The Yellow Table

When Anna Watson Carl was growing up, she ate dinner with her family on a big, yellow table. There was nothing particularly interesting about the table, except for the fact that it was yellow.  When Carl graduated from college, her mother gave her the yellow table. While it might not seem like such a great present, the family totem proved to be just the right inspiration. Carl began throwing dinner parties at the table. Over the years, she immersed herself in her passion, food. She wrote, edited, and took off for France, then she uprooted for New York. The economy ebbed and flowed and finally, after much consideration, the yellow table came to New York.

A short time later, the yellow table became The Yellow Table, a blog. While writing the blog, she dreamed of a cookbook and faced those daunting "cookbook questions."  Do you own a restaurant? Do 100,000 people visit your blog -- every day? Do you have a television show?  If you answered no to the preceding questions, well then, you are not going to get a book deal.

Now most folks would be daunted, well, even crushed by this prospect, but Carl, who had spent time writing, editing other people's cookbooks, and setting up photo shoots decided she could do it herself.  She began the process by offering up daily updates on her blog, she logged onto Kickstarter, and took The Yellow Table on the road...not the actual table, but, you know.

Before long, the yellow table that she colored on as a child was transformed into The Yellow Table: A Celebration of Everyday Gatherings. The book is filled with seasonal, easy recipes that you can serve on a table of any color.  "This is my go-to lunch,' says Carl, 'I call it a detox salad, because it’s packed with nutrient-rich vegetables and has protein from the quinoa. To save time, I stop by the Whole Foods salad bar and stock up on shredded carrots, red cabbage, and cooked quinoa. Feel free to toss in some roast chicken if you want a heartier meal."

Detox Kale Salad

4 packed cups chopped kale (curly, Lacinto, red, or a combination), stems removed
1 cup shredded carrots (from about 2 medium carrots)
1 cup shredded red cabbage (from about 1/8 head cabbage)
3/4 cup cooked quinoa, cooled
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cubed
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl, toss together the kale, carrots, cabbage, quinoa, and avocado.

Pour the lemon juice into a small bowl. Add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle over the salad and toss to combine. Taste and add additional salt and pepper, or another splash of lemon if you like. Serve immediately.

Store the salad, in an airtight container in the refrigerator, up to 1 day.

This week, The Yellow Table blog got a fresh, new design. Head over and take a look.

Midnight Feasts

May Southworth  wrote a series of cookbooks at the turn of the last century for a small publishing house in San Francisco called Paul Elder.  Most of the tall, thin cookbooks have titles like 101 whatever, like cake or Mexican dishes or sandwiches.  The 1914 Midnight Feasts broke that mold, featuring a collection of different types of recipes in a larger selection of 202 recipes.

In her introduction Southworth writes:

" There are few social relaxations that are pleasanter than midnight suppers, and they have always had a certain secret fascination, as of forbidden temptations."

Now days, a midnight feast might be cold pizza or peanut butter, but May Southworth had other ideas. She was looking for recipes that would be easy, mostly salads and lightly cooked fare from that miracle of culinary devices, the chafing-dish.

The recipes are rather cryptic with simple titles that bear no resemblance to the dish that they describe.  Salads are called Devonshire, Daisy, Old Virginia, Grotto, and Sing Lee. 
Just as the titles give little idea what we will be making, the directions, too, carry that vague quality of early 20th century cookbooks.  Here is one salad option:

Nippon

Wash shell-mussels clean, using a brush.  Place them in a wire basket, and set in boiling water.  When the shells open, lift the basket, remove from the shells and drop them into hot melted butter, seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon-juice. Set on the ice, and when ready to serve mix with shredded lettuce and French dressing.  With it serve thin buttered sandwiches of Boston brown bread.

While these recipes don't offer a lot of direction, on can see that a salad of cold mussels and bit of bread would make a fine midnight snack.  Like many an early cookbook, these little gems are a fine place to glean ideas if not actual recipes. 

Merchant of Sonoma

As one might expect, we just love Williams-Sonoma.  So it is fitting and proper that we feature Merchant of Sonoma on Chuck Williams 99th birthday.  William Warren's Merchant of Sonoma tells the story of Chuck Williams and his now famous cookery store.

On May 1, 1953, Chuck Williams saw Paris for the first time...and as they say, the rest was history.  Williams was a fine amateur cook living in the sleepy village of Sonoma.  He was looking for a business opportunity when he ran across a  hardware store.  The building would house a couple of other small businesses and provide an income. He would keep the hardware store and add a few household items.  It would be a big move, so he left with friends for a trip to Europe.

In Paris, Williams found wonderful items to stock a kitchen.  Items that were unknown to most of America.  Williams loved the simple foods and fancy cookware and an idea was born.  Williams kept his hardware store, but gradually realized that the hardware he wanted to sell was the hardware for the kitchen.  Williams began importing items he had seen in France to Sonoma and selling them in his shop and through the mail.  

Clearly, it was an idea whose time had come.  It is still coming.  Along with hardware, Williams included a few select pantry items.  One of his first was Italian balsamic vinegar.  This simple salad was one of Williams' favorites.  He carefully explains that in Italy, the oil and vinegar are not mixed together. A salad is tossed first in the vinegar, then tossed in the oil.  They believe the oil holds in the vinegar and prevents it from dripping to the bottom of the bowl.

