Summer's Over but Salad Season Is Still Going Strong

It’s been a salad-y week for me. I’m in Texas getting ready to spend 10 days in Italy, so you may not hear from me for a while. And in an effort to shed a few of the pounds that will no doubt reappear over these coming 10 days, I’ve been experimenting with just about every combination of salad ingredients available. But I haven’t lost any weight in the process. It must have been the ice cream I had for dessert.

As the weather gets a bit cooler, there’s a resurgence of lovely types of greens that don’t really like the heat of August. And you can still find wonderful, fresh salad items like tomatoes and figs and blackberries. I read somewhere that a new type of sprout – from sunflower seeds – is the latest rage among professional chefs, so I pounced on that, too, when it showed up at my local Whole Foods.

So I have to finish packing, but here are three of the salads I liked the most this week.

For the first, I tried those sunflower sprouts with some beautiful green figs. I found raspberries – which are big and gorgeously plump right now – and thought they were a nice balance in tartness to the sugary sweetness of the figs. The sprouts have a lovely crunch and a mild peppery aftertaste. In keeping with the sweet-tart theme, I dressed the salad with a honey-lemon vinaigrette that you can find in a previous post. (Click here.)

Summer may be over, but you can still get good watermelon, and the corn season isn’t done yet either. So I diced some watermelon, piled it on top of some lovely organic watercress – another of those greens with a bit of peppery bite – and crumbled some goat cheese on top. Then because I had one last ear of corn that I’d carried down from New Jersey, I cut the kernels off and sprinkled them – uncooked, which is a wonderful way to eat them – around the plate. With the goat cheese, I thought the salad deserved a bit of herb-y dressing, so I used the parsley-shallot vinaigrette I posted on August 31.

Finally, I made use of the last of my peaches (peaches I lovingly carried on the plane from New Jersey and have been parceling out to myself every morning for breakfast ), pairing it with the big fat blackberries now appearing in grocery stores. I put them on a bed of baby arugula – yet a third peppery green, but they go so well with fruit – and went with a poppy seed dressing (so good with fruit) that’s been a favorite of mine for years. Here it is:

Poppy Seed Dressing

⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup cider vinegar
1 cup salad oil (vegetable or canola)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon freshly grated onion
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Mix all ingredients together in a jar. Serve over fruit salad or salad of arugula or fresh spinach with bacon bits and mandarin orange slices. Shake well before pouring.

* * *

So be brave – take a trip to the grocery store and see what’s around. Salads are so wonderfully flexible; you can change the proportions to focus on whatever ingredients are your favorites. And don’t forget to add a little kosher salt (or sea salt) and freshly ground pepper after you dress your salad.



I’ll be back October 5th.

Almost Weekly Foodie Faves – A Friday Blogette: The Cook's Thesaurus

Spend enough time cruising the internet, and you’ll invariably come across a source you hadn’t known existed. And so it is with today’s favorite. I found The Cook’s Thesaurus when I was making that delicious Fish Chowder I posted about recently. The recipe called for “strong fish stock, traditional fish stock, chicken stock or water (as a last resort).” Well, I didn’t have fish stock, strong or otherwise, and those of you who know me – and don’t you all know me by now? – know that I don’t do much “as a last resort.” I’m more likely to make a run to the grocery store at 11 o’clock at night because the right ingredient is...well, the right ingredient and I need it NOW.

So I had chicken stock; I also had bottled clam broth, which I thought would be good with the chicken stock. But I wanted at least one more vote in favor. I hunted around on the web, and up popped The Cook’s Thesaurus. There, in black and white, was the entry:

“fish stock  Substitutes: fish broth (less salty) OR equal parts chicken broth and water OR clam juice (saltier)”

Then as I poked around the site, I found a wealth of information on substitutes for almost anything you could mention. As well as tidbits about herbs and spices, condiments (listed by culinary culture), dairy products, and on and on. Clearly written, easy to understand, and with great photos.

