On the road and at home, it's always about food and fun!
Known for her cookbooks which make Indian cooking easily accessible for home cooks, Anupy Singla says that her mother never taught her to cook.
“She didn’t want me to get stuck in the kitchen like she did,” Singla tells me as we chat on the phone about her cooking. So instead Singla, who was born in India but grew up outside of Philadelphia having moved to the U.S. when she was three, became a journalist working as a business reporter for Bloomberg News in Chicago and a morning reporter for Chicago’s CLTV. So far so good according to mom.
But the flavors, tastes and the lessons she learned from her grandfather when she returned to visit her large family in Punjab, led her to leave journalism and focus on cooking. Singla is still writing though and now has several cookbooks including the recently released updated edition of her best-selling The Indian Slow Cooker: 70 Healthy, Easy, Authentic Recipes (Agate 2018; Amazon price $13.36) as well as Indian For Everyone, which is a compilation of the most popular Indian recipes outside of India. Besides that, her blog with the wonderful name of “Indian As Apple Pie”—because, as she says, her approach to Indian food is from an American point of view–has grown to include a wide selection of spices and spice blends that she makes as well. She also offers Spice/Bollywood Tours of Chicago’s Little India.
In other words, her mother’s fears were unfounded.
“It’s great to be in the kitchen, when you own it,” says Singla.
Spiced Cauliflower and Potatoes
Aloo Gobi
Slow Cooker Size: 4- Or o- Quart
Cooking Time: 3 Hours on Low
Yield: 7 Cups
“Until I made this myself in the slow cooker, I refused to believe my mother-in-law when she said it was possible,” Singla writes in the introduction to this recipe. “I also wondered why I wouldn’t just make this dish on the stovetop, where it could sit for less time. After trying it once, I realized the answer: because I can now stick it in my slow cooker and go about my day. I don’t think twice about the kids near the stove or anything burning. My father—the real foodie of the family—also wouldn’t believe this dish could be made well in the slow cooker, so he just had to try it himself. He had me on the phone in excitement for half an hour after trying it for the first time.”
1 large head cauliflower, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 8 cups)
1 large potato (russet or yellow), peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
1 medium yellow or red onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium tomato, diced or pureed (optional)
1 (2-inch) piece ginger, peeled and grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
3–4 fresh Thai, serrano, or cayenne chiles, stems removed, chopped or sliced lengthwise
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon red chile powder or cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 heaping tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
Put all the ingredients except the cilantro in the slow cooker. Mix well.
Cook on low for 3 hours. Mix once or twice during cooking, especially in the beginning. Eventually the cauliflower will release enough liquid to prevent anything from sticking to the sides of the slow cooker.
Add the cilantro. Mix well but gently so as not to break up the cauliflower. Serve with roti or naan and a side of onion and cucumber salad.
To make this dish in a 3 1/2-quart slow cooker, halve all the ingredients and proceed with the recipe. Cook on low for 3 hours. A half recipe makes 4 cups.
Creamy Turmeric Corn Soup
Slow Cooker Size: 5-quart
Cooking time: 4 hours on high
Yield: 18 cups
Singla notes at the beginning of this recipe that turmeric is a spice she likes to add wherever she can do so without the spice affecting the taste of her non-Indian dishes.
“Blending a tablespoon into this corn soup is a great way to get all the healing properties without altering the light, bright taste of corn,” she says. “Any more and it tastes too earthy. Use nuts like cashews rather than dairy to make it creamy.”
2 ½ pounds frozen yellow corn, defrosted
1 medium potato (any kind), peeled and diced
1 large shallot, minced
½ cup raw, unsalted cashews
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoons sea salt
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
10 cups water
Put all the ingredients in the slow cooker.
Cook on high for 4 hours. Remove 1 cup of the corn. (Carefully pick out any pieces of the potato and cashews that are removed and put them back into the slow cooker.)
Blend until smooth with an immersion blender or carefully in batches in a blender. Add back the corn you removed. Mix well and serve immediately.
To make this dish in a 3 ½-quart slow cooker, us a 2-pound bag of frozen corn, 2 teaspoons turmeric powder, and 7 cups water. Cut the other ingredients in half and proceed with the recipe, cooking on high for 4 hours. A half recipe makes 11 cups.
The recipes above are reprinted with permission from The Indian Slow Cooker: 70 Healthy, Easy, Authentic Recipes, 2ed by Anupy Singla, Agate Surrey, 2018.
Balancing the tangy flavors of yogurt, pomegranate and lemon, zesty spices and herbs such as cinnamon, mint and garlic, the sweetness of molasses and rose water along with grains and nuts is one of the defining factors of what makes Mediterranean cuisine so appealing says Maureen Abood, author of Rose Water & Orange Blossoms: Fresh & Classic Recipes from My Lebanese Kitchen (Running Press 2015; $30).
“And, of course, it’s healthy as well,” she adds.
Abood, who learned to cook from her Lebanese family, was the chief development officer for the St. Jude League in Chicago when a series of less-than-positive life events propelled her to leave her job and move to San Francisco to attend culinary school.
Raised in Lansing, where there is a large Lebanese population, she had spent summers at the family vacation house in Harbor Springs. That’s where she retreated after
graduating. Her goal was to write a blog about the foods of her childhood.
