Author: Isabel Montclaire

Did you know that a well-stocked pantry is like a good work horse? Your pantry can help you whip up something delicious to eat without too much effort. You only need a handful of ingredients and thirty minutes. That’s all! Think of it like this: there are 26 letters in the alphabet but those letters combine to make 275,000 words. I often wonder what a person could make with only 10 or 11 foods in their pantry.

Even if you keep a well-stocked pantry, I imagine that sometimes you wander into the kitchen feeling lost, and ask yourself “What shall I make for dinner?” This can happen even if your pantry and fridge are stuffed full. There is a cure for the “What’s for dinner syndrome”. Subscribe to New York Times Cooking.

For only five dollars a month, I get access to their incredibly well-organized website. I also get a daily email packed with recipes. Often the recipes inspire me and suddenly I will know what to cook. Though many of their recipes are geared for those fancy sorts of people who live in “hip” urban areas, they are still fun to read. Then there are those recipes that would seem to take forever to make. Well, if it takes longer than 30 minutes, I’ll pass, thank you very much. All that being said, NYT Cooking is a superb resource because there’s something for everyone.

Let’s say you have a pound of chicken breasts in the fridge and your mind goes blank. Tap on the “Ingredients” tab and on the drop down menu, click “chicken breasts”. All the recipes have pictures and some are marked “easy”. You can also use the search bar at the top of the page that asks “What would you like to cook?” Are you in the mood for cauliflower? Type that in and you’ll get so many recipes your head will spin.

Another wonderful feature is that below the recipes, there is space for comments. I love to scroll through them and read all the different versions cooks invent; the creative variations are endless. I get so many new ideas when I read these comments. Sometimes the ideas are just tiny twists, but those little ideas can pack big punches.

So you see, you get a lot of inspiration and creativity for your five dollars a month. My subscription is now the most essential ingredient in my pantry. It goes in the category of “Good Ideas”. Just as I finished writing this, I got a new email with the subject line “100 Quick Dinners”. There you go! Now food can whirl around, jump off the shelves and cook itself for you – well, almost!

A Famous Plum Torte 9.21.23

For several years I have subscribed to the New York Times Cooking website. Every day I wake up to an email packed full of recipes. Last week, the NYT sent me their All Time Most Requested Recipe – Marian Burro’s Plum Torte. The recipe first appeared in 1983 and the NYT reprints it every September. This popular recipe uses just a handful of ingredients, takes under 30 minutes to make, requires no special gadgets, and there are few pots, pans, and dishes to wash. I love that this recipe meets my criteria for simplicity. It’s the perfect “un-recipe”.

After my look-see, I couldn’t wait to make it. But wait! I didn’t have any plums, and since I live in a rural area, couldn’t figure out how to get any. Oh-oh, a conundrum. But I read the reader’s comments and saw that some switched out the plums for almost any seasonal fruit: berries, apricots, apples, nectarines, peaches, pears, and cranberries and some used canned fruit too. They also experimented with extracts, spices, and herbs: vanilla and almond, nutmeg, cardamom, and rosemary. They played with flours, adding almond, gluten free, and whole wheat. Some added cornmeal. They switched up the pans, using almost any oven-safe dish that is 8, 9, or 10 inches in diameter. Use this recipe as a base and add additional flavors. I sprinkled candied ginger on mine just a few minutes before I pulled it out of the oven.

Later that day I was out and about on foot and stopped to chat with Tony and Carla Hornbrook of Fossil. Suddenly I noticed that I was standing next to a beautiful tree laden with plump emerald and crimson apples. Tempted, I asked if I could try one. What incredible taste sensations exploded in my mouth! Their sweet tartness and crisp texture would make a delicious apple torte. Inspired, I asked if I could take a few. I did and on my way home, picked up some blueberries. I flew into the kitchen and after whirling around a few times, popped the apple blueberry torte into the oven.

Marian Burros Plum Torte

¾ to 1 cup sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup unbleached flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs
24 halves pitted purple plums
Lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon

Cream the sugar and butter. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and eggs and beat well. Spoon the batter into an 8” – 10” springform pan. Place the plums skin side up. Sprinkle with lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon. Bake for about one hour at 350⁰.

I didn’t peel the apples, forgot to sift the flour, and used salted butter. We ate it warm with ice cream. This recipe will certainly become a favorite and maybe someday, it will be your favorite too. Play with it and have fun!

