I'll just have a bowl of oatmeal.

Weekends are great for so many reasons.  And probably like you, I spend all week looking forward to them, counting down the days till they get here.  So much so in fact, that it often seems I forget all of the good things that can happen during the work week.  For me, having breakfast "out" defines many-a-happy-weekend.  And I often wonder why?  I mean, what's so hard about frying up a couple of eggs, making scratch pancakes, a little sizzling pork fat....it isn't rocket science we are talking about, right?  Why is going out for breakfast so alluring?  I'm pretty sure the home version of a weekend breakfast will often trump what I can order out in most local establishments.  Yet still, I want to go out for breakfast.  My major complaint often revolves around the menu.  Not much innovative or interesting happening 'round these parts.  Seems that a lot of people have pretty simple breakfast tastes, and I think it's time for that to change.

For me, I think my love of breakfast out is because I have been to some REALLY good breakfast spots, and I clearly recall each of those finds.  They always seem to be when I am on vacation somewhere.....a diner in Taos, NM with awesome Huevos Rancheros, a crunchy organic bistro in Bar Harbor, Maine with weird but amazing omelets, out-of-this-world red bean and rice, biscuits and jam at Lucille's in Ft. Collins, CO, european style breakfast buffets in Germany with quark and great cheeses, a southern breakfast platter with grits at Mothers in New Orleans. Well, I guess even Pamela's hotcakes wrapped around fresh strawberries here in Pittsburgh can qualify.  You know, I'm reliving each yummy thing by just typing this.  Hold on, I gotta jump on a travel website and check some airfares!!

I'm back.....You know what I always want to order when I get to those funky far-flung breakfast spots that I so love?  Oatmeal.  Yep, Oatmeal.  That even sounds weird to me, seeing as I don't love oatmeal.  But, funky breakfast spots have a way of making it sound good, and, well, tempting.  So, to fulfill my need for funky breakfast spots, and tempt myself to stay home on Saturday morning, I've been working on my oatmeal.  I figure, what can it hurt?  It's kinda good for you, its comfort food, and not one place in a 15 mile radius of my house has a bowl of interesting oatmeal on it's menu.  I'm starting an oatmeal revolution!

Here are the secrets I have uncovered.  Number one.  Use good oatmeal.  No, not instant oats.  Steel cut are best, if you like lots of texture.  I'm a fan of a mixed grain that I've found at a local bulk food store, which has six different grains including oats and barley.  Number two.  Cook with milk, not water.  I never considered this step before, but what a difference it makes.  Immediately when it starts cooking on the stovetop, I smell cookies, which certainly is not all bad.  Third.  Throw in dried cherries when it is cooking.  Cherries, not raisins.  I'm in love with a 3 cherry mix that I found.  When they plump up in the milk, you'd almost think they were fresh picked.  Fourth.  Add in vanilla and a bit of brown sugar while cooking. (getting hungry now).  Fifth.  Top it off with fresh toasted pecans and a drizzle of maple syrup. Oh, sliced bananas go great here to at this point too.  Whew.  What a bowl of oatmeal.

If you saw this on the menu at your favorite local diner when you sat down for Saturday morning breakfast, would it attract you?  Would you eschew bacon and eggs and order it?  I'm telling you, an oatmeal revolution is in my grasp.


Saturday Morning Oatmeal 
(serves 2-3)


1 cup quality oatmeal
2 cups low fat milk 
pinch salt
sprinkle of cinnamon
3 T brown sugar
nice size handful of dried cherries
1 tsp vanilla
nice size handful of raw pecans, toasted and lightly salted
sliced banana (if desired)
drizzle of maple syrup


