Click Michelle's Food

Mr Click’s birthday is today.

Bean and I made him blueberry muffins to go with his coffee this morning. I made him a delicious Bloody Mary for late morning. (No Tabasco please, only horseradish.) Bean wanted to make a Pesto Dip for afternoon snack, but he had a Cub Scout meeting and didn’t get to it. I was making chow chow and wasn’t really in the mood to fool with pesto.

I made chicken-fried steak for dinner, even though Mr Click makes it better than I do these days. (The chow chow with the meat and the cowpeas was incredible.) I also made the now-standard (in our family) Devil’s Food White-Out cake. It’s crazy that a cake that easy turns out such amazing results.

Mr Click and I were talking last night about both of us needing to lose more than a few pounds. We will start with a concerted effort tomorrow. His focus will be portion control, mine will be trying to eliminate nibbling while cooking, and reducing sugar and fat intake. If I can keep leaving work at a reasonable hour, perhaps we can walk in the evenings.

But tonight Mr Click is out having a cigar and reading a book. The kitchen is semi-clean. I think I shall collapse.

Well, after a glass of Orvieto.

I’ve gone and done it. I bought ball jars. I dug out my Grandmaw’s pressure cooker. I cut up 40 gazillion green tomatoes, and a healthy quantity of peppers and onions, and a head of cabbage. I salted the whole deal and let it sit overnight. Today I cooked it all with vinegar, sugar, and spices. Then… I canned it.

No, I’ve never canned anything before. Hell, I’ve never used a pressure cooker before. In fact, I just had to take the weight off the top (it’s an old-fashioned one) to hear it hiss real loud. But the way I figure it, there are very few things we absolutely are incapable of doing; most things are just things we haven’t attempted yet.

So I don’t know yet if my cans will seal or if I will be Botulin Click since I’m still waiting for 15 pounds of pressure to bleed down and to take the jars out. But today I feel very connected with history, and with my grandmothers. I may call my Mawmaw after I clean up the disorder in my kitchen and tell her of my adventure. (Poor Grandmaw has rather advanced Alzheimer’s and doesn’t recognize anyone anymore, much less speak a language recognizable as English.)

Here’s the recipe I used:

2 qts chopped tomatoes, varying shades from green to red, diced
2 big white onions, diced
1 small head of cabbage, chopped
7 or 8 assorted not-terribly-hot peppers, seeded and chopped (Gypsy sweets, Hungarians, Cowhorn, Cubanelle, Poblano)
1/3 cup salt

Mix all these up in a big bowl and let it sit overnight to draw moisture out.

In the morning, drain the juice off, and proceed…

6 cups white vinegar
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tblsp dry mustard
In a cheesecloth, 3 tblsp pickling spice

Combine all these in a pot (no smaller than 8 qt, please). Simmer for 30 minutes or so to infuse the pickling spice flavors. Fish the bag out and discard it. Add the vegetables and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Ladle into hot jars, making sure you leave an inch of room at the top or “headspace”. That is pretty important. My first try resulted in expanding food blowing off the lids. Like I said, I hadn’t ever attempted this before. Mistakes are part of learning.

Top with new lids, and process according to UGA guidelines. (Apparently the government would like to see us quit using our grandparents’ recipes and only eat the utterly safe and tasteless (but government-approved) genetically-modified Con-Agra products. Yes, yes, I know, “Oh, they are just trying to keep us safe from botulism.”)

Suffice it to say, I did it the way my old-timey recipe said to. If I die, it’s my own damn fault, and not UGA’s. You have my word, Mr Click won’t sue the government.

Half of my jars sealed. I don’t think that’s too bad for a first attempt. That means I have to eat 4 jars of this pretty quick. Or I have to give some away with instructions to eat it pretty quick.

Oh, the important question – How does it taste? Amazing. Delicious. I want to make beans and cornbread and serve this with. Maybe later this week.

Yes, this DOES relate to food. Sort of. Fear not.

While at work yesterday I got a call from Bean’s school. This never bodes well. It was the assistant principal. “This is a big deal, but it isn’t a big deal,” she said. OK…

It turns out that yesterday, he got off the bus and walked into the cafeteria, where he was going to eat breakfast. He asked the assistant principal if he could show her something. He had taken his camping mess kit cutlery to school with him. He asked if he was allowed to eat with his cutlery.

