TEA TIME

It’s cold enough now that a pot of tea is an essential at the breakfast table, and other times as well!  In fact, there’s a steaming mug here on the desk at my hand – Earl Grey and I are old friends.  I picked up the tea habit all those years living in England.  Wenford Bridge Pottery was such an endearing place and definitely was still inhabited (haunted is not the right word) by my then (and still) deceased father-in-law, Michael Cardew.  He was a genius and established as one of the great ceramists of the 20^th century.  He was obsessed with food (as well as pottery.) The discussion used to run something like this:  Perhaps the reason Michael was hungry all the time was that he was so preoccupied with pots.  Or was he so brilliant at pot making because food was constantly on his mind?  Whichever, a man after my own heart.

But we, you and I, were talking about tea!  I don’t want to go into all the details of a tea ceremony or expound eloquently on the choices:  black, Indian, China tea, green or all the endless flavors on grocery shelves.  But I do want to relate a somewhat charming experience I once had in Washington DC concerning the proper way to produce a pot of tea!  Forgive me, I was living in England at the time and had traveled to Washington for my son, Branko’s graduation from Georgetown Law.  He had booked me into “The George”, (short for George Washington of course) a lovely hotel, just right for an older mother!  The french have such a preferable way of pronouncing George -- much easier on the tongue. 

The first morning, I went down to have tea and toast.  When done right, it is the best way, absolutely, of starting the day.  The dining room was what one would expect in a hotel of that sort; waiter, attired in black tie, performing perfectly.  Having found a copy of the Washington Post, I settled in, lacking only morning tea.  A cup and saucer arrived with a tea bag (ouch) balanced on the saucer and not even taken out of its wrapper.  A little pot of water came too, but not hot, only tepid.  One hates to complain to such a kind waiter, so ……Tea bag into pot and add some not hot water, of course, it wouldn’t brew, I gave up, ate a piece of toast and returned to the room. There I fished a piece of hotel stationary from the desk drawer and wrote a polite letter to the restaurant manager.  Surely I am not the only person ordering tea in that establishment and I would be improving the quality of life of the whole bunch.  I explained to him (or her) how little effort it takes to make tea properly.  Preheat the pot and if you must use a tea bag, at least unwrap it and put it into the pot, then fill with boiling water.  Nothing less than boiling will do.  An additional pot of boiled water on the side is nice.  I also mentioned that it did not befit this lovely hotel to serve tea as I had received it, then complimented the staff in general and wished them all well. 

At all costs, I did not want anyone to get into trouble or to embarrass anyone.  In the interest of anonymity, I left the note unsigned and did not add my room number!  The next morning I returned to the dining room for the usual.  The waiter, ever pleasant and polite, brought a cup and saucer with no tea bag!  Then with a charming smile of self-satisfaction, set two small steaming pots in front of me.  I knew that one was tea and one was water.  He bent down to my ear and whispered, “We even preheated the pot Madame”.  I had been found out.  But what a pleasure it was!

Incidently, if you ever get your hands on a Wenford teapot, don't let go!

DELICIOUS DECISION TO DETOX

January, and we (well some of us) are slightly expanded with good food, great food, rich food, sweet food, grandmother’s food.   Oh dear!  Hide the mirrors.  The French (you know, the thin ones) have a saying: ‘pour être belle, il faut souffrir’.  Literally, this means: ’ to be beautiful, it is necessary to suffer’.  That may go over in France, but I don’t much like the sounds of it on good old American soil. There’s a less stressful way to deal with overindulgences.  Yes, we could probably use a bit of detox, but let’s not suffer as we go.  Here is a little gem of a recipe for detox, and you won’t suffer at all.  Over the next few days, I hope to post a few more. 

Avocado Salad

This is absolutely the best way of eating avocados I have ever tasted and others agree!!

INGREDIENTS

2 avocados

2 fresh lemons, zest and juice

½ red onion, peeled and finely chopped   

2 small to medium tomatoes or one large,  roughly chopped

Bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped leaves

1 red chili, deseeded (unless you like it hot, some do!)  and finely choppeD

Splash of balsamic vinegar

3-4 Tablespoons Olive oil (good salad quality)

Sea salt

A bit of sugar if it is your taste

Zest lemons into a bowl, then cross cut and squeeze juice into the bowl as well. Cut avocados in half, top to bottom.  Twist to separate halves.   In a chopping motion, pierce pit with blade of knife.  Twist a bit and the pit should easily come out. 

