A Real Southern Queen - Mushroom Risotto with Sherry and Cream

Yesterday, which was Sunday, I managed to complete my shopping at both BJ's and Publix, which was quite an accomplishment given the fibro flare that tackled me, wrestled me to the ground, and totally stole my Saturday. I always check out their cookbooks; can't help it.  Lately the pickings have been scarce, but yesterday I hit the jackpot when I found Paula Deen's newest book, Paula Deen Cuts the Fat.

I had planned on purchasing this book about two years ago, before all the trouble happened.  When "it" hit the fan, the publishing company dumped the project in a burst of knee-jerk political correctness. Paula pulled herself back up, marshaled her resources, and self-published.  It happens to be a lovely book and the recipes are very, very good, and I am thrilled to finally own it.

And that's all I'm going to say about that, except to add that the American media, as well as a good part of the public, are still terrified by powerful, successful women. That is why, in 2015, we still have never been led by a woman President, although many other nations got past that stupidity a long time ago.  That's why Martha Stewart went to prison (albeit a short sentence), why Hillary Clinton lost the 2008 Democratic nomination to an inexperienced, opportunistic senator from Illinois, and why Paula Deen was treated like a 19th century leper for admitting to saying a certain word, in the privacy of her home, over 25 years ago, in referring to the bank robber who stuck a gun in her face.  If Carly Fiorina starts to rise even more in the polls, look out for vultures.

Now that I got that out of my system, let me say that we had a nice dinner last night including the 5776 Brisket, and the Mushroom Risotto, which is today's recipe. But before that , just at sundown, I drizzled some honey on a few slices of the challah I'd bought earlier at Publix (the Florida version of Waldbaum's) so Rob and I could celebrate our wish for the sweetness of the New Year.

Today, I had hoped to work on the okra fritter, and went so far as to blanch the whole okra pods, but my fibro flare was apparently not done with me yet, and I am back on my ass, hoping the pain will cop a walk, at least long enough for me to get something done.  Besides the okra fritters, I am hoping to try out a recipe for Lemon Zucchini Muffins. Right now, I couldn't stand long enough to grate the zucchini anymore than I could do Zumba. Ibuprofen, do your stuff!

Despite a reputation of mystical proportions, risotto is not difficult to prepare.  In fact, if you can make Rice-a-Roni, you can make risotto.  The only difference in the preparation is that for risotto, instead of adding your liquid, covering your pan and walking away, you have to add the liquid incrementally - about a half a cup at a time - and stir into the rice until absorbed.

Now a couple of observations - risotto is, to this Jewish cook, a bit like preparing kasha varnishkes.  Pretty easy, not too many ingredients, but requiring multiple pots to put it all together.  Risotto also falls into that category of recipes Alton Brown refers to as "refrigerator velcro" - dishes like omelets and gratins - in which the only limit to creativity is the contents of your fridge.  The basic risotto only requires some broth, a small amount of onion cooked in butter or oil, and the most important ingredient, Arborio rice.  The finished dish is different than any other rice dish you have probably ever eaten.  It is rich and creamy and comforting.  I love long grain rice in all it's permutations, from plain buttered to Savannah red, and I also adore Asian sticky rice, but if you've never eaten risotto, you've never really eaten rice. The best risotto I ever tasted was in Bologna, Italy, over Thanksgiving of 2004.  A curried seafood version which I have managed to recreate at home.  I wouldn't even mind it as my Last Meal, should I ever require the need for a Last Meal.

My favorite risotto is a mushroom risotto, however, and this dish manages to elevate the humble white button mushroom to new heights.  You can certainly use shittakes, which I love but tend to avoid because they are usually seriously overpriced, and I would also avoid portobellos and their Cousin Cremini.  I have lots of good things to do with Bella and Cremini, but they are too assertive for this otherwise delicate dish.

1 tablespoon butter

8 oz. white button mushrooms, sliced

kosher salt

ground black pepper

dried thyme

nutmeg

1/2 cup dry sherry (not cooking sherry)

1/2 cup light or heavy cream

6-8 cups chicken stock

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 cup minced sweet onion or shallots

1 1/2 cup Arborio rice

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

First, prepare the mushrooms:  in a skillet over moderate heat, melt the butter; add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes until soft.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Turn the heat to high and add the sherry.  Cook until reduced by half, then lower the heat and add the cream.  Cook another five minutes until mixture has thickened somewhat.  Take off the heat and set aside.

