Sunday Feast № 13 | Tarte au Citron: The "ooh la la" of Lemon Tart

I guess I could wax poetic about spring and sunshine and how lemons are yellow like the sun in child's drawing and awaken with their tangy freshness and tartness. All beautiful and true, but not quite were my head was at.    I have not made a desert in eons, and especially one that requires some layering where one layer is the dough, pastry dough. Dough can taste doughy if mishandled, and with mounts of sugar to boot, it's a disaster. "But lemons might help the "lemon"! Dress up the disaster!" Alas, that was just wishful thinking. Yes, I've made some baking mistakes. The best way to address this situation was head on, and try again, sweetly and lemon-y.    At $1 for 10 lemons, and more sugar types than my kitchen has seen not just in years but ever, the weekend called for a lemon tart with sweet pastry made from scratch. Reminiscent of pasta making, the flour well contained what became effectively a goop-y mess of butter, sugar, and eggs, all stuck to my fingers. Flour saved my perturbed sanity as the mix finally coalesced into a ball of smooth dough ready for chilling after I chilled myself and summoned patience. Exhale. Rolling it out - easy. Lining a tart tin with it - no problem. Shell baking - fingers crossed and exhale regardless. Mixing and pouring the filling - good to go. Final bake and cooling - not fast enough.   It was worth it. The recipe is from “The Food of France: A Journey for Food Lovers”. I stuck to one set of measurement units (grams and milliliters). It is baking after all where precision serves a novice or a scaredy-cat. Leftover pastry or filling? No worries! There are solutions for that. Now watch me go pro! OK OK. Not quite that ready.

Fun with the leftovers Filling Preheat the oven to 180°C/355°F. Using small oven proof cups or ramekins, spoon in the filling to fill each. Place the cups or ramekins in a baking dish and pour enough close to boiling or boiling water into the dish to come halfway up to the sides of the cup or ramekin. Cook for 25 min or until set. Remove from the oven and baking dish, cool completely and then refrigerate for couple of hours. Sweet pastry Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to thickness similar to that when rolled out for the tart. Cut out shapes - I cut 4.5 cm/~2 in circles, rolled the remains into a ball and rolled out again, cut circles and repeated as often as needed till all the pastry was used. Place shapes on a floured baking tray - they can be relatively close to each other but not touching - and bake for ~15 min or till golden. Remove and cool on a rack.

Sunday Feast № 12 | Chinese Five-Spice Spare Ribs with Hoisin Glaze

The beauty of communal feast preparation is that you do not have to do it all, and since I hosted, I took to what required overnight preparation and slow cooking. To boot, one of my local supermarkets had a deal on pork spare ribs (2 for 1) that primed me for taking on this spare ribs recipe twice!    The recipe came courtesy of a friend who attended a Chinese New Year meal class at Chicago's The Chopping Block, with original Hoisin Glaze recipe halved by me second time around. And since she attended the class, the accompanying chicken bao and vegetable pot stickers were under her purview - she was effectively branded "The Chef" - and the purview of a friend that has mad bao assembly skills - "The Sous Chef" - with the bao dough prepared by a friend that is a real life pastry chef and who also made crêpes for desert - "The Pastry and Deserts Chef". All of these require skills which are currently beyond me - yeast dough is involved, nimble fingers and good eye for "done" are required. Hence, I was an apprentice line cook chopping, stirring and cleaning when required, a dish washer, and when just watching or calling to the table, a self-appointed "Restaurateur".    The ribs were the appetizer to give us energy to prepare the rest of the feast, but they also make a great main dish with rice and vegetables or salad.

Sunday Feast № 11 | Rosemary Chicken and Beans

Once upon a time I cooked the old fashioned roasted chicken Provençal, a very good dish with herbes de Provence, lemon, garlic, dry vermouth, and garnished with fresh thyme sprigs, among the usual suspects including the said chicken - bone-in, skin-on thighs. Tasty as it was, dredging those thighs in flour before placing them in oiled roasting pan I could've done with out. Then I stumbled upon a riff on the very dish, sans flour dredging, at Petite Kitchen blog. Then I played with that.    In the recipe below, compared to the Petite Kitchen one, I halved the amount of chicken, and doubled the amount of beans and used two varieties of beans. Yes, I swapped white wine with sherry or vermouth, depending which I had on hand, and also tried the chicken with or without skin, all on separate occasions. And I eye-balled the garlic. The Petite Kitchen called for one bulb, but my bulbs seemed enormous enough that I opted for 8-10 cloves instead. This is a superbly easy, self contained, and forgiving dish you can make your own.

