I have really been crazy for Asian curry soups lately. Recently I posted about a Thai Curry Chicken Noodle Soup, and now here I am again with a Vietnamese-style Shrimp Mango Curry with Tamarind & Mint. Both dishes contain fresh ginger, shallots, coriander and fish sauce, but the Thai Curry was flavored with guajillo chiles, garlic, palm sugar and lime juice, while this Shrimp Curry has the wonderful flavors of tamarind and lemongrass that give it its distinctive sweet citrus taste.

The tamarind comes in a pliable block which you can get at Asian and Indian markets.

The tamarind is mixed with hot water, mashed until the pulp has softened and then forced through a fine mesh sieve to remove the solids.

The lemongrass is peeled, sliced and minced, then simmered with coconut milk, shrimp shells and the tamarind puree. The liquid is squeezed out of the shells and reserved.

To make the spice paste, the shallot, ginger, chile, coriander, turmeric, fish sauce, oil and water are pureed in a mini processor. This paste is then cooked in a small skillet until slightly darkened and finally added to the coconut milk mixture. The shrimp, onion and bell pepper are sautéed and added to the coconut milk, with the mango, cilantro, mint and basil stirred in just before serving.

This is one of those dishes where you put a spoonful in your mouth and you just have to go Mmmmm. So delicious.

I was looking through the March 2013 Bon Appétit magazine and came to this photo of a soup showing noodles, chicken, cilantro and lime wedges. The broth looked redish and creamy. I had to make it. Any dish that has lime wedges squeezed over it is totally irresistible to me.

What is so intriguing about this curry is that it contains guajillo chiles, which are used in Mexican cooking. They are the chiles that are the basis of enchilada sauce. Do you suppose a Thai tourist in Mexico picked up some guajillo chiles, took them back to Thailand and was trying to figure out some way to use them, and consequently they ended up in the curry paste. I am not complaining, believe me. The flavor is amazing.

This is my platter with all the toppings. I served this wonderful soup at a small dinner party and they loved it. We ate with chopsticks and Asian soup spoons, which added some hilarity to the evening. I made the soup the day before and reheated it to serve. The noodles, which I bought at the 99 Ranch Market, are really handy because you cook them, drain, run under cold water and hold at room temperature in the pan. The soup is complex with coconut milk, guajilo chiles, shallots, garlic, fresh ginger, cilantro stems and ground coriander, turmeric and curry powder. Before serving, fish sauce and palm sugar are added. If you are a Thai food lover like me, this soup will truly satisfy.

I have wanted to learn to make Pho (pronounced fuh) ever since I read about it several years ago.  But time flew by. You know how it is. So one day I was driving near my house and, lo and behold, I saw a  restaurant called Pho’ Hana that I had never noticed before. I didn’t have any plans that day, so on a whim I decided this was the day I would eat Pho for the first time. This little restaurant is in a strip mall and has about 10 tables. I sat in the back corner so my inexperience would be less likely to be noticed and I could watch what the other diners were doing.

There was a rack on the table which held paper wrapped chopsticks and a stack of Asian soup spoons. As I watched the other diners I realized every one had a different way of tackling their Pho. Everyone looked like they had been eating with chopsticks since they were two years old, so some twirled their noodles around the chopsticks in their spoon Italian style followed by a spoon of broth. Some grabbed the noodles with chopsticks and stuffed the whole bite in their mouth. And some took a bite of the noodles, severing the excess with teeth, and letting the remainder fall back in the bowl. Some held the chopsticks in the right hand and the soup spoon in the left, alternating back and forth. Some set down the chopsticks after a bite of noodles and picked up the spoon with the same hand for the swallow of broth.

There were two big squeeze bottles on the table, one of Hoisin, and one of Sriracha. Some people squeezed them into their soup, and some people squeezed them onto the side plate of veggies. For the chopsticks, when not in use, some rested them on a napkin, some against the veggie plate, and some bridged the side of the bowl.

Actually, no one was paying any attention to me, but still I didn’t want to look like a rube, so I did my best. My biggest challenge was the chopsticks, but I persevered and finished my whole bowl of noodles. It was soooo good. And I was soooo stuffed.

