Chicken Fingers and Waffle Fries

I would file this under my best child friendly meal. Our kids will eat almost anything but I know many parents are faced with picky eaters. As witnessed at a 5 year old birthday party this weekend; one little girl with plate of fruit salad, watermelon, carrot sticks and cucumber rounds and across from her another young lady with only a hot dog and two meatballs on her plate. I serve this when we have 4+ kids at the house, this way, each child can pick what best suits their palate. The kids love it, they can design their own meal and there is the added bonus of eating with your hands. There isn't much in the way of preparation either. You need some time to marinade the meat but aside from that it's just a lot of chopping and I find the kids like to help with that too.

The flank steak and marinade is my memory of what my neighbor Claudia used to serve me growing up. I quit eating meat at 13 but I continued to eat that flank steak as my only exception for a couple more years. For many reasons I’m lucky Claudia moved in next door. One of those reasons, besides some truly sentimental and personal reasons, is my culinary edification. She introduced me to my life long love affair with Indian food. I had my first Afghan meal with Claudia. Claudia served me my first stuffed grape leaf, my first ceviche and my first flank steak. I ate my first duck beak and fish liver with Claudia and probably a lot of other firsts I can’t remember. She will eat anything; she’s well travelled, has zero food prejudices, a fabulous appetite and a deep appreciation of other people’s cultures. And she grew a fig tree in her front yard, in Baltimore, exotic!

I can remember some epic eating adventures with Claudia. A recent trip to her home in Southern California resulted, accidentally, in a massive binge on about 2 lbs. of bulgogi and 2 refills of the banchan. However, the one that stands out the most is when we went to New York one weekend when I was in high school. She had a conference but we also had a mission to find a prom dress I had seen in a magazine. I remember the trip incredibly well and I still have the dress to prove it; I wore it last month as a matter of fact. While there, Claudia treated us to a six entree meal in Chinatown, including two orders of salt and pepper shrimp. We ate it all. And marveled at the fact that we did.

So below is my version of her flank steak. Eat it as it is alone or serve it as described below. And if you have kids they will love you for it.

Lettuce Wraps - Serves 4

1.5 pounds flank steak

1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons molasses

1 tablespoon honey

3 garlic cloves, smashed

4-5 slices fresh, peeled ginger

2 spring onions, sliced

1/2 red pepper, sliced

1 cup bean sprouts

2 spring onions sliced

3 carrots shaved or shredded

1 handful basil

1 handful cilantro

20 lettuce leaves, I use red leaf

1 cup rice cooked with 2 cups water

Notes: You can use any vegetables; I usually just use whatever I have in the vegetable drawer.

French 75

Jim got home the other night from a man-cation of camping in the Ozark’s with his college buddies. We were about 5 minutes past the airport he said ‘Wow, I could use a French 75.’ I guess all the fishing, canoeing, living like pigs, fire and playing war games over saturated Jim in man-funk and he was ready to atone for those 5 days with a tall, pretty cocktail. Although I’m unclear about how manly a trip it was since Jim came home clean and toting a bottle of Jameson’s that was more than 3/4 full.

The French 75, named for the WW1 machine gun because of its potency. This is the beverage for me. It is the Cinderella’s glass slipper of beverages. Look at it, seriously, don’t you want to dive right in? It’s gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and sparkling wine. There is some contention that it should be made with brandy and not gin. My personal preference is gin. However, I had an absolutely amazing one with cognac at The Driskill in Austin. If you have not been to the Driskill and find yourself nearby, and I mean like Houston, Dallas or Oklahoma nearby, go. Actually it was so amazing I had three.

To compromise on the brandy versus gin debate I add a brandied cherry to mine. Who doesn’t want a brandied cherry as a treat for finishing a delicious cocktail? I make simple syrup and keep it in the fridge. I usually have fresh lemons on hand but I have been know to juice lemons getting long in the tooth and freeze the juice. The brandied cherries will keep for months in the fridge, just use a clean spoon or a toothpick when retrieving them.

Have this drink tonight. It’s 97 degrees here. I am going to make some tonight and Jim and I can sit quietly on the porch in front of the fan, sipping our cocktails.

