Grilled Meat with Mushrooms and Peppers

Here's an easy way to eat well after a long day. Ready in less than 30 minutes, last night I used veal chops but you can use just about any thing - beef, pork or chicken - as long as it is organic and grass fed.

2 filets or chops of grass fed meat
Olive oil
1 chile pepper chopped
bunch of cilantro chopped
2 red peppers sliced
1 large onion sliced
fresh mushrooms sliced
baby spinach (Its OK to buy this washed in a bag)

In a pan, heat the olive oil and saute the onion and pepper slices until limp.
Begin grilling the meat in a grill pan or under the broiler. Unless very thick, 2 - 3 minutes each side should do it.
Add the sliced mushrooms, chile and cilantro to the sauteing vegetables
When the meat is ready, put it on a bed of uncooked baby spinach and then cover with the sauted vegetables
Add salt and pepper and you are good to go.

Roast Crispy Cauliflower

Here is the recipe for the cauliflower we ate (happily all together) in Australia. It is something you can prepare simply and quickly. It is delicious, super healthy and affordable. Doesn't get much better than that.

1 cauliflower
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon black mustard seed (if you don't have this - don't worry but they do taste great)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1) Preheat the oven to 400F/200C
2) Cut cauliflower into smallish florets, discarding the stalk and put into a roasting tray
3) Add the oil, turmeric, curry powder, mustard seeds, salt and pepper and toss
4) Spread out evenly in the tray
5) Put into the over for 30 minutes, shuffling the tray once after 15 minutes

Footie Banger Delight or Sausages with Apples and Cider

So, do you like the title? Anyway, this is a great meal to make if you - and friends - are watching footie. Particularly delicious in the autumn when the season has just gotten underway.

Ingredients

8 Sausages (best you can afford)
2 Apples
2 Onins
3 Tablespoons olive oil
Small piece of butter
200 ml apple cider or juice

Cut both the apples and the onions into wedges. Put everything except the cider into a shallow overproof dish. You want all the ingredients to lie in one layer. Season with salt and peper and stir so that everything is covered with the oil. Put in the oven at 359F and cook for 45 minutes.

At half time, take out of the oven, turn over the sausages and add the cider. Put back in the oven for another 45 minutes.

While Chelsea is pulverizing the competition, the sausages will cook to a lovely golden colour and the cider will reduce to give you some cooking juices. After the game, take out and enjoy.

Serve with baked potatoes.

Love,
Mom

A Plan for Thanksgiving when the Cook Has to be in Court

Middle son (he who shall not be named on the internet) called for tips on how to organize Thanksgiving when you're short on time - i.e. when the cook is on a big case. So being a great Mom, I wrote him a plan. Seeing as how all of you will someday be organizing your own Thanksgivings, I thought this would be a fun document to share.

Bon Appetit!

Menu

Decide exactly what you are responsible for and write it down. If you are supplying the turkey and the trimmings and your other guests are all bringing a dish, your list might look like this:

Turkey

Stuffing

Gravy

Cranberry Sauce

As long as you have those four things under control, you are in business. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that you need to buy a lot of booze. Dad likes to serve Beaujolais Nouveau because 1) it arrives around Thanksgiving, 2) its not too expensive and 3) its not too heavy.

List

Once you have a menu, you need to make a list. This is the most important step in the whole process and more time has been wasted running back and forth to the store because you forgot something than any thing else.

Once you have chosen your recipes, write down every ingredient (yes, every ingredient). It will be a long list. Now you can go through the kitchen and cross off anything you already have in sufficient quantities.

At the same time, think about what equipment you need to get the turkey to the table. You will need 1) a pan large enough to hold the turkey  2) carving board large enough 3) carving tools. If you don’t have these items, borrow or buy them.

Shopping

On Tuesday, take your list and go shopping. You might want to order your turkey ahead by phone to make sure they have the size you want. Rule of thumb, a pound per person. I wouldn’t leave the shopping any later because the stores become too crazy and things run out.

Prepare Ahead

You can make both the cranberry sauce and the stuffing ahead of time: the cranberry sauce whenever you want because it keeps in the fridge forever and the stuffing on Wednesday. Be sure to keep the stuffing in the fridge after it is made.

Another way to get ahead of the game is to set the table on Wednesday. This also helps you to see if you are missing things like chairs and knives and gives you time to acquire them.

