"The Playboy [Magazine] Gourmet" - Minute Steak, Beer Gravy and Baked Potatoes Stuffed with Spinach - RIP, Hugh Hefner

Date I made this recipe:  October 8, 2017 – in memory of Hugh Hefner

The Playboy Gourmet by Thomas Mario

Publisher:  A Playboy Press Book

© 1972

Purchased at: Kitchen Arts & Letters, NYC

Recipes: Minute Steaks, Beer Gravy – p. 126; Baked Potatoes Stuffed with Spinach – p. 370

Hugh Hefner passed away last week at the age of 91.  For those of you who don't know, Hugh founded Playboy magazine, a rather tame "girlie" magazine that men jokingly said they read "for the articles," (said "articles" were rather well-written), as well as several Playboy [men's] Clubs, and the Playboy Mansion.  "Hef," as he was known, was a pretty savvy businessman who made a lot of money publishing a magazine full of naughty pictures.  At the time of his death, his net worth was somewhere between $50 and $110 million dollars.  (By the way, the Playboy Club in NYC was featured in an episode of Man Men.) 

Because I like to be thorough, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that while many men obviously loved the magazine, many women thought Hefner was the next best thing to a pimp and/or a pervert, "taking advantage" of women by featuring them in all their naked glory in the centerfold.  I particularly remember the outrage ramping up during the 60's and 70's during the women's movement when  independent women everywhere made it clear they had no time for anything or anybody that kept women in their place or cast women in a particular mode.

You might find it interesting that the late actress, Marilyn Monroe, graced Playboy's first cover in 1953.  Marilyn went on to have a movie career (Some Like It Hot is one of my favorites) before dying at age 36 from a drug overdose. 

At any rate, so that's the Cliff Notes version of Playboy magazine.

As I mentioned, "Hef" also created several Playboy Clubs in various cities like New York and Vegas.  These wining and dining establishment were devoted almost exclusively to men and required membership to enter.  Servers at these clubs were usually well-endowed and were dressed in a form-fitting rabbit costume earning them the nickname, "Playboy Bunny."  It is interesting to note that author and feminist, Gloria Steinem, went undercover as a "bunny" in order to write an expose on life as a bunny.  The article was published in 1963 in Show Magazine.  One of these days, I need to read that as it is no doubt enlightening. 

As to the cookbook, once again, timing was everything.  I found this book on Etsy years ago and marked it as a "Favorite," and kept it as a "Favorite" even though the book was sold before I could get my hands on it.  This summer, while at Kitchen Arts & Letters (a cookbook store), in NYC, I saw it on the vintage shelf and purchased it along with some other books.  As always, I shipped it back home which was a smart thing to do given that this book is quite the hefty tome.

As I suspected, the recipes in this cookbook were originally targeted toward men (this book was likely revised many times over if the copyrights [plural] are anything to go by), and so I wanted to find something "manly" to cook this past weekend.  This was not a hard task at all and so let's look at their extensive Table of Contents:

• Hors d'Oeuvres
• Soups
• Seafood
• Meat
• Poultry
• Game
• Carving
• Outdoor Cookery
• Sauces
• Casseroles
• Cheese
• Eggs
• Sandwiches
• Pasta, Pizza and Pancakes
• Vegetables, Potatoes and Rice
• Salads and Cold Plates
• Desserts
• Coffee

 All told, there are 456 pages of recipes in 18 categories from which to choose which is quite a lot.  That said, there are a few categories I eliminated right off the bat, not because they sounded awful, but because I was looking for a "man's man" type of dish. 

And by a "man's man" dish, I mean your basic steak and potatoes.  Sure, these days men enjoy a wide variety of dishes, but this cookbook was published originally in 1954 (my version is 1972) and that was what men wanted on the dinner table, period. 

This then meant eliminating several chapters that didn't quite fit with the "man's man" image and dear reader, I overlooked the "Soups" chapter, "Game" chapter (yes, it's "manly" but no, I was not about to go hunting), "Outdoor Cookery" just because our weather was really rainy at the time, "Casseroles" (my late father was not fond of casseroles), "Sandwiches," and "Pasta, Pizza and Pancakes."  I remain puzzled that "Pancakes" were added to "Pasta and Pizza" chapter, first because "pancakes do not go with either of those two items, and second, it seems as if they were added to appeal to women; this woman was not amused.