“There aren’t many people around during the off-season,” says Abood, “and that was good for my creativity.”
The cookbook, her first, is the outcome of her award winning blog, maureenabood.com and her desire to educate people about Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food.
“I want people to learn how to make this adventuresome but easily accessible food,” she says.
For those just starting on this culinary journey, Abood suggests starting with Chicken Hushweh (pronounced HUSH-wee), a dish she describes as always a favorite with family and friends.
“You can make a nice Romaine salad with a lemon vinaigrette, maybe topped with some freshly chopped mint to serve with it,” says Abood noting that her recipe for hummus and pita chips would also be a good accompaniment.
Her Pomegranate Rose sorbet offers a light, sweet-tart and refreshing dessert.
“I like to top it with chopped pistachios, the green and pink look pretty,” she says. “With the Chicken Hushweh, you have a great but easy meal.”
Follow Maureen on Facebook
To purchase ingredients, visit Maureen Abood Market
Hushweh (Chicken Rice Pilaf with Butter Toasted Almonds)
Makes 12 servings
For the chicken:
1 (3- to 4-pound free-range chicken (or if time is of the essence buy a roasted chicken from the grocery store)
1 large yellow onion, quartered
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Few grinds of black pepper
For the rice:
2 tablespoons salted butter
1 pound ground beef chuck or lamb
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Few grinds of black pepper
1 cup parboiled long-grain white rice (such as Uncle Ben’s)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cinnamon stick
3/4 cup Butter Toasted Almonds (see recipe below), divided
Heat the oven to 425°F
Pat the chicken dry. Place it in a large roasting pan. Stuff the cavity with the onion. Rub a couple of tablespoons of oil evenly over the skin and season the chicken all over lightly with paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
Roast the chicken until the juices run clear when the chicken is pierced and the meat reaches an internal temperature of 160°F in the thigh on an instant-read thermometer, about 1 hour. Baste the chicken every 15 minutes with its juices while it roasts.
Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a 4-quart Dutch oven or saucepan over medium heat. Add the ground beef and season it with the ground cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Cook the meat, stirring constantly and using a metal spoon to crumble it into small pieces until no trace of pink remains, about 5 minutes.
Stir the rice into the meat until it is completely coated with juices. Pour in the broth and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, tuck in the cinnamon stick, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until all of the broth is absorbed.
Transfer the roasted chicken to a cutting board and when it is cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skin. Shred the chicken into 1-inch pieces.
Remove the cinnamon stick and add the chicken, 1/2 cup of the toasted nuts, and the remaining 3 tablespoons butter to the hot rice mixture, stirring to combine. Taste and add more salt, if needed. Sprinkle with the remaining nuts and serve immediately.
Butter Toasted Pine Nuts and Almonds
½ teaspoon salted butter
1 cup slivered olives or whole pine nuts
Fine sea salt, to taste
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the nuts and reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir the nuts to coat them with the butter and continue stirring constantly until the nuts are golden brown. Keep a close watch over the nuts; they can burn quickly once they begin to brown.
Transfer the nuts to a bowl while they are still warm and salt them lightly. When they have cooled to room temperature, store the nuts in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a month or in the freezer for up to one year.
Pomegranate Rose Sorbet
Makes 8 servings
3⁄4 cup granulated sugar
3⁄4 cup warm water
1⁄4 cup light corn syrup
11⁄2 cups 100 percent pure pomegranate juice
Juice of 1 lemon
3 drops rose water
In a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, heat the sugar with the warm water until the water boils and the sugar melts. Add the corn syrup, pomegranate juice, lemon juice, and rose water and simmer for 3 minutes.
Pour the mixture into a heatproof bowl, cool for 10 minutes, and then cover and chill it until it is completely cold. Or, pour the slightly cooled mixture into a heavy-duty plastic freezer bag and immerse it in a bowl of ice water until it is completely cold.
Churn the pomegranate mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Chill the sorbet in the freezer in an airtight container for at least 12 hours and up to several weeks.
Heat the oven to 375°F. Butter and lightly flour a 9-inch round cake pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper.
In a small mixing bowl, prepare the topping by whisking the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt, then cutting the butter in with a pastry blender, fork or your fingertips, working the mixture until it is coarse crumbs.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl or in the stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until they light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and rose water and mix until they are incorporated and the batter is smooth. Beat in 1/3 of the dry ingredient mixture just until they are combined. Mix in half of the milk, then alternate mixing in another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, the remaining milk, and the final 1/3 of the dry ingredients to make a stiff batter.
Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Scatter the raspberries over the top of the batter and gently press them in, just by about 1/2-inch. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the raspberries.
Bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for at least 20 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a plate. Turn the cake over onto another plate to have the top facing up.
Reprinted with permission from Rose Water & Orange Blossoms © 2015 by Maureen Abood, Running Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group.
RASBPERRY ROSE CRUMB CAKE
RECIPE BY: MAUREEN ABOOD
This recipe is adapted from SmittenKitchen.com, where it is a blueberry coffee cake.
FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING
5 tablespoons unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
FOR THE CAKE
2 cups minus 1 tablespoon unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rose water
3 cups fresh raspberries
1/2 cup milk, whole or 2 percent
Heat the oven to 375°F. Butter and lightly flour a 9-inch round cake pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper.
