American Apple Pie

Apple season has begun! One of the earliest varieties is Yellow Transparent. I was lucky enough to get some of these apples from my mom and dad, who have a tree. I don't ever see this variety for sale in markets - even the small roadside apple stands. The apples we have bruise easily, and I imagine this is one reason we don't see them in markets (hard to transport when they bruise so readily.)

This is an early yielder, and the apples ripened two weeks ago.
Nick and I ate the pie with vanilla ice cream.

Independence Day Potato Salad

Today is American Iindependence day. For our celebratory picnic, I made a 'french style' potato salad. Why French? In my opinion, without the ready assistance of the French (including Lafayette) and others (including genius battlements engineer Thaddeus Kosiuszko), the United States may not have been able to break free of the mother country. Of course, the americans had to want it bad enough to fight. Hard. Without blood and sweat from the famous and obscure Americans, the United States would simply not have been formed. Today I remind myself that american independence was not a 'given' back in 1776. At the time the Declaration of Independence was written, half of American colonists were still loyal to Britain. Those who wanted independence wanted it badly enough to stake their lives and fortunes on it's successful outcome.

Our country still operates on ideals that are emulated by and envied by many in the world today. May we americans always be worthy -- in our actions, thoughts, and aspirations -- of the ideals and actions of our forefathers and foremothers.


So again, chapeaus off to the French, for helping us out back in the 1770s (and later, when we fought the British again in the early 1800s). To honor the French contribution to American Independence, I made today an adaptation of what Julia Child calls a "French Style" potato salad.

This is a simple recipe, and I'll share it here, but credit Julia for the inspiration. First, you have to start with the best possible ingredients, as this is a simple recipe and the quality of the ingredients "make" the meal.I bought some new potatoes (by "new" potatoes, I mean those of this season, freshly dug) last Thursday from a farmer who is in Philadelphia every week. I've mentioned him earlier here, and he and his mom, and sometimes others, are in Suburban Station (SEPTA) every Thursday.

These potatoes, and some fresh garlic chives and parsley from my garden, along with some red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and good quality olive oil are all I needed.
"Thank the French" Independence Day Potato Salad

8 to 10 ounces new redskin potatoes
1 teaspoon salt (plus more if needed)
a few grinds of pepper
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (more or less)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped parsley (or less if you don't like this herb as much as I do)
2 tablespoons chopped garlic chives (or anything from the allium family -use your judgement)

Wash potatoes well, scrub a bit under running water. Cut into 1/4 inch slices (do not peel).

Boil for about 10 minutes (maybe less ) in salted water. Drain. Retain about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Put that and the potatoes back in the cooking pan. Let sit for about 5 minutes, covered.

Take potatoes and water out, and put in large mixing bowl. Lightly mix in vinegar herbs and pepper. Let sit at room temperature another 10 minutes (Covered). Taste and add more salt or pepper if needed. Add olive oil. Toss. Let cool. Transfer to refrigerator. Ready to serve in 2 hours.

Barnegat Bay Flounder

This weekend, we caught some beautiful flounder, in Barnegat Bay, and tonight Nick and I had some filets for dinner.
My sisters, their families, and Nick and me, along with my mom, celebrated dad's 69th birthday yesterday at my parents' vacation home on Long Beach Island.

Dad is a master filet-er. I have taken lessons, and I can approximate his technique, but my filets are ragged. I save the fish frames to make stock. Although Julia Child says to add the heads as part of the fish frame/stock combo, I don't have it in me, so the heads, along with the innards of fish, go to the laughing gulls and herring gulls who congregate at our dock when the fish come home.

As Dad is a master filet-er, my Mom is the Mistress of fine cuisine. Mom cooked dinner, after dinner, after dinner when I was a child, every meal from 'scratch' and every meal a feast, from salad to entree to dessert. From her I learned how to bake the filets with butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper, with a little flour (a la meuniere, s-il-vous plait) sprinkled on top. Served with sauteed spinach (with garlic and red pepper) and pasta, it made a beautiful dinner.

Steak and Spinach Salad

Yesterday was Nick and my 25th wedding anniversary, and to celebrate, we went to our neighborhood restaurant, The William Penn Inn. Nick ordered the "Prime Rib" and I had the "Penn's Surf and Turf". So, we are having leftover steak and prime rib for a few nights.
Tonight, my leftover filet mignon served as a savory foil to a spinach and mushroom salad (with carrots, onions, goat cheese, and yellow peppers). Served with homemade bread and a nice shiraz, this dinner was a good end to a challenging day.

Here we are last night at our anniversary dinner.

Ooo laa, laa, Hollandaise!

