A pale imitation.

That’s what I’ve been cooking and serving my family for years.  Like a Mercedes built by Hyundai, or a Chanel suit produced by Walmart.  My version of Puerto Rican rice and beans was as wrong as a steak dinner from Chunky Cheese.

It didn’t taste bad, it just wasn’t right.  And right is so much better.

First, the beans were wrong.  I’ve always used habichuelas rosadas, or small pink beans.  In the correct, finished dish, they do appear pink, but that’s because of the tomato, and the achiote in both the seasoning and the oil used.  The real beans are small white navy beans.

The seasoning I used was close, but not quite.  I used Sazon with saffron.  The correct version has, as I mentioned, achiote, also called annatto.  I used jarred sofrito with tomato, which is sort of, but not really.  The flavor and aroma are completely different with homemade.

I also made mine either vegetarian, or with pot roast.  Ham hocks are what belong in it, along with fresh ham hock stock.  The smokiness adds a tremendous depth of flavor.

A few weeks ago I spent the afternoon in the kitchen of Becky Lopez, the wife of Jose Lopez, the chief of the Durham police department.  Among other things, Becky prepared authentic Puerto Rican rice and beans.  Eating hers I remembered what they tasted like when I lived there as a child.  And resolved to make it right from now on.

I gave out the recaito and achiote oil recipes in an earlier column (Herald-Sun July 22).  The Sabor-a-hamon, sazon, ham hocks, squash and the rest of the ingredients can be purchased at a Compare grocery store and most Latino supermarkets.

Habichuelas blancas and rice

1 bag of navy or great northern beans

2 packets of Sabor-a-hamon

2 packets of Sazon con culantro y achiote

1 tsp salt

2 or 3 pieces of smoked ham hocks

Recaito

2-3 tbsp of achiote oil

1 small can tomato sauce

1 handful diced pumpkin or hard orange squash, like butternut

24 hours before cooking-empty beans into 3-4 inches of water with 1 packet of Sabor-a-hamon and 1/2 tsp of salt.  Stir, cover and let sit for 24 hours.

Cooking day; 8-10 hours before service-fill large Dutch oven with cold water and in it, place ham hocks.  Cook on medium-low for 6-6 ½ hours or until the water is murky and the connective tissue on the hocks has melted into the water and pot has approximately 2 1/2 inches of water left. Remove ham-hocks from the water and any bone that may have fallen into the water. Remove bones, skin, and fat from the ham-hock and chop the remaining meat into small pieces as you would herbs to put in a sauce. Put chopped meat back into the water.

Add beans (and their water) to the pot, along with the squash.  Add another packet of Sabor-a-hamon and 2 packets of Sazon-con-Culantro y Achote, 1/2 tsp of salt, and bring to a boil.  Lower heat to medium-low and cook until they are almost done, about 1-1 ¼ hours.

When the beans have about 20-30 minutes left, start your rice (any kind of basic white you like).

Cook the recaito:  Put a skillet on medium, and melt the achiote oil.  When it’s hot and melted, add about 1-1 ½ cups of raw recaito.  Cook until it is hot, and when you stir it, it makes sizzling sounds.  Add tomato sauce and combine.  Cook for 5-8 minutes or until it’s thickened a bit, and the color has deepened.  Stir into beans, and finish cooking them.  When they are tender, spoon over rice and enjoy.  Makes approx. 8 servings.

You can make your pot of beans on the weekend, and store in the fridge until later in the week.  It will last 4-5 days in the fridge, and 3 months or so in the freezer.

This food is the opposite of fancy.  It’s peasant food, which means it’s inexpensive to prepare, but takes time and effort.  The results of all the work are so delicious that it’s worth the effort, at least once.

My guess though, is that the first won’t be the last.

Thanks for your time.

Things I love:

Clean sheet night; being fresh from the shower, and crawling into bed made up with warm, soft flannel sheets that smell of Downy.

The first fall day with a snap in the air when I’m able to take a long walk in the woods without worrying about mosquitos, snakes, or heat stroke.

And I absolutely love figuring out the recipes for well-loved dishes from various specialty stores and restaurants.

Recently I was able to make pretty good facsimiles of a couple of dishes that would be terrific for a Labor Day cookout or make a cool side dish for a hot day.

