Charlotte de Chou

Cabbage? Or chou as the French call it? You probably like it or you really don’t. 

But behold the Charlotte de Chou! Isn’t she gorgeous? I have to admit I was so proud of how my Charlotte de Chou turned out. It tasted pretty good too! I saw the dish being hastily mashed together on Instagram and was intrigued enough that I hastened to find a similar recipe I could make in real time.

Charlotte de Chou is basically stuffed cabbage, but instead of a spiced meat filling as in a Chou Farci, this Charlotte is filled with colcannon, a traditional Irish dish of mashed potatoes.

The result is stunning—resembling a small cask of jade perhaps, a tureen of sorts, or something reminiscent of an ancient reliquary—and with a little patience when dealing with the blanching and careful folding of the cabbage leaves, it’s not overly difficult to make.

I served my Charlotte de Chou in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, but imagine this beauty at Easter, preening elegantly next to your ham or served cold at a summery picnic instead of potato salad, waiting to be sliced open...

...so, let’s see what’s inside!

Charlotte de Chou et de Pommes de Terre (Cabbage Charlotte)

By Wendy Klik  

Ingredients:
1 head, savoy cabbage
2 TB butter, and more for coating the souffle dish
1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 egg, beaten
2 TB milk
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
Butter a souffle dish, line the bottom with parchment and butter again. Set aside.

Remove and wash 4-6 large leaves from the head of cabbage. Place the potatoes in a large pot of salted water and bring to a boil. When the water comes to a boil, add the cabbage leaves and allow to cook with the potatoes for a couple of minutes until a bright green color. Remove the cabbage leaves with tongs and immediately submerge into a bowl filled with ice water. Lower the water to a simmer and cook the potatoes until fork tender, about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop half of the head of cabbage. Retain remaining cabbage for another use. Melt the 2 T. butter in a large skillet. Add the onion and cabbage and cook, covered, stirring occasionally while the potatoes finish cooking. If cabbage mixture is golden and tender before the potatoes are finished you can remove from heat and set aside.

Drain the potatoes and return them to the cooking pot. Mash them with the milk, salt and pepper. Add a dollop of the mashed mixture to the egg and whisk together briskly. Add this mixture to the potatoes along with the cabbage mixture and stir to combine completely.

Dry the cabbage leave and place one on the bottom of the souffle dish. Place 4-5 leaves around the sides of the souffle dish, overlapping on the bottom a bit. These leaves can reach past the top of the souffle dish. Fill the lined souffle dish with the potato/cabbage mash. Place the last cabbage leaf over the top of the mash and fold the side leaves over onto the top of the leaf covering the mash.

Place into a preheated 375-degree oven for 30-40 minutes, until heated through. Place a serving dish over the mold and turn it over allowing the Charlotte to drop onto the plate. Remove the parchment from the top and serve.

TV/Dinner - Squid Games

Sometimes, if I didn’t enjoy a dish at a restaurant that I felt should have been really good, I’m left unsatisfied to the point where I then play a sort of game and make the dish at home in an attempt to improve upon it. But what I often prefer is trying to recreate a dish I loved.

I didn’t start watching Squid Games until recently (yes, it’s highly addictive, frequently stunning, and probably dangerously subversive) but was reminded of an evening years ago at Milos in mid-town New York—a soaring space draped in splashes of white with glittering ice banks of fish on display, freshly flown in from Greece. I once enjoyed the most delicious grilled squid there, stuffed with goat cheese, basil, and mint. It was rather pricey, so instead of going back to Milos, I headed down to Chinatown for a bunch of inexpensive squid and made a pretty good version in my own kitchen.

I’ve included a basic recipe for grilled squid from Serious Eats (with a little help from Ina Garten) below and tinkered with it to recreate the fabulous squid at Milos.

Unlike Squid Games, there are no rules to this particular squid game. Play however you’d like! For example, I recently stuffed some squid with a ground salmon burger and grilled that. Opa!

