"The Too Hot To Cook Book" by Miriam Ungerer - Garden Soup with Pistou (French "pesto")

Date I made this recipe:  August 25, 2013

The Too Hot to Cook Book by Miriam Ungerer

Published by:  Walker and Company

© 1966

Recipe:  Garden Soup with Pistou (a French variation of pesto) – p. 42-43

I just purchased this cookbook from Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in NYC and not a moment too soon as Minnesota is experiencing scorching temperatures.  But here’s what is so typical and annoying:  the minute Labor Day rolls around, we are projected, once again, to go from high 90’s to 72 degrees overnight.  This is just so damned unfair, especially this year when summer arrived late and warmer temperatures took a while to roll around.  I know I stand alone when I say that this heat can last well…indefinitely!  I hate winter, I hate being cold, and am not too fond of 72 degrees, no matter how refreshing that “cold” temperature appears to the rest of you.

But hey, although I may enjoy hotter temperatures, I am not crazy enough to turn on my oven during this hot spell and thanks to our author, Miriam Ungerer, I don’t have to!  And yet don’t ask me why, but out of all the recipes that appealed (and that would be most of this book), the hot soup recipe caught my eye.  I’ve been on sort of a veggie kick since last week’s vegetable fried rice recipe and since I had some leftover veggies, why not?

This recipe, which serves 10 which of course is way too much for our little household, is adaptable to whatever vegetables you have on hand and so I threw in some diced baby corn from last week and some celery from last week and some leftover mushrooms from last week (and even some leftover rice from last week – how convenient) and then left out a few vegetables that I don’t like as well, namely lima beans and okra.  The most time-consuming task is chopping said vegetables but once you get past that, you are golden.  Cooking time for most of the vegetables is 30 minutes, after which you throw in your faster-cooking vegetables for another 15 minutes, add in a few more minutes to make the pistou and in about an hour total, you have dinner. 

You should know that all the flavor of this dish comes from the pistou as no other “spices” are added to the soup itself other than salt.  I think if I made this again I’d play around with adding some spices to ramp up the flavor just a bit.  And you should also know that while I made only half the soup recipe, I made the full pistou recipe and well, let’s just hope you like garlic because it contains 4 cloves. 

I am pleased to announce that despite the high heat this weekend (96 or 97 I think), I stayed cool in my kitchen and even cool eating this dish.  And that’s what you need when it’s “Too Hot to Cook”!

 

Garden Soup – Serves 10

From the author:  Unlike a rich, slow simmered winter soup, hearty and filling with turnips and cabbage, a summer blend should be lightly cooked and each vegetable retain its freshness, flavor and texture.  Prescribing exactly what to put in a vegetable soup would be a bit like a numbered canvas that the artist could never claim as his own.  This is a rough outline to fill in with your own design.  This serves 10 to 12 as a main course.

2 quarts water

Salt

2 cups baby carrots, sliced

2 cups new potatoes, diced

2 cups peeled ripe tomatoes, diced

2 cups scallions, sliced

1 cup fresh green lima beans

1 cup fresh tiny green beans, cut in 1-inch lengths

1 cup fresh okra, sliced

1 cup fresh corn, scraped off the cob

1 ½ cups cooked rice

Pistou

4 cloves garlic

¼ cup fresh basil, chopped

2 Tb fresh parsley, chopped

3 Tb tomato paste

½ cup grated Romano cheese

½ cup olive oil

In a mortar, pound the garlic to a paste with the basil and parsley; add the tomato paste and cheese.  Beat in the oil by droplets, then beat in 1 cup of hot soup.  Pour the sauce into a small bowl and pass it around with the soup.

"Everybody's Wokking" by Martin Yan - Vegetable Fried Rice featuring locally-grown King Oyster Mushrooms from Mississippi Mushrooms

Date I made this recipe:  August 18, 2013

Everybody’s Wokking by Martin Yan (From the national Public Television series YAN CAN COOK)

Published by:  Harlow & Ratner

ISBN:  0-9627345-0-0

Recipe:  Vegetable Fried Rice – p. 137

“And today’s secret ingredient is….Mushrooms!”

Given that this blog focuses on my cookbook collection, my usual MO is to select a cookbook I like and then select the recipe from that book.  This time around, I had an ingredient and just needed to find a recipe within one of my cookbooks in which to showcase it.  The ingredient?  King oyster mushrooms.  The recipe?  Vegetable Fried Rice.  The cookbook?  Everybody’s Wokking by Martin Yan.  (And no, the title is not Working but Wokking –as in stir fry.  And yes, it took me a minute as well!)

But wouldn’t you know that “working” (with an “r”) is exactly how I came to find today’s ingredient.  By day, I provide business and legal consulting services to small business clients of a St. Paul-based nonprofit – Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) – and NDC recently asked me to work on a marketing plan for one of their new clients, Mississippi Mushrooms (www.mississippimushrooms.com).  After our last meeting, the guys gave me some of their product – king oyster mushrooms – to take home with me and of course, I couldn’t resist finding something to make with these mushrooms from my rather large (1,692 cookbooks…and counting) cookbook collection.

This though, was not as easy as you would think.  First, I may have a huge cookbook collection but only a small portion of it covers Asian food, a cuisine I think makes the best use of mushrooms.  Second, many of these cookbooks did not do much with fresh mushrooms (dried mushrooms, on the other hand, was a prevalent ingredient) and those that did utilized button mushrooms and button mushrooms are okay, but they are not and should never be confused with king oysters.  Worse, many recipes called for canned mushrooms and I’m sorry, they have their place (like in a casserole buried under a can Cream of X soup), but not for this dinner.

