Salmon is fine, but sticky rice is da bess!

Mindy brought a nice piece of salmon down to Art and Rose’s where I had been watching FIVE grandkids for a couple of hours. (It didn’t sound too hard when it was first proposed.) She thoughtfully brought a bottle of wine, a pinot grigio, I think, and some cheese and bread for starters.

We cracked the wine while Mindy rubbed the pretty pink salmon with butter and sprinkling it with sea salt before searing in a hot skillet with a bit of olive oil. So, so good on a late spring evening.

A pot of sticky rice and some mixed greens completed our al fresco meal.

As you can see, Bralen is all over the rice, eating it right out of the pot while cousin Mason checks to see if the coast is clear before delving in.

Liam makes pizza -- and dessert -- for Grandma and Grandpa.

Liam uses toasted English muffins as a base for his pizza. Covered with rich, healthy tomato sauce and topped with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Some he topped with pepperoni, some with mushroom, and a few with goat cheese and spinach. Pop them in the oven at about 375 and watch until the cheese melts and the edges turn brown. So good, and good for you!

For dessert he made Martha Steward cookie bars, which consisted of a brown sugar cookie dough base, mixed with 1 cup dark chocolate chips, 1 cup white, 1 cup butterscotch chips, 1 cup caramel candies, cut into pieces, and 1 cup of miniature marshmallows. Half the fun was measuring out these colorful, delectable goodies and stirring them into the batter, saving some to spread over the top. The other half of the fun was found in licking the spoon and batter bowl, of course!

(Sous chef, Mason Dodge.)

Memorial Day, 2009

A rainy, gray Memorial Day, and just the two of us. We did our own thing all day, before grilling some brats and vegetables. I used up what I had, since I'm going to Denver tomorrow. Most of a head of cauliflower broken up, some green onions, chopped big, some sliced red onion, and a yellow pepper, sliced. Tossed these in a bowl with a tsp. of chopped garlic, some olive oil. Too white and yellow, needed some color, some red. No red peppers so I added, you guessed it, sun-dried tomatos, julienned. My secret ingredient for just about everything. A little salt and pepper, then into the grill basket. OK, grillmeister, you're up. (That's Bob.) Enough of that computer game, already!

Thought about all the veterans of all the wars as I sang where have all the flowers gone?

After dinner Bob and I went downtown to see the new Star Trek movie. I was prepared not to like it, but I liked it quite a lot. Hard to believe Nancy Warner and I were watching Star Trek back in the 'sixties, and lovin' James T. Kirk, Spock, Bones, and the gang. Bob watching it too, but we wouldn't know each other for decades. Talk about time travel...

Long time passing...

hungry sunday morning, what to make?

Finding 4 eggs in the 'fridge, and some scraps of baby spinach leaves, I reach for my favorite staple -- sun dried tomatoes, julienne cut, in olive oil -- mix a few in, sprinkle some basil-tomato feta cheese crumbles I find in the cheese drawer, nuke this for 30 seconds to wilt the spinach and soften the cheese; this mixture I then put on the 4-egg omelet before folding it, and adding some more crumbles of feta on top, covering with lid to melt while the bread toasts. Meanwhile I run outside to clip some fragrant white blossoms for our table. In the process I get showered with petals and water from the rain shower earlier this morning. A refreshing bird bath!

(It was my younger cousin Jim Sterling who showed me how to make a proper omelet, the summer of 1983(?) when he came out west to Denver and stayed with kids and I on Vrain Street...)

What comes around goes around...

Aunt Carol has a good pork chop recipe (using a slow cooker); I’ve made it half a dozen times myself. Pork chops or cutlets, a tomato base (I use V-8 juice and ¼ part water), sour kraut (1 can; drain well), and quartered potatoes (or whole if they are small – red potatoes work well), some chopped spring onions and/or parsley for color. You could add tomato paste for a little zest and to thicken the juices. Let the whole thing cook on low for about 6 hours. -- Lorie

Pictured are Aunt Carol, my sisters Bonnie and Lorie, and nephew Phil (who ate a lot of huckleberry pie that week in Steamboat...)

Flemish stew with Belgian beer -- it's what's for dinner chez nous.

It's been a cold spring, the right weather for Flemish stew, also called beef carbonade. Bob and I ordered this several times in Belgium, with a different Belgian beer each time. I've taken a couple of recipes for beef carbonade and tweaked them for the crock pot. Although I have a cast iron dutch oven that works beautifully, I'm going to be out and about this afternoon, and don't want to tend the stove, or have the oven on for hours. It's all in the crock pot now, all I have to do is add the carrots later.

(To jog your memory: Flemish stew comes from Flanders, a geographic region that includes parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The pictures above, are from our recent trip.)


Ingredients:Olive or canola oil
2-3 onions, sliced
a few tbsp. of flour
1.5-3 lbs stewing beef cut into cubes or beef short ribs
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pint (1 and 1/4 cups) dark beer or ale
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 fresh thyme sprig
1 bay leaf
celery stick cut into large pieces
salt and pepper

In a big pot or skillet cook sliced onions over low head until soft. Remove from pan and set aside.

