Mexican Oatmeal Soup

I saw a recipe for Mexican Oatmeal Soup that Elizabeth Warren, Senate hopeful, had published in a Native American Cookbook, but which can also reportedly be found in The New York Times Bread and Soup Cookbook (1972). I made a few alterations for health, convenience and flavor. It was delicious (of course, or I wouldn’t be posting it!). My picky son thought he’d hate it, but when cajoled into a taste, said he liked it too. The soup is vegan, unless of course you pour it over meatballs or use chicken instead of vegetable broth.

2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ Yellow Onion, chopped fine
1 Clove Garlic, chopped fine
½ Serrano Pepper, chopped fine
½ cup rolled oats
1 can (15 oz.) Petite Cut Tomatoes, drained
2 cups vegetable broth
½ tsp salt (If broth is low sodium or unsalted)
Handful of Cilantro (perhaps a tenth of a supermarket bundle), chopped

Heat the Olive Oil in a saucepan at medium heat.
Add the Onions and cook until they get translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring a couple times.
Add the Garlic and Hot Pepper and cook for about 5 more minutes, occasionally stirring.
Add the Oatmeal and cook for about 3 more minutes, occasionally stirring.

Then add the Tomatoes, Broth, Salt, and Cilantro. Bring to a boil and boil for at least 5 minutes over medium heat, occasionally stirring and checking texture. (Naturally, the oatmeal will get softer and the liquid will get thicker over time.) Remove from heat when texture is as desired; serve hot. Optionally, ladle soup into bowls over chopped meatball or chicken.

16 Bean Soup

I recently bought a bag of Goya’s “16 Bean Soup Mix.” It's basically a pound of mixed beans, with wonderful variation in size, color and texture. But when the soup was made as directed on the package, it was insipid. I fixed it by adding a chopped up onion, fried with spices. The soup was then delicious, but it called for some more vegetables, which I added the next time I made it.

This is now the best and most nutritious vegan soup I’ve ever had. (And for this carnivore, pretty damn good even compared to a meaty soup.)

Although I gave considerable thought to the pairing of flavors, I'd have to say that other than the beans, water and olive oil, you can probably get away with skipping any (or several) of the soup's ingredients. It is a bit labor intensive, but you also get a lot of soup, either for a big group meal, or for leftovers.

Ingredients:
1-lb. bag of 15- or 16-bean mix, e.g., Goya.

2 or 3 bay leaves
1 or 2 cans vegetable [or chicken] broth

1 large or 2 medium yellow onions, to be finely chopped
[optional serrano or other hot pepper, if you like your food spicy, to be finely chopped]
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1½ tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1½ tsp flour
2 Tbsp olive oil

3 stalks celery, to be bisected and chopped into 1/8-1/4 inch thick pieces
15 ounce can Petite Cut or diced tomatoes
1 tsp salt

3 carrots, to be chopped about 1/8-1/4 inch, and bisected if fat.
½ tsp curry
~1 Tbsp olive oil

½ pound butternut squash, to be diced
1 tsp cinnamon

1 bundle asparagus. Throw out base 40%. Chop the rest 1 cm long, except very tip, ~2 cm
1 cup cider

Preparation:
Soak beans that morning (if for dinner), or overnight (lunch).

About 2½ hours before serving: Drain the beans; put in a soup pot; add bay leaves, broth and water to bring liquid to 4 cups; bring to a boil and then simmer, covered. Throughout, stir occasionally, adding water if necessary.

Now you have a half hour or so to chop everything.

In a bowl, combine onion [and pepper] with spices. In a large frying pan on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and when hot, the onion mixture. Mix/flip with a spatula as needed. After frying to some brownness, add onion mixture to soup pot, leaving behind what oil you can. Also add celery, salt, and tomato to pot. It is now perhaps 1½ hours before serving.

Now add olive oil to frying pan to bring it back to about 2 Tbsp. Brown the carrot/curry mixture, and then add to soup pot.

Again add olive oil to bring back to about 2 Tbsp. Brown the diced squash/cinnamon mixture, and then add to soup pot.

Continue to occasionally stir the simmering, covered pot.

About 20 minutes before serving, add cup of cider and asparagus directly to the soup (no frying). Taste a spoonful (no asparagus, of course) and ponder the salt level and flavor. Keep the soup covered unless you think it needs to boil down.

Most people will find the soup could use some more salt, so you can add some more if you know you don’t have anyone used to low-salt eating, or put a shaker on the table. If you like your food spicy you may also want to put a hot sauce or hot Indian cilantro chutney on the table, especially if you didn’t chop in hot pepper with the onions.

