Maggie's Farm

It could not be simpler. Remember the protagonist in Walker Percy's extraordinary Love in the Ruins who lived on them? Dr. Tom More. His brain was constantly fizzing and fizzling.

There's also the Royal Gin Fizz (with an egg), and, of course, the Sloe Gin Fizz if you can find any Sloe Gin around - or any loose Sloes to soak in your gin. Looks like a Beach Plum. Cape Cod Beach Plums would probably work just fine. They are bitter, flavor-packed wild plums. Maybe I will give that a try.

Photo is the Royal.

nb: Some old comments below from our late pal Marianne Matthews.  Miss her.

Recipe here.

Good on raspberries too, but hold the balsamic. Balsamic is just for strawberries, ramps up even the best strawberry to new heights of strawberriness.

What's Mascarpone?

Cook up a batch of couscous. Thin slice or matchstick a bunch of zucchini and/or summer squash. Chop up a bunch of fresh mint - enough to make it minty. Whisk some fresh lemon juice with olive oil and salt and pepper. Mix together, serve at room temp.

To make it even more Sicilian, include some chopped pistachios and there you have the classic Sicilian ingredients: couscous, lemon, mint, olive oil, and pistachio. All it's missing is pignolis - but a recipe is either pignolis or pistachios - not both.

You want measures? When you cook Sicilian (or Italian, for that matter), you eyeball it and taste it. Just keep it light, not soggy with oil.

Now back to my gardening chores. Damn weeds, I live to kill them. Need to water the tomatoes again and tie them up again too, trim the wisteria, and shave the boxwoods. That's how the gentry become rednecked on a beautiful cloudless day like this - proud bitter clingers.

Everybody loves the taste of basil. My father-in-law likes to just take a leaf and munch it up, and so do I.

In Sicily, we discovered that their popular pestos are Parsley-Walnut Pesto and Pistachio Pesto. No basil. "Pesto" does not mean Basil.

It's all good stuff, good condiments for food. For meat, mainly.

Sicilian cheese is not very tasty, but I'll put in a free plug for the northern Italian Asiago. A fine hard cheese, and they now have it at Costco.

I tend to prefer stinky softer cheeses for dessert with a slice of fruit or some fruit preserves, but with an antipasto I don't mind hard cheeses. My favorite hard cheese? 6-month-old (ie young, before it gets grating-hard) Parmesan. Can't buy it in the US as far as I know. Second favorite? Pecorino. Third favorite? Dubliner. Now Asiago competing. I have yet to find an American cheddar that can compete with these things, but it might exist somewhere. A grandfather-in-law used to say "All good things come from Italy."

Ricotta Salata is good too, drizzled with some honey and sprinkled with chopped pistachio, but dog kibbles would be good with that too.

Is domestic Wagyu beef a scam? Since Japanese beef is no longer imported to the US, beef epicures are left with the US version of Kobe.

I would say it's not a scam. On Sunday morning I had a Wagyu steak salad for brunch at the member's dining room at the Metropolitan Museum and it was the best steak I have ever had. Pan-fried, caramelized crust, rare through, cuttable with a fork, dynamite flavor. I think it's my first time with Wagyu.

(Which reminds me to mention my view that, if you have some good steaks, do not cook them on a grill. London Broil, ok, but not good steaks. Pan-seared is the only way to do them.)

And speaking of steak, do you like to serve whole ones, or sliced? I think 1/2-inch slices are best except for ribeye. For London Broil, thinner. Need a good carving fork - a pique - to get it right. Same with grilled butterflied lamb which is my favorite grilled meat.

Prof. B. explained why reds should be chilled a bit before serving, especially in the summer - assuming the bottles are not coming from your underground or temperature-controlled wine cellar. 55-62 degrees F, max. That's not "room temperature."

I think The Prof is absolutely right, but I had never thought it through. No wine tastes good at 76 degrees. Hot grape juice isn't good either. (my Dad calls wine "grape juice" even if it's '81 Petrus).

Same thing applies to old Ports, I think.

Rich folks have wine refrigerators that keep each type of wine at its own preferred temp. If you have one, surely you deserve to be more highly taxed.

