"Egg Cookery" and "Eggs I Have Known" - Ham and Eggs Oven Omelet and Chicken Armagnac (brandy)

Date I made these recipes:  March 27, 2016 – Easter Sunday

Egg Cookery – Omelets, Soufflés, Quiches, Crepes and Other Egg Dishes by Lou Seibert Pappas

Published by:  101 Productions San Francisco

ISBN:  0-912238-80-1; © 1976

Recipe:  Ham and Egg Oven Omelet – p. 69

Eggs I Have Known by Corrine Griffith

Published by:  Farr, Straus and Cudahy

© 1955

Purchased at:  Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, NYC

Recipe:  Chicken Armagnac – p. 87

It's not that I like to be contrary, but every time a food holiday like Easter rolls around, I eschew ham (or for Thanksgiving, turkey) in favor of something different.  Something...not ham. 

And it's not like I don't like ham but it's difficult to make a ham for two people without generating a ton of leftovers to freeze.  We did that one year and about one year later, we were tossing ice-encrusted bags of ham in the garbage.  I hate wasting food.  (For the record, I have yet to find a refrigerator/freezer combination that doesn't make half the food in it look like it was stored in the North Pole.)

And then there's the age-old issue of having to make sides with the ham and that usually means pulling out several cookbooks (as if the ham recipe hunt isn't challenging enough) and after a few days of that, I just gave up and started looking for that elusive "something different."

"Something different" turned out to be two dishes, each one from a cookbook about eggs.  Easter may be about ham, but it is also about eggs.  I mean you've got your dyed Easter eggs, your chocolate Easter eggs and even your malted milk Easter eggs (my favorite).  So "eggs" it was.

The first cookbook I used, Egg Cookery, is as straight up as you can get.  There's a brief introduction but that's the last we really see of a narrative as all the pages after that are recipes, sans a lot of chit chat.  Instead, you get a wide variety of egg recipes for everything from hors d'Oeufs to entrees.  Me?  I like breakfast and as soon as I saw the recipe for a Ham and Egg Oven Omelet I chuckled because what could be better for Easter than ham and eggs?

[Breaking News:  To my horror, I discovered that I had already cooked from this cookbook for Easter 2012.  Noooooooo! My own self-imposed rule is that I cook only one recipe per book otherwise I'd never get through my collection.  (As if.)  But since I can't store all the cookbooks I've used, it was still on my shelf and so oh well.  Make this anyway because it's easy!]

I might have just stopped with this cookbook but my husband gave me a look suggesting he would not be satisfied with just breakfast, so I kept searching and at long last decided to make something from the cookbook, Eggs I Have Known.  But I tell you what, it wasn't easy because most of the recipes in this book had absolutely nothing to do with eggs.  Go figure.

Still, the title is a crack-up, is it not?  When I first saw this book at Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in NYC 10 years ago, I just had to have it.  But when I got it home, I was rather disappointed to see traditional egg dishes (omelets, soufflés, etc.) were few and far between.  Instead, this reads like a regular cookbook i.e. with recipes from "soup to nuts" and that was disappointing.

And this is why in the last 10 years, I have done nothing but pick up the book, leaf through it for recipes, and then finding none of interest, put the book back on the shelf.  But this year I was determined to find something, anything, and so I went to the source ("to ask the horse" – Mr. Ed) and made a chicken dish to go with my egg breakfast.  And what do you know, the recipe I selected called for two egg yokes and so just like that, I went full circle on this Easter egg theme and all was well with the world.

So this all seemed like a good idea and so on Easter Saturday, I set off to find the key ingredient to Chicken Armagnac – jarred truffles. (Armagnac is a French brandy.)  And who knew until I set off on this adventure that there is a truffle "season" and unfortunately, Easter wasn't it.  Christmas, yes, Easter no. 

Lucky for me, one of my first stops was to a specialty food store, Golden Fig Fine Foods, located on Grand Ave in St. Paul, MN.  The store's owner, Laurie McCann Crowell, and I met at – of all things – a cookbook book club -  a club that met once a month circa 1998-2000, at the Barnes and Noble bookstore located in the Har Mar Shopping Center in St. Paul.  The store's community events person at the time persuaded local food reporter, Sue Zelickson, to moderate the club and together they brought in budding cookbook authors and chefs like Ina Garten, Lydia Bastianich and even – be still my heart – Alice Waters.

