Luscious Lemons

During the winter, the fruits that I enjoy most often are the citrus fruits. I cannot eat grapefruit, because it interacts with my chemotherapy, but I can eat all the other types. I  probably use lemons the most often. (It doesn't hurt that they are so pretty to look at.)

I have already written about lemonade, which is my summertime staple, but during the winter I am more likely to use lemon either as an additive to cooked fish, or as a major flavoring for favorite dishes. One such favorite--admittedly eaten infrequently--is hollandaise sauce. I have never found a good substitute for it. An essential ingredient in Eggs Benedict, it also adds distinction to most green vegetables, but especially asparagus, broccoli, and spinach. Although some people create it in a double-boiler, I've always been partial to the blender method.

For quick light meals and satisfying snacks, I often reach for hummus and tabbouleh.  They are staples in my refrigerator. Both contain a definite lemon flavor when they are good. In the winter, I buy these already prepared, but in summer I make my own.

One of my favorite uses for lemons is in desserts. My favorite desserts contain lemon flavor: lemon squares, lemon pudding cake, lemon chess pie, and lemon sherbet. The one place I don't use lemon is in my tea. There I prefer milk. Go figure!

Enjoy Your Eggs

Folks in New England Prefer Brown Eggs

For years, talking about egg dishes you enjoyed was tantamount to saying, "I want to die young from a heart attack." Eggs were maligned, because they tend to be high in cholesterol and people thought that they raised your heart attack risk. Then a funny thing happened; research showed that people who ate moderate amounts of eggs actually had had no more heart attacks than other folks. The egg was exonerated, and now I can announce to the world that I eat them regularly. They have many virtues: they are inexpensive, versatile, last for weeks in the refrigerator, and are a good source of protein and other nutrients.

True, some eggs transmit salmonella, but I always buy Country Hen eggs, which advertise that they have never had salmonella on their farms. (The rise in salmonella, I believe, is due to the miserable conditions in which some chickens are raised.) So I never worry about my eggs poisoning me if they are not hard cooked.

In general, I'm not a huge fan of eggs for breakfast, or at least not breakfast as soon as I get up. However, I love eggs for lunch and dinner. I often make a quick omelet if I have small odds and ends of meat, cheese, or vegetables. A quarter of an onion, a single mushroom, and a few tablespoons of spinach might look pitiful to you, but to me they are the perfect filling for a 2-egg omelet. If I had a bit more of one or more of these foods, I might make a quiche or a souffle.

A souffle is really just glorified scrambled eggs with added air; they are simple to make if you follow two rules. First rule: fold in the beaten eggs whites in thirds. Fold the first third in thoroughly; fold the second third in less thoroughly; fold the third third in very quickly and lightly. Second rule: make sure oven is preheated before folding in the egg whites, and serve the souffle immediately after removing it from the oven.

In summer, I usually hard boil a few eggs at a time. Two or three become egg salad, and one gets chopped up into spinach salad. My egg salad is very simple. I chop the eggs fine; I add a tiny bit of grated onion; a stalk of crisp celery chopped fine; a heaping TBSP of Hellmann's mayonnaise; and salt and pepper. It's great on sandwiches, crackers, or stuffed inside tomatoes.

To learn how to hard boil eggs successfully, or cook them in any of the ways mentioned, visit Eggs 101 How To. Their instructions are clear, simple, and accurate.

My Debt to Julia Child

It made me believe.

While I was a child living with my parents, the family had a cook who prepared most meals. (Actually, we had a succession of cooks: Susie, Tempie Lou, and Earline were the main ones.) My mother seldom cooked. As a youngster, she had been sent out to work and help the family finances, while her younger sister stayed home and learned housewifely skills, including cooking. My father was an enthusiastic cook, but we all scattered when he entered the kitchen, because he could be cranky.

One consequence was that I never played in the kitchen, as my own children did, making odd items from leftover dough. I was supposed to let the cook alone when she was working. So when I got married, I had no idea how to cook. This made me nervous, since I would be eating only what I prepared from that point on. Luckily, I like learning from books. My mother had given me a copy of her favorite cookbook, The Settlement Cookbook, and I had a copy of my mother-in-law's favorite cookbook, The Joy of Cooking. These were useful but not inspiring.