I also scratched "Salads and Cold Plates," "Desserts" and "Coffee," leaving me with "Hors d'Oeuvres," "Meat," "Poultry," "Sauces (only because the recipe I selected might have called for a sauce)," "Cheese (my husband loves cheese)," "Eggs (only if I found a "dinner" egg dish)," and "Vegetables, Potatoes, and Rice."  I must confess I was not thinking about vegetables, potatoes or rice at all until my husband said "So you're going to serve [the steak I selected] with a potato or salad, right?"

"Oh, right.  Totally."

This is why you are getting two recipes from this cookbook instead of my usual and customary one per cookbook.

These were the finalists from those chapters:

• "Brandied Cheddar Spread"- p. 9 – Hors d'Oeuvres
• "Minute Steaks, Beer Gravy" – p. 127 – Meat/Beef
• "Steaks with Onions and Capers" – p. 129 – Meat/Beef
• "Cheese Soufflé with Brandy" – p. 289 – Cheese
• "Omelet with Mushrooms in Sour Cream" – p. 307 – Eggs
• "Baked Potatoes Stuffed with Mushrooms and Ham" – p. 369 – Vegetables, Potatoes and Rice
• "Baked Potatoes Stuffed with Spinach" – p. 370 – Vegetables, Potatoes and Rice
• "Pistachio Rice Pilaf" – p. 375 – Vegetables, Potatoes and Rice

And the winners were:  Minute Steaks, Beer Gravy and Baked Potatoes Stuffed with Spinach.  I could have easily gone with "Baked Potatoes Stuffed with Mushrooms and Ham" but felt that our meal was getting a little heavy and so, spinach!

Faithful readers know that the last two at bats with steak have not gone as well as I hoped as I overcooked the meat (the flavors were fine), but this time around, I nailed it and it was all because I asked a butcher a few questions.  I wish I had taken a video because it was pretty funny as follows:

Me:  (Reading from my photocopy of the recipe) "Hi, I need two boneless steaks, 8 to 10 ounces each, cut from the shell.  Do you know what the "shell" means?"

Butcher 1:  "What?  Never heard of that."  [Yells to coworker] "Do you know what steak cut from the shell means?"

Butcher 2: "What?  Never heard of that."

I then showed them the photocopy and I tell you, they kept looking at it and looking at it as if the answer would just magically appear for them; it didn't. Finally, I Googled it and showed the guy the results:  "Ah, it's the loin area. [Calls over to Butcher 2 "Hey, it's the loin area."]

I told him he now had me to thank for this important piece of steak information.

Anyway, he showed me where the loin cuts were and I selected one that Andy and I could split and then I said "The recipe calls for me to cook this in an electric skillet and I don't have one.  I plan to broil it so how long should I broil it for medium rare" and he said "About 5 minutes on each side, then let it rest until it hits 130."  He also suggested that I keep the steak out for a half hour so that the temperature read would be accurate.

It worked like a charm.  Mind you, Andy and I like rare beef but this was perfect.  I'm glad I asked.

The sauce, made up of stout, red wine, stock, shallots, butter and bouillon was very tasty, but I wish I would have left out the bouillon as it made the sauce just a tad salty.  Not overpowering salty, just a little.  I was also supposed to make the sauce in the electric skillet so that I could scrape up the drippings but I didn't and yet I don't think the sauce suffered for it.

As to the potatoes, the recipe served 8 and wow, we would have been eating potatoes for weeks so as per usual, I cut the recipe down, this time into 4ths instead of halves.  This meant that I then had to do cooking math on some of the ingredients and I could have done it but my husband was home and he's very good at math so he did it for me.  It was a total win-win:  He did the math, I did the cooking. 

As a reminder/word of warning, today's potatoes are the size of men's shoes and so the cooking time suggested was just that – a suggestion.  I ended up cooking the potatoes in both the oven and the microwave so speed up the process so we could get on with dinner, already.

All in all, this was a great meal and an easy one to pull together.  I'm glad that I had this book on hand as once again, it was a most timely purchase.  RIP Hugh Hefner.

Minute Steaks, Beer Gravy – Serves 4

4 boneless steaks, 8 to 10 ounces each, cut from the shell (Ann's Note:  look for a piece of loin like strip loin.)