So after careful consideration and perusal, I selected the Martin Yan cookbook (given to me recently by my friend, Melissa Embser-Herbert) because it had what I was looking for:  a recipe that called for fresh mushrooms – nothing more, nothing less.

At this point, I must confess that I felt like I was on the Food Network Show, Iron Chef America, a show that pits one of the show’s previously-ordained Iron Chefs against a chef competitor in “kitchen stadium” where both must create fabulous dishes using a “secret ingredient.”  I love this show unless they feature a secret ingredient that I detest in which case, I hate this show.

So the two chefs meet in front of a table hidden by a hood that contains the secret ingredient.  Tension builds as they wonder what the secret ingredient will be.  And then on cue, “The Chairman” (the show’s primary judge), demands the secret ingredient be revealed, the chefs either groan or giggle with glee at the thought of the creative dishes they will make for the judging panel and then The Chairman yells (…“in the words of my uncle”…) “Allez Cuisine” (which roughly translates to “Get Cooking”) does a karate chop (Why, I don’t know) and with that, the chefs gather up the no-longer secret ingredient, race to their stations, yell orders at their sous chefs, and begin the battle (during the course of the show, this will be referred to as “Battle Mushroom” – I love it!). 

So today’s secret and only ingredient was king oyster mushroom (currently the main focus of Mississippi Mushroom’s business) and while normally the Iron Chefs and contestants create dishes to showcase the secret ingredient, here I just wanted to make sure it got incorporated into something tasty that most everyone would feel comfortable making.  I’m not into sous vied (cooking in a water bath food that is sealed in plastic pouches) or emulsions or extrusions or anything else.  Here, it was chop, wok and serve.  Easy!

That said, I did adjust the recipe just a tad, decreasing some ingredients (for example, I ran out of onion – how inconvenient) so that I could showcase the mushrooms.  And I must say, I think even a panel of food critics would have approved.  Was it Iron Chef America-worthy?  No.  Did I care?  No.  Should you?  No.  What you’ll get is very flavorful fried rice, loaded with chopped vegetables, featuring the wonderfully nutty-flavored king oyster mushroom, and kicked up a notch on the flavor wheel by the addition of fresh minced ginger. 

Although this recipe is titled “Vegetable” Fried Rice, it is not vegetarian; for that, substitute vegetable broth or water for chicken stock.  And when Martin Yan said “Of course, you can add meat or seafood if you like,” I did indeed “like” and so after I stir-fried the vegetables, I removed that mixture from the wok, added more oil and stir-fried some chicken bits in the same sauce that I fried the vegetables:  oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil.  Once cooked (this takes minutes) I then placed my chicken on top of the fried rice.  The result was very yummy and we pretty much polished off the rice in two easy sittings.

So the good news is that the king oyster mushrooms were delicious in this recipe but the bad news (well, not that bad) is that this company is just getting its product to market and so right now, you can find them at the Fulton Farmer’s Market (at 49^th and Chowen in South Minneapolis) through fall and (soon) Linden Hill’s Co-op in the Linden Hill’s neighborhood of Minneapolis.  If all goes according to plan, they will be in a lot more local co-ops and local restaurants – stay tuned!  But if you get a chance, head to these locations and talk, if you can, to the three guys who put this business together – Ian Silver-Ramp, Nik Prenevost and Michael Melander – because you will get the very cool back-story of their mushrooms as follows: 

Once upon a time, three guys figured out how to grow really fabulous mushrooms indoors, year-round from (and you will love this) a concoction of (beer) brewer’s after-products, sourced from local brewer Boom Island Brewery, and sawdust from Wood from the Hood, a company that fashions very cool furniture out of fallen trees.  Add those ingredients together, mix with some agricultural know-how, “bake” in a special growing area and voila!  Fabulous mushrooms.  Actually fabulous “fertilizer-free” mushrooms since most mushrooms are grown using fertilizer.  Ew.  These mushrooms are fresh and clean and healthy for you to boot, containing lots of dietary fiber and iron and other essential vitamins.  But essentially, the thing you need to know about them is that they just taste good.  In fact, as I am wont to do, my manta in my kitchen today was “one [slice of mushroom] for the recipe, one for me…one for the recipe, two for me…”

Now, it is not uncommon on Iron Chef America for one of the culinary world’s celebrity judges to say something like “I’m normally not a [in this case] mushroom fan” but this recipe is delicious!”  After today, count me as one of the converted and start demanding these mushrooms from your local favorite vegetable “supplier.”  And remember, you heard it here first:  Mississippi Mushrooms!  (And let’s not forget Martin Yan, who I also think is very cool and is frequently a judge on Iron Chef America—so there!)

Vegetable Friend Rice – Serves 6

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon minced ginger

½ small onion, cut into ¼-inch cubes

1 small carrot, cut into ¼-inch cubes

1 stalk celery, cut into ¼-inch cubes

2 tablespoons chicken broth or water (or vegetable broth)

1 can (about 8 ounces) baby corn, drained, rinsed, and cut into ½-inch pieces

1 green onion (including top), thinly sliced

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

½ cup sliced fresh mushrooms (Ann’s Note: try to use my clients’ king oyster mushrooms if you can)

4 cups cooked brown rice (Ann’s Note:  healthier yes, but I prefer white rice)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

¼ teaspoon white pepper

Shredded lecture for garnish

Place a wok or wide frying pan over high heat until hot.  Add the vegetable oil, swirling to coat the sides.  Add the garlic, ginger, and onion; cook until the onion is soft, about 30 seconds.  Add the carrot, celery, and broth and stir-fry for 2 minutes.  Add the baby corn, green onion, peas, mushrooms, and rice, separating the grains of rice with the back of a spoon; mix well.  Stir in the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and pepper; cook until heated through.  Garnish with shredded lettuce.

