"Pasta Presto" - Scallops and Mushrooms in Martini Cream Sauce

Date I made this recipe:  September 17, 2012

Pasta Presto – 100 Fast & Fabulous Pasta Sauces by Norman Kolpas

Published by:  Contemporary Books

ISBN:  0-8092-4676-7

Recipe:  Scallops and Mushrooms in Martini Cream – p. 16

Many people often dream about being a restaurant reviewer because “how fun would that be, right?”  Well, often it’s not – fun, that is.  Not only do you have to find people to go with you (not as easy as you think), but you have to make repeat visits and then, of course, you have to write about it.

Some reviewers pride themselves on waxing poetic about the food while others, like my late friend, Tall (Carol), can summarize a dish in one word for example, “goopy.”  Yes, folks, with one word, Tall told you everything you needed to know about the taste of a dish and if you want to be cool you’ll add this to your food vocabulary as well. But you should know that “goopy” isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just means the dish is rich, often containing cream or cream cheese or just cheese – or maybe, if you are extremely fortunate all three.  This is the essence of “goopy” in “Tall World.”  It was oh-so-good going down but after a while, she’d feel guilty about eating it and would switch back to something healthier to “cleanse” the system.

This dish – Scallops and Mushrooms with Martini Cream - is goopy but in a good way.  I can almost see Tall downing the dish then stating she was full (as was I) and that it was “goopy” but then I hope she’d also give me her other trademark phrase:  “This is exxxxxxxxxxx-cellent.”  Just so you know “This is exxxxxxxxxxx-cellent” was high praise coming from her.  So was “I can’t believe I ate it all, but it was sooooo good!”

The reason I’m telling you about Tall’s food critic comments is that today’s book was from her collection.  She didn’t have as many cookbooks as I have, maybe a dozen compared to my 1,460 books (and counting) but they were reflective of her cooking interests. She tended to make things that she could freeze in bulk and the majority of her recipes were geared toward healthy eating.  In the summer, she grew many of her own vegetables and used them in numerous ways in various dishes. And that is why, when she was first diagnosed with cancer, she was so mad because she was always so careful about diet and exercise.  Sadly, cancer doesn’t give a rat’s rump about these things.  It was also very sad that her cancer manifested itself just outside of the stomach area making eating and drinking very difficult in the first stages of cancer and at the end of her days, impossible.  There is nothing sadder than seeing someone wanting to eat and enjoy just the smallest taste of food only to be denied that pleasure by her body.

 Without her around, I cannot ask her which of the recipes on the pages she bookmarked she actually made.  She either made Chicken with Lemon-Caper Cream on page 36 or she made Turkey with Peppers, Olives and Tomato on page 37.  On page 44, she either enjoyed Veal Sausage in Mustard Cream or the Bacon and Garlic Sauté on page 45.  And so on and so forth.  My guess is that she probably went with a healthier choice more often than not.  I do know for a fact though, that she made the Classic Basil Pesto recipe on page 88 with basil she grew in her garden.  She served it on a few occasions and it was delicious. 

And so I was all set to make one of her bookmarked items when I saw this recipe for Scallops and Mushrooms in Martini Cream and decided that this was definitely it.  When it came to imbibing alcoholic beverages Tall was first a beer drinker and then a wine connoisseur but then she was introduced to a classic martini (perhaps by me, but perhaps by one of her other friends) and we were off and running.   I must confess that my martinis are rather killer as I make them as dry as dry can be and by that I mean sans vermouth, but she adapted well to my version of paint thinner.

So “martini” cream sauce it was and how fitting was that?!  It’s like I was meant to make this dish.  That said, I do think that the cream sauce might have scared her off from making it herself because of the “goopy” factor.  I wish I could say the richness of the cream sauce was offset by the gin and vermouth but alas, no, but no matter, it was the idea of a martini that was important here.  Still, if I had to make it again, I would play around with the alcohol quantities, likely upping them just a wee bit.  And it should go without saying that I should keep increasing the booze quotient whilst sipping on my own chilled martini, no?  (Shaken, not stirred, “up” as opposed to on the rocks and with an olive or two.)

Now I also taught my husband to enjoy a good martini (and yes, there is such a thing as a “bad” martini) and he was all over the recipe and we both ate until we were stuffed.  And then of course, we paused for a moment of silence and guilt, remembering my fallen comrade and how we enjoyed something which she could not, in her last stages of cancer, enjoy along with us. 

If she had lived, I would have told her about this recipe and had she made it herself, I’m pretty sure she would have pronounced it “exxxxxxxxxxx-cellent.”  I hope you find it excellent as well.

Scallops and Mushrooms in Martini Cream – serves 4-6

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

6 ounces button mushrooms, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices

6 medium shallots, finely chopped

4 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped

4½ cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons gin

1 tablespoon dry vermouth

¾ teaspoon salt

¾ pound bay scallops

Pasta – angel hair, spaghettini or vermicelli

In a saucepan or skillet, melt the butter over moderate heat.  Add the mushrooms, shallots and garlic; sauté until tender, 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the cream, gin, vermouth, and salt.  Raise the heat and gently boil until the mixture is thick and reduced by a third t a half, 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir in the scallops and simmer 2 to 3 minutes more (for larger scallops, 4 to 5 minutes more).  Serve immediately over cooked pasta.

"Ladies Who Lunch" - Sour Cream Souffle

Date I made this recipe:  September 9, 2012

Ladies Who Lunch by Ann Reed and Marilyn Pfaltz

Published by:  Charles Scribner‘s Sons

© 1972

Recipe:  Sour Cream Soufflé – p. 40

And then there were two.

For 18 years, I was privileged to belong to a Ladies Lunch group of former co-workers from a data processing company I worked for from 1985-1994.  When I left, a bunch of us decided to meet and greet once a month at various restaurants in the Twin Cities metro area and the Ladies Who Lunch Bunch was off and running.

At first there were six of us, but then three others dropped out leaving me and my friends, Vicki and Arlene.  Of the three, I was the youngest although Vicki and I shared October as our birth month.  Arlene, the oldest of the three, but perhaps the youngest at heart, had just celebrated her 75^th birthday in June.  It turns out that our last Ladies Lunch in celebration of her birthday would be our last.  Two weeks after that date, Arlene fell ill and was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.  Although the prognosis was initially positive, things took a turn for the worse and she died weeks later on September 3rd. To say Vicki and I and other former co-workers were stunned would be an gross understatement.  Arlene was just one of those people who seemed destined to outlive us all.

When Vicki and I first went to see Arlene in the hospital, we were shocked.  She was in pain, she was defeated, and we tried our best to rally her.  I was so discombobulated by my visit that when I left the hospital, I missed my exit back to my house.  Seconds later, I turned around but missed the exit again and then yet again until I finally gave up and took the longest route home (the one without any more exits), arriving 45 minutes later completely exasperated.  When I told that story to Arlene on my last visit, she laughed.

On our very last visit just a few weeks before she died, the difference in Arlene was astonishing.  She was back to her old self, holding court, laughing and telling stories.  When we worked together, Arlene was the Executive Secretary to our company’s CEO and she also held a command post, and I do mean command post, at the front reception desk.  Nobody worked a switchboard like her and when her always-manicured finger swept across the switchboard, it was like watching an elegant ballet.  For years and years, I teased her about that hand motion and she laughed; during the last visit, she asked me to mimic her so that some other visiting friends could see what she was like.  I did so with the greatest pleasure.

