"The Sinatra Celebrity Cookbook" - Rova and Ernie Borgnine's Pevronatta a la Borgnine (ragu of sausage and peppers on pasta)

Date I made this recipe:  February 24, 2013 (Academy Award night)

The Sinatra Celebrity Cookbook – Barbara, Frank & Friends by The Affiliates Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center at Eisenhower Medical Center Rancho Mirage, CA

Published by:  The Affiliates Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center at Eisenhower Medical Center Rancho Mirage, CA

© 1996

Recipe:  Tova and Ernie Borgnine’s Pevronatta a la Borgnine (Pasta with Peppers) – p. 166

Tonight is Oscar night and if you’ll forgive me, I just have to sing the “Oscar Song” from TV’s The Odd Couple.  Ready?  “Once there was a man named Oscar.  Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.  And he turned on his best friend. Oscar, Oscar, Oscar. Oscar.  Oscar.  Aw-ah-ah-ah!”  Thanks, folks, I’m here all week….  (For those of you who are TV buffs, this is a song sung by Felix Unger, the biggest neat-freak on the planet, played actor by Tony Randall, to the biggest slob on the planet, Oscar Madison, played by Jack Klugman.  Both actors also stared in many films; Jack is best known for his role as a juror in 12 Angry Men.)

At any rate, I couldn’t resist an opportunity to sing that “song” and if you want to relive the hilarious moment, you can find it on YouTube under “Oscar Song Odd Couple” or under “Felix the Calypso Singer.”  Priceless.

So this, of course, put me in the mood to pull out a cookbook by another singer, one possibly just a tich more famous than Felix Unger – Frank Sinatra.  (But by the by, actor Tony Randall was also a very good singer.)  Frank and his wife, Barbara, filled this book with recipes from their celebrity friends – actors, singers, songwriters and even politicians.

Many of you may not know that in addition to being one of the most famous and memorable singers in history, “Ol Blue Eyes”/”Chairman of the Board” also acted and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the film, From Here to Eternity, starring Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr (The King and I), Donna Reed and countless others.  Set in Hawaii during WWII, this story showcases of all things, boxing and an Army company’s boxing tournament.  Naturally, there has to be some sex and women thrown in for good measure and so enter Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed!  Deborah ends up having an affair with Burt Lancaster and the movie’s sexy scene involving the two of them kissing on a beach in the surf in Hawaii (and yes, there is a real “From Here to Eternity” beach and I’ve been there) set people’s hair on fire when the movie came out (1953) and from that point on, I don’t think people cared a fig about the boxing portion of our program.  Honestly – people were shocked to see Deborah Kerr in that hussy role and weren’t too thrilled about wholesome Donna Reed’s It’s a Wonderful Life’s role as a prostitute, either.  Now of course, everything is far game and a scene like the beach one gets a “yawn” – maybe. (By the by, in the movie, Deborah Kerr was married to Captain Dana Holmes played by actor Phil Ober.  In real life, Phil Ober was married to actress Vivian Vance who played Ethel Mertz opposite Lucille Ball’s Lucy Ricardo on I Love Lucy.)

Frank’s role was that of Angelo Maggio, a company boxer. Frank was nominated for and won Best Supporting Actor for this movie and Donna Reed won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Alma, the prostitute.  Hollywood does indeed love its down-and-out characters.

Frank’s other film roles ran the gamut from tense (Manchurian Candidate) to twinkle toes (Guys and Dolls in which Marlon Brandon co-stared in a singing role.  Yes, singing role).  And between his acting, singing and Viva Los Vegas, Baby lounge acts, he managed to meet just about everybody including fellow actor, Ernest (Ernie) Borgnine, who just passed away this year.  While many of you may remember him from McHale’s Navy, the Poseidon Adventure and yes, he was even in From Here to Eternity, I fell in love with him in the movie, Marty.  Ernie won the Academy Award for that role, beating out his friend, Frank Sinatra, who was nominated for his role in the movie, The Man With the Golden Arm.  It’s kind of scary, isn’t it, how all these roles and actors connect?

When I looked through this book, I was looking for someone who, if they hadn’t won an Oscar, was a movie actor.  Many qualified (some, like politicians, didn’t) but Ernie and his wife Tova, beat out the other contenders because I liked him and because I liked this recipe.

Ernie – born Ermes Effron Borgnino – used a slightly different variation on the Italian word, perperonata for this recipe but the dish’s result is the same:  it’s a dish of sautéed peppers, onions and in this case, sweet Italian sausage and ground sirloin.  It is very rich and hearty and good.  But be warned, the full recipe, serving 4-6, calls for 10 green peppers.  I made half the recipe and used only a little green pepper (not my favorite) and had a lot left over. 

I got this dish done just in time for the Oscars telecast and that was a good thing because I didn’t want to miss out on seeing who took the golden guy home this year.  I am sadly behind on viewing new movies but pride myself on having a decent DVD library of the old classics starting our friends Frank and Ernie and more!