Grilled Squid With Olive Oil and Lemon
Serves 4 

(2 stuffed squid per person)

Ingredients
8 medium whole cleaned squid bodies
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling and serving
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 oz goat cheese

2 oz feta cheese

1 heaping TB chopped basil

1 heaping TB chopped mint

1 TB lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste

Fresh parsely, for garnish

Directions
1. Rinse the squid tubes and pat dry with paper towels. 

2. Make the Stuffing:

In a bowl, combine well goat cheese, feta cheese, basil, and mint with lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
3. Stuff the Squid:
Carefully spoon (or pipe with a pastry bag) the stuffing into each squid tube, filling about 3/4 full. 
Secure the open ends of the squid tubes with a toothpick.

4. Preheat a grill pan to medium-high heat.

5. Brush the stuffed squid with olive oil and season with salt and pepper and grill for 2-3 minutes per side, or until the squid is opaque and has light grill marks. Avoid overcooking as the squid can become tough.
6. Serve:

Transfer the grilled squid to a serving platter, drizzle with olive oil or lemon juice, and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve immediately.  



Thanks to realgreekrecipes.com for the pic!

For Guinness' Sake!

 

The luck of the Irish sure seemed to be with me when I happened upon Nigella Lawson’s gorgeous Chocolate Guinness Cake: I already had most of the ingredients on hand (including a leftover can of Guinness from the Guinness Beef Stew with Horseradish Cream I’d made). Just thinking of an icing that should “resemble a frothy pint of Guinness” sent me into the kitchen to start baking. This cake a stunner for sure. My suggestions to lighten things up a bit are in italics.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everybody!

Chocolate Guinness Cake
By Nigella Lawson

Yield: One 9-inch cake or 12 servings

Ingredients
For the Cake:
Butter, for the pan
1 cup Guinness stout
10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar
¾ cup sour cream (I used Breakstone Light Sour Cream)
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2½ teaspoons baking soda

For the Topping:
1¼ cups confectioners’ sugar
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature (Neufchâtel has a lower fat content)
½ cup heavy cream (try a few tablespoons of condensed skim milk)

Preparation
Step 1
For the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.

Step 2
In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

Step 3
For the topping: Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners' sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add heavy cream, and mix until smooth and spreadable.

Step 4
Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.

BOOK/A TABLE - Baked Lemon Pudding with Blueberry Jam

 

I love it when an author gives a character a memorable “monkey”—a truly great trait or accessory that provides them with an identifiable silhouette and makes an imprint on our hearts: Miss Havisham’s rotted wedding dress, Philip Carey’s club foot in Of Human Bondage, Cyrano’s protuberant proboscis, Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter!

When it came to making this Baked Lemon Pudding with Blueberry Jam I became giddy as a kid, remembering when I was one, picking blueberries with my mother along bristling side roads in Maine. And thanks to Roald Dahl, blueberries will also always remind me of Violet Beauregard, that little brat from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory whose inability to stop chewing gum yielded disastrous results. Here’s what happened to her after eating a stick of Wonka’s gum that wasn’t quite ready yet...

“But there was no saving her now. Her body was swelling up and changing shape at such a rate that within a minute it had turned into nothing less than an enormous round blue ball—a gigantic blueberry, in fact—and all that remained of Violet Beauregard herself was a tiny pair of legs and a tiny pair of arms sticking out of the great round fruit and a little head on top.”

Since the first day of Spring is a week away, I’m pretty sure you should make this pudding in celebration—but it’s not exactly a pudding. Perhaps imagine instead a meet-cute where tart lemon curdy custard and an airy soufflé topping have a fling with blueberry jam. 

Whatever you want to call it, start cracking those eggs and fling yourself into Spring with this luscious dessert. I think it’s best served chilled!

P.S. I would be remiss not to mention Robert McCloskey and Blueberries for Sal, of course.

