Sloppy Joes

 

Just getting caught up on some recipes I wanted to save.   Here is a great recipe I got for sloppy joes from a friend.   It's even better than Manwich!

Sloppy Joes

serves 10-12 

2 lb ground beef
1 onion, minced
12 oz. ketchup
6 oz chili sauce
1/4 c. brown sugar

1 T. dry mustard

Brown and drain ground beef.   Add onion and saute until soft.   Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 mins. 

Maple Soy Marinated Tofu

I finally broke down and bought a tofu press.   After reading about this one on Milk Street, I decided I needed to get this one, and it didn't disappoint me.    I absolutely love the marinated baked tofu we have in the deli and the Keweenaw Co-op, and after much googling, I found the recipe in one of our old editions of Circumspice, our newsletter.   

It is so delicious!  And this tofu press makes it really easy.   I just put the block in it, turn the knob and put it in the fridge and forget about it.   I like my tofu really firm, so I start with extra firm and then press it.   When I get around to it, I bake the tofu.  Here's how I do it:

Maple Soy Marinated Baked Tofu

1 block extra firm tofu

1/2 c soy sauce

1/4 c water

2 T maple syrup

juice of half a lemon

1 t. sambal oelek, or whatever chili sauce you have.

Press the tofu at least overnight.   Remove it from the press, dry it off with a paper towel and cut it into planks.  Mix marinade in a ziplock bag and put the planks in it and allow to marinate overnight.  Preheat oven to 350F and grease a cookie sheet.   Remove planks from marinade (which can be used for another dish) and bake it for 45 minutes, turning several times, until crisp.

The Common Grill: End of an Era

 I just learned that Craig Common is retiring and closing his eponymous restaurant in Chelsea, the Common Grill.   I was sad to hear it; it was our "go-to" restaurant for every special occasion when we lived downstate.    I took numerous cooking classes from Craig at the long ago shuttered Kitchen Port store in Ann Arbor, and I have both of his cookbooks: The Common Grill Cookbook and Return to the Common Grill.   Long ago, I shared the recipe for their excellent rolls.   I've dug out both of his cookbooks, plus all the recipes from the cooking classes I took and plan on blogging about them for a while.    

Common Grill Tuscan Beans

Tonight, I tried out this recipe for Tuscan Beans, which I modified to make with ham instead of pancetta.   It was excellent!  It is a hearty dish and something new to make with legumes that isn't traditional baked beans.  

Common Grill Tuscan Beans with Ham

½ lb. dried cannellini beans
1 c. diced ham
½ t dried rosemary
1 t. dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes, including liquid
½ c. white wine
1½ cups chicken broth

kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Soak beans overnight, drain.    In a dutch oven, add beans and remaining ingredients.   Simmer for about 30 minutes.   Meanwhile, preheat oven to 300 F.    After simmer time, put covered dutch oven in the oven to bake for 2 hours, or until beans are tender.  

Makes about 6 servings

Marinated Tofu

 

This is the recipe for the marinated tofu they sell at the Keweenaw Co-op.   It is so good!

Chorizo Hash - Lakehouse Renovation Edition

 

The lakehouse renovation project started out small, as all renovation projects do.    We had a tiny kitchen that had no dishwasher.    In an effort to find some more space to squeeze a dishwasher in, we are now adding 900 sq ft to the house that includes, among other things, a wood stove, a sauna and a butler's pantry.    This is turning out to be one expensive dishwasher!  Why do dishwashers always get me into trouble?  I can remember one time when I needed to buy a new dishwasher, I ended up trading  in my car and bought a new Explorer AND a dishwasher.   But that is a story for another time...   

This project started in earnest May 18 when the excavator showed up.   By June 3, I had no more indoor kitchen.   I currently do all my cooking on the back deck, where I have a grill and a propane stove I normally use for canning.    We also have a microwave, but right now that is covered up with plastic to spare it from the drywall dust.    The last thing I baked in my junky old electric oven that had one bad burner, an unreadable temperature display, and about 75% of the time was about 50 degrees off was some cookies for my construction crew.   After spending my last 18 months of work from home without seeing my coworkers, it's good to have new people to chat up.   We have the same 3 guys here most every day: Grant, Beau and Brett, who probably know more about my personal life than any office mate I had at Ford,  since they see me in my native habitat all day, every day.   They have literally seen "all my dirty laundry", for example.   Also, when a guy has to empty out your linen closet so he can tear it out, it seems oddly personal.   Or cart your toilet to a dumpster.  On many other days, they are joined by Ted the plumber and Scott and Connor, the electricians.    Usually they roll in before 8 am, when I am headed out to the back porch to scratch up some breakfast.   

Luckily for me, the kindhearted souls at Driftless Provisions sent me some of their wonderful sausage to try out.   Today, I wanted something spicy, and thought to make my famous lakehouse breakfast special, which is a frittata.   It's hard to finish it off without an oven, however.   So I went with hash instead.   

 

Chorizo Hash

2 oz link Driftless Chorizo  (or any other kind of Spanish chorizo)

1/2 cup diced onion

1 cup diced potato (1/4 inch diced)

1/4 cup water

Salt and pepper

6 eggs, beaten

Slice chorizo in half, lengthwise, and remove casing.   Dice in 1/4 inch pieces.    In a cast iron frying pan, fry until slightly browned.   Add onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add potato and water and cover pan and cook until potatoes are tender, about 5 minutes.    Remove cover and stir and cook until pan is dry.   Add eggs and cook while gently stirring until cooked through.