Creamy cole slaw

½ head green cabbage

½ head red cabbage

2 carrots, shredded finely

½ small Vidalia or other sweet onion

½ green bell pepper, core and seeds removed

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

3 tablespoons salt

Dressing:

2/3 cup mayonnaise

Apple cider vinegar

Sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Either grate or on a mandolin set on the thinnest cut, shred or slice cabbages.  Place in a colander and sprinkle on 3 tablespoons salt.  Mix together.  Set aside for three hours.

Make dressing: Place mayo, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and poppy seeds in bowl.  Starting with a tablespoon each, whisk in sugar and vinegar.  Taste, and add more until the flavor pleases you.

Rinse cabbage and dry by rolling up in a kitchen towel or using a salad spinner.  Put onion and green pepper into a food processor and chop until it’s in tiny bits and very wet.

Place cabbage and onion/pepper mixture from the processor into large bowl, and mix in dressing until slaw is well coated.  Refrigerate for an hour before serving.  Serves 8-10.

I salt the cabbage to leach out the water inside it.  This will prevent the dressing becoming watery and bland.  But don’t neglect rinsing it afterward or it’ll be too salty to eat.

I purposely left the vinegar and sugar amounts vague.  I like mine kind of strong, but you may like it milder.  If you add too much sweet or sour, just dilute with some mayo.

I don’t like celery seed, so I use poppy seeds for the same textural component.  The bell pepper lends a bit of an astringent bite to the dressing and the sweet onion adds a mild oniony hit.

Knock-off macaroni salad

1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked, drained and cooled

¾ cup frozen peas, thawed

½ green bell pepper, diced

1 carrot grated

½ small red onion, chopped finely

2/3 cup grated cheddar cheese

Dressing:

Whisk together:

1 ¼ cups mayonnaise

¼ cup Mexican crema (found in the dairy section of all supermarkets)

¼ cup fat-free buttermilk

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Place salad ingredients into a large bowl.  Add a couple tablespoons dressing and stir together to loosen it up.  Then add enough dressing to coat well.  Taste for seasoning and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.  Serves 6-8. 

I use crema instead of sour cream because it thins out the dressing, and along with the buttermilk, adds a tang.  It’s also half the calories of regular sour cream.

Make sure you refrigerate the salad for at least an hour before serving.  The vegetables add much to the flavor of the dressing.  Taste it for seasoning, but the flavor won’t be fully developed until some time has passed.  Lasts about 4 days in the fridge.

Sadly, nothing will make autumn come any quicker, but these cool salads could make a 12,000 degree day a little more bearable.

Thanks for your time.

Petey and I went out for lunch today to celebrate our anniversary.

We went to Golden Corral.  I don’t remember the last time we were there, but that new all-day breakfast was a culinary siren song.  Pink lemonade, enough starch to open a laundry, two different chocolate fountains and three kinds of gravy, now sharing the billing with scrambled eggs, bacon, and French toast?

Um, yes please.

Since we visited last they must have doubled the number of dishes they serve.  I always start with a salad, next a plate of breakfast grub, one of dinner stuff, and then it was time for dessert (yummy chocolate pie and 2 pieces of shockingly delicious fudge).

So…supper tonight, at 10:00, when I was finally hungry, was very light.  I had a cup of instant hot cereal from Special K, called Nourish.  It’s a blend of oats and quinoa.  They have three varieties; I buy the almond/maple/brown sugar version.

Then I jazz it up.

I am pathologically, congenitally, unable to leave well enough alone; no sleeping dog goes undisturbed around me.  I never met a recipe, a prepared food, or a boxed dinner with which I couldn’t, nay, wouldn’t tinker.  In my kitchen, nothing is safe or sacred.

Instead of just adding boiling water to my Nourish and calling it a day, I fiddle.  I add a pinch of salt, some fresh nutmeg, a little vanilla, and a handful of dried fruit and nuts.

The calorie count goes up a bit, but I’m adding protein, good fats, and lots of vitamins and minerals.  Another benefit is the protein, complex carbs, and fiber makes me feel fuller longer.  So, I’m not cranky and haunting the kitchen with a grumbly stomach an hour later.

