In my Kitchen

Well another Thanksgiving induced tryptophan coma has come and gone. At Beck’s Cafe we usually get ours by getting up at 5AM, ripping out the gizzards of our turkey, washing with cold water, season thusly and slipping our bird into a Reynolds oven bag then slide our bagged bird into our oven. Without a doubt, this is the easiest way to cook a Turkey we know.

But the fine patrons of Beck’s Cafe wanted something different this year. At 5AM I don’t do different. I do coffee. However, Mary Poppins being my idol I set out, spit spot, to determine a fresh approach for our old bird.

Google is my choice of search engine for recipes rather than going right to the Food Network, but, in typically Googley-Goodness The Food Network came up first anyway. And, surprisingly, the mad scientist of food, Alton Brown’s Roast Turkey recipe was feature. I’ve tried Alton’s recipes before in our kitchen, see my brief review coupled with a review of Laurel’s Kitchen Pancake recipe here at Beck’s Cafe at our article, Pancakes.

So about Alton’s recipe and our adventure making it.

My bird had not been frozen so I skipped the part on thawing it but in the process completely missed the brine soak that seems to a crucial part of this recipe. So we’ll have to try Alton’s brine soak next time.

The rest of Alton’s recipe was a snap to prepare. The surprising combination of apple, onion and cinnamon stick proved outstanding. Lacking sage, I bounced over to my neighbor’s and borrowed her Poultry Seasoning. Poultry Seasoning? “Well, Becki, it has Sage in it afterall” my neighbor explained to me. While it was the last ingredient in the list it did indeed have Sage in it. I also missed liberally coating the outside of our turkey with canola oil. Guess I needed more coffee or a Bloody Mary. Roasting the bird at 500 F for the first 30 minutes s was key to locking in the flavor and in creating ultra yummy skin (for which my neighbor felt was outstandingly good).

Beck’s Cafe recommends Alton Brown’s Roast Turkey recipe as a winner not a turkey. Your taste buds and noses will be delighted with your results.

Saturday nights SHOULD be a time to go out to dinner not eat dinner in. But, when your week’s been long sometimes it’s just nice to kick back, skip the espresso, have some wine (well more than some) and use the kitchen for something a bit more upscale in evening fare.

And that’s what we did at the Cafe Saturday night. We whipped up some Farfalle with White Wine Sauce. Yummy is only one of the sounds we heard upon serving it. But before serving it you have to make it, so let’s start there shall we

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb farfalle
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (depending on pan size, we like a large, deep skillet for this recipe
• One whole onion (the sweeter the better)
• Four garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• One large sweet bell red pepper (which you’ll leave uncooked)
• Two pounds cooked extra jumbo shrimp, completely de-shelled, thawed
• 1/2 cup white cooking wine (or regular white)
• 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese

First things first, have some of your wine Happy? Good, now let’s start.

Fill a large soup pan with water, add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and get it on your stove, turn on the burner to bring it to a boil. That’ll take a few minutes and you’ll be boiling the Farfalle in it.

Fill a large, deep skillet with the olive oil. We used 1/2 a cup but a 1/4 will probably do just as well. Then, turn on the burner under this pan. Be sure to set the burner for low. Using a lower heat more slowly warms up the oil and leads to less “sputtering” up of the oil from the pan once the oil is really hot.

You’ll want to cut up all your ingredients before you start cooking as things will need to be stirred as you cook on the stove so:

• Cut the onion into thin rings, by slicing it. Place onto a plate and set aside.

• Mince the garlic into small pieces. Place into a small bowl and set aside.

• Chop the sweet red bell pepper up into strips then chop those strips up into small squares. You’ll be adding these in raw to the recipe at the very end. They bring a refreshing crunch to the mix.

• Make sure you shrimp is thoroughly thawed by placing them into a colander and then into a large bowl of cold water, thawing takes about 30 minutes or so. Once thawed, insure the tails are off and the shrimp are in a large bowl for you to easily reach and use later in the recipe.