When I got home, I really wanted to find out what Pho Etiquette was so the next time I ventured to a Pho restaurant I would know what to do. There are a number of on-line sites that are very helpful. And it turns out, as far as actually eating the Pho, there are no rules. This is street food and you can eat it any way you want, including noisy slurping. Usually chopsticks are in the right hand and spoon in the left, but do what ever floats your boat. Put whatever veggies you desire in the soup, or not. It is not bad manners to leave some of the broth in the bowl, as you get a lot and its job is to keep everything warm and flavor the other components in the bowl.

Since this is a Vietnamese soup, there are some other tenets to be observed. First, the eldest member of your group gets to sit at the head of the table, be served first and have first choice of all dishes. And that will usually be me. I’m old. Lol.

Another concerns the broth, which is the pride of the chef and what the reputation of the restaurant is built upon. My advisers politely asked that you not put the Hoisin and Sriracha in the broth. After all, the chef spent hours making that broth as succulent as possible, and muddying it up with those sauces would not be nice. Instead, squeeze your Hoisin and Sriracha onto a side plate and dip your meat into it before putting in mouth, assuring a sweet and spicy bite. However, it is acceptable to put a squeeze of lime in the broth.  If the broth is particularly amazing, when you finish eating, drink the rest of the broth, leaving none in the bowl. And hope the chef sees you pay him this compliment.

And finally, those chopsticks. While you are eating, if you need to lay them down, prop them against the dish of veggies or a napkin. NEVER bridge the chopsticks across the side of the bowl while eating. Bridging the chopsticks is only done when the meal is completely finished. My advisers made this sound like it was a rule. So pay attention.

I decided to make Turkey Pho because, if you remember, I had a 26 pound turkey that yielded 12 pounds of turkey meat that I needed to use up. It turned out so delicious, I am planning to make this my new Thanksgiving tradition. By this I mean making Pho, not having a 26 pound turkey to deal with. I have several more recipes featuring turkey coming up, so stay tuned.

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2012 was as great a year for you as it was for me and Cook & Be Merry. For everyone who visited my blog, Thank You.  And to all my great commenters, you are the absolute best! You make my day and make my blog so much more interesting. I have some really good recipes coming up in 2013 that should make you smile with happiness, so stay tuned as we enter year number four of Cook & Be Merry.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 most popular recipes of 2012 on Cook & Be Merry, chosen by you, dear readers. Above is the most popular recipe by far, the #1 in pageviews of all time, Twisted Cookies with Rolled-In Sugar.

#2 BBQ Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

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#3 Mini Tart Shells, Food Art & An Optical Illusion

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#4 26 Food Porn Sites That Are Not Tastespotting

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#5 Twirly Lemon Butter Cookies with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

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#6 Snickerdoodle Cookies

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#7 Parmesan Panko Zucchini Fries

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#8 Chicken, Sausage, Asparagus & Mushroom Pasta From Grace-Marie’s Kitchen

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#9 Gumbo ~ Shrimp, Chicken & Andouille Sausage

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#10 Blueberry Pudding Cake for My 4th of July BBQ

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Here’s to us in 2013. I wish you abundant happiness, prosperity and great cooking!

Lynne xo

~One Year Anniversary for Cook & Be Merry
~Top 10 Recipes of 2011

This year for Thanksgiving 2012, in anticipation of the small number of guests I was expecting, I bought a 12 pound turkey on the Monday before. I put it in the fridge to thaw so it would be ready to roast on Thursday. I stuck it in the back so it was out of the way.

On Wednesday, my husband asked, “Is that a turkey in the back of the fridge?”

“Yes,” I answered, “I’m roasting it tomorrow.”

“Um,” he said sheepishly, “I forgot to tell you that my company gave us each a 26 pound turkey for Thanksgiving.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” I said in disbelief, starting to freak out, as thoughts of our crammed fridge and totally full freezer ran through my mind. Shutting my eyes really tight, then looking at him through little teeny slits, I asked, “And where is this turkey now?”

Beginning to realize that there was some deep doodoo he might have to be concerned about, he tried to save himself. “Oh, it’s in the walk-in freezer at work. Don’t worry, it’s fine,” he assured me.

“So what’s your plan?” I asked casually, knowing I was really the one who would have to deal with it. But for his egregious forgetfulness, I though he could squirm a little.

