"Roadfood Sandwiches" by Jane & Michael Stern - Grilled Gruyere with Braised Leeks on Multigrain Bread for National Grilled Cheese Day!

Date I made this recipe:  April 12, 2016 – National Grilled Cheese Day!

Roadfood Sandwiches – Recipes and Lore from Our Favorite Shops Coast to Coast by Jane & Michael Stern, authors of the best-selling Roadfood

Published by:  Houghton Mifflin Company

ISBN:  13: 978-0-618-72898-5; © 2007

Purchased at Powell's Books -  Chicago

Recipe:  Grilled Gruyere with Braised Leeks on Multigrain Bread from Clementine, Los Angeles, California by chef/owner Annie Milar who hails from Minnesota!

Folks, April 12^th is National Grilled Cheese Day (who knew?) and I did my part by making this delicious grilled cheese sandwich.  I like to be all in on these things, you know?

And this cookbook – Roadfood Sandwiches by Jane and Michael Stern - who many of you may know from their stints on the radio show, The Splendid Table, were just the couple to tell us all about sandwiches and sandwich lore and the places that produced these wonderful delights.

I was beyond excited to look through this book because I've been to many of the places listed, I've eaten some of the sandwiches mentioned, and I came "this close" to shaking hands with the Sterns when they came to Minneapolis one in advance of our Minnesota State Fair and gave a talk at the downtown Minneapolis library.  The talk, hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (also host of The Splendid Table), took place over the lunch hour and alas, I had to leave before the program ended.  They are more hilarious in person than they are on the air (Jane is an absolute stitch) and we could have listened to them for our.

Although the Sterns are food reporters more than they are chefs, I think of them as culinary royalty.  Their first book, Roadfood, is considered a classic for showcasing great eats at great and sometimes out of the way places.  Now what I say next will shock you – it shocked me – but it turns out I do not have a copy of that book.  Say what?  The scary thing is that I thought I did.  I mean, I keep all the Sterns books together on my shelves but I looked at the shelves and then looked at my cookbook catalog and...no.

Well this will be rectified immediately, never mind that the book is now woefully out of date (1977) such that the places mentioned might be long-gone; collectors don't care about such matters.

Happily, I can report that I DO own the following*: 

• Goodfood (1983) – (Not a cookbook)
• Square Meals (1985) –see post from December 31, 2008 where I made their Cheese Ball – p. 257-258
• Real American Food (1986) –see post from July 5, 2009, where I made their "Queen of Chilis" recipe on p. 244
• A Taste of America (1988)
• American Gourmet (1991)
• Eat Your Way Across the USA (1997) (Not a cookbook)
• Two for the Road:  Our Love Affair with American Food (2006)
• Roadfood Sandwiches:  Recipes and Lore from Our Favorite Shops Coast to Coast (2007) (see today's featured recipe – Grilled Gruyere with Braised Leeks on Multigrain Bread)

*Note:  not all the Sterns books contain recipes. 

Now usually when I peruse a book, fixin' to make something from it, I jot down page numbers of recipes that sound good.  Here though, I jotted down random notes about some of the sandwiches listed and places they and I have visited.  And I applaud that their table of contents made it so easy for me to do that as they listed all sandwiches in alphabetical order by sandwich name, then noted the place where they had the sandwich or the place best known for the sandwich and the city and state.  So this book is one-part travel guide and one-part cookbook.  Who can argue with that?

So notes on places I've eaten:

Katz's (delicatessen), New York, New York.  Katz's "Chopped Liver Sandwich" (p. 44) is the recipe of note in this book and I wrote down "Of course" when I saw that because it makes sense; many delis live and die by their chopped liver.  That said, I had the pastrami when I was there and it was delish!  And movie buffs will know right off the bat that Katz's was where an infamous scene from the movie When Harry Met Sally took place.  I won't ruin it for you if you are about the only person on the planet who has not seen that movie.  (And for the record, that is not my favorite scene.  It was funny, but there were others that made me laugh longer and louder.  To each his/her own.)

