipe that I felt hit most of the notes, and started with that.  Then I fleshed it out by altering flavor and techniques.

I used a vanilla bean and vanilla extract.  The caviar I added to the butter.  I tossed the empty pod into my sugar canister.  The original recipe, for some reason, never called for nutmeg.  I added it.  I also added nutmeg to the rolling sugar.I used a cookie scoop to portion the dough, instead of just a spoon.  Using one is quicker, easier, and makes all the cookies the same size, which means they all cook at the same time.

I leave you with one crucially important piece of advice.

Do not crowd the cookies in the pan while baking.  And for the love of all that is holy, do not rush them into the oven by cutting short the dough refrigeration time.  They will spread out all over the sheet, and not set up correctly.  I did this, and had to throw away the first batch of nine (See, I crowded the sheet pan).  They tasted really good, but were too thin and gooey to live.

Chewy ginger molasses cookies

ginger cookies 2

1 vanilla bean

1½ cups butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar + more for rolling

½ cup molasses

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1 ½ teaspoons salt

 DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Split the vanilla bean, scrape caviar onto butter.  Set aside at room temp to soften.

Whisk together flour, soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt. Set aside.

With electric mixer, beat together softened butter and 2 cups sugar on medium for 1 minute until light and fluffy.  Add in eggs, molasses, vanilla extract, and beat on medium-low until combined.

Gradually add in dry ingredient mixture and beat until fully incorporated.

Using a medium (about 2 tablespoon capacity) cookie scoop, portion out all the dough.

Refrigerate scoops for 1 hour then remove and them roll into balls.  Return to fridge and let chill another 30-45 minutes.

Fill a small bowl with about 1/2 cup sugar and a pinch of nutmeg, and roll four balls in one at a time until they’re completely coated. Place on parchment-covered cookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes, spin the pan 180 degrees then bake for 5 more until they begin to slightly crack on top (They’ll crack more while cooling.).  Remove from the oven and transfer cookies, still on parchment to wire racks to cool. Bake off the next four.  Store in a sealed container for up to 1 week.

Makes about 2 ½ dozen.

I’ve never been a ginger snap, molasses cookie kind of girl.  But I have to admit, when I tasted one of the rejects, I was really surprised.  Yes, they are very spicy.  But extremely tasty, too.  These are more of a grown-up cookie for somebody who wants less sweet and more sassy to their desserts.  They would also be really, really good cookies with which to make ice cream sandwiches, say with some butter pecan, or peach ice cream.

And again, do not rush these into the oven.  They must be very cold and hard before hitting the heat or you will have delicious manhole covers.

This is bad.  You do not want this.

Thanks for your time.

 

 

The pitter-patter of tiny resolutions

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I once knew a woman who kept shoes in her oven.

She doesn’t cook, but she has a crock of utensils on the stove-top.  This is a woman for whom appearances are everything.

Don’t get me wrong, I know from shoe storage conundrums.  When I look for a particular pair in my shoe closet, I wade in like I’m entering a flood-swollen river to rescue a bus full of orphans.  Armed with only a flashlight and my plucky, never-say-die attitude, I declare something brave yet memorable, and leap into the fast-moving current.

I don’t retreat until I’ve found the desired footwear, be it purple suede boots or beaded strappy sandals.

Oh God, that’s the stuff, just like that.

This woman not only had misplaced her values, along with her shoes, she was rail-thin, unhappy, and unhealthy.

And I place the blame squarely on her diet.  She ate lots of low-fat, low-cal takeout and frozen meals.  She ate quickly, and alone.  Food to her was fuel.  If she could have had a home without a kitchen, she would have.

Our attitudes about food are formed early in our lives.  Gathering around the table to break bread, celebrating with a special meal, being rewarded with a treat, those are all good things, despite what some would have you believe.  As people (especially women) age, disordered thinking about eating can take hold.

Good foods, bad foods, behaving, being bad; all of those ideas just contribute to stress, guilt, and the loss of enjoyment.

Have you ever watched a dog, or a teenage boy eat?  They don’t sit with calculator or app, torturing themselves—they happily indulge.

