April 28, 2021

Dear friends,

Last Wednesday I urged you to make violet lemonade and then it snowed four inches. This week the temperature is supposed to edge into the 80s so maybe it’s safe to write about strawberries. Here’s hoping a freak hailstorm doesn’t wipe out the crop.

But even if you have to use trucked-in berries — which we do until June anyway — strawberry-cornmeal biscuits are worth making. They are the biscuit/brunch/dessert you need this spring. The crunchy-pillowy biscuits are a bit sweet and so tender they’ll crumble in your hand if you’re not careful, with pockets of fresh strawberries as a juicy surprise.

Don’t expect the biscuits to taste like scones, though. I think they are much better. They contain no eggs and have a higher proportion of fat to flour, so they are exceptionally light and tender.

I created the biscuits as a breakfast/brunch treat, but after tasting them I decided they could also be dessert. I picture them warm from the oven with a dollop of whipped cream alongside. Or as a base for shortcake with strawberries on top as well as inside. Or heck, right out of the pan while standing over the stove. That’s how I ate them.

STRAWBERRY-CORNMEAL BISCUITS

1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup yellow corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
5 tbsp. salted butter, frozen
1 cup fresh strawberry chunks (1-inch pieces)
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp. white vinegar
2 tbsp. melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, corn meal and sugar. Grate butter into the bowl using the large holes of a box grater. Use a pastry blender to combine the flour and butter. The butter will disappear into the flour rather than form pea-sized crumbs.

Add strawberries and toss to coat. Stir vinegar into the milk. Pour into the flour mixture  while stirring/tossing with a fork. Continue to stir until no dry flour remains. You should have a fairly sticky dough.

With wet hands, shape dough into 7 balls. Flatten slightly and arrange in a buttered 9-inch skillet or round cake pan, one biscuit in the middle and the rest around the outside.

Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, until the biscuits are just barely beginning to brown at the edges and feel firm when gently pressed. Remove from oven and brush tops with butter. Serve warm. Makes 7 biscuits.

GUT CHECK

What I cooked last week:
Egg, pesto, baby Swiss and salsa on toast; a barley bowl with tofu, carrots, asparagus and spinach in a spicy stir-fry sauce; oatmeal; frozen pizza; ham and black bean soup; grits, egg over easy and toast; hot dogs and baked beans; strawberry-cornmeal biscuits.

What I carried out:
A chili-cheese dog and chili-cheese fries from the Hot Dog Shoppe in East Liverpool; spicy fried chicken, red  beans and rice, mashed potato, biscuit and a chocolate beignet from Popeye’s in Lodi.

THE MAILBAG

From Sandy L.:
Just wanted you to know that my violets survived the freeze and I made the violet lemonade. So pretty! Will the violet “water” last a while? This would be so lovely to serve to my friends this summer when it’s safe to get together again.

Dear Sandy:
Yes, violet water will last awhile. It’s just infused water, so it should be OK to store in the refrigerator. But to be safe, I would freeze it in cubes and then drop into glasses of lemonade. Your friends can watch their drinks slowly change from pale yellow to magenta.

From L. R.:
I am safe now (had my shots) and went to Waterloo Restaurant (in Akron) for lunch. There were only two waitress and probably one guy in the kitchen, and we had to wait for everything. Could you ask people to be patient when they finally dine out again? I hear restaurants can’t find workers but they’re doing the best they can.

Dear L.R.:
Absolutely. I will also urge people to patronize our locally owned, classic restaurants to help them recover from a year of low-to-no business. We do not want to lose the places that give flavor to our area. I can’t imagine Northeast Ohio without the chicken houses, Luigi’s Pizza, Chin’s, the Diamond Grill, Bob’s Hamburger, Beau’s, Papa Joe’s, Emidio’s, Vaccaro’s, Henry Wahner’s, Russo’s, Fisher’s and more, along with newer gems like Chowder House.

Tony and I finally are fully vaccinated and ready to dine out beginning today, which by coincidence is our 14th wedding anniversary. We have plans to eat at Dontino’s LaVita Gardens, another classic local restaurant worth preserving. See you there?