Blacksmith Salad

6 servings
1 large or 2 small heads butter lettuce
1 piece Parmesan cheese, 3 oz.
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Chill salad bowl but do not allow it to become too cold or the lettuce leaves will stick to it. 

Discard any tough or discolored outer lettuce leaves. Separate, rinse and thoroughly dry remaining leaves, then tear any larger leaves into pieces. Place in chilled salad bowl. Using vegetable peeler, slice Parmesan cheese into very thin chips and scatter over lettuce. Sprinkle with vinegar and salt and toss well. Drizzle oil over top and toss again. Serve on individual plates. 

With his expert eye for detail and his love of great food, Chuck Williams built an empire, an adult candyland for the home cook.  

                                                         Happy Birthday Mr. Williams.

Florida Salads

This little gem from 1915 is called Florida Salads.  There seems to be no real thesis presenting why these salads are particularly Floridian.  One might imagine that the temperate weather allows for fresh greens throughout the year, thus making salads a "Florida" thing and the author does mention the climate as a good reason for a salad on every table.  Or, maybe is is simply because this little book was published in Florida. 

While there is no information about the author, Frances Barber Harris, she has subtitled her book: "A collection of dainty, wholesome salad recipes that will appeal to the most fastidious."

The book is divided into the following sections:

Card Party Salads
Dinner Salads
Luncheon Salads
Salad Dressings
Salad Sandwiches

She writes:

"If the writer can impress upon the readers of this little salad book the importance of eating salads, the writing of it will not be in vain."

While none of these recipes will be earth shattering, it is an interesting look into a different time period.  There are a lot of salads that involve slicing a fruit in half, scooping out the seed and serving it with -- a spoon.  One really can't differentiate much between the salads in each section of the book.   There is no real key as to why one might be a Card Party salad as opposed to a Luncheon salad.

Loquat Salad

Wash and slice loquats and kumquats thin, mix with sliced boiled chestnuts and serve on lettuce with mayonnaise.

You guess.  When does one serve Loquat Salad?  According to Harris, at Luncheon.

Mad Men Cookbook

Actually, it is The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook as no one wants to get sued by the "official" Mad Men. So after a seventeen month hiatus, the boys are back in town. There is a thriving business in putting together this type of tie-in cookbook. Some of them are just slapped together, but Judy Gelman and Peter Zheutlin have done a wonderful job with this one.

One of the reasons that Mad Men has attained such a cult following is their exacting attention to detail. Creator Matt Weiner says it has become something of a game as viewers look for any little detail that is out of place. (Check out this short Q & A with property manager Gay Perello.) Gelman and Zheutlin have followed Weiner's exacting attention to detail. They have culled recipes from the popular cookbooks of the day as well as from some of the regular haunts of the Mad Men including, "21" Club, Keens Steakhouse, El Morocco, Stork Club, and Trader Vic's.

There are recipes for Pineapple Upside Down Cake featuring the new electric skillet-frypan, Date nut bread from Pat Nixon's contribution to Hints from Heloise, and John Kennedy's favorite daiquiri from Bacardi's "Be A Drink Expert" pamphlet. The book is chocked full of tidbits and facts and recipes that would actually find their way to a Mad Men table.

While definitely retro, The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook has its own blog filled with more fun Man Men info.

Here is a classic that is still classical...

Caesar Salad
courtesy of Executive Chef Bill Rodgers, Keens’ Steakhouse, New York, New York

For the salad

3 1/2 cups clean, cut romaine lettuce
2 ounces Caesar Dressing (see recipe below)

For the topping

1/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

For the garnish

Raw egg yolk
4 thin slices pimiento
2 anchovy filets, cut in half (4 pieces)
Caesar Croutons (see recipe below)

1. Make the salad: Place lettuce in a serving bowl. Toss with dressing.

2. Sprinkle Parmigiano-Reggiano on top, garnish with egg yolk, pimento, anchovy filets, and croutons and toss well.

Caesar Dressing

1 1/2 ounces water
1 ounce lemon juice
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup pure olive oil
1 1/2 ounces red wine vinegar
1 egg yolk
6 peeled garlic cloves
10 Italian anchovy filets
2 2/3 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano -Reggiano cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoons light brown sugar
3/4 tablespoon dry mustard
3/4 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1. Make the dressing: Combine the water and lemon juice in a measuring cup and set aside.

2. Combine canola and olive oils in a measuring cup and set aside.

3. In the blender, combine the remaining ingredients and mix for 10 seconds. With the blender running, slowly begin to add the combined oils in a slow and steady stream. As you continue to add the oil, the mixture will begin to thicken. When the mixture thickens, thin it out with 1/3 of the water/lemon juice mixture. Repeat this process until all the oil has been incorporated.

4. Chill dressing until cold.

Caesar Croutons

Note: Place the bread in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before slicing to make it easier to cut even squares.

Whole melted butter can be substituted for the clarified butter, but will brown the croutons faster. To make clarified butter, melt 4 tablespoons of butter slowly in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit until it separates. Skim off the foam that rises to the top, and gently pour the butter off of the milk solids, which will have settled to the bottom.