I’m no model of virtue, though.  Sometimes I monkey around just to make it taste better, nutrition be damned.

Blue box mac is very popular at my house.  I don’t care who knows it; I’m not ashamed.  Often I add corn or lightly steamed broccoli.  I always switch out the margarine to butter (sometimes browned butter), and instead of the recommended low-fat milk, or water, I use heavy cream.  Yeah, I know, OMG, my arteries.  But you know what?  We only eat it about once a month or so, and darn it, it’s so much tastier that way. It’s truly the most comforting of comfort foods.

When I make a tuna sandwich, I add a tablespoon or so of raw sesame seeds.  It adds flavor, texture, and among other beneficial things; iron, calcium, vitamin B1, and fiber.  The Kid, a fiddler as well, won’t eat tuna without the generous addition of non-pareil capers.

Grilled cheese gets a light schmear of Dijon mustard, and lately, instead of butter, I spread a whisper-thin layer of mayo on the outside, for the grilling.  It has fat like butter, but the egg in the mayonnaise gives the bread a snap when you bite into it that’s eminently satisfying.

A boxed brownie mix does not enter my oven without some chocolate chips and a scoop of cocoa powder.  And I always replace the water with coffee.

Sometimes I perk up the predictable with the simple addition of spices, fresh herbs, and/or aromatics.

You’d be surprised what some freshly cracked pepper in the cooking water and a handful of chopped fresh parsley does to a simple bag of egg noodles.  Try adding horseradish, Siracha, or curry powder to some Duke’s or Hellmann’s.  Your next roast beef or turkey sandwich will thank you.

I like to keep dried mushrooms around, so I always have them to add to a dish.  I rehydrate them in a pot of boiling water.  It’s goosed with salt and pepper, and a couple slugs of Worcestershire.

I have what looks like a large tea infusion ball that’s made for spices (check out cooking stores and the web for them).  Into it I place fresh thyme, rosemary and a bay leaf along with some peppercorns.  When the mushrooms are ready, I then have a pot of fully flavored mushroom stock.

So the moral to this story is: don’t settle.  Get creative, jazz things up, and become the Dizzy Gillespie of your own kitchen.

Thanks for your time.

Stuff I hate:

Asking a clerk for a size ten shoe and being told they’re out, but they do have an 8 ½.  Sure, let me just cut off a few toes and everything’ll be super groovy.  You guys got a bone saw back there?

Oblivious people on cell phones.  I don’t have one (by choice), and it’s like being the only sober person at a party.  Most folks can’t even see anymore, how downright self-absorbed and careless one can become when attached to that insidious electronic tether.

And I hate, hate, hate wasting food.  It’s expensive, and there are too many hungry mouths on this planet for it.  I’m pretty good at cooking for two.  But sometimes I make extra; on purpose or by accident, and then I repurpose it for another meal.  We either eat it right away, or often I freeze it for later.  But my leftovers very rarely show up in the same configuration in which they started.

So what follows are a few things I’ve learned after three-plus decades of marriage.

Potatoes

Mashed:

1.)Basic-reheat them in the microwave, and either eat that way, or smooth or pipe onto the top of a casserole.

2.)Duchess-Mix in cheese, bacon, chives or green onions, along with horseradish or Dijon mustard, and bake covered in a dish at 350 for 20 minutes, then uncover, sprinkle on more cheese, and bake 20 more minutes.

3.)Fried-Mix in egg and a tablespoon of flour, form into patties and brown in a little vegetable oil until golden on each side.

Or

After mixing in egg and flour, make into a key lime-sized ball, and stuff with a piece of cheese, or spiced meat.  Freeze.  Cook submerged in 325-350 degree oil until browned and hot.

Whole potatoes-baked or boiled:

You can’t go wrong with hash.  Or, you can add to soup, or make mashed potatoes, and start all over again.

Rice

1.)Make fried rice, or add to salad or soup.

2.)Rice cakes-Press plain cooked rice into a thin layer in a lightly buttered non-stick skillet.  Cook on low about 45 minutes, flip and cook other side.  Serve plain, or spoon something saucy on top.

