FOOD THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY

National Geographic magazine once described Orlando Florida as “a place whose specialty is detaching experience from context, extracting form from substance, and then selling tickets to it.”

Food that makes you happy is just the opposite.

I think of perfect Dim Sum in a simple environment that I have had in Hong Kong and San Francisco. I remember also a bowl of incendiary Chili Verde at a diner found by chance in the Four Corners where the chilies of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. And the Blue Trout again swimming, this time in butter, on a platter at Albert Stockli’s restaurant Stonehenge served with pints of savory sabayon sauce. A raft of Sidecars on a hot afternoon at the bar in the Boston Ritz. In Butte Montana the breakfast spot next to my Greyhound bus stop with pots of wild game poaching for lunch while I had poached egg on a pile of pastrami and its juices. Fresh abalone in Big Sur as well as catching trout with my grandfather at the Garrapata trout farm and then cooking them in bacon fat over a wooed fire. Sunrise over the “lake” in Montauk and catching Bay Scallops as they raced by in one’s knee-deep water, then coating them in cornmeal and cooking them for breakfast in lots of butter.

And lunches on the California Zephyr train in 1954 from Chicago to California, the menu including what they had picked up at stops in the Rockies.

Photo Courtesy of Streamliner Memories

And the potato salad for 35 cents.

“Food that will make you happy” is what The New York Times said about Michael’s Romano’s potato salad. That when the customers tasted the salad, they then had tears in their eyes, because either their mothers could make this kind of food and are no longer here to do it, or were such a lousy (or harassed) cooks the diners recognize the food as the kind they always wanted but never had.

His BBQ was not bad either.

Calvin Trilling had loved it, despite knowing “Tasting white man’s barbecue is like going to a goy internist – you may get cured, but you are not playing the odds.”

But back to Dim Sum.

The other day someone asked me what I missed about living in The Bay Area. Apart from the balmy pink evenings and the sun setting over the breakers on Santa Monica beach I asked. Or the light, the open spaces, the coloring of late summer with burnt grass and deep-green live oaks? Pinned down to one thing was difficult. But living in the Yucatan where good Chinese food is as scarce as lark’s tongues, it occurred to me. My Sunday mornings, after 80 hours at Stars restaurant, at Yank Sing.

The last time I went I wondered would they have the snow pea dumplings? Or the chicken and mushroom? Or Xiao Ling Bao the Shanghai ones filled with savory broth.

At 11:00 am the doors were unlocked for me. No one else was there. The waitress looked familiar, and she peered at me, wondering why I was. Then the light went on and she turned back to me:

She asked about the ‘usual’ Bloody Mary. I said there would be none that morning since it wasn’t Sunday, and I wasn’t running restaurants anymore. In that case, she explained, there was something else she wanted me to try: pork dumplings with ginger sauce.

The dumplings were large, plump, all white, steaming, and aromatic to the point of my swooning. An ethereally light mousse of pork meat with just enough fat to make them soufflé like, and biting into the whole pillow released a small flood of pure pork juices.

After the fifth, my mind wandered back to the other best dim sum I had ever had at the Tao Tao Ju restaurant on the banks of the Yellow River in Guangzhou.

The walls of the pre-revolution restaurant were the same color as the name of the river. A yellow just like the design by Dufy called “Paris,” and it seemed, in fact, as this might have been a chic French ex-pat hangout about fifty years previously. They did not have any champagne, so I settled for tea, and the blissfully, almost spiritually, perfect dim sum. I tried unsuccessfully communicating with the waiter as to what I was eating. After a rough translation from my fellow diner and guide from the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong came out as catfish testicles, I stopped asking. Certainly, I did not believe the ones looking just as my pork dumplings at Yank Sing twenty years later were kitten,

Though perhaps civet cat. Or cobra.

A banging on Yank Sing’s window brought me back from my pork and ginger scented reverie. The driver was gesturing like a Chinatown Street merchant for me to get in the car now to make my plane. All the way back to the Yucatecan dim sum wasteland I thought of those fragrant pork pillows. Now I am going to try and make my own, but in Chinese spoons in a steamer.

Truffled eggs in a spoon anyone? Or curried crab with cilantro soufflé on top?

Some comforting dishes:

Anchovies with Olive Oil and Herbs

I have never failed to convert an anchovy hater into a devotee after introducing them to what I do with salted anchovies. Banish all those little cans of anchovy fillets and buy a can of salted ones—the can is usually round and looks like a lot more anchovies than you need. It isn’t.

Serves 4-6

1 can large can agostino recca or similar salted whole anchovies

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 sprigs fresh basil

Open the can and scrape off the top layer of salt, reserving it to top off the remaining anchovies.

Lift out the dozen or so little fish you are going to use, and brush off the salt. Gently. Take all the other fish out of the can and put them in a glass mason-type jar or plastic container with a lid. Put all the salt back on top of the fish, cover, and store in the refrigerator (for up to three months) until needed again.

