Itinerant Muse

Cranberry Salsa ~ Spices up a Thanksgiving feast

Tex-Mex Cranberry Salsa

I developed this recipe from reading a combination of recipes from the magazine, New Jersey Countryside, and Tex-Mex cookbooks.  As you may know, NJ has probably one of the largest cranberry bogs in the U.S. (third only to Wisconsin, my home state, and Massachusetts) and cranberries could almost be considered the state fruit. Since my children have never like cranberries and I grew up always having cranberry sauce and my grandmother's delicious cranberry pudding on Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was constantly challenged every Thanksgiving to create a recipe that they would like. They love this cranberry salsa!

Serves Two cups

• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped sweet onion, like a Vidalia
• 1 fresh jalapeno, seeded, deveined & finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic smashed, peeled & chopped
• 1 1/2 cup fresh cranberries blanch to slightly soften
• 1/2 small juicing orange, scrubbed, unpeeled, quartered & seeded
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• kosher or sea salt to taste

1. Combine onion, jalapeno & garlic in food processor. Pulse to coarsely chop.
2. Add cranberries that have been slightly blanched to soften, orange quarters, vinegar, sugar & orange juice. Pulse in food processor until uniformly chunky. Stir in cilantro and rosemary. Season to taste with salt.
3. Rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. preferably one hour to allow flavors to meld and develop.
4. Cover tightly and refrigerate salsa until thoroughly chilled, 2 hours or more.  Garnish with a sprig of rosemary.
5. Covered and refrigerated, cranberry salsa will keep nicely for up to 10 days and can be frozen for up to two months as well.

* For holiday or cocktail parties, serve as an hors d'oeuvres with sweet potato or tortilla chips  for   dipping.

Happy Thanksgiving and good health and happiness to all!

Pepitas - pumpkin seeds are nutritious little treasures

Pepitas - pumpkin seeds are nutritious little treasures

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A Little Coddling for Eggs

 

Who can identify this beautiful porcelain object?  It is an egg coddler similar to the ones I received as a wedding gift 40-some years ago.

After I mastered the art of cooking coddled eggs, the dish became my father's favorite breakfast food whenever he came to visit ~ two coddled eggs semi-hard, with a dollop of butter, salt & pepper served with an English muffin.

Imagine my surprise when my daughter 40  years later told me her significant other had cooked her coddled eggs in a tomato no less!

Eggs with tomatoes (Uova A Piatto Con Pomodori)

2 tsp. olive oil, 4 large tomatoes, pinch of dried oregano, fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped, salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush olive oil on an ovenproof dish. Cut tops of tomatoes off and scoop out seeds and some flesh. Sprinkle insides with a little salt, place upside down on a paper towel and drain for about 10 minutes. Season inside of tomatoes with oregano, salt and pepper.  Divide olive oil among tomatoes and place them in prepared dish.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove dish from oven and break an egg into each tomatoe, return dish to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes.  Garnish with parsley and serve.  Serves four.

Credit to www.dancosta.typepad.com  who  followed the recipe from the Silver Spoon.

HomeFurnishings: 6 Secrets to Successful Kitchen Design

HomeFurnishings: 6 Secrets to Successful Kitchen Design

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Fall Fruit Cake in a Skillet

Fresh blueberry, mango & apple cake (Adapted from Lena Corwin's Fresh Fruit Cake as seen on www.designspongeonline.com)
This is a fabulous way to create and bake a delicious cake for breakfast, tea or just snacking on and can be adapted with what is the season's freshest fruit.

2 cups diced fruit ~ I actually had almost 3 cups
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
Grated zest of lemon
1 cup flour
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp.  brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter, 1 Tbsp. brown sugar and sugar.  Add lemon zest.  Add eggs and vanilla stirring to combine.  In separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda ~ add to the butter & egg mixture.  Stir to combine.  Pour batter into a greased 8" skillet ( I used one of my old iron skillets inherited from my mom.)   Top with the fruit.  Combine the remaining 1 Tbsp. brown sugar with the cinnamon (I didn't have plain cinnamon, so I used the cinnamon sugar grinder that I always keep on hand.).  Sprinkle the mixture on top of the fruit.  Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean and top is browned.

Really a moisture and very delicious cake.  Enjoy!

Watermelon ~ Love it! It does wonders for you.

According to Marilee Tolen, Home Spa Lady, there are 12 reasons to eat watermelon besides the obvious ones of loving it, it's refreshing, thirst quenching, and delicously sweet.