Salt, pepper

¼ cup stout

¼ cup dry red wine

1/3 cup stock

1 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon finely minced shallots or scallions

1 packet instant bouillon (Ann's Note:  I don't know if this is necessary as it added a bit more salt to the sauce than I wanted.)

Preheat electric skillet to 390°.  (Ann's Note:  I don't have an electric skillet so I used my broiler.) Slash fat edge of each steak in two or three places to prevent curling.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Pan-broil steaks without added fat until brown on both sides or to degree of rareness desired.  (Ann's Note: I broiled them for 5 minutes per side and then let them rest.)  Remove steaks from pan.

Add all other ingredients to the pan.  (Ann's Note:  I made the sauce in a separate pan.)  Bring to a boil.  Scrape pan bottom to loosen drippings.  Simmer 2 to 3 minutes.  Pour over steaks on platter.

Bakes Potatoes Stuffed with Spinach – serves 8

8 large Idaho baking potatoes

½ cup butter

2 medium-size onions, minced extremely fine

Salt, pepper

11 oz. bag fresh spinach, washed and trimmed

1/3 cup heavy cream

Grated parmesan cheese

Salad oil

Preheat oven to 400°.  Bake potatoes about 1 hour or until soft. 

Wash spinach several times in clear cold water.  Drain.  Place in saucepan with ½ cup water.  Cook, covered, until spinach is tender.  Drain spinach, press to eliminated excess water, then chop spinach fine.

Slice a cap about ¼ inches thick off the top of each potato.  Remove insides of potatoes carefully with a tablespoon, keeping shells intact; a thin layer of potato should be left in each shell to keep skins from tearing.  Put potatoes through potato ricer.

Sauté onion in butter only until onion is barely tender.  Add onion and butter to potatoes.  Add spinach, cream and salt and pepper to taste.  Stuff potato mixture back into shells, forming a neat, smooth, flat mound on top each potato.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Sprinkle lightly with oil.  Chill.  Preheat oven to 375°.  Bake 25-30 minutes.

Ann's Note:   Since I was running late getting this on the table, I didn't chill the potatoes as directed.  Even if I did though, it didn't say for how long. I imagine long enough for the filling to set, maybe 15-20 minutes? Or not!

A "Mad Men" Finale Repast, with recipes from "Sardi's - The Story of a Famous Restaurant;" "The Colony - Portrait of a Restaurant..." & "Tanqueray The Perfect Entertainer"

Date I made these recipes:  May 17, 2015 – Mad Men Finale

Sardi's – The Story of a Famous Restaurant by Vincent Sardi, Sr., and Richard Gehman

Published by:  Henry Holt and Company

© 1953

Purchased at Kitchen Arts and Letters, NYC

Recipe:  Chicken Tetrazzini – p. 223-224 with assistance from Betty Crocker

The Colony – Portrait of A Restaurant And its Famous Recipes by Iles Brody

Published by: Jarrolds Publishers (London) Limited

© 1946, 1^st edition

Purchased at Julian's Books, NYC

Recipe:  Haricot Beans A L' Itlaienne – p. 164

Tanqueray® The Perfect Entertainer – A Collection of Recipes for Cocktails, Canapés & Hors D' Oeuvres

Published by Barron's

© 1984

Purchased at Arc's Value Village Thrift Stores

Recipe:  (Tanqueray®) Martini – p. 26

As the saying goes, "All good things must come to an end," and so endeth the fabulously entertaining Mad Men TV show.  Most people I know who watched and loved the show said some variation of the same thing:  "It was like watching my childhood (or young adulthood) all over again." 

The thing I loved most about the show is that it stayed true to form of telling a story that fit the ages and didn't change it just because people wished it otherwise.  As an example, women had a hard time then (and now) making headway in the marketplace.  Harassment was rampant and I could tell you chapter and verse of some of the things I witnessed in the workplace.  Smoking at work was definitely a cool thing and drinking during hours was not seen as the next step to heading to AA.  In fact, during the early 80's, my boss used to take my department out for liquid lunches every quarter.  In the first years of the show, many people – my guess men and women a lot younger than me – complained that all of this seemed unreal.  It wasn't.

When the character Sal, the art director left, some people thought the world would end and "surely he'll be back, right?"  He wasn't.  In real life, it was rare for someone to leave a company and then return and if they did, they often left shortly thereafter for the same reasons that drove them from the place in the first place.  I was glad that creator/director Matt Weiner didn't cave in to popular demand.