Hold each fish under running cold water, or rinse them thoroughly in a bowl of water (not too much pressure), and slit the cavity open with your thumbnail.

Open the fish along the backbone, then remove it and discard. Wash each fillet (two per fish) under the water, remove and discard the little dorsal fin, and put the fillets on a plate (not in water until they are all fileted). Repeat until all the fish are cleaned and filleted.

Once they are all cleaned and filleted, place the clean fillets in a bowl of water to soak for a few minutes. Remove from the water and gently pat dry.

Then put them all in a little bowl with the extra virgin olive oil, fresh thyme, bay leaf or basil, and just enough oil to cover them by 1/4 inch. Leave the filets in the oil for a few hours, and then use on salads (like Caesar) or with roasted bell peppers. Or, serve them simply on a plate, drizzled with good olive oil, and sprinkled with fresh herbs, as I have done here.

Fresh Tomato, Lemon, and Olive Oil Sauce

This sauce can be an obsession.

It is easy to make, and on a warm pasta, pasta salads, grilled fish hot or cold, asparagus hot or cold, meats, and grilled garlic bread as a snack, it’s sublime. The explosion of herb perfume when poured over hot vegetables or pasta is for me what summer is all about.

Do not assemble the sauce until 30 minutes before you are going to use it. The sauce is better very loosely mixed, not as an emulsion. If using fresh rosemary, chop it very finely.

When Jeremiah Tower’s New American Classics came out in 1985, we were at the height of the public and journalistic outcry that there was never enough time to cook at home. This sauce had been invented a few years before at my Santa Fe Bar & Grill because there was never enough time in the restaurant to make time demanding sauces. At every stop on the book tour, I made this sauce in 15 minutes, the exact time in which the pasta was cooked, so there it was: dinner on the table in 20 minutes.

My spiel was: “When you get home first put on a large pot of water to boil. Pour yourself a glass of wine. Take a shower, pour another glass, put the pasta in the salted water and start chopping the tomatoes. By the time the pasta is cooked, the sauce is finished. Drain the pasta, toss it while hot with extra virgin olive oil, and then pour the sauce over it. Open another bottle if there is someone else around.”

No one in the audience believed me until I did it and they tasted it.

Serves 4

1 cup chopped, seeded tomato

¼ cup mixed fresh herb leaves, such as basil, rosemary tarragon, thyme, or fennel, coarsely chopped

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

Zest of one lemon

1 large clove garlic, peeled, finely chopped

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Pinch salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Snails

The moment I am in Paris I look for the best place to have snails for lunch. I adore perfect escargots bourguignonne. But at home I cannot be bothered with the shells. So, I came up with a dish at Chez Panisse in the mid 70’s that was snails without their shells. And no problem with canned. They are good if you give them a bath.

Snails in a Ramekin with Ham

The Bath:

3 cups vegetable stock

1 bay leaf

2 shallots, peeled, chopped

¼ cup ham scraps, chopped

½ cup mixed fresh herbs (thyme, tarragon, chives and parsley)

½ cup dry white wine

Serves 4

The Dish

24 snails

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh shallots

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves, chopped

4 tablespoons dry white wine

½ cup chicken stock

4 white mushrooms, chopped in 1/8- inch dice

4 tablespoons chopped ham

sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

2 tablespoons melted butter for the bread

4 rounds white bread, ½-inch thick, cut from center of slice to fit in the ramekin

Simmer the bath ingredients for 30 minutes and strain, saving the liquid. Rinse the snails in cold water and drain. Put the snails in the bath while it is still hot and leave them to soak for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Put the shallots, butter and tarragon in a pan, and cover; sweat for 5 minutes. Do not brown. Add the wine, chicken stock, and mushrooms and simmer 5 minutes. Off the heat mix in the ham and snails. Season.

Divide the snails and the juices amongst four ramekins. Butter the bread rounds and put them butter side up on top of the snails. The bread should fit flush with the inside top of the ramekin.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the bread is golden and the snails are hot.

Left Over Vegetables Soup

Photo Courtesy of My Food Story

Use whatever leftover vegetables you have, no matter how they have been cooked. Everything from mashed or gratin potatoes, to green and white beans, mushrooms, to carrots in butter or olive oil, to mixed greens. This is a soup that is more delicious than the little work it takes makes it seem.

Serves 4-6

2 cups leftover cooked vegetables

2 cups chicken stock or water

1 cup half and half

salt

freshly ground white pepper

Put the vegetables in a food processor and process until in 1/8-inch pieces.

Put the vegetables in a saucepan with the stock/water and half and half. Bring to a boil. Immediately take off the heat, season, and serve.

If the soup is too thick (from the mashed potatoes) or too rich (from the potato cream gratin), add more water or stock.

Mac & Cheese

This dish needs to made the day before up to the point of finishing, so is perfect for entertaining. Making the white sauce at the same time. Anyone who loves macaroni and cheese loves this one that borders on sinful.