Next, bring the stock to a bare simmer and hold it there. Taste it to determine the level of salt and let that be your guide for adding salt to the risotto.

And now, because you haven't already used a bunch of pots and pans, heat the butter and oil in a heavy pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute for 2 minutes, but do not allow the onions to brown.  Add the rice to the same pot and using a wooden spoon, stir for one minute, just until the rice grains are well coated with the butter and oil.  Don't cook the rice any longer than one minute.  Now start adding the simmering broth, about one-half cup at a time.  Stir to prevent sticking, and wait until each addition of stock is almost completely absorbed before adding the next half cup.

When most of the stock is used up, and the rice is tender, add the mushroom-sherry mixture, the Parmesan cheese, and the parsley.  Stir well to completely combine with the rice.

Finally, if you like, stir in a tablespoon or two of butter and/or cream.  Serve immediately. You can reheat leftovers in the microwave with pretty decent results.  If you have any leftovers.

Shana Tova - 5776 Brisket and Vegetables in BBQ Sauce

Oh no, not again. I am not losing another day to fibro-fucking-myaligia. I have things I want to do today. Tonight (Sunday) is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, and while my big holiday cooking days are over - big multi-course family dinners for 15 or 20, all that great Jewish food to weigh us down - I still have a brisket in the fridge and I am going to cook it.  I think I can get that one thing done, breaking back and aching arms be damned.

Feeding family and friends was always such a joyous project for me, and over the years there were so many holidays to celebrate. Not all of them every year - my mother-in-law, and a sister-in-law, an aunt and a cousin all hosted different holiday dinners.  It was quite nice when everyone got together, whether it was Rosh Hashanah, Passover, Thanksgiving or Christmas.

The Jewish holidays have their own list of special dishes, all that symbolic stuff I love.  If this was 20 years ago, I'd be cutting up apples to dip in honey to symbolize a sweet new year, grating potatoes and onions for kugel, baking honey cake and trying to find room in my oven for brisket and turkey and trays of special stuffing. If this was 30 years ago, I would also be baking my own challah.

But today is neither and the family is far-flung or even worse, gone forever.  Still, my boys deserve a taste of the past, and I've got just the brisket to do it.

Of course, I won't be participating in the macaroni and cheese challenge next week. Who was I kidding? What next, competing on "Chopped"?  If this had been all about producing one perfect baking pan full of the best mac and cheese recipe, I could have done it.  But having to prepare the equivalent of 4 trays and having to do it all at the same time, the morning of the competition, and then worry about keeping it at 145 degrees - well, as Mother Superior Helen Gaius Mohiam explains to a young Paul Atriedes when he asked what happened to the men who undertook the spice agony, "they tried, and died."

Today I will consider myself lucky to do my shopping at Publix and BJs, cook the brisket, and prepare mushroom risotto.

Brisket is one of my favorite cuts of beef, and the one most associated with Jewish cooking.  Our pot roasts were from briskets, unlike many other pot roast recipes I've come across over the years. Brisket is also the cut of choice for Texas pitmasters.  I have successfully smoked a brisket or two in my day, and the results are fabulous.  I briefly considered smoking this brisket, but the weather has been iffy this whole week, and I am simply not up to tending to smoked meat during a tsunami.  This recipe is a minor variation on my favorite, extra-simple pot roast.  I added the vegetables and some seasoning, but even with that it is ridiculously easy to prepare and virtually mistake-proof.

There is a fabulous gravy that is created during the cooking process, and it can be served with any kind of potato preparation. Traditionally, I would make a potato kugel to accompany a Passover brisket, potato latkes for Hanukkah, and either one for Rosh Hashanah.  If I was feeding a whole bunch of people, I would probably also prepare a smallish turkey and bake my High Holy Day Cornbread Stuffing, full of turkey sausage, apples, challah and cornbread.  In that case, I would definitely go for the potato latkes, to maintain some variety in the texture. And let's face it, you can never go wrong service mashed potatoes.  Never.  I can't emphasize that enough.

But this will be for my immediate family, and I've been filling them full of mashed potatoes lately, and I just happened to have a half pound of mushrooms in the fridge begging to be cooked.  I'll post that recipe tomorrow. Today is for that lovely brisket. Incidentally, if my mother could see the current price per pound of brisket, she would plotz.  It used to be a cheap cut, cheap because it was tough and required hours of slow cooking. Now that it's trendy, you may have to float a bank loan, but once in a while, it is very well worth it.

