Archive for August, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Small Plates
(From The Quick Meals Planner at emealsforyou.com)
Every once in a while we break from our usual Friday night pizza and go for something a little more interesting. I put together some appetizer plates with whatever is around and whatever I feel like eating. The assortment above works for us as I don’t eat fish and my wife loves it. Fish for her and chicken for me. Actually she had some from each plate and really enjoyed the crostini.
Small plates work well for company, there is usually something on the plate that suits everyone’s taste. This is a good way to get rid of all those partial containers of “stuff” in your frig. You can roll up some lunch meat, spoon out some pickles or just put some left over cheeses in your food processor and make a cheese spread, adding olives, garlic, bacon bits, red peppers or whatever you feel like. We call this small plates (tapas) as we only put out small plates, that way everyone gets a chance at the food instead of the first person to the table takes it all.
Fresh Tomato Crostini
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Appetizer |
| Meal: | Other (General) |
| 1 | medium | baguette |
| 24 | spritz | PAM |
| 1 | large | tomatoes, fresh |
| 2 | cloves | garlic, minced |
| 2 | Tb | onion, red |
| 3 | Tb | roasted red peppers |
| 2 | Tb | peppers, pickled rings |
| 1 | Tb | vinegar, red wine |
| 1 | Tb | parsley, flat leaf, chopped |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Slice baguette diagonally in ½ inch slices. Spray both sides with Pam and place on a cookie sheet. Place in a 400 degree oven for 6 -8 minutes until lightly golden. Mince the garlic and place in a medium bowl; cut tomato, onion, red pepper, pepper rings and parsley into a small dice. Add to the bowl. Add vinegar, stir and add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon onto the toasted baguette and serve.
1 comment August 31, 2009
Size Matters – A Rant
Since the early 1960′s the nations of the world have accepted the Metric System as the unit of measuring everything from distances to the size of kidney stones. The United States has lagged behind the universal efforts and remains one of three, joining Burma and Liberia to fight the conversion.
There are however a few companies in this country that have embraced the metric system; mostly to their benefit. Take the soda industry, can you think back to the time you bought a half gallon of pop? Booze is the same way. Without our knowing we now buy less for the same amount of money or even are paying more. We purchase liters of our favorite beverages; 1.75 liters of Jack Daniels, do the math… a liter is only 30 ounces, not the 32 we all learned made up a quart. That 1.75 liters of Jack is only 55.5 ounces, somehow we gave up our right to the other 8.5 ounces. Maybe the booze manufacturers were worried about our livers and imposed a safety valve of less is better.
Now we come to the real reason I am writing this: someone, somewhere has been playing with the size of my ice cream packages. We went silently into the night when the 64 ounce, half gallon became the smaller, metric version. Just when we got used to that they switch on us again. Last week, reaching into the cooler at the local grocery I grab a ( half gallon, downsized to about 50- some ounces) Breyers vanilla. WAIT!!!! Something is not right!!!!! The new size is back to the old system of weights and measurements, to my chagrin the new 1/2 gal. is now 1.5 quarts.
Enough, give me back my “lost” 15 ounces. Mess all you want with the 2 X 4 being only 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches but keep your greedy little hands off my ice cream.
Add comment August 27, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Pear Tatin
(From The Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Pear Tatin
I finally got to see the Julie and Julia movie this weekend. Regular readers will recall that I couldn’t go last weekend as I was still letting the kidney stone kick my butt. Feeling better after my last surgery my wife said I should go and off we went. I can only say one word to describe this movie, YUM!!!. Not just the food but the whole thing, acting, visuals and the food. For those “foodies” among us this is the first movie that really shows why we cook, why we are willing to spend the time and effort to get it right and get it to the table. If you go, watch the way everyone savors every morsel of the food. Not since the movie Tom Jones has such attention been given to the actual enjoyment of the food.
Cooking is all about, at least for me, watching my guests attack the food with gusto and enjoy it fully. This is the same if I am cooking for a crowd or just for myself; it’s simply about the pure pleasure of the food. I drive my wife crazy, she is not a taster, I can’t cook without tasting. I am constantly chasing her around with a spoonful of this or that, not so she can adjust my flavors, although that does happen on a few occasions, but to watch her reaction to the food.
