Leeks sauté, the easy way

                           

                                                Prep time: 15 minutes

                                                Cook time: 30 minutes

            Leeks are indispensible as an alternative to the standard green vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, and green beans. The subtle sweetness of leeks, combined with their hint of onion flavor make for a delicious side dish to accompany meat, fish, or other vegetables.

            Sybil introduced me to leeks. She once said that if you want to blend into rural French life, just have some leeks protruding from your grocery bag. Everyone will think you are French! That the French are big on leeks says something about how good they are. More and more, beautiful leeks are on the shelves in grocery stores and farmers’ markets all over North America.

            Many home cooks are intimidated by leeks because of fancy presentations they have tried at restaurants. This recipe, like most in this book, is simple. Use it for a dinner at home or for entertaining. The standard quantity easily serves four but could be stretched to six with slightly smaller portions.    

IN ESSENCE: Chopping eliminates the stringiness that happens if you try to cook whole leaves. The low heat sauté, covered mostly, allows them to steam and soften in their own juices.

MUSIC: Bob Dylan (Lay Lady Lay, or Spirit on the Water); or Joni Mitchell. I usually don’t go for folk music, but good memories were made one time when I prepared this dish while listening to Bob Dylan. If you don’t do folk music, try Pat Metheney, the LETTER FROM HOME album, or Tuck Andress, exquisite solo jazz guitar from the RECKLESS album.

HERE’S ALL YOU NEED:

1. Leeks, 3 or 4 whole stalks                                                  
2. Butter, 1 tablespoon,
3. Salt and pepper
4. (optional: Cream (10% to 30% butter fat), ¼ Cup)
5. (optional: Nutmeg, ground, about ¼ teaspoon)

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

• Clean the leeks. The white part grows so tightly that it is usually grit-free, but dirt invariably gets into the base of the green part. If you plan on using the green part of the stalk (which you should, except when making vichyssoise), you must wash each leaf carefully to get all the dirt off.
• Chop the leeks. I recommend a fairly fine chop. Pieces about the size of postage stamps are perfect.  This requires a large chopping board and a long French chopping knife or Chinese style vegetable cleaver.
• Place chopped leeks and butter into any large sauce pan or skillet that can be covered. I usually use a 10 inch, 3 quart saucepan.
• Cook at medium low heat, being careful to avoid sticking or burning, for about 30 minutes. You could use cooking oil or olive oil instead of butter, but butter enhances the leek flavor nicely. You may need add a little water during the cooking, usually no more than a few tablespoons.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• See VARIATIONS below.

CADENZA: This dish accompanies pork tenderloin medallions beautifully. Also good with a white fish such as sole, cod, or halibut. Or serve with roasted red peppers, potatoes, or sweet potatoes for a purely vegetarian delight.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME: Add some cream at the end. Leeks and cream are an unbeatable combination. About ¼ cup of table cream (18% butter fat), or heavy cream (35% butter fat) should suffice. Add nutmeg, ¼ to ½ teaspoon for a real treat, especially if serving with fish. Delicious.

WINE: With the leeks themselves, a French Chablis or white Burgundy are splendid. If you are serving with pork, a Beaujolais or Pinot noir go very well.

Sunday morning pancakes

                                              

                                                Total time: 15 to 20 minutes

                                                Serves: 2 - 4

           

            Like everything, when it comes to pancakes, personal tastes are all over the map. Some people are under the impression they like the discus-sized cakes one gets served at a diner, stacked high on the plate, ready to absorb a pint and a half of artificial syrup. These individuals are sadly mistaken. They just haven’t sampled anything better.

            This recipe is about small and moist cakes, delicate and spongy, maybe a little crispy at the edges. It features the rich sweet flavor of bran, not too much, but just enough.

            It is also about approximate quantities. Each new batch is a little different from the last one. The basics of this recipe were inspired years ago by my friend Charlie Walters. He used the palm of his hand to measure out the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. After seeing him do that, I never went back to measuring spoons. With a little practice, you can gauge quantities quite well, and the hands-on approach adds a certain intimacy to food preparation. Once you get comfortable you can throw the recipe together automatically, half asleep, or while recovering from the worst of Sunday morning hangovers.

MUSIC: Rachmaninoff’s Vespers or Faure’s Requiem (both under Robert Shaw’s direction). Be gentle. This is not a Kurt Cobain breakfast.