My local farmer's market

1. It provides additional water to the body
2. Good for bad breath
3. Hangover remedy ( Who would have thought!!)
4. Can improve sore throat and mouth sores
5. Cleanses kidneys (juice the entire watermelon, rind, seeds and all, drink it for good kidney cleanse ~ WOW)
6. Naturally gets rid of excess fluid in body ~ it has diuretic properties.  YEAH, away with bloating stomach!.
7. Liver supportive ~ contains glutathione
8. Cleanses blood and strengthens glands ~ contains chlorophyll
9. It's a good source of potassium
10. Fat free ~ low in calories, high in energy
11. Nutrients in watermelon include Vitamins A, B6 and C
12. Helps lower risk of heart disease: Has the highest amount of  lycopenes in fruit and veggies according to the USDA Caratenoid Database.

WOW ~ Watermelon Our Winner!!  Who would have thought?

And here is a winner of a cool recipe from foodandwine.com: 

Baby Leaf Lettuce with Olives and Watermelon

2 cups seedless watermelon cubes, 2 T. extra virgin olive oil, 1 T. Champagne or white wine vinegar, salt & pepper, 12 cups baby leaf lettuce, torn and loosely measured, 1/2 small red onion thinly sliced, 1/2 cup snipped chives, 1/4 cup Italian parsley and 1/2 cup pitted Picholine olives halved.

In blender or food processor, puree 1/2 cup watermelon chunks.  Strain juice through a fine sieve into a large bowl = to about 2 T.  Whisk olive oil with vinegar into watermelon juice and season with salt and pepper. Add lettuce, onion, chives, parsley, olives and remaining watermelon chunks ~ toss gently.  Transfer to large platter and serve immediately.  One serving = 94 calories.

Go buy a watermelon today!

Mastering the Art of Julia Child ~ Your favorite recipe

From Ed Levine's blog Serious Eats, he threw down the cooking mitt and challenged his readers to create their favorite recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking on the torrid sultry weekend following the opening of the film " Julie & Julia."  Here are the results posted on his blog of August 12 ~ http://tinyurl.com/l66f2y. 

Paul Clarke commented in an August 19 post that "Julia Child preferred an Upside-Down Martini, with five times as much dry vermouth as gin in the glass."

Another interesting blog that gave considerable accolades to Julia Child and the film is www.figmentspot.blogspot.comwhere the author created a Julia Child dinner, http://tiny.cc/WP3x0.   

On the website for the movie "Julie & Julia," three blogs are listed as tops for Julia readings ~ Figments, Project Foodie and cookeatFret.

Project Foodie hosted a Julia Child Celebration Week commemorating Julia's birthday, August 15, with memories written by foodies about their meeting Julia, http://www.projectfoodie.com/blog/stories/meeting-julia.html.

                                                                       Photo from  the movie "Julie & Julia"

At cookeatFret, Julia is remembered slightly offbeat and quite humorous.   Author, Claudia Young, says       "i cook. i eat. and i fret about what i cooked to eat."     A

A few of my favorites are : Souffle Aux Blanc D"Oeufs, Boeuf Bourguignon, Escalopes de Veau a la Creme, Petits Oignons a la Creme, mayonnaise and, of course, her sauces.       

What are some of your favorites?  Would love to know.  And, as Julia always ended her show, "Bon Appetit!"                                                                           

 

 

 

Tribute to Two Culinary Super Heroes ~ Julia Child & James Beard

After reading numerous articles about Julia Child's wonderful cooking series on PBS and reviews for the movie "Julie & Julia" (I did read Julie's book, which was quite amusing), I have reminisced about my life with Julia Child.  I watched every one of her PBS cooking shows when possible.  I bought her cookbook shortly after I was married and Mastering The Art of French Cooking became one of my two cooking bibles as a newlywed.  The other was The New York Times Cookbook ~ well, actually I had one more.   As a new bride, I was given The Joy of Cooking, which preceded Julia as the  cookbook for any newlywed to have in her kitchen (In fact, Julia had used this cookbook to learn from when she was first married).  My joy, however, was discovering Julia Child and her PBS series ~ I was held captivated by her charming charisma and culinary approach to creating wonderfully delicious dishes.

Eventually, another master chef, James Beard, recognized as the "father of American gourmet style cooking", came into my life.  I collected his cookbooks and was privileged to have him attend several of the food festivals I created for the American Harvest Restaurant in the Vista Hotel at the World Trade Center.  His favorite festival was the Native American Festival, which occurred shortly before his death in 1985.

I had met him several years earlier when, as Public Relations Director for Bloomingdale's/Short Hills, I created celebrity cooking classes to promote the then newhousewares department.  Beard was one of my celebrity chefs promoting his Outdoor Cooking cookbook. 

Here is his signed acknowledgement to me.  (Three of my wonderful tired and tattered cookbooks from my huge culinary library are pictured above.)