On the Day

There are 1,000 ways to cook a turkey, each with different timings. Nevertheless, an 18 – 22 pound stuffed turkey should take about 5 hours at 350F. After the turkey comes out of the oven, it needs to rest for 30 minutes. A good way to know that your turkey is cooked is to pierce the thickest part of the leg with a thin skewer (or fork if you don’t have one). The juices that run out should be golden and clear. You can also give the leg a little tug to make sure there is some give in it.

The turkey can rest for longer (up to 50 minutes) if you want to slow things down. Just be sure to cover the turkey in tinfoil to keep it warm.

Once the turkey is out of the pan and resting, you can make the gravy.

So, calculating backwards, if you want to eat at 5:00, then the turkey should be in the oven by 11:30. If the stuffing is already made and you’ve already bought the turkey, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Turkey Tips

You don't have to do anything except keep the turkey in the frig until you cook it. Then do this:

1) Take the giblets out of the turkey. They are normally in a plastic bag. Just make sure the cavity of the turkey is empty

2) Stuff the turkey into the neck end, pushing it up between the flesh and the skin towards the breast - not too tightly because it will expand during cooking. Press it gently and then tuck the neck flap under the bird. If you have a small skewer you can secure it. If you don't, just forget it, it will work either way

3) Put the rest of the stuffing in the body cavity

4) Put the bird in the pre-heated oven

5) You can baste every half hour or so if you want. I never do because my turkey is too big and I'm just glad I got it into the oven. Basting is nice, not essential.

6) If the skin gets really dark looking, cover the bird with an aluminum foil tent, not too tight. Normally, you need to do this for the legs and wings which get the darkest the fastest.

Does that help?

Mom

Good luck.

A Recipe for the Perfect Thanksgiving

In 1990, when we were living in Frankfurt, I received the phone call that changed our Thanksgiving celebration forever. The call was from my friend, Pat, who had just won a turkey, which was the prize for a 5K road race. What am I going to do with this turkey, she asked? It’s enormous!

We quickly decided that the only thing to do with an enormous turkey was to cook it and invite everyone we knew to a real American Thanksgiving. As we had the much larger apartment, we held the event at our place. I should add that Pat and I knew a heck of a lot of people.

That first Thanksgiving was a “succes fou”. The food may have been traditional but the guests definitely were not. Instead of the Norman Rockwell family pictured above, we had an exotic assortment of international mutts: homesick Americans, international Germans and lots of other nationalities drawn to Frankfurt during that ‘moment’ in the 1990s when the city was vying to become the financial capital of Europe and the American military had an enormous presence. The meal was big fun and completely chaotic. We had invited so many people that we ran out of everything, chairs, knives, and plates but no one seemed to mind. That enormous turkey was the talk of the town.

The next year, we did it again. We invited more people. We gave people assignments and extended the menu. We developed traditions. Your father started reading Art Buchwald’s ‘Explaining Thanksgiving to the French’. For some reason that I can’t remember anymore, I started to wear an Austrian dirndl. Our Thanksgiving became like the baseball field in the movie  ‘Field of Dreams’.  We built it and they came. And then we moved to London – and still they came. And they keep coming. But of course, you know all of this. You were there.

This year, you will be holding your own Thanksgiving celebration in California. Of course, I will miss you, but that is not my point. I was going to write-up some recipes for you to use, but I realized - you don’t need them. You are sons of a grand Thanksgiving tradition. You already carry in your heads and your hearts everything you need to know about America’s best holiday. But I’m still your mother and I like to dispense advice so here it is.  For the perfect Thanksgiving what you need to do is:

Buy a big turkey. Invite everyone you know. Cook. Eat. Next year – repeat!

Good luck,

Mom

Eureka Chilli

I was talking to Mac recently. "Mom", he said, "it is soooo much cheaper to cook your own food". Eureka!
Yup, you can save a fortune if you cook at home. So this recipe is for Mac. It's super cheap, super easy and super delicious.

You will need:

1 pound of ground beef - you want ground beef with a high fat content which is normally the cheapest.

2 cans of kidney beans

1 spicy chorizo sausage (Spanish) - if you can't find this just skip it

1 onion and a clove or 2 of garlic

Oregano

Large spoonful of tomato paste (buy in toothpaste tubes and keep in fridge. It lasts forever)

1 can peeled tomatoes (Buy lots of these and keep in kitchen because they are very useful)

Worcester Sauce (this is good to have in your kitchen cabinet even if you will only use a little so don't worry about buying a bottle)

Grated cheese ( its cheaper if you grate it yourself but pre-grated is OK)

1) Slice a chorizo sausage into thinish slices.  If you can't find chorizo, just skip this step.

