Italian pasta salad

Beth is working in Cincinnati for a couple of days and she is coming home today.  I want to welcome her with this favorite Italian salad. This is the beginning, then just add pasta:

Feb. 9, 2011 souffle of memory

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Food For Thought

Food For Thought

This morning, as every morning, I have a three-dog paper- reading, coffee- sipping experience. One puppy in my lap, one at my right hip and one with her head on my shoulder as though she is enjoying Cook's Corner with me. We especially like Wednesday mornings because of this experience. Not as much as we once did, when Cook's Corner was whole, but nice just the same. The economy has caused the down sizing of the once prized section of The Columbus Dispatch and now it is wedged in with gossip, crosswords, advice, and horoscopes. It has lost a bit of panache and some of its best food writers.

This morning the recipe for chocolate bourbon butterscotch souffles evoked a memory of the best souffle I have ever tasted. Never having made one in my entire life, it has been on my bucket list since I first flipped a pancake. Chartres Hotel Best Western Le Grand Monarque, France makes the best souffle I have ever tasted. Their food, actually, ranks up there with the best food in France, but then that is just the opinion of a hungry auction attendee from Ohio. Several times a year I went to, and enjoyed, the Galerie de Chartres an auction house for the very best French dolls and toys. I never collected dolls, but I bought and sold and wrote about a certain doll called Bleuette for six or so years. The auction at Chartres was one of my favorite places to go and Le Grand Monarque was one of my favorite places to stay. Each room was decorated differently and well.

The Grand Marnier (orange liqueur) souffle at Le Grand Monarque tops my scrumptious list. One had to order it before the meal in order for it to be perfect in all of its quivering glory as it was carried to the table with ohhhs and ahaaaas greeting this sweet perfection. I searched the web and there are tons of recipes for Grand Marnier souffles and I bet they can't be that much different from the one I tasted with friends, dealers and collectors in France.

Today I am printing the chocolate bourbon butterscotch souffles which serves eight as shown in this mornings Cook's Corner. This one is different because you can make it a day ahead and pop it in the oven at the last minute, according to instructions which indicate the cold rest helps it hold its fluff and height. Let me know what you think. I am trying it once I get back to sampling sweets , but for now I am content with my memories of the Grand Marnier at Le Grand Monarque.

Chocolate Bourbon Butterscotch Souffles

Butter and sugar to coat the ramekins
6 tablespoons butterscotch sauce from a jar
1/4 cup butter, 1/2 stick
6 ounces semisweet chocolate
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 eggs, separated
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons bourbon
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Lightly coat the inside of 6 ramekins with butter. Coat them with sugar, tapping out any excess. Place one tablespoon of butterscotch sauce in the bottom of each ramekin.
In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the butter and both chocolates. Zap it on high in 20 second-intervals, stirring between each, until melted and smooth. (Or melt it as you usually do.)
In another large bowl, combine the egg yolks and salt. Use an electric mixer to beat until slightly thickened and pale.
In a small saucepan over medium-high, combine the water and half the sugar and bring to a boil.
Resume beating the egg yolks. With the mixer running, drizzle in the hot sugar mixture. Whip on high until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Fold the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture. Stir in the bourbon.
In a clean fresh bowl, whisk the egg whites with the cream of tartar until frothy. Slowly add the remaining sugar while continuing to beat, beating until the whites hold a stiff peak. Gently fold into the chocolate and yolk mixture. Spoon into the ramekins, smoothing the tops and wiping the rims. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
When ready to bake the souffles, heat the oven to 350 and bake them for 15 to 17 minutes, or until risen and puffy with a soft-firm top and a set center. Serve immediately. Good luck.

This is an on line recipe.
Grand Marnier® liqueur gives this classy dessert dish a fabulous orange flavor. Plan on serving this right away. The souffle will fall if held long.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons or 1/2 stick) butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup flour
1-1/3 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
6 egg yolks (reserve whites)
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons Grand Marnier® orange liqueur
6 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-cup souffle dish with butter. Set aside.

Whisk together butter, flour, milk, and salt in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and set aside.

Beat yolks with sugar, vanilla, and Grand Marnier® until smooth and slightly thickened. While constantly whisking, slowly blend in 1/4 cup of the milk mixture until blended. Continue whisking and blend in the remainder of the milk mixture in a slow, steady stream until combined.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Fold into the egg yolk mixture. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until puffed and golden. Serve immediately. (Souffle will fall if held long.)

