Shrimp in Lobster Sauce - For Bill

This recipe really is for Bill and not just because it's easy. It isn't actually part of my repertoire, but it's my Aunt Rita's recipe, and my cousin Bill and I were discussing it the other night, and I told him I thought I had it written down somewhere. I found it, Bill, so here it is.

½ pound ground pork
1 tablespoon green onion
1 tablespoon chopped carrot
1 tablespoon chopped celery
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons light vegetable oil (probably should use peanut oil here)
2 pounds raw cleaned shrimp
1 cup chicken stock
1 egg, beaten

Blend together

2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon soy sauce

In a heavy skillet brown the pork, vegetables, and salt and pepper in hot oil. This will take about 5 minutes. Add shrimp and stir-fry until they turn pink. Add chicken stock, and cook, covered for 10 minutes. Add beaten egg , and stir for two minutes. Add remaining ingredients, which have been well-blended. Stir until thickened. Serve with rice.

Now I know my friend Peggy, the shrimp maven from Charleston, would never let shrimp cook for what will amount to 15 minutes here. So after you try the recipe this way, I would suggest you try it a different way, which would be to add the shrimp at the point that the chicken stock has cooked for 5 minutes. That way the shrimp will only cook for about 8 to 10 minutes total.

Dell's Asparagus

A bunch of us were sitting around a pool at Lake of the Ozarks, and Dell McAbee told me how she cooked asparagus. I have used her method ever since. You cook them flat in a skillet or sauté pan, which is what I use. It’s easy and, for me, foolproof.

Take your asparagus and snap the ends so they break off naturally, leaving the fibrous stalks behind. Trim the bottoms neatly with a sharp knife. Lay the asparagus flat in a skillet or sauté pan, fill the pan with water, and salt the water.

Bring the water to a boil, turn the heat down, and simmer for about 4 minutes. The exact timing depends on the thickness of the asparagus. You can test for doneness by poking a stalk with the tip of a sharp knife or a cake tester—or taste as you go, just as you would with spaghetti.

Alternatively, you can bring the pan to a boil, then remove it from the heat, cover it tightly, and let the asparagus sit for 8 minutes.

Asparagus are delicious with hollandaise or chilled and served with vinaigrette. But it’s hard to beat them hot, tossed with butter or olive oil and sprinkled with flaky Maldon salt.

Radish & Fennel Salad

Adapted from The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

Sheila, absoslutely one of the best cooks I know, recommended this recipe to me from Jamie Oliver's first cookbook, The Naked Chef. When I bought that book, I didn't know I would end up buying every subsequent one. I've never made one of his recipes that was a dud. This is crunchy and refreshing. I could eat it right now just thinking about it.

3 cups fresh fennel (reserve leafy stalks)
1½ cups red radishes

Cut tops and stalks off the top of the fennel, and set aside. Trim the bottom of the fennel bulbs, and remove the outside leaves if they seem a bit tough. Cut the bulbs in half, and slice as thinly as possible from root to top. Slice the radishes thinly

Put the radishes and fennel into a bowl, and cover with cold water and some ice. Leave for about 15 minutes, until the radishes and fennel are really crisp. Drain, spin in a salad spinner to get them really dry, and put into a bowl. Dress with Olive Oil and Lemon Juice dressing. Optinally, chop the fennel tops and sprinkle on top of the salad.

Olive Oil and Lemon Juice Dressing

Mix together:

2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons olive oil
A pinch of Maldon Salt that you crush with your fingers
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pasta Amatriciana

Adapted from Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

Serves 4

This is one of my favorite meals - tomato sauce with pancetta and chili pepper served over pasta. The perfect pasta is bucatini (perciatelli), but penne, rigatoni, and mezzi rigatoni are also good. Get your pancetta from a reliable source because the strength of this dish depends upon the quality of the pancetta. The best I've gotten in New York City is at DiPalo's on Grand Street in Little Italy (now very little Italy) and Eli's on Third Avenue.