Or

Mix in an egg and form into burger sized patties and refrigerate until set and stiff.  Dredge in flour, then beaten egg, then panko bread crumbs, and fry in about ¼ inch oil until golden and heated through.

3.)Sweet-stir warmed cooked rice into ‘Cook & Serve’ (or homemade) pudding, add dried fruit and a glug of rum, and you’ve got rice pudding.

Or

Heat a bowl of rice in the microwave with milk and maple syrup, chopped nuts and dried fruit, and you’ve got breakfast porridge.  You can also mix it into yogurt with some fresh fruit.

Pasta

I don’t normally make extra pasta, because noodles are so quick and easy anyway.

Veggies

Extra vegetables go into bags in the freezer, with each type getting its own bag.  Then I use them for soups, salads, stir-fries, and casseroles.

Breads, Crackers, Chips, Pretzels

Every leftover morsel goes into a bag into the freezer, for breading and stuffing.  Except for panko, I haven’t bought bread crumbs for years.

*When freezing, it’s absolutely essential that you label and date it.  You think you’ll remember what and when, but you never do.

Learning to cook for two was tough.  I’ve tossed more food than a supermodel eats in a lifetime.  But the only fuzzy thing in my fridge these days are peaches and the occasional forlorn, overlooked slice of cheese.

Thanks for your time.

This week I’ve tried something new.

I wrote fifteen food-related “Would you rather?” questions.  Then I contacted some local chefs and asked them to play.

First up is Chef Amy Tornquist, of Watts Grocery (1116 Broad St, Durham), and Hummingbird Bakery (721 Broad St, Durham).  What follows are the questions and her answers, verbatim.

Chef Amy-Okay, to start, we are big fans of the “would you rather” game at our house.

1.) Would you rather eat fast food every day for a year, or never eat mushrooms again? I love mushrooms. Last winter, our chef de cuisine Theresa had a dish of sautéed mushrooms with kale and flounder that was amazing. But I really hate fast food. Oh, so very much. I hate the salt, the ickiness, the lack of care, and the fact that all your money goes to some giant company God knows where. So I would have to give up mushrooms

2.) Would you rather give up eating pork forever or never cook with butter again? So I started out as a baker. I would miss bacon something fierce but I am consoled by the wonderful southern vegetables that really benefit from a touch of butter. So, goodbye pork, hello butter

3.) Would you rather lose your sense of taste or smell? Okay, I confess that these are almost one sense to me. My sense of smell so informs my sense of taste. But I can say that losing your sense of taste sucks. I have been on an icky antibiotic off and on for a few months for a terrible infection. And it removed my whole mid palate. I am finally back able to drink coffee, and enjoy Full-bodied foods. So have to lose the smell.

4.) Would you rather have a nut allergy or egg allergy? I would rather have a nut allergy. Eggs are a part of so, so, so many things, I don’t think I could stand it.

5.) Would you rather never bake again, or never fry? The thought of no fried okra or oysters again is sad. But, as I said above, I come from a baking background. So I’d have to say no to frying.

6.) Would you rather eat creme brule or candy bars? Wow–Finally an easy one. Creme brûlée. Duh.

7.) Would you rather use only frozen fish sticks or instant grits? Okay, so both are awful. But I think you can both work with instant grits and jazz them up. And there is no helping a fish stick.

8.) Would you rather give up pasta or potatoes? I have kids. And we eat a lot of pasta. But, that being said, I feel like the range of uses and preparations make the potato the item I would keep.

9.) Would you rather smell like Limburger cheese or durian fruit? Easy. Limburger. Have you ever seen Andrew Zimmern try to eat a durian? Yeah, stinky cheese any day.

10.) Eating alone–would you rather read or watch TV? I would rather watch TV because I only pay half a mind to it at best anyway.

11.) Would you rather never have mayo again or mustard; to eat and cook?  Dukes mayo is a keeper. Sorry mustard.

12.) Would you rather give up beer or donuts?  Hmmm. I would like to think I’m hipster enough to say beer. But in all honesty, I don’t drink that much beer. So donuts it is!