April 21, 2021

Dear friends,

The harvest has begun. First up on my two acres of lawn and assorted plantings were the chives, then one brave spear of asparagus. And finally last week, despite the cold,  a constellation of dainty violets.

Not much of a harvest, you say? Just watch me. I dispatched the violets this week and next week will deal with the Chinese chives. By then I should have enough asparagus for a meal, and it’s onward to summer.

Violets require patience. Maybe it’s good they appear when there are few distractions. The finicky little flowers must be picked one by one and  stems gently removed to turn them into anything worth eating.

Toss the flowers into salads if you’ can’t stand messing with them a minute more. Or shake a half-cup with a cup of sugar, turning daily, to make herby, musky violet sugar to sprinkle on just about anything.

The flavor of violets is faint, so I prefer to focus on their vibrant color. I have made candied violets in the past and they are gorgeous. They are used as a decoration on sweets, and are a pain in the keister to make. If you see any for sale at  $1 each, consider it a bargain.

An easier way to enjoy the beauty of violets is to make an infusion of violets and water or violets and sugar syrup, and pour the purple liquid into a glass of lemonade. It turns the drink a glorious magenta. The flavor of the flowers comes through, too, in a deep-woods, musky way.

“This tastes like spring!” Tony said after tasting violet lemonade. It looks like it, too. Decorate each glass with a couple of violets and celebrate the season. If you’re in Ohio, just pretend it isn’t snowing.

I use aspartame instead of sugar, so I made an infusion of violets and plain water rather than a sugar syrup. I recommend you do so, too. The violet water is a lovely color and later you can add sugar to taste to your lemonade. I use a lemonade mix and add a fresh-squeezed lemon, juice and rind, to the pitcher to amp up the flavor.

The instructions I’ve read say to remove the calyx from the flower (the little green thing that attaches the stem to the petals) but that seemed like evil make-work to me, considering the entire plant is edible. I left the calyx on and my violet infusion turned out just fine.

You can use as little or as much of the infusion as you want in your lemonade. You are in for a treat when you mix the two together, because the acid in the lemonade turns the bluish-purple violet infusion to a beautiful magenta.

VIOLET LEMONADE

1 cup violet flowers, stems removed
2 cups boiling water
Lemonade (a mix or fresh-made)
Fresh violets for garnish

Place the 1 cup violets in a lidded jar that holds at least 3 cups. Pour boiling water over violets. Cap and let stand at room temperature overnight, swishing the jar occasionally.

Strain out violets, which will be leached of color. Fill a glass two-thirds full of lemonade. Pour in at least one-fourth cup violet infusion, or to taste. Add ice and garnish with fresh violets. Makes 2 cups infusion, enough for 6 to 8 glasses of lemonade.

GUT CHECK
What I cooked last week:
Butter-fried hot dog with yellow mustard; ham and scrambled egg on toast with tomato and pesto; Genghis Khan (Japanese marinated, grilled thin-sliced beef and vegetables; mojo-marinated roast pork with fried plantains and black beans and rice; Japanese pork curry; violet sugar, violet infusion, violet lemonade; shepherd’s pie.

What I ordered out:
Korean steak taco and tacos birria (wow!) from Funky Truckeria in Norton.

THE MAILBAG
From A.F.:

I like your barley bowl idea.  A couple of years ago I was doing themed bowls like Tex-Mex (with rice and beans), Italian (pasta, roasted tomatoes, etc.), but my favorite was Asian with rice and veggies topped with just a bit of steaming broth.  When my in-laws moved in, they fell out of favor.  Maybe I can get them to try yours.

From Tracey C.:

Thanks so much for the barley bowl recipe. It’s like you were reading my stomach’s mind! Can’t wait to try it. 

Dear A. and Tracey:

Protein, vegetables and a grain, with seasonings that tie everything together, is such a

convenient and delicious way to eat. I’ll be making more barley bowls (and maybe a rice bowl) this week for Tony and me.

April 14, 2021

Dear friends,

I wouldn’t choose a barley bowl for my last meal on Earth (foie gras and ice cream would get the nod), but I might pick it as my favorite everyday meal. I love eating like this: Grains, greens, bites of chicken and veggies, all napped with a boldly flavored dressing.