6 slices white bread, crusts removed and cut into 1/4-inch squares (see note above)
2 tablespoons clarified butter, melted (see note above)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, parsley and thyme)
1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Toss bread cubes in a bowl with the remaining ingredients.

2. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or just until slightly browned and crisp. Let cool at room temperature before serving. Store covered in an airtight container.

While I am trying to get used to that fact that there are no more zombies on my Sunday nights, I will say that between Walking Dead and Mad Men the food is definitely better with Don than Shane.

Next Week: Peggy is given new responsibility.

Quick Gourmet Dinners

We love Margo Rieman. We know she wrote a food column for Cosmopolitan Magazine. We feature her cookbook, Twelve Company Dinners and since then, we have received numerous e-mails asking about Margo Rieman. I do hope that one day someone, ANYONE, who knew her will drop us a line about her. She looks like she would be more fun to sit in a kitchen with and talk about food, or anything else for that matter.

Her book Quick Gourmet Dinners is a very gook book for anyone, but is especially handy for a beginner. At first glance, this might seem like a light weight vanity piece, but the recipes are solid and quite good. And above everything else, Rieman is funny and helpful.

She recounts the time a friend found no lemon juice to make a vinaigrette, so he used gin. Rieman not only perfected the recipe but offers up the suggestion to try it dry vermouth.

Gin Salad

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons gin
Dash Tabasco
1 clove garlic, mashed
Pinch dry mustard
Salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and let sit, stirring occasionally, until serving time. Then, pour over greens and toss.

note: a little more gin can be added, but not so much that you identify its flavor as such.

Who doesn't love a good gin salad, however Rieman and I differ. I think a "ginny" taste would be fine!

Here is what she tells us about using this book.

"...my kind of cooking does not require hours of precious time (which I seldom have), a Cordon Bleu background (which I lack), or an enormous collection of kitchen equipment... Basically, I cook with a couple of saucepans, a couple of frying pans, and a big pot..."

One really can't go wrong with any of Rieman's books. Again, if you by chance knew her...let us know.

Cold Cuisine

In the late 1970' and 1980's, Helen Hecht wrote a series of lovely cookbooks, including Cold Cuisine. The book has a lot of salads and soups and refreshing deserts. As with most old cookbooks, it is a product of its era. Cold Cuisine is very much a a regular book, a simple octavo unadorned by photos and thus very different from the vast majority of the cookbooks published today. Perhaps the grand size and all those colored pictures are simply a mask to conceal the actual recipes. I know it seems much easier to cook from a photo than from the blank canvas of a printed recipe, but in time those photos will be as dated as avocado appliance. In the end, it is the recipes that make the book.

Helen Hecht writes of cold cuisine:

"The appearance of a dish is especially important in the summer. While a steaming hot cassoulet may require no further embellishment than its own enticing aroma and an appetite stimulated by winter chill, summer food must rouse appetites languishing or dormant in stifling weather. You can transform an ordinary-looking dish into something attractive and appealing with a few simple touches and an eye for color, arrangement , and detail."

It might come as no surprise that Helen Hecht was married to the poet Anthony Hecht, as her brief introduction is a poetic tribute to cuisine. When I read this recipe, it seemed to be a simple salad. That it is, but taking into consideration Hecht's description of transforming a cold weather dishes, a simple salad might just be the starting point. Before you toss a bag of lettuce into a bowl, think of how it might be transformed with tiny black olives, rich green avocado, and bursting red tomatoes.

Al Fresco Salad

8 thin slices bacon
2 ripe avocados
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 medium-size, ripe tomatoes
1 cup black pitted olives, halved
1 small Bermuda onion, peeled and sliced thin
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)
1/2 pound fresh spinach, washed and stemmed and dried
salt
freshly ground pepper
1 recipe of Basic Vinaigrette (below)

Sauté bacon till crisp, drain on paper towels. Peel avocados, slice into bowl and toss with lemon juice. Core the tomatoes and chop into bite-size pieces. Combine bacon, avocados, tomatoes, olives, onion, blue cheese, and spinach in a bowl. Season to taste.


Basic Vinaigrette

1 garlic clove peeled and cut in half
3/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons wine vinegar
Combine and let stand for several hours. Remove garlic before using.

Enjoy the last of the garden and Fall is waiting in the wings.

Recipes Of All Nations

Many cooks of the thirties, including Elizabeth David, were enamored of Countess Morphy's Recipes Of All Nations. There is very little known about Countess Morphy, though many believe she is a "countess" in that same way Prince is a "prince", that is in name only. Still the Countess knew how to collect recipes. This rather massive tome contains over 800 recipes from 29 countries.

This copy bears an introduction by the well-known 1950's television cook, Philip Harben. Harben states that while he has not cooked all 800 recipes, he has cooked over a dozen and boldly states, "I have never found Countess Morphy once to be in error."

There is a large section on Creole cookery and more than one person believes that before she was the "Countess", she was Marcelle Azra Hincks or maybe Forbes from New Orleans. Her section on Creole recipes features a calas recipe. This is a great old New Orleans recipe that is making a bit of a comeback in cooking circles.