Cooking on the outdoor canning kitchen stove can be a challenge.   It has 2 burners, a  high/low and high/high burner.   Unless I am boiling water, I try to use the high/low burner.   Even so, it's pretty hard to modulate the temp for gentle cooking; there are temperature knobs which adjust the propane but it's pretty much just "on" and "off".  And just like in chemistry class with your Bunsen burner, you need to modify the oxygen intake to make sure it doesn't burn orange.   Lastly, if it's a windy day, it can be tough to keep it lit.     Luckily for me, today's winds were mild.   Breakfast!

Italian Sub Sheet Bake

 

One of my biggest concerns about moving up to the lakehouse here in the Keweenaw full time is grocery shopping.   I've been spoiled living in Ann Arbor for 30 years, pretty much you can find whatever food item you want within the 20 minutes it takes to drive anywhere in that town.   There's an old saw that says "Ann Arbor is 24.6 square miles, surrounded by reality" and that is definitely true when it comes to food.     Living up here can be a challenge if you are looking for ingredients to make some things spontaneously.   So it was with great trepidation that I set out to put together this Sheet-Pan Italian Sub Dinner Sam Sifton suggested to me via his "What to Cook This Week" siren song in NYT.  

We have the good fortune of having an excellent food co-op here in the Keweenaw, and I was inspired to run for its Board of Directors as my retirement volunteer gig.   Unlike some co-ops, ours (although small )  carries an impressive selection of food far beyond the typical co-op fare of carob chips and tempeh.   I saw that we were starting to carry some handcrafted salami from Driftless Provisions, a boutique salumeria from Wisconsin, so I thought I'd give it a shot.   

This finnochiona is perfect on it's own for a charcuterie board so I wanted to taste it.    I bought one link of it to try next to a more value priced salami available at the co-op.  Both were great, but I am still having dreams about the Driftless sausage.   So good!   This recipe could even be made with a whatever hard salami you might have available at your typical megamart.    I also added ham to my bake to make it be a bit more substantial than the original.   I could see even adding some mortadella to the pan some day, if  I could ever lay my hands on some here in the Keweenaw.   I only needed a small container of ricotta that the co-op deli clerk helped me get instead of buying and entire container.    

I made a few more tweaks to the original recipe because parts of it needed help, based on the comments in NYT plus my own personal preferences.  For example, if  you make it with the radicchio, plan on using 2 sheet pans or everything will just steam instead of browning.   It was a hit!   The other change I will make next time is to replace the radicchio with a couple handfuls of arugula after baking.   Here's how I did it:

Italian Sub Sheet Bake

4 garlic cloves minced

2 tablespoons dried oregano

 Kosher salt and black pepper

¼ cup red wine vinegar

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 (14-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and patted dry

5 ounces salami (casing removed if there is one), cut into 1/2-inch pieces

8 ounces cooked ham, diced

1 red onion, peeled, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch 

1 medium head radicchio (about 3/4 pound), sliced  (optional)

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

8 pepperoncini peppers

½ cup ricotta

 Crusty bread and baby arugula, for serving

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Coarsely chop the garlic, then add the dried oregano and 2 teaspoons salt on top of the garlic and chop together until it forms a paste. Transfer to a mason jar with a lid,  add vinegar and olive oil, shake.  Pour half the dressing into a large bowl, then add the chickpeas, salami, ham, tomatoes, pepperoncini red onion and radicchio (if using).  Mix gently to coat in the dressing, and spread out on a sheet pan  (or 2, if you are using the radicchio) and bake 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.   Make until onions are slightly browned.    Meanwhile add salt and pepper to ricotta to taste.   

Serve on top of a bed of arugula, drizzled with remaining dressing and a dollop of ricotta and some crusty bread.   

Library Bar Chili

 

Years ago, a blog reader asked me if I could track down the Library Bar in Houghton's vintage recipe for chili that was served in the 1980s during the MTU Winter Carnival All Nighter Statue building competition.   It was served all night out of the back of a van by the original owner of the place, Jon Davis.  (to read a little more about him and also check out my version on their famous recipe for Swiss Onion Au Gratin soup, click here).   I kept asking around and old Library Bar employees didn't remember much except "it was a lot of cans".   I finally was able to track it down from a Copper Country fb group member who was a student at MTU and a member of the Undergraduate Student Government in the 1990s.   She was given the recipe after the bar burned down and they were unable to make it for the all nighter contest, so the USG stepped up and made it in the student union kitchen that year.  

Winter Carnival All Nighter in the 1980s was a bit different than it is in current times.   Pre pandemic, campus now has tons of activities besides and lots of student groups selling food and refreshments and campus police busting anyone drinking alcohol.   In my day, I can remember my sorority using our dogsled to pull around a half barrel of beer through town for "refreshment".   Here's a cool picture of MTU students from the 1960s using their dogsled as intended.

The only food available was the Library Bar's chili, if you were lucky enough to catch the van cruising around serving it.    The chili was also on the menu as "Chili with Onions" and it was a great way to warm up on a cold night.   