The backbone of my latest bowl recipe is silky-chewy barley, which I’ve been obsessed with since I made that Dublin Coddle in March. I’ve been looking for another excuse to eat barley, and this is a great one. The barley is cooked in chicken broth and tossed with miso-ginger dressing while still warm. It is scrumptious.

There are a lot of elements to this bowl but they can be made in little bursts as you have time and stashed in the refrigerator. The dressing and the barley may be made a day or more in advance. So can the matchstick carrots, blanched in boiling water and seasoned with chunky sea salt. So can the snow peas, blanched and seasoned the same way. Then all you have to do is wash some spinach and grill some pineapple and a few skewers of chicken, brushing the chicken with a miso-butter glaze. Or maybe apricot jam if you’re busy.

This recipe is flexible — use already-cut matchstick carrots, swap peach sections for the pineapple, use lettuce instead of spinach and whatever vegetable is in the crisper. The constants are the barley and the lip-licking miso-ginger dressing.

When I started working on the recipe last week, I envisioned prepping the elements on one day and tossing together dinner several nights in a row, subbing tofu for chicken one night, maybe, or asparagus for snow peas.

That did not happen and it never will; no matter how much food I make, Tony eats it. I ate two modest portions from my recipe only because I told Tony to save me some. He liked it a lot. So did I and I hope you will, too.

If you serve this to guests, arrange everything on a big platter as I did for the photo and let everyone help themselves at the table. Otherwise, load up your bowl in the kitchen with the spinach and barley on the bottom and the other goodies on top.

BARLEY BOWLS WITH GLAZED CHICKEN AND MISO-GINGER DRESSING

Miso-ginger dressing:

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp. white  miso
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. grated ginger (use large holes of a box grater)
1 tsp. Asian sesame oil

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Miso glaze:

1/4 cup white miso
2 tbsp.softened butter
1 tbsp.molasses

Combine all ingredients and mix well

Toppings:

1 cup pearled barley — Cook in 2 cups chicken broth according to package directions, drain and toss while warm with 2 tablespoons of the miso-ginger dressing.

1 cup snow peas — Cook 1 minute in boiling water, drain, refresh under cold water, season with sea salt.

1 cup matchstick carrots — Buy precut if possible. Cook 1 minute in boiling water, refresh under cold water, season with sea salt.

16 pineapple chunks — Thread onto four soaked bamboo skewers and grill with the chicken.

1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts — Cut into 1-inch cubes. Thread onto 8 soaked bamboo skewers. Brush with the miso glaze. Grill over a medium charcoal or gas fire (or in an oiled skillet), turning and brushing with glaze, until cooked through.

4 cups (packed) fresh spinach, washed and drained

1/4 cup roasted peanuts

Prepare the ingredients in the order given. Arrange on a platter or in 4 bowls with spinach on bottom, barley in the center and chicken skewers, pineapple and vegetables around. The ingredients should be at room temperature or hot from the grill. Scatter peanuts over all. Drizzle with remaining miso-ginger dressing. Makes 4 servings.

GUT CHECK
What I cooked last week:
Frozen thin-crust pizza (twice); a chocolate-Grand Marnier birthday cake for Tony; roasted foil packets of chicken breasts, spinach, carrots, sliced potatoes, onions, feta, cherry tomatoes and herbes de Provence;  scrambled eggs and ham on toast; barley bowls with grilled miso chicken and miso-ginger dressing.

What I ordered out:
An electra roll and shrimp sunomono from Sushi Katsu in Akron; a hamburger slider with onions and mustard from Hamburger Station.

THE MAILBAG
From N.S.:
Thanks for sharing the recipe for the skillet pizza. I had tried a few King Arthur recipes over the past year, but missed this one. It’s definitely a weekend recipe, but a keeper. I loved the crispy bottom and the dough was not at all heavy. Homemade sauce, onions, mushrooms, and red peppers for our pizza. It was delicious!

Dear N.S.: I can’t stop thinking about that light, crispy crust. You too? Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

From Gillie A., Bridgnorth, England:
Belated Easter greetings. You asked how people would celebrate food-wise when we meet our families.    