I’m convinced that a healthy, joyful relationship to food and our bodies begins as children–in the kitchen.  Eliminate reliance on other people and the processed meals which they produce.

cooking at Granny's

In my grandmother’s Pittsburgh kitchen at age two.  I still get that look on my face if you bug me.

Get kids into the kitchen and cook with them.  You may have to drag them there at first, but not only is cooking a crucial life skill, if little hands take part in preparing, little mouths may be more willing to eat the resulting food, which by its very nature will be healthier.

This recipe is delicious, easy to prepare, and the various tasks can be parceled out depending on age and skill.  Younger kids will be able to help assemble.  Older kids can shred cheese or dice shallots.  As they gain experience, their contributions can grow with them.

Muffin taters

tater muffins

Vegetable spray

2 large russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick (a mandolin is the best tool for this job, so that the spuds are evenly sliced)

½ cup grated Cheddar cheese

2 shallots, finely diced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

¾ cup heavy cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Spray 8 muffin tins and one side of foil with vegetable spray. Layer potato slice, a tiny bit of cheese, and a couple shallot pieces into muffin cup.  Repeat until cup is full, and move onto the next.  Top each with a pinch of salt and pepper, a little more cheese, and drizzle over a tablespoon or so of cream. Cover with foil (sprayed side down) and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, removing the foil halfway through. Invert cakes onto plate and serve.  Serves 4.

Although I say this serves 4, they are horribly addictive, so I always double the recipe.  My petite, dainty mother once put away a dozen of these things in one sitting.

For 2016’s resolution, do something that will vastly improve the quality of life for a child.  And hey, if they become culinarily proficient, you can a get a night off every now and then, and have someone serve you for a change.

Thanks for your time.

Jam session

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Although some people who know me (Hello Petey and The Kid) may call it an affliction, I just happen to appreciate jam and jelly.

Right now in my fridge there are 13 jars of various fruit preserves, including the Stonewall Kitchen caramel apple butter I picked up yesterday.

Accueil Caramel Apple Butter

That’s not counting Goober Grape and the many, many bottles in the honey/syrup subsection.  Give me some toast, a biscuit, or waffle, tell me your mood, and I’ve got a topping for ya.

Roll over image to magnify

My true life-long love affair. Petey Who?

Even though I pick up new sugary, jewel-colored jars wherever I go, there are a couple of types that I would never consider buying because I always make them from scratch: onion marmalade and garlic jam.

this is approx since i don t really measure 2 med large red onions ...

The onion marmalade derived from a newspaper article I read many years ago.  And the garlic goop is the byproduct of making garlic oil, which I always try to have on hand.

Either can be used by themselves, like a schmear under some melted cheese on a sandwich or a burger or to dress up some crostini.  You can also use it as an ingredient; I stir a heaping tablespoon of onions into the sauce for my smothered pork chops, and the best red salsa I’ve ever had includes garlic jam.

Neither is hard or expensive to create.  They only cost time and the willingness for you and your home to be heavily allium-scented for a day or so.

Onion Marmalade

5 pound yellow onions

2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Peel onions and cut in half.  Slice into ¼ inch thick half-moons.

Place largest, heaviest pot you own on a burner and turn to medium-low.  Put in all ingredients, and toss to coat.  Cover and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until most of the liquid has been released from onions.

Uncover and cook on low, stirring frequently until the onions have cooked down and are deeply amber, about 3-4 hours.  Don’t rush or they will burn and stick.  Taste for seasoning. Makes 2-3 cups.

This’ll last about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.  I usually keep about a third in the fridge to use right away and label and freeze the rest.  It will give anything you use it in a serious depth of flavor—but be careful, the taste is intense; it’s easy to overdo.

The garlic is even easier.

Garlic Oil and Jam

4 heads garlic, separated and peeled, with tough, dry ends cut off

2 cups olive oil

3 cups vegetable oil—I use grapeseed

Salt & pepper to taste

½ teaspoon dried thyme

Juice of 1 lemon

Place garlic in heavy saucepan and pour in oils.  Turn to medium-low and cook slowly until garlic is light golden-brown, about 45-60 minutes.  Turn off burner and let oil and garlic cool.

Remove cloves to bowl of food processor and pour oil into clean receptacle and refrigerate for up to 3 months.

