Basil Syrup

Here is the basil syrup mentioned below.

1/4 cup sugar
3 cups fresh basil leaves

Heat sugar with 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan until sugar is dissolved.  Transfer to blender.

Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil.  Submerge basil in it and boil for 3 minutes.  Drain basil in a colander and run cold water over it to stop the cooking.  Place basil in blender with syrup and process for 2 minutes.  Strain in a sieve.  Sprinkle with salt.

(I probably wouldn't add salt if I wanted to use this for cocktails.)

Fancy Food

This cauliflower soup came from Rocco Dispirito's Flavor, which I received for Christmas several years ago.  This is the second time I've made it, and both times I ended up a little disgruntled by how labor-intensive it is.  First, you make a basil simple syrup, which involves two saucepans and a blender; then, browning the pine nuts in oil--a small skillet; and finally cooking a whole head of cauliflower with a sweated onion--one saucepan and the blender, and finally another clean pot to reheat the soup.  And this is only a first-course soup, as it's very light.  I made focaccia with sage and walnuts to go with it, which made a balanced supper.

We ate it cold for lunch the next day, equally tasty.

Why am I whining about this?  Because I prefer to make simple things.  I've vowed to live without recipes for a while.  I already know how to cook!

On the positive side, there was leftover basil syrup, and I made this drink at Eva's suggestion:  gin, soda, a squeeze of lemon, and a teaspoon of the syrup.  Delicious!

Downtown Salads

I had jury duty last week, and because we had an hour and a half lunch break and a whopping $12 per diem, I decided to use my time and money to explore some downtown restaurants.


My first salad was at Ike's, and was named The Clooney.  It was so perfect:  greens topped with a lightly dressed mixture of garbanzo beans, walnuts, diced beets, and feta cheese!

Next I ate at the relocated famous Poca Cosa Cafe and ordered the salad pictured here.  This was a chicken and artichoke salad dressed with cilantro pesto dressing containing a hint of sesame oil and peanut, with bell peppers, peanuts, cherry tomatoes, and grated carrots.  It was a masterpiece of color and flavor. The Poca Cosa has a blackboard menu which changes daily and always features an inventive mole (how do I put an accent on the last e?).  I was afraid I would fall asleep during testimony if I ate the chef's choice plate, which is a trio selected from the day's offerings.  

Eating in Portugal

I so looked forward to our trip to Portugal, but I dreaded eating out for three solid weeks:  I am a big fan of home cooking, fresh light meals, and lots of fruit and vegetables, which are hard to find away from home.  I knew that I loved Portuguese foods and had eaten in good restaurants in the Azores and Lisbon in the past, but I was so impressed by the wonderful and healthful meals we encountered at every turn in our travels.

Breakfasts included in hotel stays usually had cheese, sliced ham and Portuguese sausage, fresh breads and butter, as well as sweet pastries.  And espresso or cafe au lait.  And fresh fruits—most impressive were the very sweet local oranges, and sometimes strawberries.

Every block in Lisbon had a mini-mart.  This wasn’t like a 7-11 with chips and frozen pizza, but instead a tiny grocery with wine, bottled water, canned goods, small cheeses, and the basic produce such as beautiful tomatoes and oranges, onions and cucumbers.  We often had one big meal in a restaurant and then picnicked on bread and cheese for lunch or dinner—not for economy, but because of having walked for eight hours and needing to relax.  Or sometimes we were driving around the countryside and were away from civilization.  And sometimes we were just stuffed from the last ample meal.

Here are some of the memorable things we ate.

Portuguese wine is fabulous—there are vineyards everywhere—and can be bought for as little as $2 per bottle.  Also there is little markup in restaurants, so you can have house wine for a couple of Euros, and a more expensive bottled wine for a little more.  The wine seemed lighter and so we drank multiple bottles every day.

First night in Lisbon at a restaurant near the bullfighting ring:  Salada Croscente—crispy thin-sliced grilled eggplant, red lettuce, cashews, grated asiago cheese.  I had grilled tuna and Dad had sea bass.  Steamed and smashed baby red potatoes.  Sauteed vegetables.  Local champagne.  $65.

Next, to Tony and Manuela’s apartment.  It’s in an old building in the historic Belem area where Henry the Navigator is celebrated, and where Vasco de Gama and others embarked on their New World travels.  First, wine and appetizers.  Then an impressive spread of partridge pie, shrimp roulade (souffle rolled around a shrimp filling, with tomato sauce), bread, salad with the best tomatoes I’ve ever eaten, a mixed fruit cup, chocolate cake and custard tarts. I had a piece of cake but could only manage one bite of the beautiful custard tart. The partridge pie was pie-shaped with a rich pastry dough, and the partridge filling was very dark and rich, perhaps with the organs pureed in the sauce.  It was heavy but flavorful and so special.