Baked Lemon Pudding with Blueberry Jam
By Melissa Clark
6 servings

Ingredients
2 tablespoons/28 grams unsalted butter, softened
1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
2 large lemons, zested and juiced (about 2 tablespoons zest and ½ cup juice)
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
3 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
¼ cup/31 grams all-purpose flour
1 cup/236 milliliters whole milk
⅓ cup/about 120 grams blueberry jam
Powdered sugar, for serving

Preparation
Step 1: Heat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the center.

Step 2: In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, lemon zest and salt, using a wooden spoon to mash together. Mix in egg yolks, then whisk in flour. Whisk in lemon juice and milk.

Step 3: In a small bowl, stir blueberry jam to loosen.

 
Step 4: Using a whisk, electric mixer or electric beaters, beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold into batter.

Step 5: Pour batter into a glass pie dish or shallow gratin dish and use a spoon to top with small dollops of jam. Bake until golden brown on top and just set (a wiggle in the center is fine), about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then use a spoon to serve warm or room temperature with a dusting of powdered sugar.

BOOK/A TABLE - White Bolognese

Reading Amor Towles’s dazzling novel Rules of Civility felt like being plunged into a tub of Champagne—at once perilous, heady, and delicious. There’s a definite nod to The Great Gatsby, I think, as we follow Katey Kontent (Kontent) and her witty chums (particularly the seductive, mysterious Tinker Grey) around a glorious, fizzy Manhattan in 1938.

Here Katey mulls over her neighbor’s Bolognese in a brilliant evocation of city life:

“When I got back to my apartment building, you could tell it was Wednesday because the blushing bride in 3B was running roughshod over her mother’s Bolognese. When she had transcribed the recipe, she must have written two heads of garlic instead of two cloves, because we’d all be wearing her home cooking for the rest of the week.”

It seems Katey is talking about a traditional Bolognese with a garlicky red sauce, but I was reminded of Amanda Hesser’s heavenly White Bolognese (without any garlic!), courtesy of the New York Times. 

My own rules of civility dictate that I tell you to try using fresh hand-cut egg noodles instead of rigatoni—they unfurl so wonderfully and make a tremendously satisfying, gorgeous plate of pasta. A few further suggestions from me are in italics below.

Rigatoni with White Bolognese
By Amanda Hesser
Serves 4

Ingredients
Extra Virgin oil
1/2 sweet onion, peeled and finely chopped we used a regular Spanish onion as sweet onions can simply be too sweet, the carrots add enough sweetness
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lb mild Italian pork sausage meat, removed from casings
1 lb ground beef (not lean)
1 1/2 cups dry Italian white wine
1 cube beef bouillon dissolved in 2 cups simmering water we used porcini mushroom bouillon that we brought back from Italy, but it's also available stateside and well worth hunting down
1 1/2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms rehydrated in 3 cups lukewarm water 
1/3 cup heavy cream probably a little more, I like to see the creamy whiteness in the sauce
1 lb rigatoni
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese we used Romano cheese that we had, though it hardly needs any enhancement anyhow--but we did add freshly grated nutmeg that we think is an essential addition to any hearty sauce!

Preparation
1. Add enough oil to a large, deep saute pan to coat the base and place over medium-high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion, carrots and celery and saute until glassy and just tender, about 5 minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Add the sausage and beef to the pan, breaking it into walnut-size pieces, and brown well.

2. Pour in the wine and keep at a rapid simmer until the pan is almost dry. Then pour in 1 1/2 cups beef bouillon and lower the heat to medium. Simmer gently, uncovered, until the bouillon is nearly gone, stirring now and then. Meanwhile, chop the rehydrated porcini into small pieces, reserving the liquid.

3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add mushroom liquid to the sauce to cover the meat halfway(about 1 cup) along with the porcini and continue simmering until the sauce is loose but not soupy, about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper, it should be highly seasoned. When the consistency is right, fold the cream in. Remove from the heat and cover.