What was inspiring was Julia Child. In the early days of my marriage, she had a cooking show on public television. I watched it religiously. She made cooking seem not only easy but also fun. When I first bought her cookbook, shown above, I was intimidated by the long recipes. But since I had watched her on TV, I could hear her voice in my head and realized that she was just being thorough--the recipes often were not that difficult. So I learned to cook, thanks to Julia, and I really enjoyed it. I tried many of her recipes and never had a disaster.

Cooking has changed in the decades since I first learned, but several of Julia's recipes are still favorites. One, rapee morvandelle, is a standard in my household, because it is delicious for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Others, including French Onion Soup, Beef Bourguignon, Ratatouille, and Poached Salmon with Cucumber Sauce are not standards, but beloved friends I enjoy visiting occasionally. Recently, I saw an online list of the 100 most beloved recipes of Julia Child. I am surprised at how many of them I have cooked.  Thanks for the memories, Julia, as well as for the skills.

Lasagna: You Can't Make Just a Little

I like lasagna to hold its shape 

    I never ate lasagna until I was in college. Then I had some on a date and was hooked for life. It took me years before I could ever make any that was even half as good as what I had back in 1962, but after much trial and error I succeeded.

    Made from scratch, lasagna really can trash a kitchen. First of all, it has numerous ingredients, steps, and containers. Second, everything seems to dribble or spatter, but perhaps that's just me. I sometimes make the sauce one day and the rest the next day, but other times I just spend half a day and do everything sequentially.

    I have tried many variations for the sake of health and I have found some that work and a few that don't. Substituting turkey for beef or pork makes little difference, at least to me. Using low-fat ricotta is a recipe for trouble, as is substituting cottage cheese for the ricotta.

   Because lasagna has so many ingredients, you cannot make a small amount. So I often go whole hog and make a double batch. That way, I only need to make it once or twice a year. It freezes beautifully and is one of the few foods not ruined by microwaving when you want to reheat it.

    There are many different recipes for lasagna, but here's the one I use. First, I make a rich tomato sauce. I like mine with meat. I used to make it with ground beef and Italian sausage; nowadays I use ground turkey and poultry-based Italian sausage or turkey plus pork sausage.

Using a large frypan, saute in olive oil until soft:

• 1 - 2 large onions, chopped fine
• 1 or 2 green peppers, chopped fine
•  mushrooms if you like
• 4 big cloves garlic, diced

 Once cooked, throw the veggies into a large pot. Then, in the same frypan, cook the ground turkey and the sausage. If you're using turkey sausage, chop it; it pork sausage, remove it from its casing and crumble.  Once cooked, add these to the vegetables in the large pot. Then put in:

• 2 large cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 or 2 large jar marinara sauce
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 bunch parsley chopped

Cook approx. 1-2 hours. Add salt to taste at end.  Can make this a day ahead. When the sauce is done, start boiling water for lasagna in a tall pot. Add TBSP salt. Drop in lasagna a few pieces at a time until box is empty. Cook until done (read package--usually 9-10 minutes. OK if slightly underdone) While it's cooking, mix in a large bowl:

• 2 lbs ricotta
• 3 beaten eggs
• about 3/4 of a one-lb. mozzarella chunk, cubed. (Save the uncubed part for the topping.)
• 1/2 cup shredded or grated Parmesan
• 1-2 boxes chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed 

ready for assembly as soon as the noodles drain

After the lasagna noodles are cooked, drain them well. Then assemble this way:

Smear olive oil on the bottom and sides of two 11 x 17 pans. Pour about 3/4 c. tomato sauce in bottom of each pan. Add a layer of lasagna noodles to each pan.

Using about half the ricotta mixture, drop spoonfuls on top of noodles. Just make blobs, since they will melt. Neatness doesn’t count. Sprinkle all the spinach on top of cheese, and then in each pan pour about 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce over everything. Then add another layer of lasagna, rest of the ricotta mixture, and more sauce. If you have any noodles left, put those on top and then spread sauce around to cover the noodles. Shred or chop remaining mozzarella and sprinkle on top.

Bake at 350 for an hour. If serving right away, bake 15 minutes more. If making a day ahead, which is better, let it sit and cool. Then either freeze or refrigerate. I usually freeze a few single-portions as well as a larger piece. Remember that it takes hours to thaw. You can cook it frozen, but that takes a long time as well.

