A Borscht Like Nana's

My Nana (paternal grandmother) was born in Kiev, Russia in 1894. In the 1960's Nana and Papa lived a few miles from our house in Chicago. I remember coming home from school in the winter to kitchen windows that were all steamed up. Nana was at our house and she was making soup! I vividly remember Nana's borscht. It tasted sweet, and sour, and it had lots of meat, short ribs to be exact.

Cookbook author Barbara Kafka has a recipe in her fabulous book, SOUP: A Way of Life, that reminds me of that borscht. She says she made it for her father who was from Slutzk, a shtetl (small town with a large Jewish population) near Minsk. Barbara's Red Russian Soup tastes quite similar to how I remember my Nana's soup.

My mother sometimes took notes while watching her mother-in-law cook, and that is how we were able recreate her delicious Meat Soup. Unfortunately, we have no recipe of my Nana's borscht so I am grateful to Barbara for her excellent recipe and the inspiration for me to make A Borscht Like Nana's.

To make this wonderful soup, you can follow the directions in my previous post, Beet Soup with Truffle Oil but do not purée. Additionally, simmer 3 lbs. beef short ribs in water until butter tender, 2+ hours. Trim the fat and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces. Add the de-fatted meat broth and meat to the beet soup. Simmer. Serve over a cubed boiled potato. Top the meaty borscht with a dollop of sour cream.

How apropos that my blogger friend Joan Nova of Foodalogue is featuring Russian food now on her Culinary Tour Around the World. I am sending this nostalgic soup over to Joan, to participate in her Russian adventure. Come travel to Russia with us!

Beet Soup with Truffle Oil

Beet Soup

White Truffle Oil

Crème Fraîche

Cover the beets with water. Bring to boil then simmer until very tender. When beets are cool enough to handle; trim, peel and slice.

Strain the beet cooking liquid through a coffee filter, reserve.

While the beets cook, bring stock to a boil in a large soup pot. Add carrot, cabbage, onion, garlic, tomato, bay leaves. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Approximate Quantities:

• 4 or 5 beets
  
• 1 chopped head cabbage
  
• 1 sliced medium onion
  
• 4 sliced carrots
  
• 7 crushed garlic cloves
  
• 2 bay leaves
  
• 1 bunch dill
  
• 1 large can seeded peeled tomatoes
  
• 8 c. stock ((beef or vegetable)
  
• sugar, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste
  
• truffle oil and crème fraîche for garnish

After about 30 minutes, add sliced beets, beet liquid, and a bunch of dill. And red wine vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another 15 minutes. Remove bay. Purée with an immersion blender. Adjust seasonings.

Serve hot or cold. Drizzle crème fraîche, white truffle oil, dill sprig garnish. In the last post, I was pondering the value of "optional" ingredients. The truffle oil here is not optional. It is what makes this soup special!

One of the best wine pairings I can remember was enjoyed at Chef Nancy Oakes' Boulevard in San Francisco where Chioggia beets (Italian heirloom variety) were paired with a fruity flavorful red wine from Brouilly. Definitely try this soup with a Brouilly if you can find one, if not, try a more readily available Beaujolais.

Delightful Color, Cheery Garnish

Highly Nutritious

Delicious Deep Earthy Flavors

Anasazi "baked potato" Beans

Anasazi Boutique Beans

Baked Potato Style: 

 Butter, Sour Cream, Chives, Bacon

These are Anasazi Beans. Some say they were found in a cave by archaeologists during a dig in New Mexico and carbon dated to be 1500 years old. For this reason they are also called Cave Beans. Others say that settlers at the turn of the last century found this bean in the Anasazi ruins and cultivated it in lands where the Anasazi lived. Interesting. All I can tell you is that these are very tasty beans. And this recipes rocks!

You might have read my recent post on Black Calypso Beans, and that some people think that bean tastes like a baked potato? So it gave me the idea to serve beans prepared in the style of a baked potato. Here, the tender warm heirloom beans are tossed in melted butter in a fry pan. Add coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper, chopped bacon and chives (or finely sliced scallions). Serve topped with sour cream. It's really good.