Notes from Martin Yan:  Most Chinese do not eat brown rice; we get plenty of fiber in our diets from vegetables and fruits, and in the quantities in which we eat rice every day, using the whole grain would be too much.  But brown rice is popular in the West, especially among vegetarians, so here’s a way to use it along with assorted vegetables.  Of course, you can add meat or seafood if you like. 

How the rice is cooked in the first place affects the texture of fried rice.  If you want the rice to be separate and chewy, use slightly less water; if you prefer it more tender and sticky, use more water.

"Poppy Cannon's Bride's Cookbook" by Poppy Cannon - Iowa Pork Chop Casserole

Date I made this recipe:  August 4, 2013

Poppy Cannon’s Bride’s Cookbook by Poppy Cannon (originally published in 1954 as The Bride’s Cookbook.  Revised edition published in 1961 as The ABC’s of Quick and Glamorous Cooking.)

Published by: Paperback Library

© 1954; Paperback Library Edition First Printing: May, 1970

Recipe:  Iowa Pork Chop Casserole – p. 202

“We’ve only just begun to live…white lace and promises…a kiss for luck and we’re on our way….”

I cannot get this song out of my head!  This is We’ve Only Just Begun, written in 1970 by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams, and made famous by The Carpenters (brother and sister Richard and Karen Carpenter).  This had to have been the most played wedding songs of the 1970’s.  I certainly heard it over and over and over again at weddings I attended back in the day.  It does not have a beat and you cannot dance to it but it’s catchy, right?

Seems to me that when it comes to wedding invites, it either rains or it pours.  This year, it’s pouring.  (Disclaimer:  the older we get, the fewer the weddings so to us more than one is a deluge).  We started off our wedding season with a family wedding at the end of July, another wedding locally last Sunday, August 11^th, and have another one scheduled for September 28^th.  And in between, we received a notice that one of our male friends, someone who we thought was a confirmed bachelor, got married in June – congratulations, Mike and Rhonda! So weddings abound!

The first wedding of the summer was of a cousin’s daughter, held in New Jersey at a lovely church and then later a lovely country club.  The bride and groom are in their late 20’s but showed great sophistication and attention to detail in their arrangements.  The entire thing was a blast and let me just say that the dance floor was never empty.  Not once.  The DJ played a fabulous mix of music and impressively, a lot of men were up there dancing (and dancing well, I might add).  Hats off to them, I say!

The second wedding this past weekend, was of a completely different nature.  The bride and groom were older (50’s and 60’s) and the focus was on inclusiveness.  Both are active members of their church and the bride also sings with the choir.  While she sat out her own ceremony, some 50-odd choir members sang for her and if that wasn’t impressive enough, they also had an organist, vocal soloists and two violinists to round out the musical portion of our program.  And that was just at the church.  At the reception, table cards notified us that family and friends would perform in an “open mike” setting.  We had no idea what to expect and so were pleasantly surprised at the song selections (The Beatles – unplugged) and caliber of the musicians – there was not a clunker in the room which is to say that this was most assuredly not Karaoke Night at the local bar!

Weddings though, were not always this unique or that personalized.  Back when my parents got married (1957), you typically had your cake and your punch and maybe you had a dinner or a brunch but maybe not. It was noted in newspaper articles if the ceremony was double-ring, meaning both the bride and the groom wore wedding bands – again, not common for both like they are today.  Bands and most certainly not DJ’s were not often found at the reception.  Favors were not de rigueur.  And brides and bridesmaids were certainly not of the “zilla” (i.e. “bridezilla”) nature.  You had your personalized matchbooks and napkins, you had certain friends designated to do various tasks (pour coffee, cut cake, unwrap gifts) and that was about that.  No bells, no whistles, just a focus on the ceremony and most importantly, the marriage.  Easy peasey.

If 50’s weddings were streamlined and easy, so was cooking preparation.  Although the cover of Poppy Cannon’s Bride’s Cookbook shows a 70’s bride (the paperback was published in 1970), the book was published originally in 1954 and let me tell you, it confirms everything that I know about cooking in the 50’s – canned food was king!  Many of the recipes in this book call upon you to use canned macaroni and cheese or canned spaghetti or basically canned [fill in the blank].  If it was in a can, you were cooking with Crisco.  Women in the 50’s wanted food in a hurry and what better way to make that happen then to open a can, Stan.

And so along came Poppy Cannon and she gave you everything you needed in 343 pages to make sure that the new bride was going to make her man happy by getting dinner on the table as soon as he came home.  Entertaining also increased during this period but our Poppy was ready for it --there’s a chapter titled “Meat for Your Man to Eat” as well as “Secrets to Make You a Star Hostess.”  There’s even a chapter called “Cater Your Own Wedding,” something many brides-to-be employed when the budget was an issue.  (It should go without saying that budget-busting weddings were not a happenin’ thing back then.) 