In a small mixing bowl, prepare the topping by whisking the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt, then cutting the butter in with a pastry blender, fork or your fingertips, working the mixture until it is coarse crumbs.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl or in the stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until they light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and rose water and mix until they are incorporated and the batter is smooth. Beat in 1/3 of the dry ingredient mixture just until they are combined. Mix in half of the milk, then alternate mixing in another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, the remaining milk, and the final 1/3 of the dry ingredients to make a stiff batter.
Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Scatter the raspberries over the top of the batter and gently press them in, just by about 1/2-inch. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the raspberries.
Bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for at least 20 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a plate. Turn the cake over onto another plate to have the top facing up.
I love the premise of Danielle Walker’s latest cookbook, Eat What You Love: Everyday Comfort You Crave, with its idea that even if you’re gluten-intolerant (which so many people seem to be), have a dairy allergy, suffer from an autoimmune disease, are following a Paleo diet or just want to incorporate healthy eating a few days a week, you can easily do so.
Walker, who also authored the New York Times best-selling Danielle Walker’s Against All Grain: Meals Made Simple, likes to take classics that we love—think lasagna, apple crisp, fried chicken (yes, fried chicken), sloppy Joes and chicken pot pie and made them healthy and full of flavor.
“I’m always looking for ways to incorporate more vegetables into my family’s meals, and using riced cauliflower in this fried rice recipe inspired by Chinese takeout is a great way to do it,” she writes in her description of one of her super easy recipes (though I cheated and used soy sauce instead of coconut aminos and also bought rice cauliflower instead of doing my own). “The salty sauce can make any vegetable taste appealing, and this dish is pretty much all veggies. While it’s super-simple to make cauliflower rice at home, many supermarkets sell fresh or frozen riced cauliflower, so that’s what I use more often than not. Go ahead and use it straight from the freezer; there’s no need to thaw it first.”
I’ve cooked several recipes out of this cookbook which I just received and all of them have turned out great—helping me keep my New Year’s resolution of eating healthier.
Shrimp Fried Rice
Serves 4 to 6 ·
11⁄2 pounds jumbo raw shrimp, peeled and deveined, with tails removed
6 tablespoons coconut aminos (see note below)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
5 tablespoons avocado oil
1⁄2 small yellow onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 carrot, diced
2 eggs, beaten
11⁄4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1⁄4 cup frozen peas
2 green onions, tender green tops only, chopped
Combine the shrimp, 1 tablespoon of the coconut aminos, and 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil in a bowl.
Place the cauliflower in a food processor fitted with the grating attachment, or use the large holes on a box grater, and process the florets into rice-size pieces. Pick out any large fragments that didn’t shred and chop them up by hand with a knife or save for another use. You should have around 3 cups riced cauliflower.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the avocado oil in a wok over medium- high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon, for 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the carrot and cook, stirring continuously, for 2 minutes. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons avocado oil and the cauliflower and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes more. Transfer the cauliflower mixture to a plate and return the wok to the heat.
Add the shrimp mixture to the wok and sear for 1 minute per side, until pink all over and just cooked through. Transfer the shrimp to the plate with the cauliflower and return the wok to the heat.
Pour the eggs into the wok and stir to scramble them for 10 seconds, until mostly cooked through. Pour the cauliflower mixture and shrimp back into the wok and add the remaining 5 tablespoons coconut aminos, the remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil, and the salt. Stir in the peas and cook for 1 minute longer. Top with the green onions and serve immediately.
Note: Coconut aminos, which are available at some local grocery stores or can be ordered online, are a Paleo substitute for soy sauce and still deliver the same salty tang, only they contain no soy and no wheat. If you’d rather just stick with soy, use the same amount as the coconut aminos.
Chocolate-Zucchini Muffins
Makes 24 · These muffins are moist and fluffy plus they’re nut free writes Walker, who keeps them in the freezer for a quick breakfast when the family’s frazzled and trying to get out the door for school. If zucchini isn’t in season, you could use shredded carrots.
11⁄2 cups shredded zucchini
8 eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup pure maple syrup
2⁄3 cup coconut flour
1⁄2 cup unflavored collagen peptides powder or protein powder of your choice (optional)
1⁄2 cup raw cacao powder
6 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1⁄2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1⁄2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two 12-cup muffin tins with baking cups, or grease the tins with coconut oil. Line a plate with paper towels.
Place the zucchini on the prepared plate and allow it to drain some of its moisture while you make the batter.
Place the eggs, applesauce, and maple syrup in a stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment or use an electric handheld mixer. Mix on medium speed until combined. Add the coconut flour, collagen peptides powder, cacao powder, arrowroot, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and mix on medium speed until combined.
Wrap the paper towels around the zucchini and give it a light squeeze to remove any remaining moisture. Add the zucchini to the batter along with 1⁄4 cup of the chocolate chips and mix on low speed until incorporated. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over the top.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the pan and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack before serving or storing.
Freeze in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, tightly covered with plastic wrap, for 4 hours. Place the frozen muffins in an airtight container and freeze for 4 months. To eat the muffins directly from the freezer, heat them in a 350°F oven for 10 minutes, until warmed through. Or, defrost in an airtight container in the fridge overnight, or for up to 1 week. If you prefer, warm on a baking sheet in a 400°F oven for 2 to 3 minutes.
