Rye Cooks

Pop on Over

This is the first day of summer, for this family here in Rye, NY.   Solstice was a couple of days ago, with that gorgeous moon, but this is the first morning without review sessions, final exams, musical performances, or class parties.

I am making popovers for breakfast to celebrate.  Well, my two teenagers are sound asleep, and will not wake up until long after the air deflates and the warmth is gone, but my youngest and her sleepover friend will happily enjoy with butter and probably some raspberry jam.

The recipe was photocopied out  an older cookbook, I am not sure the name, but on the very same page (596-597 fitting together on one standard size copy paper) are recipes for Milk Toast, Croutons, Yorkshire Pudding and Corn Bread, under the heading of Quick Breads.  No photos.

This is not sexy Giada cooking, but it is worth knowing.  Although I have never felt the need for milk toast, my husband is a happy man upon hearing the two words "Yorkshire Pudding", a food item about which I was always unclear, thinking forever that it was a thick dessert-y concoction.  Now that I know it is a bread-y item, cooked in pan dripping of roasted meat, I wonder how I missed this yummy (distinguished, of course, from healthy), side dish for so long.

Popovers:

"Forget what you've read elsewhere.  The secret to making good popovers is to start them in a cold oven"

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 Tablespoon melted butter

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly, without overbeating.  Half-fill buttered muffin tins (or custard cups...) Put them in a cold over and set the heat for 450 degrees.  Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 12-15 minutes.  Test one to be sure it is done by removing it from the pan.  It should be crisp outside and moist and tender inside.

Roasted Cauliflower

This is just about the best day so far this year, and of course the weekends seem so full of eating opportunities.  Corn on the cob and grilled chicken on the bone are favorites.

Right now, however, I have cauliflower in my oven.  I am not sure what my dinner is going to consist of, since we are headed to a buffet bbq and I need to not be too hungry when I arrive.  I want to pick the best of the offerings and not simply lose my mind on the good looking summer fare.

Here's what you do:  cut your cauliflower up into little pieces and spread on a baking sheet. Toss some olive oil over it and add salt.  Now, roll the pieces around with your hands a bit to cover and bake in a 350 oven for about a half hour.  If you're feeling adventurous, add some curry powder with the salt.  

You won't believe how good this is.

Enjoy!

Dinner on the Cheap

We were thinking of budget dinners to fit into our next show which is about being creative while spending less. Ramen noodles are such a staple for so many households, those with young children, those in college, those in a first apartment while coming home late from that demanding, yet entry level, job.  Packaged ramen are kind of evil and kind of magical at the same time.   

A couple of tips were found on the internet. The noodles are apparently pre-fried, so an interesting suggestion was to set two pots to boiling at the same time.  Boil the noodles in the first pot for two minutes, then drain and finish the final one minute in the other pot.  This way you've sent some of the fat right down the drain.  

Another thing I did was to use two packets of the flavoring for four noodle servings.  Then I added a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil.   Leftover chicken and some chinese mushrooms gave it some much needed protein and a bit of sophistication.  

We did this dish at Suzy's house for the camera and we added some more colorful frozen vegetables.  Trader Joe's has a mix of shredded carrots and broccoli which is a nice update from those tiny, perfect squares of carrots and peas, right?  

This dinner was made from one of the cheapest food on earth (ramen noodles), leftover chicken and a freezer stable (the veggies).  I was happy to have the mushrooms for diversity.

See what lurks in your cupboards.  You do usually have a dinner in the house, you just have to check all the nooks and crannies for the ingredients.

What's your favorite go-to?

Granola and Anchovies

Today I made two things that do not necessarily go together, but I found that if you indulge in a palate refresher, like a nice cold glass of Fresca, they can be enjoyed within minutes of each other.

Last week, we visited with my aunt who is talented in many home arts, mainly she is a quilter, turning out fabulous creative blankets with complicated and intricate designs.  

She is also a very good cook and she gave me a recipe for homemade granola, which I made this afternoon.  You may not think you need to make your own granola, but you do. 

Preheat oven 325 degrees

3 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts (chopped)

1 cup pumpkin seeds (I couldn't find any, so I doubled up on almonds and pecans)

1/2 cup coconut flakes

3/4 cup honey or maple syrup

3/4 cup olive oil

1 Tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup chopped dried cherries/cranberries/whatever you like

In a large bowl, mix oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, maple syrup or honey, oil butter, salt and cinnamon.  Spread mixture on a rimmed baking sheet in an even layer and bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until golden brown and well toasted.

Transfer to a large bowl and add the dried fruit.  Toss to combine and store in an air tight container.

 

The other dish I made was a family favorite, strangely enough: Pasta with Anchovies and Breadcrumbs.  I had fresh homemade breadcrumbs, purchased in Little Italy, (yes, yes, they are easily made at home, but wouldn't you?  For $2.50?  Yes, I believe you would.  