This year's Winter Carnival is still happening, despite the pandemic, but student groups aren't allowed to sell food during the all nighter to minimize crowds.  Also, there is a first ever alumni statue building contest!  So I figured it was time for me to figure out the chili recipe so students and alumni can make it for themselves.    The recipe I got was institutional sized, I had to scale it down for individual use.   Also, we like our food spicy, so I felt some cayenne pepper was in order.  Leave it out if you would like! I think what makes this recipe unique was the use of green peppers and celery salt, two ingredients not often seen in most red chili recipes.  And yes, it is a lot of canned goods! Here's my take on it:

Hoppin' John for 2021

 

Not leaving anything to chance for this new year, I actually stayed awake until midnight last night: and made the family eat a spoonful of Hoppin' John. to make sure we have good luck this year.   We are at the lakehouse, so I got some black eyed peas the Keweenaw Coop, which I just joined in preparation for our move north for good in March.    Besides the usual coop stuff, members are able to order in bulk of items they want, even if the store doesn't carry them.   I realized I had to join if I was going to be able to find what I need locally here in the Copper Country.   For example Nueske's bacon.   I've been spoiled by having Nueske's bacon at the ready anytime I want in Ann Arbor.   I was thrilled to discover the Keweenaw Coop carried it.   I also got some dried black eyed peas and the texture was great.   I'm sure they go through their stock quicker than the regular grocery store.   I also added some kale this year because if there was ever a need for kale in the world, now is the time!  And since I had some red onion and hothouse tomatoes, I decided to top it with some fresh vegetables.   My New Years Resolution this year (as it is every year, I think) is to EAT MORE VEGETABLES.  

2021 Hoppin' John 

1 lb. black eyed peas

1/2 lb. bacon, diced

2 large onions, diced

8 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. cayenne pepper (more or less depending on your spice tolerance, we like things spicy)

Ham bone or a smoked ham hock (I used the last of the Dearborn Ham I made for Christmas)

1 bunch (or more) of kale, stemmed and cut into 1 inch  pieces

kosher salt to taste

Optional garnishes:  diced tomato, red onion, bell peppers, etc

Soak beans overnight in enough water  and a couple tablespoons of kosher salt to cover then by a couple inches. In a dutch oven, brown bacon and drain off fat, add onions and saute until soft. Add garlic and saute further until fragrant. Don't burn it. Add cayenne . Add ham bone, beans, and  water to cover. Cover and bring to a boil and then turn stove down to low and cook beans until tender, 1-2 hours.   Remove ham bone or hock and dice up meat and add back to pot along with the kale.   Heat until kale is tender.  Season with salt as needed. Garnish with vegetables.

The start of 2021 is going to be a different one for me.  Usually I spend New Year's Day trying to dig out of work email and getting ready to head back to the office.    I also used to bring leftover Hoppin' John to work for lunches.   But this year, today officially marks the first day of my retirement!  I'm happily free of that typical New Year's Day dread, thinking ahead of all the work that needs to get done.   I would count the days (and they seemed to crawl) until the long MLK weekend.    January was always such a busy time at work because we had to performance reviews and the auto show and getting back to it all.   

It feels odd that there is no longer a winter auto show!  For an automotive engineer, going to the industry preview was the equivalent of attending your high school reunion.  The industry preview days were for us to go in and benchmark the competition.   There was no fancy cocktails and entertainment and tuxedos like the glamorous Auto Show Preview (aka the "Auto Prom"):

Andy and me at the Auto Show Preview aka Auto Prom

Instead it was a lot of laying on the ground under vehicles and taking pictures for us chassis engineers.    It was where you run into everyone you've ever worked with over the course of your career.   It was a nerdy "Old Home Day" for automotive geeks like me.  The auto business gets to be a rather small world after you've done it for 30+ years

Me proud of my work on tires and wheels on the 2015 F150

We'd all end up going out to lunch or a happy hour downtown after and get to hang out with people we don't get to see very often.    Time to catch up and find out who is doing what?  I am wondering now that the Detroit Auto Show is moving outside and in the summer if that will happen anymore?  Regardless, it wouldn't be a part of my life anymore anyway.   

Today's New Year's Day lacks the usual dread!  I've got plans to do a little snowshoeing with old friends and then a New Year bonfire with our lakehouse neighbors.  Happy 2021!

 

Pastabilities

Back in the 1980s, pasta was really big!  I can remember buying a pasta maker from my friend Maria at work who actually got two for Christmas one year  to try to make it myself.    My old friend  and brilliant restaurant reviewer (who I have lost track of in recent times) Laura McReynolds captured the pasta craze perfectly of the time in a restaurant review of a famous Ann Arbor restaurant Pastabilities by describing it "For a while there, pasta was more than a food, it was practically a religion.  Blame it on the y-word, for over half a decade, yuspcale boomers seized on the propagated trend after embarrassing trend.  Power Breakfasts.  Yellow Ties.  A pasta machine in every condo and a Beemer in every garage".  Like many of us yuppies, after trying to make my own pasta a couple times, I realized how time consuming it was and just opted to buy it.  And Pastabilities, a cute little spot in Kerrytown  was there for us!  The brainchild of noted Ann Arborite Marguerite Bertoni Oliver, it was a huge local favorite and even got nationwide attention when it was voted "Best Pasta in America" by CNN.   I don't actually remember ever going to the restaurant, but I did buy the pasta at Merchant of Vino, a wine store we used to have on the east side of A2.   