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Feb. 4th 2014 (old post)

I do a good amount of this...

                              


                                                                   A peek into my day...

 I came home to the most amazingly clean and organized house!  Thanks to Beth, Mike, and a woman named Levitt. Even the dogs sparkled.  It was a lovely gift and one I really appreciate.  After a month in the sun and a trip home without incident, it is always an adjustment to get back into the thick of the action. During the trip I did a lot of cooking and today, four days later, I am considering turning on the stove if I recall how to do this.  The knobs are so clean, the counter so pristine, the floors so shiny, disturbing things so perfect makes me hesitate, procrastinate, and abdicate.

One thing about the trip before I (perhaps) start to cook.  The motels between Columbus and Florida have suddenly gotten cheaper.  On the way down we paid $53. for a nice room at a Best Western.  We have always paid over $100. On the way back we paid $48. for a night in a Hampton Inn.  Granted what ever was blowing through the air system in that one caused me great anguish with cold like symptoms... that is until I got home, shed what I was wearing, took a shower, washed my hair and suddenly I was cured.  What is it with these heating and air systems--don't they know how to change a filter?  Anyway, once we got to northern Florida we stayed a couple of days to visit family. We were in another Best Western (where we had stayed five times before) and the room price went up to nearly $90. for the same type accommodations.  We asked the( snippy) desk clerk why the price difference and her reply was, "after all, this IS Florida". Really? Gainsville?  That's the way it goes and if one travels, one pays.

Before we left for the month at the beach, Glenda and Joe had a family card party to see us all off the next day. Kathy, their daughter, made a delicious easy dish with a rotisserie chicken.  It was miniature sliders.  The left overs have many uses: on a homemade pizza, on a salad, over a pasta dish, to name but a few. We made it twice in Florida and it will become a must at parties from now on.  It is one of the two dishes that was new to me, the other one from Beth can be viewed on the previous post about Florida with the family pictures.

Buffalo Chicken Sliders

1/4 c butter

1/4 c honey

1/2 c hot sauce

1 Rotisserie Chicken shredded
...
12 slider buns

Bleu cheese dressing.

In small pan combine butter, honey and hot sauce and cook over medium heat until butter and honey is dissolved.

Remove chicken skin and shred the meat. Toss chicken in sauce to coat evenly. Drizzle bleu cheese dressing on sandwich.

It's that easy.

Winter meal

This is a very satisfying winter dish: green beans, potatoes, corn, a little rice, green onions, and boars head ham slivers simmered to softness in homemade chicken stock. (Ooops, is that a piece of bacon floating in there?  How did that get in there? lol) I am a morning cook.  For some reason I can't get past cooking around 10:00 or earlier. It's like a time clock.  After that, not so much.

It is supposed to warm up today.  We will see about that.  Yesterday when it was so cold Madeleine came to visit ALL DAY.  We were in our element.  Mike and I had such a good time with her.  We played hide-and-seek upstairs where there are so many delicious places to hide. It's like Narnia. She found the bed remotes and sent them cascading up and down until something else caught her eye--frankly, I never realized how high those sleep number beds can go.  I guess that is for breakfast in bed which I have never had in my adult life. I'd rather not, as a matter of fact, because I like to be on foot and healthy.

I would love to make this again...today.  but I may be too lazy. I really enjoy this toasty from The English Kitchen.  I've made them several times and once for Thanksgiving and they disappeared faster than the turkey.

Doris Lechler shared a post.

November 18, 2017 · 

A satisfying winter meal

Soup day at the Lechlers

We have two bigs soups going here in zero weather in Ohio.  (David says it is 33 degrees in Florida where he is, so that is winter at its darndest.) The first offering is cheesy potato soup with ham and tilapia.  This will get the guys going because several cars are bucking about starting today.  Andy and Mike have been in this cold working on jump starting and moving cars...or trying to. The sun is out, but don't let that fool you, it is frosty.

The second soup is chili which will result in several forms--tacos, chili, pasta to name but a few.  I spice up my chili with Bob Evans zesty sausage made into tiny meatballs inside the pot of chili which has regular stuff.  Everyone has their own version of chili, so I won't bore you with mine.

