40th Birthday Mushroom Lasagna, Mushroom and Artichoke Lasagna with Cauliflower Bechamel Sauce

When my friend Angelo Musco decided to throw a 40th birthday party for himself with 30 guests coming for dinner I was unsure if that was a good idea. I mean who wants to work on your own special evening. I was even more uncertain when he decided he wanted to serve Lasagna. Well, I have to say, I could not have been any more wrong. I was worried that serving lasagna not in individual portions and vessels was going to be a mess. But the expense of buying those was too much. So he decided to just cut up lasagna and serve it. I was worried that it would be a runny mess but it worked out fine and was darn tasty at that.

I mean I have made a lot of lasagna over the years. Church dinners, friends or family gatherings or just for dinner one night. It is an effort but easy for a party and allows you to not be in the kitchen at all while the party is going on. My Mother and Grandmother both made lasagna every now and then. It was never an easy process. Boil the noodles, strain them, hold them. Make the sauce, assemble the lasagna and then bake it. And of course they made lasagna the good old Betty Crocker 1950's cookbook way with cottage cheese and ground beef in some kind of red sauce. Served up with garlic bread a green salad and Kraft parmesan cheese from the green can it was good. Well it was good for what it was.

It was not until I was 20 and had returned from my first stint of living in Europe that my Mother and Grandmother learned how to make "real" Italian lasagna. A friend of mine, a lovely young lady by the name of Arrianna, from southern Switzerland ( which is Italian) came to visit. She not only taught us how to make pasta by hand but also how to make proper lasagna. It was quite revelatory. In fact it was such a hit I don't think we ever made lasagna the same way again. Now my Father really loved Arrianna, all 5 foot 8, "Sophia Lorenesque" of her, but he really loved her lasagna!

So like a good Italian son, when Angelo made lasagna for the party he made his mother's recipe for meat lasagna, and another recipe for a mushroom lasagna for the vegetarians at the party. Everyone wanted to try try both though, they were excellent. And served just warm they were not the runny mess all over the plate I was worried they would be. In fact they were super yummy.

So I decided that for my colleague Melissa's farewell dinner from our company, I would make mushroom lasagna. I love it and I love how great a winter dish it can be. We have been having really cold weather in NYC this year and creamy, rich, gooey, cheesy, lasagna just seemed right. Plus she is a foodie, loves pasta, and loves when I cook pasta. So it was decided that was what was the menu.

But I did not want to just recreate other peoples mushroom lasagnas. I wanted to make it my own or at least somewhat my own ( given that there are no new things under the sun as I have said before!). I asked Angelo for his recipe and also looked around online and in my cookbooks. I took those as starting points. Then I set out to add in three elements to my recipe that would make the lasagna more interesting. First I decided to add  marinated artichokes. Mostly because I had them, but also because I love mushrooms and artichokes together. Secondly I decided to make the bechamel sauce with mashed cauliflower in it to add another subtle layer of flavor to the dish. Thirdly, I decided to use two very strong herbs to flavor both the sauce and the mushrooms adding another element of flavor to the dish. I stayed with traditional cheeses, ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan. A touch a garlic some sauteed red onion and the dish was there. In fact is came spectacular. Truly!

So next time you want to take a little effort and make a lasagna that will make you a rock star with your family or friends, make this! Trust me even the Italians will love it! Enjoy Ya'll!

Forrest's Mushroom and Artichoke Lasagna with Cauliflower Bechamel Sauce

Ingredients:
Makes 4 individual lasagnas or one 9 by 9 pan or lasagna

1 box non cook lasagna noodles ( home style flat not with curly edges)
1 1/2 pounds baby bella mushrooms sliced
1 medium red onion diced fairly good sized pieces
fresh rosemary
dried thyme
garlic powder
1 teaspoon of dried porcini mushroom powder if you have it.
1 pound cauliflower florets boiled in salted water drained well and mashed
10 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
8 oz ricotta full fat cheese
1 8oz jar marinated artichoke hearts
7 tablespoon each butter and flour
2/1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup white wine
salt and pepper
grated nutmeg
olive oil for cooking

Method:

In a saute pan heat 1 couple of tablespoon of oil. Cook onion till just soft add mushrooms and 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. 1 teaspoon dried thyme and 1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, cook till soft then add 1/4 cup white wine and cook till absorbed more or less. remove from heat. Drain liquid and reserve.
In a pot melt butter and add flour cook 3 mins or until the flour pulls away with a spoon. slowly wisk in the milk and the remaining white wine. cook over med high heat till sauce thickens. add 1/2 cup parmesan cheese the mashed cauliflower and the mushroom liquid. Add 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 2 teaspoons fresh chopped rosemary,  a teaspoon of dried porcini mushroom powder if you have it, and a shake or two of nutmeg. Season well with salt and pepper, then turn off heat and let cool. Taste for seasoning.
In a bowl mash the drained artichokes with the ricotta and the parmesan cheeses mix in 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder.


To assemble

Place some bechamel on the bottom place noodles on then layer 3 times the ricotta, the mushrooms and some mozzarella and then more bechamel. When done top with the last noodles top those with the remaining bechamel and sprinkle with dried thyme some rosemary leaves and some hot paprika or red pepper.

Cover with foil and hold till ready to bake in the fridge. Allow to come to RT before baking.
Heat oven to 375 and bake covered for 35 mins the uncovered for 20 more mins till browning and bubbling.

Allow to sit for 15 mins then serve. Enjoy Ya'll!
  

New American Cooking: Southern Twist on Mexican Guacamole and Queso Dip,

Mexican food is for me one of the most enjoyable ethnic cuisines that are out there. I mean lets face it, what other ethnic food is more represented than Mexican in our popular culture. Well actually Italian food is still the number one ethnic food in the US in popularity, but Mexican is a comer, and coming up fast.

Now when I first encountered queso dip it was actually in a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. Rio Bravo was that restaurant. It was a chain I found out later but who cares. The fresh hot pressed flour tortillas that came out with the bubbling hot cheese dip called "queso" was one of the moments that I had a food revelation. I mean lets face it if it has cheese in it and it's melty I am never going to hate it. But this was fun and tasty.

Years have passed since that first queso experience. And my love for it has not dimmed. During one summer at Seaside Music Theatre, my Liz introduced me to making homemade queso the white trash way with Rotell Tomatoes and Velveta Cheese and Hormel chili no beans! Oh yeah with frito dippers it was good.

Guacamole is a little more of a staple in my culinary memory. I can remember my mother and grandmother making guacamole for many a "Mexican night" in our home kitchen. But the best guacamole I ever had was while spending time in the Pocono Mountains with my friend and director Tony Parise. He made a delicious take on guacamole which was really more of a dip using good old sour cream as an ingredient to add velvety richness to the guacamole.  I also had a guacamole prepared by my friend Fred Tessler ( of the Denver Tessler's) which was from his favorite mexican restaurant in the country, the Pink Adobe Restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which has mayo in it taking the creamy factor over the top.

So what is my take on these classic dishes that would make them remotely interesting you may ask. Well for one thing I decided that queso does not have to be served hot. In fact I decided to make mine as a homage to my favorite Southern cheese preparation Pimento Cheese Dip! Substituting in ingredients which would make it have a Mexican flair and flavor profile. And as far as the guacomole is concerned I thought I'd change up it's flavor profile a little for one reason. That reason is too often the guacamole flavor gets lost in a sea of similar spices and flavors in a big plate of Mexican food. So I thought what could I add that would really make it stand out. Well I took my cue from one of my favorite secret ingredients in many of my other dishes, Pickle juice. Yes Dill pickle juice and relish to change the taste just enough that it stands out and up against the chili and cumin flavors that are so pervasive in the Mexican Kitchen.

So while Rick Bayless may cringe, here are my takes on these two classic Mexican dishes, Enjoy Ya'll!