1.  Add milk to saucepan.  Stir in oats, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and cherries.  Heat on medium high till mixture comes to boil, stirring often.  Turn down to med/low to keep at simmer.  Cook for approx. 5 minutes, until oats are tender and milk is mostly thickened.  Don't try to rush it, milk will scorch.  Its better to take it off the heat a bit early, than leave it on too long.  If oatmeal seems to dry, you can add more milk.
2.  Stir in vanilla.
3.  While oats are cooking, heat non-stick skillet sprayed lightly with oil.  Place in raw pecans.  Heat over medium high, just until fragrant and slightly toasted.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and remove from pan.
4.  Spoon oats into bowl.  Top with pecans, sliced banana's if desired, and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Sardines are Good Food

If my father reads this post, he may not step foot in my house again.  He is THAT put off by fish in a can.  I can honestly say that I never had canned sardines before (or fresh, for that matter).  There were times that cans of tuna fish were successfully smuggled into the house growing up.  Mom and I would secretly eat it when he was away on business.  We had to sneak the empty tin back out of the house, lest he find it in the garbage.   My sister inherited his same disdain for all things canned and fishy.  But my grandma.... well, lets just say she was a different story.  Smoked oysters in a can were one of her fave's.  I never screwed up the courage to actually try it, but I liked to watch her place them gently on a saltine, lovingly eat them, and then wash them down with a cold Iron City.  Pure pleasure, indeed.

But I wanted to try sardines.  I'm a big fan of tuna fish, and use canned anchovies for the basis of pasta sauces and salad dressings.  Never sardines.  After reading yet another article on Omega-3 fatty acids in oily fish, I bought a can.  My first foray was to make a cracker spread, by deviling (think spicy and zesty).  Not half-bad.  A few minor adjustments to get it just right.  Then, I spread that deviled sardine on a cracker, thought of grandma, popped it in and smiled.

Deviled Sardines


1 can sardines in olive oil (these vary in quality, mine were from Morocco)--Mash with fork
1/2 - 1 TBSP good dijon mustard
1/2 - 1 TBSP worcestershire sauce
sprinkle of cayenne pepper


Stir together, then adjust seasoning to taste.  Spread on cracker.

Eating Peru

Our Christmas Eve dinner "theme" this year was Peru.  An odd choice, maybe, seeing as we are not Peruvian by any stretch of the imagination.  Our loose connection to Peru is really through travel.  A couple of years ago, my mother went on a trip to Peru with my Uncle Gordon.  This was no ordinary vacation though.  My uncle is a pilot, and uses his accumulated FedEx vacation time to volunteer for Orbis, a flying eye hospital.  Their mission involves bringing cutting edge surgeries/surgeons to poverty stricken countries so that sight can be restored for those afflicted with treatable disease.  This particular trip, he took my mother.  She had the chance to see a few cities in Peru, most notably from a real-world perspective, not just the tourist face.  She brought home great memories, beautiful pictures, and a few trinkets.  Among these items was a leather-enrobed bottle of Pisco, Peru's claim to fame in the liquor department.  Since her return, that bottle has sat untouched, waiting for an appropriate use.  I can happily say, we found one!

As for our Christmas Eve multi-cultural tradition, it goes back quite a few years now.  In an effort to establish a unique tradition for my family, the nationality meal was born.  Early in the evolution we had fun, loosely constructed themes, such as American Italian (wedding soup and spaghetti with red sauce), Pittsburgh theme (homemade Primanti sandwiches with fresh cut fries and slaw right on the corned beef sandwich), and a pretty generic Mexican theme.  But as time went by, and younger family members became more adventuresome eaters, the themes have became more involved, and more exotic.  We spent one year celebrating Scandinavia, with an authentic Smorgasbord and a phoned in Norwegian blessing.  That year we even made themed Christmas ornaments.  Our themes for the past two years have been based on the travels each of my nieces did.  Turkish cuisine was celebrated after my oldest niece, Kara, traveled around the world on Semester at Sea.   And last year we had an authentic Chinese meal, after my niece Jill returned from a school trip to Beijing.  Duck was the centerpiece, and formed the base of the soup, the sides, and the main dish.  But this year, it was time to celebrate Peru.