2 tablespoons light vegetable oil
1 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 slices of pancetta (fat and lean), ¼-inch-thick, diced
1½ to 2 cups of Italian plum tomatoes, diced, with their juice (a 14½ oz. can is fine)
Dried crushed red pepper to taste
Salt
3 tablespoons freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino-romano cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound pasta

Put the oil, butter, and onion in a saucepan, and turn on the heat to medium. Sauté the onion until it becomes colored a pale gold. Add the pancetta, and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring once or twice. Add the crushed dried red pepper, and cook for 20 to 30 seconds. do not let it burn. Add the tomatoes and a good pinch of salt, and cook in the uncovered pan at a gentle simmer for about 25 minutes. Taste and correct for salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remember, the pancetta and the cheeses are likely to be salty, and the sauce will have reduced a little by now, so be sparing with the salt.

Toss the pasta with the sauce, then add both cheeses, and toss again.

Broccoli - For Bill

Adapted from a recipe by Andrew Weil

Serves 4

This is a good recipe because it is delicious served hot but also delicious with lemon juice squirted over it once it is chilled, which means it's better than okay to have leftovers.  Plus, broccoli is so good for you!  You can cook this so the broccoli is crunchy, soft, or in between the two, whichever way you like it.  I do broccolini (a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale) this way too, just trimming the bottom ends off and following the same directions.

Put the florets from a head of broccoli in a pan that has a lid. Add 2 to 3 smashed cloves of garlic, 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and ¼ cup water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and cook for about 10 minutes. The liquid should have evaporated by then, and you will be left with olive oil coated, garlicky broccoli. Sprinkle with Maldon Salt to taste.

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Chicken & Grape Salad

Adapted from The Nantucket Open House Cookbook by Sarah Leah Chase

I use two recipes for chicken salad. One is very plain for sandwiches, usually made with leftover chicken breast (since we eat all the yummy dark meat for dinner) from a chicken I have rotisseried, and this one. It's not revolutionary but hard to beat when you want chicken salad to eat from a plate and not in a sandwich. 

The ingredients may seem somewhat plebeian, but listen to what Sarah Leah Chase says:

While ingredients such as dried thyme, garlic powder, and store-bought mayonnaise reflect the culinary naïveté of my adolescence, the ensuing years of food sophistication spent cultivating window boxes of fragrant fresh herbs and whisking together countless varieties of homemade mayonnaise have yet to yield a more perfectly comforting and soothing chicken salad that this original "Ritz," rendition.

The recipe specifically calls for Hellmann’s Mayonnaise; however, I would recommend that you use whatever commercial mayonnaise is your favorite. When I lived in Atlanta, mine was Blue Plate; when I lived in Virginia, it was Duke's.  But I lived in both places a long time ago, and I can’t get either here.

Chicken and Grape Salad
Adapted from The Nantucket Open House Cookbook

Serves 6

3½ pounds poached chicken breasts (recipe follows)
5 ribs celery, peeled with a vegetable peeler
1½ cups seedless grapes, halved
1½ teaspoons dried thyme
1½ teaspoons garlic powder (do not use fresh garlic however much you're tempted because it will be way too strong)
Salt to taste
3 cups commercial mayonnaise, your favorite brand (not salad dressing)

Remove chicken from the bone, and cut into 1-inch cubes. Coarsely chop the celery. Toss chicken, celery, and grape halves together. Season with the thyme, garlic powder, and salt. Bind the salad with the mayonnaise. You want to use a lot of mayonnaise to make the salad very moist and creamy, but start with 1 cup, adding more as needed. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 1 hour before serving.

Poached Chicken Breasts

3½ pounds chicken breast halves on the bone
Onion slices
Carrot slices
Celery leaves
Parsley sprigs
White wine or vermouth

Fill a large saucepan with water, and spike it with a few splashes of white wine or dry vermouth (I use Noilly Prat). Scatter several onion slices, carrot slices, celery leaves, and parsley sprigs over the top, season with a dash of salt, and add the chicken breast halves. Bring the pan to a full boil, and then turn off the heat. When it is cool, remove the chicken breasts from the liquid, leaving the vegetables behind, and carry on with the recipe.

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Plain Chicken Salad For Sandwiches

I just mix mayonnaise with a little softened butter and salt to taste and toss it with small chunks of chicken and some chopped onion and celery. I butter the inside of each slice of sandwich bread, which keeps it from getting soggy if the sandwiches are to be eaten later.

Cucumber & Sour Cream Salad

The amounts of ingredients are vague because you have to sort of eye-ball it depending on how much you want to make, so read the recipe in its entirety before you start. Also, now that Greek yogurt is readily available , depending on what you are serving this salad with, you may want to try it in place of or mixed with the sour cream. Full-fat yogurt is best; I wouldn't go all the way down to zero per cent here.