4. When the pasta water is at a full boil, add the rigatoni and cook until still firm, but not hard, in the center. When the pasta is almost done, scoop out 1 cup of pasta water and reserve. Drain the pasta and then return it to the pot. Pour the pasta sauce on top and fold in with a wooden spoon. The pasta should not be dry. Add a little pasta water or mushroom liquid to loosen it. (It will continue to soak up sauce on the way to the table.) Serve in one large bowl or individual bowls, passing the cheese at the table.

Belgian Beer Braised Beef

I first made this recipe for Belgian Beer Braised Beef when the millennium was new, pulled off of MarthaStewart.com. I can no longer find it online, but I still have the faded, food-splattered print-out to share with you, dutifully copied below. Having recently made this luscious dish again, I’m happy to report it’s as good as it ever was.

Beef is lovingly braised in ale (I recommend Duvel Belgian Ale) for a few hours to break down the tough cut of meat. The slow simmering process yields a velvety rich beef full of flavor. I’m sure you’ll find very comforting on these cold winter days—and it sure makes the kitchen smell good!

Belgian Beer Braised Beef
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients
1/4 pound slab bacon, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 pounds beef chuck, or round, cut into 1/2-inch slices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons canola oil
2 large onions (about 1 1/2 pounds), thinly sliced
2 bottles ale (12 ounces each), about 3 cups
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 dried bay leaves

Method
1. Adjust rack to bottom third of oven and heat to 325°. In a medium- large Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium-low heat until crisp, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet; set aside.

2. Seasoned beef with salt and pepper. Add 2 tablespoons oil to pot, and raise heat to medium-high. Working in batches, brown meat, one to two minutes per side. As each batch is browned, transfer to a medium bowl; set aside.

3. If necessary, add remaining tablespoon oil. Lower heat to medium. Add onions and deglaze with about two tablespoons of the ale, scraping any browned bits from bottom pan with a wooden spoon. Continue to cook, stirring frequently until soft, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle flour over onions and cook, stirring, one minute more. Add remaining ale, and bring to a boil, scraping any remaining browned bits from bottom of pan with a wooden spoon.

4. Tie thyme, parsley, and bay leaves in a bundle with a piece of kitchen twine. Add to onions. Return bacon and beef to pan, pushing beef down into liquid. (The liquid will not completely cover beef.) Add 1 teaspoon salt period to bring to a boil. Cover, and transfer to oven. Cook until beef is fork tender, about two hours. Remove herb bundle, and discard. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Serve with small boiled new potatoes.

BOOK/A TABLE - Let There Be Quiche!

Before the frittata frenzy of the brunching 90’s, there was the quiche craze in the early 80’s and with it, the phenomenon of Bruce Feirstein’s satirical guidebook Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche.

Quiche was certainly a food item full of mystery and the topic of much discussion back then. So many questions! Do real men eschew quiche? Why or why not, and based on what? What is quiche in the first place? Is it eaten for lunch, brunch, or dinner? 

 
Perhaps quiche is largely forgotten now, relegated to a shadowy corner of today’s café counters. I have always loved quiche, ever since we were taught how to make it in my junior high Home Economics class. Just whisk a bunch of eggs and stuff together, pour it over a pie crust and bake! It’s ideal for a no-fuss dinner party—make it prior to your guests’ arrival, simply reheat and serve with some crusty bread and a bowl of salad.

I had a few quiche questions of my own when I came across this recipe for a quiche baked in a hash brown crust. The main question was, why have I never made quiche with a hash brown crust before? So delicious.

Some suggestions:
*I didn’t have any broccoli, but I fried up some chopped bacon and sautéed a sliced onion in the bacon grease and used instead.
*Squeeze the water out of the potatoes before measuring. You want the thawed hash browns to equal the amount of 1 1/2 to 2 cups after the water is squeezed out.