Sunday Feast № 10 | Rosemary Tuna Steaks with Cabbage Salad

Living in a cold climate has its practical upsides. When schlepping frozen produce back home, the freezing temperatures ensure nothing will thaw en route. I take full advantage of that fact whenever possible or when the freezer looks empty. Not living close to the coast where either sea fishing is done or the sea bounty arrives relatively soon after it is caught, and looking to stock the aforementioned freezer, I grab fish frozen in its raw state after some deft filleting. Call me lazy. This is how I end up with ahi tuna steaks as often as I like, and considering it is still in season, this is how I still have cabbage on hand.    Ahi tuna and cabbage. Perusing internet seemed to provide, at least in my case, Pan-Asian options, which tickled my fancy as is, except this time I wondered about a different take. I looked to "The Cook's Companion" by Stephanie Alexander. And Bob's your uncle.    The cabbage salad can also be used for sandwiches a la Reuben, if there is any left over from both recipes which are to serve 4.

Sunday Feast № 9 | Oscars' Night Smørrebrød Improv

	Tomorrow night, freshly minted golden statutes, each called Oscar, will be given new owners and homes.    That's right, it's that night of the year when movie buffs, critics, couch potatoes, snobs, enthusiast and consumers do the dance that either divides them or makes them "ooh" and "aah" in unison, for the 88th time. Pure tango.    Not having a reference at hand, I will construe the origin. Here were these shows, and their makers were playing The Game to make it all BUSINESS, and were wanting to get awards no one was giving them and to have the clout in the part of the city they called home and beyond. Complicated matter, but you gotta start somewhere. Business is Business and it has little patience for procrastination of real or feigned Art unless Art makes money, provides promise of glory and riches, or occasionally sublimes beyond all of that.
	sublime verb | sub·lime | \sə-ˈblīm\ sub·limed sub·lim·ing transitive verb 1: to cause to pass directly from the solid to the vapor state and condense back to solid form 2 [French sublimer, from Latin sublimare] a (1): to elevate or exalt especially in dignity or honor (2): to render finer (as in purity or excellence) b: to convert (something inferior) into something of higher worth intransitive verb : to pass directly from the solid to the vapor state
	Simplistic and cynical, I know, especially since that very Business has created many a dream, fostered technical advances and tattletales for our pure enjoyment, brought us glamour, exposed us to realities we would rather forget or not step into but have to know about, and created jobs that span beyond its lots as long as the economy is good.    Depending on your inclination vis-à-vis this Film and Show Business, you can either watch 88th Academy Awards ceremony, watch "There's No Business Like Show Business" or "Chicago", or opt for a spot of theater. Either way, keep the evening meal light in the spirit of the red carpet, but not minute. Minute is for starving artistes and those that want to or need to look just so since the lens adds pounds and ... and I am trying hard not to go down that pathway of analysis, commentary, issues, and views. I'd rather eat.    Improvised smørrebrød will do just fine. Grab buttered rye bread and stack on your toppings (smoked salmon or lox, marinated herrings, cold cuts, lettuce, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, etc.) and wash it all down with cold beer - more filling than canapés and more grounding than champagne. It will be Sunday night, and most of us have to clock in early on Monday morning to non-Film and non-Show Business jobs, at least till we get that part we were made for.

Sunday Feast № 8 | Polish Comfort

Kotlet schabowy. I am strongly attracted to the breaded pork cutlet. You can have your Viennese schnitzel, I rather opt for the familiar comfort and the memories of the whole cultural shebang.      You see, I always liked when Mum made it and I put up with her predilection to heavily sprinkle the kotlet, and potatoes it was inevitably paired with, with parsley whenever parsley was on hand, which seemed to be most of the time, and how every time I lamented "Enough!" she retorted in a matter of fact fashion with "But it's good for you", parsley that is. Fussing about, or worse still rejection of, what was put in front of you was not the done thing. This was where Dad occasionally interjected with a reminder that "You will eat what you're given." So ultimately, that parsley and those potatoes were dues to be paid while enjoying the kotlet I was given.      The whole "You will eat what you're given" was as much a parenting technique and about respecting the cook as a reflection of the place and time. Food shortages, restrictions, or whatever it really was, prevalent back in the days of Poland under Communist rule meant that if the food arrived in the shop most often there wasn't enough to go around. It was a case of either being "first in [the queue/line], best [fed]" or having the right connections. When you got it, you didn't waste it. Pounding of those cutlets was a surefire indication to the next door neighbors living in the same klatka schodowa w bloku (that is the stairwell in one of those hideous buildings constructed all across Soviet Bloc countries during the second half of the 20th century, that beyond Soviet Bloc would find siblings in U.S. housing projects and someone's idea of modern affordable high density housing in 1970s) that you got some. Which led itself to comedic scenarios in movies, and maybe even real life, where the cook of the house would pound the kitchen counter in imitation of to get under the skin of the neighbors - a "keeping up with the Joneses" twist.      Nowadays I will take that kotlet with any sides especially if Mum's cooking. Although typically herbs such as rosemary, dill or sage would not be added to the breadcrumb mixture, the recipe from "The Food and Cooking of Poland" by Ewa Michalik has these three in the mix (rosemary and sage are really the odd ones here but cuisine moves with access and times). Make as many as you like since they reheat well, and serve with mashed potatoes or boiled red potatoes, sauerkraut or red cabbage (with or without apple), cauliflower po polsku, okra, green beans, brussel sprouts with bacon and balsamic, or anything you like with breaded pork cutlets.

