Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

(BTW, <reet> is the brilliant and creative cook I referred to earlier, and
also the reason I am alive today!)
  

    
My favorite egg recipe is something I call California Benedict. I make
it on weekends when I am very hungry and have enough time to make and
enjoy it:

first saute some tomato slices. In the same pan, fry two eggs so the
yolks are as runny as you like them (I like them runny). Meanwhile,
toast two pieces of sourdough bread and melt some jack or chedder
slices on top of each slice, either in the microwave or under the
broiler. Thinly slice some scallions (green and white parts) and slice
up a half of an avocado. 

To assemble: put the toast on a plate, divide the sauteed tomato
slices and the avocado between the two pieces of toast. top each slice
of bread with one of the eggs. Top the eggs with the scallions. top
that with your favorite salsa, salt and pepper to taste. Eat with a
knife and fork.
  

    
NO, that's definitely not a weekday dish!  It sounds like quite a
luxurious number, over the top, I'd say, like Dan's Poison Eggs. Glad
you eat it with a knife and fork!
  

    
All this talk of eggs reminds me of the eGullet story about the search
for the perfect soft-boiled egg.  It became an obsession for this lady
when she had gum surgery and could only eat soft foods.  It really
took over her life for a while, finding exactly the right timing to get
a set white and a creamy yet cooked yolk, and she ended up poking
little holes in both ends of the eggs.

Anyway, my point is, have you ever been consumed by a culinary
obsession like that, something that had you busy perfecting it for days
or weeks, a recipe that always was on the edge of eluding you until
you hunted it down, a search that had your family wondering about your
sanity and well-being?
  

    
I've always got a few things like that in my mind, trying to create an
ideal that I'm not always sure can really exist.  When they're in
progress, I end up eating them alone because they're not good enough
yet to share with anyone else--unless they're so lousy that the worms
end up sharing them with me.  

An ex-roomate spent a lot of time one year when brussels sprouts were
in season, figuring out the best way to prepare them, because he wanted
to convince me that they were not evil.  He made them over and over,
trying different things, until he came up with these--based in part on
a preparation of a different vegetable (mushrooms, maybe?) in one of
the Greens cookbooks
<http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/BrusselsSprouts.html>.  I
became a true believer thanks to his dedication, and it probably helped
some that they were forbidden fruit--he would not let me taste a
single one until he had the recipe just right.  Sadly, they are a food
I tend to eat alone, despite my best attempts to share them, because
they get passed over at potlucks and picked at when I try to convert
other non-believers one-on-one.

Did you encounter many foods that were the product of this kind of
obsessive perfecting that ended up being too unique to be included in
the book?  Most of things featured as odd or 'really bad ideas' seem to
be more accidental, accretions rather than creations, although I may
not be giving their creators enough credit.
  

    
My husband is a fan of the basted or poach-fried egg.  I prefer the
regular old sunny side up, well done.  

As for lunch, which I eat alone most days...I eat freshly made
gazpacho and home made bread.  I make the gazpacho once a week, and
keep it in a pitcher in the fridge.  It's pretty basic: 5 plum
tomatoes, 2 red peppers, 2 kirby cucumbers, 1/2 red onion, 1 clove of
garlic.  Each processed in the food processor separately.  Add to that
about 2 -3 cups of tomato juice, 1/3 cup each of olive oil and basalmic
vinegar, and a spoonful of horseradish.  VOila!  The bread changes
depending upon what I've baked that week.  It's light and easy and I
have been eating almost every day for about 2 years without tiring of
it.
  

    

Why do people hate Brussels Sprouts?  I was one of 'em, but I can't tell you
why.  Brussels Sprouts were a plot point in a favorite episode of "Leave It
to Beaver" when I was a kid.

Rita makes a wonderful dish with toasted hazelnuts...
  

    
There is a theory about kid's taste buds and those cruciferous veggies. I 
remember vividly being forced to sit at the table for hours after the meal 
was over with a plate of uneaten broccoli in front of me. Those veggies 
were impossibly vile to me as a kid; stinky, bitter, revolting. 

Vamping until the interviewee comes along... 
  

    
Brussels Sprouts. Probably people hate them for the usual reasons -
they're poorly prepared—either overcooked or undercooked, not seasoned
to their advantage. I happen to love them, but it's sort of flute music
- if you don't care for flute music everyone wants you to hear the
piece they think will be the one to change you (this is my husband's
issue, not mine!) - and everyone's always saying, but try Brussels
sprouts this way and you'll see!  Better just to set a plate down and
see what happens.  I think they're especially good when sliced thinly,
then blanched, then finished however you like. Mustard is always a good
BS herb seasoning. So is lemon. Butter or ghee,  robust olive oil,
walnut and hazelnut oils for fats. If you're not vegetarian, cooking
the blanched sprouts with 1 piece chopped bacon can do wonders and if
you are vegetarian, try smoked paprika.

