Caesar Salad ala Janina

Croutons:
One small loaf of crusty bread cut into 1" cubes. Toss with olive oil and toast for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with kosher (or sea) salt.

Lettuce:
One large head of Romaine lettuce. (Do not use packaged lettuce ... it often has an aftertaste.) Trimmed of darkest leaf ends, washed well and spun dry. Chop into bite sized pieces.

Dressing:
       1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
       2 tablespoons good mayonnaise
       1 teaspoon anchovy paste (if not using chopped up anchovies)
       1/2 cup good olive oil
       2 dashes of Tabasco sauce
       1 crushed large garlic clove
       1 tablespoon salt

Parmesan cheese:
       Grate a good half cup of fresh good real Parmesan cheese

Dress the lettuce with about half the dressing and cheese (and, if desired, 3 or 4 chopped-up anchovies). Just before serving add more dressing, cheese, and croutons. Toss well.

Bon Appetit!

Jeanette’s Famous Pulled Pork

This is a great party treat … serves at least ten hungry folks.

For the meat: Get one 5-7 pound pork shoulder (with the bone in). Put it in an oven bag along with 1½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 2 tablespoons flour. Shake it to cover and add a good splash of water. Bake in a slow oven (250-300 degrees) for about 4 hours. When fully cooked, remove and let it cool. Then pull all the meat off the bone into shreds, discarding bone and any gristle only … not the fat.

For the BBQ sauce: sauté in a large stainless steel or enameled pot (important, do not use aluminum!), in one cup of canola oil, one chopped large onion and two minced garlic cloves until wilted. Add one cup ketchup, one cup water, one cup good cider vinegar, one cup of white wine, one cup dark brown sugar, 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce, one cup good prepared brown mustard, one tablespoon thyme, one teaspoon liquid smoke (optional, depending on where you are from), 3 tablespoons of salt, 8 grinds of black pepper, and the juice of one lemon. Bring BBQ sauce to a boil then reduce to a simmer.

Add the pulled pork to the sauce and simmer, partially covered for about one hour.

Serve with lots of big hard rolls (Northerners) or big soft rolls (Southerners,) a large bowl of coleslaw (in my mind, a must, to be put on the pulled pork) and the hot sauce of your choice (Tabasco or Frank’s) … and, of course, all the other party goodies like potato salad, french fries, and/or baked beans (including mucho ice-cold beer ... try "Presidente" from Puerto Rico). Enjoy ya’ll!

Vinaigrette

I don’t remember where I learned this one, but it never fails to bring raves.  I've had to give this simple recipe to numerous friends.

Put a large pinch of kosher salt in the bottom of a wooden bowl. Slice up one large or two small cloves of garlic and place on top of the salt. Use a hefty and narrow-tonged fork or even a mortar to crush the garlic well into the salt … making into a paste. Add a good dollop of Dijon mustard and the juice of one-half a juicy lemon (or all the juice of a not-so-juicy lemon). I also like to add a big splash of good red-wine vinegar now. Mix it well with a fork adding about 3 or 4 turns of a pepper mill. If you must add an herb, try chervil ... about 1/2 a tablespoon.  Next drizzle in about 4 or more tablespoons of good extra-virgin olive oil, mixing all the while with the fork to create a creamy emulsion.

The actual salad contents can vary greatly, but how about a package of mesclun-mix greens, a bunch of halved cherry or grape tomatoes and three sliced-up scallions? And maybe even some crumbled up blue cheese?

DOH!

Yesterday, I had a "DOH" moment and I would like to share it to show that all us cooks get goofy sometimes.  I spoiled a wonderful pot of onion soup by not following the recipe carefully.  I was salivating as I again tried to duplicate Julia Child's great recipe for onion soup (Mastering the Art of French Cooking, page 43).  I bought all the ingredients and cleaned and cut up a large leek (a small digression), six large yellow onions, a few garlic cloves (another improvisation) and was sauteing them in butter and olive oil in a large Le Creuset pot.  Now, I noticed that Julia calls for adding three tablespoons of flour after the onions are well cooked down.  I cut this critical corner and added the flour near the beginning of the process.  Needless to say, the flour burned and, not only spoiled the soup, but I had to spend almost an hour cleaning the Le Creuset pot.  (It's still not perfect.)

The moral is -- sometime, but not always, recipes mean what they say.  (Perhaps critical steps need to be in bold type?)

