Food for Thought

The other day I was scooping some stuffed green olives into our daily salad and got to wondering. Who was the first person that said to themself, let’s squeeze the hell out of these and see what happens. Well, we know what happens, turns into that glorious liquid called olive oil…..thanks be to him. But what about all that other brave souls who took a chance on some strange looking food. Imagine the one who cracked open the first egg and released that slimy looking white stuff and that glob of yellow. How did he get the courage to taste it?

And who is the brave individual fellow that tried the stuff inside those hard shelled creatures, oysters, clams, snails, and the nastiest looking of all, that Pacific Geoduck Clam that even puts the ugly black tipped steamer clam to shame.

I’m also looking in the history books for the first person who cleaned out a chicken and said oh boy, those things look yummy. They took the risk and now we have great giblet gravy and for some, tasty fried chicken livers and pate. We cringe watching that brave Andrew Zimmer on the Travel Channel sampling strange foods from cultures around the world, but thinking about it, we’re as brave as he is. Squid and octopus aren’t the prettiest fellows, but some pasta dishes from Italy would sorely miss them. Even lobsters are kind of scary if you take a good look at them, but still we’re willing to pay $12.00 a pound, and they’re not even cooked.

I’m sure you can think of many, many more examples of our courage at the dinner table.

Here’s the recipe of the week that doesn’t have any nasty looking stuff in it.

Irish Beef Stew Recipe

1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/4 pounds well-marbled chuck beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces (NOT extra-lean)
6 large garlic cloves, minced
6 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
I cup of Guinness beer
1 cup of fine red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 7 cups)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled carrots
Salt and Pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1. Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Lightly salt the beef pieces. Working in batches if necessary, add the beef (do not crowd the pan, or the meat will steam and not brown) and cook, without stirring, until nicely browned on one side, then use tongs to turn the pieces over. Continue to cook in this manner until all sides are browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add beef stock, Guinness, red wine, tomato paste, sugar, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Stir to combine. Bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, then cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
2. While the meat and stock is simmering, melt butter in another large pot over medium heat. Add potatoes, onion and carrots. Sauté vegetables until golden, about 20 minutes. Set aside until the beef stew in step one has simmered for one hour.
3. Add vegetables to beef stew. Simmer uncovered until vegetables and beef are very tender, about 40 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Tilt pan and spoon off fat. Transfer stew to serving bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve. (Can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Cool slightly. Refrigerate uncovered until cold, then cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before serving.) Serves 4 to 6.

Something to consider

You are unique. You are today, at this moment, the sum of all things that have transpired in your life. As a result there is no one exactly like you, nor has there ever been anyone like you and likewise never will be. Think for a moment, you are special, unique in the universe and you’ve been given talents that no one else shares. It is up to each of us to use these talents to the best of our ability and never let them go to waste.

Although not in his exact words, these are some of the thoughts and wisdom I gathered from a talk given the other night by our Pastor Emeritus of Saint Dominic Church, Father Henry Frascadore. Obviously this is quite a deviation from my usual blog prose, but for some reason these thoughts made an impression on me and I felt that I needed to pass them on.

Enough serious stuff, here’s the recipe of the week. Can’t vouch for this one, because I haven’t made it yet. But it looks interesting and sounds perfect for one of these cold weekends. If you happen to make it before me, let me know the results.

White Chili Recipe

1 lb large white beans, soaked overnight in water, drained
6 cups chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium onions, chopped (divided)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 4-ounce cans chopped green chilies
2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
4 cups diced cooked chicken
3 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, chopped (optional)

1. Combine beans, chicken broth, garlic and half the onions in a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are very soft, 3 hours or more. Add additional water (or watered-down broth), if necessary.
2. In a skillet, sauté remaining onions in oil until tender. Add chilies and seasonings and mix thoroughly. Add to bean mixture. Add chicken and continue to simmer 1 hour.
3. Check seasoning; add jalapeno or serrano to level of desired hotness. Serve topped with grated cheese. Garnish with cilantro, chopped fresh tomato, salsa, chopped scallions, and/or guacamole. Serve with fresh warmed flour tortillas or tortilla chips. Serves 8 to 10

