A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY CAKE

So I go to a birthday party for me held at my daughter’s house.  My BW loves Italian food, and daughter Stephanie is a vegetarian, so I prepared a version of Stuffed Shells.  I use Tofu with the cheese to boost the protein but you’d never know it, it tastes that good.  We don’t have any pasta shells in the cupboard so we use Manicotti instead.  It is a little harder to stuff, but delicious nonetheless. 

After dinner, Stephie reveals the birthday cake and it is incredible.  It looks like a pizza.  Really.  The crust is a yellow cake, with red “sauce”, “pepperoni”, sliced “green and yellow peppers” and white shredded “mozzarella “´cheese, all made from fondant. Stephie, a friend and daughter Victoria spend several hours making it; it cannot be more perfect if made by a professional baker.

We played electronic games like bowling which uses the TV screen.  I think it was Wii or X-Box or something.  The most fun I had was playing Bocce, the Italian court game using 4 balls per player plus a smaller “jack” ball.  I liked it so much I’m planning to build a Bocce court in my yard.  We put away the Manicotti and watched a movie: “REDS” with Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, John Malkovitch and Helen Mirren.  We all thought it was a great story.

When I was making the Manicotti, the tipster had me make extra so we could have some the next day.  Even though it is meatless, we love it.  Of course, sausage or chopped beef could be added to the sauce if you prefer, but once in awhile this dish is longed for.  My other daughter hates the idea of Tofu, but loves this because you don’t notice any Tofu.

STUFFED PASTA SHELLS   serves four

Ingredients:

12 jumbo pasta shells

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1/3 cup shredded carrot

2 shallots (green onions) sliced thinly or minced onion

8 ounces fresh tofu, drained

½ cup ricotta cheese

1 cup shredded asiago, provolone or mozzarella cheese

1 egg white

A pinch of salt and pepper

A 16 ounce can of tomatoes, crushed

Half a teaspoon of fennel seeds, crushed

One teaspoon of minced garlic

One half of a six-ounce can of tomato paste

Two teaspoons each of basil and oregano

½ teaspoon of honey or granulated sugar

Grated Romano cheese

Method:

1. Put the pasta on to boil. When done, rinse with cold water and drain.  Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a small pan, cook the carrot and onion in a little water and a dash of olive oil for a couple of minutes, just until softened.
3. Make the filling: Mash the tofu in a medium size mixing bowl.  Stir in the carrot and onion, ricotta cheese, ½ cup of shredded cheese, egg white and the salt and pepper.  Set aside.
4. Make the sauce:  In a medium saucepan combine the remaining ingredients, except Romano cheese.  Bring to boiling, and then simmer ten minutes uncovered.
5. Stuff each shell with one rounded tablespoon of the filling.  Put the stuffed shells in an 8”x8” ungreased dish.
6. Pour the sauce over the shells, cover the dish and bake 20-30 minutes until hot. Uncover and sprinkle remaining shredded cheese over shells, put back in oven a couple minutes to melt cheese.
7. Remove from oven, sprinkle with Romano and serve.

Everybody likes this; and vegetarians get plenty of protein without an overabundance of fat.  But regardless, stuffed shells are a toothsome delight, especially made this way.  Enjoy.

AS AMERICAN AS TARTE AUX POMMES

When I was a young child, people used to bake Apple Pie all the time. Many people would put the just baked pies onto an open window ledge to cool off and you could sniff the aroma when you got close. The fragrance of the still-warm dough was lovely, and the scent of the cinnamon and nutmeg spice was heavenly. I still can remember that wonderful bracing bouquet. I don’t know anyone who bakes pies anymore, except for those store-bought frozen prefabricated pies that all you do is put in a hot oven. I guess they are a reasonable substitute, but people like me would want to duplicate that pie at home from scratch.

When I think of all the modern advances (convection and microwave ovens, food processors, pressure cookers, slow cookers etc. etc.) now available to everyone, it’s hard to understand why people eschew cooking so often. But I know that times change and peoples’ interests do too. When my mom did the laundry on Mondays it took all morning. When the wash cycle was complete, she would put all the laundry through rollers at the top of the tub. These originally were hand cranked, but my mom’s was electric. She still had to boil the water on the stove first for the wash, then after wringing could use cool water for the rinse and then run them through the wringer again, and then put them on a pulley wash-line with wooden clothespins to dry.

The point being, with all that activity, and before permanent press, a lot of ironing, she still prepared meals from scratch, including occasional cakes and pies.

