The Fumbling Foodie

99 Cents Only Store Cookbook

I saw this on Yahoo! the other day. There is a part of me that takes a perverse pleasure in being able to accomplish an objective on the cheap. Someday, I'm going to fix a whole week's dinners for my Sweet Lady Wife and I using just two roasted chickens.

A lot of the recipes in here can't be classified as gourmet but some may surprise you. I found a recipe on Page 82 for Salmon souffle that is strikingly similar to the souffle I made last week. Reading the recipe, I noticed that they used canned salmon instead of the smoked salmon I used, and compensated with a little Worcestershire sauce.

The curious thing is that it calls for making the roux with pancake mix instead of flour. "I wonder why?", I thought. Well, later when I visited the 99 cent Only Store, I figured it out: no flour. If it does not come in a can, box, or jar with a price of 99 cents or less you won't find it there.

The souffle was interesting but since I made one last week, I wanted to find something different. There is a little Homer Simpson in all of us, and when mine spied the recipe for Corned Beef Casserole, mine went, "OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH, COOOOOORRRRNNNNNED BEEEEEEEEEF! YUUUUUUUMMMMMM!". Sometimes you gotta satisfy your inner Homer.

To stay in he spirit of this, I actully did go to the nearest 99 Cent Only Store to buy the ingredients:

1 Tablespoon dried chopped onions (.99 / jar)
1/4 cup dried chives (.99 / jar)
1 cup macaroni (.99 for a 29 oz bag!)
Two 7 oz cans Corned Beef (.99 each, the recipe calls for one 12oz can but it was a victime of inflation, I guess)
One 15 oz can cream style corn (2 for .99)

Total Price: $5.45

Preheat the oven to 350F, Soak the dried onions in hot water for 5-10 minutes, drain. Cook macaroni until al dente. In a mixing bowl, break up the corned beef. Add the onions, corn, and chives. Add the cooked pasta. Place in a greased casserole dish and cook for 30-40 minutes until golden and bubbly.

Was it good? yes. Would I eat it again? yes. Maybe I would add something to make it a little saucier.

Was it cheap? Yup. about $1.36 per serving.

Patsy's

The doorbell rang the other day, and it was none other than Irina, the young lady from Pulte Homes who was our main point of contact for the last several months. (BTW, I have to say that the Pulte people are terrific. We got a lot of personal attention from them through the whole construction process. If I ever buy another new home, Pulte will be at the top of my list.)

Anyway, there stood Irina with a housewarming gift: a copy of Patsy's Cookbook published by Patsy's Restaurant in New York. This is not just a cookbook filled with great recipes for making wonderful Italian dishes from a few simple ingredients. It is chocked full of stories. Frank Sinatra frequently ate at Patsy's the book is sprinkled with stories about him. The same is true for Sammy Davis Jr,Bennett Cerf, Dinah Shore, and many others.

Some cookbooks that full of great stories are also filled with mediocre recipes. Not this one. I prepared Fillet of Sole Arreganata and Sauteed Mushrooms with Cognac and Cabernet Sauvignon, both from Patsy's Cookbook.

Both were simple, inexpensive, and tasted great. Neither my photography nor my presentation do these dishes justice.

Jamie's Italy

Let me start by saying that when I agreed to review Jamie’s Italy I had no idea who Jamie Oliver is. I presumed he is a celebrity chef on The Food Channel, but my busy schedule allows no time for television. So when I was offered a copy and asked to review it, I did so with no preconceived notions of what to expect.

Unless I miscounted, Jamie’s Italy contains 121 recipes, only 44 of which I can or would consider serving. The remaining recipes either require key ingredients that are unavailable here in Arizona or don’t appeal to me. I have no idea what my fate would be if I served Polpo Semplice (basically stewed whole octopus in its own broth) to my family, even if I could get octopus here in Arizona.

Having said that, I like this cookbook for a couple of reasons. First, it is one of the few cookbooks I have enjoyed just reading. For example, one of the recipes I tried was Ribollita (which was a BIG hit). Preceeding the recipe is an entire page entitled My thoughts on Ribollita. It really gave me the assurance that while my own ribollita may not look the same as the one in his photo (and it didn’t), it was OK. In other words, Jamie’s Italy has been a great help getting me out of the ‘I am an engineer and I must follow this recipe exactly’ mode. You can’t help but do that when the recipe says, “stir in about four glugs of olive oil…”.