I could spend hours writing about how I loved this show and how the research and dedication to costuming and set design and props and character development and music is something we will likely never see again but the point of this particular writing is, of course, to talk about cookbooks.  So let's talk!  (As an aside though, a friend watched all of two seconds of the next to last episode and commented that the tie was wrong. Apparently, that was his only take away.  But I'm here to tell you pilgrim, the tie was NOT wrong!  Every article of clothing, down to the "unmentionables," was researched to the nth degree.  The tie was correct.  End of rant.)

During the course of the seven year run, Matt Weiner also talked about how he envisioned how the show would end pretty much from the moment he wrote the first script.   I too, thought about what to make for the "last supper."  And so I selected three books that I thought would be a good fit:  Sardi's cookbook, The Colony cookbook and the Tanqueray® cookbook – two venerable NYC restaurant cookbooks and one from the makers of Tanqueray® gin.  The gin book was thrown in at the last minute but it's fitting seeing as everybody on the show was drinking like fish and smoking like chimneys.

Out of all the restaurants featured in Mad Men during the seven-year run, Sardi's is perhaps the most famous. (Check out Season 2, Episode 5 where Don dines with (character) Jimmy Barrett and his hell-on-wheels wife, Bobbie.) Opened in 1927, it became famous for all the celebrity caricatures that continue to adorn the walls.  Back in the day, if your visage was on that wall, you had definitely made it!

Unbeknownst to me, Sardi's is listed as the "birthplace" of the Tony Award and Broadway stars continue to frequent the place which is still in business after all these years.  I'm going to have to add a visit there to my NYC bucket list. 

This cookbook, acquired a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, is not exactly a cookbook but rather, the story of Sardi's and how it became such an "it" destination. Recipes don't appear until Chapter 14 – Some Sardi Specialties – and even then, only a select few.  Many of them, like the chicken tetrazzini, call for sauce "in a can," a product Sardi's created and sold – see page 209 for details. I imagine that back then, Sardi's Jiffy White Sauce was likely all the rage, but I tell you what, trying to duplicate that sauce (no longer sold) for this recipe took some doing and I must confess to you that I cheated and called upon Betty Crocker for assistance.  What would we all do without Betty? By the way, and I just have to say this, my nose turned up when I read about white sauce in a can because...ew?

So that's the skinny on Sardi's and now you probably want to know about The Colony so I'm going to tell you (thanks to Wikipedia).  The Colony opened its doors in 1923, four years before Sardi's and operated until 1971.  Unlike Sardi's which was located at 44^th Street (Times Square area), The Colony operated on the city's Upper East Side at 61^st and Madison ("Mad Ave!").  According to Wiki, once the Vanderbilt's discovered it, it rocketed to fame.  Another interesting tidbit was that restaurateur Sirio Maccione (well-known in NYC but perhaps not so much elsewhere) served as The Colony's bar captain from 1960 to 1970 before leaving to found the equally famous Le Cirque in 1974. 

The Colony cookbook is similar to Sardi's in that the story of the restaurant comprises most of the book, but unlike Sardi's, there are a lot more recipes to play with.  Still, each recipe takes up the tiniest of space in the book (usually, a paragraph) and so instruction is lacking (and good luck with the ingredients as well).  

And then there's the Tanqueray® gin cookbook about which I just must rant:  call me crazy, but wouldn't you expect a Tanqueray® cookbook to include Tanqueray® in every recipe?  I would, I did and yet not one single recipe for appetizers, etc. contained gin.  Well this was disturbing!  And try as I might to get excited about some of the recipes, I just couldn't and so finally gave up trying to make a dish from the book and focused instead, on my very favorite drink – a martini.  And this is so "Mad Men" that it just all worked and now I can get on with my life.

Before I get into the gist of the recipes, let me just say that I loved Mad Men's ending.  Loved it.  And without giving anything away – in case you haven't seen it yet – there was an "ending" and then there was another ending, one last scene that just tied everything together.  My husband and I clapped at the first one and then after that one last scene, just screamed "It's perfect!  It's just perfect!"  So thank you, Matt Weiner! 

