Date I made these
recipes: January 21, 2013 – Inauguration
Day
The White House Chef Cookbook by Rene Verdon
Published by: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
© 1967
Recipe:
Shrimp Napoli – p. 102
Secrets from the White House Kitchens – A Celebration
of Foods Enjoyed at The White House & the People Who Lived There by John R. Hanny
Published by: LaMarque Publications
ISBN: 978-0-9829293-0-8
Recipe: Turkey Hash –
p. 32
You would think that after
what appeared to be the longest election cycle ever for the office of President
of the United States,
that I would then keep track of the Inauguration, right? Wrong.
I am ashamed to say I almost blew it and that would have been sad
because I’d have to wait four more years to get to use my two White House cookbooks.
Let me set the stage: the week before the Inauguration, I attended
a Continuing Legal Education Class (CLE) on the topic of how corporate counsel
(i.e. lead attorney for the company) should deal with social media in the
workplace. The class was one hour long
but it could be one minute and I’d still be chaffing at the bit to get out of
there. I liken these classes to
detention: you sit and doodle and crack
your gum and hum a few tunes then after an hour, the principal lets you go home
or at least out to play with all your friends.
Sadly, all attorneys everywhere are required to take a certain number of
credit hours within a specified period (in Minnesota, it’s 45 hours in 3 years) and so
off I went to do my time.
Although the topic sounded
interesting (some don’t sound interesting at all and those are the ones to
avoid), our class did not get off to a good start. The moderator introduced four panelists, two
of whom work on employment law issues involving the use of social media at work
by employees and two worked on corporate website use and issues (also involving
social media). The moderator said that
questions were encouraged and by God, right out of the gate, a fellow class
attendee, let’s call her “Wanda,” shot her hand in the air and we were off and
running. Wanda was an older lady (you
can be older than dirt but if you are still practicing law, you need the credit
hours) and I think Wanda was confused about the topic and therefore in the
wrong room. Her first question to the
panel was really a statement: “Don’t
employees know that their employment is at-will (i.e. at the will of the
employer)?”
Huh? Wanda, dear, you know this is a class about
SOCIAL MEDIA, right? So what the heck
does at-will employment have to do with social media? (Answer:
nothing). The panel looked
stunned. Wanda asked her question again. The moderator said “Would anyone like to take
a stab at the question?” One panelist
replied “I’m not sure I understand the question.” (She was not alone there!). Wanda said “Employment is at-will,
right?” “Ye…essssss????,” said our
still-confused panelist.
Apparently, that was all
Wanda wanted to know because she appeared to be satisfied with that
answer. Sadly though, this was not the
last we heard from Wanda. Question two
was another brain-bender: “Why are
people using social media at work? Don’t
they know they are supposed to be working?”
Wanda, don’t let anyone tell you that you are not the sharpest tool in
the shed because you are. I’m here to
tell you.
Actually, what I wanted to
do was throw something at Wanda. She
must have asked at least six more questions in that hour’s time, none of them
related to the topic at hand. Now, I
want to tell you that the rush to the exit at these CLE’s is usually pretty strong
but this time around, when that hour was
up we had ourselves a stampede! (And I
had myself one credit toward my total but sheesh, what I had to put up with!).
You’re probably wondering
what the heck this has to do with anything (kind of like Wanda’s questions) and
so I’ll tell you. I got very bored and
brought out my calendar, thinking, as I am wont to do, of what to make that
weekend and to see if there were any “themes” I could use. So I flipped through it and saw that we were
approaching Valentine’s Day and Groundhog’s Day and….Martin Luther King’s
Birthday.
And this is how I
remembered that Obama’s Inauguration was being held on MLK’s birthday this year
– ta da!!! So thank you, Wanda, for
allowing me to become so tired of you that I checked my calendar and got
today’s theme, Inauguration food, using two of my White House cookbooks.