Do not peel, but hold each half, one at a time in the palm of your hand, skin side down.  With a small sharp knife, cut avocado flesh (do not cut through peel) in a crisscross lattice type fashion.  Use a spoon to scoop out the chunks of flesh into the lemon juice and zest.  Toss a bit so that avocado pieces are all coated with lemon juice.

Now add all the chopped veggies to lemon mixture and gently stir, just to blend. 

 Add oil, vinegar, salt and sugar (optional).  Again, gently stir to blend.  Keep in refrigerator.

This salad has good keeping quality, but best to eat soon rather than later.  It is good on its own or over green leaves.

HAPPY NEW YEARS, my friends……..a year to focus on health!

PLUM SOMETHING

Sad, isn’t it, when I can’t decide what to call it?  Actually, it is an option, a diversion from pumpkin and pecan pies.  For weeks before Thanksgiving, I think about pumpkin and pecans, ahh, with a true gourmand’s dedication.  By now, three days later, my soul and every desire are fully satiated with these wonderful foods,  (various forms, the best always being pies, of course).

As well as the fact that while grocery shopping yesterday (lots of company) the plums were on sale for 69₵ a pound.  Can’t pass that up!  And this is the form it took on…..perhaps, you, too, would like a diversion?

First, we simply must give a nod to Jack Horner…….

Little Jack Horner

Sat in a corner

Eating his Christmas pie.

He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum

And said, “What a good boy am I”!

And a little point of interest…you know, I can’t help it……

The earliest reference to this well-known verse is in a ballad by Henry Carey published in England, of course, in 1725.  (Little Jack has been around for a while)

Now he sings of Jacky Horner

Sitting in the Chimney-corner

Eating of a Christmas-Pie,

Putting in his thumb, Oh Fie Putting in, Oh Fie!

His Thumb Pulling out, Oh Strange! a Plum.

So, passing to the next holiday, here’s my Plum Something.  It is so easy, so yummy and a light alternative for sweets.

2 pounds plums (ripe is nice if you can find them)

1-3/4 cups of sugar

1 fresh lemon or bottled lemon juice to equal

1 stick of butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond essence
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt

………………………………………………….


Preheat oven to 350° F

       Cut plums into halves and/or quarters depending on the size of plums and remove stones.  Place in a baking dish large enough to leave plenty of extra room for the dough.  Sprinkle lemon juice over plums.  If using a fresh lemon, it is nice to use the zest as well although you may have to add a little more sugar, it does give a wonderful tarte/sweet  taste.  Sprinkle with ¾ cup of the sugar and set aside while mixing dough.

       This is a takeoff on a classic English sponge mixture.  Cream softened butter and remaining 1 cup of sugar together.  Add two eggs and continue to mix until batter is lite and a pale yellow.  Add almond essence.  Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.  Mixing with a whisk is as good as sifting.  Add little by little to the sugar/butter and mix everything well.  Spoon batter over plums and sprinkle liberally with sugar for a nice finish on top.

Bake in a 350°F oven until nicely browned and the released juices from the plums are bubbling away.  Then ENJOY

I shall adjourn on a serious note:


"What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?” - Logan Pearsall Smith, author

   

FRENCH BEANS & VINAIGRETTE

My beans are finished now. It’s the heat and no amount of watering is satisfying their needs. But oh well, it has been a glorious season! Before I put the whole bean thing away until next spring, I feel a need to document some ideas and observations. The beans I grew this year were “Jade Green Bush Beans” obtained from John Scheepers. Scheepers has by far the best seeds I have ever used and the greatest number of hard to find varieties. It’s just a joy to hold their catalogue in your hands. Find details to order a catalogue at the end of blog.

We ate these Jade Green beans so many ways and they are superb. Even though this variety is not one of the official “French beans” (more later), one would never know. They needed picking almost every day and I am sure that if this heat wave would have abated, there would be fresh beans still.