Disagree? Let me know.

All it took for Hungarian cowherds to add to their stewpot was ground chili pepper - Paprika. Thus it was just plain stew until the Spanish brought peppers to Europe from the New World in the early 1500s.

A brief history of goulash and paprika.

Daughters and I are grilling lunch today for 3 moms in the family. Gave birth so God bless 'em.

Grilled things: eggplant, mixed-colored bell peppers, yellow squash, onions, portobello mushrooms, asparagus. Marinate with oil & vinegar, garlic, and herbs, salt and pepper and toss em on the fire. I use very large chunks or slices. That's Italian, or really more like Sicilian. To keep it traditional, I always throw some wood on top of the charcoal. I close the grill top so they cook before they burn, but I do like them a bit burnt.

London Broil, rare. My new Victorinox serrated meat knife can slice this thin enough to eat happily. 1/4-inch-or- less slices. Otherwise, I find London Broil inedible, meat-flavored chewing gum.

Mixed salad with walnuts and dried cranberries.

Mixed berries with creme fraiche (or sour cream, no difference really) for dessert

Prosecca, bubbly water, beer, Rioja 

Fresh truffles, black or white. For me, the color doesn't matter.

Truffles are expensive, but you shave them so thinly that a little goes a long way.

Not just for the Derby. This source, which explains why we can thank the Arabs for the basis of this refreshing adult beverage along with inventing Algebra, notes:

Mint Julep first appeared in print in 1803 described as a "dram of spirituous liquor that has mint in it, taken by Virginians in the morning."

A breakfast tonic to tone ye olde brain. Healthy herbs. You can use either homemade sugar syrup or confectioner's sugar. Here's one. Use a chilled julep cup or collins glass. I grow a mint called "Kentucky Mint" which is quite intense, but close to Spearmint, just for this purpose, but I haven't made a batch in years. I should. Unlike Southern families, I do not own any heirloom Julep Cups. I am tempted by these on eBay ($500 for a pair). Nice Sterling cups seem to run between $100 to $1000 apiece. I am not in the market for these right now.

No breadcrumbs in this recipe (except on the surface).

It says ground beef, but we like to mix ground beef with ground pork for meatloaf.

Serve with steamed broccoli rabe (rapini) with oil, and roast taters.

Scoop of Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream. Splash with a shot of your best Scotch whiskey, then lightly dust with freshly powder-ground dark espresso coffee bean. Scotch whiskey on an Italian dessert? I call that cultural appropriation.

If you don't like this, there is something wrong with you. Plus, it combines a sweet, an after-dinner drink, and after-dinner coffee, all-in-one.

Last night, friends served us home-made vanilla gelato with a handful of raspberries on top, then sprinkled with mini chocolate chips. Damn simple and tasty.

Ever wonder why people say "codfish" instead of "cod"?  Easier to understand with Tuna: "Tuna" is at the fish market, "Tunafish" is that stuff in a can you make sandwiches out of with white bread, mayo, and capers or sliced gherkins.

Cod, Scrod, or Haddock all work.

Like the best crab cakes, codfish cakes are best without any filler like mashed potatoes or dough. Maybe just a dash of flour and egg to hold it together.

The ingredients in this recipe are good, but I disagree with putting the meat in a food processor. Best to simply steam the meat a little until it begins to flake, and then stir it around with the mix so it breaks up somewhat.

Probably the most classic version is made from dried salt cod, "bacala",  but there is no need to use that.

Serve with lemon, tartar sauce, or even red seafood sauce. Or best, nothing but salt and a glass of wine.

I have posted in the past about the food of Sicily. Basically, it is entirely different from that of southern Italy. For one thing, they use more couscous and rice than pasta. For another, the menu is heavy on seafood and grilled meat. Lots of eggplant.

Muslim invaders ruled Sicily for long enough to shape their culture. Ruled it wisely and softly, too. Can't say the same for the subsequent Viking rulers who fortunately had little impact on Sicilian cuisine.

Arancini is their street food (a fried thing made of rice with tasties in the middle). The local blood oranges are a typical dessert.

