A Timely Thought About M.F.K. Fisher

My English professor husband Carl is teaching a class next quarter in non-fiction writing that includes food writing, and the first person he thought of was the renowned M.F.K. Fisher. Most foodies know that Fisher was one of the greats — her writings about food qualify her as a gastronome, but, more importantly, they place her in the forefront of distinguished American sociologists, philosophers and — most certainly — essayists.  This article by Krissy Clark for American Public Media <http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/07/19/wolf/#> includes a recipe for Gaspacho [sic] Soup by “Mary Frances,” from Fisher’s 1942 wartime book, “How to Cook a Wolf” — a major treatise in economizing without sacrificing the fun of preparing a meal (it’s clearly apropos for today’s tight times).  OK, I know a cold soup is mid-summer, not mid-winter, fare.  But who cares about dates or seasons when Fisher’s passion for cooking and eating is concerned?  Clark quotes from Fisher’s chapter, “How to be Cheerful Though Starving” [yikes!], about a woman who cooked meals of beach-foraged sea spinach and kelp.  Wrote Fisher: "I doubt very much if anybody but Sue could make it good… But anyone in the world with intelligence and spirit and the knowledge that it must be done, can live with her inspired oblivion to the ugliness of poverty. It is not that she wandered at night hunting for leaves and berries; it is that she cared enough to invite her friends to share them with her."  Krissy Clark ends her article: And so Ferrary and I sat down to a simple lunch of delicious soup… and to the pleasure of each others’ company, which, Fisher reminded us, was the most important part of all.”  That’s the true holiday spirit, I think!

Submitted by Carol Selkin (carol_selkin@sbcglobal.net)

I agree, the true holiday spirit. And I cheer the fact that Fisher — food writing!! —  will be included in Carl’s course. Too many people think of food writing as a frivolous subject. But food is life. And good writing is worthy, whatever its subject matter.

Sweet and Sour Short Ribs of Beef

I love sweet and sour food, especially when it’s cold. And it’s been SO cold here in Connecticut lately that I’ve been whipping up sweet and sour everything. Lots of things, anyway. Like these Sweet and Sour Short Ribs I served last night (with mashed potatoes and cabbage).

I used honey instead of the more traditional brown sugar and added some powdered ginger to give it a little more zip. Both worked really well.

Sweet and Sour Short Ribs of Beef

• 4 pounds boneless short ribs (cut crosswise)
• all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup bottled chili sauce
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Dredge the meat in the flour; shake off the excess. Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a large, deep saute pan over medium heat. Fry the meat, a few pieces at a time, for 3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown. Remove the meat to a plate and set aside. Add the remaining vegetable oil to the pan. Add the onions and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Return the meat to the pan. Pour in the chili sauce, red wine, water, cider vinegar and honey. Add the bay leaf and ginger. Mix the ingredients, spooning the liquid over the meat. Cover the pan, turn heat to very low and cook for about 4 hours or until the meat is tender. Reduce sauce, if desired, by continuing to cook without the cover, for another 30 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 6 servings.

Stir-fried Broccoli with Orange and Chili Peppers

I don’t want to get into a political fight with anyone, but I am in favor of the new school lunch law. I’m glad there is some new focus on healthy eating for kids so we can start somewhere. I look around and see a lot of overweight children, many more than I remember through the years. I hear about the huge increase in childhood diabetes. It’s not good. 

A healthy school lunch 5 days a week won’t change the world. But it’s better than not doing anything and may make kids more interested in some of the foods they might get.

I remember the first time I ever ate broccoli. It was at college. College! In a dorm cafeteria! 

My mother had never made broccoli. It looked interesting so I tried it. I liked it. College broccoli! Imagine that.

So I told my mother about it and when I came home for Thanksgiving that year she served broccoli at our holiday dinner. We’ve been eating it ever since.

Okay, maybe I’m weird because it was broccoli and not some chocolate thing. But what I’m saying is that children of all ages can learn and some may actually like the food they get at school and they may tell their parents about it and their parents might make it and so on and so on. And maybe the world will change a little.

Stir-fried Broccoli with Orange and Chili Peppers

• 1 bunch broccoli

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 cup orange juice

• 2 scallions, chopped

• 2 dry red chili peppers

• 1 large clove garlic, chopped

• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger

• 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil

Clean the broccoli, peel the thick stems and cut the broccoli into bite size pieces. Pour 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil into a wok or stirfry pan over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli and stirfry for 2 minutes. Sprinkle in the salt and pour in the orange juice. Mix the ingredients, cover the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Dish out the broccoli, drain any liquid and set the broccoli aside. Return the pan to the heat and pour in the remaining vegetable oil. Add the scallions, chili peppers, garlic and ginger and stirfry for about one minute. Return the broccoli to the pan and stirfry briefly until the broccoli is heated through. Add the sesame seed oil, stir ingredients and serve.