Process cloves with salt, pepper, and thyme until mostly smooth.  Pour in lemon juice and process until it is very smooth and looks like humus.  Taste for seasoning and refrigerate for 2-3 weeks in airtight container.  Makes about 1 cup.

With these in your fridge, you can spike a quick weeknight meal, and that dinner will take on a slow-cooked, fussed-over taste.

Or, like The Kid, you can eat the garlic jam from a spoon when you think nobody’s looking.

katey's new hat

The Kid, in disguise, after eating all of the garlic marmalade.

Thanks for your time.

Hello Yellow

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It’s a bum rap.

Calling a faulty piece of machinery a lemon—it’s wrong and unfair.  It’s just blatant anti-lemon propaganda.

It may not look like much, but don’t you dare call it a lemon.

Lemons are one of the tastiest and most versatile items in any kitchen.

The other day I was waxing rhapsodic about lemons, and said, “Lemons make everything better.”

A miracle can grow on a tree.

And Petey said, “Not if you don’t like ‘em.”

Well first off, I don’t think that person exists.  But, for the sake of argument let’s say that this freak of nature is out there somewhere, leading a lonely, lemon-hating life.

There are unconfirmed reports coming out of North Korea that this man is an unrepentant lemon hater. Figures.

Unbeknownst to him, he probably ingests them all the time.

Many fruit juices add lemon to keep them from becoming cloyingly sweet.  Lots of salad dressings contain a spritz or two.  And all kinds of dishes, especially long cooked ones, are finished by squeezing a bit of lemon juice into them.  Just enough to perk up the flavors, but not enough to taste.

Recently I cobbled together a recipe for sautéed spinach.  Except for creamed spinach, I’ve never liked it cooked, because it seems bitter and slimy.  But I read about a method that’s easier, and less messy.  I had a surfeit of spinach in the fridge, so I decided to experiment.  Besides, The Kid loves sautéed spinach, and I get a kick out of giving my culinary schooled child a little schooling from me.

Popeye called. He wants in.

To my surprised delight, wilting the spinach by microwave gets rid of both bitterness and sliminess.  I loved it.

Sautéed spinach

32 ounces fresh baby spinach (2 large boxes)

*1 tablespoon garlic oil

1 large shallot or 1/2 red onion, diced

¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Juice of ½ lemon

Kosher salt to taste

Cracked black pepper to taste

*To make garlic oil, peel 2 cloves garlic and bruise by giving them a whack with a spoon.  Place into skillet with olive oil.  Warm until fragrant, then remove cloves with slotted spoon and discard.

Directions for spinach: Place raw spinach into very large bowl, pressing down to get it all in.  Cover with damp paper towel.  Microwave for 2 minutes.  Toss and put back into microwave.  Cook in 2 minute increments until completely wilted.

Put into colander and let it cool enough to handle.

Once cool, squeeze with your hands to get out as much water (and the bitterness it contains) as possible.  Put it on a cutting board and roughly chop.  Return to colander and squeeze it again to get out all the liquid you can.  Let rest in colander until ready to cook—or refrigerate and hold for up to 6 hours.

Heat skillet, add garlic oil.  Add shallots, season, and cook until translucent.  Stir in spinach, and nutmeg.  Season.  Sautee until it’s hot and it seems almost dry.

To preserve color of the spinach, take pan off heat then stir in lemon juice.  Check for seasoning, and serve.  Makes 4-5 servings.

Even though there’s lemon in the spinach, it only brightens the flavor.  So, there you go, mythical lemon hater.

But if you like lemon, there’s all kind of places to put it for a kick of citrus.

Lemon can make a good thing better.

Add it to scrambled eggs—but only after cooking; adding it to raw will curdle them, which is a pretty unappetizing sight at breakfast.  Give soup a hit; I recently added lemon juice to both Panera’s cream of chicken, and a bowl of egg drop soup.  Turned out awesome.  But lemon loves salt, so taste and re-season if needed.

Not just savory, lemon’s heavenly in sweets.

For a quick delicious dessert that will impress and delight your diners, make a granita.

A granita is a frozen non-dairy dessert that when placed in a goblet, looks like a million bucks.

See how pretty?