13.) Would you rather become a vegetarian, or only eat processed meat? Does bacon count as a processed meat? Or are we talking purely spam-like stuff. And is it only processed meat? Like not veggies. Or is it that the only meat eaten is processed? So, if only items eaten are meat processed, then I’d be a vegetarian. If bacon counted as a processed meat and you could eat other stuff, then I’d do that.  Chef, bacon counts, and you can eat other stuff-debbie

 14.) Would you rather give up your favorite food, or never try anything new again? I am not sure I have a favorite food so I would like to keep eating new things.

15.) Would you rather cook for the president, or chefs?  I would love to meet the president. But I’m not sure how fun he is as an eater. And chefs are a blast to cook for— grateful, fun, appreciative, interested.

Thanks for your time.

Just thinking about this dish makes me happy as a puppy under an occupied high chair.

I love breakfast food.  I think it’s because of the yummy combination of fats, carbs, and proteins without those pesky old vegetables showing up and being all healthy and law-abiding.  Our wedding anniversary dinner is coming up, and I chose a place with an all-day brunch buffet.

But whenever I go out for AM-type eats, I am smack dab on the horns of a delicious, delicious dilemma.

Deciding between pancakes and French toast is just too hard; especially on an empty stomach.

But…

I’ve recently discovered a marvelous hybrid.  Pancakes, cooked into a French toast-type casserole.  The French name for custard-soaked slices of bread, cooked golden brown in a skillet, is pain perdue.

So I call this recipe pancake perdu.

Pancake perdu

8-10 pancakes approximately 4-5 inches across

Custard:

3 eggs

3/4 cup whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped toasted pecans

Big pinch of salt

3 tablespoons cold cut up butter

Butter a 1 pound loaf pan (approx. 8 ½ X 4 ½). 

Cut pancakes in half across the middle and line them up in pan.  Stack them tight enough to stand up, but not so tight that custard can’t soak in (they’ll swell with custard and puff while baking).

Whisk together custard. Slowly pour over pancakes.  Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or even better, overnight.

To finish:

Preheat oven to 350.

For topping stir together flour, brown sugar, pecans and salt.  Add butter and cut in with fingers until it looks like streusel.  Sprinkle topping on pancakes in loaf pan.

Bake for 45-55 minutes or until edges are set and center is still a little jiggly.

Dress with syrup or powdered sugar.  Serves 4.

And the awesomeness of this recipe just keeps coming.

The pancake part is as flexible as an Eastern European gymnast.  If you wish, you can just use frozen pancakes.  Any variety works fine.  Just thaw them before assembling.  Or use a box mix, or one of those shaker mix thingies.

Or make homemade.  That’s where your palate can really take flight.  I’d probably go with sourdough flapjacks flecked with fresh, roasted silver queen corn.  You might like buttermilk pancakes, studded with blueberries.  What about buckwheat with chocolate chips?  The idea of a lemon ricotta pancake is endlessly intriguing.  The sky is the limit.  You can also scatter fruit, nuts, or crispy bacon amongst the pancakes when you stack them in the loaf pan.

If you are making pancakes yourself, you can make them weeks in advance, and freeze them.

If you’re not feeling streusel topping, leave it off.  Switch out pecans with walnuts or even oats.  Or change it with different spices and flavorings.  That goes for the custard, too.  Whisk in some cocoa powder, spike it with orange oil, or almond extract.

You can double the recipe, and either use two loaf pans, or use a 9X13 pan.   If you’re cooking for a crowd, you’ve got plenty, and if you don’t need both, wrap and freeze one.

I’m not going to kid you; this dish is rich.  Pancake perdue is special occasion food.  It’s perfect for houseguests, Christmas morning, or the very best first day of school ever.  Just maybe take a nice long walk after you eat.

Thanks for your time.

When I was originally asked to write this weekly column, there were only two requirements.

It had to be about food in some manner, and it had to be true.

Even though every thousand years or so I’ll use hyperbole or exaggeration, the soul of each essay is absolutely true.  Whether I come off looking like a hero, or far more likely, a giant dork, from me you always get the straight dope.  In print I’ve almost totally lost the ability to suffer embarrassment.

So, here goes.

I like something sweet at night, when I’m in my jammies watching TV or reading.  Not a ton, just a couple of bites will suffice (unless it’s Dewey’s birthday cake with extra frosting– there’s an ingredient in it that makes me lose my mind and thus, my self-control).  Right now it’s usually exactly 20 plain M&M’s, but it might be a quarter of a cupcake, 5 or 6 bites of cheesecake, or a small piece of a cookie sandwich with extra frosting (I’m sensing a theme here…).