French 75 - Makes 2

3 ounces dry gin - I use Bombay Extra Dry

1 ounce simple syrup

1.5 ounces lemon juice

Lemon zest

Sparkling wine - I use either Gloria Ferrer or Chandon rose or brut varieties

Brandied cherries - optional

Combine the gin, simple syrup and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker and shake over ice, pour into a champagne glass top off with champagne, add in the cherry and using a zester peel off a 2” strip of lemon peel, peel the zest over the glass so the lemon oil from the rind spritzes on to the glass.

Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Combine both in a pot and heat over medium heat until both are combined, this takes just a few minutes. Cool to room temperature and store in the fridge.

Brandied Cherries

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1.5 cups brandy

Juice of 1 lemon

1 lb. cherries, pitted

Bring the liquids to a boil, reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Put the cherries in a tupperware or glass jar and pour the brandy liquid over top let cool and place in the fridge. The cherries get better with time, store them for at least a month before using. They should stay perfectly fine for several months in the fridge as long as no contaminants get in the container.

** Notes - Do not double this recipe, it certainly can be cut in half. I use the Gloria or Chandon because they are inexpensive but any champagne, sparkling wine or Prosecco will work.

Summertime Memories

Barefoot and carrying a general patina of dirt, catching fire flies, racing big wheels, climbing trees, hailing the ice cream man, eating onion grass and listening to the bees buzz in the magnolia tree outside the bedroom window. Sent outside and probably told to stand in the grass, which you dutifully did and then instinctively bent at the waist to eat watermelon, slurping and trying to avoid the juice and catch it all at once while spitting seeds at the ants as they gathered in the pool of watermelon juice. This was summertime. Summertime before sleep away camps and summer jobs.

When given a slice of watermelon you don’t just eat it and enjoy it, it involves more physical and emotional interaction than a fork and knife can provide. You slurp it, you make ridiculous noises and if it’s particularly good one you may make incoherent commentary. You eat outside half leaning off of the porch, or hunched over the sink. It requires a stance. You don’t slowly savor watermelon, no, you dig in and you eat it with a certain steady speed racing the slice of watermelon as its juices run down your arm. And I bet you think about being a kid.

I don’t spend enough time eating watermelon in the summer as I did when I was a kid. Why is that? Too messy? Too big? Too silly? Perhaps all of those reasons. But I know I love it and I know when September comes I lament its absence in the grocery store. So here’s how we adults can have our watermelon.

Watermelon Slush - Makes 1

1 cup watermelon, cubed and frozen

2 tsps. mint, roughy chopped

1-1.5 oz. vodka (or water for a N/A variety)

Combine the ingredients in a blender on high, blend until smooth.

From Summer with Love

A fresh tomato is just about the best present you can give. Large, ripe and smelling like the yard it came from, homegrown tomatoes are a luxury. They need very little to shine, a sprinkling of salt, maybe a little pepper or a tiny drizzle of olive oil, but that’s about it.

Two summers ago Jim planted a small vegetable garden beside our tiny house. He planted zucchini, squash, various peppers and an okra plant that produced, ironically, a single okra. He also put in five tomato plants of various types (at this point in the story he’s quick to point out someone - me - removed all the plastic identifying placards - just so you know). Jim took the role of gardener very seriously and would spend about an hour everyday after work watering, fertilizing, measuring and admiring his work. Amazingly the squirrels and the birds (and the squatters next door) stayed away and the tomato plants thrived. Jim was very fruitful, extremely so that by the end of August it seemed every lunch consisted of tomato sandwiches, evening appetizers were fried green ones and pasta sauce galore clogged the freezer. By September we couldn’t give enough of them away. I said ‘I know it’s not right, but if I don’t see another tomato until next summer, I’ll be okay’. And I kept my word, for the most part.

This tomato pie has been with me forever, much like the eggplant meatballs or my rosemary salmon. It’s just one of those dishes I do. It is at its best when made at the end of summer with the tomatoes from your yard or someone’s yard and the basil that’s going to seed with big fat leaves. It’s not complicated and the ingredient list might even say ‘duh’ but it never fails to make people happy.