Andy is in for a treat today cheesy potato soup with ham and tilapia.

older post from May 2010

May 2010 Since I mentioned David Lebovitz in yesterday's post I found him again today in an old 2010 post.

I receive a glut of Paris books from Amazon. I haven't been back in five years and went so often I could not think of going again or even reading anything about the city of lights. The books came at a good time. It is so nice to sit out in the sun reading about the many places where I lived and worked and ate.' The Sweet Life in Paris' b y David Lebovitz is about his delicious adventures in the world's most glorious and perplexing city. He manages some interesting recipes along with his humorous adventures. I haven't tried any of them. I am bouncing from one scrumptious book to another. I like 'Patisseries of Paris' by Jamie Cahill too. It is a small manageable book with nice colored pictures and details of each shop and the way to get there. It is very easy to understand the directions and the writing and descriptions are cozy and readable. Unfortunately, she did not include any recipes which, I know, are difficult to get from the French. Their bakers have to be schooled for a long time and one cannot simply get a store front and open a patisserie...there is paper work, there is schooling, there is a trail of details which make many would- be owners and bakers simply throw in the towels. The shops in Paris are thought to be extensions of people's homes, and, upon entering, the person running the shop intends for you to behave as though you are a guest. They want salutations and respect to be shown before orders are grunted out. Both books give vivid instruction to Americans about how to behave in that rule-ridden, over taxed city.

I spent most of my time, which was considerable, in antique shops, at flea markets and antique shows, and, buying from carefully formed contacts that waited for my return with a bevy of merchandise to please my American customers. So the book 'Markets of Paris' By Dixon and Ruthanne Long should be interesting to me. We'll see.

Looking back

May 15, 2010 Since I mentioned an old post about David Lebovitz yesterday, I thought I would add an old post now and then in case you did not want to back-track yourselves.

I receive a glut of Paris books from Amazon. I haven't been back in five years and went so often I could not think of going again or even reading anything about the city of lights. The books came at a good time. It is so nice to sit out in the sun reading about the many places where I lived and worked and ate.' The Sweet Life in Paris' by David Lebovitz is about his delicious adventures in the world's most glorious and perplexing city. He manages some interesting recipes along with his humorous adventures. I haven't tried any of them. I am bouncing from one scrumptious book to another. I like 'Patisseries of Paris' by Jamie Cahill too. It is a small manageable book with nice colored pictures and details of each shop and the way to get there. It is very easy to understand the directions and the writing and descriptions are cozy and readable. Unfortunately, she did not include any recipes which, I know, are difficult to get from the French. Their bakers have to be schooled for a long time and one cannot simply get a store front and open a patisserie...there is paper work, there is schooling, there is a trail of details which make many would- be owners and bakers simply throw in the towels. The shops in Paris are thought to be extensions of people's homes, and, upon entering, the person running the shop intends for you to behave as though you are a guest. They want salutations and respect to be shown before orders are grunted out. Both books give vivid instruction to Americans about how to behave in that rule-ridden, over taxed city.

I spent most of my time, which was considerable, in antique shops, at flea markets and antique shows, and, buying from carefully formed contacts that waited for my return with a bevy of merchandise to please my American customers. So the book 'Markets of Paris' By Dixon and Ruthanne Long should be interesting to me. We'll see.

Blogs

I had forgotten David Lebovitz for almost a year!  Until today when his name popped up and I visited Paris flea markets (from home) again with him and his blog. He is American but lives in Paris and writes cookbooks such as The Great Book of Chocolate, Ready for Dessert, My Paris Kitchen, and The Sweet Life in Paris. If you are going antiquing in Paris you might want to read his blog feature of Paris Flea Markets.  I visited many of those listed, but since the dynamics of buying and selling antiques has radically changed, there were a few that I missed in his listing.  There were, however, several that he missed although they may no longer exist.  It is strange how one can obsess about a blog for years and then forget about it or become bored with it and then give it a rest. It was the same with The English Kitchen blog.  After her book came out with everything in it...what was the point of following the blog?  I have been following Carlsbadcravings all last year, but am slowing on that one as well.  People come and go on my blog too and after over 800 posts, it may be time to hang it up.  I have to say though, don't miss the earlier posts.  I had a lot to say then but may have said it all in these 800 postings.  I tired of Ina Garten and Martha Stewart.  I don't like it when they cook with other people and have too much fun to stomach. Martha is now only on public television and she usually cooks alone and it is quiet and calming.  She is a good teacher and her results are picture perfect. Ina just has too much fun giggling and praising her cooking guests as though she does not know how to do whatever they are preparing.  She has fed thousands and there is not much that she does not know about cooking, so she should just get on with it and calm down. I like Lydia, the Italian who owns several restaurants and has, too, a wonderful large shop in New York.  I want to visit that store that features hundreds of kinds of pasta as well as all types of kitchen and cooking utensils and ingredients. Well, I ramble...give David Lebovitz's blog a look and see if you like his writing. Catch Lydia on Saturdays on public television.  That's where I am going now.  I don't like missing her half an hour show.