HERE’S ALL YOU NEED:

1. Flour, about ½ Cup, all purpose white, or whole wheat if you like.
2. Wheat bran: about ¼ Cup
3. 1 large or 2 small eggs
4. Baking soda: ½ teaspoon approximately. (put ½ teaspoon of baking soda into the palm of your hand to learn the volume for future measuring).
5. Baking powder: ½ teaspoon approximately.
6. Salt: ¼ teaspoon approximately.
7. Yogurt (plain!), or buttermilk or part sour cream: about ½ Cup
8. Milk: to dilute batter to right consistency: usually about ½ Cup (see below)
9. Cooking oil (vegetable oil, safflower, canola, etc): 1 Tablespoon in batter, 1 Tablespoon in pan for first batch (melted butter is fine as alternative).

           

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

• Put all dry ingredients, egg, yogurt, and oil into a bowl.
• Add milk (usually about ½ Cup) and mix (with hand whisk or spoon). Use enough milk to achieve correct consistency: somewhat thick, a little jiggly. Let sit for five minutes for the leavening soda/powder to go to work.
• Heat skillet to low to medium, until a splash of water bounces around in little beads.
• Add 1 Tablespoon of oil to the hot pan and spread evenly. Pour off some oil if it looks like too much.
• Ladle batter in tablespoon size (four to a 10 inch skillet). Flip when firm enough and golden brown. Serve directly when done, or transfer to warm platter. Serve on warm plates with one of the toppings below.

VARIATIONS ON THE THEME (and TOPPINGS):

1. A word about maple syrup. Don’t make this recipe if you plan to use artificial commercial maple syrups. Use only authentic maple syrup. Real maple syrup comes in light, medium, and ‘standard’ (the darkest). The finest, most delicate flavor is the light variety. The others can be overpowering. If you have never had real maple syrup, the flavor may surprise you, but it usually doesn’t take long to convert even the most resistant.
2. Apple/pear sauce: This is fantastic as an accompaniment to pancakes, with or without maple syrup. Peel and cut into coarse chunks: 2 pears (Anjou or Comice are best, but any will work beautifully) and 2 large apples, into a 1 or 2 quart sauce pan. Heat on medium heat with 10 - 15 raisins, covered, with a splash of water to prevent sticking. When soft (5 to 10 minutes usually), stir or mash into a coarse sauce. Add a little sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon carefully, to taste.
3. Heated blackberry sauce. Heat fresh or frozen blackberries with splash of water until softened, add sugar and a dollop of Cointreau and cook for 2 minutes. Don’t use maple syrup with this one; put berries directly on the pancakes.
4. If you like banana, a small quantity of mashed banana can be added to the batter, but not too much or the cakes remain too wet. Even better is to use coarsely chopped banana as a topping. Great with maple syrup.

About the eggs: for more fluff, separate the egg and beat the whites, then fold into the batter. It is wonderful now and then. Beaten egg whites yield bouncier batter and very light pancakes.

About yogurt, milk and buttermilk. The best pancakes contain some fat. Non-fat pancakes are so unsatisfying and thin in flavor. Yogurt goes from non-fat to over 10% or higher in the Balkan or Greek styles. I often use 3% yogurt and dilute the batter with skim milk. Buttermilk is usually non-fat, so add yogurt, sour cream or whole milk for body. Any combinations of the above ingredients work well.

Shrimp sauté with orzo and roasted tomatoes

                                                Prep time: 30 to 45 minutes

                                                Cook time: 30 minutes

                                                Serves: up to 4

           

            This recipe is from Sybil originally (see introduction, 1st post). The flavors accompany each other beautifully. It is a menu for all seasons and does not require fresh shrimp although I usually prefer fresh, peeled shrimp over frozen bags of shrimp. If you use frozen, make sure they are the uncooked variety (gray, not pink).

            This recipe was scrumptious from the first time, and I’ve prepared it on many occasions, each time with great success. It can also be expanded easily into a party menu for 6, 8, or more guests if you have the equipment.