Tomato Pie - Serves 6-8 as a side dish

3-3.5 lbs. tomatoes (approximately 8)

1/2 cup + 2 tbsps. basil torn

8 oz. boccacini cut in half, or a larger mozzarella cubed

3/4 cup parmesan grated

3 tbsps. olive oil

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

salt + pepper

2 sheets pastry for a 9” pie

1 egg

Seed and chop the tomatoes in to 1/2” chunks, dry them on paper towels. Slice the boccacini in half and dry on paper towels as well. You will want to remove as much moisture from the ingredients as possible. Combine the first three ingredients, toss and sprinkle with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper and toss again to coat. Preheat the oven to 350. whisk the egg. Line a pie pan with one sheet of pastry and pour pie filling in, top with remaining pie shell, crimp edges to close, brush top of pie with the egg wash and using a fork prick several times to vent. Place in oven and cook for approximately 45 minutes or until the crust is golden. Cool pie for 20 minutes prior to slicing.

Quickle Pickle

I’m ambivalent about papaya. I’m not ambivalent about pickles. Whereas many folks have resigned to eating an army green or fluorescent cucumber forced upon their plate or in a jar at the grocery store I am not. In my opinion the BEST pickle is the half sour that populates the streets of New York City. Why this pickle has not broken out of the Northeast and taken over delis nationwide is a mystery.

Jim and I shop in about 6 different grocery stores and farmer’s markets to get all of our various food stuffs. I get pickles at one of two places; the deli counter at Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market or the eastern European section of the Buford Highway Farmer’s Market. Recently we had a party that featured a burger bar. That morning we went to the regular grocery store to gather the last of our ingredients. They have the day-glo slices on the condiment aisle; Jim not so secretly likes these. They also have the ruffled potato chip style ones on the refrigerated aisle that taste like cinnamon and cloves, not pickles. I could not settle to serve these pickles. We looked for 20 minutes. I even overheard a woman say ‘They’re still looking for pickles?’ Finally, a friendly Publix employee overheard us and suggested we go to the deli to get deli pickles. Lightbulb! Thanks! They were not the NYC half sours I adore, but it was better than driving 20 minutes, navigating an overcrowded parking lot and fighting my way through the throngs of people with vastly different cultural customs and ideas about personal space just for a pickle. Even I realized that was a little unreasonable.

To avoid the pickle pickle in the future I make my own. This recipe was originally developed for part of a banchan but these pickles can go anywhere those limp, neon things go. The kids assisted me with the photos for this blog and as a result the contents of the jar of pickles decreased with every shot taken.

Quick Pickle - Makes 1 cup

1/2 Kirby cucumber

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds

Slice the cucumber thinly on a mandoline, about 1/16” thick. Combine the salt, sugar and vinegar, add the cucumber and nigella seeds, let stand for 20-30 minutes, serve.

Summer of Eggplant, the Sequel

When I started this blog last summer I thought for sure all my missives were being sent into the ether until I got an email from my neighbor Tova. She asked, ‘What to do with two large eggplants that would be kid friendly?’ Well, I knew the answer to that one, quite simply, eggplant meatballs.

For two weeks during the month of February of my senior year in college I squirreled away in the residence of my boyfriend’s parents’ Long Island home to focus on my thesis. I really wanted the bulk of it done before returning for my second semester and taking 2 weeks to focus on it seemed logical although lonely. While everyone else was at work I sat in my boyfriend’s childhood room, staring at the computer, for 8 hours, writing about and translating Spanish Absurdist theatre. To break up the day I would sneak behind the garage to smoke cigarettes, read a few Tales from the Crypt comics and wait for the humans to return.

Andrew’s Dad was from Greece and his mom Italian American, so dinner was an event. Every Sunday Andrew’s parents would go to Astoria and get the supplies they needed for the week; feta, olive oil, olives, etc. Then Lu, Andrew’s mom, would spend all day Sunday cooking. She would make all sorts of things to carry us through the week; hummus, lentil soup, stuffed grape leaves. These were just the snacks, she would make a full meal every night on top of everything she had prepared on Sunday. I had hit the lottery. Santa Claus is real only he’s not a fat dude from the North Pole, she’s a 5’1” travel agent from Brooklyn and she’s downstairs making baba ghanouj. I gained 7lbs. in 2 weeks.