I use all different kinds of cucumbers - English, Kirby, and regular.

You can make it if you don't have fresh dill, but it does add a nice dimension to the dish.

Serves 2 to 4

1 English cucumber, or 2 Kirby cucumbers, or 1 large regular cucumber:
English – wash, score with a fork, cut in half, scoop out seeds, and cut into half moons
Kirby – wash, score with a fork, and cut into thin slices
Regular – peel, cut in half, scoop out seeds, and cut into half moons.
Sugar – start with 1 tablespoon, but be prepared to add more
Cider vinegar – about 2 teaspoons
Salt to taste
Sour cream – about ¼ cup
Dill (optional - for taste)
Paprika (optional - for color)

Take a small bowl and put in sugar - more than you think. Start with 1 tablespoon, but you may need to add more when you're tasting the dressing at the end.

Moisten the sugar with cider vinegar - less than you think (you can always add more of this to taste too) - enough to dissolve the sugar. Start with 2 teaspoons vinegar to 1 tablespoon sugar, and be prepared to adjust. Add a pinch of Maldon Salt. Mix well.

Spoon in about ¼ cup sour cream. You can use low-fat sour cream, although I do not. However, don’t use non-fat sour cream. That’s a product, not a food. Whisk ingredients together. At this point taste and add more vinegar, or sugar, or salt, if necessary.

Add the cucumbers, and stir.

Right before serving, sprinkle with chopped dill (I just snip it with kitchen shears). Also, you can sprinkle on a little paprika when serving. Both are optional; the dill adds flavor, the paprika, color.

Chill until ready to serve. Does not keep particularly well overnight, but two hours in advance works well. Can also do a few minutes before serving.

Fennel & Olive Salad

Adapted from Southern Italian Cooking by J. C. Grasso

Jean and Derek were visiting 920 South St. Asaph Street in Alexandra. After taking off to spend the day at The National Gallery, when they came back in time for dinner, they brought this book as a present. It's a good one. This salad is good too - crunchy, piquant, and easy.

Fennel & Olive Salad
Adapted from Southern Italian Cooking by J. C. Grasso

Serves 4

2 heads fennel, trimmed (tops removed, root end removed, and outer leaves removed if tough) and cut into chunks
12 olives (green or black or a mixture of the two) pitted and cut in halves or quarters (you can even use canned black pitted olives for this)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper

Add vinegar to a salad bowl. Add a pinch of Maldon Salt. Let sit for a couple of minutes. Add olive oil and whisk. Add chunks of fennel, olives, and parley, and toss. Add pepper to taste, and toss again.

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Crab Cakes with Orange Sauce

Adapted from Beat This! by Ann Hodgman

This is a hilarious book with a lot of good recipes. 

Crab Cakes
Adapted from Beat This! by Ann Hodgman

These crab cakes are particularly good, and the orange sauce to serve with them is delicious. This recipe makes eight crab cakes to serve 4, but it can successfully be halved to serve 2.  

Serves 4

1 cup fine fresh breadcrumbs
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup minced onion
1 large clove garlic, minced
4 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
¼ teaspoon cayenne
2 ounces butter, melted
1 pound fresh lump crabmeat, picked over
All-purpose flour for dredging the crab cakes
2 tablespoons light vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (not for cooking; just for keeping crab cakes warm after they are cooked).

Melt the butter; I do this in the microwave.  Let it cool but not cool enough to solidify.  Beat the eggs, then combine them with the breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, onion, garlic, the melted and still liquid butter, and seasonings.  Mix well.  Gently stir in the crabmeat. Shape mixture into four patties.  Refrigerate for an hour.

Remove the crab cakes from the refrigerator, and dredge them in flour. (They will be rather fragile so handle them carefully.)

Heat the oil in a frying or sauté pan until very hot, and cook the patties for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until brown and sizzling. Remove, and keep warm in the oven while you make the orange sauce.

Orange Sauce
Adapted from Beat This! by Ann Hodgman

(This is really an orange beurre blanc.)

2 shallots, minced
1 cup fresh orange juice, boiled until reduced to ¼ cup
¼ cup dry white wine
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into bits
¼ cup heavy cream

Boil the shallots, reduced orange juice, and wine together in a stainless steel or enameled saucepan until the liquid is reduced to ¼ cup. Whisk in the butter bit by bit, until it is all absorbed. The sauce will be almost as thick as a mayonnaise. Remove the pan from the heat; then whisk in the heavy cream.

