Because I Said So

My 93 year old Grandmother, lovingly called Ma, gets frustrated with me when I tell her "Everybody is different".  I think she wants me to agree with her that so-and-so shouldn't be doing this-and -that, and so-and-so's husband doesn't like this, isn't he crazy?  I usually try to sit on the fence, because deep down, I hate confrontation.  I don't like arguments, and raised voices chill my blood and make my stomach sick.  Staying neutral, like some countries, has worked for me in most instances.  I have my beliefs and morals, but I don't always feel it necessary to make them known.  Go ahead and be a moron with unrealistic beliefs and notions.  I will just sit here and smile.  Good for you.  You go.  Away.
Fence Sitter I am not when it comes to food.  How can someone not like Onions, I ask, appalled completely.  And too much garlic...WHAT?!?!  Stop the press, hold all my calls and someone get that cat out of here.  I don't think I am actually physically able to cook without onions and garlic.  And lots of them.  My husband hasn't said anything about the abundance of onions and garlic so far, and even if he did, I would most likely correct him.  See, that non-confrontational person actually likes to dabble in a little argument here and there with the husband.  It must be a married thing.  No raised voices, just a little nag and rib here and there.  No harm done and no upset stomach. 
So on that note, I am making a little soup I call "Buncha".  Buncha this, Buncha that and Vi-ola...dinner.  It is a little bit of everything my husband likes....green beans, hot Italian sausage, potatoes, pasta.  And then a lotta onions and garlic.  He'll like it.  Or else.

Buncha Soup

2 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 rib celery, chopped*
1 medium carrot, chopped*
1/2 # extra small mixed new potatoes
3 cloves garlic, mashed with 1/2 tsp. salt to make a paste
handful green beans cleaned and cut into 1" pieces
1 medium red or yellow onion, chopped*
1 tsp. each dried rosemary and thyme
13 twists of a pepper grinder
1 Hot Italian Sausage, casing removed
1/3 cup Orzo pasta
32 oz. homemade or *gasp* store bought beef broth
1 1/2 cups h2o
Splash V8 juice or 1 chopped tomato - optional

*I leave my carrot unpeeled...I like the rustic look.  I also take the ends I chop off of any carrots and celery, and the skins of the onions, and put them in a bag in the freezer labeled "For Stock".  When I make any kind of stock, this gets thrown in.

Add butter and oil to a 6 qt. heavy pot.  Add celery, carrot, onion, potato, and green beans to pot.  Saute for 5 minutes.  Add garlic, herbs and pepper.  Mush up hot Italian sausage with your fingers and add to pot, breaking up more with wooden spoon as you combine everything together.  Cook for 2 minutes, stirring.  Add Orzo pasta, stir, and let toast up and soak up flavors 1 minute.  Cook 2 more minutes, moving it around.  Add beef broth and water and over medium heat, bring to just a boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer until potatoes are soft and flavor is to your likey (add V8 or tomatoes now if you are using). Stir occasionally so pasta doesn't stick to bottom of pot. Serves one hungry man with a little for lunch another day.
Enjoy!
J~

Winter Can Kiss Off

I love hearty, winter comfort food.  So many avenues to take and so many wonderful recipes to try.  But I am completely done with winter.  We were so close to having all the snow gone when that bitch Mother Nature tossed us a nice sloppy mix of rain and snow last Saturday.  Then, out of nowhere, it was like a blizzard.  Blowing and snowing and....ACCUMULATING!  AGH!  We almost had house guests for the night since the roads were crap by 7 pm.  I am a self proclaimed lover of snow, and usually this would not phase me, but I just cannot take it anymore.  So Winter, now hear this:  I am making my Chicken Stock for the last time this season.  I will use some to make winter-ish dishes this week, and freeze the rest.  I will make delicious sourdough bread and enjoy sopping up those hearty dishes with it.  Then, I will be done with this cold crap.  When the stock runs out....so does your time around these parts, you hear me?  Maybe if everyone makes this stock and bread this week, stands at his or her stove with soup spoon held high, and rejects any and all evil of Winter, Old Man Winter will take the hint a move on outta here.  Can't hurt to try, right?  So let's get to it.

Jules' Chicken Stock

3 large Carrots chopped in half
3 ribs Celery chopped in half
2 large Red Onions chopped in quarters (use skin and all!)
4 garlic cloves peeled and lightly smushed
2 Tbs. kosher salt
1 5 1/2 # to 6# Roaster Chicken cut into 7 pieces (2- wings, 2 leg quarters, back bone, 2 breasts)
5 1/2 Qts. cold H2O
Any scraps of vegetables from freezer, chicken pieces, necks etc.