And every month, I plunked myself down to hear the speaker, sample a little something from the featured cookbook made by a local (and usually female) chef, chatted with my fellow cookbook-loving peeps and of course bought the cookbook.  Back then, I think my collection was maybe around 500ish; it now numbers over 2100 books.

The day that Ina Garten, a/k/a The Barefoot Contessa, was our featured speaker was the day I first chatted with Laurie.  Laurie was just getting her own line of foods going and had worked for Ina Garten back in the day when Ina had her own gourmet foods shop, well before she became famous on the Food Network.  Armed with her experience at Ina's, Laurie founded the Golden Fig Fine Foods line and then opened her own shop on Grand Avenue, and when I am in the mood for something different or for a hostess gift, I go to the store.  And I figured if anybody had jarred truffles, it would be her.

It turns out that no, she didn't have jarred truffles as she now tries to focus on Minnesota-made products, but she advised as to where I might look and how I might want to adapt the recipe.  But before we get to that, I have to tell you about what happened before we had that conversation because it was as enlightening as it was amusing.

So Laurie carries a few cookbooks and I started looking through one that I had also glanced briefly (and I mean briefly) at a few days before at Barnes and Noble.  The cookbook, Ina's Kitchen: Memories and Recipes from the Breakfast Queen, was written by Chicagoan Ina Pinkney, not to be confused with Ina Garten.

Just after I started looking at the cookbook, Laurie came up to me and said "That's a great cookbook.  Ina is really fun and the cookbook is great.  She ran a restaurant in Chicago for many years."

"She did?????," said I, somewhat incredulously because I thought she was referring to Ina Garten, not Ida Pinkney.  For the record, until Ina Garten came along, I had never, ever heard of anybody being named "Ina" and now there were two of them?

So Laurie went on chatting about the book and since I had once again barely cracked the thing open, I was most confused.  It was only after the fact that I a) figured out we were not talking about the same "Ina," and b) realized that I had eaten at Ina's Kitchen (now closed) in Chicago.  How do you like that?  My husband and I often visit friends in Chicago 10 years ago (wow, time flies), the four of us went there to eat.  And it was good.  Even better – and you all will love this – was that the restaurant was located near a flea market and it was there that I found one of my Holy Grail cookbooks, one that I had been searching out for years and years:  Vincent and Mary Price's A Treasury of Great Recipes.  Score!  I plunked down a considerable amount of money for the book but honestly, I probably would have paid double, it was that hard to find.  So in a round about way, thank you Ina Pinkney!

Moving on...I told Laurie I would consider the cookbook (and I will, but I had also purchased two new cookbooks that day so the budget was tight) and then I asked her if she carried jarred truffles.

We resume our story, already in progress.

Laurie said no but then suggested a few places to check.  But I had other errands to run and both of them would take me out of my way so instead, we discussed substitutes.  I was thinking of swapping Portobello mushrooms for truffles but Laurie said they weren't the right flavor profile.  Instead, after looking at the photocopy of the recipe I brought with me, she suggested that I use shitake and then suggested that I used dried shitake and then came up with another suggestion that really worked:  grind the dried shitake in a food processor and then add them, as directed, at the last minute.  Worked like a charm.  I need to bring her all my recipes.

As a final note, I bought the dried shitake at Whole Foods but not the Whole Foods closest to her store (and my house) on in St. Paul that we both agreed would be a "zoo" on Saturday, but rather the Whole Foods in downtown Minneapolis.  And although the price sticker on the dried mushroom shelf said $5.99 (as opposed to $18 dollars or more for jarred truffles), they rang up at $3.29.  Awesome!

So now you know and I know (and "Eggs I Have Known" know) that truffles enjoy a very short (and expensive) season and this is good knowledge to have.

You should also know that the Chicken Armagnac is basically chicken + booze +  a mushroom and shallot cream sauce. My guess is that you could leave out the brandy and you would be just fine.

And so it came to pass on Easter Sunday that we got our chicken and egg and ham fix on and it was fabulous.  Enjoy!

Ham and Eggs Oven Omelet – Makes 6 servings

8 eggs

1 cup milk

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ cup julienne-cut cooked ham

2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

¾ cup sourdough French bread cubes

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Beat eggs until blended and mix in milk, salt, nutmeg, ham and cheese.  Pour egg mixture into a buttered ovenproof baking dish about 9-1/2 inches in diameter.  Roll bread crumbs in melted butter to coat and scatter over the top.  Bake in a 350F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and puffed.  Serve at once, cut in wedges.