Okay, so…after reviewing the cookbook a couple of times, I started the elimination process, taking out my “absolutely not” recipes, beginning with recipes like Dressed-Up Chip Beef with Almonds to which I say “You can’t put lipstick on that pig” then adding a recipe for “Bile Fish” (Boiled Halibut) Virgin Island Style.  Right.  The way to make a new husband happy is to say “How was your day, dear?  I thought I’d serve “bile fish” tonight.”  And while I love chicken, I am so not ever using canned chicken, especially for something so easy at Roast Chicken with Stuffing.  I mean – really?  Canned chicken for that???

My list kept whittling and whittling until finally, in near desperation, I settled on today’s recipe:  Iowa Pork Chop Casserole.  And okay, yes, this recipe includes a can of soup but that’s to be expected – soup and casseroles go together like peanut butter and jelly.  If it had called for canned pork chops however, all bets would have been off.

I’ve mentioned before in this blog that my mother had to ease into cooking but I can see her making this recipe for dad.  It contains meat (very important), is easy and she could have made up a bowl of mashed potatoes for an instant full meal.  My mom likely would have set the table with a tablecloth of some sort and maybe candles whereas Andy and I go the total casual route and eat our food in front of the TV set as we have always done since the day we got married 22 years ago.  Bad bride!  Bad!

Although I have several cookbooks by Poppy Cannon in my collection, the cover (and the bride dressed in what I consider to be a hideous 1970’s wedding dress) is the sole reason I bought this book on Etsy.  The recipes were rather disappointing, most of them calling for what I call “rude food” (like canned chicken) and nothing really stood out but that’s okay – sometimes you just have to have a cookbook for reasons other than the food. If all else fails, be sure to peruse the “Beverages ‘Round the Clock” chapter, pour yourself a glass of said beverage and call it a day.

Iowa Pork Chop Casserole – 4 servings

1 can condensed Cream of Chicken soup

2 cups canned peas

4 pork chops

2 bay leaves, halved

Put the can of cream of chicken soup (undiluted) in a baking dish with 2 cups drained canned peas.  Season the pork chops with salt and pepper and arrange on top of baking dish, placing ½ bay leaf under each.  Bake in a low oven, 325F, about 45 minutes.  Uncover and continue to bake about 15 minutes until chops brown.

Make or buy mashed potatoes to accompany your meal.

"The Taste of Summer" & "Thyme in a Bottle" (by '70's singer Jim Croce's widow, Ingrid) - Summer Vegetable Guacamole Salsa & Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Date I made these recipes:  July 21, 2013

The Taste of Summer – Inspired Recipes for Casual Entertaining by Diane Rossen Worthington

Published by:  Bantam Books

© 1988

Recipe:  Summer Vegetable Guacamole Salsa – p. 42-43

*purchased at Arc’s Value Village Thrift Stores

Thyme in a Bottle by Ingrid Croce (Ingrid is the widow of 70’s singer Jim Croce, composer of Time In A Bottle, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown and more!)

Published by:  CollinsPublishers

© 1998

Recipe:  Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas – p. 207-208

People, this has been some kind of summer, has it not?  First those of us in the Midwest practically froze to death waiting for summer (which did not start until mid-May, if that seeing as how it snowed on May 3rd).  Then the nation roasted under sweltering heat the third week of July (when I made this recipe) when temperatures spiked into the mid-90’s (although high, they were not as high as last year when we broke all kinds of records). It rains, it pours, we’re happy, we’re not.  (Let me just say that on June 21, we experienced a rain storm of monumental proportions, such that I felt like my house had been driven through a car wash. Yikes!)

And then, as per usual, we started our descent into what I consider fall weather – mid 70’s. We are expected to stay at this [freezing cold temperature] weather pattern for a few weeks.  This is all too soon, just too soon.

And so as I do every year when August is rounding the corner, I mourn.  I get nostalgic for those hot days of bright sun, high in the sky, with nary a cloud in sight and when life seems just perfect.  Yes, I know – we have a while to go before summer is officially over but yet let’s not lie to ourselves:  come September 1^st, we start putting away our summer clothes and our memories and start shoring up for yet another fall and winter.

To combat the inevitable cool-down, I pulled two books off my shelf, one called (appropriately) The Taste of Summer from which I made a really delicious salsa and Thyme in a Bottle, the title of which is a play on a Jim Croce song from the 70’s, Time In A Bottle; this cookbook was written by his widow, owner of Croce’s Restaurant, Ingrid Croce.  Every year, I always think “If only I could bottle this heat.  If only I could bottle the sun” and of course this year, “If I could save Time In A Bottle…” but just because I can’t but doesn’t mean I cannot get all wistful about the prospect.

 I don’t have much to say about The Taste of Summer as that title just sums if up, but I do have a bit to say, as I always do, about the Thyme In A Bottle cookbook, specifically about the fabulous songs written by the late singer, Jim Croce.

If you were alive in the 70’s and halfway coherent (and by that I mean you weren’t sitting in a baby carriage somewhere), you would have heard some of these famous tunes getting endless air time on the radio:

• Time In A Bottle – 1972
• You Don’t Mess Around with Jim – 1972
• Operator - 1972
• I’ve Got a Name – 1973
• Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown – 1973

 My brother became totally enamored with Jim and not only did he play his album (yes, kids – album) over and over but he bought the sheet music to all his songs and spent hours banging out “Leroy Brown” on the piano.  If memory serves, he even played that song for a piano recital one year.  And why wouldn’t he?  Jim Croce was a genius songwriter whose works are still popular, years after he died in a plane crash in 1973.  Time In A Bottle still makes me tear up, to wit:  “If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I’d like to do…is to save every day till eternity passes away…just to spend them with you…” (©1972 James Croce/EMI Music Publishing).  Sniffle.

