economical

It was a whipping freezing cold, grey and rainy day at the beginning of the New Year when I took my first EVER sick day from work citing a nagging dry cough, stuffed and sneezing nose, otherwise I really felt fine, I didn’t have a fever or a sore throat.

Let me tell ya, this sick day quickly turned into a very healthy day. It started with the fabulous lunch I made.  I had a friend visiting who was around to take measurements for the shelves he’s going to make & install in my kitchen. As you can well imagine, this project had been in the works for quite some time now.

I’m mad for Trader Joe’s .99 cent Focaccia which I cut into 4 equal squares, each of which makes for a perfect sandwich.

I grated 1/2 a chuck of English Huntsman Cheese I got at East Village Cheese into two small piles, one for each sandwich. Then I lightly spread a layer of mayo on each of the four surfaces of the bread, then piled a small handful of the grated cheese on a bottom slice, a pinch of Salt of D Earth, RhODy blend &  topped the grated cheese pile w/a Tspoon of Rose Jam. (Sorry that’s not pictured. It was an after thought.)

I’m going to go off here for a minute about Rose Jam…The brand I linked to is the best brand I’ve used. I’ve tried many brands but this is the one I savor. I picked up the first bottle at a Turkish Market in Paterson, NJ when I was location scouting in the neighborhood quite some time ago.

I melted a knob of butter, maybe the equivalent of 2 pads, in a heavy cast iron pan.

Laid the sandwiches in the warming pan and pressed them down with my  kettle which I had filled at least more than half way,  I turned the heat down a bit & flipped & pressed the sandwiches again. They were done in just about the amount of time it took me to write this or you read the sentance. Maybe a minute & a half on each side, maybe less?

In another pan I warmed up 1/2 a can of organic (vegetarian) baked beans which I added an extra streak of molasses to.

Served with a steaming cup of good coffee. The flavors were off the hook! We had nothing to say but YUMMMMmmmm.

I saw a recipe for a waffle batter that included creamed corn, only one of my favorite foods. So my gears began turning knowing I had half a bag of corn in the freezer that could certainly be put to good use and then the next morning I saw a recipe for what was touted to be “The most delicious Corn Cake” on Food 52.  I quickly read through the recipe & knew it was a perfect Recipe 4 Survival & what I’d do to change it up a bit & make it my own.

It’s this easy, all ingredients are basic staples, two bowls & one pan:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

You’re begin by curdling 2 Cs of milk which is as simple as adding 4t (teaspoons) of (white) vinegar to the milk and let that sit for 5-10 mins. I used rice vinegar. The cake came out perfect.

Then get the dry ingredients together: 1 C flour (use unbleached all purpose), 3/4 C (organic) yellow cornmeal & 3/4C sugar. I’m using Florida Crystals. It’s organic and fine crystals. I’d advise that 1/2C sugar would certainly do. 1/2 ts of baking soda & salt.

Whisk 2 eggs into the soured milk. Stir the wet into the dry ingredients and set the batter aside.

Melt 2 Ts of butter in a(cast-iron) heavy oven proof skillet then pour the batter in.  This is the extra special ingredient: The recipe calls to pour 1 C of heavy cream into the center of the batter but I used 1/2 C of all organic, whole milk yogurt thinned out w/a half cup of milk and slid the skillet into the oven.  It cooked for exactly 45 minutes. At 30 minutes the center was a bit unsettled. At 40 minutes I turned the heat off but kept the ‘cake’/pan in the oven 5 more minutes – cooking the full 45 minutes.

I served this with a simple massaged salad of romaine, avocado, red onion, olive oil & a sprinkle of Fall Equinox Salt of D Earth and a glass of a cold sparkling rose’.

Yom Kippur XX14

In anticipation of the Yom Kippur wknd Thursday night I wanted to test a recipe for garlic panna cotta which I envisioned serving napoleon style if you will with a layer of thinly sliced baby heirloom tomatoes in the middle & on top, served on a bed of frisée topped with a balsamic vinaigrette when my Cuisinart duet combination food processor & blender crapped out.