Ann Sather, Chicago, Illinois.  I did not partake of the featured sandwich, "Debbie's Hot Pork Roast" (p. 63) because the menu is Ann's is so good and so overwhelming that I hardly knew which way to turn.  Next time around, this is what I will have and my stomach will just have to deal with the fact that I did not feed it a turkey dinner.  Or a cinnamon roll.  Or a .....

Mother's, New Orleans Louisiana.  Although my mother was a good cook, she wasn't "Mother's" of New Orleans and so did not specialize in home-cooked Louisiana favorites such as Red Beans and Rice, Shrimp Creole, or Po' Boys.  I cannot recall what we ate at Mother's, I just recall it was good.  "Ferdi's Special" is a sandwich of sliced ham, beef, mayo, mustard, cabbage (or pickles) and beef debris in gravy (debris is the bits and pieces left in the beef roast pan).  Yum! (I'm thinking road trip!)

Hell's Kitchen, Minneapolis, Minnesota.  "Oh hell" is what I usually utter when I eat here because it's so hard to decide on something.  Although they are best known for their Lemon Ricotta pancakes, you can get other delicious breakfast, lunch or dinner items, including this delectable-sounding "Ham and Pear Crisp Sandwich" (p. 106).  Hell's Kitchen owner, Mitch Omer, passed away this December but he wrote a cookbook a few years ago that you might want to check out:  Damn Good Food. It's on my "on deck" list to cook from shortly. (If you visit Hell's Kitchen, be sure to stop by their Angel Food Bakery next door.  I love their play on names.)

"Loosemeats" (p. 137) is a sandwich known and loved across Northwest Iowa and although the Sterns did not include a specific place to stop, you should check out a Maid-Rite establishment in northern Iowa.  A loosemeat sandwich is like a Sloppy Joe and it is delicious.  This sandwich was also featured recently in a storyline for the TV show, The Good Wife and it was pretty hilarious (Season 7, episode 11 – "Iowa")

Michigan's Upper Peninsula's (my home territory) famous taste treat – Pasty – is noted on p. 165 and although I would never call it a sandwich, the Sterns did so that's good enough for me.  "Pasties," like "Loosemeats," are available everywhere and anywhere in the U.P. so the Sterns didn't include a specific restaurant.  Although this shop was not in my hometown when I was growing up, my parents liked to stop at Muldoon's Pasties and Gifts on Highway M-28.  I've had a couple from there and they are indeed delicious.

Also in Michigan although it's the part the people in the U.P. refer to as "downstate" is Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Zingerman's is half fancy food store, half deli, and they have built a brand that is now recognized cross-country.  The Sterns featured "Rodger's Big Picnic (Asparagus and Mushroom) Sandwich" (p. 192).  I opted for the more traditional brisket sandwich and have to confess that I wasn't enamored with it or the price (the place can be expensive) but the experience was great so it was a trade-off.

So those are places I've been and you should check them out, too.  But I also made notes on some of the sandwiches listed, some of which also triggered fond memories:

"Baked Beans on Brown Bread" (p. 15) from Massachusetts.  Turns out this was one of Julia Child's favorite "go-to" sandwiches when she was tired of eating gourmet.  I recall seeing it in a few of my Boston cookbooks although I never made it.  There's time though folks, there's time.

"Beef on Weck" (p. 18) – One of my husband's favorite restaurants used to be BW3 which stood for "Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck," the precursor to modern-day chain, Buffalo Wild Wings.  One of the sandwiches they served was a beef on "weck," short for kummelweck (roll).  The sandwich, and the bread, originated in western New York state and my brother and sister-in-law live in Rochester so they've eaten them a lot (although not necessarily at Buffalo Wild Wings).  So one day, the four of us were having dinner at a Buffalo Wild Wings (I think we were in Ohio attending a family wedding) when Andy started talking about the beef sandwich at the former BW3 and when he said it stood for Buffalo Wild Wings, my brother said "and weck?," referring to the original name.  It took me a minute, but yes, Tom - "and weck."   (Sadly, the chain does not serve beef on weck anymore.  Shame, that.)