This walk down Jim Croce lane prompted me to reflect on my life in high school in the 70’s and how odd it was to me that every graduating class from my high school, a very small high school in a very small town, selected a class song, typically from the Top 40’s lineup, that summed up – well, sort of – how we felt about moving into the next phase of our life post-high school.  The class song should never be confused with a school song – that we didn’t have – or the school fight song that we did.  Jim Croce’s “Time In A Bottle” was in contention the year I graduated, 1976, but it lost out to “Brian’s Song” a/k/a “Hands of Time.”  Let’s just say you have not lived until you’ve heard high school boys trying to sing this awfully high song at the commencement ceremony.  (Had this graduation been from my Catholic grade school, rest assured that “Sister” would not have tolerated the mumbling and rumbling from the guys in my class.)

For the record, and because I know you are dying to know, other classes selected the following songs to usher them out the door of William G. Mather H.S.:

1973 – Morning Has Broken by Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam…I still can’t reconcile that one)

1974 – With a Little Help from My Friends by The Beatles

1975 – We May Never Pass This Way Again by Seals and Crofts (who I saw in concert in college in the fall of 1976.  This concert was a big.deal.)

Out of these three pieces, Morning Has Broken was probably the easiest to sing but the Seals and Crofts tune would have taken top honors in the screechy category had not my class gone with Brian’s Song - yikes, the octaves! (This popular movie theme was written with lyrics but is best remembered as a piano piece - would that my class had remembered that little detail.) 

Other things to note from my high school years were that every class selected a class flower, a class motto, a class poem (1976 only?) and a class color that was always different from the school colors of orange and black - always.  In fact, the yearbooks covers were never orange and black nor did they match the class colors.  I have no idea why that was, it just was.   The yearbook color for the class of 1972 (when I was in 8^th grade), for example, was yellow and orange and yet their class colors were purple and white.  Well that makes a whole lot of sense, no?  But then my class should talk—when one graduated in 1976, the Bicentennial Year, one accepted the fact that the class colors (and yearbook cover) were red, white and blue.  (Let me just add that I often summarize this period of time and the use of shall we say “other pharmaceuticals” with the statement “It was the 70’s.”  If you were growing up during that time, then that sentence probably says it all; if you were born much later well then…never mind.)

And so back to the 70’s and to summer and to the cookbook…so Jim Croce died (a very sad event in the music world) and his widow, Ingrid, eventually started a restaurant called, appropriately, Croce’s and then wrote this cookbook filled with recipes from the restaurant as well as a bio of Jim and stories of their life together with their son, A.J.  All the recipes looked good but I was drawn to the Green Chile Chicken Enchilada recipe, primarily because it paired so well with the salsa from the Taste of Summer cookbook.  I also liked her take on the enchiladas as they were stacked, almost like tostadas, and then sprinkled with sauce and cheese and chicken rather than ending up looking like Mexican lasagna (usually over-cheesed and overly goopy) as most modern day enchiladas do (in my opinion).

And so I made these recipes and hummed a few bars of my favorite Jim Croce songs and looked at the temperature (high 80’s) and just enjoyed the moment.  And okay, fine, thought about how to save summer in a bottle.  Maybe next year.

Summer Vegetable Guacamole Salsa – serving size not given

2 large tomatoes (about 1 pound), peeled, seeded, and finely diced

½ medium sweet red pepper, diced (about ½ cup)

½ medium sweet yellow pepper, diced (about ½ cup)

1 large carrot, peeled and diced (about ¾ cup)

½ cup corn kernels (about 1 medium ear)

2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley

1 jalapeno chile, seeded and finely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 medium avocado, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces

(optional) extra cilantro leaves for garnish

Combine all ingredients except the avocado in a medium mixing bowl.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  Spoon into a serving bowl.  Right before serving add the avocado and taste for seasoning.  Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with fresh tortilla chips.

The salsa may be prepared up to 4 hours ahead through step 1 and kept in the refrigerator.

Ann’s Note:  This salsa is incredibly fresh and just has “summer” written all over it!

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas – serves 4

Twelve 6-inch-round blue corn tortillas

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded

4 tablespoons green onion, chopped

6 tablespoons fresh tomato, diced

1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, grated

6 tablespoons sour cream

For the green chile sauce (you will need 1 ¼ cups – the recipe makes 1 ½)

2 teaspoons olive oil

4 tablespoons onion, finely diced

2 green Anaheim chiles, seeded and chopped

1 cup chicken stock or water

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

Salt, to taste

½ chicken breast, cooked and shredded

1 teaspoon roux (if needed) – roux is a mixture of equal parts fat (butter) and flour

To make the enchilada sauce:  heat the olive oil in a large saucepan until hot but not smoking.  Add the onion and sauté lightly.  Add the green chiles, chicken stock or water, and garlic and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Remove from the stove and puree in a food processor until smooth.  Put the chile puree back in the saucepan and bring to a boil again.  Season with salt and check the consistency, which should be smooth and creamy.  Stir in the shredded chicken.  Add roux if needed.  Remove from the heat and cool.

Next, assemble the enchiladas: soften the tortillas in a pan with a little hot oil for 30 seconds on each side.  On a baking sheet put 4 stacks of 2 tortillas each.  Put 2 tablespoons of Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Sauce on top of each stack of tortillas.  Next, put half of each of the following: chicken, green onions, tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream.  Place 1 tortilla on top of this mixture, followed by the rest of the chicken and cheese.

