Up on the Mountain

It's such a pleasure to break the routine and get out of town. A long weekend out of LA revives my spirit. Right now I'm at Robert Redford's Sundance Resort in the Wasatch Mountain Range, just below Mount Timpanogos.

On the mountain all signs point to summer. Wild flowers have started to bloom; the sky is bright, blue and sunny; the meadows are covered with lush green grasses. And yet winter hasn't given up entirely. A week ago there were snow flurries. Two days ago rain pelted the mountainside.

Coming up from LA, what a pleasure to enjoy the cool air and quiet of the mountain. The reason for the trip is to visit my wife, Michelle, who works at Sundance several months out of the year heading up the Feature Film Program. Every June she's on the mountain for most of the month. I'm here for a connubial visit. While she works I can catch up with old friends, read, write, and--of course--cook.

The food at the resort is exceptionally good, from the upscale Tree Room to the casual and rustic Foundry Grill Room. But after several weeks of eating all her meals in a tent with a group of 100 director fellows, creative advisers, staff, and crew, she appreciates a break from the buffet table. At least while I'm here she can have some home-cooked treats. The great thing about liking to cook is that it's not only fun for the cook, it's good for the person who gets to eat.

As a man who likes to cook, I pride myself on taking a few ingredients and maximizing them efficiently. For this trip I asked Michelle to buy 4 chicken legs when she stopped at the supermarket in Orem. When I came up I brought an onion, garlic, rosemary, a carrot, flour, parsley, sea salt, baking powder, mushrooms, and my traveling knife set. From the resort I would be able to get butter, half and half, and olive oil.

Chicken Stock

You can buy chicken stock in the supermarket but I recommend making your own. It's easy, tastes better, doesn't have the high salt content of packaged stock, and only adds one simple step.

Yield 2 cups of stock
Time 1 hour
Ingredients

4 chicken leg bones & skin
Olive oil

Method

Debone the legs, reserve the meat for another dish, put the bones and skin into a stock pot and sauté with olive oil until lightly browned. Add 4 cups of water and simmer 30 minutes. Strain and discard the bones and skin. Refrigerate so you can skim off the fat.

Dumplings with Vegetables

Yield 2 servings
Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 carrot (washed, peeled, finely chopped)
1/2 yellow onion (washed, peeled, finely chopped)
2 garlic cloves (peeled, finely chopped)
4 mushrooms (washed, thinly sliced)
1 rosemary sprig (washed)
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sweet butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 - 3/4 cup half and half
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Sauté the carrot, onion, garlic, rosemary, and mushrooms with the olive oil in a medium sized sauce pan until lightly browned. Add the chicken stock and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the rosemary sprig and discard.

In a bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, sugar, season with sea salt and pepper. Finely chop the butter, add to the flour and mix well. Slowly pour in the half and half, stirring until the batter has a thick consistency. Using 2 spoons make dumplings and ease them them into the hot liquid. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Chicken with Parsley

Yield 2 servings
Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 chicken legs (skinned, deboned, meat only; bones and skin used to make stock)
1 bunch Italian parsley (washed, finely chopped)
1/2 yellow onion (washed, peeled, thinly sliced)
2 garlic cloves (peeled, finely chopped)
2 cups chicken stock or water
1 teaspoon sweet butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Chop the leg meat into bite sized pieces and marinate an hour or overnight with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. In a medium sized sauce pan, sauté the chicken pieces until lightly browned, add the parsley, onion, and garlic, stir frequently, cook until browned, add the stock or water and butter. Simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes until the liquid has thickened. Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and pepper.

Variations

Add capers and pitted black olives.

Add cherry tomatoes to the sauté.

Use rosemary instead of parsley.

Top with homemade croutons.

Serve on pasta.

Crispy Baby Artichokes & Spaghetti

In today's Bitten, I talk about making crispy baby artichokes with capers and shallots. I find steamed artichokes very satisfying. The creamy sweetness of the heart combined with butter is comforting. Crispy artichokes are a very different experience. Salty, crunchy with a caramelized sweetness they are delicious in a completely different way. Sold at upscale markets they can be pricey but at Trader Joe's they're very affordable.