Chicken Armagnac – serves 4

4 breasts of chicken

Salt and pepper

2 egg yolks

1 small jar truffles

4 ounces butter

6 or 8 peeled shallots, grated

6 ounces cream

3 ounces Armagnac brandy

Use only white meat of 4 chickens.  Put in a skillet with 4 ounces of butter to sauté.  Salt and pepper them and turn frequently.  Just as they have finished cooking, put into a skillet shallots peeled and chopped extremely fine.  Remove chicken and place in chafing dish in which there is a little melted butter.

Keep stirring shallots in skillet with butter and chicken juices.  When shallots are cooked, add slowly the yolks of two eggs and six ounces of cream beaten together.  Add truffles.  (Ann's Note:  or, if using dried mushrooms like the Shitake I used, crumble them in a food processor and the add them to the mixture.)  Stir constantly over low fire to blend butter with sauce.  When sauce is thick, set aside.  Pour three ounces of Armagnac over chicken in hot chafing dish.  Set ablaze.  When Armagnac is almost burned out, pour sauce over chicken.  Serve immediately.

Ann's Note:  I made some rice and some peas to accompany the chicken.

"The Foods of Chicago" - (Polish) Peach Cheesecake

Date I made this recipe: September 7, 2009

The Foods of Chicago – a Delicious History – As seen on the WTTW’s The Foods of Chicago Hosted by Geoffrey Baer, Produced by Dan Protess
Published by: G. Bradley Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-9774512-5-8
Recipe: (Polish) Peach Cheesecake – p. 120 – recipe submitted by Dobra Bielinski

So my husband and I took another trip to Chicago last weekend where I purchased this book in Greek Town where the Greeks were out in full force for a festival. Yes, I know, this is not a Greek cookbook but when I saw this compilation, I couldn’t resist.

So Greek Town is just a few blocks away from our favorite breakfast spot – Lou Mitchell’s. While standing in line at Lou Mitchell’s, you get your fill of fresh doughnut holes. I don’t know why. And then when you actually get in the door, you get a small box of Milk Duds. I don’t know why. And then when you are seated, you each get a fresh orange slice and one stewed prune. I don’t know why. And then after you have stuffed yourself with their gigantic omelets or pancakes or whatever, you each get a small cup of soft-served ice cream. And again I don’t know why.

And folks, I don’t care! If you’re in Chicago, you’ve got to go there, period, end. (www.loumitchellsrestaurant.com). It (and Greek Town) is not far from the train station so walking off those calories is suddenly much easier although we sort of cheated and parked the car in between the two places.

So the Greek Town festival was fun and the Greek Cookbooks were fun to look at but the Polish cheesecake recipe really nailed the sale of this book.

When I was growing up, my family home was surrounded by homes owned by various generations of the Kolbus family, a large, Polish-American family with many brothers and sisters, most of whom lived nearby. In fact, our house was built by a Kolbus who then went on to build another one closer to Lake Superior (we were up the hill from the lake so it’s not like we were deprived) leaving the way open for my folks to buy the place. When our next door neighbor “Aunt Mary” (Kolbus, naturally) went down to visit one of her sisters in Hamtramck, Michigan, she often brought us the most delectable cheesecake I’ve ever had. In fact, it took me a long time before I realized that most other cheesecakes aren’t made this way.

The reason I love Polish cheesecake is because the texture is more like a cake and yet there is no doubt you are eating a cheesecake of some sorts. Because I grew up eating it “plain” (i.e. no fruit), I skipped the peaches portion of this recipe. I also wanted to avoid the crust from getting all mushy and whatnot.

This recipe takes a bit of work on your part but just leave yourself enough time to make it. And if I were you, I’d make sure you invest in a scale so as to measure all the ingredients. Measuring ingredients is something bakers have been doing forever and ever and so you should jump on that bandwagon, toute suite because you’ll notice that the recipe calls for 5.5 ounces of egg yolks and 6.5 of egg whites and I just don’t know how to properly measure a half an egg! The scale I just bought from Cooks on Crocus Hill is Escali and it set me back only a mere $39.95 plus tax. The reason that I liked it is because it “stores like a book” and since I am crammed for space in my kitchen, storage is key. I also liked it because it is electronic; my husband favored the “manual” scale but I wanted precise measurements, especially with the 5.5 oz requirement.