In January of 2018 I had a mad crush on a carrot. Yes, I am not kidding! And five years later, I still have a crush on that particular carrot. That’s a long time to be infatuated, isn’t it?

At the time, I was living in the Portland area and was a member of a CSA program. That is the acronym for “Community Supported Agriculture”. That’s when a person purchases a share of a local farm’s production at the beginning of the growing season in exchange for getting “farm to table” produce every week or two. Picking up that week’s vegetables was always a highlight of my week. The pickup location was in a big white dairy barn that was on the historical register. When I went through the wide double doors and inhaled the damp, musty air, I was bounced back to a different era. The colorful patchwork of vegetables mounded on tables looked like eye candy. Often the vegetables were unusual, such as black radish and kohlrabi.

The carrots. There they were, piled high in a big wicker basket, freshly dug, squeaky clean, and the color of the sun in a smoky sky.  I couldn’t resist the temptation to try one then and there. Wow! This exquisite carrot was like no other I had ever tasted. Suddenly the world stopped as this sweet carrot catapulted me into a total being experience. All my senses were filled with excitement and joy. What a surprise! Later that night, I felt sorry for all the people in the world who could never taste a carrot like this. Then I wished everyone could. If I had a dollar for every time I thought about that awesome carrot, I would have a lot of money by now!

Laura, the farmer, mentions that the variety is Hercules. Oh. That explains it. A divine, God-like carrot. A perfect infusion of firm, strong flesh, smooth skin, and indescribable taste mingled with spirit. If paradise had a flavor, this would definitely be it. 

The carrot’s sweetness, Laura tells me, comes from the winter’s cold. Do they sit in the soil trembling? Is this why I felt a shiver go up and down my spine with the first bite? Do they store the summer sun and, in their resting state, concentrate energy? Yes! Every cell of my body knows this.

Now that I moved out of the city and live in a rural area, I can finally plant carrots. Last month, I ordered some Hercules seeds in anticipation of a winter harvest. In a few months, my body will delight in this incredible gift of nourishment and bounty of blissful sensations. And I will have a crush on a carrot all over again.

Last week, I wrote about my lively conversation with a precocious 12 year old boy named Anthony. He had just finished a week long cooking camp and I was curious to know what he made. His two favorite things were Cowboy Caviar and Dirt Cake.

I had never heard of dirt cake. Suddenly I remembered being a toddler and eating some dirt when I was in the greenhouse with my father. The dirt had a lovely, sweet earthy fragrance and I wanted to eat it. So I did! I remember the grainy texture more than the flavor now.

Dirt cake is a delicious, deceptive dessert that looks like a pot of dirt but tastes like heaven. Making dirt cake is a perfect way to spend time with children. As you make this whimsical treat, you will teach them some basic cooking skills and provide many sensory and tactile pleasures. These desserts are “cup desserts” because they are made individually in clear plastic cups or glasses. You simply layer crushed Oreo cookies (the dirt) with instant chocolate pudding (the mud) and top with gummy worms and artificial flowers or bugs.

To crush the cookies, place them in a Ziploc bag and smash them with a rolling pin until they are finely crushed. Mix the pudding and then assemble the desserts; alternate layers of pudding and cookies. Cover and chill for a couple of hours. But don’t chill them for too long or the cookies will get soggy.

If you want to fancy it up a bit, you can make the chocolate pudding from a recipe. This was the very first thing I learned to make from scratch ingredients and I whipped it up with my sister. My mother usually kept a box of Droste unsweetened cocoa powder from Holland in the cupboard. To this day, it’s the same cocoa powder I use and it’s still in the exact same package – a bright red box with a picture of a Dutch lady wearing a big, funny white hat. I’ve tried other cocoa powders but this one is still my favorite (of course, you can get it on Amazon, $6.99 for 8 ounces).You can make a whipped cream frosting to top off your dirt cake: mix ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa , ⅓ cup powdered sugar, one cup whipping cream and a pinch of salt. Whip the cream first until it forms stiff peaks and fold in the rest. Yum!

I asked Anthony about the next thing he was going to make and he replied “Dessert Cake”. That made me laugh and I’ve been laughing about it ever since. Maybe I can get him on the phone soon and he can tell me all about it.