Bake in a 350 oven for 8 to 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.  Remove from the oven.  Garnish with the green onion, tomatoes and a dollop of sour cream.

"Andre Simon's French Cook Book" & "French Menus for Parties" - a Bastille Day Celebration - Chicken Marengo and Tomatoes Provencale

Date I made these recipes:  July 14, 2013 (Bastille Day)

Andre Simon’s French Cook Book, New Edition Revised by Crosby Gaige

Published by:  Little, Brown and Company

© 1948; 1938

Recipe:  Chicken Marengo – p. 42-43

French Menus for Parties by the Chamberlains – recipes by Narcisse Chamberlain (recipes by Narcissa Chamberlain; photographs by Samuel Chamberlain)

Published by:  Hastings House

© 1968

Recipe:  Tomatoes Provencale – p. 40

The month of July is just so much fun with parties and events galore!  First we have the 4^th of July, America’s Independence Day, then we have Bastille Day, France’s version of our Independence Day and for three weeks in a row, we have the Tour de France, the great bicycle race that brings bicyclists through the French countryside and French mountaintops, ending this coming Sunday, July 21, in Paris on the Champs-Elysees. 

Since I missed out on celebrating the 4^th of July with appropriate 4^th of July food (I was so busy that week that the day came and went), I was determined to make something for Bastille Day and so I did in the form of Chicken Marengo and Tomatoes Provencale (Tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, parsley, bread crumbs).  C’est tres bon! (It’s very good.)

According to Andre Simon’s French Cook Book, Chicken Marengo was “supposedly invented by a desperate chef in the field the night before the battle of Marengo for his hungry boss, Napoleon.”  Since I am not up on my French history or Napoleon (the man or the delicious French dessert), I did an internet search and discovered that the Battle of Marengo was fought on June 14, 1800 between France (under Napoleon) and Austria (although the battle was fought in Piedmont, Italy).  The Austrians lost that battle but went on to become a mean competitor against France where it counts the most – the pastry department. I mean come on, Austrian sachertorte anyone?

Although there were plenty of desserts in both of these cookbooks, I went with my standard selections of main and side dishes because with the weather heating up, turning on my oven to bake anything was out of the question.  Out of the two dishes, Chicken Marengo and Tomatoes Provencale, my favorite was actually the tomatoes, possibly because there were fewer steps involved but also because it was more flavorful than the chicken.  The chicken dish was okay but I’ve said this before:  most chicken no longer has any flavor.  Seriously, I bought two large chicken breasts from Whole Foods, known for all their organic and farm-fresh items and they were just bland; if not for the sauce, I would have been crying.  Consider this:  Chef Andre Simon was born in 1877 and died in 1970 (I don’t know why it was so shocking to see that 1970 date but it was) when people were definitely in a “grow your own” phase and I am willing to bet that his chicken tasted like chicken should when he was cooking. 

Chef Andre’s version of Chicken Marengo is fairly simplistic compared to others I’ve seen but simple is a good thing.  I liked his addition of some white wine and brandy although in all likelihood, the alcohol burned off in the cooking.  Bummer, that (so be sure to supplement the recipe with a lovely glass of wine).  And as is typical of this time, recipes and ingredients are included in the narrative which makes reading them a challenge – for example, we get a bit of the history and then in the middle of the paragraph, the text reads “Buy a pair of broilers…”  Okay, then—good thing I didn’t get too invested in reading about Napoleon and his battle!

And then we have the Chamberlains – Narcisse (author), Narcissa (mom and recipe developer) and Samuel (dad and photographer) who spent years writing and editing cookbooks and food articles as well as photographing them. Their names might be familiar to cookbook aficionados as Narcissa and Samuel authored the Clementine in the Kitchen, published in 1943.  The Chamberlain family lived in France for many years and traveled much of Europe before heading back to the states in 1943 so Sam could teach at M.I.T.  Daughter Narcisse enjoyed an illustrious career as a book editor before passing away in 2008 at age 83. 

Now, I want to note that whenever I read about this type of family, the type that can just up and move to Paris and live there and travel all of Europe, I get ever-so-slightly jealous because how fabulous, right?  Talk about a cocktail conversation starter:  “Yes, I grew up in Paris…you?” But then I have to stop and remind myself that I was one lucky gal growing up, traveling most of the United States and a good portion of Canada before I turned 18.  When my parents did road trips, they did ROAD TRIPS.  We’d take on a slew of states at a time as we winged our way from Michigan to Florida or Michigan to California and our annual trips to visit grandma in New Jersey sometimes led us through Canada, just for a change of scenery. 

Today’s youth on the other hand, is more accustomed to airplane travel and seem to have bypassed visiting most states for the opportunity to go to Europe, something I didn’t do until I was almost 30. When I did land on French soil, I spent some time in Paris before heading off with a friend to Provence and the French Riviera and was quite pleased to see that the photos that I took then look very similar to the ones taken by Samuel Chamberlain 20 years earlier.  There’s progress and then there’s preservation, something the French seem to take very seriously.

As to the recipes, although every culture upgrades its food to modern times, I am fairly certain that most French dishes – at least the staples like Boeuf Bourguignon - remained the same between then and now. Europeans have long embraced the concept of “farm to table, buying food only when needed and only if absolutely fresh.  If anything, my guess is that I’d likely have found far better tomatoes, used in the Tomatoes Provencale recipe, in France than in the U.S. where we have often sucked the taste right out of our animals and produce.   But one works with what one has and what “one” had wasn’t bad.  As expected, the chicken tasted more flavorful after it sat a day and although the tomatoes could have been a bit riper, they still tasted pretty good.  So there you go – some history, some recipes, and some thoughts on protein and produce to boot!  Bon appétit everyone!