The artichokes can be served as an appetizer, side dish, or a main course. They take a bit of work--trimming the outer leaves, cutting out the fuzzy-choke-- so this is something to enjoy making on the weekend when you can have some company while you're cooking.

The recipe on Bitten is vegetarian, although you could add bacon or sausage if you were so inclined.

Pork and Beans: A Childhood Favorite Gets an Upgrade

When I was a kid one of my favorite things to eat was hot dogs and beans. I was really happy when I saw my mother opening a can of Campbell's Pork and Beans, cutting up an Oscar Meyer hot dog and cooking them together until they were pipping hot. Yum.

When I was hungry and no one was home, I'd make a hot dog and beans sandwich with buttered bread. Hot or cold didn't matter, the beans were delicious either way.

But like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I hadn't eaten hot dogs and beans since I was a kid. Last week I happened to be in the supermarket shopping for a Memorial Day dinner. I saw that Bush's Baked Beans were on sale.

If you haven't had Bush's, you're in for a treat. These are the best canned baked beans ever. Since I was making spareribs, the idea of baked beans seemed a good fit. But while I had fond memories about pork and beans, I wasn't going to use hot dogs. My adult taste buds needed ingredients with a lot more flavor.

Bush's Baked Beans with Italian Sausages

Yield 4 servings
Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 28 ounce can Bush's Baked Beans
2 Italian sausages (mild or hot)
1 small onion (peeled, finely chopped)
2 garlic cloves (peeled, finely chopped)
1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves, washed, finely chopped
Olive oil
Freshly ground pepper

Method

Grill the sausages until brown on all sides. Let cool, then slice into 1/4" rounds. Sauté the onions, garlic, and parsley with olive oil in a small pot until lightly browned. Season with pepper. Add the sausage rounds and baked beans. Stir frequently and simmer for 15 minutes.

Variations

Sprinkle grated cheddar cheese on top.

Add red peppers.

Add spinach to the sauté.

At the Santa Monica Farmers' Market

Today was one of those picture perfect moments in Southern California. After days of overcast skies and the threat of rain, the sun was shining brightly and the sky was a deep blue. A few women had on tank tops and some men were wearing cargo-shorts, but there was enough of a cool breeze that light sweatshirts were still the order of the day.

Last week the Santa Monica Farmers' Market was uncrowded--maybe people were out of town in advance of Memorial Day--but today was another story. Getting close to the farmers' tables took a lot a patience and excuse-me's.

Flowers were everywhere and as Russ Parsons described in today's Los Angeles Times, early season cherries made an appearance--Rainiers, Burlats, Black Tartarians, Queen Annes, and Brooks.

The best news was the return of the pluot. Besides the Ha Farm's Mountain Grown Fuji Apples, Scott Farm's pluots and plums (which come later in the season) are my favorite fruits. There were nectarines and peaches but they looked too green and didn't have the fullness that comes from long days of summer heat.

Jimmy Williams of Hay Ground Organic Gardening was selling potted herbs and vegetables. Amazingly he grows all of his high-quality plants in the backyard of his Hollywood home. In the past I had been tempted to buy his plants but never did because our backyard was too heavily shaded. Happily our next-door neighbor is renovating her house and she's thinned out the giant bamboo that had doomed our garden to perpetual shade. To celebrate our backyard's return to full-sun, I picked up an Italian parsley and three tomato plants: Green Zebra, Sweet Olive, and Cherokee Purple.

Walking through the market today made me very happy. Compared to the waxy displays in the supermarket produce section, the farmers' market feels alive with displays of freshly cut flowers, mounds of cherries, arugula, corn, squash, onions, garlic, artichokes, asparagus, carrots, beets, bok choy, spinach, lemons, oranges, apples, apricots, cantaloupe, Lily's eggs, Rockenwagner's baked goods, Carlsbad Aquafarm's shellfish....the list goes on and on.

Because Michelle is out of town, I didn't need much, just the pluots, a bunch of scallions, parsley, and arugula for Michael's salads. The cherries looked so beautiful I couldn't resist buying a pound. I could happily have eaten them straight out of the bag, but friends were coming for dinner and with a little extra effort the cherries would turn into an easy-to-make dessert. I ate one handful and consigned the rest to the oven.