It’s just chockablock with tidbits of culinary knowledge that I’ve “known” but never really gotten the specifics of – like the amount of garlic powder (⅛ teaspoon) that’s the equivalent of one garlic clove.

It tells you which herbs (like rosemary or sage or oregano) are equally good in the dried form as fresh, and which really need to be fresh (like chives or basil or dill). And here’s one I didn’t know (amazing, yes?): dill loses flavor when it’s heated, so wait till the last minute to add it to hot dishes.

Here’s a tasting of what you’ll learn on a visit:

■Freshly cut fruits or vegetables won’t darken if you put them in acidulated water – that’s water with a small amount of vinegar or lemon juice. The proportions are 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice/vinegar to one quart of water. I knew the first part but not the proportions.

■Store cheese near the bottom of the refrigerator, where the temperature is relatively more stable. But don’t freeze it, as freezing ruins the flavor. [The Kitchen Goddess’s favorite cheese guy says to always remove cheese from the fridge a half hour before serving. Except for goat cheese, which needs only 5-10 minutes.]

■Does your recipe call for buttermilk? Make your own by adding a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of milk and let it stand for 10 minutes. Or you can use plain, low-fat yogurt. Or sour cream. Or a cup of milk mixed with 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar, and let stand 10 minutes.

■For breading meat or fish, if you’re out of breadcrumbs, try crushed cornflakes (or other cereal) or crushed crackers, or even crushed corn chips or pretzels.

■The recipe calls for striped bass, but you can’t find any. Try any of these: grouper, sea bass, tilefish, halibut, salmon (!) or blackfish.

■Elephant garlic – those giant heads that look like garlic but come in a mesh bag – are more closely related to leeks than garlic, and therefore milder than regular garlic. Use it to get the flavor of garlic but a less potent taste.

■Out of fresh parsley? Try substituting chervil or celery tops or cilantro. Frozen parsley is acceptable, and all are preferable to dried parsley, which has about the same flavor as yesterday’s newspaper. And FYI, Italian parsley is much more flavorful than curly parsley. [Needless to say, the Kitchen Goddess knew that, but I throw it into this piece to demonstrate the breadth of information available at the Cook’s Thesaurus.]

And here’s a real kicker which I plan to try soon: If you are sauteing food, you can substitute flat beer for the butter. (Three tablespoon of flat beer for every tablespoon of butter called for in the recipe.) Go figure.

Gimme a Break – Fast Food for Tax Time

I’m working on my taxes. Yes, it’s September, but that’s how long it takes me to (a) get my butt in the chair with the necessary papers in hand; and (b) when the butt is in the chair to get the accounting done in lieu of another game of Spider Solitare. Here’s another thing that happens:

I’m moving through my AmEx statements looking for records of business deductions and charitable donations, when my husband says he wants to use the dryer and can he take my laundry out of it. I want to get the permanent press shirts hung up quickly, so I leave my desk, coffee cup in hand, and go to the laundry room, where I start hanging up shirts and folding clothes. Halfway through, I notice that the coffee cup is empty, so I go to the kitchen to refill.

That stock pot I was using to process preserves last night is still out, so I take it to the pantry where I spend a few minutes rearranging the shelves where the large pots go. I head back to my desk, where I sit down and start looking for my glasses. Ah, I took them off when I was folding my laundry, so back to the laundry room I go, where I notice that I never finished folding the clothes. And where did my coffee cup go? I return to the kitchen,...

This is why I never get anything done, I say to myself, and that sounds like a great topic for a blog post, so back to the desk I go. And now I remember that I still haven’t finished folding the laundry or doing the taxes. But I have a nice start on a blog post.