Winter Salads

carrots are a winter staple in my refrigerator

During the summer, my refrigerator is crammed full of fixings for green salads: various lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, celery, scallions, avocado. In the winter, though, my taste for leafy salads seems to abate; instead, I want something not quite so crisp, so I usually makea type of winter salad: coleslaw, green pea salad, or shredded carrot salad. The latter is probably my favorite because it goes well with so many dishes, and it also keeps well for several days.

Start by grating 3 or 4 peeled carrots, using the largest holes on a grater. (I have used a food processor for this, but I don't like the results.) Then grate a small chunk of onion and add to the carrots. Add 2 TBSP mayonnaise, juice of half a lemon, and salt and pepper to taste. Add more onion if too bland. Then throw in some raisins (I prefer yellow). If you have either canned mandarin oranges or crushed pineapple, drain that well and add a few tablespoons of the fruit. Toss and let sit for a few hours before serving.

This is the traditional carrot salad that I grew up with. Recently, I have tried various Thai salads, which include peanuts and usually sesame oil. For some reason, they just don't grab me the way the old standby does.

Spinach

Although I certainly ate spinach when I was young, I don't recall either liking or disliking it. Now I love it. Whether that's due to changing taste buds, different cooking methods, or different types of spinach I'm not sure, but this leafy green is now a staple in my house. I know that leafy kale is all the rage right now, but I prefer the taste of spinach. (It also contains more iron, calcium, and potassium than kale, but that's not why I like it.)

I eat baby spinach raw in salads. It pairs well with strawberries, orange segments, and other juicy fruits. I usually dress the salad with a light oil and vinegar mixture and sprinkle on something crunchy, such as chopped nuts or toasted sunflower seeds.

Cooked spinach is one of my favorite dishes. For this, I use fresh stem spinach. I make it one of two ways. The simplest is to wash the leaves, tear off any heavy stems, and then steam the leaves for just 3 or 4 minutes. This maintains the bright green color and keeps a bit of the texture. The other way I cook it is by braising: heat a few teaspoons of olive oil, add chopped garlic, and throw in spinach leaves that have been washed but not drained. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring once. This dish is darker than the steamed, with a much stronger flavor. Both dishes benefit from quick cooking.

Spinach pairs well with creamy bland foods, such as creamed chicken or beef stroganoff. I usually cook up a large batch and first serve it as a side dish. Then I use the leftovers in various ways. I put a few spoonsful atop baked potatoes and top that with cottage cheese; I put it under poached eggs; I add a layer of chopped spinach to lasagna; I spread it on pizza; I press it into a cheese-mushroom-tomato panini.

Spinach is available year round and is a wonderful source of nutrients. However, its best virtue I think is its versatility, mild taste, and color. Overcook it at your peril, but cook it briefly and you will be rewarded.

Beef Stew

beef and lots of veggies

I admit that I'm partial to one-dish meals, or at least to meals that have all the important food groups in them. Although I may add a salad and some good bread, I don't need to, and that makes me feel as if I'm getting away with something.

This year, the family that farms across the street from me gave me a selection of meats as a holiday gift. They raised the animals themselves. I decided to start with the stew beef because I knew exactly what to do with it, and I had all the ingredients. My stew is heavy on vegetables and long on cooking, but it's incredibly tasty and the meat is tender. Also, it's not really heavy and doesn't sit in your stomach like a lump.

This stew uses the following ingredients:

1 lb. stew meat, cut into relatively small chunks, say 1" cubes
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
2 bay leaves
1 large onion
2 large potatoes
2-3 carrots
1 parsnip
1 package frozen mixed vegetables
dash Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

I start by searing the meat quickly in a large frying pan. I sear it in batches so it does not steam, and I don't sear it on all sides; just enough to create a caramel glaze in the pan. Then I throw the pieces into a large deep covered sauce pan and deglaze the fry pan with the broth. I add the broth, wine, and bay leave to the meat and simmer at very low heat for about an hour and a half. The surface of the liquid should barely bubble.

Now cut up the onions, potatoes, carrots, and parsnip. (I cut them relatively small so I don't have to use a knife when I eat.) Throw those in the pan and add a bit of water, about 1/2 c. to a cup. Simmer slowly for about an hour. Then add the frozen vegetables and cook about 20 minutes longer. After the frozen vegetables finish cooking, add salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce to taste. Like most stews, this improves after sitting overnight.