The Making of a Foodie

Hot Borscht

 
6 small to medium beets, peeled, and cut into 1" pieces
4 potatoes, peeled, and cut into 1" pieces
5 whole carrots, peeled and cut into coins
1 yellow onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped fine
1 32 oz. box of chicken broth
1 cup of wine or cooking sherry
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Herbes de Provence fresh herb bundle or 3 Tablespoons of dried herb mix
Salt and pepper to taste
Small container of Greek yogurt to top the soup with
Dried Dill to sprinkle on top of yogurt for garnish and flavor

Plug in crock pot and set it to high. (This is a perfect fix-it and forget it meal.) Peel and chop all vegetables and toss it into the crock pot, along with all the liquids and herbs. The liquid should cover all the veggies you cut, if it doesn't add water until it does.

(When peeling beets, be aware the beet juice will stain your hands purple. Wash them immediately after peeling with hot water and soap or wear gloves while peeling.)

Put the lid on the crock pot, leave it on high and cook for at least 4 hours. Check the tenderness of your beets after 4 hours, if it needs more time, cook it longer.

When beets are tender and can be stabbed with a fork, then ladle heaping spoonfuls into your bowl and top with a dollop of Greek yogurt and add a sprinkle of dill on top.

Enjoy.

FOODIE NOTE: Every year in January I go to San Francisco to eat and drink my way through my wish list of restaurants. I never get them all crossed off my list, but I really have had some great meals in this fine city and always look forward to returning.

Last year, I made the pilgrimage to the "mothership" of eating local and dined at Chez Panisse Cafe upstairs. I was expecting of course, a really terrific local meal made with exactly what was perfectly in season in January. But I was unprepared for how simple and rustic the food would look and taste. No fancy French sauces, no gelees or frozen balls of stuff . . .just a simple meal you might have in someone's home at a dinner party, only done with the finest and freshest ingredients. It was eye-opening and educational and delicious. I walked out and bought my first cookbook with Alice Waters name on it.

One of the things I enjoyed most of that meal was a type of hot borscht vegetarian style soup. Here's a photo I snapped of it at Chez P. I always thought of borscht as a cold beet soup. Turns out many Eastern and Central European countries claim borscht as a national dish or at least a staple dish in their diet. There are hot and cold versions of this soup. There are ones loaded with meats and vegetables . . .there are even some without beets entirely . . .I can't image calling something without beets - borscht.

The little touch of red wine vinegar and wine really makes this a sweet and sour tasting soup, which is just what sweet vegetables like beets and carrots need to make this a most complex and flavorful soup.

I made this a couple of days ago when the snow hit and it was so unbearably cold. When I am wearing my fur hat just to dash out to get the newspaper or the mail you know it is bone-chillingly cold. I had some beets and potatoes and wanted something warm and filling. This was the perfect solution. I served it with a green salad and a homemade salad dressing made from the left over Greek yogurt and a single, lonely fresh lemon I had in the bottom of my vegetable drawer, some crusty bread and butter and a glass of your favorite red grape and you are ready to light a fire in the fireplace and dig in. Which is exactly what I did the night I made this delicious dish.

Bundle up, stay warm and eat your beets!

Halloween Pumpkins

I have been on the road to Tulsa frequently these last few weeks leading up to the election. My best girlfriend from college, Georgianna Oliver, is running for Congress there, and I am a part of her campaign team. The week of Halloween was a crucial and busy one for the campaign, and I flew in for a few days, early in the week, but explained that I needed to be back in KC to take my son, Dominic, trick-or-treating. (See him here as Commander Cody from Stars Wars, the Clone Wars.) So I left on Wednesday last week, and I promised to be back in Tulsa by the Sunday before the election.

I love Halloween. It's always been my favorite holiday as long as I can remember. I love dressing up, costume parties and candy, loads and loads of candy.

As an adult, I find myself skipping the dress-up part, because honestly, if I want to wear fishnet hose to work, I can. There is no one stopping me from dressing up to suit my own wildest fantasies. I no longer need to use Halloween as a day to make a daring fashion statement or wear something I would not normally have the guts to wear. I don't need to wear a costume, I am a sexy witch . . .naturally.

My food cravings have also shifted, away from the buckets of Halloween candies to a more natural, but equally interesting sweet treat . . .pumpkins. Not just any pumpkins but local pumpkin pie pumpkins which I found on sale at my local Hen House Market. They are much sweeter and smaller in size than the ginormous ones that we use to carve.

It was the first thing my son said when I walked through the door from Tulsa - "Oh good, you are back, just in time for us to find and carve our Halloween pumpkin." See, traditionally, Halloween Eve is the night our pumpkin gets carved. I learned my lesson the hard way . . .a pumpkin carved too early seems to decay faster and when placed in a forgotten formal dining room window, by the time you smell the rotting flesh it is too late and too bad. Dead pumpkins are not happy pumpkins.

So in keeping with tradition, I went on Halloween Eve to the grocery store to pick out our pumpkin, and that's when I spotted the cute little pumpkin pie pumpkins. I bought three little guys, not really sure how I would use them and brought them home.

Then I bought one, really big one, that with the help of a pumpkin carving kit, I was able to transform into this haunted castle you see here. Not bad, for a tired Mom, at the end of a long day. My son slept on the couch while I dutifully scraped flesh, transferred the design and eventually carved it myself. Girl Power.

I ended up making Halloween Eve all about pumpkins, as I carefully spent my afternoon roasting all three little pumpkin pie pumpkins in the oven with a little olive oil on them, then carefully scraped the flesh out of the skin, which, once fully cooked, removed quite easily. Then I used two pumpkins to make pumpkin pies from scratch (I'll admit it, the pie crust is store bought. I don't do crust, I just suck at it, and besides I don't really like to eat the crust, so why bother.) I used the third pumpkin to make a wonderful Brazilian dish called Picadinho na Moranga or Chopped Beef Baked in a Pumpkin.

Finally, I saved all of the pumpkin seeds and roasted them with butter, salt and Buffalo hot sauce. They are really good. I am a sucker for roasted pumpkin seeds this time of year as a snack.

