Four Nights A Week

Adventures in Eating

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Amy’s Writing, Photography and Art can be found at amybisson.com

  • 26 Aug 2024: Mother’s Spaghetti Sauce

    When we were helping my Mom at her condo recently, I came across several well-worn cookbooks with recipes I remembered from my childhood. More importantly was the discovery of two metal recipe card boxes filled with my Mom’s tried-and-true recipes. There, in her handwriting as well as that of my Aunt Eleanor and Grandmother, I found the culinary memories of my growing up years.

    I’ve embarked on a project recently to document those recipes by photographing the finished product for this blog and including the recipes themselves. In fact, my siblings, in-laws, and the “cousins” are all getting into the act of contributing their favorites. If interested, search for the category “Family Favorites”.

    This recipe is marked “Mother’s” Spaghetti Sauce, which I am guessing meant my Grandmother, Edna Wyant Flournoy’s sauce. Grandma was not of Italian heritage, but she was a terrific cook. Don’t expect Marcella Hazen or, if I can recreate it, my Sicilian Grandfather, Emanuel Puglisi’s recipe for Sunday sauce (meatless). This was, however, the pasta sauce my family grew up with to the extent that when Emanuel Sr. came to cook his more traditional Italian sauce for us on a visit, I didn’t believe it was for authentic. Where was the ground beef?

    Still, this sauce, “authentic” or not, reminded me of spaghetti night in our Midwestern home. It’s filling, tomatoey and freezes well. Honestly, I didn’t bother with the extra butter or corn oil. That, to me, was just a step too far away from my Italian/Sicilian ancestry.

    Mother’s Spaghetti Sauce

    From Sarah Puglisi’s Recipe Card Collection

    Ingredients:

    • 1 lb. ground beef (leaner is better)
    • 2 8-oz. cans tomato sauce
    • 2 8-oz. cans tomato paste
    • 2 TBSP parsley (fresh if possible)
    • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • 1/4 c shopped onion
    • OPTIONAL: 1/4 c butter
    • OPTIONAL: 1/4 c corn oil
    • OPTIONAL: 1 small can mushroom pieces
    • EITHER: 1/2 tsp dried oregano or 1/2 tsp dry sweet basil
    • Dry hot red pepper (shake)
    • Water, Tomato Juice or Red Wine for thinning as needed

    Method:

    1. Brown ground meat (I poured off the extra fat)
    2. Add all of the other ingredients, mix.
    3. Cook over low heat UNCOVERED for approximately 3 hours. Watch heat as will burn easily. Best to use heavy bottom pan.
    4. May easily be doubled or tripled.
    5. This amount is about right for 1 lb. fine spaghetti (pasta) and for 4 generous servings.

  • 12 Aug 2024: Ina Garten’s Summer Borscht

    Growing up, I’m not so sure I was as big a fan of beets as has been the case in my adulthood. Maybe it was because my Dad wasn’t a fan, and we didn’t eat them very often. With kid logic, my siblings and I often joked that we might “hide beets in Dad’s mashed potatoes”. Well, that would have worked out in a predictable way.

    The first weeks of August have been very hot and sticky here in Massachusetts, so I was looking to find a nice, refreshing, and cool (cold) soup. And, as she’s done in the past, Ina Garten came to my rescue!

    Summer Borscht

    You can find the recipe for this Borscht-like summer offering right here.

    Ina Garten

    Ingredients

    • Fresh beets (remove tops)
    • Chicken stock
    • Sour cream
    • Plain yogurt (not Greek Style)
    • Sugar
    • Lemon juice
    • Champagne vinegar
    • English cucumber
    • Scallions
    • Fresh dill

  • 05 Aug 2024: Rosemary & Sea Salt Focaccia

    During this, one of the hottest stretches of weather we’ve had this summer, I’ve made it a mission to try out my new stand mixer.

    My 30-year-old Kitchen Aid has been a workhorse, but lately we’ve made multiple paddle replacements and not only does it rock the bowl in the stand, but the motor is making some pretty funky noises. Given that I’ve turned to baking bread at least once a week, I needed a new heavy-duty mixer, which for me has been an Ankarsrum Assistent Original. I like it so far, but it is something to get used to using.

    First of all, the mixer bowl rotates and the beater or other mixing piece stays still. There are adjustments to mixing which I am learning to make. Instead of putting the dry ingredients into the bowl and adding the liquids, the Ankarsrum employs the opposite order: liquids first, dry second.

