Read my lips:No new Cookbooks.
That’s the promise I made to myself a year ago when moving back to Colorado and into a very tiny condominium. I committed to keeping only my fave fifty which tucked neatly into my bookshelf. Unfortunately, sometimes promises and commitments just don’t fly. My stacks now sport a look of messy vitality. No buyer’s remorse, however, with these recent purchases.
Asparagus Pizza with a whole-wheat crust. Too good to imagine. I cut in square pieces and shared with The Gant’s staff.
Currently I’m loving what cookbook author David Lebovitz has to say in his newest blockbuster My Paris Kitchen. Chef Jody Williams, the self-taught cooking phenom who runs Buvette, a restaurant in New York’s West Village, just published a cookbook by the same name. It’s called Buvette, the pleasure of food. It’s terrific. A sleeper. (So is she.)
The star of my recent cookbook-buying frenzy is River Cottage Veg by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, a ‘well-known British chef, TV personality, journalist, food writer and real food campaigner’. That’s why today I am welcoming you readers to The Cottage Cooking Club, a monthly online cooking group dedicated to Fearnley-Whittingstall’s genius recipes.
The pizza, just before diving into the oven – note the thicker crust. Thinner is better.
The CCC was created by Andrea Mohr aka The Kitchen Lioness, whose impressive and well-photographed blog was chosen the Food Blog of the Year 2013 by Germany’s foodies magazine. Mohr has been cooking mouthwatering dishes from RCVeg since last August and has inspired others, including me, to buy this book. Many food bloggers in the States and across the Pond will now be joining The Kitchen Lioness to cook this book.
I’m betting you’ll love my first three recipes: Asparagus Pizza, a pie of three cheeses, caramelized onions and roasted asparagus; Radishes with Butter and Salt, a classic French appetizer born from the old-fashioned radish sandwich, an after-school snack for garçons et filles; and, Stir-fried Sesame Cauliflower, an easy stir-fry seasoned with chiles, garlic and ginger.
Add other crudités to this or just slice a baguette to serve as a more substantial appetizer.
I used my own whole-wheat recipe for the pizza dough and made two pizzas, one thin and one chunky. (Preferred the thin crust.) After sautéing two thinly sliced onions and spreading it on the rolled dough, toss slender asparagus spears on top. I covered each pizza with buffalo mozzarella, grated Parmesan and goat cheese and baked for 12 minutes at 450 degrees. To my mind, using a baking peel lightly coated with corn meal and pizza stone for baking certainly enhanced the product. I shared this pizza with The Gant’s front office staff and their critique was simple, “More.”
Stir-fried Sesame Cauliflower, a quick and easy side dish.
With the radishes (garden fresh and prettier than mine, I hope), be sure to use a sweet sea salt. I chose Maldon. Sometimes it’s nice to slice a baguette to serve with this appetizer. The stir-fry is quick and easy. After sautéing an onion in sunflower oil, stir in garlic, green chiles and grated ginger. Add the cauliflower florets and a half-cup of water and cook for ten minutes before stirring in sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy sauce and chopped cilantro. This is cauliflower like you’ve never tasted.
My California girls surprised me with a visit over the Memorial Day Week-end while Dad watched over the home front.
Although we cannot publish the recipes, I’d be happy to send the ingredient list/instructions to any of you. Try it. You’ll like it. You aren’t sold yet? Here’s another review from VegetarianTimes:
Why we love it: The author does right by veggies with boldly flavored, globally inspired dishes that’d outshine any steak on the table.The idea is not to replace meat but to ignore it. How many: More than 200 vegetarian recipes, about a third of them vegan. Who’s it for: Vegetarians looking beyond tofu cutlets and veggie patties; omnivores cutting back on meat. What to make right away: Baby Beet Tarte Tatin; Sweet Potato and Peanut Gratin; Herby, Peanutty, Noodly Salad; Vegetable Biryani.
My 13-year-old granddaughter and many of my friends are vegetarians so I look forward to cooking more vegetable dishes from River Cottage Veg and sharing the results with them and all of you.
This week’s French Fridays recipe choice is Hélène’s All-White Salad, a bunch of crunch created by Dorie’s friend, Hélène Samuel. She has loved this salad since first eating it at Samuel’s cafe, Délicabar Snack Chic, located in Paris’s renown Le Bon Marché department store. Built by Gustave Eiffel in 1852 and now owned by the luxury group LVMH, the store still exists.The cafe does not. Luckily, Dorie asked, Helene shared, and the all-white salad still survives in Around my French Table.
This salad seemed comfy, a thumbs up. I located every ingredient at the tiny Cookie Crockery market in Cambria. The priciest item was organic mushrooms but the rest, celery, Granny Smith apples, Napa cabbage and Greek yogurt, cost less than the gas to drive there.The preparation was simple.The dressing, Yogurt Vinaigrette, parading as a light, low-calorie mayonnaise, went together easily.