Cyetta’s Superb Spinach Salad

Anytime we have a gathering of friends and Cyetta asks what she can bring, I always request this superb salad:

First the most delicious salad dressing (Makes about one quart of dressing. Can be cut by ½ or 2/3rds. Remainder can be stored for months in the refrigerator.)

Ingredients:
1 cup ketchup
1 cup salad oil (canola oil is good)
2/3 cup good sharp cider vinegar
2/3 cup sugar
1 small onion or shallot, grated (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp celery seeds (Cyetta's choice, but I substitute poppy seeds)
½ tsp paprika
Juice of 1 lemon
1 minced garlic clove (or equivalent in garlic powder)
A pinch of dry mustard
½ tsp Worcester sauce

Shake all these ingredients together in jar of sufficient size.

Use this dressing on a salad made from a package of baby spinach, a good amount of crumbled fried or broiled bacon (at least 1/2 a pound), a small cold can of Mandarin orange sections (or cold navel orange sections), and toasted slivered almonds. (The almonds can be toasted in the bacon grease … but are optional.)

Gazpacho

When the farm stands are full of large ripe tomatoes (and their price is beginning to come back down to earth), this is the time for gazpacho soup. I can make a few quarts of it and, as my wife will surely testify, eat the entire batch myself. In fact, I will sometimes sneak out of bed late at night to raid the refrigerator’s last few bowls of it … climbing back under the sheets reeking of garlic.

Gazpacho is a fairly simple and flexible recipe. Start by peeling, coring, and chopping about five large, dead-ripe tomatoes. Put them in a large stainless steel bowl. You may de-seed them or not depending on your taste. (I don’t.) Next peel, de-seed (I do), and chop two large cucumbers. Add them to the bowl. Then de-seed and chop two large Italian peppers … add them. If you can’t find Italian peppers, use Bell peppers, but be sure to peel them first. Clean and chop a large Bermuda (preferred), Vidalia, or red onion. Add it. Then mince at least five large garlic cloves and add them. Finally, include a handful of fresh chopped Italian parsley. (At this point you might save a good cupful of these chopped vegetables to add as a garnish to the top of the served soup.  I usually don't however.) 

Then, process all these vegetables in a blender until just a little chunky, adding some V8 juice, if necessary, to get the blending going … placing the results in a large, pretty serving bowl. You’re almost done but for a few more steps: Add a large handful of fresh Italian bread crumbs, the juice of one large lemon, a tablespoon of good wine (or Balsamic) vinegar, about a quarter cup of extra-virgin olive oil, a palm-full of kosher salt, five turns of a pepper mill, and about ten good squirts of Tabasco sauce. If the result is too thick, add some more V8 juice until it is the consistence you desire. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate, covered, overnight. If you don’t cover this, everything else in there will pick up a garlic flavor.

Serve well chilled (with garnishes, if desired) as a first course for about six people (or just one, me.)

Spaghetti American

By now most foodies know how to make spaghetti the highly stylized and sublimely tasty way that Italians religiously do. I also love it this way. But here I am going to offer an Americanized version. Just as imported bees have “Africanized” our native docile breed, so there is a version of spaghetti that we Americans have morphed out of the original Italian import. I will give you my interpretation here.

As per my recipe for meat loaf, start with the meat, “a mélange of ½ pound of ground beef, ½ pound of ground pork and ½ pound of ground veal is certainly a winner. However, if your taste runs to all beef … cajole your butcher into grinding you 1 ½ pounds of beef neck meat. It’s the sweetest and tastiest of all the beef cuts.” One thing that ruins my appetite for such ground meat is gristle … so make sure that your butcher is equally averse when preparing your order.

Now, place a large enameled pot on high heat and add a quarter cup of good olive oil. Dice a large Bermuda onion and sauté until translucent. Then add four (or more) minced garlic cloves and cook briefly. Next add the ground meat and brown thoroughly … breaking it apart completely. (Use a potato masher if you can’t do a good enough job with a fork.) Add one small can of good tomato paste (Red Pack) to a cleaned-out space and let it cook for a minute or so ... prior to adding four large cans of good crushed tomatoes (Red Pack or Muir Glen).