5776 Brisket and Vegetables in BBQ Sauce

4 large sliced onions
2-3 large carrots
3 stalks celery
1-2 zucchini
4-6 cloves garlic
Emeril's Original Essence

6 pounds beef brisket
McCormick Montreal steak seasoning

2 cups Heinz ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water

Halve and slice the onions. Cut the carrots, celery into 3-inch pieces. If the garlic cloves are very large, cut them in half lengthwise. Place all these vegetable in the bottom of a very large baking pan. Sprinkle with Emeril's Essence.

Rinse the brisket under cold water and lay it on top of the vegetables, fat side up.  Sprinkle the top with the Montreal steak seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the ketchup, brown sugar, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and water. Stir until smooth. Pour over the top of the brisket so that it is completely covered and drizzle any remaining sauce over the vegetables. Cover tightly with heavy duty aluminum and place into the preheated oven. Cook undisturbed for 2 hours.  Check to make sure there is liquid under the brisket and that nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Return the covered pan to the oven for another 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until a large fork can pierce the brisket all or almost all the way through.  Remove the foil and with a wooden spoon scrape any sauce remaining on top of the brisket into the liquid in the pan.  Return the uncovered pan to the oven for another 30 minutes. If you have left the fat cap intact, switch the oven to broil for a few minutes to give the top a more finished look.

Remove the pan from the oven and carefully remove the brisket to a large cutting board and let it cool. Slice against the grain. I recommend using an electric knife if you have one. Serve with the gravy and vegetables.

I do not remove the fat cap.  I live for that fat - it is a special treat and remember, fat is flavor.  You can always remove most of it before cooking, but best that you cook with it on, and just remove before eating, if you can't eat it for any reason.  Leftovers should be placed back in the gravy and stored in the fridge.  This will only get better as a leftover.  Enjoy - I know you will.                                                                

Hurts So Bad

Today's ear worm is brought to you courtesy of Little Anthony and the Imperials. 1965 was a very good year for popular music.

I know you

Don't know what I'm going through
Standing here looking at you
Well let me tell you that it hurts so bad
It makes me feel so sad
It makes me hurt so bad
To see you again

I knew it was coming.  Despite feeling pretty good the past week, there was some part of my brain whispering "don't get used to it." The pain started early yesterday, in my side, and it was a sharp S.O.B. I thought I might be able to walk it off, but that didn't work out the way I had hoped, and by yesterday evening my nerve endings staged a protest. Standing, sitting, walking - I guess I had a hell of a nerve (bad pun) trying to get on with my life in a normal matter.

It's hard to describe how this all feels, but at some point all I can do is roll up in a ball while crouching down on the floor.  That was yesterday.

Today the pain is all-encompassing, and that has scrambled my brain a bit.  I had some minor plans for today, but even a trip to Publix is beyond my abilities.  Harvesting one tiny eggplant and two cherry tomatoes has done me in. I am back upstairs on my bed, waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in and take the edge off.

Sometime last night I dreamt I was dancing with Henry Winkler.  I can't dance, at least outside of my dreams.  But then, I dreamt I was back at the psychiatric hospital.  Good dream, bad dream. I have flashes of being back there, just sitting and seeing the halls I walked endlessly and the door to my room, stark and sterile. Then today I realized something - that the best medication in the world cannot protect me from the dark depression that comes with a flare-up of fibromyalgia.

No recipe today, I am truly sorry.  I had great plans to perfect those okra fritters, but I never even got close to the front door to pick up more ingredients. Instead, I fell asleep listening to music.

Feel like I hit a brick wall.  We'll try this again tomorrow.

September 11th, again - Okra Fritters, Beta Version

September 11th. I hate this day.

In past years, I have written blog posts to address the events of September 11, 2001, all full of passion and fury, pain and righteous indignation. This year, I just can't do it.  If I start, I'll get angry, and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

My thoughts are with you, Denise.

Rest in peace, Mike. 

And that's all I am going to say about that.

Today would have been former Florida Governor Reubin Askew's 87th birthday. One of the few honest politicians any where, any time. Rest in peace, sir.

Right to Left: Her Serene Highness, Princess Chelsea Rose, Reigning Queen of Everything; Ninja Husband; Jedi Knight and Sometime Dark Lord of the Sith Anakin Skywalker, Darth Kitten

It's a lazy day - the office of Taxman USA is closed, and Robert is out helping his mom with a doctor visit.  I am finishing the bake off of the hermit cookies; looks like the yield is 35 cookies, just under 3 dozen.  A night in the fridge did not harm them in the least.