Pevronatta a la Borginine (Pasta with Peppers) – serves 4 to 6 (Note, I made half the recipe)

4 cloves garlic

Olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

10 green bell peppers, diced

1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casing removed

1 to 1 ½ pounds ground sirloin

Chopped parsley or parsley flakes to taste

½ pound mushroom, sliced

1 (16 ounce) jar Italian-seasoned tomato sauce

1 cup red wine

1 (16 ounce) package pasta (Ann’s Note:  choose a pasta like Rigatoni or Penne that can hold up to a heavier sauce)

Sauté garlic in oil in skillet.  Add onion and cook until lightly browned.  Stir in bell pepper and cook, turning frequently, until softened.  In separate skillet, sauté sausage and beef, stirring to crumble, until cooked and no longer red in center. Combine meat mixture with sautéed vegetables.  Add parsley, mushrooms and tomato sauce to meat mixture.  Stir in red wine.  Simmer for 20 minutes.

While sauce is cooking, prepare pasta according to package directions.  Drain well.  Serve sauce over pasta.  Serves 4 to 6.

Chicken wings or drummettes can be substituted for sausage and beef.

"Venus in the Kitchen" - Chicken and Rice (for Valentine's Day)

Date I made this recipe:  February 14, 2013 (Valentine’s Day)

Venus in the Kitchen or Love’s Cookery Book by Pilaff Bay;  edited by Norman Douglas; Introduction by Graham Greene

Published by:  Bloomsbury

© 1952; Bloomsbury edition © 2002

Recipe:  Chicken and Rice – p. 101

Folks, I had no idea until I looked at the calendar how fun-filled and action-packed the first part of February was.  First we had Groundhog’s Day, a day that came and went without much fanfare from me (because winter will end when winter ends and not because a groundhog said so).  Chinese New Year was on February 10^th but we hosted a party for my mother-in-law’s 85^th birthday that day and I was too tired to cook (although I may observe the day belatedly – we’ll see). Fat Tuesday signaling the start of Lent (and Mardi Gras) came and went because I was busy on Tuesday and so that left Valentine’s Day.  Exhausting, no?

And so to the bookshelves I went to find something to make that day that didn’t need 85 hours of scheduled kitchen time and that turned out to be harder than I imagined.  I couldn’t find a chocolate cookbook (Yes, I know, it renders one speechless), and couldn’t quite find a romantic cookbook either, until I looked up from my computer and saw, several shelves up, this book, Venus in the Kitchen.

So you’re probably thinking what I thought, right:  Ta Da!  How perfect can this be?  Well let’s say less than perfect – final answer.  Because kids, in my entire life I have never seen a cookbook full of what I call “rude food” i.e. stuff that I just can’t imagine eating and will not in fact eat – ever.  And here’s a sampling:  “Eel Soup;” “Hare Soup;” “Puree of Game (What???);” some more eel dishes (what the hell is that all about?); “Sparrows’ Brain (if that doesn’t say “rude food” I don’t know what does) and – I kid you not – “Sucking-Pig with Eel.”  Please explain to me how any of this crap constitutes a romantic dinner because I’m not seeing it. 

So I thought “Well, there’s always dessert, right?” Wrong.  Oh-so-wrong.  “Fritters of Elder-Flower” was ruled out immediately as was “Marmalade of Carnations.”  Let me repeat that:  “Marmalade of Carnations.”  Folks, flowers for Valentine’s Day reside in a vase and not in a dish. Cooks may grow flowers and florists may cook but never the twain should meet. (For whatever reason, I could not get the image of a goat, likely with the name “Daisy” wearing a hat munching her way through a neighbor’s flower garden but perhaps it is because I watch way too much retro TV.)

At any rate, I had almost given up on ever using this book when I found the recipe for Chicken and Rice and heaved a sigh of relief that it didn’t appear to contain any weird ingredients and was not named something I’d expect from the show Little Shop of Horrors.  Well, that relief didn’t last long.

Now, it’s not that the recipe was bad, it just wasn’t that good and I do believe it was because it was just too simple when it came to the ingredients, not that carnations or some cactus flower would have enhanced it but….Seasoning of any type was lacking save for a bit of salt and paprika, vegetables were on the boring side – onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms - and the rice got way too mushy.  And, as is sadly becoming usual and customary, the instructions were somewhat unclear.  Actually, that’s not true:  the directions were simple enough but were written in such a way that I had to read them over several times and in the end still felt like I was missing something, specifically a clear picture of what this dish should look like at the end of the cooking time.  What I got was akin to soup but the recipe sounded like it should have been more of a casserole when all was said and done.  Oh well.  So here’s what I did to “save” it for the left-over circuit:  I shredded the chicken and added it to the mushy rice broth and then will throw in a few spices to kick it up a notch ala Emil Lagasse! 

Luckily, my man was not expecting a gourmet masterpiece and that was good, and I placated him further by buying him a box of really wonderful gourmet chocolates from a local Twin Cities’ business, Chocolate Celeste (www.chocolateceleste.com), as a Valentine’s Day treat. We had a quiet night, watched a bit of TV and that was that.  Studies have shown that married couples tend to stay in and make dinner leaving the hooting and hollering to the youngsters and that is exactly what we did.  You’re welcome.