Calas (Breakfast rice fritters)

These delicious breakfast fritters or cakes were sold by the old Creole negro women, and their familiar and harmonious street cry of “Bel calas, bel calas, tout chauds!” was heard in all the streets of the French quarter at breakfast time. They went their daily round carrying on their heads a covered wooden bowl containing the hot Calas – picturesque figures they must have been, with their brightly coloured bandana tignons or head-dress, their blue check dresses and their spotless white aprons. The negro cooks would dash out to secure the freshly made hot Calas, which were eaten with the morning cup of coffee. The following is the traditional recipe for Calas:

Ingredients: ½ a cup of rice, 3 cups of water, 3 eggs, 3 tablespoons of flour, ½ a cup of sugar, about 1 oz or a little under of yeast, lard or oil.

Method: Put the water in a saucepan, bring to the boil and add the rice. Boil till the rice is very soft and mushy. Remove from the saucepan and, when quite cold, mix with the yeast dissolved in warm water. Set the rice to rise overnight. In the morning, beat the eggs thoroughly, add them to the rice, with the sugar and flour. Beat all well and make into a thick batter. Set aside to rise for another 15 minutes. Have ready a deep frying pan with hot oil or lard, drop into it 1 tablespoon of the mixture at a time, and cook till a light golden colour. When done, remove them from the fat, drain well by placing them on a sieve or in a colander, sprinkle with sugar and serve very hot.

My copy of this book was used exclusively for the Austro-Hungarian recipes. (There are notes and checks.) This seemed to be a favorite. The "paprika" here refers to the actual pepper so the Countess should have translated it as a Pepper Salad.

Paprika Salat (Paprika Salad)

The paprikas are either boiled or baked till tender and served with salad dressing made of 2 tablespoons of oil to 1 of vinegar, salt, pepper, and a little sugar.

AS you can see, there are just more countries than we have time for here.

Williams-Sonoma Salads

I am a big fan of Georgeanne Brennan. Williams-Sonoma Salads is another one of her delightful compilations.
After everyone has over indulged in Thanksgiving festivities, I though a nice light salad would be fun. Actually, this recipe has often found itself on many a Thanksgiving and Christmas table.

If you served it, try adding a bit of leftover turkey for an interesting alternative to a sandwich.

Celery Root Remoulade

1 large or 2 medium celery roots(celeriac), peeled and cut into rounds 1/4 thick

Salt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup mayonnaise

2 to 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

In a saucepan, combine the celery root, 1 teaspoon of salt, lemon juice, and water to cover by about 2 inches.
bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook 3-4 minutes. The celery root should be tender but not mushy. Drain well and, using a sharp knife, slice into thinner rounds, then cut into very thin strips. Alternatively, stack the slices and use a mandolin to shred the,. Place in a bowl.

In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise and 2 tablespoons of the mustard. Taste the mixture. it should be well seasoned with the mustard but still taste of both ingredients.. Add mote mustard as desired. Pour the dressing over the celery root and mix well. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 12 hours before serving.

The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual

The story goes...

Two Italian kids who grew up together in Queens, then reunited to open an Italian-American restaurant in Brooklyn. It is not such a far-fetched story. It happens all the time. What makes this story different are the two friends, Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo. "The Franks", as the duo became known, opened an Italian restaurant, Frankies Sputino, featured fresh ingredients, simple preparation, and a relaxed dining room. Soon, their relaxed style of food and fun became a frequent stopping place for in-the-know New Yorkers.

Nest step...

A cookbook, of course. The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual gives the average reader a how-to in pasta making, sauce sauce simmering, and meatball rolling. Filled with rustic drawings and kitchen tips, "The Franks" offer up btheir simple style with everything a modern cook will need to cook like grandma.


Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo are not your average "pretty-boy" chefs. If they tell you to sit down and eat your meatballs, chances are, you will! Their food is simple, fresh and authentic. In their hands, a simple salad becomes a perfect spuntino.

Tomato, Avocado and Red Onion Salad

2 large ripe tomatoes
1 small (or 1/2 medium) red onion, thinly sliced
Fine sea salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 Hass avocados
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Core the tomatoes and slice into wedges. Combine with the sliced onion, a large pinch of salt, and the olive oil and vinegar in a large bowl. Gently toss, and divide among four serving plates.

2. Halve, pit, peel, and slice the avocados and divide among the four plates. Sprinkle the avocado with a small pinch of salt and drizzle each plate with a little olive oil. Finish with a few grinds of black pepper just before the salad goes to the table.

Now sit down and eat.

The Art of Simple Food

Salad: Open a bag of lettuce. Twist off the top of that Ranch dressing and add to lettuce. Salad right? You are so very wrong. If you don't believe me, then tell that to Alice Waters. In her book The Art of Simple Food: Notes and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution, she waxes downright poetic about the simple garden salad. In Waters' hands it doesn't seem the least bit simple.

"For me, making a garden lettuce salad — washing beautiful fresh-picked lettuces and tossing them together with a scattering of herbs and a vinaigrette — is as much of a joy as eating one. I love the colorful variety of lettuces, bitter and sweet; the flavor and complexity of herbs such as chervil and chives; and the brightness of a simple vinaigrette made with red wine vinegar, olive oil, and a whisper of garlic, which highlights the lettuces and herbs without overwhelming them.

