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CookVolume 1 Issue 22 July 1 , 2009

A Home Recipe from Liz Thigpen Hunt

What “yummy” means to me:

“Yummy” is delicious with all signs of pretension removed. It is permission to connect with the pure essence of enjoyment. It is satisfaction on a primal level.

Lizzy’s Watermelon Gazpacho
Serves 10 (3/4 cup portions)

SoupThis is not technically a gazpacho since it does not have garlic or bread in it, but it is a lovely, light cold summer soup. I love recipes that are so simple that you would make them for yourself on a night when you are home alone, yet are elegant enough to serve to guests. This recipe certainly fits that bill – If you have friends over for a summer cookout you could serve this soup to start and it would add a festive and memorable touch to the evening; for larger parties you could skip the salad that goes on top and serve it as soup shooters. The last time I made this for a dinner party for 10, every single person requested the recipe.

Enjoy!
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Soup

1 medium size watermelon (red or yellow flesh), about 8 to10 cups of chunks with the seeds removed
1 large cucumber peeled, seeds removed, chopped coarsely and soaked in water to remove bitterness
2
limes, zested and juiced
  Zest and juice from 1 Meyer lemon
1/2
jalapeno, seeds removed and chopped finely
1 large shallot, chopped coarsely
4 tablespoons grated ginger (use a microplane or grate on smallest hole on a box grater)
1/2 cup champagne vinegar (add more to taste)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut juice – this is the cloudy water juice not Thai coconut milk – I use it in all sorts of things, especially dressing. (My friend introduced me to it when she was pregnant.)
1/2 teaspoon Japanese chili powder (regular chili powder will also work)
2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
  Sprigs of dill

Blend the above ingredients in a blender on high (may need to process in two batches depending on the capacity of your blender) and chill.

Salad

1 basket cherry tomatoes halved (I used yellow)
  Thinly sliced half moons of cucumber with seeds removed soaked in ice water
Slivers of basil and tarragon – cut with kitchen scissors so you do not bruise the leaves.
1
lime, zested and juiced
  Olive oil and champagne vinegar, drizzled

Toss the above ingredients together in a medium bowl. The soup should be cold, tomatoes at room temperature, and the cucumbers are a little colder after the ice bath, but the salad does not get chilled unless you make it ahead of time.

To serve, pour the soup into chilled bowls, float salad in the middle, drizzle with a nice extra virgin olive oil that has fruity notes and some champagne vinegar.

-Liz


Elizabeth Thigpen Hunt is a freelance culinary consultant and sustainable farming enthusiast – and may or may not be running an underground restaurant. Let’s just say she’s in the kitchen cooking with local seasonal produce in innovative and interesting ways, always with her friends, family, and community in mind. She splits her time between the San Francisco Bay Area and her home town Davis.





A Home Recipe from GraceAnn Walden

Hot Stuff!

PeachesFor the past two days, the temperature has been triple digit where I live. By that I mean outside of where I live.

I have a swamp cooler on high (very much like an air conditioner) and two rotating fans. My carbon footprint must be as big as the Hulk’s.

Until the wind returns from Sonoma, the air is dead and it is 100 degrees without trying.

Even the local blue jay that takes peanuts from my outstretched fingers was panting today. I left him a dish of water and scurried back inside.

Cosmo, the Chihuahua just stays in my darkened bedroom. My cockatiels stand around with their wings akimbo – and they’re originally from Australia! They dig it when I spritz them with a water atomizer.

As for me, I write, watch TV and read. I only go out to walk the dog. I do not cook. That brings me to dinner tonight.

On my tour of North Beach on Saturday, we concluded as we always do with lunch at Rose Pistola. The chef, Pablo Estrada, came up with a new salad that I’m just crazy about.

Yes, I ate it Saturday, bought the ingredients on the way home, and ate it again tonight. That’s love!



