Family Secrets

Ugh, I finally succumbed to post-nasal drip and ended up with a sore throat. Aspirin and gargling Listerine have been the hobby du jour.

In unrelated news, during one of of our chats while my sister was visiting the following exchange took place about kitchen fiascoes (I preface this by saying that recipes - at least the good ones - are rarely written down in my family.):

Sis: . . . Yeah! The last time I made mom's German potato salad I forgot the to put the bacon in!

Me: Dude! That's the best part! How do you forget the bacon?! [Yes, I say, "Dude." It is a reprehensible conversational habit that I have never been able to shake. For the sake of authenticity I expose myself to ridicule. ]

Sis: I know! I took a bite and thought, "This is kind of bland." (boisterous laughter)

Me: Wait, . . . you've got mom's recipe for potato salad?

Sis: Yeah, well sort of, I've got Grandma A's recipe for it. It's pretty simple really you just boil the potatoes . . .

Me: I know that part! What about the vinegar and sugar? I could never get the proportions right.

Sis: [Comments edited to protect family recipe]

Me: Are you sure?

Sis: I think so. I'll check when I get home and let you know.

Me: What about the creamed cabbage? Do you have the recipe for creamed cabbage?

Sis: I think I've seen it.

Me: Damn it! That was my favorite! I love the creamed cabbage! I've looked everywhere for that recipe. There is nothing out there even remotely like it . . . Can I have it?

Sis: Sure.

And so, today my darling, clever, sweet little sister (to whom I am eternally sorry for telling her that the gypsies wouldn't buy her from mom because she was so bad) delivered on the goods. There will be creamed cabbage this weekend! And I will eat it all by myself, and get a stomach ache, and lay about like a beached whale bemoaning my gluttony, and life will be good.

Gluttony Part II

In addition to keeping the streets of our fair city free of crime, my husband is an amazing cook. His specialty is Italian cuisine, so when he asked me what I wanted him to make for my birthday I answered, "Chicken Marsala" without a moment's hesitation. (The careful observer will note that he's armed even while cooking. One never knows when rogue bandidos will attack our kitchen.)

The meal started with a vegetable barley soup. Absolutely divine!

Look! Rogue bandidos attacking our kitchen! They were appeased with slices of ham.

Then we had Italian Chickpea Salad with Red Wine Vinagerette! Mmm, capers and olives!

Mmmmm! Chickeny goodness!

One of the bandidos gave up and decided to go watch TV. This brave soul lingered on.

The cake Big B ordered was supposed to say "Happy Queen's Day," but they forgot the apostrophe. Evidently, they thought we were celebrating the New York borough. Never fear, with pastry sprinkles and a kabob skewer your favorite grammarian saved the day (By the way, please ignore my peasant garb. It was my birthday after all, and if a girl wants to wear her PJs all day she ought to be able to.)

Ta da!


That corner with all the flowers was a 1:1 ratio of cake to icing. I talked a good game when I cut the slice, but ended up scraping it off. No one should eat that much icing.
It was a wonderful meal and my refrigerator is chock full of left overs so I shouldn't have to cook for myself all week. It's the gift that keeps on giving!

The Clever North Wind

Chocolat is one of those movies that I forget how much I enjoy. When it crosses my path, and I sit still long enough to pay attention, it never fails to leave me smiling.

There are so many elements that make it wonderful. To begin with, the cast is marvelous. Juliette Binoche is incandescent, Johnny Depp is at his charming rag-a-muffin best (perhaps the only movie I like him better in is Finding Neverland), and let us not forget the divine Leslie Caron as Madame Audel. She barely has a line, but she eats chocolate so impishly.

The costumes are lovely. Does any one look bad in a cardigan and those flared 50's skirts? And the music! To think how pale life would be, if I had not been introduced to Django Reinhardt and the intoxicating rhythm of Gypsy Jazz. I dare you not to dance.