Barnegat bay flounder, with capers, "New Jersey Fresh" Asparagus and Hollandaise.

The Hollandaise sauce recipe is from Julia Child. Bless that woman for making classic sauces NOT intimidating. With the help of "The Way to Cook", I whipped up that sauce in plenty of time to serve it with lightly sauteed flounder (from the freezer - sauteed in butter and olive oil, with capers and lemon juice added at the end) and microwaved asparagus.

Hollandaise Sauce (rough directions adapted from Julia) (makes 1 cup)

In heavy saucepan, whisk 3 egg yolks until light yellow. Add 1 1/2 T lemon juice. Put on low heat. Add 1 TB butter. Whisk over heat. When egg yolks get thick, add another 1 TB butter and keep whisking. Take off heat. Then add more melted butter (about 1 stick's worth) a few dribbles at a time,whisking constantly. The sauce will stay emulsified, absorbing the extra butter. Add salt and pepper to taste, and more lemon juice if you like. Keep warm. Spoon that goodness over what you like. That's it!

B's Egg Thing

I adapted a "Crustless Quiche" recipe, which I got from my mother-in-law, Carol, many years ago, so that Nick and I could have a quick and easy dinner. The recipe from "Ma Bell" was supposed to feed 12 to 16 people, and included a lot of butter and significant amounts of cheese. My version is slightly leaner, and feeds four (or two hungry mungries - Nick and Me):

B's Egg Thing
Ingredients
4 eggs - beaten.
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup (or so) cottage cheese (I had some laying around and scraped out the container for this)
1/2 teaspoon each, salt, baking powder, and sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I had an old piece of parmigiano/reggiano, so I used that, along with some fontina, to make 1/2 cup)a pinch garlic powder
6 grinds black pepper

Instructions
Take a casserole dish (that holds about 1 quart), and melt 1 tablespoon butter in it, in the microwave. Smear the butter around to coat the dish.

Preheat oven to 400. (f)

Beat eggs, then add all other ingredients. Put into casserole dish.

Bake until done - around 1/2 hour, or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Basically, you're making a thick custard/pudding.
I served it with homemade rolled biscuits and a salad.

Since I rode my bike 14.1 miles today at a speed of about 12 miles per hour, it was an easy first ride of the season, but I'm pretty tired right now. I work out regularly with weights, and I run and walk, but biking uses different muscles. I understand from those who "know" that when recovering from muscle exertion, one should eat protein and carbs, and this egg dish with biscuits has plenty of both. And the salad (mesclun greens), provides the green nutrition.

I am riding the American Cancer Society "City to Shore" ride (60 miles or so) in July,and I'm also riding the Lutheran Charities Ride in late June. I am not sure how many miles I will ride in late June - either 35 or 50 plus. I find that having a specific goal, fitness-wise, helps keep me on track.

Calzone

Using a simple pizza dough and some simple ingredients for the stuffing, I made two very large calzones for dinner.

INSIDE THE CALZONE - STEP 1
Last night, I made a pasta topping consisting of sauteed onions, peppers, and italian sausage meatballs. (To make the meatballs, remove italian sausage from casing, wet hands so the mixture does not stick, then roll into balls and fry.) I made enough to have extra for tonight's calzone dinner.

THE BACK STORY
Nick and I mulched the garden today. We had 5 cubic yards of mulch delivered at 7:45 AM. By noon, the mulch was spread. So we felt we 'deserved' a good dinner. You know what I mean?

The DOUGH
Back in 1986, Cosmopolitan magazine gave this recipe for pizza crust. (I know - wierd that COSMO would talk about Pizza crust. but this was the 80s.) Here is the recipe, which I used tonight for calzone dough.
3 cups flour (Cosmo said regular flour - I say bread flour)
1 cup water (COSMO said 1 cup, I say 1 1/3 cups)
1 Tablespoon yeast1 Tablespoon salt
3 Tablespoons olive oil
Mix it all together. Knead, let rest.
I used half of this recipe for the calzones. The rest I refrigerated, to use tomorrow, for dinner (an italian type loaf.)

INSIDE THE CALZONE - STEP 2
I put the "Step 1 " ingredients in rolled out dough (two 12 inch circles, which was half the recipe above) then I added 1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained, and 1 cup shredded mozzarella. I divided the ingredients among the two calzones.

MAKE THE CALZONE
Then, I flipped the dough over so that the ingredients are inside the calzones. I pinched the edges together, then slipped the calzones into a 400 degree F oven. I use a stone in my oven, but you can simply put them in on a cookie sheet.

Then...
BAKE (around 25 or 30 minutes) and ...EAT (the best part).