Gumbo, the movie

Okay, it isn't a movie. But I did movie around the kitchen a fair amount making this. I am no longer a gumbo virgin. This was a gumbo three-way (me, and two versions of the dish). My one current personal chef client wants seafood once a week. It's a challenge to prepare in advance any fish dish and have it be fresh and tasty when re-assembled at home. I've learned a lot by doing this.




Version 1: the real thing
Make a roux (two tablespoons chicken fat and two tablespoons flour). Separately saute the "trinity", celery, onion and green bell pepper. Add broth (in my case 2 1/2 cups). Add andouille sausage (in my case 4 oz.). Add frozen cut okra. Add 6 oz crushed tomatoes. Cook 10 minutes. Cook rice separately. When you're ready to eat, add 10 oz. shrimp and let it bubble for 3 minutes. Serve over white rice or stir it in (as per the photo). My seasoning was one thing: Cajun seasoning from the market. It has cayenne and salt. This is not a very detailed plan, but do what I did and go to Google where you'll find a thousand variations on the theme.

Version 2: not the real thing
My client didn't want okra, so I pureed zucchini as a substitute. My client didn't want andouille, so I added liquid smoke. Result: a very good, if slightly different, flavor. She did want shrimp. And I gave her some shredded chicken into the mix. Tomatoes and rice as before. Can you spell swell?

Black beans - Music please, maestro

Yes, it's corny sophomoric humor, and I may not be a junior any more; but I refuse to be a senior (except in the actuarial tables).

I avoid cooking dried beans most of the time, but caved in to the idea while shopping at my favorite Hispanic market the other day. Heck, these dark-skinned little devils are cheap, nutritious and tasty. Somewhere in the Google-verse I found a recipe that included a bunch of stuff to add after the cooking is done.

I didn't write down the measurements (that would be so Food Network). I just added a lot of the stuff I knew I liked and less of anything questionable. The slightly citrus-y cast the beans took on from the orange flavor and vinegar was really nice. And with my beloved fluffy white rice as a vehicle on which to serve them, these beans made my meal.

Add some or all: garlic (while the beans are cooking is a good idea), garlic powder, cumin, black pepper, salt, dried oregano, SunnyD (or orange juice if your nose is in the air), lime juice, EVOO, rice wine vinegar.

Stir-fry of pork and preserved mustard tuber with rice packets in chard leaves

“Ravishing” is not a word I often use. But when I took my first bite of last night’s stir-fry of pork with preserved mustard tuber, that’s the word that leapt to mind. Inspired by a recipe in Fuchsia Dunlop’s book, “Land of Plenty”, it requires few ingredients and is super fast (once you’ve assembled the bits and pieces you need). I’m not going to post a recipe today, just wanted to share the concept: thinly sliced pork loin, mustard tuber, soy, Shiaoxing wine, scallion.

Dunlop spent years studying Chinese cooking techniques, traveling around that vast country and insinuating herself into restaurant kitchens both large and miniscule. Every one of her dishes that I’ve tried is both unique and distinct flavor and texture-wise.

My creative contribution to dinner was rice wrapped in Swiss chard. It’s supposed to be lotus leaves, but I couldn’t find them at my Asian market and ran out of time to find someone whose English would enable him/her to help me. Instead I used blanched chard. The resulting packets were somewhat delicate (requiring careful transfer from steamer to plate) but succulent nonetheless. Ingredients included enoki mushrooms, scallions, Chinese sausage, cooked rice, and some sesame oil. I would have preferred to use sticky rice, but couldn’t find any on short notice. That leaves another attempt with modified ingredients as something for another day.

Unlike the traditional rice packets served universally as part of a dim sum meal, the wrapper is edible (lotus leaf is not).

Haiku ham and rice

A dangerous theme has developed here. I used to write haiku a lot. I used to write limericks a lot. I love doggerel (and dogs). I just had to look over my shoulder to see where Scooper (the King Charles Spaniel) was. He’s sacked out on a papasan chair next to me. He’s adjusting to the time change. It’s so dark by the time we finish dinner and do the dishes that his interest in an evening walk has waned. I take him out anyway – he just needs it at the age of 12+. But enough about him. Back to me.

I love those slices of ham you can find in every supermarket. You know, the oval ones with the little round bone in the middle. That’s the inspiration today.