Next add a good wine-glass-full of the red wine you intend to drink with dinner (a Pinot Noir or an old-vine Zinfandel?) and the following: a quarter stick of butter, a palm full of salt, a good pinch of red pepper flakes, a tablespoon of fennel seeds, about 5 good dried mushrooms (Cremini or Polish ones), a good pinch of oregano, and a teaspoon of dried basil. (Yes, dried basil … I know that many believe that dried basil has no taste, but I strongly disagree.)  Stir real well.

Cover this concoction and gently simmer for about an hour until well amalgamated. Then, uncover and cook for about another half hour to fill the kitchen with those great childhood aromas. It is now permissible to dip a chunk of baguette into this sauce to assuage your galloping hunger and adjust the sauce’s seasonings. Finish the sauce off with a handful of chopped Italian parsley and a good drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Finally, boil your spaghetti (I prefer angel hair or vermicelli, my wife likes the thicker kind) in a good amount of salted water until it is just done (a little past al dente)… and then drain well in a colander. With a pair of tongs place a small mountain of pasta on your plate, at least a ladle-full of sauce and a generous sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese. I realize that this later ceremony diverges markedly from the way that real Italians do things, but this is the way I often like it. I also enjoy my accompanying crusty baguette with lots of butter and a tall cold beer (certainly not Peroni … how can Italians drink that panther p*ss?) or the aforementioned red wine.

(Left-over spaghetti sauce can be made into chili quite easily.  Just add a can of drained pinto or kidney beans, a handful of chili powder (you choose the number of alarms), more oregano, and a good tablespoon of cumin.  Heat and serve over rice or on some steamed hot dogs in their buns.  In some parts of the Midwest U.S., they even serve chili over cooked spaghetti.  Try topping any of these variations with diced sweet onion, diced jalapeno peppers, and a grated cheese of your choice.  How's that for morphing an Italian classic?)

Soup to Nuts

When the frost is on the pumpkin, then it’s time for the soup bumpkin ... OK, I’m not quite a bumpkin, but my wife does accuse me of overcooking my vegetable-beef soup. She makes a delicious, fresh, crisp version of said soup, whereas mine tends to be comfortably overdone almost to the point of mushiness. So let me give my version here and she can riposte me later in this blog (actually, it would be higher up). I consider a few things to be essential to a good vegetable soup … lots of meaty beef shank bones with plenty of marrow … and cabbage. Both provide the essence of vegetable soup. After that, there is lots of leeway as to what goes in this soup. Here’s how I make it:

In a large pot place about a quarter cup of good olive oil. Heat this up and add three or four meaty beef shank bones (well salted and peppered) and maybe a few more just plain marrow bones. When this is well browned, add two large diced onions, four minced garlic cloves, three or four diced carrots, an equal number of diced celery stalks, and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Stir this around to brown lightly. Next fill this pot to 2/3rds full with cold water. Follow this with at least a quarter of a cabbage head shredded. (This can be a Savoy cabbage … but not a red cabbage.)

Add a handful of salt, about five allspice berries, seven peppercorns, three bay leaves and a bouquet garni. Bring this up to a slow boil, cover, and simmer about an hour until the meat starts to tenderize. And then add about four cleaned and diced Russet potatoes. Cook about another 15 minutes. It is now time for the rest of the vegetables. I like string beans, wax beans, broccoli, zucchini, fresh peas (if available), and a can of good crushed tomatoes (Muir Glen). I don’t like to add any peppers, corn, or turnips as I think they add a slightly bitter taste to things. The amount of the vegetables I mentioned will depend on how much room you have in the pot. (At this point you can add pasta or noodles ... but don't go overboard. I would suggest orzo , broken-up capellini or schnittnudeln.) Now, here is where my wife and I diverge. She would cook it only for about five or ten more minutes. I like to cook it for about another half hour.

When fully cooked, remove the shank and marrow bones and de-bone, de-gristle, and chop up the meat and clean out the bones’ marrow. Add all these good things back into the soup and remove the bouquet garni and the bay leaves. Now, comes my secret. (Don’t tell my wife.) I like to add about a quarter to a half cup of Heinz tomato catsup. Mix well and serve hot with lots of crusty bread and butter. It should serve a small army. And I think you will find that it tastes even better reheated the next day.

Meat Loaf

There must be ten thousand good meat loaf recipes. Mine is unique only in a few ways, but I like it and I think you will too.

