67365603
Today is International Women’s Day. Ironically, it is also Purim, the Jewish festival which recalls how the bright and beautiful Queen Esther saved her people from the gallows at the hands of the evil Haman.
With apologies to James Agee, let us now praise famous women chefs and cooks. Let’s clear something up. The word chef means chief in French. She or he is in charge of the professional kitchen and is responsible for a myriad of duties including the hiring and firing of staff, ordering provisions, planning the menu and so forth. Julia Child said many times “I am a cook, not a chef.”
Sometimes becoming a chef has nothing to do with graduating from culinary school. I know a number of fine individuals who never attended The Restaurant School, The Culinary Institute of America, The Cordon Bleu or any other fine institutions in the United States or Europe.
A quick glance at my cookbook library of several hundred volumes reveals the majority of books were written by cooks, not chefs. Think of best-selling authors and you will discover, Child, Marcella Hazan, Lidia Bastianich, Ina Garten, Claudia Roden, Joan Nathan, Barbara Kafka and M.F.K. Fisher, who all fell into the accomplished cook category. These women were as creative and proficient with the pen as they were in the kitchen.
My friend and mentor Julie Dannenbaum died in December four months shy of her 90th birthday. She studied culinary arts in France. As a newlywed, I clearly recall following Julie’s recipes for fillet of beef or rack of lamb, which I had never roasted before. When Julie wrote a recipe, she held the reader’s hand. I have been doing the same ever since I wrote my first culinary column many years ago.
I salute her, as well as women cooks all over the world who continue to inspire me.
Kasha
From “Food for Friends” by Barbara Kafka
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1/2 cup of parsley leaves, chopped
1 cup of kasha
2 teaspoons of kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups of water
Directions:
Melt the butter in a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Over medium heat, sauté the onion until it is soft and brown. Add the celery and parsley and cook, stirring, for three minutes. Add the kasha, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for five minutes. Add the water, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover the pot and cook for 25 minutes.
Serves six.
Note from Phyllis: Kasha has a marvelous nutty flavor. You can add some cooked bow-tie pasta to create the classic Jewish side dish kasha and bows. Cook the bow ties separately and add them to the kasha after it has finished cooking. Make sure you buy egg noodles, not Italian Farfalle. Round out this hearty meal with any green vegetable or begin with a salad.
Pot Roast in Beer
From Julie Dannenbaum’s “Complete Creative Cooking School Cookbook”
Ingredients:
1 4-pound chuck roast
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground cloves
6 peppercorns
1 large onion, sliced
2 large carrots, sliced
2 cups of beer
1/2 cup of olive oil
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Directions:
Put the beef in a bowl and sprinkle with the first six ingredients. Pour on the beer and oil. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours, turning occasionally.
Remove the beef from the marinade, drain it and reserve the marinade. Pat dry with paper towels.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy pot. Brown the meat on all sides, which should take about 15 minutes.
Add 3/4 of a cup marinade to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover the pot, lower to simmer and cook for about two-and-a-half-hours. Halfway through the cooking time, turn the meat over and add a bit more of the marinade if the meat appears dry.
Allow the meat to rest for 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with the marinade on the side.
Serves six to eight.
Note from Phyllis: I would add some beef stock and a heaping tablespoon or two of tomato paste to the beef as it cooks. When I prepare pot roast, I make sure the liquid thoroughly covers the meat. This will yield more gravy which is needed for the meat and the kasha. SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
67365583
67365613
