A couple of years ago, my sister and I had dinner at a very nice restaurant in Nova Scotia. With our drinks came a small dish of salted almonds, which I thought was the classiest thing I'd ever seen. hen and there, I decided small dishes were exactly what my supper table needed for an upscale look. Of course, my "little dishes" run more along the line of baby carrots, which are really grown-up carrots downsized, and tortilla chips, which I'll get to in a minute. When my sister visits, I add a little dish of the Kalamata olives she loves, and when my son is here, I make sure a bottle of hot sauce is within easy reach. I keep an assortment of salsas in the fridge for my daughter, and when we're feeling flush, I put out a dish of cashews.
On
an ordinary night, I do the carrots and my husband does the chips,
which is his idea of helping get supper on the table. Before we fill
our little dishes, I'm in the kitchen cooking and he's in his sitting
room meditating — clearing his head and relaxing his body. If I'm
trying a new recipe or have more than three pots going on top of the
stove, I am more than a little frazzled. My husband, sensing I'm "in a
mood" knows that asking, "Is everything all right?" would only make
things worse. But he also knows my favorite chips are the folded ones
and the ones I'm really crazy about look like the sides are practically
hugging each other. He says, "I found a folded one for you" and it
usually works like a charm — all it takes to clear the air in our
kitchen is a folded corn chip.
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As a food editor we get a fair amount of food samples in the mail. Most recently we got some new juice in called Naked Bare Breeze, which comes in a variety of flavors. Great was the consensus—particularly for the Peach Mangosteen Bliss variety. The juices contain real fruit and no added sugar and have a hefty dose of vitamins, but the real pay off is the flavor. The Watermelon Chill variety tastes just like the fruit and has watermelon juice as the third ingredient. Pick one up and give it a try.
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The highlight of my day is lunch, which tells you something
about my life. On a good day, I can manage to put it off until around
three, which means while my husband is eating lunch at noon, I'm having
a "midmorning" cup of coffee. By the time I finish lunch, it's almost
time to start dinner, so afternoons have sort of slipped out of my
life.
You would think the reason for late lunch could be
that it's very complicated and needs hours to cook, like veal Orloff or
braised lamb shanks with exotic mushrooms and white beans. The thing
of it is my lunch is usually a piece of toast, a slice of cheese and a
couple of pieces of tomato. In other words, it's an ordinary open-face
sandwich that could come out of a cookbook for beginning cooks — like
children.
Occasionally someone wants to meet for lunch. I
try not to sound wimpish by saying how nice it would be to have coffee,
but that's pretty much what I say. If I want to be expansive, I throw
in "and a muffin." The truth is, I cannot bring myself to admit I'm in
a lunch rut I can't seem to pull out of.
I have no idea why this lunch issue has become such a big deal. It's not even my favorite meal. That would be breakfast, but that's another story.
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Want to do you part to end hunger in America and clean out your
pantry at the same time? Here’s how. On May 10, gather together a
collection of nonperishable food—canned soup, meats, fish, juices,
vegetables and fruits; boxed goods (such as cereal); and bags or boxes
of pasta and rice—and leave the bag wherever your letter carrier
normally leaves your mail. The nation’s 230,000 letter carriers will
collect these donations in more than 10,000 communities and deliver
them to food banks and other hunger relief organizations. Last year,
they collected more than 70 million pounds of food. For more
information, go to the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive's website.
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In addition to the usual ways I use the fork — splitting English muffins, getting bagels of out the toaster and poking vegetables to see if they’re done — it’s perfect for what the drug industry calls “off-label use.” For instance, I just made a turkey meatloaf and used the fork to stab open the turkey package and to lift the plastic strip off the bread crumb container. I know some people use forks as cake testers, but that’s where I draw the line. That’s what toothpicks and broom straws are for.
Whenever my husband hears me say, “We have a serious situation,” he knows the fork is missing. All cooking goes on hold and we have the equivalent of an all-points bulletin. We start by looking in the drawer where it’s supposed to be but never is, under the cutting board and in the dish drain. I’ve never put it in the dishwasher, but in my kitchen, you never know. I’ve even gone through the garbage and the bucket we keep in the sink for compost.
So far, it’s always turned up and the relief I feel makes me realize how important a good fork is in my kitchen.