memory lane

Someone sent me this in an email, thinking I was old enough to remember these things (and I am). LOL I hope you enjoy this trek down memory lane.



... THOUGHT YOU MIGHT ENJOY THIS .... 
'Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?'
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him... 'All the food was slow.' 
'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?' 
'It was a place called 'at home,'' I explained. ! 'Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it: 

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, never wore Levis, never set foot on a golf course, never traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears & Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died. (And, soon to be no Sears anymore.)

My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. 
I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow) 

We didn't have a television in our house until I was 12. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 a..m. and there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people. 

I was 21 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called 'pizza pie.' When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had. 

I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line. 

Pizzas were not delivered to our home But milk was. 

All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers --my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which he got to keep 2 cents.. He had to get up at 6AM every morning. On Saturday, he had to collect the 42 cents from his customers. His favorite customers were the ones who gave him 50 cents and told him to keep the change. His least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day. 

Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut... At least, they did in the movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive. 

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing. 

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it? 

MEMORIES from a friend: My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old. 

How many do you remember? 
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards. 
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals. 

Older Than Dirt Quiz: 
Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about. Ratings at the bottom. 

1. Blackjack chewing gum
2.Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water 
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles 
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes 
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers 
7. Party lines on the telephone
8 Newsreels before the movie 
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax 
11. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning (there were only 3 channels - if you were fortunate) 
12. Peashooters 
13. Howdy Doody 
14. 45 RPM records 
15. S& H greenstamps 
16. Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with lever 
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulb
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns 
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers (we had a brand new one)
25.. Wash tub wringers
26. How about wax lips? 

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older 
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt! 
I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life.

Hearty everything soup

You name it, it's in this soup. I am using up everything that needs using and putting it in the slow cooker.  We are in for a cold snap this weekend, so I am preparing hearty soups to sustain us. Soups allow us to use our skills of trial and error and the dish remains very forgiving. We had the postage stamp beef stew yesterday and today the base of that is today's lunch along with rice and additional vegetables and chicken. Fall and winter cooking is just right for me because I can throw caution to the wind and enjoy the results.  I am happy that January is half over.  I feel winter will be gone in a flash with just a few jabs one of which is to come this weekend if the predictions are correct. Well slurp and pass the crackers; it's soup for lunch at the Lechlers.

 

beef stew, how I love thee

Am I losing my mind or has beef prices gone through the ceiling?  I asked Andy to pick up a chuck roast, expecting to have him come home with buy one get one free or at least inexpensively, but he brought in a roast about the size of a greeting card envelope and it was expensive even on sale.  Looks like more pork for the Lechlers.  We like it anyway, so until prices even out again, we will be having pork or chicken.  Nevertheless, with that tiny roast the dish looks delicious with large potatoes and carrots and peas.  (I am making some Basmati rice for those shying away from potatoes now days.) I put red wine in the slow cooker with the things I described and it mellowed into a lovely sauce with fairly tender chuck roast.

Andy likes Kroger and we have a growing list almost every day, so off he goes.  He does really well unless it is something hauntingly rare and elusive such as oyster sauce.  He has never come home with that yet. He did really well with 2 large heads of radicchio for $5.00 last week.  I used one head in with the cabbage dish that I made for Beth yesterday. It turned out pretty and delicious.

Brooks has arrived in the Middle East, I guess I am not supposed to say where and even if I knew they sometimes are not where they say they really are. Prayers would be appreciated, with thanks.  I hope your winter is pleasant.  David sent a message to remind me to let the water drip this weekend in the mother-in-law suite so the pipes won't freeze.  That bathroom is one cold mother!