One final word about Chicago: We should have known better than to try to get into Rick Bayless’ Frontera Grill so soon after he won Top Chef Masters on Bravo TV. When I called a couple of weeks ago for reservations, I was told that the limited number of reservations was already gone and so it was first come, first serve (or “first fender in” as my dad likes to say).

So we got there about 7:30 on a Saturday night (we had been to a Cubs game that afternoon for no other reason than to say we were at Wrigley) and of course it was packed, very packed. As in “we’re looking at 11:30 p.m. as the earliest seating.” Experienced restaurant diners know that this roughly translates into “you won’t actually get to eat until 12:30 a.m. so good luck with that.”

I don’t know about you but authentic Mexican food and midnight dining do not go together. And so we’ll try another day but in the meantime will console ourselves (okay, console myself since my husband has never eaten this) with this delectable dessert from my childhood!

(Polish) Peach Cheesecake – Serves 12
Dough
1 4-oz stick butter, chilled
¾ cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Batter8 oz. sugar
5.5 oz. egg yolks
2 oz. custard powder (or cornstarch)
2.2 lbs. farmer’s cheese (use Neufatchel)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange extract
1 tsp. lemon extract
6.5 oz egg whites
3.5 oz. sugar
1 16-oz. can sliced peaches
(Note: let the cheese warm up to room temperature before adding it to the batter)

Dough: In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, cream together butter, sugar and eggs. Add baking powder and flour; mixing until it comes together. Remove dough from mixing bowl and knead slightly by hand. (Warning: dough will be sticky. Put some flour on your hands before kneading.) Roll out dough into a 13” x 9” x 2” pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes until dough is golden color.

Batter: Align drained peaches on the cooled dough, keeping them ¾ inch from the edges. (As mentioned above, I skipped this step). Spray the side with non-stick spray. In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, mix egg yolks, custard powder, sugar and extracts for ten minutes starting out at low speed, increasing to high speed. Add the cheese and mix well. Empty contents into a large bowl, then thoroughly clean mixing bowl.

In an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, whip egg whites and, when volume has increased, add 3.5 ounces of sugar. Continue whisking until medium stiff peaks are reached. Gently fold egg whites into the cheese batter. Pour the batter into the cake pan, smoothing out the top. Bake for 60-90 minutes until a paring knife inserted comes out clean. When cooled, sift with powdered sugar and serve.

"Ann Sather's Restaurant 50th Anniversary Cookbook" & "The Marshall Field's Cookbook" - Swedish Meatballs and Wild Rice Soup

Date I made these recipes: May 17, 2009

Ann Sather’s Restaurant – A Chicago Tradition – 50th Anniversary Cookbook by Ann Sather’s Restaurant
No publisher, no ISBN; © 1995
Recipe: Swedish Meatballs – p. 28

The Marshall Field’s Cookbook – Classic Recipes and Fresh Takes from the Field’s Culinary Council by Steve Siegelman
Published by: Book Kitchen
ISBN: 0977989003 © 2006
Recipe: Boundary Waters Wild Rice Soup – p. 24

I mentioned in my last blog post that my husband and I went to Chicago a couple weeks ago for a weekend getaway. Although we usually have great meals in the Windy City, this time around, our two dinners were underwhelming. Bummer, that. (But breakfast at Lou Mitchell’s is a MUST! - http://www.loumitchellsrestaurant.com/ . We also stopped by Superdawg on our way out of town and that was great fun as well - http://www.superdawg.com/ )

At any rate, a couple days after returning to the Minneapple (as our city is sometimes called) we decided to get turkey dinner takeout from our version of Lou Mitchell’s – Keys Café http://www.keyscafe.com/ to make up for our dining disappointment in Chicago. As we were leaving, my husband, Andy, said “I wish we could figure out what’s comparable to Keys in Chicago” and in a minute, I had it – Ann Sather! http://www.annsather.com/ . Lucky for me, I bought her cookbook!

Ann Sather’s is billed as a Swedish diner but years ago we bypassed Swedish meatballs in favor of their version of a turkey dinner and we were in love—and very, very full!

So cooking from Ann Sather’s cookbook was a must (and here I was bemoaning the fact that I didn’t have any more “Chicago” cookbooks in my collection – duh!). But then I realized that the shelf directly above my computer contained The Marshall Field’s Cookbook, published a few years ago by the Marshall Fields Department Store.

Now in department store land, there existed three venerable chains (at least in this region). One was Dayton’s Department Store, started in 1902 in Minneapolis by the Dayton Family. Another was Marshall Fields in Chicago. The third was Hudson’s, primarily located in Michigan that was eventually acquired by Dayton’s to become Dayton-Hudson. All three department stores were the place to shop and drop and sold everything from haute couture to furniture.