The butter and cream must be whisked in at the last minute, but the first part of the sauce – the shallots, wine, and reduced juice – may be prepared ahead of time. Just heat the ¼ cup you have before proceeding with the rest of the recipe starting with whisking in the butter.

Banana Nut Bread

Adapted from The Green Thumb Harvest by Johanna and Patricia Halsey

Contributed by Marcy Olive, who said that her great-grandmother won first prize with it at the Wabash, Indiana, County Fair in 1889. 

Makes 2 loaves

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup milk
1 cup sweet butter, softened
2½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs, beaten
3½ cups unsifted unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2½ cups mashed very ripe bananas
2 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 loaf pans.

Pour the lemon juice into the milk, and stir until the milk is curdled. These are the liquid ingredients. Set aside.

Put the flour, baking soda, and salt into a separate small bowl. Stir with a fork then sift onto a piece of aluminum foil. Bend the foil to make a "point" so you can pour these ingredients easily. These are the dry ingredients. Set aside.

Beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla until creamy in a bowl large enough to hold everything. Add the eggs, and mix thoroughly. These are the creamed ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients alternately to the creamed ingredients. Stir in the bananas and nuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans, and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Note: For over twelve generations, since the 1640’s, the Halsey family has lived and worked the land at a farm on the east end of Long Island, The Green Thumb, in Water Mill, New York. They now grow four hundred varieties of organic produce with the commitment to grow the best food possible for a healthier planet.

Randi's Rice Salad

I got this recipe from my friend Randi, one of the good friends I made when I lived in Atlanta.

It's a good accompaniment to cold poached salmon topped with a mayonnaise/sour cream/caper sauce or tarter sauce and Fried Peppers. All of that can be made ahead of time, and together it makes a very pretty plate - the rice, the salmon, the red peppers, and the creamy sauce.  If it's springtime, I also make cold asparagus in vinaigrette to complete the picture with something green.

Randi's Rice Salad

This can be refrigerated but is best served at room temperature. I always use a green bell pepper, but you can use a red one if you like it better.

1 recipe The Best Way to Cook Rice made with olive oil, not butter, and no butter added at the end of cooking

That recipe specifically calls for Uncle Ben's Rice, but you can substitute basmati rice if you like, and that is what I do.
1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts - drain, reserve liquid separately, and chop the artichokes
4 green onions (scallions), chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
12 olives - black, or green, or mixed - chopped  (Black olives are the prettiest, but green olives are usually the most piquant.)

Mix the above ingredients and toss with the dressing.

Dressing

Beat together

¾ teaspoon curry powder
1/3 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise
Artichoke liquid; start with half and work your way up until you get to the texture you want.  I like the dressing to be a little thicker than heavy cream and a little thinner than sour cream.
Salt and pepper to taste

Baked Rice

Adapted from Craig Claiborne’s Kitchen Primer

Craig Claiborne called this recipe The Best Way to Make Rice.  It's a good recipe producing nice buttery flavorful rice.  The original recipe calls for long grain rice, but I used to make it with Uncle Ben’s; now I use basmati. 

Adapted from Craig Claiborne’s Kitchen Primer

Wings; 2nd thus edition (June 29, 1993)

Attributed by Craig Claiborne to his good friend Pierre Franey

Baked Rice

Ingredients

2-1/2 tablespoons butter
A small onion, chopped
1 cup Uncle Ben's Rice
2 drops Tabasco Sauce
1-1/2 cups chicken broth (or broth made with Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base)
1 bay leaf (I like Morton & Bassett California Bay Leaves)
Salt to taste, if necessary (depending on how salty your chicken broth is)

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Use a heavy saucepan with a secure lid.  I use an old-fashioned Corningware dish (the one with a blue flower on it and a glass lid).  Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter, and sauté the onion in it.  Cook until the onion turns clear but does not brown.

Add the rice, and turn it over for about 30 seconds, coating the grains with the butter.  Add the chicken broth, Tabasco sauce, and bay leaf, and bring to a boil.  Cover, and place the pan in the oven.

Cook for 20 minutes.  The water should all be absorbed by this time.  Remove from the oven, add the remaining butter, and toss lightly with a fork.