Just make a pitcher of lemonade and pour it into a baking dish and freeze (add a splash of grenadine for pink lemonade).  Every 15 minutes, take it out and scrape with a fork.  Keep doing this until it’s completely frozen and looks like snow.  Scoop into wine glass, and garnish with a sprig of mint or a twisted strip of lemon peel.

I hope I’ve convinced you to appreciate this sunny, daffodil-colored fruit so much that you, like me, are beseeching life to give you some lemons.

May I some more, please?

Thanks for your time.

Open letter to me at age 25

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Hey Debbie,

So! How’s 1989 going?  I know that you think there’s nothing left to learn, but I’m writing to you from 2015 to stop you from making the same mistakes that this Debbie made.

First the bad news: There are no flying cars, and they still haven’t invented comfortable high heels.

They don’t call ’em killer heels for nothing…

But the good news is they’re done making “Police Academy” movies.

Never again will a child go to the movies and be at risk of seeing this.

Now take a deep breath, because I have a shocker.  In a few years you’ll have a baby.  And stranger still, it won’t be an accident, it’ll be on purpose.

katey duke grdns

Is this kid awesome or what?

The baby will turn out to be awesome.  Known as The Kid, this child will give you constant boatloads of joy, and only infrequent, fleeting moments of aggravation.

Becoming a mother will deepen your interest in cooking.  You’ll become pretty good at it.  In fact, your fascination with food and love of writing will result in your own culinary column in The Herald-Sun.  Don’t laugh — it’s true, I promise.

Now for the advice.

Pre-packaged and fast foods may seem convenient and a good idea right now, but don’t do it.  The Kid will possess a well-rounded palate, be curious about new flavors, and open to experimentation.  Take advantage of this.  Serve real food.

Just say no.

Petey will develop mild high blood pressure.  You will be tempted to cut salt from his diet.  It’s unnecessary.  Your husband’s sodium intake will be drastically slashed by doing one simple thing: ruthlessly limit processed food.

Seasoning food while cooking, and using the salt shaker with restraint is only about 10 percent of one’s sodium intake.  All the rest comes from pre-fab foods, like soda, canned soup, and even jarred spaghetti sauce.

processed

This stuff will happily see you dead.

So cut it out!

You’ve now been overweight for half your life.  And having a baby only makes the problem worse.  At one point you will weigh almost 250 pounds.

But as I write this, we’ve been at a healthy weight for 3 years now.  Believe it or not, we go down to 122 pounds, and wear a size 4.  Feel free to do your happy dance here.

It doesn’t come from a trendy diet or exercising like a maniac.  And there was no surgery involved.

You’ll finally crack the code and figure out what will work for you for the rest of your life.  Crazy diets may get you there, but are of no help once the goal is reached.  You need something you can live with.  Eliminating potato salad, pasta, cake, and other faves only creates a gut-busting time bomb.

You can eat this and still fit into your jeans.

Mindfulness, moderation, and consistency are the keys.  Eat healthfully whenever you can.  If the more nutritious alternative is just as tasty, then eat that.  Don’t ban treats; just be cognizant of everything that goes into your mouth.  Never take the whole bag of chips into the living room and stuff your face, zombie-like.

Balm for the soul.

The forest behind your house is beautiful and has miles of trails; get your hands on some rubber boots, grab the dog, put on some music, and go.  Don’t wait a quarter of a century before exploring.  No matter what’s going on, it’s impossible to be stressed out back there.  Before you know it, you’ll be going three miles at a stretch, and loving every step.  Besides, regular exercise works off the occasional Milky Way.

Stop wasting food.  You’re only cooking for two, so a 4-pound meatloaf doesn’t make sense.  Keep your fridge cleaned out and well-organized.  It will be easier to see what you have and eat it before it goes wonky.

Use your freezer for something other than Eskimo Pies and batteries.  Instead of tossing that one serving left from supper, freeze it, and have Petey take it to work for lunch.  If you don’t use an entire bag of frozen veg, put what’s left in a zip-top bag and add subsequent extras to it.  Soon you’ll have enough for a meal.  But please, always label and date the bags.  You may think you’ll remember what it is, but frozen, all food looks alike.

Pick the brains of all the good cooks you know, and one day people will ask you for advice.

Oh yeah, and Debbie?  About that mullet.

Ditch it.

But everybody was doing it.

Thanks for your time.