Bread, cheese, and wine for supper.

We ate at Vitaminos (like a mall food court place) for breakfast at the Campo Pequeno mall.  Fresh fruit cups, cafe au lait, a slice of quiche.

The da Silvas took us to the seaside town of Caparica where they often go to Sunday lunch.  First course, steamed baby clams with garlic and cilantro accompanied by crisp garlic toast.  Then fish plates:  dourado for me,  robequeno for Dick, flounder for Tony and Manuela, with boiled potatoes and green beans for the table.  Beautiful bread.  Goat cheese. Cheesecake, coffee. 

In a small town we passed through driving down to the Algarve:  lunch of pizza for Dad, ham and cheese baguette for me, and salada primavera (also with ham). 

Arrived at beach hotel in Salema where we’ll stay for three nights.  Find that there are seven fish restaurants within walking distance!

First Salema night:  at Lourencos, the waiter brought around a platter of fresh raw fish and we chose chunk of stone bass.  It must have weighed two pounds, and I wasn’t aware that we had ordered the Whole Thing.  Anyway, with olives, bread, goat cheese, fish,  potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, and a bottle of white wine, we were stuffed.  $48 Euros.

Breakfast at the hotel; lunch of bread, cheese, and fruit at Sao Vincente fort.  Beer at a beach cafe in late afternoon.  Dinner, a cataplana, which is a hinged cooking vessel in which a whole meal is cooked.  Ours had fish and vegetables in it

Third night in Salema, Boia Bar:  prato do dia (daily special) was lamb—thin tender slices in a brown gravy with fresh mint, little browned potatoes, salad.  Dick had fresh swordfish.  Red wine from Alvor, a town we had been lost in that very day!

In the town of Mertola, a rough cafe:  bacalhau de casa (home-style salt cod) for Dick, corvina for me, local wine.  Then we walked up to the castle.

In Evora: wine, cheese, and strawberries in room for dinner.  Lunch next day at Mr. Pickwick:  the famous regional dish of pork with clams for me, roast lamb for Dick.

The nearest restaurant to our hotel in Evora (we had walked from 10:00 to 5:00 already) was a “medieval” one.  Dick had bacalhau (a plain boiled hunk, but he likes that), and I had a Salada Portuguesa, an ambrosial black-eyed pea salad served over greens and topped with fresh crumbled tuna and hard boiled egg..

Porto lunch down by the river:  grilled sardines for Dick and swordfish (different than what we call swordfish, but wonderful), salada mista, broa, (yeast-raised cornbread).  My vegetable was sauteed cabbage.

We had a glass of cheap white port at a riverside outdoor cafe in Porto.

We ate in the Leiria town square, with castle in background and little boys playing soccer in the foreground.  Outdoor cafe with pigeons who carried off our leftovers (while Dick was still sitting at the table!).  A toasted baguette with grilled vegetables and goat cheese drizzled with honey and topped with fresh rosemary; a green salad with sliced cold meats; and lasagne de peixe (fish lasagna—light pasta, white fish sauce with bacalhau and other white fish, some green layer, probably swiss chard—totally wonderful).

Torres Vedras, stumbled into an excellent cafe while looking for the castle.  Dick had the soup of the day, which was a rich tomato soup poured over chunks of bread, with a plate of garnishes:  two kinds of sausage, pork rinds, a hunk of bacalhau.  I had cold tuna and bean salad garnished with onion and cilantro, and piri-piri sauce.  The waiter sternly cautioned me about the piri-piri—trop fort, he warned me in French, very strong.  It was chiles in marinated in olive oil.  That meal, with a jar of house white wine, was 13.50 euros, or $17.00

Cabo Verdean restaurant near our Lisbon apartment—no menu, just the national food, said the English-speaking waitress.  This was a large plate of chickpeas, maize or hominy, and tuna made into a sort of stew.  Very heavy and not too flavorful, but always interested in trying new things.

Near the Convento at Tomar with Tony and Manuela:  Rancho for me and Tony, a sort of macaroni casserole with ham, sausages, and tomato sauce.  Manuela had alheira, a fake sausage filled with beef and bread stuffing, very delicious (the lore is that when Jews were forced to convert to Christianity or leave the country in early times, they only pretended to eat pork and substituted this sausage instead).

Near Sao George Castle in Lisbon, right in the middle of the tourist area, a museum attendant recommended the restaurant where he ate daily—no tourists there, only locals.

I had a mushroom omelet and salada mista, and Dick had a delicious red mullet, a wonderful firm flavorful fish like snapper.  Fruit salad for dessert.