Chicken and Rice – serving size not given but I used roughly 3 pounds of chicken

1 young chicken, cut in quarters (approximately 3 pounds)

¼ pound bacon or ham, chopped

2 large onions, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, diced

Sliced mushrooms (no amount given)

½ pound rice

Salt

1 tsp paprika

Enough broth or water to cover (But note:  the recipe says to cover “everything,” apparently referring to everything but the chicken.  This was confusing – see below)

Grated parmesan cheese

Cut in quarters a young chicken, season with salt and pepper, and leave them apart.  Put on the fire a casserole with a quarter of a pound of chopped ham or bacon.  When this is of a golden color, put on the top two large onions sliced in rings, two sliced carrots, the same amount of celery cut in small pieces, and some sliced mushrooms.  On the top of these put half a pound of rice, season with salt and a teaspoon of paprika, add enough broth or water to cover everything, and place now on the top the chicken.  (Ann’s Note:  This sentence just did not make much sense to me.  It says to layer the veggies and rice then add enough water to cover them and then put the (heavy) chicken on top of that.  Explain to me, then, why covering up all the ingredients with water instead of just the veggies doesn’t make sense given that the chicken sank into the water!!)

Put the cover on the saucepan and let it simmer slowly for about an hour. 

Shake the casserole from time to time, but do not stir.  (Ann’s Note:  Warning - one hour of simmering = ½ pound of mushy rice. Sigh.)

Serve hot with grated Parmesan cheese.

"San Francisco Firehouse Favorites" - (Super Bowl) Chili Beans

Date I made this recipe:  Sunday, February 3, 2013 – Super Bowl Sunday

San Francisco Firehouse Favorites – Great Recipes by the Bay City’s Famous Firemen Chefs by Tony Calvello, Bruce Harlow, Georgia Sackett & Shirley Sarvis

Published by:  Bonanza Books

© 1965

Recipe:  Chili Beans – p. 142

Well, it’s Super Bowl Sunday and you know what that means, right?  Chili!!!!  (Or Mexican—you should have seen the Mexican food ingredients flying off my grocery store’s shelves.)

This year’s Super Bowl game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers was played in New Orleans, a city with phenomenal food, and so I thought about splitting the difference and featuring foods from the host city instead of one of the team cities.  And yet the books and recipes in my collection featuring New Orleans food were a little highbrow for a football game.  I mean come on, Oyster’s Rockefeller?  No.  Crawfish?  Not in these parts.  And so I scrapped those books for now, reserving them for an event more suited to New Orleans food – Mardi Gras!

So with Plan B in place, I set out to find suitable food from either Baltimore or San Francisco and even that proved to be a challenge until I unearthed this San Francisco Firehouse Favorites from the back of a shelf.  And right there, just when I needed it the most, was a recipe for Chili Beans.  (I was rather bummed it wasn’t Five-Alarm Chili to fit in better with a fire-fighter theme but beggars can’t be choosers).

Now truth be told, I only favored slightly the 49ers for this game but only by a smidgen.  The 49’ers beat my beloved Green Bay Packers to advance to the next round of the playoffs and so that did not make me happy BUT they are part of the NFC Conference and so I suppose I should be loyal to my own conference, right?

On the other hand…the Baltimore Ravens (or Baltimore “Raisins” as one friend’s 7 year-old dubbed them) beat the Evil Empire a/k/a the New England Patriots, the team I love to hate the most to get to the Super Bowl.  For that alone, I salute them.  But I wasn’t sure I could root for them seeing as how they represent the AFC and all and so when the San Francisco cookbook landed in my lap, there it stayed.

Still, I have to tell you that I (and my brother) am a very superstitious football viewer and I felt like I was almost asking for it by favoring one city’s food over another.  And sure enough, San Francisco was in danger of being embarrassed when the third quarter score was Baltimore 28, 49’ers 6.  The 49’ers looked a mess.  My chili clearly was the cause. Oh Lord, what had I done, what had I done?

And then

The lights went out in the Superdome (not to be confused with The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, a popular song in the 70’s and most certainly not with The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band – yes, the band’s name is The Band.).  For 35 minutes, players sat on the sidelines, did warm-ups and just generally hung out while Superdome workers and the electric company scrambled to get everyone out of the heart of darkness.  The danged thing, of course, was that commercial ad sponsors thought that – and this is so silly, really – the game would be going on during that 35 minute period and so nobody bought ad time and so there was nothing to watch except the non-game.  This was bad but no use crying about it now.  In case you were unaware, two brothers ended up as the head coach of each of these teams, and conspiracy theorists posited that the San Francisco coach, Jim Harbaugh, “arranged” for the power outage to give his team a chance against his brother, John’s team, the Ravens.  Huh. As far as conspiracy theories go, this is not a bad one because...

…The 49ers took this downtime as an opportunity to get their mojo back and once power was restored, scored touchdown after touchdown until – can you believe it – they pulled within 3 of the Ravens.  Well, this was beyond exciting, folks!  BUT as these things go, the 49ers failed to score in the final minute or so which meant that they failed to go ahead of the Ravens which meant that they lost the game. 

But the chili was saved!

And speaking of saving, there is no job more admired in American than fire (or police) and these brave men and women know a whole lot more about saving things than I do.  This book, San Francisco Firehouse Favorites, is enhanced by black and white photos of men (in 1965, it was all men, all the time) in action, putting out fires.  Way too cool for school if you ask me!  (As are the “retro” fire trucks pictured in the book).  These photos remind me of my hometown’s volunteer fire department.  Every 4^th of July, the fire station divides into teams for a water fight in the middle of what we consider to be our Main Street.  It was a 4^th of July tradition dating back to when I was a kid  and it continues today, as does the sounding of the 9:00 fire alarm signaling curfew for young girls and boys -  talk about retro!

