If It's Wednesday, It Must Be Meatloaf

In another life, I worked at an ad agency in the city along with someone I’ll call Donny, and someone else I’ll call Jerry. Donny was a little short white guy who was a newlywed and wore a wig. He didn’t think anyone knew he was wearing a wig, but back then it was painfully obvious.

Jerry was a 12-foot tall black guy who was outwardly friendly, but with a huge chip on his shoulder. I didn’t care; though I was a third of his height (okay, I exaggerate) I was able to knock the chip off and we got along great.

One day, as we were cleaning up at the end of the day, Donny announced, “oh boy, I’m having meatloaf tonight.”

I stuck my head up and peered over the partition, “How do you know you’re having meatloaf? Did your wife phone?”

“No,” replied Donny. “It’s Wednesday; we always have meatloaf on Wednesday.”

Jerry glanced over his partition (he didn’t have to raise his head).

“What?” I said.

Now this is where it gets good. Donny then told me (actually us), that spaghetti and meatballs were Monday, chicken cutlets were Tuesday, meatloaf was Wednesday, hot dogs were Thursday; well, you get the picture.

Jerry and I looked at each other. That’s all we had to hear. Well, of course our ribbing of Donny entered over into other aspects of Donny’s married life.

Imagine mealtime with no surprises, no variation. Sometimes, I think of Donny and wonder if he’s still married to this woman and if he’s still having chicken cutlets on Tuesday.

On the other side of the spectrum is my younger daughter. She’ll phone me periodically with a question that goes somewhat like this:

“Mom, I’ve got pork chops, an onion, a pear, and rice. What could I make for dinner?

It’s interesting because usually her question is generally her answer as well. I think she just wants reinforcement that, for example, pork chops with sautéed onion and pear over rice doesn’t sound crazy.

I bought her a great cookbook online and had it sent to her: “50 Ways to Cook Everything.” You look up an item, say pork chops, and it has 50 different recipes to prepare it. It’s perfect for her.

The day after it arrived in the mail, she phoned me.

“Thanks for the book, mom. It’s great. So, I have ground beef, one red bell pepper, onions, potatoes, and olives. What should I make?

Cuban Picadillo

I bet you thought I was going to suggest chili. I just knew she’d have beer on hand; after all, she’s in the Navy. Some things actually are predictable.

1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup beer
One 15-ounce can chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
A few drops Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound potatoes (about 2), peeled and cubed
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pitted green olives, quartered

In a large skillet, cook the ground beef until it is no longer pink. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 3 minutes.

Stir in the beer, canned tomatoes and its juice, tomato paste, the spices, and Tabasco sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet in hot oil over medium-high heat, sauté the potatoes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the potatoes, raisins, and olive to the meat mixture. Cook, covered, until the potatoes are just done, about 10 minutes longer. Serves 4.

Herbal Renewal

Since I am a condiment addict, this is the time of year I just love. With my garden overflowing with fresh summer herbs and vegetables, I am at the ready with a variety of sauces to fill up my refrigerator and grace my meals.

When I look at my dill, with its filigreed leaves waving in the breeze, I don’t just see dillweed, I see a homemade horseradish sauce.

That spreading mint among the gladioli will make a fine tzatziki sauce. Tickling my abundant parsley, I’m not just admiring the bright green leaves, I’m thinking about the chimichurri sauce I can make with it.

Not only is my herb and vegetable garden home to fresh summer herbs, I have them potted and residing on my deck and patio. Later on, when the air turns chilly in the evenings, I’ll bring them indoors to extend their growing season. I have plans for some of that rosemary doing so well now.

I think of my herbs as a growing investment from which I can reap the dividends.

Oh, I could go on and on about the merits of growing fresh herbs, but I’d much rather use this space to share some recipes with you.


Horseradish Sauce
This sauce is amazing with roast beef or as a dipping sauce with crudités.

2/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup fresh or prepared grated horseradish
2 scallions, finely chopped
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and mix until well blended. Allow the mixture to sit for 15 to 20 minutes to blend the flavors. Makes about 2/3 cup.

Tzatziki Sauce

This sauce is a staple in Greece. Serve with lamb burgers on pita bread or as an accompaniment to hummus and baba ganouj.

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cups plain yogurt
1/2 tablespoon fresh mint, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Lightly salt the grated cucumber, place in a colander or strainer, and set aside to drain for half an hour. In a bowl, combine the drained cucumbers with the remaining ingredients. Chill for 30 minutes before serving. Makes about 1 cup.