Baked Cherries
Yield 4-6 Servings
Time 45 Minutes

1 pound cherries
1 tablespoon raw sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pit the cherries and put the halves on a Silpat sheet on a roasting pan. Lightly sprinkle the cherries with raw sugar. Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove and let cool. Cherry nectar will have accumulated inside each cherry, accented by the raw sugar's caramel flavor.

Dust with raw sugar and serve with yogurt, ice cream, or mixed with other fruits like mango or cantaloupe.

Corn Goes from Grill to Salad Bowl

When the weather warms up, I happily trade the stove for the barbecue. What a pleasure to be cooking outdoors. The heat blasting off the grill. The trees and sky overhead. I just love it.

We grill a lot of vegetables. Corn is one of our favorites. Besides enjoying corn on the cob, with very little effort the grilled corn makes a terrific salad.

Grilled Corn
Yield 4 servings
Time 20 minutes

4 ears of corn, silks and husks removed, washed
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Drizzle the corn with olive oil, then season with sea salt and pepper. Put on the hot grill. Turn frequently with tongs to avoid burning. Charing adds to the flavor, but just a little bit. Serve hot off the grill by itself or as a side dish.

Grilled Corn Salad
Yield 4 servings
Time 10 minutes

4 ears of corn, grilled
1 bunch Italian parsley, washed, leaves only, finely chopped
1 scallion, washed, ends removed, finely chopped
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Use a sharp knife to remove the kernels. In a bowl mix together the corn, parsley, and scallion. Drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Toss well and serve at room temperature.

Variations

Use cilantro instead of Italian parsley.

Add sautéed onions and garlic, lightly browned in olive oil.

Add bell peppers, red, yellow, or green--raw is good; if grilled, remove the skins--chopped the same size as the corn kernels.

Memorial Day is a Perfect Time to Make Beet Salad & Potato Salad

The summer season of travel, picnics, and barbecues traditionally begins on Memorial Day. Given the high price of gas, there may be less travel and more eating close to home this year. With good weather comes spontaneity. The kids are home or friends stop by, nothing is easier than turning on the barbecue and grilling some hamburgers, sausages, chicken, or a nice steak. Pull together a couple of easy-to-make salads and the meal is complete.

I've already talked about egg salad with bacon and shrimp, carrot salad, spinach salad, and arugula salad. I want to add to those favorites two more: beet salad and potato salad.

Roasted Beet Salad
Serves 4
Time 1 hour

The beets my mom served when I was a kid were either boiled or canned. For some reason she never roasted beets. That's such a simple way to prepare them. They steam inside their skins. Because they take very little effort to prepare, they are a great addition to a meal when you feel pressed for time.

1 bunch of large beets
Olive oil

Cut off the leaves and stems, reserving them to use later (a quick side note: after you wash them, if you chop up the leaves and stems, sauté them with olive oil, garlic and shallots; they'll caramelize and you can serve them as a side dish or tossed with pasta; they're delicious). Thoroughly wash the beets to get rid of any grit. Do not remove the skin or cut off the root. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put a sheet of aluminum foil on a baking pan. Place the beets in the pan, drizzle with olive oil, and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn the beets every 20 minutes so they cook evenly. Use a wooden skewer to test if they're done.

Let cool, then peel off the skins, cut off the root and the top part. Serve them up the way you like--julienne, rounds, or roughly cut--put them in a bowl and dress with olive oil, reduced balsamic vinegar, sea salt and black pepper.

Variations

Use a vinagrette dressing, add feta, sliced scallions, and chopped Italian parsley.

Top with roasted walnuts.

Add roasted carrots.

Add green grapes sliced in half.

Potato Salad
Serves 4-6
Time 45 minutes

As a side dish potato salad goes with any grilled meat or fish, perfect for a dinner party or a picnic.

2 pounds potatoes (Yukon Gold or King Edward), washed
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
2 tablespoons grated carrots
1 tablespoon corn kernels
1 scallion, end trimmed, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Italian parsley, leaves only, finely chopped
1/2 to 3/4 cup mayonnaise (preferably Best Foods/Hellman's)
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Put the potatoes in a pot, fill with water to cover, add the Kosher salt, cover with a lid or piece of aluminum foil, and boil on high heat for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked but still firm. Remove the pot from the heat, pour off the hot water, refill the pot with cold water and let the potatoes cool.