Chicken Marengo (serving size not indicated but you’ll be using 2 broilers weighing 2.5 pound each – that’s a lot of chicken!)

5 pounds chicken (broilers recommended)

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 shallots (Ann’s Note:  the recipe doesn’t say what to do with them but I’d go with “mince” – same with the garlic.  I diced the tomatoes into small pieces)

1 clove garlic

1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms

6 medium-size tomatoes

½ cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon brandy

If necessary, cut up your chicken into pieces and fry them in olive oil until lightly colored, turning so all sides are done evenly.  Lower the flame and cover for a scant 10 minutes; then remove the chicken from the oil.  Put in its place the shallot, garlic, mushrooms and tomatoes.  (See my note above.)  Let these ingredients cook in the oil till the mushrooms are done.  Add the white wine and brandy and blend till the liquid is reduced about a third; then return the chicken, cover, and let cook gently for perhaps 15 minutes, till you are sure the chicken is completely tender.  Serve in the sauce.

Tomatoes Provencale – Serves 6

6 small ripe tomatoes (cut in half, seeded, seasoned with salt and pepper)

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

Chopped parsley (generous amount)

3 tablespoons coarse bread crumbs.

Cut the tomatoes in halves, shake out the seeds, and season tomatoes with salt and pepper.  In a large skillet cook them lightly on both sides in 4 tablespoons of hot olive oil.  Add 2 minced cloves of garlic and cook the tomatoes another 2 or 3 minutes.  Remove them to a heated platter and sprinkle them with plenty of chopped parsley.  Add 3 tablespoons of coarse bread crumbs to the juices remaining in the skillet, sauté them for a minute or two until they are brown and sprinkle them over the tomatoes.  (Ann’s Note:  I needed to add a bit more olive oil to the skillet to crisp the bread crumbs.)

"The Steak Book" & "Burpee's American Harvest Cookbooks" - Steak, Butter-Gin Flambe and Fricassee of Asparagus, Peas & Ham for Father's Day

Date I made these recipes:  June 16, 2013 (Father’s  Day)

The Steak Book by Arthur Hawkins

Published by:  Doubleday & Company, Inc.

© 1966

Recipe:  Steak, Butter-Gin Flambe – p. 88

Burpee’s American Harvest Cookbooks – the Spring Garden by Perla Meyers

Published by:  A Fireside Book Published by Simon & Schuster

© 1988

Recipe:  Fricassee of Asparagus, Peas and Ham – p. 14

It’s felt to me that much of this year has gone by in slow motion, so imagine my surprise when Father’s Day came, I cooked and it went!  Talk about your “blink and miss” moments!

Although my dad is no longer alive, I found two perfect cookbooks to use on Father’s Day, all thanks to the St. Paul Public Library.  One of the branches I use, St. Anthony, closed for renovations in early June but before they closed, they held their annual used book sale.  And kids, for a whole buck and a half, I purchased these two books along with a third, Duncan Hines Desserts.  I do believe that aside from books that I’ve been given for free, that is the best deal ever!  So thank you, St. Anthony Library.

Given how much my dad adored steak, it was almost cosmic that this book was included in the sale.  And one of my father’s other passions, gardening, made the purchase of the Burpee’s cookbook (from the famous Burpee Seeds Catalog) a no-brainer. 

So to start:  in my house, there was STEAK and there was steak.  We had STEAK – a huge cut of sirloin about 3-4 inches thick that my dad broiled to perfection.  His perfect steak was practically blue – in other words, almost raw.  My mother, on the other hand, thought she would surely die of cooties if she had any red showing and so my father very reluctantly broiled hers to medium.  If he overdid his steak, he fumed the entire meal and if he was asked to redo my mom’s steak, he fumed even more.  STEAK was serious business.

This book has lots of “steak” recipes such as Swiss Steak, steak with a cream sauce, steak with other sauces and the worst, chopped steak. We had one steak in our household and that was sirloin and that was that!  My mother watched the local newspaper adverts like a hawk and when the price went down, we got a treat.

This recipe also includes one of my dad’s favorite ingredients – gin.  A good steak and a great martini is the elixir of life, trust me on this.  But a word of caution:  the recipe calls for you to add four tablespoons of gin and then flame the pan.  Well, reader, I got as far as two tablespoons and that pan went up in flames.  Luckily, my husband was right there and so he took the pan off the stove and called for me to get a lid.  By the time I got the lid, the flames had gone out but sheesh, we could have been incinerated and what a waste of good meat and booze that would have been.  Don’t try that at home!

My favorite vegetable accompaniment to most meals is asparagus and the Fricassee of Asparagus, Peas & Ham was absolutely perfect for this steak.  I do not remember much of my grandparent’s farm in New Jersey but I do remember asparagus.  (New Jersey is the Garden State, don’t you know.)  My dad also grew asparagus in his vast garden along with peas, beans, all kinds of lettuces, potatoes, corn and the like.  And I often think of dad when reading the comic strip, Crankshaft, as that loveable curmudgeon, Ed Crankshaft has a love affair with seed catalogs that rivals my dad’s.  When that seed catalog came in the mail, it was like Christmas for Men in our house. (My favorite, of course, was Sear’s Christmas catalog.)