Although this chili will not set off any fire alarms, it was darned good but the instructions were a little off.  Instruction one was to cook the beans for 3 hours and this makes sense as you don’t want to break a tooth on a hard bean.  Instruction number two was to cook the chili for 3 more hours (or until beans are tender) and this didn’t make any sense at all.  I don’t want to break a tooth but neither do I want overly-mushy beans.  I think my total elapsed time was about 4 hours or so and that made everything just right.

As to ingredients, I have to admit that “stewed tomatoes” threw me for a loop when I got to the canned vegetable shelves because there were about a million different brands!  (Okay, slight exaggeration.)  When I was a kid, stewed tomatoes were just tomatoes that had been cooked a long time but I guess somewhere along the way, the recipe got all “fancy” because now they come with onions and celery and peppers.  Figuring that a few more ingredients couldn’t hurt, I added a can to my cart.

The “red chili sauce” proved to be a harder nut to crack because I wasn’t sure what it was.  Once again, grocery has grown up right before my very eyes because there were all kinds of variations of a red chili sauce, not one of which was the right size or the right level of heat (which is to say “none!”) for my recipe.  You may recall I mentioned earlier that Mexican food items were flying off the shelves while I was shopping and the chili sauce aisle was decimated.  So I improvised and bought a small can of red tomato sauce and then added cumin and Mexican oregano and garlic and a few more things I had on hand to try to approximate what I failed to purchase.  I think the result was okay but you should probably go with the real deal if you can.  And I’d suggest you not make this recipe on either Super Bowl Sunday or Cinco de Mayo because you’re gonna be in big trouble at the checkout when the item you want is not on the shelf.

And finally, remember that just like the ocean, one should not turn one’s back on a stovetop, especially when cooking greasy items like ground chuck.  Not that I did but fire safety is fire safety folks! 

So to recap Super Bowl XLVII, otherwise known as Super Bowl 47 (I hate when they use Roman Numerals; it messes with my head because I can never remember what the hell “L” stands for):  the Ravens were poised for a near blow-out over the 49ers when the lights went out, not in Georgia.  Meanwhile, back at the chili ranch, Ann started cooking the beans that took three hours to make.  The lights came back on, Ann added the additional chili ingredients, San Francisco started to pull even with the Ravens, Ann checked the chili to make sure the beans were not burning (cook responsibly, people), many commercials were aired after the lights came back on but not during since nobody planned on there being a 35 minutes outage (except maybe the 49ers coach), San Francisco had a chance to pull ahead with minutes left but they didn’t, and San Francisco’s coach was all mad and was yelling for the refs to call “holding” (“was it holding or was it not holding?”) and it was not holding and Ann served her chili, added some cheese (because it’s chili after all), the 49ers lost, the brothers shook hands, the parents were a mess (I mean where DO your loyalties lie at a time like this), the Super Bowl ended, I went back to watching a Law & Order marathon, cleaned my kitchen and called it a day and we are now enjoying leftovers of our San Francisco chili.  Amen.

See you next year!

Chili Beans – makes 8 servings – recipe from Charlie Radford, Engine Company No. 32

1 pound (about 2 cups) dry pinto beans

Water

1 pound ground chuck

1 large onion, chopped

1 small can (1 pound) stewed tomatoes

1 small can (10 ounces) red chili sauce

¼ cup vinegar (Ann’s Note:  It doesn’t say what kind to use so I went with “white” vinegar)

1 tablespoon chili powder

Dash of liquid hot pepper seasoning

Salt and pepper

Cover beans with cold water, cover, bring to a boil, then simmer for 3 hours.  (Add water if necessary.)  In a frying pan, slowly brown ground beef and when crumbly, add onion, and sauté until limp; add to beans along with remaining ingredients except for salt and pepper.  Cover and simmer for three hours or until beans are tender and liquid cooked down to consistency desired.  (Ann’s Note:  three more hours will incinerate your beans, necessitating a call to the fire department.  Don’t do that.  Check after another half hour to an hour then serve.)  (Cook uncovered if necessary to reduce liquid).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  (Some people like me, like to add cheese and maybe even some sour cream.  It’s the Super Bowl – go for broke!)

"Beth Merriman's Cookbook...From Soup to Nuts" - Winter Soup

Date I made this recipe:  January 30, 2013

Beth Merriman’s Cookbook…From Soup to Nuts – Published in Association with Parade Magazine

Published by:  Grosset & Dunlap

© 1968

Recipe:  Winter Soup – p. 9

Whew – saved by the bell!  It’s a rare event for me to cook something every week during a given month but I did it, sneaking in this recipe on the next to last day of January.  I am so proud.

These days, these long winter days, my sole purpose in life is to stay warm.  January weather in Minnesota has been a yo-yo:  one day, we’re at 35 degrees, the next day we are at 5.  This pattern has continued for the entire month and it is driving me crazy.  The only solution is to adapt my cooking to the weather and so, dear reader, last night I made soup to combat our latest cold spell.  That said you have no idea how tempting it was to make “Frosted Meat Loaf” instead of soup but since the book’s title is From Soup to Nuts, I thought I should stay on track. 

Beth Merriman, a 20+ year columnist for Parade Magazine, also wrote The Fondue Cookbook, The Fondue Party Cookbook (is there a difference??!), The Anytime, Anywhere Barbecue Book and The Home Kebob Cookbook:  the Complete Guide to Kebobs From Main Dishes to Dessert.  I do believe I need to get my hands on that kebob book, if for no other reason than the title makes me laugh. 