Forrest's Pimento Cheese Style Queso and Guacamole Dip Duo

Forrest's Pimento Queso

8 oz sharp yellow cheddar cheese, grated

8 oz Monterey jack cheese, grated

4 oz room temperature cream cheese

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce drained and chopped

1 (4 oz) jar pimentos, drained, rinsed, and chopped

1 (4 oz) can mild or hot diced green chilies, drained and chopped

2 tablespoons picked jalapeno peppers drained and chopped

1 fresh jalapeno pepper seeds removed and finely chopped

1/2 tsp cumin, or more to taste

1/2 tsp chili powder, or more to taste

2 green onions finely chopped

Black pepper to taste

Hot sauce to taste

1 1/2 Cups good quality mayonnaise like "Dukes" brand

Stir all ingredients until thoroughly combined. Serve with tortilla chips ( see note).

Forrest's Secret Recipe Guacamole Dip

4 ripe hass avocados chopped and covered with the juice of 2 limes 

1/2 cup fresh salsa fresco from the dairy case in the super market

1/4 cup dairy sour cream

2 tablespoons finely chopped and drained pickled jalapeno

1 1/2 tablespoon dill pickle juice from the jar

1 tablespoon dill pickle relish

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 dash hot sauce

Mash and mix all ingredients until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips ( see note)

* Note about chips, Grocery store chips are fine however, if you want to kick it up a notch get your chips from your nearest mexican grill place like "Chipotle Grill" or the like, they are fresh and better tasting. Just sayin! 

Serve these two together as a great starter to your next Mexican meal at home or party, or use the guacamole as a secret taste weapon with your main course to add flavor depth to your meal.

Enjoy Ya'll!    

Charleston Style Seafood Pot Pie, Newburg and She Crab Collide!

So it's winter and it's really cold up here in this piece of New York city! And when it is cold like this I think there are few things that make people smile more than hot yummy rib sticking comfort food. But of all the comfort foods that people seem to react to pot pies seem to scream comfort for most folks. Kids love them, adults love them total win in the family cooking plan. Now I actually did not grow up with the individual pot pies that brands like Marie Callender's restaurants offer in the freezer section of a grocery store near you. I did grow up with casserole style pot pies. And this communal kind of eating was sharing of the best kind.

I also have to admit that pot pies in the south are not as popular as they are in the midwest and the northeast. We love our creamed chicken over biscuits and chicken and dumplings but pot pie is sort of, mostly, as I stated earlier, a casserole occasion if it happens at all. Along with chicken pot pie, seafood pie is of course one of the dishes that I am familiar with from the low country. It's sort of a throwback to the colonial days when English colonists brought the English "fish pie" to the new world. Pot pies in general are all based in English cookery. Fish pie in English cooking is made with white fish plentiful in the waters off Great Britain. Sometimes it includes both fresh and smoked fish to amp up the flavor of the pie. As the pie took root in the kitchens of colonial America, the seafood evolved into mostly a shellfish based pie. Shrimp and crab were popular in the southern states and lobster and scallops in the northern states.

So when I started looking at pot pie and winter comfort food the other day I decided that I wanted to make a pot pie that merged two of my favorite things, she crab soup and seafood newburg. I have a recipe for seafood pie from my grandmother that I copied out of her hand written cookbook. It is pretty classic but what I love about it is it uses a take on the "holy trinity" which is the base of most southern stew like cooking. It includes celery, onions and normally green peppers. Unlike the french base which includes carrots the "holy trinity" came about in southern cooking because carrots did not grow easily in the coastal areas especially around New Orleans where so much of the culinary customs we follow today were started.

So the take on the trinity is that my grandmother substituted red pepper for the green pepper. Now this I found interesting because red pepper is such a natural with crab, like in crab cakes. The mild flavor and wonderful color are exactly what you want in a seafood stew where the flavors meld together. So she obviously had thought about that. Now her recipe is for a casserole style seafood pie. I wanted to make individual pies cause I have the baking dishes. But I used the base of the recipe and added my own ideas.

So in a nutshell, I used crab and shrimp as the seafood. I used seafood stock and flour with a little butter to make a voloute, which is a light french style sauce. And I added some parmesan cheese in homage to southern style seafood casseroles. Herbs, Old Bay and sherry add classic flavors and a thyme, salt and pepper pie crust add an extra layer of flavor. So here is a recipe for my Charleston Style Seafood Pie, Enjoy Ya'll!

Forrest's Seafood Pie Charleston Style

Ingredients ( makes 4 individual pot pies in baking dishes)

1/2 pound frozen or fresh raw Shrimp peeled and tails off
1/2 pound Crab Meat ( Canned chilled from the Seafood Case at the grocery store)
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped red pepper
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried tarragon
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
3 cups seafood stock
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons flour
2 1/2 tablespoons dry sherry
1/2 cup cream
1 prepared pie crust
sea salt and pepper
dried thyme
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese or cheddar

Method

Melt butter in sauce pot add oil
saute onions celery and red pepper till soft add mushrooms and lightly cook
add garlic let bloom
add 2 cups of seafood stock
add spices
in a separate bowl mix flour and the reserved one cup of stock till smooth
add into pot and stir till mixture thickens and is bubbly
add cream and reduce heat to low
add sherry
taste and season if necessary
add crab and shrimp

Spoon mixture into the baking dishes sprinkle with the cheese

On a floured board roll out pie crust and sprinkle with pepper and salt flakes and dried thyme, lightly press in with hands.
Cut out into rounds to cover your baking dishes


Cover baking dishes and cut a slit if you want to get fancy cut out extra dough into fish shapes and decorate the top. Poke the top with a fork to vent.

Place on baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 mins or until crust is browned and done, serve hot.

Enjoy ya'll!!








  

Alfredo oh Alfredo Wherefore art Thou Alfredo

Pasta with Alfredo sauce is as American as apple pie and about as Italian as Corned Beef. Actually that's not quite true. Despite what the Italians might say the dish actually has it's origins in the kitchens of Rome. A restaurantuer named Alfredo Di Lelio is credited with popularizing the dish with American tourists. Traditionally it was called Fettucini Al Burro but as the dish spread across the Atlantic it was known as Pasta Alfredo. Supposedly it was popularized by the film stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks who had it in his restaurant and took it back to hollywood where it quickly became a favorite dish in Italian restaurants everywhere.

Now when I was growing up we rarely ate pasta as a meal. Sure there was lasagna and spaghetti with meat sauce, but fancy pasta dishes were just not really our thing. In fact to this day when I will make a pasta dish for my mom she always says "you know I just never think of making pasta for a dinner. So it was a little bit of heaven when we would visit our family friends the Wilsons. Geoff and Louise were wonderful folks and boy could Louise cook! She was Italian from Rhode Island and introduced us to several wonderful dishes we had never had before. One such dish was Eggplant Parmagiana! The other was fettucini alfredo! Now I liked red sauce but the first time I ever tasted homemade fettucini alfredo I thought I had died had bought the farm. Indeed it was a revelation to me. This fabulous meal so simple so decadent and so rich!

Now since then, like most people, I have gotten on the band wagon that Fettucini Alfredo is a gloppy mostly bad pasta dish that I would never order in a restaurant and one that probably comes as a side dish for some kind of chicken at that place that shall not be named with the all you can eat salad and breadsticks. And indeed that is for the most part true. However, recently I was turned onto the idea of freshly prepared Fettucini Alfredo at home by my reading in the 1965 version of Sunset's Cookbook for Entertaining.  This book is a cookbook that I grew up with and I recently acquired a copy on Amazon. I love vintage cookbooks mostly because the more I read the more I see that there really is nothing new under the sun. Just excellent retellings of great old stories or in this case recipes.

In one of the side notations in the book it mentions Fettucini Alfredo as an elegant first course or main course of a meal. Of course it also notated in typical 1970's style the table side preparation that was so popular with the notions about entertaining at the time. Table side preparation meant that you were present with your guests as dinner was prepared in front of their eyes and added a sense of theatricality to dinner that many times these days is lacking in social gatherings. The recipe was simple and rich and added the inclusion of egg yolks to make the sauce that much more luscious and decadent!

I decided I had to try it. And it was really good. I mean homemade fresh anything is so much better that something that has been sitting in a steam table at a restaurant. Plus making it in front of people is really fun. Of course you will need a tabletop chef. But you can get one if you want or just do it stove top and move the pan to the table and serve it up fresh from the pan. Either way this is a delicious way to impress people at your next dinner party. Trust me it's good Ya'll! Enjoy!