Here’s where you see the effects of “zero-tolerance” policies complete with mandated punishment come into play. The Asst Principal was required by the rules of my school district to confiscate the cutlery. She was required to fill out a police report, as this was felony weapons possession. She was required to suspend him from school. She was required to set up a tribunal hearing for the infraction. For a knife, fork, and spoon that Bean asked if he could use.

The cutlery in question, a/k/a felony weapons... The point is pokey, but the blade would bruise you before cutting you. Use on bananas for optimal results.

When she called me, she explained that his punishment was the lightest she could give as set forth by the district guidelines. I told her I did appreciate that. “But he is a fifth grader, and he should know better than to bring a knife to school.” Here is were I politely disagreed. This cutlery set wasn’t a “knife” in his mind, it was eating utensils. He knows what a real knife is and this simply didn’t qualify. You see, he HAS a knife. A real honest-to-goodness cut-your-fingers-off knife. He has done his knife safety badge in Cub Scouts and he knows where and when he can bring it out. It’s not a show-off piece. It’s a tool used for specific tasks.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not supporting weapons in school. But I also don’t support “zero tolerance” policies of ANY type. This sort of mandated punishment attempts to put a student taking an aspirin at lunch on the same moral level with one smoking pot out back while skipping gym. It takes any room for judgment or wisdom away from those who should be demonstrating such higher-order human functions to the children they are teaching. The only judgment it teaches the kids is “Don’t get caught” when doing something perfectly acceptable in any situation other than public school. To my way of thinking, that undermines the very authority the administrators are trying to cultivate.

The county sheriff did find it unnecessary to come collect the knife, fork, and spoon, and asked that the Asst Principal just return it to me or Mr Click. I had been told that the item would have to be turned over to the police in the course of the investigation. Apparently the sheriff’s office was satisfied with taking a brief report over the phone.

My 10 year old is suspended today. I had to explain that he should not have taken the utensils to school. I am not angry with him. And this is an example where the punishment hardly fits the crime. And that the world is full of injustices, little ones and terrible ones. That’s always a hard lesson for little boys to learn.

When I told TW about this yesterday, she of course saw the injustice of the situation. But then she pointed out something I hadn’t thought of… The Green Moms are sending their children to school with mess kits to reduce environmental impact. The REALLY Green Moms will likely not be using plastic, since that is a petroleum-based product, and could contribute to the ingestion of toxins. That leaves wood and metals as the durable choices for lunchboxes and mess kits. Will we be seeing more of this sort of thing as the demand for using durable goods as opposed to disposables increases? It’s a bigger question than me and the Bean. What do you think?

While out shopping yesterday, I saw a very nice price on wild Alaskan Sockeye salmon. Thinking I’d made some sort of yum with it, I bought a pound and three quarters. The fish lady wrapped it up and I went about my shopping. NOTE THAT I DID NOT ASK TO SMELL IT!

That was my mistake. I was at a market I trusted, that has never before sold me stinky meat or fish. Roughly 27 hours after it was wrapped up (handled properly during this time) I unwrapped it and caught the smell of bad fish. Not wanting to believe that this salmon had already gone well past the pet food stage, hoping it was just the outlying juice that had putrefied, I rinsed it off and smelled it again. Still funky. I trimmed the edges, hoping that would help. (Can you tell, I REALLY wanted to eat this fish?) And then, stupid me, I cooked it anyway.

God, it was rank.

Mr Click took the label back to the store from whence it came. Fifteen bucks is fifteen bucks! To their credit, there was no gripe, they simply refunded the money. This isn’t a bash on my favorite market, or I’d be telling you their name. They are still my favorite market, because they handled this perfectly. So we had fried chicken with our butterbeans and quinoa pilaf.

But let this be a cautionary tale… Even if you trust your market, ASK TO SMELL THE FISH. And refuse to buy it if it’s stinky.

So last week I was lame and did not come up with a meal plan or blog anything. The lack of a meal plan resulted in a crazy week. Hell, one night we had hot dogs! It really is worth the time it takes to figure out what’s on sale, what I’ll be cooking, and have it all ready to go. We can switch days if we feel like it, but the biggest thing is, have a plan in place.

So this week, I will not succumb to sloth. Not after the really good haul at the fresh market this morning! I was late, but still got some really good produce. Another 5 or 6 pounds of tomatoes, some of which much be cooked to sauce today. 2 pounds of crowder peas. 2 pounds of, heaven help me, BUTTERBEANS. A yellow-fleshed watermelon. Figs, raspberries, and onions to round it out. And a dozen of my favorite amazing tastes-like-butter eggs.