Moroccan Charmoula
This is an all-purpose spicy cilantro pesto. Traditionally served with fish and seafood, you can also use it as a marinade, or as a fresh sauce over baked and grilled fish, chicken and vegetables. There is no set recipe for charmoula; the blend of spices and herbs may vary. However, it always contains cilantro, olive oil, and lemon.

1 cup lightly packed cilantro, leaves and stems
5 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil

Place all ingredients, except vinegar and oil, in a blender or food processor and pulse to coarsely chop. With the motor running, slowly add the vinegar and enough of the oil to make a thick paste. Start with ¼ cup oil and add more to get the desired consistency.

Allow the sauce to sit for 20 to 30 minutes to blend the flavors. This sauce will keep for up to 1 month in the refrigerator. Makes about 1/2 cup.


Tomato-Mint Pasta Sauce
Serve this over the cooked pasta of your choice. With tomatoes ripening in the garden as we speak, this quick and easy recipe is perfect for late summer.

3 shallots or 1/2 red onion, minced
1 ½ pounds fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 handful of fresh mint leave, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Grated zest of 1 lemon, for garnish

Put the shallots and tomatoes in a large skillet, bring to a simmer, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the mint, salt and pepper. Toss hot drained pasta with the sauce and garnish with grated lemon zest. Serves 4.

Cuba Libre

As a latchkey child growing up in Brooklyn, my afternoons were pretty much the same. I would run home after school, open the apartment door with the key that I wore around my neck, lock the door behind me, throw down my schoolbooks, tele­phone my mom at the dress factory where she worked to tell her I arrived, and put the TV on to watch Million Dollar Movie.

I watched Million Dollar Movie every day after school no matter what was showing, and therefore viewed the same movie all week long. I loved the movies as much the fifth time I watched as I did the first.

Of course, I had my favorites; I loved William Powell’s Thin Man movies, adored W. C. Fields, and Laurel and Hardy; but my very best, all-time favorites movie stars were Sonja Henji and Carmen Miranda.

Sonja Henji could do nothing wrong in my eyes and Carmen Miranda, well, now, she was in a class all her own. Anyone who would dance around with a bowl of fruit on their head with utmost pride and dignity was #1 in my book.

Ultimately, along with Carmen Miranda I became interested in Cuba and its culture. Did you know that when sugarcane prices soared after World War I, scores of restaurants, mansions and casinos were built in and around Havana?

During the next four decades, vacationers flocked to Cuba for the beaches, casinos, exciting nightlife, and Cuba Libres. American touristas were returning home from Cuba with Cuban shirts, recipes for daiquiris and Havana cigars.

All this ended after the revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959. But my infatuation with Cuba continued. Hundreds of thou­sands of Cubans left their beloved home and most of them settled in the U.S. There are now well over a million Cuban exiles in this country.

One of those exiles became the janitor of the building in which I lived as child. Manuel was as close to Carmen Miranda as I could get in my young years, and I treated him like a movie star. I gave him my comic books after I read them. He told me they helped him with his English. I’m sure they did because shezam and gadzooks became staples in his vo­cabulary.

Years later when I found myself in Amsterdam, I found a shop that sold pipes, tobacco, and cigars. I brought my fa­ther back a box of Havana cigars, something not available to U.S. cit­izens. The owner of the store took the cigars out of their original box and put them in another brand’s box, so customs wouldn’t confiscate them. My father treated them like gold and only smoked them on special occasions.

Cuban food reflects this Cuban spirit: a hearty appetite for en­joy­ing the sweetness and richness of life, and a respect for tradi­tion. The food also reflects the history of Cuba and the diverse groups of people who have inhabited that beautiful island, from the Spanish explorers, to the African slaves brought there to work the planta­tions for the Spaniards, to the Chinese laborers who replaced them.

Cuban cuisine is a melting pot of ingredients and cooking tech­niques. It is a cuisine of meat lovers: pork and beef dishes are fa­vored, and usually served with rice. Because the sea surrounds Cuba, there are also many delicious fish dishes. And because of the sugarcane crop, Cuban cuisine is often sweet as well as spicy. Sugar is added to many entrées and side dishes. Green vegetables and salads are rarely seen. Fried plantains (green starchy bananas), boniatos (Cuban sweet potatoes), and beans of all types are typical accompaniments at lunch and dinner.

Cuba Libre
There are varying stories circulated as to the origin of the Cuba Libre. The one I like is that it has its origins in the Spanish-American War at the turn of the century when American arrived in Cuba in large numbers. One afternoon, a group of off-duty soldiers from the U.S. Signal Corps were gathered in a bar in Havana when a captain came in and wanted his rum mixed with Coca-Cola and a wedge of lime. The other soldiers decided to give it a try and one of them raised his glass in a toast, “por Cuba libre!” in celebration of the newly freed Cuba. Later on, during the 1970s in the U.S., Cuban exiles would call the drink “La Mentirita” meaning a little lie referring a Cuba that is not free.

