Maggie's Farm

Mrs. BD and her dad ventured out today to the real Italian market a few towns away. Everybody there speaks Italian or Sicilian, including most of the customers. Place smells amazing from all of the cheese and salumi and pickled vegetables. And, next door, is an Italian pastry shop. All of it, the best food on this planet. 

We tend towards the Italian on religious holidays. Mrs. BD is 50%; her dad is as Irish as can be. However, trust me, Italian blood beats celtic or anglo-saxon every time. 

She needed candied citron for Easter Pie (Wheat Pie). Naturally, they brought home a bunch of arancini for lunch. They were the size of baseballs. I've never seen them that big in Sicily. Also, baccala for tonight. Hard as wood at first.

For today, baccala to keep with her family tradition. For Easter dinner, a Nice Legga Lamb. That's the Irish part. Just 4 of us, sad to say this year. Distancing, for what it's worth. I miss the whole BD family but I miss church a lot too. It doesn't feel right. I love our congregation.

My buddy and I had Aile de Raie for dinner last night. I think poached, with a nice sauce. (Our wives had pork osso buco.)

Have you ever caught a Skate? I've caught a couple over the years on Cape Cod while fishing for Stripers. Released them. Felt like you hooked a log. Should have cooked them. 

I've had Joue de Raie once, years ago in France. Like a scallop. The "wings" are the more usual menu thing. A nice sweet white meat, and a first time for me.

Everybody who visits Atlantic beaches has seen their blackened egg cases ("mermaid purses") washed up. Skates lay those egg sacks, while Sting Rays bear live young. People eat Sting Rays, but do not step on one.

Cooking skates 

Types of Rays 

There are too many routine uses of cheese in the US to list them all - just think cheeseburgers, nachos, cheese and cracker appetizers,  McMuffins with cheese, grilled cheese, ham and Swiss sandwiches, salads with gorgonzola. There are many more.

The big supermarket sellers in the USA seem to be "American cheese" (which is a food-like substance), sliced Swiss (made in Wisconsin), Dutch Gouda, and Cheddar-type cheeses (often made in Vermont - but the best of that type imo is Irish Kerrygold Dubliner). Gorgonzola too if there are a lot of Italians around, and goat cheese has become basic these days. Cottage Cheese and Cream Cheese are not really cheeses. Yeah, and Brie is a popular party cheese.

Amazing cheeses (often French) are due respect. The frogs can be as fussy about cheese as about wine, and for good reasons: they go from sheep to cow, from gooey to hard, from intensely stinky to nutty, plenty of complex blues, etc.

Our experience in France is that a charcuterie board (supposedly an aperitif) is a meal in itself - sliced hard cheeses, cured meats, nuts, olives, bread, etc. 

We also had excellent and interesting cheeses at breakfast buffets. 

However, the special cheeses are reserved for the Cheese course, before dessert. If you don't know the names, you just point to 3 or 4 that you want, and the slices are put on your plate. Some jam, sliced apple or pear. No bread to dilute the intensity.

Links:

 Cheese or Dessert First? Short answer: the cheese. 

 How To Serve A Cheese Course For Dinner

Our menu from October, at the very nice place in Provence. This was just a one hour hike to Gordes (which is not a very interesting destination but it has a few shops and restaurants).

My main point is about the cheese board. They bring it around on a dolly with an expert cheese server, and you point to which ones you want to try. I need to do a post about the cheese course in nice dining because it is my favorite.

Mrs. BD had a tough week with four days and nights of meetings in NYC, then moving my in-laws to a new elderly place an hour away from here in the last 2 days (boxes and boxes of stuff, then computers, lamps, comfy chairs, pictures, and more boxes, big TVs, moving guys, hospital bed, etc).

So I asked her what might please her tonight. She said "Funny you ask, cuz Beef Bourguignon was on my mind". I like making stews, so ok. I make these things on the fly, no measurements. Always works. French chef taught me to cook soup and stew by instinct and taste. It should be ready by the time she gets home from the old folk's home tonight. Yes, I did send my father-in-law some more nice vino to keep the old guy happy. The wines they serve at the old folks home are disgusting, and old guys need the wine for good cheer.

- Around 1 or or 2 lbs. of chuck, cut into 1-2 inch chunks. Flour them, then brown quickly in butter and/or bacon. Toss them into a pot or crock pot with a container of beef broth and begin the long simmer.