For a salad to have flavor and life, you have to start with fresh, just-picked lettuces. I’m fortunate to have a small kitchen garden in my backyard where I grow various lettuces and herbs for salad, but if you don’t have such a garden it can take some real dedication to find good greens. Farmers markets are the best places to start. When my garden is not producing, or when I’m away from home, I shop for head lettuces and try to create my own combinations of lettuces, arugula, chicories, and whatever tender herbs I can find. I generally avoid the salad mixes, especially the pre-bagged ones, which usually seem to include one or two kinds of greens that don’t belong with the others. If there is a lovely mixture from a local salad grower, fine, but otherwise try to buy the best head lettuces you can find and make your own mix.

Wash the lettuce, gently but thoroughly, in a basin or bowl of cold water. First cull through the lettuces, pulling off and throwing into the compost bin any outer leaves that are tough, yellowed, or damaged. Then cut out the stem end, separating the rest of the leaves into the water. Gently swish the leaves in the water with your open hands and lift the lettuce out of the water and into a colander. If the lettuces are very dirty, change the water, and wash again.

Dry the lettuces in a salad spinner, but don’t overfill it. It’s much more effective to spin-dry a few small batches than one or two large ones. Empty the water from the spinner after each batch. Any water clinging to the leaves will dilute the vinaigrette, so check the leaves and spin them again if they’re still a little wet. I spread out each batch of leaves in a single layer on a dish towel as I go. Then I gently roll up the towel and put it in the refrigerator until it’s time to serve the salad. You can do this a few hours ahead.

When the time comes, put the lettuce in a bowl big enough to allow you to toss the salad. If you have some, add a small handful of chives or chervil, or both, either chopped quickly or snipped with scissors.

Toss everything with the vinaigrette, using just enough sauce to coat the leaves lightly, so they glisten. Beware of overdressing small, tender lettuces: They will wilt and turn soggy. I usually toss salads with my hands. (I eat salads with my hands, too.) That way I can be gentle and precise and make sure that each leaf is evenly dressed. Taste, and if needed, finish the salad with a sprinkling of salt or brighten it with a splash of vinegar or a squeeze of lemon juice. Taste again and see what you think, then toss one last time and serve the salad right away."

OK. There you have it. Here is a fave salad variation. I adore cukes and this gives a variety of ways to go about making a lowly cucumber into a divine salad.

Cucumbers with Cream and Mint

There are many varieties of cucumbers, each with its own flavor and texture. I especially like Armenian, Japanese, and lemon cucumbers.

Peel and slice:

2 cucumbers

If the seeds are large and tough, cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon before slicing. Place in a medium-size bowl and sprinkle with:

Salt

In another bowl, combine:

1/4 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Fresh-ground black pepper

Stir well. If water has accumulated with the cucumbers, drain it off. Pour the dressing over the sliced cucumbers and combine. Coarsely chop:

3 mint sprigs, leaves only

Toss with the cucumbers. Taste and adjust the salt as needed. Serve cool.
Variations

Add pounded garlic to the dressing.
Serve alongside sliced beets dressed with oil and vinegar.
Grate or dice the cucumbers and serve as a sauce over baked salmon.
Parsley, chervil, basil, or cilantro can be substituted for the mint.
Substitute plain yogurt for the cream.
Add spices such as cumin, coriander, or mustard seeds to the dressing.

One of the reasons i really adore this book is the way the recipes are written. They have an old-fashioned feel. they have that very "American Cookbook" list of ingredients carefully measured out, but when you read the recipes you know in your heart that Alice Waters hasn't raised a measuring cup to make this recipe.

I love that!

Jamie's Kitchen

I love Jamie Oliver. I started watching him in his "Naked" days and still really love him. I think part of it is because he is not the least bit fussy. He takes fresh ingredients, tosses them together and creates great food.
It may not be the most innovative food, but it is food you really want to eat. I can honestly say I have never seen him shout profanities at anyone and I love the way he tosses and smashes and adjusts his ingredients.

Take this salad, for instance. I hearken back to blog favorite, Ethelind Fearon and her Reluctant Cook take on salad, "Salad can be anything." As the weather is turning cold, I am constantly thinking about winter squash and pumpkins and sweet potatoes. This salad offers up the best of those ingredients. Think like Jamie, use Parma ham or deli ham or sliced turkey -- use sweet potatoes or pumpkin -- use cheddar! Remember, salad is anything!

Warm Salad of Roasted Squash, Prosciutto and Pecorino

1 butternut squash
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small dried red chilli
1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds
20 slices of prosciutto or Parma ham
4 handfuls of rocket
6 tablespoons extra virgin
olive oil
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 small block of Pecorino or Parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Carefully cut your butternut squash in half, keeping the seeds intact. Remove the two ends and discard them. Cut each half into quarters and lay in a roasting tray. Rub with a little olive oil. In a pestle and mortar pound up a flat teaspoon each of salt, pepper and your chilli and coriander seeds. Scatter this over the squash. Roast the squash for half an hour or until soft and golden. Allow to cool a little.