Makes 4 servings

sprinklefingers: pulling it off.

sprinklefingers:

in less than one week i’m hosting a plated christmas dinner for 10. TEN. each time i’ve been asked if someone can bring something i say, “oh, no. thank you. i’ve got it handled.” and i do. i DO have it handled. but, just between you & me, i’m already a little tired.

i wish i could say that i’ve…

No, you are not crazy.

Or else, I am too.

When you have a passion for something, that’s what you do. It’s more than “pulling it off,” which of course you will do because, I suspect, you are a good and dedicated cook and someone who is generous enough to spend time and talent entertaining others graciously.

But in addition to pulling it off, there’s the gastronomic satisfaction of planning a new menu that works. The creative satisfaction of trying new recipes. The mathematical and logical satisfaction of working out the hows: to cook two things that need different temperatures and times in one oven, when to cook ahead and when not to, when to remove the cold soup from the fridge so it will be the right temperature. The fashion satisfaction of setting a lovely table. And of course, the emotional satisfaction of getting it done, and especially, well done.

It is absolutely enervating. But worth it. I have been entertaining at dinner parties for many years. I have to confess that there have been times when, after I have cooked everything and set the table and finished the flowers and stuff, and there are a few minutes left before my guests arrive, that I wish the evening would end right then and there, because it feels as if everything is over. Like finishing a difficult sodoku or working out a business problem.

But then the company comes and they ooh and aah over the Gougeres or the Pan-Roasted Chicken with Prunes and Port Wine or the Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce and I am revived!

At the end of an evening like this my husband and I used to stay up late and clean the things that needed hand washing. This gave us an opportunity to “debrief” the evening. And it would let us feel the glow for an hour or so longer.

These days we actually let some things wait for morning. It gets more tiring as you get older.

But I will never give this up. And neither should you if you love it. I have years and years of spectacular memories. I am certain that had we eaten a nice dinner in some restaurant we would also have had some wonderful memories of those meals. But it would not be as satisfying as the meals we hosted at home. They were worth all the trouble, time, money and work.

They are some very special deposits in our memory box.

Let me suggest that you keep menus of all your dinners. Make sure you include the wines you served and the dishes you used or even if you had special table decorations.

Good luck with your dinner. Please post so we can read about it! I would love to know the menu.

re: your 12/16 Advocate rib roast article

I’ve been using a similar roast seasoning approach for decades but I suggest the following tweak. It makes things easier and much more convenient for me.

Add a full canister of salt to a large bowl. Press and add all the cloves of a full head of garlic and thoroughly mix until all the lumps are gone. Add paprika until the color is just about that of your site background. Reserve in an airtight container in the freezer until ready to use.

Use as a dry rub on your beef, poultry or lamb and place the meat in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator for a day or two before cooking. The salt will draw moisture from the meat and will permeate well. The rub will keep indefinitely and you only need a few spoonfuls for this ready-to-use, no mess approach.

Obviously, you can modify ad lib as preferred. For example, on a brisket I place a few bay leaves on top of the roast.

Submitted by Reivan Zeleznik (rzlapidary@yahoo.com):

Thanks for your input! I do keep a few homemade rubs on hand for various roasts — never though to do it with rib roast though!

Carving Lesson at Fairway

My daughter Gillian is the carver in our clan. She is awesome and when she carves turkey each slice is perfect. The bones are cut away in exactly the right spot. The skin says crispy and she layers it over the meat, just after spooning some pan juices on the platter to keep the meat moist. 

I can’t remember when Gillian started carving. But it probably had something to with the fact that my father, talented and wonderful in so many ways, couldn’t carve meat and have it come out looking like anything you would want to eat. I can’t even say he butchered the meat because that would be insulting to butchers.

So one day we probably told him Gillian wanted to try her knife skills and that ended his career and began hers.

I wanted to post a photo of Gillian doing her carving but my scanner isn’t working. It’ll have to wait for some other occasion.

And I’d like to invite everyone to come to my house next time Gillian is in town, to learn how to carve a turkey, but I really don’t have the room.

But if you want to now how to carve for your holiday dinner, stop by Fairway in Stamford tomorrow, December 15th. An expert butcher, the master carver himself, Ray Venezia will be there doing the demos (he’s done this on the Rachel Ray show and others so you know this guy knows what he is doing).

The demo starts at 11:00 a.m. Wish I could go but I am not in Stamford tomorrow. So we’ll have to rely on our master carver’s skills for now.

I think Ray will be demonstrating on a leg of lamb, crown roast and rib roast. But better see for yourself.

