Friday Food – Cinco de Mayo

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I know that Cinco de Mayo is one of those consumer filled holidays that Americans don’t even know what they’re celebrating, but the food is so good, especially if you can find an authentic Mexican restaurant (which fortunately, we have.)

These are my three favorite Mexican dishes. I do go back and forth with what favorite places I like, but Mexican holds a special place in my heart. My husband and I went on our first date at a Mexican restaurant, and the service was so slow that we were there for at least two hours. Lots of time to talk. I also think we each thought the other one really liked Mexican food, which it turned out that we did, whether we knew it or not.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chimichangas with Mexican Rice and Guacamole Salad
Fried Ice Cream

Friday Food. April.

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Passover, Easter, Spring Break, Prom Season. So much to do, including cooking. Holiday cooking plus the regular everyday cooking that we’re expected to do. These last few weeks had me teaching, my daughter working practically every day after school, my son trying to break the world’s record for most movies seen in a month (kidding), my husband’s job is one person short, and no one wants to cook dinner. They also don’t want to pay for take out or fast food, and frankly, I don’t blame them. I thought I would take this Friday Food to share some shortcuts and new things to try.

Everyone knows about cooking two meals on Sunday and then eating leftovers. I try to make one big meal a week, like a roast beef, a pork loin, or a whole chicken. They make a great meal, and then they make great leftovers. All of them can be eaten as sandwiches later in the week with a side of chips and cole slaw. If the first night is mashed potatoes, the next night can be rice. My daughter likes Minute Rice, but regular rice is very easy to make. I got the recipe from The Kitchen Survival Guide by Lora Brody and while I’ve changed some things, the gist of it is the same.

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Friday Food. March. Meet Jamie Schler.

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  • What you’ll find as you read on:
  • An unrelated note from me (see the Home Page)
  • An introduction to Jamie Schler
  • Links for her cooking, hotel, and books
  • French Onion Soup Recipe
  • Where to find Jamie and all her wonderful food expertise and recipes.

I “met” Jamie Schler in the midst of the pandemic and through the former guy’s administration and our mutual resistance. She offered recipes from her home in Chinon, France and brought her followers along as she went (post-pandemic) to a family reunion stateside. I downloaded her free e-book, Isolation Baking, which along with Chef Jose Andres#RecipesForThePeople kept us creatively cooking while “trapped” in our own homes and kitchens. She makes an amazing assortment of homemade jams that she offers as part of her bed and breakfast at her Hotel Diderot in the beautiful Loire Valley. I’m looking forward one day to actually make her French Onion Soup, which is one of my favorite things to eat, and whose recipe I share below.

Jamie is generous with her time and love of food on social media and now on her Substack. She shares her techniques for making jam, which she does in abundance as well as recipes and insights. The jam is one of the highlights of the hotel’s breakfast and jam-making has been a hotel tradition since it’s early days of the 1960s. Each new owner has introduced new varieties of the jams, bringing the total to over 50 kinds.

Jamie Schler in front of her jam cabinet at her hotel, the Hotel Diderot. Her book, Orange Appeal has a prominent place on the cabinet.

The main building of the hotel dates from the 15th century. I can feel the history through the splendid pictures Jamie posts on her social media.

Hotel Diderot (from their website)
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Friday Food – A Blending of Two Cultures

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Food and cooking are universal. We all eat, we all need to get food on the table, and even if it’s not us directly, someone needs to cook. From small galley kitchens in apartments to large farmhouse kitchens looking out over lush, green backyards, whatever kitchens we are destined to be “stuck with” we adapt and we learn how to work with what we have. If we don’t have an ingredient, we try a different one. When my kids were little, in the summer we held taste tests. I would get things they’d never eaten and we’d try them. It was great fun, and the kids had an awesome time choosing what new food, mostly fruit they wanted to try. Some (donut peaches) did better than others (anchovies).

I had the privilege of working one of my first jobs out of college as a civilian for the US Navy’s child development program and through that job met people from all over the country and we shared food and recipes and cultural traditions, and it was wonderful.

One of my mentors, Sylvia was an African-American woman from New Orleans. She had a demeanor of floating on air, gliding through our lives, and expressing and encouraging our wonder in the world and in diversity. I learned so much from her. She was ethereal and offered her words and advice as a sage. From her, I learned to make her sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving.