Chicken Tetrazzini – the original recipe with modifications to follow – Serves 4

4 ounces spaghetti

1 can white sauce (Ann's Note:  this product no longer exists)

¾ cup of milk

1 cup cooked diced chicken

4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 three-ounce can chopped mushrooms

Okay, so.  Since white sauce no longer exists, I had to decide whether or not to make a basic white sauce, coming up with proportions equal to the can – size unknown – or whether to "cheat" (such a Don Draper thing) and modify the recipe to something that was easier on everybody.  I modified it by following a Betty Crocker recipe that I got off the internet that uses cream instead of white sauce.  You could also make up a white sauce (recipes are everywhere) and then add the milk as directed.  Since we are a two-person household, I opted for the cream rather than keep milk in the fridge that neither of us will drink.

Boil about 4 ounces of spaghetti to taste and drain it.  Set aside in a colander.  To one can of white sauce add three-quarters of a cup of milk, bring it to a boil, and smooth with an egg beater.  Add one cup of cooked diced chicken, four tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese, and a three-ounce can of chopped mushrooms and their liquid.  Mix the ingredients well.  Put the spaghetti in a buttered baking dish.  Pour over the sauce.  Shred over it more Parmesan cheese and dot with lumps of butter.  Brown under the broiler.

My modifications come to you from Betty Crocker as follows (serves 6)

1 package (7 ounces) spaghetti, broken into thirds

2 cups Green Giant™ frozen sweet peas (Ann's Note:  many modern-day tetrazzini recipes call for peas.  We like them so why not?)

¼ cup butter or margarine

¼ cup Gold Meal™ all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 cup Progresso™ chicken broth (Ann's Note:  and wouldn't you know, that's the chicken broth I had in my pantry)

1 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons dry sherry or water

2 cups cubed deli rotisserie chicken

1 jar (4.5 oz) Green Giant™ sliced mushrooms, drained

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Ann's Note:  butter + flour + milk = white sauce.  This recipe called for 1 cup of cream instead of 1 cup milk making for a richer white sauce.  That said, although the dish started out being oh-so-creamy, the sauce dried out a bit after baking, leaving me to think that making approximately 10 ounces of white sauce and then adding the extra milk was really the way to go.  Lesson learned.

Heat oven to 350F.  (Ann's Note:  the original recipe asks you to use your broiler to finish the recipe.)  Cook and drain spaghetti as directed on the package, adding peas during the last three minutes of cooking.

Meanwhile, melt butter over low heat.  Stir in flour, salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir for one minute.  Stir in sherry/water, spaghetti and peas, chicken and mushrooms.

Pour mixture into an ungreased 2-quart casserole.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until bubbly in center.

Ann's Notes:  No way was this all going to fit into a 2-quart casserole (are they kidding me) and so I used two, two-quart casseroles.  And then I am iffy about the 30 minute cooking time uncovered because the dish wasn't creamy like I expected and that disappointed.  It was all good, but I think it suffered from baking without a lid.  Next time around, the lid goes on and instructions be damned!

Haricot Beans A L' Italienne – serving size not given

1 quart (approximately) 1.5-2 pounds haricot vert (a fancier form of green beans)

1 tablespoon butter (approximately)

1 pound butter (2 sticks)

1 ½ - 2 cups hot stock

1 egg yolk

Juice of one half lemon

Parsley, finely chopped (for garnish)

Ann's Note:  once again, I found myself having to translate this recipe into something more modern.  It was almost a disaster until we got the amount of stock to use right.  The numbers given above – 1 ½ - 2 cups – is an approximation.  I think I might have used two cups but am not sure.

Here are the original instructions:  Parboil a quart of beans, drain and finish cooking them in a pan with melted brown butter.  Stir well and serve with the following sauce poured over them.

To make the sauce, melt a pound of butter, stir in an ounce of flour till it is smooth, add enough hot stock to make a sauce, and bring it to a boil.  Strain the sauce and put it back on the fire.  Stir in the beaten yolk of an egg, the juice of half a lemon, and some fine chopped parsley.  Serve very hot.

Tanqueray® Martini – serves 1 (Ann's Note:  I am a huge fan of Blue Coat gin, but Tanqueray® will do)

2 ounces (1/4 cup) Tanqueray® Gin

¼ teaspoon dry vermouth

1 olive or twist of lemon

Place a shaker in the freezer for 1 hour before beginning.  Place Tanqueray® gin in shaker with vermouth.  Add 2 or 3 ice cubes.  Stir well then strain into Martini glass.  Either drop in an olive or dangle a twist of lemon on the rim of the glass.  Serve very cold.