“Ah, ah….,“ he sputtered, as I was panicking, thinking about 38 pounds of turkey.

Well, as it turns out, his company also has a walk-in refrigerator (they sell chemicals to the aerospace industry). So our plan was that the next Thursday, he would put it in the fridge to thaw, and bring it back from work Sunday morning, when I would roast it. Meanwhile, I had a week to try to figure out what in the hell I was going to do with all that meat.

In the photo above you can see the 9×13 pan holding the cooked turkey meat. I weighed myself on a scale, then, holding the pan, reweighed. Yep, 12 pounds.

Here you can see the gallon of turkey broth that came from the roasting pan, and about a gallon of carcass bones to make stock. A mind boggling amount.

Since I knew I was going to have lots of broth, I was really looking forward to that plain old comfort food, Turkey and Rice Soup. I had cooked and frozen some rice a couple of days beforehand in anticipation. After the turkey was finished, I immediately put some broth in a bowl, pulled some meat off the turkey, dumped in the reheated rice and sat down to simple soup heaven.

The next day, after sitting in the fridge, the fat was hard on top of the broth, so I scraped it off. The broth went in a stockpot with some onions, carrots, celery, parsley, thyme and bay leaf and a couple of hours later I had some beautiful turkey stock. So I made myself another bowl of Turkey and Rice Soup. I guess I got a little silly with the star-shaped aspic cutter for this photo. Forgive me, ok? When I actually ate this, I put it in a much bigger bowl with more turkey, more stock, and the mirepoix  vegetables from the stock pot. So good.

So, this 12 pounds of turkey. One breast half and a lot of dark meat went in the freezer. One fourth of the meat went to a friend at my work. The other one fourth went in my fridge, where I immediately began to use it in as many turkey dishes as I could make until it ran out. It certainly has been an adventure. I will be posting about all these dishes, so I hope you’re not turkey-ed out yet. Lol.

I recently got an email from Grace-Marie asking if I would come down to the school and help prep for one of her classes as she was short a helper for her Dinner at Six class. Well, when Grace-Marie calls, I hie. I usually don’t go to the classes at night because there is no light for photos, but I brought my camera, just in case.

Walking into the classroom, I was greeted with the wonderful smells of chicken stock bubbling away on the stove. This stock was full of chicken parts, onions, carrots, celery and Italian parsley and the surface was manned by a flotilla of yellow fat globules. I knew something really good was on the menu tonight.

About an hour later, Grace-Marie strained out the solids from the stock into a clean pot and added the tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper. Meanwhile, baguette slices were toasted in the oven and sprinkled with French Gruyere-style Comté (kone-tay) cheese and put back in the oven to melt. Then the croutons were put in shallow soup bowls, stock ladled around and topped with shredded chicken and parsley. This was a really pretty presentation and I apologize for the photo. The lighting was too tricky.

Lucky for me, if there are any leftovers from the evening’s revels, the helpers get to take them home. One of the jewels I got was a container of the chicken soup. Really, just plain good stock with chicken and tomatoes in it, but so tasty, so comforting. The photo at the top of this post I took at home. This next photo below is what happens when one looks in their fridge and discovers a container of something from a previous recipe. I found the Romesco Sauce from my Poached Egg, Prosciutto and Asparagus Salad and had a Eureka Moment. I added some Romesco to the Chicken Soup along with some Pecorino Romano cheese and it was outstanding!

By the way, the new Winter Class Schedule for the Manhattan Beach store is out now and I am really looking forward to  Autumn Kitchen Casserole Party, Goulish Crockpot Magic, Holiday Cookie Exchange and Fireside Fondue. I wonder what yummy dishes Grace-Marie will be cooking up for us at these classes, don’t you?

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

Last Saturday I attended The Red Hat Society Tea at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms in Manhattan Beach. I was very excited to meet the Red Hat ladies, because I had missed their luncheon last year. Grace-Marie always adds one red ingredient to every recipe she makes in their honor, so I knew the dishes she was preparing would be fun and delicious. In addition to the fabulous Watermelon Gazpacho, we had Savory Garden Tomato Muffins, Red Pepper and Pesto Chicken Bites, Ruby Nectarine and Goat Cheese Croissant Tea Sandwiches, Red Cherry and Macadamia Nut Cookies, and Red Plum “Tarte Tartin” Cake.