But then, as they are wont to do, things changed. And so Dayton-Hudson and Marshall Fields joined forces and the whole “chain” was renamed Marshall Fields. Although this didn’t go over well at first, we eventually came around because Fields (as Chicago friends refer to it) was a high-end as our Dayton’s. In fact, despite the name change, many people, me included, continued to refer to it as Dayton’s (and still do—who cares what it’s currently called?!). (By the way, if you want to read another story on another day, Google “Frango Mints” and read about the debacle that happened when Fields sent their signature (chocolate) mint production offsite to another state -- talk about meltdowns!)

Anyway people, a few years back all hell broke loose when Target stores (a Dayton’s spin-off that eventually took over Dayton’s operations) sold the lot to Macy’s.

You have never seen such outrage. Emails were flying, letters to the editor were printed—it was retail Armageddon! It wasn’t that Macy’s is bad – it is what it is – but it isn’t as good as it could be. They have never been known as high-end (and don’t want to be) and they cut out several well-known brands, made plenty of sweeping changes and, if you ask me, cut out the heart and soul of the regional, well-loved store, and made it like every other store on the planet. In other words – boring! I honestly have to say that my purchases in that store have decreased significantly since they took over – this from the woman whose credit card used to be on fire! But oh well, it’s here to stay until the day when it’s not. Retail is a fickle environment.

So back to Marshall Fields…prior to the latest sale, they produced this cookbook of recipes that came from both the Dayton’s (and Hudson’s) and Fields stores and one of them is Dayton’s famous Chicken Wild Rice Soup. I love this soup. My version wasn’t quite as good as theirs but no matter. It brings me back to the days when I could finally afford something from the Oval Room, Dayton’s haute couture store (at sale prices, naturally) while buying a cup of this soup in the Food Court downstairs while waiting for my shoes to be repaired. These things are all still there but it’s just not the same and I’m willing to bet the Fields and Hudson people feel the same way. So hooray for soup that remains constant even in the face of great retail change! And hat’s off to Ann Sather’s for continuing to produce meals that give us comfort in these tough times.

Swedish Meatballs – makes 25 meatballs
2 ½ pounds ground chuck
1 ½ cup (8 slices) white bread, dampened with water
3 eggs
½ cup onion, grated
¼ tsp. nutmeg, ground
½ tsp. allspice, ground
½ tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 T. beef stock
½ tsp. garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl except for the meat. Add the meat and mix well. Roll the mixture into 1” meatballs and bake them uncovered in a lightly greased baking pan at 300F for 45 minutes. Serve the hot meatballs with brown gravy.

Note: I served these with mashed potatoes. You could also use egg noodles if you wanted. As to the gravy, you can purchase already made gravy or make it yourself following the directions on the back of a broth container (like Swanson’s).

Boundary Waters Wild Rice Soup – serves 6
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup diced yellow onion
1 small leek, halved lengthwise, rinse well, the thinly sliced
1 ½ cups sliced button mushrooms
¾ cup diced carrots
½ cup all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken broth
1 ½ cups cooked wild rice
½ roasted chicken, meat chopped (1 to 1 ½ cups)
1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons dry sherry
2 teaspoons salt
1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted, for garnish (optional)
NOTE: I bought a roasted chicken from my grocery store instead of roasting my own and/or just cooking chicken breasts; it turned out to be cheaper to buy a pre-cooked roast than raw chicken – go figure!

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, until translucent. Add the leek, mushrooms and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until softened. (Note: I cooked it for 15 and the veggies were still a little too crisp for my taste. I definitely think more than 5 minutes is in order.)

Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Whisk in the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then decrease the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the rice, chicken meat, cream, sherry, salt, pepper, parsley and thyme and cook for 5 minutes, until warmed through. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Garnish with the almonds and serve hot. To store, allow the soup to cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

"The Chicago Daily News Cook Book" & "The New York Times Cook Book" (Claiborne) - Spanish Omelet two ways

Date I made these recipes: September 8, 2007

The Chicago Daily News Cook Book by Edith G. Shuck, Home Economics Expert for The Chicago Daily News and Editor of Cookery and Dr. Herman N. Bundesen, Health Editor of The Chicago Daily News and Editor of Special Dietetics
Published by: The Chicago Daily News (Note: This book cost one whole dollar back in 1930. Sounds expensive for back then!)
© 1930
Recipe: Spanish Omelet – p. 111

The New York Times Cook Book edited by Craig Claiborne
Published by Harper& Row
© 1961
Recipe: Spanish Omelet – p. 306

This is a tale of two cities, a tale of two omelets.