Spinach Salad with goat cheese and grilled peaches

1/3 cup mild-flavored olive oil
1/8 cup vinegar, red wine
salt and pepper
1
box of washed baby spinach (10 ounces)
2
ripe peaches, peeled, seeded, sliced in thick slices
1 log of goat cheese

Mix together olive, vinegar, salt and pepper with a whisk or fork.

Toss with spinach. 

You can grill the peaches briefly, just to get color, on a stovetop grill. I did mine quickly under the broiler in my toaster oven.

Set aside peaches to cool.

Crumble the goat cheese around the top of the spinach salad; arrange peaches around the outside.

Yum-city.

- GraceAnn



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Cookbook Review

CookbookAdventures in Mexican Cooking
Angelo Villa
Vicki Barrios
Ortho Books
1978
Used, varying in price from $5 to 10
on Amazon and elsewhere


I know, when it comes to Mexican cookbooks, there are Diana Kennedy, Rick Bayliss and a bunch of others.

But the book I love the best is “Adventures in Mexican Cooking,” which I have been cooking from for 30 years.

I have to hand it to Ortho Books, a division of the giant oil company, Chevron. This is one terrific, authentic and easy-to-use book. (Apparently Chevron also produced another called “Adventures in Oriental Cooking,” which I have never seen.)

I think what sets this book apart, in my mind, is not only the recipe manuscript by Villa and Barrios, but the list of advisors or acknowledgements, which reads like a page from a phone book in San Francisco’s Mission district, with a few exceptions.

Information is given on the basic Mexican meal pattern. Remember this was 30 years ago, so, as in Spain, the late dining may have been modernized, but I hope not.

Here is the explanation:

The basic meal pattern, indulged to whatever extent individual affluence allows, starts with desayuno, usually coffee and pan dulce, upon arising. A second breakfast follows between 10 and 11 a.m., usually something more substantial, with tortillas, ham and eggs, and chiles – this is the almuerzo.  If you have a big, late breakfast, you are likely to take the comida late in the afternoon. One more light meal late is called merienda, which may be café con leche and a sweet. On special occasions there is cena, a light supper or two or three courses that may be served from 8 p.m. to midnight. 

In another section, the authors describe (with pictures) an eight-course Mexican repast. Oh, how I wish someone would invite me to one like this:

Pico de Gallo                          rooster beak (jicama and orange)
Crema de Aguacate               cream of avocado soup
Arroz Gualdo                          yellow rice
Seviche                                  marinated fish (cooked by lime)
Pollo Almendrado                  almond chicken
Frijoles de Olla                      beans of the pot
Chayote Relleno                   stuffed chayote
Café con leche                      coffee with milk

The only thing missing is a nice flan caramel. All of the above dishes, of course, are in the book.

Here is my favorite chicken recipe from this book. If it contained chocolate it would be Puebla style. This recipe is Oaxaca style.

Almond Chicken
(serves four)

3/4 cup whole almonds, blanched
3 pounds chicken parts, legs and breasts (I prefer legs)
Lard for frying 1/2-inch deep (if you can get real lard in a Mexican grocery, it is better than the packaged kind) or oil
1
cup fresh, seedless grapes
1 cup orange juice
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon thyme

Toast the almonds in a 300-degree oven for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Grind 1/2 cup of almonds in a food processor until fine. Chop 1/4-cup almonds coarsely.

Brown the chicken pieces in the hot lard or oil on both sides. Place the browned chicken in a shallow baking dish.

Combine the rest of the ingredients, mix, and pour over chicken.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes. Baste several times. Increase temperature to 350 degrees and bake another 10 minutes.

May be garnished with slivers of orange peel.

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Tools, Toys & Tips: Baconnaise™

BaconaiseThe motto at J&D’s is that “everything should taste like bacon.” Baconnaise™ is the newest addition to the J&D’s family – a bacon-flavor mayo spread, available in Regular and Lite. It started with a customer request to make “spreadable bacon, namely mayonnaise.” If you can’t get enough bacon in your BLT, this product is for you.

- Susan


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