Famous Food Friday -Lotte Lenya

Maxine de la Falaise edited a book entitled Food In Vogue. It is a collection of recipes from some rich and some famous who appeared in Vogue in the 70' and 80's. Among the recipes she collected was one for meatloaf by Lotte Lenya.

Lotte Lenya was the wife of Kurt Wiell. They were married in 1926. The next year she and appeared in the controversial Brecht–Weill work Little Mahagonny at the Baden-Baden Festival in 1927. She alternated the roles of Jenny and Lucy in Weill's most famous work, The Threepenny Opera.

Lenya and Weill became estranged and finally divorced before they fled Nazi Germany for Paris in 1933. They continued to live separately, as they made their way to America. In 1935 they reconnected and remarried in 1937. Their second marriage lasted until Weill's death in 1950. She continued to work in the theatre and movies and her role in Roman Spring received a nomination for an Academy Award in 1961.

Lenya’s Meat Loaf

1 pound chopped sirloin
Salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
1/2 cup good quality poultry stuffing
1 small can vegetable cocktail juice
1 small can button mushrooms
2 to 3 tablespoons sherry, or to taste

Preheat oven to 375

Mix the meat, salt, pepper, egg, stuffing,and half of the juice together and form a loaf. Place in a greased loaf pan and bake for one hour. About 5 minutes before the loaf is ready, pour into a small saucepan the other half of the vegetable cocktail, the mushrooms and the sherry. Heat, then pour over the loaf. Serve with noodles, rice, kasha, pilaf, or any other starchy accompaniment you like.

Lotte Lenya died in New York from cancer in 1981. She remains one of the most interesting characters of the 20th century. For more information on Weill and Lenya, read their collected letters, Speak Low (When You Speak Love): The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya.

Breast Cancer Awareness

We dropped off the earth for a while. My friend Ann had a mastectomy. If you read this, please do a self-exam and schedule a mammogram.
You can give someone a free mammogram by going to Click to Give.

Spring Is...

nowhere to be found!

Still we are optimistic and this week we are chitting potatoes to plant. These are the remaining potatoes from last years harvest. They were cut so that each piece has an eye. Now they sit in the sun (that big yellow thing that sits in the sky every now and then). In a week or so, the cuts will have skimmed over, the eyes will make little sprouts and they will be ready to plant.


We are taking a chance with these little potatoes and planting them a bit early, hoping that any late season frost won't destroy them. Hey, I said we were optimistic.

Blackberry Jam

Harry Lowe picked some blackberries for me at the end of the summer, but I kept forgetting to rescue them from the freezer.

Finally, I remembered.



Some people don't like blackberry jam because of the seeds, but I like the grittiness.

I had a box of preserving sugar I picked up in England. Preserving sugar is sugar with the pectin already mixed in. It makes for easy preserves.

RECIPE:

2 pounds of Virginia blackberries
1 box preserving sugar (32ounces)
the juice of one lemon

Place all the ingredients in a preserving pan or deep pot.

Let the sugar leach out the juice for about 1 hour

Bring the preserves to a rolling boil ( you know it's rolling if you stir it and it keeps right on boiling)

Boil for 4-5 minutes

Take off the heat and cool for a few minutes, then skim off any "imperfection" foam

Can as you wish.

(I pour the jam into hot jars, screw on the top, invert, leave for 5 minutes and right the jars. PLEASE do not scream at me. I know the USDA hates me for this, but really, I've done it this way for YEARS and I'm still alive. Two of the best jam makers in the whole wide world, Christine Ferber and June Taylor, use this method. FEEL FREE to put the jarred preserves in a hot water bath for 10 minutes if you wish.)

YES YOU CAN !

Etiquette Wednesday

Emily Post

Need I say more? This week I am immersed in Laura Claridge's biography, Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners.




So far, the Civil War ends, Chicago burns to the ground, Emily's parents marry an go on the Grand Tour, Emily is born, weighing in at over 9 pounds! That's just the first 15 pages!


I am just finishing Part Three. Let's see, marriage, kids, novels (Purple and Fine Linen is a fave) scandal, divorce, etiquette books...



I'd tell you more, but I really need to get to my reading.

Here's you etiquette tip!

My handwriting sucks. But do drop me a line and do not, under any circumstances, piss off the Post Office, or the Emily Post....

Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Cake

As a child I wouldn't touch pumpkin. Probably because my mother hated it. Ah, but as I grew up, I put away the things of a child. Now pumpkin is one of favorite vegetables. It is so versatile, it can go from appetizers all the way to dessert. This is one of my favorite cakes. The pumpkin makes it moist and and the chunks of chocolate make it gooey. I use my favorite dark chocolate and chop it into irregular hunks. I like the chunks of chocolate but if you would like it a bit more refined, you can add chocolate chips. You can also use milk chocolate if you wish.

Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Cake

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons quatre-epice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick softened butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree or 1 15 ounce can pf pumpkin
1 1/2 cups chocolate chunks

Whisk together flour, spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

Cream the butter and sugar together to fluffy yellow, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition.

Stir in the pumpkin puree.

Add the flour mixture into the batter about a cup at a time.

Fold in the chocolate chunks.

Pour into a prepared Lucinda's Wood Cake Box

Bake at 300 for 90 minutes.

I like it plain, but you can add a ganache glaze to dress it up. And add even more chocolaty flavor.

Ganache Glaze

1 cup heavy cream
9 ounces chopped chocolate
1 tablespoon butter

Add the chocolate and butter to a small bowl.

Heat the heavy cream till it steam, but don't let it boil.

Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and butter.

Let it melt, then stir the mixture until smooth, bout 2 minutes.

Let it sit for about 5 minutes, then pour over the cake.

This cake travels really well, so bake one up and send it to someone you love.

Famous Food Friday -- Kathryn Tucker Windham

If you were a child in Alabama, you know Kathryn Tucker Windham. She is a quintessential storyteller who made ghost stories a way of life. It all started in 1966 when a "friendly" ghost named "Jeffery " took up residence in the Windham house. When a group of kids came over and tried to "contact" Jeffery with a Ouija board, they succeeded and Jeffery was photographed. Jeffery became a kind of spirit world collaborator as Mrs. Windham collected stories that became 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. My favorite is the Red Lady of Huntingdon College. Kathryn Tucker Windham began collecting ghost stories and other tall tales from around the South. Now 90, she is still in demand as a storyteller. She founded the Alabama Tale Tellin' Festival, held each year in Selma, Alabama.




What people may not know is Kathryn Tucker Windham's first book was a cookbook. Later she published a second cookbook, Southern Cooking To Remember. In November, I was in a large, well stocked grocery store and found a lovely bag of sunchokes, which I thought was funny since they looked like Jerusalem artichokes to me. Actually, Jerusalem Artichokes are not from Jerusalem nor are they artichokes. They are indeed, sunchokes, tubers from a sunflower like plant. When an early explorer to America sent the tubers back to an Italian friend, he dubbed them, "girasole articicco," quite literally, "sunflower artichoke" or sunchoke. The Italian pronunciation was corrupted and "Jerusalem artichoke" stuck. What do you do with them, my friend asked and Kathryn Tucker Windham knew the answer. Most Southern larders have at least one jar of Jerusalem artichokes pickled in some way.

Jerusalem Artichoke Relish

2 pounds Jerusalem artichokes
4 yellow onions
3 red peppers
1 cup salt
1 quart cider vinegar
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon mustard seed
1 tablespoon celery seed

Use a stiff brush to scrub artichokes well. chop coarsely. Chop onions and peppers coarsely. Put chopped vegetables and salt in a large bowl and cover with cold water. put in the refrigerator overnight. being sure to cover it tightly. Next day, pour off the water and place vegetables in a large kettle. Add other ingredients and cook over moderate heat, stirring , until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture boils. Reduce the hear and simmer for half an hour or until relish is thick. Stir right often during the simmering. ladle into sterilized pint or half-pint jars and seal. This makes four pints.

Grab yourself a sous chef, spectral or not, and make a batch of this relish. And afterwards, I'll tell you the story of the Red Lady...

Etiquette Wednesday

It's just never too early to become a great hostess, just ask Florence Hamsher (but ask her politely!). Party Cues For Teens according to the subtitle is "a complete guide for the junior hostess."

It turns out that no matter how young you are, nor how skilled you might be at hosting a party, you will always find a "Party Nuisance." Interestingly enough, even in 1957, the party nuisances tended to be sexual predators trying to get some. As Mrs. Hamsher tells us:

"Into the life of every hostess there sometimes creeps a guest she fervently wishes had stayed at home, or at least had been brought up with better manners."

You know the one... raised by wolves. How will you know...