It hasn’t happened for years, but occasionally I’d find myself with no cookies, candy, or anything else with which to feed the beast that is my sweet tooth.  In those cases I’d inventory the kitchen and improvise.

One of those ad-libbed confections was something I charitably called “candy”.  It was tasty, but a little weird.  It was a mixture of peanut butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup; just stirred together and eaten with a spoon.

The other night I tried to convert it from desperate stoner food to a more sophisticated, nuanced confection.  I already had something sweet for my bedtime treat, but I’d been thinking that there might be a column in the attempt.

I decided to cook the peanut better concoction on the stovetop into something fudge-like.

Into a non-stick sauce pan I put a big glob of peanut better, a scoop of brown sugar, and a couple of glugs of corn syrup, and broke out my candy thermometer.   I cooked it to soft ball stage, then began stirring it, similar to fudge procedure.

It was an unmitigated disaster.  It separated, tasted burnt, and was as hard as the heart of a Wall Street banker.  Fail.

I went back to the drawing board.

I thought about what I really liked about my so-called candy, and what I wanted to bring to the new and improved version.

The flavor was good; the peanut butter was tempered by the brown sugar to give it hints of caramelized sugar and an almost baked aftertaste.  And I didn’t need to cook it because the texture was already fudgy with a silky/dense mouth feel like a Reese’s cup.  I really just wanted to make it hand-held, and more respectable looking.

Mother Hubbard peanut butter truffles

For truffles:

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

2/3 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Big pinch of salt

Mix ingredients with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until fully incorporated.  Portion into 1 tablespoon amounts (a portion scoop makes this much easier).  Roll into balls.

Coating:

You can go into an infinite number of directions here. 

Some suggestions:

Cocoa powder

Coconut

Finely chopped salted peanuts

Finely chopped pecans toasted in brown butter

Ice cream sprinkles or jimmies

Powdered sugar

Powdered sugar spiked with cayenne

Granulated sugar mixed with cinnamon and nutmeg

Granulated sugar mixed with Chinese 5-spice powder

Melted milk, dark, or white chocolate

And so on and so forth…

Place coating ingredients into a steep sided bowl.  Roll truffles until coated.  Place on parchment or wax paper.  Refrigerate until chilled and set, about 90 minutes.

For PB&J truffles:

Warm jelly until it becomes thinned and syrupy.  Roll truffles in jelly and chill until set (this will be a messy job, latex gloves will make it neater and easier).

When cooled, roll in ½ cup breadcrumbs that you’ve toasted in a pan with about ½ tablespoon of butter, and then cooled.  Place in fridge again until they can be handled without icky stickiness.

Makes about 20 truffles.

Even in desperation and disaster, things can be learned.  And no matter how ridiculous I look, I promise I’ll spill about it.

Thanks for your time.

My folks are in San Diego this week.  They’re visiting Mom’s sister Tootie.  My family lived there in the 70’s when my Coast Guard father (now retired) was stationed at the tiny downtown airbase.

I wasn’t crazy about living there.  Although to be perfectly honest, I was in junior high at the time, and it’s the nature of the adolescent beast to ooze ennui regardless of circumstance.

But for vacations, San Diego is practically perfect.

The weather is consistently amazing.  Geographically they’re right next to many different beaches, and within an hour or so of Mexico, the desert, or snow-capped mountains.

San Diego offers a ton of stuff to do, as well.  Among them are shopping, dining, lots of funky little tourist districts, Lego Land, two professional sports teams, whale-watching, sky-diving, and the renowned San Diego Zoo.

But my very favorite place in all of San Diego is Balboa Park.

It’s as if the Smithsonian, New York’s Central Park, and the Old Globe Theater had a California love child.  The Spanish Colonial architecture is literally breathtaking.  There are performance spaces and multiple museums.  They have a little street of cottages staffed with people from all over the world who happily share their culture.  You could literally spend two weeks in town and never leave this awesome place.  I think it’s a terrific model for Raleigh to look to when making plans for the Dix hospital property.