Young palettes do seem to prefer sweet or salty flavors, so
cruciferous vegetables could be a problem, but aren't always. Others
are more mild, like cauliflower. But cooking any member of the cabbage 
family in plenty of water in an open pot helps dispel the sulphur 
compounds that make for that strong taste.

Does kayo like these vegetables as an adult? That's what I'd like to
know.
  

    
That was an interesting story about the Brussels sprouts being
perfected before being offered. As for obsessively perfecting foods
(debunix) - I can't think of any examples off the top, although people
certainly have their own particular ways of doing things which they may
do over and over and be delighted each time. The Colette story is a
study in particulars and that was part of its charm as well as its
magic. I do recall that the bartender at Lola's (of the rolled flank
steak) had an amazingly complex recipe - a boned stuffed chicken that's
stuffed and then poached - that we felt was a little too obsessive to
turn into a useable recipe for others to use. But those horrible bad
idea things —do note that we didn't turn them into recipes! You're
right, it's a whole other category.
  

    
Lisa - I like your repetitive approach because it sounds as if you
enjoy this soup so much!  It's not just a chore, or something you do
because you're on automatic pilot.  It's a very self-respecting lunch.
And thank you for sharing the recipe,too! Tomatoes and cucumbers seem
like a long ways off right now, but when they're back in season I'm
going to make this.

I was at the farmers market this morning doing a radio show and
shopping. Even though it will snow later today, there were more than 40
vendors and some fresh carrots, greens of various kinds, Jerusalem
artichokes, potatoes, cheeses — all kinds of things. All the farmers
are saying this is the coldest winter we've had in years and as a
non-farmer, I can say, it sure is! 
  

    
My current relationship with broccoli is that I will eat it if presented 
with it, but don't go out of my way. EXCEPT. I am addicted to 
"broccolini," which I toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and 
roast until kind of crispy. 
  

    
I didn't hate any brassicas as a child but I did dislike broccoli, and 
I'm still not fond of broccoli (though in certain preparations -- long 
cooked, where it's steamed then sauteed then broiled, for example -- I 
like it OK). I love cauliflower, romanesco, brussels sprouts (prepared 
well). Love cabbage as coleslaw; don't like it cooked or pickled. I don't 
see any rhyme or reason to any of that.

I wish I had the book so I could post a book-specific question or comment. 
  

    
slip from kayo. I forgot broccolini -- it's great.
  

    

We do love our broccolini around here, too.  Rita cooks 'em with white beans.

<sandala> has served us a long-cooked broccoli a few times that we really
love.
  

    
Broccoli--the only green vegetable my kid (and most of his friends)
will eat with any kind of regularity. Especially loaded up with butter.
  

    

Heh. Try a splash of olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar instead.

I made me some poach-fried eggs for breakfast this morning.  Yum!
  

    
Great that kids eat their broccolini. Loaded up with butter I might go
for it, too. I have to say broccolini is not my thing,but I adore
broccoli rabe, and broccoli is somewhere in between.  Good advise about
the vinegar with any green that's even slightly aggressive. It has a
way of sweetening them somehow. Curiously, the chard and spinach from
my beds outside (and it was 22 degrees this morning) is so sweet it's
as if I put sugar in it.  As one of the farmers told me yesterday,
nature has its own antifreeze to keep the plants from going under in
the cold.

And I had poached fried eggs this morning too - on yeasted buckwheat
waffles. I forget how good eggs can be. It was all that talk about them
on Friday . . .
  

    
Now, turning from breakfast, let's talk about dessert!

Deborah's newest book is coming out next month, a delightful cookbook
called "Seasonal Fruit Desserts."  Deborah's take on this is that
eating fruits in season -- not only fresh, but also in decadent
confections -- is a great way to get our daily dose of fruity
nutrition.  We are given an introduction to the different varieties of
fruits, how they're best used, and then some seriously
delicious-looking recipes.

So Deborah, this is a complete departure from your previous books. 
Although "Local Flavors" and your other books tended to include
desserts of every stripe, this is the first time that you've
concentrated on the sweet stuff.  What was your inspiration for this
book, where did you get most of your recipes, and which one is your
hands-down favorite?
  

    
Moving on to dessert, will there be recipes that use lots and lots and
lots of lemons?  My lemon tree is dragging lemon-laden branches on the
ground.

Today I'll be making rosemary-lemon-walnut cookies
(<http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/LemonWalnut.html>) and
lemon-blueberry cake (no link because I haven't invented it yet, but
got fresh blueberries at the market), but definitely need more ideas. 

And I'm always interested in other fruit desserts, especially those
that are outside my basic repertoire of pies, tarts, & cobblers.
  

    

> I have to say broccolini is not my thing,but I adore broccoli rabe

Wait a minute.  I thought broccolini and broccoli rabe were the same thing!
  

    
No! rabe is mostly leafy. more bitter; broccolini is like skinny broccoli.
  

    
according to wikipedia, broccolini is a cross between broccoli and some 
kind of chinese cabbage. 
  

    
Those brassica are as promiscuous as citrus.
  

    
Well, I like 'em all these days, but broccoli rabe best of all.