The thing that I appreciated most about this cookbook is that it doesn’t contain any “weird” food like tripe or pig’s feet, something I’ve been seeing all too often as of late.  Instead, it features the basics like roasts, meatloaf, soups, sandwiches, casseroles, etc.  One of my favorite recipe titles, besides the Frosted Meat Loaf (and just so we’re clear, the “frosting” is mashed potatoes), and Buckaroo Short Ribs is Hootenanny Sandwiches – peanut butter, cream cheese, deviled ham, pickle relish and bread.  The ingredients earn an “ugh” from me (peanut butter and deviled ham????) but the title is indeed a “hoot!”  Side note:  years ago, I was browsing in a bookstore and saw this vintage paperback titled Hootenanny Nurse, published in 1964, that I just had.to.have.  The title alone was worth a snort but the cover photo is hilarious – there’s a nurse in her “dress whites” leaning on a wall watching a doctor in his “dress whites” playing a guitar!  I did not care one whit that it wasn’t a cookbook.  To see the cover and a description of the book, click on this link:  http://vintagenurseromancenovels.blogspot.com/2011/12/hootenanny-nurse.html.  My favorite line from this book has to be (as seen on this blog):  “Julie walked as fast as she dared down the hall, pressed the elevator button, and hoped on the brief ride that she still had a bit of lipstick on.” Julie, I couldn’t agree more about the lipstick and in fact stress about it all the time.

One final note:  When I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, my library’s shelves were filled with every variation of “nurse” story you could get your hands on:  School Nurse, Ski-Slope Nurse,  Jungle Nurse – you name it, we read it.  Back then, women became nurses, teachers or secretaries – all good professions but thank goodness women have branched out.

Anyway…this soup is really good (and just loaded with antioxidants and vitamin C) but it does take a while to make.  The meat has to simmer for 2 hours, then you add most of the ingredients and cook for another 1 1/4 hours and then add the final ingredients and cook for another 15 minutes.  Had I not started this dish at 3:00, we’d be having it for breakfast.  On the other hand, the fact that I could simmer and ignore it for hours at a time meant that I could work on reviewing a commercial lease for a client; multi-tasking is a great thing!

My one little itty-bitty gripe about this recipe, as usual, is my need for specificity with ingredients, instructions or both.  This recipe calls for 1 can tomatoes and okay, fine, but what kind?  Whole?  Diced?  Stewed?  And then should I drain the can?  Not drain the can?  I hate when this happens.  I decided to buy diced tomatoes, pour off only the top liquid and add them to the soup and it was fine (but do add the kidney beans undrained as directed).

So, while you are at home waiting for the spring thaw…in about 3 months…make this soup and get comfy.

Winter Soup – makes 8 to 10 servings

2 quarts water

1 medium onion, quartered

1 tablespoon salt

¼ teaspoon coarse black pepper

1 ½ lbs beef chuck (Ann’s Note:  I used beef stew meat)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium onion, sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 cups shredded cabbage

2 cups sliced carrots

1 can (1 lb) tomatoes (Ann’s Note: I used diced)

1 can (1 lb) kidney beans, undrained

¼ teaspoon oregano

½ cup pastina (Ann’s Note:  pastina is star-shaped pasta.  If you cannot find that, then use a small macaroni for this soup.  I used alphabets!)

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Combine water, quartered onion, salt, pepper and beef in deep kettle.  Bring to boil; lower heat; simmer 2 hours.  Remove beef; strain stock; measure; add water to make 2 ½ quarts.  Dice beef.  Heat oil in skillet; add sliced onion, garlic, parsley, and celery; cook 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently.  Return diced meat to stock; add contents of skillet, cabbage, carrots and tomatoes.  Cover; simmer 1 ¼ hours.  Add kidney beans, oregano and pastina.  Cook 15 minutes longer, or until pastina is tender.  Stir in cheese; mix well.  Serve at once.

 **I purchased this book at Kaleidoscope Books in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Fun store - check it out if you are in the neighborhood:  200 N. 4th Avenue. (The world-famous Zingerman's Delicatessen is nearby.)

2013 Inauguration Dinners in two parts: "The White House Chef Cookbook" & "Secrets of the White House Kitchens"

Date I made these recipes:  January 21, 2013 – Inauguration Day

The White House Chef Cookbook by Rene Verdon

Published by:  Doubleday & Company, Inc.

© 1967

Recipe:  Shrimp Napoli – p. 102

Secrets from the White House Kitchens – A Celebration of Foods Enjoyed at The White House & the People Who Lived There by John R. Hanny

Published by:  LaMarque Publications

ISBN:  978-0-9829293-0-8

Recipe:  Turkey Hash – p. 32

You would think that after what appeared to be the longest election cycle ever for the office of President of the United States, that I would then keep track of the Inauguration, right?  Wrong.  I am ashamed to say I almost blew it and that would have been sad because I’d have to wait four more years to get to use my two White House cookbooks.

Let me set the stage:  the week before the Inauguration, I attended a Continuing Legal Education Class (CLE) on the topic of how corporate counsel (i.e. lead attorney for the company) should deal with social media in the workplace.  The class was one hour long but it could be one minute and I’d still be chaffing at the bit to get out of there.  I liken these classes to detention:  you sit and doodle and crack your gum and hum a few tunes then after an hour, the principal lets you go home or at least out to play with all your friends.  Sadly, all attorneys everywhere are required to take a certain number of credit hours within a specified period (in Minnesota, it’s 45 hours in 3 years) and so off I went to do my time.