Forrest's Special Homemade Fettucini Alfredo

Serves 4

1 lb Fettucini or pappardelle noodles fresh or packaged but make sure if dry buy a really good brand.
6 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
4 egg yolks at room temperature
salt and pepper
grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons each finely chopped parsley and chives
Hot water

Cook noodles according to instructions but cook 1 to 2 minutes less than package.
Melt butter and add cream
Mix the eggs in a bowl and add a few tablespoons of the boiling pasta water
to temper them.
Add to the cream sauce
Add Parmesan cheese
Add pepper and salt to taste
Add nutmeg then add the drained noodles  then add the herbs and toss to combine about one to two minutes and serve immediately!
Divide at table to the plates
Watch the smiles happen as people dig in.
Enjoy!

Tradition is the Stuff that Makes Life Stable, Or why I want Clam Dip at a Christmas Party

Traditions are merely repetitive acts which come to represent something deeper and symbolize something important to us. They are a "remembering" and a "Hallmarking". Like rituals in religion, they help us in an outward manner, remember an inward feeling. A feeling we want, by marking it with a ritual, to always remember and never forget.

Unlike religious ritual, traditions can be for anything or any reason that means something personal or makes life easier and more livable for us. They can be simple like "where I always go to get my coffee", or complex like "how I remember a national tragedy. Traditional celebrations or gatherings usually are for this purpose and center around outwardly remembering and carrying on, what we remember about someone or celebrating something else.

Holidays are often times when we develop or adopt traditions. They can help us to celebrate the larger message of a holiday in a more personal way. Christmas being probably the chief holiday in that category. Celebrated and fussed over by people more than other holiday as they try imbue a personal value on the greater meaning of the God of love being born into the world on a night long ago.

Hence for many including myself, Christmas is about touching those around me whom I love in a special way. Gifts at this time of year as well as gatherings take a special place in the pantheon of celebrations our society fosters. Elevated and special, beyond Halloween, Thanksgiving, an Anniversary, a Birthday or even Easter, Christmas is the Queen of holidays. And as such should be celebrated as only a Queen can be!

I find I work a lot during the holiday season. But my one tradition is attending one and only one party for sure every year. Hosted by my some of my dearest friends,  Christmas for me would not be complete without it.    

Many, many, many years ago now ( somewhere between 20 and Death! ) I met my good friend John.  He and I met at the first music rehearsal for a production of "Little Me" in the Berkshire Mountains at a small summer repertory theater. In the play both of us played a variety of roles and had an absolute blast on and off the stage. His wit was ever sharp and his sense of humor always spot on. In other words, he was a lot of fun to hang out with.

We parted ways at the end of the production's run but like most actors in NYC we continued to see one another at auditions and get togethers for friends we had in common from the business of show. It was not until several years later, after both of us had somewhat lost touch, that I was coming out of the door of my apartment and I noticed that someone had moved into the vacant apartment next door. Well the door swung open and a fellow carrying a large moving box that completely blocked him from my view emerged. He started down the hall towards the elevators where I was standing and not seeing me almost ran me over. I exclaimed "hey watch out there!". The voice from behind the box said "oh I am so sorry I can't see a thing". There was a pause. I recognized the voice I thought. "John?" I queried? "Forrest?" came the response. He lowered the box and sure enough it was the John I knew! We both yelled and laughed and we went on laughing for about 4 years till he got married and moved back to Jersey and into a fabulous house.

So what has that got to do with Clam dip you might ask. Well John's family had a summer house up in Maine on a barrier island and every year his family would go up to the house and spend a month or so enjoying the summertime on the shore up there. Both his Mother and Father were teachers so they were lucky enough to have the time to do that. Well, when John moved into the building at some point we had a fete together. And as we were discussing the menu ( which would be mostly snacks) he suggested making a clam dip recipe, which had been in his family forever. I said that was great and really wanted to try it since I had actually never had clam dip. Being that in South Carolina, we make our traditional trashy cocktail party dips out of crabs and shrimp, but not clams. So he made it and let me tell you, that stuff is good! Cheesy and full of sea and dairy goodness it had the taste of the clams and the sea and the cow. Yum!

Well when John moved he continued to host parties out in New Jersey of course. One  party in particular, right before the holidays he called "Ho Mo For the Holidays". It became a Christmas tradition and is that awesome evening alluded to above that I spend with friends each year. No one does Christmas like John and Mike. I think it's a special gift. The house is decorated. The tree is lit. Wine is drunk. Bread is broken. Carols are sung. And everyone is caught up in the spirit of love, family and friends that is the hallmark of the Christmas season,. It's a homecoming of sorts and I see people there I only see there once a year. It's a lovely tradition.

Well along with the tradition of the event, there are also traditions with what is served.  There will always be the family recipe Lasagna or Mike's Meatballs and always Amy's Stromboli, and John's Clam dip served during cocktail hour. In fact the clam dip is so beloved that one year John did not make it and there was an uprising! So he threw it together and served it up. And that year just like the old Shake n Bake commercial, I helped! And so it was I learned how to make the famous Clam Dip!

Long live traditions I say. Whatever yours may be. They remind us of what is right and good with our world and let us share it with others.

So I recognized that we are no longer in the holiday season and winter is upon us. However, the super bowl is coming up and this dip is universal. So make it anytime. For any reason. But just make it cause it's good. So here is the recipe for clam dip without which my Christmas would seem a little dimmer. Thanks John, and enjoy Ya'll!

CLAM DIP

2 cans of clams (size of tuna cans)

1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter

1 med. onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp. parsley flakes

1 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. basil

1/2 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 tsps. lemon juice

dash of tobasco sauce

In one sauce pan combine clams (with juice) and lemon juice. Simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

In other sauce pan: melt butter and sautee onions and garlic for 8 minutes. Add parsley flakes, oregano, pepper, basil, tabasco and simmer on low for another 7 minutes.

Combine ingredients of both sauce pans into a deep baking dish. Stir in bread crumbs, parmesan and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese until blended.

Sprinkle top with the remining 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Serve with crackers. 

Daytona Beach, Seaside Music Theatre and the Chart House Blackened Tuna Steak

Daytona beach is known or has been known in the past as the capital of Spring Break in Florida. It is actually a really cool little town once you peel away the tragic veneer of Speedway racing weekends like the Daytona 500 and spring break rowdy's cramming the beachside with ridiculous antics and drunken partying.

Cool indeed, in that beneath the surface is actually a complex community teaming with life. Like so many cities in Florida, Daytona is a crossroads for retired folks, business people, students, local color, and drifters. It also affords a cheap living environment relative to other places in the state and has attracted the spectrum of folks looking to make a life somewhere smaller than the big city. It also attracted for over 25 years actors and artists every summer coming together to make art at Seaside Music Theatre.

Seaside was an amazing place and the roster of people who went on to do great things either on Broadway or elsewhere in the theater community is huge. I myself was one of those folks until about 5 years ago when I elected to change course for another shore. But it is with the deepest fondness that I return to my memories of Seaside Music Theatre. And with pride that I count myself an alumni of said place.

The theatre was founded by Tippen Davidson himself an artist and musical director. It did not hurt that he was also the owner of the 2nd largest paper in Florida, the News Journal, and able to give seed money to the fledgling theater. His presence helped keep Seaside alive and when he passed so did Seaside a few years later. Unable to deal with transitioning funding from the paper and saddled with the cuts to all the arts in the state and nation, like so many other theaters I knew and worked at, it succumbed and shuttered it's doors in 2008. Sadly so, as far as I and many others are concerned given the breath of opportunity to try our wings and grow in our profession it had afforded us. Say what you might, Tippen founded and stood by a belief that art in his community was important and essential. And he walked his talk. A gentle and lovely man from my recollections I am proud to have been one of the many that he and Lester Malizia, the resident artist director took underwing and help to grow as an actor. Providing a artistic home for me and many other 7 seasons over 10 years. It was lovely to have been a part of it.