*Don’t only bake the potatoes until “starting to brown.” Definitely let the potatoes brown for a crispy crust.

Crispy Hash Brown Quiche
Ingredients
Cooking spray
1 1/2 to 2 cups frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 (16-oz) bag frozen chopped broccoli
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups low-fat milk
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a 9” pie plate with cooking spray. Squeeze as much liquid out of thawed potatoes as possible. To a medium bowl, add squeezed potatoes, oil and 1/4 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine.

Firmly press potato mixture into prepared pie plate. Bake until potatoes are starting to brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool slightly. Reduce oven to 350 degrees F.

Meanwhile, microwave broccoli according to package directions and drain very well. In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk and mustard. Whisk together until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Add broccoli and 3/4 cup cheese to crust. Slowly add custard over filling. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheese over the quiche. Bake until filling is just set, 35 to 45 minutes. Let quiche cool 10 minutes before serving.

Source: Hannaford fresh Magazine, October November 2024

 

Slow Cooker Cassoulet

I experienced a glitch that might have resulted in the premature publication of a post! Sincere apologies. 

So, let’s talk cassoulet! My first dalliance with the classic, hearty French dish can be found here but my favorite version is here. However, you just may fall in love with this heartwarming recipe as well—French Country Stew, a.k.a. cassoulet made in a slow cooker. Instead of using pork, you might want to try skinless, bone-in chicken thighs.

Prepare ahead of time, let it simmer while you occupy yourself otherwise...and serve to your loved one on Valentine’s Day!

Slow Cooker Cassoulet
Serves 8

Ingredients
1 lb. boneless pork shoulder
1 (16-oz.) package chicken Sausage
1 (16-oz.) package small dried white beans, like navy, cannellini or great northern
2 (10-oz.) packages mirepoix (diced onions, celery, carrots)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5-oz.) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth or water
5 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs rosemary
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley

Method

Cut pork into 1” pieces. To a 6-qt. slow cooker, add pork, chicken sausage, beans, mirepoix, garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves and chicken broth. Add thyme and rosemary to slow cooker. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Cook over high until beans and meats are tender, 6 to 8 hours. Remove and discard bay leaves, thyme and rosemary from pot. If there is too much liquid, use a slotted spoon to remove beans and meat from slow cooker.
Just before serving, in a 10” nonstick skillet over medium, melt butter. Add bread crumbs and cook until lightly golden brown, stirring constantly, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix chopped parsley into bread crumbs. If desired, cut sausages into 1” pieces before serving. Divide cassoulet among bowls and top with toasted bread crumbs to serve.

BOOK/A TABLE - Duck à l’Orange

                                                                         

While my father was building our cottage in Friendship, Maine back in the summer of ’79, my mother and I joined him every weekend. (I was eleven years old and being left to my own devices at home wasn’t an option). We all ate from a decently-stocked cooler, perhaps had a small grill, and slept in tents on the bare foundation before the walls went up. We were ‘roughing it’ but I didn’t mind, for the most part. I had Muscongus Bay to float around in, woods to explore, and I had my books.

However, the minute our neighbors suggested to my mother that I might rather spend a night in their guest room, I leapt at the chance. A cozy bed! Running water! 

I slept that evening in a tidy, wood-paneled room and when I woke up the next morning, the earth might as well have fallen quite away. I didn’t know the time or where anybody was—I didn’t hear a sound. I opened my copy of Sidney Sheldon’s page-turner Bloodline and got lost in a jet-set world of international intrigue, reading for several out-of-pocket, undisturbed hours until I finished. I didn’t have to use the bathroom, I wasn’t hungry, I required nothing: I was of myself, solely—and impossibly young. It was one of the most perfect mornings I’ve ever had.

“They flew to Paris in a private jet, and had a superb dinner. It began with a paté de foie gras with truffles, lobster bisque, crisp duck à l’orange and Maxim’s special salad, and ended up with champagne and a birthday cake. Rhys drove Elizabeth down the Champs-Élysées afterward, and they returned to Switzerland late that night.”

