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recipes

Three Simple Things my Mother Loved

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bisquickWe kidded my mom a lot about her “Irish” cooking, teasing her about “boiling the hell” out of everything and chiding her for her sometimes-simple palate. My sister recently reminded me of one of her favorite dishes: white fish cooked in milk, which I think is illegal in some cultures.

But when it came to desserts, her love of simplicity was welcome. Apple Betty, aka apple crisp in hour house, was delicious. Apples baked with an oatmeal-brown sugar topping. Served warm with ice cream, it’s a perfect mid-week dessert.

She would also make stewed peaches. Impatient, I guess, to wait for just the right few weeks in summer when they’re really in season, and just that actual moment during the week when they would finally be ripe enough to eat, she would encourage them along by placing them in a bit of water with a little sugar and bringing them to a gentle boil. More than a few times, I caught her having this treat alone in the middle of the day. A small treat to have, all to herself, while her six kids and her husband were out.

But more than anything, she loved Strawberry Shortcake. We would be on the lookout for good strawberries from the first sign of spring so she could make a batch. Strawberry shortcake topped with whipped cream was a Sunday treat. Hulled strawberries bathed in sugar and gently tossed all day to foster a nice thick syrup would sit atop a Bisquick shortcake (baking wasn’t her thing, so Bisquick would do just fine, thank you) and then topped with a big dollop of freshly made whipped cream. Don’t get me started on the whipped cream, a ritual that involved freezing a bowl — not just any bowl, the green Fiestaware bowl that was just the right height — along with the paddles from the mixer for a few hours and an alchemist’s mixture of cream, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla. Hitting the right consistency on the peaks in the whipped cream was essential. I still haven’t exactly matched her recipe.

The shortcakes tasted great after dinner, but somehow they were even better the next day. The strawberries were a bit more tender, and the shortcakes a bit more dry. Eating the left-overs with her at the kitchen table the next day was almost better than having first dibs.

Strawberries aren’t quite ready yet, so I’m waiting until they are. I’ll grab the first really beautiful pint of strawberries I see, and mix up a batch of shortcakes in honor of my mom.

And then I’ll wait for the peaches…

Trendy Vegetables – Introducing the Watermelon Radish

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watermelon radishes

Watermelon radishes with a simple salad — and a side of tomato bisque. Delicious.

I have to admit, when my eye fell on the splash of bright red at the farm market, I was immediately drawn to it. These dull, gray Chicago skies were starting to get to me, last weekend, so I was immediately happy to see some true color shouting out amidst all the dirty (but delicious) root vegetables. My curiosity about this fresh-looking upstart drew me right to it and the farmer proudly introduced me to his watermelon radishes.

Eating a Watermelon Radish

Even from the outside, watermelon radishes look a bit like very small watermelons, with a greenish tinge to their skin, which seems a bit thicker than a regular radish’s, and a size that looks a bit bigger than your standard grocery store radish.

Inside, these babies pop with color. They look enticing. They taste milder than a regular radish — not so much bite to them, and perhaps its just the suggestion of watermelon that makes you think so, but the texture seems a bit looser and you really want to imagine watermelon when they first hit your tongue.

Watermelon Radish Salad

Watermelon radish

Watermelon radishes from the farm market.

What else? I made a quick, simple salad to enjoy these radishes for the first time. I sliced them then and thick to see which gave a better experience — my vote is for thick in the future — and tossed them with some red-leaf lettuce, carrots, olive oil and a bit of red wine vinegar.

 

 

 

Farm Fresh Popcorn for Oscar Night

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pocorn kernels

Popcorn kernels  at the Green City Market.

We love the dog sitter. He’s one of those great kids who is gonna be somebody someday, and we’ll tell folks, “No kidding, he used to dogsit for us…”

I always try to stock up on snacks for him, but the last overnight we planned came up too fast and as we were leaving I timidly said, “well…you know how to make popcorn, right?”

“Sure,” he replied, “Just pop the bag in the microwave.”

Something to pop about

We’re old-fashioned here at the house, and we love making popcorn on the stove, the way Mom used to. In fact, the method I use was taught to me by my BFF’s mom, Alice, who liked to get a pan hot with oil, toss in the kernels and pour salt on top of them before they even  popped. She would put a paper towel on top of the pan and secure the paper towel with the lid to catch some of the extra oil and then pop away!

Even more old-fashioned is the over-the-fire popcorn basket of yore — I’ve never had the opportunity to give that a try, but if our next home has a fireplace, I’m for sure going to.

For the Oscars, I want to make a nice big bowl of popcorn and enjoy the evening from the couch, celebrating the long-lasting relationship between the movies and popcorn.

Farm fresh popcorn

Have you tried fresh farm market popcorn? Available at all the markets, its grown locally and helps your local farmer pop a bit of extra income in these lean winter moths. Buy some and take the opportunity to show your child that popcorn doesn’t originate in a bag — they’ll love the experience of stove-popping with you, and they’ll appreciate 8,000 fewer chemicals, too.

Don’t forget the butter and the salt — and if you want to know more than you really want to know about popcorn, visit the Popcorn Growers Association site to read about the history or popcorn and the movies and find some great recipes.

Our Lost Morels

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Morels and pasta

Morel mushrooms and tips -- beef and asparagus -- add flavor and texture to this dish.

Fifty dollars a pound. That’s how much morels were at the market last week at Green City Market, and we gladly paid for four ounces, dreaming of their texture and flavor on the way home.

The morels went missing for a little while — the bag they were in slipped behind a bin in the kitchen, giving us a scare – so when we found them again, we gratefully got to work slicing them up and mixing them in with some grass-fed beef tips from Heartland Meats, asparagus, and fresh pasta.

Morels and Beef Tips with Asparagus over Fettuccine

2 small shallots, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 ounces morels, sliced thin
1/2 pound asparagus tips
1/2 pound beef tips
1/2 cup veal stock

1/2 pound egg fettuccine

Saute garlic and onions until fragrant and toss in morels. Cook until fragrant.Add the asparagus and cook for one minute, then add the beef tips. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then add the veal stock and simmer until the liquid is almost cooked down.

Serve with Quick Kale Salad