Back to the Tatin, basically an upside down pie, this is delicious and can be made with pears or apples or a combination of both. On our emealsforyou.com website we have a Pear Tart Tatin listed which differs from this in that it is closer to an upside down cake. This tatin is listed as an Apple Tatin under the dessert category. As Julia says in the movie, “you must have courage and conviction” when flipping the tart onto the serving plate, Do this in the kitchen and simply re-arrange the tatin prior to bringing it to the table. No matter what it looks like, the taste is simply “divine”.
Apple Tatin
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 10 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | Dinner with Old Neighbors (Celebration Meal Plans) |
| 0.5 | recipe | Never Fail Pie Crust |
| 5 | medium | apple |
| 1 | medium | lemon zest, finely chopped |
| 0.5 | medium | lemon, juice of |
| 1.5 | cup | sugar, white, divided |
| 3 | Tb | butter, unsalted, softened |
| 5 | Tb | butter, unsalted, melted |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, powdered |
Prepare half a Never Fail Pie Crust, set in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, peel and quarter the apples. Place in bowl with zest, lemon juice and ½ cup of the sugar. Set aside. Soften 3 Tb of the butter and spread over inside of a heavy cast iron frying pan (You may use cake or pie pan). Sprinkle a ¼ of an inch of sugar into the bottom of the pan, arrange the apples (this will become the top) in a pattern. Sprinkle with sugar and a tablespoon of the melted butter. Repeat until all the apples, sugar and butter have been added. Roll out dough and place over the top of the apples. Tuck sides and pierce crust in 6 places with a small knife to vent steam.
Place the pan over moderate heat on the top of the stove for 4-5 minutes to thicken the juices. Remove from stove and place in the center of a 425 degree pre-heated oven. Bake for 30 -35 minutes until the crust is golden. Remove from oven and place over moderate to high heat on stove and heat for 5 minutes, shaking the pan the entire time. This will loosen the apples from the pan and evaporate the juices. Place a serving plate over the top of the pan, invert quickly, shaking pan to release apples. Don’t panic if some of the apples stick to the pan, simple remove them carefully and replace on tatin. Sprinkle top with powdered sugar just prior to serving.
Add comment August 24, 2009
Will your kids pick healthy? – A Rant
cheese and mac
Traditionally when someone in our family and close group of friends has a birthday we ask them to select the food for the celebratory dinner. My wife reminded me the other day that it was interesting to go back and look at the choices the kids made over the years… looking at the progression from kids’ food to adult food. Because we cooked good food and because they were always welcome at the adult table they learned to try new food and develop an appreciation for food. It helped them understand what they liked and disliked, and it helped them to begin to understand decision making.
Kids today are inundated with an assortment of fast foods, frozen then microwaved foods and snack foods. The few meals prepared in the home are typically put together on the fly, with very little forethought. So, now we come to the nexus of this post. Ask your kids, probably age 9 and above works better here, to name their top ten favorite meals. Write these down, stack ranked, top favorite first. Now assign a number next to each favorite; stack ranking their choices by nutritional value.
Evaluating the evaluation: Look, if your kid puts something at the top of his/her list it means that they probably have this meal on a regular basis. If this meal ranks high on the “good for them” scale then you are doing things right. If, however, this meal and most of the other meals rank low on the nutritional ranking, then you have some work to do. You should be preparing good, healthy and tasty meals so that your kids get used to and begin to like better meals. If you say that you are unable, due to economic means, to create good-for-them meals I would have to say you are not trying hard enough. Some basic chicken dishes, hold the creamy, fatty sauces and some salad cost little and goes a long way toward healthier meals.
I suggest you do this exercise, complete with evaluation and save it. Six months from now, let’s say December 1st, do it again. If the same foods and types of foods reappear then you are not doing your part. Change just a few of their choices and you are on your way to a healthier future for your kids and for you as well.
Add comment August 20, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Warm Chicken Salad
(From The Salad Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Julia's Chicken
Warm Chicken Salad
The final chapter in the Julia Child’s weekend was played out on Monday. Returning from taking Jeannie to the airport we decided we wanted a light but good lunch to put the ribbon around our food-a-thon. This involved putting two words that I thought I would never use in the same sentence: Julia Child and leftovers. We still had some of the wonderful chicken left from Sunday’s dinner so why not combine the chicken with a salad and have the best of both worlds while keeping it light.
I re-heated the leftover chicken including the pan juices in the microwave, and cut the chicken into 6 pieces. Placing 3 pieces on each salad I finished the dish by spooning the pan juices onto the top of the salad. This added a wonderful new dimension to the simple salad, slightly warming the lettuce and adding those tasty pan juices to both the chicken and the lettuce.
