EASIEST BAKED GARLIC-PEPPER FISH

Mahi-mahi with boiled potato and green beans.

Garlic and freshly ground black pepper add oomph to this simple dish that has Russian roots. When the fish bakes, the garlic smell is intense, but once roasted, garlic is not ‘garlicky’ but sweet-tasting.  Doesn’t leave garlic breath either but you can kiss someone to check it out.

Utensils:  glass baking dish 8 X 8

for 1 pound fish, serves 2

2  ½-pound thick fish fillets

   I retested the recipe with cod and mahi-mahi. 

4 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped (minced)

1 teaspoon olive oil

kosher salt

24 twists of a pepper mill

  Approximately  2 teaspoons of pepper

lemon wedges

1.      Rinse the fish quickly under cold running water.  Pat dry.

2.      Mix the minced garlic cloves with the olive oil. Spread mixture evenly over top surface (one side only) of fish. Lightly salt, then liberally grind on black pepper.

3.      Bake in a preheated 375-400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.

EASIEST FLAT BREAD (LAVASH) PIZZA

The blog has put me in my Betty Crocker mode.  The mythical Crocker was invented in 1921, by General Mills.  So, I should be ‘lavashed’ out, but I, as the fictional ‘Betty’ really enjoyed testing and eating this soft ‘matza’.

I must have always liked small, thin bread-like things with toppings because in The New Cook’s Cookbook  I have a recipe for ‘Baby Pizzas’ made on melba rounds and broiled—I had to smile at my youthful initiative. In The Easiest Cookbook is a recipe for Crostini (means little toast,)  a lovely appetizer, but the truth is I never could get the bread slices to brown on the bottom and it was a p-i-t-a (pain in the ass) to turn them over.

Today, with flat bread available, one can bake many different toppings on it, and the bread needs no turning.

Utensils:  cookie sheet, pizza slices or kitchen shears, pastry brush

1.      Brush the cookie sheet with a scant amount of olive oil.

  2.  For  a pepperoni pizza, brush on ¾ cup tomato or pizza sauce. Place on mozzarella cheese slices, then top with the  pepperoni  rounds.  To avoid too much fat from the sausage oozing onto the bread, nuke the slices, in one layer for about 10 seconds. The pepperoni brand is Boar's Head.

3.      For my favorite, Mushroom and Anchovy Pizza, over the tomato sauce, I place  canned whole  button mushrooms, patted dry with a paper towel and sliced in half.  I also pat dry the canned, flat,anchovies, about ½ tin, or to taste.

4.      How crisp do you want your flat bread?  I fiddled around and 15 minutes at preheated 375 degrees works with my oven, but you may have to fiddle, too.  Check after 10 minutes.

  5.  Slice and serve as soon as possible. 

 I made this one smaller, with feta cheese and Kalamata olives.

All photos by Carol Guilford.

  

 

EASIEST ARTICHOKES

The hardback version of The Easiest Cookbook is full of forgotten surprises for me—in this case a memory of a trip to Italy, circa 1980.

Today, the Campo dei Fiori ( field of flowers) is one of the last of the open-air markets in central Rome---supermarkets now reign  supreme.  At night, the Campo turns into a  night-life haunt.

Three days after a clumsy fall off a cobblestone curb in Naples, I wrote in my travel journal:

    

      Warm enough for a cappuccino outdoors at a restaurant on the Piazza Navona.  The trick is to stop on the cobblestones, not slip in between them.  Rehearsed and ready for the unabashed, curious Romans, explaining (cheerily) to all who asked about my foot and some who didn’t, “Sono caduta a Napoli.”(“I fell in Naples.”)

     At the Campo dei Fiori, I inspected every baby eggplant, cheese, and prosciutto in sight.  I bought some flowers, then stood on one leg and watched a woman transform artichokes into sculpture.  She held the artichoke high, turning it round and round with one hand while her other hand artfully circled the artichoke in the opposite direction with a paring knife, an action that removed the artichoke’s thistly thorns from stem to tip.  Plop—each artichoke dropped into a pan of water.  The ready-to-cook chokes are sold to restaurants.

    
 “Brava,”I said, and explained in bad but getting-better Italian that I liked very much Italian carciofi because all was edible. “Mi piace (I like) carciofi alla Romana (vinegar and oil) e alla Giudea  (deep fried).

     
 “Come ha fatto male il piede?” (“How did you hurt your foot?”)

     
 “Sono cadutta a Napoli.”

       
 I was rewarded with an understanding nod.

       At one o’clock the market disappeared, loaded up and driven away in pickup trucks. 

My tried and true way to prepare and cook artichokes. I looked over the several recipes in The New Cook’s Cookbook (link) and the latest in The Gourmet’s Recession Cookbook (link)

Allow 1 artichoke per person.  A 4-quart casserole will accommodate 4 medium artichokes.  You will need kitchen scissors.