I was reading the Ann Arbor Observer the other day and saw a small ad regarding a Pastabilities cookbook that had been published, and so I had to check it out.  Sure enough,  Marquerite's daughter Susan Marguerite Oliver (a noted chef in her own right, she was a private and charter chef aboard sail and motor yachts for over 25 years, cruising the US East Coast, Bahamas, Caribbean and Europe. )  has published a cookbook of Pastabililities favorites, plus some of her own specialties.     I love Ann Arbor cookbooks and this is one I need for my collection.   Check it out here!

We are at the lakehouse this week, and I thought I'd try my hand at one of the recipes featured in the book, but I had to make some UP modifications.   First of all, the only place I could find broccoli rabe up here is at the Keweenaw Coop, and it was a little cost prohibitive (over $6/lb) so I opted for using broccoli instead.    I also decided to use some upper peninsula style cudighi Italian sausage I picked up at Econofoods.  Here's the original recipe....and below is how I adapted it to our tastes (we like things spicy!)

Lakehouse Bowtie Pasta with Cudighi and Broccoli

1 12 oz box bowtie pasta

1 head broccoli, cut into small florets

1 lb. cudighi (or  your favorite Italian sausage) 

1 medium onion, sliced thinly

1 orange bell pepper, also sliced thinly

8 oz sliced portobello mushrooms

3 garlic cloves minced

1/2 t red pepper flakes 

5 oz container shredded parmesan cheese

1/4 c. fresh basil leaves, chopped

Prepare pasta according to package directions, except at the last 2 minutes of boiling, add broccoli to blanch it.   Drain, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water.    While pasta is cooking, brown sausage in a dutch oven and then add vegetables and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.    Add garlic, red pepper flakes, parm and basil leaves and reserved pasta water.   Heat gently until cheese is melted into a sauce with the pasta water.    Serves 4 hungry people!

The pasta fad faded, and after a while, we all started eating low carb and I have to admit I don't eat as much pasta as I used to back in those days.   But I find myself wanting to make it more often in things besides a red sauce.      I can't wait to get my copy of the cookbook to try out some more of these great recipes.    Looking through the old clippings of restaurant reviews, the desserts were highlights too and I am looking forward to trying them as well.   

Loch Alpine Hungarian Goulash

There is nothing even remotely Hungarian about this goulash, but it is the ultimate comfort food and perfect for a rainy Friday supper.   My dear friend and former neighbor Ann contributed this great recipe to our Loch Alpine Cookbook.   It was one of her Pennsylvanian mother's specialties.

It was a favorite of my kids and very flexible.    It can be made with any cuts of beef you might have or even venison.   Just cut up whatever is on sale or use stew meat.  Also, if you have an almost empty bottle of ketchup lingering in the fridge, use what remains and rinse out the bottle with some of the water you need to add and then you can throw it into the recycle bin! You can make it in a crock pot  or make it like I do, in the pressure cooker.   Over the years I modified it a bit to suit our tastes....a little less fat, a bit more cayenne. This is how I make it:

Ann's Hungarian Goulash

Serves 4 people

3 T. olive oil

2 lbs beef cubes

2 onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 c. ketchup

2 T Worchestershire sauce

2 T brown sugar

2 t salt

1 t pepper

2 T sweet paprika

1 t dry mustard

1/2 t cayenne

1 c water

Brown meat and onions, then add remaining ingredients.   

Cook in a dutch oven for about 2 hours on the stove top, or until beef is tender

OR

Cook in a crock pot on low for 8 hours

OR

Cook in a pressure cooker on the lowest setting for 15 minutes.   

I'm not an instant pot person, but I am sure it will work in one.   I own 3 pressure cookers, my favorite for this recipe is a Kuhn Rikon Duromatic skillet sized cooker.   It gets dinner on the table fast.

Serve over hot egg noodles.   Enjoy!

Loch Alpine Chicken Marinade

My neighbor Becky donated a cookbook I worked on back in 1998 to our neighborhood Little Free Library and it really took me on a trip down memory lane.   It was a project of our Loch Alpine Playgroup that I joined when it formed in 1997 and was home on maternity leave after Eddie was born.   We were raising funds for our Loch Alpine Playground...here is what it looks like now:

We hosted bake sales, garage sales, visits from Santa, etc to raise funds for the park, and then we made an impassioned plea at the Loch Alpine Association annual meeting for every homeowner to kick in $25 and it worked!  Since that time, Loch Alpine has continued to add to it and one of our old neighbors that passed away left a fund to sustain the park, and a Boy Scouts had a few Eagle projects there.   It's a great place!

Many wonderful recipes and memories of neighbors from back then!  I hauled out my copy yesterday and made some chicken with this outstanding marinade recipe from my neighbor Bernadette.    So simple and delicious....I've updated her recipe to reflect how I make it:

Loch Alpine Chicken Marinade

(for 4 chicken breasts)

1/2 c. reduced sodium soy sauce

3 T. olive oil

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

1 T dried oregano

1 T dried basil

1/2 t fresh ground pepper

Place all ingredients in a lidded jar and shake until well combined.    Put chicken breasts in a zip lock bag and add marinade and seal.   Make sure marinade covers all of the chicken and marinate in refrigerator, turning bag occasionally, for at least 6 hours.  Great on the grill!