A couple of columns ago, I wrote about a lovely multi-generation dinner party I attended. It was so much fun! Twenty-two of us dined at a long rectangular table. I sat next to an articulate 12 year old boy named Anthony. My first impression was that he had jumped straight out of the Renaissance era and into the twenty-first century. He looked the part with his long blond hair and handsome, poetic features. We struck up a conversation and he told me about a week long cooking camp he had just attended. As you know, food is one of my favorite topics so the conversation was quite lively.

I was curious about cooking camp and peppered him with questions. “Anthony, what did you make?” “One thing a day: dirt cake, cowboy caviar, lemonade, cheesecake, muffins, and biscuits”, he replied. “What was your favorite”? “There were two; cheesecake and cowboy caviar.” In all my years of cooking I had never heard of Cowboy Caviar and I wanted to know all about it. His colorful description of this vegetarian dish made my mouth water, and suddenly I felt very hungry. Cowboy Caviar is definitely an “un-recipe”, lending itself to a versatile mix and match of ingredients. I kicked it up a notch and made the dish with heirloom red and black beans that I purchased from Rancho Gordo in Napa Valley.

For the Salad:

Beans, cooked or canned such as black, kidney, or pinto
Corn
2 bell peppers, any color
Small red onion
2-3 tomatoes, diced
1-2 jalapeno peppers
Cilantro
Green onions

For the dressing:

⅓ cup olive oil
⅓ cup red wine vinegar
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp honey or sugar
1 tsp ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the salad ingredients. Whisk together the dressing. Pour the dressing over the salad and gently toss. Cover and let marinate for at least two hours. Before serving, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed, such as adding a dash of hot sauce if you like it spicy. This is a versatile dish; you can eat it as a dip with tortilla chips, a side salad, or a topping for grilled meats, or in tacos and burritos. Anthony said the salad was left to marinate overnight and that was too long. I drained the excess dressing after a couple of hours, and added it just before serving.

I asked Anthony about his number one take-away from the camp and his answer surprised me. He was alarmed that so many of the students had no cooking skills. One student even cut cheese with a breadknife. Oh my! Maybe someday I can go to cooking camp too. That would surely be like vacation.

In last week’s column, I mentioned the lone zucchini plant in our garden. What a workhorse that plant is! If that plant was a person, it would be an Olympic gold medalist or on an all-star team. Or, the plant would be the queen of the vegetable garden who wears a beautiful robe of flowers.

Prolific as they are, zucchinis are also slightly problematic. I call good problems “champagne problems” and the overabundance of zucchini definitely fits into that category. I love to peer into the plant every few days and feel surprise about what I see. Zucchinis that only a few days ago were just a few inches long suddenly become the size of a foot long subway sandwich. How’d that happen? Now we have too many and they are way too big.

Sometimes a zucchini plant will produce so much that it can even be difficult to give it away. My mind runs down a list of nearby friends who may or may not want some. Or, maybe neighbors. I could put them in a basket and go door-to-door. This would definitely be a good way to win friends and influence people, wouldn’t it? When tossing this idea around with a friend, he sheepishly admitted that someone offered him overgrown zucchini and he put them in the compost pile. Oh dear. Don’t tell anyone!

Just as I was immersed in the door-to-door fantasy and almost ready to go knockin’, reader David Hudson texted me and said that the Italians pick zucchinis very small and then they have more flavor. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Generally speaking, the smaller the fruit or vegetable, the more intense the flavor is. If I pick them small, I may regret that we did not plant more. Imagine that.

Or, I could get organized and freeze them. I typed the question “How to freeze zucchini” into the Artificial Intelligence chat bot “Open AI” and it gave me a detailed set of instructions. Sounds easy! Wash, slice or cube, blanch, cool in an ice bath, drain and dry, portion and pack, remove the air, label and date, then freeze. All you need is a knife, cutting board, large pot, strainer, big bowl, freezer bags, and a permanent marker. You can check the instructions out at “chat.openai.com” and ask “Uncle It” (my nickname for AI) “How to freeze zucchini”. The Italians go one step further; they pick the blossoms, stuff them with ricotta and mozzarella cheese and fry them. Sounds delicious! That could definitely nip in the bud the overabundant zucchini problem. Why didn’t I think of stuffing zucchini blossoms sooner? Now I can pretend I am a five-star chef in a fancy Italian restaurant. Oh, life – and a zucchini – is good.                                                                                                                                              

In our garden we have a zucchini plant, just one, and it’s a very vigorous one at that. Vibrant life courses through its dark green leaves. And you know what kind of reputation zucchinis have – those plants definitely put out! What on earth does a person do with all that zucchini? Jim told me about his mother’s E-Z zucchini recipe and it has just four ingredients – zucchini, eggs, saltine cracker crumbs, and seasoning salt. That’s just the ticket!