Let me give you the recipe for both the homemade pumpkin pie and Brazilian Beef in Pumpkin recipe, so you can try them before all of the pumpkins fly off the shelf.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

1 small pumpkin pie pumpkin, (split in half and scraped to remove stringy pulp and seeds)

1 cup of sugar

4 eggs

(1 and a half) 12 oz. cans of evaporated milk

A palm-full of your favorite pumpkin pie spices all mixed together. (For precision, assume 1 teaspoon of each of the spices you plan to add. I used Chinese Five Spice for a different, yet similar take . . .traditional recipes call for cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves or just buy ready made pumpkin pie spice.)

Roast the split and cleaned pumpkins in the oven on 350 degrees until the flesh is fork tender and scrapes easily away from the skin of the pumpkin. Usually around 30 to 45 minutes.

Take the scraped flesh from one pumpkin and blend it in the food processor or blender with all of the remaining ingredients. Take care to cool the hot roasted pumpkin down before adding the milk or eggs to avoid cooking them. Blend together until smooth. Mixture will look like liquid, no worries, it will firm up nicely in the oven.

(Make your own pie crust from scratch or poke the Pillsbury Dough Boy in his tummy like I do and use store bought.) Pour pumpkin pie mixture in a 450 degree oven for 10 minutes, then cover the edges of the crust with tin foil to prevent it from burning and turn the oven down to 350 degrees for another 45-60 minutes until firm in the middle and when a toothpick is placed in the center it comes out clean.

I have to say, I have never really loved pumpkin pie. Oh, I would eat a piece on Thanksgiving, because you had to have something traditional to chase down that piece of pecan pie, which is truly my favorite kind of pie in the world. I grew up eating them at holidays, when my great aunt called them Karo pies, after the corn syrup used in them. But this pumpkin pie, made from real, local pumpkins was absolutely delicious and sweet and spicy and a much lighter, smoother consistency than those made with the dark brown pumpkin squish from the can. Did you know canned pumpkin is mostly made with butternut squash and not pumpkin at all? Guys, buy a pumpkin, roast it in your oven, and fall in love with pumpkin pie for the first time. 

Chopped Beef Baked in a Pumpkin (Picadinho na Moranga)

1 small pumpkin pie pumpkin

1 lbs ground beef

1/2 lbs. chorizo sausage

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

finely chopped garlic

Olive oil for sauteing

1 large can of tomato puree

1/4 cup of red wine

2 Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

1 package of shredded potatoes for hash browns, cooked first

1 can of black beans

2 handfuls of raisins

2 handfuls of green olives

1 bag of shredded mozzarella or cubed cheese of any kind that melts easily

salt and pepper to taste

Cut the top off of your pumpkin and scrape out the pumpkin and seeds to clean it. Season with salt and pepper and roast in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes. Drain off any excess liquid that has accumulated in the bottom of the pumpkin.

In a sauted pan place a little bit of olive oil and saute the onions, bell peppers and garlic until translucent, then add the ground beef and chorizo and sauted all of the ingredients together until the meat is fully cooked with no pink showing.

Add the tomato puree, wine, Worcestershire sauce to the meat mixture and simmer. Then when the mixture comes back up to temp. add in the raisins and green olives and simmer for a few minutes.

Finally, add in the cooked hash browns and black beans and simmer to bring all ingredients up to temp and to thicken the mixture. 

Once it has come back up to temp. take the pan over to the pumpkin and begin filling the pumpkin with the meat mixture. Layer the shredded cheese or cubes of cheese with the meat mixture as it goes into the pumpkin.

Place the pumpkin and lid back on the cookie sheet lined with foil and place it back into a 350 degree oven for another 20-30 minutes until the pumpkin flesh is fork tender, but the pumpkin has not collapsed with the ingredients on the sheet.

Remove from oven and place the entire filled pumpkin on the table . Use a serving spoon to scoop out the pumpkin flesh and meat mixture to be eaten together. Serve over white rice, with a green salad and crusty bread. Brazilians would typically serve this dish with Parmesan cheese on the side that you could sprinkle on top.

I think from now on Halloween Eve will include pumpkin carving, and dinner and dessert made from real pumpkins. Enjoy!

October-Feast

It's just been cold enough lately for thoughts to turn to Fall and comforting, cold weather food. Something about October . . . and perhaps the small percentage of German blood I have running through my veins, but this is the month I crave hearty German dishes, soft pretzels and popcorn and of course, the delicious beer that goes along with it. Bring on the carbs!

Not to mention the fall produce - apples and pumpkins always put me in the mood for pie. I am definitely NOT a good pie crust maker, so I usually have to get my pie fix somewhere else made by someone else's hands to really enjoy the experience.

So far this month, true to my pattern, I have managed to find some new places to find and fulfill my October-Feasting, that I thought you might be interested in knowing about as well.

Craving #1: Handmade Sausages
Something about the look and smell of a perfectly grilled handmade sausage really says October to me. Boiled in beer with onions and caraway seeds, then once the insides are fully cooked and juicy, taking the sausages outside to the grill to crisp up the skins or casings to get that perfect snap when you bite into it. Whether it is served sitting on top of a bed of kraut, apples and onions or snuggled into a hearty brat bun with a squeeze of spicy brown mustard, I love to eat them this time of year.

To buy good quality sausages, I usually go to Fritz's Superior Sausage Company at 103rd and State Line or Werner's Fine Sausages on 57th and Johnson Drive. Both have a really excellent selection of various kinds of German sausages. Werner's was introduced to me by my grandmother when I first moved to Kansas City, as they have been making German sausages for over 30 years. Fritz's is a little closer to where I live now, and I have enjoyed their selection of ethnic sausages and always pick up one from the grill outside for my lunch when I stop in to purchase my wurst, the German word for sausage.

I had my biggest sausage surprise of all yesterday, after my son's soccer game. We all decided to go out for a bite to eat and we let my son choose the place. He grabbed his Daddy's iPhone and hit the Urban Spoon utility (which I have come to love as a feature on my phone as well) and with Magic 8 Ball accuracy we were pointed towards Barley's Brewhaus & Restaurant in Shawnee, KS on Midland Drive.