Side note: I considered saying bacon is optional. I guess in many recipes, the author writes that a certain ingredient is optional, but the recipe will still turn out OK if you omit it. But of course, it will be different. You can omit bacon. That's OK. You can omit the sour cream, or the butter, or the chives. I guess the only thing you cannot omit is the beans. Is it helpful to say an ingredient is optional? Your thoughts?

Crevettes au Pastis

Shrimp in Pastis Cream

Served with Fluffy White Rice

Last month I wrote about our fabulous Holiday Dinner at Susan's, where one of the courses we prepared was a delicious Mussels with Pernod and Crème Fraîche. Kim of Easy French Food commented and recommended that I check out a recipe she posted for Crevettes au Pastis. Pernod is a brand name for a type of pastis, the only one not made with licorice.

I sautéed chopped shallots in butter until soft, then added shrimp and cooked for a couple minutes. I added cream, cooked for another minute or two until shrimp were done. Finished with a splash of Pastis. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnished with chopped parsley and served with white rice, which, by the way, is awesome with this sauce.

Pastis's warm, sweet anise aroma and flavors of licorice, spices and herbs pair marvelously with shrimp and cream. The few simple ingredients combine to result in a divine dish. Make sure to add the pastis at the end of cooking to preserve the aromatics and nuances of flavor.

Serve the Shrimp with Pastis Cream with a bowl of fluffy steamed rice on the side. It would also make a chic first course for an elegant dinner party.

While you're cooking you might want to try Ernest Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon, a cocktail he invented in 1935 and named after his novel. Add 5 oz chilled Champagne to 1 oz pastis. Papa warns to sip slowly. He made his with absinthe, but when absinthe is unavailable, pastis is the perfect stand-in.

I'm recommending the opalescent milky Death in the Afternoon cocktail now to my friends in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a refreshing drink, with a great name, invented by a legend, and definitely suited to hot weather. We'll be drinking this again in the coming months here.

Cashew Chicken for Lovers

Cashew Chicken with Bell Pepper Hearts

Hunan Hot Sauce - Yowza!

Bell Pepper Love.

Cut out the hearts with a cookie cutter.

Chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces, is marinated for about 20 minutes in a mixture of about 1 T. each:

• Low-sodium Soy Sauce
  
• Oyster Sauce
  
• Dry Sherry
  
• Mirin
  
• Toasted Sesame Oil
  
• Cornstarch
  

Stir fry chicken with the sauce. Set aside. In the same pan (or wok) stir fry chopped onions and red bell pepper hearts with a small amount of peanut oil, add finely chopped ginger. Combine with chicken, add cashews, and heat through. Toss gently to preserve the heart shape. Serve over yakisoba noodles or steamed white rice. And don't forget to turn up the heat with hot sauce, my favorite is Hunan Red Chile Sauce.

Cashew Chicken, to Share with Your Lover

My Canine Valentine

A Tribute to Homer

Meet Homer. I rescued my little Valentine in February of 2001 and he was with us until June of 2005. When I met him at the Rescue, he jumped up and split my lip open.  Was it love at first sight? 

His previous owners had put a harness on him when he was young, and never took it off. So his body grew around the harness. Finally, a veterinarian recognized this abuse as well as others, operated on Homer to remove the harness, then confiscated the little dog. He was at the Rescue all stapled back together when I called looking to rescue an adult male Boston Terrier. They told me they just picked up a sweet little guy from a vet. They knew me as I had previously rescued Mrs. O'Mally. "Come and get him," they said. "His name is Homer!"

In his later years, Homer could not walk very far nor see very well. But he loved the breeze and sun on his face.  I found this stroller on Craig's List, took out the seat and replaced it with pillows. Now he could still go for walks with Mally. You could tell he was so content by the way he lifted his head toward the sun.

He was only with us for four years, in that time we tried very hard to make up for his early life. Rest in Peace, Little Buddy.