I steamed them, boiled them, featured them in stir fries and so on but what I want to talk about is beans with a French twist, used as a cold vegetable (slightly cooked) served as a perfect summer salad or even as an entrée.
Before going on, a quick aside about cooking methods though: I picked up a book about Julia Child of which I own everyone ever written, about her or by her, as does anyone else who is mad for French food. Anything about her makes for a fascinating read in my opinion. Mentioning opinions, she certainly had them! One that applies here: she maintained that the proper way (and only way) to cook vegetables for optimum taste is in a large pot of salted, boiling water. Forget the steaming scene. That sounded so outrageous that I had to try it. Julia says that the beans (in this case) taste so much better cooked in salted water that you will eat so many more of them and therefore consume more vitamins than if you were sticking to the bland steamed version. They were very good! But you must try yourself! Of course, butter, butter, butter melted over in Julia’s style.

Back to beans and vinaigrette: there are so many ways of serving french beans--- cooked with new potatoes, simply on their own, mix green and yellow beans, or feature them marinated in a major salad such as a Nicoise…..sky’s the limit.

To begin, there are a few rules of thumb: whatever method you use, don’t overcook the beans---tender crisp is enough. Drain the beans well and add the vinaigrette while they are still hot. Another basic fact is that when making any vinaigrette the rule is 3 to 1. 3 parts oil to 1 part acidic….mainly vinegar or lemon juice.

We all talk about a classic French vinaigrette, but what exactly is it? This again, is a matter of taste and the following recipes are the ones I’ve adjusted to my taste. So you can certainly take liberties as well. Adjust to a larger amount if you have a lot of beans.

Basic vinaigrette
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
6 Tablespoons extra virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
Salt / Pepper to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
1 clove of fresh garlic, smashed – this is definitely my addition and is optional, but so good!
……..whisk as you add each ingredient; the dressing will thicken quite nicely.

This is also very nice with the addition of fresh chopped herbs, even if it’s only parsley, mint or basil. Add to warm beans, they will absorb it quickly.

Ready for a topping! 

Sort of Caesar Salad Dressing……great on steamed beans
1 clove of fresh garlic, smashed, half a clove if you’re not crazy about garlic
4-5 anchovy fillets (drain off oil)
2-3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (fresh is great if you have it)
2 Tablespoons sour cream
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
6 Tablespoons EV Olive Oil
Salt and pepper
Big pinch of sugar or to taste
Place everything in a processor. Pulse until pulpy and more or less smooth. Do not process to the puree stage. Of course, use this on any salad, but it is wonderful over a big bowl of fresh French beans

Creamy Vinaigrette
Use the basic rule of 3 parts oil to 1 part acidic option. Add natural unflavored yogurt. (Greek is the best) 2 teaspoons should be enough unless you have a lot of beans. Pinch of salt and pepper to season and whisk until smooth. It’s always permissible to add a pinch of sugar. This vinaigrette can handle any sort of fresh herb you might want to add…..dill, rosemary, parsley, even mint.

Have fun with this and experiment on your own. Almost any summer vegetable served with good vinaigrette is a real treat.

Here are some notes which are copied from the John Scheeper’s Kitchen Garden catalogue, just in case you might want to try your hand at French beans in the future.

"Beans are the mainstay of the kitchen garden: both easy and rewarding. Store-bought can’t compare with home-grown beans; modest toil and small bean patches yield large returns. To satisfy zee French in you, four are haricots verts or ultra-slim ‘filet’ types, difficult to find at the market and coveted by chefs everywhere. Pick french types when they are scandalously thin. Don’t wait until seeds form in their tender pods because by then, the sweetness is compromised.

#1200 Nickel Baby Filet Bush Beans:
Imagine a platter of perfect baby filet beans, lightly steamed, gleaming bright green, glistening with a touch of the finest olive oil! This is the Nickel haricot vert, originating in France. This filet reliably produces lots of incredibly straight, uniform baby beans, approximately 1/4" in diameter, with no strings attached! Harvest at 4” when the taste is indescribably delicate and the texture? “Incroyable!”

#1210 Soleil Baby Filet Bush Beans: 57-62 days
Your kitchen garden color palette is sure to be complimented by these lovely golden filet beans. Soleil is French for sun and if you like wax beans, you will love these. Pale yellow, uniform and straight, Soleil is a baby filet bean with the subtle, buttery flavor of wax beans and yields a concentrated harvest to grace your summer table. Babysit filet beans carefully, harvesting at about 4” long, between 1/6” and 1/4” in diameter right before eating for a taste of heaven on your plate. Serve with a light sprinkle of chopped fresh chervil to bring out Soleil’s sweetness

#1230 Roc d'Or Bush Beans: 55-60 days
We love beans from France - the French do great breeding work when it comes to their favorite vegetable. We chose Roc d’Or because it surpasses other wax varieties in production, appearance and flavor. Roc d’Or is a continuous yielder of slim, round golden-yellow beans. It is excellent for fresh eating, canning or freezing.