Although the topic sounded interesting (some don’t sound interesting at all and those are the ones to avoid), our class did not get off to a good start.  The moderator introduced four panelists, two of whom work on employment law issues involving the use of social media at work by employees and two worked on corporate website use and issues (also involving social media).  The moderator said that questions were encouraged and by God, right out of the gate, a fellow class attendee, let’s call her “Wanda,” shot her hand in the air and we were off and running.  Wanda was an older lady (you can be older than dirt but if you are still practicing law, you need the credit hours) and I think Wanda was confused about the topic and therefore in the wrong room.  Her first question to the panel was really a statement:  “Don’t employees know that their employment is at-will (i.e. at the will of the employer)?”

Huh?  Wanda, dear, you know this is a class about SOCIAL MEDIA, right?  So what the heck does at-will employment have to do with social media?  (Answer:  nothing).  The panel looked stunned.  Wanda asked her question again.  The moderator said “Would anyone like to take a stab at the question?”  One panelist replied “I’m not sure I understand the question.”  (She was not alone there!).  Wanda said “Employment is at-will, right?”  “Ye…essssss????,” said our still-confused panelist.

Apparently, that was all Wanda wanted to know because she appeared to be satisfied with that answer.  Sadly though, this was not the last we heard from Wanda.  Question two was another brain-bender:  “Why are people using social media at work?  Don’t they know they are supposed to be working?”  Wanda, don’t let anyone tell you that you are not the sharpest tool in the shed because you are.  I’m here to tell you.

Actually, what I wanted to do was throw something at Wanda.  She must have asked at least six more questions in that hour’s time, none of them related to the topic at hand.  Now, I want to tell you that the rush to the exit at these CLE’s is usually pretty strong  but this time around, when that hour was up we had ourselves a stampede!  (And I had myself one credit toward my total but sheesh, what I had to put up with!).

You’re probably wondering what the heck this has to do with anything (kind of like Wanda’s questions) and so I’ll tell you.  I got very bored and brought out my calendar, thinking, as I am wont to do, of what to make that weekend and to see if there were any “themes” I could use.  So I flipped through it and saw that we were approaching Valentine’s Day and Groundhog’s Day and….Martin Luther King’s Birthday.

And this is how I remembered that Obama’s Inauguration was being held on MLK’s birthday this year – ta da!!!  So thank you, Wanda, for allowing me to become so tired of you that I checked my calendar and got today’s theme, Inauguration food, using two of my White House cookbooks.

Let’s start our White House tour with the first book I pulled off the shelf:  The White House Chef Cookbook by Rene Verdon, chef to the Kennedy family who also spent some years cooking for LBJ as well.  Some of you will recall that Jackie Kennedy was very fond of France and French cooking and when she and Jack moved into the place, it was French food, all day, every day.  Actually, while the cookbook is loaded with French food, there are a fair number of recipes from other cultures represented that seemed to have snuck in there – Mon Dieu!

This cookbook was loaded with so many potentially good recipes that it took me a while to choose something.  I finally decided that Shrimp Napoli was what I was looking for and my husband concurred.  But I still had to find a recipe from the second White House book on my list:  Secrets from the White House Kitchens.

This book, written by food consultant to the presidents, John R. Hanny, starts with recipes from FDR’s administration and ends with a few from the Obama 1 administration (Obama 2’s administration started today – January 21, 2013).  As a history fan, I greatly enjoyed seeing food trends and so allow me to give you a sample of recipes from each administration:

FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) – Martha Washington’s Crab Soup; Scotch Broth; Oyster-Stuffed Chicken and the recipe that I made – Turkey Hash

Harry Truman – Macaroni and Cheese; Tuna and Noodle Casserole (love.it.); meat loaf and I need to make this some day – Grape and Lemon Jell-O Mold

Dwight D. Eisenhower – Quail Hash; Chipped Beef in Mushroom Sauce (the proverbial and often hated Army dinner); Gettysburg Beef Stew and Brownies

JFK (John Fitzgerald Kennedy) – Pate of Duck; Consomme Julienne; Cod Chowder; Veal Chausser; Boston Baked Beans

LBJ (Lyndon Baines Johnson) – Broiled Doves; Pedernales River Chili; Roasted Suckling Pig; Pork and Corn Bread Ring; Chess Pie

Richard M. Nixon – Crab Meat in Canape Shells; Pompano (fish) en Papillote (Paper Bag); Sweetsbreads en Brochette; Herbed Cottage Cheese Salad

Gerald R. Ford – French Fried Deviled Eggs; Lobster Thermidor; Ruby Red Grapefruit Chicken; Indian Pudding

Jimmy Carter – Mexican Menudo Soup; Deviled Pig’s Feet; Sweet and Sour Meatballs; Hush Puppies; Seafood Salad

Ronald Regan – Hamburger Soup; Osso Bucco; Roast Beef Hash; Paella a la Valenciana; Crème Anglaise au Kirsch

George Herbert Walker Bush – Roast Pheasant with Brandy and Cream; Sherried Quail Casserole; Onion and Cheese Pie; White House Muffins

Bill Clinton – Shrimp Fried Rice; Lobster Figaro; Cheese and Chili Burgers; Pizza Sandwich; Candied Baked Apples

George W. Bush – Baked Potato Soup; Pressed Duck; Boston Codfish Balls; Cowboy Cookies

Barack Obama – Cheese Puffs; Guacamole; Chicken Soup with Avgolemono Sauce; Roast Pork with Dumplings and Sour Cabbage (and not one danged dessert)

Some observations:  FDR came from a wealthy family and yet his fare, along with Harry Truman’s and Dwight Eisenhower’s is pretty conventional.  That might be due in part to them having survived the Great Depression. Eisenhower’s food was pretty no-nonsense and one would expect that from a Five-Star General who spent a vast majority of his adult life engaged in battle. (Since I love history, I just had to Wiki Eisenhower and then five-star general and it’s fascinating.  Check it out!)

