We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Octopus is good food, grilled, sauteed, in a cold salad, whatever. We probably learned in high school bio that they are molluscs, same as squid. Cephalopod molluscs.
Compared to shelled molluscs, these creatures are advanced and have multiple brains. As far as eating goes, with squid we gut them and eat the rest, but with polpo we cook just the feet. I have never heard of eating an octopus head and guts as we happily do with clams and oysters (which have no heads, really. No eyes - but scallops have sort-of eyes...).
This recipe is good enough, but don't mix the beans with the rice. Make lots more of the beans, and dump them on top of the rice. The beans are the food, the rice is the vehicle.
I think I lived on this in college, and I still like it. Beans from the cans, as we always recommend. If anybody wants to spend the time to soak dried beans, God bless ya. That ain't me.
Plenty of salt, and hot sauce of your choice on the side, of course. Salad on the side if you like that stuff, but I think salad causes cancer, and maybe corona too. A Conona beer, on the other had, goes well with this supper.
I get the impression that people are making home-cooked meals during this so-called quarantine. This weekend, I made this: Marcella's beef braised in red wine. Not bad at all, an Italian pot roast I guess.
Readers know that I am not a pasta fan, but a little Bolognese as a primi - if it's really good - is ok. Just not too much.
Bolognese is a northern Italian meat sauce. Marinara is southern Italian tomato sauce. Spaghetti and meatballs is an American thing, marinara with meatballs.
Bolognese is not a meat sauce really - it's a meat-flavored sauce. Mrs. BD made a double recipe yesterday for friends tonite. Always better the next day.
The only recipe we endorse is Marcella Hazan's. The bit of nutmeg, and the milk, make it perfect.
Remember the rule: Toss the almost fully-cooked pasta in the hot saucepan with the sauce. Don't dump sauce on top of pasta. Some parmesan shavings on top is nice, and maybe a little parsley. Almost any sort of pasta works.
It's been a few years since I made this thing, so we made some yesterday for practice before I begin to serve it to friends for supper. Planning a bunch of suppers before Spring. Tried my version out on my father-in-law. He likes food.
If you asks him what restaurant he wants to go to tonight, he says one with food. But especially one with oysters, which is for tonight.
I use Julia Child's recipe, but I modify it a bit. My modifications: 3x as much garlic, lots of thyme sprigs from the garden, 1/2 cup of Port or some sugar, and a small handful of dried porcinis. Also, to keep it simple, I just throw in a bag of frozen pearl onions for the last 30 minutes of cooking. I do brown the fresh mushrooms and throw them in the pot for the last 30 minutes. I don't use the oven at all, just 3 hrs simmering on the stove.
Traditional ways to serve this is in a shallow bowl with french bread, or on a plate with (white) rice or roasted potatoes.
(Tip for those who like rich, earthy sauces: You can buy dried porcinis online, much cheaper than at the store. I buy them by the pound, but it doesn't take many to provide the flavor. You use the water you soak them in, too.)
Delicious when smeared on toast or crusty bread. Just scoop it out of the bulb and smear it on toast. It works best with those giant elephant garlics: Microwave roasted garlic.
An Egyptian friend, now thriving in the US, brought me a Turkish coffee kit from Cairo. The little copper pot, two ceramic cups, and a few bags of that powdered Turkish coffee. She blames it on the Ottoman Empire.
Turkish coffee is delicious, strong, and sweet. Once tried, you will never go back. Spain's coffee con leche is wonderful too, and entirely different. So is espresso. The only great thing about American coffee is that you get a lot of it to sip on. Coffee is a multicultural wonder and necessary for mental and physical health.
I can't help it if I am an Italian food snob. Very happy to never see baked ziti again in my life, or meatballs. They make me feel stuffed and just gross and tired. Soak the breadcrumbs in milk for the meatballs. Better that way.
Wild Rice is a marsh grass seed, like regular rice. It traditonally goes with game meat, wild bird meats. Well, it goes with turkey too.
People tend to cook it with various additions (mushrooms, cranberries, apples, nuts, white rice, etc) but it's a treat on its own if you have enough of it. Chicken broth and salt and pepper does this wild grain justice.
Or as a side with any meaty winter dinner. Whenever Mrs. BD brings this to a party, the bowl is clean.
Very easy, too: Grandma's Corn Pudding As a friend's wife said to me last night at a deep-fried turkey party, "just call it a vegetable and enjoy it." Yum yum.
"Cape Cod Turkey" means a codfish dish. Cape Cod friends of mine always make cod for Thanksgiving, figuring that that is most of what the Pilgrims had for dinner.
They make baked stuffed cod, which is a delicious thing as long as you do not overcook the fish. Let's face it - Thanksgiving is about stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and punkin pie anyway and not so much about the turkey. Well, Mrs. BD makes Butternut Squash pies but it's the same difference.
There is a specific New England dish called Cape Cod Turkey. Cod and potatoes.
A great hunt this morning at a pal's rod and gun club. Heavy snow flurries and a stiff breeze made things interesting. Had two good Labs working for us today. Had to break the ice in their water tubs. Being Labs, naturally one insisted on climbing into the water tub to play with the floating hunks of ice and was not eager to come out.
Before a late lunch we had some venison sausage and I fixed myself a Clamato Bloody Mary while we cleaned and oiled our weapons. For lunch, they made us rare roast beef with Onion Pie, with a nice Chateau Simard '86 (Simard remains an excellent wine for the price). I do not know whether it was just the effect of a long cold day in the field, but this onion pie was about the tastiest, most savory thing I have ever eaten. The cook made it with a plain white-cracker piecrust and maybe sprinkled cracker crumbs over the top. This pie is to a kiche as a Grizzly Bear is to a Teddy Bear. Rice Pudding for dessert, of course: what else would you serve at an old-fashioned guy's club where women are not allowed?
As my friends know all too well, it's great to have somebody else to drive so I can indulge a post-prandial, post-hunt snoring snooze. I do not know why my friends put up with me.
1 unbaked pie shell - try a plain cracker crumb crust 2 or 3 very large white onions, thinly sliced 2 tbsp. butter 1/2 lb. Swiss cheese cut into 1/2" or 1" chunks 1 tbsp. flour 1/2 tsp. salt 3 eggs 1 c. milk or light cream 1/8 tsp. pepper
Prepare unbaked pie shell. Start heating oven to 400 degrees. Saute onions in butter and dump into pie shell. Toss the cheese with flour, sprinkle over onions. Beat eggs well. Stir in milk or cream, salt and pepper. Pour over cheese. Sprinkle crack crumbs on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Then reduce oven heat to 300 degrees and bake 25 minutes longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve hot, in wedges.
That is soul food with a rare roast beef. Might be a good treat for a holday, too, as an alternative to creamed baby onions (which I also love).
Seems like the middle-eastern version of 
Readers know that I am not a pasta fan, but a little Bolognese as a primi - if it's really good - is ok. Just not too much.
It's been a few years since I made this thing, so we made some yesterday for practice before I begin to serve it to friends for supper. Planning a bunch of suppers before Spring. Tried my version out on my father-in-law. He likes food.
A traditional, festive punch for holiday season and for winter days:
Or as a side with any meaty winter dinner. Whenever Mrs. BD brings this to a party, the bowl is clean.
"Cape Cod Turkey" means a codfish dish. Cape Cod friends of mine always make cod for Thanksgiving, figuring that that is most of what the Pilgrims had for dinner.