I followed her recipe exactly for years and my family loved this new item in our Thanksgiving celebration. My mother could not reconcile that sweet potato pie was served cold and as a dessert. She just could not get used to it, and soon it became a side dish in our house. The only difference between Sylvia’s and my version was temperature and time to eat.

After a while, after three kids and depression, and “I don’t have time for this” I converted it to a casserole, but I still miss that original version that Sylvia introduced me to. At the bottom, I’ll share my recipe, which, while excellent is not what you’d find in New Orleans.

Combining Sylvia’s traditions with mine was one way I blended her African American heritage with my Jewish heritage and then further blending Jewish and Christian traditions for holidays, in classrooms as a teacher and in my husband’s Catholic family.

This has been a longwinded introduction to a Twitter friend of mine, someone I met on the social media site in the last few months.

Michael W. Twitty is a proud African-American Jew who expresses himself through cooking and writing about food and culinary history. His Twitter handle is KosherSoul, which exemplifies his focus.

I’m going to quote from his website because this epitomizes how I think of my own cooking: Michael has introduced me to the term, “identity cooking.” “Identity cooking isn’t about fusion; rather its [sic] how we construct complex identities and then express them through how we eat.” This is a truism that if you follow me for any length of time and read my food posts, you’ll see that connecting different foods has always been my cooking style. Bringing together flavors that don’t necessarily go, but manage to surprise. None of us eats in a singular “culinary construct”. We often work with what we have and adapt. My mother-in-law was excellent at pulling things together from her cupboards and turning it into a gourmet meal. She had a rare talent.

As for Twitty, I could easily just copy and paste his website to describe how he blends the two diasporas of African-Americans and the Jewish people and their food, but I’ll let you visit him yourself as he explores their crossroads. He is a two time James Beard award-winning author and his recent book, KOSHERSOUL: The Faith and Food Journey of an African-American Jew was the winner of the 2023 National Jewish Book Council Award for Book of the Year.


Find all his socials below as well as his website and links to purchase his books.

Afroculinaria on WordPress

Twitter

Instagram

The Cooking Gene

KosherSoul

He also offers classes in the DC/Baltimore area. Information here.


As promised, my recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole

To make this as a pie, pour into a graham cracker pie crust, cover with mini marshmallows and bake for about 35 minutes at 350, until marshmallows are golden brown.

Ingredients & Directions:

1 large can of sweet potatoes (cook, drain, mash)
1 stick of butter
1/4 cup of brown sugar (whatever variety you prefer – I use dark, Sylvia used light)
I don’t measure the spices, but I add about:
1 TB cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Incorporate everything together and pour into a small, any shaped casserole dish. Cover the top with mini marshmallows and bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Scoop and serve.
If pie, let cool, slice, and serve.

Friday Food. December.

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This has to be the worst week for deciding what to eat. Nothing goes as planned, not to mention that the age old question, “What’s for dinner?” is almost impossible to answer in a week of unpredictables. We know what’s for dinner for Christmas Eve; we know what for dinner Christmas Day, and we even know what’s for dinner the day after Christmas, but the rest of the week? *throws hands up* Who knows?!

The other day we put off ground beef to have fast food after shopping and work.

Yesterday we finally had the ground beef as tacos.

Tonight? Pasta and meatballs. Unless we opt for cold cuts which are already in the fridge, but after the hassle of finding the almost non-existent ricotta cheese (which I love on my pasta and sauce), I’m leaning towards the pasta, although to be honest, we’re all a little tired of pasta – it’s our go-to when there’s nothing else and it’s snowing out or the paycheck is next week.

I’m pretty sure it’s pasta tonight though.

Like 95% sure.

Our holiday food follows my husband’s family traditions, but this year I did manage to make latkes on Chanukah, which is a feat since it’s a drain to stand over the stove. And there are never any leftovers. These were probably the best ones I’ve ever made. They were crispy on the outside, hot and soft on the inside, and they were perfect with the applesauce and sour cream. Yes, both.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend and week that follows.

Latkes
(c)2022

Friday Food. November. Leftover Pasta.