Talking with a French immigrant a while back, he said his mom didn’t have it as easy as mine. His mom used a washboard and unheated creek water, and the toil was endured because all the other women in the area worked together and exchanged talk, not having any other way to launder at that time. But he agreed that apple pie was a favourite at his house too, although different than my mom’s.

Apple pies always have two crusts, use fragrant spices, and employ lard or vegetable shortening in the dough. The typical French apple pie is called Tarte aux pommes, has only a bottom crust and is made with butter. Personally, I like both pies, each a variation of the other.

When I first made a French apple pie it didn’t come out perfect. There is a certain technique to making the dough, assembling the tart and all, but it is not difficult. The first Tarte aux pommes I made tasted fine; the second one did too, but also looked perfect.

Please try the French apple pie, your guests will appreciate your effort and once you achieve success with the tart concept, there are a lot of tarts you can make, including a savory quiche.

TARTE AUX POMMES

Start by making the dough, called Pate Brisee:
2 cups of all-purpose flour
6 ounces (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small dice (1/4”). You should put the diced butter in your freezer to keep it cold.
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
1/3-cup ice-water (approximately)

1. Place the first four ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the ingredients so that all the butter dice are coated with flour, as if making a biscuit dough. You can use a biscuit dough blender, two dinner knives or your own hands.
2. Pour most of the water in and start kneading the ingredients to gather into a ball. You may or may not need the entire 1/3-cup of water. It should not be “wet”. You should see tiny pieces of bare butter throughout the dough and this is good because it will ultimately produce a desired flakiness. You don’t want to over-work the dough, for that would make it too elastic. If so, let rest in the refrigerator for about one hour. A simple kneading will make it malleable and able to be shaped without breaking.
3. Put the dough on a floured board, pat down and roll it uniformly, turning it a quarter of a turn while rolling until it forms a circular disk. Check that you have flour on the underside of the disk and roll it about 1/8” thick (a little thicker is perfectly ok, as long as it fits the pan you will use.)
4. Roll the dough onto the rolling pin.
5. Lift it up carefully and unroll onto a flan ring, mold or pie plate.
6. Using your fingertips, push dough into the sides. You don’t want to stretch the dough, which could make it shrink while it is baking.
7. With your thumb and forefinger, squeeze a lip gently all around the inside of the of the ridge.
8. Use a knife and rolling pin on top of the ring to trim the dough. Remove and freeze for later or discard.
9. Crimp the edge so it looks good, using once again your finger and thumb. You can also mark the edges with the tines of a fork for a nice appearance.

Now make the apple tart (Tarte aux Pommes)
If you don’t have a flan ring or removable bottom mold or pie plate, you could make it on a cookie sheet and roll up the edges to hold in the filling.
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Have your dough ready. Get 5 apples such as golden delicious or granny smith and trim both ends by carving out with the tip of a paring knife. Peel the apples.
3. Cut each apple in half, and then cut out seeded area.
4. Cut into ¼” slices. Chop the end slices coarsely, and set aside the lovely uniform center slices.
5. Place the chopped apples on the pie shell bottom.
6. Arrange the center slices atop the chopped apples at the rim going inward.
7. For the pie center, arrange the apple slices almost vertically so they look almost like a flower.
8. Now sprinkle evenly 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces, on top of the apples.
9. Bake the tart about 75 minutes. Check it from time to time; the tart should be well browned with a beautiful golden crust. Remove the flan ring if used. If a cookie sheet was used, use a metal spatula and remove the tart.
10. You may apply a glaze to the tart using apricot or apple jam if you like. Strain the jam through a sieve and dilute with brandy or water.
11. Do not refrigerate the tart, it is best kept and served at room temperature.

You can get eight servings of this delightful tart, depending how you slice it. Please try it, because no matter how you slice it, it’s a wonderful dessert.

FOO YUNG FOR YOU

A few months ago, the tipster and I go to see our granddaughter perform in a choral concert. But before it begins, her parents and we drive to a nearby Chinese restaurant for supper. Everything changes through the years; Kung Pao and Szechwan are now popular, but when I saw Eggs Foo Yung on the menu, it brought back some wonderful memories. They were delightful.
I remember that old fifties rock ‘n roll song with the lyric: “I went to Chinatown, to get some Eggs Foo Yung” when I was still in high school. I forget the song’s title (maybe it was “Ling ting tong”), but one of the first oriental foods I ever made was this one. There are many ways to prepare it; I always like the individual omelets in gravy that was so popular in Chinese restaurants years ago. Many versions today are like scrambled eggs with filling.
I went and made some the other day and still love it. Eggs Foo Yung is easy to make, delicious, economical, and great for a quick supper or lunch or part of a more substantial dinner.
Here is a basic Eggs Foo Yung that serves two or more, depending on side dishes, I like steamed rice with it and perhaps a simple soup.