Lay your prosciutto on 4 plates — let it hang over the rim of the plates and encourage it to twist and turn so it doesn’t look neat and flat. Tear up your warm squash and put it in and around the ham. Sprinkle over the seeds and the rocket. Drizzle over the olive oil and balsamic, add a tiny pinch of salt and pepper, and use a vegetable peeler to shave over the Pecorino.

Serve it with a little mulled wine and broken chocolate for dessert!

Diary of a Tuscan Chef

At age thirteen, Cesare Casella began working in his family’s restaurant, Il Vipore, tucked in the Tuscan hills. Casella stayed on in the family kitchen, eventually taking over the restaurant and leading it to its first Michelin star. The restaurant also developed a line of its Tuscan specialities.


Then, Cesare Casella traveled across the ocean to New York City to work for Pino Loungo. Diary of a Tuscan Chef is just that, a diary of year in the life of a chef, a town, a new city, and a bounty of food. Along the way we meet Casella’s family and the recipes he learned to cook at his mother’s knee.

The recipes are divided into seasonal sections with menus for an assortment of outings, including going to the market with dad, a road trip to the Piedmont, and apartment hunting.

In these recipes one can taste the Tuscan soil. Here is a great example in a warm, fall dish.

Radicchio Trevisano Brasato

1 pound Treviso radicchio, cleaned and quartered (if you can’t find Treviso radicchio, which is long and thin, use the round Verona radicchio)
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
3 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine
3 1/2 tablespoons homemade beef broth

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the radicchio in a roasting pan and sprinkle with the remaining ingredients. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and roast the radicchio for 20 to 25 minutes. It should be wilted. Serve immediately.

A simple comforting dish that will brighten up any winter dinner. Serve it with some bread and cheese and make a meal out of it.

Russel Wright’s Menu Cookbook

One cannot talk about “mid-century” without Russel Wright. Russel and Mary Wright were the first people to advocate “living” as a larger concept than merely waking up every day. Russel Wright’s design aesthetic forged the sleek, modern design of the 1950’s into a vehicle for informal and elegant living. He is best known today as the designer of a dinnerware collection known as American Modern.

When his wife, Mary, died, Russel Wright found himself living alone with a 2-year-old daughter. He employed a series of housekeepers but found that meals were often the same old spaghetti and meatballs.



He devised a series of menus complete with table settings, making dinner interesting and foolproof.


Years later, his daughter, Ann, was still using his typewritten menu book. She and fellow caterer, Mindy Heiferling compiled the recipes into Russel Wright’s Menu Cookbook. Much like Wright's tableware, his recipes stand the test of time.

Multicolored Tomatoes and Corn with Creamy Cider Vinaigrette

3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chopped tarragon or basil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 pounds ripe tomatoes in various colors , shapes and sizes, cut into wedges
3 cups (bout 6 ears) fresh corn kernels, cooked
6 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled (optional)
tarragon sprigs or basil leaves for garnish

1. Whisk together the vinegar, mustard, sugar, and mayonnaise. Stir in the tarragon or basil; season to taste with slat and pepper. Combine the tomatoes and corn; taste again for seasoning.
2. When ready to serve (don’t wait too long or the tomatoes will make the salad too watery), transfer to a bowl or platter, and top with bacon or herbs as desired.

Pull out your Russel Wright if you own a platter. If not, toss this up in plain white bowl and remember your not just "living" you are creating a "lifestyle" with an emphasis on the style.

I'm Just Here For The Food

Alton Brown is a fun guy to watch. He’s like your goofy cousin who you like to see for an afternoon, but by evening you are kinda ready to go home. He’s a little over the top for me, but until those chefs who shout obscenities and throw things, Brown is a wonderfully happy showman. He always makes you think about the mechanics of the food and you always tend to learn something, even if you just want to cook.

His book, I’m Just Here For The Food, is a great way to have Alton Brown’s information without the kinetic personality. So, I think it is the best of both worlds.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I am fond of cooking a lot of things that most people leave raw. Melon is one of those things. As you might guess, I watch a lot of cooking shows and this year I have seen numerous competitions and shows where the cook plated a watermelon and feta salad of some sort. Watermelon and feta, like tomatoes and mozzarella, go wonderfully together. With all those plates of salad vying to be different, not a one of them cooked the watermelon.

I urge you to try a cooked melon. If you go into a large grocery, you will often fine those containers of chopped melon, which looks rather hacked up and unappealing. Grab a container of that mixed melon and give this a try.

Hot Melon Salad

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, sliced Lyonnaise-style*
2 cups diced assorted melon such as cantaloupe and honeydew
1 tablespoon basil, cut into a fine chiffonade
Splash red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted in a dry pan over high heat until just browned
Crumbled feta cheese
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat the sauté pan and, when hot, add the oil. Add the onion and toss for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the melon and toss until half way cooked, about 2 minutes. Add the basil, vinegar, and pepper and toss for 30 second to 1 minute more. If the melon is still too hard, cover and let it steam briefly. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately toss in the cheese. Turn out onto the serving platter and garnish with pine nuts.

Give this one a try, it's a lovely side for a barbecued chicken.

* Lyonnaise-style cut for onions means to slice them from the root-end to stem-end instead of across.