"Chicken Vesuvio" (sandwich) from Harry Caray's restaurant in Chicago, Illinois.  I've passed this restaurant a million times while in Chicago and have never stopped (mostly because it is so crowded) but one of these days I will and when I do, this is the sandwich I'm going to have.  For those of you who don't know, Harry Caray, may he rest in peace, was an announcer for the Chicago Cubs baseball team and an enthusiastic one at that.  Among his many memorable sayings, the one that stands out the most is "Holy Cow!" If you have a hankering to hear that phrase used in a broadcast, go to YouTube.

"Chow Mein" (p. 48) – Talk about your retro sandwiches!  I remember seeing recipes for it and hearing about it but I've never eaten it.  Perhaps it's time?  This is basically a chow mein casserole on a bun and believe it or not, it sounds pretty good.  But then again, I grew up eating this casserole so....

Although I could probably comment on each and every sandwich, let's wrap up the road food reminiscing to get to an upscale version of an old standard and today's featured sandwich:  grilled cheese.

Back in the day (my day), a grilled cheese sandwich with Campbell's Tomato Soup was the winning ticket, especially on a rainy Saturday.  At the time, "fancy" cheese was no where on the radar so the cheese was either American slices (say what you will, but they melt well) or Velveeta.  But now folks, now that grocery stores everywhere carry a billion and two kinds of cheese, now we can make ours with Gruyere.  How exciting!  And topped with braised leeks – even better!  And made by a Minnesota transplant to LA, Annie Milar, who owns and operates the Clementine restaurant that produced this wonderfully yummy sandwich. Just the ticket!

So I say if you plan to observe next year's National Grilled Cheese Day, put this recipe in your tickler file so that you have it at the ready. Meanwhile, who cares if the big day has come and gone because what, you need a reason to eat a grilled cheese?

Grilled Gruyere with Braised Leeks on Multigrain Bread – makes 4 sandwiches

Ann's Note:  Reserve about an hour to braise the leeks

2 medium leeks

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

½ cup water

Grated zest and juice of ½ lemon

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Scant ½ teaspoon salt

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Butter for spreading

8 slices dense multigrain bread

10 ounces Gruyere cheese, thinly sliced

Dijon mustard

To braise the leeks, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Trim off the root end of the leeks.  Slice them lengthwise and remove any tough, dark green portions by cutting away from the rot end on an angle and peeling them off.  Clean the leeks thoroughly under running water to remove any dirt.  Pat dry.

Heat a large skillet and add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.  When the oil is hot, carefully place the leeks in the pan, cut side down.  Cook for a few minutes, just until they are golden brown on one side.  Remove the leeks and arrange them cut side up in a casserole dish.  Add the water, lemon juice, and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Sprinkle the lemon zest, thyme, salt, and pepper over the top.  Cover tightly with aluminum foil and place in the oven.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.  Then remove the foil and bake uncovered for another 20 minutes.  The liquid will reduce and the leeks will caramelize.  Let them cool.  (The leeks can be braised up to 2 days ahead, covered, and refrigerated.)

To assemble the sandwiches, thoroughly butter 1 side of each slice of bread and arrange the slices butter side down.  Divide the cheese evenly among the bread slices.  Cut the braised leeks diagonally into 2-inch lengths and arrange them on 4 of the cheese-topped slices of bread.  On each of the other 4 slices, spread about 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard over the cheese (use more or less according to your taste and the strength of your mustard).  Place the 2 slices together to make ach sandwich. (The sandwiches can be assembled up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated, wrapped tightly in plastic.)

Place a batch of sandwiches in a large skillet over low heat.  When they are brown and crispy on one side, flip them over and cook until brown and crispy on the other side, about 10 minutes per side.  Keep warm in the oven while you cook the remaining sandwiches.  Cut in half and serve.

"Unique Creative Cooking" (Mason City, IA church cookbook) & "Blondie's Soups.Salads.Sandwiches Cookbook" - Ham and Green Noodles and Split Pea Soup

Date I made these recipes: April 16, 2009

Unique Creative Cooking – Heavenly Pleasures from Old First Church—The First Congregational United Church of Christ – Mason City, Iowa
Published by: The First Congregational Church
© 1987
Recipe: Ham and Green Noodles (submitted by Marilynn Ellers) – p. 79

Blondie’s Soups.Salads.Sandwiches Cookbook – Selected and Illustrated by Chic Young (Blondie comic strip creator)
Published by: David McKay Company
© 1947
Recipe: Split Pea Soup – p. 69

Today’s lesson, kids, is this: What to do with leftover ham?