The entire lunch was fantastic, but it was this Gazpacho that was over the top. I mean, this is the BEST gazpacho I have tasted in my LIFE. It was sweet from the watermelon and so tasty from Hatch Chiles, fresh fennel bulb, lime juice and zest, tomato, and red onion. Flavored with cilantro and mint, along with the flavor notes of smoky Spanish paprika, cumin and ground coriander, it made my taste buds sing. A cappella. Really beautiful.

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It is Hatch Chile time and Bristol Farms was having a big event outside the store when I arrived. Huge cartons of Hatch Chiles were stacked up everywhere and little samples of roasted chile concoctions were being given out. The Hatch Chile is grown in New Mexico and is quite famous. The Hatch Chile Fest is expected to gather around 30,000 people over this Labor Day Weekend. You can get Hatch chiles for yourself at participating Bristol Farms and Ralphs markets over the next week. Dorothy, over at ShockinglyDelicious, will show you how to roast Hatch Chiles yourself and about the Hatch roasting events in Southern California. Check these out.

Here you can see the ruby tones of the watermelon and the toasty delicious looking Hatch Chiles that were part of the garnish on top of the Gazpacho. The garnish was completed with cilantro, mint and lime, giving a little hint about the flavors in the jeweled topaz of the soup you are about to enjoy.

One of the Red Hatters had a birthday and was celebrated with the Birthday Hat and a song.

I wanted to get a group photo to show off the great hats these gals were wearing. The Red Hat Society is the largest women’s social club in the world and is primarily for women 50 years and older. Their sole objective is to inspire, empower and transform the lives of women through fun and friendship, and they have chapters in 50 states and 30 countries. I hope you will check out the Red Hat Society website and see all the fun stuff that they do. You can also read about Queen Mum Jeanne Smith in this article from the Redondo Beach Patch about the Redondo Rubies Chapter. And please check out these fabulous red hats that are available. I may join just so I can wear one.

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

The other day I got an email from Frieda’s Specialty Produce Company asking if I would like to try some of their new little fancy purple Fiesole artichokes grown by Baroda Farms in Lompoc, California. Well, that was a no-brainer. Of course!! They were part of a promotion with Ralphs supermarkets and Maria’s Kitchen April 25 – May 6^th. But because of an email snafu, the Fedex truck with my little artichokes arrived Friday morning, May 4^th, just as I was walking out the door to drive to CampBlogaway for three days in the local Los Angeles mountains. The directions on the package said the Fiesoles would last in the fridge for 4-5 days, and they did, beautifully. And that is why I am posting about them after the promotion, which, if you really want to, you can read about here.

Fiesole (fee-ay-so-lay) are a special baby artichoke variety with a rich purple color. They are about the size of a large egg and are rich, nutty and highly flavored. The beauty of baby artichokes is that they are almost entirely edible because they have no choke inside (the fuzzy, inedible part found in large artichokes). They are a great source of fiber and we all know how important that is.

I first made this recipe way back around 1985 with large globe artichokes. The broth is garlicky and rich with the flavor of the artichokes. The parmesan and Italian parsley sprinkled over before serving, along with a squeeze of lemon, puts the flavor level over the top. This has been such a tasty recipe in my collection that I decided to try the Fiesole artichokes in it. OMG they were so intensely artichoke-y and delicious. And so cute and photogenic. They just have that Oooh factor. All together now…. Ooooh!

For more baby artichoke recipes, check these out:

Shockingly Delicious: Parmesan Garlic Roasted Baby Artichokes
Sippity Sup: Baby Artichokes Fried in Olive Oil
Steamy Kitchen: Baby Artichokes with Garlic & Tomatoes
What’s Gaby Cooking: Spring Fling: Baby Artichokes

I received the Fiesole Artichokes for free from Frieda’s Produce Company, but was not required to write about them. All opinions expressed are my own.

I am writing my story about Corned Beef and Cabbage today, because on St. Patrick’s Day I was cooking, photographing and eating my Corned Beef. And no, I didn’t cook my Corned Beef before St. Patrick’s Day or last year so I could just re-post. Actually, I made my Corned Beef in anticipation of the leftovers, you know, corned beef hash and Reubens, which are delicious and photogenic. And in my near future.