The recipes above are from Danielle Walker’s Eat What You Love: Everyday Comfort You Crave Copyright © 2018 by Simple Writing Holdings, LLC. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
It’s not pleasant to imagine what the world might have been like if Winston Churchill hadn’t been able to persuade his chef, Georgina Landemare to leave the kitchen where she was making a pudding and head down to the basement bomb shelter with him. The date was October 14, 1940 and the Germans were doing one of their nightly blitzes over London. This time a lucky strike by Luftwaffe bomb destroyed the kitchen—and most of the building–where they had been standing just moments before. Fortunately, both Churchill and Landemare survived.
Always a fan of Churchill and always interested in the history of food, I am delighted to have a copy of Churchill’s Cookbook, a release of Landemare’s 1958 cookbook originally published as “Recipes from No. 10.” Churchill, famed not only for leading Britain to victory during World War II but also for his love of a good cigar, fine spirits and great food, once said “It is well to remember that the stomach governs the world.”
Besides Landemare’s recipes–short, easy to make, mostly French but with little in the way of detailed instructions—her book also has vintage photographs from the 15 years she cooked for the Churchills. An introduction by Phi Reed, director of the Churchill War Rooms which I visited on my one and only and very short trip to London, also gives historical perspective. The War Rooms are an underground warren of rooms that tunnel under the city of London where Churchill and his cabinet would meet and some of the work of the war would be done. “This is the room from which I will direct the war” Churchill announced after being elected Prime Minister in 1940 and visiting his underground office.
The rooms are now a museum and houses some of the recipes from this book. Landemare, who started life in the “service” at age 14 as a scullery maid, was the widow of Paul Landemare, a distinguished French chef at the famed Ritz Hotel and most likely learned to cook from him. She made Churchill breakfast in the morning and stayed in his service until he finished his last whiskey of the night (and one can assume there were plenty of whiskeys in between). She was such a necessity that, as Reed writes in his introduction, “Georgina Landemare’s importance to Churchill was nicely and neatly illustrated on VE Day, when after giving his rousing speech to the massed crowds in Whitehall, he made a point of turning to his faithful chef and thanking her ‘most cordially’, saying he could not have managed all the way through the war without her.”
As an aside, here is a fun anecdote showcasing Churchill’s sense of humor and his love of food.
Invited to a buffet luncheon while visiting the United States, Winston Churchill asked for a second helping of fried chicken by saying “May I have some breast” to which the hostess reportedly replied “Mr. Churchill, in this country we ask for white meat or dark meat.” The Prime Minister abjectly apologized and sent the hostess a beautiful orchid the next morning along with a note reading “I would be most obliged if you would pin this on your white meat.”
Winston Churchill’s Favorite Fruit Cake
10 ounces plain flour
8 ounces butter
6 ounces sugar
5 eggs
10 ounces mixed dried fruit
4 ounces glacé cherries (cut in half)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
Cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a little flour to prevent the mixture curdling.
Sift the remainder of the flour with the baking powder and salt and add this to the creamed mixture. Add the dried fruit and beat the mixture well.
Spoon into a greased and lined round cake tin.
Bake for 2 hours in a moderate oven.
Boodles Orange Fool
6 sponge cakes
4 oranges
2 lemons
¾ pint cream
Sugar to taste
Cut up sponge cake lengthwise in slices and place in glass dish.
Put in a basin the grated rind of a lemon and 2 oranges and the juice of all the fruit. Mix well with the cream and sugar to taste.
Pour all over the sponge cakes and allow to stand for six hours before serving.
The above recipes are from “Churchill’s Cookbook.”
We take the concept of heirloom or heritage fruits and vegetables as common place nowadays. But I was reminded how unfamiliar the concept was just several decades ago and how Herb Teichman, the owner of Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm in Eau Claire, Michigan who passed away earlier this month at the age of 88, was in the vanguard of re-introducing the fruits long ago to the American palate creating a connection to food heritage.
I met Herb about 20 year ago and over the years wrote about his family and farm many times. After reading about his passing, I thought I would re-read them. Here’s the first few paragraphs of one of the first articles about Herb I wrote.
“For most of us, Louis XIII is a hazy figure, a bewigged monarch who lived some 350 years ago and had a furniture style named after him.
But for Herb Teichman, owner of, Louis is but an apple away. Apples are historical embodiments for Teichman who can tell you the history of each heritage apple variety he grows. Take the Calville Blanc D’hiver, a favorite of Louis XIII.
“This was the classic dessert apple of France,” says Teichman. “Le Lectier, who was the procurer for Louis XIII, grew it in the King’s gardens at Orleans. When I taste a Calville Blanc, I began to feel like I know Louis the 13th a little better. Eating these apples becomes a bridge connecting the centuries.”
“Or take the Newtown Pippin, a favorite of both Ben Franklin and George Washington.
“When I bite into a Newtown Pippin, it’s like I’m sharing something with Washington or Franklin,” says the (then) 72 year old Teichman.
“Teichman, a successful second generation fruit farmer (his parents first started farming here in the 1920s), designates three of his 500 acres of fruit trees to raising heritage apples. Heritage (or antique or heirloom) is a term applying to varieties that have existed for 75 years or more.
“According to Teichman, an apple tree lives about 20 years so for these heritage varieties to still exist after all these years means that generations of men and women believed that the fruit was so good it was worth reproducing by grafting over and over again through the centuries.