Cooked a chorizo (Portuguese sausage) at home in our apartment this evening, with broad green beans and bread.  Strawberries and Portuguese dark chocolate.

Back to Caparica with Tony and Manuela, same great fish restaurant.  I had the best flounder of my life, a small whole one crusted with salt and I think finely ground almonds, grilled with a little lemon and olive oil.  Rice pudding, just like the Scandinavian type.

That evening walked out to the restaurant nearest to our apartment.  A rough place filled with soccer fans, but very good food.  Mixed grill, french fries, salada mista, house wine for two, about $15.

In the Chiado shopping district, ate lunch at a combination cafe/bookstore, lots of interesting folks around.  A rainy day, so I had the tomato soup of the day and then we both had the chicken prato do dia.  I wanted a little extra greenery so ordered a salada mista and received a large, delicious platter of greens, sweet onions, and tomatoes with dressing for 90 eurocents.

Our final dinner in Portugal was at a nearby Goa restaurant—Goa is an Indian colony of Portugal.  The food is very refined yet spicy.  We had exquisite vegetable and chicken curries.  It’s so great to be able to walk to dinner

Lemon Goat Cheese Cheesecake

This is a modified version of a recipe from your Luscious Lemon Desserts book by Lori Longbotham, Mom. It was super tasty even on Day 1; I imagine Day 3 would be excellent. Not too sweet.

The original recipe would have made a very tall cheesecake; I split it more or less in half to make it more reasonable. It served about 12.

Crust:

• 1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 6 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together butter and crumbs. Press into pan. (I used a regular nonstick deep cake pan, which worked fine. Springform would be good too.) Bake for 10 minutes an set aside to cool.

Put a dry deep pan in the oven and turn it down to 325.

Filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup or more lemon zest (I used the zest from 3 lemons.)

Mix together, or pulse in food processor. Set aside.

• 11 ounces goat cheese
• 1 package cream cheese
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• 4 eggs

Beat the cheese together until fluffy. Add the sugar mixture, vanilla and lemon juice and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Scrape into pan. Pour boiling water into pan to come halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. Bake for an hour and a half.

My regular New York cheesecake recipe doesn’t use a water bath, and I may try this without one next time, reducing the heat accordingly.

Rum Cake

Here's the family rum cake recipe. I got it from Lily Gaddis in Hawaii.


Rum Cake

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 package yellow cake mix
1 3 ¾ oz package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup dark rum

Sprinkle nuts in bottom of 10-inch bundt pan.

Mix all ingredients and beat 2 minutes. Pour batter over nuts in the pan and bake 1 hour at 325 degrees. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then invert and remove to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Glaze:

1 stick butter
¼ cup water
1 cup sugar
½ cup dark rum

Boil butter, water, and sugar together for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in rum. Prick top of cake all over and drizzle and brush glaze over cake.

Broa

Broa is a Portuguese yeast cornbread. I've eaten it in the Azores and made it a few times from Jean Anderson's The Food of Portugal. This loaf turned out especially well. I served it for the first course of a dinner with the neighbors, accompanied by Iberico cheese and Black Olive Pate.

Broa

Make a sponge by mixing 1 package dried yeast, 1/3 cup stone-ground cornmeal, and 1/4 cup warm water. Let work for about 40 minutes. I do this first step in the bread maker, and then add these remaining ingredients:

2/3 cup stone-ground cornmeal

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup scalded milk, or reconstituted evaporated milk

1 tablespoon olive oil

Scant teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour (more or less depending on humidity)

Mix and knead in bread maker, and let rise until puffy. Form a round loaf and let rise in a greased pie pan for 20 or 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 475 degrees--get it really hot!-- turn down to about 425 when you put the loaf in and then bake for 30 or 35 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on rack.

For the Olive Pate: Wrap a whole head of garlic in a a double layer of aluminum foil and bake for an hour at 300 degrees. Let cool, and then squeeze out the softened garlic into food processor bowl. Add 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives and some fresh black pepper and puree. Serve with bread.

Polenta in the Crockpot

I love to cook and I love polenta, but I don't have the patience to stand and stir for 30 minutes. I have tried this crockpot version several times now, and it's been a big success.

Polenta

2 cups polenta

6 cups boiling water

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoons salt

Place polenta in crockpot and gradually add boiling water, stirring until smooth. Add remaining ingredients. Cook on High for 3 to 4 hours, stirring every 20 or 30 minutes. If desired, a few minutes before serving stir in

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

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Spiced Pecans

Our friend Leila brought these delicious pecans to our Christmas hike and picnic, and then brought us some more the next day. Even better, she gave me the recipe. It's wonderful to find a Christmas nut recipe that isn't coated in sugar!

