50years50recipes

July 24, 2012 · 1:28 pm

Chive Talking

I am an unreliable gardener. Sometimes I lavish my plants with all the love and water they deserve, while other times I ignore and neglect them horribly. I like the idea of a garden, but somehow lack the day-to-dayness necessary to have anything that approaches magnificent. It’s one of those ugly truths you have to sometimes acknowledge about yourself. The conundrum is I love having plants and flowers around, and I have a pretty green thumb – I just need the kind of plants that can take care of themselves. My mom tries to let me off the hook by saying that I’ll have time for gardening when the kids are grown. Perhaps. We’ll see.

Chive blossoms

I have several plants that thankfully fall into the category of no maintenance. A flamboyant hot pink tree peony which came from my Grammy Thompson’s house on Grand Street in Croton. Some scented geraniums my Mom gave me, which I love dearly since they are the first things up in the spring and the last to go each fall. Hostas, bleeding hearts, and ferns also fall onto my delightful list of “Don’t worry about us, we’ll take care of ourselves” plants.

Grammy Thompson’s tree peony

In my garden beds the list of no-to-low maintenance edibles include garlic, rhubarb, and chives. Chives grow like weeds, which is a good thing since we love to put them in everything. Russell mixes chives into cream cheese to smear on his bagels, Isabelle sprinkle them on top of her scrambled eggs, I stir them into soups and put a generous handful into my Grammy Caldwell’s Potato Salad.

Grammy Caldwell’s potato salad

Grammy Caldwell always had chives in her garden. Even when she moved out of her house on Strathmore Drive and into an apartment, there would be pots of the tall, slender herb growing along her terrace. Chives are one of the essential ingredients for her potato salad. As a result they were one of the first plants I bought for our garden and every spring they are there to greet me. This year I even dug up a bunch to give away, they’ve become so abundant.

Ready to give away

One of the quirks I remember about Grammy and her signature potato salad was she would scoop out a serving for my brother Jay and set it aside before she added the chopped hard-boiled eggs. I’m not sure why she did this since she rarely catered to people’s eating whims. Grammy turned my cousin Steve’s refusal to eat green peas into a family joke. Grammy had taken Steve (and probably his siblings) out to eat at Edward’s Tea Room. When they were served their food my cousin flatly refused to eat any of his peas. Grammy (who was a big believer in trying things) asked little Stevie what he didn’t like about green peas. He replied, “Well Gram, I don’t like the insides and I don’t like the outsides.” She laughed every time she retold the story, yet she didn’t not serve green peas to the rest of us just because Steve thought they were icky. Somehow though there was always one portion of potato salad without eggs.

I’ve modified her classic potato salad a bit. I use a different mayonnaise, despite Grammy’s insistence that Helman’s was the best. I don’t bother peeling the potatoes, but otherwise I do as she taught me. I boil the potatoes whole and then cut them into bite size chunks, usually singeing my fingers as I do so. I dribble the cider vinegar over them while they are still hot so they can soak it in better. And I always add a generous amount of chives.

Grammy Caldwell’s Potato Salad

4 pounds potatoes – I use small red ones, but any boiling potato would do

2-3 Tablespoons cider vinegar

2 Tablespoons dijon mustard

1/2 – 3/4 cup mayonnaise, or to taste

3 ribs celery, chopped

4 hard-boiled eggs*, peeled and chopped

salt to taste

1/3-1/2 cup minced chives

Boil the potatoes until you can pierce them with a knife. Drain and cut into bite size pieces. If you want to be like Grammy you can also peel them. Drizzle the cider vinegar over them and toss, I also add the mustard at this point. Let them cool before mixing in the mayonnaise, celery, hard-boiled eggs, salt and chives. Mix together and either serve immediately or refrigerate.

"Grammy Caldwell's potato salad with lamb and green beans"

Grammy’s potato salad with grilled lamb and wax & string beans

*I use the Julia Child method of hard boiling eggs. Cold water to cover, bring to a boil, turn off for 17 minutes, rinse in ice water for 2 minutes, back to boiling water for 30 seconds, cool again and peel.

Burn Baby Burn (favorite tool #6)

I’ve been listening to Erasure’s version of Cole Porter’s Too Darn Hot from the Red, Hot and Blue tribute/benefit CD.

“I’d like to sup with my baby tonight,

Refill the cup with my baby tonight

but I ain’t up to my baby tonight

’cause it’s too darn hot.

It’s too darn hot

It’s too darn hot.”

And that pretty much sums it up around here as of late. It is just too darn hot.

At least our feet our cool….

To combat the heat Shawn has pulled out the kiddie pool so we can cool off our tootsies. I’m making pitchers and pitchers of ice tea, and most nights we’re firing up the grill to keep from overheating the kitchen. Pizza, grilled chicken and tofu marinated in Teriyaki glaze, and an amazing grill-roasted lamb with tapanade which I read about on Elissa Altman’s blog.