One of my friends marveled at how I baked a 9-pound ham for Easter given that there are only two of us in the house, but I like ham leftovers and so I had ham recipes lined up before the ham even hit the oven.

The first dish I made almost sounded like something Lynne Rossetto Kasper would make on the “Stump the Cook” portion of her weekly radio program, The Splendid Table. In that segment, a caller gives Lynne a list of three ingredients currently found in the refrigerator and Lynne has to come up with a dish. Cookbook author Christopher Kimball decides whether or not Lynne hit the jackpot or lost it all in an attempt to create something edible. I have to hand it to her, she’s usually pretty creative.

Now the title Ham and Green Noodles might be off-putting to some but don’t let the “green” scare you; green is for green spinach noodles, not for anything that went bad in your refrigerator or cupboard. (Don’t laugh. My friend, Mary, loves to tell the story of how her mom stockpiled Twinkies for so long that the filling turned green. I can’t even phantom how that is possible but it’s true.)

Several other ingredients did not scare me, either, as we had a lineup of ham, noodles, Cheddar cheese soup and sour cream – what’s not to love about that combo!

But folks, the rest of the ingredients were a little spooky: sliced mushrooms (not bad but I didn’t see how they would work); chopped (black) ripe olives (???) and then a complete head-scratcher – ½ cup of dry roasted peanuts.

Hmmmmm…..

Even more off-putting, though, was the way the dish looked before I put it in the oven. It was very thick making it difficult to spoon out of my mixing bowl, and those little black olive flecks looked like…well, I will leave that to your imagination!

Now faithful readers know that I often (always?) take issue with something in the recipe and today I have two gripes: first, ALL ingredients should be listed in the recipe list because if you’re like me, this becomes your grocery list, right? (Although I have to confess that I forgot my recipe at home and so shopped from total recall). And had I seen that I needed 8 ounces of grated Cheddar cheese, I probably would have bought it when I got the rest of the ingredients, but no. I was about ready to pop the thing in the oven when I read the instruction that said “Top with 8 ounces of Cheddar cheese (grated).” Well what the ???! I had to drop everything, run up to my local gas station to purchase an overly-inflated brick of cheese for this recipe. I hate it when that happens.

Gripe number two has to do with the vague instruction “Bake at 350 until bubbly and brown on top.”

Huh. And that would be approximately how many minutes? I really had no idea and I am not one to open oven doors to peek while cooking so I glanced at the next recipe in the book and it said “350 for about an hour.” So that’s what I went with and the dish was fine but the cheese had formed a hard crust, probably just to tick me off for having (almost) left it out in the first place!

As to the taste, my husband liked it but I dunno – I think we could have ditched the peanuts (in my opinion, they added nothing) and the olives but used everything else. As my friend, Andrea says, “It’s a texture thing.”

And now on to the soup…years ago, I purchased Blondie’s Cook Book – Soups. Salads.Sandwiches from Bonnie Slotnick’s Cookbooks in New York and when I found myself with a ham bone, I went on the Hunt for Red October to find a soup recipe. I had a bit of trouble until I unearthed this cookbook.

Some of the younger generation might not be familiar with the comic strip, Blondie, nor with the TV series of the same name that aired in 1957. Although Blondie is the title of the comic strip, it’s really about Blondie’s husband, Dagwood Bumstead. Dagwood works in an office for Mr. Dithers, a rather crotchety old man, has great best friends named Herb and Cookie, and in his spare time loves baths and making sandwiches. Huge sandwiches. In fact, if you see a sandwich named Dagwood on a menu, you know you’ll be getting one gigantic sandwich, filled with all kinds of meats and cheeses.

So you’d think, wouldn’t you, that I’d make a sandwich from the cookbook, seeing as how that is Dagwood’s specialty? Well, sorry folks, the sandwich recipes didn’t grab my attention and seeing as how I was on the hunt for a ham-bone soup, I went with Split Pea.