I have always had a driving interest in food culture around the world, and love the challenge and learning that goes along with the Christmas Eve theme choices.  Starting in November, the final decisions are made, and the research begins in earnest.  The internet certainly makes the job easier, but I often find the need to consult resources in book form as well.  This year, a trip to the Carnegie Library with my students turned up a Peruvian Cuisine cookbook, which proved invaluable.  Next, the ingredient procurement takes center stage.  This often involves new food items I have never used before, spices I've never seen, and techniques that are completely novel to me.  Every once in a while, it even involves purchasing a new piece of cookware!!  (Paella pan for spain, turkish coffee "pot").   The challenge item that I needed to find for Peru was a yellow hot pepper paste, called Aji Mirasol.  Many of the dishes I selected called for this paste, and I was stuck unless I found it.  Luckily, the Latin American store in the Strip district carried it, so I was in luck.

Creating the menu is a big challenge.  Knowing that you can find the ingredients is a first important step, but then taking a realistic look at prep time, staging time, and number of eaters is critical.  The other factor is a bit more enigmatic....will they eat it?  All bets are off with this, although I must say that the odds have increasingly risen every year since it's inception.   So this was the year I really put them to the test.  Can you say, CEVICHE??!!!  Of course, the meal would have to start with this culinary conquest from Peru, the appetizer made by marinating raw fish in lime juice and spices to "cook" it with mere protein changes.  The menu:

Ceviche de pescado

(Marinated Fish Salad)

  

Bread with Inka Aji Sauce

Chancho al Horno

(Peruvian Pork)

Pollo con Aji Verde

(Roast Chicken with Green Sauce)

Papas a la Huancaina

(Potatoes in Cheese Sauce)

Peske de Quinoa

(Puree of Quinoa)

Tres Leche Cake

(Three Milk Cake)

Fair Trade Peruvian Coffee

In answer to your question, yes they did. ........ I know!!.........right??  Even I did!!  And I made it!!  But after getting through the icky thought process, the taste was actually quite good, very astringent, refreshing, spicy on the tongue, and fresh.  I can see where you might actually come to like this stuff.  No one asked for seconds though, so that might offer some clue.

The rest of the meal went swimmingly, although I regret to say that no pictures were taken (blame it on the fantastic food!).  We even had a lively peruvian trivia match, complete with prizes from Peru.  In the end, the cuisine of Peru was a hit.  Below are the two most popular dishes of the evening:


Inka Aji Sauce
This brilliant green dipping sauce was served with french baguette slices to dip slide into it.  Before I could put the next course on the table, the whole bottle of sauce was all used up, and the bread right with it.  From what I could gather, it was quite popular.  


1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp lime juice
1/4 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 cup cilantro leaves
2 serrano peppers, seeds and membranes removed
1 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp scoopable chicken bouillon
7 saltine crackers


Combine in blender or food processor.  Will keep up to a week in refrigerator.


Papas a la Huancaina
This peruvian potato salad has many different versions.  I tried out 2 different recipes and settled on this one.  In all, I served this dish to 3 different groups, and all to rave revues.  It would make a great twist on the classic picnic salad, if you lay your hands on the spice paste!


You will be building a layered salad onto individual serving plates, or onto one serving platter.

• Wash and chop romaine lettuce leaves to form a bed on each serving plate
• Boiled whole potatoes, peeled and sliced into half moons (red or new are best)
• Peeled and quarter hard-boiled eggs to lay on top of potatoes
• Dressing, as described below, to pour overtop of potatoes
• Kalamata olives to scatter on top of dressing

4 TBSP vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 tsp aji mirasol paste, or to taste
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 cups queso fresco ( can substitute feta cheese)
4 saltine crackers
3/4 cup evaporated milk (or more to thin to desired consistency)
Salt and Pepper to taste


Saute onion, garlic and pepper paste in oil until softened.  Transfer to food processor.  Add evaporated milk and blend.  Add cheese and crackers and blend until smooth.  Sauce should be fairly thick, but pourable.  Thicken with more saltines, or thin with more milk, if necessary.  Season with salt and pepper.  Dressing will keep for several days in refrigerator.