Last Saturday I received a spontaneous invitation to attend a multi-generation family dinner party. I wanted to bring something but had little time to plan. But wait – I have a boatload of zucchini! I grabbed the ingredients, a cast iron skillet, my favorite knife, and headed to the party.

After the first round of introductions, a few conversations, and a beer, I pulled a chair up to the table and started to make the infamous zucchini with cracker crumbs. I beat a few eggs, cut the zucchini in ¼ inch slices, put the crackers in a Ziploc bag and smashed them with a rolling pin. Then, I dipped the zucchini slices in the eggs and into the crackers. After a few rounds of that, I noticed the crackers were not sticking to the zucchini. The eggs had moistened the crackers and they were too lumpy to stick to the slices. I changed my technique and with a fork, dipped the slices into the egg, put them on a plate and sprinkled on the crumbs. After a dusting of Johnny’s seasoning salt, they were ready to be fried. My friend Wendell was manning the stove and melted some bacon grease in the cast iron skillet. After a few minutes, he turned one upside down and exclaimed “Ready to turn over – they have that KFC color”. That made me laugh.

About twenty people were seated at the long, rectangular table. The proof is in the pudding – I heard a few of them say out loud “This zucchini is delicious”. But the best validation came from sweet twelve year old Anthony who was seated next to me. He liked the zucchini so much he wanted to know how to make it. Wow, a zucchini can get a twelve year old to want to cook vegetables! He had just completed a week long cooking camp and seemed to have a keen interest in food. I explained all the steps and before I knew it, a plate of fried zucchini arrived on the table. Grandpa Don had been listening in and took the charge. What a surprise that was, especially since we were already finished with dessert. Being at table with good friends and good food to me is the epitome of the good life.

Last week’s column about the two-ingredient chocolate ganache made me remember a simple dessert that my mother whipped up in the summertime. The dessert was called “Fool”. Though Fool seems like a fancy dessert that one might find in a famous Parisian sidewalk café, it is remarkably easy to make. Fool’s simplicity fools you!

What is in this simple dessert? Just pureed berries folded into sweetened whipped cream. But there is a method to the madness. As with many few-ingredient recipes, the proper technique is what matters along with the presentation. You could plop the mixture down in the middle of a cereal bowl and call it good. But with just a little extra effort, the recipe can become a beautiful special occasion dessert all dressed up in party clothes.

Fool

2 cups fresh or frozen berries
Sugar to taste
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 ½ cups chilled heavy cream

Gently mash the berries until they break down slightly and release their juices. If you prefer a smoother texture, you can blend the berries then strain them to remove the seeds. Stir in the sugar and lemon juice. Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold the berry puree into the whipped cream using a spatula. Don’t fully mix the berry puree into the cream because you want to create a swirled appearance. Spoon the mixture into individual serving glasses or dishes. Cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours to allow the flavors to meld and the fool to set.

I have a pair of my grandmother’s parfait glasses and these make an elegant presentation. A stemmed glass would work well too. Before serving, top with whipped cream (I like to use aerosol whipped cream because of the way it comes out of the can). Drizzle a thin ribbon of chocolate syrup around the edges and add a couple of fresh berries. If you happen to have a mint plant, pick a few leaves for the final touch. You can serve the fool with shortbread cookies, biscotti, or tea biscuits. Wild blackberries are coming on now; if you use those you will probably want to remove the seeds. You can also layer the fool with some fresh berries.

I had some chocolate ganache and I layered that along with the Fool just for fun. It was soooo delicious I practically fell off my chair! I couldn’t stop thinking about the dessert for a few days, as if The Fool had put a spell on me. Good food has enormous power to uplift the spirit. Sometimes the simple things in life – like chocolate and berries ‒ can pack a big punch.