This recipe is good but it definitely needed more time to cook; the recipe said 1 hour and that is way too short unless you like eating raw split peas. I think I left it on the stove about 2 ½ hours and that worked just fine seeing as how I like a thicker pea soup. I hate to say but my mother’s pea soup is the standard to which I hold all other pea soups—so thick you could stand a spoon it in, loaded with potatoes and carrots and one delicious ham bone because my mother never liked to throw anything out…and neither should you!

Ham and Green Noodles (serving size not indicated)
3 cups chopped ham (small cubes)
2 cups cooked spinach noodles
½ cup sliced mushrooms
½ cup chopped ripe olives
½ cup dry roasted peanuts
1 can Cheddar cheese soup
1 tsp. prepared mustard
1 cup sour cream
8 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated

Mix ingredients and put in a greased 9x13” pan. Top with 8 ounces Cheddar cheese (grated). Bake at 350 until bubbly and brown on top.

Split Pea Soup – serves 6
1 ham bone
1 pound split peas
2 carrots
½ onion
Salt
Pepper

Cover cooked ham bone with water; simmer slowly 2 hours, remove bone and add any meat clinging to bone to soup stock. Add peas; scrub carrots and dice. Chop onion, and add carrot and onion to the stock. Cover and simmer slowly 1 hour, then add salt and pepper to taste.

"The Cuisines of Mexico" by Diana Kennedy - Mole de Olla - Mole cooked in a pot

Date I made this recipe: March 8, 2009

The Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy, foreword by Craig Claiborne
Published by: Harper & Row, Publishers
© 1972
Recipe: Mole de Olla – Mole cooked in a pot – p. 160-161

People, I have been having some weird dreams lately and this latest one takes the cake (no pun intended).

Despite my taking Tom Colicchio of Top Chef to task a few weeks ago for having Top Chef contestants cook venison to represent Green Bay Packer food, he invited me to have dinner with him, (“in my dreams" takes on a new meaning, doesn’t it?) and of course, I accepted.

So in my dream, we ate at this very opulent restaurant with cathedral ceilings and beautiful chandeliers. To my left sat a female food writer but darned if I could tell you who she was, and to my right sat Tom.

And so there we were in this beautiful setting and the food came and it was…and I’m desperately trying to recall this…something akin to either a Monte Carlo sandwich or an egg on top of a steak covered in mushroom soup sauce.

So in my dream, Tom turned to me to ask what I thought and I said something to the effect that the meal was too casual for such an opulent setting. Tom agreed and promptly called over the owner…or a server…or the bus person, who knows, and that person invited me and Tom to another dinner (a secret dinner?). So Tom accepted and then turned to me and said something to the effect of “Oh, it’s too bad you don’t have the right credentials to go to this dinner.” I confidently and quickly replied that I did have the right credentials—I worked in the kitchen of Sacred Heart School (while failing to mention I was mostly the pot and pan gal) when I was in sixth grade. And that seemed to do it and we laughed ha ha and then I woke up! (Note to Tom: Call me!)

And so after waking up, the first thing I did was to go to The Splendid Table’s website - http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/ - to make sure Diana Kennedy, the inspiration for this week’s meal, had indeed been a guest last week and whew, she was! (Note to self: is a cocktail adjustment in order before bedtime?)

For those of you who don’t know, Diana Kennedy is an Englishwoman who has been living in Mexico and writing about its food for years and years. She’s published several books, of which the book I used, The Cuisines of Mexico, is one of them. And after listening to her talk to Lynne Rossetto Kasper I decided to make something from her book. And might I just say that I was in trouble from the get-go.

Now by trouble I mean that while I am not necessarily a health nut, I didn’t want to buy lard for one recipe only to have it sit unused in my refrigerator and folks, a vast majority of the recipes call for lard.

Not to be deterred, I thought I’d make a mole but my mole and Diana’s mole are two different moles. I was thinking of mole that contains Mexican chocolate or coco (and not for one second should you equate Mexican chocolate to American; we’re not talking Hershey Bars here) but Diana’s didn’t contain one ounce of that ingredient. Instead, it contained a puree of green tomatoes, peppers, garlic and onion and it was very good but there were still issues, the biggest one being sourcing the remaining ingredients.

