What Does Gourmet Mean?

I once made the horrible mistake of asking my daughter Meredith if she knew what the word “gourmet” meant.

She was about 9 years old then and was at sleep-away camp. That was in the olden days when people still wrote letters. I wrote her a letter and for some reason that I have forgotten I used the word gourmet and asked if she knew what it meant.

She still teases me about it.

She is now a mother of two kids, one who is slightly older than she was when I asked. I would never ask my grandson that question because it’s so obvious he would know the answer. 

What was I thinking?

Of course she knew what gourmet meant. She grew up with a Mom who wrote about food and used a meat hammer and hung ducks from strings near the window to be ready for the Peking Duck we would roast in one of my cooking classes.

But even back then the word gourmet was everywhere. Even more so now. 

If you look in a dictionary you’d find that gourmet means a person who is a connoisseur of good food. Or something elaborately equipped for fine food — like a gourmet kitchen.

Or, in the most usual way — having exotic or high quality ingredients.

Like, for instance the gourmet egg salad at your local bodega, because the cook added some fresh dill. 

Or the local Diner’s grilled cheese sandwich because they make it with cheddar or mozzarella instead of American cheese.

Today you can buy frozen gourmet dinners. You can even buy frozen gourmet low-calorie dinners. Gourmet tuna salad (with shaved baby carrots) at the health food store. Gourmet Veal Piccata at the supermarket takeout.

Frankly, I’m not sure what gourmet means. Some of it seems terribly dumbed down to me.

Can someone please help me? Is food gourmet when you add fresh herbs? When you use sriracha sauce instead of ketchup?

When you cook anything from scratch rather than open up a can or package (as opposed to frozen dinners which, as I have mentioned, is available gourmet)?

What if you add veal and turkey meatballs to Spaghettios?

Or guacamole on top of a hamburger?

Anyway, maybe grilled steak isn’t gourmet. On the other hand, maybe if you marinate it with a ginger and hoisin sauce marinade it is?

Just in case, here is my gourmet recipe for Grilled Skirt or Flank Steak with Ginger-Hoisin Sauce Marinade.

Grilled Skirt/Flank Steak with Ginger-Hoisin Sauce Marinade

1-1/2 to 2 pounds skirt or flank steak

1 cup red wine

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon chili sauce (such as sriracha)

1/2 teaspoon sesame seed oil

salt to taste

Place the meat in a non-reactive dish. Mix together the red wine, olive oil, hoisin sauce, ginger, garlic, chili sauce, sesame seed oil and salt, if desired. Pour over the meat, turn the meat to coat all sides and let marinate for 1-2 hours. Preheat an outdoor grill or oven broiler. Cook the meat 2-3 minutes per side or until cooked to desired doneness. Makes 4 servings

Shavuot and working out are both about cheesecake!

In the old days, if you’re Jewish, and you knew the holiday Shavuot was coming your first food thought would be “YUM. CHEESECAKE.”

Cheesecake and Shavuot go hand in hand. This is a dairy-eating kind of holiday.

Why is not important really. It’s tradition.

But a lot of food writers, like me, try to steer you away and suggest that there are, after all, lots of other dairy foods that you can (and should) eat during the holiday. Not just cheesecake. 

Of course.

But cheesecake is still the number #1 favorite I think.

So, what kind?

I love the plain old, Lindy’s sort of cheesecake. Creamy, smooth, rich. No gloppy fruit on top. The kind that softens on your tongue and melts away inside your mouth in time for the next bite.

I make a darn good cheesecake. But my trainer Robbie, who makes me do millions of pushups and something called mountain climbers and other things called squats in order to work off any cheesecake I may have eaten in between workout sessions, told me his cheesecake is awesome. He’s not Jewish and probably never heard of Shavuot.

He brought a slice along to one of my workouts.

Now, I have to ask — do you think that’s fair????

But I have to say, it was YUMMY. 

I asked for the recipe and here it is.

Whether or not you are Jewish and whether or not you celebrate Shavuot, which starts this year at sundown on June 7th, do make this cheesecake! You can store this in the fridge for days and even freeze the leftovers, if there are any.

Robbie’s Cheesecake

• 4 8-ounce packages cream cheese

• 1/4 pound butter

• 1-1/2 cups sugar

• 1 pint dairy sour cream

• 5 large eggs

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 12-inch springform pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and beat the ingredients until they are smooth and thoroughly blended. Add the sugar and beat until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Add the sour cream and beat until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the cornstarch and vanilla extract and blend them in thoroughly. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan. Place the pan in a larger pan filled with water that comes up one-inch on the sides of the cake pan. Bake for about one hour or until set and lightly browned. Remove the cake pan from the water bath. Let the cake cool on a cake rack. When the cake is cool, refrigerate until well chilled. Remove the sides of the pan and serve.

Makes 12-16 servings

What to cook when it's just me for dinner

My husband won’t be home for dinner tonight so it’s just me. So this can be a delicious night of something that only I like to eat. Or it can be a night of picking tidbits from the fridge and thinking I am eating nothing but actually consuming millions of calories.