Spinach and Egg Pie with Bacon

My daughter ate a healthy meal tonight. Usually one has to point out that dessert is conditional on eating at least a serving of dinner, including vegetable, but tonight she ate so much dinner she had no room for pumpkin pie (a first in this house).

This Spinach and Egg Pie is basically a quiche, except it makes its own crust. I have been experimenting with variants on such egg pies; this is my most successful by far:

SPINACH and EGG PIE

INGREDIENTS
* 5 pieces bacon
* 1/2 yellow onion

* 8 large eggs
* 3 Tbsp flour
* 1 oz. parmesan, grated
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/8 tsp nutmeg
* 2 grinds pepper

* Butter

* 2/3 bag of fresh baby spinach

* 2 oz. cheddar

DIRECTIONS

* Preheat oven to 375F. (Or 340F if you don’t have a microwave.)
* Put steamer on stove with water to boil.

* Put bacon in skillet at medium.
* Finely chop onion and fry with bacon

* Remove the onion bits when lightly browned, to cool.
* Chop the bacon when cooked.
* Meanwhile, combine egg group 7 ingredients in bowl.

* Add cooled onion to egg bowl.
* Puree with immersion blender, or whisk (if eaters don’t mind little pieces of onion).

* Butter 2 liter Pyrex pan (11” * 7”)

* Pour a thin layer of egg mixture into pan, put in oven until set.

* Meanwhile, steam the spinach until just limp.

* Add bacon on top of set egg layer
* Add spinach on top of bacon.
* Pour rest of egg mixture over spinach.
* Grate cheddar on top.

* Microwave for 2 minutes on high, turn and microwave a second 2 minutes.
* Bake for 15 minutes at 375 F, then check for doneness.
(If no microwave, instead cook at 340 F for 30 minutes).

Best Chicken Ever Goes Down

Sadly, I must report that yesterday as I was driving down Summer Street in Adams, I saw that the Jolly Butcher shop has signs in the window saying "We Are Now Permanently Closed." So another tasty establishment has gone down the tubes. Their pressure-fried chicken was beyond compare (OK, it was a bit like KFC, if KFC used better chicken and had consistent quality control). They also had good raw meat. (See "It’s all about the Ribeye.") Apparently, they just didn't have enough customers.

The problem with depressed retail in Adams and North Adams is of course a lot broader than one shop or even retail in general. And for Summer Street, the relative absence of through-traffic and of out-of-towners adds to the difficulties. Since our main street (actually named Park Street, aka route 8), while busier, also has empty store-fronts, I'd think the longer run solution for this town is for most of the Summer Street shops to move to Park. Of course, if I owned real estate on Summer Street I'd probably feel differently. Hopefully, the new Topia will entice some new customers and businesses to Park regardless.

I haven't had any connection to the retail business since I was in college. And I can't think of any retail concept crying out for a presence here. Except possibly for a bike shop with espresso and ice cream, since the Ashuwillticook ends right at the center of Adams. (However, there is a good bike/outdoors shop a couple miles away.)

Apart from a casino, does anyone have a retail wish, or an idea for something they think could do well in Adams or North Adams?

It’s all about the Ribeye

I live in Adams Mass., near the “Big Y” Supermarket. It’s a small chain, with 27 stores in Mass. and Connecticut (launched in 1936 in Chicopee, MA at a “Y” intersection, as I learned at bigy.com). It’s convenient for me, and I buy close to half my groceries there, but sometimes it feels like I’m going to a casino, not knowing if I’m going to get a good price, or pay perhaps 50% more than a good price. Further, in order to get the good price you may have to bring not only the members’ card on your keychain, but also their big, plastic, color-coded discount coins.

So when I have the time and I’m driving by, I go to the big Stop & Shop on the North Adams / Williamstown border, or the Wild Oats, for baked goods and produce; and I also feel like I should stop by Wal-Mart every couple of weeks, getting everything I need which they have there, cheaper. So my convenient supermarket, isn’t.

On a related note, I try to buy things in small, local shops in Adams and North Adams when practical. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still largely about the Benjamins. I won’t eschew the leviathan from Arkansas just because it’s the leviathan from Arkansas (or because “it’s like Hitler,” as my mother helpfully pointed out), but at the same time I’m willing to give a little place some business if the service justifies the price. It often does: Service is great around here, precisely – I suppose – because the business climate is so difficult; and often the prices are great too.

One such place I’m happy to shop in several times a month is The Jolly Butcher Shoppe in Adams. I haven’t tried the deli items, but the raw meat is great. It’s open Wed-Sat 10:00-6:00 at 90 Summer Street, an area that’s neck-and-neck with Eagle Street in North Adams for the prize of Most Struggling Retail District in the Berkshires. (I also get haircuts and furniture on Summer Street.)