The Reluctant Cook

I must confess I don’t know any biographical information on Ethelind Fearon. I do know that I love her. I have grown to thinking of her as looking like Alex Jardine’s drawing of the women that grace her books. A kind of retro Jane Jetson in an apron and always holding a drink or a cigarette.


Her books were published in the late forties and early fifties. She wrote several, including The Reluctant Cook, for a series called The Home Entertaining Series. Entertaining is the operative word, as Ethelind Fearon is about as entertaining as they come.

She tells us:

If you are hampered at every turn by tiresome complicated recipes: instructions to use half a dozen different containers or operations when one would do, I don’t wonder that you’re reluctant.

…the awful paraphernalia of cooking has turned many a stout heart from Mrs. Beeton to a tin.

If I can show you how to cook like an angel and only have one saucepan to wash up, that would be different, wouldn’t it?

Ethelind Fearon's geography of soup:

Soup in England means either something out of a packet or that you have had a ham and don’t know what to do with the bone.


In France it is a bit of yellow gourd, some onions, a few wisps of odd things which look like weeds, and a bit of vermicelli, all bound together with hot water.

Here is a recipe for a "bold" salad from the mind of Ethelind Fearon:

Salad

Salad like soup can be anything. If you choose to serve cold rice pudding and stewed prunes, with a garnish of lettuce leaves and dressing of lemon juice and oil, as a salad, no one could contradict you. I know because I’ve done it, but you need courage, a knowledge of the inadequacies of your opponent (which is more potent armor than any courage), and a few green olives and radishes cut into the shape of fusicia stuck on top. It’s a masterpiece, and the finest known method of disposing of cold rice pudding.

It is also unorthodox and cannot be advocated as a standard practice, only as an example of how fortune favors the bold.

There is no bolder voice than Ethelind Fearon, so grab that cold rice pudding and whip up a salad. Check out her advice for the Hostess at Lucindaville’s Etiquette Wednesday.

American Salad Book

Maximilian De Loup seems to be a rather European name for someone committed to “American “ salad. But there he was in 1900 providing hundreds of ways to throw a salad on the table in his American Salad Book. By the fourth printing, the books was the definitive place to fulfill your every salad need.

There are vegetable salads, fruit salads, egg salads, potato salads, seafood salads and miscellaneous salads. You know how it is when you roam into the kitchen and think to yourself, “Gosh what I really want is a miscellaneous salad.”

Miscellaneous salads seem to be based on particular countries, such as the Russian Meat Salad (greens and boiled tongue), Dutch Salad ( herring, veggies and cheese) and Cuban Salad (smashed saltines and anchovies).

One could easily make the case that some of these salads should absolutely not exist – Salad of Young Pigs jumps out.

I chose this salad for you as I am a fan of both chicken and opera.

Salad Lakmè

Salad Lakmè is composed of chicken, celery, fresh mushrooms, truffles, white of eggs and potatoes, cut en Julienne, and dressed with a remoulade dressing.

This weekend, make up a big bowl of Salad Lakmè and listen to Lakmè. This will get you started.

Delibes Lakmè (excerpt) - mp3

A Slice of Organic Life

A Slice of Organic Life by Sheherazade Goldsmith is a richly produced hymn to the living a green life. Technically, it is not a cookbook as much as a lifestyle guide to living a pure organic life. Ok, really, it is a lavishly produced ode that makes composting and making your own fly strips look marvelous. As someone who actually leads that organic farm life, it in not nearly as romantic as this book makes out. I speak from experience, turning the compost is hard, messy work. Getting together to have coffee and make your own fly paper is a just plain disheartening.

Watching your tomatoes grow and gathering fresh tomatoes and basil, that is a task that fills the heart with joy.


A simple salad from the garden is a true slice of organic life.

Tomato Salad With Goat’s Cheese and Basil

1 1/2 lb (350 g) vine-ripened tomatoes
4 handfuls mixed salad leaves (rocket, mizuna, frisée, chicory, cress)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
5 fl oz (150 ml) olive oil
A handful of fresh basil
A pinch of salt and black pepper
3 oz (85 g) mild, creamy

Method

Cut the tomatoes into chunks and put in a bowl

Place the salad leaves in another bowl

Blend the vinegar, olive oil, basil, and seasoning together to make a thick dressing. Pour half over the tomatoes and carefully mix. Pour the other half over the salad leaves and gently mix.

Divide the salad leaves between four plates, top with a serving each of the tomatoes, crumble some of the cheese over each portion and serve.

Have the girls over for salad and please make iced tea and not fly strips.

Provençal Cooking

Mary Ann Caws is a rock star of academe! She is the Tina Turner of translation! The Jane Birkin of Bloomsbury. The Janis Joplin of Surrealism. And she cooks! OMG.

As a young professor, Caws went to Provence to enmesh herself in the culture of René Char, the poet she was translating. She fell in love with Provence and the rest is history. I know, there are a million of these books.

I went to France.
I fell in love with France.
I fell in love with the quirky French people.
I fell in love with the divine French food.
I fell in love with the luscious French wine.
I fell in love with France and it’s quirky people who fed me French food in their exquisite little winery.

Feel free to substitute “Italy” and “Italian” for another million books.