For those of you who watch The Food Network on cable, think of this blog posting as Iron Chef America meets Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

The popular show Iron Chef America pits an Iron Chef (either Bobby Flay, Mario Battali, Masaharu Morimoto or Cat Cora) against a challenger who is always a professional chef, usually the executive chef or owner of a restaurant. Each week, The Chairman decides on a secret ingredient that they have to use in all of their recipes, for example Battle Citrus, Battle Pork, Battle Peppers, etc. After giving the contestants a few minutes to think through their dishes and what they’re going to make, The Chairman yells “Let the battle begin!” (And yes, he’s called The Chairman. The Chairman ran the original Iron Chef TV show in Japan and now his nephew is The Chairman of the American version. I have no idea why The Chairman is named The Chairman—it just is what it is. I don’t make the rules!)

Throwdown with Bobby Flay pits Bobby Flay (also an Iron Chef) against an average Joe or Jane who just happens to make the country’s best: ice cream, wedding cake, Cuban pork, clam chowder, etc. Bobby gets the dirt on these people and their recipes and then comes up with a version he thinks will sway the guest judges. He often loses and as much as I like Bobby Flay (he grew on me), I love that fact that the “little guy” often prevails. It is only fitting and proper that this be so.

And so, dear reader, this week was Battle Newspaper combined with a Spanish Omelet Throwdown. On the one hand, we had the Chicago Daily News Cook Book, published in 1930 by the Chicago Daily News (now defunct). On the other hand we had The New York Times Cook Book published in 1961. This was Battle Newspaper at its best. And then we had Mrs. C.W. Scheef who submitted the Chicago Daily News’ Spanish Omelet recipe against that of the venerable Craig Claiborne, editor (and former food critic) of The New York Times. Although it was not exactly a fair fight, Mrs. C.W. Scheef certainly held her own.

These recipes were different enough that it really did feel like a Throwdown. Mrs. Scheef’s was more in line with how I imagined a Spanish omelet would taste which is to say, a nice mix of vegetables (onion and tomato) with celery coming in through the use of celery salt. Back in 1930, they probably didn’t get too wild with the ingredients.

Craig’s was definitely lighter in taste and seemed like something I would find in any restaurant today. It is also loaded with herbs. I passed on the saffron, though, as it’s so expensive and I use it so little, but if you wanted to stay true to the recipe, knock yourself out and buy some. (By the way, if I wrote my blog according to The New York Times standards, I would refer to Craig as Mr. Claiborne but it’s my blog and I’ll call him what I want to!)

So we didn’t have a camera crew and nobody was chewing their fingernails over the results but I’d say this Battle was quite enjoyable. And as the sole judge and jury, I’m going to declare it a draw. It would break my heart to tell Mrs. C.W. Scheef that she had to pack up her knives and go home. Oh wait, that’s another show……

Spanish Omelet (Mrs. C.W. Scheef)
1 tablespoon fat
1 teaspoon chopped onion
½ tablespoon flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup tomatoes
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon chopped green pepper
3 chopped mushrooms
¼ teaspoon celery salt

Note: the recipe actually included how to make the omelet but the New York Times recipe was for the filling only. So I made just a generic omelet and called it a day, seeing as how the filling was really what I was interested in.

Also note that she doesn’t say how many this serves but it sounds like you use 6 eggs to make one omelet. We made one, three-egg omelet and the filling was sufficient for that.

Melt the tablespoon of fat and add [the] green pepper, onion and mushrooms. Cook slowly for 3 minutes. Add flour, celery salt, remaining salt and pepper. Mix well. Add tomatoes and simmer gently until thick.

Spanish Omelet (Craig Claiborne) – 6 servings
6 fresh tomatoes
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 leek, chopped
½ bulb fennel, chopped, or ½ teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
1 clove garlic, minced
3 sprigs parsley, chopped
1 clove
½ teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon oregano
½ bay leaf
Pinch of saffron
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Peel the tomatoes, cut in half and gently press out the seeds and liquid. Chop the tomatoes.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, green pepper, celery, leek, fennel, garlic and parsley. Saute five minutes. Add the tomatoes and season with the clove, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, saffron and salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer the mixture gently until the vegetables are tender, about ten minutes. Discard the clove and bay leaf. Use to fill and garnish six three-egg omelets.