Merry Christmas Ginger Cookie

Call me old-fashioned, but there is nothing like a good ginger cookie at Christmas time.  Maybe its an acquired taste that comes with adulthood, because I don't remember ever stealing the spice/ginger treats off the cookie tray when I was little.  My how things change.  I'm pretty sure it has something to do with a good recipe though, if I am pressed for a reason.  Chewy, spicy, molasses-y (is this a word?)......this never quite described the ginger "snaps" that I remember as a child.  It was a certain cookie from a special lady that changed all of that.

My sister's mother-in-law is responsible.  The story goes that when she was a young bride, her and her girlfriends got together to test recipes and come up with the "ultimate" molasses cookie.  They wanted one that bent when you torqued it.  One that oozed spicy undertones, and had that gooey sweetness from dark molasses.  Try them they did, and finally settled on the perfect one, a molasses crinkle.  Generously, that recipe passed into my sister's hands, and as the professional cookie baker in our family, she has dutifully pumped out dozens of these little darlings at holiday time.  Yes, they are often the first to be grabbed off the tray, and sometimes by the handfuls.

But, Christmas only comes around once a year, and there are those days when you, like me, may need a fix.  In our fair city, I have found two decent replicas.  I even introduced my sister to them in order to get her take on  them.....they passed the test.  One is a fresh baked vegan variety from our local "Dozen" cupcake shop.  The other is a packaged version, found only at a natural foods store, and often not in stock.   Happening on this recipe in the December 2009 issue of Bon Appetit made me think about that cookie testing that happened years ago, and made me wonder if these would compare with the Mrs. Branby's now famous molasses crinkle.  I am happy to report that yes, it does.  Merry Christmas, readers!

Triple Ginger Cookie

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup minced crystallized ginger

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter-softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg, room temp

1/4 cup molasses

1 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/3 cup raw cane sugar (rough estimate)

Preheat oven to 350.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.  Combine dry ingredients, including crystallized ginger, in medium bowl.  Using a mixer, add butter.  Beat until creamy and light, about 2 minutes.  Add brown sugar, and beat on medium high about 3 minutes.  Add egg, molasses, and spices, beat to blend.  Add flour mixture in 2 additions, mixing just enough to incorporate.

Roll into balls, 1-2" in diameter, depending on size desired.  Roll in raw sugar and place on parchment sheet, about 2" apart.  Bake until edges are set, but centers are still soft, checking after 10 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheet to cool.

Shagbark Hickory Syrup for Supper

I am a lucky girl.  Arriving home late and hungry tonight, a quick fix simple supper was in order.  Looking in the frig, I happened on ham steak.  This could do the trick.  A quick saute, and a simple glaze was all it would take.  With a little further digging, now in the dark corners of a pantry cupboard, a paper bag contained the makings for a great side dish.  Tiny organic sweet potatoes were there languishing, waiting for me to finally remember having purchased them at one of the last farmer's markets of the season.  Now this would be the perfect supper.  But, to make things even better, I recalled recently receiving a great birthday gift from Indiana:  a big bottle of Shagbark Hickory Syrup.  A fantastic meal plan quickly materialized:  make a ham glaze with the shagbark syrup, and roast up those baby sweets with some rosemary in the oven.  What a lucky, lucky girl.

The Shagbark Syrup deserves a little explanation.  As a school project this year, my students and I collected maple sap and turned it into maple syrup.  The syrup we made was fantastic, and the whole project was a lot of fun.  We all learned a great deal about trees and syrup, and are avid real maple syrup fans!  So, when I read about a couple in Indiana who are making syrup from the bark of a hickory tree, I was very interested.  Turns out, they do not use tree sap, but instead extract flavor from the bark, and then make a syrup from that extract.  According to their website, famous chefs have found great ways to use the stuff, and swear by it's versatility.   Lucky for me, my thoughtful friend found it at an Indianapolis farmer's market, and sent it my way.  Tonight was it's debut.