My biggest problem today, if you can even call it that, is what to do with the okra pods I've been religiously harvesting this past week?  I really have to use them or lose them, and the time is now.  I don't want to stew them, maque choux them, or gumbo them. I don't want them playing second fiddle to tomato, corn, or butter beans; I want the okra to shine. This is their last hurrah, as the okra bush is reaching the end of its season. So I give you:

Okra Fritters, Beta Version

1 cup fresh okra pods, halved and sliced (about 3/4 cup sliced)

2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper

2 tablespoons minced onion

1 cup Bisquick

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic

cayenne pepper, to taste

1 extra large egg

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup milk

In a medium bowl, combine the Bisquick, dry mustard, nutmeg, salt, pepper, basil, granulated garlic and cayenne pepper, and whisk until the spices are evenly distributed.  Set aside. In another bowl, whisk the egg, Dijon mustard, and milk together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate covered for an hour or more.

Hold off cutting the okra until just before you are ready to add it to the batter.

Start heating about an inch of canola oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Fold the okra, red bell pepper and onion into the batter. Lower the heat to medium. Using whatever size scoop you like, carefully drop the okra batter into the hot oil, flatten them out a bit so that the okra will cook inside and fry them on each side until deep golden brown. Break one open to make sure the fritter is done all the way through. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm or at room temperature with a dipping sauce of sour cream mixed with some Gold's horseradish with beets (the red stuff).

I designated this recipe as a beta version, because it needs more work.  Developing a new recipe is an odd thing, and there are no guarantees, no matter how carefully you consider the flavor contributions of each ingredient. These fritters are good, but right now remind me of my ideal okra fritter's timid first cousin.  They are the offspring of the marriage of Bert Greene's recipe for "Ole Miss Okra Fritters" (from his book Greene on Greens and Grains - unfortunately the book is way out of print) and my ever-reliable corn fritter recipe, which I found in a Hadassah cookbook in 1977. A very good first start, and you are welcome to try them, but I know they can be even better.

Next time: Some more of the seasoning from Greene's recipe, a boost from paprika as recommended by my son, who assisted with the taste testing, a good bit more of okra because this batter can handle it, switching out the onions with green onions, and a brief sauté of the onions and red bell peppers and perhaps even the okra before adding them to the batter.

Since my okra plant is now denuded of ready-to-pick pods, this necessitates a trip to Publix for the store-bought variety.  Needless to say I will be planting more okra plants this new season.

SYNC is Sunk - A Mac and Cheese Challenge?

I am sorry to report that there is something General Motors has that I want installed in my Ford Escape: 

ONSTAR!!!

Right now, my boys and I are in the Escape, traveling to Bradenton for a special martial arts event. This is my new baby's first long trip since coming into my care, and I wanted to be prepared, so Rob signed her up with SYNC, Ford's answer to GM's OnStar. And what a wrong answer it turned out to be!

With OnStar, you get a live person who helps you with any number of travel-related issues.  This was particularly helpful when our Chevy Sonic was hit by a deer with a death wish while we were headed north on I-75 on the way to another martial arts event in Perry.  It was dark and deserted and we could not find a sign or landmark to pass on to AAA so we could be located.  Once we called OnStar, the operator located us by GPS, connected us on a 3-way to AAA, explained the situation to AAA and made sure the tow truck operator knew where to pick us up.

With SYNC, you get a computer-generated voice. The computer is hearing-impaired, and can only pick up voices from the driver's side of the car. When I am wearing my navigator's hat, I am usually sitting in the front passenger seat, so this may be a problem.  Voices with a New York accent seem to confuse it. Fortunately Cory was raised in Florida and sounds it, but I can't shlep him along every time I think I might need to use the system. Overall, it is a clumsy system to use, almost as hopeless as our old TomTom unit, code name "Mandy." You may recall that Mandy tried to send us into the Arkansas River, and refused to learn our preference for John Young Parkway over South Orange Blossom Trail, and had otherwise made a number of spectacularly poor navigating choices.  Mandy is in a drawer somewhere, but if we ever make it back to Little Rock I am going to take her along, and throw her into the Arkansas River.