My husband Ed likes almost everything I cook, so looking for something he doesn’t like but that I do is nearly impossible. I am not complaining here. His good humor about dinner is a blessing.

But cooking for one shouldn’t be a lonely, burdensome deal. Better for it to be a guilty pleasure of sorts.

Maybe I’ll make meatloaf. Ed hates meatloaf. He always hated it and keeps telling us the story about how his grandmother made meatloaf for him and hid it under the spaghetti, which he did like, so that when he got to the bottom of the pile of pasta, there it was, a slab of beef he had to eat because his grandmother was watching.

His aunt Alice, who was also at the house on occasion would say “Ma, you know Eddie doesn’t like meatloaf!” To which grandma would insist that Eddie did.

When Ed and I were married he made me promise never to make meatloaf. He’s one of the only men I know who really doesn’t like it despite what his grandmother said.

So, because I can’t think of anything else he hates, I guess I’ll make meatloaf because I love it. Especially the next day, cold, on a sandwich with ketchup.

I hate ketchup. But that’s another story for another day.

Meatloaf

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground veal
• 1/2 pound ground turkey
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cup bottled chili sauce, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Set aside to cool. In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs, tomato sauce and water and let soak until all the liquid has been absorbed. Add the beef, veal, turkey, egg, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, salt and pepper and the cooled vegetables. Mix gently but thoroughly to distribute the ingredients evenly. Place the mixture in a loaf pan (or shape the mixture into a large oval and place it in a roasting pan). Bake for 30 minutes. Top with the chili sauce, if desired and bake for another 30 minutes.

Makes 6 servings

Shavuot: More than Cheesecake

Shavuot, which celebrates the giving of the Torah, is also one of the most delicious holidays.

Visions of cheesecake come to mind.

Somehow Shavuot and cheesecake go hand in hand.

Actually it is a “dairy” holiday generally. My grandmother, for instance, made her famous cheese blintzes, and so did a lot of other grandmas. Blintzes are to this day, a go-to dish for Shavuot.

It’s not clear why Shavuot = dairy. It could be because the holiday commemorates the origins of the kosher dietary laws, and one of those laws demands the separation of meat and dairy. But it could also be because in the Torah, Israel is called the land of milk and honey.

Of course anyone can figure out why cheesecake became a favorite. Few desserts are as rich and extravagant and yet so plain and simple.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for something light, but creamy and way less caloric than cheesecake, here’s a recipe for a tasty soup you can serve for the holiday and all summer. You can serve the soup hot or refrigerate it and serve it cold.

Cream of Fennel Soup

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 2 medium onions, chopped

• 1 leek, cleaned and chopped

• 2 bulbs fennel, cleaned and thinly sliced

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 2 medium all-purpose potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

• 3 cups vegetable stock

• 3 cups water

• 1 cup half and half or light cream

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• anise extract, optional, to taste

• chopped fresh parsley for garnish, optional

  Heat the vegetable oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes. Add the fennel and lemon juice and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add the potatoes, stock, water and some salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pan partially and cook for 45 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Puree the soup in a blender or food processor with a hand blender. Return the soup to the pan, add the cream and heat through. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste, plus anise extract to taste if desired. Garnish if desired.

  Makes 6 servings

Does Apple Cider Vinegar Prevent Obesity or Diabetes?

Every once in a while people think that some ingredient or other is a cure-all for warts, lice, pneumonia, cancer and every other disease imaginable. These panaceas, of course, are also perfect for cleaning woodwork and getting rid of your freckles.

So it was good to read this, which is a caution about believing the so-called benefits of apple cider vinegar, which some say can help your body burn fat, lower your cholesterol and help manage diabetes.  

Obesity and diabetes are increasing, that’s for sure, and they are real problems here in the United States (and probably most of the rest of the world right after us). Which makes it all important that we tackle the problem properly and not resort to folk remedies and old wives’ tales that may seem quick and easy.

Major health issues are never cured with anything quick and easy.

On the other hand, apple cider vinegar has been and continues to be a very fine ingredient for recipes. I use it a lot. Like for this rhubarb chutney recipe, which IS quick and easy. You can get good rhubarb now,  so make this mixture and use it as a side relish of sorts for all your grilled meats of summer. You can store it in the fridge for weeks.

Rhubarb Chutney

1 pound rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch slices

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

2-inch cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger

4 whole cloves

2 large shallots, chopped

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup golden raisins

Combine the rhubarb, sugar, apple cider vinegar, cinnamon stick, ginger, cloves, shallots, garlic and raisins in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring the ingredients to a boil over high heat, lower the heat to medium and cook for 12-15 minutes or until the rhubarb and raisins are very tender and the sauce is thick. Refrigerate. Makes about 3 cups

Fairway, Stamford and the Big Apple Circus

Stamfordites — and anyone else nearby — next Wednesday (June 1st) some performers from the Big Apple Circus are coming to the Fairway supermarket on Canal Street for a day of fun. Face painters, jugglers, clowns and strolling performers will be around the entire day, from noon to 10 p.m. 

It’s FREE!

So anyone can come.