    In the spirit of ultimately downsizing and consolidating our small kitchen appliances as they need replacing, the Ankarsrum seems to be a good fit for me. Eventually I’ll be able to replace my blender and ice cream maker with attachments that will fit onto the mixer base.

    So even though it’s a hot, humid day in New England, I’m baking bread. And learning to do something in a new way. And maybe questioning my sanity in lighting up the oven when it’s humid and over 90 outside.

    Fresh Rosemary and Sea Salt Focacci

    Click on the link embedded above for the recipe I used.

    Ingredients

    • Dry active yeast
    • Water
    • Olive Oil
    • Bread Flour
    • Salt (for dough)
    • Honey
    • Fresh Rosemary
    • Sea Salt (for topping)

  • 01 Aug 2024: Ginger Garlic Shrimp with Coconut Milk

    While it would be easy to claim it is too hot to cook today, my better angels took over the decision-making for meal prep. This recipe was part of the plan on food shopping day and with some beautiful looking fresh ingredients waiting to be put to use, how could I resist?

    Yasmin Fahr, who contributes regularly to the NYTimes food section developed this wonderfully adaptable recipe. In the headnotes, she suggests that scallops or white fish could be easily substituted for the shrimp and that any number of quick-cooking greens could be substituted for the spinach. I love when a recipe isn’t tied to specific ingredients!

    For more of her recipes and cooking ideas, visit Yasminfahr.co.

    Thanks to my subscription to the NY Times, I’ve gifted the recipe below.

    Ginger-Garlic Shrimp with Coconut Milk

    By Yasmin Fahr

    Ingredients:

    • Garlic
    • Fresh Ginger
    • Turmeric
    • Olive Oil
    • Large peeled/deveined shrimp
    • Full-fat coconut milk
    • Soy sauce
    • Baby spinach
    • Lime
    • Fresno, jalapeño or serrano chile
    • Scallions
    • Cilantro
    • Steamed rice, vermicelli or naan for serving

  • 22 Jul 2024: Mother’s Best Fudge Cake

    I may have made mention that my family’s favorite flavor is chocolate. This recipe card, in my Mother’s handwriting, is for Mother’s Best Fudge Cake. It was the chocolate cake recipe used for family celebrations.

    The recipe may have come from my Grandmother, who herself was a phenomenal cook and baker, or it may have been a recipe collected by my Mom. No matter the source, it is undeniably delicious and chocolate-y. The original recipe produces two 9-inch rounds; I halved it to make 2 smaller mini layers.

    Mother’s Best Fudge Cake

    Ingredients-Chocolate Mix

    • 3 1-oz. squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
    • 1/2 cup milk
    • 1 well-beaten egg
    • 2/3 cup sugar

    Ingredients-Cake

    • 1/2 cup shortening (I used butter)
    • 1 cup sugar
    • 1 tsp vanilla
    • 2 eggs
    • 2 cups sifted cake flour
    • 1 tsp baking soda
    • 1/4 tsp salt
    • 2/3 cup milk

    Method

    1. Combine melted unsweetened chocolate, milk, well-beaten egg and 2/3 c sugar over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly.
    2. Remove from heat and set aside.
    3. Cream 1/2 cup shortening until softened.
    4. Add gradually: 1 cup sugar. Cream until light and fluffy.
    5. Add 1 tsp vanilla and the 2 eggs (1 egg at a time). Beat until light
    6. Sift together: sifted cake flour, baking soda and salt. Sift this mixture 3 times.
    7. Add to the creamed butter and eggs: flour mixture alternately with 2/3 cup milk. Blend in the chocolate mixutre.
    8. Bake in 2 lined 9-inch round pans at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.
    9. Frost with chocolate frosting .

  • 18 Jul 2024: Sarah’s Special Cocoa Frosting

    Can being a chocoholic be genetic? There is a long line of family members for whom a birthday cake isn’t a celebration unless it includes chocolate in some way, shape, or form. This was especially true of my Dad. With the exception of the one year in which he requested a pineapple upside-down cake for his birthday, July 9 was reserved for chocolate cake – the more fudge-y the better.

    This year, which would have been Dad’s 106th birthday, I made a celebration cake in his memory. Using my Mom’s “best fudge cake” recipe (see future posts for the cake) as the base, I topped things off with Mom’s “Sarah’s Special Cocoa Frosting”. The recipe that follows comes from Mom’s recipe cards, a collection of family favorites including this delicious frosting for the chocolate lovers in my family. I made a few tweaks in that we don’t use margarine and in place of “strong coffee”, I used about 15 g of freshly (and finely) ground espresso beans.

