Julia's Kitchen Wisdom Page 3

  FISH CHOWDER. Prepare the chowder base using fish stock, and/or light chicken stock, and milk. Cut into 2-inch chunks 2 to 2½ pounds of skinless, boneless lean fish, such as cod, haddock, halibut, monkfish, or sea bass, all one kind or a mixture. Add to the finished chowder base and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, just until fish is opaque and springy. Correct seasoning, and top each serving, if you wish, with a spoonful of sour cream.

  CHICKEN CHOWDER. Substitute boneless, skinless chicken breasts for fish, and make the chowder base with chicken stock and milk.

  CORN CHOWDER. Prepare the chowder base using 6 cups of light chicken stock and milk. Stir 3 cups or so of grated fresh corn into the finished base, adding, if you wish, 2 green and/or red peppers chopped fine and sautéed briefly in butter. Bring to the simmer for 2 to 3 minutes; correct seasoning, and top each serving, if you wish, with a spoonful of sour cream.

  TWO OF THE MOTHER SAUCES

  Classical French cooking divides the sauce family into the brown sauces, the béchamel or white sauces, tomato sauce, the hollandaise or egg-yolk-and-butter sauces, the mayonnaise or egg-yolk-and-oil sauces, the vinaigrettes, and the flavored butters such as beurre blanc. We have brown sauces and flavored butters in the meat chapter, tomato sauces in the vegetable chapter, mayonnaise and vinaigrettes in the salad chapter, and here are béchamel and hollandaise.

  MASTER RECIPE

  Béchamel Sauce For 2 cups, medium-thick

  2 Tbs unsalted butter

  3 Tbs flour

  2 cups hot milk

  Salt and freshly ground white pepper

  Pinch of nutmeg

  Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan, blend in the flour with a wooden spoon, and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until butter and flour foam together for 2 minutes without turning more than a buttery yellow color. Remove from heat, and when bubbling stops, vigorously whisk in all the hot milk at once. Bring to the boil, whisking. Simmer, stirring, for 2 minutes. Season to taste.

  VARIATIONS

  VELOUTÉ SAUCE. Follow the master recipe for béchamel sauce, but whisk in hot chicken or fish stock, meat juices, or vegetable broth plus milk if needed.

  MASTER RECIPE

  Hollandaise Sauce For about 1½ cups

  3 egg yolks

  Big pinch of salt

  1 Tbs lemon juice

  2 Tbs cold unsalted butter

  2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and hot

  More salt, and freshly ground white pepper to taste

  Beat the egg yolks with a wire whisk in a stainless-steel saucepan for a minute or two, until they thicken lightly and turn lemon-colored. Whisk in the pinch of salt, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon cold butter. Set over moderately low heat and whisk continuously at moderate speed, removing pan from the heat now and then to make sure the yolks aren’t cooking too fast. When they cling to the wires of the whisk and you can see the bottom of the pan between strokes, remove from heat and stir in the second tablespoon of cold butter. Start beating in the melted butter by little driblets at first, until a good ½ cup of the sauce has thickened, then add it a little more quickly as the sauce thickens into a heavy cream. Taste and correct seasoning.

  TROUBLESHOOTING HOLLANDAISE SAUCE. If you have added the butter too fast for the egg yolks to digest it, or if you’ve kept the sauce over heat too long, it can thin out or separate. To bring it back to its creamy state, whisk it briefly to blend, and dip a tablespoonful into a bowl. Whisk in a tablespoon of lemon juice and whisk vigorously until creamy. Then whisk in very little dribbles of the turned sauce at first, not adding more until the previous addition has creamed and the sauce begins to reconstitute.

  MACHINE-MADE HOLLANDAISE. The handmade sauce is easy and relatively quick when you are used to it, but you may prefer the electric blender. Use the same system, but it’s so difficult to try and get most—never all—of that sticky sauce out of the blender! And then you have to reheat it. However, if it’s to be a machine I prefer the food processor, and I also recommend the processor for mayonnaise.