I’m writing a book about moving to West Virginia and falling in love with quirky people and their food and wine... but I digress.

Even though there are a lot of these books, this one is written by Mary Ann Caws! She didn’t just stumble upon Provence she was on a mission. She understands the history and culture of France better than most Frenchmen. And while the term “academic” and “writer” are often mutually exclusive, that is never the case with Caws, whose real love is language and poetry.

Provençal Cooking: Savoring the Simple Life in France is a gigantic prose poem to food and all that it gives us -- sustenance, fellowship and renewal. She is not a “cook” but rather a passionate instructor who explains to the reader how to make a dish as though she were standing right beside them.

My friend Harry Lowe is the consummate vinaigrette maker. He is always put in charge of salads because he knows the magical alchemy of a vinaigrette. It is not measured with teaspoons or cups but with the eyes.

Caws understands that alchemy, she writes of a vinaigrette from Lucy up the hill.

Lucy’s Sauce Vinaigrette

calls for a pinch of salt, a spoonful of grainy mustard, a dribble of tarragon vinegar, a clove of crushed garlic, some green olive oil, and some pepper, freshly ground. (I have taken to growing my own tarragon, so I add a few sprigs of that.) Then you can add shallots or onions, the purple Simiane ones for color, and then some slices of bright red pepper and fresh basil.

If you love language and food, Provençal Cooking is a must. If you don't why are you reading this blog?



If you are interested in both food and surrealism, check out this Famous Food Friday post on Lee Miller at Lucindaville.

Eating Together

Good cooking is chiefly common sense and good taste.

Lillian Hellman

Lillian Hellman was the provocative playwright who authored The Children's Hour and The Little Foxes. She authored a memoir, Pentimento, which included the story of her close friend, Julia. The book became an Oscar- winning film of the same name. The story of "Julia" it was later revealed was not that of Hellman's "friend" but the story of New York psychiatrist, Muriel Gardiner, who claimed she was "Julia" and that she had never met Hellman, though she did share lawyer with Hellman. The inconsistency in her work sparked one of America's great literary feuds when Mary McCarthy said on national television that "every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'."




One work that did belong to Hellman was a cooking memoir, Eating Together, she wrote with Peter Feibleman. They spent spent many summers together on Martha’s Vineyard. Both were writers, both were Southerners born in New Orleans, and both were a bit difficult – Lillian Hellman much so.

The tradition in the kitchen was to work separately as neither liked to have the other interfere in their cooking. Each was right, always! There was no interference, or sparks flew. Lillian Hellman says, “he puts up with turkey, while I think it is worthless.” As for her recipes, Hellman points out,

“You will note that we haven’t always given exact timings because there is no such thing in cooking. Exact timing cannot be done. It’s a fake. It depends on your stove, the opt you’re cooking in, the temperature outside and too many other factors for any cookbook to tell you how long to do anything.”

Peter Feibleman notes that,

“the social mores of the artist-intellectual set on the Vineyard are the flip side of Easthampton which is to say that a man who wears a tie is gauche elegance is outré, discomfort a virtue, modesty a must, casual living reigns and who has air-conditioning in a bedroom admits to it.”

In spite of their opinionated beliefs, a strong bond formed which led to many parties. They say that the people who are most impressed with celebrity are other celebrities and making a guest list for a party on Martha’s Vineyard is an inescapable exercise in name dropping. So when Mike Nichols visited Hellman, there was need for a dinner party. The guest list was a Who’s Who dripping with Kennedy, Cronkite, Mailer, Graham and Styron to name a few. Hellman vacillated till the bitter end on what to serve. In keeping with the bohemian existence of the Vineyard, she chose a pasta, salad and dessert. By the day of the dinner, Hellman announced, “Fuck all of them.” But the dinner progressed. Feibleman was heading out of the kitchen with the following salad. Hellman stopped him at the kitchen door and removed a lone radish he had stuck on the top, tucking it deep into the salad saying, “ You don’t want people to think you’re decorating food around here. Some of them would never speak to you again.”

Chopped Vegetable Salad

1 zucchini, cut into bite-size pieces
2 carrots, cut into bite-sized pieces and lightly blanched
2 cups green beans, cleaned, cut into bite-sized pieces and blanched
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 bunch radishes, sliced
2 packages frozen mixed vegetables
2 cups Romescu sauce
Combine all vegetables in a large bowl. Toss with 2 cups Romescu sauce. Refrigerate and serve well chilled.


Romescu Sauce

1/4 cups almonds, toasted
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup olive oil

Pulverize almonds, garlic, cayenne pepper, slat, tomato and vinegar in a blender. Slowly drizzle in oil, making sure that each addition is completely absorbed. Adjust seasonings to taste with additional salt and pepper.

Let's hope Hellman would not find my salad too decorative. In recent years, Hellman paid a hallucinatory visit to Lisa Simpson in an attempt to get her to start smoking.

For those of you wondering, Lisa demurred.

For those of you who know more about The Simpson's than Lillian Hellman, there is no truth to the rumor that she invented Hellman's Mayonnaise.

Catch a slightly different, though clearly plagiarized version of this post for Famous Food Friday on the Lucindaville blog.