Mix flour, mustard, salt and pepper is a small bowl; toss the beef cubes in it, then brown them in the same skillet or pot. When browned, put beef into the crock pot on high. Add back the onions.

Back in the same skillet, saute the garlic, then add the beer, water and brown sugar. Put the thyme sprig, bay leaf and celery chunks in too, and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the liquid over the beef in the crock pot. Turn the heat down on low and cook all afternoon. About an hour before serving, cut up a couple of carrots, boil them for 5-10 minutes, until tender but not mushy, drain and add to the stew.

Serve with good country bread, and a salad with honey-mustard vinaigrette.
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

To be really authentic, spring for some Belgian beer. But since you can buy a six-pack of other beer for what a single bottle of Belgian cost you, maybe just drink it with your favorite ale or full bodied beer. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT drink Flemish stew with a Bud lite, or a Coors or any of that other piss water. It's just wrong, OK?

Red!

These days you can get strawberries any time of the year, but they're never as good as the ones you get in May and June.

My mother used to make strawberry rhubarb pie, but I'm more likely to just eat them plain with a little cheese and a glass of white wine, which is what Bob and I are doing here tonight, before dinner.

Hey, don't throw away the green hull with the little bit of strawberry flesh attached! Rub it all over your face and neck, it's a wonderful exfoliant and toner. Not messy like those other foods you can smear all over your face but only do once.

Strawberries are rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. They also contain vitamin K, manganese, folic acid and B vitamins. Most of all, when they're in season they are sweet and will improve your spirits. How can you not love red?

Here are some other ways I like to enjoy strawberries, especially now when they're in season:

sliced up, sprinkled with brown sugar and served over pancakes, french toast, ice cream, angel food cake...

floating in a glass of champagne, with brunch

chopped up on top of oatmeal or cold cereal

made into a smoothie with banana and yogurt

sliced, in green salad

dipped in melted dark chocolate

To everything there is a season -- and it's strawberry season, baby! Get you some soon.

bon appetit!

Dip to die for

Growing up in Maryland, I scarecly knew what an artichoke was. California was a foreign land. I lived quite happily in my ignorance; after all, we had Maryland Blue crabs, Chesapeake Bay oysters, home-grown tomatoes, and wild asparagus growing in our yard. Still, I'm glad I was eventually introduced to the Artichoke.

This recipe (rich in fiber, potassium, and FAT) comes not from the family troves but from the syndicated food section in a newspaper, probably 15 years ago. Whenever I go to a pot-luck, I make this sure winner. With the one exception of a true Maryland Crab Dip, this is THE best dip I've ever tasted.

I suppose you could use fresh hearts instead of canned, but why?

Baked Artichoke Dip

1 can artichoke hearts, drained well
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1 -2 cloves garlic (I'd recommend 2)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp. salt
Dash of Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce
Preheat oven to 400
Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender until creamy.
Scrape into small 3-4 cup capacity oven-proof bowl or small casserole.
Bake at 400 for 15 - 20 minutes, until lightly browned.
Serve warm with hearty bread.

In the unlikely event you should have some left over, you can mix it in with some spaghetti, like a pesto, and finish it off for lunch the next day.

default pasta -- one of my favorites

If I were a condemned man and walking the green mile tomorrow, I'd choose spaghetti with red sauce as my last meal. Oh yeah. My sister Bonnie's is the best, oh, and Aunt Carol's, hers too. But I can make a pretty good pot of "sketty" myself, especially when I don't have many ingredients. Seriously, I love a challenge.

When we have nothing left and I need to go shopping but don't feel like it, and neither of us wants to go out, pasta is the default meal. And one of my favorites.

Tonight's is vegetarian; here's what I have on hand:

1/2 onion, chopped
garlic, chopped
half a jar of tomato sauce (the brand is Classico; garlic and tomato)
tomato paste (makes for a richer taste and is loaded with licopene and other good stuff)
sun-dried tomatoes (have you noticed I'm a big fan of tomatoes?)
canned mushrooms, drained
oregano
splash of red wine
Parmesan cheese

spaghetti

Saute the chopped onion and garlic. Add canned, sliced mushrooms. Then add oregano and any other spices. Put in the sauce, the tomato paste. When blended, add some water, until you get the desired consistency. Also add a splash of wine. By now you should be drinking some yourself.

Tonight I'm drinking a Clos du Bois Sonoma Reserve Merlot, given to me for Mother's Day from my kids. (It's a pleasure if you live long enough to have your kids give you bottles of wine instead of sneaking bottles of your wine for themselves.)

Boil your water, cook your pasta, add the sauce and top with grated Parmesan cheese. Of course salad goes well, but if you don't have any veggies in the house tonight, you're getting loads of good nutrients from the tomatoes, garlic, and onion. And of course, the red wine.

bon appetit!

Pork again, but totally different

Yesterday I defrosted too much pork, but waste not, want not.