I also teased Arlene about the way in which she would track you down like a dog if you didn’t answer an overhead page.  If a customer called in asking for me and I wasn’t at my desk, she paged me.  At first it was polite – “Ann Verme, line 1.  Ann Verme, line 1 please.”  By the second time around, she was a little bit firmer in her request and oh my god, if you didn’t pick up after that, this is what you got:  ANN. VERME.LINE.1. ANN.VERME.LINE.1…PLEASE!!!!!”  I wouldn’t go so far as to say she was shouting, but you knew you had better haul ass and get the phone, even if you were stuck in the restroom.  The programmers, mostly male, used to joke that they came flying out of the restroom with the toilet paper flying behind them.  This image continues to make me laugh to this day.  

The other story that I told to the friends that were visiting Arlene on the last time I saw her was also one of my favorites about her.  Arlene was told by our company president to keep an eye on the supply cabinet and by god, she did.  As the sole holder of the cabinet key, she held a lot of power and I am not kidding when I say that she often made you show her your old pencil before deciding you were worthy of a new one:  “There’s still a little lead on that pencil,” she’d say or “You can still use that eraser, can’t you?” 

Even after deciding you were indeed worthy of a new pencil, you received one and only one brand new one.  Don’t ever kid yourself that in a wild moment she would give you two.  Several newcomers suffered from such delusions until we set them straight.

The drill when one was about to receive the new pencil/pen/what have you was always the same:  Arlene would put the switchboard on “transfer calls” and then would walk, slowly and stately, to the file cabinet, with the requestor walking behind at about five paces – kind of like the Duke of Edinburgh does with the Queen of England.  Heads were also respectfully bowed.  And then she would open the cabinet a mere crack, just enough to get her hand (never yours) in there and then would ask you again what you needed.  And out came the one pencil and you bowed appropriately and perhaps curtseyed and then she resumed her stately walk back to the front desk.  I tell you what she could have substituted for the Queen as she was just that regal. (And I love the Queen so…)

Well one day, toward the end of my time at the company, Arlene was busier than a bee and she didn’t have time to do the “perp” walk (I’m referring to all of us underlings, never Arlene) and so she handed me the key.  Oh.My.God. I got the key to the cabinet!!!  So I ran over to the programming department and said “You guys, you guys.  Arlene gave me the key!!!!”  And just like rats deserting a sinking ship, they fell in behind me and we ran with lightning speed to the cabinet.  This time around, the doors fell open automatically revealing quite the stash of supplies and let me just say that for one, brief shinning moment I swear we saw a glow and heard the most beautiful celestial sounds.  It was just like Christmas only better: “Look at all those notepads,” we chimed.  “Look at the pens – holy cow!”

You might think that with access to all those goodies we would have raided the cabinet but you would be wrong.  The one thing one did not do at that company was to get on Arlene’s bad side, a side she rarely displayed but you knew you were in deep doo-doo if she went there.  And so out of respect for the woman and out of fear for our work lives, I took the one thing I needed from the supply cabinet and with one last, longing look from me and from my coworkers, I shut and locked the door and walked back, as Arlene-like as I could to give her the key. 

Now some people might have walloped me over the head for retelling that story over and over again but Arlene loved it.  She was the quintessential Executive Assistant—loyal to her boss and to the company, gate-keeper (literally since our building was a secure building and she had to buzz you in if you didn’t have a pass), better than an attorney at keeping secrets and keeping her mouth shut, all-wise and all-knowing and above all, professional.  She would listen to your tales of woe but in the end she would often say quite simply and without a touch of snarkiness – “Well, if you don’t like your job here, perhaps you should find another one.”  Above all, Arlene wanted our workplace to be a happy, harmonious one and those years that we all worked at that company were just some of my favorites.  When we experienced a corporate take-over by a much larger company we grew bigger but experienced a lot of growing pains.  Our work family sort of fell apart and eventually we started experiencing a ton of layoffs, layoffs that Arlene knew about in advance but obviously couldn’t talk about.  A few of the layoffs pained her greatly and it wasn’t too long after I left that she decided to retire.  And out of those "ashes," the Ladies Lunch was born!

Being free from the confines of her Executive Assistant position didn’t automatically make Arlene sing like a canary but over the years, she shared her thoughts and insights with me and Vicki.  She was always so funny about how she did it, usually sweeping her gaze around the room to make sure there weren’t any “enemies” afoot and then lowering her head to deliver the dirt.  She would often start out lunch (really brunch-I cannot recall a time when we actually had lunch) by asking (hilariously) “Who has had a sighting?” By "sighting," she meant “of a former co-worker” and not UFO’s.  Just so we’re clear.  Then she would regale us with tales of work as well as family stories and friend stories that had me and Vicki doubled over.  She never thought she was that funny but she was and we told her that a thousand times over.  Vicki and I also told stories but somehow the stories always sounded better coming from Arlene.

Out of all the things that made Arlene unique, her thoughtfulness stood out as her number one best quality.  When she was invited to a party at my house, she always brought a hostess gift and frequently sent a thank-you note on note cards she made herself.  (She was also well-known for the fabulous jewelry she made after her retirement and at her funeral service, there was hardly a woman in attendance who wasn’t wearing a piece by Arlene.) When my parents died, she sent cards and when I lost one of my best friends of almost 32 years to cancer in March, she sent me a card for that as well.  And when Vicki and I took her out for her birthday lunch, she sent a thank you card out despite having thanked us in person.  It goes without saying that I’m keeping that one.

Now I’ve said before in this blog that I have a cookbook for about every occasion and wouldn’t you know, I already had this book on my bookshelf – Ladies Who Lunch – and so the day after her service, I made this wonderful Sour Cream Soufflé. If Arlene was alive, I know she probably would have tried it at home, likely saying “Well this was just delicious and so easy, too.” 

And so my dear Arlene, Vicki and I will soldier on with our lunches with the heaviest of hearts as we miss you already, and this special recipe is a final homage to you.  I know you were watching when I made it.  And I will never see a supply cabinet or a switchboard without thinking of you.  I do so hope that there’s a huge switchboard in the afterlife and that you are at the center of it all saying “God, line one.  God, line one please.”  It’s only fitting.

Sour Cream Souffle – serves 6

1 ½ cups sour cream

¾ cup sifted flour

1 ¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

2 tbsp chopped chives

½ cup grated (nonprocessed) Gruyere cheese (Ann’s Note:  I have no idea what nonprocessed cheese means!)

5 eggs, separated

Preheat oven to 350.  Thoroughly blend sour cream, flour, salt and pepper.  Stir in chives and grated cheese.  Beat egg yolks until thick and stir into the cheese mixture.  Pour into a 2-qt soufflé dish.  Place dish in a shallow pan of hot water and bake about 30-40 minutes or until puffed and set.  Serve immediately.

Ann’s Note:  I roasted some small yellow potatoes at the same time I baked this soufflé and tossed them in olive oil and sea salt for extra flavor.  I also served the soufflé with asparagus to add a little green to the plate.  Enjoy!