We do get 20 operator assisted calls with our SYNC subscription, but I did not want to blow even one of them on an easy trip going one way on I-4 and then another way on I-75.  Next time we are headed somewhere new or distant, I'll try the operator service; if it is good, I'll look into possibly expanding the services under our subscription, which is currently quite a bit less expensive than OnStar.  Until then, in my opinion, SYNC is sunk.                   

I am not going to be cooking this evening as I expect to get home fairly late, which is to say, past my bedtime.  I do have to finish baking the hermit cookies (what you saw in the photo was the first and only batch, hurriedly baked just in time to take a picture before tumbling into the car for a long ride which is beginning to hurt my back) but that is as far as my plans go.  I got clam cakes and crab claws; what else could I possibly need? The boys are in even better shape with meatloaf, manicotti, mock choux and chicken.  Leftovers are cool.

I did come across a cooking opportunity which piqued my interest, however, and I may take it seriously. On September 26, Vintage Vino is sponsoring a macaroni and cheese challenge.  In all the years I've been cooking, and talking about cooking, and writing about cooking, I have never entered a cooking contest.  It is very local - Vintage Vino is tucked between Three Sisters and Savion's Place on Dakin Avenue, which means they are next to the parking garage for my (former) office building. Very very VERY local.  Part of the proceeds go to a local children's charity - I like that.    

The down side is that participants must prepare enough food for 100 tasters. That requires filling two large chafing dish trays, which is the equivalent of four of the aluminum baking dishes I always use, with macaroni and cheese.  That's a lot of food, but even more, it's a lot of cooking, a lot of time, and a lot of standing on my feet.  Which is why I have to give this a lot of thought.  I've got the perfect recipe, but do I have the energy and fortitude to carry it through?  

In the meantime, despite SYNC's best efforts to route us to Tampa by way of Sea World, we have landed at Dojo Martial Arts in Bradenton, and my boys are already involved in the seminar.  Grown men smacking at and blocking each other, oy.  They enjoy it, and Robert has taken a number of sparring awards over the years at ATA competitions, including 2007 World Champion in his age category.  I despise sparring -  I do like taekwando forms (poomsae)  and don't mind weapons, but I hate sparring and ground fighting with a passion.

First, I dislike rolling around on the floor with anyone I'm not married to, men or women.  I've never liked anyone invading my personal space or touching me; I am inordinately modest and overly self-conscious. I don't like other people's sweat dripping on me, and I certainly do not want to offend them with bodily fluids of my own. Before class I always took the time to clean up and deodorize, but
some people are not so considerate, and I had enough of bad breath and body odor while riding the subways to last me a lifetime.  I know, I'm a bit of a diva, but even more than that, I don't like to be hit. Getting struck with hands brings back bad memories.  Neither Robert nor Cory share my hang-ups, so they are happily hitting and being hit.  Me, I'm just along for the ride, and I've had some awesome rides in the last 10 years - lots of road trips to cities I would not have otherwise seen, so that the boys could compete.  Time for lots of knitting - so many pairs of socks knit on the road to Little Rock, Atlanta, Perry, Miami, Panama City and even Dallas.  Discovering new places to eat, the best part of road trips. Good times, good times.

This dojo is not ATA (American Taekwando Association) but part of the World Warrior Alliance: "Many Arts, One Goal, Many Paths". In addition to being high-ranking black belts, Rob and Cory also happen to be studying jiu jitsu, and their instructor is here as well. I'm curious as to how many martial art disciplines are represented here.  It's an interesting approach, one that is becoming more popular.

"Get his eyes, his eyes - show me how to break his elbow - break his jaw - cut him down." Interesting instructions. "This is how you break his neck and rip out his esophagus at the same time." Oof - these guys don't kid around!

While the men are working on their ground fighting skills, I have a table to sit at and no one is crowding me, and if I had a cup of Wawa pumpkin spice coffee and one of those Lady Hermit cookies, life would be good.  I like what the instructor is saying - "martial arts is physical, mental and spiritual."   It's true - trust me, I'm a black belt in taekwando. No, really I am. Please stop laughing.        

        

Here's my advice to all you parents - send your kids for martial arts training. It's a cold, cruel world out there. Women, too - I can defend myself if I have to. I may have fibromyalgia, but I've got two thumbs and a cane and I know how to use them.

At the end of the seminar, Rob and Cory are inducted into the WWA. Very nice.

So we finally started back home and I finally got my one-for-the-road pumpkin spice coffee at Wawa. None of my Lady Hermit cookies are available but I did snag a bag of hummus chips and a mini Chips Ahoy. For me, that's a fine dinner indeed.