· 6 eggs, beaten
· 1 cup of filling (your choice of cooked shrimp, roast beef, cooked chicken, cooked pork etc)
· 2 cups of bean sprouts; if using canned, drain thoroughly
· 4 green onions, sliced thinly
· 1 onion, quartered and sliced thinly
· ½ teaspoon of sugar
· A pinch of ground black pepper
· 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
· ½ cup stock or water
· Gravy- recipe follows
· Vegetable oil

Prepare the gravy and turn the oven on slow, 250F (120C).
Put a platter in the oven to warm.
Mix everything except the gravy and oil in a large bowl.
Heat a large skillet. When it is hot, add oil to come up the sides about a half-inch (1.5 cm). Keep temperature medium hot.

Stir the omelet mixture. Take a scoopful quarter-cup size amount of the egg mixture and carefully pour into the skillet. When it begins to firm up, push to edge and stir mixture and add another scoop. Flip gently when brown. Your omelets can be about the same diameter as a yo-yo, or whatever size you may prefer.
As the omelets are browned on each side, put them on paper towels to drain, put in the oven platter to keep warm till all are done.

Serve with the gravy:

· 11/2 cups of stock
· 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
· 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
· Pinch of salt and pepper

Mix everything, put in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir until thickened. Shut off flame.

Serve the omelets with the gravy and enjoy it.

Let the oil in the skillet cool down, and then strain into a glass container for future use.

HASTY TASTY FOOD AT HOME

Recently, I noticed a whole bunch of opaque plastic bowls in a friend’s cupboard, being used as storage containers. They came from some frozen prepared “meal” from a supermarket. Not only relatively expensive but loaded with chemicals. It doesn’t have to be that way. Whether you are a cooking beginner, a busy student or a bachelor, or almost anyone, you can eat well with a minimum of trouble. (I guess if you’re in prison you don’t have much choice, but everyone else does).

There are some simple fundamentals which quickly mastered will simplify cooking; taking it from a hassle to a welcome way to dine; less expensive and healthier than take-out or packaged factory-made “meals” found in supermarkets.

I remember years ago in the New York Times, they used to have a column by a French chef, Pierre Franey. He left his native France and worked at the N.Y. world’s fair in 1939. After that he was renowned for his dishes at LePavilon restaurant in Manhattan. Coming from a humble background, he wanted to show that French cooking need not be a snooty, time-consuming affair. He proved this with his 60 Minute French cooking column.

A popular food most people appreciate is chicken. Chef Franey taught how to quickly broil a chicken with minimum seasoning, and then vary that with different herbs and spices. He then added a simple rice, noodle or potato side dish as well as a vegetable to accompany it. Since this is little more difficult than heating a corporate factory-made meal, I wanted to mention it. If you live alone, you could save the rest for another day, or invite others to join you. A simple Poulet Grille with vegetables and a nice dessert will make you feel good.

Here is an example of wonderful, easy food at home, inspired by the 60 Minute French Cooking column from years go, still relevant today.

BROILED CHICKEN (Poulet Grille) serves 4

2 ½ lbs chicken parts (you can use any parts you like)
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon of peanut or other vegetable oil

• Preheat broiler
• Rinse the chicken and dry thoroughly
• Rub the oil all over the chicken
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper
• Put the chicken in an ovenproof skillet or broiling pan
• Put the skillet/pan in the broiler about 5 or 6 inches from the heat source
• Broil about 5-10 minutes, watch chicken for a nice browning
• Turn chicken over to broil the other side. If the chicken is browning before 5 minutes, you may need to lower the rack
• After broiling both sides, shut off the broiler and leave chicken in hot broiler 10 minutes to finish cooking
• Remove the chicken from the oven and baste with pan juices
  
  When you first put the chicken in the broiler, you can make some rice. Simply put one cup of rice into 1-½ cups of boiling water with a little salt and boil gently for 12-15 minutes. Taste a grain of rice to see if it is done. When done put a tablespoon of butter into pot and cover the pot off heat. Just before serving, stir rice with a fork.
  