I was looking at the Whole Foods site for the sale flyer, and saw Chef Ann Cooper’s recipe for Pork Tacos and Pico de Gallo with Homemade Tortillas. The homemade tortillas sounded appealing to the Bean, so he and I will make those tonight or tomorrow. I did manage to cook half a fresh picnic with Cuban-esque flavors on Thursday, so we have plenty of leftover pork to make those.

Last weekend I used some leftover pie crust to make a goat cheese tomato pie. It was to die for. I’ll be doing that again tonight or tomorrow, whatever night we don’t do the pork tacos. While in Vegas, I had a tomato and goat cheese pie on puff pastry; it was delicious and inspired the combination here at home.

I’m going to try Alton Brown’s Swiss Steak recipe this week. I think brown rice sounds good with it.

Mr Click made Herb-Crusted Chicken out of the Pebbles Trove week before last. It is a Keeper, and on the plan this week. Basically it’s a pounded chicken breast dredged in flour, egg, and panko seasoned with whatever fresh herbs are handy. The sauce is a reduced balsamic vinegar beurre monté.

Soy-Sesame Pork Chops later this week. The slaw is really good, but I have to go really easy on the sriracha. Th first time I made it, I accidentally squirted nearly 1 Tbsp sriracha into the dressing. Since then, I’ve not been able to eat any spicy pan-asian food. I get terrible heartburn. The spicy num tok I had for lunch yesterday nearly made me ill. Mr Click says it’s all a part of getting old. Wrinkles and gray hair I can live with, but no spicy food? This sucks.

I’ve decided I must try this recipe for Chicago Chicken Vesuvio. I think the boys will love it.

Of course, Friday means skillet pizza. We had company on Friday a few weeks ago, and ordered take-out to serve the seven of us. Bean would not even touch it. It was the really good local pie from Alpine Bakery; he used to love it. He wanted skillet pizza. If you have not made it yet, I must insist that you do so.

So that is what we’re eating this week. For extras, I intend to make cookies for Bean’s lunchbox, and a blackberry cobbler. Maybe a caramel cake, since I am feeling somewhat mopey and could use some sugar-love.

Off to the grocery store!

Short short post tonight… I have a houseful. Hooray, Mr 18 is home!

Tonight, Greek Burgers, orzo salad, corn on the cob, and melon from the farmer’s market

Tomorrow: Shrimp summer rolls and spicy slaw. The fresh, never frozen gulf shrimp looked way too good to pass up today at Harry’s; 16-25s for $7.99/lb. I know now that a scant 1 teaspoon of sriracha is plenty. Over 2 teaspoons is overkill and leads to tummyache. Don’t ask me how I know this.

Monday: (first day of school) Baked ziti. I’ll cook the tomato sauce and sausage in the crock pot. Someone will assemble it when they get home from work.

Tuesday: Herb-crusted chicken from the Pebbles Trove

Wednesday: Orange Broccoli Beef

Thursday: Some sort of chicken, possibly Vesuvio the Chicago way, maybe a goat cheese stuffed thing.

Friday: Skillet Pizza

Extras are panzanella, cherries from last week I really must cook into a crisp or cobbler tomorrow, white peaches, and figs.

I tried the first of the freezer pickles today. They have done very nicely. I’ll post that recipe tomorrow.

The farmer’s market was loaded with goodies today. In addition to close to 6 pounds of tomatoes, I got melons, figs, raspberries, eggplant, cucumbers, and garlic. I also bought a fetching new apron.

A long long time ago, when I was in college, I worked at a restaurant called Pebbles. It was my fist ever exposure to really excellent food. Now, it was the 80s, so you have to cut me a little slack on the uniform of khakis, madras plaid shirts, and knit ties. I credit working at Pebbles with igniting my desire to learn more about food, cooking, and wine. Alas, the last Pebbles restaurant has closed, taking with it any opportunity to eat the blackened thumb bits, duck pepper pot soup, nutty-cheesy salad, and smoked duck and scallops with hot asian spices on angel hair pasta. Yes, they did a lot of duck. Yum.

One of the signature dishes was Chicken Vesuvio, sauteed chicken with a garlicky, lemony, rosemary-y sauce on fat perciatelli pasta. I was feeling sentimental the other day, and went googling for a recipe. Lots of recipes for Chicken Vesuvio, but none were what I was needing a taste of. Then I found the Pebbles Trove.