I didn’t actually experience duck à l’orange for myself until my father took me to New York several years later, where we had dinner at the Oak Room in the Algonquin hotel. We started with escargots, finished with cheesecake. All of these things have have remained tucked in my heart ever since.

So without further ado, here’s a recipe for excellent duck à l’orange. It’s Julia Child’s version, with a few well-considered tweaks from Hank Shaw at honest-food.net. I hope it creates some delicious memories for you, too.

                                                           

Duck à l’Orange 
Servings: 4 people
Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients
2 fat ducks, like mallards or pintail
Salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups duck stock or beef stock
4 sweet oranges
1 tablespoon arrowroot or corn starch
3 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
1/4 teaspoon orange bitters (optional)
2 tablespoons room temperature butter

Instructions
Use a needle or sharp knife point to pierce the skin of the fat ducks all over, taking care to not pierce the meat itself; go in at an angle. This helps the fat render out of the bird. Salt the ducks well and preheat the oven to 325°F.

Put the ducks in an ovenproof pan. I rest them on celery leaves to prop them above the level of the pan; this helps them crisp better. If you want, surround the duck with some root vegetables. Roast for 90 minutes.

Take the pan out and increase the heat to 425°F. When it hits this temperature, put the birds back in the oven and roast until the skin is crispy, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil the vinegar and sugar in a small pot until it turns brown. Pour in the stock little by little, stirring all the while. Set aside.

Shave the peel off the oranges, grating some fine and keeping the peel of 2 oranges in large pieces. Juice 2 oranges. Cut segments from the other 2 oranges. Here is a tutorial on how to do that.

When the ducks are ready, remove them from the oven and let them rest on a cutting board.

Finish the sauce. Bring it to a simmer, then add about 1/2 cup of orange juice and the large bits of peel. Simmer 5 minutes. Whisk together a little of the sauce with the starch, and, when it's mixed well, stir it into the saucepot to thicken. Add the Grand Marnier and enough salt and orange bitters to taste. Swirl in the butter one tablespoon at a time.

To serve, carve the duck and arrange on plates. Give everyone some orange supremes and pour over the sauce. Garnish with the grated zest, and serve with good bread, mashed potatoes or celery root, or polenta.

BOOK/A TABLE - Beef Stroganoff

Over 20 years ago, my cousin and I started an ongoing tradition of making dinner together during my holiday visits to New Hampshire. At first, we were just cooking for her husband and three children, but word of our feasts started getting around and soon neighbors and friends also began showing up to see what we were making...such as lavender-roasted quail, venison steaks, classic Vietnamese dumplings, Thai noodles, beef Stroganoff, and chicken pot pie in pumpkins. 

The adults would mingle, but her children (practically babies at the time) would watch us goggle-eyed from the kitchen counter as we whisked, simmered, and chopped, preparing elaborate dishes that often wouldn’t be ready until late in the evening, bedtime be damned! 

It still staggers me that her children now have babies of their own. Somewhere, there is a picture of my cousin peering over my crib to get a look at me. 

When she and I were kids in the 70s, oh how we loved watching Charlie’s Angels on television. In case you don’t know, the cop drama was about three gorgeous gals who did investigative work for a mysterious man named Charlie Townsend. It was the one show I was allowed to stay up past my bedtime to watch.

I recently found my copy of one of the books based on the series, and was wildly amused to read this:

Charlie chuckled. “Jill, how’s the painting coming?”
The blonde Jill said, “I bought one of those cooking encyclopedias.”
Charlie chuckled again. “It’s hard to keep up with you.”
“I’ve gotten as far as B.” Her tone became inviting. “My beef Stroganoff isn’t bad, Charlie.”
“Let me know when you get to zucchini.”

