LINUS

This is Linus. A five and a half year old bichon frise who is very active and very affectionate. He also has a very healthy appetite. So it is fitting that there should be a post about him here, in a food related blog. He has watched me cook every recipe I've posted. He has even sampled some of them. Linus was kind enough to pose for the camera on Christmas day, 2009. With him was his very close and very best friend, Bastille. Linus hopes that everyone had a lovely Christmas, and he wishes a Happy New Year to all! Bastille concurs!

Bastille knows there's snow outside. On such days, she considers lounging by the fireplace a splendid passtime! This year we had a white Christmas. December snows are rare here in Philadelphia. We enjoyed the fire 'til the last few embers changed into ashes.

Bastille was feeling under the weather. The vet prescribed antibiotics, and she napped a lot. Bastille, get well soon! We love you very much!

Happy 2010 everyone!

HOLIDAY GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE WITH HOMEMADE CREAM SAUCE.

Green Bean Casserole is one of the most popular side dishes to grace people's tables, particularly during the holidays. In fact, it's a holiday standard. And it's comfort food. The original recipe was invented during the days when canned and processed foods were stars of the kitchen because they were, as advertised by the manufacturers, good tasting and convenient. One usually finds recipes for Green Bean Casserole that call for canned cream of mushroom soup and canned green beans. Alternately, some folks use fresh green beans in combination with canned soup. Yes, it's quick and easy, but just think how much better a green bean casserole will taste if made with homemade sauce! And there's definitely a trend out there of taking the original recipe and augmenting it with fresher, homemade ingredients. 

Look below at this add! Memories ... I wish I had a dollar (or five dollars, why not?) for each time I had opened a magazine to find the recipe in the picture below:

This is definitely a trip down memory lane. Such recipes announced the coming of the holidays!!! 

The original recipe has an unbelievably high sodium content. And does canned mushroom soup really taste as good as a homemade sauce? Perhaps the answer is subjective. Comfort food is comfort food for a reason, and people don't like their comfort food to be messed with. As for me, I tried making everything from scratch and I never looked back. For one thing, I love a homemade roux! So I riffed off the original recipe.

Here we have a recipe that replaces the canned soup for a flavourful roux containing fresh mushrooms. The green beans are fresh and the topping is made from panko breadcrumbs. *Scroll all the way down to find out who invented Green Bean Casserole!

Ingredients:

2 pounds green beans, halved if you like, ends trimmed

olive oil at the ready
1 onion chopped

1 large shallot or two small ones, minced
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 1/2 tablespoons flour

Vegetable or chicken broth
3 cups of liquid: start with two cups heavy cream and add the liquid from the green beans. If you have less than three cups add some vegetable broth until you have the amount needed. 
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

salt and pepper to taste

panko topping: for ingredients, see below

Topping:

2 cups unseasoned Panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter chopped in tiny pieces. This is easily done when the butter is cold. 
1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese

• Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Directions:

• Braise the green beans: In a Dutch oven heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and add the chopped onion. Cook until the onion is translucent. 
• Add the green beans, season with salt and pepper, and while stirring, cook for about three minutes. 
• Add enough broth to cover the green beans and bring to a boil. Add the parsley and one tablespoon of the thyme. Lower the heat, cover the pot and let cool for about 45 minutes or until desired doneness is reached. 
• Drain the green beans, reserving the cooking liquid if any is left. Set aside both green beans and cooking liquid. 
• In a skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil, lower the heat and add the shallot(s). Cook stirring for about two minutes. 
• Add the mushrooms, garlic and thyme. Season with salt and pepper and while stirring occasionally, sauté for about five minutes until the mushrooms release their moisture and their liquid begins to evaporate. 
• Add the butter and let melt. Add the flour and cook stirring the mixture for about one minute. Slowly add the three cups of liquid and bring to a boil stirring all the while until you have a thickened mixture.
• Add the Pecorino Romano cheese.
• Combine all the ingredients and arrange them in a baking dish, spreading them in an even layer.
• Sprinkle with the topping and bake at 400° F for about 20 minutes, until the cream is bubbly and the topping is crispy.
• This dish can be partially prepared one day ahead: cover the baking dish and refrigerate. The following day, bring the casserole to room temperature before baking. 

