The Best of Behind the Kitchen Door (repost from January 2010)

Every year when it is State Fair time, I think of the occasion when my mother won a blue ribbon for her bread baking but did not see the picture that was taken until she was in her 80's..  This is a picture of her at age 16 taken at the fair when she won.  Here is the rest of the story....

I think every older generation has said to the younger, "Things were much better when I was young." The young (including me when I was) roll their eyes and chalk it up to old age. Well, this time I think it may really be true.

I was born in April, 1944, just as the Second World War was coming to an end. I was born in a hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota and brought home to a large, Victorian, red brick house on the corner of Olsen Highway (Hwy. 55) and Russell Avenue. The house has been gone for a long time, but back then it was the Queen of the block. It stood on a hill and besides being red--a standout color--it had a turret that towered over the smaller, more modest homes on the block. It had been purchased by my parents and turned into four apartments. Ours was on the main floor and the biggest--housing my mother, a homemaker who had left her teaching job when she was married in 1939; my father, a mechanical engineer for Honeywell and my three-year-old brother, Billy.

We lived in that house until I was four and I still have vivid memories of it. I can picture the interior precisely--and share this ability with my brother (my only sibling). My parents called me a few years ago because they were having a disagreement over what the kitchen table looked like in that house. Somehow, they knew I would remember--and I did. (It was a wooden, drop-leaf table with a Pennsylvania Dutch tulip design painted on one of the leaves). I also remember the neighborhood--and the neighbors. Across the street was a family with whom we became very good friends. And at the end of the street another family made a trio of us who socialized and were close. Those of us who are still alive keep in touch.

All the memories I have about that time were happy ones--making leaf houses in the fall, taking a penny down to the corner store and buying candy lipstick or wax coke bottles filled with sweet syrup, shopping with Mom at a small, family-owned grocery store on Lyndale Avenue, attending church every Sunday at Calvary Methodist Church. But the most potent memories center around food.

Mom was a great cook. She grew up in North Mankato, MN and belonged to 4-H and Campfire Girls. In those days, those organizations really taught young people skills. Consider her times--The Great Depression--people needed to know how to cook, sew, raise livestock and can and preserve the produce from their gardens. She did. When she was sixteen she won a blue ribbon at the county fair for her white bread. This qualified for a week's trip to the State Fair in St. Paul, all expenses paid. It was the highlight of her young life and she delighted in telling us the stories of that wonderful week. Once, about twelve years ago, she and my Dad were at the state fair, looking at displays under the stadium. Mom looked up and said, "Burdette, look at that!" It was a picture of my mom, age 16, (1926) posing in her white apron and cap with a beautiful loaf of bread. She hadn't ever seen the picture before. The fair people were very gracious in giving her that picture, which I own today.

When I tell people that I began cooking at age three, they tend not to completely believe me. But I really did. My mom doted on my girl-ness. She had three brothers, her mother had been the only girl of 6 children, most of her cousins were boys--as they wheeled her out of the delivery room after 36 hours of labor in the transverse position birth of my brother, she told my grandmother, "I supposed all my babies will be boys". In our family, being a girl was the most desirable. Many years later in a college Marriage and Family class, the subject of Gloria Steinem and Womens' Liberation was hot. I had a hard time digesting the idea that girls had been oppressed. For me, the opposite was true.

Well, back to the kitchen at age three. Mom would get me a step-stool and an apron and settle me right beside her at the counter. Anything she was baking (not other kinds of cooking), she would show me how to do. I had my own small dishes, pans and utensils. The one I remember best was my own small rolling pin. Pies and cookies were the the things we started with. She would show me how to mix my own dough and then tell me how to roll out and cut the cookies or the piecrust, always emphasizing not to handle the dough too much. I know that I didn't listen to that advice, at least not at first, because my doughs were dirty and tough. When mom would take her pie crust or cookies out of the oven and they were pretty and yummy; then mine, which were ugly and tough, I learned to listen.

Eggplant Lasagna

If you’re like I am, you get to the farmer’s market and fill your bag with all that wonderful produce, figuring that the season is short, this or that looks wonderful and you can’t stop off here every day. When you get home with your treasures you realize that you can’t possibly use everything up while it’s still fresh and wonderful. There are solutions.