There is little authentico Sicilian food in the US. Pizza is not Sicilian, and neither is tomato sauce.  I know of one decent Sicilian restaurant in NYC: eolo

Article here.

It having been St. Patrick's Day, a pal and I went out for Mexican last night. We ordered Bulldogs, aka Bulldog Margueritas, aka Beeritas.  Delicious.

Related:  The Blatant Cultural Appropriation on St. Patrick’s Day Is Not Cool

Inside Park has taken over the great hall of St. Bartholomew's Church (St. Bart's) on Park Avenue. Inexpensive, good simple food in a cool location. I have had many jolly lunches there.

AOC near Bleeker St in the West Village. Mrs. BD and daughter rave about it. They say their steak tartare, assembled at your table by server to your specs, is dynamite. Country French, I'd call it.

New York City: Half the fun is eating there.

I have never hunted rabbits (Beagles are the rabbit dog), but most supermarkets and butchers have rabbit. Rabbit is usually braised. I like the Italian ways, with or without tomato but preferably without.  Tomato overpowers all other flavors in my view so it's best avoided unless raw and from the garden.

I'd like to try this Spanish recipe too: Braised Rabbit with garlic.

Rabbits are made to be prolific and delicious, the bottom of the food chain to feed everything else.

Focused on food after having been on a liquid diet for a week after some unpleasant oral surgery. Now I can at least have soft food. I want some Ricotta Gnudi with Wild Mushroom puree. That's Italian!

Gnocchi is boring and I don't really care for pasta. Gnudi is basically a ravioli innards, cooked naked.  A fine Primi.

Most Maggie's Farmers love coffee. Most Americans love coffee, and do not fuss too much about how good it is as long as it is hot. Or iced. I drink plenty of Dunkin Donuts coffee.  It's not very good at all, but it's a familiar routine. Just remember the rule "Friends don't let friends drink Starbucks."

My favorite coffees are Espresso (as made in Italy) with sugar. I have yet to find a decent espresso in the US - too watery. I like Iberian Cafe con leche. Also, a cappucino is a good breakfast. What I have enjoyed most, recently, is Arabic (aka Greek, aka Turkish) coffee.

Do you remember percolators?  They still sell them, can get them on Amazon. They basically boiled the heck out of your Maxwell House coffee, but nobody cared. You put them on the burner, later plugged them in before Mr. Coffee was invented.

How do you like to make coffee?

A pal and I have been volunteered to run the bar for a formally-informal Valentine's Day party that our wives' club is putting on. They expect 40 women plus their husbands - all friendly Indians. It's what is termed "heavy cocktails", not dinner.

We decided to keep it simple with just red and white wine, a few interesting beers, bubbly water, and coke. Lemons and limes, and plenty of ice.

I used this site to estimate amounts.

Figured a case of red, a case of white, 5 cases of beer.

Then we just learned that the venue for the party (an art museum) does not permit red wine on the premises. Apparently many places have that rule.  So I am thinking maybe we should have whiskey, Bourbon, rum, and vodka too - but no mixed drinks other than rum and coke.  We don't want to have to be real bartenders because we like to schmooze with all our friends.

What's your opinion?

Aka Shepherd's Pie. Big family party tomorrow. I am making the innards tonight because these stew-like things are always better the next day. This recipe, basically, with ground lamb and doubling the recipe. I am adding frozen corn (maize to your furriners) and some wine, gibier sauce, and raspberry jelly to it, to enrich it. I'll simmer it 20 minutes longer to reduce the sauce and mingle the flavors before throwing in the peas and corn.

Winter peasant food.  Moussaka is great too, same idea. A friend served us antelope moussaka a while ago. Delicious.

It's a cooking textbook and a cookbook. Unlike a recipe book, it teaches the fundamentals and the theory along with the recipe. It's the one text almost every professional and serious hobbyist has on the shelf or, more likely, in the kitchen covered with stains. A reference book.

If I had the time, I would take some serious cooking classes because I love to do justice to the earth's bounty. I know Mrs. BD and I would enjoy one of those 5-day courses in Amalfi or Florence. Or better yet, in some village in France. French country food is the best.