Chocolat also reminds me why I love to cook. I'm afraid I subscribe to the Mary Poppins School of Crisis Management, which is probably why my waist band keeps expanding and all my pets are overweight. No, food can be miraculous. A dish made with loving sincerity may not fix the world's woes, but it can give a troubled soul the few moments of calm it needs to find a solution. Why I have known a homemade oatmeal cookie to calm the most stressed of law enforcement officers! Never underestimate the power of a homemade cookie.

Jill Sprat and Her Hubby

"Jack Sprat could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
And so betwixt the two of them
They licked the platter clean"

Only in my house it's the wife who can't eat fat. This morning, I discovered that the chicken that I had roasted in the Romertopf had been divvied up into two containers by my husband. One was labeled, "White Meat" and the other, "B's Dark Meat, Fat, Skin, & Connective Tissue." As much as I love him, I almost gagged.

Granted it could be a trick. There could be German chocolate truffles in that box and no power on Earth would persuade me to open it marked as it is.

How about you? What puts you off your feed?

Stupid Groundhog (grumble, grumble)

So, Phil saw his shadow. 6 more weeks of winter. I think there's a conspiracy - darn rodents just want to hibernate longer.

If you're interested in new food combinations this Food Pairing guide should be hours of fun. I'm not suggesting you start your day with a grapefruit and licorice breakfast beverage but it does certainly open your eyes to new possibilities. Salmon baked with a grapefruit, mustard glaze sounds pretty tasty to me.

Almost forgot, I started a painting for that big blank wall . I treated myself to new brushes and beautiful tubes of paint this weekend. I'm a bit rusty but the fingers are starting to remember how to paint.

photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/annemiel/

Chicken Enchiladas

When we were younger, I didn't give much thought to what foods my sister liked or didn't like. I cooked it. If you like it, "Great!" If not . . . enjoy the peanut butter. She shared with me recently that Texas Casserole and Enchiladas were two of her favorites. It's nice to know that she wasn't having to choke down the dreadful stuff her older sister was boiling in the ol' cauldron. So, for patient and tolerant Anna, I give you chicken enchiladas . . .

Whole chicken was on sale last week, so I had to dismember poor Mr. Chicken. I used the dark meat for the enchiladas and used the rest to make soup.

The wings, legs, thighs, and a left over chicken breast go into the crock pot with a can of Rotel and enchilada sauce. Once the meat was done, I pulled it off the bone, put it back in the pot. I added a can of mushrooms, diced onion, minced garlic, cumin, chili powder, and let it cook on low for awhile longer. I did the prep work this past weekend and refrigerated it until I was ready to put it all together.

Yesterday, I warmed the meat up in the microwave and got the rest of my ingredients ready.

Alrighty. Step 1: Warm your corn tortillas. Put a thin layers of olive oil in the skillet and warm the enchilada on each side. You 'll see tiny little bubbles at the edges, but you don't want the body of the tortillas to puff up and harden. I let them drain a bit over the pan before transferring them to a plate. I usually end up using about 12 tortillas.

Step two, rolling the enchilada. I like to start with one edge raised along the side of the pan. Fill with the meat mixture.

Fold the top of the tortilla over the stuffing, sort of tucking the edge under the meat, and then roll it closed.The seam will be on the bottom and hold the enchilada closed.

Start your next tortilla with the top edge over your first enchilada. Again, fold the top edge over the stuffing, tuck and roll.

Keep rolling until you've filled the pan.

If you've got meat left over you can pour it over the enchiladas. If not, just pour another can of enchiladas sauce over top. I added a bit more chili powder.

Sprinkle on cheese. I like a Colby/Monteray Jack mixture.

Bake in a 350 F oven until the cheese melts.

Voila! Chicken enchiladas.
I topped my serving with sour cream and made an avocado salad as a side dish. I would have taken a picture but I brutalized the avocado.

BBQ Sauce

Last summer, we started making our own BBQ sauce because we had run out while grilling, but the results were so good that we stopped buying the pre-made stuff.