  VARIATIONS

  BÉARNAISE SAUCE. For about 1 cup. Bring ¼ cup each of wine vinegar and dry white wine or dry white French vermouth to the boil in a small saucepan, adding 1 tablespoon minced shallots, ½ teaspoon dried tarragon, and ¼ teaspoon each of salt and freshly ground pepper. Boil rapidly until the liquid is reduced to 2 tablespoons; strain, if you wish, pressing liquid from seasonings. Substitute this essence for the lemon juice in the preceding master recipe but add only 1½ sticks of butter in all, to make an authoritative sauce. You may wish to stir chopped fresh tarragon leaves into the finished sauce.

  Salads and Their Dressings

  “The perfect vinaigrette is so easy to make that I see no reason whatsoever for bottled dressings.”

  Although we always have with us those hard-core purists who profess to eat fresh produce only when it is locally “in season,” now, with modern packaging, state-of-the-art refrigeration, and rapid transport, we can have almost every kind of fresh produce all year round. We have not yet solved the tomato problem, but certainly greens abound in glorious variety, as do so many other desirable items that are ready and waiting to grace our salad days.

  SALAD GREENS

  Once you have brought your greens home you naturally want to keep them as fresh and perky as possible. If they are ready trimmed, washed, and packaged, they’ll keep for several days as is. I’m most enthusiastic about the hydroponic “living lettuce,” which keeps perfectly in the refrigerator for a week or more, sitting on its still-attached root in its plastic box. I don’t even wash mine; I’m just careful, when I pull off the leaves, not to disturb the root.

  Slightly Wilted Greens. If this happens to yours, you can often bring them back to a reasonable crispness by soaking for several hours in a basin of cold water.

  To Wash Greens, such as Boston or butter lettuce, curly endive, romaine, oak leaf, escarole, and radicchio, discard wilted leaves and/or tear off wilted parts of leaves. Separate leaves from root ends and, if you wish, tear leaves off from central stems, then tear leaves into serving pieces. Plunge them into a large basin of cold water, pump up and down, let settle a moment so sand will sink to the bottom, then lift the leaves out with your hands, leaving sand behind.

  To Dry Greens. Spin dry a few handfuls at a time in a salad basket.

  To Keep Washed Greens. A most effective system for several hours’ wait, and if you have room, is to lay them out hollow side down on paper towels in a deep roasting pan; cover with a damp towel and refrigerate. Otherwise, I pack the leaves loosely and refrigerate them surrounded by dampened paper towels in a big plastic bag, where they keep for 2 days or so.

  Mixed Green Salad

  A pound or so of salad greens will serve 6—all one kind, such as 1 large head of Boston lettuce, or a mixture. The greens are washed and dried, and torn into whatever size you prefer—small pieces are easier to eat, but larger ones toss more attractively and are usually more appealing on the plate. Your salad dressing has been prepared. You have a large bowl at the ready, and a long-handled salad fork and spoon. The moment before serving (and not before, or the salad will wilt), turn the greens into the bowl. Toss with several spoonfuls of the dressing, reaching down into the bottom of the bowl with your spoon and fork and bringing up big clumps of leaves, and repeating rapidly, adding driblets of dressing as needed so that all the leaves are lightly enrobed but the greens are not swimming. Pick up a small piece and taste analytically, tossing in a sprinkling of salt and pepper or more lemon or vinegar if needed. Serve at once.

  SALAD DRESSINGS

  The perfect dressing is essential to the perfect salad, and I see no reason whatsoever for using a bottled dressing, which may have been sitting on the grocery shelf for weeks, even months—even years. With your own dressing everything is fresh—the best oil, your own choice of vinegar, fresh lemon—and a really good salad dressing is so quick and easy to make, as described here.

  SALAD OILS AND VINEGARS. The choice is entirely
up to you, the main consideration being taste. You may sometimes prefer a fruity olive oil over a mild one, or you may like peanut or vegetable oil for certain dishes—just make certain it is fresh and fine. The same goes for vinegar, and be sure you know the taste of a wine vinegar before you buy it, since there is quite a variety in qualities. I personally have always bought the French vinegar from Orléans, because I am used to it, but I have tasted some excellent domestic ones. When you have been served a salad with a particularly fine dressing, ask your hosts how they did it—they’ll be complimented and you’ll be adding a new page to your kitchen recipe files.