First I prep all the produce to the cooking or eating stage. Lettuces and other greens should be thoroughly washed and spun dry. Wrap them in a tea towel or put into plastic bags with a small amount of ventilation and refrigerate them. It’s even better if you tear up salad greens and put them in a plastic bowl with a lid or a plastic bag so you can just take out a handful or two for salads.

Next pare all the vegetables that need it: carrots, cucumbers, zucchini; and cut them into edible sticks for relish snacks. Store them in a rigid plastic container with ice water in the refrigerator. You can add radishes, green onions and green, red and yellow pepper sticks as well. If you make a delicious dip, you have a healthy snack to pull out when the family gets the munchies; much better than chips! Don’t throw the parings away; rather pull out the ice cream pail (sans ice cream) from the freezer and put all the peelings and leaves and other vegetable scraps into it. When it’s full, you can make a delicious vegetable stock full of vitamins and ready to defrost in the microwave and use as a base for soup.

If you don’t use up the salad greens before they start to look sad, add them to the vegetable scraps container, too. The relish sticks usually do get munched at our house, but as soon as I start to worry they have been in there too long, I make a stir fry dish. Pour the water they have been sitting in into the freezer vegetable scrap stash.

If you can’t use up the other vegetables that you bought, you can blanch them in boiling water for 1-2 minutes (green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, onions, zucchini, patty pan squash, peppers—almost any vegetable). Drain them well and cool. Put them in freezer bags and push out as much air as possible. Freeze. Cook like any frozen vegetable.

Corn on the cob should be cooked before freezing. There are many methods of freezing corn on the cob, but none of them are satisfactory as far as I’m concerned. So cook your husked and de-silked ears in boiling water to which 1 Tbsp. of lemon juice and 1Tbsp. of sugar has been added. Bring back to the boil and turn off the heat, cover and let sit at least 10 minutes. Corn will hold for up to 30 minutes for eating. If you are going to store the corn, cut it off of the ears using a sharp knife and cutting down the cob. A really neat way to do this is to use an angel food cake pan. Stick the small end of the cob in the center stem and cut—the kernels will fall into the pan. This cut corn can be frozen in freezer bags.

Eggplant season is almost here and it is one of my favorite vegetables. There is too much moisture in eggplant and it is too porous for blanching and freezing. Eggplant cooked in stews like ratatouille or in casseroles like eggplant lasagna or eggplant parmesan freezes very well. If you are not going to grill your eggplant and eat it all at once, I suggest making one of the above-mentioned dishes.

Eggplant Lasagna

Prepare the eggplant: Slice un-pared eggplant vertically in 1/8 inch slices. Place in colander and sprinkle liberally with salt. Let drain for at least 30 minutes. Pat slices dry with paper towels. Dip slices into 2 beaten eggs and then in fine bread crumbs to which you have added a few dashes of basil, oregano and/or grated parmesan cheese. Fry in olive oil on each side until tender and brown. Drain. Set aside

Tomato Sauce (recipe follows)
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 beaten eggs
Salt and pepper
1 lb. shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup grated parmesan or pecorino Romano

Mix together the ricotta cheese, eggs, salt and pepper; set aside. Spread ½ cup tomato sauce over 9x13” pan. Cover with a layer of eggplant slices prepared as above. Put dabs of ricotta mixture over eggplant using about ½ the recipe. Put 1/3 of the remaining sauce over ricotta. Scatter ½ the mozzarella over the sauce. Repeat the layers ending with remaining sauce and then sprinkle on the parmesan or pecorino. Bake 45 minutes at 375 covered; uncover for the last 15 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Tomato Sauce

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 cup chopped green pepper
2 tsp. basil
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp. salt
1 13-oz can tomato puree
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
2 Tbsp. dry red wine
1 cup diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
Pepper
8-oz coarsely chopped mushrooms (optional)

Saute the onion, garlic, green pepper in olive oil in a large kettle. Add basil, oregano and salt. When onions are transparent add tomato puree, tomato paste, red wine, and diced tomatoes. Season with pepper and additional salt if necessary. If you use the optional chopped mushrooms, saute them with the onion, etc. in first step.