My son was very excited to be going to this unknown place, but my husband and I were a little less enthusiastic. Our memories of this place were neutral, not bad, but not really good either in terms of the food. It was brew pub food. Boy, were we in for a surprise when I spotted this little note printed on the menu that said "Sausages made fresh daily." What? I thought, no way. We called the waitress over and asked her about it, and she confirmed that "Yes, Lorenzo has been making them from a family recipe by hand, since the day they opened the place." That was it, my husband ordered the Bratwurst sandwich and I got the Kielbasa sausage on grilled sauerkraut with sweet herb butter on the side and cole slaw. Fantastic sausage, both of our sausages were indeed handmade and smoked by the smoker in the back of the place. The sauerkraut with herb butter was delicious and even the cole slaw appeared to be house-made with a little sweetness to it.

I was pleasantly surprised and will be going back to Barley's for the sausage. Lorenzo, dude, keep up the good work.

To make really good sausage is a skill (much like making good pie crust) . . .trust me, after eating my share of sausages as a BBQ judge at the American Royal Barbecue Competition last weekend, I do know there is such a thing as really awful handmade sausage. I also know there are several people in that competition who are very talented at it.    

Being a BBQ judge for the first time really opened my eyes and my palate to what different people enjoy in a sausage and all of the different variations there are out there. Some of them being quite excellent and unusual, and some of them being just plain bad. I was judging the amateur competition, so it was my job to eat and judge the meat turned in from all of those tents parked outside the Royal. 

But as evidenced here, I did take an oath "to judge the meat with all fairness, to the best of my ability and palate, until death do us part, with liberty and justice for all. Amen." (Well, the actual pledge that we had to take went something close to that, perhaps not exactly, but you get the drift.)

Walking in and out of the judging on both Saturday and Sunday, I realized that the American Royal experience at the tent level is really just one big frat party, with 30-something year old men with their ball caps on backwards, drinking too much beer, playing with rather large fires and eating way too much meat. I think all that sun and fun stirs up their testosterone in an unpleasant and rather tribal way. Let's just say, it is not safe for a lady to wander the tents of the Royal alone. I never feared for my physical safety, but the comments were enough to steer me out of the campgrounds and back to my car quicker than I anticipated. There are only so many, "Hey baby, I'll be back to pick you up later." Mr. Microphone comments one girl can take from the Karaoke machine left over from the night before. Seriously, where is Brutus, my bodyguard, when I really need him? All I wanted to do was find the serious boys that wanted to talk some 'Que with me. Geesh!

Craving #2: Bierocks

Okay, I honestly had never even heard of German Bierocks until a few days ago when I stopped into You Say Tomato for lunch on Friday and decided to try their Veggie Bierock with house-made Tzatziki sauce. A traditional bierock is a pastry that is filled with meat, potato and cabbage (also available at You Say Tomato) and then baked into a small pocket of bread or pastry until golden brown. The origins are thought to be German or Russian - they are also thought to be the same thing as a Runza and a cousin to the Pierogi.

This was what threw me for a loop when I went to read about them, apparently they are still made and known mostly in Kansas, North Dakota and Northern Oklahoma. Really? Being from Northern Oklahoma and now living in Kansas, I can assure you I had never heard of Bierocks until Friday. 

The Veggie Bierock (pronounced "Beer Rocks") at You Say Tomato was filled with curried lentils, raisins, and chunks of potatoes all wrapped in a crunchy on the top, but chewy on the bottom pocket of dough. The spice from the curry needed the cooling that their house-made Tzatziki provided. Mine needed a little salt and I would have doused my with Tabasco to provide a little additional heat, but other than that it was really a tasty new treat.

Craving #3: Pretzels

I love soft pretzels. I have always been a freak for bread of any kind, which is why soft, salty pretzels are a definite weakness for me. I love the ones they sell at the mall with their cloying fresh baked bread and movie popcorn butter smell, and I love the ones I make at home.

Yes, you heard me, I found a great recipe to make these little babies at home. The recipe is very simple to make. It was torn out of my August 2006 Tastebud Magazine and I make it every October without fail. It took a few times to get the recipe just right, and the brown color is not always as even as those you find at the mall, but bite into them and they are the real deal. You can doctor this recipe up a million ways to make different flavored pretzels, but I like mine plain and simple.

Easy Pretzel Recipe

1 package of active dry yeast, add to that 1/8 cup warm water (105 degrees)

1 1/3 cup warm water

1/3 cup brown sugar

5 cups of flour

Box of Baking Soda

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Dissolve the yeast in 1/8 cup warm water. Stir in remaining warm water, brown sugar and flour. Beat until smooth by hand or electric mixer. Knead dough until smooth and elastic.

In a medium saucepan, measure 2 Tablespoons of baking soda to each cup of water you place in the saucepan to boil the pretzels in. Place enough water to fill the saucepan. Bring soda and water to a boil on the stove.

Tear off a chunk of the pretzel dough and roll it into a pencil shape. Pick it up by both ends and cross to form bunny ears, then twist the ends and pull them back to rest on the loop. Place the twisted pretzels in the water for 15 seconds, until the pretzel dough is golden or yellow in color. Remove pretzel from boiling water and place onto a salted cookie sheet.

Salt the top of the pretzel with course salt. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the pretzel is golden brown.

Craving #4: Kettle Corn

I think my love for popcorn around this time of year started when I first moved to Kansas City, as I am not a big popcorn fan on my own. But every year around this time, my Grandmother, who was born and raised in Kansas City, would always buy me a large tin of our own local Velvet Creme flavored popcorn. I can remember watching the beginning of every new Fall Season of TV with a large tin of this tasty treat sitting next to me on my couch compliments of Grandma Betty. My favorite was the cinnamon flavored popcorn or you couldn't beat the good old cheese flavored popcorn. 

Now, I am not sure if I would call the Velvet Creme flavored popcorns, Kettle Corn or not. To me the Velvet Cream variety, would be considered more Carmel Corn than Kettle Corn. In my mind Kettle Corn is something else all together, although just as tasty and delicious. Crunchy, corny, sweet and salty this combination is what makes Kettle Corn worth eating in my opinion. 