  If you like, you may easily make some string beans (green beans). Start these just prior to broiling the chicken, when you put the rice on.
  
  String Beans with Lemon
  
  1 pound string beans, trimmed and cut into 2 inch long pieces
  Boiling water
  ½ teaspoon salt
  2 tablespoons butter
  Juice of half of a lemon or one tablespoon bottled
  Chopped parsley is really nice to add. About 2 tablespoons will do
  Ground black pepper to taste
  
  Put a pot of water on to boil. Rinse beans and put into salted boiling water to cover. Boil gently, uncovered, for eight to ten minutes. Taste one to check if done.
  
  Drain the beans and put back into the hot pan with the butter. Now sprinkle the juice, parsley and pepper into the beans. Stir and serve.
  
  There you have it, a tasty meal in the French style. Made quickly. Real food, Enjoy.

CROCKPOT DAL

We are eating sleeping and existing in the living room for a couple weeks now, preparing to tile the bedroom floor. Feeling somewhat recovered we prepare to start, when my spouse notices a crack in the concrete floor, running the breadth of the room, all the way into the carpeted closet. So, yet another delay.
While still feeling logey the other day, I pull out my slow-cooker, and after some preliminary frying; I dump a bag of plain lentils in the pot and slow cook them for 6 hours. I check it and add a half a box of frozen spinach and cook another hour. It is so good and simple to do, and thrifty as well. If you are harried or hurried, but want good tasting groceries, try this delicious dish. Just a few minutes at the stove, then the crockpot takes over. While it is cooking you can be doing something else. These lovely lentils go good over steamed rice, or cornbread, or toasts.


CROCKPOT DAL

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (coconut oil is good, or anything else you have on hand)
1 ½ cups of chopped onion

3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons gingerroot, minced

1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups of vegetable stock, or chicken or beef broth, or any combination you like
Half a can (3 ounces) tomato paste
2 cups lentils (the regular brown -coloured ones are fine)

1 stick of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
½ teaspoon salt

1 can of coconut milk
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Half a 10 ounce box of chopped spinach


Fry onion in oil in a large pot or dutch oven until soft. Then add the garlic and gingerroot and fry till onion browns.





Add the four spices, stirring well.

Add the stock, tomato and lentils and bring to a boil.

Transfer to crockpot and add the cinnamon and bay leaf.

Cook on “low” setting 6 to 8 hours.

½ hour prior to serving, add the coconut milk, cayenne pepper and 5 ounces of chopped spinach. Stir well and re-cover crockpot. Thirty minutes later it’s ready to eat. Enjoy.

EATING, SLEEPING AND CAMPING IN THE LIVING ROOM

Seems like ages ago, the BW and I are schlepping our entire bedroom furniture into the living room, so we can remove the laminate “wood” flooring. My BW is allergic to the floor and wakes up each day sneezing with itchy eyes, so we acquired these ceramic tiles (boy are they heavy) for the floor.

Right afterward, BW gets sick with the flu. And then I join her malaise. So we’re in our pajamas 24/7 each day and I don’t feel too much like eating, but my BW has to eat, because her diabetes requires a certain blood-sugar level.

Having time all over my hands, I was reading a recent Mother Earth News magazine article about bread, one of my favourite foods. I am intrigued by the concept of not kneading the breads. This is something I need. I read the article and decide to bake a Crusty White Bread loaf. William Rubel wrote this article and stressed “wetness” in the success of the finished loaf.

I make this bread (it is very easy, but you have to start the night before), and it was so satisfying, my beloved and I finished it within an hour after it cooled.

Crusty White Bread

1 pound (455 grams) unbleached flour. I used “bread” flour.
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
11/3 cups (320 ml) water
Baking stone or cookie sheet
Pizza peel or sturdy piece of cardboard

· Put the flour, yeast, salt and enough water in a large bowl and mix them to form a soft, sticky dough. I mixed it with wet hands.
· Let it sit covered at room temperature overnight.
· In the morning, wet your hands, lift dough onto flat, wet surface, then gently stretch it and fold it in half four times.
· Return dough to bowl, cover and let it rise till doubled in size in a warm place (about 70F, 20C).
· Line a bigger bowl with a clean cotton or linen towel and dust it heavily with flour.
· When the dough has doubled, gently turn it out to a work surface.
· With wet hands and a dough scraper (or spatula) stretch, fold and turn about four times until the dough begins to stiffen and assumes a ball shape.
· Put the ball into the lined bowl, cover and let rise till almost doubled, about one hour.
· Preheat oven with the stone inside to 500F (260C).
· Turn dough onto a well floured pizza peel or cardboard. I usually sprinkle cornmeal on the peel. Put a couple of slashes with a sharp knife on the top of the dough.
· Slide onto the baking stone and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 30-40 minutes. At the beginning, I placed a big 13”x9” pan of hot water on the lowest oven rack; this makes the crust very crispy.
· Let it cool at least 2 hours before slicing. I didn’t want to, but did.