Let’s start our White
House tour with the first book I pulled off the shelf: The
White House Chef Cookbook by Rene Verdon, chef to the Kennedy family who
also spent some years cooking for LBJ as well.
Some of you will recall that Jackie Kennedy was very fond of France and
French cooking and when she and Jack moved into the place, it was French food,
all day, every day. Actually, while the
cookbook is loaded with French food, there are a fair number of recipes from
other cultures represented that seemed to have snuck in there – Mon Dieu!
This cookbook was loaded
with so many potentially good recipes that it took me a while to choose
something. I finally decided that Shrimp
Napoli was what I was looking for and my husband concurred. But I still had to find a recipe from the
second White House book on my list: Secrets from the White House Kitchens.
This book, written by food
consultant to the presidents, John R. Hanny, starts with recipes from FDR’s
administration and ends with a few from the Obama 1 administration (Obama 2’s
administration started today – January 21, 2013). As a history fan, I greatly enjoyed seeing
food trends and so allow me to give you a sample of recipes from each
administration:
FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) – Martha Washington’s Crab Soup; Scotch Broth;
Oyster-Stuffed Chicken and the recipe that I made – Turkey Hash
Harry Truman – Macaroni and Cheese; Tuna and Noodle Casserole (love.it.); meat
loaf and I need to make this some day – Grape and Lemon Jell-O Mold
Dwight D. Eisenhower – Quail Hash; Chipped Beef in Mushroom Sauce (the
proverbial and often hated Army dinner); Gettysburg Beef Stew and Brownies
JFK (John Fitzgerald Kennedy) – Pate of Duck; Consomme Julienne; Cod Chowder;
Veal Chausser; Boston
Baked Beans
LBJ (Lyndon Baines Johnson) – Broiled Doves; Pedernales River
Chili; Roasted Suckling Pig; Pork and Corn Bread Ring; Chess Pie
Richard M. Nixon – Crab Meat in Canape Shells; Pompano (fish) en Papillote (Paper
Bag); Sweetsbreads en Brochette; Herbed Cottage Cheese Salad
Gerald R. Ford – French Fried Deviled Eggs; Lobster Thermidor; Ruby Red Grapefruit
Chicken; Indian Pudding
Jimmy Carter – Mexican Menudo Soup; Deviled Pig’s Feet; Sweet and Sour Meatballs;
Hush Puppies; Seafood Salad
Ronald Regan – Hamburger Soup; Osso Bucco; Roast Beef Hash; Paella a la
Valenciana; Crème Anglaise au Kirsch
George Herbert Walker Bush – Roast Pheasant with Brandy and Cream; Sherried
Quail Casserole; Onion and Cheese Pie; White House Muffins
Bill Clinton – Shrimp Fried Rice; Lobster Figaro; Cheese and Chili Burgers; Pizza Sandwich; Candied Baked Apples
George W. Bush – Baked Potato Soup; Pressed Duck; Boston Codfish Balls; Cowboy Cookies
Barack Obama – Cheese Puffs; Guacamole; Chicken Soup with Avgolemono Sauce; Roast
Pork with Dumplings and Sour Cabbage (and not one danged dessert)
Some observations: FDR came from a wealthy family and yet his
fare, along with Harry Truman’s and Dwight Eisenhower’s is pretty conventional. That might be due in part to them having
survived the Great Depression. Eisenhower’s food was pretty no-nonsense and one
would expect that from a Five-Star General who spent a vast majority of his
adult life engaged in battle. (Since I love history, I just had to Wiki
Eisenhower and then five-star general and it’s fascinating. Check it out!)
As you would expect with a
French chef in the White House, JFK’s was a lot fancier and yet he also added a
lot of simple (and beloved) recipes from his home state of Massachusetts. LBJ seemed to stay true to his Texas roots
but Richard Nixon started ramping it up a bit on the fancy food side as did
Gerald Ford; we started seeing a lot more lobster dishes on the menu after
Nixon took office.