Not much later, I realize I have to fix dinner, and what I have on hand is mostly produce from the farmers’ market. Which includes eggs that I bought at a farmers’ market in New Hampshire a couple of weeks ago. You know what that means? It’s frittata time! [Kitchen Goddess note: Lest you worry about the safety of my two-week-old eggs, you should know that the American Egg Board says, “Refrigerated raw shell eggs will keep without significant quality loss for about 4 to 5 weeks beyond the pack date or about 3 weeks after you bring them home.” Which means quite a long time for just-packed eggs from the farmers' market. And aren't they lovely?]

Frittatas – first cousins of the omelette family on the Italian side – are my favorite go-to food for fast, fresh, and nutritious. Also easier and less fussy than omelettes (think Italian vs. French), and this one was perfectly delicious. The cooking process only takes about 20 minutes, so – mis en place! – have all your ingredients ready before you start.

Corn and Tomato Frittata
Serves 2.

3 slices bacon
2 tsp olive oil
1 large shallot, diced
kernels sliced (about 1 cup) from 1 ear of corn
1 medium tomato, cut in ½-inch dice
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper*
4 large eggs, beaten
garlic salt to taste
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
¾ cup grated Beemster cheese (or cheddar)

Special equipment: a 10-inch skillet that is at least 2 inches deep and can go under the broiler

Preheat broiler.
Cook bacon until crisp in microwave or in your 10-inch skillet. Crumble the bacon and set aside. If you cooked it in the skillet, wipe out the bacon grease (or use it – only 2 teaspoons – for the rest of the dish instead of the olive oil).

In the skillet, heat olive oil on medium power and add the shallots. Cook – without browning – for 2 minutes then add the corn, stirring to mix. Continue cooking another 2 minutes then add tomato, stirring. Cook another 2 minutes, stirring, then add cumin and Aleppo pepper, stirring to mix.

Pour the beaten eggs evenly over the corn/tomato mixture, and sprinkle the bacon bits, cilantro, and garlic salt on top of the eggs. Lower the heat slightly and cook without stirring for 4-5 minutes, until you can see that the eggs are not cooked through but have set enough that they no longer run if you tilt the pan. Sprinkle the cheese evenly across the surface and put the pan under the broiler for about 2 minutes, until the top has begun to brown.

Cut into wedge-shaped pieces and serve.

Kitchen Goddess notes:

1. The Cook’s Thesaurus says you can substitute 4 parts sweet paprika plus one part cayenne pepper, if you don’t have Aleppo pepper. But why go to all that trouble when you can get the folks at Penzey’s Spices to send you Aleppo pepper and anything else you’re missing from your spice cabinet? Aleppo is a Turkish chili with a great sweet-hot flavor and is useful in all sorts of dishes where you want just a bit of heat.

2. This recipe doubles easily, but you’ll have to use a larger skillet. My favorite is the Le Creuset 3½-quart braiser, which is just about one of the best pieces of equipment I own.

Almost Weekly Foodie Faves A Friday Blogette: Candles

I love candles. I can’t think of anything that makes a meal more special than candlelight. If you are having a PB&J by yourself for dinner, and you set a couple of candles out on the table where you’ll be eating – even if it’s only the kitchen island – the meal will be more pleasant and you will feel better about yourself. So before the entertaining season rolls in, I thought I would, er, wax eloquent on the subject.

When my sons were living at home, I almost always lit candles at the dinner table. I believed that they helped to create a mood that was friendly and warm – that they made the meal feel like a special time. The glow of candlelight brings on a mood that is quieter and more intimate; and in a house with as much testosterone as we had, lowering the volume of discourse is no mean feat.

Everyone looks better in candlelight. It’s prettier and more flattering than electric light. And candles are a symbol of hospitality and hope. So whenever I set the table for a dinner party, candles are a major factor in the decor.

I keep on hand a good supply of votives and tealights. Tealights are the ones encased in thin metal or plastic, so that the wax can liquefy completely while it burns. You can often find them in packages of 50 for $5.00 – maybe the best bargain around.

