I'm back...!

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm coming off my summer hiatus.

There will be more food notes and other odds and ends coming soon!

Stay tuned!

Loaf and Ladle

For Mother's Day, Chardonnay and I went with Sandra to Ordiorne Point, which used to be a gunnery emplacement (Fort Dearborn) protecting Portsmouth Harbor during World War II. Before that, it was private land and marsh and today remains the largest strip of undeveloped seacoast on the NH coastline. Ordiorne Point has a few hiking trails and most of them have negligible elevation gain (in other words, you're hiking as opposed to climbing). The WW II era bunkers are still there, although the munitions are long gone. The land was considered surplus and was sold to the state of New Hampshire for $91,000 in 1962. Anyway, enough with the history lesson. The weather at Ordiorne this Sunday was lovely; not too warm and not too cold, with a nice breeze coming off the ocean surf.

We drove around to find a place to have a quick lunch, preferring to have a nice lobster dinner at home to needing to make reservations and wait, wait, wait for a table at a less-than-decent restaurant. I suggested the Loaf and Ladle, a lunch spot in Exeter that Sandra likes, and we drove there on the way home.

The Loaf and Ladle specializes in sandwiches, soup, and salad. There are fresh baked goods for desserts as well. There's a tavern section of the restaurant, but it has never been staffed when I visit the place (the bar is definitely active--it just seems to not be staffed when I'm there!).

The restaurant is located on the banks of the Exeter river on Rt. 111 in downtown Exeter. There is no table service. Instead, you come in, order at the counter, and then bring your meal to one of the tables. There was an outdoor patio in use yesterday, although the three of us ended up sitting in the tavern section of the dining area (again, the bar was vacant).

The menu is rarely static. The sandwiches include roast beef, chicken salad, hummus, liverwurst, and other standard fare. You get your choice of bread. Yesterday, there was Sourdough Rye, Oatmeal, Sesame Seed Wheat, Loaf and Ladle Wheat, and a few others. I chose the "whitest" bread they had, which was the oatmeal. The soups that day included Strawberry Rhubarb, Spicy Black Bean, Chili, Boiled Dinner (you know you're in New England!), and others. Soups and sandwiches are each served with an extra slice of bread, cut about the size of Texas Toast--around two inches thick.

One thing that I don't like about this place is the layout of the order counter. It is set so that if there are more than a couple people waiting to order a sandwich or soup, the line will cross over the doorway. This can lead to some confusion as people attempt to leave or enter the place. The service behind the counter isn't speedy--this isn't fast food by any means--and this only seems to exacerbate the "pile up by the door" situation.

As the name implies, it's the soups and bread that are Loaf and Ladle's specialties. Everything is served fresh and even though I'm not really a "classic soup" (I prefer Asian styles) or a bread person, I've always been able to find something I like.

The place takes cash and credit cards, and it appears that they have alcohol (although, as I've already mentioned, I've never been able to sample any of it). The prices are reasonable for the fare they offer. I'd consider this a hidden gem of a place, and it's easy to see why Sandra likes it so much.

Bon Appetit!

Brookstone Grille

Not too far away from the Salem / Derry line on Rt. 111 is what I would normally call a country club. The place is called Brookstone Park, which encompasses a golf course, practice range, miniature golf, an "ice cream shoppe," and the subject of this blog entry: The Brookstone Grille. (Apparently, the owners just love those quaint silent-e endings).

I knew about the Brookstone Grille for a while, but its location was a bit out of the way. My youngest daughter had pizza there a couple of times with a few friends from school, and all of a sudden, I started getting email from the Grille sent to my email address, but addressed to Sandra. What was even stranger is that every November, I get a special offer from the place for my birthday (Sandra's birthday is in November, not mine... whoever signed us up for this email must have gotten a wire crossed; the email doesn't appear in any way to be SPAM).

Last summer, Sandra and I decided to give the place a try.

Like most golf courses, the landscaping of the place is very nice. There's ample parking, although the spots closest to the restaurant always seem to be full. There is an enclosed full service bar area, a dining area, and a special area on the other side of the bar for a pizza and raw bar.

The place settings in the dining room look expensive, and the menu seems to specialize in grilled steak, chicken, and pork chops. There's also a section of the menu for pasta, fish, and other entrees as well. The prices are moderately high, but not abnormally so for a restaurant of this type. If the dining room is too fancy for you, you can always opt for the more casual atmosphere of the bar, or perhaps the raw bar (I've never eaten in the raw bar area, though). The full menu is available in the bar, which makes it very attractive for Sandra and me.

For appetizers, Sandra and I love the Pot Stickers, which are prepared in a large bowl with the dumplings sitting on top of the tip, and service with an interesting and spicy vegetable slaw. I've also had the Buffalo wings, although I believe that this is only served occasionally as an appetizer special.

The raw bar selections are amazing. Neither Salem nor Derry are on the seacoast, but the selections are always fresh. They offer tasty oysters, Cherrystone clams, seared tuna, and beef carpaccio. My favorite from the raw bar is what the Grille modestly calls their Colossal Shrimp Cocktail. At $3.50 per shrimp, and $18 for a half dozen, this seems to be expensive, but you won't believe the size of the shrimp you get! Those half dozen shrimp can be a main course in and of itself—and I've made them my meal on more than one occasion. They arrive perfectly chilled, and are presented with every two shrimp intertwined together and service with a deliciously wonderful cocktail sauce.

Sandra loves the creamy chowder at the Grille as well as the salads, and has had soup and salad for her meal many times. She has also had the pizza there, which is made fresh in-house. Sandra's favorite pizza here is the four-cheese pizza.

When I ordered a steak at the Grille, it was done exactly the way I ordered it (Medium-Well), and it was delicious.

Sandra and I visit the Grille once every month or two, mostly sitting in the bar and watching the local sports teams on the wide screen televisions there.

If I had to rate this restaurant, I'd probably give it three and a half to four stars (out of five). The food is always fresh and plated well. The atmosphere is relaxed and inviting—even the bar isn't too loud.

Perhaps this summer, Sandra and I will try out the miniature golf there, and perhaps end up at the Ice Cream Shoppe...!

Roll Your Owns

One of my family's favorite weekday meals is tacos. Although we use the packaged taco seasonings, we don't use the taco shells that they sell in the Mexican aisle in the supermarket. Instead we have what we've come to call "Roll Your Owns."

The process is simple. First, we brown some ground beef, discarding the extra fat that renders out. We use a wooden spatula to break up the beef into small crumbles as it cooks. Afterward, we add between a half cup and a cup of water and taco seasoning. Actually, we use a combination of one packet taco seasoning, and one packet "salsa mix," which I've found to give the meat a fresher taste than just taco seasoning alone. I've found that if you add too much water, the meat gets very runny; you can fix that up easily by adding a bit of cheese to make the mixture a bit firmer until you get the consistency you want.

As the meat is cooking, the rest of the taco ingredients are prepared. Lettuce is shredded, tomatoes are diced, onions sliced and diced, shredded cheese taken out of the refrigerator. We also add other things, depending on what's on hand: scallions, cilantro, whatever. All these ingredients, as well as the cooked meat, are put onto plates or bowls.

Next, we quickly wash the skillet we used to cook the meat, and then add about an inch or so of vegetable oil. The oil is heated until a drop of water "dances" when added to the pan.

Now, it's time to make the tortillas. We've found that about a dozen corn tortillas makes enough tacos for our family of four, so we usually make sure we have on hand two dozen tortillas in case somebody is hungrier than usual.