Once you’ve got your ingredients prepared the action gets a bit more intense. Your water may be boiling now, if so, turn the heat down on it, you’ll need it boiling in a few minutes so just keep it hot for now. The oil in the pan should be very hot by this time.

Pour the onions and garlic into the pan with the hot olive oil in it. The sound of searing vegetables and their wonderful smell should make you hungry immediately. You’ll want to stir the cooking onions and garlic pretty much constantly in order to lightly brown (emphasis on lightly) the garlic and onion. That’ll take about 5 minutes or so.

Crank up the heat on the pan of hot water in which you’ll be boiling the Farfalle, you’ll want to bring it back to a boil to cook the Farfalle in.

Once the onion and garlic are browned, pour in the shrimp. Stir and cook for about 8 minutes. Cooking the shrimp makes them softer for this recipe and really helps to bring out their flavor (providing you like shrimp of course).

While the shrimp are cooking, the pan of boiling water should be, well, boiling. Put in the 1/2 pound of Farfalle. Stir and let it cook about 10 minutes. You’ll want it to be al dente - soft to the bite but not squishy. A sort of firm/soft kind of state of being.

About now, the shrimp’s color should be turning a bit more red but more important they should be softening. Take one out and give it a bite, it should be a bit softer. It’s at this point you want to pour in the 1/2 cup of white cooking wine, stir it a bit, and then put the cover back on the pan. You’ll want to simmer this mix, so turn the heat down to low/medium. Let it cook until the shrimp are tender, that’ll be about 10 minutes.

By now the Farfalle should be al dente, so drain it into a colander, and then rinse it with cold water to stop the pasta from cooking. Pour the Farfalle into a large mixing bowl - you’ll be mixing it with all the other ingredients in this bowl so make sure it’s large enough to mix things around.

Turn the heat off under the shrimp and then, pour it onto the Farfalle. There should be a nice light white wine sauce that comes out of the pan along with the shrimp. Make sure you scrape in any of the onion and garlic sticking to the bottom of the pan. Pour the red bell pepper in as well that you chopped up. Then toss everything together in the bowl till it’s all covered. Sneak an occasional taste (cook’s privilege!).

Place into serving bowls, garnish with 1 Tablespoon of parmesan cheese and enjoy! Serves four; add a salad and fresh bread for a nice meal.

What did the taste tester’s think?
Human taste tester one: “Very good, I really like the subtle tastes in this. It’s like upscale comfort food”.

Dog taste tester one: “Woof” (this was after the Cafe Hound sneakily snuck her snout into my plate).

I am, by all accounts, health conscience in my food. I try to eat five more servings of vegetables a day, drink lots of water, and stay away from too much meat. But the call to try out SPAM in my kitchen was too great so off the shelf and into my basket it went on Friday. I kept thinking, it can’t be all that bad can it?

When you read the label you get a sense of what you’re in for. Calories from fat are 140 per serving. The calories in one serving are 180. Do the math fair reader. You are eating a slab of lard. Still, even that can be okay once in a while (though some in the medical community think that even a single fatty meal can muck you up, (see this article on the risk from fat in a single meal written by Dr. Simeon Margolis, M.D., Ph.D. of John Hopkins, click to the article on Yahoo at this link HERE)

Undaunted, we at Beck’s Cafe lept at the chance to try the fabricated food to see if it had any redeeming value outside of being an excellent source of material for Monty Python. We donned aprons, fired up skillets and, with our trusty dog at our heels lapping it’s chops for any scraps that might make their way to the floor, and we began to cook.

Cooking Spam straight up is easy. Anyone who can boil water can do it (though you may wonder why you’d do it). You simply POP the handy top off and presto, pink perfectly square meat that has a “meaty/porky” smell to it (since pork is the main ingredient that scent is a good thing). Then, skillet heated to medium heat, you can get it out by:

• Scooping some out with a melon baller
• Slicing delicate strips of it out trying to make it look elegant
• Making squares or cubes out of it
• Cutting up triangular or rough shapes
• Using a cooking cutter to create odd shapes such as bunnies or stars, let your imagination free!