I used to only be able to find fresh delicious Kettle Corn at fairs and festivals around town, until I recently spotted this cute little log cabin shaped trailer holding court in the back of the Ward Parkway Shopping Center making and selling fresh Kettle Corn, until the weather forces them to close for the season.

They call their place Cravin' Haven Hillbilly Kettle Korn, and they make and sell their delicious stuff in three sizes of bags for you to take home with you.

I stopped by to meet the owners recently, a lovely husband and wife team who have had their Kettle Corn truck on the fair and festival circuit for many years. However, due to health issues, they needed to stay put this season, so lucky for us, they took their trailer with the permission of the nice folks at Ward Parkway Shopping Center and have parked it in the back of the main parking lot selling their delicious Kettle Corn to anyone who stops by.

They are ready to sell until the end of the year, as their Kettle Corn makes wonderful holiday gifts, hostess gifts or just to have on hand when company comes to your house. Provided you can keep your hands off of it. No worries, if you can't, they will happily make more.

The slogan they used to use to call people to their booth when they would do fairs across the country went something like this: 

Cravin' Haven Hillbilly Kettle Korn where:

Tryin' leads to Likin'

Likin' leads to Lovin'

Lovin' leads to Cravin'

Cravin' leads to Havin'

Havin' leads to Haven

Cravin' Haven Kettle Corn, that is.

Stop by to see them and tell them Foodie sent you . . .

Cravin', I mean Craving #5: Homemade Pie

With many places in Kansas City to get great pie, (my personal favorite is The Pie Lady in downtown Lenexa, KS)  I did not expect to have to cross state lines this month to enjoy the best pie I have had all season.

But it is getting closer and closer to Election Day, and so my trips back home to Tulsa to support my best girlfriend running for US Congress, Georgianna Oliver, are getting more important and more frequent. 

Our days are spent on the phone fundraising, and our evenings are spent going to various local functions to meet the voters all across District 1. She is coming into this race as an unknown and is having to introduce herself to the voters in District 1 via their television screens through expensive television commercials and by attending these local events to meet them one on one.

The fundraising helps to pay for the television commercials and the events keep her shaking every hand she can touch with her campaign. It is a grueling schedule, but one that she has taken to with the passion of someone who really believes she can make a difference.

(And a lot of help at home from her husband Jack, who puts her signs all over Tulsa all day, and at night is the official dinner-fixer, homework advisor and bed-time ruler for their eight year old adopted son, Teddy Oliver. Now, that is teamwork.)

One of the last trips to Oklahoma, I had the pleasure of going with my friend, the candidate, to Coweta, OK located in Wagner County. Georgianna had been invited to come and meet the crowd gathered at the Disabled American Veteran's Hall for a good old-fashioned pie auction.

We were running a little late due to the never-ending construction in Tulsa, but arrived just in time for her to take the microphone before they started their pie-auction fundraiser to introduce herself to the crowd and tell them how hungry she was for some homemade pie. 

Just as she said that, I realized what a pie auction was . . .table after table, filled with delicious homemade pies made by the lovely ladies who support the Disabled American Veteran's. Every single pie was made from scratch and with love by someone there.

When Georgianna was done addressing the group, I turned to her and said: "What happens now?" She said: "Now we watch to see which pie we are going to buy to take home to my family for dessert tonight." She whispered that her husband liked nuts, so we should bring him home something with nuts.

Awesome! Foodie was officially going pie shopping for the Candidate, and after the first couple of pies were literally auctioned off to the crowd . . .it hit me, most of these pies were seasonal, made with the last of the summer fruit and using some of the new fall fruit. Homemade pie crust and fresh local fruit fillings were hand-picked and baked in these pies. I turned to ask the candidate if I could borrow her bidding paddle, a pie was definitely going home with me that night.

There were pies that the candidate had made in her honor by local Veteran's ladies that were auctioned off - A mile high Coconut Cream pie, a Banana Cream pie and this rich Chocolate Chip and Coconut pie were all those that were made in Georgianna's honor. It was fun to watch as the local Veteran's and their supporters fight over the pies that were their favorite.

For Georgianna's husband, Jack the nut-lover, we ended up with a still warm in the pan, locally picked, Pecan pie and a bag of Pecan brittle. Georgianna popped open the bag of brittle and offered me a taste. It was not at all hard and teeth-cracking crunchy, but instead was light and crispy breaking easily in my mouth and the brittle appeared to have air bubbles - a sign that baking soda was used.

Afterwards, I chatted with the lovely lady who made the brittle and she did confirm that she used baking soda, brought it up to a boil then poured the whole mixture into a pan and did not smooth it out, leaving the bubbles to cool inside of the brittle giving it the light texture. What a great tip.

The candidate had a fresh, homemade pumpkin pie purchased for her and given to her by a supporter which was so very nice, and I ended up purchasing a Texas Buttermilk pie from a lady who told me her Mother-in-Law was from Texas and taught her how to make them. It was lip-smackingly delicious and I took it home to share it with my mother and brother once I had my fill of it.

The pies that seemed the most popular were peach pies. And having tasted the juicy peaches we had this season in Kansas City, I could only imagine how good the local Porter Peaches from Porter, OK tasted when baked up in a flaky pie crust. 

The nice Veteran across the table from me bid and won not one, but two, Porter peach pies. I couldn't help but lean across the table and ask him if peach pie was his favorite. He was a gentleman probably in his mid-seventies and he responded, "Yes, ma'am it sure is, and I won't get peach pies much longer this year so I am stocking up."

He was a man hoping to make his peach pie stash last "at least until Election Day", he told me.

Enjoy!

Pickled and Fried Okra

Pickled Okra

6 pounds okra
12 cloves of garlic
12 pods hot pepper
12 teaspoons celery seeds
12 teaspoons dill seeds
1 cup of salt (not iodized)
2 cups sugar
2 quarts white vinegar

Wash okra and pack in 12 sterilized pint jars. Put equal amounts of garlic, hot pepper, celery seed and dill seed in jars. Combine sugar, salt, water and white vinegar and bring to a boil on the stove. Once the mixture has come to a boil, pour liquid into jars equally. Cap the jars and place in a canning pot full of hot water (doesn't have to be boiling, but almost) and let steep for 10 minutes. Remove and store in a cool dry place, once opened, refrigerate. Makes 12 pints.