MUSIC: You have at least 60 minutes to play with. If alone in the kitchen, I’d put on Weather Report’s album SPORTING LIFE, with its dynamite-but-tender version of What’s Going On. I’d also consider Alfred Schnittke’s Requiem, a monster powerhouse of a piece, but it’s a little challenging for the uninitiated. To tone it down, I’d fall back on some of Michael McDonald’s tunes during the Doobie Brothers MINUTE BY MINUTE era and shortly after, like Losin’ End. 

HERE’S ALL YOU NEED:

For the Shrimp sauté:

1. Shrimp, 1 pound of fresh medium-sized shrimp or uncooked frozen, peeled, thawed, rinsed
2. Olive oil, 2 Tablespoons
3. Kosher salt, large pinch
4. Freshly ground pepper

For the tomatoes:

1. Tomatoes, 4 medium
2. Thyme, several pinches to sprinkle on tomatoes, about 1 teaspoon
3. Salt and pepper

For the Orzo:

1. Orzo, ½ pound to 1 pound
2. Butter, 3 to 4 tablespoons
3. Parmesan cheese, grated, ½ Cup
4. Parsley (Italian best, but curly okay), chopped, for garnish

For the sauce:

1. Garlic, 2 or 3 cloves, chopped into bits
2. Sherry wine, dry, ¼ Cup
3. Red wine vinegar, ¼ Cup
4. Olive oil, ¼ Cup

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

            Prepare the tomatoes:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut tomatoes in half and place in baking pan
• Drizzle with olive oil
• Sprinkle with a pinch of Kosher salt, some twists of pepper, and a pinch of thyme.
• Cook for 15 minutes, just enough to heat thoroughly and soften, then turn down heat to low to keep warm.

           

            Prepare the sauce:

• In a small sauce pan, add chopped garlic to ¼ Cup olive oil and heat on medium heat, enough so the garlic bubbles and browns slightly after 5 to 10 minutes.
• Add Sherry and vinegar, bring back to a boil, then reduce heat and keep warm

            Prepare Orzo:

• In a 4 quart pot, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil
• Add Orzo and stir occasionally while returning to a boil
• Reduce heat to prevent overflow, and cook until soft, about 10 to 15 minutes
• Drain off excess water, but keep the orzo wet in the pot.
• Stir in butter
• Stir in parmesan cheese gradually
• Salt to taste (remember, parmesan is salty so don’t oversalt)
• Cover and keep warm

            Prepare shrimp:

• In a 10 inch to 12 inch skillet, heat ¼ Cup olive oil to moderately high
• While olive oil is heating, plate the tomatoes and orzo on individual warmed plates
• Add shrimp to skillet and sauté until they blush pink, just done, about 3 minutes. Cut into a shrimp to determine doneness if uncertain.
• Add a pinch of kosher salt during cooking.
• Serve shrimp onto bed of orzo
• Spoon 2 or 3 tablespoons of hot sherry-garlic sauce onto shrimp, orzo, and tomatoes.
• Garnish with chopped parsley

CADENZA: Serve with fresh Italian or French bread and follow with a simple mixed green salad.

WINE: This dish goes well with a robust white or a bright red. I prefer red, such as Dolcetto d’Alba, Rioja, Chianti. White Burgundy or Chablis are also be excellent.

CHERRIES

                                   cooking time: 30 to 45 minutes

            There is a tiny restaurant in Paris near St. Germain des Pres that is always jamb-packed with Parisian locals. That’s always a good sign when you are looking for a reasonably priced restaurant. The name is Machon d’Henri. The kitchen is so small, I think they can only ‘finish’ each order.

            On the first night I ate there, I saw a large jar of what looked like cherries high up on a counter top, and I ordered them for dessert. I was completely floored. They were the best sugared sour cherries in alcohol that I had ever tasted. This recipe is inspired by that dessert. I’ve made a few changes to accommodate what is available in North America. Where the Parisian restaurant used small fresh sour cherries, I used dried cherries, either sour or the black Bing variety. I also added the Port.

            This is a great recipe to make in a large quantity and keep on hand (needs no refrigeration) or transfer into small jars for gifts.

MUSIC: Piano music works well. For the classically minded, Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, or J.S. Bach: Well tempered Clavier. For jazz lovers, try the SOLO MONK album.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED:

1. Dried whole cherries, two cups. Any dried cherries will work, but the bigger, the better, and black cherries are exquisite. Taste them to determine how much sugar you will add. The black/Bing cherries are quite sweet.
2. Port wine, 1 bottle. This must be Ruby Port, not Tawny Port. We’re talking cooking Port. The cheapest you can find is perfect.
3. Sugar, not usually more than ½ Cup
4. Vodka (optional), about ½ Cup
5. Glass jars, either quart size or jam jars (8 ounces).