• But wait!!! Who invented the Green Bean Casserole recipe??? Her hand-written recipe card is in the archives of the National Inventors Hall of Fame!

The inventor was Dorcas Reilly (1926-2018), born in New Jersey, resident of Haddonfield New Jersey, graduate of Philadelphia's Drexel University, and employee at the home economics department of Campbell's test kitchens in Camden, New Jersey. Reilly eventually became manager of Cambell's test kitchens. That's her in the photograph below (November 2002), at the National Inventor's Hall of Fame, when she donated her recipe card.

Mrs Dorcas Reilly being honoured at the Inventor's Hall of Fame (2002). She was a pioneer in her field, going to work in the 1950s and managing full-time employment along with marriage and motherhood. 
 

Dorcas Reilly created green bean casserole in 1955 for an Associated Press feature about easy to make holiday dishes. She used ingredients that Americans tended to have on hand in the 1950s, such as green beans and Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup. Another famous recipe of hers is the tuna noodle casserole. Which I love made with a homemade roux and topped with potato chips, yum!!! 

Post War America liked inexpensive, fuss-free recipes. A large number of women were entering the workforce and therefore depended on recipes featuring quick, easy to make meals. Convenience cooking, which included canned and frozen foods, became all the rage. How do working women manage their kitchens these days? 

Escarole Soup, or Italian Wedding Soup

Mrs D was of Irish descent, a Canadian from StJohn's Newfoundland, but she had the reputation of making the best Italian home-cooked meals in the Philadelphia area. That's a lot to say considering that there is such a large Italian population in Philadelphia and its suburbs. Many will disagree and nominate someone else to take over Mrs D's spot. Although I can understand their objections, I will respectfully disagree. 

A home-cooked meal shared with good company and made by a person one holds dear makes for a time well spent. I am grateful to Mrs D and to her family for giving me so many wonderful memories! 

Mrs D, whose first name was Carmel, met Richard D, her Italian-American husband-to-be when, during the Korean War, he was stationed at an American air force base in Stephenville, Newfoundland. The two fell in love and were soon married. Carmel found herself ensconced in her new home in Philadelphia. It was West Philadelphia to be exact, St Donato's parish, Overbrook. 

Founded in January 1910, at 65th and Callowhill Sts Philadelphia, PA.

The Overbrook section of West Philadelphia was one of the neighbourhoods where a large population of Italian Americans called home. Some of them still live there, most (like Mrs D and her family), have moved away. Carmel became close with her in-laws, especially with Anne, her new aunt. Aunt Anne taught Carmel all about Italian cooking, and soon Carmel was on her way to becoming a superb Italian home cook.

Thanksgiving and Christmas meals at Mrs D's would always begin with escarole soup (otherwise known as Italian wedding soup). Escarole soup is basically chicken soup on steroids. It's chicken soup amplified to an eleven, and I hope you get the inference! To honour Mrs D, I have incorporated escarole soup into my own holiday traditions. Now, when my Greek-Spanish-Italian family gets together for the holidays, meals begin with escarole soup. 

We enjoy those succulent little meatballs swirling in aromatic chicken broth, and we reminisce and celebrate. Mrs D, Carmel, Carm, I remember you, I miss you, I love you! 

ESCAROLE SOUP

Step 1: Make the chicken broth.

