Favorite Recipies

The following recipes are some of my favorites … others often inspired them…some created out of whole cloth. Enjoy!

(More recipes can be found on my blog Food for Thought.)

Shepard’’s Pie

This Shepherd’s pie recipe is inspired by a dish served at a diner where I once washed dished when I was in college (Hal's ... and was the first job from which I was fired).

Ingredients:
1½ pounds lean ground beef or lamb (neck meat is best … grind your own if you can)
2 small yellow onions, chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil
½ pound green beans, cleaned, deveined, halved and cooked al dente in salted water
3 large Russet potatoes peeled and quartered
½ cup milk (or cream)
3 dollops of butter
½ Tsp. thyme
5 good dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
5 or 6 more dollops of butter for the top of the mashed potatoes
Sprinkling of paprika

Boil the potatoes in a large sauce pan of water until tender. Drain well and return to a low heat. Mash these potatoes well, adding a large pinch of salt a 2 or 3 grinds of black pepper. Whip these mashed potatoes well with the milk or cream. If the potatoes appear mushy, they will tighten up as you continue whipping them over low heat. Add the first 3 dollops of butter. Stir and set aside.

In a large frying pan, add the olive oil and heat until almost smoking. Add the chopped onions. Sauté until transparent. Add the ground meat. Add the thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and the salt and pepper to taste. Cook until well browned. Add the cooked and drained green beans. Mix well. Transfer to a baking dish and cover with the mashed potatoes. Place the rest of the butter dollops on top and sprinkle with paprika. Place under the broiler and cook until the top is a golden brown. Serve with nice crusty bread and a good quality cold beer in a frosty glass. And I know it is anathema, but I also enjoy a little ketchup on the side.

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Oyster Pa Roast

Every time I was perambulating through Grand Central Station and had a few extra minutes and a good appetite, I used to stop at the Oyster Bar and have their famous Oyster Pan Roast. They had numerous steam-heated copper pans at the bar itself which, it seemed, were dedicated to this concoction. There is a recipe for this dish in the old New York Times Cookbook which I have pretty much memorized to use when I find a pint or more of good, plump, shucked oysters for sale. All these figures are approximate so experiment yourself until you come up with your ideal proportions.

Assemble some (2 or 3) toasted French bread rounds in the bottom of two wide soup bowls. Now, get a good heavy enameled medium-sized but high-sided pan and heat it up well over a high flame. Next melt a good quarter of a stick of butter in the pan. Squeeze about a half a fresh lemon through your fingers into the butter. Then add the oysters, liquor and all. Give this mixture about 5 squirts of Worcestershire sauce (don’t skimp, use Lea and Perrins). Add about a half bottle of Heinz chili sauce and about 1/2 a teaspoon of celery seeds. Top this off with about a cup of heavy cream (OK, half and half if you are dieting). Stir well and heat until some large bubbles appear on top. Immediately ladle into the soup bowls and sprinkle with good quality paprika. The parsley leaf shown would be fluff.

You will not be hungry again for at least a day ... but you will talk of many things.

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Eggplant Ptarmigan

Last week, in between tutoring gigs, I stopped for lunch at a place called Ziti's on Speen Street in Natick, MA and ordered its eggplant parmigian ($7.95).  It was sublimely delicious.  So tonight I tried to duplicate it here at home.  I came very close.

First get a firm, fresh, standard eggplant.  Peel it and cut it into 3/4 inch rounds, discarding the ends.  Then place two layers of paper towels on a cookie sheet and, salting the eggplant pieces liberally on both sides with Kosher salt. place them on the paper towels.  Cover them with another two layers of paper towels and another cookie sheet and then something heavy (say a big cast-iron frying pan.)  Let them stand for at least an hour.  Remove and discard the paper towels.  Pat the rounds dry.  Then grind fresh black pepper on both sides.

Now place the big cast-iron frying pan on high heat, covering the bottom generously with extra virgin olive oil.  When quite hot, start frying the eggplant rounds in batches (adding lots more oil as required) until nicely browned on both sides ... removing them to more paper towels.  (No egg wash and bread crumbs ... why the extra calories?)  Finally, in the remaining oil, saute three minced garlic cloves, red pepper flakes to taste (I used about four shakes), a pinch of salt, some fennel seeds, and a large can of good crushed tomatoes.  Cook about five minutes.  Then place about a cup of the tomato sauce on one of the cookie sheets (should have at least 1/2 inch sides), then the eggplant slices, and a good slice of fresh mozzarella cheese on each.  Spoon the rest of the tomato sauce over the cheese and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  Bake in the top half of a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes until the cheese is brown and bubbling.

Eat until you burst.  No need for anything else.  And the next time you are in Natick, MA stop by Ziti's and say thank you (over a plate of its eggplant parm.)

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Tomato Salas

Now, as they are in season, vendors are almost giving away tomatoes.  Take advantage of this largess and try my tomato salad recipe:

Peel three or four large dead-ripe tomatoes (this is important ... try dipping them in boiling water for a few seconds to loosen the skin) and cut them into bit-sized pieces.  Put this into a large bowl.  Clean and dice a small bunch of scallions and add them.  Chop a good four or five sprigs of Italian parsley and add to the bowl.  If you want, you can also add chopped fresh basil and oregano (I often don't.)  Add a good five-finger pinch of salt and about six grinds of fresh black pepper.  Squeeze in a half a juicy lemon through your fingers to catch the seeds.  Add about four dollops of good olive oil and about three of a good (but not great) balsamic vinegar.  Mix well and refrigerate until cold.  (I know, I know, you are not supposed to refrigerate tomatoes ... but trust me on this.)