"Lemonade for the Lawnboy - The Executives' Wives' Cookbook Committee" & "Corn - Meals & More" & "The Picnic Gourmet" - lemonade, chicken enchiladas and peaches with sweet cream cheese

Still Life: Mrs. Jonathan Hurlinger with martini glass

Date I made these recipes:  September 3, 2012 (Labor Day)

Lemonade for the Lawnboy – The Executives’ Wives’ Cookbook Committee by David W. Cook and Janet Letnes Martin

Published by:  Martin House Publications

ISBN:  978-1-886627-14-7

Recipe:  Mrs. Jonathan Hurlinger’s Thirst-Quenching Recipe for the Lawnboy –p. 5

CORN – Meals & More by Tastemaker-Award Winning Author Olwen Woodier

Published by:  A Garden Way Publishing Book Published by Storey Communications, Inc.

ISBN:  0-88266-456-5

Recipe:  Chicken Enchiladas – p. 78-79

The Picnic Gourmet by Joan Hemingway and Connie Maricich

Published by:  Vintage Books

© 1975, 1977; First Vintage Books Edition , June 1978

Recipe:  Peaches Stuffed with Sweet Almond Cream Cheese - 279

I don’t care if Labor Day typically signals the end of summer as we know it - when it’s time to make “Mrs. Jonathan Hurlinger’s Thirst-Quenching Recipe for the Lawnboy,” it’s time to make Mrs. Jonathan Hurlinger’s Thist-Quenching Recipe for the Lawnboy!

My friend, Lolo, gave me this hilarious cookbook, Lemonade for the Lawnboy – The Executives’ Wives’ Cookbook Committee, a while ago and I truly meant to make the lemonade recipe this summer but things got away from me.  So what if the temperature dipped down a bit by the time I made it?  When you’re thirsty, you’re thirsty and nobody appreciated it more than my own “lawnboy,” Andy.

This book is a total send-up of the classic society cookbook and by “society” I am referring to the Junior League cookbooks that have dotted the cookbook landscape for years now.  From Mrs. Biff Johnson to the fake Mrs. Jonathan Hurlinger, these ladies have submitted enough recipes to paper many a beach-front condo in Boca and then some while raising money for a good cause.  Good causes are a good thing.

Out of all the society ladies featured in this book, none drew my attention more than Mrs. J.H. who was, appropriately, pictured with her martini glass.  Aside from the fact that her green outfit would not look good against my skin tone, Mrs. J. H. and I could be twins as I do so love my martini.  I also think that the look on Mrs. J.H.’s face is quite similar to the look I wear when I am not amused, and lately people, I have not been amused.  (And this is why gin typically fixes everything.)  Lucky for me, Mrs. J.H’s lemonade saved the day.  It was simple, yet elegant and quite refreshing - quite.

By the way, here is my favorite description of Mrs. J.H –and funny how it describes me to a “t!” (This is from page 5 of Lemonade for the Lawnboy – The Executives’ Wives’ Cookbook Committee by David W. Cook II and Janet Letnes Martin.)

“…If that was not enough, the same week she threw a grand and most elegant birthday party for her dear friend, Mrs. Charles Chatterton.  Her devotion to details was unsurpassed, down to party favors of French crystal martini glasses etched with Mrs. Charles Chatterton’s favorite martini recipe.  Her brilliance and creativity is quite amazing.  It is no wonder she was chosen President of The Executives’ Wives’ Cookbook Committee.”

This lemonade paired quite well with my main course, Chicken Enchiladas.  Now people, I don’t know about you, but I expected this recipe to contain some corn seeing as how it came from a corn cookbook, but alas, no.  I re-read the recipe several times and even contemplated using frozen corn in the enchilada mixture but decided against it and instead opted for corn tortillas.  The book said I could make my own cornmeal pancakes but I had enough going on without having to pull another recipe together. 

While most of us are probably used to the “goopy” cheese-laden enchiladas served in most Mexican restaurants these days, this recipe didn’t call for cheese at all and that’s why I liked it, corn or no corn.  But the inclusion of this recipe in the (corn) cookbok, even if it was under “Ethnic Specialties,” still boggles the mind.

Last, but not least, was a (fresh) peaches dessert recipe taken from The Picnic Gourmet written by Joan Hemingway and Connie Maricich.  Joan Hemmingway is celebrated author Earnest Hemingway’s granddaughter.  (On my list of books to read is A Moveable Feast, written by “Papa” Hemingway in 1961 that recounts his days in Paris in the 1920’s and includes names and addresses of all his watering holes. (Somehow, this was one of the few Hemmingway books this English major did not read in high school or college.)

This book is divided into two parts.  Part one lists picnics by theme and contains menus for a Sunday Ski Picnic, a Boating Picnic (Oh darn, I forgot my boat-bummer) and an Italian Beach Picnic just to name a few.  The second half of the book contains recipe by category – soups, salads, fruit, etc.  As the title Picnic Gourmet suggests, this book does not contain your average Labor Day cook-out recipes of beans and weenies although many people would consider that “high end” picnic food if the beans were a mix of heirloom beans and the weenies were fancy stuffed sausages.  But although the recipes sound high end, many of them are pretty easy, like the recipe for Peaches Stuffed with Sweet Almond Cream Cheese.  Whew. 

All in all, this was a great meal to make on Labor Day and that’s a good thing as neither Mrs. Jonathan Hurlinger nor I like fuss or muss when it comes to holiday entertaining.

Mrs. Jonathan Hurlinger’s Thirst-Quenching Recipe for the Lawnboy – serving size not listed

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

5 ounces of reconstituted lemon juice

1 ¾ cups ice water

Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Stir constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Chill for 3 to 4 hours.  Pour the mixture and the ice water into a tall pitcher and add the lemon juice.  Cut the lemon into thin wedges and put them in a pitcher.  Stir the mixture and pour it into chilled glasses.  Add ice to each glass.

Chicken Enchiladas – yield:  4 servings

1 pound boneless chicken breasts

¼ cup chicken stock, tomato juice, or water

6 tablespoons cream cheese

2 tablespoons chunky Mexican sauce (salsa) (mild or hot)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes (3 cups)

1 3 ½ -ounce can green chili peppers, chopped

1 teaspoon ground coriander

¼ vegetable oil

8 6-inch tortillas

1 ½ cups sour cream (optional)

¼ cup chopped chives or scallion greens (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Put the chicken breasts in a skillet, pour in the stock, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Reserve 1/3 cup of the liquid.  Thinly slice the chicken breast.  Blend the cream cheese, reserved liquid, and Mexican sauce together.  Stir in the chicken strips.

While the chicken is poaching, heat the 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet and sauté the onion and garlic for 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, chili pepper, and coriander.  Simmer for 15 minutes.

Heat the ¼ cup oil in a skillet and drop each tortilla into the hot fat for about 10 seconds.  This is not to cook them but to make them pliable.  (Note:  this did not work well at all for the corn tortillas as they were too soft.  My guess is that this method would work well for flour tortillas.)

Remove immediately to a baking dish measuring approximately 12” x 9” x 2” and spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture along the center of each tortilla.  Roll up and place seam-side down in the dish.  Repeat until all tortillas and the filling have been used up.