  Basic Vinaigrette Dressing

  This is a bare-bones recipe for the simple all-purpose vinaigrette, which you will vary as you wish; you’ll find suggestions at the end of this recipe. Its beauty lies solely in the quality of your ingredients. Note that you will so often see proportions of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil, but that can make a very acid, very vinegary vinaigrette. I use the proportions of a very dry martini, since you can always add more vinegar or lemon but you can’t take it out.

  For about ⅔ cup, serving 6 to 8

  ½ Tbs finely minced shallot or scallion

  ½ Tbs Dijon-type mustard

  ¼ tsp salt

  ½ Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

  ½ Tbs wine vinegar

  ⅓ to ½ cup excellent olive oil, or other fine, fresh oil

  Freshly ground pepper

  Either shake all the ingredients together in a screw-topped jar, or mix them individually as follows. Stir the shallots or scallions together with the mustard and salt. Whisk in the lemon juice and vinegar, and when well blended start whisking in the oil by droplets to form a smooth emulsion. Beat in freshly ground pepper. Taste (dip a piece of the salad greens into the sauce) and correct seasoning with salt, pepper, and/or drops of lemon juice.

  TO KEEP SALAD DRESSING. Vinaigrette is always at its freshest and best when served promptly, but you can certainly cover it airtight and refrigerate it for several days. The shallots and fresh lemon will eventually go off, spoiling the taste of the dressing.

  VARIATIONS

  GARLIC. Purée the garlic and add it to or substitute it for the minced shallots. Or rub the salad bowl with a peeled clove of garlic. Or rub a peeled clove of garlic over dry-toasted French-bread rounds, cut into pieces, and toss with the salad.

  LEMON PEEL. For a pronounced lemon flavor, mince the zest (colored part of peel only) of a shiny fresh lemon and stir it into the sauce.

  HERBS. Mince fresh herbs such as parsley, chives, chervil, tarragon, basil, and/or dill and whisk into the finished dressing.

  SWEET AND SOUR DRESSING. Especially for duck, goose, pork, game. Beat a tablespoon of hoisin sauce or minced chutney into the vinaigrette, including, if you wish, droplets of dark sesame oil. (See using this dressing in a duck salad.)

  ROQUEFORT DRESSING. Crumble about ⅓ cup of Roquefort cheese and stir into the ⅔ cup of vinaigrette—or use whatever proportions you wish. A particular favorite of mine, served at the Café de Sevilla in Santa Barbara, is to halve or quarter romaine hearts, set them cut side up on serving dishes, and spoon over them the Roquefort dressing.

  Chopped Hard-Boiled Eggs—Salad Mimosa

  For 6 servings. Neatly dice 2 hard-boiled eggs and toss with 2 tablespoons of minced herbs such as parsley, chives, basil, and/or tarragon. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and sprinkle over the dressed salad just before serving.

  Curly Endive with Bacon and Poached Eggs

  For 6 servings. Poach 6 eggs. Cut a 2-inch square of slab bacon into lardons, brown lightly in a frying pan, and drain, leaving ½ tablespoon bacon fat in the pan. Make your vinaigrette right in the frying pan, including the bacon fat as part of the dressing. Toss the curly endive with the dressing, and top each serving with the bacon lardons and a poached egg. Garnish with a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

  Warm Duck Leg Salad

  Particularly recommended when you have used the breast of a roaster duckling, and have uncooked legs to spare. Bone them, skin them, and pound meat between sheets of plastic wrap to a thickness of ¼ inch, then cut into strips ¼ inch wide. Stir-fry briefly in a little olive oil until lightly browned but still rosy inside. Toss with the sweet and sour dressing, and serve on a bed of frizzy lettuce.

  MAIN COURSE SALADS

  MASTER RECIPE

  Salade Niçoise

  Of all main-course salads, the Niçoise is my all-time favorite, with its fresh butter-lettuce foundation; its carefully cooked, beautifully green green beans; its colorful contrast of halved hard-boiled eggs, ripe red tomatoes, and black olives; all fortified by chunks of tunafish and freshly opened anchovies. It’s a perfect luncheon dish, to my mind, winter, summer, spring, and fall—an inspired combination that pleases everyone.