I’ve mentioned before that Minneapolis and St. Paul have some very good Hispanic markets, El Burrito Mercado being one of them - http://www.elburritomercado.com/. And so we stopped there thinking (correctly) that they would have what we were looking for. And yet this “panel” of me and my husband was still stumped. We found the chayote (vegetable pear) easily enough and then we found the chiles we were looking for, anchos and pasilla, but then had to stop and re-read the recipe because the peppers we found were dried and we weren’t sure that was correct. Here’s what the recipe said:

“…toast the chilies well, turning them frequently so that they do not burn. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the seeds and veins-do not soak them-and put them in a blender.”

Read one way, it sounds as though fresh chilies are required, especially when it comes to the instruction "remove the seeds and veins” but if read another way, the “do not soak them” directive seems to indicate that the chilies would indeed be dried.

So we hemmed and hawed and hemmed and hawed and finally decided to go with comparable fresh chiles. So we used Anaheim and poblanos and the taste was just fine but I can’t help wondering if we should have used the dried.

The next problem was the requirement to use 1 cup of tomates verdes, drained—basically, green tomatoes but green tomatoes are not readily available in the winter. Let me just reiterate again how much I hate unclear instructions! In this case, we decided to go with canned tomatillos and I think that is what Diana intended us to use but who can know for sure?!

When we finally got home from our exhausting little adventure in Mexican food shopping, I looked at the copyright date on this book, 1972, and marveled at the fact that Diana must have had confidence that these ingredients would be readily available outside of Mexico. I’m no food historian, but I can declare with total confidence that NONE of this stuff was available in my hometown in 1972…or 1982…or any other year thereafter. As to the Twin Cities, I’m not a native but I’m guessing it was probably hard to source some of this stuff here as well.

And so I hope Diana approves of these little substitutions because the dish was very tasty and I had a hard time stopping myself from eating the entire pot - “6 servings” might be a tad too generous!

By the way, "mole" is pronounced "mo-lay," not mole (as in the rodent). Minnesotans of Scandanavian background might be tempted to pronounce it "mo-lee" but that's because "Ole" (pronounced O-Lee) is a common Sandanavian male name and poor Ole is usually part of a series of jokes that either being with "Sven and Ole..." or (more popular) "Ole and Lena ..." (to read Ole and Lena jokes, click on this link: http://www.surfminnesota.net/olelena.html)

Mole de Olla (Mole cooked in a pot) – 6 servings (Note: this mole is a cross between a soup and a stew)
3 pounds pork neck bones or 3 pounds boiling beef (brisket or a shoulder cut), with bone
2 quarts water
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
A comal or griddle
4 chiles anchos
4 chiles pasilla
A blender
1 cup tomates verdes, drained
½ medium onion
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 pinch of cumin seeds or dried cumin
A small frying pan
3 tablespoons peanut or safflower oil
½ pound zucchini squash (2 medium)
¼ pound green beans
1 large ear of corn (or frozen corn kernels, thawed)
1 small chayote (1/2 pound)
3 small potatoes (1/2 pound)
3 sprigs epazote for garnish
Salt as necessary

Have the butcher cut the meat and bones into serving pieces. (This is Diana’s direction; I cut the meat myself). Cover them with the water, add the salt and bring to a boil. Lower the flame and simmer the meat, uncovered, until it is tender – about 50 minutes for the pork and 1 hour and 10 minutes for the beef.

Meanwhile prepare the chilies. Heat the comal (or griddle or, if using fresh chiles, roast them over a low flame) and toast the chilies well, turning them frequently so they do not burn. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the seeds and veins – do not soak them – and put them into the blender. Blend the chilies with the rest of the ingredients until smooth.

Heat the oil and fry the sauce for about 5 minutes. Add it to the meat in the pan.

Clean and trim the squash and cut them into halves, then into fours lengthwise. Trim the beans and cut them into halves. Cut the corn into 6 pieces (or thaw corn kernels and add a few handfuls to the mix). Cut the chayote open and remove the core, then cut into ¼-inch wedges. Skin the potatoes and cut them into cubes. (Note: I don’t know that the chayote added much in the way of flavor to the dish so if you can’t find it, don’t stress).