Sometimes I just dream stuff up. It usually doesn’t result in a nightmare. In this case something unusual happened: the resulting repast tasted exactly the way I had imagined it.The onset of fall weather has me in a comfort food mode. Time for poetry.

Ham slice in baked rice
As leaves drop and wind is chilled
Eat well - take comfort

Haiku ham and rice
1 tbsp olive oil
½ medium onion, cut into half moons
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
black pepper
pinch salt
pinch black pepper
½ tsp each garlic powder and onion powder (or to taste)
1 slice ham, bone and excess fat trimmed away, otherwise left whole
1 cup white rice
2 cups chicken stock

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan. Add onion, green pepper, garlic and onion powders, pinch salt and pinch black pepper. Saute just until the onion and pepper begin to soften, 3-4 minutes.

Add the rice and stir to coat with the contents of the pan. Lay the ham slice on top. Add the stock. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a slow simmer. Cover and took 20-25 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed. Serve with an additional vegetable.

Pork milanesa with rice and beans

NPR did a daily feature this week in which celebrity chefs gave recipes for feeding 4 on less than $10. They also offered the opportunity for us out here in listening land to send them similar recipes. So I did.





I think that beef is the most common meat used for milanesa, but I make it with pork and chicken as well. It's extremely simple to do, and very satisfying.



Milanesa with rice and beans

4 Thin cut boneless pork chops
1 egg
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup unflavored bread crumbs
salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups brown rice
3 cups water
1 15 oz. can black beans
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
hot sauce, to taste
½ head iceberg lettuce, shredded

Brine the chops if you have time. Season with salt (only if you didn't brine them), pepper and paprika. Pound them very thin, dredge in flour, dip in egg, coat with breadcrumbs.

In a large skillet, heat 1/8" vegetable oil until nearly smoking. Fry the meat exactly 90 seconds per side, no more, no less! If you have to do this in batches, kept the cooked pieces warm on a plate on paper towels.

Cook the rice according to package directions. I usually like to use broth for this, but water is fine. Drain and rinse the beans and combine them with the cooked rice along with the jalapeno, cilantro, salt and pepper to taste, and hot sauce to taste.

Serve the milanesa on a bed of lettuce with the rice and beans on the side.

Dirty Rice

PROFESSIONAL AT WORK. DO NOT TRY THIS ALONE!

Okay, the disclaimer's out of the way.

I got to thinking about dirty rice a couple of months ago and began saving the livers from the chickens I was cooking for the boys (that's Scooper and Pupkiss, our King Charles Spaniels (for them'uns among you who don't already know that)). The chickens seem to lack livers more often than not, but I did manage to accumulate 3 of them.

I am proud of how I have been able to clean house as concerns the freezer compartment of our fridge. Today's lunch used up: a container of cooked duck liver, the 3 chicken livers, and a package of cooked turkey gizzards. From the fridge came leftover cooked basmati rice. From the pantry came dried shiitake mushrooms, two skinny dried red peppers, and a tiny bit of dried sun-dried tomatoes (isn't that somehow redundant?).

Don't try to copy this recipe. Rather, inventory your own stockpile of goodies you've waited far too long to use up. What follows is merely a roadmap. Find your own rest stops and choose your own tourist attractions along the way. Oh my god, was that a metaphor?

Dirty Rice
3 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup chopped bell peppers, any color
1 cup chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
4 oz. cooked turkey gizzards, trimmed of gristle
3 chicken livers, finely chopped
1 duck liver, already cooked and chopped
2 scallions, chopped
1/4 oz. dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted and sliced, liquid reserved
2 Mexican red chiles, reconstituted, seeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
1 tbsp butter

Heat the oil in a sauté pan. Add onion, garlic, bell pepper, mushrooms, scallions and some salt and pepper. Cook until softened and fragrant, about 6-7 minutes.

Move the vegetation to the side of the pan and add the chicken livers, cooking just until no longer pink. Add the gizzards, duck liver, and the liquid from reconstituting the u-know-whats.

Add the rice. Stir to combine, bring to a simmer, and watch until all the liquid is absorbed.

Add the butter and toss until melted.

Serve in heated bowls, adding salt and pepper to taste.

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.