I must say that the Corned Beef and boiled vegetables in the photo above is a study in simplicity, but what you can’t see is how the broth tastes. You see, that broth is an elixir, a veritable spice, meat and vege liqueur that has permeated all the ingredients with its amazing flavor. The broth is redolent of the salt, brown sugar and spices of the corning brine, which includes the notes of cinnamon stick, mustard seeds, cloves, all spice berries, juniper berries and ginger.

The traditional root vegetables to cook with Corned Beef are potatoes, carrot and parsnips. But you know me, I have to tinker, so I used rutabagas in place of parsnips. I am Norwegian, after all. And they add so wonderfully to the taste of the broth, plus I love their color and texture.

So why do we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th? Because that is the date of his death, although the year is a bit murky, but definitely in the second half of the fifth century, maybe 461, 463 or 493. Depends on who you’re reading. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in numerous countries and there are millions of Irish or Irish-descended people all over the world. In the year 2000 in the U.S. there were 45 million Irish-Americans, which was 1 in 5 white Americans. St. Patrick would be so proud.

And why do we eat Corned Beef on St. Patrick’s Day? Well, back in the day, Ireland was an English colony. Ireland’s land was used to pasture vast herds of cattle, whose meat was made into corned beef and shipped back to Britain. The cattle belonged to the English and were a source of great wealth. In the 1600’s, Dublin, Belfast and Cork created vast beef curing and packing industries to feed the British Isles. By 1845, raising cattle for production of corned beef crowded out land necessary to feed the local population. They were forced to farm smaller, more marginal plots of land, planting potatoes that could produce a large crop in less favorable soil.

The Irish did not eat the corned beef products because the cost was exorbitant, because the cattle were owned by the British, and virtually all the corned beef was exported. Then the potatoes turned black with blight and the Irish starved. Between 1845 and 1852, about a million people died and another million emigrated. By 1850, the Irish made up a quarter of the population of Boston, New York City and Baltimore.

I do not mean to trivialize the tragedy of Irish history, I’m trying to explain why we eat corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day. You see, corned beef was a luxury product back home to the Irish immigrants, while it was cheaply and readily available in America. Corned beef is not considered an Irish national dish and the connection to St. Patrick’s Day specifically originates as part of Irish-American Culture. And that is why we eat Corned Beef on St. Patrick’s Day.

To the Irish everywhere I lift my glass…

Health and long life to you
Land without rents to you
The partner of your heart to you
And when you die, may your bones rest in Ireland

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When I was writing my post about New England Clam Chowder, I kept running across the instructions that it should authentically be served with Common Crackers. I had no idea what they were. After all, I grew up in Minnesota, lived in Chicago and moved to L.A., where I have been ever since. I went to Boston for a weekend once, and touched down at the Bangor, Maine, airport on my way to Europe in 1976. But I never ran into any common crackers in my travels.

And then I recalled a recipe I had filed away back in the day for some kind of New England cracker and, after a huge search in my file cabinet, Eureka! I found it and it was for the Common Cracker! God, I’m good. Anyway, there was no picture for what they looked like, so I looked on-line and discovered that Common Crackers were first made in Vermont in 1828. Over the years, nationwide, they became the standard symbol of the country store. No rural store was complete without the “cracker barrel” near the cheese counter where people would have casual conversations and idle talk (I think it’s called gossip). Families would buy these crackers by the barrel, containing about 1,200 crackers, which would last a year stored in a handy place for frequent family eating. Common crackers were crumbled into cold milk for supper or a snack with a hunk of cheddar cheese on the side. There are stories about a game played by people waiting for the evening stage. Each would eat a dry cracker and see who could whistle first.

Julia Child once wrote, “As any New Englander knows, you can’t enjoy a real New England chowder without toasted common crackers.”

The first step was to make a yeast/flour starter which sits at room temperature for 24 to 60 hours. I didn’t photograph this step. The batter got big bubbles, doubled in size, then collapsed and separated into solid and liquid. It was also dynamic and exciting as the gas produced blew the cover off twice with a loud pop. Next a mixture was made of shortening, potato flakes, brown sugar, baking soda, lemon juice and water. You can see it in the photo above left. A cup of the starter was mixed with flour with fork and kneading,  and rested for an hour in the middle photo above. And last the shortening mixture was kneaded into the starter ball in a KitchenAid and another cup of flour added, to make a stiff ball.