We fry the tortillas in the hot oil for varying amounts of time: about a minute for a "soft taco," a couple of minutes for a "medium taco," up to four or five minutes for a "hard taco" (folded) or "tostada" (flat). At our house, the "medium taco" is usually the favorite, with occasional requests for tacos or tostadas. The fact that they are "cooked to order" is why we call them "Roll Your Owns."

Once finished, the tortilla is placed on a plate covered with absorbent paper towel, and then the recipient will fill it with meat and various veggies and cheese, topping with taco sauce.

By the time four tortillas have been prepared, it's time to start again with the first person's second taco, and keep frying until everybody has had their fill.

Usually, at the end, there are still some tortillas, meat, and other ingredients left over. Not to fear! The remaining tortillas are cut into pie wedges (about six pieces per tortilla), and fried to make tortilla chips. Meanwhile, the remaining ingredients are collected into a single bowl to make taco salad. A few chips are crushed to top the salad, and the salad is eaten with the remaining chips.

Yum!

Barguy's Focaccia

I've mentioned Chip Shots Grill and Sports Pub before, and today's blog entry is about one of my favorite sandwiches, which was "invented" at that pub.

I first had focaccia at a restaurant called Houlihan's, which I first visited when they had a restaurant in Quincy Market in Boston. That restaurant has closed and there is another in its place, but one of the sandwiches they had there was a "Brentwood Chicken Grill," which intrigued me because I grew up in Brentwood, NY, and also because the sandwich was served on "focaccia bread." (Note: the chain now has a "Brentwood Chicken Sandwich" which is now served on a whole wheat bun. Pity!)

Focaccia is a bread which is usually seasoned with olive oil, onions, herbs, cheese, etc. There are probably as many variations in how a focaccia is made as there are variations in how pizza is prepared. In Houlihan's case, the sandwich had some cheese, rosemary, and a nice texture. I had this sandwich numerous times, even after Houlihan's in Quincy Market closed--I found a location in Lake Grove, NY, across the street from the Smith Haven Mall on Middle Country Road.

Anyway, at Chip Shots, I saw a number of focaccia sandwiches in their specials list, but never bothered to order them. After all, the idea of teriyaki chicken on a focaccia roll didn't really appeal to me. However, one day, I saw a special focaccia sandwich with the simple name "Roast Beef, Swiss Cheese, and Mushrooms." I ordered the sandwich and was immediately hooked. THIS was a sandwich I really liked! I liked it so much that I came back the very next day to order it again!

When I came back the next week, the specials list changed. I mentioned to one of the owners (Shannon) that the focaccia sandwich I had the previous week was one of the first times I ever came back to Chip Shots solely for the food (I really like the atmosphere and the people there, which is my main reason for frequenting that place). Shannon assured me that I could order that sandwich off the menu, and there would never be a problem. I took her up on that, and it now is one of the only meals I eat there... when I like something, I like it!

Recently, that focaccia sandwich reappeared on the specials list at Chip Shots, only this time it was called "Barguy's Focaccia." The name "Barguy" is one that I used when logging into the NTN trivia games that were once at the pub, and is the wait staff's nickname for me. I was honored; this was the second time a special was named after me!

This past weekend, I happened to notice some focaccia rolls at Hannahford's when doing some grocery shopping. I immediately got the idea to share my favorite sandwich with Sandra. I looked at the price of roast beef, and found it prohibitive--more expensive than some steaks! So, instead of using roast beef, I used shaved steak, which was less than half the price of the roast beef. (Chip Shots once made it as a "steak sandwich" for me when they ran out of roast beef when I ordered it.)

I made the sandwich and omitted the mushrooms for Sandra's sandwich, since she doesn't like them. We sliced up some baby Vidalia onions as well. Sandra loved the sandwich as much as I did. The two of us have now agreed to make this an occasional lunch meal on weekends.

The recipe below is my own adaptation of the Chip Shots recipe. It is the version that I made this past weekend. My sandwich included the mushrooms; Sandra's didn't.

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Barguy's Focaccia (Roast Beef, Swiss, Mushrooms)

Source:	Chip Shots Grill and Sports Pub
Yield:	One sandwich
Catalogued:	03-Mar-2008

Ingredients

1 medium sized onion focaccia roll

2-4 slices aged Swiss cheese

1 Tbs butter

1 Tbs Olive oil

¼ small onion, sliced

1 oz sliced mushrooms (canned is fine)

½ lb roast beef (shaved steak will also do)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Slice the focaccia roll into two slices and toast so that the inside gets a bit of color. Keep oven on after you remove the bread, and immediately add the slices of Swiss cheese evenly onto the sandwich halves.

Meanwhile, melt butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sliced onions and mushrooms to the butter/oil mixture, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent, about five minutes.

Cut roast beef slices in half or quarters, and add to the skillet and cook for another couple minutes until the redness in the beef starts to disappear. If using shaved steak, cook a bit longer until the meat is about medium done. Mix the meat with the onions, mushrooms, and then move to plate lined with absorbent paper.

Add the drained meat, onions, and mushrooms onto the sandwich halves on top of the cheese. Assemble the sandwich, adding toothpicks if necessary to keep the halves together.

Toast in the oven for 3-4 minutes until cheese melts.

Serve immediately.

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Bon Appetit!

Veal Piccata

Let's face it. I love Italian food. Even if it isn't your every day red sauce meal.

First, there's nothing wrong with red sauce. I love it very much. My wife loves it as well.

However, you can't have tomato sauce every day, and Italian recipes offer much more than just sauce.

Enter Veal Piccata. I've always loved it. I can't remember the first time I had it, but it was most likely after I got married, since I wasn't the kind of person to experiment with new ideas before then.

Anyway, I made Veal Piccata about a year ago, and was amazed. The veal was grilled on my grill pan, and then added to the sauce.

Amazingly, I never kept the recipe I used!

This week, I got a good deal on Veal Scallopine at McKinnon's market, and I wanted to make Veal Piccata. So... I had to search the web to find the recipe I found back then. I think I managed to find it!

I made this on Tuesday, and it's just as good as I remembered.

Have fun!

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Veal Piccata

Source:	Gourmet, January 2002
Active Time:	20 min
Total Time:	30 min
Yield:	Makes 8 servings.
Catalogued:	12-Feb-2008

Grill the veal while the noodles boil so both are ready at the same time.

Sauce

1 ¼ cups low-fat chicken stock or low-sodium fat-free chicken broth

⅓ cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Boil stock and wine in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan until reduced by about half (to about ¾ cup), about 3 minutes. Whisk together flour and water in a cup, then whisk into stock. Boil, stirring, 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in butter, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Keep sauce warm.

Veal

2 lb veal cutlets (also called scallopini; ¼ inch thick)

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 lemon, thinly sliced

Cut veal into 3-inch pieces, then pat dry with paper towels. Lightly oil grill pan and heat over high heat until just smoking.

While pan is heating, sprinkle veal with salt and pepper. Grill veal in batches, without crowding, until browned, about 30 seconds on each side, transferring with tongs to a platter. Grill lemon slices, in batches if necessary, until lightly browned, about 1 minute per side, transferring to platter with veal.

Stir parsley into warm sauce and pour over veal.

Serve with buttered noodles with chives

If uncooked cutlets are more than ¼ inch thick, pound to ¼ inch thick between 2 sheets of plastic wrap with a rolling pin.

Nutritional Information
calories	143
grams fat	2

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Bon Appetit!

Rolled Tacos

According to the Wikipedia, taquitos are small rolled-up tortillas with some sort of filling, usually beef or chicken. They are also called Rolled Tacos, and sometimes (usually when made with flour tortillas) Flautas.

