The Essential James Beard Cookbook (6 page)

CARROT BLINI

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

A different and much simpler form of blini, basically a crêpe batter with shredded carrot added. They should be served with sour cream and red or black caviar. [
Editor: Beard developed these for a restaurant consulting job with L’Auberge in Philadelphia.
]

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup whole milk, as needed

1 cup shredded raw carrot

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Sour cream and red or black caviar, for serving

Put the flour in a bowl. Stir in the eggs, salt, oil, pepper, and just enough milk to make a thick batter. Stir in the shredded carrot. Heat enough butter in a heavy skillet to cover the surface, and drop the batter in by spoonfuls, enough to make pancakes about 3 inches in diameter. Cook on both sides until lightly browned, adding more butter to the pan as needed. Serve hot.

CREAM CHEESE-AND PISTACHIO-STUFFED BREAD RINGS

MAKES ABOUT 12 SERVINGS

For this process you need patience and determination, so don’t try to perform it at the last minute and expect marvels. You will need
a very thin baguette known in the French bakeshops as French
flutes
, about 24 inches long.
[
Editor: These are also called ficelles
.] Cut the loaf in half lengthwise and scoop out the center so that only the crisp tubes of crust and a little of the white center for contrast in texture are left.

Cream
12 ounces of softened cream cheese with 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
and
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
. Add
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, ½
teaspoon of salt,
and
½
cup of coarsely chopped pistachio nuts.
Spread the mixture into the bottom half of the bread (be sure that you pack the cheese in tightly so as to get even slices), and sandwich with the top half. Refrigerate for half an hour before slicing. Slice with a very sharp knife in slices
³
⁄
₈
- to ½-inch thick and arrange on a platter. [
Editor: The result is small rings of bread filled with the herbed cheese.
]

The Highball Sandwich

The highball sandwich is a coinage of my own, I believe. It has been the solution for many of my friends and pupils who wanted to know what to serve a group of men meeting for an evening of cards or talk, or to a mixed group that was to have highballs during an evening gathering.

It is the larger brother of the cocktail sandwich. It is thicker by an eighth of an inch or so and about three inches square. It fills in when a substantial snack is desired and where a buffet table would be a nuisance. Furthermore, such sandwiches may be prepared or ordered in advance and kept in the refrigerator until they are to be served.

The highball sandwich should be on dark, well-flavored bread and should be well filled and substantial in appearance. Chicken, meats, and cheese are the most acceptable fillings with plenty of spice and sauce. The mixtures welcome at cocktail time are not as desirable here nor are the very “gooey” fillings, which have a tendency to drip here and there.

Serve plenty of pickles with these snacks, additional mustard and horseradish, and some celery and radishes; usually scallions will be appreciated.

OLD-FASHIONED PICKLED EGGS

MAKES 24 EGGS

Editor: There was a time when every picnic featured these magenta-colored eggs. Canned beets are fine. If you wish, roast the beets yourself. Wrap 2 scrubbed but unpeeled medium beets in aluminum foil and bake on a baking sheet in a preheated 400°F oven until tender when pierced with a knife, about 1 hour. Unwrap, cool, and slip off the skins before slicing.

2 dozen
Hard-boiled Eggs
, shelled

2 cups cooked beet slices

2 large yellow onions, very thinly sliced

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon plain salt

1 bay leaf

Cider vinegar, as needed

Place the hard-boiled eggs in a large jar or bowl. Add the beets, onions, sugar, salt, and bay leaf. Add just enough vinegar to cover all the ingredients and cap the jar or cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours or up to 48 hours.

To serve, arrange the drained eggs, beets, and onions in a large bowl, moisten with some of the vinegar mixture, and serve as an accompaniment to meat salads, cold meats, and cheese. If you prefer, arrange the eggs in one bowl and the beets and onions in another.

CLAY’S DILL PICKLES

MAKES ABOUT 2 QUARTS

Editor: Clay Triplette was Beard’s housekeeper for decades.

For Clay’s dill pickles, wash and dry
3 pounds of small pickling cucumbers,
the unwaxed kind, about 2½ to 3 inches long, that are in the markets in summer and early fall. Pierce each end of the cucumbers with a good-sized needle. This lets the pickling solution seep in and makes the pickles much crisper to the bite. Pack the cucumbers into a sterilized 2-quart canning jar with
1½
tablespoons of pickling spice,
1 teaspoon of plain (not kosher or iodized) salt
,
3 unpeeled garlic cloves
, and
3 sprigs of fresh dill
arranging them neatly to make what Clay calls “a fine picture jar.” Bring to a boil
5 cups of water
with
1 cup of white wine vinegar
and pour this over the cucumbers. Leave for 15 minutes before putting the lid on the jar. Store in a cool, dark place for 4 to 5 weeks before using.