Most people I know suffer from the mistaken impression that Italian=Pasta. Of course, us foodies know better. That brings me to the second reason why I like this book: A few simple ingredients prepared in a simple way yet the result brings something new to the table. The Ribollita I made is a perfect example. The Zucchini in Padella is another. I am constantly on the lookout for recipes like these. Adam over at Men In Aprons also reviewed this book and made a couple of comments about the number of ingredients required in some of these recipies and wondering about authenticity. Again, using the Ribollita recipe as an example, I compared Jamie's recipe to one I found in another Tuscan cookbook I consider pretty authentic, and I found them to be very close. From this experiment I think it is safe to say that the recipes are authentic.

In closing, I should warn you however that sections of this book are not for the feint of heart. The photo of the shepherd next to the bloody lamb he has just slaughtered is not something I cared to see. This is a beautiful book and would make a great coffeetable book except for the fact that you wouldn’t want to spring a surprise like that on your guests just before dinner.

Mushroom-Stuffed Beef Tenderloin with Port Wine Sauce

I love Gwen Ashley Walters' Cool Mountain Cookbook. She has collected recipes from several great ski lodges, and everything in the Cool Mountain Cookbook is not only memorable and great tasting, it is also easy to prepare. I have yet to encounter a dud.

OK, so I was in the supermarket and their high-end beef tenderloins were on sale. And they looked really good. I don't cook much beef because the quality of supermarket beef is so hit-or-miss these days. These tenderloins looked really good though so I took a chance and bought one.

On the way home, I could here Adam chanting, "Grill!, Grill!, Grill!" but I wanted to do something different. Gwen Ashley Walters to the rescue again.

This recipe calls for Demi-Glace. I use More Than Gourmet's Demi-Glace Gold (I should join Amazon's affiliate program and take advantage of linking to them.) Mix it 4-to-1 with hot water, let it simmer a bit, and it is great stuff.

Mushroom-Stuffed Beef Tenderloin with Port Wine Sauce

1 slice smoked bacon, finely chopped
2 portabella mushroom caps, chopped
1/2 cup sliced white button mushrooms
2 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
4 (8-ounce filet mignons)
Kosher Salt
Ground black pepper
Flour for dusting
1 cup ruby port wine
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
1 cup demi-glace

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Add the bacon to a cold 10-inch skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Cook until bacon is brown. Stir in the mushrooms, butter, garlic, and rosemary. Cook until mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Drain off liquid and place mushroom mixture into a food processor. Pulse a few times, finely chopping (but not puréeing) the mixture. Remove and season with salt and pepper.

2. Cut a 1-inch incision in the center (from the side, not the top) of the filet from top to bottom (I made a horizontal cut instead). Work the knife from side to side, trying to split the steak in half without actually doing so (to make a pocket within the steak). You don't want to cut through the sides and you don't want your incision too wide or the stuffing won't stay in.

3. Stuff the pocket with the mushroom mixture until full but not bulging. Lightly dust the filet with flour.

4. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and when hot, add the filets, searing both sides until brown, about 3 minutes per side. Move the pan to the preheated oven to finish (150-155F on an instant-read thermometer for medium to medium-well). When the filets are done, remove them from the pan, put them on a plate and tent with foil.

5. Put the sauté pan back on the stove over medium-high heat. Add the Port and deglaze the pan. Add the shallots and reduce by half. Stir in the demi-glace and cook until the desired consistency has been reached.

Shown here served with Pommes de terre de Hollande. Thank you Gwen, for permission to republish the recipe.

Cookbook Spotlight: Kitchen Sense

There is a new cookbook out, Kitchen Sense by Mitchell Davis and I am honored and humbled that a couple of my fellow food bloggers have provided me with a copy and asked me to review it, no strings attached.

The bottom line is that this cookbook has become my new standard for what I recommend to people who say, "I don't know how to cook but would sure like to learn." First, let me say that the typography in this book is beautiful. The choice of typefaces, colors, and rules make Kitchen Sense very easy on the eyes. Whoever laid it out really knows his (or her) craft.