2 ounces rum
Juice of 1/2 lime
Coca-Cola

Pour lime juice into a highball glass over ice cubes. Add rum and fill with cola; stir and add a wedge of lime. Serves 1.


Batidos
If you can’t find mango sorbet, any tropical or citrus fruit sorbet will do.

6 ounces mango sorbet
3 ounces vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup chopped fresh mango, plus a mango slice for garnish
3/4 cup cold milk
1 to 2 tablespoons honey
Mint sprigs for garnish

Place all ingredients, except mint and mango slice, in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a tall glass and serve immediately. Garnish with a mango slice and mint sprig, if desired. Serves 1.

   

Bison and Ducks, Oh My!

We’re now at the halfway point of summer. It’s at this point that a great many festivals are planned.

If you’re tired of sitting around the house or office complaining about how hot it is, or how rainy it is, or how dry it is, here is a list of some festivals in your area or someone else’s area:

In New York City, the New York Pizza Expo is happening; Seneca has their 14th Annual Garlic Festival. Did you know that 70 to 100 different strains of garlic are cultivated in the Finger Lakes? Rochester is having a Festival of Food. No specifics there.

If you want to take a long ride, Rockland, Maine is having their Maine Lobster Festival; Camden, NJ has planned their Third Annual New Jersey Tomato Festival.

For those more ambitious, Raleigh, North Carolina is hosting a BugFest, which includes a selection of gourmet bug and insect dishes and a critter cook-off.

Morgan City in Louisiana is having a Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival. Now, there’s an interesting combination. South Dakota is having a Great Plains Bison-tennial Dutch Oven cook-off; Gueydan, Louisiana is having a Duck Festival. They should join in with the BugFest people.

And in keeping with stereotypes, Los Angeles, California is having their 11th Annual Tofu Festival with a tofu-eating contest, and a tofu Ninja photo opportunity.

If you want to use up some frequent flyer miles, London, England is going to be having a jolly good time at their Great British Beer Festival; New Delhi, India is hosting both a Banana Festival and a National Conference on Pulses (that would be lentils and chickpeas and not heartthrobs); Melbourne is having a Taste of Slow Festival which should go hand in hand with their Duck Crawl Convention.

Cairo, Egypt is having the Sahara Agricultural Festival. This one stumped me. The last time I looked, the Sahara was a desert. And though I’m pretty sure you could have a dessert in a desert; I’m not sure you could have a farm in a desert.

In terms of event planning, some do better than others. The Barnesville Potato Days festival in Minnesota will be having a Miss Tater Tot Pageant, a Mashed Potato Sculpturing Exhibit, and will be serving potato soup, potato dumplings, potato pancakes, potato donuts, potato sausage and potato lefse. Lefse is a Scandinavian flat bread made from potatoes.

The Flint Hills Beef Fest in Kansas will be having a barbecue cook-off and a Cow Chip Toss AND Catch.

And the food festival that wins my prize is the ACFSA International Conference in Savannah, Georgia. What is ACFSA, you ask? ACFSA is the American Correctional Food Service Association. Prison food, folks. Anyone up for going to the prison food fest with me?

Norwegian Lefse
4 cups leftover mashed potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
About 3 cups flour
Vegetable oil for frying

In a large bowl, add butter, milk and salt to the mashed potatoes; mix well. Gradually, add enough flour to form a non-sticky dough. The less flour you use, the better the outcome. Place in the refrigerator to thoroughly chill and make it easier to roll.

Divide the dough into 24 pieces. Roll each piece out, using flour to keep from sticking. Use care to press lightly with the rolling pin when forming into rounds as they are much more tender than pie dough. The weight of the rolling pin is almost enough to flatten them. Each piece should roll out to size of a tortilla, about 10 inches.

Heat a cast iron griddle over medium heat and add enough vegetable oil just to coat the bottom of the griddle. Place one lefse in griddle. Lefse will bubble. Cook on a griddle until each round feels dry but not crisp, turning frequently.

Cool on a clean dishcloth and cover with an additional towel. Stack pieces on top of each other as they are cooked. The steam released will create a more tender lefse.

Serve rolled up with butter and a sprinkling of sugar. Some people like to use cinnamon sugar, and others spread their lefse with jam before rolling. Makes 24.