Dill pickles are good to munch as a snack with cold foods and wonderful with
choucroute garnie
or any hot sauerkraut dish to which they give a pleasant zest. Thinly sliced dill pickles are marvelous tucked into a hamburger, and I also like to serve them, thinly sliced, with cold salmon or halibut or any other cold fish with which I’m serving a mayonnaise or dill sauce. You can make a quick tartar sauce for fish by chopping the pickles or putting them into the food processor with a little onion, garlic, parsley, and mayonnaise. In fact, you can make your mayonnaise in the food processor, then switch over from the blade to the shredder and shred the onion and pickle right into the mayonnaise.

COLD HAM MOUSSE

MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS

A savory mousse, with a béchamel sauce base, this is an easy and good way to use up leftover cooked ham. You might serve it for a summer luncheon party or as part of a cold buffet.

For the Ham Mousse

Vegetable oil, for the mold

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk, heated

Kosher salt

Freshly grated nutmeg

Cayenne pepper

¼ cup Cognac

½ cup heavy cream

2 large egg yolks

1 envelope (2½ teaspoons) unflavored gelatin

½ cup cold water

½ cup
Chicken Stock
or homemade ham broth (see Editor’s Note), heated to boiling

2 cups very finely ground cooked ham

For the Cucumber Garnish

2 medium cucumbers, peeled, and very thinly sliced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill

To make the mousse: Prepare a 4-cup ring mold by generously brushing it with vegetable oil, then turning it upside down on paper towels to drain off any excess oil.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, blend in the flour, and cook over medium heat, whisking, until golden and bubbling. Slowly mix the milk into this roux, and continue to whisk over low heat, until very thick and smooth. Season to taste with salt (be sparing if the ham is salty), nutmeg, and cayenne. Stir in the Cognac. Mix the egg yolks and cream in a small bowl with a fork, then stir in a little of the hot sauce into them to warm up the yolks. Stir into the sauce in the pan and cook over low heat, whisking, until blended and thickened a bit more. Do not let the sauce get too hot or boil, or the yolks will curdle. Strain into a medium bowl.

Sprinkle the gelatin on the cold water in a small bowl. When softened, stir into the hot broth until thoroughly dissolved. Blend this into the sauce, then thoroughly mix in the ground ham. Fill the prepared mold with the ham mousse, smoothing it evenly with a rubber spatula. Cover the mold with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until firm and set, at least 3 hours.

To make the cucumber garnish: Put the cucumbers into a bowl. Sprinkle with the salt, let stand 1 hour, then drain off the liquid. Return to the bowl. Stir the vinegar and sugar in a bowl until the sugar dissolves; mix with the parsley and dill; pour over the cucumbers and mix. Refrigerate until serving.

When ready to serve, remove the plastic wrap from the mold; loosen the edges with a knife or spatula, dip the top of the mold in hot water for a second or two to release it, then invert onto a serving platter. Drain the marinated cucumbers. Put them in the center of the molded ring. Serve chilled.

Editor: Ham broth is simply a meaty ham bone, simmered in water to cover with 1 each chopped onion, carrot, and celery for a couple of hours until the broth is rich and flavorful, and strained. It can also be used as the cooking liquid for split pea soup.

PÂTÉ DE CAMPAGNE

MAKES 12 TO 16 SERVINGS

A delicious country pâté, easy to make and always welcome.

2 pounds pork shoulder, well trimmed, very coarsely chopped

2 pounds trimmed and ground pork liver

2 pounds fresh pork fatback, cut into ½-inch dice

¾ pound ground veal

3 large eggs, beaten

¹
⁄
₃
cup Cognac or bourbon

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 tablespoon kosher salt, as needed

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¹
⁄
₈
teaspoon each ground cloves, ground ginger, freshly grated nutmeg, and freshly ground white pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 pound sliced bacon or salt pork, for the baking dish

Sliced crusty bread, Dijon mustard, and cornichons, for serving

Combine all the pork shoulder, pork liver, fatback, veal, eggs, Cognac, garlic, basil, salt, black pepper, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and white pepper in a large bowl. To check the seasoning, sauté a small patty—about 1 tablespoon—in hot melted butter in a skillet until cooked through. Cool and taste; you may want to add a bit more salt.

Line a good-sized straight-sided terrine with the bacon. A 2½-quart soufflé dish, heavy pottery dish, or a large round Pyrex dish are also ideal. Fill with the mixture and form a well-rounded top. Place a few strips of bacon over the top, and bake in a preheated 325°F oven for 2 to 2½ hours. I always cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil for the first hour or so of cooking. The pâté will pull away from the sides a bit when done.

Remove from the oven and let cool. After 30 minutes, put a foil-wrapped rectangle of wood or heavy cardboard cut to fit the inside of the terrine (or a plate or a baking dish) on the pâté, and weigh it down with a few heavy cans of food. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight on a plate. Serve from the terrine or dish cut in generous slices with a sharp, heavy knife.

Editor: When making pâté at home, the food processor will be your best friend. See the Note
here
for how to prepare the pork shoulder. Pork liver does not need to be frozen. It should be trimmed of any tough matter, cut into 1-inch chunks, and processed into a coarse purée.

CHINESE GINGER AND PORK BALLS