We've put our house up for sale so I am feeling a little melancholic about the great times I have had living here. There is a quote in the foreword of our sweet little cookbook that captures my feelings perfectly:

"Life is all memory except for one present moment that goes by so quick that you hardly catch it going"

-Tennessee Williams

No truer words 'ere spoken.   Amen

The Summer Place Steak Marinade

When I was a student at Michigan Tech in the 1980s, there were a few restaurants you could go to for a nice dinner out that were seasonal spots.    The Onigaming Supper Club, which I wrote about a few years ago,  Fitzgeralds (now the Fitz) in Eagle River,  The Harbor Haus in Copper Harbor.    And the Summer Place, that was just south of Houghton.   It was a restaurant run out of the former house of Eve and Ken Nelson and if my memory serves me correctly, it was decorated in a heavy "Laura Ashley" floral and lace style.    The food there was great!

I once found a copy of their cookbook at the Gay Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary Bazaar but neglected to buy it, much to my regret.     I was talking to a friend of mine that knew the owners and she was telling me about how she always used their steak marinade recipe and so I have been on a quest to get the cookbook again.    Of course, it is long ago out of print, and I couldn't even find a used version of it for sale online anywhere.   I posted a request for it on the "You Know You are From the Copper Country If...." facebook group and a couple people came through with it so I could make a copy.    The cookbook has a lot of recipes from other sources....for example, Maida Heatter's daughter's East 62nd Street Lemon Cake, which was printed by Craig Claiborne in NYT in the 1970s (so good that even "Bill Blass and Nancy Reagan asked for the recipe")  and recipes for things that I am sure were considered very exotic for the time in Houghton (Ecuadorian shrimp, anyone?).   Also there is a whole section on those impossible cakes made with Bisquick, which seems out of place with the rest of the recipes in the book, which were far more glamorous.    It is a perfect time capsule of recipes that were popular in that era (1975 - 1994)   I couldn't wait to give some of them a try.

First on my list was the steak marinade recipe. 

Reading the note on the recipe, I wondered if I could find the history of it.    I googled "Elbow Room Steak Marinade"  and sure enough, I found several versions of it out there.   Evidently, it was published in Family Circle Magazine in 1971.The Elbow Room is still going strong on Long Island.   It looks like Eve and Ken took some liberties with the recipe by substituting seasoning salt for Beau Monde, which is hard for me to find even in Ann Arbor.   I'm currently at the lakehouse and struggled to find Kitchen Bouquet as well, but I substituted Maggi seasoning. which was available in the international food section of Econofoods in Houghton.    Can you use either?   Probably. although the Maggi has a lot more salt content.  I'd use low sodium soy sauce with it next time.   In this recipe, I think the key job of the the Kitchen Bouquet is the brown color.   I found this comparison in Serious Eats.     I used Lawry's Seasoned salt in my version.     My friend uses the marinade whenever she makes beef tenderloin, but I tried it with top sirloin and it made the steak really tender.   We grilled it and had steak salads for lunch yesterday.

Here's how I made it:

Summer Place Steak Marinade

1 c. low sodium soy sauce
2 onions, peeled and cut into eight wedges
3 gloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1/4 c. Maggi seasoning (or Kitchen Bouquet)
1 t. Lawry seasoned salt

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.   Marinate steaks in a zip lock bag with enough marinade to cover.  Save whatever you have left in a jar in the refrigerator.   It is supposed to be good brushed on hamburgers too.   Marinate for at least 2 hours.  Dry off steaks with a paper towel and grill. 

Next up for lake house cooking?   I have to try the lemon cake.    If it is good enough for Bill Blass and Nancy Reagan, it's sounds like it will be perfect for my Keweenaw strawberries!

Chicken of the Woods and Asparagus Fettuccine

What a strange year 2020 has been!  Because of the corona virus, or as I like to call it the "Co-VEED", I hadn't seen my old neighbor Ann in a long time, but we went to church together and on a hike in Hudson Mills where I found this....

It's a Laetiporus sulfureus, aka a "chicken of the woods" mushroom.    And that is me with without dyeing my hair since the beginning of March.   I call it my "sexy grandma" look....actually, I color my own hair so I could have kept doing it but decided to use this time to see what my gray hair looks like.  It's one of the gifts of the "Co-VEED".   I'd love to quit having to dye my hair.  Of the two laetiporus mushrooms you can find in Michigan, this one and  L. cinncinatus, the later is considered a better tasting mushroom, but I like them both.    I have a soup recipe created at the lakehouse with a chicken my son found in the woods one fall day, but but it is springtime so I wanted something different.  I had some local asparagus so I decided on a pasta dish.  It came out delicious!  I just used the tender tips of this mushroom; the inner part was rather tough. 

Chicken of the Woods and Asparagus Fettuccine
serves 1

2 T olive oil
1 c. thinly sliced chicken of the woods mushroom (you can substitute oyster mushrooms or morels or even storebought portobellas)
4 stalks asparagus, sliced in 1/4 inch chunks
1 clove garlic, minced
1 c. chicken stock
1/4 c. evaporated milk
2 T. flour
1/4 c water
3 T white wine

To serve:
1 c. cooked fettuccine
grated Parmesan cheese

In a medium skillet, heat oil.   Add mushrooms and asparagus and salt to taste and saute 5 minutes.  Stir in garlic.   Add stock and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.  Add evaporated milk and stir on medium high heat until bubbling.   Make a slurry of flour and water and add to skillet, stirring until thickened.   Remove from heat and add wine.     Top pasta with sauce and Parmesan cheese .   Tastes just like spring!