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

• In a large pot, reconstitute the cherries and sugar in Port wine. Use the whole bottle. I usually bring to boil with the sugar and then let sit, covered until cool.
• Transfer to either large or small glass jars.
• Optional: add a splash or more of vodka to each container.
• Store indefinitely- they get better and better over time.
• Add more alcohol (port or vodka or both) if some evaporates over time.

CADENZA: Serve over vanilla ice cream as an easy, ready-to-go dessert. Also good plain in a bowl or with heavy cream. No need to worry about spoilage. There’s enough sugar and alcohol in this recipe to prevent any kind of spoilage. No refrigeration is needed.

WINE:          A dessert wine will do nicely. Sauterne, Ice wine, Port. If your liver is healthy, move to brandy or cognac.

LAMB CHOPS FOR STOVE TOPS

                         

                                    Prep time: 1 hour dry marinade

                                    Cook time: 6 minutes, approx.

                                    Serves: 2 or 4

            A good lamb chop is a carnivore’s delight. There are a million ways to deal with lamb. This recipe is based on simplicity, but with huge up-side potential in flavor.

            For those of you who favor racks of lamb, I have news for you. A rack of lamb is more about presentation than good eating. The reason is that racks are cut so the tenderloin piece is removed. The only meat on a rack of lamb is the piece of strip loin which is not as tender as the tenderloin. Much better are the “loin lamb chops” that have a piece of tenderloin and a piece of strip loin, analogous to a beef T-bone or Porterhouse steak. Also, this dry marinade works best when all sides of the chops are covered. In a rack of lamb, the inner meat doesn’t get exposed to the great flavorings. This marinade, however, enhances any lamb cut. The thickness of the chops is not crucial, although it influences cooking time.

MUSIC: I Left My Heart in San Francisco, or I Wanna Be Around by Tony Bennett, or anything with Sting (solo albums, or The Police). If you prefer classical, try Shostakovich or Prokofiev string quartets. They are challenging but beautiful!

HERE’S ALL YOU NEED:

1. Lamb loin chops (4)
2. olive oil, high grade extra virgin, about 2 or 3 tablespoons
3. garlic, 1 clove, minced
4. thyme, fresh or dried, 1 heaping tablespoon at least
5. rosemary, fresh or dried, 1 heaping tablespoon at least
6. kosher salt
7. pepper

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

• Crush the herbs quickly in a mortar and pestle to bring out their flavor.
• Place chops in a bowl and add olive oil, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper.
• Leave at room temperature for up to 3 hours. Thirty minutes is the minimum if you are in a hurry. Stir occasionally. Cover the bowl if you don’t want to be enticed by the lovely aromas.
• Cook chops on medium high heat (skillet, broiler or outdoor grill—I prefer a skillet on the stove top). Cook to desired degree of doneness and give some direct heat to all sides, including the bone. I like mine rare, but medium rare is acceptable. Any more gets tough and dry. For rare, usually about 4 to 5 minutes, assuming you have room temperature chops to start with. Doneness is largely by feel, i.e. how firm the meat is becoming. Cooking tongs work beautifully to test doneness and to move the chops around.

CADENZA: serve with carrots rosemary (see blog), roasted parsnips and red peppers, or pasta with a creamy sauce.

ALTERNATIVE: Use herbs de Provence instead of thyme and rosemary.

WINE: This calls for your biggest red. California Cabernet sauvignon; Australian Shiraz; or, best of all, a big French Bordeaux.

KYOTO SALMON SOUP

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

            During a trip to Kyoto, we learned valuable cooking secrets from our host, Yoko. She made this fish soup for us when we arrived, jet lagged and tired. She made it in a boiler pot, right on the table, adding ingredients to cook as she removed the cooked items into our bowls, and it was an ongoing sampling feast.

            I have modified the dish for a western kitchen. This soup is intended to be an entire meal, and once you have the correct ingredients lined up, you can’t go wrong. Play around with different fish (although shrimp doesn’t work well). I prefer Atlantic salmon because of its rich flavor and amount of fat. In Japan, Yoko even used blowfish (that’s the one that kills you if you get any contamination from the poison sac). Basically, any fish firm enough to withstand poaching will be fine, but I focused on salmon.