I first came upon these things as flautas when I was living in Miami. A few restaurant had these intriguing things in the appetizer sections called "Flautas" and I tried some. I wasn't particularly impressed with them at the time; they seemed to be crispy rolls that didn't really have much to offer as far as taste was concerned—they just didn't have enough filling in them for my taste.

Over the years, I saw flautas on menus, usually as an appetizer, but occasionally as an item in the "combination plates" as well. I didn't really dislike them, but I never really found myself impressed with them. In fact, my impression was that they were just chimichangas with smaller tortillas and without most of the filling. Almost always, they were served "dry" without any sauce on top as a chimichanga would be served, but with some sort of salsa to accompany them.

I'm not sure when I first encountered taquitos by that name. I'm pretty sure that, like flautas, they were on the appetizer or combinations section of Mexican menus. I noticed something about them almost immediately: they tasted better. I think the difference (to me) was that fried corn tortillas have an inherent crunch and taste that is simply lacking in flour tortillas. They still didn't have much as far as filling was concerned, but they were a step up from flautas to my taste.

Today, you can find taquitos in many supermarket freezer sections. Get a box of ten or twenty and heat them up in your oven. Simple meal or snack. Of course, when I first tried these frozen varieties, I knew that I needed something to dip them into. Salsa was an obvious choice, but I wanted something a bit special for these.

I'm not sure where I got the idea the first time, but I distinctly remember making a spicy ranch dip. I simply put some ranch salad dressing into a small dipping bowl. To this, I added some chili powder and a few drops of hot sauce. Voila! Instant classic in less than a half hour!

While I still get the frozen taquitos, I've noticed that a lot of them are now being made with flour tortillas: exactly what I didn't like about flautas originally! Luckily, the boxes will tell you what you are getting, but you should look carefully!

Recently, I started making taquitos from scratch. I surprised Sandra by making a breakfast for her one weekend. I made an omelet, and added ground chorizo and some salsa to make the filling, which then I wrapped into small corn tortillas that I first sprayed with cooking spray. I assembled the breakfast taquitos onto a cookie sheet and cooked them in the oven for about twenty minutes. Sandra really liked the result!

Sandra noticed recently that Rachael Ray had a recipe for taquitos on her "Thirty Minute Meals" show, and she asked me to capture the recipe for her into our recipe collection.

I'm excerpting her recipe below, which also includes some burritos (you decide if you want both taquitos and burritos!).

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Poquito and Grande: Taquitos and Burritos

Source:	Rachael Ray—30 Minute Meals—Food Network
Prep Time:	15 minutes
Cook Time:	30 minutes
Yield:	6 to 8 servings
Catalogued:	04-Feb-2008

Taquitos

2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon dried oregano

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 can chopped green chiles, 4 ounces

A few leaves fresh cilantro or parsley, finely chopped

Vegetable or canola oil, for frying

12 (6-inch) corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Season the chicken with cumin, oregano, salt and pepper and mix in the chiles and cilantro or parsley. Dip the tortillas in 1-inch warm oil to soften. Tightly roll a couple of forkfuls of chicken up in the tortillas. Place seam side down and bake 12 minutes.

Dipping Sauce For Burritos And Taquitos

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 red onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon chili powder, a palm full

1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin, ½ a palm full

A pinch ground cinnamon

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 (28-ounce) can fire roasted crushed tomatoes

Heat a sauce pot over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, red onion and garlic and soften 5 minutes then season with sugar, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper and stir in the fire roasted tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and simmer.

Burritos

8 (8-inch) flour tortillas

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 ½ pounds ground pork

1 small zucchini, grated

2 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped

2 to 3 tablespoons (medium to hot) chipotle in adobo, mashed into paste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 (19-ounce) can black beans (recommended: Progresso)

2 cups shredded Chihuahua cheese or Monterey Jack or Cheddar

½ head iceberg lettuce, or 1 heart romaine, shredded

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Add the pork, brown it for 2 minutes then add in zucchini, garlic, chipotle in adobo and salt. Cook for about 7 to 8 minutes more.

Heat the last tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil in a small nonstick skillet. Add the black beans and mash with a fork. Season the beans with salt and fry until crisp at edges, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Soften tortillas in microwave or in hot oven. On each tortilla pile a little refried black beans, cheese, pork and lettuce. Tuck in the sides then wrap and roll the tortilla.

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Bon Appetit!

Super Bowl Sunday

Sandra and I have made a tradition of watching the Super Bowl and having some special snacks.

This tradition goes back to (I think) 1986 when a friend of ours named Michael was temporarily living in what is now the kids' room (the lease on his apartment expired and he was still trying to find a new place).

On Super Bowl Sunday morning that year, I was watching television and saw somebody preparing a snack dish. It was basically a steak, cheese, and onions sandwich. However, instead of serving it on a torpedo roll, the cook hollowed out a round bread boule and put the cooked ingredients into it. Cheese was added to the top (and I think there was some tomato sauce or something else which didn't appeal to me), and then the bread was cooked in the oven. The resulting "sandwich" was then cut up and served to people.

Sandra and I thought this was a great idea (without the sauce, of course), and I went to the store and got the ingredients. Later that day, we watched the Super Bowl while eating a pretty nice steak sandwich.

Ever since then, we made a habit of watching the Super Bowl and the steak sandwich was a part of it most years.

Of course, we've added different snacks over the years, including nachos, "Macho Dip" (described in a separate post, chicken wings, and lots of other snacks.

Now, my wife and I aren't avid football fans. I used to insist that I watched the Super Bowl for the advertisements, and to some extent, I guess that's true. However, with the Patriots once again being in the game for the fourth time since the 2001 season, I'll also be rooting for New England.

So... what's on the menu for Sunday?

Well, to tell you the truth, we really haven't decided.

We made the "Super Bowl Steak Sandwich" a couple of weeks ago when the kids were still around, since Sandra and I agree that it's too much for just the two of us to handle (the kids will both be in school this weekend).

Normally, I'd make chicken wings (or pick up those newfangled Hot Wings at Kentucky Fried Chicken—yum!), but Weight Watcher ranks them at three points EACH. Sandra would prefer something less intrusive, point-wise.

Macho Dip (refer to link above) is a possibility. The big problem is making "just enough" for game day without leftovers. We do have some leftover "verde" (green) enchilada sauce from a meal earlier this week, so this is a real possibility if I remember to get some cans of Campbell's cheese soup and a bag of Tostito's "scoops" chips for dipping.

We have some nice shrimp in the freezer, so Shrimp New Orleans is probably in the works. If Sandra feels like it, we can even add garlic knots as well to dip into the sauce.

I might be able to convince Sandra to let me make some Potato Skins. The recipe is quite simple: bake some potatoes, cut them in half and scoop out some of the insides with a spoon. (At this point, the potato shells can be frozen for later use... if you want to have them ready in advance.) Cook the scooped out and empty potato skins for twenty minutes—turn the skins upside down after the first ten minutes—at about 400 to 450°F. Add shredded cheese, bacon, and some green onions and broil until the cheese is bubbly. Yum!

Other possibilities:

• Celery and carrots with ranch or blue cheese dressing


• Tacquitos—we make a dipping sauce with ranch dressing, some chili powder, and hot sauce.


• Nachos, if we haven't overdosed on Mexican...!


• Shrimp cocktail (again, if we don't overdose on shrimp!)

Bon Appetit!

Foodie Sites for NH

I am an avid blogger. While this may be the only blog that I write, I tend to read and keep up with many blogs that span the range of my interests, from computer and technical information to food and even local sports (Hooray, Red Sox!).

There are a few places that I frequent to keep tabs on the food scene, and a few of them specialize in the New Hampshire region where I live. I'd like to share some of these sites. Note that this isn't meant to be comprehensive; it's just a list of some places I like to visit.