May Your Heart Be Full

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy 200th Birthday Mr. President

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States 

February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865

Dear Mr. Lincoln,

Happy Birthday, Sir. Thank you for your inspiration and service to our Country. In honor of the 200th anniversary of your birth, I have made a dish I think you might appreciate. In reading about your life, I see that you are a small eater, but enjoy apples and chicken fricassee. So today I have prepared this dish as a tribute to you, and served it on an authentic replica of the Presidential China chosen by Mary for the White House in 1861.

Abraham Lincoln's

Chicken Fricassee in Puff Pastry

Served with Sautéed Apples

An apple is cut into slices and cooked over low heat in a non-stick pan with a little butter until softened. Finished with a drizzle of honey.

A chicken breast is cut into bite-sized pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper, dredged in flour. The chicken is sautéed in half butter/half olive oil until golden brown, then removed from the pan and kept warm while the sauce is made.

A little more butter is added to the same pan. White wine added, brought to a boil and reduced. Add cream and fresh grated nutmeg. Stir until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

Finish the dish by returning the chicken to the pan to heat through, along with lots of fresh chopped parsley. Overfill warm puff pastry shells with chicken fricassee.

The Eagle and The Shield

Prepared with the greatest admiration, gratitude, and respect. Happy 200th Birthday, Sir.

Yours sincerely,

Lori Lynn

"That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

November 19, 1863

Black Calypsos and Epazote

Heirloom Beans: The Black Calypso

Chiffonade of Epazote

Olive Oil, Garlic, Mexican Lime Juice, Kosher Salt

The epazote used in the previous post, Beef Short Ribs with Poblanos, seemed to spark some curiosity. This Mexican herb with usage that dates back to the Aztecs rocks! I keep putting it up to my nose to inhale the wonderful strange aroma. In this bean dish, I cut it into a chiffonade, just like I would with basil. 

The best way to keep epazote fresh is in a mug with water in the refrigerator, and trim the stems first. The bunch pictured here was all wilted in the market, but perked up overnight with this storage method. 

Black Calypso Heirloom Beans are also known as orcas or yin yang beans. Some say they taste like a baked potato. With that in mind, the next time I make them, I'm going to finish with butter, sour cream and chives. If you are a fan of heirloom beans, you might like this Yellow Eye Bean recipe too.

Perhaps you've participated in Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook's Legume Love Affair event? February marks the Eighth hosting. I am sending my Black Calypsos over to Susan along with hearty congratulations for her on-going super successful event. Oh, plus this month there is a special bonus, Cynthia Nelson's terrific new cookbook My Caribbean Cooking Tastes Like Home will be awarded as a prize. Bean aficionados, come join us in all the fun!

When the Black Calypsos are cooked they turn to shades of brown, but retain their markings. I soaked the beans for several hours, rinsed, then cooked them in water with a bay leaf. I find it important to taste several beans to determine if the batch is cooked properly. Once cooked, the beans were drained of any excess moisture. Meanwhile I warmed up a good amount of olive oil and added plenty of minced garlic. The garlic cooked for about a minute. The beans were added back to the pot and tossed gently. The dish is finished with a squeeze of Mexican lime juice, a sprinkling of Kosher salt, and a chiffonade of epazote. 

Carnitas on Corn Tortillas 

Black Calypsos with Epazote

Salsa Verde

This simple bean dish is interesting enough to stand on its own. The ingredients would work great with any kind of bean. And here, Black Calypsos with epazote added another dimension to a pork taco.

OK...I've been humming a tune all day. I don't think I've heard it in years, decades maybe. All it took were some beans to resurrect it from my memory banks. Written by John Denver in 1975, Calypso is a tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his famous marine conservation research vessel Calypso. Have a listen. 