Okay, folks, here in my Martini recipe:  Pour gin of any amount desired into a shaker.  Skip the vermouth all together if you want a dry martini (I do) otherwise, measure out ¼ teaspoon as directed (and this made me chuckle—"a quarter teaspoon?") and add it to the gin.  Add an olive(s) that are either pitted or stuffed with pimiento and most certainly not the gorgonzola-filled ones which are precocious and nasty.  Do NOT add lemon, not as a garnish, not as anything.  Sip.  Breathe out.  Relax.  Rinse and repeat.

"Memories with Food At Gipsy House" by Felicity and Roald Dahl - Chicken Avocado Casserole

Date I made this recipe: May 17, 2010

Memories with Food At Gipsy House by Felicity & Roald Dahl
Published by: Viking
ISBN: 0-670-84142-0
Recipe: Chicken with Avocado Casserole – p. 70

Well, time flies when you’re having fun, right? I mean, in the blink of an eye, we shot right past Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day and shoot – now we’re cruising toward Memorial Day. And did I make anything in honor of these occasions? Nope! Oh well, nothing can be done except forge ahead from where I last left off.

Despite the hectic pace, my husband and I found time to watch a few movies, one of which was the animated Fantastic Mr. Fox with George Clooney as the voice of Mr. Fox (Even animated, Clooney is a total fox…and fantastic…and funny—one of the best lines he delivered was something about doing a fox trot!) and Meryl Streep as the voice of his wife.

British author, Roald Dahl, penned the story, Fantastic Mr. Fox, in 1970. He is also the author of James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Although I was a voracious reader as a kid, these books came out when I was on my way into junior high and never made the “to read” list. Of course, it’s never too late but given that many of these books were made into movies, perhaps I’ll just indulge my inner child that way.

Given that Roald is known for his children’s books, I was surprised to learn, many years ago, that he had written this cookbook. If memory serves, it is one of the first ones purchased for my collection and one that I ordered from Kitchen Arts & Letters in New York. I think it was on a list of “interesting” cookbooks that some magazine such as Gourmet or Bon Appetite printed and I checked in with Kitchen Arts to see if they had it. Back then, one small shelf was all I need – now I require several shelves and am still running out of room.

So I got this book and tucked it away on the (single) shelf to collect dust for years and years but then watched the movie and thought “I should make something.” But folks, finding a recipe was a little tricky—nothing seemed to really jump out at me and so I finally settled on this one. And as per usual, there were some recipe issues.

First and foremost, I am math challenged so didn’t know how to measure 3/8 of a cup of flour. (Somewhere in the heavens, Sister Rita Celeste is turning over in her grave wondering where she had failed me. In actuality, she failed me but we don’t have enough time to talk about the angst of being a Catholic school girl.) So thank goodness for Google because 1/8 of a cup = 2 tablespoons. (And not that I should assume anything but I figured 3/8 of a cup equal 6 tablespoons…and I was right. Whew!)

The recipe also called for 1 cup of light cream and so I went with half and half and yes, Jesus, that was correct as well (as verified by Google). But these days, cartons of cream and half and half post serving sizes by the tablespoon and that means nothing to me! I mean, who on earth runs around with tablespoon equivalents in their head! (No need for a show of hands.) So again I guessed that a small carton of half and half equaled one cup and it did.

Next up was the direction to use ½ cup grated strong cheese (as opposed to your weak cheeses?). What on earth did that mean??? “Strong cheese” could have been anything from gorgonzola to sharp cheddar but since I had sharp cheddar on hand, I went with that. (Waste not, want not!)

You wouldn’t think that herbs would necessarily pose a problem but you would be wrong. The recipe said “fresh chopped rosemary” and “fresh chopped basil” but didn’t say how much so I just threw in some dried herbs (my grocery was out of fresh basil and I was too lazy to go elsewhere) until it tasted good.

Finally, there’s the chicken itself. The recipe gives precise instructions for how to make your broth (and by the way, it makes a lot of broth) but never says what to do with the chicken once you put it in the casserole so I shredded it. Can’t go wrong with shredding.

As to the avocado, it was tasty but as always, when exposed to air, it started to turn brown and let me just say that this was not the most appetizing look of the day but it was edible, so there!