According to the internet, Burpee Seeds was founded in 1876 in Philadelphia and started its mail order business in 1915.  That’s pretty darned impressive considering that home gardening endeavors took a bit of a hit for a few decades before roaring back to popularity in recent years.  Of course, Lou Verme never let up on the throttle and continued to plant and tend to his garden almost up to the day he died.  I cannot say I shared his enthusiasm for gardening (dirt is Nature and Nature is not your friend) but I loved looking through the catalog as the illustrations were pretty.

Like the steak recipe, this one is very easy to make and very yummy.  I thought the sugar (2 teaspoons) might make the dish too sweet but it was perfect.  The recipe calls for fresh peas but ha! - good luck with that this year, probably the wettest growing season we’ve had for years.

So there you go dad:  we feasted on your favorites and tipped a martini glass to you in your honor.  And almost burned down our house but details, details – the important thing is that we saved the rest of the gin from further destruction! 

Steak, Butter-Gin Flambé – serves 4

*2 ½ pounds steak, 1 inch thick

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons gin

*the author lists the preferred cuts of meat for each recipe.  In this case, sirloin, porterhouse (our choice as it was on sale), club, Delmonico or file mignon are the best cuts for this recipe.

Trim excess fat from steak and pan-broil in heavy skillet to desired doneness.

Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and remove to heated platter. 

In the same pan, melt butter, stir well, add gin, and warm gently.

Ignite (watch yourself!), pour over steak, and serve while sauce is still blazing.

Fricassee of Asparagus, Peas & Ham – serves 6

*The author notes that this dish is a delicious accompaniment to poached eggs.

2 pounds fresh peas (about 2 cups shelled) (or use frozen)

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Salt

1 ½ pounds thin asparagus, trimmed to 5 inches and stalks peeled

4-6 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ cup cubed smoked ham

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons finely mined fresh chives

Place peas in a medium saucepan with water to cover.  Add a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until barely tender.  Drain and set aside.

Bring lightly salted water to a boil in a vegetable steamer.  Add asparagus spears, cover, and steam until barely tender.  Remove and reserve.

In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter, add the ham, and cook for 1-2 minutes without browning.

Add the cooked peas and asparagus, sprinkle with the remaining sugar, and toss lightly for 2-3 minutes or until nicely glazed.  You may need to add more butter.

Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with chives and serve hot.

"The Avocado Lovers' Cookbook" - Chicken Breasts in Creamy Avocado Sauce

Date I made this recipe:   June 3, 2013

The Avocado Lovers’ Cookbook by Joyce Carlisle (purchased at Arc’s Value Village Thrift Stores)

Published by:  Celestial Arts

© 1985

Recipe:  Chicken Breasts in Creamy Avocado Sauce – p. 91

If you’re like me (and of course you are), you likely record a lot of TV shows and then take great pleasure in zipping through the commercials, right, because who has time to watch all that.  But live TV puts the kibosh on that tactic and so I found myself watching Subway (sandwiches) commercial for avocadoes this past weekend.  Apparently, and this is good information to have, May is avocado month.  I had no idea.  I can tell you with complete confidence, having been told by a local TV meteorologist, that May is Severe Weather Month but he failed to mention a word about avocados.  I’m sure it was an oversight on his part.

So there I was, watching endless Subway commercials (and I mean endless) telling me I should get a sandwich with delicious avocado filling and I thought “Shoot, I’ll just grab my very own avocado cookbook off the shelf and do it myself.”   And I did.

This book cuts to the chase:  we have a brief history of avocados, tips on buying and using them (with pictures illustrating how to peel, slice and dice) and then we move directly into recipes.  The previous owner of this book was kind enough to dog-ear a few pages of interest and I decided on the Chicken Breasts in Creamy Avocado Sauce in less time than it took Subway to play their commercial.

If any of you watch the Food Network show, Chopped, you know that the judges are especially hard on people who fail to incorporate the four (secret) basket ingredients in a dish.  I think this recipe showcases how avocado can be blended into a delicious sauce and so…I win!  But other recipes gave me pause:  Avocado Chiffon Pie (shudder); Avocado Cheesecake (ummm…no?) and Avocado Ice Cream.  I was already aware that Avocado Ice Cream existed but just because it exists, doesn’t mean I have to make it, right?  Right!  And so I did not.

If I have a complaint, and I really don’t, but if I did, it would be that the non-secret ingredients – white wine, onions and celery – almost overpowered this dish (another Chopped no-no) but hey, this wasn’t a cooking contest and we used the avocado (and cheese – love that) and it was all good and easy to make.  Case closed, avocado month celebrated (albeit a few days late).

Chicken Breasts in Creamy Avocado Sauce – serves 4

4 chicken breast halves, skinned and boned

Salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Flour (for coating chicken)

½ cup butter (divided)

½ cup chopped onion

¼ cup chopped celery

1 clove garlic

½ lb mushrooms

2 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon white pepper

½ cup white wine

½ cup chicken stock

1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese

1 avocado, mashed

Pound chicken breasts until flat and tender.  Dredge with salt, pepper and flour.  Melt ¼ cup of butter in a large skillet.  Saute chicken breasts until evenly browned on both sides.  Remove from skillet and set aside.  Place remaining butter in skillet.  Saute onion, celery, garlic and mushrooms until tender.  Slowly add flour, then stock.  Cook until thick.  Stir in wine, avocado and cheese.  Heat through.  Place chicken breasts in baking dish, pour sauce over and bake at 350F for 15 minutes.  Serve hot.