2) Chop an onion and if you like garlic, chop some of that too

3) Put a tablespoon of cooking oil in the pan. Add the onion, garlic and chorizo sausage and cook over very low heat until the onions are translucent. Keep heat low and stir often

4) Add the ground beef and stir

5) When it changes color from red to light brown, add the oregano, tomato paste, the can of tomatoes, four shakes of the Worcester sauce and some salt. Stir. Turn the heat down. Put a lid on it and cook for at least 30 minutes or longer if you can wait that long.

6) Right before you serve, add the grated cheese and let it melt

Dig in

Cheap and Cheerful Smoked Fish and Cannellini

Yesterday, I was trying to decide what to make for dinner. I found some smoked haddock in the freezer and cans of cannellini beans in the larder. Et voila - a meal that is quick, healthy and cheap. So I thought, my boys who are cooking for themselves could use a recipe like this. So here it is.

Keep these in inventory:
A) Skinless smoked fish fillets. Either cod or haddock are good choices. If you like, you can freeze them.
B) Cans of cannellini beans

To prepare
1) Lay the fish fillets in a frying pan. If you have them, add 1 teaspoon peppercorns, 1 bay leaf and 1 celery stalk. If you don't have these ingredients, don't worry
2) Pour into the pan 2 cups of water
3) Cover the pan, bring the water to a boil then turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, a bit longer if the fish is frozen.
4) Drain 2 cans of beans into a colander and rinse to get rid of the gloopiness (an important step)
5) Pour our most of the liquid from the pan. Leave about 1/2 a cup. Take out the fish and put on a plate.
6) Now put the beans into pan and heat them in the liquid for about 5 minutes.
7) Put the fish back in the pan. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and chopped parsley if you have it and stir everything together, breaking up the fish as you go.
8) Taste and add salt and pepper (easy on the salt because the smoked fish is salty already)

Braised Ribs

This is a great dish when its cold or when you are feeding a crowd. Make sure you have lots of time - at least 2 1/2 hours. As Alice Waterrs puts it, "braising ribs on the bone makes one of the most succulent meat dishes there is.

Ingredients

Beef ribs - the short ones ( 2 - 3 inches) are the nicest but the recipe works for all lengths

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion - cut into quarters

1 celery stalk - quartered

2 carrots - peeled and cut into large pieces

6 garlic cloves - roughly chopped

thyme

parsley

1 bay leaf

1 can tomatoes

3/4 cup red wine

2 cups chicken or beef broth

Season ribs with salt & pepper and roast (bone side down) in the oven at 450 degrees for 30 minutes

While the ribs are roasting, cook the vegetables in a large pot with the olive oil

Add the red wine and broth and bring to simmer

Place the ribs (bone side up) on top of the vegetables and broth, cover the pot with a lid ( or foil) and place back in the oven

After 20 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 325 and cook for another 1 1/2 hours. The meat should be very tender and falling off the bone.

Take the ribs out, eat and enjoy

Cauliflower Cheese

This is the recipe that makes cauliflower one of my children's favourite vegetable, even though they are not so wild about cauliflower. Yes, of course, its the cheese, bubbling, hot and delicious.

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower
Cheddar cheese (the more mature and sharper the better)
flour
milk
Worchester sauce
butter
bread crumbs

Instructions

1) Wash cauliflower and break into large bite-size florets
2) Place the florets in a small amount of boiling water and steam for 5 minutes
3) Take cauliflower off the stove, drain the water and put the florets aside.
4) In the same pot (less clean-up), melt a big piece of butter over medium heat(don't let it burn)
5) When completely melted put 2 heaping tablespoons of flour into the butter
6) Stir the flour/butter mixture for 3 minutes (keep the heat low)
7) Pour in a cup of milk and stir until you have a smooth sauce (It will take a while)
8) Stir in a tablespoon of Worchester Sauce. If you think the sauce is too thick, you can add more milk. If you like, you can grate in some nutmeg
9) Now put a large amount of grated cheddar cheese into the sauce. The rule here is the more cheese, the better
10) Stir the steamed cauliflower into the sauce, pour the whole mixture into a baking dish
11) Sprinkle pepper, bread crumbs and some grated chees on the top
12) Bake in the over for 15 to 20 minutes

Scrambled Eggs

There is one and only one trick to perfect, moist scambled eggs. Mix up the eggs to be cooked very, very gently. The more you whip them, the more air you introduce, the more they dry out.