When the meat is tender, add the vegetables and cook the mole slowly, uncovered, for about 30 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. Add the epazote about 5 minutes before the mole is ready, and add salt as necessary.

Serve in large, deep coup bowls, with hot tortillas, wedges of lime and finely chopped onion on the side.

"The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper" - Corn Chowder

Date I made this recipe: January 11, 2009
The Splendid Table’s How To Eat Supper – Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio’s Award-Winning Food Show by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift
Published by: Clarkson Potter/Publishers
ISBN: 978-0-307-34671-1
Recipe: Corn Chowder – p. 62-63

Year ago I was sitting in my car, listening to Minnesota Public Radio when I heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like the late actress, Marilyn Monroe…except it wasn’t.

“Hi, she breathed, it’s Lynne Rose-etto Kas-purrrrrr and you’re listening to The Splendid Table….”

Lynne who? Splendid Table what? I didn’t know what to think except “what is with that voice?” It was half sexy “come hither,” half nails on a chalk board! For the longest time, I used to go around mimicking her (and dare I say, not in a good way), pretending I was the Marilyn Monroe of the cooking world. Radio announcers were not supposed to be sexy or sound pretentious, they were supposed to be…well, radio announcers!

And yet I tuned in, week after week, month after month, year after year to listen to the woman whose voice initially drove me nuts because what she had to say about food was fascinating and her guests were fascinating and her stories were fascinating.

Over time, Lynne lost that Marilyn “Happy Birthday Mr. President” Monroe sound as she became more comfortable in her own (radio) shoes and I became much more comfortable listening to her as well, much in the same way that Julia Child eventually grew on me and the rest of America. (Although I doubt anyone ever likened Julia Child to Marilyn Monroe.)

Now I have to confess that I a) have met Lynne on several occasions (she’s very nice) where she b) autographed her cookbooks for me and c) answered one question years ago about borlotti beans while she was doing a live broadcast from the Twin Cities’ Food and Wine Extravaganza (I have to confess that at the time, I accidentally Stumped the Cook – a regular feature on her radio show—but that was before borlotti beans were as easily obtainable as they are now). And yet, I was reluctant to blog about one of her recipes because a) I’m half Sicilian and while I collect all kinds of cookbooks, I have been reluctant, until recently, to try someone else’s “family” recipes, b) what if I made one of her Italian recipes and screwed it up or c) what if I made it properly but (gasp) didn’t like it? The horror, the horror! All of this is made worse because Lynne and I live in the same town and she could track me down and a) cut me up for stew meat? (I have a vivid imagination!) b) never speak to me again…not that we speak at all but I can dream, can’t I? c) ruin my chances to ever make an appearance on her show (Lynne, I promise you I am quite.the.whit) or d) make sure I never cook or blog in this town again!

And so people, I cheated. Rather than go out on a limb and make a dish from either of her two-Italian cookbooks, I made a “safe” Corn Chowder recipe from her newest cookbook, The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper (in my family, we called it dinner but here in Minnesota, it’s definitely supper time). This recipe was easy-peasy and was (big sigh of relief here) de-licious!

Selecting a dish from Lynne’s (and Sally Swift, her producer) cookbook wasn’t difficult because people, I love, love, love corn chowder but am never really sure when to make it—is it a fall dish, a winter warm-up or is summertime the right time to make it using fresh corn? I tend to be a soup/stew/chowder/roast type of gal and for me that means winter but this dish was so refreshing (and light) that it would clearly work well during the height of corn season.

Lynne wrote that “this recipe begs for variations” and so I added diced chicken to my dish. You can add seafood or more potatoes—the choice is yours. (Garrison Keillor, he of A Prairie Home Companion fame, wrote something even funnier that Lynne included in the book: “People have tried and they have tried, but sex is not better than sweet corn.” I’ll let you chew on that one a while.)

By the way, Lynne’s radio show, The Splendid Table, can be accessed via the internet at http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/. (Check out the archives for previous broadcasts) Locally, I listen to her on Saturday afternoons on 91.1 FM from 2-3 p.m. Jane and Michael Stern (subject of last week’s blog) kick off the first five minutes of the show with their restaurant and food reviews and I have been known to pull off into a shopping center parking lot to sit in my idling car until their piece is done. If you see a woman sitting all by herself, cracking up laughing in a green Honda, that would be me, folks! But mostly I wait for the (now normal) voice: “Hi. It’s Lynne Rossetto Kasper and you’re listening to The Splendid Table….”