I told Mom not to bring us anything because they already do too much for us.  But I did ask her to visit our old neighborhood of Claremont.  We often ate at a joint called Troy’s Family Restaurant, which happily, is still in business

I requested that Mom go and indulge in something we both love.

At Troy’s I had my very first patty melt.  Like chocolate and caramel, buttered rice and peas, and bacon with anything, a patty melt is the very definition of gestalt; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  And even better, the components can be tweaked with no loss of quality and deliciousness.

Classic patty melt

1 ½-2 pounds 80/20 hamburger

8 slices Swiss cheese

2 large yellow onions, sliced into half-moons and slowly sautéed ‘til golden

8 slices seeded rye

4 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper

Make 4 patties and mold them into the same shape as the bread, but about 20% larger all around (the meat will shrink while cooking).  Make a slight depression in the center so that when cooked, it stays flat.  Season and cook in a medium-high skillet 5-7 minutes on each side.  Remove and wipe out pan.

Construct sandwiches: Layer cheese, onions, burger, more onions, and the second piece of cheese (cheese is your sandwich glue).

Turn burner to medium-low.  Place 2 tablespoons butter into pan and swirl to coat bottom.  Place sandwiches into pan and cover (if pan is too small for 4, do two at a time or use 2 pans).  Cook 6-8 minutes until bottom bread is toasted and bottom cheese is melty.  Flip, add rest of the butter, and toast second side. 

Any of the ingredients can be changed.  Mix chiles with the onions for some heat.  Switch out the bread or cheese; I’m usually a sourdough/cheddar girl.  Tonight we had chicken kale burgers and provolone on multi-grain bread.  It all depends on mood and pantry.

*Disclaimer: I absolutely promise this column was not provided by the San Diego visitors’ council.  It’s just by me, The Enthusiastic Melty Cheese and Burger Eater’s Council.

Thanks for your time.

If I gotten into a different line, it wouldn’t have happened.

If I’d waited for that sample of Costco ice cream in the frozen foods aisle, it wouldn’t have happened.

If I’d even put on one more coat of mascara, it wouldn’t have happened.

But it did, and I ended up getting a tutorial in Puerto Rican food, eating my weight in said food, and getting to know one of the most adorable couples in Durham.

Last week I stopped at Costco.  At the checkout, the lady in line in front of me was very friendly.  Then I noticed her husband.

He looked really familiar, but it took me a second to place him.  It was the chief of the Durham police department, Jose Lopez.  We began chatting.  I told him about my column, and he told me two things that got me very excited.

He told me that both he and his wife Becky are Puerto Rican and she is the best cook in the world.  I lived in Puerto Rico as a child, it’s my favorite cuisine, and I’ve long wanted instruction in it.

One thought came to me—Food chat!

I asked them about it, they agreed to one, and I could get a cooking lesson.

When I arrived at their home, the meal preparation was well underway.  The menu for the day consisted of habichuelas blancas (white beans), rice, stewed chicken, fried ripe plantains, and bacalaito (a fritter made from bacalao; dried and salted cod).  The fritter was crispy and delicious, with absolutely no fishiness.

Setting up the visit, Chief Lopez had asked me what I wanted Becky to teach me.  I requested the foundation of almost every savory Puerto Rican dish.  Sofrito is a mixture of aromatic vegetables, similar to the French mirepoix, or the holy trinity of Creole cooking.

First I learned it’s not always called sofrito.  In its raw state it’s recaito.  Once it’s been lightly cooked in annatto oil, then it’s sofrito.  And mixed into a dish it becomes guisado.  When making it, fresh herbs are a must.  Culantro is not the same thing as cilantro; it’s an herb used in a variety of Hispanic food.  It has tall spiky leaves, and can be found in Latin American grocery stores, like Compare.

Recaito

Big handful of culantro, including stems

Big handful of cilantro, including stems

¼ large green bell pepper

¼ large red bell pepper

½ yellow onion

2-3 garlic cloves, peeled

Small bunch fresh oregano

Roughly tear herbs, roughly chop veggies.  Place everything into blender or food processor, and blend until it’s fully chopped and looks like pesto.