Carter’s food was a mix of
regional and “fancy,” as was Regan’s although I have to tell you that the first
recipe on the list for Regan, Hamburger Soup, surprised me. I did not see that coming. I might have made the Hamburger Soup if not
for one thing: hominy. I’ve eaten it and don’t like it and if I
don’t like it, I will not make it. At
any rate, this recipe was pretty simple fare for a president who gave many
people the impression that he and Nancy were living the high life in the White
House. Some of you may recall the White
House china “scandal” that erupted when Nancy Regan decided to swap out the
White House china with a new pattern of her own. Apparently this china was paid for by private
contributions but that hardly helped the public relations team dealing with the
outcry.
By the time we got to the
last four presidents, Bush I and II, Clinton and Obama, we saw a lot more
personal favorites and a lot more regional food on the menu, perhaps because
each president felt more comfortable asking for this food than his
predecessor. Today’s White House chefs
also have a much larger culinary repertoire than before to appeal to the tastes
of the First Family as well as visiting dignitaries. My impression of the White House chef of old
was that he (now a “she” by the way) was not someone to be messed with but
today’s presidents (in actuality, the First Ladies do the majority of the menu
planning - still) want what they want when they want it and so they get
it. Did you want to be the one to say no
to former President Bill Clinton when he asked for a Tabasco Burger? I didn’t think so!
So as to today’s recipe
selections, once I set my mind on the Shrimp Napoli, then I needed to find
something from the Secrets from the White House Kitchens book and that was no
easy task. As I said to my husband,
“We’re going to have a hard time pairing something with the shrimp,” and I was
right. Just when I decided the heck with
it, just make two completely different dishes, we reviewed the book one more
time and Andy suggested the hash and it was a great idea. Both recipes were similar in nature (one had
shrimp, one had turkey), the preparation was about the same, the texture was
about the same and neither had spices that would clash with the other. Perfect!
We enjoyed these recipes and you will, too.
Shrimp Napoli (4
to 6 servings)
6 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ½ cups raw rice
¾ cup white wine
2 ½ cups boiling Chicken
Broth (this book contains the recipe for chicken broth but I used stuff I had
on hand and just heated it until it…boiled!)
1 pound raw shrimp,
shelled and deveined
1 ½ teaspoons salt
Pepper to taste
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ cup grated Parmesan
cheese
Heat 4 tablespoons of
butter and the oil in a heavy casserole.
Add the onion and cook until shiny.
Add the garlic and the rice and cook till the rice just starts to take
on color. Add wine and cook over medium
heat until wine is absorbed.
Add one-half of the broth
and cover. Cook gently for 15 minutes
without stirring. Add the shrimp, salt,
pepper, cayenne, pepper and remaining broth.
Stir lightly with a fork. Cover. Simmer until rice is tender. Stir in cheese and remaining butter. Serve immediately.
Turkey Hash –
serves 6 (Author’s note: Good recipe for
Thanksgiving leftovers)
3 cups diced cooked turkey
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
½ cup heavy cream (Ann’s
Note: use 1 cup – I’ll tell you why
below)
½ cup soft bread crumbs
½ cup chopped green pepper
½ cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped
parsley
½ teaspoon ground sage
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black
pepper
Melt 2 tablespoons of the
butter in the saucepan, blend in flour and cream and stir until thickened. (As I noted above, you’ll want to use a full
cup of cream. When I added the ½ cup the
recipe called for, the cream was absorbed immediately into the flour and
started to ball up—which is fine if you are making cream puffs, but not so fine
if you are making a sauce. The
additional ½ cup of cream will give you the sauce you are looking for.)
Add the turkey and all
other ingredients except the remaining butter.
Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet and add the turkey
mixture. Saute uncovered for 25 minutes. If desired, brown the top of the hash under
the broiler before serving.
Ann’s Note: What you end up with is more like a
Thanksgiving stuffing than a hash but that’s okay, it’s the taste that counts.
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