Once chopped to a desired shape, simply slap it into the skillet and away you go! It should hiss and sizzle as it hits the heated pan and then you need to cook it till it’s lightly to medium browned on the outside. DON’T burn it, you’ll regret it we assure you.

The smell and taste are uniquely, well, spammy. Its sort of a bland meatless taste that has added spices to it in order to enhance the taste. It is greasy. It doesn’t so much leave a puddle of grease in your pan like, say, bacon. It’s more like the grease is permeated IN the meat and never leaves. I have to give Hormel Foods credit, they try hard to make a food tasty that is really formed to exist for the long haul on your shelf. If you have no food, SPAM is a great source of calories. If you do have food it might be better to try other options for a nice meal.

The Cook’s Thoughts
You can get creative with SPAM, Hormel has a whole list of recipes to choose from. To see the list of recipes click to the Hormel site via this link here.

I found in cooking it that if you cook it with something, like eggs, the Spam tastes better. It’s tastes seems to blend a little with other tastes.

And what did those who ate it think?
* DAMN get me something to drink to get this taste out of my mouth!!
* Hmmm, I think I’ll pass on that taste test.
* Slobber, slobber, gulp {my doggie enjoying a morsel)

When my friend said, “hey I’m having a brunch, please come” I thought, ‘what fun! a brunch’. Till she said, “what would you like to bring”. She being Jewish I immediately blurted out, ‘Oh I’ll be bringing kugel” Mind you at the second my mouth opened and my tongue started spewing out the words my brain was screaming “you have NO idea what a kugel is!!” Except I knew it was Jewish and had noodles.

So being the researcher I am, I went to that font of all knowledge, that oracle we now all rely on, the internet. Typing “koogle” in Yahoo search did not confuse the internet into thinking that I really meant “Google”. Instead I got an interesting list of sites that were loosely affiliated with the dish. But none really hit the mark for me until I happened on this non-noodle matzo based version. You can find it by clicking to The Food Network at this link HERE.

The Recipe
Creamy Matzo-Apple Kugel
Courtesy of The Second Avenue Deli Cookbook by Sharon Lebewohl and Rena Bulkin, Villard, 1999

This sweet and creamy kugel makes an impressive centerpiece for a Passover brunch. You can also serve it for dessert.

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
4 McIntosh apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 3/4-inch slices, 1/4-inch thick
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds
10 squares plain unsalted matzo
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup whipped cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Softened butter for greasing pan
Confectioners’ sugar

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet and saute apple slices on high heat, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly browned. Remove to a large bowl with a slotted spoon. Add 2 teaspoons butter to the skillet, lower heat to medium, and quickly saute raisins and almonds, stirring constantly. Be careful not to burn them. Add to bowl with apples, and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place matzo squares in another large bowl, and run cool water over them to soften. Crumble the matzo, and drain in a colander. Return drained matzo to bowl.

Combine eggs with matzo and stir well. In another bowl, mix sour cream and cream cheese thoroughly. Then add it to the matzo mixture, along with sugar, cinnamon, salt, and fruit-nut mixture. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

Grease a 10-inch square Pyrex baking pan (or similar) with butter (use quite a bit), pour mixture into pan, and bake for 50 minutes or until top is a light golden brown. Let cool on counter. Loosen sides with a knife, place a large platter over the baking pan, and carefully turn the kugel out onto the platter. If any pieces stick in the pan, just put them in place. When cooled, sprinkle top with confectioners’ sugar (best done through a sieve or sifter). YOu can serve this kugel warm (not hot) or at room temperature, but we like it best chilled in the refrigerator with the confectioners’ sugar added just prior to serving.