Earlier in the day I baked Irish Soda Bread, using a recipe from Dorie’s Baking: From my House to Yours cookbook. My wine was Patelin de Tablas Blanc from Tablas Creek, one of many local vineyards focusing on grapes and blends traditional to France’s Rhone Valley.
Readers, sometimes hits turn into misses. The Vinaigrette was bland. After one glass of vino and half-way through another, still tasteless. I liked the salad ingredients, however, especially the apple/Napa cabbage/celery combo. For lunch the next day, I used the leftover “whites” and made chunky blue cheese dressing for the pour-over. Bingo. Blue is the new White.
FIGURE IT OUT, MARY
Today’s Post marks three years of turning my lights on bright. Disappointed the salad was not the celebratory recipe I envisioned, the birthday candles went back in the box. Then, an Aha moment. The past three years have been all about hits, misses, thumbs up and never agains. Let me explain.
Irish Soda Bread – It’s Almost St. Paddy’s
This blogging adventure began shortly after my husband, Michael, was moved to the Memory Care Unit with Hospice joining the private facility to assist with his care. The good news was my day-to-day caregiving responsibility was no longer needed. The Pros wanted and insisted upon taking over. The bad news was my day-to-day caregiving responsibility was no longer needed. I was undone. “Go out and make a life, Mary,” a nurse insisted.
This was not new advice. I had tried and been spectacularly unsuccessful at the new life-thing. As usual, with each crisis, I ran wailing to my professional counselor, Paige. This woman does not suffer histrionics. She is also maddeningly unemotional. After calming my waters, she asked, “Mary, what are the two things you do best?”
After some thought, I responded, “Writing and being a good grandmother.”
Well,” she answered, “your granddaughters are nearby and you see them often. Check. That leaves Writing. Go figure it out.”
Visit over. I didn’t even get my hour.
2012 Patelin de Tablas Blanc
THE BIRTH OF A BLOGGER
After some months of thought, I decided to blog. WordPress was beyond me so I found a web designer on Craig’s List. He put together the site you are now reading, albeit not without disaster. Within five minutes of my site going up, I totally obliterated it. I blogged about politics and hobbies and caregiving. Nothing worked. An article in Oprah’s magazine introduced me to FrenchFridays with Dorie. The dye was cast. FFWD created the structure I needed in my life.
Yes, Michael-visits were still unbearable but cooking the book with my fellow Doristas was salvation. Better yet, it framed my week. Here’s how it goes: 1) Read the assigned FFWD recipe; 2) Shop for ingredients; 3) Make the recipe; 4) Photograph, eat and share the food; 5) Write my piece; 6) Post on blog each Friday; 7) Link on thirty or forty of my colleagues‘ blogs to read/ comment on their sites.
You thought the life of a food blogger was easy?
My FFWD virtual friends became reality at the International Food Boggers Conference in Seattle. Our Dorie was the keynote speaker. Fall, 2013.
Michael spent two years with round-the-clock care and I launched a new life. When he died, I had a framework in place as I began to build a lifestyle alone. In addition, I had met an entire family of virtual companions who joined with my family and friends to assist me. Now, with 228 Posts under my toque, I think I’ve been spectacularly successful in doing just that.
CAN “LIGHTS” GET BRIGHTER?
Today I completed Melanie Faith’s five-week online food writing class. Her nuts and bolts course was immersion at its finest. Our class waded through a 300-page text, Will Write for Food by Diane Jacob and submitted five in-depth writing assignments. Every morning, w-i-t-h-o-u-t fail, I woke up to an e-mail prompt, our exercise-of-the-day. Writers need editors. I am pleased to have Melanie in my back pocket.
After months of deliberation I just hired a young Denver firm, Peak Solutions Marketing, to completely redesign my site. Sorta excited. Kinda nervous. (No pressure, Zoe & Kenneth) It appears I’m committed to keeping my lights on. The brighter, the better.
The High Priestess of French Fridays, Dorie Greenspan
French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s “Around my French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours.” If you would like to look at our group link, go here.
This Wednesday, August 15th, is Julia Child’s 100th birthday. Many in the food world have a “Julia” story, a casual encounter, a recipe learned, executed and conquered or memorable culinary experience. This is mine.
Dinner with Julia Child during her last visit in the mid-nineties to the Aspen Food & Wine Festival.
When I was in my 30s, living in Ames, Iowa, and obviously quite full of myself, I donated a French dinner for six to a charitable auction. The chef would be moi. I would serve the gourmet feast in the winning bidder’s home.
May I admit to many adult What-Was-I-Thinking moments? This was one.
Unfortunately, on that night my item was near the end, the bidders full of drink, and the dinner sold for $600. Today, not so much. In the early Eighties, a big chunk of change. My cooking experience? Three French cooking classes and ownership of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volumes 1 & 2. Before leaving the Auction, we set a dinner date. I had six weeks and no clue.