Fish Tacos

We’re always hearing that we should all be eating fish 2 or 3 times a week. If you’re a fisherman and you’re lucky enough to have a great catch, that would be fun. If, however, you are not and you’re relying on supermarket fish in Minnesota, that poses another problem. Not only is our seafood less than stellar (sometimes) but it is usually pretty pricey. Don’t resort to fish sticks and frozen breaded fillets just yet.

There have long been some questions about the safety of eating fish—even as we’re told that eating fish more often is good for our health. The problems are related to mercury and PCBs as well as the susceptibility to harbor bacteria that cause food-borne illnesses. But the positive effects on our health far outweigh the dangers, especially if you heed some precautions. All fish and seafood is an excellent source of lean protein and is low in fat and calories (unless you cook it in gobs of butter). It is rich in vitamins and minerals, but particularly in omega-3 fatty acids which have been found to combat heart disease, stroke, depression and Alzheimer’s disease. Most of the popular fish and seafood that’s readily available and affordable is safe in any amount such as: salmon, shrimp, scallops, crab, Tilapia, catfish, sole, flounder, herring, sardines, and most tuna.

I have been very pleased with most of the frozen fish in the supermarket. If you watch the label for words like wild-caught or flash frozen right on the fishing boat, you are apt to be much happier with the final product. The quality of fresh fish in our local markets is more difficult to discern. Most have been frozen and thawed once and that means that it shouldn’t be frozen again. A lot of the fish in the refrigerated fish case is already filleted, which means you can’t see the gills, the skin, or the eyes which are the usual signs of freshness. Smell is important, too, but again, in the supermarket, you’ll have to ask to smell the fish—which you might not do.

If after you have thawed your frozen fillets you think they smell slightly fishy and fear that your family or guests aren’t going to love the dish, try thawing the fillets or steaks in a shallow dish with milk to cover. And after cooking, you can neutralize the cooking odor by adding a little white vinegar to a cup of water and simmering on the stove for a few minutes.

There are so many wonderful varieties of fish and so many ways to cook and season them, that you could go a long time without repeating any recipes. This time of year, grilling fish is fun but you really need a grill-basket if you’re not grilling a firm fleshed fish such as tuna or halibut. Fish takes such a short time to cook that it’s not too bad to broil in the oven or cook it in a grill pan or skillet on top of the stove.

Many fruits and vegetables that are in abundance now make great accompaniments for fish. This taco recipe has a delicious melon salsa that makes it perfect for an August supper.

12 8-inch flour tortillas
1 lb. frozen fish fillets, about ½ inch thick
2 Tbsp olive oil
¾ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
Shredded lettuce
1 cucumber, roughly chopped
Lime wedges
Melon Salsa (recipe follows)

Thaw fish filets in a shallow glass baking dish with milk to cover. Put into refrigerator to thaw. When thoroughly thawed, pour out milk, transfer fillets to a plate. Clean the baking dish and spray with vegetable spray. Place fish in single layer in the pan. Combine olive oil, chili powder, salt, cumin, and garlic powder; brush oil on fish. Bake in preheated oven (450) for 5-7 minutes or when it flakes when tested with a fork. Fill warmed tortillas with a portion of fish, cucumbers, lettuce and melon salsa. Pass remaining salsa and lime wedges. (Makes 6 servings of 2 tacos each)

Melon Salsa

2 cups cubed melon (can use any melon or combination)
1 cup chopped cucumber
½ cup sweet pepper (red, yellow, orange or green)
½ cup thawed frozen corn, fresh corn off cob, or canned corn, drained
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro or Italian parsley
1 Tbsp. sliced green onion
3 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp honey

In medium bowl, combine melon, cucumber, pepper, corn, cilantro and onion. In a separate bowl, whisk together the lime juice and honey. Toss together; set aside.

Summer Salad Ideas

I am running out of ideas for cool suppers—we’ve grilled, we’ve used the slow-cooker and all the other appliances that save on heating up the kitchen. I’ve pretty much exhausted my repertoire of main dish salads and sandwiches are getting tiresome. Add to these the fact that I just don’t feel like cooking supper.