Modesty, of course, precludes me from listing this site. Besides, if you're reading this, I don't really need to suggest it to you!

First and foremost, there is Chowhound's New England board which is a place where you can go for "tips on dining, eating, and food shopping in ME, NH, VT, RI, MA, and CT" (there is a Boston board as well, as well as for regions all around the country and elsewhere). This is a place where people can post questions, make reviews, get recommendations, and talk about food in the New England area. If you visit there regularly, you will probably find people who share interests with yourself. I, for one, have found a few people that share my love for Asian cuisine, and have come to trust their recommendations.

Next is Seacoast Online, which carries information on the New Hampshire Seacoast region, including parts of Maine and Massachusetts. You can find articles from Portsmouth Herald and some other locally-driven newspapers here. Since I love visiting Portsmouth and the seacoast region, I find this a great place for information. Their "Entertainment" site has a section on Food & Wine and a section on Dining (restaurant reviews). One thing to be aware about is that there is advertising from different restaurants on this site, so they may not print "bad" reviews about advertisers.

On television, the TV Diner (on New England Cable News) and Phantom Gourmet (on Boston's TV38) give reviews and recipes from restaurants in New England. These are pretty good sites for getting pointers to local restaurants. Billy Costa used to be the host of Phantom Gourmet, but now hosts TV Diner after the Phantom moved from NECN to TV38. Both sites are useful.

I have always been a fan of PortsmouthNH.com a site dedicated to... Portsmouth, NH. I already mentioned my love of Portsmouth, and this site is probably the most encyclopedic about the region. As far as foodies are concerned, it maintains a list of restaurants along with a short description of each.

If you ever travel to Manchester (and more recently, Nashua), you have probably seen a free newspaper called The Hippo, which is a weekly guide to the Merrimack Valley in NH. There are weekly articles on Local news, Pop culture, Living (including Food, Wine, Beer... and a "Grazing Guide"), Music and Arts. I would imagine that it's audience is people between 21 and 65, including tourists. The publishers also put out a daily paper, The Manchester Express, which is also available as a PDF online.

There are also actual blogs that I read daily, but none of them (that I am aware of) are from people in my area. However, they are interesting in their own right, since food is not always a regional topic. I'll save them for another blog entry.

Bon Appetit!

A new take on Food Porn

As I was traveling during the recent holidays, I went to a local Panera Bread to have a warm cup of tea, a few sourdough rolls, and to use their free wireless Internet (WiFi) to catch up on things happening. (By the way, their bread is always fresh, their wireless is easy to use, and their tea is delightful! Patronize them!)

I have a "folder of bookmarks" that I can open all at once into separate tabs within Firefox, and soon the dozen or so sites I regularly read were being loaded into my browser.

Well, almost.

Imagine my surprise when THIS VERY SITE did not appear. Instead, I got a message that my site was blocked. I couldn't imagine why this was, but I followed their "if you think this site has been blocked in error..." link, and found that the site was listed as "Pornographic." I filled in their feedback form and asked the people who ran the watch-dog site (with admittedly with a less than flattering comment) to re-rate the site. They must get scores of such requests, and I was a bit disappointed to find that it could take a few days or longer to get a site re-rated.

Note: Although Panera Bread apparently runs requests for web sites through an Internet filter, I do not mean any ill to that company for doing so. In our litigious society, it is possible for a place to be sued or forced out of business simply for "making available" illegal content. So, it's understandable that they would do something like this. It's their Internet they are providing; they can filter it any way they want!

My request to the watch-dog company with the Internet filter was sent out around noon on December 27. On December 29, I received an email stating that my site was being reclassified as "Web Communications," which is what I guess a blog is, rather than my suggested "Restaurants and Dining" listing—there wasn't a listing for "Food and Thoughts." That was actually pretty quick turn-around, and I'm happy this was settled.

But I got to thinking. In what universe could this site be labeled pornographic? I have no pictures of nudes (other than a penguin who wasn't wearing any pants to explain my holiday absense!), and I really don't talk much about "pornographic topics."

Well, I think I may have figured it out. My recent article on chicken wings mentioned a restaurant chain that has decent wings. The name of the chain is an intentional play on a slang term for a woman's anatomy.

Now, I've seen this restaurant chain bill itself as a "family restaurant," although I wouldn't go as far as making that description myself. However, mentioning the name of the chain five times managed to trigger some software into making a decision that my blog is a den of depravity.

Alternatively, perhaps somebody may have decided that this particular chain doesn't need "free advertising" from a person like me and reported me to the guardians of our morals on the Internet! If I managed to offend somebody, then I'm sorry. However, since that person, should he or she really exist, would probably never connect to my site again, I think my apology will be falling on deaf ears.

Of course, the use of the "porn" and "pornography" terms in this particular article may cause the entire situation to repeat.

Sometimes, you can't win.

Happy Holidays!

There will be no more posts on this blog until after New Year's. I will be doing a lot of traveling with very little access to the Internet.

The good news is that the nest isn't empty now... at least until winter break is over!

Bon Appetit and Happy Holidays to everybody!

Chicken Wings

In 1983, I was living in New England and unemployed for the first time since I got married. I tried my hand at contract programming for a bit of time until I was hired as a programmer/analyst by a friend.

The contract programming thing went bust for a pretty obvious reason (at least looking at it in hindsight): I might be a great programmer, but I am a lousy businessperson. I'm terrible at handling money, marketing my services, or even adequately pricing my services.

During that time, however, I spent time in Miami working with a couple of pharmacies. I stayed with my parents and lived in my old bedroom for a month or so, and used the cheap (then) airline fares to visit back home in New England (or have Sandra come down to Miami to visit).

During this time in Miami, I went to a restaurant chain and had my first taste of Buffalo chicken wings. I was intrigued by the description (spicy!), and was hooked on the very first bite.

Now, I've since read the history of these chicken wings and how they started at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY, but at the time, I was truly intrigued. I went back to the restaurant again and again until it was time for me to go back to New England.

In New England, other restaurants were starting to pick up on the spicy appetizer. I remember Pizzeria Uno in Quincy Market had a rather unspicy and "dry" version of the wings, which I didn't mind, but never once confused with the "real thing" that I had back in Miami.

I remember a funny episode during a trip to Australia in the mid-1980s when somebody asked me about the "culture" of America. I was specifically asked what appetizers were popular back in the states.

"Hmm. Chicken fingers and Buffalo wings come to mind," I answered.

I was met with stunned silence for a moment. Apparently, they never heard of these wonderful things down under. Finally, my companion (named Robert), commented, "You yanks have an awful sense of anatomy."

In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, I did a lot of traveling while doing contract work with the Department of Defense. We did a lot of trade shows throughout the south, and eventually found a chain of restaurants called Hooter's.

Hooter's claim to fame (at least food-wise) was their chicken wings. These were as good, or even better, than that place in Miami where I first sampled them. I think it was in Phoenix that I tried the wings in a Hooter's, and I made sure to try all four varieties (mild, medium, hot, and Three Mile Island—the latter with jalepeno peppers added into the sauce).

Another chain that had decent wings was Chili's (they still do, by the way—just make sure you get them with the bones in them). My family would eat nearly weekly at the local Chili's in Salem and get an order of wings, some (free!) chips and salsa, and an order of nachos.

The standard technique to make the wings is to simply deep fry them, and then toss them in a bowl full of butter (or margarine) mixed with hot sauce (e.g., Tabasco). Simple, huh?