In your pan (a non-stick pan will save you tons of clean-up time), put a large knob of butter. When the butter has melted and is beginning to bubble, pour in your eggs and stir gently. Keep stirring until the eggs are just as you like them. Enjoy.

Meatloaf

This recipe is for Cullman - because he loves it. And there should be plenty left over for sandwiches.




Ingredients

2 pounds gound beef chuck (mince)
bacon
1 onion
1 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
Worchester sauce
salt, oregano, thyme, allspice, paprika, bay leaves

Instructions

1. Chop one large onion ( or 2 small) and saute in butter over low heat until onion is soft and translucent - leave onions to cool
2. put 2 pounds of ground beef chuck into a large bowl
3. add 1 cup bread crumbs to the beef
4. add 2 eggs beaten
5. add one tablespoon of all the spices listed except the bay leaves. Don't worry if you are missing any, add what you have
6. add 1 tablespoon Worchester Sauce
7. mix all the ingredients - use your hands but wash them
8. add the onions and mix again
9. Pat into the shape of a Rugby ball
10. put 2 bay leaves on top
11. drape 3 strips of bacon over your meatloaf
12. Cook in oven for 1 hour 20 minutes at 350 F
13. Take out and let it sit for 10 minutes

Houmous

Here it is. The best houmous ever, the recipe that puts all others to shame. So what's the secret to Kate's Houmous? Go light on the tahini and heavy on the garlic. This is best made in a food processor. I've made it in a blender but you will need to cut back the recipe by half ( or more ) so that it fits and the ingredients have room to blend.

Ingredients

3 Cans of chickpeas
3 teaspoons Tahini (ground sesame paste)
6 large cloves of garlic
1 1/2 lemons
1 teaspoon cumin
3/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

1. Rinse the chickpeas thoroughly. This is important or else the chickpeas will be bitter.
2. Place chickpeas in food processor
3. Add 3 teaspoons tahini
4. Peel and crush 6 cloves of garlic and add to mixture
5. Add juice of 1 1/2 lemons
6. Add 3/4 olive oil
7. Add 1 teaspoon cumin and some salt
8. Blend until mixture is like a smooth paste and taste

After tasting, if you think the houmous is too thick add more olive oil, blend and taste again. If it is still too thick, add the juice of another half lemon. If you like cumin, you can add a bit more of that too. The trick here is to keep tasting and keep adding until you achieve the taste and consistency you want.

Put in a bowl, sprinkle with cayenne pepper if you have it and drizzle olive oil over the top. It will keep for many days in the fridge and gets better with age.

Pimiento Cheese

This recipe for pimiento cheese which I love more than just about anything is for my son Leland, in celebration of the excellent results he achieved through persistence and hard work.

1 pound sharp cheddar cheese chopped into small chunks
1 peeled and seeded pimento pepper ( from a can or jar) chopped
3/4 cup best quality mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pinch of salt

This is best made in a food processor with a large bowl but in a pinch, a blender will do

Put all the ingredients into the food processor and blend until smooth. If not creamy enough, add a small amount of mayonnaise until desired texture is achieved.

Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Roast Chicken

This recipe is thanks to Patricia Wells, perhaps my favorite cookbook writer who learned it from Joel Robuchon, one of France's greatest chefs. Wells recipes are delicious and easy to follow. If you only buy one book, buy one of hers. I've roasted hundreds of chickens hundreds of ways. This is the best. There's lots of timing and turning but its worth it.

Ingredients

1. Whole chicken - buy the best you can affort, preferably free-range and organic. Industrially raised chickens have horrible lives and taste horrible too.
2. Butter

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425F/220C

2. In a small bowl, combine about 5 tablespoons butter and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mash with a fork until the butter is like a smooth paste

3. Start at the neck end of the chicken (think about it) and put your finger between the skin and the flesh of the breast. Loosen the skin away from the flesh carefully and try not to tear it. Then push the softened butter up under the skin over the side of both breasts.

4. Place the chicken on its side in the roasting tray and roast for 20 minutes

5. Turn the chicken to the other side and roast for 20 minutes

6. Turn the chicken with the breast side up for 20 minutes.

7. Lower the heat to 375F/190C, turn the chicken breast side down for 10 minutes

8. Take out of the oven, let the bird sit for 10 minutes and carve.

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

A raunchy name (la puttana is a prostitute) for a delicious sauce from the slums of Rome that can be made quickly from canned goods. Keep these ingredients in stock and you will always be able to feed yourselves and others. A gutsy sauce that is good for late nights and hangovers.