To help with all the grilling there is one essential tool needed for a charcoal grill – a chimney fire starter. All that is required to get it going are three sheets of newspaper, a bunch of briquettes, and a match. It could not be simpler. Wad up the newspaper and shove them in the bottom part, flip it right side up and pour in the briquettes, then light a match. No starter fluid, no watching and waiting to see if your fire will catch. It works every time. If you want a very thorough and thoughtful way of getting that baby smoking hot read here or watch this video. Otherwise take a gander at these instructional images:

Shove some paper in the bottom

Next flip starter over and fill top with briquettes

Add match and you’re almost there…

Time to grill – lamb anyone?

Thanks to our friends Lisa and Lee for grilling and posing for these instructional pictures. They thought they’d been invited to Tuesday dinner not to come and work for their supper!.

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Filed under Favorite Tools

Tagged as chimney fire starter, Cole Porter, Elissa Altman, grilling

July 12, 2012 · 9:45 pm

4 Ways to Beat the Heat

It’s been bloody hot the past few weeks. There were a few days when things cooled down a bit and I felt I could catch my breath, but otherwise I’ve been “perspie” as my Grammy Thompson used to say. “Perspie” was her delicate way of saying perspire. Since we don’t have air conditioning I’ve come up with four great ways to beat the heat.

My favorite swimming hole

1. Clean your basement. Seriously, the basement is always cooler than upstairs. I’m not talking heavy lifting, just some rearranging, a few loads of laundry. You’ll cool down and be happier. Heck, just tell everyone you’re going down to clean the basement and instead grab a folding chair and a good book and read for a while.

2. Find a Swimming Hole. This tip is for folks in the country. There are several near and far from me (unfortunately nothing within walking distance). What you’re looking for is something on the icy side so you can bring your core temperature down. Don’t forget to put an extra towel on your car seat so you don’t fry your bottom when you leave.

3. Turn on the Brooklyn AC. When I lived in Brooklyn there were no swimming holes, and we couldn’t afford the electricity an AC unit sucked down so we made our own AC. First set up a chair with a towel on it. Beach or bath it doesn’t matter. Second position an oscillating fan in front of your chair. Third grab all the bandanas you own and soak them in cold water, wring out most but not all of the water. Fourth strip naked. Then sit on the chair, place the damp bandanas all over your body and turn the fan on high. It will feel like you have AC. Re-wet the bandanas as they dry.

4. Make a pitcher of ice tea. I covered the basic concept for ice tea here. My friend Hilary Zaloom made this divine ice tea for our monthly knitting group when we were crazy enough to meet during a similar heat wave last summer. We ended up at Hilary’s house because she has AC (and not the Brooklyn kind) and she also makes the most delicious drinks. Needless to say between the beverages and the AC we were all happy to sit there for several hours chatting with a bunch of wool in our laps.

Hilary’s Herbal Ice Tea with Honey Water

Hilary’s Herbal Ice Tea

The genius of this ice tea isn’t just in the flavor combination, but in the sweetener. Instead of using a simple syrup (one part water to one part sugar) Hilary adds honey and some warm water to a squirt bottle. Once shaken to combine the honey water can be squirted into any cool beverage as a sweetener without clumping as it is want to do in cold drinks. Brilliant!

Red Zinger or Hibiscus tea

1 orange

2-4 spring mint

honey water* to taste (I make mine at a 1 part honey to 2-3 parts water)

Place teabags in a large pitcher of water and let soak 3+ hours or overnight. Remove bags and add mint sprigs. Slice half the orange and juice the remaining half. Add juice and slices to the tea. Sweeten to taste with honey water.

*Store honey water in the fridge if you don’t use it immediately, it will keep for a week or so.

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Filed under 50 Recipes, In between

Tagged as beat the heat, brooklyn ac, Grammy Thompson, herbal ice tea, Hilary, honey, Summer

July 10, 2012 · 11:06 am

Hello and Goodbye

I almost didn’t make it to the hospital to deliver my first child because I had a craving the night I went into labor which sent me to town to satisfy said craving on a very foggy evening. After I returned home I forgot to turn off the lights in my car, which of course killed the battery*. The next morning when my husband realized what I’d done he called AAA to get a jump-start. The AAA guy got lost trying to find our house and in his panic once he finally did arrived crossed the wires and fried the battery. I guess watching a pregnant woman walk around holding her ginormous belly and moaning can cause the level of anxiety in someone who is just there to fix the car, not deliver the baby, to rise to such an epic point that they then make mistakes. Thankfully my husband, who had not lost his cool, was able to come up with an alternative plan to get us to the hospital, and figured he’d worry about replacing the battery later. At that point I didn’t really care since my craving had been satisfied. We eventually made it to the hospital, and 36 hours later said hello to our daughter Isabelle.

It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I first tasted one of these magical things I later developed cravings for, but after the first bite I was hooked. Chuck Hettinger introduced me to turkey burgers over twenty-five years ago when I was helping him organize his home office. When Chuck and I thought we’d done enough work to deserve a break we would leave his apartment and wander a few blocks over to a little lunch joint. There we would ordered turkey burgers covered with caramelized onions and a generous squirt of dijon mustard on the bun, and devour them. They were glorious and flavourful and surprisingly juicy, and I was in food heaven.

