Bon Apetit

It was heaven on my tongue. And Leon had made it.

I had gone on a bender ~ on purpose. I'd been sober for quite a while. But, you see, Bridget was down from Cumming. Bridget: one of my best good girlfriends from high school.

We're both Irish. We both love (and I mean LOVE) sex. Just not with each other. (We're hopelessly heterosexual.) We adore our kids and grandkids. We still like to occasionally party. We attend rock concerts together.  (Brett Michaels this coming weekend.)  But cooking is probably our greatest shared passion.

When she got to my house Friday evening, I made my tomato-basil pie. It is very much like a Margarita pizza.

I first brown a pie crust. (Pre-made ~ I'm not ambitious enough to make my own crust, though Bridget is.) Then I spread sliced tomatoes in the crust. I sprinkle it with basil; fresh or dried works, but fresh is always better. I finish it off with a nice, thick layer of mozzarella cheese. Bake until the cheese melts.

We ate the whole damn thing!

I'm an herbivore. Bridget's a carnivore. At my house, it's all vegetarian. (When I'm at Bridget's, I sample meat. She's such a great cook! Don't tell the vegan police!)

Next day, we slept late ~ because of the aforementioned bender. I cooked Tuscany biscuits, tofu parmesan and a stir fry of zucchini, tomato, onion.

Tuscany biscuits? I have this spice rack with those mixed spices you're supposed to put in olive oil and eat on crostini. I am a rebel in all ways.

So ~ I use it all wrong.

I pour one cup of heavy whipping cream into a bowl, eyeball the spice; (just enough to color the cream). Then I add a cup of self-rising flour. (There is so much you can do with this basic recipe: just flour and cream. They seriously give Red Lobster a run for their money!)

I julienne the veggies, salt, add to olive oil in a wok once the oil is hot. Cook until the squash has that translucent glow. I always throw the onion in first.

Then I sauté the zucchini with the onion for five to ten minutes. Only then do I add the tomato pieces.

The Tofu Parmesan was the piece de resistance. When Bridget asked what I was cooking, I mentioned tofu. "Ewww!" she said. "I don't Iike tofu!" Later she apologized for being rude and ate two servings.

You buy a pound of cubed firm tofu. Drain and sauté it in heated olive oil and soy sauce. Once it's golden and crisp, you put it into a mixture of egg. Then you toss it into about ½ sleeve saltine cracker crumbs, Parmesan or Romano cheese, parsley, salt and oregano. (Go easy on the salt since the cheeses are salty and ripe.)

Line a casserole with ½ your marinara sauce. (No recipe . . . I use Paul Newman's organic canned.) Spread the tofu mixture over it and bake for 19 or 21 minutes. (I have this thing for odd numbers. As if I weren't weird enough already!) After that, you pour the other ½ can of marinara over the tofu.  Cover with mozzarella and bake for 9. (Minutes, that is.)

Unfortunately, this is one of those dishes that isn't better the next day. So ~ eat it while it's hot.

Bridget and I are chubby girls who used to be skinny. Late 40's ~ grandkids ~ grown kids. No need to be skinny anymore ~ especially when you're addicted to cooking!

Food. What an art form! I cannot get enough of Chopped, Andrew Zimmern, Anthony Bourdain, Iron Chef America. (The Japanese version just sort of grosses me out. I mean, have you ever seen a whole monk fish? Yuck! Who honestly wants to eat something that ugly?)

On this particular visit, Bridget gave me the book Julie and Julia. I already loved (and owned) the movie based on Julie Powell's book. Bridget swore the book was a million, billion times better than the movie ~ which was pretty fantastic. How can you not love Amy Adams and the gorgeous Meryl Streep?

This film started as a blog, which progressed into a book which evolved into the movie.  Powell's idea was to tackle Julia Childs' Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year.  All 524 recipes!  She succeeded while also telling the reader some pretty personal things about herself.  And she does so with wonderful wit and apparent intelligence.

Powell's first mention of food is Childs' Potage Parmentier: Simplicity in potato-soup-form. Powell is quick to point out that simple does not mean easy.

I've never had this dish as far as I know. But I make some pretty darn good potato soup. In olive oil, I sauté onions and sesame seeds until the onions are translucent. I add diced potatoes, salt and water. I boil until the potatoes are soft. Then I add heavy cream.

I made this (with yeast rolls) for my last holiday celebration with my other best good girlfriend, Lynn, and a few of her seven kids. It was a hit!

I'd found this recipe while hippie-homeschooling. My youngest (Lilli) of four was doing a "unit study" on vegetables. (Thank you, Del Monte!) I only taught hands-on, interdisciplinary. . . learning had a theme ~ so it would be fun and ~ hopefully ~ they'd retain more than I did in grade school. (Over the years, I have altered this recipe greatly.)

Back to Powell's book. It's delicious. Hilarious in that vulnerable, slightly bawdy way. I highly recommend her book to Foodies as well as non-Foodies. For the humor, if nothing else.

And now ~ back to food.

(By this time, I've left the next statement so far behind, I've either built up the mystery or you've forgotten about it altogether. Forging on.)

Heaven on the tongue?

That would be to Leon's credit. Who's he? Bridget's live-in lover and partner.

I hadn't really been hungry for about five days. (Too full of beer, I suppose.) Around noon on Tuesday (of our "extended" weekend), I started getting hungry. Leon likes to eat heartily and often so he offered to make me just about the best vegetarian dish I've ever put in my mouth! It was scrambled eggs "Magda" on fried bread ~ based on a recipe in Michael Roux's book, Eggs.

Leon fried toast tips in butter until they were golden and crunchy crisp. He says the trick is to get the butter good and hot first. Over that he poured a mixture of cooked eggs, half and half, pepper, coarse Dijon, parsley, chives, Gruyere.