If you ask me, and you didn’t, I think you can shortcut this recipe by poaching the chicken separately and then using canned broth instead of going through the trouble to make it fresh. I only did that because I had time on my hands and wanted to stay true to the recipe.

By the way, long before I heard of Roald Dahl, I heard of his ex-wife, actress Patricia Neal. Baby boomers like me may remember that Patricia was the original Mama Walton in the TV movie, The Homecoming – the pilot for the TV series, The Waltons. Going further back, she also starred in, and won a Best Actress Oscar for, the movie, Hud, with Paul Newman. (Sigh—that man was gorgeous!).

Anyway…without further ado, Chicken and Avocado Casserole!

Chicken Avocado Casserole – serves 6
The chicken can be poached in advance and the stock reserved.

6-lb chicken cut into four pieces (or chicken pieces of your choice weighing approximately 6 pounds – I used chicken breasts on the bone)
5 cups water (this may be too little; I suggest adding water to cover)
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
2-c stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 tbsp salt
Peppercorns
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
4 tbsp butter (you will likely need more)
3/8 cup flour (6 tablespoons)
1 cup light cream (Half and Half)
½ cup grated strong cheese (likely a sharp cheddar but your choice)
Fresh chopped rosemary
Fresh chopped basil
Salt
Hot pepper sauce, e.g. Tabasco
3 cups mushrooms
2 large ripe avocados
(Optional) ½ cup flakes almonds, roasted, for garnish

Put chicken pieces into a large pot with the water, onion, celery, salt, peppercorns, carrots and bay leaf. Bring up to the boil and simmer gently, skimming frequently. Simmer for about 2 hours or until the chicken is tender (the meat should fall off the bone easily).

After 2 hours, remove the pan from the stove and cool. Once the broth has cooled, remove the meat from the bones (except wings), put the bones, skin and wings back into the pan and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Strain stock (you should have about 3 cups) and cool.

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a saucepan melt three tablespoons butter (I used about 4) and stir in the flour. Next, stir in the stock, cream, cheese, herbs, salt and hot pepper sauce. Stir until the sauce thickens and comes to a boil.

Clean and halve or quarter the mushrooms depending on the size. Saute them in the remaining butter.

Place mushrooms and chicken in the bottom of a casserole (I used a 9x13 pan), season and pour over the sauce. (Is it me, or does this sentence seem wonky?! I’m pretty sure he means to pour the sauce over the chicken…at least that’s what I did!). Cover and bake for 25 minutes or until the chicken is heated through.

Slice the avocados, place in the casserole, cook for about 10 minutes until the avocado is cooked through. (Note: I wasn’t sure whether or not to cover the avocados so I went with “covered” – final answer!).

Just before serving, sprinkle the roasted almonds on top.

"The Jews of Poland - Recollections and Recipes" - Chicken Soup with Almonds

Date I made this recipe: January 31, 2010

The Jews of Poland – Recollections and Recipes by Edouard de Pomiane, Translated from the French by Josephine Bacon
Published by: Pholiota Press, Inc.
Originally published in French in 1929; this edition © 1985
Recipe: Chicken Soup with Almonds p. 71-72

Well call me magazine geek but I love reading the Smithsonian (magazine) because every month I get to either learn or relearn something of interest. The magazine covers it all-arts, science, travel and history. Can more fun be had? I think not.

The recent issue, February 2010, for example, contained an article about the Egyptian Sphinx, a recap of the infamous sit-in at the Woolworth’s Counter in Greensboro, NC during the civil rights movement, and an article about Auschwitz, the famous Nazi concentration camp located just outside Krakow Poland.

My husband and I visited Krakow back in 1995, all due to an issue of the Smithsonian, but it wasn’t an article about Auschwitz that drove us there but rather a fascinating article about Krakow’s famous 700 year-old underground salt mines. (Who knew?)

At the time of the article, Andy and I were toying with the idea of going to Eastern Europe but had not considered going to Krakow. Initially, he was not too keen on going, particularly since it was a 10-hour train ride from Prague to Krakow but as I am wont to do, I beg, pleaded and whined in order to get my way and so we embarked on the train and were off and running (at train speed though, which is to say somewhat slow).