So how does it stack up? I’ve taken Jolly Butcher’s printed price list to the Big Y a couple of times. (I was surprised at how paranoid I felt with my “Jolly Butcher” price-list, as if a couple goons wearing bloody “Y” aprons were gonna throw me out of the joint.) And Jolly’s meat prices were almost always better than Big Y’s. I’m not going to get into specifics, because prices fluctuate, but I entered prices into a spreadsheet,* and Jolly averaged about 24% lower than Big Y’s regular prices. When items had a “Sale” promotion at Big Y, Jolly Butcher was still 8% less expensive. It was only the “Buy 1, Get 1 Free” deals at Big Y which were cheaper than Jolly’s prices. They’re great if you happen to luck into something you want, and you want 2 of them, but they’re not reliable sources of savings unless you’re completely flexible about what’s for dinner, and yet can pack away a lot of the same cut of meat before age or freezing enter into the picture.

My favorite piece of meat is probably the Ribeye steak. Jolly always seems to have it, cutting up a big boneless one every week. (I wouldn’t mind the bone, too, if the price were cut slightly to reflect that.) Usually I fry it in an almost dry, very hot pan for 2 minutes on a side, remove the steaks and turn the heat down to medium, then put in a couple tablespoons each of butter, chopped fresh ginger or garlic, and soy sauce, and return the steaks until medium-rare. The ultimate in meaty goodness!

The Jolly Butcher has also recently added cooked chicken on the bone [pressure-fried] sold a la carte. When the owner told me he was going to be spending $13,000 to install a cooker and vent for chicken and fish, I resisted the temptation to shout, “Good God man, haven’t you noticed this is a depressed mill town?” Well, it’s fortunate he ignored the advice I did not presume to proffer, because it’s better than any other fried or roasted chicken I’ve ever had.

* (prices for Hamburger 90% lean, Hamburger 80%, Filet Mignon, London Broil, Boneless Ribeye, Chuck Roast, Boneless Breast and Pork Tenderloin)

Gideon’s, RIP?

I just learned today that Gideon’s is in dire straights. According to its phone message, the restaurant was closed last weekend, but hopes to reopen on Wednesday January 24^th. Apparently EGL (formerly Gideon’s Nightery), which was being spun off from Gideon’s and lately under the management of Vaal London-Kane, is in similar straights.

Well, this is horrible news. The first dinner my wife and I had in North Adams, when she was interviewing for her job as Web Communications Director, was at Gideon’s. The fact that we could get a meal as good as at any foodie restaurant in Boston was a significant factor (OK, a not insignificant factor, at any rate) in making us comfortable about moving out here; the relative ease of getting a reservation, and prices about 30% lower than in the city, was icing on the cake. And apart from our own comfort, the prosperous-seeming restaurant crowd also made us a little more comfortable about North Adams’ economic trend being up now, rather than down as in previous decades. The fact that Bill Gideon’s resume (among others) showed that he could make it anywhere, but he chose to come here, was also a good sign.

Gideon’s was always busy when I was there, but perhaps that was only on Saturday nights. Busy Saturdays are necessary, but not sufficient, for success in the business, so I guess I was “part of the problem” despite eating there every month or two. EGL has been less crowded; it was a great bargain for lunch or a light dinner; my wife gave them a fair amount of lunch business and raved about the food; its chef, Joe Mezza (spelling?) had been sous-chef at Mistral in Boston, a widely acclaimed French restaurant which we had never gotten to, mostly as they were on the high end of our price range.

There is still, of course, Gramercy Bistro, which is close to and similar to Gideon’s. And I understand that Milan at 55 Main is quite good; I have not eaten there. (Although my Italian grandmother has now been dead for several years, I still feel a bit guilty about getting Italian food anywhere else.) But between Jae’s closing up its restaurant in North Adams, and now this, I am not happy about recent trends. (I did finally get to Coyote Flaco on the far side of Williamstown last weekend; it’s unusually good Mexican for New England, and very reasonably priced, but not so convenient from Adams.)

So what to do? I will try to follow the situation with Gideon’s and EGL, and eat there on a weeknight if I get another chance.

Does anyone have any details about what happened? At one level, I’m sure it’s a problem of not making enough money, but how did the problem go down, and what does that mean for the prospects of reopening?

UPDATE: Having heard from a couple of reasonably well-connected (but not directly involved) sources, I believe that Gideon's had plenty of business but was mismanaged to the point its bank felt the need to shut it down. EGL, while apparently less of a going concern, may be slightly more likely to make a comeback. I never did "Drinking Liberally" which has been hosted there, mostly because I'm not a liberal (except in the classical sense), but I see such events as important to the success (cultural and otherwise) of North Adams' continued revival. An arts community needs reasonably priced places for refreshments and entertainment that can attract pinkos, artists, students, dilettantes and groupies, and gays and lesbians, and North Adams doesn't have a surfeit of them.