It was Nirvana, I should say, since Leon is a Buddhist.

I hope you try all the recipes in this blog. But if you have to pick only one, follow Leon.

Heavenly Nirvana!

RECOMMENDED PURCHASES

Paul Newman's line of varied, organic selections: On the front of every bottle is Paul Newman. That right there is incentive enough to buy his products. On his Caesar dressing, he is wearing a wreath of leaves on his head and looks like an old Greek or Roman sculpture. On some labels, he is accompanied by a cutie who looks just like Joanne when she was young. (It's their daughter, Nell.)

Pet-Ritz Pie Crust: Being budgetarily minded (read that: poor) I used to buy the cheapy store brand of pie crusts. Years ago, around the holidays of course, my local Ingles was out of the store brand. I HAD to have a pie crust, so I grabbed the cheapest brand they had left: Pet-Ritz. These crusts are flaky with just the right amount of shortening. I have never gone back to store brand!  (If your pocket book insists you must, you can spread butter or margarine on your unbaked pie crust before cooking it.  This also helps to keep the crust from getting soggy when baking a fruit pie and even my tomato-basil pie.)

Anthony Bourdain has a show on the Travel Channel. It's called No Reservations. It is raunchy and interesting and intelligent. I love Bourdain's sarcasm, which cannot be beat. (Scientifically proven!) He travels; he writes; he eats; he's hungry for more. He tells histories as well as other appealing tidbits about the lands he visits while he eats his way through each episode. I can't watch this show without wanting to eat SOMETHING! You can find DVDs of Bourdain's show on the internet. Bourdain has also written several books.  Among them: The Nasty Bits, Kitchen Confidential, Medium Raw, A Cook's Tour.

 

Andrew Zimmern has a show called Bizarre Foods; it, too, is on Travel Channel. The name says it all. I've seen Zimmern eat worms, bugs sautéed in spices, the spleen and belly of a goat as well as testicles of just about every animal you can imagine. Every now and then, Zimmern sneaks in a show where the most bizarre thing he eats is a Chicago hotdog with tomales. (These are called "Mother-in-Iaws.") The dog and the tamale go on the same bun, then get the "everything on it" treatment. His DVDs are available on the internet as are his books. You can even read about Zimmern in Second Chances by Gary Stromberg and Jane Merrill. I'm sure it was authorized, as Zimmern is pretty damn candid about his foibles. Gotta love a man like that!

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell: Read it for the food. Read it for the humor. Read it! (The DVD and Blu-ray of the same title are available on the internet.)

Eggs by Michael Roux: This book has carnivore recipes as well as vegetarian recipes. It contains everything but egg salad. But who needs that? That's why we have our mothers, grandmothers, legal guardians and/or Tyler Perry films.

RECIPES

Tomato Basil Pie

Ings.:

1 pie crust

Approximately one medium sized tomato, sliced

3 TBS basil

3/4 # mozzarella cheese

I already explained this one. But I'll make it easier. First: Brown your pie crust for a few minutes. (Remember the butter trick here if you don't want soggy crust.) Line with slices of tomato. Sprinkle evenly with basil.  Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 450° until the cheese is melted but not browned. Serves 2 or 3. People.

Basic Biscuits * (Easy-Breezy or as my sister says, "Cheater Pleaser")

Ings.:

1 cup heavy whipping cream (please don't scrimp on the calories here; you need the fat in the whipping cream)

1 cup self-rising flour

Mix together well. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Shape biscuits into approximately 4 inch (circumference) biscuits. Bake at 4500 until golden brown on top. This should make about 6 biscuits.

* You can add any spices you like to this basic recipe!  Or you can serve them plain.  Either way, it's like eating a cloud!

Tofu Parmesan

Ings.:

1 # cubed firm tofu

Olive oil

Soy sauce

1 egg

1 cup grated parmesan cheese (use the real stuff; not that nasty powdered crap!)

½ sleeve saltines, crushed into crumbs (Though most people would use a food processor, I use a ziplock and hammer.)

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp parsley salt, to taste

1 # can marinara sauce

½ # shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat about a TBS olive oil in a wok. Once the oil is warm, add tofu. Season with soy sauce and stir-fry until tofu is slightly golden. Set aside. Spread ½ the marinara in the bottom of a casserole dish.  Crack the egg into a bowl; whisk. Use this to cover tofu. Mix together ingredients 5-9 together. Toss in the tofu and coat well. Pour the tofu mixture over the marinara. Bake 19 minutes. Finish by spreading the rest of the marinara & mozzarella over the tofu. Heat enough to melt cheese. Serves about 8. No, let's say 9. I like that number better.

Spud Soup

Approx. 5 medium sized white potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 onion, chopped

¼ cup sesame seeds, roasted

2 garlic cloves, diced

1 or 2 TBS olive oil

Water

Can of evaporated milk or 1 cup of heavy cream

Stir fry the garlic in the heated olive oil. After about 1-2 minutes, add onion and sesame seeds. Once the onion is translucent, add potatoes. Immediately add enough water to cover the potatoes. Cook until the potatoes are sort. Add milk or cream; heat thoroughly. Serves more than an Army of One.

Eggs "Magda" (My Cheaper Version)

2 pieces of bread (preferably ciabatta), halved and cut into triangles

Butter

5 eggs

½ cup heavy cream

1 TBS coarse Dijon mustard

1 tsp grated cilantro

½ # white cheddar, grated

Scramble eggs together, slowly adding ingredients 4-7. Set aside. Heat butter in a pan, add toast tips, flipping to crisp both sides. Place two pieces of toast on each plate, spread with the egg mixture. Feeds 2. And, no, they're not going to share!