In England we can now meet one other family or up to a group of six people but only outdoors. It snowed yesterday and is super cold and windy. A flask of hot tea or coffee is about as exciting as it gets! Too cold to stand around even to eat cake as you have to remove your gloves!!!  When we can finally meet indoors, it will have to be weather appropriate food. On the plus side, hairdressers will be open next week and I  can finally get my hair cut!

I love reading your newsletter and often try recipes using ingredients available here. I remember King Arthur flour and it was interesting to see the recipe used imperial measurements.  So much easier and precise, I’ve found. My digital scales sit on my worktop so are easily available.

Dear Gillie:
How nice to hear from you! I also like to use my digital scales to weigh flour — much more precise than cup measurements.

I hope this week your weather segues to spring, making outdoor meet-ups more comfortable. Here, it’s the wild west regarding following or not following pandemic rules. Mostly, seniors huddle indoors while the young pack bars and restaurants. That is starting to change as the oldsters get vaccinated and venture out, while new strains of the coronavirus threaten to rip through the unprotected population. Gaaa. Will this ever end?

April 7, 2021

Dear friends,

Remember last spring when we all started baking bread? Remember when the supermarket shelves were stripped of flour and there wasn’t a single packet of yeast for sale between here and Chicago?

All pandemic long, King Arthur Flour capitalized on our bread-baking mania by developing ever-new and exciting recipes for its popular internet site. And now one of those recipes has been named King Arthur’s 2020 Recipe of the Year.

This I had to try. It was for a pizza baked in a skillet. I made it last week and see why it beat out all the other recipes for pandemic honors. The crust —technically a bread — is the star. It is thick but tender, airy yet sturdy. The edges are crisp. Thanks to an overnight rise, it is deeply flavorful and almost sweet.

It’s hard to believe all this deliciousness is the result of a no-knead dough. It is not mix-and-forget, however. After stirring to make a shaggy dough and left to rise for 15 minutes it is folded in the bowl three times (four folds each) with a 5-minute rest between each. The folding creates all the tiny, airy pockets in the dough that give the finished crust its unforgettable texture.

The crust reminds me of the house-made focaccia at Russo’s Trattoria in Boston Township, which the wait staff used to call “cake bread” because it was so delicious. I’m sure you could skip the pizza toppings and serve the crust as a fabulous pan bread if you wanted.

The pizza toppings turn the bread into a meal, though, so hold on. The recipe as written makes a cheese pizza, but other toppings may be added. I tossed on some chopped, marinated artichoke hearts. I would have added pepperoni if I’d had any.  Leftover Easter ham would be a good choice, too.

CRISPY CHEESY PAN PIZZA

Crust:

2 cups (240 grams) flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. instant yeast or active dry yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp. olive oil plus 1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil for the pan

Toppings:
6 oz. mozzarella, grated (about 1 1/4 cups loosely packed)
1/3 to 1/2 cup pizza sauce, homemade or store-bought
Freshly grated Parmesan and chopped fresh basil for garnish

For the crust:
Weigh your flour or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess.  Place the flour, salt, yeast, water, and 1 tablespoon olive oil in the bowl of a stand mixer or other medium-large mixing bowl.

Stir everything together to make a shaggy, sticky mass of dough with no dry patches of flour. This should take 30 to 45 seconds in a mixer using the beater paddle; or about 1 minute by hand, using a spoon or spatula. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to gather the dough into a rough ball; cover the bowl.

After 5 minutes, uncover the bowl and reach a bowl scraper or your wet hand down between the side of the bowl and the dough, as though you were going to lift the dough out. Instead of lifting, stretch the bottom of the dough up and over its top. Repeat three more times, turning the bowl 90° each time. This process of four stretches, which takes the place of kneading, is called a fold. 

Re-cover the bowl, and after 5 minutes do another fold. Wait 5 minutes and repeat; then another 5 minutes, and do a fourth and final fold. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest, undisturbed, for 40 minutes. Then refrigerate 12 hours or up to 72 hours.

About 3 hours before you want to serve your pizza, prepare your pan. Pour 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil into a well-seasoned cast iron skillet that’s 10 to 11 inches in  diameter. Heavy, dark cast iron will give you a superb crust; but if you don’t have it, use another oven-safe heavy-bottomed skillet of similar size, or a 10-inch round cake pan or 9-inch square pan. Tilt the pan to spread the oil across the bottom, and use your fingers or a paper towel to spread some oil up the edges.