Teichman is one of the few heritage fruit growers in the United States. And, as if that isn’t enough to discourage people, Teichman says that there are few antique apple growers in the United States because antique apples aren’t as commercially viable as the modern apples. Heritage apples, which are more expensive than modern varieties– aren’t always pretty—they tend to be much smaller than the varieties found in stores, are often knobby and discolored. But what they lack in looks, they make up for in flavor.
“Years ago, if an apple like Margil or Pitmaston Pineapple, which tastes like a pineapple, was growing in your yard, you possessed the best darn thing there is in the world,” says Teichman who speaks in superlatives when talking of apples. “They didn’t have candy bars; a good apple was dessert.”
Talking to Teichman is like getting a lesson in food history. “Each apple variety has a history of where it originated, who liked to eat it and why,” he says. “And each apple really tastes different.
“Teichman says he moves a little closer in time to his hero Thomas Jefferson when he bites into an Esopus Spitzenberg apple. Jefferson so loved this variety of apple that after returning from serving an ambassadorship in France, he planted 12 Esopus Spitzenberg trees at Monticello.”
Soon Martha Stewart discovered Teichman and featured a story about the heritage fruit at Tree-mendus. Makers of brandies and cordials wanted his heirlooms fruits to create old world flavors. Now the farm has more than 200 varieties of heritage apples.
And, of course, heirloom fruits and vegetables are much more common. According to the National Restaurant Association’s heirloom vegetables and fruit will continue to be one of the top food trends in the area of produce as it has been in the last few years. For that, we owe a big thank you to Herb.
One of the times I visit the fruit farm, Herb gave me a copy of Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm Family Presents Recipes and Collections which I’ve kept all these years. I thought it would be fitting to include an apple recipe from the book.
Elizabeth Teichman’s Brandied Apple Roll-ups
24 roll-ups
¼ cup sugar
1 cup chunky applesauce
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon cornstarch
¼ cup brandy
1 tablespoon sugar
In small saucepan, combine the ¼ cup sugar and cornstarch. Stir in applesauce and brandy. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat.
Make crepes (recipe below).
On each mini-crepe, spoon one scant tablespoon of the filling along one edge of the unbrowned side. Roll up tightly. Place seam side down in greased shallow baking pan.
Mini-Crepes
3 egg yolks
½ cup milk
3 tablespoons margarine, melted
¼ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup flour
¼ cup sugar
3 3gg whites
In bowl, beat together egg yolks, milk, margarine, flour and sugar. Beat egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks form, gently fold batter mixture into beaten eggs white.
Heat lightly greased 6-inch skillet. Remove from heat, spoon in one scant tablespoon of batter, spread batter with back of spoon into 4-inch circle. Cook over medium heat for 30 to 60 seconds. Place on paper towel. Repeat with rest of the batter.
To freeze: Make stack, place wax paper between each crepe, place in plastic bag. Freezes well for up to 4 months. Thaw for one hour before using.
Like to be outside but don’t want to peddle a fat bike up a snow-covered hill? Treetops offers horse-driven sleigh rides, and for serious foodies, there’s their Wilderness Sleigh Ride Dinners.
Garland Lodge and Golf Resort in Lewiston, Michigan, features 30-minute sleigh rides.
The sleigh rides at Thunder Bay Resort in Hillman, Michigan, includes elk-viewing at its Northern Elk preserve. The sleigh ride and five-course gourmet dinner option was named by both USA Today and Fox News Online as a “Top 10” event.
You’ll have to get up early, but it’s worth setting the alarm for the Sunrise Groomer Rides offered by several resorts including Treetops, Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands.
“The slopes don’t just magically appear each morning with fresh corduroy,” says Kevin McKinley, of Treetops Resort in Grayling, Michigan, noting there’s a lot of work that goes into well-groomed ski trails, and watching the experienced groomers go about their job is a great behind-the-scenes activity.
Really, all you have to do is bundle up and climb into a raft at Big Bear Adventures in Indian River, Michigan, for a trip down the fast-moving Sturgis River (a must for winter rafting as the rapidly flowing water keeps it from freezing and, thus, navigable).
“Chris Prysok, our guide, is very experienced; he’s a rafting guide in West Virginia and in the Apostle Islands,” says Patti Anderson, co-owner of Big Bear with her husband, Scott.
“It’s a beautiful trip, and there’s lots of wildlife to see — deer, eagles, turkeys, muskrats and lots of birds.”
The winter rafting trip lasts 90 minutes. If you decide to add the 90-minute snow shoe or cross country package (with a break for hot chocolate) it’s no longer an armchair adventure but still lots of fun.
Call it pizza love. In 2017, according to PMQ Pizza Magazine, Americans consumed 45.1 billion dollars’ worth of pies. But what’s the best place for pizza? Steve Dolinsky, a James Beard award winning food writer known as the “Hungry Hound,” podcaster and food tour operator, decided to prove there’s no better place for pizza than Chicago, its suburbs and five collar counties.