I remember being able to buy "frozen hot wings" from some company that makes prepared foods (Tyson?). To make these, you simply spread the wings onto a cookie sheet, and it came with a small packet of hot sauce that you could spread onto the wings before they cook. These had a more "barbecued" flavor than the traditional wings, but everybody in my house loved them—they were a common meal a while back. I don't see these anymore, though. Other frozen wings that are preglazed haven't really interested me—I really liked controlling the amount of hot sauce myself, thank you!

I used to be able to get my wings quite regularly at the Hooters in Salem (before that store opened, there was one in Manchester). However, it seems that all the Hooters in New England have closed. [frown]

Nowadays, you can find Buffalo wings at a lot of places, and chances are that they will be pretty good. Unfortunately, Sandra doesn't eat them any more. She never really liked them, although she'd have one or two when I ordered them. Nowadays, she found out that a single chicken wing is worth three points on her Weight Watcher diet. She tells me that she'd rather spend her points (especially three of them!) on food that she really likes.

Chips

No... this column isn't about Ponch and Baker.

It's about those thinly sliced potatoes, fried and salted into glorious perfection. Those things that have that k-k-k-k-runch when you bite them.

Believe it or not, I wasn't much of a chip fan as a child. Potato chips were always served with a cream cheese dip. I hated cream cheese as a child. I still do.

What did intrigue me, though, were the Lays commercials. "Betcha can't eat just one!" I shrugged, and I took up the challenge. I was an expert in eating just one.

My parents moved early on from Lay's to Ruffles ("R-r-ruffles have r-r-ridges!") most likely because the ridged potato chips were more amenable to dipping. Not that I cared, mind you.

I lived my life, not needing nor wanting potato chips, for quite a few years. When I was in high school, however, I had a lot more freedom. Despite the fact that I lived far enough away from my school to take a bus, I preferred to walk to school. And between my home and the school was a rather large supermarket.

In tenth grade, I took somebody on a bet and I joined the junior varsity lacrosse team. This was a big sport in Long Island, and Brentwood (where I lived) had one of the best teams. On my way to school, I'd stop at the local Pathmark supermarket, and get some Gatorade. It was during those stops at the supermarket that I decided to get some chips--just to be different.

I think that was the first time that I could say that I actually liked potato chips. Before then, chips were something served at parties, and always accompanied by dip. Now, I was eating them on my own terms.

I also discovered Pringles (the "new-fangled" potato chips), and Munchos (potato "crisps" which were made with potato and corn for a crunchier taste) during high school. I had the makings of a potato chip junkie.

My biggest problem: eight ounce bags of potato chips were too much for me to eat alone. I ended up wasting most of the bag, and that wasn't something that appealed to me.

However, that Lay's promise--"Betcha can't eat just one"--started to haunt me.

It wasn't the Lay's brand, though. In college, I discovered the large tin containers of Charles' Chips. These had a different taste that I found nearly addicting. However, these tubs were much larger than the Lay's bags: I'd eat them at parties, when I was lucky enough to find a party with them. However, I'd never purchase them myself.

Fast forward to after I moved to New England. There was a new type of potato chip in town: Cape Cod chips. These were kettle chips that were crunchier (if that were possible!) than most any other potato chips.

There was also the Granite State potato chip factory in my new home in Salem, NH. This was a chip that had more potato taste than others, and less salt than your typical potato chips. You could purchase a plastic bucket of chips, and then come back and get the bucket refilled. Everybody I knew loved those potato chips!

Anheuser Busch--the beer company--purchased Cape Cod potato chips, and if you visited their Merrimack facility (not too far from my house), they would serve them, or some other of their "Eagle Snacks" brand of snack items.

That Eagle Snacks brand line wasn't long lived with Anheuser Busch. They sold the brand, and eventually, Cape Cod chips were sold back to the original owners (and they apparently still own the brand).

Today, I seem to have gotten my chip addiction under control. I still eat them, but I am still happy with just a few.

My youngest daughter simply loves Lays classic potato chips. I prefer Lay's "Wavy" style of all of Lay's chips, although their kettle chips aren't bad. The rest of my family seems to like whatever is around.

I still like Munchos, but none of my family seems to like it as much as I do. I only have them occasionally, though. Pringles are still popular, but we don't seem to have them very often.

Thanks to BJ's Wholesale Club, I have place where I can get a box of forty-eight 1-oz packages of Cape Cod chips for when temptation strikes. They're small enough to consume without any waste. Those are my current source of chips for the near future.

At parties, though, I take whatever is there. Except for the dip, of course!

A Couple of Good Southern Maine Eateries

Sandra and I took a trip out to Maine yesterday. Actually, our original goal was to visit Strawbery Banke's annual Candlelight Stroll after paying a visit to the factory outlets across the Piscataqua River in Kittery, Maine, but we got sidetracked.

First, the factory outlets are fun. Despite the fact that there is no sales tax in New Hampshire, people still cross the border into Maine for the nice prices on items in Kittery.

Up until a couple of years ago, finding good eats wasn't easy in Kittery. Of course, there was the Weathervane, which is a chain of seafood restaurants with its original location right in the middle of the Kittery outlet mall. However, ever since Weathervane opened up a location in Salem, NH (where I live), neither Sandra nor I ever had the desire to visit the one in Kittery. After all, why visit someplace that has the same food that you can get at home? Right?

A few years ago, however, Bob's Clam Shack, which is an aptly named tiny seafood shack near the Kittery Trading Post, purchased the old Quarterdeck restaurant, remodeled it extensively, and reopened it as Robert's Maine Grill. The place is bright and airy, and it now has a larger bar on the main floor (the Quarterdeck had a tiny bar that was difficult to find on the second floor).

Since Robert's opened, it quickly became a favorite of the family. The menu isn't large, but the food they offer is delicious and the prices aren't too expensive.

This weekend, Sandra and I decided to just do appetizers. Sandra ordered the clam chowder, and I ordered Howard's Mussels, which the menu describes as "our interpretation of a famous chef from Provincetown's great recipe—made with sausage, fennel, and cream." The mussels came with a couple of slightly toasted pieces of french bread, which was useful for sopping up the wonderful cream broth. Even Sandra, who generally doesn't like mussels, thought the taste was fantastic. Sandra's chowder was, as usual, creamy and very good.

For dinner, we headed further north to Cape Neddick where we went to another family favorite, the Cape Neddick Lobster Pound Harbourside Restaurant. Actually, we decided on this restaurant the evening before we left, and I went so far as to check the restaurant's web site for their hours (I knew they were open year round, unlike a lot of lobster pounds). Interestingly, this restaurant doesn't post their hours on their web site. Instead, I copied the phone number to my cell phone, and Sandra called them up during the afternoon to find out that they are open continuously from noon until they close at nine PM. (Why can't they put that on their web site?)

I've already written about Cape Neddick last September, and it really hasn't changed all that much. The place wasn't crowded at all when we arrived at about 5:30. We were seated close to a roaring fire, which made for a nice atmosphere for the chilly day—there was a light dusting of snow on the ground from a few days prior, and the temperature on Saturday dove into the teens. For our meals, Sandra ordered twin one pound lobsters, and I noticed that they had prime rib on their specials list, so I ordered that.

Our meals were wonderful, as usual. The waitress was prompt and attentive, and apologized profusely when her serving tray fell over, spilling our side dishes to the floor (they were promptly replaced!).

After a full day in Maine, both Sandra and I were beat, so we drove straight home from Cape Neddick, skipping the Candlelight Stroll at Strawbery Banke. I guess we'll have to take the stroll next weekend (or the weekend after that... ).

Bon Appetit!

Gumbo

I spent a lot of time last week wandering through Shaw's supermarket after work trying to come up with ideas for meals for Sandra and myself. Our nest is still empty, and I don't have too many items in my repertoire for two people.