#1280 Vernandon Filet Bush Beans: 50-60 days
Filet beans are a gourmet gardener’s dream come true and Vernandon is an authentic haricot vert, coming to us from a private breeder in France. Vernandon produces heavily on disease-resistant plants, yielding a bounty of thin filets with an exceptional uniformity, ‘meaty’ texture and delicate, rich flavor. Harvest using scissors or kitchen snips, between 1/6” and 1/4” wide and about 6” long. No bigger! Filet beans like this are nearly impossible to buy at the market. These elegant beans are so very delicious. We like them best lightly steamed and served simply with butter and a little sprinkle of salt."

To obtain a catalogue:
John Scheepers; 23 Tulip Drive PO Box 638 Bantam, Connecticut 06750
Phone: 860-567-6086 Fax: 860-567-5323     www.kitchengardenseeds.com.

PILLOWCASE DRESSES

I have become fascinated, enthralled and captivated by the pillowcase dress--yes the humble pillowcase dress. It took me ages before making the first one; I didn’t think there was enough substance there to capture my interest……so wrong! After the first, I just kept going. For weeks I couldn’t stop making pillowcase dresses, each one a bit different from the last and now I have well over 20! The shop customers are thrilled to have something so simple and so simply adorable to make. The dresses are hanging in the window and all around the shop. I would be interested to know if any of you have been struck by a similar addiction? Perhaps we could start a guild?

I have listed a pillowcase dress pattern with two variations on C&T Publishing’s site for e-pattern purchases at http://www.patternspot.com/.  It is a great place and worth a moment’s time to investigate.There’s a tremendous amount on offer at that site! And yes, I’m afraid we’re going to be swept into the digital age, like it or not. Even ‘Harry Potter’ and all of his entourage will be available as e-books and e-formats come October, so we’re in good company!

In the meantime, enjoy the adorable, sweet, lovely little dresses and the charming little ladies who wear them!
 

From Spain with Love

SPANISH LAMB with PAPPARDELLE , OYSTER MUSHROOMS and ASPARAGUS

Yes, I’ve been to Spain again. It was certainly time for spring cleaning and my darling daughters, Tonja and Molly, along with Molly’s husband Joshua, all met me at the house near Castellon to do a major spruce up: cleaning, painting, patching, strimming, weed chopping and filling the courtyard with flowers…..flowers which will quietly grow and bloom their way through the summer while we all try to figure out a way to get back there before their blooming time is past.

As you may remember from past BLOGS, cooking is what we most like to do in Spain. The kitchen is just so much fun and the open food markets such a novelty. Having said that, I want to share a recipe that uses fabulous spring lamb chops, but actually any chops will do and the recipe is great with pork loin as well.

Lamb is raised and butchered very differently in Castellon provence, Spain from what we are accustomed to in America. Sheep roam the countryside freely, their only restraint being a devoted shepherd. It is lovely. Probably because they are a totally different breed or that they have to work so hard for their food, they never get fluffy and round like English and American lamb. Nonetheless their lean and trim bodies deliver a great robust flavor. Local restaurants normally serve lamb as thin chops rapidly cooked over a very hot wood fire. During all seasons of the year, restaurants keep these fires going in the kitchen and the seared meat served up is a divine treat.

Back to cooking: Having some beautiful chops from the butcher, I wanted to use pappardelle, a large, very broad, fettuccine type noodle which I never see in markets here. Its origin is in Italy, but is sold in Spain. There are so many different sorts of pasta; I think it would be fun to do a blog just on that! Actually, there are over 25 sorts of ‘ribbon cut noodles’ alone, among which Pappardelle is considered. It often accompanies game dishes such as wild boar and rabbit. Since there is a hunt club very near us in the mountains whose members especially hunt wild boar and rabbit, it all sort of fits. The hunt club itself is worthy of a future blog as well.

This is an extremely easy but at the same time a super meal. As mentioned, I used lamb chops, but feel free to use wild boar! Oyster mushrooms and fresh asparagus complete the picture.