I'm not going to print the recipe now, but if I receive any comments asking, then I sure will respond with the recipe.  Suffice it to say it involves very few steps, While boiling the water for the pasta (we had angel hair), the sauce is begun by lightly browning garlic in olive oil and then adding a can of tomato paste.  Anchovies are put into a small saucepan with some olive oil and gently cooked until they fall apart. Then add the anchovies to the sauce, combine with the pasta and top off with a tablespoon of breadcrumbs.  It's so good.  If you would like more specifics, just ask!

Crunch Time

Yeesss!  We finally finished the third show and we are on air on the public access channel in Rye.  But you can only see us on the big screen if you live in town, so use the link below if you want to take a peek.

 http://ryeny.swagit.com/play/03162011-157/0/  

The theme was around getting ready for a big night out, the Rye TV awards ceremony was held that night.  We had a bit of primping to do, and of course, dinner still had to get on the table.   

I promised to post the recipes we used on the episode so here they are:

Quick and Easy Waffles...........by Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything

Canola oil for brushing on waffle iron (I use Pam)

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional, but I put it in)

Brush the waffle iron with oil, or use Pam and preheat it. Combine the dry ingredients.  Mix together the milk and eggs. Stir in the butter and the vanilla.  Stir the wet ingredients into the dry.

Spread a ladleful or so of batter onto the waffle iron and bake until the waffle is done, usually 3-5 minutes.  Serve immediately or keep warm for a few minutes in a low oven.

 

Then we made pot pie, as it was easy to make early in the day, for re-heating later. This recipe came from the back of the box of Pillsbury pie crust.  I will post that next time, because even I can see this is long enough for now.  More importantly, click on the link and tell us what you think!

 

 

Waffling

With renewed energy, we have been working hard to bring you the third episode of Rye Cooks, on Rye's public access channel (that's either 76 on cable or 33 if you have Verizon). You'll also be able to watch on your computer, I'll provide the link and hopefully you will be able to just click on that tv icon on the right hand corner.

When we first realized that we have been at this for a year, we were a bit disconcerted.  Did we think we would have had 12 shows in 12 months? We had so very many ideas and tons of forward momentum.  It would seem that (almost) 3 shows does not really meet our goals.  But there was so much more to this than we could have imagined.

Our skill set has grown exponentially in the past year.  Suzy learned all kinds of technical applications, and I have learned that being engaging is more important than getting all your ingredients right the first time.

Luckily, being human and imperfect is what is I am good at. There are so many other blogs and tv shows that will tell you how to get everything just right. On professional television, they do lots of takes, they have staff to clean up spills, and they have big teleprompters that the hosts read from.  I know, because I went to see both Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart during the past year.  

They also have people who run out with little brushes to fix skin imperfections that have cropped up during the breaks(Martha), and when something doesn't work, they do it again, keeping the studio audience clapping just like we never saw the bit just a minute ago (that's more Rachael). Being part of those studio audiences would have been fun for me anyway, but checking out how they get it done it made it much more interesting.

We have interviewed lots of people around Rye, even if we haven't used any of that information on the show, it has been valuable.  We've talked with the man in charge of the food service in all the Rye City Schools. We spent time with the woman in charge of education at the Rye Historical society and had a fascinating conversation about cooking over an open hearth. For a crowd. We've met fabulous people at RyeTV and the Rye Middle school, took part in an awards ceremony and earned our very own Margie, and yes, there were other entries.

The title of this post does not refer to any lack of dedication to giving you an entertaining look at food and people of Rye, it refers to the fact that we made waffles a while back for a cooking segment to be used in our upcoming show, the audio was poor, so we did it all over again. This time it worked out really well and hopefully you will see it soon on Episode 3!

 

 

The Baking Throw Down

Another snow day.  Well, the tease of merely a "delay" for the elementary school so that a broken pipe could be fixed, and then an early dismissal for the rest of the school district.

After the pick up, a few kids assembled at our house, which happens kind of rarely.  We don't have a finished basement, attic space or any sort of "playroom" that affords privacy. When the kids were young, I equated heading down into one of those basement rooms to watch the kids play as a form of parent purgatory.  Now, the thought of that degree of privacy just seems wrong. "Heyyy, I just thought I'd throw in some whites, anything I can get you guys?"

What we do have is ingredients.  And a double oven.  So, the kids split up into teams, one made a Sour Cream Coffee Cake, from Bon Appetit, the opposing team made Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies.  I voted for the coffee cake, even though they were both delicious.  

I love this coffee cake.  It makes a big enough recipe (baked in a 13 X 9 pan) to feed a crowd.  It is perfect when we are invited to someone's house for brunch or for a ski weekend.  

I just checked my recipe so I could quote you the right magazine, and I can't believe it is from 1987.  I tore out a page from a magazine more than 23 years ago.  Was I really thinking about coffee cake way back in my senior year of college?  

Generally, I feel about 28 years old so stuff like this comes as a bit of a shock.  Well, it is nice to have a teenage daughter whose friends come over to bake.  They even did a stand up job of cleaning up today.