UPDATE 2: Gideon's phone message no longer says they're hoping to reopen tonight (Wednesday). Also, EGL does not look likely to reopen as such, at least any time soon, although Vaal, its manager, would appear (unlike Gideon, can't say more) to remain viable in the local business community. She just took over the now-shuttered restaurant a couple months ago. EGL was to now, I believe still "owned" by Bill Gideon, not Vaal (that is, to the extent it was not owned by the bank which lent Gideon considerable sums).

Cooking Inspiration

A disturbing number of spring buds and bulbs are sprouting in this very mild winter – disturbing because we must fear that a colder February could kill off most of next spring’s flowers. Nevertheless, there’s not a lot of gardening going on in Zone 5, so for now I will change the topic to cooking.

As a stay-at-home dad with a working wife, I tend to do most of the cooking. With pre-school children demanding their bland favorites, while my wife and I want more flavorful foods, it’s hard to please everyone, and easy to get into a cooking funk. (It doesn’t help that I like rich meaty dishes and only like a few vegetables, while my wife wants low-fat vegetable options, and hates ham and mushrooms.) I think a dinner has to include a meat/protein, a starch, and a vegetable, so I usually have to have more than three dishes to cover everyone’s needs. So it helps if the recipes require a limited preparation time, include more than one of the three food groups, or are palatable to all of the family.

Since my wife and kids got me another old cookbook for Christmas, I have been inspired to find/alter and create several entrees. The inspiration came from the Time-Life Foods of the World series 1971 book American Cooking: The Melting Pot. (Like the rest of the series, it’s a collection of travelogue vignettes, with goofy photos of very square pre-1970s characters breaking bread together.)

For the first recipe, Chicken Paprikash, I had to go online to find various versions since the book only alluded to the dish. From previous experience, I’ve found that mixing a chopped onion with flour and spices, and then frying it, is a lot quicker than making a separate roux, and makes for a thickened and flavorful sauce or stew. So I incorporated this method into the core of the various recipes I found. The next day, I realized that if you eliminated the paprika, replaced the chicken with beef, cooked the meat for longer, and added a couple of sliced vegetables, you would have a very successful Beef Sofrito. Either dish can work for the kids if I go light on the hot pepper; they can eat the meat and sauce with ziti or penne pasta. Here goes [optional ingredients are bracketed]:

Chicken Paprikash

1 lb. boneless chicken breast, sliced thin

2 Tbsp butter or olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

[garlic, chopped]

[dry or fresh hot pepper]

1 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves

2 Tbsp paprika

8oz. can tomato sauce

1 cup (8oz.) chicken broth

1/4 cup sour cream or ½ & ½

********************************

Toss onion in bowl with flour & spices. Open cans and ready tomato, broth & cream.

[Shake chicken with extra paprika and pepper. Salt only if broth is low-salt.]

Melt 1 Tbsp butter over medium-high heat. Fry chicken until just browned.

Transfer chicken to plate.

Add remaining 1 Tbsp butter to skillet.

Add onion and sauté until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.

Add tomato, broth, cream mixture. Stir. Boil until sauce thickens enough to coat spoon thinly, about 5 minutes.

Mix in chicken and any collected juices.

Reduce heat to low. Cover with top or colander depending on need to reduce.

Cook until chicken is just done.

Beef Sofrito

1 lb. stew beef cubes

2 Tbsp butter [or olive oil]

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

[dry or fresh hot pepper]

1 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried parsley

1 carrot, sliced “paper” thin

1 celery stalk, sliced “paper” thin

8oz. can tomato sauce

1 cup (8oz.) chicken broth

1/4 cup sour cream or ½ & ½

********************************

Toss onion in bowl with flour & spices. Open cans and ready tomato, broth & cream.

Melt 1 Tbsp butter over medium-high heat. Fry beef cubes until just browned.

Transfer beef to plate. (You may choose to slice up beef in spare time during next steps.)

Add remaining 1 Tbsp butter to skillet.

Add onion and sauté until beginning to soften, or brown, about 3-10 minutes.

Transfer onion back to bowl.

Add carrot & celery (or bell pepper) and sauté until soft or browning.

Add tomato, broth, cream mixture. Stir.

Return beef (and juices) to skillet.

Boil at medium heat until sauce thickens to liking. Reduce heat to low. Cover until beef is thoroughly stewed.