  Serves 6

  1 large head Boston-lettuce leaves, washed and dried

  1 pound green beans, cooked and refreshed

  1½ Tbs minced shallots

  ½ to ⅔ cup basic vinaigrette

  Salt and freshly ground pepper

  3 or 4 ripe red tomatoes, cut into wedges (or 10 to 12 cherry tomatoes, halved)

  3 or 4 “boiling” potatoes, peeled, sliced, and cooked (see potato salad)

  Two 3-ounce cans chunk tuna, preferably oil-packed

  6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved

  1 freshly opened can of flat anchovy fillets (see box below)

  ⅓ cup small black Niçoise-type olives

  2 to 3 Tbs capers

  3 Tbs minced fresh parsley

  Arrange the lettuce leaves on a large platter or in a shallow bowl. Shortly before serving, toss the beans with the shallots, spoonfuls of vinaigrette, and salt and pepper. Baste the tomatoes with a spoonful of vinaigrette. Place the potatoes in the center of the platter and arrange a mound of beans at either end, with tomatoes and small mounds of tuna at strategic intervals. Ring the platter with halves of hard-boiled eggs, sunny side up, and curl an anchovy on top of each. Spoon more vinaigrette over all; scatter on olives, capers, and parsley, and serve.

  VARIATIONS

  COLD ROAST MEAT SALAD. Thinly slice, or cut into cubes or strips, a pound of cold roast or braised beef, veal, or pork, and refrigerate for several hours in a bowl with sufficient vinaigrette to enrobe the pieces, turning and basting several times. To serve, arrange nicely on a platter, surrounded with pickles, capers, olives, tomatoes, sliced red onions and green peppers, cooked green beans, or whatever appeals to you.

  FRESHLY OPENED CAN OF ANCHOVIES. Anchovies go “off” in taste when they sit around in an open can—which is probably why many people hate anchovies.

  SYRIAN LAMB SALAD. Marinate for several hours a dozen thin slices of cold roast leg of lamb in garlic-flavored vinaigrette plus several puréed freshly opened anchovies. Mound 3 cups or so of prepared bulgur (cracked wheat; see box below) in the center of a platter, and surround with the lamb slices. Garnish as you wish with olives, hard-boiled eggs, tomato wedges, sliced bell peppers, marinated cucumber.

  TO PREPARE BULGUR—CRACKED WHEAT. Stir a quart of boiling water into 1 cup raw, dry bulgur. Let sit 15 minutes, or until pleasantly tender. Drain, rinse in cold water, and squeeze dry in a towel. Toss with 1 Tbs each of olive oil, grated onion, and chopped parsley. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

  BREAST OF PHEASANT, DUCK, CHICKEN, OR TURKEY SERVED IN A SALAD. Marinate slices of the cooked breast for 30 minutes or so in the vinaigrette. Then, for each serving, arrange several strips over a bed of tender frizzy lettuce leaves. Baste with vinaigrette and decorate with small segments of orange, thin red-onion slices, and a spoonful of toasted pine nuts.

  MASTER RECIPE

  Chicken Salad Serves 6 to 8

  6 cups cooked chicken, cut up into good-sized pieces

  Salt and freshly ground white pepper

  1 to 2 Tbs olive oil

  2 to 3 Tbs fresh lemon juice

  1 cup diced tender celery stalks

  ½
cup diced red onion

  1 cup chopped walnuts

  ½ cup chopped parsley

  1 tsp finely cut fresh tarragon leaves (or ¼ tsp dried tarragon)

  ⅔ cup or so mayonnaise

  Fresh salad greens, washed and dried

  For decoration: all or a choice of sliced or chopped hard-boiled eggs, parsley sprigs, strips of red pimiento

  Toss the chicken with salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, celery, onion, and walnuts. Cover and refrigerate at least 20 minutes or overnight. Drain out any accumulated liquid; toss with the parsley and tarragon. Taste analytically and correct seasonings. Fold in just enough mayonnaise to enrobe ingredients. Shred the greens, arrange on a platter, and mound the salad on top. Spread a thin coat of mayonnaise over the chicken and decorate with the eggs, parsley, and pimiento strips.

  VARIATIONS

  TURKEY SALAD. Follow the same general system as for chicken.

  LOBSTER, CRAB, OR SHRIMP SALAD. Follow the same general system, and use some of the shells for decoration.