Spoon the tomato sauce over the top and bake for 15 minutes.

Mix the sour cream and chives and spoon over each cooked tortilla.

Peaches Stuffed with Sweet Almond Cream Cheese – serves 6

3 large peaches

½ pound cream cheese

3 good macaroons, crumbled in a blender (or three biscotti or other “hard” cookie)

1 teaspoon ground almonds (grind in blender)

Peach pulp from seed cavities

Fresh mint leaves (optional)

Choose large ripe peaches, and scrub the outside skin.  Cut each peach in half, take out the seed, and enlarge the seed cavity with a spoon.  Reserve the peach pulp taken out.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl.  [If going on a picnic] Pack the peaches and filling separately.  To serve, place a teaspoonful of filling on each peach center.  Garnish and decorate the plate of filled peach halves with fresh mint leaves. 

Ann’s Note:  this last line just makes me hoot:  [mint leaves] “These can usually be picked on the trail or at the picnic site.”  Hahahahaha……Hardly.

**Both Corn and The Picnic Gourmet were purchased at the Bloomington Crime Prevention Association Sale held in June.

"It's the Berries!" - Chicken with Strawberry Vinegar and Honey

Date I made this recipe:  August 26, 2012

It’s the Berries!  - Exotic &Common Recipes by Liz Anton & Beth Dooley

Published by:  A Garden Way Publishing Book; Storey Communications, Inc.

© 1988

Recipe:  Chicken with Strawberry Vinegar and Honey – p. 39; Strawberry Vinegar recipe p. 142

If last week’s problem with blog posting was procrastination (i.e. having too much time on my hands), this week’s problem was a concerted lack of time.  I could not carve out even a second or two to write this thing and that was frustrating because this dish is delicious and I couldn’t wait to tell you all about it. And it’s also redemption for the sad meal I made the week before.

I’d love to say that summer is the period where I stock up on fresh (and seasonal) fruit and vegetables but alas, I do not.  I have yet to visit a farmer’s market, operating under my own, personal premise that “You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” and I basically ignore everything in my grocery store that screams “Seasonal!”  It’s not that I don’t love fruits and veggies, I do, but it’s just not something that comes to my first thing in the morning.  Coffee comes to mind first thing in the morning, followed by nap, followed by….

Until this past week, that is.  I recently purchased this book, It’s the Berries!, from Arc’s Value Village Thrift Store and while putting it away in my stack, I thought “Huh, maybe this would be a good time to make something from this book.”  I was not wrong.

But I will say that finding the right recipe was a challenge.  Several recipes contained cranberries and it is way too early in the season for that.  I don’t like fruit soups (personal preference) and dessert seemed so clichéd.  But then I spotted it.  Strawberry chicken!  With honey! Strawberry chicken AND honey!  Sweet!  (Pun intended).

And so I made it and so it was good and so I was happy.  I served this up with couscous and asparagus and my oh my, what a fun meal I had. (Well, I overcooked the asparagus but these are the things we must deal with in life.  I ate it anyway.)

BUT.  Let me be clear that should you make this dish (and you should), do not, I repeat, do not use those craptastic things in the grocery store that masquerade as strawberries.  To do so is an insult to the real deal and your dish won’t be as flavorful.  Because folks, the way strawberries are genetically engineered these days robs them of their flavor.  Bite into one and it’s like biting into colored Styrofoam but that is just this gal’s opinion.

I say this to you because people, I’ve had the “Real Deal.”  My parents had a fruit and vegetable garden and all summer long, we feasted on earthly delights such as raspberries and strawberries.  Compared to today’s gigonzo strawberries, our little garden ones seemed so anemic yet they were loaded with flavor.  We had strawberry jam, strawberry compote and frozen strawberries to last us a lifetime.  Ah, such sweet memories!

At any rate, I bought my strawberries at Trader Joe’s and while larger than I liked, they were close enough to the “Real Deal” for me to buy them.  Plus, they were reasonably priced and so that made me feel all the better about skipping out on a farmer’s market excursion to find something comparable to what I had as a child.  So there!

So the order of appearance in this recipe is that you make the strawberry vinegar first and then…uh oh…let it steep for a month, and then use the vinegar in the recipe.  Well I can assure you that didn’t happen!  But I am happy to report that this was no big deal.  In fact, instead of straining the vinegar, I threw some of the mashed strawberries from the vinegar mixture into the skillet and the result was yummy.

As to the authors, Minnesota cook book collectors might recognize Beth Dooley’s name from a couple cookbook s as well as a byline in the Mpls St. Paul Magazine.  Beth’s newest cookbook, The Northern Heartland Kitchen, focuses on seasonal cuisine in this neck of the woods but I first knew Beth when she teamed up with local chef and restaurant owner (and my hero), Lucia Watson, to write one of my favorite books in my entire collection (1,463 and growing) – Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland.   This book also focuses on local cuisine and features the same type of food that is regularly featured as Lucia’s restaurant called, appropriately, Lucia’s in the Uptown area of Minneapolis. (Go.there.now.)  Beth wrote this cookbook, It’s the Berries, with her mother, Liz Anton and I think it is very cool that mother and daughter got along well enough to put pen to paper to create this cookbook; my sister-in-law loves a photo of me and my mother arguing in the kitchen at Christmastime, 1996.  So there you have it.

As we are now on the doorstep of Labor Day, I urge you to get going and make this recipe!  And get “Real Deal” strawberries and don’t think I’m kidding.  You will thank me later.

Chicken with Strawberry Vinegar and Honey – serves 8

4 pounds of chicken, quartered

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons clarified butter *see notes below

2 tablespoons peanut oil, plus some to sauté shallots

4 shallots, minced

½ cup strawberry vinegar

1/3 cup honey

1 cup strawberries, hulled and rinsed or if frozen drained and thawed, sliced

For the strawberry vinegar – makes 5 cups

2 cups strawberries

1 cup of champagne and 1 cup for later (optional)

2 cups white wine vinegar

8 whole black peppercorns

1 ½ teaspoon sugar

To make the vinegar:

Mash strawberries.  Heat the champagne, wine vinegar, peppercorns and sugar together.  Pour over strawberries in sterile jar.  Cool, cover and place in a dark place for a 1 month.  Stir occasionally.  Press out strawberry flesh between double cheesecloth, discard the fruit.  Add the second cup of champagne to the vinegar mixture.  Stir to release the carbonation.  Allow to rest in a dark place for 1 month.

Ann’s Note:  I pretty much ignored everything above, some of it intentionally, some of it not.  I mashed the berries, skipped the vinegar and skipped the cheesecloth portion of our program and for sure did NOT let it sit for a month but it was still tasty.  I also cut down the portion size to equal one cup (or so) and it worked fine although I added a little bit more sugar than was called for but that was to satisfy my own personal taste.

To make the dish:

Rinse and dry chicken.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  Combine butter and oil in large skillet, add chicken and brown.  (Do not crowd pieces.)  When chicken has been browned, remove to a warm platter with pan juices.  Skim fat.  Sauté shallots in a small amount of oil until translucent.  Add strawberry vinegar and honey to pan and simmer.  Return chicken, cook until partially covered for about 20 minutes.  Baste often to glaze chicken.  Toss in strawberries just before serving.

