When I feel like a little cocktail, Bloody Marys and
Cosmopolitans top the list. They’re very different: tomato spice
and crisply sweet. But both got onto
”
the list
”
for the same reason: they look great. The good taste came
later.
When I feel like a little cocktail, Bloody Marys and Cosmopolitans top the list. They’re very different: tomato spice and crisply sweet. But both got onto “the list” for the same reason: they look great. The good taste came later.
The best Bloody Marys I’ve found are concocted by Steamers in South Lake Tahoe, served in tall beer mugs and stuffed with celery, carrots, green onions, baby corn, hot peppers and an onion ring on top. When my order comes, I have to just sit and enjoy the composition for a minute before digging into my “salad in a glass.” Cosmopolitans are very simple vodka drinks, but they usually come in a beautiful martini glass. Now, I can’t stand martinis, but I’ve always loved the glass. Then I saw a woman sipping a pink mixture out of a frosted martini glass, and I knew I had to try it.
It just looked so good!
Though the taste buds and the stomach are the final judges, the old adage holds true: “You eat with your eyes first.” While restaurant chefs put a lot of thought into just the right plates, garnishes and colors, home cooks rarely take – or have – the time. Sometimes, it’s enough just to get dinner on the table, much less make it look great.
When you do make that extra effort, though, the whole meal can spark the appetite and delight more than the sense of taste.
So you made spaghetti. How about tossing the pasta with the sauce, mounding it on a white serving platter and surrounding it with a few sprigs of basil. For the finishing touch, put a generous sprinkle of Parmesan on top and stick two wooden forks into it.
A basic rule of thumb: garnishes should be edible and, when possible, an ingredient that’s intrinsic to the dish. For example, if a dish contains fresh basil, mince some extra to use as a garnish, or arrange sprigs of basil around the side of the dish.
Some quick tips:
• Try to vary your colors. If the main color of dinner is green – pasta con pesto – liven it up with red cherry tomatoes. If the main color is brown – sizzled steak – try green onions or yellow bell pepper slices.
• Sprigs of parsley can be even more colorful if dipped in water and sprinkled with paprika or chili pepper.
• A chiffonade makes a great garnish. Roll spinach, lettuce, mustard greens, etc. into a cigar shape and then slice thinly. Sprinkle the green ribbons on top, around or under dishes.
• Snip chives with a pair of scissors and scatter over grilled meats or around rice dishes.
• Garnish food at the last minute, so the garnish stays fresh.
• Bake cloves of garlic while dinner is cooking; put a few on each plate.
• Some other ideas for quick garnishes to get you started: rings of onion or bell pepper, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped boiled eggs, carrot or celery sticks, capers, thinly sliced radishes, finely chopped red onion.
Really, there’s no end to what you can try. Right now, you probably have some great garnishes in your refrigerator. You just haven’t looked at them quite that way. Try a new perspective and add a little bit of art to your usual weekday dinners.
• And on to our regularly scheduled dinners … This recipe is quick – about 40 minutes – and contains many simple ingredients that are probably already in your kitchen. You’ll love the tomato-olive-thyme sauce. Try it over brown rice (for a little more fiber) or pasta.
Provençal-Style Chicken
2 T. olive oil
1 cup flour for dredging
Salt and pepper to taste
1 chicken, cut up
2 medium onions, chopped
2 anchovy fillets, minced (optional)
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 cups cored and chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; don’t drain)
1/4 tsp. cayenne (optional)
1/2 cup dry white wine (or broth)
1 cup good black olives, chopped
1/2 tsp. fresh thyme (or 1/4 tsp. dried)
Heat oil over medium-high heat in medium-sized skillet. Meanwhile, season flour with salt and pepper and dredge chicken pieces in it, shaking off any excess. Add chicken to oil and brown on all sides. (Note: If you’re in a hurry, you can skip this step altogether and go on to the next step.)
Remove chicken from oil and pour off all but 1 T. of the oil. Add onions and anchovies and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes and cayenne and raise heat to medium-high. Cook until some of the tomato juice boils away, about 2 minutes. Add wine or broth and cook another 2 minutes.