To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean
To ride on the crest of the wild raging storm
To work in the service of life and the living
In search of the answers to questions unknown
To be part of the movement and part of the growing
Part of beginning to understand

CHORUS
Aye Calypso
The places you've been to
The things that you've shown us
The stories you tell
Aye Calypso
I sing to your spirit
The men who have served you
So long and so well

Like the dolphin who guides you
You bring us beside you
To light up the darkness and show us the way
For though we are strangers in your silent world
To live on the land we must learn from the sea
To be true as the tide
And free as a wind-swell
Joyful and loving in letting it be

Do you remember Aye Calypso?

Beef Short Ribs with Poblanos

Poblano Chiles Charred on the Grill

Cover the hot charred poblanos with a kitchen towel and let stand for 5 minutes. Remove the skin and seeds, slice into strips. Set aside.

The short ribs are browned in my Le Creuset French Oven, then removed from the pan.  Sliced onion is cooked until golden, then add finely chopped garlic. Chopped tomatoes are added, cook for about 3 minutes more. The sliced poblanos, browned short ribs, plus salt and epazote are all nestled into the pan, covered,  and braised at 325°F for about 1 1/2 hours.

The epazote gives this dish its traditional Mexican flavor. I have fallen in love with this herb and its intriguing aroma reminiscent of kerosene. This fabulous dish is the creation of Chef Rick Bayless. The detailed recipe can be found here.

I made this dish for my brother Bill. Knowing I was preparing a meat dish with Mexican origins, he stopped at the wine shop on his way over. The Bellum El Principio 2005 was one of two excellent recommendations. This is a Spanish wine made from 100% monastrell old vines. A complex and earthy wine, somewhat spicy, with a mixed berry fruit character, powerful yet smooth. The name “Bellum” comes from a local prehistoric cave painting. Perfect pairing with Beef Short Ribs and Poblanos! Thanks Billy.

We enjoyed this dish with white rice and Christmas Lima beans. I sent Bill home with some leftovers and when we talked later in the week, we both agreed that this dish was even better the next day! I've long been a fan of Rick Bayless and his restaurants in Chicago - Frontera Grill and Topolobambo. ¡Muchas Gracias RB!

Yellowfin Tuna, Avocado Pineapple Mash

Seared Fresh Yellowfin Tuna

Mirin, Sesame Oil, Tamari, Key Lime Juice

Avocado Pineapple Mash with Serrano

Steamed Jasmine Rice

Avocado, crushed pineapple, finely chopped serrano chiles, a squeeze of key lime juice and a pinch of Kosher salt are mashed together with a fork. Avocado and pineapple make an interesting flavor combination, perfect complement to the fish.

Whisk together equal parts mirin, sesame oil, and tamari, plus half as much key lime juice. Divide in half, one part for serving the other part for seasoning the tuna.

The sashimi grade tuna is coated with the sauce just prior to cooking. It is not left to marinate for more than a few minutes per side, as with fish this fresh, I did not want to mask the delicate complex flavors of the fish.

I used that great SCANPAN ceramic titanium non-stick fry pan from Denmark here! Heat the dry pan until very hot and add the tuna. Sear over high heat about 60 seconds per side. Serve the yellowfin tuna over the sauce with a scoop of avocado pineapple mash, steamed jasmine rice on the side. We thoroughly enjoyed this meal with a White Bordeaux, although a lighter style Burgundy/Pinot Noir would have been a good choice as well. For a terrific recipe using a similar sauce with king salmon, please visit here.

FRESH FISH ALERT !!!

Imagine my excitement when I walked into my neighborhood butcher shop to see Darko filleting his Yellowfin Tuna! Intentions to get anything other than yellowfin tuna went out the window! I was so glad to have my camera on hand too.

South Shores Meat Shop

Western Avenue at 25th Street

San Pedro, California

Tuna Facts: There are two species of tuna known as ahi, yellowfin and bigeye. Tunas are the fastest fish in the world; in fact, bursts of speed exceeding 20-30 mph are not unusual. They have streamlined bodies specifically adapted for efficient swimming, large white muscle masses useful for swimming long distances, and red muscle masses for short bursts of speed when chasing prey or escaping predators. For more interesting information on yellowfin tuna, nutrition, and sustainability status you can visit FishWatch.