As for the baby sweets, they came from an organic farmer in Ohio.  These were the last of the season, and of a number of different varieties. He talked me into these odds and ends, describing their versatility and awesome flavor.  So, weeks later,  I scrubbed them up, but kept the skins on, and chunked them into equal sized pieces.  These I coated in olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary.  They went into a 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes, and came out sweet, toasty and delicious, just as he promised.  A great pairing with the locally smoked, pan fried, shagbark hickory-glazed ham.  A quick, simple supper indeed.

Shagbark Hickory-Glazed Ham Slices


1 Ham Steak - pan fried til golden brown


1 T dijon mustard
2 T apple cider vinegar
3 T shagbark hickory syrup (real maple syrup can be substituted)

Combine glaze ingredients.  Pour over cooked ham slice and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, turning the ham occasionally to glaze evenly.

A Stuffing Tradition

As Thanksgiving is almost upon us, food traditions reign supreme.  Not many like an "experimental" Thanksgiving feast, with new recipes, variations on the traditional, injections of new flavors or international twists.  Really, not many of us can even imagine substituting some other meat product for the big bird....tofurkey anyone?

Yes, I am usually alone in my desires for twists on the standards.  I torture my family with a new take on cranberry sauce every year.  One year the turkey is brined, the next fried, then rubbed, then stuffed with aromatics, then roasted with a cider glaze.  Seemingly limitless experiments come out of my kitchen this time of year.  I have won over some fans, and chased away others.  Take the year that I roasted several head of fresh garlic and squeezed them into the prized mashed potatoes.  You would have thought I severed a goat's head and served it!  But, alas, once the shock wore off, I heard faint mumblings of satisfaction around the table.  I'm lucky to have pretty good sports in my family, as far as food is concerned.  They indulge me in my experimentation, are willing to try things out, and mostly nod nicely even if the dish is not their favorite edition.

But one thing remains unchanged.  My Grandfather Platt's sweet stuffing.  Papa was German, so I've often  imagined the origins of this recipe grew somewhere in the forested regions of small town Deutchland.  Maybe someone over there, years ago, some distant relative of mine had a sweet tooth and a creative mind.  Maybe they were playing with recipes for a family celebration (I guess not Thanksgiving in Germany!!) and came up with this concoction.  I don't know for sure, but it makes me happy to think so. All I really know is that it is a family food tradition for us, and we don't have too many of those.

As kids, we fought for the bowl of sweet stuffing to make it around the table to us quickly.  Yes, we still had (and liked) traditional sage stuffing, and it sat on our plate right beside the sweet stuffing and the mashed potatoes.  And they all got covered in gravy.  As we grew up and encountered those outside of our family who thought our recipe strange, we held our recipe a bit more dear.  Grandma Platt was the only one in the family who knew how to make it, or so we thought.  As Grandma got older, she bestowed on my mom her tried and true techniques.  Now, you should know, our Proud Irish Grandma did not see anything good about sweet stuffing.  This was not HER family tradition.  But she carried it on for us.  As she dutifully taught the method for making it, she would quip, "keep putting sugar in it... when you think there it far too much sugar in it, put in a little more".   So mom has become the keeper of the recipe.  And, I have to say, her version is even better than Grandma's was.

This year, mom and dad are in Florida for Thanksgiving.  I'm having Thanksgiving at April's Aunt Carol's house.  My sister and her family are busy preparing their own feast.  A few days ago, my sister called.  "Can you make us sweet stuffing?"   Though I have never made it before, I always keep a watchful eye as it is being made, so I decided to give tradition a whirl.  And, I have to say, I think Papa would give it an approving nod.  Grandma would think it was far too sweet.  Mom might add another bit of sugar.  Next we will see how my sister's clan likes it.