Beef Stroganoff (named for the Russian Stroganov family) was one of the first dishes my cousin and I made together. There are many different versions, but this one should dispel any lurid memories of the glop perhaps served in your school’s cafeteria, or what you may have suffered through at home, made with Campbell’s mushroom soup.    

I think you can skip the fussy work of making matchstick potatoes. Hot buttered noodles will do just fine!

Beef Stroganoff
Adapted from Saveur magazine
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp dry mustard
1 cup beef stock
1⁄4 cup sour cream
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 1⁄2 lb beef tenderloin, cut into 3” x 1” x 1/8” slices
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Canola oil, for frying
4 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/8” matchsticks
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Instructions
Step 1
Heat 2 tbsp. butter in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and dry mustard, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Gradually add stock, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil; cook until thick, about 2 minutes. Stir in sour cream, remove from heat, and set aside.

Step 2
Heat remaining butter in a 12” skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook until soft and lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to high, add meat, and cook until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add reserved sauce, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover to keep warm.

Step 3
Meanwhile, pour oil to a depth of 1 1⁄2” in a 4-qt. saucepan, and heat over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer reads 365°. Working in batches, fry potatoes until golden and crisp, about 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels; season to taste with salt while still warm.

Step 4
Spoon stroganoff onto a serving platter, and cover with a mound of jumbled straw potatoes. Garnish with parsley.

 

Thanks NYT Cooking for the pic!

Moody's Diner Whoopie Pies

When I got wind that Dunkin’ had created a whoopie pie donut (available only through the end of this month!), I rushed out to get mine. Certainly it was a clever enough version the treat, piping their glazed chocolate donut full of sugary frosting as they did. And yes, it went down well with a cup of Dunkin’ coffee, but I thought you might enjoy making the real deal yourself—with creamy homemade frosting sandwiched between two fresh-out-of-the-oven mini chocolate cakes (not donuts). And where better to start than with a whoop-inducing recipe from Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro, Maine?

My parents used to have a cottage in Friendship, Maine, and Moody’s was en route—basically a counter and a few booths when I first started going in the 70’s. The slice of banana cream pie or whoopie pie I used to squirrel away as a kid would last me the better part of a week.

Moody’s has since added to the enterprise (I love when they pop up in magazines or on those diner and dive kinds of shows) and they continue to lay claim as purveyors of the best whoopie pies in the state of Maine. Several websites purport to give the recipe from Moody’s, but I pulled this one from my copy of their actual cookbook. Do enjoy! 

Moody’s Diner Whoopie Pies 

Adapted from What’s Cooking at Moody’s Diner 

Whoopie Pie Ingredients:
¾ cup oleo (margarine)
1½ cups sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla
1½ cups milk
3 cups flour
¾ cup cocoa
¾ tsp baking powder
2 ¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

Method:
In large bowl, cream oleo, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add milk slowly and mix well. Combined dry ingredients and stir into batter. Drop batter with small scoop onto greased cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes at 350° degrees. Cool, then fill with whoopie pie filling.

Whoopie Pie Filling Ingredients:
1 cup milk
6 tbsp flour
½ cup shortening
½ cup oleo (margarine)
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Method:
Cook milk and flour in saucepan until thickened. Cool, and beat in remaining ingredients. Beat until filling is light and fluffy.

Dining at Sardi's

Sardi’s looks lovely this time of year, don’t you think? The old dame of the theater district was closed for quite some time after the pandemic and I was thrilled to finally return after so long and catch the bustling restaurant while still gussied up in all its holiday splendor.

When I was a theatrical agent representing actors, I often went to Sardi’s before the opening of a Broadway show—and sometimes my associates and I would sneak back in during intermission to grab a drink at the bar.

On this visit, the memories collected around me as my friends and I were ushered to our corner banquette, where we were flanked by caricatures of several of my former clients among the hundreds of other actors on the walls of fame.