Some folks are maybe put off by this, starting in the evening etc., but you could use a timer and go about your business. I know speed and convenience is the norm nowadays, but for thousands of years, bakers have relied on the live yeast to work the dough and I respect that. If you are undecided, I urge you to try it just once; if you don’t think it is worthwhile then forget about it. If you actually enjoy baking, maybe you could interest a neighbour, bake an extra loaf for them, and get something in return, maybe a jar of pickles or jam or whatever. Or just give it as a kind gesture with no expectations.

Years ago I used to bake a kind of “Cuban Bread” where you added a pan of water to a cold oven and then turned the oven on. Some of my co-workers didn’t like the crisp crust, the water pan can be omitted if you prefer. But it’s wonderful bread.

FRUIT ASSISTED COOKING

If you recently received a blender for Christmas or as a wedding or other gift, you may have read the pamphlet that came with it and started blending fruit smoothies. At first they might have been so thick you couldn’t drink them and so you kept adding juice or milk or water until it was thin enough, but you had more than a litre of beverage when you were done.

I hope you didn’t get discouraged and put the blender away (perhaps next to your old fondue pot), because a fruit beverage in the morning is a healthy way to start the day. A simple smoothie would be ½ cup of frozen blackberries and half a peeled and chopped apple with some juice or milk You can make it even better by adding a little whey protein powder to your “smoothie”. If you are using all fresh fruit, crack some ice cubes and add to the fruit in the blender.

But if you’re determined not to use the blender (maybe it sprayed your ceiling with blended fruit and now you’re punishing it), you can still enjoy and obtain the benefits of fruit. Try cooking with fruit. You will be pleasantly surprised how fruit can enhance certain dishes. If you think your foods will be sweet, don’t worry, fruit can lend a balance to many spicy foods and actually improve them. Try adding a little fruit from time to time, it will taste good and do you good.

Here is a simple Chicken Curry that uses fruit. If you don’t have all the spices in your cupboard, start with a tablespoon of Curry Powder.

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-size cubes
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light olive oil- or your favourite vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 piece of gingerroot, the size of a walnut, chopped finely
3 green onions, sliced thinly
1 green Chile, seeds removed and sliced finely
1 ½ teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds or powdered
3 whole cloves or ½ teaspoon powdered
1 stick of cinnamon or ½ teaspoon powdered
½ teaspoon each, salt and black pepper
½ teaspoon brown or white sugar
1 apple, peeled, cored and cut into large dice (about the size of sugar cubes)
1 green banana, just beginning to ripen sliced as thick as the apple
8 ounces chicken or vegetable stock
Apple cider vinegar to taste, about a tablespoon

· Gather all the spices together. If you have ground spices instead of whole, that’s all right, but whole spices should be heated gently, cooled and then ground in a grinder or mortar and pestle
· Drain the rinsed chicken pieces and dry with paper towels
· While they are drying, put the onion, garlic and gingerroot in your blender and whirl it into a paste
· Put the butter and oil into a pot
· While it is heating, put the dry chicken in a bowl, sprinkle lightly with salt, sprinkle the cornstarch over it and massage the chicken all over using your clean hands
· Scrape all the paste from the blender into the pot and stir frequently over medium heat for about 5 minutes, don’t let it stick to the bottom
· Now add the spices, salt and pepper and sugar to the onion mixture and stir thoroughly. Then add the chicken and stir it as well
· While you are cooking the chicken (this will take 10 minutes), check the liquid in the pot. If it’s soupy-looking turn up the heat; but if it is dry go ahead and add the stock, vinegar and the fruit
· Simmer covered about 40 minutes. Check liquid from time to time. Now the chicken will be cooked and sitting in a fairly thick sauce
· Taste the sauce; you may want to add a little more curry powder (or garam masala if you have it). If you think it needs a little more zip, add a little more cayenne
· This goes good over a bed of boiled rice
· Serves six with side dishes