So don’t be so quick to pitch those pan juices when saving the leftover chicken. You may find yourself in a quandary as to what to make for a quick lunch, and this warm salad may just hit the spot.
1 comment August 18, 2009
The Julia Child’s Weekend – Lessons Learned
Happy Birthday Julia
Cooking “with” Julia for us began almost 35 years ago. At that time were we young,easily impressed and searching for avenues of socialization. Our group was mostly young professionals, moving up and striking out toward the future. Dinners were challenges to be met head on, who could make the best dishes, who could make the most courses. We had lots of by-standers back then, friends who would stand by the sidelines and wait to enjoy the spoils of the challenge. A few of us grabbed the opportunity and ran with it, and I believe we’ve still “got game” today.
As I said in the previous post, our friend Jeannie, one of those who readily accepted the challenge back then, came out to Ohio to celebrate all things Julia with us. Back in the 70′s Jean was a methodical cook, reading the recipe, rushing to the stove and rushing back to give it one more look before committing to the process. The meals always followed the book, always done just right and Always wonderful. This is pretty much how she continues to cook today and although she claims not to cook anymore, her skills belie this.
I, on the other hand read an entire recipe, get the gist of it and then have at it. Over the years I have developed my own style and as in life, have figured out the short cuts and methods that will yield the same results but with less detailed work, not sloppy or lazy, I am just impatient. My meals, others have told me, always turn out great, unlike Jeannie, I cook everyday.
So back to the lessons learned. I like to cook alone, you could easily lose a body part walking through my kitchen when I am in deep throws of getting the food to the table. I don’t apologize for this, it is the way I am and even my kids knew to “stay on their side of the counter ” when I was cooking. Jeannie, being the methodical one, doesn’t mind cooking alone or with someone, she will check her recipes over and over again just to make sure.
All the meals for the Julia Child’s Weekend turned out great, no I really mean this. They were probably the best of each recipe I (we) have made in the last 10 years; although I have made the same meals many times and they are just short of these results. I am willing to sacrifice that minute difference to facilitate making them more. Even when we changed cooks in the kitchen the recipes came out just right. My wife and Jean made spectacular lamb chops and potatoes the first night. Jeanie and I, mostly Jeanie put together the very best Beef Bourguignon and homemade noodles the next night. Although there was a high traffic volume sneaking in to the kitchen to lower the flame on the pot (me) or raise the flame on the pot (Jeanie) the end result was true Julia. The Steak Diane on Saturday was as Jeanie, an east-coaster would say, to die for. The ladies put together a Pear Tatin, complaining the whole time, that was wonderful and left you thinking about it long after the crumbs were gone. Today is the last full day of the food fest. I will ask Jeanie to finish us off with one of her and Julia’s Roasted Chickens. Jeannie says you have to move the bird every so many minutes but the effort is worth the energy spent. Hopefully she will add some of those stuffed, baked tomatoes from one of Julia’s cookbooks.
My final thought is that I stick to the theory that if you need to have a meal come out perfect then reach for one of Julia’s cookbooks, follow it to a tee and you will not be disappointed. So if we do another of these weekends I will understand each person’s role and why. Jeannie wins on points though as she does a better Julia saying, “dribble, dribble, dribble ” while applying just the right amount of butter to the finish.
1 comment August 16, 2009
The Julia Child’s Weekend -Snatching Victory From the Jaws of Trouble
From Julia Child's Kitchen - Julia Child
I have been remiss this last week in getting the posts onto the blog. It was not my choice to “go silent” but but with friends here, food purchased and the weekend begun; my health decided to through me for a curve. Mid-night on Saturday brought a kidney stone into the equation, my first and hopefully my last. Nothing 6 hours in the E-room and then prescribed drugs couldn’t fix. Surgery on Thursday took care of the problem but we still had the much planned for and looked forward to Weekend of Julia Child.
