Saucy Affair

Sometimes the recipe is just too much work and you decide to dump the hard part and keep the interesting part.  That’s what happened the other day.  I have this recipe for Broccoli Timbales with Lemon Sauce.  The hard part is the broccoli timbales.  The interesting part is the lemon sauce.  I’d never made this recipe because fussing with ramekins over a broccoli dish just didn’t seem worth it.

The reason I’d never tried to make just the lemon sauce was because the person who wrote up the recipe didn’t see fit to separate the ingredients and instructions for the lemon sauce from the rest of the recipe – bless her pea-pickin’ little heart, if she has one.  (Note to self:  When you write recipes, separate the parts!)  My copy of this recipe (printed from the Internet) has my pencil scribbles all over it, noting which parts are timbale parts and which parts are lemon sauce parts – not just in the Ingredients list, but also in the Directions.

I give you now the extracted recipe (both ingredients and directions) for Lemon Sauce.  I served it draped and drizzled over steamed broccoli (grins!) or asparagus or green beans or any other thing that needs a little ‘ZING’.  I’ve made it a Lime Sauce and an Orange Sauce on occasion, too.  Hope you try it.  It’s really yummy.  In fact, I may have been know to sit and very slowly dip one of my tiny little Espresso spoons into a small bowl of Lemon Sauce and gently lick the spoon clean repeatedly until the bowl was empty, leaving the steamed broccoli sitting on my plate growing cold and rubbery in neglect.

Lemon Sauce

INGREDIENTS

1	cup heavy whipping cream
2	T lemon juice
1	T all-purpose flour
1	T butter, softened
1	t chicken bouillon granules
¼	t salt
⅛	t white pepper
3	T snipped fresh dill

Directions

1.     In a small bowl, combine heavy whipping cream and lemon juice; let stand for one hour at room temperature.

2.     Combine flour and butter to form a paste.  In a large heavy saucepan, combine the lemon-cream mixture, chicken bouillon, salt, and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Whisk butter mixture into cream mixture until smooth and mixture is thickened.  Add snipped dill.  Remove from heat.

3.     Spoon sauce under, around, or over whatever you like and garnish with dill sprigs, if desired.

Note:  If you decide to switch it up by changing to lime or orange juice, you may want to swap herbs – like going with cilantro for the lime juice or going with thyme for the orange juice.

Um…if you really, really, REALLY want the Broccoli Timbales recipe I might be coerced into posting it here someday.

It was all a misunderstanding

Her name was Margo, but we all called her Gloria. When she first came to work at GSH&MC she was introduced to everyone by our very sweet (but most positively hard-of-hearing) co-worker, Alice.  As they trotted around from office to office, Alice would say, "This is Gloria."  And poor Gloria would say to her, "I prefer to go by Margo."  And Alice would smile and nod and turn around to the next office and repeat.  Of course, no on in the office caught on and dear Alice never understood what Gloria was whispering in her ear.  But, there was lots of smiling and nodding going on.  From that day forward, Gloria tried and tried to get people to call her Margo.  To no avail...the damage was done.  Anytime someone tried to call her Margo, Alice would say ''Who?"  It was all a misunderstanding.

Gloria was a wonderful secretary.  And, this was back in the 'olden' days when all the financial statements were typed (by Gloria) on an IBM Selectric II.  She was accurate, too, and never had much use for the correction tape feature on that fancy machine. She also was a great organizer.  And one of the things she organized was our occasional potluck lunches.  To top it off, she was also a wonderful cook.  We were fortunate that she was willing to share her recipes.  One of my favorites (and one that I've prepared many, many times as a take-along dish), is her Rice-Artichoke Salad.  I had never tasted anything like it before I met her.  It blew my socks off.

It's a sneaky salad.  It has ingredients in it that some people do not like.  But, somehow with this combination of flavors, you can slip those 'offending' participants past your picky-eater friends.

Example 1:  Miz Margaret will not eat anything with a bell pepper in it.  Not raw, and most certainly not cooked.  She claims she can taste a bell pepper if all it did was travel through the same serving dish five washes ago.

Example 2:  My husband loves a black olive.  But don't let a stuff green olive get anywhere near his plate.  This recipe has both - green bell peppers and stuffed green olives.

Oh! Almost forgot!  Example 3:  Me.  I don't like a raw onion in anything.  Doesn't matter if it a Walla Walla Sweet, a beautiful red, a innocent looking leek, a fancy shallot, or a mild little scallion.  I don't like 'um.  This recipe has green onions.