Ann’s Note:  I used boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half, so there wasn’t any fat to skim.  I also added a bit more oil to the pan as well as more honey and more strawberry vinegar (with mashed strawberries) as the sauce was looking like it might stick and burn.  And then I tossed in the strawberries with about 5 minutes left just because I like to go rogue.  The result was phenomenal!

                                                                                                                               

"Good Things to Eat - As Suggested by Rufus (Rufus Estes -former slave)" & "Clambakes & Fish Fries" - Corn Fritters and Oyster Pan Roast

Date I made these recipes:  August 19, 2012

Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus by Rufus Estes – Published by Rufus in 1911; edited by D. J. Frienz

Facsimile of this book Published by Howling at the Moon Press

ISBN: 9-9654333-1-5

Recipe:  Corn Fritters – p. 61-62

Clambakes & Fish Fries by Susan Herrmann Loomis

Published by:  Workman Publishing, New York

© 1994

Recipe:  Oyster Pan Roast – p. 133-134

People, I am not a procrastinator by nature but I have been putting off posting this blog forever, probably, in part, because the meal wasn’t my best effort.  Although I rarely have clunkers, this definitely landed in that category and that makes me sad.  Food should be pleasing, no?

Initially, I planned to celebrate the end of the Olympics by preparing this meal.  But if you are like me, I was too exhausted to cook anything to celebrate the end of the world’s greatest sporting event.  And besides, the closing ceremony started early in the evening and who wanted to be in the kitchen (never mind that I have a TV there) during the closing ceremonies? (That said, NBC – please don’t announce the The Kinks and The Who are “coming up” if you don’t plan to show them.  Did we really need to see the pilot to Animal Planet/Animal Practice/Animal Whatever?)

Now, I am not normally glued to my set 24-7 during the Olympics, but this time was different.  Certain events have always grabbed my attention like swimming and track and yet there I was all fist to my mouth watching the equestrian Individual Jumping competition with the horses (and riders, natch) clearing (or not) all those bars and water hazards and whatnot.  And although I can often take or leave gymnastics (I know – heresy) I often find myself watching through my fingers as the gals do the balance beam.  I’m sorry, there’s just nothing on this planet that will make me do back flips on a 4” piece of wood - nothing.

At any rate and any who, one of the bright stars of the Olympics was of course Gabriel (Gabby) Douglas, the first African-American to win gold in the All-Around (Gymnastics) Competition.  I wish I had that gal’s enthusiasm and bubbly personality.  She was just a joy to watch, and I think we can all agree, not half bad in her events, right?!

So as I was watching her tumble and flip and twirl her way to a gold medal (and let’s not forget the team gold, either), I started pondering what cookbooks I could use to celebrate her breakthrough stardom.  And then it hit me – years ago, I acquired a cookbook written by a man who was born a slave but went on to have a career as a Pullman (train) chef and thought that would be perfect – a breakthrough star doing an unheard of “professional” job  in the early 1900’s.

Rufus Estes was born a slave in Tennessee in 1857 and was given his name by his slave master, D.J. Ester.  D.J. owned Rufus’ mother’s family:  does that not give you chills?  After the Civil War ended, he did odd jobs around his grandmother’s house before finally getting a job in a Nashville restaurant at age 16.  In 1883, he started working for Pullman and remained there until 1897; during that time he waited on everyone from African explorers to two Presidents of the United States - Grover Cleveland and William Henry Harrison.  Eventually, he became a chef for one of U.S. Steel’s subsidiary companies in Chicago and shortly thereafter wrote this cookbook.  He also penned the biography found in the front of the book. In 1999, a facsimile of his original book was published and the cookbook literary world took note – a cookbook penned by a former slave?  In 1911?  What?!

Not only did he write this cookbook but in terms of recipes it’s pretty comprehensive.  There’s a recipe in this book for homemade English Muffins and yet another for candied violets.  Well color me impressed because I am!

I decided to make his recipe for corn fritters as it was fairly easy and it is sweet corn time right now so I had a hankering.  But corn fritters alone didn’t seem like much of a meal and so I decided to make a seafood dish in homage to Gabby Douglas’ home town of Virginia Beach, Virginia thus the pan-roast oysters.  I’ve been to Virginia Beach many times in the past and had some delicious oysters there and so thought “Why not?”  Now hard could that be, anyway?  Answer:  harder than you think!

Clambakes & Fish Fries, my source for the pan-roast oysters, includes fish and seafood recipes from all over and since both Rufus and Gabby traveled all over in pursuit of their dreams, I thought a recipe from this book would be good.  Plus, truth be told, I’m not sure I have a Virginia seafood cookbook – yet.

Okay, so corn fritters and pan-roast oysters it was and so a week after the Olympics (now that I had time), I set about to get ‘er done.  Well.  I don’t know what I was expecting with the fitters but they came out like pancakes and let me tell you, flipping a pancake loaded with corn kernels is challenging.  The recipe said to let them cook for 4-5 minutes on each side but had I done that, we would be having charred corn—and this is not necessarily a good thing.

But the worst disaster was the oyster pan-roast.  This recipe said to fry for 1-2 minutes on each side and this was just wrong on so many levels.  I went longer than that but still ended up with kind of a mushy, warm oyster that was neither raw nor roasted.  But if I went too long, I worried that I would end up with erasers (trust me, this happens) and didn’t fancy eating erasers for dinner. 

So, what we ended up with was a corn pancake that needed way more salt and pepper than the recipe required and some mushy, warm oysters without much flavor to recommend them.  Can I just tell you that this is why keeping microwave popcorn on hand is a good idea?

Despite the culinary “failure,” I would attempt both dishes again but this time with variations:  maybe a pinch of cayenne pepper added to the fritters? How about maple syrup on top since they resemble pancakes? Or maybe a bit of white wine or vermouth added to the oysters?  The sky is the limit.

I do not regret though, having made recipes from these books, especially Rufus’ because it gave me a chance to re-read his crowning achievement and put it in perspective next to his modern-day “breakthrough” equivalent – Gabby Douglas’ gold medal.  While I am happy and proud of Gabby’s accomplishments, doesn’t it seem a little unreal that it took until 2012 for this to happen?  And yet- world events from the Civil War to the Olympics reminds us every time that life is a constant cycle of triumph over tragedy.  For Rufus, it was breaking out of his slave beginnings to carve out a life as a chef and to publish a cookbook.  For Gabby, it was leaving home and family behind in Virginia to train in West Des Moines, Iowa and then prevail over all the other gymnastic Olympic hopefuls to win a spot on a team.  I tell you what, just to make the Olympic team is an accomplishment in and of itself and something this aspiring couch potato does not take lightly!!

As a final thought, I was thinking that in some ways the failure of these recipes mirrors the efforts that fell short by most 2012 Olympic athletes including Gabby in some of her individual events. As my father always said “Many are called, few are chosen,” and so despite making the Olympic team, most athletes walked away without a medal. Watching the “agony of defeat” (thank you ABC’s Wild World of Sports!) is heartbreaking and yet it’s something that most of us experience – painfully – in our own lives every day. The moral of that life story is classic: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”  I can assure you that I will live to cook another day!