The other excellent thing about Daytona was the plethora of restaurants that were in the town. Surprisingly varied, local and national chain, fast and slow food were all represented.  Among the local eats were a variety of fish houses which provided excellent old school florida food at a great price for poor actors. Seaside Music Theatre was sponsored by several of these places and opening night parties were always at some great venue with fabulous food and drink. Well, fabulous by a starving artists scale! What's not fabulous about a pool party at the Hilton Hotel pool bar and lounge, well you know what I mean.

One sponsor which never disappointed however was the Chart House Restaurant. Located on the water at the ritzy marina on the inter-coastal waterway, with large water views and outdoor decks, it was a deluxe location for an opening night party. Now I know the Chart House is an old school, overpriced sometimes hit and miss, kind of place to most folks. But I have to say the one in Daytona was actually really good at the time. One opening night during a raffle I won a dinner for two coupon and went and ate with a friend on our day off together. Our meal was really good. The three stand outs from the evening were the blue cheese dressing on the salad of all things? The creamed spinach was great and the cajun spiced tuna steak was actually to die for. Perfectly cooked and perfectly spiced, it rocked. I have made this style tuna steak ever since and I want to share it with you because it is easy and so good.

Restaurant Homage: 
Chart House Cajun Tuna Steak with Green Peppercorn and Cognac Bearnaise Sauce

4 inch thick ahi or yellowtail tuna steaks
1/4 cup cajun spices no salt added  ( you can make your own or buy some in a jar)
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon butter

To prepare tuna:

Place the spices in a large plate
Dip the surfaces of the tuna steaks in the spices and place on a sheet of wax paper
Heat oil and butter to medium high in a stainless pan or non stick pan
Cook the steaks on one side for thirty seconds then flip and cook for another 30 seconds
Place on a plate and serve with some of the sauce

Sauce:

3 Egg yolks
1 1/2 cup melted butter
1 tablespoons cognac
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 shallot minced
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons dried tarragon
2 tablespoons green peppercorns drained
1/4 teaspoon salt

Place the eggs in a blender that has ben warmed with hot water
Place the vinegar and the shallots in a pan and cook till reduced by half
Add to blender with salt, mustard, tarragon and cognac
Slowly with blender running add melted butter till thick sauce forms
Place in a bowl and stir in peppercorns
Serve with the tuna






   

Roasted Tomato Pie, the Winter Version of a Southern Summer Favorite

You may have read my previous post about the Tomato Pie recipe which I prepared for Paula Dean. In that post I gave an anecdotal account of how my recipe was used by the Chef for Great Performances Catering, in New york City, as the recipe for the Paula Dean Brunch during the New York Wine and Food Festival. It was to this day a favorite of the chef who has referenced a number of times how much he enjoyed the pie recipe.

Now tomato pie is really a summer dish. It's a pie to be made when sun kissed ripe tomatoes give off a luscious smell when sliced open and prepped for cooking or for eating. It's in that time of year that you should really enjoy tomatoes. Not when the winter hothouse tomatoes are in the market!

However I have discovered a way to make tomato pie in the winter and have it taste almost as good as it does in the summer, well almost. Different but good let's leave it at that.

My discovery for this dish came about in an unusual way. I was purusing my cookbooks one day for ideas for dinner and I came across a recipe by Ina Garten for a winter version of tomato and mozzarella caprese salad which was made with roasted tomatoes instead of fresh. She slow oven roasted winter hothouse Roma plum tomatoes until they were soft and delicious and then made the salad with them instead of using fresh hothouse tomatoes. Her point in all of this is that hothouse tomaotes have such little flavor that making a caprese salad was just silly and tasteless. It seemed a good idea because roasting the tomaotes brought out so much flavor.

So I seized upon this concept and immediately thought I could try the same thing with a classic southern recipe "tomato pie" and check out the results. Well, it worked out beautifully. While in the summer this pie has a fresh red tomato look and a fresh tomato taste the winter version was deeper in both color and flavor and the texture was somewhat more dense and creamy. I also added some egg and cheddar custard to it to try and make up for the loosey goosey nature of the already cooked tomatoes. So it had a bit of a quiche/tart consistency. I also made it in a high walled spring form pan and made the side a little higher on purpose to support the filling. The basil and the green peppers gave it that tomato pie flavor profile but it really had more of a tart consistency which was not bad at all. All in all a success. Give this a try this winter as the days are short and you are dreaming of long evenings on the roof or the backyard patio. Enjoy ya'll!!

Winter Tomato Pie with Roasted Tomatoes and Savory Cheddar Custard

6 Roma Plum tomatoes from the grocery store (winter/hothouse) cut in half.
1 bell pepper diced
1 medium white or yellow onion diced
2 cups sharp white grated cheddar cheese divided
10 fresh basil leaves cut into ribbons ( chiffonade)
6 eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

For the crust:

1 1/4 cups flour
5 oz cream cheese
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

place in food processor and pulse till meally
remove and roll together
press into a small springmold pan with the crust going up the sides evenly around
Place in the freezer for 15 mins
Bake in 350 degree oven till lightly browned about 20 mins remove and cool

For the tomatoes:

Place cut tomatoes on a baking sheet and salt, bake in a low oven 250 degrees till soft and browned and roasted, this will take a bit, then cool.

For custard:

Mix all above ingredients except for the tomatoes and 1 cup of the cheese
Beat the eggs and cream then add the other ingredients
Layer the tomatoes in two overlapping layers in the crust
Pour custard mixture over the tomatoes filling the shell
Sprinkle the extra cheese on the top
Bake in 350 degree oven for about 35 to 40 mins or until the custard is set
Let cool 15 mins before slicing and serving Enjoy!

Cioppino! Classic Seafood from Fisherman's Wharf : The Other San Francisco Treat!

San Francisco, the city by the bay, one of the most interesting and romantic cities in the US., and a source of history and culture. It is a storied place and the birthplace of many things cultural, social, and culinary which have spread across the nation and in some cases the world. Among it's landmarks is Fisherman's Wharf, which in the past was home to the fleet which brought in the catch to the west coast's seafood markets and supplied people all over. It is here in this storied place that the seafood preparation Cioppino was created ( or at least credited) and it is this type of seafood preparation which has become a hallmark of San Francisco's culinary heritage. A merging of Italian and Portugese traditions it provides the US with yet another traditional seafood preparation.

There are many classic seafood preparations which are basically some sort of seafood stew and have a national or regional flair to them. Bouillibaisse in France, Portugese Seafood Stew in Rhode Island, Jumbalaya in new Orleans and Frogmore Stew in the Low Country of South Carolina and Georgia, are all examples of this type of stew!

For Christmas entertaining this year I decided to make Cioppino, this classic seafood stew from San Francisco. It's a tomato based stew in which seafood is cooked and prepared right before serving. All in all an easy dish to make and easy to serve up with a salad and some great garlic bread. 

Cioppino for those of you who do not know is a relic of the fishing industry in the bay area. Credited to the fishermen who at the end of a long day made up a stew of whatever was avaiable and fresh in a rich tomato based broth and served it up with sour dough bread for dipping. Today's version generally has a variety of seafood including and not limited to clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops and fish all cooked in a rich sauce that starts with vegetables and tomatoes and is enhanced by the additions of wine and stock and spices. Garlic being the chief culprite here. no good Cioppino is worth it's sauce without a stiff taste of garlic. 

My Cioppino started with a recipe my family had in it's cookbooks from the 1970's. One which my folks probably got in California and used whenever they made this dish. It's notated in several shades of ink and various hand writings. So I would assume this family recipe went through a variety of changes and tweaks over the years. It also has a few finger smudges and food stains from previous cooking long ago. A reminder that recipes like the stories that go with them keep us as people and families connected to each other and to our pasts.

So if you make this they will enjoy! It's actually very easy although a special occasion dish as the seafood is not exactly cheap. But nonetheless try it for your next small gathering and I am sure you hear your guests singing Che Sera Sera! Happy holidays ya'll!!

Forrest's Easy Cioppino the Other San Francisco Treat!
makes 4 portions and enough broth for 8 so you could double the seafood if you wanted or use the extra broth to dip alot of garlic bread!