The ingredient list is ghastly. I said it was the 80s! A whole stick of butter, AND egg yolks? (I remember heavy cream, not egg yolks.) I made a few changes to appease our 2009 sensibilities. I also left out things like red peppers, which were not in the original dishes I tossed tableside in their skillet with Asiago cheese.

Pebbles-inspired Chicken Vesuvio
Yield: 2 servings.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons capers
2 1/2 teaspoons chopped garlic
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco

8-ounce boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into strips
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup white wine
1 ounce lemon juice
2 tablespoons half and half

8 ounces bucatini pasta (perciatelli for authenticity)

4 plum tomatoes, quartered

grated Parmesan cheese to taste (use Asiago for authenticity)

In a large saute pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Stir in capers, 1/2 teaspoon of chopped garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, oregano, parsley, pepper, Tabasco. (OMG, it smells so good!)

Add chicken. Saute until browned. Add remaining garlic, stock, wine, lemon juice. Cook until reduced in volume slightly. Stir in the half and half. Remove from heat. Add warm pasta and tomatoes, toss with tongs. Put on warm platter. Garnish with chopped parsley and top with grated Parmesan.

I’ve been reading a lot about Julia Child lately, what with that movie coming out and all. Over at Chowhound, someone asked who the contemporary Julia Childs [sic] was. The discussion was interesting, even though I nearly didn’t click on it because of that error with the name. No, it wasn’t a typo, the poster used the same spelling over and over again. I don’t think I’d point out such an error over there on those boards where I merely lurk, but over here on my blog, where it’s just me, I can snicker behind my hand.

This got me thinking about the cooking shows I watched as a child. There was Julia, Justin Wilson pouring the salt into his palm and coming away with EXACTLY one teaspoon, Nathalie Dupree, and some crazy-ass Galloping British guy after we got cable at the house (yes, I know now that was Graham Kerr). Saturdays on PBS were all about cooking, and later in the afternoon, painting with Bob Ross (happy little trees!) and that other German guy who came first (joo use zee magic vite…). My mom did the painting thing, but to my knowledge never attempted the cooking.

Fast forward 25+ years… cooking shows are everywhere, and the local PBS affiliate doesn’t have cooking on Saturday afternoons anymore. I’d give my left arm for copies of Mastering the Art of French Cooking volumes 1 and 2 – and I’m left-handed! My youngest son is 10. He watches all that Nick and Disney Channel crap. And have you ever seen the foodstuffs they advertise to children there? Pop-tarts are probably the most wholesome thing on that ad rotation. Gah! He tries not to eat many of the good and wholesome foods I cook. He wants Lunchables and HFCS-loaded fruit snacks. He wants margarine on his white bread PBJs. And he claims not to eat any vegetables and only a few fruits.

I intend to change that.

I’ve asked him if he will help me with my blog. At least once a week, we will find a recipe he’d like to make, and we will cook it. It has to be something made from scratch. No poppin’ fresh anything. We’ll pick it out and make it and talk about it. Maybe he will pick up some of the skills I remember from my grandmothers. Maybe he will learn to appreciate the unprocessed flavors of real food. He’s been showing signs of developing a palate this year, so I think this is the opportune time. We will call it the Cooking with Bean category.

So tonight we made blackberry turnovers. I’d bought the blackberries on Saturday, with the intention to make them upon his return. It worked out well. We made the pie dough from scratch, then cooked the blackberry filling (approx a pound of blackberries, a scant 1/3 cup of sugar, 4 tsp corn starch, and a little grated lime zest), then we rolled it out and filled them, and he pinched the turnovers shut. He cut the slashes, and we baked them for 25 minutes or so while we were eating dinner. They were not too sweet but Bean raved. And was proud. And ate TWO. (No, THREE now as I’ve been typing this.) Yes, it was adulterated fruit, but it started off as fresh – a step in that direction I want to go. And now he’s in the living room watching the Chronicles of Narnia, talking about how he wants to make beignets next. Oh son, I don’t think you’re ready for 375º oil.

I’m not sure what our project will be this weekend. He will have to go to the market with me on Saturday, so he can pick out whatever produce looks good to him.

Back to that first question, Who’s the modern-day Julia Child? There isn’t one, in my opinion. She was one of a kind, never to be repeated, for many reasons. How sad that Bean will not have a Julia in his memories.