For our regular readers (rr) you will remember that last weekend and this weekend were to be company weekends with lots of conversations and good food. Last weekend our friends the Knupps, came in from Virginia on their way to both of our previous hometowns of Chicago. Jim has contributed several recipes to our website at emealsforyou.com, mostly under the name of Capt Jim so we were looking forward to it being a cook’s weekend. We got through the Saturday night meal, Chicken Cacciatore with pencil points and homemade espresso gelato for dessert. My troubles began that night and luckily we arrived back from the hospital just before breakfast on Sunday. Thanks to the prescription drugs I was able to get through the breakfast of quick breads, sticky buns and date nut bread. Lunch was small plate sandwiches of grilled bread, spread with goat cheese, red peppers and ham. I will add the recipe in the near future. Dinner on Saturday was pan-roasted sea scallops with brown butter sage sauce and some beef medallions au poivre. A Lemon Tart finished the meal. The Knupps got on their way on Monday after a breakfast of pumpkin pancakes with syrup and ginger pancakes with pumpkin butter.
Thursday was the day our friend Jean came in to our much anticipated Julia Child’s weekend; a weekend of cooking everything “Julia” and going to see the new movie Julie and Julia. I have spent the last 20 years or so figuring how to make the recipes Julia Child’s would cook but with a few less steps and quicker to the table methods to make them more accessible to the average cook. Jean told me that we should do only Julia Child’s recipes and would be staying true to the recipes, no short steps. We unloaded my 9 or so Julia Child’s cookbooks and began. The first real snag in our plans was that the surgeon had scheduled me for kidney stone surgery at noon. Jean’s plane was due in at 12:30 but luckily was late by some 50 minutes. This just allowed my wife to drop me off at the outpatient surgery and make it to the airport to pick up Jean. They scooped me up on the return and then home where my wife and Jean put the first Julia dinner together without my help. Everything turned out great, garlic mustard breadcrumbs hugged the perfectly cooked lamb chops, accompanied by Julia’s Gratin of Potatoes alla Savoyarde. Being more myself on Friday I spent the day in the kitchen slowly, ever so slowly cooking Julia’s Beef Bourguignon, with homemade Julia’s noodles and Caesar Salad, also Julia’s recipe. Tonight we are onto Julia’s Steak Diane, mashed potatoes and Pear Tart Tatin.
I will endeavor over the next few weeks to get these recipes on the blog; all are available on our emealsforyou.com website. The photos is of one of the many cookbooks that were flying about this week; don’t want to stray too far from the wonderful Julia Child’s recipes.
4 comments August 15, 2009
Who’d of Thunk? – A Surprising Non-Rant
First of all I can’t believe I am writing this post. I am not the one who usually puts any belief in “crazy” remedies; I’m usually the one jabbing at the people who believe in this stuff. While eating right and eating things that are good for you are on my radar; out of the blue comes a “remedy” for a physical problem I have been fighting for a long, long time.
Oregano, seems that it is not just for flavoring Mediterranean food. I have had terrible sinus problems for years, been through the doctors and pills and no help. So the son of a good friend tells him to tell me that he had the same problem and an Allergist recommended wild oregano pills, no kidding. I have been taking one a day for 6 weeks and my headaches are gone. The only downside that I can find is that 1/2 hour after taking them I tend to burp Greek Salad.
Add comment August 6, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Fried-Baked Potatoes
(From The Starch Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Fried- Baked Potatoes
I was in the mood for something a little different to go with my healthy grilled chicken breast, maybe I went in the other direction a tad too far; but these are worth the occasional indulgence. The idea came from a recipe Michael Chiarello features in one of his cookbooks. I have taken the liberty to use those smaller baking potatoes that are always left in the bag once you use all the large ones.
They really don’t take much time to prepare if you “nuke” (microwave) the potatoes before frying them. A cross between french fries and baked potatoes your family will really like them; crispy on the outside and warm and soft on the inside. Give them a try when you are stuck with the same old potatoes for dinner.
Fried-Baked Potatoes
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Starch |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 12 | small | potatoes |
| 4 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 6 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 1 | Tb | salt, kosher |
| 0.5 | tsp | sweet basil |
| 1 | medium | lemon, juice of |
| 1 | Tb | lemon zest, finely chopped |
Baked potatoes in a microwave until soft but not falling apart, about 5 minutes. Remove and allow to cool; cut in half and smash each half with your hand from the uncut end. Heat oil in a pan, add garlic and sauté until light brown, remove with a slotted spoon. Add the garlic to a bowl with the lemon zest, sweet basil and salt. In the same oil sauté the potatoes until they brown, about 8 -10 minutes. Remove with the slotted spoon and plate, placing some of the garlic mixture on top of each half. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
Add comment August 3, 2009