Green Pasta with Shrimp

For as long as I can remember, I wake up most every night between 2 - 3 am.  These days, I use that time to watch things on PBS.   It's really the only time I watch TV, so at least it's educational.   When I was pregnant with Jane, I did stray from PBS to watch reruns of thirtysomething on the Hallmark channel.   I loved that show so much when I was a twentysomething.    Wonder if I can stream it from somewhere?    Anyway a couple nights ago, my insomnia led me to watching Jamie Oliver's Quick and Easy Food, and he made this vegetarian pasta dish with kale in in it that looked fantastic!

I found the recipe online, but decided to make some changes to it and put it into units we Americans can understand.    I decided to add shrimp to it, too.    Here's how I made it:

Green Pasta With Shrimp
serves 2 people

8 oz. bucatini
1/2 a large bag of chopped kale
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 oz. grated parmesan cheese
3 T. olive oil
lemon juice from half a lemon


In a large pot, cook bucatini according to package directions.  Drain, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water. In a large dutch oven, fill half full with water and bring to a boil,  add kale and garlic and cook for 5 minutes,  drain.   Add reserved pasta water, kale, garlic 2 T olive oil and cheese to blender,  and liquefy.    In dutch oven, add remaining oil and saute shrimp until pink, remove from pan.    Add kale sauce to put and season with salt and pepper to taste.   Finish with lemon juice.   Add cooked pasta, top with shrimp and more parmesan cheese, if desired.    Great Lent friendly meal! 

Lakehouse Cooking: Cheater Pulled Pork

I have been making pulled pork by this method for years now. which I originally heard about on Splendid Table back in the Lynn Rosetto Kasper days.   The original method was described in this cookbook by Mindy Merrell and R.B. Quinn, who are Nashville based food writers.  I'm a huge fan of Nashville food....

This cookbook is all about using liquid smoke to create BBQ flavor indoors.  For my pulled pork, I use a half bottle of liquid smoke and whatever rub I feel like making.    I buy my pork straight from the farmer so I have the butcher cut up my roasts into steaks for easier cubing.  This recipe is great for when we have guests at our lake house, because we can put it in the crock pot and forget about it all day and go up to Copper Harbor or hiking or whatever, and dinner will be ready when we get back to the house.   I buy some crusty rolls and the best bottled BBQ sauce I can find.   Super easy!


For the pork:


One 5- to 6-pound boneless Boston butt pork roast or same weight of boneless country-style pork ribs
1/4 cup of your favorite rub  (I like Alton Brown's Rub #9)
1/2 cup bottled smoke (I like hickory)
Barbecue sauce of your choice


Since I don't often have Rub #9 mixed up at the lakehouse, I will make a simple rub with what I often have on hand here:

2 T paprika
2 T kosher salt
2 T coarsely ground black pepper
1 T garlic powder
2 T dry mustard



Cut the pork butt into medium (2- to 3-inch) chunks (the ribs don't need to be cut up).  Put the pieces in a large slow cooker. Sprinkle the meat with the rub, turning the pieces to coat evenly. Add the bottled smoke. Cover and cook on high for 5 to 6 hours or on low for 10 to 12 hours, until the meat is pull-apart tender.   Using tongs and a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a rimmed platter or baking sheet. Let rest until cool enough to handle. Pull the meat into strands. It should shred very easily. Serve the barbecue piled on buns with your favorite barbecue sauce.

Time to do it again! Red Beans and Rice

My blogiversary is coming up.....on Jan. 16, my blog will be 12 years old.   I set a goal to have 600 published posts and I am really going to have to step up my game.....2 posts every day until then.   That means one before work, and one after work......better get moving! 

I have been looking over my blog lately as I have started putting a book proposal together to shop out to publishers.   It's been a very slow go, but one of the best things about it is finding recipes I created that I liked so much, but then never made again.   Here is one I found.... Busy Woman's Red Beans and Rice.   I wrote this recipe in 2011, and my kids were young teenagers back then.   That meant my whole life was driving them places and volunteering....lots and lots of volunteering.

Looking back on that time, I really appreciate my empty nest lifestyle.  Of course, Anne Taintor has the perfect magnet for this, too!

So, I need to try this red beans and rice recipe again.  I only made it once, and beans are very WW friendly. Rice, not so much, but I will skimp on that. I'll put it on my list for this week.   Not sure I have any kidney beans in the larder, though.  Time to go check! Happy Sunday

Buffalo Chicken Breasts

Okay, I have made a New Year's Resolution!  I resolve to post almost every day, so I can have 600 posts on my "blogiversary" of Jan. 16, 2006.     So let's talk about today.....I am in the Keweenaw at our lakehouse, and we are getting ready for our first Christmas here.      We went out to do a little Christmas shopping, and then to watch the Lions lose (it is hard to find a place to watch the Lions because everyone is a Packers fan up here), but then I wanted to make dinner at our place so I did....

This recipe is based on one I found on Cook's Illustrated, chicken breasts sauteed in hot sauce.   I also liked their pairing with a blue cheese toast.   For blue cheese haters, substitute garlic.     Here is how I made it:

Buffalo Chicken Breasts

1 lb boneless chicken breast
1/2 c flour
salt and pepper
3 T veg oil
1 c  chicken broth
1/2 c.  Franks Red Hot sauce
1/2 c. sliced celery
1/2 blue cheese crumbles or 3 T minced garlic
2 T butter, softened
8 slices baguette bread


Sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken breast and dredge in flour.   Heat oil in a 12 inch skillet until shimmering.   Add chicken, cook on each side until brown, about 4 minutes.  Remove from skillet and tent with foil.   Add chicken broth and hot sauce, heat until reduced by about one half.  When sauce is reduced, add chicken to it. 

