mama guest blogs: from the red recipe binder files

(also known as: blogger bail-out. because my mother hates to see me be lazy on the interweb.)

The Red Recipe Binder

My mother (Clare’s Mimi) says that I “couldn’t find the kitchen” before I got married, which is true. I lived at home. My grandmother did all the cooking. My only kitchen chore was drying dishes once in a while.

So when I got married and moved out of state I had to learn to cook or face a lifetime of what my new husband had eaten in his starving-student days. Fortunately, his cousin Beth gave me The Joy of Cooking, as shower gift. I read it like a novel, all 900+ pages. And I decided that maybe the Tuna, Noodle and Mushroom Casserole on p. 215 (subtitled “An excellent emergency dish”) was something I could tackle.

That’s where it all started. We didn’t have no stinkin interweb back then. We had home delivery of the daily and Sunday paper, and Mimi has always favored magazine subscriptions as gifts. So every month I would read Redbook and McCall’s and Good Housekeeping and cut out the recipes I wanted to try. And every Thursday I’d read the Food Section of the paper so I could cut out those recipes, too.

I scotch-taped each recipe onto a page of looseleaf paper and filed the pages in a 3-ring binder with sections for each of the chapters in Joy, starting with Beverages and moving on to Hors d’Oeuvre, Salads/Soups, Vegetables, Fish, Meat, Poultry, Breads and Coffee Cakes, Pies and Pastries, Cookies, and so on. I left out Canapes and Tea Sandwiches, Game, and Canning, Salting, Smoking and Drying.

The scotch tape is all dried out now, and a lot of the pages are ripped on the edge where the 3-hole-punch used to be. Paging through the tattered remnants of my homemade cookbook, it’s easy to see what foods fascinated and frustrated me in the 70s. There are a dozen different pie crust recipes, lots of fancy dinner party dishes like Coquilles Saint Jacques (which I am absolutely certain I have never cooked). There are five carrot cake recipes, including the definitive version from the first “new” Philadelphia restaurant, Steve Poses’ Commissary. The Frog-Commissary Cookbook http://www.amazon.com/Frog-Commissary-Cookbook-Steven-Poses/dp/0940159732 didn’t come out until a few years later, but somebody at work had the Commissary calendar (1979?). It was a pinup page-per-month calendar, with a hand-lettered recipe for each month. Porn for office girls.

If a recipe turned out especially well, I drew stars on the clipping. Like this one, which I’ve been making ever since.

Chicken and Sausage

Ingredients

1 broiler-fryer chicken, cut up (now I use skinless, boneless thighs)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 tablespoon salad oil

¾ lb sweet or hot Italian sausages, cut in 2-inch pieces

1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes, drained, reserving ½ cup liquid

½ cup dry red wine

1 cup sliced onions

2 medium green peppers, sliced

1 tsp basil, crushed (now I use fresh or fresh-frozen)

Pinch sugar

1 ½ cups sliced fresh button mushrooms (this was before we knew about portabellas)

1/3 c. flour

3 tablespoons water

Prep

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Slice everything up and have it ready.

Cooking

In large skillet, heat oil. Add chicken and cook until well browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside. Prick sausages with a fork and brown in the same skillet. Remove and pour off excess drippings. Add chicken and sausages back to the skillet. Add tomatoes, wine, onions, green peppers, basil and sugar and cook for a few minutes, stirring up browned bits from the bottom. Return chicken and sausages to the pan. Add mushrooms and stir until well combined. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes, until chicken is tender. Push chicken and sausages to one side of the skillet. Combine flour and water until smooth; stir in ¼ cup of pan juices. Add to the skillet and cook until sauce bubbles and thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Stir to mix everything together. Better the second day.

bolognese

naturally, i had none of the better shapes on hand to eat this with, so i settled for whole sheat spaghetti. still nom.

this is one of the three things i've been able to cook since FOREVER (the other two are shortbread and mac & cheese) and, frankly, it's some of the best food there is. not to toot my own horn.

ingredients:

• olive oil
• chopped garlic
• mire poix
• (mushrooms)
• one package of "meatloaf meat" -- a combination of beef, pork and veal-- or just beef, or beef and pork, but i think the veal really adds something.
• 2 cans (32 ounces each?) of crushed tomatoes
• salt & pepper
• basil, oregano, etc. to taste (don't overdo it)
• (heavy cream/half & half, etc.)

prep:

• you may need to chop your own mire poix if tj's was ALL OUT
• (and your mushrooms, which aren't part of mire poix, but work nicely)
• and your garlic if you don't get it out of a jar

actual cooking:

• cover the bottom of a large pot over medium/high heat with olive oil
• add garlic, cook about 1 minute
• add mire poix (& mushrooms), cook until softened slightly
• add meat and cook until nothing's pink, stirring constantly
• (pour off fat if there's lots)
• add crushed tomatoes, herbs & salt & pepper
• allow to simmer for a good long time-- an hour or so, at least you can't really overcook it unless you're trying very hard
• add a splash of cream just before serving

obviously, this is most often served over pasta, go for something that will grip the chunks like corkscrews or shells.

savory shortbread experiments: basil & sun-dried tomato

this recipe has been adjusted for what i think mine lacked, namely, SALT. i've added scratch cheese and sea salt to this recipe, but i can't make any promises. they were good but... eh. they needed salt.

ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomato (NOT packed in oil) chopped fine
• 1 tbs scratch cheese
• 1 tsp ground sea salt
• 1 tbs fresh basil, chopped fine or 1/2 tbs dried basil, chopped fine
• 1 1/4 cups flour

prep:

• allow butter to soften
• preheat oven to 350*
• butter 2 baking sheets

actual cooking:

• beat butter until lightened in color (about 1 minute)
• add tomato
• add basil
• add cheese
• add salt
• add flour until just combined
• shape into 2 5" logs (mine were rectangular, which helped)
• wrap in plastic and chill IN THE REFRIGERATOR (not the freezer, not not not the freezer) for 1-4 hours until firm
• slice 1/8-1/4" thick bake until edges are golden brown