Ingredients:

1 28 can chopped tomatoes
1 4 oz can tomato paste
1 4 oz can tomato sauce
2 cups V8 vegetable juice
1 cup red wine
1 cup white vermouth
4 tablespoon olive oil
2 leeks white and light green parts chopped
2 heads of fennel and some of the leaves chopped
2 stalks of celery chopped finely
1 1/2 tablespoons crushed garlic from the jar
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 teaspoons each dried oregano, basil, tarragon
8 large shrimp in shells
8 to 12 clams
12 oz of Cod cut into 4 portions
4 to 8 diver scallops
1/2 pound bay scallops

In a large heavy bottomed stock pot
heat oil till glistening
Add vegetables and cook vegetables till soft
Add spices cook till flavors bloom
Add liquids and tomatoes and bring to a boil
Boil for 10 mins
Reduce heat and simmer on low heat for 1 1/2 hours

To serve:

Right before you are ready to eat
Heat broth to boil then reduce to high simmer
Turn timer on for 10 mins
add fish and clams
at 5 mins at scallops and shrimp
When timer sounds check to see if clams are open and turn off the heat
Let sit 2 more mins then serve right away! ( this is critical or seafood will overcook! )
Divide seafood evenly and spoon broth to fill bowls
Serve with a caesar salad and my best ever garlic bread here on the blog! Enjoy Ya'll

The Risotto Stone! Deciphering the Art of Mushroom Risotto,

This Christmas over the holidays we are having guests at the Hedden House in Charleston SC.  I am preparing risotto! Now I suppose that risotto is a go to for me when entertaining because it is so easy and I love it. It is also a dish that folks don't always see down here in Chucktown at dinner parties unlike in New York city. And it helps that  risotto is one of my favorite dishes to make for people. I love when it is placed in front of them all creamy and delicious. I love when I am making it and it comes out perfectly complex and perfectly al dente. In short I love it!

But it was not always so.

I was a novice risotto eater and a virgin risotto cook when I moved to New York. Oh I had had it. At friends houses in Charleston or at restaurants.  I enjoyed it every time I had it. But I did not start making it until I moved in with my old roommate the lovely and talented Miss Cristen Hubbard-Miller, star of the broadway show "The Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway! indeed it was she who introduced me to the making of risotto at home.  In fact it was right when we moved in together to our newly found apartment in hell's kitchen as a sort of celebration meal for our new abode. She proposed we make risotto for dinner that night. I agreed and she got out an old recipe card, hand written and covered with the patina of home cooking. "Tomato Risotto" was the title, from the "Silver Palate Cookbook" and that's exactly what we made. It came out wonderfully. And I have been making that recipe ever since. In fact when I moved out Cristen wrote me up my very own recipe card on a cute little card with some sort of culinary cartoon on it from one of those "From the recipe's of: " card sets. I have it to this day.

But as time wore on I made a host of different risottos. and of all of them, my favorite to this day is mushroom risotto! Sometimes I put some truffle oil in it, sometimes I put asparagus tips in it, but always mushrooms and always mushroom powder. And I love it.

But making a really good mushroom risotto is not hard. It does take a bit of practice to get it perfect. not to overcook the mushrooms and not to over cook the risotto. It must be served right as it is done and it must be served in a bowl. And it must be eaten with wine, good red wine. Those are my rules. Oh yeah it's also got to be cold out. Risotto for me is not a warm weather dish. It's a hearty stick to your ribs kinda meal.

Forrest's Better than Restaurant Risotto
Serves 3 as main course or 4 as Appetizer course

1 cup Arborio Rice
4 cups chicken stock held warm on stove top in a pot
1 cup light white wine ( NEVER OAKEY CHARDONNAY!! NEVER!!!) or vermouth
1 med onion finely diced
1/2 pound mushrooms sliced ( you can go as crazy as you want here with the kind of mushrooms depending on your budget but white ole button mushrooms will work I prefer to use "baby" portobella mushrooms ( better color and flavor than plain white and a good price point)
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves finely chopped
3 tablespoons oilive oil
3 tablesoons butter
1 1/2 cups good parm cheese or your favorite hard salty grated cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons of dried porcini mushroom powder

Note* you can buy this or you can make it by buying dried procini mushrooms and grinding them in a spice grinder or coffee grinder. ( Oh just make sure the grinder will never be used for coffee again if you use a coffee grinder, cause it will never taste the same again! It's like the old Viking addage... Rape. Pillage. THEN Burn! It can be a mess if you do it in another order! )

In a saute pan melt 1 tablespoon butter and add 1 tablespoon oil
Add mushrooms and cook till soft. Reserve liquid if any and remove from the heat and hold.
In the bottom of a heavy bottomed pot heat oil
Cook onion till almost tender then add rice
Stir to coat with the oil and cook till just begining to toast a little
Slowly add the wine and cook till almost absorbed then add rosemary and the reserved mushroom cooking liquid
At this point add the mushroom powder
Then slowly add a cup a stock and cook till almost all the liquid is absorbed
Keep adding the stock until about one cup is left in the stock holding pot
This will take the better part of up to thirty minutes.
At this point test the rice, if just tender but still a little "toothsome" aka "al dente", you are done!
If not add the last of the stock and cook till almost absorbed.
Add the Mushrooms,the cheese, the butter and the parsley and stir in to combine till rich and creamy.

Note* If you want to add white truffle oil at the end right before you serve I wouldn't blame you! If you don't like truffles I am sorry for you!

Serve warm with more cheese on the side. Enjoy Ya'll!

Le Bonne Soupe!! French Onion Soup for the Les Halles of Fame!!

On 54th street in New York down the way from the impressive entrance to the Peninsula Hotel is a little shop front with white awnings and wide open windows staring into a charming eating area and bar  known as Le Bonne Soupe!

Le Bonne Soupe is a institution even by New York Standards. It's been there since the 1970's and once you pass into its dinning rooms you see that not much had changed since then either. Upon entering I was taken back to being very young and going out to eat at any of the hometown restaurants that exsisted in the 1970's. Plain white walls are bedecked with movie posters plastered right onto the walls and brightly light brown burnished wooden beams which line the corners and the roof like bad English Tudor style wall supports lend charm. It screams sort of old, but sort of new, and definitely made in the 1970's! That along with the brass pots holding green plants and a floor which reminds one of the wood veneer planks used to furnish prefab homes, scratched and used. A patina of years of dining and cooking and eating lies on every surface. In essence a place with character and charm, but bare bones about it and dated. What once was new and chic, is now used and charming.

The Menu, although my dining companions told me has changed slightly over the years, still holds to the same style of French food that it always has had. This is not bistro food. No, it is more a "ladies who lunch" meets French cafe gone "Magic Pan" rogue. French, but with a twist towards the classic American restaurant approach grown out of the 60's and 70's. Where everything comes with a salad and french fries and wine is served mostly by the carafe. All suspects were present. A salad with a "cafe" style dressing which is flavored with chicken stock according to my friends, large carafes of red wine, and french fries served in a metal canister neatly lined with parchment paper.

Now all of this sounds less than amazing I guess. But please don't think I am decrying the quality of the dining experience I had at Le Bonne Soupe, I am not! In fact I really enjoyed it. It is the namesake of the establishment however that really gets the notice for why this place is still around, the Soup!

French Onion Soup or  Le Onion Soupe Gratine'e is a classic French dish very popular all over the USA. Usually served up in a little crock it comes to the table all bubbly and cheesy and piping hot. Well at Le Bonne Soupe they make what I would describe as quite possibly the best onion soup I have ever had in a restaurant. The key, the broth. I mean this broth was so beefy it almost tasted like liquid beef. Amazing. And the cheese and the bread were perfect. The onions soft and caramel in colour and so hearty. In a word it was Yum!

French Onion Soup, it's origins are food legendary. In the cafes of the Les Halles district of Paris, countless bowls of this soup are served. Once chic Parisians stopped after parties for a nightcap and soup, and at dawn wholesalers and truckers working at the market there came in for a bowl of it. But now onion soup is not so chic, and the market is being moved out of the city. These days many who come for the soup are tourists who gawk at each other and believe that they are seeing the "real" Paris. In any event it is a great soup and it is to be enjoyed in the colder weather.

So I was inspired to make some of this soup for the holidays. I mean it's a great meal idea. A big bowl of cheesy toasty soup, some fresh salad with a cafe dressing and crusty bread and butter and you have an amazing meal. I love it anyways.