Transfer the dough to the pan and turn it once to coat both sides with the oil. Press the dough to the edges of the pan, dimpling it with the tips of your fingers. The dough may start to resist and shrink back; that’s OK.  Cover and let it rest for about 15 minutes, then repeat the dimpling/pressing. The dough should reach the edges of the pan; if it doesn’t, give it one more 15-minute rest before dimpling/pressing a third and final time. 

Cover the crust and let rise for 2 hours at room temperature. The fully risen dough will look soft and pillowy and will jiggle when you gently shake the pan.

About 30 minutes before baking, place one rack at the bottom of the oven and one toward the top (about 4″ to 5″ from the top heating element). Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

When you’re ready to bake the pizza, sprinkle about three-quarters of the mozzarella (a scant 1 cup) evenly over the crust. Cover the entire crust, no bare dough showing; this will yield caramelized edges. Dollop small spoonfuls of the sauce over the cheese. Sprinkle on the remaining mozzarella.

Bake the pizza on the bottom rack of the oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and the bottom and edges of the crust are a rich golden brown (use a spatula to check the bottom). If the bottom is brown but the top still seems pale, transfer the pizza to the top rack and bake for 2 to 4 minutes longer. On the other hand, if the top seems fine but the bottom’s not browned to your liking, leave the pizza on the bottom rack for another 2 to 4 minutes.

Transfer pizza to a heatproof surface and sprinkle on the Parmesan and chopped fresh basil. Run a table knife or spatula between the edge of the pizza and side of the pan to prevent the cheese from sticking as it cools. Let the pizza cool very briefly; carefully transfer it from the pan to a cooling rack or cutting surface. Cut into wedges with kitchen shears. Serves 4. Or 2 if you’re really hungry.

Recipe courtesy of King Arthur Flour.

TIDBITS
Get yourself to a Honey Baked Ham store pronto. Post-Easter, the stores are awash in meaty ham bones. To handle the glut, Honey Baked put the bones on sale. Serious sale. I got three ham bones Monday at the Montrose store for less than $3 each. They usually are priced by the pound and cost about $11 to $20 each, with tons of ham clinging to the bones.

GUT CHECK
What I cooked last week:
A split and skillet-toasted biscuit sandwiched with hard-cooked fried egg and pesto; corned beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, chopped salad; egg salad; chili; beef broth with edamame and poached egg; pesto and crumbled feta on toast; tuna, chickpea and basil salad; pizza sauce; crispy pan pizza with artichokes and mozzarella; chickpea soup; sous vide and pan-seared porterhouse steak with horseradish sauce, mashed potatoes, chopped salad.

What I carried out:
Nothing. Halfway through the week I started the Noom diet again, trying to peel off the pandemic pounds I regained.

THE MAILBAG
No mail this week, not even to my query about what you ate or will eat at your post-vaccine celebration. I have other ways of squeezing information from friends, though, so here’s how a few will or did mark the occasion:

* My friend Patty LaNoue Stearns, retired food editor of the Detroit Free Press: “Wine, ice cream and potato chips!”

• Another food friend, Judy Sokol Evans, retired food editor of the  St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “We were so lucky — we became fully protected just in time for our grandson’s sixth birthday! He asked for a Pokemon cake. I made the cake and he contributed the characters.”

• J.M: “Two pizzas from Vaccaro’s Trattoria (in Bath) — along with their wedding soup and complementary wines.”

* C.F.: “First Watch, possibly indoors.”

* S.W.: “Alaskan King king crab on the grill.”

• Chef S.S.: “A friend and I celebrated an Easter/Spring/vaccine brunch with an asparagus and ramp omelet, bacon, orange cardamom twist and roasted baby potatoes.”

• A.M.: “(On) some patio with margaritas.”

* R.K.: “I hope with Barberton chicken.”

• L.Q.: “I can’t wait to go back to work. I’m planning a whole bunch of cute bento boxes.”

• Cindy P.: “Honestly, I don’t care what we eat. I’m going to be happy to be with family again.”

From me: Amen, Cindy. Amen.