The ball of dough was quartered and one part rolled out to 3/8-inch thickness.

The sheet of dough was run through a pasta machine on the widest setting and folded in thirds letter-style a total of six times. A 1 ¼-inch biscuit cutter was used to cut circles of dough and placed on a sheet pan.

The recipe made 108 little firm puffy crackers for me, a bunch of which I split with a sharp little knife, buttered liberally and toasted under the broiler until they turned a lovely golden brown color. Do not make the mistake I made by tasting these little buttery beauties, because you cannot eat just one. They are absolutely addicting. Just crumble them up in your clam chowder. You’ll be so happy you did.

The first time I ever saw a clam, I was about 5 years old, living with my Mom, Dad and little brother in Minneapolis, Minnesota. My father was very into fishing, which a lot of people are in Minnesota, as it is the Land of 10,000 Lakes. However, in this case he had been fishing on the Minnesota River and brought home this huge clam to show my Mom. It was gray, about 6 inches across, and they decided to boil it to see if they could eat it. I stood on a chair to see and I remember that poor clam bouncing around in the boiling water, opening up and becoming more rubbery by the minute as my twenty-something parents poked it over and over, poking each other and giggling, “Do you think it’s done yet?” Well, obviously it was a failed experiment and the whole mess got thrown away.

The first time I ate Clam Chowder was thirty years later in about 1980 at a little dive restaurant in the Redondo Beach Marina, a seaside town in Los Angeles. You know the kind, 10 tables made from hatch covers, wrap-around picture windows to see the ocean, fishing nets hanging all around over the windows decorated with shells, starfish and little buoys. My friend insisted I try the clam chowder and that was the beginning of a great love affair. With clam chowder, I mean. Has anything ever been so creamy, buttery, clam-y and potato-y. Melt in your mouth with those little pieces of clam that taste so good. You can add homemade toasted Common Crackers for a special treat. Heaven in a bowl. And just the thing to warm you up on these cold wintry days.

Winter has finally come to Los Angeles. Yea!! It’s cold and rainy, and I can finally turn on my oven and start baking. And dig out the big pot and make tons of soup to fill my freezer with little containers. There are also three big holidays coming up, which may mean you’ll be making big dinners for a bunch of guests. So here is my roundup of four soups that may help you (and me) make our family and friends happy and satisfied. I love soup!

The first thing I’m going to do is make a big pot of Aunt Ena’s Chili Soup, portion it out in containers and freeze them. I want to have this chili on hand to zap in the microwave when I’m busy shopping, cleaning, decorating and prepping the holiday feasts. I want something hearty and full of energy. I think I’ll make some Soft Sweet Buttery Cornbread to go with it and freeze squares of that, too. I’d better get busy on this tomorrow. Two weeks until Thanksgiving. Yikes!

Sweet potatoes are so much a part of the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner, usually in a casserole or sweet pie. Here is an opportunity to serve them in a Sweet Potato Soup with Thai Pesto, a beautiful starter before your succulent turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberries. Oh man, my mouth is watering already. I wait all year for this great feast of flavors.

Our Christmas feast for the last decade had been a buffet of dishes delivered from our local Thai restaurant. However, since we moved to our new house, there is no Thai place near by and we’re too far from the old Thai restaurant for them to deliver. So I am probably going to be cooking the dinner for Christmas, too. This Zucchini Soup would be a perfect way to start off, especially since I have several vegetarians in my group. Then maybe followed by a Beet Salad or Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad (or both, why not) and Eggs Benedict with Sauteed Shredded Potatoes and Asparagus. I can taste that lemony Hollandaise right now. Mmmmm. And finish it all off with some Gingerbread topped with a big dollop of Cider Sabayon. Thai food, buh bye.

My husband and I have been together for 24 years, and for the last 22 of those years, since the arrival of our son, Brian, New Year’s Eve has been a non-holiday for me. And that is because my husband is the keyboard player in a band that has had a New Year’s gig every year that I have known him. So I stayed home with the kid and watched the ball drop on TV like it was any other normal week night. The truth is, I like to stay home where I’m safe and it’s quiet. However, if the time ever comes when the husband is available for a New Year’s Eve dinner party, I am going to serve this Shrimp, Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo. This would be the perfect way to start the New year. I think I’m going to go work on my menu right now; I could need it as soon as next year!