4 medium artichokes

olive oil

lemon slices

melted butter or vinegar and oil dressing

1.      To prep, wash the artichokes.  Use a sharp knife to slice off about ½ inch off the top of the artichoke.  Rub the cut with lemon to prevent darkening.  Pull off the small, brown leaves around the bottom. Slice off the bottom of the stem evenly so that artichokes will stand up in the casserole.

2.      With kitchen scissors, cut off the thorny tips of the leaves.

3.      Drizzle approximately 1 tablespoon of olive oil over each choke.  Place a lemon slice on the top.

4.      Fill the bottom of the pot with 3-4 inches water.  Cover the pot and steam on low heat for 45 minutes or until a leaf pulls out easily.  Size doesn’t seem to matter... even a jumbo will steam done in 45-50 minutes.  Make sure the water doesn’t boil away.  Add more, if needed.   

5.      Serve hot with melted butter and lemon juice or vinegar and oil dressing. 

There are special artichoke plates sectioned off with a place for the artichoke in the center, a "well" for the sauce and another section for used leaves.    

HOW TO EAT AN ARTICHOKE

Pull off the leaves one at a time.  Dip the meaty base of the leaf into the sauce, then scrape the meat through your teeth.  Use a knife to cut it away the fuzzy ‘choke’ under which lies the delectable artichoke bottom.   

EASIEST BAKED CUSTARD

Photos by Carol Guilford

In the spring, Trader Joe’s sells delicate daffodils.  I want to share them, along with one of my favorite poems.  

DAFFODILS

by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

   That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

   When all at once I saw a crowd,

   A host, of golden daffodils;

   Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

   Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

   Continuous as the stars that shine

   And twinkle on the milky way,

   They stretched in never-ending line

   Along the margin of a bay:

   Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

   Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

   The waves beside them danced; but they

   Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

   A poet could not but be gay,

   In such a jocund company:

   I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

  What wealth the show to me had brought:

   For oft, when on my couch I lie

   In vacant or in pensive mood,

   They flash upon that inward eye

   Which is the bliss of solitude;

   And then my heart with pleasure fills,

   And dances with the daffodils.

EASIEST BAKED CUSTARD

From my THE DIET BOOK  written after I read every diet book published (at New York University’s medical library) since the first one—William Banting’s Letter on Corpulence—a low-carbo diet, in 1856, 100 years before others popularized it.  The updated e-book version of The Diet Book includes the entire Banting pamphlet.

Easiest Baked Custard has 15 carbohydrates and 140 calories.

4 servings

You will need 4-ounce pyrex cups or ramekins. Personally, I think the ramekins are prettier but the pyrex baked better.

2 large eggs

1 ½ cups milk

¼ cup organic sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla (buy the real deal)

1.      The easiest way is to whirl all the ingredients in a blender.  An eggbeater will work.

2.      Fill 4-ounce pyrex cups or ramekins with the mixture.  (See picture  below)

3.      Put the custard cups into an 8X8 baking pan.  Put the pan into a 325 degree oven.  Pour ½ inch water into the baking pan after it is in the oven—the chance of spillage is way reduced.

4.      Bake for 50 minutes or until the custard is set. Custard is done when a toothpick  inserted through the center comes out clean. Eat hot or cold. 

 

   

EASIEST PORK ADOBO

Comes out with a dark rich tasting sauce. I served it over rice and with
mandarin oranges.

When the Spanish colonized the Philippines in the late sixteenth and early 17^th century, they found a way of cooking with vinegar that they called adobo, the Spanish word for ‘marinade’.

Halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, the gambling mecca, the Barstow Station, in Barstow, Nevada, is a pit stop with restrooms, souvenir shops and many fast food stalls.  I found my way to make adobo from the owner of a stall that served Filipino food.  I couldn’t remember the name of the place and did a search of  the Barstow Station eateries to discover, as one disappointed customer wrote that “the Filipino place has been replaced by a Dunkin Donuts.”

I appreciate my ‘slo-ow’ cooker when I prepare this favorite of mine.  

one 2-4 pound pork shoulder or butt

½ cup vinegar

½ cup soy sauce

2 Tablespoons water

10 cloves garlic, peeled

a handful of bay leaves (about 2 tablespoons)

10 peppercorns

 2 tablespoons water

1.      It’s a good idea to brown the pork. Coat the skillet with olive oil or trim a little fat from the pork and render (melt) it over low heat.  Five minutes on each side (medium heat) should be adequate.    

2.      Put the pork in the slow cooker with the vinegar, soy, water and  garlic.  Tie the bay leaves and peppercorns in a square of cheesecloth.  Picking out the peppercorns and bay leaves one by one is tedious.  Don’t put the bay leaves in the disposal; they can jam it up.

3.      Cook on high for 4 hours.  If the meat is not as tender as you want, reset the cooker on high for another 1-2 hours, until it is tender to your satisfaction.    

The Gourmet’s Recession Cookbook  (99 cents at Amazon) has a barbecue “pulled” pork recipe and a recipe for ‘forchetta’ (fork), an Italian version of very tender pork.