"The Party Wolf is easy to spot."

But not as easy as Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf. Here are the signs...

"He either roams about the room looking for likely prey, or heads straight for the prettiest girl, and while her escort smolders, proceeds to reel out the line he feels sure will hook his victim."

In 1957 her escort might "smolder" but in 2009 he is likely to pull out a Mac-10, making Mr. Party Wolf the victim. What to do...

"If one of your guest turns out to be a party Wolf, you can put an end to his maneuvers by singling him out for special attention, or asking him to do something for you. You might ask him to show you the new dance step that has become his speciality."

Or, if there is no Mac-10, you could take him upstairs and show him your speciality. In other words....

"Try to keep him so busy he doesn't have time to monopolize the attentions of someone else's girl."

Or, you could feed him. Here's a nifty snack recipe for the junior hostess and a fitting recipe for that Party Wolf.

Teaser Dip

Combine 1/2 cup finely chopped bologna, 2 tablespoons chopped pimientos, 3/4 cup chopped ripe olives, and 3 tablespoons chopped pickles. Add a drop or two of Tabasco sauce and enough mayonnaise to moisten for dunking consistency.

Seriously, one couldn't make this up! So run right out a grab a copy of Party Cues For Teens, if not for the entertaining tips, at least for the recipes! Teaser Dip anyone?

Lucinda's Seven Seed Mix

Here's another spice mix I keep on hand. It provides a complex flavor profile for simple dishes, like potatoes. It is a Seven Seed Mix and here is the recipe:

EQUAL parts of the following SEEDS:

Cumin
Coriander
Fennel
Fenugreek
Yellow Mustard
Black Mustard
Nigella


My favorite combo is Seven Seed mix and harissa. Harissa has quite a kick to it. Like hot sauce, it can vary in temperature from one brand to another. If you have never used it before -- be fore warned! I like to use it with potatoes because the plain starch of the potato takes care of a lot of the heat.
Here's the recipes.

Seven Seed Harissa Potatoes

6-7 potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/2 inch thick

2 tablespoon Seven Seed mix, toasted in a dry skillet

1 tablespoon harissa paste

1/3 cup olive oil

In a large bowl, sprinkle the sliced potatoes with the toasted Seven Seed mix.

Add the harissa and oil and mix till coated.

Layer in a baking dish

Cook at 350 for about an hour

This is an interesting side for a roasted chicken. If you don't have harissa, sprinkle on a tablespoon of a smoky paprika or red pepper. If you don't want to wash an extra bowl, just mix it together in the Baking dish.

Try these Seven Seed Harissa Muffins for a spicy and complex corn bread.

Seven Seed Harissa Corn Muffins

1 cup self-rising corn meal

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 tablespoon Seven Seed mix, toasted in a dry skillet

1 tablespoon harissa

1/4 cup vegetable oil


Mix the corn meal, milk, egg, and harissa together in a small bowl.

Fold in the toasted Seven Seed mix.

Generously oil a muffin tin (preferably cast iron) with the vegetable oil and place it in a 400 oven.

Let the muffin tin sit in the hot oven for about 5 min.

Carefully remove the tin and fill the compartments with the muffin mixture, about 3/4 full

Bake for 20 minutes, until the tops are browned. It makes about 12 muffins.

Give this Seven Seed Mix a try!

Beet Cake with Dried Cherries

For Valentine's Day, I made a beet cake studded with dried cherries. I had a bag of Cherry Medley from King Arthur Flour in Vermont and a can of beets and this cake seemed a natural.



I cheated on the recipe and used the canned beets, though freshly roasted beets are much preferred. A 15 ounce can of beets is just enough. Drain the beets and blitz them in a Cuisinart to get a nice consistency as beets can be a bit hard. Don't worry too much if your can of beet mash comes in a little over or under a cup, it should be just fine.

Beet Cake with Dried Cherries

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed beet
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup dried cherries, dredged boldly


Whisk the flour, sugar, spice, soda and salt together to blend.

Mix the beets, eggs, oil, and milk.

Add the beet mixture to the dry ingredients and blend well.

Fold in the dredged fruit.


Pour into prepared Lucinda’s Wooden Cake Box.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

This sweet and tender cake proved to be a hit for Valentine's Day.

Beets make a great ingredient in these rich, moist cakes, like carrot or zucchini. You may not think of it but parsnips and summer squash can also work. Don't be afraid to experiment with this type of "tea cake."