So here’s to our breakthrough stars and their breakthrough moments. 

Corn Fritters – serving size not listed (I made half a recipe)

4 ears corn

¼ pound (sifted) flour

Two eggs

½ pint cold milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Butter for the pan

Prepare four ears of fresh corn by removing the outer husks and silks; boil and then drain well.  Cut the grains from the cobs and place in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, add one-fourth pound of sifted flour, two eggs and a half pint of cold milk.  Stir vigorously, but do not beat, with a wooden spoon for five minutes, when it will be sufficiently firm; butter a frying-pan, place it on a fire, and with a ladle holding one gill put the mixture on the pan in twelve parts, being careful that they do not touch each other, and fry till [until] of a good golden brown color, cooking four or five minutes on each side.  Dress them on a folded napkin and serve.

Ann’s Note:  a “gill” is one-half cup.

Oyster Pan Roast – 8 appetizer servings (4 main-course servings) – I made half the recipe

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ pounds (about 48) freshly shucked oysters

*I bought my oysters at Coastal Seafood in St. Paul

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Stir in the garlic, and cook until the butter foams and the garlic begins to turn slightly translucent, 1 to 2 minutes.  Then add the oysters and cook, stirring constantly or shaking the pan, until they are plump and beginning to curl at the edges, 1 to 2 minutes.  (Ann’s Note:  1-2 minutes does not seem like sufficient time.  After 4 to 5 minutes, I still had quite the gloppy mess on my hands.)

Turn the oysters out into a warmed serving bowl or individual bowls, and serve with plenty of crusty bread. 

*PS--I purchased this book, Clambakes & Fish Fries at Arc's Value Village in Richfield, MN for mere pennies on the dollar.  

                                                                        

"Three Generations of Chilean Cuisine" & "The Spirit of Puerto Rican Rum" - Avocado Soup & Tangerine Loin of Pork

Date I made these recipes:  August 5, 2012

Three Generations of Chilean Cuisine by Mirtha Umana-Murray

Published by Lowell House

ISBN:  1-56565-817-5

Recipe:  Avocado Soup (Crema Quillotana) – p. 69

The Spirit of Puerto Rican Rum – Recipes and Recollections by Blanche Gelabert; Photography by William Gelabert

Published by:  Discovery Press, San Juan, Puerto Rico

ISBN: 0-9633216-1-7PBK

Recipe:  Tangerine Loin of Pork – p. 105

But first, a rant:  a couple weeks back, I reported a hog-stealing incident in nearby Wisconsin to some women lawyer friends of mine, the “G’s.”  One of the G’s, Jen (nicknamed “Jenja”) replied “If I thought I could get away with it, I’d steal the swine as well.  Have you seen the price of bacon lately?”  I confessed that I had not and then shortly thereafter, had to buy some bacon for a recipe and was surprised that a pack of bacon cost around $7.50.

But nothing prepared me for the astonishing price of $11.99 a pound for pork tenderloin.  Granted, this was a Whole Foods price but still – what??!!  So while I am not a betting person, I am willing to put some serious money down that most of you will NOT be making the entire recipe for Tangerine Loin of Pork because it calls for 5-6 pounds.  Ca-ching!  Ca-ching!

When I informed the G’s of latest thoughts on pork futures (something I will now be watching very carefully), I accidentally typed that I bought a pork “loan” instead of pork “loin,” and then promptly dissolved into fits of laughter.  Because even two pounds of pork, my compromise “bill,” cost a fortune and I almost needed a personal loan at the checkout counter.  “Yes, that’s right, a loan to buy pork.  Yes, a pork loan. Okay, then, we’ll call it a loin loan.  Duh….”

Okay, back on track.  I intended to make these recipes in late June but we were experiencing scorching temperatures at the time and my husband imposed a “No Oven” rule and so that was that (at least for the pork recipe).  Plus I had the Tour de France and the Olympics to write about.  But now the weather has cooled off to a balmy 85 and so it was time.

I’ve mentioned in other blog posts that I watch ABC’s The Chew, a talk show/food show/craft show that airs at noon locally.  I typically tape the show and then watch it later in the evening, although these days with the Olympics on, I am thrown off my usual schedule.  The other day, I was about ten taped programs behind and had to dedicate some serious non-cooking time to get caught up.  Anyway…

The Chew always has a topic of the day and back on June 22nd, the topic was three-generational meals. Each of the hosts talked about their favorite generational meals they had as kids and then some of the audience members showed off their own.  And then their special food “correspondent,” Evette Rios and her mother cooked one of their Puerto Rican favorites.

Well, besides being mouthwatering, this show triggered my memory banks as I knew, somewhere in this vast collection, I had a cookbook about generational meals (and really, who doesn’t?) and there it was – Three Generations of Chilean Cuisine.  Ta da!  Of course, finding it in my stacks and stacks of books proved to be challenging as apparently, I moved it from where it had always been to another stack that was more hidden than the other spot.  But find it I did and so the hunt for recipes began.

Now I will disclose to you that while I studied Latin American history in college (as part of my Spanish minor requirements and yes, it was all in Spanish, not English – books and all), we didn’t even come close to touching on the culinary history of Latin America and so revisiting this cookbook, purchased early on in my collecting career, proved to be enlightening.  I mean call me una estupida Americana but I was floored when I saw duck with oranges and goose with spicy mushrooms and cranberry sauce included in the offerings.  It just never occurred to me that Chileans would eat this stuff, perhaps because I hate those two fowls with a passion and wouldn’t eat them on a bet.  Besides, my Latin American history classes focused on the Spanish influence in Latin America (huh, go figure) and I’ve never thought of Spaniards eating a lot of duck or goose, either.  So clearly, some refresher classes are needed (along with a slap upside my own head).

On the other hand, I was not at all surprised to see a recipe for Chilean Bass but that is only because after this cookbook was published (1997), Chilean Bass became an off-the-chart popular item in as many restaurants as could get their hands on it.  This run on bass caused the fish to be overused and overfished and it now borders on being endangered.  Just goes to show that sometimes, it does not pay to be popular

So I was doing my usual hem and haw on what to make and then I went back to the beginning and when I got to soups (sopa) (in Latin America, apparently “crema” is the word we are looking for) and saw this recipe for Avocado Soup, I was in love.  And then when I made it, I was well, besotted?  Is besotted the right word?  I think so.  I was besotted. 

The thing about this recipe is that it is ridiculously easy:  onion, flour, chicken broth and pureed avocado and that’s it.  Four ingredients, five if you count the olive oil used to sautee the onions, six if you include lemon juice to keep the avocado green and there you go.  I could not quit eating it and finally had to force myself to stop already!  And now I’m damned mad that I only made a half a batch as I didn’t want to get too full with the pork.  Estupido!

The cookbook’s author said that she’s eaten this soup at the Pehun Inn in the wild Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia.  And again I have to wonder “was I taking a siesta in history class” because my first thought regarding Patagonia was “snow,” not “avocados.”  But silly me, while that region does include the famous Andes mountains, it is also as topographically varied as any other section of the world—oceans, mountains, valleys –you name it, they have it.  So yes, avocados!