A little more food talk

If you’re one of those people who, like myself, ”live to eat” as opposed to those unfortunates who only “eat to live”, then you probably went to see “Julie and Julia” the movie. The movie, in case you know nothing about the film, is about a culinary legend who provides a frustrated office worker with a new recipe for life. The film depicts events in the life of chef Julia Child in the early years in her culinary career, contrasting her life with Julie Powell, who aspires to cook all 524 recipes from Child's cookbook during a single year, a challenge she described on her popular blog that would make her a published author.

If memory serves me correctly, the first recipe that Julie attempted was a soup called Potage Parmenter, a simple potato and leek soup, but a real tasty combination.

POTAGE PARMENTER

1 pound potatoes, peeled and diced

1 pound leeks (or onions), diced

3-4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Salt and pepper

4-6 tablespoons heavy cream

2-4 tablespoons minced chives and parsley

Sliced radishes for garnish

1. Simmer the potatoes and leeks in salted water for 40 to 50 minutes, until soft.

2. Puree the vegetables with an immersion blender. Add the butter bits; then salt and pepper to taste. Stir in cream.

3. Pour into soup bowls and sprinkle on chives, parsley, and radishes. ~ “Bon Appetite”.

Soups have been on my mind for about a month now. The Men’s Club at my church started a Scholarship Program and to help finance this year’s awards they decided to hold a “Soup Night”. Well guess who opened his big mouth again? If you guessed yours truly then you guessed right. The Parish was invited to stop in after the Saturday Mass and partake of three different soups created by “Chef Rhino”. We didn’t charge (only requested a donation), so I had no idea how much to make. Well, I must have guessed right because at the end we were scraping the bottom of three big pots of, Cheese and Corn Chowder, Tuscan Chicken and Minestrone, one hundred and fifty servings. I’m getting a little too old for this kind of stuff, but the satisfaction of putting on a successful event keeps me saying yes and coming back for more.

I've made a decision

I enjoy sharing my thoughts with all of you on the blog site, but am constantly struggling to come up with things that will be at least a little interesting to you. I had wild aspirations of entering stuff every week, but gave up on that a long time ago. Then it dawned on me, I love to eat and love to cook. Why not devote some of this site to eating and cooking?

Anyone with similar interests probably has the same problem I do…..we download and print recipes off the internet, clip them from magazines and accumulate handwritten ones from relatives and friends. They pile up in a drawer somewhere, most never to be seen again. Well, a couple of months ago I took on the daunting task of putting my collection into cookbook form. Not an easy task, and one that needs to be added to regularly, but I got it done. I put the recipes into sections, indexed them, printed them, put them into a binder and distributed them to all my kids. Now even after I’m gone the book called “Rhino’s Recipes” will be there to haunt them......lol

One of the real pleasures I got out of the project was to preserve many of the handwritten family recipes. Hopefully, my mother, mother-in-law and even grandmothers are smiling down, real happy that they’ve been remembered.

I’m starting to get a little long winded so I’ll cut to the chase. I will attempt to enter a blog weekly with some of my thoughts and will include a recipe from the book….. hope you enjoy. My first entry is a recipe for salmon which our daughter Karolin made for us on a visit with friends to Governor’s Island, New York, when my son-in-law Bob was stationed there during his tour of duty in the Coast Guard.

Salmon with Mustard Sauce – a recipe from Karolin Palko

2 pounds salmon fillets

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup white wine

2/3 cup heavy cream

1-1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

4 shallots, finely chopped

Juice of one lemon

1-1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Arrange salmon in single layer on a large baking dish. Drizzle with butter and lemon juice. Cook uncovered in 400 degree preheated oven for 15 minutes. In a small saucepan, simmer shallots and wine together on low heat until wine has evaporated and shallots are tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in cream, mustard, salt and pepper. Pour sauce over fish, return to oven and bake for additional 5 minutes or until fish is glazed but not browned. Serves 6