If you can keep from eating this all yourself, serve what is left to your good friends and family ... with a good crusty bread to soak up the juices. 

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Spaghetti Americana

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?)

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Stuffed Flank Steak

Start by cutting a large pocket into a good-sized flank steak (or in about four thick pork chops). Then make the following stuffing:

- Melt one half a stick of butter in a large frying pan (or in an equivalent amount of olive oil if you prefer)
- Finely chop and add two shallots
- Chop and add about four good sized mushrooms
- Include two tablespoons of bread crumbs or Panko
- Add one teaspoon of dried thyme and a few sprigs of chopped parsley
- Dice and add about five apricots
- Chop and add a handful of pistachio nuts (or pecans)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Sauté and stir until well incorporated

Let this mixture cool and then stuff the flank steak (or pork chops), securing the opening(s) with a few toothpicks. In the same frying pan add some olive oil, salt and pepper the outside of the flank steak (or pork chops) and sauté it (them) to your preferred level of doneness. (Alternately, use your barbecue grill), When cooked, let stand five minutes and then cut the flank steak across the grain or serve the pork chops whole. In either case remove the toothpicks before serving.

Serve with a good potato salad or even mashed potatoes. (You can even make a little gravy for the mashed potatoes with the sauté pan drippings.)

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Chef’s Salad

Need I re-iterate? If you want a good chef’s salad, you must buy good ingredients. Two-bit substitutions will produce two-bit results. So take time to find a good deli with superior cold-cuts and select carefully. Here is the shopping list for this summer-time favorite (generously serves six): 

- 1/3 pound deli-thin sliced Genoa salami (NOT prepackaged)

- 1/3 pound deli-thin sliced Swiss cheese (the nuttier the better)

- 1/3 pound deli-thin sliced Italian roast beef (w/ that hint of garlic)

- 1/3 pound deli-thin sliced baked ham (the real deal)

- 1/3 pound deli-thin sliced roast turkey (not that plastic-looking imitation)
- One large cucumber
- Two ripe tomatoes
- One bunch scallions
- Two packages Summer Salad mix or make your own with torn-to-bite-size frisee, Bibb lettuce, arugula, radicchio, etc, (no baby spinach). 
- Your favorite salad dressings (I prefer home-made Thousand Island made with equal parts mayo, ketchup and relish), but Italian or Ranch or Parmesan/peppercorn will do.

Then:
- Wash and spin-dry the salad greens (even if prepackaged).
- Peel the tomatoes (take the time, it is important) and cut into bit-sized pieces.
- Peel, seed and cut the cucumber into bite-sized pieces.
- Clean three or four scallions and cut into bite-sized pieces.
- Cross-cut the cold-cuts and Swiss cheese into 1/8 inch slivers.

Next:
- Place the salad greens in a large salad bowl.
- Arrange the tomatoes, cucumber, cold cuts, and Swiss cheese in pie shaped segments on top of the greens (taking time to contrast the colors). 
- Place the chopped scallions in the center.

Present the salad in all its glory to your guests and then toss it vigorously until it is well mixed. Serve to your salivating guest and let them pick their own dressing. If you choose Thousand Island dressing, top with some fresh cracked or ground black pepper.

Serve with a good white wine and crusty bread. Enjoy!

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Blodgett Sandwich

WTH thanks to Peter DeVries for the concept … not the recipe.

Please heed the following somewhat obvious advice in making this mouth-watering midnight feast -- the fresher and higher-quality the ingredients the finer the end product:

• Take 2 slices of reasonably firm, fresh rustic white or whole-wheat bread.
• Cover the bottom slice with a swath of good brown mustard like Kosciusko ... not yellow mustard.
• Now add the following cool or cold ingredients (except where indicated), in the approximate order stated:
- Two slices of baked Virginia ham (preferably fresh-cut with edge-fat included),
- One or two slices of room-temperature Swiss cheese (Emmental, if possible),
- Some fresh sweet pickle relish (to taste ... at least one heaping teaspoonful),
- Two or three thin slices of Bermuda onion (halved scallions may be substituted),
- Three or four thin slices of a lean and tasty Genoa salami,
- A full spreading of sharp Jewish horseradish (neglect this, and it’s no Blodget),
- Two crisp leaves of Boston or Bibb lettuce (Iceberg only as a last resort),
- Two or three rounds of a fresh, red, ripe tomato (skin peeled off), and
- A slathering of Hellmann’s real mayonnaise (on the tomato, NOT on the top bread).
• Cover with the other slice of bread, slice the finished sandwich on the diagonal, and hold each half together with a long toothpick, topped with a Colossal green pimento olive or a sweet gherkin (or both).
• Place a dish towel into your pajama-top neck, as a bib.
• Pour yourself a tall, cold glass of milk and find a good old movie on TV.
• Enjoy!  (And don't call it a Dagwood!)

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Enough for now …

STAND UP FOR COOKING!