For me, the relatively new cook, a good cookbook should be more than a collection of recipes. It should help me select the raw materials, suggest the approriate tools, and provide me with enough guidance that success is pretty much assured. Kitchen Sense does a great job of this. Each chapter is dedicated to a topic (poultry, fish, pasta, etc) and begins with some general information about the topic. For example, the Fish and Shellfish chapter begins with over three pages of very interesting and readable background information on the subject.

Each recipe begins with a paragraph (set in an alternate typeface and color - a very elegant touch) describing the recipe or or some of its finer points. For example, the lead-in paragraph for Asparagus Mignonette says:

How you like to cook your asparagus - boiled, steamed, or grilled - will determine what type you should buy. If you are going to boil or steam it, buy the thickest spears you can find. Peel the stalks with a vegetable peeler to remove any tough fibers. If you are going to grill the asparagus, buy pencil-thin spears, which hold up better because they don't have to be peeled.

Not only that, the recipe doesn't just say, "Peel the asparagus". It tells you how to peel the asparagus:

With a sharp vegetable peeler, starting about one-third down from the top of the spear, peel toward the bottom, revealing the light-colored core. Rotate the spear as you work. It's okay to leave a little dark green toward the tip, but most of it should be gone.

Sidebars containing tips and background material are liberally sprinkled throughout the book. For example, a half-page sidebar entitled Blanching describes exactly how to blanch, along with recommended variations in the basic technique.

Most of the recipes are pretty unpretentious. There is no Baja Cabrilla Poached In Vin Jaune with Nasturtium Flower Salad, but you will find Simple Seafood Sausage, Salmon Tartare with Preserved Lemcom and Olives, and My Mother's Breaded Sole.

If I have one complaint about this cookbook it is that there are no photos. New cooks like photos. I sure did. I picked out receipes by how yummy they looked and the photo helped me understand what the finished dish is supposed to look like. I have gotten to the point where I can judge the 'yumminess factor' without a photo, and neither Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything nor Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking have photos either. Still, I thik it should have included photos even if that meant omitting some of the receipes.

Tags: Cookbook Spotlight: Kitchen Sense, Cookbooks

Cookbook Awards

Inspired by Adam Roberts over on The Amateur Gourmet, here is my cookbook collection.

Though I don't think of them in categories, here are my favorites:

Master the Art of French Cooking
Julia Child

I prepare meals from Mastering frequently. I find Julia's recipes to be easy to follow and I like the way she presents a basic recipe followed by several variations. when I want something French (as I seem to lately) this is where I turn first. Julia's Coq au Vin never fails to impress my guests.

Menus and Music, Bistro
Sharon O'Connor

This cookbook was my first introduction to French cooking. These recipes are pretty authentic and so sometimes need some adaptation here in the USA, but I've cooked a lot of meals from this one. I play the accompanying CD constantly.

Cool Mountain Cookbook
Gwen Ashley Walters

Everything in this cookbook is very easy to prepare and very impressive. The blackberry-stuffed French Toast is positively orgasmic.

How to Cook Everything
Mark Bittman

I tell beginning cooks to buy this one first. Not only does it contain a ton of good receipes, Each section (Pasta, Fish, Beef, etc) contains several pages of introductory educational material. For example, preceding the salmon and trout recipes is a two-page section titles The Basic of Salmon and Trout.

Tags: Cookbook Awards

Blackberry-Stuffed French Toast Mother's Day Breakfast

Today is Mother's Day. I will be cooking for my own mother later in the day, but this morning was a time for me to do something special for this wonderful woman who has made me so happy for the past 30 years. I got up early and made Blackberry-Stuffed French Toast from Gwen Ashley Walters' Cool Mountain Cookbook.

Tags: Mother's Day, Breakfast, French Toast

The Cool Mountain Cookbook

I met Gwen Ashley Walters, author of The Cool Mountain Cookbook at the West of Western Culinary Festival last weekend. It is hard for me to resist a new cookbook, and with three to choose from, I asked Gwen for a little guidance. She said that The Great Ranch Cookbook contained the easiest recipes, her newest book, Par Fork, The Golf Resort Cookbook the most complex, with The Cool Mountain Cookbook falling in between. I bought The Cool Mountain Cookbook. Aside from the skills issue, I think it has the best looking cover.