All three of us love this dish, as do many others.  In fact, this dish alone is responsible for my husband's grand olive turn-around.  He now likes (perhaps even loves) a stuffed green olive. He has been know to order a stuffed green olive pizza.  Now, that's a turn-around folks.

And, Miz Margaret?  Ya, she ate a pile of it...raving the whole time.  You should have seen her face when I let it slip that there were green bell peppers in there.  Horror is not a strong enough description.  But, she took a second helping without batting another eyelash after she got over the initial feelings of betrayal.

I still don't like raw onions in any form.  But, I have never left them out of this recipe.  I put them in there and I eat them happily because it just tastes right that way.  And I certainly don't want to mess with success!

Is it a wonder-dish?  Perhaps not.  But, it is delicious!  Give it a try next time you need to bring along something a little different to your next get-together.  You can thank Gloria, um...Margo, when the compliments start rolling in.

Rice-Artichoke Salad

INGREDIENTS

1	pkg (6.9oz) chicken-flavored rice (like Rice-A-Roni)
4	green onions, thinly sliced
½	green pepper, chopped
12	stuffed green olives, sliced
2	(6oz) jars marinated artichoke hearts
¾	t curry powder
⅓	cup mayonnaise

1.     Cook rice as package directs, omitting the butter.  Cool.

2.     Add sliced green onion, chopped green pepper, and sliced green olives.

3.     Drain artichoke hearts, reserving ½ the marinade.  Cut artichokes in half.

4.     Combine reserved artichoke marinade with curry powder and mayonnaise.  Mix well.

5.     Add curry dressing to salad, until well combined.  Add artichoke hearts and toss well.

6.     Chill.  Best made a day ahead.

Serves 6-8

Weird Science

 We’ve been lucky enough to be invited to my cousin, Cliff’s, for Thanksgiving dinner on a fairly regular basis for the past several years.  He’s my favorite ‘boy’ cousin and I just love being in his home with his family and our extended families.  It gives me warm fuzzies just to think of it.  In fact, it brings back many very happy memories of being in his childhood home (my aunt and uncle’s home) with a whole houseful of wonderful people and delicious aromas.  Now days, we all gather at Cliff’s for the foodiest of holidays.

Not us, but, we're every bit as good lookin'

I’m not sure how it got started.  But, for some reason it has become tradition for me to bring the salad to Thanksgiving dinner (plus other items as requested, but ALWAYS, the Salad).  It may have started with me offering to bring a salad (probably something a bit unusual) that everyone liked and then it morphed into Salad being my assigned responsibility.

Over the years, I’ve taken many a strange concoction to Thanksgiving dinner – passing it off as a ‘salad’.  I am now expected to bring a ‘weird’ salad.  Two years ago I found this recipe out there in Internet-land.  It certainly fell into the ‘weird science’ category.  Um…to set the record straight…it was very tasty as well.

Curried Cashew, Pear, and Grape Salad

INGREDIENTS

Cashews:

¾	cup cashew halves
4	slices bacon, coarsely chopped
1	T melted butter
1	t chopped fresh rosemary
1	t curry powder
1	T brown sugar
½	t kosher salt
½	t cayenne pepper

Dressing:

3	T white wine vinegar
3	T Dijon mustard
2	T honey
1/2	cup olive oil
	Salt
	Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Salad:

1	(10oz) pkg mixed salad greens
½	Med Bosc pear, thinly sliced
½	cup halved seedless red grapes

Directions

1.     In a large, dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast cashews until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove cashews to a dish to cool slightly.

2.     Return skillet to medium-high heat, cook bacon strips until crisp on both sides, about 7 minutes. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon, and soak up grease with a paper towel. Coarsely chop bacon, and set aside.

3.     In a medium bowl, stir together butter, rosemary, curry powder, brown sugar, salt, cayenne pepper, and toasted cashews. Set aside.

4.     In a small bowl, stir together white wine vinegar, mustard, and honey. Slowly whisk in olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

5.     In a large salad bowl, toss dressing with greens, pear slices, grapes, and bacon, and sprinkle with nut mixture.

Peppermint Trees

The instructions were simple.  The execution, well, not so simple.

Each holiday season ‘The Gang’ gets together to celebrate.  Some years we exchange gifts – with a twist.  For example, one year (we draw names) the gift had to cost exactly $20.01.  And you had to have a receipt to prove it.  Another year, we chose the color yellow (out of a hat) and all the gifts had to be yellow.  My favorite was when we decided that the gift had to be handmade.  I enjoyed making a quilted ‘doily’ for my best buddy, Sheila.