Fried Okra

8 pods of okra
1 cup of yellow cornmeal
1 Tablespoon of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Slice okra into 1/4 inch slices. Sprinkle okra with cold water. Mix all dry ingredients together. Coat okra thoroughly with cornmeal mixture. Remove okra from mixture. Deep fry coated okra in 1-2 inches of bacon drippings or oil until golden brown. Serves 4-6.

FOODIE NOTE: Both of these recipes are from a cookbook, I picked up at a quaint gift shop on my first business trip to Atlanta many, many years ago called Big Mama's Old Black Pot.

The forward of the cookbook says straight up that this is a cookbook that should spark up nostalgia for any woman who has ever had to make do with scraps and make them tasty and delicious. It says that all the recipes are authentic, old-fashioned (as if you were still cookin' on a wood stove old-fashioned, mind you) calorie-ladened, country-style cooking. It says this is a cookbook to preserve the memories of those in the rural South. It ends with this sentence: "an old black pot can't be beat, when you want something fit to eat."

I have unconsciously been collecting cookbooks for years this way. Every time I would visit a new city I would head straight for the local cookbook section to bring home a memento of the place I had been, and a way to recreate authentic local dishes in my own kitchen back home. (I did not even know how to cook when I started this tradition, but I can't tell you how thankful I am now for having done it.)

I have a Justin Wilson's Homegrown Louisiana Cookin' from New Orleans, and I have a Zuni Cafe cookbook and a Malaysian, a Thai and a Chinese Dim Sum cookbook from two different trips to San Francisco. I have from my last trip to New York, The Cooking Club Cookbook about a handful of young women in NYC who started a cooking club once a month to learn new dishes and save a little money. Finally, what else but a copy of Skinny Bitch from a lay-over in L.A. The cookbook matched the culture and cuisine of each city I visited.

I decided to make this recipe for pickled okra, because my CSA veggie lady, kept giving us darned bags of okra in our weekly pick-up. And they kept sitting in my fridge because the only way I know how to eat okra is fried. At least, that's the only way I have ever had it. With the thick goo on the inside of the pods (usually used to thicken soups and sauces in the south) I just could not figure out another way to eat them. Frankly, frying something takes more time than I really want to spend on a Monday night after work.

Then, it came to me, I should pickle them. I love pickled okra as well, but had never tried it on my own. I went straight for Big Mama's cookbook and sure enough both my favorite okra recipes were on the same page. I am going to wait a few weeks for my okra to really cure before I try some, but considering I used okra and garlic from my CSA, dill seed and hot peppers from my herb garden, the only thing in this thing that came from the store is the sugar, salt and vinegar.

I can't wait to bite into one, I can almost hear the crisp crunch now.  Enjoy!

Brazilian Quindim or Coconut Egg Custard

7 egg yolks
7 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. butter at room temperature
1/2  cup of shredded coconut, unsweetened if you can find it, if not used sweetened
1/2  cup of milk
Butter for greasing your pan
Sugar for sprinkling on butter inside of your pan

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar to obtain a pale yellow creamy consistency. Add the butter, coconut, and milk.
Butter individual baking cups or an 8" ring mold then sprinkle the butter in the pan with sugar to prevent your dessert from sticking.

Pour in the mixture into cups or mold and place cups or mold in a bain-marie or a water bath  (casserole dish filled half way up the sides with water) to bake.

Bake for 30 minutes in a 425 oven, if still liquid to touch then go another 10 minutes, if not take it out. You want to avoid burning the top of the dessert. Remove cups or mold from water bath and let completely cool. Run your knife around the edges of the mold to loosen it then place a plate on top of the mold and flip the plate over so that the top of the mold becomes the bottom. The top of the custard should be clear with the coconut forming a type of crust at the bottom. Taken from Ofelia's - A Taste of Brazil cookbook.

FOODIE NOTE: I am really a freak for coconut. I know, I know you either love it or you hate it. I am in the first camp for sure. In Brazil, where this dish hails, they have an abundance of coconut and therefore use it in everything. Particularly desserts. This recipe is very pretty when made in individual cups or portions and is typically seen on all party trays in Brazil. However, I chose to make it in my ring mold, because it is easier for me. It might look a little puny in size in these photos based on the American need to eat things bigger than our heads, but trust me this coconut egg custard is very rich and sweet. Particularly if you used sweetened coconut. A little dab will do you, one bite is almost all you need to be perfectly satisfied.

When unmolded is when you see how special this dessert really is - with a bright yellow, clear top and a crispy coconut flake bottom, it looks like nothing you have ever seen before.

Depending on the quality of the eggs you use the color can also differ greatly. I have joined a wonderful meat CSA this year called Parker Farms, and every other week in our shipment of meat (various cuts of beef, pork and lamb . . .with whole chickens) is another carton of farm fresh eggs. The color of the yolks is the brightest yellowish-orange I have ever seen, and they taste terrific. I have noticed a huge difference in how these taste compared to others I have purchased at the store. Nothing quite like a farm fresh egg.

However, I have many, many eggs at the moment, and needed a way to use them before they went bad in my fridge. This creamy Brazilian Quindim was the perfect answer. What did I do with the seven left over egg whites, you might wonder . . .I made the most delicious egg drop soup for dinner. Enjoy!

Homemade Ice Cream

Bacon and Egg Ice Cream - from Gourmet Magazine's TV Show - Diary of a Foodie

8 bacon slices (1/2 pound)
1 1/2 Tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Arrange bacon slices in 1 layer (not overlapping) on rack of a large broiler pan. Bake 15 minutes. Turn slices over and sprinkle evenly with brown sugar.
• Continue to bake, checking bacon every 5 minutes, until bacon is crisp and deep golden, 15 to 20 minutes more. Transfer to parchment or brown paper (such as a grocery bag or butcher paper; see cooks' note, below) to drain.
• Heat milk, cream, granulated sugar, and salt in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and mixture is hot.
• Meanwhile, beat yolks in a medium bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until thick and pale. Reduce speed to low and add hot milk mixture in a stream, mixing until combined. Transfer custard to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat back of a spoon and thermometer registers 170 to 175°F (do not let boil). Stir in vanilla.
• Quick-chill custard by transferring it to a bowl set into a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stirring frequently until cold, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut bacon into tiny 1/4-inch pieces.
• Fold bacon into ice cream once you have the ice cream in the machine and it is turned on, using the hole in the top of the lid. Once the ice cream has started to set up and get thick, transfer it to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 2 hours.
• Ice cream keeps 1 week. Don't be tempted to transfer bacon to paper towels to drain—the sugar will make the bacon stick to them.