First the meat: a mélange of ½ pound of ground beef, ½ pound of ground pork and ½ pound of ground veal is certainly a winner. However, if your taste runs to all beef … cajole your butcher into grinding you 1 ½ pounds of beef neck meat. It’s the sweetest and tastiest of all the beef cuts. A German butcher in New York City put me onto this trick and I think he was the only man I was ever tempted to run away with.

Next make the meat extenders:
- Chop and sauté one medium Bermuda onion in good olive oil until mahogany in color … adding toward the end two minced garlic cloves or ½ teaspoon of garlic powder. Also add two big pinches of Kosher salt and two grinds of black pepper. Let cool.
- Cut the crusts off of two slices of sturdy white bread and dice into ½ inch cubes. Soak this bread along with seven or eight cut-up dried mushrooms (Polish is best) in enough milk to cover and let stand until all milk is absorbed..
- In a dry non-stick frying pan heat six generous marrowed bones, turning frequently until the marrow browns and starts to loosen from the bone. Cool and scoop out this marrow into a small bowl. Save the fat in the frying pan to make the meat loaf gravy.
- Whisk one large egg (two eggs if you like your meat loaf “tight”) in a bowl along with six`squirts of Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce, ½ teaspoon of dried thyme (or 1 teaspoon of fresh), two more pinches of Kosher salt and two more grinds of pepper.

Combine all the above with the meat in a large bowl and mix well with your impeccably clean hands. Butter the bottom and sides of a square oven-proof dish (rectangular is better) that fits into your toaster oven (or you can use your regular oven). Preheat this oven to 350 degrees. Place the meat mixture in this dish and flatten out the top. Put about ½ a bottle of Heinz’s chili sauce on top of this meat loaf and place it in the oven for about 45 minutes (alternate topping – cover with three thin slices of good Swiss cheese.)

Remove from the oven and let stand for about twenty minutes. Then pour off any fat and juices from around the sides of the meat loaf into the frying pan that cooked the marrow bones. Add an equal amount of flour or Wondra and heat until all the fat is absorbed and the flour is light tan. While still on the heat, add some good beef stock and stir well until this gravy reaches the consistency you prefer. Correct the salt and pepper seasoning, perhaps adding a bit of Magi and marjoram to your taste. Stir and heat further briefly.

Serve this meat loaf and gravy with mashed or escalloped potatoes and briefly-cooked fresh peas (with butter and a bit of chopped-up fresh mint). You might also enjoy a bit of prepared horseradish with your meat. Enjoy.

Boobalaise

When I was a very callowed youth still dewy behind the ears, I was attending an American Management Association seminar all gussied up in my suit and tie and all (I just recently reread The Catcher in the Rye). Around noon, the leader of the seminar passed out menus from a local restaurant so we could order lunch. I said, “Oh, they have boobalaise!” to whit the guy next to me said, “I think it is pronounced bouillabaisse …” I was chagrined to say the most. As a red-faced penitence, I have learned to cook this South-of-France dish to the point where I can improvise with just about any seafood combination. However, there are certain necessities around which this dish is constructed -- leeks, garlic, an orange, olive oil, fish stock, saffron, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, and either a fennel bulb or some Pernod or Ricard.

The seafood in the American version of this dish traditionally consists of a sturdy, meaty fish like monkfish or halibut, a flaky fish like cod, haddock, or hake (even better, cod cheeks), maybe a few crabs, some cleaned/deveined shrimp, possibly some scallops and/or squid … maybe even octopus (double sucker-down-the-arm type, not single sucker), some shellfish like clams and/or mussels and, as a pièce de résistance, some lobster of whatever variety.

First start with the fish stock. This is best made with fish heads and fish frames begged from your local fish monger (as Julia Child used to say). To do so, sauté a handful of chopped onion, carrots and celery in some olive oil until “sweated” in a big enameled or stainless steel pot. Then add a few quarts of water and the fish heads/frames, a small palmful of sea salt, some grinds of pepper, a sprig of fresh thyme (or ½ a teaspoon of dried), and a few bay leaves. Simmer about an hour until all the goodness is rendered from the contents. Then cool and strain the stock into another container to use in the main dish. If you don’t want to jump through this hoop, use bottled clam juice or store-bought fish base/stock … which is now increasingly available. But the result won’t nearly be as good (and you will need to augment it with the herbs mentioned above.).

Next prepare a garlic mayonnaise (rouille) using two garlic cloves, a handful of bread crumbs or Panko , an egg yoke, a pinch of Cayenne pepper, the juice of ½ a lemon, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Place everything in a blender and process adding ½ cup of good virgin olive oil until you achieve a mayonnaise consistency.