Makes 1-1 ½ cups.  Store in fridge.  May be made into much larger batches and frozen until needed.

Annatto oil

Don’t limit yourself to sofrito.  This oil brings color, depth of flavor and a unique piquancy to anything in which it’s used.

32 ounces lard (yes lard, if you’re averse, use 4 cups olive oil)

10 ounces annatto seed  

Place lard and seeds into a large, very heavy pot.  Turn on low.  Let lard melt. The seeds will color the fat.  Once the oil’s warmed, remove from heat and strain into container.  Don’t let it get very hot or let the seeds turn dark—it will become bitter and inedible.  Stored in airtight container in fridge, it lasts almost indefinitely.  Makes 4 cups.

Sofrito

Batch of recaito

1-2 tablespoons annatto oil

Melt oil in skillet.  Add recaito.  Cook on medium low until warmed and fragrant.  If desired, you can add ½ small can tomato sauce for “sofrito tomate”.

Use as base for almost all savory dishes.

There are so many other things I learned from what has become one of my favorite food chat/playdates.  In future columns I will share more of the day, along with additional delicious recipes.

Petey and The Kid constantly caution me against talking to strangers.  But Chief Lopez and his wife Becky were warm, generous, and hospitable (and so cute together).  That’s why I think that when Petey was stuffing himself with the massive plate Becky sent home with me, he was extremely happy I had talked to those particular strangers.

And so am I.

Thanks for your time.

A jillion years ago, back when fire was considered magic, I worked as a bartender at a country club in Raleigh.  And if I wasn’t at my post in the bar, there was only one place where I could be found.

The kitchen.

When I began working there, I hung out in the kitchen because, food (the employees were exceedingly well-fed) But then I got to know the cooks and appreciate their work, thus became interested in cooking.  This also taught me another very important lesson: that everybody who cooks has something to teach me.

There were countless really good cooks that I never thought to learn from; and because of time, distance, or mortality, the opportunity has passed.  So now I bug everyone that will put up with me.

When I originally began writing a food column, I decided to have two categories of special pieces.  Along with my normal ramblings, occasionally I would have field trips; hanging out and cooking with people I admire, and also food chats; talks about food with both well-known and regular, anonymous folks.

Last week I had the first fusion of the two.

When I was little I lived in Puerto Rico, and it was like living in Mayberry.  I loved it.  I also learned to love Puerto Rican food; it’s now my favorite cuisine.  But because I was a dumb kid, I never learned to cook it, so I could only recreate it from memory and hope.

But.

I recently met the chief of the Durham police department Jose Lopez, and learned both he and his wife, Becky are Puerto Rican.  And according to Chief Lopez, his wife is the best cook in the world.

I talked my way into their kitchen, and had an afternoon of cooking, laughter, learning, and eating.  Becky and the chief were warm, gracious, and very hospitable.  I left with new recipes, a full belly, and a huge amount of food to take home (which Petey happily devoured).

One of the dishes that we ate was plantains.  I love green plantains, either cooked similarly to French fries; tostones, or mashed, like potatoes; mofongo.  But Becky served ripe plantains.

They were a perfect accompaniment to our stewed chicken, rice and beans.  They contributed sweetness and crispiness.  I’ve become a big fan of ripe plantains.

Fried ripe plantains (platanos maduros fritos)

2 ripe plantains

Oil for frying

These aren’t regular bananas, they’re inedible raw and don’t peel as easily.  To peel: cut off bottom and top, and a slice couple of slits in skin all the way down each plantain; then peel it off in strips.  Slice on an angle, about ¾ inch thick.

Heat about 1 ½ inches of vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed pan until it reaches 350.  Fry slices until they are lightly browned and crispy around the edges.  They can be eaten as dessert with some ice cream or pudding, or as a welcome sweet punch to a savory plate.

I begged Becky, and she agreed to be my Puerto Rican cooking coach (woo-hoo!).  So I’ll be sharing more of her lessons and recipes in upcoming columns.

Other than eating, there isn’t much I love more than soaking up the knowledge of other cooks.  So please, I’d love for each of you to join my pantheon of instructors.  Write to me, and take me to school.  I will appreciate each communication, and I’ll share with the rest of the class in future Dispatch essays.

Thanks for your time.