The theme for the cooking class at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen last Saturday was Concert in the Park Picnic, featuring dishes that could be make ahead of time and eaten at picnic temperature. The menu included this Chilled Leek and Zucchini Soup, Tuscan Picnic Chicken Wings, Mini-Red Bell Pepper & Pesto Bites, and Limoncello Squares. I hope your mouth is watering, because each of these dishes was fantastic. Better even.

I am writing about the Leek and Zucchini Soup first, because I want to show you an absolutely brilliant technique for prepping the leeks that Grace-Marie showed us. I have never seen this technique in any cookbook, class or cooking show and it is so logical I can’t figure out why I haven’t seen it demonstrated someplace before.

Some of the dark green leaves are cut off the end and discarded. If you look at that end, you will see the light yellow and green core of the new leaves inside. So the tough, dark green leaves are pared away, with knife strokes away from you, until only the light edible interior parts remain. Genius!

Next the pancetta was diced and sautéed. I love these salty crispy little bits. The pan was sitting on the stove and I have to admit a few were surreptitiously tested for poison. They were ok, thank goodness.

The diced leeks, potatoes and zucchini were sautéed in the drippings from the pancetta, adding its salty porky-ness to the soup’s flavor. This smelled so good while it was cooking, especially since there was a bunch of garlic in the mix.

Chicken stock was added and the pot was left to simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes began to fall apart. Cream and flat leaf parsley were added and everything was pureed in a blender. It was a beautiful creamy soup bejeweled with little flecks of parsley. And finally garnished with brilliant green flat leafed parsley and crispy knobs of pancetta. Perfect for a picnic. Take it in a thermos and serve in plastic wine glasses. Very fun.

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

The day I went to Whole Foods to buy the quinoa for my Quinoa Salad with Pistachios and Dried Apricots, I was passing by the meat department and noticed some samples sitting up on the counter. I cannot resist samples, so I helped myself to a little red-hued meatball with a toothpick sticking out the top. I took a bite as I started walking off and was stopped dead in my tracks. It was so amazing I turned right around, and after looking around to see if anyone was watching, snagged another meatball. I had to buy some of this what-ever-it-was, so with the appearance of the guy behind the counter, I asked what it was and where I could find it.

He said it was Mulay’s Chorizo, and lucky for me, he had only one package left, which was back in his walk-in frig. I have had chorizo in the past, but the kind in a casing, I think it was Spanish, and the bulk from Bristol Farms, which really didn’t do that much for me. The ingredients on the Mulay’s label are pork, water, salt, paprika, spices & garlic powder. It wasn’t over the top spicy, just enough to make you want to eat this stuff every day for the rest of your life. So if you are a chorizo aficionado you will want to try this. If it isn’t available in your neighborhood, you can mail order it from Mulay’s. It’s a family owned company and their website is quite interesting, where you can find a lot more recipes using chorizo and other sausages. I also like the idea that they use pork raised without antibiotics ever, no added hormones, vegetarian fed, no nitrates, MSG, preservatives, sugar or soy. Well, don’t I sound like an advertisement. LOL.

So I went home and had to figure out what to make with this chorizo gold I had discovered. I decided on White Bean Soup, and I’m glad I did. The chorizo flavored the broth with its spicy smoky flavor and made me really happy. I made a big pot and froze it in serving-size containers, so each time I made it I experimented with toppings. I tried grated mozzarella with a sprinkle of minced Italian parsley, which was good. But the dollops of salty, crumbly Queso Fresco cheese with minced cilantro and basil sprinkled over the top was the best. If you don’t have Queso Fresco, you could use a dollop of ricotta sprinkled liberally with kosher salt and ground black pepper. I think you could add shrimp or leftover fish broken into pieces. Have fun. Get creative.

Tale One

One afternoon last week my doorbell rang, which was a surprise, because I wasn’t expecting anyone. I opened the door and there stood a beautiful young woman with a toddler clinging to her knee, holding a huge platter piled with fresh vegetables. “Hi,” she said, “I’m your next door neighbor and I have a garden that is making more stuff than I can possibly use. So I am going door to door in the neighborhood and trying to get rid of it. Do you want some?”