I referenced a recipe in a old cookbook I have from Sunset Magazine and tweaked it just a bit. In any event it is good and if you want a little "Good" Soup give it a try the time and effort are worth the results. Enjoy!

Les Halles Onion Soup Gratine'e!
makes abut 6 servings

For the Stock

( Note: To bump up the beefy quality of the stock I actually start with commercial Beef Stock/Broth and add to it)

2 pounds beef shank bones of marrow bones or bones with meat on them
2 quarts Beef Stock or Broth
2 cups red wine
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
In a coffee filter place the following ( fill then tie shut with twine)
2 bay leaves
4 whole pepper corns
2 cloves
1 bundle fresh thyme
2 peeled garlic cloves

Place bones in a roasting pan and roast for 1 hour
Then place everything in a pot bring to a boil then simmer on low heat for 2 hours on the stove. Strain after cooking and hold.
makes about 2 quarts.

For the Soup

6 Medium to large yellow Spanish onions
6 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoon olive oil
8 cups beef broth
1 packet chicken bullion
1 1/2 cup red wine
1/3 cup port
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup brandy
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 cup diced Gruyere
3 1/2 cups croutons
1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere

Method

Slice onions into fine ribbons
In a pan melt butter and oil place onions in a saute stirring occasionally on low heat till caramelized about 20 to 40 mins.
Add 1 1/2 cups red wine then add
1/4 cup brandy and 1/4 cup sherry
deglaze the pan and cook for about 5 mins.
Pre heat oven to 375 degrees
In a pot add onions, stock chicken buliion and port wine and bring to a boil add dried thyme and salt and pepper to taste
Cook 5 mins then turn heat to medium low. Hold till ready to serve.
When ready to serve, Pour soup into earthenware soup crocks
Add divided diced cheese then top with croutons
Cover with a layer of the shredded cheese.
Place into oven for 20 mins
Then turn on broiler and brown the top.
Serve!!

Meatloaf Wellington meet your Waterloo!!

Beef Wellington is probably the most amazing meat dish from the British kitchen. I mean there are strange names for English food like Spotted Dick, Bubble and Squeak, and Steak and Kidney Pie. They all are parts of the British culinary heritage. But Beef Wellington is something special.

When I was about 19 my family took what we would later recall as our "Grand Tour" of Europe. It was a multi week trip where we went and saw the great cities and sites in Europe. And in each city we ate our way through the culinary heritage of each place the best we could. Now London was the last stop on this tour. And back then the English food world was not what it is today. In fact it was pretty lack luster with the exception of true haute British Cuisine.

It was there in London at one of the great dining rooms where I had Beef Wellington for the first time. Carved off a large piece of Filet which was on a rolling cart table side. It was a presentation I will not soon forget and a taste which to this day remains unrivaled.

So what is Beef Wellington you may ask? Well it's actually very simple. It's a preparation of the filet of beef which is quick seared and then cooled. Wrapped in a pastry dough which is stuffed with a mushroom duxelle ( finely diced cooked mushrooms) and foie gras! It's then baked to golden perfection and served warm in slices. Pretty simple and pretty decadent! The origin of said dish is unclear. It may have been named after the 1st Duke of Wellington who brought Napoleon down at the battle of Waterloo. Who is said to have loved beef, mushrooms cooked in Madeira wine and truffles as well as foie gras in puff pastry. Or is may just be the patriotic naming of the french dish which is similar "filet en croute". Or as the Two Fat Ladies describe, named for the shiny military boots of the same name, "Wellingtons", as the pastry's shiny exterior resembles the shine of the boots.

In any event I wanted to make a cheaper version for a dinner I have coming up during the holidays. So I came up with this. I love meatloaf. Especially when it's done right. So having seen this sort of thing on Pilsbury recipe boxes I thought why not just take it up a notch. So I did and here is the results. This recipe is actually very easy. It does take time because you have to prepare the meatloaf but if you don't want to buy filet that's your tradeoff! Other than that it's just cooking Mushrooms and assembling the dish. Give it a try and surprise your holiday revelers with how good meatloaf can be! Enjoy!

Meatloaf Wellington

For the Meatloaf

3 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 cups sliced yellow onions
1 cup chopped celery very fine
3 tablespoons Madeira wine ( or sherry) plus more for sprinkling
1 pound ground chuck
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground veal
1/2 bunch Italian parsley finely chopped
1/2 bunch chives chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 eggs beaten well
2/3 cup milk
2 1/2 cups Japanese Panko breadcrumbs ground fine in food processor

Preheat oven to 350
Add butter to pan
Saute onions and celery slowly till very soft and caramelized
Add wine and reduce till absorbed
Place in a bowl and cool
Add meat and spices mix
Add eggs bread crumbs and milk and mix
On a lined baking sheet shape into a loaf
Sprinkle with wine
Place in oven and bake 45 to 50 mins.
Remove and allow to cool

For the Wellington

1 sheet puff pastry
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 6 oz package of foie gras mouse
1 pound baby portobello mushrooms diced in the food processor till fine but not mush
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons Madeira Wine or Sherry
1 teaspoon dried thyme
S and P to taste
1 egg yolk beaten

Saute Mushrooms in a pan with butter till cooked add wine and dried thyme salt and pepper to taste
Let cool
Roll out pastry till 1/4 thick on floured board
Slather the meat loaf with the mustard all over
Place the meatloaf on one side of the pastry
Spread the liver mouse over the top in a thick layer
Top with the Mushroom mixture
Fold the pastry over the meat and secure in by folding it under the meat and crimping the edges under to seal.
Carefully lift the loaf onto a baking lined and oiled sheet
Brush the pastry with the egg yolk
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 mins or until the pastry is puffed and browned
Transfer to a platter and serve with a brown sauce

Brown Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups warm beef stock
1 tablespoon Porcini Mushroom powder (optional)
1 Tablespoons garlic powder
1 Tablespoon Sherry Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Madeira Wine
Salt and Pepper to taste

Melt butter and flour and cook till browned
Slowly whisk in the stock
Add spices and wine and vinegar
Season and serve




Enjoy!

Swiss Miss, Alpine Cheese Fondue the Swiss Way

When I lived in Switzerland and was young and foolish I did not appreciate the culinary experiences I was having in the land where God vacations. I mean He may live everywhere, as every place loves to claim to be God's country, but true as those claims may be when God needs a respite from the work He is doing I am sure that he vacations in Switzerland.

The Swiss landscape is beyond my ability to describe. It truly is the most beautiful place I have ever been. Perfect in Summer and glorious in Winter it holds all the perfection that God's creation ever wanted to have. Mountains and lakes, high Alpine pastures and lovely valleys. Cities so old some of them feel like they sprung out of the mountain rocks they are built on. In short, it is a living postcard.

The Swiss are a funny people. Secluded and cloistered for centuries away in their mountain lairs they are not immediately the warmest of folks. But I found and with few exceptions that once you breach the outer polite yet chilly exterior the Swiss are welcoming and warm and thoughtful people. Restrained in emotive embrace yet somehow endearing.

From the high Alpine pastures comes in the summertime a quality of milk from the cows there that is exceptional. After visiting a homesteading family in the mountains once I had the opportunity to experience the ancient ways of making cheese in a barn and baking wholegrain ( Vollcornbrot) bread in a wood oven tht was the way for centuries. I met this family in the farmer's market where they sold their goods and they invited me and my companion to visit them on their farm. Because we had no car this included a trip up the Alps in his truck one day after the market. And I mean a ride in the back bed of the truck! Sitting in the back of the truck as we pulled out of the town and left the valley behind I was amazed at the views as we climbed ever higher into the mountains. The main road gave way to a byway and soon I found myself on hairpin turns on a mountain road staring hundreds of feet down into the valley we had left long behind. It was glorious.

When we arrived at the farm we were greeted by the Klaus' wife Anna and their two toe headed adorable children. We got a tour and then were shown to the barns where we sampled the sweetest milk I have ever tasted right from the cows. It was incredible. They then showed us their small but very efficient cheese making hut. That was followed by a visit to the wood fired bake shop that Klaus used for his breads for the market. They grew certain ingredients on the farm themselves and got others from local farmers. It was incredible. We had a meal with them a simple fare, Bread cheese and fruits and vegetables from the garden. In truth it was one of the freshest meals I have ever had.