Among my favorite candles for a dinner party are wine cork candles. These clever candles look great atop a wine bottle – and at my house, we’re never at a loss for an empty wine bottle. I’ve seen the candles at any number of places on the web, but none as cheap as at the catalogue company, Uncommon Goods, where they’re $22.00 for a dozen.

A few key points about candles:

1. Maybe the most important – at least in the view of the Kitchen Goddess, is this: NO SCENTED CANDLES AT THE DINNER TABLE. You go to all that trouble with the food – making it look good and smell good. Scented candles will mask those wonderful smells, and in doing so can even alter the tastes of the food on your table.

2. Decorate the whole room, not just the table. Putting candles all around the room improves the intimacy of the gathering, and makes the room appear well lit and inviting.(My husband always claims I’m trying to burn the house down, but it’s not true. I just love candles.)

3. Store candles in a cool, dark, dry place – but not in the freezer. Store tapers or dinner candles flat to keep them from warping.

4.  When using tapers or pillars, trim the wicks to between ¼ inch and ⅜ inch before you light them, and remove any bits of wick from the wax pool.

5. With tapers, turn the candles 90 degrees each time you use them, to get an even burn. There’s no such thing as a dripless candle, but whatever you can do to minimize drafts will reduce dripping. Ceiling fans, open doors, or even your guests moving around the room can create a draft. Rotating the candles allows drafts to affect all sides equally.

6. You can remove dust and fingerprints from a candle by gently rubbing the surface with a damp piece of nylon (finally – a use for old pantyhose!) or a soft cloth.

When the party’s over:

1. Don’t blow out your candles – you might splash wax onto your tablecloth or dinner table, or even on yourself. Instead, use a snuffer or the bowl side of a spoon.

2. Removing wax from your holders is easiest if you put them in your freezer. The wax shrinks as it cools and will usually lift away immediately once you remove the container from the freezer. I’ve also had good results from commercial wax removers, like Weiman’s Wax Away. Little bits of wax will come off if you simply run hot water over the holder; but be careful, as you don’t want a lot of melted wax clogging your drain.

3. If you spill wax on carpet or clothing, take care of it as quickly as possible. Once the wax has hardened, lay a single layer of paper from a brown paper grocery bag on top of the wax, and with an iron set at a dry, cotton setting, move the iron over the spill. As the wax is absorbed into the paper, shift the paper to a clean part and press the iron over it again. Repeat until you see no more evidence of the wax.

4. Votive holders are easier to clean if you add a few drops of water to the holder before you insert the candle. Don’t do this too far in advance – if the wick begins to absorb the water, it won’t burn well.

Curse of the Nightowl

We spent most of last summer trying to remember on a daily basis to pick up a copy of The New York Times. It had seemed too complicated to try getting one subscription in Texas and another in New Jersey. Besides, the minimart in our NJ building sold papers, so all we had to do was remember.

This summer, remembering how hard that remembering part had been, I bit the bullet and opened a new account in Jersey City, under my husband’s name. Delivery went swimmingly until we popped down to Texas for a week, and when we got back, suddenly we were getting two copies of the paper every day.

“I hope we’re not paying for these,” my husband said. Hmmm. I was afraid we might be, but you know how eager you are to tackle what you think might be a complicated problem? That’s how eager I was to solve The Mystery of the Two Papers.

Finally, this week, I gave in and called.

“Hello,” I said to the very courteous Times rep who identified himself as Willard. “I’m trying to figure out why I’m getting two papers.”

Willard spent a couple of minutes verifying addresses and account numbers, and then he said, “It looks like you went online to put a vacation hold on your Texas subscription, Mrs. Hilton.”

“Why, yes, I did,” I said, impressed with how much Big Brother is actually watching me. “I just find it easier than calling because I’m often up late and the web is open 24/7.”