Lu taught me how to make stuffed grape leaves. Her five ingredient fettucine alfredo is legendary. She also taught me how to make, one of my favorite dishes that she made, eggplant meatballs. She came to the meatless meatball out of necessity, two of her three children were and still are vegetarian and being the negotiator she had to come up with something to bridge the gap. Her recipe was adapted from Dom DeLuise. I lost Lu’s recipe but I have come up with my own version and it has worked quite well for many, many years. Now Lu used to fry these and they are much better fried but for the sake of my heart and my waist line I bake mine. You can use them in anything, on top of spaghetti, in a hoagie, in a pie a la Stanley Tucci or as an appetizer. Our son recently requested their presence on our dining table, so here they are.

Eggplant Meatballs - Makes 1 dozen

1 large eggplant

1/4 cup prepared Italian breadcrumbs

1 large egg

3 garlic cloves - roasted or blanched, minced

Olive oil

kosher or sea salt

1 tablespoon basil - chopped

1 tablespoon parsley - chopped

Slice the eggplant in to 1” slices, place in a colander and sprinkle liberally with salt and rest for about 20 minutes. Rinse or wipe off the salt and leave to dry on paper towels for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375. Pat the eggplant dry again. Oil a baking sheet and brush the eggplant slices with olive oil. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the slices are golden brown and the the interior is soft. Let eggplant cool. Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined. The batter should be gooey. At this point you could put the batter in the refrigerator for 20 minutes so the it is less runny and easier to work with. Re-oil the baking sheet. Scoop the batter and form into 1” ‘meat’ balls by tossing from hand to hand. The batter is really sticky and I find I must wash my hands a couple times during the ball forming process. Bake for 20 minutes at 375.

Notes: I have also made these vegan using egg substitute. I typically roast or blanch garlic because the sharp flavor does not appeal to my palette.

Pancake Supper

What makes a good American breakfast pancake? Fluffy and tall? Dense and moist? Thin and crunchy? Depends who you ask. I don’t have an opinion as me and pancakes we’re not good friends. They don’t like me and as a result I’ve developed an aversion to them too. But there’s a whole world of international pancakes out there, not involving neon syrup, like pa jun, latkes, arepas and crepes. Luckily these savory pancakes do not have a gastro-vendetta for me like their American cousins. I recently made my first okonomiyaki, a Japanese pancake. Now, that’s my kind of pancake; shrimp, green onions with a sriracha mayo.

This recipe is for a savory summer pancake. Use it on your plate where your starch normally sits during the colder months. Its provenance comes from my own laziness; germinating sometime when all I had in the house were zucchini and leftover ricotta, which is how many recipes at our house come in to existence.

Zucchini Pancakes with Herbed Ricotta – Makes 6 pancakes

Zucchini Pancakes

2 zucchini shredded

¾ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ + 2 tablespoons shredded Romano cheese

2 extra large eggs

¼ cup milk

salt + pepper

vegetable oil

Slice off the ends of the zucchini and slice each zucchini into to 3 rounds, place in a colander and salt to remove some moisture, let sit for 20 minutes, rinse, blot dry and shred in a food processor. Combine the flour, cheese and baking powder together. Combine the eggs and the milk and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine, fold in the zucchini. Het enough oil to coat the pan, but not so it pools. Using a 1/3 cup measurement, scoop the batter in to the pan, cook pancakes over a medium heat for 2 minutes per side. Keep warm in a 200 degree oven while you finish the remaining pancakes, adding oil to the pan if needed.

Herbed Ricotta

¾ cup ricotta

¼ cup mixed herbs (I use whatever I have around, a combination of tarragon, dill, basil, parsley, chives – whatever you like)

1 garlic clove blanched or roasted in the oven, minced

2 teaspoons lemon juice

salt & pepper

Combine all the ingredients and serve on the side with the pancakes.

Note: I roast or blanch the garlic to mitigate some of the sharp garlic flavor. If you prefer yours strong then by all means omit that step.