White or Red?

Are you one of my kind?  The kind that waits for all the happenings of December to work their way through so we can come out the other side into clean, fresh January?  New everything?  Getting organized, doing all that went by the wayside in the rush of celebrations, identifing the gloves that have long ago lost their mate, getting rid of them, making piles of outgrown warm stuff for donations, etc.

Ask me mid December and I would have told you that by now, my cookbook binders would be updated, out with the old stuff I never made, in with all the print outs of recipes I made successfully, the recipes ripped out of waiting room magazines that I plan to try. (uhhh, you know, ask the receptionist if she can please make you a copy...)

I would have weekly meals planned or at least be a day or two ahead. We might have some fresh vegetables in the house by now.  Not the kind ice-picked from the freezer.

Ah, but no.  Not much of the above.

What has gotten my family through these past weeks is: PASTA FAGIOLE soup.

There are two places in Rye to order it and the two soups you will come home with have only a passing resemblance to each other, and they are both highly recommended.

The first is from Sunrise Pizza.  Small tubes of pasta, white beans in a heavy broth; they swear there is no cream in it, and I believe them.  It is completely, utterly satisfying.  Enjoy it in front of a cozy fire.

The second is from Piazza Pizza. Their pasta fagiole is the fiery little sister to the one from Sunrise.  Piazza uses bacon and the smoky flavor may not be traditional (and maybe it is?), but it works.  Piazza uses an assortment of beans and the broth is deep tomato red.  Warming and wonderful in a different way, kind of energizing, actually.

We have been subsisting on both, the leftovers are great for breakfast. 

Thank you Sunrise, thank you Piazza!

True Believer

Today was an extraordinary day, the kind that made me rethink previously held beliefs on commercialism, retailing and whether or not things happen by accident. 

I have been collecting gently used backpacks for an organization called the Aspire.Inspire Foundation. This began when I went to hack my way through my basement for a little pre-season cleaning.  

We had many backpacks collecting dust down there.  Sure, some had sentimental value, there was the bright blue one that I took with us to Disney, big enough to fit my Unofficial Guide to Disney, my clipboard with each day's itinerary on it, my notations on the best places to eat in Epcot and maps highlighted with the restrooms in each "land".  My daughter's bright orange one personalized with her travel soccer number made me smile.  But really, they had to go.  

A few minutes of google-time revealed many organizations and I chose Aspire.Inspire after a couple of emails back and forth.  I put a plastic bin in the lobby of the local elementary school and sent a request through the school's newsletter.  There, that's done.

Today, I was in Nordstoms, exchanging a pair of Uggs when I checked out the sale table in the tween section. Three pink and purple Roxy backpacks sat regally, marked down from $32.00 to $19.99.  I asked the salesgirl if they could be marked down again and I would buy all three.

She price checked one first and her eyes widened. What?? They were not supposed to sell them now, they were meant for The Rack (discounted Nordstroms) but apparently they didn't get out in time.  They were a penny apiece.   

Looking this gift horse directly in the mouth, I went back over to the table and grabbed 10 adorable satchel type bags and asked her to price check. Same!!  I had tears in my eyes, I was so happy for this luck.  Those were not backpacks, but surely needy kids could use them similarly.  I felt that Suzy was going to jump out any minute with her video camera.

I spent 13 cents and did not even get mad when the evil machine used to pay for parking rejected my $5 bill three times and the third time I pulled it out in ripped in two.  

 

Harvest on the Hudson

This weekend we went out for an anniversary dinner at a place far, far away in Hastings on the Hudson.  Funny how you can go 20 miles from Rye and it is a matter of 3 highways to get there.  Harvest is known for sophisticated, local, organic offerings.

Although we had a 6:00pm reservation, (NO laughing, why oh why would be go to a place on the Hudson river, surrounded by gardens in the dark?), it was quite crowded with three simultaneous parties in progress.

We must have had that, please, please, it is an anniversary dinner, no kids screeching look about us, so the hostess seated us only somewhat near a sedate celebration of a 60th birthday.  Our corner table was lovely, the waitress had a actual opinion on the food and she steered us very competently through a delicious meal.

Appetizers were portabello mushroom polenta and figs with a balsamic glaze.

I can't believe I have gone so many years without appreciating the fig.  I claim to dislike only raisins, but really other similarly textured foods, olives and dates come to mind, make me physically uncomfortable. I always assumed figs were in the same back-of-the-neck-crawling category.

The first time I had figs was a couple of years ago, when we were invited to a dinner at the celebrated Rao's on 114th Street.  At that time, the figs were served plain and were allegedly fresh off a tree from the backyard of the owner of the restaurant. I say "allegedly" in a purely conversational sense, of course...! 

Now I have a craving for halved fresh fig, a small scoop of gorgonzola and a drizzle of balsamic.  How long do you think it takes to grow a fig tree?