I tried to remember what my mom fixed for supper in the days when we (and nobody else) had air conditioning. My dad hooked up a hose to the furnace and we had a water “cooler” but it didn’t help the humidity. There were nights in July and August when I couldn’t sleep—even the sheet over me was too much—and I was just a child. So trying to beat the heat is nothing new.

Main dish salads weren’t really “in” as I recall and we certainly didn’t have the plethora of handy appliances we do now but gardening was at an all-time high and we had fresh vegetables galore. I think a really typical supper on a hot night would have been some kind of pan-fried meat with boiled new potatoes (from the garden) fixed with butter and chives, beautiful home-grown tomatoes sliced thick, some wilted lettuce (that’s a salad, not exhausted lettuce), corn on the cob and berries with cream. Not bad, as I recall. But still there was a fair amount of cooking. I think a main dish salad using many of those ingredients would be more “today”, but, as I mentioned, I have run out of new ideas for those salads.

Then I came across two long unused cookbooks: “Salad Suppers,” and “Cold Soups, Warm Salads” I perused them hungrily, looking for some fresh inspiration and I wasn’t disappointed. There are so many good and easy and nutritious ideas for salad that I couldn’t wait to try them all! However, that isn’t really practical so I decided to try just one or two to start.

Sautéed Tuna Nicoise was my first choice. I’ve always loved this salad and it really uses garden produce to the fullest. You can make this with fresh tuna that you can grill outdoors or open a can of white Bonito tuna packed in oil—really delicious.

Makes 4 servings

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp dry mustard
1 garlic clove, halved
½ to 1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
5 to 6 medium red-skinned potatoes, cooked
1/3 to ½ pound green beans, blanched
Red or green leaf lettuce
2 ripe tomatoes
½ red onion, sliced thin
¼ to ½ cup Nicoise or Mediterranean black olives
1 ½ pounds tuna steak, 1-inch thick or 3 6-oz cans white Bonito tuna, packed in oil
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp drained capers (optional)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Garlic Croutons (recipe follows)

Blend the vinegar, lemon juice, dry mustard, garlic clove, salt and pepper and let sit 20 minutes. Remove the garlic and whisk in the olive oil. Set aside. While the potatoes are still warm, slice, put in a bowl with a portion of the dressing and let marinate. In separate bowl, put the blanched green beans with some additional dressing. Line a serving platter with the lettuce, leaving a place in the center for the tuna. Arrange the potato slices overlapping in a ring around the center. Place the green beans in spoke fashion or in groups around the potatoes. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise and then in thirds. Scatter the onion rings and sprinkle with olives. Cut the tuna into ½-inch chunks (or break up canned tuna with a fork). In a skillet, heat olive oil and saute fresh tuna 3 to 4 minutes, tossing gently. Place in the center of the prepared platter. If desired, sprinkle with capers. Drizzle the dressing over all and top the tuna with chopped parsley. Serve with Garlic croutons.

Garlic Croutons

½ loaf French bread (baguette)
Olive oil
Garlic clove, halved

Preheat oven to 325. Slice the bread about ¼-inch thick and place on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven about 10 minutes or until dry. Brush both sides with oil, turn and rub the tops with the cut side of the garlic. Return to the oven until light golden. These can be made ahead of time and stored up to a week in a tightly sealed container or plastic bag.

Do all of the cooking in the cool of the morning. Bring to room temperature before serving.

The Theme: Sea Food...what can you have for dessert?

Our four-times-a-year dinner group that we euphemistically call “grub club” met recently.  The host and hostess determine the theme and the other three couples bring their assigned courses accordingly.  The theme was seafood.  As with the time that the theme was capsicum, our course was dessert.  I think I detect a throw-down challenge here.  There were rules with this one:  no “C-food” and no “See food”.

It’s a good thing that I spend so much time thinking about food and have so many resources at hand in magazines and cookbooks.  I very quickly determined that I was not going to put any type of seafood into a sweet dessert.  The hot pepper theme was much easier as ancho chile powder and chocolate are a nice mix.  But fish and sugar?  I don’t think so.