He shares his results in Pizza City, USA: 101 Reasons Why Chicago Is America’s Greatest Pizza Town (Northwestern University Press 2018; $24.95), a user-friendly guide to all things dough, sauce and toppings divided into chapters on pizza categories:: Tavern-Style (Chicago-Style Thin), Thin, Artisan, Neapolitan, By-the-Slice (New York-Style), Deep-Dish and Pan, Stuffed, Sicilian, Roman and Detroit-Style and last, but not least, Overrated. Dolinsky than includes photos and information about each of the 101 places in the book as well as the five best in each category. Maps included show where the top pizza places are located in case you want to hit the road.
It was a tough assignment and Dolinsky often ate pizza at three different places in a day. In all he visited 185 locations (not all made the cut), consumed massive doses of anti-acids, and, to keep his weight gain at a minimum, practiced portion control and doing yoga sculpting daily.
Dolinsky’s inquisitiveness about Chicago food isn’t limited to pizza. He’d already written “The 31 Essential Italian Beef Joints in Chicago(land): for his Website stevedolinsky.com and also visited every place in the city that served Vietnamese pho so he was used to massive samplings of the city’s favorite foods, but he had other reasons as well.
“People say Chicago has the best pizza, but I didn’t really think that anyone had done any research on this scale, that there hadn’t been a deep dive into pizzas,” he says, noting that he considered it an unparalleled lifetime quest in the city’s illustration pizza history. “I didn’t realize how massive of an undertaking it would be.”
Like any scientific study, there were rules. Dolinsky created what he called the Optimal Bite Ratio (QBR) with points given for crust, sauce and the quality of the sausage and pepperoni as well as the application and mouthfeel of the cheeses.
Here’s just a smattering of what Dolinsky learned. While most of the U.S. prefers pepperoni as a topping, Chicago likes bulk sausage, which probably harkens back to the days of the stockyards. Media outside of Chicago often confuses deep crust pizza and stuffed pizza (the latter which Dolinsky mostly disdains). Deep crust pizza, while one of Chicago’s wonderful inventions, is rarer than one might think though outsiders think it’s the real Chicago thing. Notice how when you travel, a Chicago-style pizza place means deep dish. but Dolinsky says it’s the Tavern-Style or Chicago-Style Thin, square-cut pie that Chicagoans love—the kind with middle pieces in the center with no crust handles that my brother and I used to fight over when we were kids.
For those who want the full-Dolinsky treatment, he also runs pizza walking tours starting in May. The tours meet at Lou Malnati’s (1235 W. Randolph St.), a 7-minute drive from The Loop and showcases four different styles of pizza. Highlights include a traditional Chicago deep-dish, an only-in-Chicago Roman al taglio, a classic Neapolitan and a Sicilian slice. Included in the tour price is a custom souvenir lanyard and badge good for discounts and deals. For more information, visit pizzacityusa.com
If you can’t wait for a tour or to learn more, on Thursday, January 31 from 7:30-9:30 pm EST, Steve Dolinsky will be teaming up with the chefs from Pizzeria Bebu for a pizza–making demonstrated, followed by a tasting. Steve then will give a lively presentation on how he went about making the choices for the book.
Where: Read It & Eat, 2142 North Halsted St., Chicago, IL. For ticket prices and more information, (773) 661-6158; readitandeatstore.com
In the meantime, here’s a deep dish pizza recipe from Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria, rated among the top by Dolinsky and a favorite in Chicago for over 40 years.
The Malnati Classic
20 ounces pizza dough
Olive oil, for the pan
12 to 16 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
12 to 14 ounces 90-percent lean Italian sausage, casings removed
10 to 12 ounces seasoned Roma tomato sauce, maintaining chunks
2 to 3 ounces grated Parmesan
2 to 3 ounces grated Romano cheese
Special equipment: a round steel baking pan
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Allow about 20 ounces of your favorite yeast dough to rise. You may do this if you have a proofer, or simply leave it at room temp for about 2 hours.
Oil a round steel baking pan with a few ounces of olive oil. Press the dough on the bottom and to the sides of the pan, being careful not to tear it. Holes in the dough will create a soggy crust. Pull the dough up the sides of pan to 1 to 1 1/2 inches high.
Place the mozzarella evenly across the dough. Top with the sausage, making sure to get the sausage all the way to the sides.
Cover with the seasoned tomato sauce, spreading evenly and maintaining the chunks of tomatoes. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and then the Romano.
Bake until the crust and the grated cheese turn golden brown, and the crust is firm yet flaky, 30 to 40 minutes.
Recipe courtesy of Lou Malnati’s, Chicago, IL.
In the years I’ve been writing about food for the Herald Palladium, the largest newspaper in Southwest Michigan, I’ve received many requests from readers for recipes but undoubtedly the most popular request has been for the fried chicken and Cole slaw recipes from Mead’s Chicken Nook, a very popular eatery in Benton Harbor and St. Joseph from 1945 until the late 1980’s which was started by Pearl and Buster Mead.
I was always told that the family never shared the recipes from the restaurant so I was surprised when I heard from Gina Lewis Schmaltz of Baroda suggesting I contact her brother Guy Lewis. A quick message to him on Facebook and within a week we met at Watermark Distillery in downtown Stevensville (Guy lives nearby) and I suddenly had a copy of the recipes and more family history in my hands. It was like striking gold.
“It wasn’t that we wanted to keep these secret,” Lewis told me. “It’s just that I was afraid people wouldn’t believe me because the chicken recipe is so simple. I thought people would think we were keeping out a secret ingredient.”