Turning our attention to Puerto Rico, another country we barely touched on in Latin American history class (but at least I’ve been there), we have the pork loin with tangerines…and rum.  Oh yum, that rum!!  I thought this would be a good match with my avocado soup and I was right.  Both dishes were so tasty that it was a run for the roses with my husband to see who finished first.  He won, but only by a half a piece of pork loin.  By the way, when I asked him why he didn’t sample the soup, he said “Oh was I supposed to put that in a separate bowl?”  Apparently, he thought the soup was a type of gravy for the rice.  Well, in the end, they all end up in the same place, right, so it was a cute moment with no harm, no foul (or is that “fowl?”).

While this recipe calls for Puerto Rican rum – and why wouldn’t it? – I have a sizeable stash of Jamaican rum on hand and so used that instead.  I was matron of honor for a good friend at her wedding in Jamaica and let’s just say Andy and I took advantage of duty-free shopping before getting on the plane.  In the end, booze is booze and so I’m not going to start a riot by preferring one over the other but I will say that rum makes this dish.  It’s just enough so that you taste it along with the other ingredients (garlic, tangerine peel, ginger and cloves) but not overpowering.  Nobody likes a drunk, sloppy (but well-fed) cook, do they?

Now like most cooks, I wanted to time everything just right so that I could serve everything at once.  I started my rice cooker going with a side of rice for the pork put the timer on for the pork (30 minutes per pound and I had just over two pounds) and prepared the items for the soup, the soup to be the final thing I made.  Well, sister, I mistimed the pork and it was done way earlier than it should have been and so I scrambled to start the soup while my husband put together the paste that should have been on the pork 40 minutes before finishing.  I told him that at $11.99 a pound, we would eat that pork even if it was rendered to charcoal but in the end, it came out perfectly.  To steady our nerves, we had a sampling of rum while we were on our final steps and this helped a lot.

And so with the Olympic games on the TV, and with bowls (or in Andy’s case, bowl) of soup and pork and rice, we were in for one mighty fine evening.  If I have any regrets, it is that the husband of the same friend whose wedding I was in is not fond of pork.  Bummer, that.  But I’m thinking that maybe this could be adapted to chicken and so I might play around with that because Sheesh was this an excellent “Three-Generational” meal, or what!

Avocado Soup (Crema Quillotana) – serves 6

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons flour

4 cups chicken broth (the author includes a recipe for Chicken Stock – Consome de Ave – on page 64)

2 large avocados

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Salt, to taste

1 pinch fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish

Sauté the onion in oil, add the flour, and stir to cook the flour.  Add the chicken broth.  In a glass or ceramic container, peel and puree the avocados and immediately add the lemon juice to avoid oxidation and browning. (Ann’s note:  I used my Cuisinart for this and it worked just fine.) At the last minute add the avocado puree to the soup and stir well; do not boil. (Boiling causes the avocados to turn dark and lose their taste.)  Add salt to taste and serve hot, garnished with cilantro.

Tangerine Loin of Pork - 8-10 servings

(Ann’s Note:  unless you want to go to the poorhouse on this one, exercise restraint at the grocery store!  And by the way, you might be tempted to use one of those pre-wrapped and ridiculously salty preserved pork tenderloins that cost far less than fresh—but don’t!)

1 4-5 lb loin of pork (Ann’s note:  I used two)

3 cloves garlic

½ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons grated tangerine peel

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

2 tablespoons fresh ginger root, grated

1/3 cup amber rum

Sprinkle loin with salt and pepper.  Roast in oven at 350 until 40 minutes before done.  (Allow 30 minutes per lb. or until internal temperature is 175F.)  Mash garlic with sugar, tangerine peel, ground cloves and ginger.  Add rum to paste.  Rub all over loin, return to oven and continue roasting until done. 

Ann’s Note:  This paste forms the most wonderful sugar crust on the planet. 

"1980 Olympic Games in Moscow - Cookbook and Schedule of Events" - Stir-Fried Chicken

Date I made this recipe:  July 29, 2012 (for the Olympics)

1980 Olympic Games in Moscow – Cookbook and Schedule of Events – Favorite Recipes of Prospective U.S. Participants

Published by:  Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers

© 1979

Recipe:  (Cheeseman’s) Stir-Fried Chicken – p. 62

*Note:  This is one of my longer blog posts but just like the Olympics, it will (likely) only come around every four years so hang in there!

Right then.  So the 2012 Olympics got underway in London on Friday, July 27, with a right smashing Opening Ceremony that included a hilarious James Bond spoof featuring none other than HM, The Queen of England.  That’s right, the Queen of England.  Like most viewers, I must have played that scene back 3 times utterly stunned that it was the Queen, the real Queen and nothing but the Queen.  Who knew that HM had such a sense of humor?  Oh, and Daniel Craig (as James Bond) wasn’t too bad, either. (By the way, in an uncanny coincidence, my community band played music from the James Bond movies as well as John William’s Olympic Spirit this summer.)

So OBVIOUSLY with the Olympics at hand, I needed to find myself an Olympic cookbook, right?  Quite.  Well find it I did in of all places, the charming café/bookstore in my hometown in Michigan – Falling Rock Café – last April and yes, I’ve been holding on to it ever since.  I am nothing if not prepared for the global events!

For those of you who were around in 1980, you might recall that this cookbook is a bit of a head-fake as the Olympic team did not participate in the 1980 Olympics that year.  U.S. tension against the former Soviet Union was already on red-alert when Russia invaded Afghanistan and in response, President Carter decided to cancel our appearance at the games.  (Naturally, the Soviet Union followed suit and canceled its appearance at the 1984 games in Los Angeles and so tit for tat and phooey on all that!)  Let me just say that to this day, I believe this was the wrong decision. Aspiring Olympic athletes devote their whole lives and their bank accounts to make the team and punishing them on behalf of a nation is just wrong – on both sides.

Harrumph.  Any who…so here we are at the 2012 Olympics already and some of the 1980 athletes are now providing commentary on various events, like former swimmer Rowdy Gaines and gymnast Bart Conner.  And since I was a high school swimmer I was all set to make one of Rowdy’s recipes but changed it up at the last minute.  And here’s why:  about the same time that I pulled this cookbook off my shelf as a “must use,” the U.S. observed the 40^th anniversary of Title IX, allowing for equality for women in sports. And again, I can only shake my head and marvel how time flies.  And so I decided that this blog would be better served by a recipe from a female athlete and with that, let’s go “off-road” for a bit to talk about Title IX.

Title IX, enacted in 1972 (I was in 8^th grade) is a portion of the Education Amendment that established, in part, No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.  This applied to about every level of education including, thank goodness, sports.

And to my absolute amazement, my tiny junior high/high school, jumped on the bandwagon and started women’s sports.  I mean, we are talking about class sizes of just over 100 people per class; by contrast, my husband’s high school class was over 600. We probably barely qualified for Class C sports designation but there we were, in it to win it.  So bravo, William G. Mather High School, bravo!  (And yes, I know that the law said we must comply, but there’s “compliance” and then there’s “compliance!).