Plus you can win that holiday dinner I mentioned yesterday.

Ohmyohmyohmy! Just got a note from someone at Fairway that the event where someone can win a holiday dinner isn’t on the 22nd. It’s on the 15th! This Wednesday! Someone sent out a release with an incorrect date.

So, it looks like I won’t win the dinner because I will be away on Wednesday and can’t get to the store that day! SO SAD. I am feeling really competitive. Or maybe I can just taste that rib roast I’ve been wanting!!

Someone else will have to give it a try.

Good luck.

Rib Roast

Followup folks! The dinner I could win at Fairway could be a rib roast! Exactly what I am planning for New Year’s Eve when my cousins Leslie and Neil and my brother Jeff and sister-in-law Eileen come. We have rib roast every new year’s eve. Except when we have rack of lamb.

Of course I could also win Salmon en Croute but Neil wouldn’t eat that, or Turkey, which I could eat any day of the week. (There’s other stuff too but the thought of rib roast is running through my head at the moment specially because it comes with potatoes, squash, green beans, an hors d’oeuvre and a cake). 

I am rambling here because I am very hungry. Time to make dinner.

Mmmm rib roast. Doing an article on rib roast for the newspaper. Here’s how I cook the meat:

Rib Roast

2-3 standing rib of beef

kitchen string

1 tablespoon paprika

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

water, stock or red wine

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Carve the meat from the bone, as close as you can from the bone so that you are left with a boneless roast and L-shaped bones. Tie the meat back onto the bones with kitchen string.

Better yet — get the butcher to do this for you.

Place the paprika, salt, garlic powder and pepper in a small bowl and add enough water, stock or red wine to make a smooth paste the texture of ketchup. Brush the surface of the roast, including the bones, with the paste. Place the roast, bones side down in a roasting pan. Roast for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 degrees. Cook for another 15 minutes per pound or until cooked to degree of desired doneness. For rare, a meat thermometer should read 115 degrees, 125 degrees for medium (the temperature will rise slightly even after you take it out of the oven). Let the roast rest for 15 minutes before you carve it. To carve, remove the strings and place the meat on a carving board to slice. Makes 4-8 servings

Fairway Stamford has been open for about 6 weeks now and I think I should take rooms nearby because I’ve been there so often. Talk about shop till you drop. They just opened their Liquor/Wine Store, so I had to make another trip down (it’s quite a ways from my house) and lucky me — they had the perfect sweet kosher wine I needed to experiment on a recipe for Passover zabaglione I am working on for a future article. 

But I still haven’t been able to get the french fries at the take-out because the lines are too long and I am always in a hurry. That’s good I suppose because I really don’t need the french fries. So I got the vegetable samosas, which are great and, I guess, just as fattening. Oh well. This is holiday weight-gain season. Why would I think I am different than everyone else!

I’m sure I’ll get back to the store before next Wednesday, me being me and always shopping a little at a time even though it isn’t terribly gas efficient. But I read that next Wednesday (December 22nd) they are having an event (I’ll blog more about that if and when I find out more) and anyone, including me, can win an entire holiday dinner. That sounds awfully good when you’re very very busy, which I am. And I have a very positive outlet on this. I have won raffles in the past. I once won a coffee making machine! Another time I won some face powder (so you can imagine how long ago that was).

Wish me luck!

Old Fashioned Minestrone

This is a perfect day to make soup. It’s cold, dark and rainy where I live, the kind of day when you want to stay inside, wear your most comfortable clothes, read a book or watch a movie and know there’s a comforting something simmering on the cooktop. 

I’m going to make Minestrone. The recipe is flexible. I always have fresh carrots, potatoes and celery, frozen peas and corn, canned tomatoes and beans, packages of macaroni and rice and some fresh herbs in the house, but if I don’t have the zucchini I’ll leave it out or substitute broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage. If you don’t have some of the veggies — peas or corn, for example — leave it out and use a different vegetable. The bay leaf isn’t critical. And although I don’t like dried basil, you can use it if that’s all you have (about 1/3 the amount of fresh).

Minestrone

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 carrots cut into 1/2-inch slices

3 stalks celery cut into 1/2-inch slices

2 Yukon Gold or all-purpose potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size chunks

1 zucchini, cut into bite size pieces

1-1/2 cups frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn kernels

28 ounce can Italian style tomatoes, chopped

8 cups stock (vegetable or chicken) or water

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (or 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano)

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 can rinsed and drained canned white beans

1/2 cup white rice or elbow macaroni

freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, carrots, celery, zucchini, peas and corn and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, stock, bay leaf, basil, oregano and some salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pan partially and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the beans and rice or macaroni and cook for another 20 minutes or until the rice or pasta is tender. Serve sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Makes 8 servings