The Cook’s thoughts
* First of all, this has Almonds in it so a NUT WARNING needs to be heeded.
* Cut all the ingredients up first and put them into bowls. The recipe moves pretty fast once you start and you won’t have time to cut things up. Do it ahead and get it ready.
* Be very careful you don’t burn the apples - On my stove I had to stir very frequently
* Be very careful you don’t burn the almonds and raisins - burn these and the whole dish tastes like burnt almonds and raisins - very icky.
* If you have an extra hot oven that though you set it for 350 it’s really 375, then keep the dish in only 45 minutes.
* Once the matzo is crumbled into the bowl, MASH it somewhat so it’s more crumbly in the bowl prior to actually putting the 4 eggs in.

And what did those who ate it think?
* “Nice consistency, The after taste of cinnamon and apple is wonderful, it lingers making you hungry for more. Might be best with fresh whipped cream on top.”
* “After a night in the fridge it is AMAZINGLY good. very nice texture, mild flavor, appley and nutty. Dusting with confectioner sugar is just the right amount of sweetener.”
* All teenagers who tried it (from 15 - 18) liked it!

So there I was sitting down, cup of coffee in hand staring at a “big” news story in my local paper. The story, covered all this past week was about fluffernutter, that marshmallowey goodness virtually all New England children (and grown up children) love. The flap? Seems a certain legislator was miffed that his son could get a fluffernutter sandwich anytime he wanted during school lunch. The son was tickled pink about that. The dad, a legislator in my state, was not. So what’s a disgruntled legislator to do but take pick up the anti-fluff banner and try and pass legislation limiting the amount of fluff to be served in school lunches! As one parent who was interviewed for the story said, “I basically think it should be up to the parents if they eat it or not. There’s a lot of problems in the schools with stuff besides fluff.” Well said! You can read the wide news coverage on the fluff flap at this link HERE

Fluffernutter, for those of you not in the know, is basically marshmallow in a cream form so you can spread it, or use it in cooking. You can learn about Fluff at the official Fluffernutter site at this link HERE.

So, in defense of fluff, and basically because there’s nothing quite like a fluff sandwich and a glass of Milk, here’s how we whip up a fluff sandwich in my kitchen.

What you’ll need
Fluffernutter
Peanut butter (I prefer an all natural brand as it brings more thickness and heft to the sandwich)
Bread (white bread is the standard choice, but using an all natural whole wheat makes the sandwich stand up to the rigors of assembling the sandwich - trust me you’ll need it)
1 Cup of milk
2 Tablespoons (one for the fluff, one for the peanut butter>

Place the bread on a cutting board, both pieces down and separate. Then, take a tablespoon and plunge it into the fluff. Scoop out a heaping helping and slap it onto the bread. You’ll notice that the marshmallow doesn’t exactly spread by itself as it’s very gooey. Start spreading it about, you may find you need two tablespoons worth of fluff to make it work. This is gooey work and white bread definitely tends to tear so if you choose to use white bread you might need three tablespoons of fluff and sort of plop it down. With wheat bread you have a bit more strength to the bread so you can spread the fluff somewhat better.

After the fluff is spread evenly over the bread use a fresh tablespoon to plunge into the peanut butter and scoop out a tablespoon of peanuty goodness. Spread that evenly over the bread.

Place the fluff piece on top of the peanut butter piece and voila! You have a fluffernutter sandwich. Pour a glass of milk and enjoy. And you’ll be taking a political stand at the same time

What could be more fun and tasty than a bowl of warm chili on a chilly Spring day? Try this chili recipe that has a twist with health. I made this and originally thought “there’s no way my family will eat it this” I was wrong! They love it, and this from a group that is generally suspicious of my culinary experiments.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

1/2 cup of minced onions

4 minced garlic cloves

1/2 cup of chopped celery

1 cup of chopped red bell peppers (these would be the sweet ones not the hot ones

1 lb of lean ground turkey

2 potatoes cubed

One 28oz can crushed or diced tomotoes (diced tomatoes make the chili more chunky)

One 28oz bottle of tomatoe sauce

One 16oz can of pinto beans or kidney beans (this is optional, depending on if you have bean haters or lovers at your table)

Chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper to taste

How to do it

In a large pot that has been coated with nonstick spary, brown the onions and garlic (about 5 minutes on medium heat). Toss in the celery and red peppers and cook till soft, stirring occassionally. Then add the turkey, stirring occassionally, cook till no longer pink.