Well, this prompted me to go back to my yearbooks to track our women’s sports progress.  In 1972, there weren’t any women’s teams but in 1973 (freshman year), a Girls’ Tennis Team started.  A friend of mine joined the team that year and I joined a year later.  By 1974, we added the Girls’ Swim Team although unfortunately, I was sick the day the photo was taken and so you’d never know I was on it.

So a mere year after Title IX, we had ourselves two bona-fide girls’ teams.  By 1975, we added basketball and by 1976, we had a track team.  Not too shabby!  (For the record though, there is no word that sends me flying faster than someone calling me a “girl.” But that’s another story for another day.).

Now, before you pull out your pom-poms, let me just stress to you that equal opportunity to participate in sports did not equal an equal opportunity to get funding or support.  Oh no – in fact, quite the opposite.

The first year I was on the tennis team, we carpooled to our meets.  Yes, carpooled.  We didn’t have uniforms, we didn’t have managers, we barely had a locker room and you should have seen our city tennis courts – two of them, both with blacktop surfaces and set down by Lake Superior so flyaway tennis balls soon became swim-away tennis balls.  Our second team coach (the first coach was a woman), was also the boys’ wrestling coach and never, ever ceased to compare us weakling “girlz” to his he-man boys team.  He let us borrow his team’s warm-up jackets for meets but otherwise we were on our own.  The coach who followed him was a nice guy but I don’t know: is it a good thing to advise high school athletes that if you’re going to drink, drink Scotch?!!  Mind you, I was all for that but it did crack me up. 

As to the swim team, hahahahaha….well, we tried.  The good news was that our school had one of the very first school pools in the Upper Peninsula.  The bad news was that our school’s pool was not regulation and there were always weird drain problems that caused the pool water to turn various shades of green.  And I am not exaggerating at all.  In fact, when I think about swimming in that pool back then for gym class and swim team and lifesaving classes, I about turn green myself.

So anyway, for every one lap we did at a meet in a regulation pool, we had to do double or triple the laps in our pool.  We could not do a flip turn in our pool because the shallow end was truly shallow but we were allowed at meets to do kind of a half turn above water.  (So dorky and embarrassing but there it is!).  Although we got team swimsuits, for some inexplicable reason, we chose green and gold suits (Go Pack Go) even though our school colors were orange and black.  We did not get to use the wrestler’s warm-up jackets and so had a collection of various and sundry sweat shirts at our disposal.

We did not lift weights or do anything that modern athletes do to build strength and endurance and didn’t care.  In fact, and I say this with fondness, our attitude was pretty much cavalier then entire time we were swimming because we always knew we were outnumbered:  all the other schools had bigger pools, bigger staffs, and bigger athletes.  So we swam for fun and in some ways that made the experience all the more enjoyable.

As to funding, well, my first response is “What funding?” All the boys’ sports (football, basketball, etc.) got $10 a day for food; we got $5.  All the boys were properly attired, we were not.  All the boys went to meets by bus – the big kid’s kind – while we were eventually allowed to use a smaller half-bus to go to meets.  There was no booster club, no parental support (seeing as how our meets were during the day so parents could not attend) and very little interest.  I will however, give props to most of the male athletes in our school as they ended up embracing us in their own way and found many of our antics and experiences hilarious.  In fact, and it’s a long story, but my swim team nicknamed me “French Fries” and when the guys found out about that, they called me that as well.  I was never as popular in high school as I was that year.

And so, back we go to the budget-busting Olympics and my, my how times have changed.  While today’s athletes have their own financial struggles, I think they are nothing compared to what we went through.  Olympic teams nowadays have sponsors and endorsements and even, in many cases, professional athletes.  Can you imagine telling any female swimmer today that she gets $5 bucks for food?  No. 

And so I must confess that the times that I’ve heard women whining about being treated as second-class citizens compared to the men’s team, my blood boils.  In fact, I still recall the whining done by several high school girls’ hockey teams a few years back when they weren’t allowed to use the Xcel Energy Center where our professional hockey team plays for their games like the boys’ teams were.  WHAT?!!!  This is where my age is showing:  “In my day young lady, girls weren’t even allowed to play hockey.  We had to drive to our meets in the SNOW and then walk five miles to the arena….” (Actually true story:  my swim team was on its way to a regional meet in a nearby town that required us to drive along Lake Superior in blizzard conditions.  The famous “lake effect” was such that everything was just a sea of white including the white semi that was jackknifed across the highway.  Our bus driver swerved to avoid hitting it at the last second and we ended up in the ditch and had to wait for a bus tow-truck.  So much for that swim meet.  You want to talk about hardship, I’ll talk about hardship!)

So all this brings me back to why I decided to make a recipe from this book for this blog submitted by a female athlete instead of a male athlete, not only to kill two stones (the Olympics and Title IX) at the same time but also to talk about a subject that is near and dear to me.  And so today’s recipe is all about Gwen W. Cheeseman, a 1980 Olympic field hockey player, and her recipe for (Cheeseman’s) Stir-Fried Chicken.  And to really tie it to this year’s London events, the former Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge was a field hockey player back in the day AND the last Olympics were held in Beijing, China and so it’s all good.  Women then, women now – hooray! (I am also happy to report that Gwen made the 1984 Olympic team and her field hockey crew won the bronze that year.  Well done!)

Despite my rants about the early years, I was quite “chuffed,” as the Brits would say to be a part of those high school teams and am glued to the set this year as I am every Olympics (save for the 1980 Olympics), reliving my almost-glory days!  I swam the backstroke for my team (first one in the water at every meet) both in the individual event and the 400 Individual Medley Relay (back, breast, butterfly, freestyle) and also swam the 400 Freestyle Relay, my absolute favorite event and sometimes anchored it.  They were fun times and the thrill of that competition never goes away even though the younger generation is now having all the fun in the pool.  And seeing all these young ladies on the podium?  Well…pass the Kleenex.

  

(Cheeseman’s) Stir-Fried Chicken – serves 4

2 large, whole broiler-fryer chicken breasts, skinned, halved, boned and sliced diagnolly into ¼-inch thick strips

2 tablespoons peanut oil

1 cup thinly sliced celery

1 medium green pepper, cut into think strips

¼ teaspoon ginger

1 pound fresh bean sprouts

1 5-ounce can water chestnuts, drained and sliced

½ pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup raw cashews, halved

1 chicken bouillon cube, or 1 teaspoon instant chicken bouillon

½ cup water

2 teaspoons cornstarch

¼ cup soy sauce

3 cups hot cooked rice

In a wok over high heat, heat peanut oil.  Stir-fry celery, pepper, onion and ginger in oil until tender-crisp, about three minutes.  With slotted spoon, slide vegetables up onto side of wok to keep warm.  To remaining oil, add chicken and stir-fry until meat turns white, about three to five minutes.  Slide vegetables back down and add bean sprouts, water, chestnuts, mushrooms, cashews, bouillon and water.  Blend cornstarch with soy sauce; gradually stir into wok and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is heated through and thickened.  Serve over hot rice.  Serves 4.

Ann’s Note:  for some inexplicable reason, my grocery store was out of bean sprouts and so I used canned.  Do not do this at home!  I might as well have opened a can of La Choy Chop Suey, the taste was that bland.  Live and learn, people, live and learn.