Tonight Bob's up, and like a manly-man he chooses the gas grill as his weapon. I get to cook the vegetable, and I choose the easy way out by stir-frying up half a bag of coleslaw mix with carrots. You buy these already sliced up, cabbage and carrots in a bag, and it keeps quite a long time in the 'fridge. Heat up some sesame oil, stir fry a little minced garlic, some sliced onions (or not), add the mix, a splash of shoyu (soy sauce) and a splash of rice vinegar -- this is one of the quickest, easiest and healthiest side dishes known to man.

Bob's dish is pretty easy too, although he makes quite a production of it.

In the morning he marinates the pork cutlets with:

6 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp minced garlic

(This recipe is adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Gas Grill Cookbook.)

In the evening he fires up his weapon and voila!
We quaff Louis Jadot's Macon-Villages Chardonnay with this. You can find a good Burgundy, white or red, to go with just about anything...

Bon appetit!

Food Flashback!

Crock pots? Campbell canned soup? That is so 40 years ago!

Yeah. But always in style for busy working people. Crock pots (more correctly called "slow cookers") and the new generation of less-salty canned soups can be the family cook's best friend, if the family cook also works an outside job, or is otherwise busy, busy, busy.

Back in the '70s when crock pots were all the rage, my sister Bonnie gave me this recipe. It's always easy, it's always good and it's what's for dinner at our house tonight.

Crock pot porkchops (You'll notice I did not use pork chops; I used pork cutlets, what I had in the freezer. The bone marrow in pork chops give it even more flavor and goodness, but we're still in a recession here, people, so use what you have. "Waste not, want not" is an oft-heard term around my house, eh Bob?

Here's what you need:

pork chops or cutlets, any amount
1-2 cans of chicken with rice soup
salt & pepper to your liking
optional but good: diced shallot or green onion and minced garlic (from a jar, makes it easier, if you're trying to get out the door in the morning and don't want your fingers to remind you of the mess you left in the kitchen...)

I like to brown the chops or cutlets before I put them in the pan, but this is a fussy indulgence for people who work at home or don't work at all. If you have to be at the office in forty minutes, you can skip this step (and no one will know.)

Add all the ingredients to the crock pot and let it cook all day on low. Serve with a salad and a nice pinot noir, or chardonnay, whatever you have on hand.

If you have kids, or if a neighbor is hanging around hoping to partake of your dinner and you need to stretch it a bit, make a pot of rice to stretch it. The gravy in the pot is yummy over rice.

If you have kids who don't like salad, you can sneak in some vegetables by adding a can of drained, diced carrots a few minutes before serving. Canned food has been much maligned by elite foodies, but if you don't have time to shop, wash, peel, chop, and simmer, you can open a can and drain it in less than 30 seconds.

Bon appetit!

star-crossed tuna -- again!

Star-Crossed Tuna

1. pasta -- about 1/2 lb. cooked
2. olive oil -- about 1/4 cup
3. sundried tomatoes, julienned and packed in oil -- about 1/4 cup or more
4. minced or chopped garlic -- about 2 tsp.
5. fresh basil, snipped -- a handful
6. onion or shallots -- about 1/2 cup finely chopped
7. salt and pepper to taste
8. tuna -- one 6.4 oz. package or two small cans, drained
9. parmesan cheese

Open a bottle of cooking wine. This is for the cook to sip while performing the following steps: Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil, just until onion turns soft. Add sundried tomatoes and basil, stir. Add tuna, break up, stir and heat through. Add cooked, drained pasta, and more olive oil if too dry. Season to taste and sprinkle heavily with parmesan cheese.

Dinner Chez Nous is often something I throw together from what's in the cupboards. Star-Crossed Tuna is what we call "boat food" at our house because it's something I could prepare aboard Topaz while underway. (Topaz is our sailboat, and she doesn't have refrigeration.) With the exception of the basil, all of the ingredients can be stored at room temperature, at least for short periods of time, even the parmesan cheese although after a while it will mold. The basil you can keep growing in a pot on the windowsill or on deck, to use as needed.

If you have a refrigerator Star-Crossed Tuna is enhanced with a chilled bottle of crisp chardonnay. If not, it goes equally well with a bottle of red.

(Alert readers will recognize this from my other blog http://www.lscollison-star-crossed.blogspot.com/

impromptu potato salad

I've been jonesing for some warm homemade potato salad so last night I boiled up a bunch of small gold and red potatoes, wee little things, cut in half but not peeled. Served beef stew over a few of them last night, put the rest in the refrigerator until today.

This morning, I'm looking for Bobo's homemade mayo recipe, can't find it. I go online, and find some close approximations, but not like hers. Hers had butter. So I improvise.

I melt 4 tbsp. butter in a pot
Then I add:
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp flour
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp coarse mustard from the jar
2 eggs, beaten

This I stir over low to medium heat until it thickens. Then I add the halved potatoes (already cooked). Then I add two green onions, sliced. And one hard-boiled egg, diced. Then I get inspired, microwave two slices of bacon, crumble it and mix in. If only I had some Gorgonzola, I'd crumble some of that on top.

Eat warm, with a beer. Great lunch!