Besides, if you shop at Fairway that day you can do some children a BIG favor. Fairway will take 10% of whatever you spend that day and give it toward the purchase of Big Apple Circus tickets for needy kids for June 14th. Mayor Pavia will be the circus’ guest Ringmaster that day, to an audience filled with children from The Boys and Girls Club, Glenbrook Community Center and Mayor’s Youth Service Bureau.

C’mon down!!

Tequila-Lime Marinated Skirt Steak

I’ve been thinking “vegetarian” all week and this weekend my kids are coming for the Memorial Day holiday and they love “vegetarian” but I am thinking “grill” and “meat.” It’s like some food-magazine-newspaper spirit is whispering in my ear that Memorial Day means grilled meat, as if it were as sacrosanct as the Thanksgiving turkey.

My two sons-in-law sometimes kid me because I serve a lot of meat when they come. I can’t help myself. It’s something I learned from my mother and mother-in-law who would always serve dozens of different dishes so everyone would be happy when we all got together. So I figure that because they don’t eat meat much at home they probably want some here.

It’s not rational so I can’t really explain this. All I know is the meat is mostly gone when we’re done eating. Maybe this weekend I’ll try this recipe:

Tequila-Lime Marinated Skirt Steak

3 tablespoons tequila

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons grated lime peel

3 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1 small chili pepper (jalapeno or serrano), deseeded and finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1-1/2 pounds skirt steak

Mix the tequila, olive oil, lime peel, lime juice, cilantro, chili pepper, garlic and salt and pepper to taste in a dish large enough to hold the meat. Add the meat, turn it to coat both sides. Let marinate in the mixture for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Preheat an outdoor grill (oven broiler or grill pan). Remove the meat from the marinade and grill for 2-3 minutes per side. Makes 4 servings

Friday Reads; The Finkler Question

fridayreads:

Happy Friday! If you reblog and share what you’re reading with us, you could win a copy of SOMETHING FOR NOTHING by David Anthony from Algonquin Books! 

What are you reading?

I’m reading The Finkler Question, by Howard Jacobson. It’s about 3 men who spend an evening reminiscing, then one gets mugged and it changes everything. 

Shiitake Mushroom and Blue Cheese Frittata

I’m still thinking about vegetarian food. It is National Vegetarian Week after all and I have already confessed that I am a meat-eater generally. There is no chance I’ll go off meat forever. Just that every once in a while I get sick of it and the same old same old grilled chicken or turkey breast or broiled fish or pot roast.

My husband is like that too and I am very fortunate that he eats whatever I cook, mostly without complaint, so I am lucky his food mood will willingly follow mine.

When we don’t feel like eating meat one of our go-to dinners is frittata or some other kind of egg dish, with a salad on the side. The avocados lately have been so absolutely buttery and wonderful that I have been serving them (just sprinkled with a little olive oil and lemon juice) with everything. So this week we’ll have another avocado salad, to which I will add tomatoes if they look any good. And we’ll have an egg dish like this one:

Shiitake Mushroom and Blue Cheese Frittata

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups cut up fresh shiitake mushrooms

8 large eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons milk

2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

1/2 cup dry curd cottage cheese, pot cheese or ricotta

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven broiler with the rack about 6 inches from the heat. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and mushrooms and cook for 2-3 minutes or until softened. Dish out and set aside. Mix the eggs, milk and parsley in a bowl. Heat the butter in a saute pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, return the vegetables to the pan. Scatter the blue cheese and cottage cheese on top. Pour in the egg mixture and turn the heat to low. Stir once or twice, then cook undisturbed for about 8 minutes or until the bottom has set and is golden brown. Place the pan under the broiler for up to a minute or until the frittata is puffed, golden and crispy on top. Seasoned to taste with freshly ground black pepper. Makes 4 servings

Chocolate Mousse

It doesn’t matter what the date is or whether it’s summer yet or not. The seasons have officially changed in my house. I know just by what I do. Like last night when I emptied the leftover cold coffee into a container instead of dumping it into the sink. It’s a signal to me that when I need a coffee burst in the afternoon I can go to the fridge and make myself an iced coffee.

Which I realize I can drink anytime of the year but somehow only do it starting somewhere near June and ending around mid-October. 

Why don’t I save coffee all year? I should. I think about waste a lot, as anyone who reads this blog knows. And cold coffee is so useful! Coffee shakes. Chocolate sauce. Mocha anything. Marinades for beef (together with herbs and red wine). Flavor enhancer for chili. Pot roast braising liquid. Tiramisu ladyfinger soaking liquid.

You can also pour some into ice cube trays or small plastic containers and freeze for future use. Say, for example, for this recipe:

Chocolate Mousse

1/2 pound semisweet chocolate

3 tablespoons cold coffee

2 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 large egg whites

ladyfingers or spongecake, optional

whipped cream garnish, optional

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water. Remove the top an from the bottom pan and add the coffee to the melted chocolate. Whisk vigorously to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Whisk in the egg yolks and confectioner’s sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream until thick. Fold thoroughly into the chocolate mixture. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold into the chocolate mixture. Spoon into 8 dessert dishes or into a larger dessert dish or springform mold, plain or lined with thin slices of spongecake or with ladyfingers.  Makes 8 servings