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Leftover Rotelli, also known by my son as that thing you do with pasta. This “thing I do with pasta” changes depending on the food that goes with it. This was just thrown together and it was good enough to take a picture and try to recreate the recipe.

I apologize for the lack of real measurements. You kind of have to feel this one, but you’ll be able to adjust as you go along. I have confidence in you.

  • In a wok, heat 1-2 TB sesame oil. Add nutmeg, orange peel, garlic powder and teriyaki sauce.
  • Add the noodles.
  • Then more teriyaki sauce, more garlic powder.
  • Add 1/2 to a whole bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Let them unfreeze in the noodles and warm up a bit, then add about 1/3 cup of hoisin sauce (our new favorite condiment) and 1/4 stick of unsalted butter.
  • Mix over a medium heat.
  • Cover until hot, mixing occasionally and checking the temperature for how you prefer it.

Everything is already cooked so it’s up to you to decide when it’s done.
You’ll know when it is.

Leftover Rotelli, Asian style.
(c)2022

Friday Food. September.

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Last weekend, we attended my cousin’s wedding. We were so excited to witness the next generation beginning their lives. We saw my aunt and uncle who we haven’t seen in years, and it was just a wonderful day and night.

As for food, I’ve been lucky that I’ve never had bad food at a wedding, and this was no exception. In fact, the food that night was exceptional. No pictures of the cocktail hour sadly, but here are some views of dinner.

One note first: The sorbet came with fresh fruit. When I said that I didn’t get a blackberry (I was joking with my husband), my brother-in-law took his empty wine glass and poured all of his fruit and mint leaves into it and gave it to me. Yes, I ate it all. It was delicious.


See below for food descriptions.
(c)2022

L, Top to Bottom: Duet of Sorbet with fruit, Garlic bread, Chateaubriand, Wedding cake (cannoli/chocolate mousse).

R, Top to Bottom: Trio of homemade Pasta, Flower setting (non-edible, LOL)

Friday Food. Lent and Leftovers.

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Friday night Lenten meal.
(c)2022

It’s hard to find food for Fridays in Lent. Our family doesn’t eat fish at all. My son and I will enjoy a fish fry during Lent, but the rest of the family still needs to eat something so we’ll usually go with a pasta or pizza and my son and I will hit the church’s fish fry at least once. Cracker Barrel also at least once.

Last week was an off-pay week, so we were being frugal, and it was leftovers on the menu. The problem for me was that leftovers was pork loin. My daughter didn’t want the pork and decided to make eggs, so I asked her to make some eggs for me. I like my eggs well done scrambled.

She and I divided the leftover over white rice, which I microwaved. I added butter to mine with peas and a couple of leftover packets of duck sauce and then mixed in the hot scrambled eggs.

It was such a simple meal, and it was very satisfying and delicious. I feel like having it again sooner rather than later, although to be honest, tonight will probably be pizza.

What are all of you eating for your Lenten Fridays? And if you’re not observing Lent, what is your favorite simple but delicious go-to meal for a Friday night?

Friday Food – Super Bowl Snacks

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Whether you’re watching the Big Game or the Commercials, a big part of your Super Bowl Sunday afternoon is food. In our family, we always have snacks and appetizers for dinner with the occasional pizza now and then.

Some years we’ve done a nice selection of homemade snacks like pigs in blankets, waffles and chicken, soft pretzels, deep dish loaded mashed potato pizza, and mini cheesecakes.

This year our primary caterer will be Trader Joe’s. The following is our menu for this year’s Super Bowl Sunday.

  • Dill Dip to go along with pretzels, chips, and veggies as well as cheese and crackers. Our favorite veggies are cucumbers, sugar snap peas, raw green beans, baby carrots, grape tomatoes.
  • Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken on toothpicks.
  • Hebrew National Mini Hot Dogs in Blankets with mustard.
  • Pork Gyoza Pot Stickers (from Trader Joe’s)
  • Vegetable and/ or Chicken Tikka Samosas (from Trader Joe’s)
  • Chicken Spring Rolls (from Trader Joe’s)
  • Mini Beef Meatballs in Teriyaki sauce on toothpicks.
  • Cupcakes for dessert.
Super Bowl Sunday Snack Foods. (More pics on Sunday.)
(c)2022