Clearly at this point my life can be divided in two by those lunches. There is my pre-turkey burger existence, spent eating turkey in one of two ways – Thanksgiving dinner or sliced thin from the deli counter and layered on a sandwich. Then there is my post-turkey burger life which includes turkey burgers in a myriad of forms. Turkey burgers were one of two foods I craved while pregnant (the other was watermelon). I just wish I’d known sooner how fantastic turkey could be in burger form.

I’ll admit the one draw back is turkey meat can get dry if you don’t pay attention, it’s poultry after all, but with a little care and a few tricks it will be divine. One thing I often do is mix a package of ground breast meat with another of ground thighs/legs both for moisture as well as economy (ground breast meat is usually more expensive – sometimes by as much as $2/pound). Then I think extra moisture, something that can be added to the ground turkey before cooking to add a juicy component. A little bit of shredded zucchini or apples both work, a trick I learned from my friend Rick Ellis. Lately though I’ve been adding mango chutney along with a few teaspoons of curry powder which transforms a turkey burger into something so juicy and exotic you don’t even need a bun.

While the sugars in mango chutney help caramelize the burgers you have to beware of mango chunks which can make the burgers fall apart as they cook. my friend Hilary showed me a nifty tool she uses for quick chops and I highly recommend it. It’s like a salad spinner got married to a food processor and they had a baby. You load the handful or two of whatever you want to chop, put the top on, and pull the handle like you would for a salad spinner. Voila, no more mango chunks.

This recipe is an adaptation of a curried chicken salad that everyone used to make in the 80s. Back then you cooked curry in a little butter to release the flavors, added mango chutney, mayonnaise, grape halves and tossed it all with cubed chicken breasts. For these burgers you don’t need to pre-cook the curry since you’re cooking the meat, and of course no mayo or grape halves.

Mango Curry Turkey Burgers

1 pound ground turkey breast (light)

1 pound ground turkey thighs (dark)

1/3 cup mango chutney

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon salt

oil for the pan (vegetable is fine)

If your mango chutney is chunky puree or smash or pick out the biggest chunks. Add curry, chutney and salt to the turkey meat and squeeze it all gently until everything is mixed. Heat up a large sauté pan and add a little oil. I bounce back and forth between using a well seasoned cast iron pan and a non-stick pan. Form the seasoned turkey meat into burger shapes and cook until well browned on the outside and cooked through on the inside. As much as I like my beef burgers medium rare, turkey burgers should be thoroughly cooked.

*One note of advise as these burgers cook and caramelize your pan may end up with some hyper caramelized bits cooked on. I soak before scrubbing (even though you’re not supposed to soak cast iron sometimes it is the only thing you can do-just reseason the pan and you should be good). Trust me that these burgers are worth the extra bit of clean up.

Isabelle served these turkey burgers at a small going away party for her friend Katja who was returning to Germany after going to school with her in the US for two years. The turkey burgers were delicious with a dollop of mango chutney instead of catsup, sesame noodles, and a whole lot of kale sautéed with olive oil, garlic and onions. For dessert they ate molten chocolate death, which was fine since the effect of the excessive caffeine in the dessert was lost on teenagers.

Sauté the stems, onions and garlic first, then add leaves.

It was a bittersweet dinner for Isabelle and friends saying goodbye to Katja. Hopefully the next time we serve turkey burgers it will be to say hello again.

*My husband corrected me and said it was the main fuse, not the battery. In either case the car wouldn’t go and we had to find a different way to get the hospital (and this I do remember the AAA guy did not want to drive us in his truck).

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Filed under 50 Recipes

Tagged as Chuck Hettinger, food heaven, Hilary, mango chutney, turkey burger

July 6, 2012 · 5:42 pm

Not Sun Tea

This is one of those little tricks that I think of as so simple that I often don’t remember to pass it along. When I worked at Leaf ‘n Bean Cafe and the temperatures rose to the high 90s we sold a lot of ice tea. Literally gallons of the stuff. It wasn’t the sun tea that you often read about at this time of year. Nor did we pour boiling water over the 25 or so tea bags we used for 4 gallons of tea. We just filled up giant containers with cold water, added the teabags, and popped them into the fridge with a lid on. That was it. The next morning there was a fresh batch of ice tea ready to serve.

The manager explained that when you use hot water (and to a lesser extent the sun) to make ice tea you release the tannins in tea, which can make tea bitter. Cold brewing means less tannins and a smoother brew. It doesn’t mean you can’t make a great glass of ice tea using hot water and then cooling it down, but when just stepping outside makes you perspire why not do things the cold way?

Fridge Tea, as easy as 1-2-3

It took about an hour and a half to go from clear water to the brown on the bottom right. Another couple of hours and I’ll just need a tall glass, wedge of lemon and a straw.

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Filed under In between

Tagged as ice tea, leaf n bean cafe, Summer, sun tea