As you would expect with a French chef in the White House, JFK’s was a lot fancier and yet he also added a lot of simple (and beloved) recipes from his home state of Massachusetts.  LBJ seemed to stay true to his Texas roots but Richard Nixon started ramping it up a bit on the fancy food side as did Gerald Ford; we started seeing a lot more lobster dishes on the menu after Nixon took office.

Carter’s food was a mix of regional and “fancy,” as was Regan’s although I have to tell you that the first recipe on the list for Regan, Hamburger Soup, surprised me.  I did not see that coming.  I might have made the Hamburger Soup if not for one thing:  hominy.  I’ve eaten it and don’t like it and if I don’t like it, I will not make it.  At any rate, this recipe was pretty simple fare for a president who gave many people the impression that he and Nancy were living the high life in the White House.  Some of you may recall the White House china “scandal” that erupted when Nancy Regan decided to swap out the White House china with a new pattern of her own.  Apparently this china was paid for by private contributions but that hardly helped the public relations team dealing with the outcry.

By the time we got to the last four presidents, Bush I and II, Clinton and Obama, we saw a lot more personal favorites and a lot more regional food on the menu, perhaps because each president felt more comfortable asking for this food than his predecessor.  Today’s White House chefs also have a much larger culinary repertoire than before to appeal to the tastes of the First Family as well as visiting dignitaries.   My impression of the White House chef of old was that he (now a “she” by the way) was not someone to be messed with but today’s presidents (in actuality, the First Ladies do the majority of the menu planning - still) want what they want when they want it and so they get it.  Did you want to be the one to say no to former President Bill Clinton when he asked for a Tabasco Burger?  I didn’t think so!

So as to today’s recipe selections, once I set my mind on the Shrimp Napoli, then I needed to find something from the Secrets from the White House Kitchens book and that was no easy task.  As I said to my husband, “We’re going to have a hard time pairing something with the shrimp,” and I was right.  Just when I decided the heck with it, just make two completely different dishes, we reviewed the book one more time and Andy suggested the hash and it was a great idea.  Both recipes were similar in nature (one had shrimp, one had turkey), the preparation was about the same, the texture was about the same and neither had spices that would clash with the other.  Perfect!  We enjoyed these recipes and you will, too.

Shrimp Napoli (4 to 6 servings)

6 tablespoons of butter

3 tablespoon olive oil

½ cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 ½ cups raw rice

¾ cup white wine

2 ½ cups boiling Chicken Broth (this book contains the recipe for chicken broth but I used stuff I had on hand and just heated it until it…boiled!)

1 pound raw shrimp, shelled and deveined

1 ½ teaspoons salt

Pepper to taste

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat 4 tablespoons of butter and the oil in a heavy casserole.  Add the onion and cook until shiny.  Add the garlic and the rice and cook till the rice just starts to take on color.  Add wine and cook over medium heat until wine is absorbed.

Add one-half of the broth and cover.  Cook gently for 15 minutes without stirring.  Add the shrimp, salt, pepper, cayenne, pepper and remaining broth.  Stir lightly with a fork.  Cover.  Simmer until rice is tender.  Stir in cheese and remaining butter.  Serve immediately.

Turkey Hash – serves 6 (Author’s note:  Good recipe for Thanksgiving leftovers)

3 cups diced cooked turkey

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

½ cup heavy cream (Ann’s Note:  use 1 cup – I’ll tell you why below)

½ cup soft bread crumbs

½ cup chopped green pepper

½ cup chopped onion

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

½ teaspoon ground sage

½ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in the saucepan, blend in flour and cream and stir until thickened.  (As I noted above, you’ll want to use a full cup of cream.  When I added the ½ cup the recipe called for, the cream was absorbed immediately into the flour and started to ball up—which is fine if you are making cream puffs, but not so fine if you are making a sauce.  The additional ½ cup of cream will give you the sauce you are looking for.)

Add the turkey and all other ingredients except the remaining butter.  Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet and add the turkey mixture.  Saute uncovered for 25 minutes.  If desired, brown the top of the hash under the broiler before serving.

Ann’s Note:  What you end up with is more like a Thanksgiving stuffing than a hash but that’s okay, it’s the taste that counts.

"The Art of Danish Cooking" - Yellow Pea Soup

Date I made this recipe:  January 12, 2012

The Art of Danish Cooking by Nika Standen Hazelton

Published by:  Doubleday & Company Inc.