Meanwhile, preheat oven to broil setting and line a small baking sheet with foil.   Butter slices of baguette and top with either garlic or blue cheese to your taste (or both) and broil for 3 minutes until browned.

Serve chicken garnished with celery and serve with toast of your choice.    And a vegetable like broccoli is good. 

Vegan Pasties

When I was a college student at Michigan Tech in the early 80s, there was a group on campus called Conscious Stomach that was started in the winter of 1976-1977 when a group of like-minded students and community members from Michigan Tech, Funky’s Karma Kafe and the Keweenaw Co-op started coming together to talk about food, what options there were for whole and natural foods in the Copper Country, political issues surrounding food, and the improvement of food options within university dining services.  I don't think Funky's Karma Kafe still existed when I arrived in the fall of 1982....I heard it was started by a couple hippies that came up to Houghton to go hiking and never left.  Here is a picture from it's grand opening in the early 70s....

So I have this group of hippies to thank for agitating for more vegetarian options on campus.  Because of Conscious Stomach, on Wednesdays when the Memorial Union served pasties, they served both regular and vegetarian.  I always opted for the vegetarian option; it had vegetables, sunflower seeds, golden raisins in a whole wheat crust with a creamy mushroom gravy.   Sometime during my time at MTU, the Conscious Stomach was no longer, but I fondly remembered that vegetarian pasty and decided to try my hand at making one myself.   

Houghton in the 1970s was different than it is now.  I found some excellent relics at the MTU Archives when I went to visit them in search of the vegetarian pasty recipe.  Note the preponderance of whole wheat and sprouts....

Alas, no vegetarian pasty recipe.   I was on my own. I shopped at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market yesterday for the vegetables: sweet potato,  hubbard squash, acorn squash, red kuri squash, carrots, parsnip to go along with the normal pasty vegetables of rutabaga, potato and onion.  I also picked up some golden raisins and sunflower seeds and whole wheat flour at the People's Food Coop because I am sure that is what Funky would have wanted me to do.    After peeling and chopping all that squash and root vegetables, I had a blister on my hand and realized I had way more vegetables than I would ever need for pasties.   So I roasted them in some olive oil, salt and pepper to freeze for future use.  Note to self: next time, buy the pre peeled and diced squash at Meijer.

 

I wasn't sure how to season it, but after several tries, I found that garlic, salt, pepper and thyme worked best.   The sunflower seeds were a delicious addition, but the raisins were just too weird.  I tried my hand at a whole wheat crust, but it came out pretty tough. Instead, I recommend my my usual pasty crust, made with shortening.  Still vegan!  I decided to try out Melissa Clark's recipe for vegan mushroom gravy, but made it better by using more mushrooms and soy sauce and less oil.   It was outstanding and I agree with her that even meat eaters would love it.    Here is how it all came out.....

Vegan Pasties

makes 6 pasties

1 batch Old Reliable Crust 

1 1/2 c. 1/4 inch diced root vegetables and squash (your choice from above mentioned)

1 1/2 c. 1/4 inch diced peeled potato

1/2 c. finely chopped onion

3/4 c. roasted shelled sunflower seeds

3/4 t. kosher salt

3/4 t. ground pepper

3/4 t. dried thyme

3 cloves garlic, minced

8 t. vegan margarine

Mix everything except margarine together in a bowl.   Divide dough into 6 balls, and roll each ball into an oval.  Fill each with vegetable mixture, top with a pat of margarine.  Bake at 375 F for 1 hour.

Vegan Mushroom Gravy

3 T extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 small onion, finely chopped 

8 ounces baby portobello mushrooms, finely chopped 

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 to 5 cups vegetable stock,

2 T soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and mushrooms; cook, stirring, until well browned, 10-15  minutes. Sprinkle in flour and cook, stirring, until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in vegetable stock, a little at a time, until a smooth sauce

forms. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes until thickened.

 I suppose you could eat a vegan pasty with ketchup if you wanted, although I think the mushroom gravy is a much better fit.   I bet even Funky, wherever he is now, would agree! 

Ambassador Tostada Pizza

The tostada pizza at the Ambassador in Houghton is a favorite Michigan Tech memory for many alumni, along with the fishbowls, of course.   While I prefer the subs at the Ambassador over the pizza there,  the tostada pizza is also quite good.   It's got taco seasoned meat, and it is topped with lettuce and cheese and tomatoes.   I often get asked for this recipe, so I set out to try to make it myself.      A few years ago, MLive went around the state of Michigan searching for the best pizza and wrote up an article about it.    In the article, they offered me a few clues:

"The Ambassador serves pizza in the a Chicago thin crust. The trademarks of the style are the thickness of the crust, that it needs to be cooked on a stone slate, not a wood fire. The third trademark is that its cut in squares. The dough is made the day before it is used. It includes flour, salt and sugar, which more or less feeds the yeast. They also use a little bit of dry milk and uses cake yeast.  They cook the pizzas at 475 to 500 degrees on a gas-fired oven for 12 to 14 minutes, depending on the ingredients. For the sauce, they start with a tomato paste from Stanislaus and adds water, salt, oregano and cayenne pepper and parmesan cheese. The cheese is a Wisconsin White Colby, which is a high percentage, high moisture cheese with a little bit of mozzarella in it mix." 