MUSIC: Let’s see: twenty minutes. Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto no. 1 is gorgeous. Or, the Japanese composer Toru Takamitsu is important and beautiful, worth listening to. Or forget about all those, and put on Tenderly, by Buddy DeFranco, and then the version by Chet Baker, as you are cutting the fish.

HERE’S ALL YOU NEED:

1. Salmon, 1 pound, warmed to room temperature. (You can use any other fleshy white fish instead of, or along with the salmon).
2. Bok choy, one large or three baby, chopped coarsely
3. Tofu (soft, silken variety), one container
4. Ginger root, cut in thin strips, total about 1 heaping Tablespoon
5. Green onions, one or two, chopped coarsely
6. Mushrooms, quartered into small bite size pieces. (button, Cremona, Enoki, oyster, shiitake are fine), total up to 2 Cups max.
7. Soy sauce, 2 Tablespoons
8. Rice vinegar (NOT low calorie/low sodium), 2 Tablespoons
9. Garnish: soy sauce, rice vinegar, spiced soy (eg Ponzu).
10. Rice: about 1 Cup Japanese sushi rice, cooked in a rice cooker is best, but any rice is fine.

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

• Cook rice.
• While rice is cooking, cut tofu into cubes, and fish into large bite-sized pieces
• In a 4 quart 10 inch sauce pan or wok or boiler pot, place enough water to accommodate the ingredients (2 inches in the sauce pan, or about 1 ½ to 2 quarts).
• Add onions and ginger and heat to near boil.
• Add soy sauce and rice vinegar.
• Add mushrooms and boil gently for 1-2 minutes.
• Add bok choy.
• Add fish and tofu and adjust heat down so there is no active boiling.
• Cook until fish is done, about 5 minutes (with salmon, just done, or a little underdone is better for texture than over done.

CADENZA: Serve soup over rice in a bowl. Splash with additional flavorings: soy sauce, rice vinegar, flavored soy such as Ponzu or other Japanese equivalent. Black or mixed ground pepper is also good. Don’t burn your mouth!

WINE: Tea is best. Beer is second best. Sauvignon blanc third. I often go with the third. Why is that?

Carrots Rosemary

                                                Prep time: 10 minutes

                                                Cook time: 30 minutes

                                                Serves 2

            We all cook carrots. The are hard to ruin unless you overcook them in plain water and they lose their flavor.

            This recipe I picked up from my mother because it looked so easy and fool-proof, and the carrot flavor is enhanced through the cooking. And the rosemary, well, it is the perfect herb to use with carrots.

IN ESSENCE: The carrots are combined with just the right amount of water so that when the water is boiled off, they continue to cook and brown slowly on one side until ready to serve, without any need for turning, stirring, etc.

MUSIC: Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue. This, sadly, became the United Airlines theme music, but the whole piece is beautiful and worth knowing. Leonard Bernstein’s recording is my favorite (he conducts and plays the piano).

HERE’S ALL YOU NEED:

1. 3 medium carrots, peeled
2. Butter: 1 tablespoon minimum, up to 2 tablespoons
3. Rosemary: dry or fresh, 1 teaspoon
4. Kosher salt
5. Pepper, a few twists of a pepper grinder
6. Sugar, small pinch

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

• Cut the peeled carrots into pieces 2 inches long, ½ inch wide
• Place in a shallow sauce pan (I use an 8 inch, 2 quart pan)
• Add water enough to just cover carrots
• Add butter, salt, pepper, sugar, rosemary
• Bring to a boil on high heat, uncovered
• As water level gets lower, turn down heat gradually until heat is at lowish when the water is totally evaporated
• Keep on low heat to medium-low until ready to serve
• You shouldn’t have to stir or turn the carrots at all, they will brown lightly on one side. If they are getting too hot and look like they will burn, turn with a spatula and reduce the heat.

CADENZA:

            Carrots are fantastic with lamb. Good also with pork, chicken, beef, or fish. For a vegetarian treat, serve with soft polenta and grilled mushrooms.

WINE: Either red or white go well with these carrots. I favor a red Bordeaux.