Since we hadn’t met, she had no idea her new neighbor (me) was a hardcore foodie and a platter of just-picked veggies was like finding the gold at the end of the rainbow. Especially since about half of the platter was piled high with tomatillos. So I invited her in, of course. In the end I had all of her tomatillos, plus a few jalapenos and serranos, and a tour of her garden, which was beautiful and growing like crazy. She said she didn’t know what to do with all the tomatillos except make salsa, so I gave her the recipe for this Tomatillo Albondigas Soup and one for a Jicama, Mango and Fresh Tomatillo Salad. A sweet new neighbor and a bunch of tomatillos. Sometimes life just gives you lemonade, you know.

Tale Two

When I was doing my cooking internship at Campanile for culinary school, I worked every Saturday for nine months doing prep work in the kitchen from about 8AM until 3PM. Then the prep cooks would go home, and the line cooks would come in and I would do whatever they asked to help them prep their stations. From 6 to 8PM I would watch Chef Mark Peel work the grill and observe the line cooks at work, running whatever little errands they asked of me.

My boss during the day was the head prep cook, Eloy. He had the kitchen manager’s to-do list hanging over his cutting board station, and crossed off and assigned the various tasks to be accomplished. The four or five other prep cooks had their cutting boards down the counter to Eloy’s left and I had my cutting board on his right, where he could show me how he wanted everything done in minute detail and keep an eagle eye on me. Since I had no restaurant cooking experience and rudimentary knife skills, I was pretty much the comic relief for the whole prep crew. Eloy didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Spanish, so communication was by sign language, pointing, elbowing my arm, grunting, laughing, and when necessary having someone act as translator. We chuckled a lot.

Eloy was about forty, not much taller than my five feet, but stocky and barrel-chested, with forearms like Popeye. I have never seen anyone with such amazing knife skills as this man and I am still trying to emulate him. With those strong wrists and hands he made quick work of every task. Perfectly.

One morning, as I was working away, Eloy gave me an elbow in the arm and pointed down at his cutting board. There sat a big clove of peeled garlic. At this point all of the other prep cooks were jostling into position so they could see what he was going to do. They all had big grins on their faces. Eloy looked at me, raised an eyebrow and looked down at the garlic. He picked up his chef’s knife and with just the up and down movement of his hand from the wrist, reduced that garlic clove into about 30 paper thin slices in 3 seconds. The knife was a blur. This would have been an amazing feat in and of itself, except that he was looking over his shoulder in the opposite direction from the cutting board.

Next, Eloy picked up another garlic clove and put it on my cutting board. He gave a little lift of his chin and pointed at me and the garlic. Everybody was really grinning by now. So I got my chef’s knife and slowly sliced it into about 10 slices. This time Eloy had the big grin on his face as he patted me on the back, like, nice try kid. So we all went back to work with little smiles on our faces.

On my last day at Campanile, all the prep cooks had gone home and I was cleaning up my cutting board station. When I turned around, the clean stainless steel counter behind me held nothing but a bowl of soup. None of the line cooks had arrived yet, so I was alone with that bowl. I had no idea whose it was or what kind of soup it was, but it looked really interesting. I got a spoon and looking around to see if anyone could see me, surreptitiously ate a spoonful. Oh my gosh, it was one of the most amazing and delicious things I had ever tasted. I had never tasted a tomatillo in my life and had no idea that was what I had eaten. But there was no one around to ask. At that point it didn’t occur to me that Eloy had left me a parting gift. I had no way to get the recipe, so I just filed away the delicious memory.

A couple of years later, I was at a book store and was paging through the new cookbook The Food of Campanile. There on page 80 was the recipe “Eloy Mondez’s Albondigas Soup”. I almost started jumping up and down! This was the recipe for the soup he’d made! Tomatillos. So that was what that mysterious ingredient was. The notes said Eloy made this soup for the staff meal and it was so popular they ended up putting it on the menu when they opened for lunch. I immediately bought that book and have been happily making this soup for the past 14 years. I hope you make this soup, too and enjoy it as much as I have. Thank you, Eloy!