Now split a good-sized leek in two and clean out all the sand between the leaves. Chop the leek crosswise up to and including most of the green part (my departure from the classic recipe). Again sweat this chopped leek in a good quantity of virgin olive oil in the same (cleaned out) large enameled or stainless steel pot until transparent. Add and sweat one fennel bulb cleaned and cross chopped just like the leek (save the gossamer top for a garnish) and about three cleaned and chopped up garlic cloves. Clear a space on the pot and place there a tablespoon of good tomato paste. Stir this with a wooden spoon until it is well heated and a little toasted. Next add back the fish stock, a large can of crushed tomatoes, and two good pinches of saffron. Stir well. Now, either grate and add just the zest from ½ an orange or cut two half dollar sized pieces of orange peel (the classic procedure) and add them to the fish stock.

Now for the seafood. To this base, first add the cut-up lobster, if available, and any larger cut-up crabs (such as Dungeness) remembering not to cook them for more than a total of 15 minutes. Then add the meaty fish (like the monkfish). Cook two minutes or so. Next the flaky fish (like the cod). Cook another minute or so Next add the well-cleaned clams and mussels. (to rid them of sand, soak in water with flour or corn meal for about an hour), any octopus, and any small crabs such as blue crabs or rock crabs.. Cover and cook about five minutes (making sure all the shellfish open ... if not, discard). Add the scallops, calamari and the shrimp. Cook a few more minutes until the shrimp change color. Season to taste with salt and pepper, some chopped up Italian parsley (don’t put the parsley in earlier as it tends to get bitter) and the chopped-up fennel gossamer. If you haven’t included fennel, add a jigger of Pernod or Ricard now. Stir well again and take off the heat.

Serve over crusty French bread in a large soup bowl adding a good dollop of rouille on top of the bread. Enjoy with a good glass of white wine (a Sancerre, a Pinot Grigio, a Chenin blanc, or even a Piesporter.) Have enough friends and family over to eat it all up because it doesn’t keep well.

Szechuan Taste

When I was quite new to New York City, I was called to jury duty in downtown Manhattan. At lunch one day someone suggested we all go to nearby Chinatown. We did and settled on a restaurant called Szechuan Taste. I, for whatever reason, ordered Shrimp in Hot Spicy Paste. It was like the scene in Pleasantville when the movie went from black-and-white to Technicolor. I never realized that those that made Chow Mien could create such a extravagant dish! That was over forty years ago and I have been experimenting ever since to recreate this ambrosia. I must have this dish ever few months or so or I suffer withdrawal. As a result, I think I have nailed it and here are the results (maybe even better than the original.)

Ingredients
2 lbs. raw shrimp (jumbo or prawns)
½ of a lemon (and/or 1 Tsp. baking soda)
1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh (only) ginger
1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh garlic (about 3 cloves)
1 large Bermuda onion or 3 medium yellow onions, coarsely chopped
½ bunch cleaned scallions, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup (or more) ketchup or chili sauce
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 heaping Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp Szechuan paste (if available) or Thai equivalent
½ Tsp. red pepper flakes (more if you are so inclined)
1/3 cup peanut oil
½ cup chicken broth (or good Amontillado sherry)
1 heaping Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seed oil
1 cleaned bunch watercress (or other bitter greens)

Clean and devein shrimp, retaining tail shell if so inclined. Soak shrimp in cold water, with squeezed lemon, in refrigerator for about one hour. (Chinese chef’s secret: include the baking soda in the water to keep shrimp from getting tough during cooking.) Combine ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar, and Szechuan paste. Set aside. Mix chicken broth and cornstarch into slurry. Retrieve shrimp, drain and dry well. (If very large, shrimp may be cut in half.) Put oil in heavy skillet or wok and heat until very hot. Sprinkle in red pepper flakes. Immediately add ginger and garlic. Before these get brown, add chopped onions. Cook until transparent. Add shrimp. Cook until color changes. Add ketchup mixture. Cook about 1 minute or so. Add chopped scallions. Cook briefly. Add cornstarch slurry and cook until mixture thickens. Turn off heat and pour sesame oil on top. Ladle onto a large serving platter on the bottom of which has been spread the watercress. Serve immediately with boiled or steamed white rice.

Say a paean to that chef at Szechuan Taste (so long gone).