When it comes to kitchen tools, I don’t need much. In fact I don’t need much of a kitchen. For one short year in my life I had my dream kitchen, complete with granite counter tops, a Viking range and double Thermador ovens--then we sold the house. So at this point, it does indeed feel like a dream. Now I have a decent space with a scratch and dent gas range, a standard oven and a couple of 40-year-old cabinets. But really it’s OK; I find cooking doesn’t require grand appliances, only a love of the art. The same goes for kitchen tools and gadgets—in my book, the less the better. But there are in fact some items I can’t be without in the kitchen. You will notice that most of them take up little or no counter space--because of course I never really have any.
AR+COOK rubber spatula--as featured in the May issue.
Mexican Hand Juicer—for getting the most juice out of a lime for the least price.
Garlic Press—my favorite is the (Swiss made) susi metal press that I’ve had for over 15 years.
Panini Press—which elevates a sandwich into a meal and the kids love it. Mine is an inexpensive one from Target by Breadman.
Metal Scraper--scoops up chopped onions, carrots and the like, for easy transport into the skillet or bowl.
Whisk—a must have for obvious reasons.
Tongs—I love the rubber tipped ones with the lock at the end by OXO. Perfect for dishing up pasta, flipping chicken on the grill and serving salad.
Chef’s knife—I like Henckels or Wusthof, but any good, sharp 8” chef’s knife will do.
Wooden cutting board—maybe I’m old fashioned but the acrylic cutting boards don’t work for me.
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This past weekend I made, hands down, the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. The family agreed. It was a real triumph for me because I have a hard time making plain, simple food. It’s not that I like things complicated and fussy, but I do like them interesting. My daughter’s battle cry is, “please Mom no green stuff in it.” Which means no fresh parsley or basil, and only cilantro in select cases, such as guacamole. But back to the cake. I decided to make a plain classic chocolate layer cake (sans the chocolate ganache or mousse or whatever) because a) it was my son’s first communion and that’s what he requested and b) my Dad was in town and is crazy for chocolate, and not much else. The recipe came from a book I plan to use often—Debra Ponzek’s the Family Kitchen. Everything just looks so tasty and sounds so appealing and straightforward. Here’s the recipe. Oh, a caveat, the procedure is a bit unorthodox for a cake, it’s more like a biscuit procedure, but it worked like a charm, and who knows may be the key to its success. I used a bit less sugar in the frosting, so use 4 cups if you like a super sweet frosting.
Great Aunt Lotties’s Homestyle Chocolate Cake
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1/1/2 cups sugar
4 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/1/2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup Crisco
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ cups strong, hot brewed coffee
2 large eggs,
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
Homestyle Chocolate Frosting
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 8 or 9-inch cake pans. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add the shortening and butter and with the mixer on low speed, mix until the mixture has the consistency of cornmeal (yes, it really does).
2. In a large glass bowl, stir the baking soda into the coffee. This will foam. Increase the mixer’s speed to medium and add the coffee to the batter. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.
3. Divide batter evenly between cake pans. Bake for about 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Frost.
4. To prepare frosting, beat cream cheese on medium speed until creamy. Add cocoa and sugar, mix well. Add vanilla and milk, if frosting is too thick. Chill frosting until ready to use. I stored the cake (for all of the 12 hours it lasted) in the refrigerator.
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Move over Flintstones -- there's a new jelly glass in town.
Braswell's of Georgia produces dozens of jams, jellies, fruit butters, syrups and preserves, and now the company's "select" grade preserves are available in old-fashioned (13-ounce) and highball (15-ounce) glasses. The glasses are lovely indeed, but better yet are the preserves: Fig, Seedless Black Raspberry, Blueberry, Peach-Apricot, Tart Cherry and Balsamic Sweet Onion (among many others). For ordering information, go to Braswell's website.
Grilled Goat Cheese with Fig Preserves
Here's a wonderful serving suggestion for Fig Preserves from Braswell.
Spread 1 side of each of 8 baguette slices with butter. Turn over 4 slices and spread with goat cheese and fig preserves. Top with remaining baguette slices, buttered sides up. Heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Cook sandwiches pressing occasionally, until both sides are golden brown is cheese is melted.
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In my search for the answer, I came across an essay by British author George Orwell (1903-1950). His 11-point system for making tea will steer you through the perfect cup no matter what you serve it in.
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Silence of the Songbirds (HarperCollins Canada, 2007) explores the causes of songbird decline, including the heavy use of pesticides on food crops in the birds' winter feeding grounds of Latin and South America.
If you're in the D.C. area on April 24, stop by the Bird Fest 2008 at the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park where Sturchbury will present "Migratory Songbirds: Canaries in the Mine?" and be available to sign her book. RSVP is required for attendance.
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