-  Grab a handful of thyme twigs from the garden and throw them in. I would have tied them as a garni but could not find the string. Then plenty of salt and pepper in the pot. Semi-chopped parsley too.

- Cut up a bag of carrots into roughly 1-2" lengths and throw them in.

- Sautee one or two chopped big onions with a bunch of garlic cloves, and throw them in.

-  Throw in a bottle, of half-bottle, of decent red wine. The really cheap stuff does not work. My friend uses some port too, but why waste it?

- Throw in some good squirts of ketchup if you are out of tomato paste.

- Throw in a glob of grape jelly and a splash of wine vinegar.

- Quarter a big or small box of brown mushrooms, and toss in. I always always throw in a handful of dried porcinis too (affordable on Amazon). Wow - porcinis are a flavor for the kitchen gods.

- Keep all covered with more wine, stock, or water. Crock pot never needs that.

- Towards the end of simmering or crock pot (a few hours - too long is better than too little), I throw in a bag of frozen pearl onions. I love them.

- Really close to the end, I throw in a bag of frozen peas. For color I guess.

- Serve on/with rice or egg noodles. I like egg noodles but noticed that we are out of 'em. If the juice is too thin, thicken it a bit.

Roman food, including a Flamingo Stew

One of my kids went to the B&H last night. Unlike many sort-of Jewish delis in NYC (which are termed "Kosher style", serving dairy and meat - especially pastrami)), B and H is a kosher dairy joint. A famous East Village hole-in-the-wall place. 

Decades ago, when I was dating the future Mrs. BD, we frequented that place. We aren't Jewish. The food was cheap and good. The challah is tasty. 

Digging back in my memory, I suggested that my kid try the Matzoh Ball Soup. She liked it. 

My siblings and I were fed boxed cereal about every two mornings, scrambled eggs every two or three mornings, and same with oatmeal. Pancakes or waffles on Sunday before church.

I fed my little kids pickled herring with sour cream and onions most weekday mornings, cut in small chunks. It comes in jars. Or hard-boiled eggs. I figured protein was good for kids' breakfasts, and I liked it too.

I later learned that pickled herring was considered "Jewish food" in New York. Schmaltz. I thought it was Scandinavian, but it's all sorts of things. Ukrainians love it. Who doesn't like pickled herring? It has a pow effect.

I am told that Jewish people like plain pickled herring on a bagel, with a schmear. Sounds good to me, but I would add a slice of onion. But I don't bother with breakfast anyway, other than coffee. Breakfast is for growing kids.

Do you ever wonder what breakfasts NBA players were raised on? Wheaties? Or steak? I should have had some of whatever they had.

I mean game meat in your freezer. A Cassoulet is nice, if not exciting. But how about an English Game Pie?

Brits have always been big on meat pies, and the Game Pie is one made in the same pastry as a Pork Pie. Why not? 

Photo is a fancy Pork Pie hat. 

I had thought that this speakeasy-type joint was still closed "for renovation", but nope. It is open again as The Campbell. As before, there is almost no signage, and a girl checks your attire before letting you in. You just have to know where it is. Cozy place. We have used it as a destination for a couple of our Maggie's Urban Hikes.

Located in Grand Central Terminal (aka Grand Central Station), this office of John Cambell in the 1920s had been abandoned for decades and used for storage. Here's what it looked like in Campbell's time:

And is fish-oil "healthy"?

Pancakes are for fun, not nutrition. Little ones like pancakes. So do adults - if with bacon and fried eggs on the side. Bacon just makes everything better.

Pancakes are no more nutritional than bread, but fun with real maple syrup. Fact is, as a kid, we sometimes used molasses instead. 

We make them many ways: with a little corn meal and canned corn; with sliced apples, with our stash of frozen cranberries (best), or with blueberries. All good. 

The only ones I do not like are the doughy diner ones.  I like them thin, with edges dark brown and crispy.

How do our readers like their flapjacks? 