Also, appearing as a guest celebrity chef was Simone Beck (Simca), the collaborator with Julie Child on her Mastering the Art of French Cooking (and co-author of Volume II).  Sadly, I didn't get her signature.  However, the recipes I have mastered in Volume I will last a life time.  My son still requests the Petits Oignons a la Creme  every Thanksgiving.  And it is with this cookbook that I mastered the art of making real mayonnaise and Hollandaise sauce.

To my super heroes in heaven, thank you for encouraging me to take the challenge and become a rather excellent cook in my own home.  Salud!

Moroccan Tomato Soup a la Barbara Kafka

I absolutely love a rich gazpacho in the heat of summer!  Living in the Garden State, we have a wealth of delicious fresh veggies daily at the local farmers' markets.  However, when I read a NY Times food article about a 1991 recipe of Barbara Kafka's for Moroccan Tomato Soup, I had to try it ~ why?  It was spicy, hot and didn't require chopping ten different veggies to garnish the soup.  Given the year it was created, it was a quick reward for a delicious hot weather soup, as the following recipe reveals.

5 med. cloves garlic, smashed, peeled and minced; 2 1/2 t. sweet paprika; 1 1/2 t. ground cumin; large pinch of cayenne pepper; 4 t. x-virgin olive oil; 2 1/4 lb. tomatoes, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces; 1/4 cup packed fresh chopped cilantro; 1 T. white wine vinegar; 2 T. fresh lemon juice; kosher salt; 4 stalked celery diced.

In a small saucepan, stir together the garlic, paprika, cumin, cayenne and olive oil.  Place over med.-low heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Pulse the tomatoes in a cuisinart (originally, it was to pass the tomatoes through a food mill ~ ho hum).  Stir in cooked spice mixture, cilantro, vinegar, lemon juice, 2 t. salt, celery & 2 T. water.  Taste for seasoning. Refrigerate until cold (I refrigerated for one day to let the flavors meld).  Serve garnished with cilantro leaves.  Serves 4.

Grilled Corn Salsa

Although August is traditionally 'corn month,' the corn here in the Garden State is pretty good right now, favoring the lighter kernels which I prefer.  Having grown up in the Midwest where the corn stalks are "as high as an elephant's eye" and critiques run rampant, I think I've become a pretty good connoisseur of what make a great corn on the cob.

That being said, I made a delicious, piquant grilled corn salsa yesterday adapted from Coastal Living magazine. Here's the recipe for both indoor and outdoor options to grill the corn.

4 ears fresh corn shucked, !/2 t. lime zest, 1/4 c. lime juice, 1 T. olive oil, 1 small jalapeno chili finely diced, 1/2 t. ground cumin, 3/4 t, salt, 1 avocado diced.

Grill corn (presprayed w/ olive oil) on open grill  over medium coals for 12-15 min. until slightly browned.  Option is to broil in oven 4" from flame, turning occasionally to brown evenly.  Remove from heat, cool and cut corn from cob.  Stir in all ingredients except avocado.  This can be made earlier in the day to this stage.  Add avocado just before serving and taste for seasoning.

Note:  I added diced red onion (f0r some color), freshly ground garlic salt and ground pepper.  The result was so delicious and can be used to top tacos, or as a side for grilled fish.  I grilled garlic shrimp, added shredded cabbage & cheese to make up the taco topped with the salsa.  Yummy with a nicely chilled Sauvignon Blanc!

Le Cirque's Spaghetti Primavera

Back in May, Amanda Hesser's Recipe Redux article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine featured  1977: Le Cirque's Spaghetti Primavera from that year's article by Craig Claiborne with Pierre Franey.

Having always love what I know as Pasta Primavera and living in the Garden State surrounded with an abundance of fresh produce at farmers' markets, I finally decided to give the old recipe a try.  The photo here is the finished product of what was a rather laborious two-day journey through ten very detailed steps in the recipe (too lengthy to publish; link  is above).  Two days because I decided to clean, trim and cut all ten vegetables the night before, as well as mincing the herbs and garlic.  Now I know why I don't use many of my cookbooks published back in the 60's and 70's!  However, the end result was truly delicious ~ all the veggies were cooked to crisp perfection, the spaghetti was absolutely perfect al dente and the sauce was a light blend of cream and parmesan cheese.

Now, there were a lot of veggies left over that didn't make the final cut in the primavera, so last night I made my own version of pasta primavera with the leftover veggies and cappellini.  Total time to prep and cook, approximately ten minutes!  The only change I made was the sauce ~ rather than a cream sauce, I just mixed some of the pasta water with extra virgin olive oil and parmesan.  The

result was an equally flavorful, healthy and delicous pasta. 

I love my collection of old cookbooks and wouldn 't give them up for the world, but time is precious these days and improvisation is good when it can achieve the same results in a tenth of the time.