Sauté the corn with a little olive oil for 5 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool. In a large bowl, mix together the corn, carrots, scallion, and parsley. Peel the skin off the potatoes--save the skin for a breakfast sauté with eggs--chop the potatoes into dime-sized pieces, and add to the bowl. Toss all the ingredients together and season with sea salt and pepper. Stir in the mayonnaise and mix well. Taste and adjust the flavors with more mayonnaise, salt, and pepper.

Variations

Use cilantro instead of Italian parsley.

Add celery or capers.

Add crispy bacon.

Add grilled shrimp.

Wilted Spinach Salad Takes Center Stage

Everyone has an all-purpose dish that can be modified in clever ways by changing a few key ingredients. For my mother, it was the casserole. For me it’s usually pasta but on those nights when my wife wants to “go green” I turn to an old stand-by: a wilted spinach salad.

Versatile spinach works cold in a salad or heated by sautéing or boiling. A hot dressing brings spinach to a middle ground: mostly raw with some leaves wilted from the heat of the dressing. Sautéing the dressing allows for a great variety of ingredients: Italian sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, shrimp, bacon, chicken, duck, chicken livers, or purely vegetarian. As far as I can tell just about any pizza topping would work on a wilted spinach salad, excepting maybe pineapple.

I invite everyone to send in suggestions. I know I’ve only scratched the surface of this infinitely variable dish.

Wilted Spinach Salad with Shrimp, Avocado, and Olives
Yield 4 servings
Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 large bunch spinach, the root ends trimmed and discarded, thoroughly washed to remove the grit
2 garlic cloves, peeled, thinly sliced
2 slices bacon, finely chopped (optional)
6 mushrooms (brown or shiitake), washed, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled, cut into rounds 1/4" thick
2 shallots, peeled, cut into thin rounds
12 shrimp, medium sized, washed, deveined, sliced in half (optional)
12 olives (oil cured black, green split, or Castelvetrano green), pitted, quartered
1 small avocado, peeled, roughly chopped
1/4 cup croutons, preferably homemade
2 tablespoons feta, crumbled (optional)
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Sea salt and pepper

Remove the stems from the spinach. Put the leaves into a large salad bowl. Finely chop the stems. To make the hot dressing put 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into a sauté pan on a medium flame and lightly brown the spinach stems, garlic, bacon, mushrooms, carrot rounds, and shallots. Remove from heat and set aside. In a small sauce pan reduce the balsamic vinegar to 1 tablespoon. In a separate sauté pan drizzled with olive oil, cook the shrimps until pink about 2 minutes, then set aside.

When you’re just about to serve the salad, reheat the dressing on a medium flame. Add the rest of the olive oil, olives, and avocado.

Using a rubber spatula pour the hot dressing over the spinach leaves. Drizzle with the reduced balsamic vinegar. Top with the shrimp, croutons and if you want the feta. Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and black pepper.

Variations

The hot dressing can be kept vegetarian by using olive oil, shallots, and garlic. Most vegetables can be added to the sauté: zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, English peas, sugar snap peas, broccoli, or tomatoes. Try tofu or vegetarian patties as well.

A riff on a chef salad, in the dressing sauté baked ham and turkey breast with shallots; add cheese (cheddar or Swiss) and chopped tomatoes when you toss the salad.

Borrowing from the classic frisee salad, use bacon or lardoons crisped in the sauté, topping the salad with a fried egg. A variation on a variation: instead of a fried egg, use a hard boiled egg, sliced or chopped.

Sauté 1/4" rounds of Italian sausage with slices of red pepper, onion, and garlic to make a wilted salad version of a sausage hero.

Grilled or sautéed chicken livers with mushrooms, onions, and lots of garlic.

Add several anchovies and a dusting of pepper flakes to the onion-garlic sauté.

For the meat use slices of roast duck or chicken (dark meat preferably since it has more flavor); put shiitake mushrooms in the sauté.