Servings: 4-6

3 quarts water

1-pound dried elbow macaroni

3 cups cold whipping cream

1 cup white sauce (Bechamel)

1 cup Gruyere cheese, coarsely grated

¼ cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated

1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs, coarse, no crusts

4 ounces salted butter

salt

½ teaspoon ground white pepper

Fill the pot to within 4 inches of the top and bring to a rolling boil. Add 2 tablespoons of salt and the macaroni. Stir until the water comes back to the boil and no macaroni is stuck to the bottom of the pot. Cook for 7 minutes and taste one. There should be no floury center. If there is, cook another minute and taste again. When firm to the bite, drain, and put in the mixing bowl. Immediately add the cold cream and mix well. When the macaroni is cold, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put the breadcrumbs in a little bowl, melt the butter, pour over the crumbs. Mix thoroughly and salt lightly.

Strain the pasta and put the cream and white sauce in a saucepan. Add the cheeses and heat onto until the cheese begins to melt. Immediately and the macaroni, mix, season (salt only if necessary) and put while hot into the gratin dish. Cover evenly with the buttered crumbs and put in the oven.

Bake for about 15 minutes until the macaroni begins to bubble and the breadcrumbs are lightly browned.

Ricotta Dumplings

I have tried forever to like the classic potato and flour gnocchi but have given up. These ricotta dumplings, which I first tasted at the “Zuni Café” in San Francisco, changed my mind about gnocchi when made like this.

Makes 24

2 cups fresh ricotta cheese

¼ cup white flour

5 egg yolks

4 tbs melted butter

salt, freshly-ground black pepper

Nasturtium flowers, stemmed, shredded

Mix the ricotta, flour and yolks together. Refrigerate 1 hour. Take out andform into little quenelle shapes with two small soupspoons dipped in hot water. Mound one with the ricotta, smooth out the mound with the other hot and west spoon, and slip off the spoon. Roll the dumplings on floured greaseproof paper and store covered in the refrigerator until ready to serve (up to three hours).

Put the dumplings into a pot of barely simmering water and simmer for 10 minutes. Lift the dumplings out of the water and put them in warm soup plates. Spoon the butter over the dumplings, and garnish with the flowers.

I serve these with boiled twice-peeled fava beans in butter with finely chopped Winter Savory.

Mashed Potatoes

Photo Courtesy of Food & Wine

2 pounds potatoes, such as Yukon Gold or fingerlings, peeled
1 pound unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1 cup cream

Boil the potatoes in well-salted water for 15 minutes or until tender, and drain.

Heat the milk until simmering.

Sieve the drained potatoes into the pot and stir them, over the heat, with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until they are very dry.

Still stirring vigorously, work the cold butter, pat by pat, into the potatoes. Keep stirring until very smooth. Serve immediately.

Thank you for reading Out of the Oven. If you upgrade for the whole experience, and pay $5 a month or $50 a year, you will receive at least weekly publications, as well as menus, recipes, videos of me cooking, and full access to archives. Continue reading for a Strawberry Shortcake and Ginger Cookie recipe.

10-Minute Strawberry Shortcake

Photo Courtesy of Two Kooks in the Kitchen

Fast and easy if the pound cake and berry puree are in the freezer, the sugared orange peel and the alcohol in the cupboard.

Serves 4

1-pint strawberries, hulled, sliced 1/8-inch thick

8 slices pound cake, cut ¼-inch thick

½ cup raspberry puree

½ cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugared orange peel, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons berry flavored white alcohol

Toss the berries in the berry puree with a pinch of salt.

Whip the cream with the alcohol.

Slice the pound cake, toast, and butter it.

Put some of the whipped cream flavored with the berry liqueur on one piece of cake, then half the sliced strawberries, then pour a little more of the raspberry puree on top and around. Place the remaining cake on top of each shortcake, then add the remaining berries, then the remaining cream and puree, and then sprinkle with chopped sugared orange peel.

If at the last moment you realize there is not enough berry puree in the freezer, but you do have red currant jelly. That’s just as good. You don’t have berry liqueur, then use rum or sherry – or even molasses.

Ginger Cookies

Photo Courtesy of Curly Girl Kitchen

2 dozen cookies

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

8 ounces unsalted butter

1 large egg

1/3 cup molasses

2 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground allspice

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp white pepper

2 ¼ cups flour

Put ½ cup of the granulated sugar, the brown sugar, and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream the mixture on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add the egg and molasses and beat another minute. Reduce the speed to low and add the ginger, allspice, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, pepper, and flour.

Remove the dough, roll into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Make ¼-inch balls from the dough and then roll them in the remaining granulated sugar. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the cookie balls 2 inches apart and flatten them slightly.

Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes until golden brown and set firmly on the outer edges but still soft in their centers. Let them cool for 5 minutes and then take them off the baking sheet and onto a cooling rack.

Perfect.