After learning from Cuisinart Customer Service Thursday night that even with my 3 year warranty I’d have to submit a sales receipt, box the equipment up, pay to ship it and then see what the repair would cost had me in quite the huff Friday morning.  I brought the unit back to Broadway Panhandler to explain how ludicrous I thought all this was and left the unit behind.  In haste I purchased a 3.5 cup Kitchen-Aid food processor for less than $40.

To calm myself I went to the Union Square Farmers Market where I purchased the earthly gems pictured above then went to East Village Cheese  where I purchased 3 different 1/2 pound pieces of cheddar cheese, a piece of pistachio halvah & some pepperdews.

By the time I got home, straightened up a bit & made it to a 4PM meeting at The East Village Standard I skidded into Kol Nidre services, on an empty stomach.

Following the Yom Kippur Musaf service Saturday, during the much needed break because I had been sitting in temple in cold damp clothes due to the mornings deluge, I took a hot bath and then went at making my break fast meal. Not wishing to use any electronic equipment I made my favorite warm & soothing, ultimate comfy food macaroni & cheese! To make this mac & cheese a bit special I incorporated 4 beautifully diced green zebra tomatoes into the mix. I left one of the tomatoes raw which I diced and used as a garnish. Let me assure you, I’ve never had macaroni & cheese for Yom Kippur so there’s no sentimental connection. This was made for sheer comfort.

When I got home I put the casserole of mac & cheese in the oven while I blanched and sautéed fingerling potatoes, sliced delicate squash, baby carrots & onion.  SO gOOd.

Because I’m fanatic about using only organic, semolina duram wheat pasta, I buy it whenever I see it. Sometime ago, I can’t remember where but I picked up a bag of Chiocciole – pasta shells that look like large snails. The brand I used Montebello

cooks off beautifully and holds it’s shape even after much tossing and mixing.

I recently read a food blog that declared Martha Stewart’s macaroni & cheese recipe the best. Even though I took a look at the recipe I immediately started making changes to the recipe so it would work for me. MS’s recipe calls for making croutons which will be toasted on top. I didn’t have the fix’ns for this but I did have a few small packages of scavenged, left over oyster crackers so this is what I used for the topping. I put the oyster cracker in a brown paper bag and crushed them w/a rolling pin. They came out PERFECT.  I poured the cracker crumbs into a bowl, drizzled olive oil over them then seasoned w/the RhODy blend of Salt of D Earth. MS’s recipe yield is 12, mine yields 4.
To make macaroni & cheese, which should take no more than 20 minutes is: bring the pasta to a boil, make a bechamel/white sauce, stir grated cheeses (& various other ingredients as you may wish) into the mix, bake and serve. That’s it.

Ingredients:

oyster crackers for the topping

2 Ts butter and 1 T of olive oil

2-3 Ts of flour
2 Cs milk – warmed
(3) Cs of various cheddar cheeses – grated

1/2 # of cooked macaroni, elbows are traditional, fusilli are fun, OMG any pasta, farfalle, etc

What I did:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

I made the oyster cracker crumb topping tossed with olive oil & Salt of D Earth top first

Seasoned cheese sauce

Melt the butter and olive oil. You may also use all olive oil. When the butter bubbles whisk in the flour. Cook for about a minute. Slowly add the warm milk to the roux – the butter & flour mixture and a white cream sauce will be made.

Remove the pan from the heat. Season with salt, pepper, Salt of D-Earth, nutmeg and cayenne pepper are often called for. I put a splash of Outerbridge’s Original Sherry Pepper Sauce then whisked in the various grated cheeses.

Cook about a 1/2 pound of pasta in boiling salted water until the pasta is al dente – slightly under cooked. It’s always wise to retain a cup or so of pasta cooking liquid, then drain. Rinse under cold water, pour into the creamy cheese sauce, mix and stir gently.  If you have ‘added extras’ now is when to incorporate them.     Use the pasta water if you feel your sauce is to creamy and you’d like it a bit thinner.

Pour the mixture into a casserole or bake in an oven proof pan. Sprinkle the cracker or whatever topping you choose along with any remaining cheese you may have. Bake until browned on top, about 25 minutes.

I advise letting the dish cool but if you can’t wait, be advised the dish is bubbling hot.

Serve this with a green salad, maybe a glass of wine and I think you’ll have yourself a really memorable ‘recipe 4 survival’.