You can use store-bought chicken broth, but we all know that to have a good soup base we must make our own broth, with chicken and soup vegetables. The store-bought broth is all right to use if you need to make something in a jiffy, but for a special occasion, do start from scratch. To lessen the labour involved, the broth can be made a day before, or even a month ahead and then frozen. Here's how:

• Clean and wash one 5 lb chicken. Place it in a large soup pot. Add:
• three carrots roughly chopped
• three stalks of celery with leaves, roughly chopped
• one large onion peeled and cut into quarters
• one parsnip roughly chopped
• one turnip cut in quarters
• one leek roughly chopped
• Add some dill and parsley, stems and all
• Add two bay leaves 
• Add ten peppercorns, three cloves of garlic cut up, and salt and pepper.
• Pour water over the ingredients, filling the pot to about one inch from the rim. Place it on the stovetop and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat to low and cover. Allow the soup to cook slowly until the meat of the chicken can be easily pulled off the bone. Turn off the heat, and let cool.
• When the meat is cool enough to handle, remove the chicken from the pot. Strain the broth and reserve it. Press down on the vegetables with a masher to remove their excess liquid and combine that liquid with the reserved broth. Discard the vegetables.
• Remove the meat from the chicken bones and reserve some breast meat to be used when assembling the soup.
• You can save the rest of the cooked chicken for another use. You now have the broth that will be used as a base for your soup. Refrigerate or freeze it until ready to use.
• Tip: the fat in the broth rises to the top. While the broth is in the refrigerator, the fat will solidify. You can skim it off, and you will have a fat free broth.

Step 2: Prepare the escarole.

• Escarole can be bitter. Therefore, cook it separately in water rather than in the broth. This way, the bitterness will leach out into the water which will then be discarded. The escarole can be cooked ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. 
• Clean one large or two small heads of escarole very carefully. You'll have to wash them several times to make sure no soil or sand remains stuck to the leaves.
• Cut the escarole into pieces one to two inches in length.
• Bring a pot of salted water to boil and add the escarole. Cook for about five minutes, until the escarole is wilted and has given off its liquid. Turn off the heat and drain the escarole. 
• Immerse it in an ice water bath to blanch it. After about five minutes drain it and reserve it until ready to use.

Step 3: Make the meatballs.

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, minced
• 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 1 egg beaten
• 2 tablespoons milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• Combine all the ingredients and shape them into small meatballs, about one inch in diameter. 
• Saute the meatballs in some vegetable oil until they are browned. Remove them onto paper towels. The meatballs will finish cooking in the broth.

Step 4: Assemble the soup

• Bring the broth to a boil (you should have about ten cups).
• Add one diced carrot and three chopped green onions.
• Drop the meatballs into the boiling liquid, lower the heat and finish cooking them.
• Cut up the reserved chicken breast into bite-sized pieces and add it to the broth.
• Add the escarole.
• Add three tablespoons of chopped parsley.
• Ready to serve! Plate and pass around grated Pecorino Romano cheese to sprinkle on top.

CABBAGE AND RICE PILAF, FROM THRACE (LAHANORIZO)

Cabbage, the super vegetable! Cabbage is very low in calories - 35 calories for one cup. It's a good source of protein, vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, calcium, and fibre. It contains nutrients with anti-cancer properties, something cabbage has in common with the other vegetables in the cruciferae family to which it belongs. "Cruciferous" plants are so named because they bear four-petaled flowers, thus having blooms reminiscent of a crucifix. Some of the other vegetables in this family include broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprout, turnip, radish, rapeseed (from which canola oil is processed), watercress, etc, etc, all of them with nutrients similar to those of cabbage, and all of them good for you.

At home, we remember the cabbage dishes grandmother used to make. She was a native of Thrace, a province in South-Eastern Europe, a region where cabbage and sauerkraut are popular cooking ingredients. 

Below is one of grandmother's recipes for cabbage: it's tasty and it's good winter fare. Sometimes this dish was served on its own, other times it accompanied roast chicken. I can still picture it in its serving platter in the middle of the table! 

Lahanorizo (cabbage and rice):

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 head of cabbage, shredded
1 lb canned tomatoes, chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup rice
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup pine nuts
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a Dutch oven heat the olive oil and saute the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent.
• Add the cabbage and continue to saute, stirring frequently until the cabbage softens, about five minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and broth and mix. Bring to a boil.
• Add the rice, raisins, almonds, pine nuts, and salt and pepper. 
• Stir, and let simmer over low heat until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked. Make sure the rice does not dry out.
• Place in a serving bowl, toss, then serve.