Cooking for Dad

Tonight, Mom takes the night off and goes out to dinner with her "girlfriends." She gave me a recipe to prepare, Provencal Vegetables and Chicken in Packages, for my father and myself from Mark Bittman's cookbook "The Food Matters." In his cookbook, Bittman emphasizes healthier dishes with less meat and more vegetables. As he puts it, "meat and other animal products are included, but they are no longer the centerpiece." Many of the recipes are a bit out-of-the-box, such as Dal, or lentil stew, with what he labels as "lots of vegetables" and also a recipe for spinach and noodle "meatballs." My parents have adopted this veggie-emphasized diet as of lately.

To my surprise, the recipe my mother had chosen to prepare is reminiscent of how I used to cook while I was abroad in Paris. Throwing vegetables (especially mushrooms) in tin foil and cooking them in the oven is a deliciously simple way to prepare them. Bittman's recipe followed the same philosophy. The recipe is straightforward and easy to follow -

Ingredients:
-1 small eggplant, cut into cubes
-An appropriate amount of yukon gold potatoes, sliced
-2 zucchini, sliced
-1 or 2 ripened tomatoes, cored and diced
-salt and pepper
-fresh thyme or something of comparable quality
-chicken breasts
-olive oil

Instructions (my interpretation of the recipe):
-Heat the oven to 375.
-After cutting the vegetables, rub them with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme.
-Prepare the chicken in the same manner, with olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme.
-With an appropriate amount of tin foil, combine the vegetables onto the "package" and seal it gently. Do the same with the chicken on a separate package.
-Cook all the packages in the oven for at least 40 minutes (it took me almost an hour for the potatoes to become tender). Make sure the chicken doesn't overcook.

Although the dish takes a bit longer to prepare than I intend, Dad is quite satisfied with his dinner tonight! So am I.

Read more...

Grandma's Excellent Chili

Last Thursday, it snowed in Baltimore. This meant one thing - chili - the ultimate comfort food. I had just finished my last exam, and Paul had one more to go, so I could only think of one thing that we both needed. I had been meaning to make it for a while, so I thought it would be a nice surprise for him. And I had just the recipe. Growing up, I remembered my grandma's cooking strongly. She specialized in everything from banana pudding to green beans and bacon (I also remember she had a funny knack for dipping her potato chips in mayonnaise). However one recipe always stuck out - her chili.

A few years after she died, my mom compiled all of her recipes into a cookbook called "Charlotte's Recipes." She included the chili recipe in it. Luckily, I'd brought a copy of it with me to Baltimore. Here's her recipe, titled "Mom's Excellent Chili:"

-Cover pan bottom with olive oil
-Chop fine 2 large onions, saute in oil
-Add 1 lb. of ground beef, saute until brown

Add to pan (in amounts that are logical):
-red pepper
-cumin
-black pepper
-salt
-chili powder

Then add:
-1 large can + 1 small can of peeled tomatoes (mash them up in the pot)
-1 large can of kidney beans and juice

Cook for a few hours on simmer. Taste - if not spicy enough, add chili powder or Tabasco sauce.

When I prepared it, I added a can of black beans to the kidney beans. This provided some variety. I left out the onions, which was probably a mistake. I also decided to add a few ingredients not on the recipe - oregano, basil, extra chili powder and a copious amount of Tabasco. Also, after cooking it for 45 minutes, I realized that it tasted horrible. My grandma would not be pleased with this. So, I decided to bring out the secret weapon - alcohol. I poured half of a German Marzen Oktoberfest beer into the pot and WHAM! instant fix. The beer gave the formerly bitter chili a sweeter, softer taste that flushed out the oregano and basil flavors. Thank god. However, I later found that I had been a bit too liberal with the hot sauce. The chili, although it tasted wonderful, had an incredible kick. Sweating profusely, I opened every window in my apartment to let the 25 degree air cool me down. Don't ever underestimate the Tabasco. Nevertheless, Paul loved it.

Later, I called my mom to tell her about the chili. Apparently, she planned on preparing the same recipe for me when I came home the next day for Christmas break. No matter, chili never gets old. In my mom's version, she stuck to Grandma's recipe. It was excellent without a doubt. While experimenting can be fun, there are some times when sticking to the book pays off.

Read more...