Ingredients

Spaghetti
6 anchovies, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
Chilli powder or cayenne pepper to taste
600 grams canned peeled plum tomatoes ( 2 cans )
2/3 cup black pitted olives, sliced
1 tablespoon of capers



Instructions

1. Put olive oil, chilli powder, anchovies and garlic in a large frying pan and cook at medium heat for two minutes, mashing the anchovies with a fork
2. Add the tomatoes, olives and capers and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently
3. Cook the spaghetti accordig to the packet instructions
4. Drain spaghetti and put into the frying pan and fry for 1 minute, stirring all the time
5. If your frying pan is not large enough, don't worry, just pour the sauce over the cooked spaghetti and stir rigourously (not much is lost compared to the last minute frying described in 4)
6. Serve immediately with parmesan

Spaghetti Vongole

Use the smallest, freshest clams you can find. The quality of the clams will "make or break" this dish.

Ingredients

Clams
Olive oil
White wine
Garlic
Flat leaf parsley
Spaghetti or linguine

Directions

Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Once the water is boiling rapidly, cook the pasta. In the mean time ...

1. Soak the clams in a large bowl of cold water for about an hour. Keep changing the water until it is clear. The clams will spit out sand. If the outside of the shell is dirty, scrub the clams with a brush.
2. Heat 3/4 cup of olive oil in a large pan
3. Add 3/4 cup white wine and 6 cloves of garlic that hae been peeled and sliced
4. When the mixture is hot and bubbling, add the clams, stir, and cover the pot with a lid
5. Cook on high heat until all the clams are open, stirring often
6. Add the chopped parsley and salt and pepper, stir and cook for 1 -2 minutes more

7. Pour the clam mixture on top of your spaghetti or linguine and serve immediately

You do not need cheese for this, or any other seafood pasta

Green Beans

Ingredients

Green beans
butter

Directions

1. Take the little ends off the top and bottom of the beans. This is boring so do it while listening or watching something interesting.
2. Bring a frying pan of water to boil
3. Immerse the beans in the water for 4 minutes. The beans should be bright green and still crisp. After 4 minutes pour out the water and set beans aside.
4. In the frying pan, melt lots of butter and let it get very hot but not start to smoke and burn.
5. Begin to toss the beans in the very hot butter and keep tossing until the beans begin to darken. It is important to keep the heat high. You can listen for the sizzle of the beans. Keep stirring for another 4 -5 minutes.
6. Add lots of salt and pepper, stir and serve

Aubergine & Feta

This is as easy as it is delicious.

Ingredients

2 - 3 aubergine/eggplants
Feta Cheese
Mint
Olive Oil
Lemon

Directions

Slice the aubergine into approx 1/4 inch slices
brush olive oil on both sides
Place on a baking sheet or tray
Bake in oven 350F/185C for approximately 15 minutes until soft. Keep an eye on the aubergine and don't let it burn
Take aubergine out of oven
In a bowl, place the following ingredients in layers, one on top of the other: aubergine, crumbled feta, mint leaves that have been diced, lemon juice, a little olive oil and salt and pepper.
Keep building up the layers until all the aubergine has been used up
This is good served at room temperature and will keep well in the fridge to be eaten later

A Potato Ricer

This is what a potato ricer looks like

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

Potatoes (Idaho or Yukon Gold variety are good)
Milk
Butter
Salt

Equiptment

Potato Ricer – electric mixers and food processors tend to turn the potatoes into glue. By hand is best
Vegetable Peeler

Directions

1. Peel the potatoes. Once peeled, the potato needs to be placed in a bowl of water where the potatoes are completely covered or they will turn brown quickly.
2. If the potatoes are large, cut in half right before cooking.
3. Put potatoes in large pot of water and bring to a boil then turn down the heat and let them cook at a low boil for 15 to 20 minutes or until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork
4. When the potatoes are soft and easily pierced, drain them in a colander ( if you have one) or just crack the lid of the pot open a bit and hold over the sink. Get as much water out as you can, the drier the potatoes, the better they will absorb the milk and butter
5. Gently heat a large piece of butter (the richer you like your potatoes the larger the piece) and a cup of milk in a separate pot.
6. Pour a small amount of the heated milk and butter into the potatoes and begin to mash with the ricer. Continue to add the liquid and mash until the potatoes are the consistency you like, soft but not soopy. Taste as you go along.
7. Add plenty of salt and taste again. You can also continue to add butter to taste.