New Year’s Resolutions

I had an official list, but I’m adding to it.

Right now, I have one big one: label my photographs.

I’ve been working on my genealogy. This has its challenges. Surnames like Schwartz–a needle in the haystack if ever there was one. Relatives who changed the first names they went by apparently on a daily basis. For instance my great grandfather named both his sons “George.” He was married twice. Both to women who went by Maria, Mary, and Marie. Fun. Actually, though if I’m honest about it, part of why I’ve kept up with this, is that it is fun. Detective work if you will.

I’ve been going through old photographs. The pictures are great to look at. The trouble is almost all of them are not labeled.  Occasionally I’ll find a date scribbled on the back. One lovely snap had a man with his foot rakishly perched on a running board. It was labeled meticulously with the make and model of the car, but I have no clue who the man is. The ones that kill me are the family groupings in what clearly looks like “the old country.” None of them labeled.

Then I think about my photo albums. Some were labeled, but a lot were not or were labeled incompletely.  For 2012, therefore, one of my projects will be to label these things. With names and dates if I can manage it.

Thanksgiving 2011

• Salad
• Rolls
• Bourbon cranberry sauce
• Green beans with pine nuts and lemon zest (no parsley)
• Cornbread dressing – see below
• Potato Fennel gratin
• Cider brined turkey (did not do the glaze or broth). After brining, I put turkey on a bed of vegetables (carrots, celery, onion sliced in rounds, couple of orange slices on top, sage, parsley, rosemary thyme)
• Gravy (left out cream and fat as I did this the day before and sieved gravy to remove onion bits)
• Pumpkin walnut pie (courtesy of my mom)
• Grape pie (courtesy of a good friend)
• Whipped cream (real whipped cream, not that crap in a tub or the kind in the can)

Cornbread dressing

2 batches of cornbread – recipe off Quaker Oats box – make several days ahead
4 tbsp of butter
2-3 onions diced
2-3 stalks of celery diced
2-3 apples (something tart)
2-3 tbsp of parsley chopped
1 tsp of fresh rosemary minced
1-3 tsp of fresh sage minced
1-2 cups chicken broth/stock
2 tsp salt, kosher
1/2 tsp pepper

Cut cornbread into cubes and toast in a 300F oven for 10 minutes. Bring stock/broth to a simmer. In a saute pan, melt butter and add vegetables. Saute for 10-12 minutes. Add herbs and salt and pepper and cook 1-2 minutes more. Combine bread, saute mixture and hot stock/broth in a large bowl.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish. Put stuffing mixture in that and cook for 50 min.

Cooking light

gingertilapia, a photo by mlzafron on Flickr.

I’m working very hard at eating more healthy food these days. More whole greens, more fruits and vegetables, fewer processed items, seasonal, fresh. This is what I’m trying for. So far it’s working fairly well. Here’s one of my successes. It’s adapted from a Weight Watchers recipe for Ginger Glazed Halibut. I couldn’t find Halibut so I used some Tilapia instead.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp minced ginger
2 garlic minced cloves
1/4 cup(s) chopped cilantro
3/4 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 pound tilapia
1 Tbsp peanut oil
Instructions

Marinade: mix honey, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, 2 tablespoons cilantro, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Wash fish and pat it dry. Rub remaining 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper into both sides of halibut. Add fish to marinade, cover dish or bowl and refrigerate, turning once or twice, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove fish from marinade; reserve marinade.

Set a heavy skillet over medium heat; add oil. When oil beings to shimmer, add fish; cook until the flesh is no longer translucent, flipping once, about 3 to 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness of fillets. Immediately remove fish to a serving plate and tent to keep warm.

Set same skillet over medium heat; add marinade and cook until marinade thickens, about 3 to 5 minutes. Pour marinade over fish and garnish with remaining cilantro. Serve.

Bowlful of Sunshine

IMG_0013, a photo by mlzafron on Flickr.

I was looking for a nice light summer meal option and came across this recipe for Avgolemono (Greek Egg Lemon Soup) in my copy of the Silver Palate Cookbook.

6 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup long-grained rice
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh)
salt and pepper
chopped parsley

You boil the chicken stock/broth and add in the rice, lowering the temperature so that it’s simmering. You cover the pot and let it cook for about 25 min. Once that’s done, you take the pot off the burner and in a separate bowl whisk the yolks and lemon juice. Then you temper that into the chicken broth so you don’t end up with lemon scrambled eggs. You add a couple of lemon slices and some parsley and serve. You can also chill it and serve it cold.

The only drawback is that this does not reheat well.

Not quite right

…
So I was thumbing through my issue of Bon Appetit and came across a recipe for Thai Shrimp Halibut Curry. It looked fantastic and the reviews were all positive. I bought all of the ingredients (good stuff too and it was not cheap). It smelled divine. It looked divine. It tasted…meh. Still trying to figure out if it was me or the recipe.