Years later, we both agree that it was one of the highlights of the trip. Krakow is absolutely beautiful having been spared the devastating bombs raids of Allied and enemy (Axis) forces during WWII. And the salt mines were really, really interesting, even though they were further down in the ground than I was comfortable going. (Believe it or not, there is a huge chapel and ballroom carved from salt where many locals hold their weddings.) But the big draw to Krakow is, of course, to tour the prison camps of Auschwitz and neighboring Birkenau.

As a kid, I was an avid reader (well, okay, I still am) and I must have read Anne Frank’s diary over and over again (and finally visited the museum in Amsterdam years later) and that started a whole wave of reading regarding Hitler’s Germany during WWII. I mean, do you know of another teenage girl who did a book report on The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich while in high school?

And so, dear reader, there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to take a peek at the camp while I was in the neighborhood. And I have to say, it was a surreal experience.

On the one hand, the camp is so pristine today that it looks like it could have been used as a summer camp for inner-city youth. And so it’s hard to reconcile what went on there with how it currently looks—flowers are growing, buildings are pristine and “guards” are friendly.

On the other hand, while you are there, you also see the things left behind by the prisoners – suitcases, clothing, shoes, hair – all piled a mile high and deep such that you are just rendered speechless. And then there’s the movie about the camp’s liberation and you are just shocked beyond belief at the condition of the human body of those who somehow remained standing to the last days. But the thing that stays with me always is the photograph of a woman who could have been my grandmother (with beautiful, white hair and just a lovely, wrinkled face) who was one of the first political prisoners in the camp. (My grandmother was Catholic but grew up in Austria Hungary so I suppose anything would have been possible had she stayed put in Europe). And you just have to ask yourself “Why” a million times and even then it just doesn’t make sense.

And so how this whole experience comes full circle is that according to the article in the Smithsonian, January 27th was the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and Birkenau and so I decided to pull out a cookbook I bought a long time ago at Kitchen Arts and Letters in New York and make a commemorative dinner. Many of the recipes were a little intimidating because they called for meats I didn’t want to use or schmaltz – chicken or goose fat – but I forged ahead until I came to this simple soup. It seemed the least that I could do.

Since this book was written before Hitler started his quest for the “final solution,” it doesn’t discuss anything about the war and all of the photos of cities in Poland such as Krakow (also spelled Cracow) and Warsaw are from 1929 when things we still all fine and dandy. And this people, is why the Smithsonian comes in darned handy sometimes. It fills in the gaps and makes us think and learn and connect and go “ah ha!” I like that about a magazine. This one connected an historic event to a cookbook I owned and as Martha Stewart says “that’s a good thing.”

To read the article in question, go to www.smithsonian.com and look for the article Can Auschwitz Be Saved? by Andrew Curry (February 2010 issue). (An even better idea is to become a member of the Smithsonian Institution via the magazine—a subscription gets you entry to all the Smithsonian museums in Washington (and the gift shops—most important) as well as the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City (equally as cool)).

Chicken Soup with Almonds – 8-10 servings
NOTE: This recipe takes 6-8 hours to make. Plan ahead!
2 ½ pounds chicken, preferably a boiling fowl, cut into 8 serving pieces (Note: allow a ½ hour to kosher the chicken, instructions below)
Coarse (kosher) salt
1 tablespoon of chicken or goose fat (I checked online and the standard substitute seemed to be Canola oil so I went with that.)
3 medium carrots, sliced into julienne strips
2 small turnips, sliced into julienne strips
2 leeks, white parts only, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
20 almonds, blanched and ground or 4 tablespoons almond meal (Believe it or don’t, I actually had a small stash of blanched almonds in my cupboard. Score!)
½ teaspoon paprika

To kosher the chicken, sprinkle it with the coarse (kosher) salt, leave it sit for 30 minutes, then rinse it thoroughly in running water.

Melt the fat in a Dutch oven or soup pot and sauté the vegetables. As they start to color, add the flour. Stir and allow to brown lightly. Add enough warm water to cover the contents of the post, about 1 pint (16 fl oz). Add the salt and ground almonds. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the chicken pieces to the pot. Add another pint (16 fl oz) and the paprika. Cover the pot tightly and simmer for six to eight hours.

Remove the chicken bones from the liquid, and discard them. Strain the soup and puree the solids. Mix this puree with the soup, season to taste and return to the heat. Serve very hot.

By the way, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t note the irony that the translator of this Jewish cookbook had the last name Bacon.