Thinking Outside the Box . . . and A Gratuitous Parrot

I like the parrot. It was a wedding present, given by a witty pair of Brits who told me "we didn't know what to get you, so we're giving you this." My ex was never fond of it; I adored it, as well as the sentiment that brought it into my life, and I have displayed it prominently in every place I've lived since 1983. I love the unexpected, the departure from the road most traveled, the random synapse of the brain that caused someone to say "I'm buying this as a wedding present."

I tend to cook that way too. Rarely do I have ALL of the ingredients in my house for whatever recipe I'm trying to achieve, and I'm either too lazy or unable to run out and get whatever I need, so I "make do." I've always admired the innovative cooks of The Great Depression, who made "apple pie" out of Ritz crackers and otherwise made sure their families had something GOOD to eat. (I'm reading "Grapes of Wrath" right now, too -- great book.)

So yesterday I set out to make homemade Caesar salad dressing from "The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook" -- if you don't have this, you ought to consider getting it, because the recipes are really good. This week I'm beyond broke, and I couldn't spend money (that I didn't have) for anchovies or egg substitute for the Caesar salad dressing, as I usually do. I don't use egg substitute for anything else EXCEPT Caesar salad dressing, and I didn't see myself having a large Caesar Salad Party anytime in the future, so decided to throw caution to the winds and use a Real Egg. I don't sky dive, ski, or do any other sports that would earn me a higher personal insurance payment, but I will live life on the edge with food. Find me a sushi chef with blowfish, please! I have a 3-day rule on keeping leftovers in my fridge, but raw egg? steak tartare? NO PROBLEM!

I thought I'd try the dressing recipe without the anchovies which admittedly were "optional," according to the recipe, but the finished product didn't have the wonderful snap of flavor of a true Caesar dressing. Inspiration hit: MARMITE! Do NOT turn up your nose at this: it WORKED! The salty punch of flavor of the Marmite perfectly replicated the missing anchovies. I didn't add much -- a little Marmite goes a long way -- just enough for the salty full flavor to give the added kick that was missing from my salad dressing. I am amazed and pleased, and probably won't bother with the anchovies anymore (except as pizza garnishes . . . mmmmmm).

However, the tale does not end here. I had some salad dressing left over when I started dinner. I made scalloped potatoes (from Julia Child's cookbook), chicken breast stuffed with Havarti cheese, and spinach quickly wilted in a little olive oil with chopped garlic, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and lemon juice. Usually when I make stuffed chicken breast, I make an egg/lemon juice/cornstarch wash to dip it in before rolling it in Italian style bread crumbs. Last night I decided to use the Caesar salad dressing as the wash (well, it DID have a Real Egg and lemon juice in it!), and it was pretty damned awesome. No waste of the raw egg dressing (or another egg and another lemon), and a very delicious chicken breast.

This morning I used some of the leftover potatoes in scrambled eggs with green chilis, topped with Mexican cheese and salsa. I may try using the rest of the leftover potatoes to make fish cakes, but more on that later . . . . I'll turn that around in my mind for a while. It might just work!

I'll ask the parrot.

That's Amore!

I don't know why making homemade spaghetti sauce seemed like a good idea in the middle of a work week, but I couldn't get rid of the siren call of making a slow simmered dinner on Tuesday night. The weather's a little cooler, I had canned tomatoes in the pantry and, so far, the perfect marinara sauce has eluded me. Mine have been too thin, too thick, too heavy, not enough flavor, too overpowering. I. Want. Perfection.

I did my research and came up with a basic recipe that seemed like it would work. Naturally, diving into the procedure, I discovered that I did not have ALL of the ingredients in the required quantities, but us Sagittarians are, if nothing else, Master Improvisors, so I dove in anyway. The end result is pretty damned good. Okay, I MAY have put in a little too much wine. *Ack* That hurt to even say it. Enough apologies, here's the recipe, Nina style:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, sliced (oh, go on -- add a few more cloves)
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, chopped (might add more next time, might not)

1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 28-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes, chopped, juices reserved
1 cup red wine
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, oregano, and thyme

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add mushrooms and crushed red pepper; sauté until mushrooms just begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and reserved juices. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Add tomato sauce, sugar, basil and oregano. Cover and cook 15 minutes. Uncover and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with Kosher salt and pepper.

This was thick but not clumpy, had a WONDERFUL texture with the mushrooms, and an awesome flavor. It's a keeper.

Now, in addition to the great recipe, I had a bottle of Bolla Chianti (thank you, Exxon), and Pandora One (thank you, Rick) blasting my Dean Martin channel with "Volare," "That's Amore," and other absolutely perfect Italian inspirational tunes. Apologies to the neighbors. My singing got louder as the level in the chianti bottle went down. Murphy the basset hound started howling at one point, which did temper my singing somewhat . . . .

Eliminate the singing if you must, but definitely try this recipe!

You Get What You Pay For

This was NOT my best meal. Jackson came over for dinner tonight, so of course I wanted to do something delicious. My budget, however, was less than nothing, so when I saw three T-bones at Fiesta Mart for a total of $4.84, I grabbed them. I made homemade French fries, red wine sauce with mushrooms, steamed broccoli, homemade rolls and chocolate chip cookies.

Those, steaks, though, brought back memories of Australia. I don't mean the "shrimp on the barbie" succulence that Outback Steak House promotes as the taste of Australia. MY taste of Australia, way back in 1970-73, was of paper thin steaks slapped onto a greasy piece of hot metal with flies buzzing around. The steaks were tough (which is why they were thin -- you couldn't chew them if they were any thicker) and tasteless. The beer was great, though, so usually by the time the steaks were charred and pronounced "ready," everyone was too buzzed to care. Love that Aussie beer . . .

The flavor of the steaks was passable, but they were tough and, definitely, worth what I paid for them. They won't go to waste, though. I have Murphy the basset hound staying with me for three days, and I'm SURE he'll know EXACTLY what to do with the leftovers.