It was cold out and French onion soup seemed the perfect antidote to the chill. I couldn’t help but think too of the times my husband and I, on varying occasions, served a French onion soup that left our guests gasping. The secret seemed to lie in the brandy we liberally ladled in as a substitute for the sherry. I forget who had given us the bottle, but we quickly ran out. When we went to get more, we realized why our soup was so good—the Courvoisier XO brandy we’d been generously gifted was very fine indeed and at $135 a bottle, it was rather the kind you’d sip and savor, instead of pouring into a soup.

A happy accident! And I’m not recommending you go nuts over your soup with such extravagance, but I do think you might use a more modestly priced brandy instead of the sherry suggested below. In any event, this recipe is sure to lead to many ovations, standing or otherwise.

Soupe à l’Oignon (French Onion Soup)

Adapted from Saveur magazine, Issue 107
SERVES 6

Ingredients:
1 cup white wine
1⁄2 cup plus 3 tbsp sherry
10 tbsp butter
1 tsp sugar
3 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
6 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
6 sprigs thyme
2 fresh bay leaves
2 qts Beef Stock
12 1⁄2"-thick slices baguette
2 cloves garlic, smashed
6 cups grated gruyère cheese
2 cups finely grated parmigiano-reggiano

Method:
1. Heat oven to 425°. Combine wine, 1⁄2 cup of the sherry, 8 tbsp. of the butter, sugar, onions, and salt and pepper in a 9" × 13" casserole dish and braise, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the onions just begin to brown, 40–45 minutes. Remove casserole from oven, cover with foil, and continue braising in oven, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 1 hour more. Keep the onions warm.
2. Meanwhile, tie parsley, thyme, and bay leaves together with kitchen twine to make a bouquet garni. Put bouquet garni and stock into a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes. Remove and discard bouquet garni. Stir in remaining sherry and cook for 5 minutes more.
3. While the broth simmers, spread the baguette slices with the remaining butter. Toast in a skillet over medium heat, turning once, until golden, 5–7 minutes. Rub the slices generously with garlic and set aside. Discard any remaining garlic.
4. Heat broiler with rack 6" from element. Arrange 6 heatproof bowls on a foil-lined sheet tray, divide onions and broth between bowls, and stir together. Place 2 baguette slices in each bowl; top each with about 1 cup gruyère and about 1⁄3 cup parmigiano. Broil until cheeses are browned and bubbly, 3–5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Thanks to @chrislabas for the snaps!

BOOK/A TABLE - Welsh Rabbit

It sure ain’t the charming tale of Peter Rabbit, foraging among the lettuces and French beans in Mr. McGregor’s garden until the old geezer chases him out with a rake. In Watership Down, the fear of being caught is very real—and everything is a threat.

Since I read Richard Adams’ book, I figured rabbits have enough to deal with in their everyday lives without me adding to their peril (much as I had previously enjoyed rabbit braised in Riesling or served with a creamy mustard sauce). But there is Welsh Rabbit—aka cheese toast, so warm and comforting—which was traditionally served as a savory course in England after dessert if the rabbit had gotten away. I hope all rabbits get away.

“To come to the end of a time of anxiety and fear! To feel the cloud that hung over us lift and disperse—the cloud that dulled the heart and made happiness no more than a memory! This at least is one joy that must have been known by almost every living creature.”

A happy, hopeful 2025 for everybody!

Welsh Rabbit
Adapted from saveur.com

Ingredients:
3 1⁄2 cups (about 3⁄4 lb.) grated aged English cheddar
1⁄4 cup light beer or ale
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1⁄2 tsp kosher salt
1⁄2 tsp dry mustard
Dash of Tabasco
4-6 slices crustless, toasted wheat bread
Ground pepper

Method:
Combine cheddar, beer, butter, worcestershire sauce, salt, dry mustard, and a dash of Tabasco in a medium pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it melts into a smooth sauce, 4-5 minutes.

Pour melted cheese over slices of bread, sprinkle with ground pepper, if you like, and serve at once.