FOODIE NOTES: Everyone has certain Foodie traditions around national holidays that they carry forward from their childhood into their adulthood. I am no different. For me, it is just not the Fourth of July without ice cold watermelon slices and homemade ice cream. We always went out to my Aunt Dot's farm in Claremore, OK to shoot off our fireworks outside the city limits. We always stopped at the same fireworks stand every year for our selection of sparklers, tanks, cones, bottle rockets, roman candles and black cats. As we would pull down the long gravel road toward the farm house, you could see my Cousin Bob sitting on the front porch rocking in a old-fashioned 1950's metal outdoor chair painted pink to match the trim on the old house and at his feet a large metal washtub with the electric ice cream maker full of creamy goodness and packed with ice and rock salt cranking away. Then as soon as we parked the car and opened the car door, you could hear the unmistakable sound of the ice cream maker - Rrrl, Rrrl, Rrrl, Rrrl the rhythmic sound of the machine meant I was one hamburger away from dessert.

My electric ice cream maker I use now has come a long way since those days. Gone is the need for ice and rock salt and in it's place is a cylinder that I constantly keep in the fridge in case the mood for ice cream should strike, I am ready.

The ice cream flavor that was always made at my Aunt's on the 4th was a flavor they called Vanilla, but truthfully having made the recipe as an adult from scratch is it really more of a Lemon Cream with lots of fresh lemon juice in it to cut the sweetness. This recipe also takes like two hours of constant stirring to make the old family recipe. I am happy to do it once a year, but can't manage much more than that. 

Then there was the year that the mixture looked right, but when I froze it and served it proudly I realized that somewhere in that two hour window I had scalded the milk and the whole batch had an remarkably strong scorched earth flavor to it. All the men in the family, said it was still delicious and ate two bowls a piece just to make me feel better, I suspect, but I was crushed at the failure and decided to look for an easier recipe to make in the future.

The funny thing is, I now find myself gravitating towards more unique ice cream flavors now that my palate has expanded. So when I saw this recipe on Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie (my favorite TV show on the air) for Bacon and Egg Ice Cream, I knew that would be my Fourth of July project this year.

I have no words to describe how simple this Bacon and Egg Ice Cream is to make. It tastes like the richest butter pecan ice cream only with this sweet and smokey bacon note in the back. Fantastic, it is a keeper.

I also cheated a bit, but with a huge batch of fresh basil on my hands from my CSA, I took half the batch of basil and chopped it finely it in my food processor then added into the processor the best organic chocolate with chocolate chip ice cream I could find and blended all the ingredients together. I poured it back into the original container to re-freeze it. Ta-da! A simple Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Basil ice cream that is fresh and sophisticated tasting. My friend Suba, who grew up in Malaysia threatened to take the whole carton home with her she loved it so much. No way Sister, this batch is mine.

Room 39 Goat Cheese Gnocchi

2 lbs. Goat Cheese, hung in cheesecloth overnight then squeezed out
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup Pecorino Romano, grated
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 cup to 1 cup of flour

Combine the goat cheese, yolks, cheese and salt in a stainless steel bowl. Mix well with your hands. Push the mixture into the bottom of the bowl and indent with finger tips. Sprinkle 1/2 a cup of the flour over the dough and knead the mixture with quarter turns. Continue kneading for several minutes, then test a small amount by dropping a small gnocchi into boiling water. If the gnocchi stays intact (does not melt) then do not add any more flour. If it is falling apart repeat the flour step again. When the dough is complete, then either roll the dough into 1" diameter ropes and cut them every 1" or so, or make each dumpling by hand using 2 oz. of dough and rolling it from a ball into a tube then tapping each edge flat to form a cylinder shaped dumpling.

For the Cream Sauce to go with the gnocchi:

4 yellow onions, thinly sliced
4 shallots, thinly sliced
8 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Parsley, Tarragon or Basil Stems, chopped
Bay leaves
2 Lemons, zested and juiced
2 cups white wine
4 qts, heavy cream

In the medium saucepan, slowly cook the onions, shallots, garlic, parsley and bay leaves with a little oil for several minutes until soft but with very little color. Add the lemon zest and juice. Add the white wine and cook slowly over medium heat until almost dry. Add the cream and cook over medium heat until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Strain through the chinois and adjust the seasoning with salt and add fresh cracked black pepper.

FOODIE NOTE:  This recipe was provided to me by Chef/Owner Ted Habiger of Room 39. The story behind this started about 3 months ago, while I was attending a Share our Strength dinner at The American restaurant, and Ted was there serving this very same goat cheese gnocchi with this cream sauce. I was intrigued with his dish not only because the flavor was amazing, but the texture of the gnocchi was right too. You would not believe the number of people I meet who claim to love gnoochi and when they share with me what they are eating it is a heavy, gummy dumpling and not the light, soft and pillow-like clouds that should be the correct texture of gnocchi.

I also happen to make a mean potato gnocchi, so I was curious how Chef Ted managed to get the texture right using goat cheese. When I got to chatting with him about it, is when he offered to teach me and the lady I met that night at the event, Amanda Frederickson, how to make it along with a tasting menu for a specific dollar donation to Share Our Strength. It was on like Donkey Kong, as we whipped out our checkbooks and went halvsies.

He made good on his promise and we showed up to his restaurant on 39th street right at 5 pm, as his staff was sitting down to a family meal before the dinner shift started. Ted was charming, interesting and entertaining to talk to as he stepped us through exactly how to make the goat cheese gnocchi while at the same time answering the any number of questions we peppered him with concerning his professional career. He even lent us both Chef's whites to wear. I could hardly contain my excitement, as I sat on the benches outside of his kitchen and changed from my heeled open-toed sandals into my heavy black Shoes for Crews. I'm no rookie, man. I was there to cook.
 