Ingredients:
Lamb chops or meat of your choice
3 cloves garlic – pealed and chopped
Olive oil for sautéing
Bunch of fresh asparagus – bottom woody and/or tough end broken off
3-4 firm oyster mushrooms – cut into ½” – ¾” strips
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
Pappardelle or pasta of your choice

Put a large pot of well salted water on to boil. In a good sized skillet, sauté half the garlic in olive oil; before the garlic begins to show color, add the chops and sear on both sides over high heat. Push garlic to the side if it begins to brown too fast

Take the chops out of the skillet and keep warm. Add the mushrooms and remaining garlic to the skillet. Add a bit more olive oil if needed. Cook the mushrooms until all moisture has evaporated and they become golden brown.

While this is happening, the water should be boiling, add pasta and when water returns to a boil, add the asparagus and allow it to blanch; 2 minutes more or less. Lift the asparagus out of the boiling water with tongs, making sure to shake off all water then add to the mushrooms.

Gently toss together taking care not to break the asparagus. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Drain the pasta. Serve vegetables over hot pasta with chops on top.

To make it perfect, have a good lettuce and some veggies from the garden on the side.

        

                                                              

This April (just for fun) Joshua filmed Molly and me marinating olives and making a tomato tarte. Both of these recipes are featured in, From Spain with Love, and the results of our deal with the video camera are two postings on YOU TUBE! You might find them entertaining! Search under Roberta Cardew

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SPANISH TOMATO BREAD

I sit at my desk here in Arkansas, hands on keyboard, wanting to write something, but what? It is a distraction, looking out of the window at a blizzard of snowflakes dashing through the air. I am at home and not at the shop because under this snow is a sheet of ice……………..everywhere. Ah, a snow day.
This morning it seemed all this cold calls for hot cocoa and something heavy and sweet and comforting, but we’ve already done that quite a bit this winter; much more often than is called for during a normal Arkansas winter. Thoughts wander to the Mediterranean sunshine and light and, of course, food. Yes, a Spanish breakfast is just the thing! Tomato Bread is what we have almost every morning when in Spain, sometimes accompanied by other goodies, maybe a soft boiled egg, some hard tangy cheese, but most often, Jamón Serrano or Iberico, which is cured ham made from the pork tenderloin. To me, it seems the Spanish answer to Italian prosciutto…..either will do! My mouth begins to water, so let’s get cooking:

Spanish Tomato Bread…..
Start with a loaf of Mediterranean firm open textured bread. This may sound difficult, but it’s not. Picture on the left is of the local spanish bread, baked daily in a wood fired oven at the local village bakery, actually twice a day! The other picture is of an Arkansas loaf I purchased (Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market) and although not exactly the same, it is very good. There you have the basis for the most exciting bread you will ever eat.

Also needed is:

Fresh garlic

Ripe tomatoes

Good quality extra virgin Olive Oil ……did I tell you, at the home in Spain there is an old olive grove, which when properly tended, picked and pressed, provides us with olive oil of our own…..how neat is that?

The amount of each ingredient, of course, depends upon how much bread you will make, but a guide is that for each slice of bread, it takes about 1 clove of garlic and half of a large tomato or the whole of a small one such as a Roma. What is important, if possible, is to have a good tasting RIPE tomato.

1. Cut nice thick slices of your bread, what a comforting feeling it is to slice fresh bread!

2. Grill or toast the bread. The ideal is over a wood fire, but who has that at home? I use an electric grill/ Panini contraption which my children so knowingly gave me for Christmas this year, but even a skillet oven a burner will do. Just make sure it is very hot and do not use any fat or oil at this point.

3. Peel the fresh garlic. Garlic peels so easily if you place the unpeeled clove on a firm surface, position the side of the blade of a chef’s knife on it and give the knife a good whack. The peel then comes off very easily. Once the grilled bread is ready and good and hot, rub it all over with a clove of garlic. The roughness of the toasted bread will act like sandpaper on the garlic and the heat will actually help melt the garlic onto the bread. Don’t worry, the garlic taste is not strong, just divine.

4. Proceed to the tomato, cut it crossway in half and while gently squeezing it, also rub it across the bread. Be bold with this step, the more tomato, the better.

5. Finally drizzle, liberally, the olive oil over the whole thing. Voilà!

You simply must try this

it is so good, so delicious, so good for you, so easy, so fast

 so you simply must try it!