I give thanks to all who have sacrificed traditional tastes in the name of some of my experiments, and all who have contributed to the many many Happy Thanksgivings that my family has shared.  Enjoy all of your favorite food traditions, but don't be afraid to give some new recipes a whirl.  You may be glad you did!

Papa Platt's Sweet Stuffing


1 large bowl of stale bread cubes 
( I used 1 large loaf of Mancini's Italian bread, cubed, and lightly toasted)


1 cup of sugar
4 Tablespoons of cinnamon
sprinkle these right over top of the bread cubes


1 stick of butter
2 cups of chicken stock (or water)
heat these together on the stove until butter is melted


Pour half of liquid over the bread cube mixture.  Stir well to incorporate.  Add the rest of the liquid slowly until desired stuffing moistness is reached.  You may not need to add all the liquid, depending on bread volume.  Place in casserole dish, cover with foil, and bake at 350 for 30- 45 minutes.  

The Great Roasted Pumpkin Soup

A simple rule to remember:  roasting vegetables makes magic happen.  Last night, a fantastic vegan brussel sprouts recipe came out of a 30 minute roast with tauntingly carmelized and crispy-edges, but with soft tender middles and ever-so-slightly sweet flesh. When tossed with the maple-balsamic vinaigrette, they were worth their weight in gold.  Now granted, I love brussel sprouts more than most people I know.  In fact, I could make an entire dinner out of a big bowl of brussel sprouts, and pretty much did last night.

But today was the day to apply the roasting principle to my favorite fall soup: pumpkin.  Normally, I reserve eating this autumnal soup for special occasions, namely those that involve a chef preparing it for me.  Not that I haven't tried to match their prowess, but my home versions have fallen short.  With the passing of "birthday" week, I had the good fortune to try two different bowls of pumpkin soup while dining out.  Both were good, and quite different.  My running favorite version is served at Atria's, where a moderate spicy heat cuts through the sweetness of the pumpkin and warms your throat and tummy quite nicely.   However,  it was the second bowl, served at an upscale fish house overlooking downtown Pittsburgh for $11.95 a bowl (gasp!), that convinced me to give it a go one more time.  But this time, I was armed with the roasting weapon.

First, I must confess about the shortcut I used.  You may know that pumpkin is a winter squash, and is interchangeable in this recipe (and many others) with countless varieties of orange-fleshed winter squashes that are still available at local farmer's markets.  Run to one and stock up now!  This recipe demands a fresh squash, and not a can of pumpkin puree (don't worry, it will be worth it!).   As for me, while I have several varieties sitting on my counter, I still found a way to avoid the tricky job of carving those hard squash up into cubes.  While scurrying through the produce department at Trader Joe's, I happened upon already cut cubes of fresh butternut squash in a bag!!  Pounce on these, if you see them..... it makes this version come together so much quicker at the end of a work day.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup


Toss the pre-cut cubes (about 4-5 cups) along with a couple of chunked up onions, a few cloves of garlic, a coating of olive oil and some salt and pepper.  Spread the whole mess out in a layer on a baking sheet, and bake it at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.  They should be soft and yielding, and starting to brown in a few places. 

Proceed with stovetop steps:


1.  Saute 2 TBSP butter in  a large heavy saucepan, along with 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, 1.5 tsp curry powder, and a pinch of ground cayenne pepper, for 2 minutes.  Add the roasted squash/ onion/ garlic mixture to the pan and toss.
2.  Pour in 3 cups of chicken stock and 2 cups of milk, and 1/2 tsp salt.  Use your immersion blender (or transfer to traditional blender), and whir till smooth. (adjust consistency as needed by altering amounts)
3.  Back in pan, heat slowly while adding 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/4 cup heavy cream.  Taste for seasoning.


Come to think of it, I honestly believe I would have paid $11.95 for a bowl of this and not begrudged it, it's that good.  But herein lies the trade-off:  a mound of dishes in the kitchen :(