Place all ingredients in a large soup pot.  Over medium-low heat, slowly bring to just a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 hours.  Skim often at start to remove all the fluffy sludgy stuff that rises to the top.  Use cheesecloth to strain solids from stock.  I remove the meat from the bones after cooking and give it to the dogs....all the good stuff is now in the stock, but the dogs still love it.

Sourdough Bread
Recipe courtesy of Cooking Club of America, with a few minor changes courtesy of Me.

3 1/2 c. lukewarm water
4 tsp. active dry yeast
4 tsp. kosher salt
7 1/4 c. all purpose flour

Combine water, yeast and salt in large bowl.  With spoon, stir in flour.  Dough should be a bit wet.  Place dough in 5-qt. lidded container;  cover with lid (do not snap air tight).  Let rise at room temperature for 2 hours.  Refrigerate overnight and up to 14 days.

Next day:
Remove 1/4 of the dough.  (Use dough any time within 14 days, repeating these instructions if you like)  Form it into long loaf and place on cornmeal coated peel (or flipped over cookie sheet)  Let come to room temp and then rise, total of 2 hours.  With sharp knife, make several slashes on top of dough.  Oven should be at 400 degrees with pizza stone in oven.  Transfer loaf to pizza stone in oven and bake 30 minutes.  Remove and let cool completely.  Listen.......it will "sing" as it cools.
Enjoy!
J~ 

Small Is The New Big

I am so glad the "Super Size" fad has gone on its merry way.  Like we Americans need more of anything, especially food.  Small is the Wave of the Future.  People get all goofballs over mini things.  Just look at how many people have those ultra-tiny, yappy dogs.  Chickens have bigger legs than those little dogs.  Cell phones are super small.  Then again, I have man-hands, so they seem very small to me.  And how about those little humans they call babies?  People love 'em.  They keep having oodles and oodles of them, and everyone gets so excited over the "Little Man" or "Mini Mama".  I am all about little.  Little Food, that is.  I adore doing appetizer parties, and people go nuts over mini re-creations of their favorite snacks, fast food, comfort food, and desserts.  Just about any food can be minimized with great success.  Not all recipes were made to be multiplied, and some dishes don't come out quite right when made for the masses.  That is why appetizers, or hor's d'oeuvres if you like, are just so perfect for parties and gatherings.  They don't have to be fussy, yet they can be.  They don't have to be difficult, but they can also be intricate enough to cause chefs to lose their meatballs.  My parents went to a wedding in New York, and came back with pictures of the food for me.  Yes, they know their daughter very well.  Anyhow, my dad was mesmerized by the "Mini Hamburgers" that they served.  Sliders, these were not.  They were actual hamburgers, with mini buns, mini tomato slices, baby squares of cheese, and of course, the meat patties that were the size of silver dollars.  Guests caught their breath, cooed, and had to stop themselves from pinching the little burgers.  They were little miracles.

Small is just as much work as big.  If not more.  Mini Filet Mignon?  Not on my menu.  Steak Au Poivre Crostini?  You bet.  Same cut of meat, yet made differently, and more to my liking.  I've seen these mini filet in magazines and books, and while they are very cool, they would give me the shakes, and I already have too many sleepless nights just doing the little catering gigs that we do.  I like to keep it simple.  Think of your favorite dish, and then picture it small.  Cute, huh?  Right now, I am thinking of my favorite summer dishes and picturing them as appetizers.  Grilled Pizzas.  Caprese Salad (Small bamboo skewers of grape tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil that have been marinated).  German Potato Salad (Potato Chunk, piece of Bacon, bite of onion, that were all cooked in the German potato salad manner, then stacked)  Pasta Salad (Cheese Tortellini, Kalamata olive and tomato, skewered).  Burgers (See above, but make the meat patties with lamb, pork, buffalo, beef, or whatever is your fancy.  So many dishes, so many possibilities. 

Don't get me started on desserts.  I just made my husband some Phyllo Cannoli.  I made them normal dessert size, but then I realized I could make mini phyllo cups and pipe the cannoli filling into them. Dust with crushed pistachios and, Voila!  Mini Cannoli.  Without frying dough!  My kinda dessert.  I know it's been done before, no news there, but it was fun just twisting things around to make them work for me.  Hand held, two bite options are the way to go.  People move too fast, and they need convenience now more than ever.  I cannot tell you how many parties we have coming up that are all "Grab and Go" appetizers and desserts.  Even (gasp!) Weddings.  No sit-down, be-served parties for these youngsters.  One of the weddings doesn't even have seating!  The bride wants everyone to "have" to mingle.  Appetizers for savory food, and Mini Wedding Cakes for everyone to take home! (*Shakes and Sleepless nights begin*)  Yikes.  But the food will be so cute you'll just want to pinch it.  Coo.
J~

Pics and recipes of Appetizers to come very soon.....Tasting Party March 26th.  Fun Stuff to post!  J~