“Mrs. Hilton,” continued Willard, “It looks like you made an address change for the Texas subscription, so what you’re getting now in New Jersey is both the Texas subscription and the New Jersey subscription. But I’ll fix that and credit your account for the duplication. And Mrs. Hilton, I think you should try going to bed earlier – it says here you made this change at 4 a.m.”

Ah, the night (or would you call that morning?) before my flight. I thanked Willard and promised not to rearrange my life at that hour again.

And yet here I am, at 2:47 a.m., typing out this post. It’s not that I’m not tired. I’ve been to bed, closed my eyes, and willed myself to fall asleep. And then, a sentence came into my head. Nothing major, but one I liked well enough that I thought, I’ll just remember that to use in a post tomorrow. Hah. An hour later, I was still composing off and on in my head, and sleep was nowhere in sight. So instead of sleeping, I’m going to tell you about the very memorable fish chowder I cooked the other night.

I had what I call a heavy pound of cod – which is to say probably a pound and a few ounces – from the farmers’ market. I’d watched Julia on her new app as she warbled her way through her recipe for bouillabaisse, and it looked wonderful. But bouillabaisse is a Mediterranean fish soup – think tomatoes and a clear broth – and I was missing tomatoes among other important ingredients. It was too late to go back to the store, so instead I headed to epicurious.com and browsed through the fish chowder recipes – think potatoes and creamy broth. I have specific criteria for what I think of as a winning epicurious entry: at least 20 comments, at least 90% of the commenters would make the dish again, and an overall rating of at least 3 out of 4 forks.

The one I settled on had been reviewed by 114 cooks, with 96% vowing to make the dish again, and a 4-fork rating. But again I didn’t have all the right ingredients.

So I made my own, using elements of both recipes, and was thrilled with the results. It’s creamy but not heavy, with nice hearty chunks of both fish and potatoes. Julia said it’s best to have a mix of lean fish, so I added flounder I’d frozen from the week before. That Julia really knows her stuff. Then I replaced one of the onions with a leek, included clam broth (because I had it), made a few other minor alterations, et voilà. So here it is.

New Jersey Fish Chowder
Serves 6-8.

For the soup:
4 ounces bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, cut into ½-inch dice
1 medium leek, washed well and sliced in quarters lengthwise (white and pale green parts only), then across in ½-inch pieces
1½ teaspoons dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme)
2 bay leaves
2 pounds all-purpose potatoes (like Yukon Gold), peeled and cut into spoon-sized (bite-sized?) chunks
2 cups bottled clam juice
3 cups chicken stock or fish stock
2½ -3 pounds lean white fish (preferably thick, but I used flounder, and it was fine), filleted and cut into pieces about 2 inches square
1 cup heavy cream (more if you like)
salt/pepper to taste

For the garnish:
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons minced chives

In a 6-8-quart soup pot, cook the bacon on medium-high heat until crisp, then remove it to paper towels and reserve it for the garnish. Lower the heat under the bacon fat to medium. Add the butter, onion, leek, thyme, and bay leaves, and sauté 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft but not browned.

Add the potatoes, clam juice, and stock, and bring the soup to a low boil. (Add more stock if needed to cover the potatoes.) Cook 10 minutes, or until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a knife. Season well enough with salt and pepper that you don’t have to season further after you add the fish.

Reduce the heat to a bare simmer and add the fish. Cook 5 minutes, then cover the pot and turn off the heat. You don’t want to overcook the fish. Wait 10 minutes and add the cream, stirring carefully with a wooden spoon so as not to break up the fish. [Kitchen Goddess note: The fish will continue to cook in the 10 minutes, so leave that pot alone.] Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Kitchen Goddess note: This soup is best if allowed to sit another 20-30 minutes after you finish cooking. Many of the comments on epicurious preferred it the next day. We loved it both times. If you plan to serve it the next day, let it cool uncovered before refrigerating. And do not let it boil when you reheat, or the cream will curdle.

Garnish with the bacon crisps, parsley, and chives. And as Julia would say, “Bon appétit!”