I measure nothing; everything is strictly by taste . If I had to guess, I start with about 1/4 - 1/3 cup ketchup and about 1 1/2 cup brown sugar. Quick note: I make no apologies for using ketchup. The end result should be sweet and tangy; ketchup makes a good base.

The liquids: Ketchup, Brown Sugar, Honey, Mustard, Worcestershire. I like a lot of mustard, my husband not so much. Depending on whose making the sauce it could be anywhere from 3 Tblsp. to 1/3 of a cup. Worcestershire: just a couple dashes - it really gives it the tangy flavor, too much will kill the batch or you'll have to add a ton more sugar to get the balance right again.

Spices: Garlic, Onion Powder, Cumin, Chili Powder, Pepper.

And then the special ingredient: 1/2 shot bourbon or whiskey. Our kitchen offers a very nice Glenfiddich.

The results will keep for quite sometime in the fridge. There are lots of substitutions you could make: molasses instead of honey, Amaretto instead of whiskey(or no liquor), or Balsamic vinegar instead of Worcestershire sauce. It's best to start small. You can end up with a bucket of sauce if you have to keep adjusting the ingredients.

Feeding The Troops - A Game Plan

Since my husband moved to the evening shift at the beginning of the year, I have been struggling with the meal situation. I took his advice for awhile and just worried about feeding me, but then he would come home with fast food or eat a protein bar, and my inner Haus Frau couldn't abide that.

This week I've been cooking a meal ahead. Yesterday we had chicken pot pie that I had made the previous evening and tonight we'll have a meal I prepared last night. WARNING: the following dish is not gourmet by any stretch of the imagination, however it is probably one of the first things I learned to cook as a wee girl. My Mom and Auntie used to make this as a quick meal after school. It didn't have a name until I started calling it Texas Casserole (primarily because mother is from Texas and it strikes me as classic cowboy fare.)

So, without further ado, I give you Texas Casserole . . .

Brown & drain about 2 lbs of ground beef (the leaner the better). If you have one, use a cast iron skillet, otherwise you'll have to transfer it to a baking dish.

Add a can of baked beans, a can of corn, about 2 cups of BBQ sauce, a bit of garlic, cumin, and onion powder. I also add a bit of Cajun seasoning (roughly: salt, chili, cayenne, garlic salt, pepper, and a lot of other stuff I can't remember). It is also good with some onions thrown in. Stir.

Top with ready-made biscuits (again, this was created by two teenage girls in the 60's so bear with me).

Bake in a 350 degree oven until the biscuits brown.

Okay, here's the dirty little secret: in mom's original recipe the biscuits were dipped in butter and cornmeal before they were put on the casserole, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Taste-wise it's a bit like Sloppy Joe's, but of course the biscuits soak up the BBQ goodness and they don't fall apart like a hamburger bun.

P.S. Primarily, the reason I documented this nonsense is because it was late and I was tired and I needed something to keep me on task.

Jackpot!

Learn to cook Indian food at Manjula's Kitchen. God bless YouTube.

Cooking Frenzy

I don't know what got into me this weekend; I was in the mood to cook. I tried my hand at Alton Brown's Chocolate Lava cakes. They tasted great but weren't very pretty to look at. I need a little work on my technique.

I also slow cooked chicken with Rotel*, enchilada sauce, pepper, cumin, chili, and minced garlic over night in the crock pot for fajitas. Huge hit, but again not much to photograph.

My last project though, came out of the oven and the hubby declared, "You need to take a picture of that." I made my first challah bread with the recipe from Two Fat Al's. It was delicious and not as hard to make as I remember yeast bread being. It was a bit too dense but I think the wee yeasties didn't get a proper wake up. I'll have to make sure the milk is warmer next time.

*I suspect Rotel is another regional thing 'cause I remember my mother fussing that she couldn't get any at the grocery store when we lived in Florida. I think it is a bit more popular now, but just in case I offer an informative link. My mom swore by it and she makes the *best* enchiladas I have ever had in my life - although I do a pretty good job now too. :)