The secret to the gnocchi, we soon found out, was to get as much water as you can out of the goat cheese and then use the smallest amount of flour you need to hold it all together. Chef Ted buys his goat cheese from a local farmer, and he said this recipe was born out of having too much goat cheese on hand one night and needing to find the right dish to feature this delicious farm fresh cheese. It has turned out to be a very popular dish at Room 39.

The funny part about this experience was the fact that we spent about an hour or so in the kitchen with Ted learning and making this recipe with him, but we never actually ate it while we were there in the restaurant. It was a simple oversight, but it made us both laugh when we realized at the end of our night at Room 39 we had no idea what the goat cheese gnocchi we spent an hour slaving over even tasted like. I was curious as to whether our gnocchi would pass Ted's taste test to see if he would deem it good enough to sell at dinner that night. He assured me it was, and he would. How thrilling!

When we were finished, we went back out to sit down in the restaurant for our 5 course tasting menu with wine pairings, which was also part of the package. When Room 39 first opened it was only doing lunch, and then as the demand increased dinner was added. However, Room 39's dinner business is still slower than any other daypart he serves, including breakfast which he recently added.

Chef Ted sees his place on 39th street as a neighborhood bistro, and when you eat there, you do have a sense that almost everyone who walks through the door as been in the cozy dining room many, many times before. It feels casual and familiar and a great place to land for a drink and a bite or a full meal. I have had the benefit of eating at Room 39's location on 39th street for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night . . .and I am amazed at the chameleon like atmosphere the restaurant takes on during different parts of the day.

For breakfast, with the first rays of sun coming though the front window, the entire restaurant is vibrant with the yellow and red's coloring the restaurant walls shining like the morning sun. The place smells like excellent coffee, eggs and bacon. You hear people chatting over breakfast discussing current events and you hear the rustling sound of newspapers being read around you. It is an easy and wonderful way to start your day. Very European.

At lunch, the pace picks up considerably as the light in the restaurant has mellowed into a mild wash of even light. The place is packed and busy. People are talking loudly and laughing, and the place takes on a bustling lunch time bistro atmosphere. Service is precise and efficient.

Then come dinner time, the pace slows considerably. The lights are brought down as the sun is also setting and the restaurant glows with warm spotlights and candles on the table. Conversations are leisurely and spoken in more hushed tones. This is an intimate dining experience without being one bit stuffy.


Late night, there is a dark shadow over the entire restaurant with candles carrying most of the sexy brassiere bar atmosphere into the night-cap part of the night. It is a bit louder now, with alcohol plying everyone into a social mood, and the pomme frites that come from the kitchen are the perfect late night booze sponge before it is time to go home.

Although I have enjoyed eating many meals at different times at Room 39, I can assure you after enjoying a our 5 course tasting menu for dinner, I cannot understand why dinner would be slow. I think dinner might just be undiscovered. Every course of our meal was plated simply but beautifully and everything was perfectly cooked. I will also say the wines he paired with each course were spot on and the perfect accompaniment to the food. Which is something that so many restaurants miss completely in an effort to feature a wine they want to sell over how well it compliments the food. It was an absolutely fantastic experience, with knowledgeable and well-trained servers and fancy but not pretentious dishes made with locally sourced ingredients.

In fact, I was just thinking the other day that Room 39 was the first restaurant I remember dining at where the words "local ingredients" were listed on the menu. This restaurant was the first in Kansas City that I remember pushing the local agenda on it's menu . . .before the rest of the culinary scene in KC was talking about it. (They may have been practicing it, but they were not talking to the guests about it until fairly recently.) 

I have placed some wonderful photos in my iPhoto web gallery for you to enjoy. Check out the cooking class and the 5 course dinner and make a point to go to Room 39 for dinner. You will be surprised in the best way possible, and discover the best undiscovered dinner restaurant in KC.

As a small side note, I did decide to make this Goat Cheese Gnocchi for "my mothers" for Mother's Day. But where could a Foodie buy 6 lbs. (I planned to make extra and freeze it.) of fresh goat cheese? From, the Goatsbeard Farm in Harrisburg, MO. Located approximately 2.5 hours from KC east on I-70 toward St. Louis. For $8 a pound for fresh goat cheese that had been made the night before I arrived with my cooler in hand to pick it up. I spent more in gas getting out to their lovely little farm than I did on the goat cheese itself. But the flavor of that goat cheese . . .I obviously never knew what fresh goat cheese tasted like.
I can assure you it beats the pants off of anything you have tasted in the grocery store. Gone is the musky "goat" smell or flavor, replaced by the sweetest, lightest and creamiest tasting cheese you have ever had the pleasure of putting on your tongue. When one of my containers began "losing" a small amount of goat cheese every night, I discovered that my family had been sneaking spoonfuls of it and then drizzling it with local honey and pecans as a sweet treat after dinner every night. I don't blame them, it was that good.

Palmiers - the Quick Way

1 Roll of Puffed Pastry Dough - thawed to room temp
1-1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Sprinkle your board generously with sugar then lay the puffed pastry dough on top and flatten it as thin as possible with a rolling pin.

Then flip the dough over to coat the other side with sugar and trim ends of the dough until even. Sprinkle the top with sugar and draw six lines, vertically, making six even stripes up and down in the sugar. Then fold in the outside edge on each side in until it meets the next line. Then fold the dough over again toward the middle on both sides. Finally, fold both sides in until they meet and one long log of dough is formed.

Place the dough in the freezer for 5 minutes or until the dough it chilled enough to cut even slices.

Take dough out of the freezer and cut into 1/4" slices.

Take a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet and place the cookies side by side  and open the dough a little bit to allow for and expansion during the cooking process.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees with the over rack placed on the top rung of the over. Then slide in your cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the tray from oven and flip over all cookies to cook an additional 10-12 minutes until a light golden brown.

FOODIE NOTES: These cookies look very plain, but taste wonderfully complex. Sticky sweet from the melted sugar and the pastry dough becomes crisp and crunchy when it bakes. Delicious. I was at a dinner party recently that hosted a coffee cupping with the owners from the Friendly Bean Coffee Company, and these little cookies were the perfect thing with a good cup of coffee. I found out later from the hostess's Mother, who made these cookies, how easy they are to make and yourself. Enjoy!