That left sea themes or names.  I bandied about tart shells, sponge cake, Palm Beach pineapple squares, currant (as in ocean current?) cookies, seafoam candy and Miami Beach cake, but finally settled on floating island with Madeleine cookies (made in a special pan to look like shells).  The floating island recipe that I used was sprinkled with an almond praline which I also scattered on the service plate to look like sand.  I brought my cobalt blue glass dessert bowls to serve it in, and, all in all, I think was a seafood dessert success.

The other courses were really marvelous and, as always, we had a great time and a veritable feast.  These four couples have been together for more than 10 years and every one of them cooks superbly.  Appetizers were crab cakes with a wonderful remoulade and a shrimp and cream cheese spread.

First course was seviche.  Seviche can vary a lot as the ingredients are not set in stone.  A Mexican dish by origin, it was usually an ocean fish that was “cooked” with lime juice but it has come to mean any fish or seafood that you “cook” with citrus acid rather than heat.

The main course was fish tacos, grilled by our host, along with delicious corn on the cob.  Condiments were many and unusual, including mayonnaise for the corn which I found out is a staple in Mexico.  The corn was so sweet and delicious and grilled to perfection that I ate mine unadorned.

After searching through many recipes for the floating island, I settled on one from Ina Garten of the Food Network (Barefoot Contessa).  It was really wonderful even if it sported a somewhat affected name, Ile Flottante.  It’s a bit fussy on the caramel sauce and the custard sauce and you can get almost as good results using a jarred caramel sauce and making the custard sauce from a package of instant vanilla pudding.  You add three cups of half and half instead of 2 cups of milk and some Bailey’s Irish Cream (about 2 Tbsp.) 

Ceviche

1 pound scallops

1 cup fresh lime juice

1 cup diced avocado

½ cup minced red onion

½ cup finely chopped seeded tomato

¼ cup cilantro

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp. minced jalapeno

½ tsp. salt

1/8 tsp cayenne

¼ tsp. cumin

Pat the seafood dry and place in a glass bowl.  Cover with the lime juice and let marinate until opaque, about 3 hours, refrigerated.  Place the seafood in a clean bowl and reserve the lime juice.  Add the remaining ingredients to the seafood, gently stirring to mix.  Add reserved lime juice to taste.  Refrigerate for 1 hour and serve chilled in a tall martini or cocktail glass.  (recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2001)

Ile Flottante  (Ina Garten)

2 ½ cups sugar, divided

1 cup water, divided

1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract, divided

1 ½ cups (5 oz) sliced almonds

8 extra-large egg whites at room temperature

1/8 tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp cream of tartar

Crème Anglaise, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 deg.

For caramel, heat 1 ½ cups of the sugar and ½ cup water in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves.  Cook over medium heat until the syrup turns a warm caramel color.  Don’t stir, just swirl it in the pan.  Off heat, add ½ cup water and ½ tsp vanilla; be careful, the syrup will bubble violently.  Stir and cook over high heat until the caramel reaches 230 degrees on a candy thermometer.  Set aside.  Por the praline combine the almonds with ¼ cup of the caramel and spread them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the almonds are lightly browned.  Allow to cool at room temperature and then break up in pieces.

Lower the oven to 250 degrees.  Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.  For the meringues, beat the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium speed until frothy.  Turn the mixer on high speed and add the remaining 1 cup of sugar.  Beat until the egg whites are very stiff and glossy.  Whisk in the remaining teaspoon of vanilla.  With dessert spoons place 12 mounds of meringue on the parchment paper and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. 

For serving, pour crème Anglaise on the bottom of individual plates.  Place a meringue on top of each serving, drizzle with caramel sauce, sprinkle with praline and serve. 

Crème Anglaise:

4 extra-large egg yolks

½ cup sugar

1 tsp cornstarch

1 ¾ cups scalded milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. Bailey’s Irish cream

Beat the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed for 3 minutes or until very thick.  Reduce to low speed and add the cornstarch.  With the mixer still on low, slowly pour the hot milk into the eggs.  Pour the custard mixture into a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until thickened.  The custard will coat the spoon like heavy cream.  Don’t cook it above 180 degrees or the eggs will scramble.  Pour the sauce through a fine strainer, add the vanilla extract, liqueur and chill.  Yield:  2 cups.