Fondue would be another dish I experienced through the invitation to dinner at a family's house in town where I was staying. The wonderful thing about Fondue in Switzerland is has none of the intimate romantic notions that surround it here in the US. Somehow here fondue and fondue restaurants cater themselves as the lovers mealtime, a sexy way for two people to share a meal. Not so in the land where cheese was born. It is a communal meal meant for sharing and convivial times with family and guests. The rules traditionally are simple, if the lady drops the bread in she had to wash the pot which she used to prepared the fondue, if the gentleman drops the bread in he has to wash the pot and kiss the lady! Kinda fun and I guess romantic but when it's a family around the table it's just fun good eats and if Mama doesn't have to do dishes and gets a kiss out of it so much the better.

So Fondue, is according to Wikipedia a Swiss, French, and Italian dish of melted cheese served in a communal pot (caquelon) over a portable stove (réchaud), and eaten by dipping long-stemmed forks with bread into the cheese. It was promoted as a Swiss national dish by the Swiss Cheese Union (Schweizerische Käseunion) in the 1930s but its origins stem from an area that covers Switzerland, France (Rhone Alps) and Italy (Piedmont and Aosta valley).

Since the 1950s, the name "fondue" has been generalized to other dishes in which a food is dipped into a communal pot of hot liquid: chocolate fondue, in which pieces of fruit are dipped into a melted chocolate mixture, and fondue bourguignonne, in which pieces of meat are cooked in hot oil.

Konrad Egli of the Chalet Swiss Restaurant is credited with introducing it as a mainstay in New York in the 1950's. He also is credited with the introduction of beef Fondue at Chalet Swiss and the  invention of chocolate Fondue which made it's appearance in the 1960's. Throughout the 50's 60's and 70's home cooks entertained with Fondue pots and were the champions of preparations table side for their dining guests. Such meals made the guests feel like they were part of the "action" and certainly Fondue was one of those meals. 

So here is a simple Swiss recipe I have from my host family in Switzerland I have carried around all these years. As you entertain this holiday season think about Fondue as a wonderful way to share a meal with friends and loved ones. 

Easy and Authentic Swiss Fondue

• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 clove garlic 
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 
• 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded Emmentaler cheese
• 1 cup (4 ounces) Gruyère cheese
• 1 triangle double cream (laughing cow) cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon cherry brandy (Kirsch)
• Cubed French bread, ham and vegetables 

Method:

1. Rub garlic clove into the inside of the fondue pot. Bring wine and lemon juice to a low boil in a heavy saucepan; add cheeses, pepper, and nutmeg. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring constantly, 5 to 7 minutes or until cheese melts.
2. Whisk together cornstarch and cherry brandy. Stir mixture into cheese; cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes or until thickened. Transfer to a fondue pot, and keep warm. Serve with cubed bread, cubed ham, mushrooms, and steamed brussel sprout halves.
3. Enjoy Ya'll!!

   

Easy Breezy Covergirl Eggless Caesar Salad Dressing

Ok so I already have a great Caesar salad dressing which I posted last year ( You can check it out if you want ). But I was recently asked to attend a dinner party hosted by Fred Tessler (of the Denver Tesslers ) where he made an spread worthy of Ina Garten's envy! There was a pork roast, a cauliflower gratin ( not mine), a savory bread pudding, and to start with a delicious Caesar salad. He wanted to make his dressing for me which he was very interested in me trying as he had had mine before and enjoyed it. But he had a plan.

I am a little obsessed with salad dressings especially Caesar dressing. And I love the Eggless Caesar dressing at Hillstone or Houston's restuarant. Dressing sadly are why I eat salads really. I hate to admit that, but it's really true. Salad without a good dressing is just ... well not that tasty. I have taken Fred's idea and expanded on it a little. So here is an easy and quick eggless caesar dressing for you to try this holiday season if you want to try something different. I love caesar salad, a lot of people do the Cheesecake Factory alone serves 1000's of them every month. So I hope you like this easy dressing. Enjoy!

Eggless Caesar Dressing with Fresh Herbs 

8 Anchovies
2 heaping tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup  plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice ( fresh not from the green bottle)
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1/2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
3/4  to 1 cup of good olive oil

Method:

In a food processor add everything but the oil and pulse till combined
Then add oil little by little with the machine running till the dressing comes together and you get a thick yellow dressing you may not use all the oil. Done! Will keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

1970's Style Cooking : Winter White Wine Chicken AKA College Chicken

I love the night life...I want to boogie....on the Disco around oh yeah! ....ah the 1970's I don't really remember them. I was so little. However, it seems nowadays people are rediscovering the better parts of the style, furniture, decor, fashions and even foods that made the 1970's what they were. As a very little boy I have fond memories of my mother in big made up hair and long flowing dresses ready for parties with bright makeup and earthen bottles of Lancers rose wine from Portugal. And my Dad in a leisure suit....OK that NEVER happened, but the Lancers wine did!

Check this out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YirLz4urew

See! Oh yeah and speaking of food trends lets talk about crock pot dinners. All day long cooked and braised meals all in one pot! Braising without the oven. And clean up was a breeze!

Now I love a crock pot and I love braised meat dishes in these colder days during the holiday season and on into the Winter months. Actually I love braised foods in general. They are easy and generally call for cheaper cuts of meat mostly beef, lamb or pork, which after long periods of cooking have their proteins broken down and give way to become juicy soft and delicious! Sumptuous indeed!

Virginia was the first State I lived in that had truly colder weather. I went to college in Harrisonburg, Virginia at James Madison University, in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. It's a small town, well it was then. Even though it was a small rural town, with the University being there, it had a somewhat vibrant and interesting culinary scene. Well... it at least had some good bar food.  In any event, one of the things I learned as a student was that being able to cook and invite your fellow students over made you very popular! I mean who had the money to eat out and who had the time to even cook. And someone else cooking for you, forget about it!

But home cooking in the late eighties in college was not what it was today. There were no television food gurus like Ina Garten and Bobby Flay to lead you through to a successful meal. There was the Frugal Gourmet on PBS. And reruns of Julia Child, but hardly the cacophony of information available today. So what did one do? Well you relied on cook books and on lessons learned at home. And you came up with solutions and ideas on your own.

So it was in college that I conspired with my roommates to prove that braising was a delectable way to prepare roasts and stews. Chop up some meat, some veggies pour in some liquid put on the crock pot and voila! My two roommates were from rural farms in Virginia and had grown up cooking like this in the winters all their lives. I came from the slow cooker suburban world so this all made sense. Together we would pool our resources divvy up the jobs and then cook for the day.

Well all I have to say about cooking in college was it did not matter what it was but it had to be cheap! And lets face it chicken was cheap. So chicken was always being eaten. But after months and months of boring chicken breasts I thought about cooking the chicken like a stew. Hardly original, Coco Vin not withstanding, I still thought I was pretty savvy to come up with this dish back then. Of course since then I have realized that nothing I have ever tried is original. Perhaps I have made things better, but never can I lay claim to inventing a dish someone has not thought of before me. Whew!! Pressure's off!

So what is Winter White Wine Chicken. It's chicken stewed in white wine, bacon, mushrooms and onions and finished with cream and served over buttered egg noodles. Tada! Like I said hardly original but let me add in a few comments that will make you appreciate this dish a little more. Firstly, it is very 1970's Graham Kerr ( aka the Galloping Gourmet). Why you ask? Well it's French in it's essence ( mock Coco Vin) which was very popular in the 1970's in the US. Secondly, it uses white sweet wine which was popularized then in the 1970's ( "chill a cella" or "cella-brate ) Hey, You gotta know what this is. Here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd4Zc-HBwyI

Will the fun ever end on this blog! Did you see all the famous actors in that commercial, Wow!

 And thirdly it's a one pot meal that can be served table side which was also a big trend then! So Graham Kerr and the 70's obviously were at work in my head when I made this! Well that's what I might say now!