When the gift-giving lost its shine (ie we realized we had enough junk in our closets), we tried to come up with other things we could do together as a group.  We tossed around ideas of ‘sponsoring’ a family in need or going on a short trip together or participating in an activity together.  That’s when Sheila came up with this great idea of getting together to make holiday desserts together.  Well.  Anything with sugar in it works for me!

As I said, the instructions were simple: Find a holiday dessert recipe that you will make at the scheduled ‘event’.  We quizzed each other frequently to find out what everyone else was planning to make.  I was facing a Yule Log and Divinity, to name just two.  My dessert needed to be fancy enough to stand up to at least those two and who knows what the rest would be doing.

I love the Internet.  You can find almost anything there.  Off to one of my favorite recipe websites I went.  As I expected, I found the perfect recipe for the occasion, Peppermint Cream Brownie Torte.  Chocolate and mint.  Mmmm…I’m all dreamy just thinking about it.  Uh…give me a minute, I’ll be right back.  Ah!  There we go.  Ahem, where was I?  Oh, yes.  Well, I’m just sure God created those two plants at the exact same time (wasn’t it on Day 3 of the creation week?) and probably made sure they were growing right next to each other so that Adam & Eve (who came along on Day 6) would know they should be eaten together.  You know, kind of giving them a gentle shove in the right direction.  I mean, they had so many things to discover, I’m sure God built in little hints like this.  Don’t you think?  And this one would be pretty important to know right away!  Right?  Oh!  Back to the topic at hand:  Dessert.

My newly found recipe and my basket of ingredients showed up at the appointed day and time.  The rest of ‘The Gang’ all came through with fabulous dessert plans. It was organized chaos with everyone cooking at once (even the youngsters).  And what fun!  We had a great time baking together.  Lucy’s Yule Log was amazing, and yummy.  David’s Divinity turned out perfectly on the first try.  (I’m making a little ‘I’m in awe’ curtsy in his direction right now at the memory of it.)  My little brownie torte wasn’t bad.  I was proud of my efforts.  Even the chocolate/peppermint trees on top looked pretty good standing there in the sparkly ‘snow’. I only had to eat three of them (you know, the ones that flopped or broke).

So there you have it…

Peppermint Cream Brownie Torte

Close INGREDIENTS

Brownie

1	box (1 lb 2.4 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme Premium brownie mix
	Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on brownie mix box (for cakelike brownies)

Peppermint Cream

1/2	cup whipping (heavy) cream
1/2	package (8-ounce size) cream cheese, softened
1/4	cup powdered sugar
1/2	teaspoon peppermint extract

Dark Chocolate Ganache

1/4	cup whipping (heavy) cream
1/2	cup semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Trees

1	cup semisweet chocolate chips
1	teaspoon shortening

1.    1 Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Line13x9-inch pan with foil, letting foil hang 2 inches over ends of pan. Spray foil with cooking spray. Make brownie mix as directed on box for cakelike brownies. Spread batter in pan. Bake 26 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

2.    2 Meanwhile, in medium bowl, beat 1/2 cup whipping cream with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form; set aside. In medium bowl, beat remaining Peppermint Cream ingredients on low speed until blended; beat on medium speed until smooth. Gently stir whipped cream into cream cheese mixture.

3.    3 In 1-quart saucepan, heat 1/4 cup whipping cream over low heat until hot but not boiling; remove from heat. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips until melted. Let stand at room temperature about 1 hour or until slightly thickened.

4.    4 Remove brownies from pan, using foil to lift. Cut brownies crosswise to make 3 equal rectangles. Trim sides if desired.

5.    5 To assemble torte, place 1 brownie rectangle on serving platter; spread with 2/3 cup Peppermint Cream. Top with second brownie rectangle; spread with Dark Chocolate Ganache. Top with third brownie rectangle; spread with remaining cream. Refrigerate uncovered until serving.

6.    6 Meanwhile, place a piece of cooking parchment or waxed paper on cookie sheet. Draw 1 1/2- to 2-inch tree outlines or trace around 2-inch tree-shaped cookie cutter, leaving 1/2 inch space between each tree. Center toothpick at bottom of and 1/2 inch into each tree outline. In 1-quart saucepan, heat 1 cup chocolate chips and the shortening over low heat, stirring constantly, until chips are melted. Pour chocolate into decorating bag fitted with plain tip or resealable plastic bag; snip one corner. Starting at top of each tree outline, pipe chocolate over tree and end of toothpick within tree; fill center with random, squiggly lines. Refrigerate until chocolate hardens. Gently remove trees from paper; refrigerate until serving.

7.    7 Just before serving, sprinkle torte with candies and arrange Chocolate Trees on top. Store covered in refrigerator.

Fennel? Really?