It is indeed a very simple recipe. An egg and milk batter, a little salt and flour. The steps are important, Guy told me. The chicken is salted right before it’s dipped.
I told him that I was often surprised at how simple some recipes are. There’s a famous perch, chicken and frog leg place in Northwest Indiana where I grew up. It’s called Teibel’s Family Restaurant and has been in business in Schererville for 90 years. When I was given the recipe for their chicken, perch and frog legs, I was astounded it was so simple. Basically flour and some seasonings the same recipe the original Mrs. Tiebel had brought with her from Austria, her native country. But like piano playing and other skills, the magic is in the cooking. We can all be given the same recipe or the same sheet of music, but how it comes out is often extremely different.
Obviously the Mead family knew how to fry chicken. During Prohibition Buster Mead learned how to do so at the Allendale Resort in Branson, Missouri where he and his future wife, Pearl McClure, were from.
“My grandparents moved from Branson to Benton Harbor at the start of World War II because Buster assumed he would be drafted into military service and while he was gone Pearl could live with her parents, Daisy and Jim McClure,” Lewis says. “They lived in Stevensville and Jim worked at Emlong’s Nursery. They had also recently moved from Missouri. Buster took a job at Upton Machine company–now Whirlpool)–operating a machine which made parts for the war effort. In September 1945 they opened the first Chicken Nook at 297 East Main St. in Benton Harbor. In 1956 they moved to the newly built Chicken Nook at 1111 Main St. in St. Joseph. My first job was bussing tables there on weekends when I was about 15.”
At its peak, a lot of chickens got fried at Mead’s. A 20 to 30-foot wall was line with fryers, all custom made as were the griddles with sides of about an inch to two inches high.
“He’d pour oil in them to panfry some of the chicken,” he says. “The legs and wings went into the deep fryers.”
Their poultry was delivered almost daily from Troyer’s in Goshen, Indiana—talk about fresh. As an aside, Troyer’s County Market, which opened in 1912, is still in business.
“It came in big crates that were slid down the stairs to the basement. From afternoon to evening, the staff would be downstairs cutting up the chickens which came in whole,” says Guy. “They then went into a big tub of ice.”
Gina Lewis Schultz remembers working at Mead’s when they were located on Red Arrow Highway in Stevensville in what is now Lee’s Hunan.
“I was in my teens,” she says. “I remember my dad taught me how to make Pearl’s Dressing two gallons at a time.”
Her grandfather created most of the recipes on the menu including the dressing which he named after his wife. Schultz says she’s seen other recipes for it but the dressing served at the restaurant contained apple cider and what she calls “heavy mayonnaise” such as Hellman’s.
“But no Miracle Whip,” she says emphatically.
Schultz still makes the fried chicken about once a month or so for her husband using the originally recipe. When I mentioned that I had made it earlier in the evening and my kitchen looked like a disaster with egg dip, flour and oil scattered around, she said, “well, it is kind of messy,” though I felt, from the kindly tone of her voice, that it wasn’t a messy process when she did it.
I asked Schultz what she remembers most about her time working there and she recalls how busy it was.
“And there was constantly and constantly chicken being served or going out the door,” she says.
In the early 60’s the Meads opened a second location at 325 W. Main St. Benton Harbor but it was only open for a few years.
“That location has been the home of many other restaurants since then,” says Lewis. “In the late 70’s the Meads retired and sold the restaurant. Buster worked part time in the deli for Harry Zick at his Vineland Foodland on Vineland Road in St. Joseph Township. Eventually my grandfather decided he wasn’t done in the restaurant business and opened his new Chicken Nook on Red Arrow Highway. They were in business there for just a couple of years then age finally caught up with them and they had to shut down the fryers for the last time. I worked there a few hours per week to help out and so learned some of Grandpa Meads recipes but also, even better, I got a lot of adult time with my grandfather.”
Sidebar: Recreating Mead’s Fried Chicken
I have the hardest time following recipes, I always want to take short cuts, add my own tweaks or substitute ingredients. But I vowed to myself that I would follow the fried chicken recipe given to me by Lewis and Schmaltz. So I bought whole milk instead of substituting the almond milk which I had in my refrigerator (though I thought about doing so a couple of times) and though four to six eggs seemed like way too many, I added six to a pint of milk just like the recipe called for.
Now I really like fried food that’s done well but I’m not sure I’m the person who can do that—it’s a skill I don’t possess. Despite that, I filled a very large skillet (and large is important as the you don’t want oil sputtering all over the stove and countertop) with vegetable oil and set the burner to high. I also turned on the vent over the stove—also necessary because the heat from the bubbling oil can set off the smoke detector. I also left my front door open just in case.
The Mead recipe said you could double dip the chicken into the egg-milk mix and flour if you wanted extra crispy and so I did. But then I made a mistake. I dipped all the pieces while waiting for the oil to heat up. I would have done better to dip (or double dip) just before I put the meat in the hot oil. Because I didn’t, some of the batter started dropping off and by then I was out of the mix so I had to try to patch it back on resulting in some serious clumps of breading. But hey, I like crispy coating even if it didn’t make the chicken look somewhat misshapen.
The chicken pieces sizzled when I placed them in the oil. I followed Guy’s instructions to do the legs and wings separately because they cook more quickly which meant that the batter on those pieces had even more time to drop off. Patch, patch again.