When the turkey is no longer pink, add the potatoes, tomatoe sauce and canned tomatoes. Also add in chili powder, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on medium to low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes until the potates are fork tender.

(Photo courtesy of ndrwfgg used under Creative Commons License)

For those of you who remember the infamous Potato Salad Showdown last year (to read that link click here) well it’s here again. The first words out of my family’s mouth? “Please don’t make the Salad of Science”. Guess I’m down before the 2006 showdown even starts!

You can get the [Potato] Salad of Love recipe at this link here
Oh you can also persuse over 143 Potato Salad Recipes and have your own showdown. Click this link here at The Food Network for all those yummy recipes.

When I made this I thought, "they will hate it".  I have no idea why I thought that, I think it was the odd mixture of onions, garlic and olives and how those simply do not mix with children.   Then, as I was making this dish, and the wonderful aromas were wafting from my kitchen kingdom through the rest of our house, I heard the peep every chef loves to hear,  "hey what’s that smell, it smells sooo good".    Well, my confidence shored up, I drove ahead in making this dish.  The recipe is courtesy of "Make it in Minutes" a Weight Watchers cookbook (you can check out the cookbook at this link here).  A ragout, for your general cooking trivia knowledge, is French for "A well-seasoned meat or fish stew, usually with vegetables".  This one uses chicken and it is heavenly (especially on a cold night). 

Click on for the fabulous taste treat!

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  There’s nothing better than a light dinner with someone you love on a Sunday night, try this original recipe from Beck’s Cafe to hit the spot.

Ingredients

1 lb of fresh string beans (also known as green beans - depending on where you live)
4 whole eggs
1 Tablespoon (T) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup Feta Cheese
1 to 2 teaspoons (t) of Garlic Powder

How to do it

Place the 4 eggs in a medium pot that has been filled 1/2 way with cold water. Turn the burner on and bring to a boil, then boil till hard-boiled, about 10 or so minutes. When the eggs are hard boiled, take the eggs in the pot off the stove, then rinse in cold water, let them cool while you make the rest of the meal.

While the eggs are boiling, prepare the string beans by cutting the tips off either end of the green beans, then placing them in a large pot that you’ve put about 1 cup of water into. Once you’ve cut the tips off all the sting beans, and placed them into the pot, cover the pot and steam lightly. You should be able to reach that point by turning the stove top on medium then cooking them about 10 minutes or less. You don’t want to overcook them, but you don’t want them crunchy either. They should feel fresh when you bite into one, but not overcooked. When the string beans are cooked take them out of the pot and place them on a large serving plate. I love blue in my cafe, but pink, purple, red, or any color you like would be just fine

With the string beans down on the plate, dribble 1T of extra virgin olive oil over the top of the string beans. Then, sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons of the garlic powder on top of the green beans. When you’ve done that, sprinkle 1/4 cup of feta cheese on top of the green beans. Finally, peel the eggs, slice, and place around the bed of prepared green beans.

While you could eat this right away, it tastes best when you let this cool at room temp for about 10 minutes or so. If you have time to further cool it in the fridge for about 15 minutes, the taste is enhanced, but it’s really good at room temperature too.

Serve with a glass of chilled white wine or ice water and you are in for a wonderful delight!

Serves 2 as a main dish, or 4 as a side dish.
Calories per person is about 300.
If you’ve got a little issue with cholesterol, just take the egg yolks out.
Takes about 30 minutes to make.