"Prairie Avenue Cookbook" & "Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen" - Green Corn Pudding and Seared Zucchini with Roasted Tomato, Chipotle and Chorizo

Date I made these recipes: September 3, 2007

Prairie Avenue Cookbook – Recipes and Recollections from Prominent 19th-Century Chicago Families by Carol Callahan
Published by: Southern Illinois University Press
ISBN: 0-8093-1815-6
© 1993
Recipe: Green Corn Pudding (Harvey Family Recipe) – p. 116

Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen – Capturing the Vibrant Flavors of a World-Class Cuisine by Rick Bayless with Deann Groen Bayless and JeanMarie Brownson
Published by: Scribner
ISBN: 0-684-800006-3
© 1996
Recipe: Seared Zucchini with Roasted Tomato, Chipotle and Chorizo (Tinga de Calabacitas) – p. 216-217

“My kind of town, Chicago is, my kind of town, Chicago is…”

The weekend before Labor Day, my husband and I went on our annual road trip to Chicago to visit some friends who live in the Chicago suburb of Mt. Prospect. Our friends have always been gracious enough to line up an activity or two in the city itself over the weekend and when not exploring the sights, we feast on great Chicago food.

This time around, we feasted a little bit more than usual because they were without power from Thursday of that week until Sunday night after we left. It is not for nothing that Chicago is nicknamed “The Windy City.” A big storm pretty much knocked over every other tree in Mt. Prospect and adjoining suburbs, taking power lines down as they went, flooding basements and creating general havoc in the area. Businesses were down for days, people made do without electricity and generators could be heard all over the neighborhood. It really looked like a war zone when we drove up.

But even though our friends said they’d understand if we backed out, we were not deterred as a good time is usually had by all. I considered it to be an urban camping experience—the only kind of camping I like—as the only hardship was bringing a flashlight into the bathroom morning, noon and night.

Our pattern quickly became this: eat breakfast out, spend the entire day outside, spend a happy hour inside by candlelight and then once the sun set, break for a restaurant to wine and dine in air-conditioned splendor. Not a bad way to go.

And so in honor of our adventure, I pulled out my Chicago-related cookbooks. I have three, but am reserving the third one for another blog as it was hard to find a recipe to fit in with my selections for this week.

The first book I pulled off the shelf is the Prairie Avenue Cookbook, purchased years ago on another Chicago adventure. Out of all the recipes, the corn pudding recipe caught my eye as summer is now waning and I wanted to imbibe some sweet corn before it was too late.

The second book is Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen. After all these years of visiting Chicago, I hate to say that I’ve never eaten in either of Rick’s restaurants, Frontera Grill or Topolobampo, but there it is. One only has so much time but they’re on my list.

Although a friend gave me Rick’s book years ago, I had yet to make anything from it. Tonight, Mexican food seemed like a good thing to have with the corn pudding and so down off the shelf it came. But I have to tell you folks, finding a recipe that wouldn’t scorch the skin off the roof of my mouth was challenging. As it is, I thought the recipe was slightly on the hot side whereas my husband thought it was perfect. He definitely tolerates spice better than I but then again, he misses a lot of the nuances that I pick up. He also loved the corn pudding whereas I thought it was a bit too sweet. So he gave the recipes two thumbs up whereas I gave it one and a half thumbs, sort of along the lines of the famous movie reviewer duo from Chicago, Siskel and Ebert.

And so about the corn pudding…the recipe said 12 ears of corn nicely grated. (as opposed to not nicely grated or angrily grated??!) Hmmm…did they mean “grated” grated or “grated” grated?!! I wasn’t sure if they meant for me to just strip the corn off the cob or to actually grate it with a grater. I consulted Andy and we decided it mean strip the corn off the cob. And this, of course, was entirely the wrong conclusion! The dish was good but very watery and we could have avoided that problem had we grated the corn which would have stripped the water out of the cob before cooking. Oh well, live and learn.

As to the tinga, we visited one of the best Mexican markets in the Twin Cities, El Burrito Mercado, http://www.elburritomercado.com/home.htm to find the chorizo, the queso fresco and the chipotles…and some Mexican pastries…and some Mexican drinks…and… Well, you get the picture. El Burrito also has a cafeteria with such good food that it was tempting just to order takeout and call it a day.