On Sunday, I got a great idea. Instead of going to Shaw's looking for ideas, I should go to McKinnon's Meat and Super Butcher Shop instead.

McKinnon's is, as its name suggests, a combination butcher shop, meat market, and super market... all rolled in one. The prices for groceries aren't bad, but their specials on meat, poultry, and seafood are fantastic!

They advertised Baby Back ribs for less than $2.50—but they were unfortunately out of stock. Sandra and I looked at different meat items until I came across their andouille sausage.

"I could make gumbo," I suggested without much hope.

"Do you know how to make it?" Sandra asked.

"I think I have a recipe in my private collection," I answered. (I did; it was one of Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals.)

Sandra then surprised me by saying, "If you want to make it, then I'll try it."

Up until that moment, Sandra never even tried gumbo. I've found a couple of restaurants that serve it—like Border Cafe, which serves it as an appetizer, but every time I offered a taste to Sandra, she always turned me down.

I was so happy that Sandra gave me the chance that I realized that I did not actually know what was needed for the recipe. I knew that okra played a big part, and suggested celery and onions. I wanted to make it with chicken, sausage, and shrimp (Hey! Why not go for broke?). I checked a can of Campbell's Gumbo Soup (their Healthy Request version of Gumbo is surprisingly good, by the way!), and checked the recipes and confirmed the ingredients, which included tomatoes, so I got a big can of crushed tomatoes as well. Instead of green pepper, which doesn't appeal to either Sandra or me, I got a tiny can of chopped green chiles from the Mexican aisle.

When I got home, I searched my recipe file and found Rachael's recipe. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, so I searched the recipes on FoodNetwork.com, and found about seven pages of hits for gumbo.

The one I chose had most of the ingredients that I already had, with the exception of shrimp, which I figured could be added in later.

When I made this recipe, I noticed a few things:

• I needed more than the three tablespoons of oil to make the roux
  
• I needed more than a half cup of flour, but the recipe DOES say a half cup plus flour for dredging. I dredged the chicken in the half cup of flour, and used the remainder for the start of the roux. I needed to add more flour to get what I thought was enough.
  
• I threw a handful of peeled shrimp into the gumbo about fifteen minutes before I was ready to serve the dish.
  
• Next time, I think I will cook the vegetables separately, since cooking them in the roux didn't seem to work so well.
  
• Sandra found out at the last minute that we didn't have white rice, so we substituted jasmine rice (Thai rice) instead, which worked nicely.
  
• I used the crushed tomatoes rather than the peeled whole tomatoes called for in the recipe. After putting in about half a can, I realized I had enough, so I put the remainder into the refrigerator for later on this week when I make an Italian sauce.
  
• I used some spicy creole seasoning (not very much, though) instead of the red pepper, since I didn't want to make the gumbo too spicy.

Sandra's verdict? She liked it! She was surprised that it wasn't very spicy at all, which I think was the reason for her hesitancy for even trying it in a restaurant.

We had enough for two meals (so much for the "meal for two" I wanted to make), and we plan on having leftovers on Monday evening.

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Chicken and Andouille Gumbo

Source:	From Food Network Kitchens
Prep Time:	15 minutes
Cook Time:	50 minutes
Yield:	6 to 8 servings
Catalogued:	02-Dec-2007

Ingredients

2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

12 ounces andouille sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces

½ cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dredging

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

12 chicken thighs

2 medium onions, sliced

2 red or green bell peppers, stemmed, seeded and cut into strips

2 ribs celery, chopped

10 ounces fresh or frozen okra, cut into ½ inch pieces

10 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

6 to 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 (15-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, with their juice

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 scallions (whit and green parts), thinly sliced

Chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the vegetable oil. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and much of the fat is rendered. Remove the sausage to plate with a slotted spoon.

While the sausage browns, pour a good amount of flour into a shallow baking dish, and season with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken with the flour and add to the Dutch oven, in batches if necessary, and cook until brown on both sides. Remove to the plate with the sausage.

Add the ½ cup flour to the Dutch oven and cook, stirring constantly, until light golden brown. Add the onions, peppers, and celery to the Dutch oven and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes. Stir in the okra and the garlic and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes.

Strip the leaves from the thyme into the Dutch oven, and stir in the bay leaves, red pepper flakes, and 6 cups broth. Crush the tomatoes through your hands into the pot. Return the chicken and sausage to the pot, bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, uncovered, 25 to 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Stir in some additional chicken stock to thin the sauce a bit, if desired.

Stir in the vinegar, scallions, and parsley, taste, and adjust the seasoning.

Rice

2 cups long-grain rice

3 cups water or chicken broth

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Put the rice in a medium saucepan with a cover. Stir in the water or broth, salt, and pepper. Smooth the rice to make an even surface, cover and heat over low to medium-low heat until all the liquid has been absorbed and rice is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

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Bon Appetit!

French Bread Pizza

(Sorry for the delay in posting; holidays and everything kept me busy! —lar3ry)

When the kids were very young, Sandra and I had two vastly different work schedules. She worked from about 3pm until 11pm at night (evening shift), and I worked during the day. We usually had a babysitter watch the kids between the time Sandra had to leave for work, and the time I got home, although we sometimes used day care instead.

What this meant was that I was responsible for feeding the kids their supper. When they were in the "baby food" ages, I had a selection of a few pre-made foods for the kids. Sandra used to joke that I wouldn't feed the kids anything I wouldn't eat myself, and that was actually mostly true. The kids ended up eating a lot of mashed banana, sometimes carrots, and some rice cereal for the most part.

When the children were old enough for "real food," they progressed quickly from Cheerios and other bite-size items to more sophisticated items like soups and pizza.

Now, I've already explained history with pizza in another blog entry, and I won't repeat myself here. Needless to say, I knew that the kids loved pizza, and it wasn't in my heart to avoid it. For a time, those "Red Baron" mini-pizzas that you could cook in a microwave were popular, but they started to get repetitive. Another frozen pizza that I seemed to always have liked is Ellio's (the square pizzas), but they weren't a big hit with the girls. A small pizza from the pizza place just down the road from my house was cheap enough (about three dollars for a plain pizza), that I occasionally chose that as well.

At the time, I was working in Boston's North End in a building that sits right across the street from the Paul Revere house on North Street. The North End is a well known Italian neighborhood, and has many block party "feasts" throughout the year.

On my way home, I would walk from my office, through the North End, towards the Boston Garden, and pick up my commuter rail at North Station. The trek through the North End had me passing a number of bakeries, and one day as I was passing by, I saw a large loaf of French Bread. That got me to thinking about French Bread pizza—something that Sandra and I may have had once or twice, but I don't think we ever made it from scratch. "How difficult could it be?" I asked myself, and I purchased a fresh loaf on my way home.

I love fresh bread, and it was a big act of self-control that kept me from eating the bread while I was sitting in the train on my way home. However, I had a couple of hungry pizza-eaters to feed, so good ol' dad kept his appetite at bay and the loaf made it safely through the train ride in one (complete) piece. Driving home, I stopped at the grocery store to purchase some pizza sauce from a jar (I wasn't that familiar with making my own pizza sauce), and some shredded mozzarella.

I was set.

At home, I cut the bread, added the sauce and cheese, and popped it into the oven until the cheese melted (about 400 F for about ten minutes).

The kids loved it!

I did, too, although I simply made mine without the sauce and cheese—toasted French bread!

Over the years, I varied the recipe a bit, sometimes using leftover (homemade) spaghetti sauce, sometimes adding cooked sausage or slices of pepperoni, and this was always a quick, easy meal to make.