This recipe my spouse found and though she fretted about the fat I said “who CARES this tastes great!” oh and it’s easy to make too

Ingredients:
4 Pita breads (6 inches in diameter)
1/2 cup roasted garlic-flavored or regular humus (depends on who your kissing afterwards I’d reckon)
1 Cup crumbled feta cheese (4 ounces)
1 Small Onion, sliced
2 Cups shredded spinach
1 Large Tomato, seeded & chopped (1 cup)
1/4 cup sliced ripe or Kalamata OlivesOlive Oil

1. Heat over to 400 F. Place pita breads in ungreased jelly roll pan, 15 1/2×10 1/2×1 inch
2. Drizel some olive oil onto the pita’s surface
3. Spread hummus on each pita bread. Sprinkle with cheese.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Top each pizza with onions, spinach, tomoto and olives

Get a nice glass of wine, and enjoy!

   My spouse makes hellacious potato salad. In fact, her potato salad is so hellacious that it is a hit with anyone who eats it. But, being the health conscience parent that I am, I needed to figure out a better potato salad. Salad of love (my honey’s potato salad)
wins hands down. Salad of Science (my potato salad) tastes like it was made in a food science lab. I’ll let you guess which one tastes
best.

Salad of Love (also known a pile ofstuff whipped into a pot that magically produces potatoessalad)

* 1 bag potatoes boiled, then peeled (boiling ‘em first makes the peeling easier)

* Throw in two eggs while potatoes are cooking, to make them hardboiled

* Take peeled potatoes, cube ‘em and then toss into a bowl

* Shell eggs, dice, toss in same bowl with potatoes

* Finely chop &5 carrots and toss in

* Finely chop about 6 celery stocks & toss in

* Finely chop one onion, dice it up, toss it in to the same bowl

* Toss in some extra macaroni, or any other edible substance that has not grown mold or generated a smell reminiscent of your local waste management station.

* Toss it all together - if you use your bare hands it’s best.

* Take your fav mayo and put in about 5 big spoonfuls (big being your definition of big spoon)

* Add in some Italian dressing - just make it go around in a circle on top….your guess is as good as anyone’s as to how much is the best amount

* cover, refrigerate overnight - then whip out the next day at lunch and eat!

Calories? who the heck knows, and who’s counting! Serving size? By the plate! Taste? all children give this a thumbs up.

Salad of Science

(From page 107, Weight Watchers, “Simply The Best” recipe book)

Ingredients
(measurements are precise)

- 1/4 Cup plain non-fat yogurt

- 2 tablespoons reduced-calorie mayonnaise

- 2 teaspoons minced dill

- 1 teaspoon cider vinegar

- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

- 1 celery stalk, diced up

- 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded & diced

- 2 hard cooked eggs chopped

- 2 scallions thinly sliced

- 2 small red potatoes, cooked and cubed

In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, dill, vinegar and black pepper. Add the celery, bell pepper, eggs and scallions; toss with a pair of salad tongs to lightly coat. Ad the potatoes and toss gently, again with the tongs.

Calories? 130

Service Size? One third of the batch as listed, serves 3. Taste? All children look at me questioning if this is potatoe salad, egg salad, or craft paste.

Alton Brown’s Good Eats on The Food Network is THE best show.  I love his cooking style and how he so imaginatively talks about food, and teaches about how to cook.  It’s really fun.   On tonight’s episode he talked about French Toast.    I don’t make much French Toast any more since my children are grown.  We did go through a spate there where French Toast was all the rave in my kitchen.  I don’t do it up nearly as good as Mr. Brown does, bu it was edible (and yeah, the bread was like over a week stale not a day!).

Though French Toast was fun for a "season" the real draw in my kitchen was (and still is) PANCAKES.  Pancakes are the ONE thing I can trust to get my brood up and around the kitchen table TOGETHER.  They may mutter something vaguely distinguishable as English when they ask for "coffee", or  look at each other through bloodshot eyes and grunt, acknowledging there is another body in the room.  But the key is we are all together around the table.  Pancakes get us there.

Here’s the recipe I’ve used for years, and just thought I’d share the pancake love with ya’ll:

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