El Burrito Mercado also has a fine selection of votive candles which we will likely pack the next time we plan a trip to the Windy City. Maybe next time, we’ll even eat out at one of Rick’s restaurants. In the meantime, enjoy a wonderful taste of Chicago food…via Mexico…and the 19th century!

(By the way, one of the restaurants we visited time was Twin Anchors, located at 1655 North Sedgwick Street in Chicago’s Old Town. It’s a Chicago institution as evidenced by the crowd packed shoulder to shoulder in every space available. And so danged if I didn’t open up the magazine section of The Chicago Tribune to find a review of the place the day after we ate there! Way too cosmic. Even more cosmic than that: when I went to the website, Frank Sinatra started singing “My kind of Town Chicago is.” Ol’ Blue Eyes must have been channeling me when I wrote this because I had no idea when I started writing this review that the song I quoted at the beginning “My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)” would be playing on the website. Coincidence? I think not!

Green Corn Pudding (Harvey Family recipe) – Makes 10 servings.

12 large ears of sweet corn nicely grated (6 cups grated corn)
1 ½ pints sweet milk (3 cups whole milk)
4 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar

The original recipe said: Bake slowly 2 hours. To be eaten without sauce. The author filled in the gaps: Modern Cooking Tip: The missing steps in preparation of this recipe are as follows: Mix all ingredients well and pour into buttered 3-quart mold. Place in a pan filled halfway up the side of the mold with warm water. Bake the pudding at 350 degrees for 2-2 ½ hours or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Puree the mixture in a blender if you prefer a smooth-textured pudding.

As I mentioned above, I thought the cup of sugar was overkill but perhaps it wouldn’t have been had we followed the directions to “nicely grate” the corn. Sometimes, what is written is what is meant!

Seared Zucchini with Roasted Tomato, Chipotle and Chorizo – Makes 3 cups, 6 servings as an appetizer or side dish, 4 servings as a small main course

Note: we happened to have some zucchini on hand that we wanted to use up but this can be made with any tender summer squash or 3-4 cups of any vegetable cut into small pieces.

For 1 cup essential quick-cooked tomato-chipotle sauce base
1 to 2 stemmed, dried chipotle chiles (or canned chipotle chiles en adobo)
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
12 ounces (2 medium-small round or 4 to 5 plum) ripe tomatoes (note: you can also use one 15-ounce can of tomatoes in place of the roasted ones)
Salt, about ¼ teaspoon

For the main dish
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
4 medium zucchini, chopped into 3/8-inch dice
1 medium white onion, sliced
½ cup (4 ounces) chorizo sausage, casing removed
1 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
1/3 cup crumbled Mexican queso fresco, queso anejo, mild feta, pressed, salted farmer’s cheese or Parmesan

Making the sauce:
Toast the dried chipotles on an ungreased griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat, turning regularly and pressing flat with a spatula, until they fully release their aroma into the kitchen, about 30 seconds. In a small bowl, cover chiles with hot water and let rehydrate 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even soaking. Drain and discard the water. (Canned chiles need only be removed from their sauce. Note: although Rick doesn’t mention this, if using canned chiles and you want less heat, you may want to rinse the sauce from the chiles. But if you’re like my husband, keep the sauce and go full throttle!)

While the chiles are soaking, roast the unpeeled garlic on the griddle or skillet turning occasionally, until soft and blackened in spots, about 15 minutes; cool and peel. Roast the tomatoes on a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler until blackened on one side, about 6 minutes, then flip and roast the other side. Cool, then peel, collecting all the juices.

In a food processor or blender, process the tomatoes, rehydrated or canned chiles and garlic until almost completely pureed (there should still be a little texture left to give the dish an attractive presentation). Taste and season with salt.

Finishing the dish:
Measure 1 tablespoon of the oil into a large (10- to 12-inch) heavy skillet and set over medium-high. When very hot, add the zucchini (the pieces should fit comfortably in a single layer), and stir regularly until nicely browned, about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove to a plate, spreading them into a single layer to stop the cooking.

Return the skillet to the heat, adding the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, and scoop in the onion and chorizo. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is very soft and golden (and the chorizo is nearly cooked), about 7 minutes. Drain off all excess fat, and return the pan to the heat.

Add the tomato-chipotle sauce and the oregano, and stir for about 5 minutes as the sauce sears and thickens. Add the zucchini and heat through. Scoop into warm serving bowl, sprinkle with the cheese and your tinga is ready to eat.