© 1964

Recipe:  Yellow Pea Soup – p. 50-51

In mid-December, my eyeglass shop (a very cool shop, by the way), Specs Optical (2204 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis) held a private party to showcase glass frames produced by Danish company, Lindberg.  I tell you what, folks these guys aren’t fooling around when it comes to glass frames as they are all made with gold, platinum and diamonds.  They were so pretty and so delicate and so cool, I can’t even tell you.  And believe it or not, they were “reasonably” priced given the materials that go into the frame. 

Specs Optical’s owner, John Oliva, had the right idea when he decided to serve Danish food to complement these Danish designs and so he found these two adorable sisters who specialize in Danish food and before you could say (or spell) “smorgasbord,” we were eating ourselves silly with their lovely repast.  John said that they were very specific about how the smorgasbord was laid out:  first you have your bread coated with butter, then your herrings (as in plural), then you had your open-faced sandwiches with thinly shaved pork roast, then your sandwiches with vegetables and cheese and then your nuts and cranberries and your Danish cookies.  Dang, that food was good and I was inspired.

And so it’s time for true confessions:  I attempted to make this soup right before Christmas but it didn’t work.  The reason, I suspect, is that the salt pork I had in my freezer was too old.  The soup didn’t smell rancid per se (not that I have experience smelling rancid food) but it didn’t smell good, either.  And so I threw it out rather than risk food poisoning.  My mother would have been so proud.  (And I also opened the windows in the kitchen – in late December – to get rid of “that smell.”)

Given that Christmas was around the corner, I waited to make this dish again as we had too much food stuff going on. Then I almost made it the week that my Green Bay Packers played the Minnesota Vikings but decided against it for perhaps the oddest (to you) of reasons:  Denmark is part of Scandinavia, Scandinavia is the home of the Vikings and ergo it would have jinxed my Packers to make food from the opposing team’s “turf.”  Yes, Virginia, this is how I rationalize many of my cookbook and recipe decisions!  

Here’s what I know about Denmark (and it ain’t much):  It snows there; they are taller than other ethnic groups (an uncle by marriage was Danish and was very tall as are his kids and his siblings and nieces and nephews); Shakespeare’s Hamlet was the Prince of Denmark (“To be, or not to be…”); their modern-day crown prince, Frederick is rather cute but alas, is married with four kids (this includes a set of twins) and so there goes that opportunity for me to be a princess; and there is a statue of Hans Christian Andersen (author of The Emperor’s New Clothes; Thumbelina, The Little Mermaid, etc.) in Copenhagen.  This concludes what I know about Denmark.

As to the recipe, I have made many a pea soup in my day but never with yellow split peas.  I can’t say as I noticed any discernable difference but that is just me.  I will say that the second batch was much, much better than the first – hooray! 

This recipe calls for salt pork and also says if the salt pork is too salty to soak it for a bit.  Directions like this always make me laugh because how would I know if the salt pork was too salty, hmmm?  I’m certainly not going to lick it or worse, eat it raw! So I did not soak it and although the meat itself was too salty for my taste (so I didn’t add it to the soup), the soup itself was right on point.  Go figure. (By the way, what do they mean “IF the salt pork is too salty?  If it’s called “salt pork” shouldn’t it be salty?  Is this a trick question?) Also, I can’t say as I liked the Vienna sausages as they were too squishy but I wasn’t about to go on a hunt for the Danish sausages that were deemed acceptable substitutes.  I ended up picking the sausage out of the soup and made a mental note to self not to use them again.  Other than coming in a cute, small can, I am not sure what they bring to the food world and don’t need another go-round to find out!

Here then is the yellow pea soup that I did not make right after a Danish party or for a Packers-Vikings game as it is not a good thing to give your opponent the edge.  (Result?  The Packers won!)

Yellow Pea Soup (serving size not given).  Note that the recipe notes say that the meats are served separately, with pickled beets, a good sharp mustard, dark rye bread and butter and ice-cold snaps and beer.  But that’s just a suggestion: in this house, we put the meat in the bowl along with the soup and lived to tell about it.

1 ½ cups yellow split peas

1 quart water (Ann’s Note:  I added more than one quart otherwise you will end up with burned and dry peas by the time you are done)

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound streaky bacon or salt pork in one piece

1 peeled and diced celery root or 1 cup chopped celery

3 sliced leeks or 1 cup green onion tops

6 cups water

3 sliced carrots

3 medium-sized potatoes, diced

1 large onion, chopped

1 pound Danish Canadian-style bacon or Canadian bacon, cut into ¼-inch slices

1 4-ounce can Danish or other Vienna sausages, drained

Combine split peas, water and salt.  Bring to a boil and simmer until tender and very soft – about 1 ½ to 2 hours.  Skim off pea skins as they float to the top.  Force through a sieve or a food mill or puree in blender.  Place bacon or salt pork in a large saucepan.  (If salt pork is very salty, soak in cold water for 30 minutes to 1 hour before using.)  Add celery and leeks or green onion tops.  Add water.  Cover and simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until meat is tender.  Add carrots, potatoes and onion.  Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender.  Remove bacon or salt pork.  Cut into slices.  Skim fat from broth or chill in refrigerator, remove fat, and reheat.  Stir pea puree into broth.  If necessary, add additional water until soup is the consistency of thick cream.  Add sliced Canadian bacon and Vienna sausages cut into ½-inch pieces.  Heat soup to the boiling point.  Simmer 5 minutes.  Remove Canadian bacon and serve slices with the slices of bacon or salt pork.  Serve soup separately.