Brazilian Stroganoff

1 1/2 - 2 lbs. of filet mignon or sirloin
1 large yellow onion
2 sticks of butter
2 boxes of button mushrooms
1 can of tomato soup
1 cup of rich and tangy ketchup
Cognac to taste
8 oz. of creme de leche or heavy whipping cream

Chop the steak and mushrooms into bite sized pieces. Cut the large onion into chunks and puree it in the blender with a little water. You are wanting to create onion water that you will use as a thinner for your sauce. Strain the onion from the water - saving the chopped onion puree and water separately.

Take a stick of butter and melt it in a frying pan and mix with all of the chopped onion. Then dredge the chopped meat in flour, salt and pepper. Shake off the excess flour mixture before sauteing. In another pan, melt the other stick of butter and saute all of the meat until brown. 

Mix the onion and meat, then add 1 can of Tomato Soup and keep stirring. Cook the mixture until boiling and add no more than 1 cup of onion water in a 10 minute period. When mixture is boiling, add the chopped mushrooms and reduce heat to medium and cover.

Let mixture cook until the mushrooms are cooked through, then add onion water (what's left if thinning is needed) and 4 Tablespoons of Flour slowly into the pot and mix.

Add one cup of Ketchup and stir until thick, then add salt and pepper to taste. Add 1 1/2 shots or to taste of cognac.

Cook the mixture until boiling, then add creme de leche or heavy whipping cream and let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until hot.

Pour over white rice and top potato sticks and serve.

Foodie Notes: My good friend Wiki sez this about Brazil's fascination with stroganoff: "Beef stroganoff is also very popular in Brazil and Portugal, under the name "estrogonofe" or "Strogonoff". The Brazilian variant includes dice or strips of beef (usually filet mignon) with tomato sauce, onions, mushrooms and heavy whipping cream. Stroganoff is also often made with strips of chicken breast rather than beef. It is commonly served with crisp potato straws, as in Russia, but with the addition of white rice. Sometimes one can also see creative servings of estrogonofe, such as a pancake filling, or topping baked potatoes. It is so popular among Brazil's urban middle class that there are even fast-food chains (such as Strogonophy's) dedicated to it in the food courts of many Brazilian shopping malls. Many recipes and variations exist: with or without wine, with canned sweet corn, with ketchup instead of tomato sauce, etc."

Forget what you know about the American version of Stroganoff - Cream of Mushroom Soup with Mushrooms and Beef Tips over Egg Noodles. This recipe beats the pants off anything you have ever tasted in terms of Stroganoff. It is very rich, and typically used as a celebration dish in Brazil. Brazil's fascination with this dish, and the fact that is has become so popular that every region in Brazil has a little different take on it, but they all have a take, means that is has become woven into the fabric of the country. No doubt brought to Brazil or introduced by any of the numerous ethnic groups that came to Brazil and brought the dishes of their home country with them. Brazil did have many Russians settle there, and much like our country, you can't help but love the diversity in food that a new group adds to a culture and society.

Peaches & Piscos Fruit Liquor Cake

 
So, I had my Fruit Liquor Dinner Party back in February and although we happily drank the port wine and cherries, I did not end up serving my peaches and piscos,  which is the national liquor of Chile and is where I picked up a bottle on a wine junket a few years ago when I worked for a restaurant company. It just wasn't good. It tasted like sweetened peach ice tea. Too much tea flavor, too sweet . . .and unfortunately took 6 months to make. However, I threw out a challenge to the group at the dinner party asking them to give me any suggestions on how I could use it. I was thinking I would just save it until pool season and then make long island ice teas or white sangria with them. But my friend Deanne had a different idea, please find her recipe below, which was adopted from a Norwegian Apple Cake recipe.

Sift together:
•    1 cup plus 2 Tbls. of flour
•    1 teaspoon of cinnamon/nutmeg
•    1 teaspoon baking powder
•    1/2 teaspoon salt
•    3/4 cup sugar

 

Then add to that:
•    1 cup of crushed ginger cookies
•    ½ cup of chopped pecans
•    2 Tablespoons of piscos liquid

Cut it into the dry ingredients:
•    1/2 cup margarine or butter. Will look crumbly like pastry dough.
•    Beat one egg and spread over mixture stirring it up lightly. Still crumbly.
•    Press half of the crumble mixture in the bottom of a tart pan.

Cover with:
•     Sliced liquor soaked fruit of your choice.
•     The rest of the crumbly dough mixture on top of the fruit.

Bake at:
•    375 degrees for 45-50 min.  Let cool in the pan, and gently turn out.
•    Serve with drizzled icing.  (icing sugar, butter, vanilla, piscos)

Notes from Deanne: Make the dough portion as instructed, but add a little nutmeg, and maybe a tablespoon of the rum, for flavor. Toss in some pecans if you're so inclined.

Press half of the crumbly dough into your favorite pan, then slice up a couple of the besotted peaches. If they're too mushy, then pat them dry and blitz them in the processor with some sugar until it's sort of jammy or preserve like. Trick is you don't want it "wet"— just moist like grated apples or whizzed up raspberries. I've found if it's too wet, the layers get a little gummy.

Spread the peach slices on top of the dough, top with remaining dough and bake as instructed. I think I told you I liked to use my tart pan. I've also used a plain old round cake pan, and then turned it out and flipped it over.

Then, if you can actually contain yourself from eating the entire thing immediately, top with a glaze made from icing sugar and rum and maybe a pinch of salt to cut the sweetness of the sugar.

Let me know how it turns out.... If it's a miserable failure, I have another cobbler recipe around here somewhere that might work better...

Notes from me to you and Deanne: Guess what Deanne, this recipe worked like magic and tasted even better! You saved me, this is a wonderful use for my fruit liquor that I had no idea what to do with when I realized it was not really drinkable all by itself.

Think about this recipe if you have left over jam you canned from the summer, or in my case two jars of macerated peaches. Try it for dessert or makes a great brunch item as well.

Enjoy!