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).

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)

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!

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

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)

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.

Click on for the fabulous taste treat!

What you’ll need
1 teaspoon olive oil
1.5 lbs skinless boneless chicken thighs trimmed of all visible fat (you could also use skinless chicken breasts)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 onion thinly sliced (depending on the pallet of your audience, 1/2 onion works well too)
1 garlic clove, chopped (I love garlic and used three cloves, quite yummy for garlic lovers - and my kids were ok too)
3 plum tomatoes chopped (I used 4 large regular tomaotes, it was just fine)
1 large baking potato, peeled and cubed  (Idaho, Irish, or Maine potatoes all work fine :)  use others as you see fit!)
10 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped (don’t use green olives, trust me on this).
1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine (or 1 bottle dry white wine - drink the bottle & save 1/4 cup for the meal ).
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

What to do
Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprikle the chicken with the salt and pepper and saute until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes.  Add the onion and garlic; cook until the onion is just tender, about 5 minutes longer.  Stir in the tomatoes, potato, olives, broth, and wine.  Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the potato tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the basil.

Prep to plate time is about 40 minutes maximum.

Calories and Fat
Serves 4
Breakdown per serving

• Calories, 306
• Fat, 9 grams
• Carbohydrates, 19 grams
• Protein, 36 grams

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.

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.

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:

These are from scratch :)  WHAT no Aunt Jemima?   Nah, I gave her the day off for this recipe.  This recipe is adapted from the recipe "Old Fashion Pancakes" on page 94 of "The New Laurel’s Kitchen".  Note, these are hearty whole wheat pancakes.  A few go a LONG way!

Ingredients:
1 Cups whole wheat flour
1 Cup white flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
2 3/4 c. 1% fat milk
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil or 2 Tablespoons applesauce (this makes the pancakes moister.  The oil makes a yummier pancake, but the applesauce is a bit healthier and cuts the calories some).

1. In a LARGE bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients.
2. Beat the eggs lightly & combine with the milk, then add to the dry ingredients & stir briefly.  Stir in the oil (or applesauce).
3. Heat the griddle. It should be hot enough so that when you sprinkle water drops on the surface, they dance or bubble about.  I find that on an electric stove, a setting of about 6 makes the surface hot without making it too hot that the cakes burn on the outside and then are mushy on the inside (sort of a stuffed pancake thing - very gross tasting unless you are hungover from the night before, then you have no idea whether your eating your tongue or your pancake).
   1. You probably won’t need any grease on the griddle unless you, a loved one, or a friendly neighbor have used it to smelt iron ore or burnt the surface horribly in some heat fetish for cooking food to a blackend char ("say honey, how about some Cajun blackened pancakes today?").
   2. Pour the batter onto the now nicely hot griddle.  I put 2 Tablespoons down and they come out nice and big and deeelicious.
   3. How the heck do you know when to turn them?   Well, after the initial pouring down onto the hot griddle top, the edges of the now nicely cooking cake should be a dry brown and the top should be all bubbly like the surface of Venus.  That means the heat has cooked through the batter!   Turn quick with a large spatula.

I always heat up some real maple syrup (not that bizarre food fad from the food lab, Maple Like Syrup they have in the asiles of our local grocery stores!).   Real maple syrup is not cheap - BUT - when heated a little goes a long way.  Give it a shot, hey it’s only a couple of bucks you cheapskate!!

If you feel very adventurous, once you try this recipe for a while, play with your food :)   Add blueberries or other lovelies to the mix.  Note, the more stuff you add, careful to add enough milk to keep the batter pourable, or else it hardens like concrete!