A couple of years ago Kelli, Renee, Miz Margaret, and I decided to take a few  cooking class at our local Sur La Table store.  We started with a Knife Skills class, and then moved on to Grilling Basics, Beginner’s French Cuisine, and others.  I’m sure they had fancier names for the classes, but you get the idea.  Right?

Knife Skills was fun.  We learned the cutting terms and how to do them: Coarse chopping, mincing, julienne, batonnet, chiffonade, and paysannel.  I discovered that watching all those cooking shows on PBS really paid off.  I did better than the average student in the class because I’ve watched hours and hours of Jacques Pepin, Martin Yan, Caprial Pense, Ming Tsai, Rick Bayless, and Diary of a Foodie episodes.  (My poor husband has suffered through many a show with me.  But, it turned him from a “I don’t care at ALL what it is or how it tastes, I just eat because I have to” reluctant eater into a “I think I would have added a pinch of Basil to that soup and it really should have been seasoned more” food critic/ingredient detective.  But, I digress.)  Feeling all proud of myself and glowing, as humbly as possible, when the teacher praised my technique, I was eager to sign up for class no. 2. 

 

There was a lot of testosterone in the Grilling Basics class, as you might imagine.  Grunting and woo-hooing were acceptable forms of communication.  Thankfully, we were spared the body slams and fist pumps because they served wine with dinner – not beer.  Oh, did I mention that at each class we got to eat the food we prepared?  So, ya, that was the detail that clinched the deal when we were wavering over the price of the class. 

By the time we got to the Beginner’s French Cuisine, we were feeling pretty comfortable in the classroom and ready for some difficult French techniques.  We were not disappointed.  Béarnaise Sauce topped the list.  The delicate line between smooth, creamy sauce and broken clumpy sauce was crossed more than once.  But, we mastered it!  And, it tasted divine on top of our grilled steak. 

Somewhere along the way, perhaps during the Roasting class, we were introduced to a very different (new to us) potato salad recipe.  I confess, as I read over the recipe, I was prepared to dislike it.  No eggs, no mayonnaise, no pickles.  How could it even be called potato salad?  Well, okay, it had potatoes in it and it was a salad.  But, it was not your typical potato salad.  And, horror of horrors, it had roasted fennel in it!  What?!  Fennel?  Really?  I do NOT like fennel.  I do not like fennel because I do NOT like licorice.  This was going to be a big waste of time.  But, I slogged on (along with my faithful friends) following the directions exactly as demonstrated by our chef-teacher.  We used multi-colored baby potatoes, roasting them in a hot oven until they were blistered and starting to blacken.  Then we learned how to properly trim and core a fennel bulb.  They, too, were roasted into submission, then thinly sliced (good thing we took that knife skills class!) and added to the tortured baby potatoes.  A few scallion slivers, a handful of halved Kalamata olives, a pinch of kosher salt, a grind of black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil later, we tossed it all together.

 

I’m a sucker for the way food smells.  The aroma wafting up to me from that mixing bowl had the desired effect.  The potatoes and fennel were still warm, which gently released the bouquet of the olive oil and Kalamata olives.  I was in love, without even taking that first bite!

This is my new ‘go-to’ recipe for a picnic on a hot day (no refrigeration needed).  I’ve taken it to many an occasion where it is usually received with raised eyebrows and a seriously puzzled expression, followed by “Oh, my!  This is delicious!” and other similar comments.  So, to all my non-fennel fan friends I say: Give this one a try.  Who knows, you too may become a roasted fennel devotee.

Charred New Potato and Fennel Salad

INGREDIENTS

2	lbs small red potatoes
2	Medium fennel bulbs, trimmed, cored, & halved
	Freshly ground black pepper
1/3	cup pitted Nicoise olives
1/3	cup green onions, chopped
6 or 7	T red wine vinegar
	Salt

1.     Set broiler rack about 6 inches from heat.  Turn on broiler.

2.     Toss potatoes and fennel in ¼ cup olive oil; reserve and extra oil.  Spread in single layer on broiler pan.  Lightly season with salt and pepper.  Broil until blistered and slight blackened, turning once, about five minutes per side.  Bake in 400 degree oven until just tender, about 15-20 minutes.  Do not overcook potatoes.

3.     When cool enough to handle, cut potatoes and fennel into ½ inch dice.  Toss with all oil, 6 T vinegar, and remaining ingredients.  Season to taste.  Add remaining 1 T vinegar if needed.  Can be made several hours in advance and kept at room temperature or a day in advance and refrigerated, covered tightly.  Let come back to room temperature before serving. Adjust seasoning.

(NOTE:  I don’t think it tastes as good after being refrigerated.)