Add olives and thyme and season to taste with salt and pepper. Put chicken in the sauce and spoon sauce over it. Cook over medium heat, turning chicken a few times, for 25 minutes or until chicken is done. Spoon chicken and sauce over rice and pasta.
Serves 4.
• Bake this bread: Ryan Scott of Gilroy asked for a repeat of this recipe from 2001. When I made this, even my girls who don’t like wheat break loved it. Grocery note: Try the health food sections of Nob Hill or Safeway for organic whole wheat, soy and rye flour. Whole Foods also has a great selection of flours.
Wheat Oatmeal Bread
1 cup warm water
2 pkgs. Yeast
1 tsp. sugar
3 cups hot water
2/3 stick margarine
3 large eggs
1/4 cup honey or molasses
7 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups oatmeal (Quaker oats)
3 cups white flour
2 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups instant powdered milk
Combine first three ingredients and let sit for 15 minutes or so, until yeast is foaming.
Melt together hot water and margarine, then let cool slightly. Beat in eggs and honey or molasses. Add yeast mixture to the water/margarine mixture.
Then, in a very large bowl, add wheat and white flour and oatmeal, salt and instant milk. Mix together with a wooden spoon until gathered, then turn out onto a flour-dusted counter or pastry board.
Knead dough until it is firm and barely sticks to your hands, adding up to 1/4 cup of white flour as you go.
Put dough in a bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours.
Punch the dough to release the air. Form into three loafs and put into bread pans.
Let rise for half an hour.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove loaves from pans. Let loaves cool on rack.
Note: For extra protein, I substituted a cup of soy flour for a cup of white flour. It worked beautifully.
• Beautiful vegetables: Most ratatouille contains vegetables that have been cut into small pieces.
This version contains sliced vegetables so the result is beautiful. It’s a perfect picnic or party dish, since it can be served either hot or at room temperature. The flavor keys are good olive oil and fresh herbs.
Oven-Baked Ratatouille
10 cloves of garlic
2 large onions, thinly sliced
2 large eggplant, sliced 1/2-inch thick
4 red or yellow bell peppers, seeded and sliced into rounds or thick match sticks
4 ripe red tomatoes, cored and cut into thick slices
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel garlic and cut each clove in half.
You can either make two layers of vegetables in a deep casserole, or one layer in a 12×15-inch glass baking dish; either works.
Make a layer of onion, followed by eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, salt, pepper and garlic cloves. When you are done layering, drizzle olive oil on top.
Cover dish with foil or a lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 30 minutes more, pressing down on the vegetables with a spatula occasionally until they are all completely tender.
To get a nice brown color on top, turn on the broiler for two minutes at the end. Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with basil sprigs.
Note: This tastes great as a sandwich on hearty wheat bread, too.
This week’s tip
Store unpeeled ginger root in the refrigerator, tightly sealed in a plastic bag, for up to three weeks. An even better solution: freeze it for up to a year. When you need to use it, slice off the required amount and put the rest back in the freezer.
Jenny’s kitchen notes
• Save the date … for La Filice Winery’s 2nd annual Spring Lamb Barbeque. The barbeque benefits the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford and is co-sponsored by La Filice, Campo di Bocce and the San Jose Greek Community. The event will be held at Campo di Bocce in Los Gatos on April 24. For more information or to get on the mailing list, call (408) 847-4224 ext. 105 or e-mail lh***@******ma.com.
• Did you know … the color of an egg’s yolk depends entirely on the hen’s diet. Hens fed on alfalfa, grass and yellow corn lay eggs with darker yolks than wheat-fed hens. The nutritional value of the yolk is the same, no matter the color.
• Garlic care … Be careful not to overbrown garlic when sautéing or it will turn pungent and bitter. Minced garlic will usually cook in less than 1 minute over medium-high heat.
• Lima explosion … You’ll be seeing Lima beans in the store from June through September. Cook in a little water until just al dente. These are great when cooled, dressed with vinaigrette and served as a salad.
• Extra olives please … If you open a can of olives and don’t use them all, transfer the remainder to a glass jar before storing in the refrigerator. This will prevent the “tinny” taste of the can from transferring to the olives.
• End notes: “Seek not the favor of the multitude. It is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of the few, and number not the voices but weigh them.”
~ Kant
Happy cooking!