Remembering…

My Uncle Ray passed away last week. It was not unexpected, but that does’n't change anything really. He’s gonna be missed. More than anything (ok, really good food ran a close second), Uncle Ray loved movies.  And I think it’s from him  partly that I learned to love them too.

He loved anecdotes about classic movie actors. He loved really well done movies, but he liked the corny and the campy stuff too. He’d retell the scenes and  his enthusiasm and passion always showed. One of his favorites comes from Tales of Terror. He really loved Peter Lorre. So Uncle Ray, this one’s for you:

Birthday Feast!

It was my mother’s birthday yesterday. My present to her was her favorite meal: homemade pasta and sauce.

So we have a green salad (courtesy of my mom), rosemary olive bread (more on that below), meatballs, pasta, tomato sauce and my go-t0 green beans with lemon zest and pine nuts.

Making pasta is one of those things looks harder than it is. Really when you come down to it, it’s more tedious to make than it is difficult. It’s worth the effort though. There is nothing quite like it. The meal came out well, I think.

I  really wish I did not have to use canned tomatoes for the sauce. They’re ok, but not the same as sauce from fresh.

So this summer I am determined to get a bushel of tomatoes from a farmer’s market and make and freeze sauce from scratch.

Anyhow, I am really really proud of the bread. 

I have made the Mark Bittman no-knead bread before, but I’ve always done the shortened version (the one that takes about 12 hours). This time, I went for the 24 hour version. Half whole wheat flour, half white. flour. I added in chopped, pitted oil cured olives and fresh rosemary. Coated the dough in olive oil and let rise for 18 -20 hours. This is the result (well there’s another rising in there, but you get the idea).

It was great to celebrate with friends and enjoy this meal.

And now, I think I am going to go enjoy some salad and a slice of this bread for my supper.

Awesomeness in a cast iron skillet

Not too long ago, I was pondering gift ideas. I make a very nice little recipe of Ina Garten’s, but it calls for cashews, which aren’t exactly cheap.

Then I found Alton Brown’s recipe for Spiced Pecans. You basically take a pound of pecan halves and toast them in a cast iron skillet for a few minutes. You then add butter, then a spice mixture, then brown sugar and some water. Presto, you have made crack. Okay, not crack, but really really really yummy nuts.

After the first batch, I went a lot easier on the cayenne and cumin. Then I put the cooled pecans into 4oz Ball canning jars. So far they’ve been a hit.

 

Nostalgia

Once upon a time when I was small, I was an avid viewer of Emergency! Every week paramedics Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto (Locke’s dad on Lost and quite a looker back in the day) answered emergency calls all over Los Angeles County. With the help of Drs. Kelly Brackett, Joe Early, and Nurse Dixie McCall at Rampart Hospital, they were able to provide urgent medical treatment to a variety of patients.

The first thing I ever remember wanting to be was a paramedic. We lived next door to a retired fire chief and several of the neighbors were volunteer firemen. My brother and friends would race up and down on our big wheels pretending to be transporting patients (Barbie was quite accident prone as I recall) back and forth.

Imagine my joy to discover the whole season available on Instant Netflix (there until Dec 12th at which point I’ll add anything I’ve miissed to my physical queue).

As with many childhood pleasures, it’s a bit strange to watch this as an adult. For instance, I now know that Jack Webb’s (my name is Friday. I carry a badge) production company produced Emergency! His ex-wife Julie Lord played Nurse Dixie McCall, who happened to be married to Bobby Troup (Dr. Joe Early).

It holds up surprisingly well as a television show. Although the makeup is bad. Robert Fuller wears more eye shadow than Julie Lord, but it’s a pretty tight show. I no longer want to be a paramedic, but I am glad I found this again.

Thanksgiving 2010

It was a three dishwasher load Thanksgiving.  Totally worth it though. Some highlights:

• Potato fennel gratin – same recipe I’ve made for the past five years. Still a winner.
• Cornbread and herb stuffing – this could be improved.  I cobble together about 4 recipes and it’s not everything it could be.
• Piquant cranberry sauce – this was not the hit I was hoping it would be. It wasn’t bad, but I think it will be better as a spread for a turkey sandwich tomorrow.
• Bourbon cranberry sauce – WOW. I should have doubled this recipe. You combine cranberries and sugar and you bake it. Then when it’s done, you add bourbon and fresh squeezed orange juice.  All kinds of awesome.
• Green beans with pine nuts and lemon zest – my one legitimately healthy dish.
• Onion gravy – I made this ahead of time and it worked out beautifully. I ran it through the food processor after to get rid of the chunks of onions.
• Brined and then roasted turkey. It was falling off the bone, it was so good. Here’s what I used for the brine:

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

2 cups hot water

1 1/2 cups coarse or Kosher salt

1-2 gallons cold water

2 teaspoons peppercorns

4 bay leaves

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 cup chablis or chardonnay (dry white wine)

Recipe taken from this site.