Of moles and pozoles

The other day I made pollo en mole verde, which, among other things, includes sesame and pumpkin seeds, romaine, swiss chard, cilantro, parsley and on and on and on. Diana Kennedy says it's mole for aficionados. An hour later, after the chopping, grinding, pureeing, stirring, it was done, and I loved it. My children looked at it like something emerging from a toxic waste dump.

Sigh.

This pozole recipe is from my grandmother, a Mexican American version, simple and uncomplicated. (One day I'll have to try my hand at that wonderful stuff they serve in New Mexico. ) My kids actually enjoy this version, and I hope you will, too.

Cover a cut up chicken and a pound of pork neck bones (optional, for the squeamish) with water, along with a sliced onion and a couple of peeled garlic cloves for flavor and simmer until tender, along with a drained can of hominy (small or large can, your choice). An hour on a low simmer should do it. Salt the broth to taste. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with lemons, oregano, sliced radishes and lots of sliced cabbage.

The secret here is the pork which adds a depth to the broth, and the crunch of the raw vegetables against the hot soup.

Poetry Corner

Do you carrot all for me?
My heart beets for you.
With your turnip nose
And your radish face,
You are a peach.
If we cantaloupe,
Lettuce marry.
Weed make a swell pear.

-Anonymous

This post is a result of mulling over turnips for too long. For stronger poetical stuff, try here.

Resolutions

Think you can't cook? Resolved to learn how this year?
You've got nothing on them.

Feel better now?

I, for one, will never look at a turnip in the same way. Or pineapple.

Happy New Year?

New year's resolutions, to me, seem an opportunity for self-loathing, debasement, and guilt resulting from when you ultimately wrestle free of them. So I don't make them, and have a horror of elementary and high school teachers who assign them. If you do, however, like starting the year with guidelines, here's a book that discusses our cultural phenomenon of obesity, what may contribute to it, and what you can do to battle it.


If you'd like a different lens through which to ponder the new year, to nourish the psyche, I recommend this one. I found its tips insightful and humane.

By the by, drop me a line if there's a particular recipe or dish whose aroma or memory is haunting your palate. I'll try to dig a successful one up. Or is there something you'd like to share here? Lemme know!
Here's to a healthy and prosperous new year, to hungry and loyal readers.

Celebrations

Deep down, I believe New Year's Eve celebrations are for the young, the wistful, the unmarried. Each year I proclaim that--but on the years we're invited somewhere, we easily ditch Jim Svejda's broadcast and eagerly show up on our host's doorstep. With bubbly, of course.

On the nights to ourselves, we plan an upscale menu: oysters or blini with salmon roe (and vodka, clearly an homage to my nonexistent Russian roots), and a bottle of bubbly big enough to last the night (Cost Plus--a magnum of Segura Viudas cava is $9.99!! Time to stock up!). And something extravagant for the main course.

Here's beef stroganoff from the City Cuisine cookbook, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. It's a bit of a last minute affair, but this is what I cooked for Christmas Eve, a luscious addition to a menu when you're pulling out all the stops.

Have a pot of water boiling, ready for a pound of fettucine or broad noodles. Start boiling before you cook the meat.

Slice a trimmed 2 pound beef tenderloin in 1 inch slices. Lightly salt and pepper the slices. Allow to come to room temperature. Saute 2 1/2 cups sliced mushroom caps in 1 tbls butter. Add 1 1/2 cups julienned dill pickles (Bubbies are what you want here) and 2 tbls pickle juice. Cook until slightly reduced, (two minutes). Begin cooking noodles. Add 2 cups heavy cream. Cook until reduced by half.

While sauce is reducing, heat in a skillet 2 tblsp oil, until almost smoking. For medium rare sear meat two minutes each side. Serve on a bed of noodles, with the sauce ladled over.

A blissful way to say farewell to the old year, and welcome to the new.

Between gigs

The strange week between Christmas and New Year's is filled with hopes and regrets. Is it a fallow time, a recharging week for you? Or is it filled with projects and prospects? It's a restless week for me, looking at the lights and ornaments that we took so much trouble and time to hang; now they represent a significant amount of time to unhang and carefully store. I have silenced the Christmas carols, at least until KOST 103.5 starts broadcasting them again, next November. And I am looking far ahead to next year's calendar, at the winter break dates for the university which has accepted my daughter. All that hope, fear and anticipation of going away to school. I feel like a cocktail shaker, being shaken and stirred.

So I shall distract myself with lists and plans. What new foods to cook in the coming year? Years ago I tasted quenelles--it's time to try a recipe or two. A fish soup with croutons and garlic mayonnaise is something else I have a hankering for, along with Margaret's biscuits. Hmmm, just thinking about those biscuits makes me feel light headed and light hearted--

Merry Christmas!

Now, starving readers, grab a cookie or a restorative glass of something, and put your feet up!

The Restless Dez

Cookies Lessons Learned

DO
Bake cookies, even if they're out of the freezer.
DON'T
eat all the dough before you pop them in the oven.
DO
Share with your friends.
DON'T
ask your Alzheimer-addled neighbor how they were.
DO
Put on the Christmas Carols.
DON'T
Substitute the salt for the sugar.

Here's another one of my all-time favorites:

Pecan Bars

Combine 2 cups of flour with 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Add two sticks butter, mix until crumbly. Pat dough into the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes until light brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle with 2 1/2 cups pecans.

While the shortbread bakes, mix one egg, one cup brown sugar, 2 tbls melted butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 cup corn syrup. Pour topping in thin stream to cover the surface and pecans. Bake for another 25 -30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool and remove from pan. Reserve for those you love best of all.