Creamed Chicken with Peas

Mac and Cheese

Cacciatore

Easy Chicken Casserole

Shepherd's Pie

Meat Loaf

Pot Roast

Beef Stew

Pasta Fagioli

Stroganoff

Tetrazzine

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Corned Beef and Cabbage, aka New England Boiled Dinner

Chili

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Chowder

Beans: Black Bean Soup, and Red Beans and Rice

Moussaka

Tuna Noodle

Chicken and Dumplings

Stuffed Cabbage

Shrimp and Grits

Codfish Cakes

Cassoulet

As you may know, cassoulet is basically French baked beans with meat. The real original of hot dogs and baked beans. It is country home cookin, but it can be great stuff. Dutch oven cooking. Crock pot? Why not, as long as the meats are browned first, but it will not brown the top.

It's a good way to cook some wild game meat, especially the less-tender parts.

Any meat, but not beef - strong red meat is too strong for cassoulet. We have, over time, used various mixes of duck, snow goose, chukar, venison, chicken, pork, wild boar, and pheasant which we have killed. Mix the meats - it adds to the flavor. There should be some source of pig fat or duck fat in it. Some venison sausage, or any sausage, because it is a necessary traditional ingredient. The meat-to-bean ratio is supposed to be fairly high - 30% - but I like beans and prefer a lower ratio. I think every village in southern France has its own recipe and method. I figure roughly one hunk of sausage and one hunk of meat per person.

A few tips about Cassoulet:

1. Make it at least the day before. Like beef stew, it improves overnight.
2. Serve with salad, toasted garlic bread with a pile of stinky and gooey cheeses on the side, and then fruit for dessert. And a Cote Rotie or Cotes du Rhone.
3. You need to use large white beans, ideally French haricot beans. Use the canned beans, don't bother with dried beans.
4. Make sure you push the bread crumbs down into the surface of the mixture when baking.
5. Sprinkle chopped fresh parsley on top when done - it looks better that way.

It's worth reading a few approaches to get the general idea. Here's an easy American version. Here's one French version. Here's another.

With or without kidney beans? The classic is chunks of beef, but it's all fine with me as long as it is hot enough, has some sour cream, and chopped scallions or red onions on top.

If it's too mild, just put some hot sauce on the table or a bowl of chopped jalapenos. 

Here's a no-bean chili, but with ground beef:  Easy No-Bean Chili. Chili, without the beans—just beef, tomatoes, onions, and lots of great spices. Make it ahead, freeze the leftovers, and eat it for days.

Another one, with the beans:  Originally, it was simply meat, sauce, and chili peppers. Eventually, cooks added beans and tomatoes to the dish, although some people are purists and insist that beans do not belong in real chili con carne.

I've visited Scotland a couple of times, and we are headed there again this year. May I say that Scotland (England too) is not known for cuisine?

OK, they do cook good fresh fish, and mutton. Clootie pudding is ok with ice cream, and kippers are fine but too big. Haggis is not terrible as part of a breakfast, but it's not the greatest. 

Haggis Recipe.  A chef friend recommends barley instead of oatmeal. Where do you buy a cow or sheep stomach? 

It's Bobbie Burns' birthday. What's the Highland Fling?

"Leeks were eaten in ancient Rome and regarded as superior to garlic and onions."

Nothing "healthy" about them, but it's a nice flavor.  Sure, you can eat the green parts.

Some leek recipes. 

This production should hold together tightly, almost like a firm 6-10" deep lasagna. Macaroni Pie. It's really a Primo, but could be a meal in the US, with a salad. You serve it in clean slices.

Meats in it? Any or all fowl including duck. Needs ham too. Chunks of mortadella are great. As for the eggs, you can include the cooked egg yolks as in this recipe, but it's good to throw in some whole hard-boiled eggs. The Quail eggs are not required, but Quail eggs are good things.

The recipe below is inspired by di Lampedusa's book , which I highly recommend reading.

The photo in the recipe below is not right - the thing should hold together firmly: Timballo recipe . It might get a couple of tries to get it right.

Here.

Parsnips are good winter food. They were more popular before potatoes took over. 

Here's a bunch of Parsnip recipes. 

We had 22 for Thanksgiving. It's a cheerful chaos. Our prayer was for gratitude, of course, for family and friends. Little else matters. My only mistake was not getting the pianny tuned. Musicians are senstive about that. 

Two turkeys as usual. Lots of leftovers.  This is the one on the grill, cooked over firewood:

One Southern and one from New England:

Spoonbread 

Indian Pudding