A couple of years ago, while watching Rachael Ray on Food Network's "Thirty Minute Meals," I saw Rachael make what I thought was a French Bread Pizza on Steroids. Of course, she had her own name for it (shown below).

I've made this myself, although I did my own take on the recipe, as neither Sandra nor I wanted the pepper, spinach, or ricotta. Still, Rachael's recipe was a great starting point for a whole new era of French Bread pizza at my house. It's still a quick and easy meal.

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Super Stuffed French Bread Pizza Rustica

Source:	Rachael Ray—30 Minute Meals—Food Network
Prep Time:	10 minutes
Cook Time:	25 minutes
Yield:	4 servings
Catalogued:	03-Nov-2005

Ingredients

1 (2 foot long) loaf French bread

1 pound sweet Italian sausage

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

1 package frozen chopped spinach defrosted and squeezed dry

Salt and pepper

1 ½ cups part skim ricotta

½ cup grated Parmesan

½ pound sweet sopressata, from the deli, sliced thick, chopped

½ stick pepperoni, chopped

1 sack (10 ounces) shredded mozzarella

1 sack (10 ounces) shredded provolone

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Split bread lengthwise and hollow it out. Cut in half across, making 4 shells for pizzas.

Heat a skillet over medium high flame and brown sausage in extra-virgin olive oil. Brown and crumble sausage. Add red bell pepper, onion and garlic. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, add spinach. Remove mixture from heat and season with a pinch of salt and black pepper, to your taste.

Transfer to a bowl. Combine sausage and veggies with ricotta, Parmesan, sopressata and pepperoni. Fill bread shells and top with mounded mozzarella and provolone cheeses. Place in hot oven on cookie sheet and bake until cheese melts and bubbles and bread is super crisp, about 10 to 12 minutes. Top pizzas with oregano and hot pepper flakes. Serve immediately, or snack all night!

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Bon Appetit!

Pasta with Meat Sauce

My family has come to enjoy my pasta with meat sauce recipes. I use the plural here, because my sauce comes in about three varieties: traditional, without vegetables, and with ground meat.

The first variety, which is most closely associated with the Italian Bolognese sauce, consists of cubes of beef simmered with onions, carrots, celery, beef stock, and crushed tomatoes. Now, according to the Wikipedia, my use of tomatoes may make it less than authentic, but we seem to enjoy it this way.

Sandra, however, doesn't really like when I add the finely cubed vegetables (carrots and celery) to the meat, which is about the only time that I prefer more vegetables to a dish than Sandra. If I'm in a rush, I will use ground meat (make sure it's relatively lean, about 85%) to make a quick meal. Hence the three varieties.

Below is my traditional meat sauce with notes at the bottom for additional varieties.

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Bolognese Sauce

Source:	My recipe that evolved over twenty some-odd years
Yield:	Serves 4-6
Catalogued:	13-Nov-2007

Ingredients

2 ribs of celery, chopped into small cubes

1 carrot, chopped into small cubes

2 Tbs olive oil

1 ½ lbs lean beef, cut into small cubes

1 medium onion, chopped

1 can beef broth

¼ cup red wine

1 Tbs dried basil

1 Tbs dried bacon bits (artificial is fine)

28 oz can crushed tomatoes (Contadina preferred)

6 oz can tomato paste

1 lb hearty pasta (linguine, tagliatelle, perciatelli, bucatini, or penne)

Grated hard cheese (Parmesan or Romano)

Chop the ribs of celery and carrot into tiny (about ⅛") cubes. Slice the onion thinly, and then chop to make small cubes.

Using a Dutch oven, drizzle the olive oil onto the bottom of the pot over medium-high heat, and rotate the pot until the oil covers the bottom. Add chopped carrots, celery, and onions, and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent. Add extra oil, if necessary.

Add the cubed beef and continue to cook, stirring occasionally to ensure that all the beef is cooked. Sauté the meat and vegetable mixture for an additional three minutes and then add the broth, wine, basil, bacon bits, tomatoes, and paste.

Wait until the mixture starts to bubble and then lower the heat to medium-low. Cover the pot and simmer for at least twenty minutes— the longer you cook, the more chance for the flavors to "marry."

Prepare a pound of pasta according to package directions until al denté.

Serve Bolognese sauce over pasta, garnishing with Parmesan or Romano cheese, as desired.

• Add one frozen sausage, cubed for additional flavor
• Ground beef may be substituted for the cubed meat
• Sandra prefers the sauce without the cubed vegetables

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Bon Appetit!

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cake

Here is an understatement: Baking is not my forté.

I'll give you a moment to recover from your shock, but it's true. My wife and kids love to cook brownies, cakes, pies, and all sorts of great dessert dishes, and I am usually relegated to watching from a distance.

Immediately after I married Sandra, she moved to Miami with me. I had been living there for about three years at that time; our long-distance relationship turned into a marriage that has been going on for over a quarter of a century now.

As with most marriages, the first year was probably the most difficult. It was the first time either one of us lived with somebody else that was not directly related and, adding to the many things that Sandra had to put up with, she was living fifteen hundred miles away from her family in sunny, hot, and humid Miami.

Now, I can give you a list of many nice things about Miami, but it would be augmented by an equally long list of things that weren't so nice, especially if you consider that she moved down her in the aftermath of the Mariel boat lift with the attendant rise in crime throughout south Florida. If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the Al Pacino movie "Scarface."

We moved to Miami in the early summer, when the humidity was pretty brutal. Sandra isn't a big fan of "hot and humid," which was about the only way to describe the climate. However, in the autumn, the humidity was starting to get manageable, and usually stays that way until spring rolls along.

The two of us survived the fifteen months that we lived there, though. We even had some fun.

At the time, I was working at Burger King's headquarters, which (then) was situated right across the street from the Dadeland Mall. Sandra was working at Jordan Marsh at that mall, and we'd usually meet every day at the mall for some lunch.

In the mall, one of our favorite restaurants was La Crepe, a French-like bistro that specialized in crepes that had some nice salads—in fact, it was the only place where I've had a spinach salad more than once! This restaurant was located near a food court, which had some interesting fast food places that we sometimes patronized as well. There was a Victoria Station restaurant there as well, where you could get some great prime rib for a decent price.

In the food court at Dadeland Mall was a place that was popular with the people at work. Its name was "Hot Cookies" (it's apparently still there!) and this place specialized in Toll House style cookies. I remember seeing that they advertised special occasion cakes as well.

That next November, when Sandra's birthday arrived, I asked some of my co-workers what I could do that would be special for her first birthday in Miami. Somehow, I got the idea for a special birthday cake, and Hot Cookies sprang immediately to mind. I had a mental image of a Toll House cookie the size of a layer cake, and with that image in mind, I ordered a birthday cake for Sandra.

Later on that day, I picked up the cake, then invited Sandra to the office to celebrate her birthday. I admit that I was a bit surprised when I picked up the cake; instead of something yellow with chocolate polka-dots that I was expecting, the cake was a frosted with a deep, dark, chocolate brown icing. I brought it to the office and we put on the candles, and when Sandra arrived, we let her blow them out and she, my co-workers, and I had a happy snack.

That chocolate chip cake was wonderful! Below the dark chocolate frosting was a light yellow bundt cake with chocolate chips embedded within.

On a later trip to Hot Cookies, Sandra and I asked about the cake, and we found out that it was a sour cream cake with a dark chocolate sour cream frosting.

Since Burger King was owned by Pillsbury at that time, I naturally had a copy of a Pillsbury cookbook (I purchased a few the previous December, and used some as gifts). I managed to find a recipe for "sour cream chocolate chip cake" in that book. In another recipe book, James Beard's "American Cookery," I found a recipe for sour cream chocolate frosting that used chocolate chips. I combined the two recipes, and managed to re-create that wonderful birthday cake that Sandra had for her birthday.