The Cool Mountain Cookbook is a carefully selected compilation of recipes served in the restaurants of 20 of the best ski lodges and resorts in the country. You know the stuff I mean: At the end of the day, you sit down to one of those wonderful orgasmic meals that you wished to God you could recreate at home. Well, Gwen has done a great job of making that possible, I think.

Recipes are organized by state and then by the lodge or resort. There are TWO Tables of Contents (Thank you Gwen. That's the one thing I hate about Sharon O'Connor's Menus and Music series), The first is by state and lodge, and the second is by category and recipe name. The recipes from each lodge are preceded by a few descriptive paragraphs about the lodge to set the mood. Of the 110 recipes, 21 include photos.

For us fumblers, Gwen has included some nice helpful ancillary material with a bunch of helpful hints, common procedures, and a GREAT section in the back containing sources of the few more obsure items.

I prefer to try a couple receipes from a cookbook before I brag about it. I tried two recipes from The Cool Mountain Cookbook tonight, and frankly neither were difficult. Dinner tonight was:

Honey Soy-Glazed Chilean Sea Bass with Ginger Butter Sauce
Green Onion Spaetzle

I have a spaetzle maker and actually used it for the first time tonight but Gwen provides a method for making spaetzle for those that are deprived of this simple but obscure tool. The presentation did not come out as nice as the photo in the book but that's my problem, not Gwen's. The family certainly didn't complain while wolfing it down.

In all, none of these recipes appear to tax even a fumbler like me, and boy are some of these recipes going to make me look good the next time I have company over for dinner (I'm thinking Maine Shrimp Fritters here.) And next Saturday morning I'm going to make the Blackberry-Stuffed French Toast for breakfast for my wife and me. I am salivating already

You can get this book directly from Gwen Ashley Walters at http://www.PenAndFork.com (I love that name).

Tags: Cookbooks, Recipes

Sonoita Seasons Cookbook

Only half in jest, I often say that I am not a cook, I am a ‘recipe follower’. As a result, you can imagine that I’m always looking for interesting, useful cookbooks. It is not often that I encounter a cookbook that is full of really scrumptious recipes that are easy to make, but is also so beautiful and high-quality that it can double as a coffee-table book. Sonoita Seasons by Karen Callaghan is in this category.

Head east on I-10 out of Tucson, take exit 281 and Highway 83 to Sonoita, Arizona. Nestled among the rolling hills blanketed with rich green vineyards is Karen’s Wine Country Café. Just up the road is Karen’s family-owned winery, Callaghan Vinyards.

Sonoita Seasons is a book of recipes from Karen’s Wine Country Café, and unlike some other restaurant recipes, these are easy to make. Tonight I made Pasta with Proscuitto, Peas, and Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce. It got rave reviews from the whole family and went together in the time it took the pasta to cook. Yes, that quickly.

And to top it off, it is a beautiful book. The hardcover and dust jacket share the same dazzling full color photography. The pages are a high-quality gloss paper, and the typography is beautiful.

I am not sure who else stocks it, but Plate It Up! here in Glendale Arizona has a supply of them (623-937-1267). (disclaimer: I have no affiliation with either Plate It Up! or Karen's Wine Country Cafe)

Tags: Cookbooks, Recipes

Quest for the Perfect Chicken Breast Recipe

I am on a quest. I want to find the perfect recipe for chicken breast. A recipe that just thinking days ahead about the meal will make me salivate.

Personally, I think a naked chicken breast is pretty 'blah' tasting. We eat a lot of it however because it is inexpensive and healthy, so I am trying to find ways to prepare it that are really yummy. I picked up a copy of Fine Cooking's 101 Delicious Chicken Recipes when I was in Plate It Up! the other day and it seems promising. I really like one quote I found in it:

Think of chicken breast as a blank canvas that lets you feature your favorite flavorings.

I tried the Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Antipasto filling last weekend and it was pretty good, but I need to figure out how to add more flavor to the filling. Though not exactly chicken breast, tomorrow I'm going to make Baked Rotini with Chicken, Asparagus & Sun-Dried Tomatoes.