    Sarah’s Special Cocoa Frosting

    Ingredients

    • 1 stick margarine (or 2 Tbsp more) (I used butter, and only the 1 stick of 8 Tbsp)
    • 3/4 cup cocoa
    • 2-2/3 cup confectioner sugar – don’t sift before measuring
    • 1/3 cup strong coffee (I used freshly ground espresso beans)
    • 1 tsp vanilla

    Method

    • Cream margarine (butter!).
    • Add cocoa, confectioner sugar (I sifted these together) alternately with coffee and vanilla.
    • Add 1/2 tsp of water if too stiff.

  • 04 Jun 2024: French Potato Salad

    This is another David Tanis creation and, paired with his Green Bean and Cherry Tomato salad, it is classic picnic fare.

    While I love potato salad, I’m not a fan of the mayonnaise-y kind. The tang of mustard in vinaigrette along with some classically French herbs, tarragon and chives, make this French-style potato salad perfect, in my view.

    I’ve gifted the recipe through my subscription to the New York Times, and the ingredient shopping list is below.

    French Potato Salad

    David Tanis in the New York Times

    Shopping List

    • yellow-fleshed potatoes (Yukon Golds worked for me)
    • red wine vinegar
    • Dijon mustard
    • extra-virgin olive oil
    • tarragon leaves
    • chives

  • 27 May 2024: Green Bean& Cherry Tomato Salad

    Professional Chef and cookbook author, David Tanis, writes a monthly food column for the New York Times and recently featured this colorful green bean and tomato salad in a May column about French picnic foods. Combining fresh and simple basics like just-ripe cherry tomatoes and green beans, the addition of the dressing, an amalgam of lemon, olive oil, capers, olives and anchovy gives just the right flavor profile to make me think I could possibly be sitting out a blanket in France for le pique-nique.

    By putting in a little extra effort, this dressing was transformative. And the leftovers – if you have any – are pretty darn tasty too.

    Through my subscription to the New York Times I’m able to gift this recipe. The link to David Tenis’ website can be found here.

    Green Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad

    Shopping List:

    • small green beans (I used haricot verts)
    • cherry tomatoes
    • pitted Niçoise olives
    • extra-virgin olive oil
    • lemon (you’ll need the juice and some zest)
    • capers
    • anchovy fillets
    • garlic
    • arugula or small lettuce leaves

  • 06 May 2024: Marbled Chocolate Chip Cookies

    When someone asks me if I like semi-sweet chocolate chips or white chocolate chips the answer is always “yes”. Don’t make me choose!

    So this cookie from King Arthur Baking is just the thing. Just a little more effort than a standard drop cookie and no one has to take sides! One bit of advice: don’t skip on quality chocolate. Make it worth the calories.

    Marbled Chocolate Chip Cookies from King Arthur’s Test Kitchen are definitely worth both the effort and the calories. And the recipe yields a generous 40 cookies.

    Marbled Chocolate Chip Cookies

    King Arthur Test Kitchen

    Ingredients:

    • light brown sugar
    • granulated sugar
    • butter, softened
    • vegetable shortening (I just used more butter)
    • table salt
    • baking soda 2
    • Vanilla extract (use the real thing)
    • Almond extract
    • cider vinegar or white vinegar
    • egg
    • unbleached All Purpose Flour
    • Dutch processed cocoa
    • milk
    • white chocolate chips, mini or regular
    • semi-sweet chips, mini or regular

    The directions for mixing and baking can be found here on the King Arthur website.

  • 02 May 2024: Lemony Chicken-Feta Meatball Soup

    When making soups, one of the last ingredients I would consider is whole oats. But here in this recipe created by NYT Food contributor Yasmin Fahr, it is the magical ingredient bringing this delightfully lemony soup together.

    Because I am a subscriber to the New York Times, I’ve gifted the recipe here. To get a start on food shopping, the list of ingredients follows:

    Lemony Chicken-Feta Meatball Soup

    Yasmin Fahr

    Ingredients

    • Ground chicken or turkey, preferably dark meat (I used turkey)
    • Crumbled feta
    • Old-fashioned rolled oats
    • Red onion
    • Fresh dill
    • Ground cumin
    • Ground turmeric
    • Olive oil
    • Red-pepper flakes
    • Low-sodium chicken broth or water (I used water)
    • Baby spinach
    • Lemons