Corn Chowder – Serves 4
4 slices bacon, sliced into 1/8-inch-wide pieces
2 tablespoons good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil (okay, I can’t resist this: “good-tasting” as opposed to bad-tasting??!)
1 medium to large onion, chopped into ½-inch dice
2 bay leaves, broken
4 to 5 sprigs fresh thyme
¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper, or to taste
1 medium (7 ounces) red-skin potato, peeled and cut into ¼-inch dice (Note: I used some Yukon gold that I had at home and left the skin on for the vitamins)
4 large garlic cloves, coarse chopped
1 recipe Cheater’s Homemade Broth (p. 48) or two 14-ounce cans chicken or vegetable broth
1 pound (3 1/3 cups) Niblets frozen corn with no sauce; or kernels from 8 ears fresh corn
2 cups milk or cream, or a blend of both
1/8 to ¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
*I added I cooked, diced chicken breast

Put the bacon, olive oil, onion, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, salt and pepper in a 6-quart pot. Saute over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to color, about 5 minutes. Stir in the potato, garlic, and broth. Cover the pot tightly and simmer the soup over medium to medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until the potato is tender.

Stir in the corn, milk or cream, and Tabasco. Remove from the heat. Pull out the thyme sprigs and bay leaves. With a slotted spoon, transfer about one-third of the solids to a food processor or blender. Blend for a few seconds to crush the corn. Return the mix to the pot.

Heat the chowder to a bubble, and taste it for seasoning. Serve immediately (so the corn doesn’t overcook), topped with the parsley.

"The Camp Lejeune Platter Parade" - Oven Meal (a/k/a Six layer dinner)

Date I made this recipe: January 17, 2007

The Camp Lejeune Platter Parade by the Officers’ Wives Club, Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Published by the Officers’ Wives Club
© 1954
Recipe: Oven Meal (Six layer dinner) – p. 57

I was listening to The Splendid Table the other day on Minnesota Public Radio, hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, while she was doing her segment, Stump the Cook. During Stump the Cook, contestants call in and tell Lynne three ingredients they have in their refrigerator that they want Lynne to incorporate into a dish.

This week’s cookbook recipe was selected because it too, used up ingredients in my refrigerator that were nearing their “toss by” date: green and red peppers and celery, as well as potatoes and onion on the verge of going bad in my pantry. So when I came upon a recipe called Oven Meal (Six layer dinner) in the cookbook, The Camp Lejeune Platter Parade, I knew I had my meal.

Besides the fact that the recipe used up my ingredients, I loved the name Platter Parade (as appears on the spine) and I liked that it was written in 1954 by Marine Corp wives and even some Marines (and commanders) themselves. My dad was a member of the 4th Marines during WWII. He was initially sent to Parris Island, SC (Camp Lejeune is in North Carolina) and then to Maui, Hawaii (well before it was resort central) before going to Iwo Jima where he was wounded in action and received the Purple Heart. My dad’s 83rd birthday is coming up this week so I made this in his honor.

Now, the first day I had this dish, I thought it tasted bland (and indeed, there are no spices except salt and pepper in this dish), but the leftovers were much more flavorful. You might want to experiment by adding a little something to the dish (garlic salt, perhaps) but I made it according to regulations. Don’t want to spend any time in the brig, you know!

Oven Meal (Six layer dinner) – recipe submitted by Mrs. William L. Robbins
2 cups raw diced potatoes
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups raw hamburger
1 cup fine chopped green pepper
2 cups canned tomatoes
1 cup raw sliced onions (note: these will get crispy on you)
Salt and pepper to taste

Place ingredients in baking dish in order given. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 1 ½ hours in moderate over (375). Serves 6.

Note: I wasn’t sure what “canned tomatoes” should look like so I pureed canned, whole tomatoes in my Cuisinart before adding them to the casserole. If I were to do this again, I think I would pulse them just a bit longer to make more of a tomato sauce rather than semi-chunky tomatoes but do what feels comfortable.