Spiced Pecans

3 T butter, melted

3 T Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
dash Tabasco sauce
1 lb. pecan halves

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix all ingredients, add pecans, toss. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, stirring often. Enjoy!

(I think there are a few left. I'm going to go eat them now.)

Beer Can Chicken, a Guest Recipe from Andy

We gave Andy and his family some dried herbs from our garden for Christmas. He coated a chicken with them, refrigerated for 24 hours, and then made this Beer Can Chicken:

We like beer can chicken. It's dead simple, easy to clean up, keeps the chicken moist, entertains Abby... it's a winner. I'd recommend getting one of the can stands; they sell them in kitchen stores or even in the supermarket for like 5 bucks. The stand makes it easy to stabilize the chicken, although I've done it with just the can as well. Any beer works or really anything in a can... I've used Dr. Pepper. Just jam a bunch of your favorite spices in the cavity, drink a little of the beer, jam some more spices in the beer can and poke a few more holes in the top of the can, shove the chicken on so its legs are hanging down, maybe put a little olive oil and spices on the outside, put it on the grill on medium (if it's gas) for about an hour and 15 minutes for a 5 pound bird... a little longer for a larger bird... easy. I take it off the grill with a couple metal spatulas and put it on a big wooden cutting board to rest and cut.

Tucson Breakfast of Champions

Anasazi beans, chopped green chile, oregano, cheese, green onions.

Gumbo

I needed to use some problematic okra from the garden--some was old and pretty tough, and some was young and tender, and there wasn't very much of either. I started out with Paula Deen's gumbo recipe, and made a few modifications, as usual. I used chicken thighs instead of breasts. I used butter instead of margarine and cut down on the fat amounts a bit. Also, I didn't have 5 bouillon cubes (!) so I used two chicken ones.

I sliced the elderly okra and threw it in when the recipe suggested. Then I steamed the baby okra separately and garnished each bowl with a few of those. It was so pretty, and gave the okra its due.

Eating and Drinking in Alaska

Our seven-week camper trip to Canada and Alaska has left me with some wonderful food memories.

Anchorage has many excellent restaurants! My favorite meal this time around was lunch at Muse, which is the cafe at the Anchorage Museum. I had a halibut sandwich and my mouth is watering now as I remember it. Although the place was busy, great care was taken with every detail: the fish was cooked so perfectly, and the bun buttered and toasted so that I had to eat every crumb. In Girdwood we lunched at Maxine's, where I had the lunch special, a duck quesadilla. In addition to the duck, the filling had a spicy homemade peach jam and a mild jack cheese. And slow-cooked onions, if I remember correctly.

In Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory, Dad had a birthday lunch of fish and chips, but in this case the chips were "yam fries."

Russell cooked some beautiful things for us at home, particularly this sockeye salmon that he caught and filleted. Together he and I made a rhubarb-raspberry cobbler with rhubarb from their garden. The topping was made with Bob's Red Mill gluten-free cornbread mix with a little sugar added.

Camped out in the forest above Hope we intended to make martinis but had forgotten the olives. So, inspired by a Spruce Tip Vinaigrette I saw on a menu in Homer, we invented the

Spruce Tip Martini

Gin

Vermouth

Fresh spruce tips

Ice

Estimate amounts of gin and vermouth in plastic glasses. Muddle with spruce tip and serve with lots of ice. Best enjoyed in cool, rainy forest setting.

Bean Salad with Hoisin Vinaigrette

This is my favorite bean salad. It's vegan, it's served at room temperature so it's great for a potluck, and it's pretty.

Bean Salad with Hoisin Vinaigrette

1/3 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger

Make vinaigrette by processing these ingredients in blender or food processor until smooth. Set aside.

6 ounces green beans

Steam or boil green beans until lightly cooked.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 red pepper, cut lengthwise in thin slivers

1 can garbanzos, drained and rinsed

2 teaspoons sesame oil

Heat oil and sauté garlic and pepper until pepper begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Add green beans, garbanzos, and sesame oil and toss and heat until well blended.

¼ cup thinly sliced green onion

Chopped cilantro

Remove from heat and add Hoisin Vinaigrette. Taste and add salt or soy sauce if necessary. Serve at room temperature, garnished with green onions and cilantro.

Frittata

I know we've both posted about frittata, but this one is a little different for me. I saw it in Parade magazine in last Sunday's paper. It includes stale bread cubes, which give it a little French toastie personality, and it doesn't get watery the way it can with potatoes. I used one cup of bread cubes to six eggs. Delicious for a light dinner, and very good the next day as well.