Fun on the side and after Watch "Sex and the City" marathon starting when Carrie meets the Russian "Shameless" anytime, any season "Dark Star: HR Giger's World" "Homeland" Season 5 Drink Vodka, what else!

Sunday Feast № 7 | "Like you'd cook for Picasso in his seventies. Like it's a matter of love and death."

Oh my, it's that day tomorrow, the one that either wakes a crazy ravenous romantic or utterly world weary cynic in you. Either way, you gotta eat! Might as well make a multi-course feast of it, because it is good for your soul and your body. Puurrrfect!      And what better source than "The Cosmic Feast: Divine Inspiration For Earthly Pleasures" by David McKay, Anna Johnson and Kirsten McKay (a threesome of authors? well lookie here and how about that *snicker* ... I totally digress - blame tomorrow) - "a spell book for the modern chef" toying with the dictates of Western horoscopic astrology. Utterly silly secret pleasure? Well, why thank you!      Whether for tomorrow or any other Sunday when a three course feast is called for (no dessert yet, have to work up my way to that slowly, then again - here I digress once more), the chilled red pepper and tomato soup with fresh prawns can be made the day before and sit pretty in the fridge, the squid stuffed with rice will test your skill and patience during stuffing but it is totally worth the suggestively "naughty" fun and the taste once ready, while Pablo's chicken, although maybe not truly Picasso's dish (then again who knows, too busy entertaining to research), warms and grounds towards olé!      Now that sounds like delicious fun *wink*

Fun on the side and after Music Pandora Flamenco Channels Movie "Pulp Fiction" & "Under the Skin" Drink Hoegaarden with squid & Vinos de Arganza "Flavium" Premium Bierzo 2011 with chicken

Sunday Feast № 6 | Going Light with Japanese

As far as feasting goes there comes a time when a certain sentiment arises: cannot do "La Grande Bouffe" / "The Great Feast" kind of thing anymore, need a "Lost in Translation" kind of thing instead. Let me explain somewhat by highlighting parts of a dialog from the latter. Lydia Harris: [over the phone] Is this a bad time? Bob: [pauses] No, it's always a good time. Lydia Harris: The burgundy carpet is out of stock: it's going to take twelve weeks. Did you like any of the other colors? Bob: Whatever you like - I'm just completely lost. Lydia Harris: It's just carpet. Bob: That's not what I'm talking about. Lydia Harris: What are you talking about? Bob: I don't know. I just want to... get healthy. I would like to start taking better care of myself. I'd like to start eating healthier - I don't want all that pasta. I would like to start eating like Japanese food. Lydia Harris: [icily] Well, why don't you just stay there and you can have it every day? Bob: [biting his tongue] How are the kids doing? Lydia Harris: They're fine. They miss their father. [pause] Lydia Harris: Do I need to worry about you, Bob? Bob: Only if you want to. So here it is, a light Japanese-style lunch or dinner which is easy and quick, with overnight pickling. Some dashi, tsukemono and a seafood salad.      Recipes are from the back of kombu packet and “Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking” by Harumi Kurihara, with few of my alterations.

Fun on the side and after Drink Hitachino Nest Beer White Ale Movie "Sakuran"

Sunday Feast № 5 | Burmese Vegetarian

As it goes in some sort of succession, it's time for warm vegetarian food as a center piece. The coconut rice is very rich - take note that it might be quite a few servings from what might look like a small volume - and the vegetable curry is a gentle tummy hugging soul warmer - that might disappear faster than intended. The latter is a great "left over" recipe from my days when I gave vegetarianism a go purely as a way to explore vegetables as a center piece of a meal rather than a side. It's an experiment that I would highly recommend to anyone, especially to those of you who will comeback to animal products. Vegetables will look like a serious contender that does not bore.      Recipes are from “Community Aid Abroad Vegetarian Cookbook”, with few of my alternatives.

Sunday Feast № 4 | Broiled Salmon with Sautéed Bok Choy and Broccoli

Memory can be quite random. One week big packets of ramen noodles are bought at a Korean hypermarket. The label at the back gives instructions to cook them for 3 min in boiling water and then eat with favorite dipping sauce, e.g. hoisin. Few weeks later, in a different market, I am looking at Asian sauces, just because. "Shall I? Which one to choose?" I wonder. "How about hoisin? Yeah, let's try that one." A week later, "I feel like fish," not as in I-am-a-fish, but as in I-want-to-eat-fish, and "How about testing that broiler function in my oven?" which I read use instructions for at some point in all those weeks. Rice is always on hand, and cooked well courtesy of a trusty rice cooker. Now just add a vegetable side, and all's good to eat.      Recipes are from “Everyday Food: Great Food Fast” by Martha Stewart Living Magazine, with few of my alternatives.