I take the train to work every day. I’ve tried knitting on the train, but it gets a little too bumpy and I always drop stitches. So now I have a Kindle (the original one) and I read. Mostly realistic escapist stuff, like Mediterranean Summer by David Shalleck. It’s good stuff, an American chef looking for his culinary soul in Europe lands a job as the chef on a wealthy Italian couple’s yacht.

What does this have to do with my dinner this week? There are some amazing recipes in the back of the book, including one for panzanella that I simply had to try. I use a mix of heirloom tomatoes from the farmer’s market and good crusty whole wheat Italian bread.

Panzanella:
a small loaf of good-quality bread, allowed to go stale
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly-grated Parmesan (use the microplane grater, or go buy one)
4 or 5 excellent tomatoes, the best, most-fragrant you can find
1/4 cup basil, chiffonade

Dressing:
1/4 cup good-tasting olive oil (not that “light-tasting” crap from the grocery store)
one or two anchovies, mashed
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste (it won’t take much of either)

Cut the bread up into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch pieces. Combine the olive oil and Parmesan cheese, and toss with the cubed bread to coat evenly. Toast in a 350º oven for about 10 minutes. Then let the croutons cool.

For the dressing, mash up the anchovy filets with a fork. Do not be afraid. This will taste nothing at all like anchovies, but it will taste like it’s “missing something” if you don’t put them in. They give a depth of flavor that you can’t get with anything else. Sacrifice your sensibility to umami and you will be rewarded. If you must, banish the children and spouse from the kitchen while you do this. Fear of the hairy fish is a terribly poor reason not to eat this delicious dish. Me, I love anchovies, eat them whole on Caesar salad. But I digress… Mash up the anchovy with a fork, and add the vinegar and oregano. Stir them up good. Add the olive oil to the mixture s-l-o-w-l-y so that it emulsifies well. Taste, and add salt and pepper to your liking. Or be a chickenbutt and just add 1/4 teaspoon salt and a couple turns of the pepper grinder. Suit yourself.

Chop up the tomatoes in about 1/2 inch dice. Chiffonade the basil leaves. Thinly slice a small onion, if you like. It’s optional.

You can make ahead to this point, but don’t assemble the salad further until you are nearly ready to serve.

Combine the tomato mixture and the croutons. Slowly add the dressing, stirring gently to evenly combine everything. Add some arugula or salad greens if you think that sounds good, or need to stretch the salad to feed a bigger crowd than you thought. Grate some more Parmesan cheese on top and drizzle a little more olive oil over, if you like. It’s your dinner, make yourself happy. And if this doesn’t make you happy, you must have an aversion to summer. Because this is summer in a salad bowl.

Mr Click loves burgers, but I admit they are not my favorite thing, at least not the usual “make a hockey puck out of meat and cook it” way. I’ve been trying various recipes to make them more interesting. So as our last dinner-for-only-two for a while, tonight was Greek Burgers served with Greek Orzo Salad.

Both were excellent, and will probably be added to the regular rotation.

burger mix

Burgers:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 2 Tbsp. finely chopped red onion
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. white pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

mint-dill yogurt sauce

Sauce:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill weed
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

Changes I made:
I used fresh oregano from my herb garden (twice as much as the amount called for dried)
I halved the amount of yogurt called for, and used Fage Greek yogurt.

The Orzo Salad, I made a few changes to. Here it is the way I made it (original is linked above):

orzo salad

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked orzo pasta
• 1/2 jar of Trader Joe’s artichoke antipasto
• 1 tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1 cucumber, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons red onion, chopped
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped greek olives
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil
• 2 tablespoon Meyer lemon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

A note about the red onion I used… I bought some Bottle-Neck Onions from the farmer’s market yesterday. They are fantastic! They are little red onions that yield about 1/4 cup when you chop up a whole one. No issues with a leftover half of a huge red onion stinking up the fridge. I’m not sure if they are just early onions or an old-timey variety, but I’m sold. I’ll buy them till they are gone from the market.

I served these topped with sliced tomatoes and the yogurt sauce, on pan-toasted Trader Joe’s brioche hamburger buns, with the orzo salad on the side.

greek burger plate

We only cooked up two of the burgers; the other two are in the freezer. They will be someone’s tasty lunch!

Possible changes I’d make next time might be to use half ground beef and half ground lamb, or to add a little fresh dill to the burger mix. They really were quite good the way I made them.

I mixed the leftover yogurt sauce in to the orzo salad. The flavors didn’t change appreciably, at least right away. I’ll be taking a dish of it to work tomorrow for my own lunchy goodness.