I’m back! I moved last week and I could not find anything for a few days. Where on earth is my fountain pen? I thought it was in that box. Here is my laptop but where did the mouse and cord go? I have my wits about me now, thank goodness. Chocolate got me through it. Yes! Chocolate is comforting you know.

One of the chocolate things I ate was a piece of cake from Brenda’s Blessings. The cake was topped with a delicious chocolate frosting that was not too sweet and it had a beautiful, glossy sheen. I was burning to know what was in that frosting. As usual, Brenda was happy to share her recipe for “Chocolate Ganache” with me . . . and with you! This versatile recipe can be used as a glaze, sauce, topping, filling, and a frosting too. The recipe is made of just two ingredients and has only one pot to wash. Yay!

Chocolate Ganache

Two parts chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate bars
One part heavy cream
(For example, two cups chocolate and one cup cream)

That’s all, that’s it! Pour the cream into a saucepan and heat over low until it starts to vigorously steam. Add in the chocolate and stir with a whisk until the texture becomes smooth and silky. Be careful not to overheat the chocolate because it scorches easily.

When you have a simple recipe like this, it’s vitally important that the ingredients are of high quality. America’s Test Kitchen did a blind taste test on chocolate chips several years ago. The taster’s favorite was Ghirardelli 60% Cacao dark chocolate chips. I agree with them. They are not too sweet and are rich with deep chocolatey flavor. Of course you can use semisweet, bittersweet, or milk chocolate if that’s what you prefer. I have not tried this recipe with white chocolate chips but read that you don’t need as much cream, so try a 3 to 1 ratio of chocolate to cream. When the ganache is still warm, it is pourable and then sets up as it cools. You can add different extracts to your ganache like vanilla or peppermint. Chocolate mint! Want mocha? Add instant expresso powder or coffee extract. I read that you can even add different liqueurs, such as Baileys, Grand Marnier, or Kahlua. 

I love chocolate dipped bananas. I froze some banana chunks then dipped them in the ganache. Yum! I use the Plenty Method to buy the chocolate chips from a wholesaler and got them for 50% less than I’d pay retail. Now I can eat twice as much chocolate! Thank you, Brenda, for sharing this lovely recipe and helping me get through my move.

Summer is finally here. Last week it arrived in grand style with a massive heatwave that seared the globe with record high temperatures.

My body always takes awhile to adjust to the heat. At the onset of the heatwave, I was lethargic like I was half sick with somethin’. I felt like cold molasses sliding out of a bottle. I had two speeds – slow and stop! And then one night, I woke up with a mouth so dry I thought it was stuffed full of cotton balls. How did that happen? I drink water throughout the day.

One afternoon, I slithered like a snail over to Ellie’s house and complained about my malaise. She thought I might be dehydrated and suggested that I chug a rehydration drink. Interestingly enough, she had just looked at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recipe for a low-cost rehydration formula and adapted it to make it palatable. After all, if a thing tastes super yucky it’s not likely to go down the hatch very often. According to the WHO, in order for the body to absorb the formula, it needs to contain glucose and salt in a specific proportion. Ellie adds Morton’s salt substitute because it contains potassium and that adds electrolytes. Cream of tartar has potassium too.

Ellie’s Rehydration Recipe

2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon sea salt (do not use table salt)
½ teaspoon potassium – Morton’s salt substitute or cream of tartar
1 liter water (4.25 cups)

Dissolve the salt and potassium in hot water and stir with a metal spoon. Then use the hot spoon to scoop the honey; that makes the honey slide off the spoon. Chill the drink. Ellie says she sometimes just adds the salt and potassium to lemonade. I had a bottle of raspberry extract on hand and added a couple of teaspoons for an extra layer of lovely flavor. If you haven’t consumed this within 24 hours, toss it out.

I drank a batch of this and was surprised how quickly my energy returned. I looked up the symptoms of dehydration and fatigue/lethargy is in the top three. This caught me by surprise. I drink a lot of water and it would have never occurred to me that my fatigue was due to dehydration. Even though this recipe is simple and low cost, don’t underestimate the effectiveness of this formula. The WHO developed this to save the lives of people, particularly children, suffering from dehydration in third world countries. It is medicine!

On these hot days, keep a pitcher of Ellie’s drink in your fridge and sip on it now and then. That will keep you from getting fried in this hot summer heat.