I decided to decode the crust first, since I haven't ever tried perfecting a thin style pizza crust.    Despite the article's reference to cake yeast and a slow rise, I decided to skip that and look online to find a good thin crust pizza recipe that didn't require several days to make.  Googling around, I found some recipes that suggested not letting the dough rise at all for a thin crust pizza.   That sounded interesting to me, and sure enough, it did work well.   The article references a pizza stone, but I have found I much prefer my Lodge Cast Iron Pizza Pan to my pizza stones, which are easy to break and take forever to season.  J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at Serious Eats turned me on to making pizza on metal.....I will never go back to stone again.

cast iron pizza pan

Like a pizza stone, you will want to preheat your cast iron pizza pan in the oven first.   Preheat your oven to the highest temperature it will go (mine is 550 F) with the pan in it.   It will take a long time, so start the oven first thing.  I put it on a rack in the bottom third of the oven.   Heat it for 45 minutes.  Meanwhile, make the dough:

Thin Crust No Rise Pizza Dough

3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon active-dry yeast
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided


Pour the water into a medium bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water, and let stand until the yeast has dissolved, 3 to 5 minutes.  Add the flour and salt. Mix with a wooden spoon until floury, shaggy dough forms. Turn the dough out onto the counter, and knead the dough until it forms a smooth, slightly tacky ball that springs back when you poke it, 5 to 8 minutes. If the dough sticks to your hands, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it’s easier to work with; avoid adding too much flour if possible.  Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let sit while you prepare the pizza toppings,

Now, I had to consider the toppings for the pizza.   One of the trademark tastes of the Ambassador tostada pizza is the slightly sweet sauce.  The article mentioned "tomato paste from Stanislaus", and down the rabbit hole I went!   There are a lot of pizza nerds out there....and after much online research, I found the sauce that was referenced..... it can be purchased at Gordon's Food Service.

I compared the taste of it with regular tomato paste you can get at the grocery store, because I realize not everyone will want to buy a giant restaurant sized can of pizza sauce (I now have enough pizza sauce in my freezer to last me the rest of my life).  It does taste different...the Stanislaus brand is more sweet and fresh tasting.   The people at Stanislaus recommend thinning it a little to apply to your pizza and not precooking it before adding it.  To be honest, once the pizza is cooked, you can hardly tell the difference of the tomato paste brand, so I'd recommend just sticking with storebought brands.

Pizza Sauce

1 6 oz. can Contadina tomato paste
1/4 c. water
1/2 t. oregano
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t cayenne pepper
2 T. parmesan cheese

In a small bowl, mix together.   Do not precook sauce.

Now, on to the taco meat.    I tried making taco meat using my every day taco seasoning from Penzeys, and it was not right.    Too spicy!  So I put it out to my MTU Alumni fb group, and sure enough, a fellow alum (who will remain nameless) provided me with the recipe for the spice mix they use at the Ambassador, with the admonishment to say that "I didn't get it from him".    So there you go!  I didn't get it from him.  In fact, after downscaling his provided recipe, I tweaked it a bit to get it to be more to my liking anyway.   Here is what I came up with:

Taco Meat

1 lb hambuger
1 T. onion powder
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. ground black pepper
1/2 t. cumin
1/2 T. chili powder
1/2 t. crushed red pepper

In a skillet, brown hamburger.   Add spices and stir until cooked through.   Remove from heat and add  about half the pizza sauce to it.  Do not cook any further


For the rest of the toppings:

8 oz. bag shredded Colby Monterey Jack Cheese
8 oz. bag shredded iceburg lettuce
1 roma tomato, diced
1 small bottle mild taco sauce

Returning to the dough, put a piece of parchment paper on the counter top and stretch or roll dough into a thin, 20 inch round on it. Form from the middle of the dough outwards, using the heel of your hand to gently press and stretch the dough until it's about a 1/4-inch thick or less.  Roll it with a rolling pin if you have to do so. If the dough starts to shrink back, let it rest for 5 minutes and then try rolling again.    Brush the dough with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil. Spread  remaining pizza sauce into a thin layer onto dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border.  Turn oven down to 450F and place the parchment paper with pizza on pizza pan and cook for 5 minutes. 

Remove pan from oven and top with taco meat and half of the cheese and return to the oven for another 5 minutes or so, until the cheese is melted and crust is brown.   Remove pizza from oven and top with remaining cheese, lettuce and diced tomato and taco sauce swirl.   Traditionally, Ambasador pizza is cut into squares, not wedges.

Enjoy with your favorite fishbowl!

Stir Fry Beef and Spinach with Noodles

Many years ago, in 1994,  I was a finalist in the National Beef Cookoff, sponsored by the Cattleman's Association...I will forever think of this time in my life whenever I hear this song




I didn't win, but I got an all expenses paid trip to Little Rock, Arkansas (visit summary: a lot of Bill and Hillary Clinton and TCBY Yogurt, which was founded there.  Not much else)  But I also got to know what I affectionately called "the beef people" pretty well.   I  did a lot of press with them,  because even though I didn't win, a hugely pregnant woman engineer fit right into their marketing plan and that is how I learned about this recipe.   The beauty of this recipe is that is as simple as spaghetti sauce from a jar, but yet it is not.   If you don't have sirloin tip steak available, just make it with hamburger.    It is really, really good.   And it can be "what's for dinner" on a Tuesday night, in 30 minutes.