Let me put this in context. I managed to re-create that cake, despite my admitted unsophistication with baking. Now, add the fact that this was also the first cake I ever tried to bake that didn't come out of a box. My goodness, I think I must have hit a jackpot!

Ahh, the memories...

Our nest won't be so empty next weekend, as the kids and Sandra's father come over to visit for Sandra's birthday. It's my plan to once again attempt to bake this cake for Sandra's birthday. The recipe is easy, although I've found that getting the chocolate chips to scatter throughout the dough is a bit tricky—they usually seem to pool around the middle of the cake when I make it. However, if I don't get it perfect, I know that I'll probably have a couple of helpers around to help me get it right. After all, they are the bakers!

Happy birthday, Sandra!

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Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cake

Source:	Pillsbury Kitchens' Family Cookbook (cake) James Beard's American Cookbook (frosting)
Prep Time:	10 minutes
Cook Time:	40 minutes.
Yield:	1 bundt cake
Catalogued:	13-Nov-2005

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose or unbleached flour

1 ½ cups sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 ⅓ cups dairy sour cream

⅔ cup margarine or butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

½ cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 6 oz package (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease (not oil) bundt cake pan.

In large bowl, blend first 9 ingredients at low seed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed.

Pour half of batter (about 2 ½ cups) into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, combine ½ cup sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle half of sugar mixture and chocolate chips over batter.

Repeat with remaining batter, sugar mixture and chocolate chips. Bake at 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Chocolate Frosting, Helen Evans Brown

5 oz semi-sweet chocolate

⅜ tsp salt

½ cup sour cream

Melt the chocolate in the top pan of a double boiler over hot water. Blend in the salt and sour cream and let the frosting cool.

This recipe provides enough frosting to cover the top and sides of a bundt cake.

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Bon Appetit!

Indian Cuisine

Today's column will discuss Indian food.

Indian food was one of the first "exotic" cuisines that I ever tried. I was in Sydney, Australia on a business trip, and a friend asked me to try it out. I was immediately hooked!

While the cuisine has a reputation for being spicy, you can easily order anything you want and have it prepared mild at any restaurant.

Papadums are spicy lentil wafers (I've written about them before in this blog), and most Indian restaurants offer an appetizer sampler to allow you to sample different types of offerings. Pakoras are vegetables or bits of chicken dipped in a chick pea batter and deep fried and are very popular. There are also Samosas, which are pastries stuffed with cheese as well as peas or ground meat. Most appetizers come with various chutneys to enhance their taste. Onion chutney, mint chutney, and tamarind are quite popular.

Indian breads are, for the most part, flat breads. The standard naan is offered plain or with extras (garlic naan is popular, as is naan with bits of meat). If you are interested in something weirdly different, try a poori... this is a flat bread that is fried in such a way that it puffs up like a balloon!

Tandoori is Indian grilled food; the name comes from Tandoor, a clay pot which used for grilling at high temperatures. The Tandoori meats are marinated in yogurt and spices before they are grilled, and the result isn't as spicy is it is "spiced" (tasty, actually). I tend to recommend Tandoori to people that are a bit afraid of Indian food's spicy reputation, and most people tend to love it.

Biryani is a rice dish that incorporates various vegetables and/or meats to make a meal in itself. I find it to be a good quick lunch if I am in a hurry.

Most other Indian dishes come as stews.

Indian cuisine is well known for a large selection of vegetarian dishes, most made with beans (lentils are very popular), peas, eggplant, chick peas, and/or spinach. I've found that if I have a vegetarian friend, the variety of these dishes is very much preferred to that found in other restaurants that seem to think "vegetarian" means "person that eats salads." I'm not usually very fond of vegetarian foods myself, but I found a number of Indian foods that I really like, including Aloo Mattar (peas and potatoes in a nicely spiced red sauce) and Dal Makhani (lentil beans and spices in a cream sauce).

For the non-vegetarians, you can find lamb, chicken, and seafood dishes of various styles. Vindaloo is a very spicy (hot!) mixture of meat and potatoes. If you prefer something less hot, I would recommend Tikka Masala, which is seasoned meat simmered in a creamy tomato sauce. Jalfrezi is meat prepared with tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers in a fresh vegetable sauce.

Most Indian dishes come with basmati rice, which is usually cooked in water laced in fragrant spices (cloves, cinnamon, cardamom seeds). The rice itself, outside the spices, has a delicate flavor that goes very well with the spiciness of the rest of the menu.

A lot of Indian places offer a lunch buffet where you can try out various dishes in order to determine which ones appeal to you the most. You can usually find breads, appetizers, rice, tandoori (usually chicken), as well as salads and the various chutneys to enhance your food.

There are a few Indian restaurants near Salem, NH (with one actually in the town). Here is a capsule review of the ones that I've tried.

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Bollywood Grill (Rt. 114, Andover, MA)

Good food and a good selection. There's a section of the menu for Tikka Masala (Sandra and the girls' favorite Indian meal), but no Chicken Makhani (Butter chicken). Papadum is occasionally a bit soggy, but still quite tasty. Decor consists of Bollywood actors and actresses and scenes from Indian movies. This place advertises free WiFi...!

India Palace (South Willow Street, Manchester, NH)

Very good food and a great selection. This place has one of my favorite Indian lunch buffets around, which is stocked very nicely and contains many selections. Chicken Makhani is available, as is a very nice Tikka Masala. Free papadum when you first arrive, and you can easily order more (more! MORE!).

India Palace (Amherst Street, Nashua, NH)

Same owners as previous entry, and same menu. In this place's favor, I would have to point out that about a half block away across the street, there is a Cold Stone Creamery, which is probably the best place for dessert anywhere!

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Bon Appetit!

Bertucci's Sausage and Rice Soup

I've been busy in real life, and haven't had time to update this blog since last week's thoughts on my new iPod Touch.

Today's recipe is one that I reconstructed from one of my favorite soups at a local restaurant chain, Bertucci's. This is a nice place for a good meal, and I like their Caesar salad, Tuscan chicken wing appetizer, and their sausage soup, and it is the soup that I'm going to share with you.

I'm not sure what made me order the soup the first time I did, but I've ordered it many times since. I think what appeals to me is the soup's inherent simplicity.

In the recipe below, I add diced tomatoes to be more in line with Bertucci's recipe, but when I make it on my own, I tend to leave them out, as I don't feel that they add much to the soup. Feel free to include or exclude them.

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Sausage and Rice Soup

Yield:	Serves 4
Catalogued:	31-Oct-2007

This recipe is my homage to the Sausage Soup that one can get at Bertucci's. The restaurant describes this soup as "A hearty soup with rice, spinach, tomatoes and sausage. Topped with a dab of mozzarella cheese." From this simple description, I created my own version, based on my own, personal tastes (I am not a big spinach fan...)

Ingredients

1 tbs olive oil

1 lb ground sausage meat (removed from casings)

32 oz chicken broth

10-20 fresh basil leaves (approximately, to taste)

12 cherry tomatoes, quartered

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup cooked rice (instant rice is sufficient)

⅛ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

In a dutch oven on medium-high heat, add olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pot). When oil is hot, add sausage meat in small quantities until cooked.

Add chicken broth and raise heat to high until broth boils. Add whole basil leaves and chopped tomatoes to broth and lower heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

To serve, add about a quarter cup of rice to each soup bowl, and then add the soup to the rice. Sprinkle the top of the soup with some mozzarella cheese.

Serve immediately.

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Bon Appetit!