Of course in college it was because of a need to make things easy and cheap. And remember chicken is cheap! But in any event I got out this old recipe the other day and was reminded that the things I learned in college whether in Marketing class of in the kitchen are still relevant and in this case tasty, so please enjoy Ya'll!

White Wine Chicken over Buttered Noodles ( serves 6)

3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into thirds
3 cloves garlic minced
4 leeks white and light green parts only chopped into disks ( OK in college it was 2 medium onions)
1/4 pound pancetta cubed or 6 strips of bacon chopped
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 lb white button or baby bella mushrooms halved
1 bottle riesling wine
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream
1 bunch of fresh thyme tied as a garni
1 tablespoon dried tarragon
1 lb egg country style Pennsylvania Dutch noodles cooked and buttered with chopped chives

Method:

In a heavy braising pot brown the bacon then add the garlic oil and the leeks and cook till soft then add chicken cook slightly then add the bay leaf, the thyme bundle, S&P and the whole bottle of wine. Put a top on the pot and cook for about an hour at a good simmer. Then add the cream and mustard and tarragon and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer till reduced slightly and the sauce is thickened which takes about another 30 mins. 15 mins before serving throw in the mushrooms. Remove the thyme and the bay leaves.

Serve over the noodles. Enjoy!













  

New American Cooking, Smokey Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Horseradish and Sour Cream

OK. So Thanksgiving is over. But the holidays are just beginning and if you are like me you are getting ready to find a way to perk up those dinners you might be having for friends and or your family which celebrate the season.

There are all the usual suspects to be found on my Thanksgiving dinner table. The turkey, dressing (aka Stuffing), you know all the regulars, but I have an aversion to one of the mainstays of the holiday table. The sweet potato! Well, that is till this year. You may well ask why do I not enjoy the potato of sweet with it's brilliant orange color and deep sweet flavor. Eh...who knows but I guess it has to do with liking regular potatoes so much I can't imagine sweet potatoes taking their place. But as I said this year was different.

Now the sweet potato is probably one of the earliest indigenous foods that the Pilgrims took over from the Indians when they landed in the New World. Sweet potatoes were a mainstay in the Indian diet all over South, Central and North America but it would have been one of the crops that the settlers saw and tasted along with corn that they saw themselves also planting. So needless to say in the early part of the culinary history of our country the sweet potato was pretty common. Sweet potatoes are not Yams and should not be confused with them. Yams were brought to this country by Christopher Columbus to his credit, and are from Africa. It was not until the rise of the white potato that Americans crossed over into eating the sweet potato as an afterthought. Mostly popular in the American South sweet potatoes graced the tables of my family my whole life. And I never really liked them. "Healthy", "Good for You", were all phrases attached to this vegetable's name. ( tell a kid that and it's never a good thing) And for me the worse part was... they were sweet. And while I like a little dessert now and then, I have already discussed how I would rather eat a bag of doritos over a gallon of ice cream, so I definitely did not enjoy the sweet flavor aspect at all.

As an adult I have come to appreciate the sweet potato for it's place in the culinary pantheon, but I still would rather eat creamy salty buttery white mashed potatoes any day! Also while I do enjoy a traditional preparation of the sweet potato as a casserole, it is cloyingly sweet and seems to almost be a dessert. However, this Thanksgiving it was requested that I make sweet mashed potatoes. So I did. However, I decided to try them the way I have prepared white mashed potatoes before, that is with savory ingredients. And I have to say... I not only liked them, I loved them! I used sour cream as the dairy element and I used Horseradish as the flavor choice. I also used a touch of my favorite secret ingredient liquid smoke as a background flavor and a touch of honey to compliment the sweet in the sweet potatoes. They came out really well and were a huge hit during the meal. In fact two people took them home with them. So here's the recipe. maybe you can mix it up a bit this season and find a little savory in your sweet.

Smokey Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Horseradish and Sour Cream

3 pounds of sweet potatoes washed peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup dairy sour cream
1/2 jar prepared horseradish (more or less depending on the potency and your taste)
1 1/2 Tablespoons honey
1 1/2 Tablespoons salt
1 Tablespoon black pepper
4 drops to start with of liquid smoke add more after you taste the potatoes, it should be a background flavor so keep that in mind or it will end up tasting like charcoal!

Boil the sweet potatoes in highly salted water till they pierce easily with a fork about 25 mins.
Drain well and rinse again with warm water to drain off some of the excess starch
Mash roughly
Add sour cream
Mash into the potatoes
Stir in the Horseradish and the honey and season well to taste, you might want to add more salt and pepper. Add in the liquid smoke and taste, add more to your liking if necessary! Enjoy!

Why I am thankful on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. It is a holiday that brings into one's minds eye soft and cozy images of times spent with special people at special places and in special circumstances with special foods. As children it can be a magical time, as a part of a holiday haze that serves as a precursor to Fall's ending and ushers in the Christmas season with all it's joy and pomp. It's a time when the construction paper laden bulletin boards in the classrooms would switch from Halloween's black hats and orange cats to multi colored fall leave cut outs laced with with pumpkins and turkeys and maybe a pilgrim's hat. It was a long weekend off from school and playing football in the backyard with the neighbors kids. It was a family and friend gathering time, and that time was precious. It was truly special. This is what I remember about Thanksgiving growing up.

As with so many parts of our national traditions the entertaining industry and media have created whole campaigns around the Thanksgiving Holiday The magazine industry has for years spewed out at us in images and articles ideas which would have us picture Thanksgiving as a Norman Rockwell painting come to life with all the sights and smells of a picture perfect world. Not that we all live in that Rockwellian Paradise, a parade of 1950's picture perfect families and houses decked to perfection with all the trappings of the season. Indeed some of us, maybe a very few, are blessed few live in a world like that. But most of us don't. We live in real families with real people who are not perfect and who, by the grace of God, somehow find their way through to loving and supporting one another and keeping it together. Therefore Thanksgiving can play various roles in our family's journey whether it be our birth family or chosen one. It can be a healing time and a time for reflecting on ourselves and our families, friends and our world and our place in it and in other peoples lives.

Too often holidays like Thanksgiving bring up sad or depressing memories or thoughts for people. That is a sad thing indeed when it should be a holiday when we focus on being thankful for what we have instead of focusing on what we don't have or feel deprived of. A story from my past reminds me of how grateful I should be and how I should count my blessings on Thanksgiving instead of wishing for something more.

When I was touring with the national tour of "Oliver!" the musical, I spent a Thanksgiving in California. It was a warm and wet day and we had two shows back to back. Now I tried to arrange for my cast mates and myself to have a nice "holiday" meal but when push came to shove we really did not have enough time to go out to a formal dinner, nor did everyone want to spend the money to do so.

Disheartened I decided to go with the flow. But when it was announced that we were going to Jack in the Box for dinner I about flipped out. I mean really it;s Thanksgiving!! Nonetheless I went with the flow, saddened further by missing my family and friends elsewhere and saddened by the circumstances. However, when we got to the Jack in the Box ( which is a fast food restaurant for those of you who don't know)  that is when I was really shocked. The restaurant was completely crowded and full. Full of families having dinner, parents and their kids. Full of people eating alone in silence, eating at the friggin Jack in the Box on Thanksgiving!!!

Suddenly I was ashamed of feeling badly about not having my special dinner on this special holiday. Indeed, all the years I was a child or even an adult I never once had anything like this as a holiday meal, let alone a time where my parents would choose to take me to something like that whether by choice or circumstance. Indeed I had only known a practically Norman Rockwell existence compared to this. And suddenly I was filled with gratitude. Graditude for my past, for my family, and for my friends from the show who I was with, who I loved and loved being with wherever we were. I was so grateful.

So this Thanksgiving when I am gathering around whatever table it may be with friends and loved ones I want to remember how blessed I am to have what I have, and try to resolve when the holiday is long past and all there is left is turkey sandwiches from the icebox and mountains of dishes, that blessings are all around and I should be grateful for all of them large and small and not be disheartened or discontent but be the change in the world around me for good giving back a little of what I have been given.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. And thanks for reading my blog all year. I would love to know who is out there reading and looking, so make comments on posts you like and give me feedback on what I can so to improve. Peace!