To lessen my anxiety, I wrote a letter to Julia explaining my predicament, imploring her to help with the menu and, because of the dinner date, requesting an answer within two weeks. (Yeah, I also cannot now believe I gave Julia Child a deadline!) I had every confidence she would answer my plea.
She did.
Julia’s long letter, now safely framed, was a personification of that extraordinary woman and a testament to everything she represented. She offered no specific food choices but rather she suggested a general food plan, explaining how to successfully prepare, prep, cook and serve it. Her letter to me could be summarized by one of her favorite quotes, “The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” How did she know that advice was exactly what I needed to hear?
In the end, the dinner, a smashing success, was the front-page article in the following Sunday’s Des Moines Register’sSociety Section. However, lesson learned, I have never done that again.
Fast forward to Aspen, where we moved in 1988 when Michael retired from medicine. Julia often visited the annual “Aspen Food & Wine Festival” in June. When I would catch a glimpse of her, at a cooking class, a book signing or lecture, I would always run over to remind her of the letter and thank her again. She’d always be charming, as she was to everyone, but probably, with her busy schedule and hectic life, had no recall.
In the mid-nineties, Michael and I had dinner with Julia during ironically what was her last visit to the Aspen festival. She loved the festival but could no longer tolerate the altitude. For me, it was one of Life’s special moments.
Over the past thirty years, my personal life and culinary skills have been enhanced and made fuller, thanks to Julia, Lydie Marshall and Dorie Greenspan. With Julia leading the charge, through her doggedness and determination, she showed American women how to “Do Better” and “Be Better” in the kitchen and in Life. Lucky me, I was one of those women. Lydie and Dorie, with personalities of their own, soon joined the cause. Julia-Mold-Broken. My Life would have been lesser without her in it.
We all have our own vision and expectations of Afterlife and this is mine. I just know that in the past month my Michael has hooked up with Julia and Paul and they are drinking freshly squeezed orange juice in crystal glasses every morning and enjoying perfectly sliced Casaba melon when they wish.
My basil plants have gone wild. Growing like crazy. The most productive crop I’ve ever harvested. The Question? “How much pesto does one need?”
Those chefs at Food Network Magazine must be having the same problem because their September issue included a full-page layout on making basil-flavored salt. If that’s how Ina and Bobby and Giada and Guy are utilizing their extra basil, count me in. This week, I produced a personal cache of my own. Easy.
Put 1 cup of basil leaves, packed, and 1/2 cup of kosher salt into your food processor.
Wash Basil leaves carefully, preventing bruising, and dry thoroughly with a paper towel. Place leaves and 1/2 cup of salt in your food processor. Pulse about 12 times. Spread the mixture on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 225 degrees until dry for 30 to 40 minutes. (I baked my mixture for 30 minutes and then turned off the oven for 10 more minutes.)
Let cool, return mixture to your processor and pulse again 6 to 8 times to create a fine powder. Pour it through a mesh strainer.
Twelve pulses later and you’re half-way to making salt.
Use to flavor everything from the obvious, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, to sauces and salad dressings to meats, poultry and fish to stir-fry dishes to popcorn to Bloody Marys or other drinks.
Bake for 30 miinutes at 225 degrees, turn off the oven, bake for another 10 minutes. If not dry enough to your liking, bake longer. Midway through, toss the salt, breaking up clumps.
This process can be adjusted to make any flavored salt and I am going to try making olive salt as well as saffron-flavored salt next. If you are interested in knowing more about cooking with the world’s favorite seasoning, may I suggest SALT by Valerie Aikman-Smith. Or, go to The Meadow, a small speciality food purveyor (salts) located in Portland, Oregon, and the West Village, New York City. I’ve ordered products from them on line with great results.
“Salt has been a prized possession since the beginning of civilization,” Aikman-Smith writes. It was once a form of currency and wars have been won and lost over it. Nations have been taxed on their salt. In China, salt tax revenues were used to build the Great Wall. There are salt routes all over the world that were used to transport salt from continent to continent. At one time salt was so precious it was traded ounce for ounce with gold.”
Basil-flavored Salt can be used in many different foods, given as a gift, or included in your holiday food baskets.
“A wise woman puts a grain of sugar into everything she says to a man, and takes a grain of salt with everything he says to her.” Helen Rowland (English-American writer, 1876-1950)
Erin, a fellow Coloradoan who blogs on Dinners, Dishes and Desserts is hosting an on-line bake sale to raise funds for the Colorado Disaster Relief fund. All of the proceeds will go to the Colorado Disaster Relief Fund c/o Red Cross to help with fire victims. Devastating wild fires have caused massive destruction in our home state, and you can help by bidding on some marvelous treats starting at 8 AM mountain time this Sunday, July 8. If you’ve never participated in a virtual bake sale before, take the opportunity to peek at this site. It’s fun. I’m already gearing up to bid on the Oatmeal M & M cookies that Liz who blogs on that skinny chick can bake is making.
Pop on over to Dinners, Dishes and Desserts to take a gander at the preview and support this good cause. We thank you.