Because I don’t fry often, the only thermometer I could find was one for meat which doesn’t go high enough to tell me when the oil is at 350°F. (I think my daughter borrowed my candy thermometer but that’s a different story). But I remembered a trick from my one food class in high school and that was if you stick a wooden spoon in oil and bubbles form around it and then start to float to the surface, that it’s about the right temperature for frying—somewhere between 325°F to 350°F.
The chicken made a satisfying sizzling sound when I plopped it in the oil. But here’s another issue I encountered. How to tell when the chicken was done–I like sushi, pink pork chops and bloody steaks but really like my chicken thoroughly cooked. I didn’t know whether I could stick my meat thermometer into the frying meat or if breaking the crust would somehow ruin the taste or make it too greasy. That’s when I turned to Google which informed me that it was indeed okay and that I could either cut the meat to see if it was done or use the thermometer to determine if the interior had reached a temperature of165°F. You can also, the directions said, finish off the chicken in a 350°F preheated oven.
When it was all over, I had a large platter of fried chicken, a large amount of Pearl’s Dressing for my salad (and many more) and a very messy kitchen. Overall—it might not be the chicken we would have eaten at one of the Chicken Nook’s restaurants but it was pretty good.
Sidebar: Memories
“The Meads have since passed on but the legacy of the Chicken Nook lives on,” says Guy Lewis.
That is so true. So many people have Chicken Nook memories.
John Madill, a long time photographer for the Herald Palladium and now retired, emailed me to say he remembered getting a photo assignment in the early or mid 80’s for a new restaurant.
“Turned out to be Mr. Mead coming out of retirement to start making his chicken again,” he says. “I remember him well in a white apron, stopping his prep work in the kitchen to come out and talk to me.”
Kathy Thornton, owner of Thornton’s Café in downtown St. Joseph, remembers when she married her husband, Bob, that her in-laws. Norman and Annabelle Thornton hosted their rehearsal dinner at the Chicken Nook in 1973.
“As I recall it was a wonderful—a lovely experience,” says Thornton who went attended St. Joseph High School with Guy Lewis.
As for Lewis, he remembers a sandwich at the Chicken Nook that he really liked. Called the Dutchburger, he says it was basically shaved ham grilled on the griddle, flipped over with cheese being added and them flip it over again.
“It was served on a Kreamo bun,” says Lewis, “we also used Kreamo.”
Lewis seldom makes the fried chicken, he’s turned his interest to artisan beers—teaching himself and also learning from the brew master at The Livery.
“I make about gallons at a time include German-style Hefeweizen I call Hagar Hefeweizen and Pitcairn Vanilla Porter because I use an authentic Tahitian vanilla bean.
When doing research on his family’s history, Lewis found an old advertisement for Pearl’s Dressing. It seems that an enterprise called Pasquale’s was bottling the dress and selling it. There was also a Pasquale’s Pizza in Benton Harbor, but neither Lewis or I have been able to find out any more information about the bottled dressing. But we’ll keep looking.
The following recipes are courtesy of Gina Lewis Schmaltz and Guy Lewis, grandchildren of Pearl and Buster Mead.
Chicken Nook Pan-Fried Chicken
2 ½ to 3 pound chicken
4-6 eggs
1 pint of whole milk (approximately)
All-purpose flour for dredging
Salt to taste
Cut up the chicken into make 8 pieces. Make an egg dip of approximately 4 to 6 eggs whisked together with about a pint of milk. The egg mixture should be thick enough so it sticks well to the chicken pieces.
Dip the chicken into the egg dip then dredge in all-purpose flour. Salt the chicken well as the pieces are going into the flour.
If you want extra crispy crust, return to the egg dip mixture and then back into the flour.
Pan fry at about 350 to 365 degrees in enough vegetable oil to more than halfway cover the pieces. Breast and thighs should be fried separately for the legs and wings since the larger pieces take longer.
Turn the pieces when golden brown and finish frying the other side.
Cole Slaw
1 head cabbage
Shredded carrots (optional)
Apple cider vinegar, one splash
Sugar, to taste
Mayonnaise, to taste
Shred cabbage with a box shredder. Do not use pre-shredded cabbage, it is already too dry.
Add salt as you shred, it helps to release the moisture from the cabbage.
Mix sugar and heavy mayonnaise such as Hellman’s (not Miracle Whip) to taste. Mix well and set aside for a short time to let it all blend together.
Pearl’s Dressing
Note: This is a slightly different recipe than the one I published in my column several weeks ago.
1 quart mayonnaise
3 ounces sugar
½ pint salad oil
2 ounces apple cider vinegar
1 10-3/4 ounce can of Campbell’s condensed tomato soup
Put all in mixer and blend at slow speed. Don not whip as this will cause your oil for separate from mixture.
Georgia-born, French-trained Chef Virginia Willis has cooked with Julia Child and cooked for President Bill Clinton but when she found herself in “unhealthy situation.” She was overweight and her cholesterol and glucose numbers were way too high. So she decided to take a new approach to Southern cooking, combining her education at L’Academie de Cuisine and her childhood spent learning to cook from her Southern grandmother, recreating the classic dishes she learned to make. Keeping the flavor but eliminating the fat is what her cookbook Lighten Up, Y’all (Ten Speed Press) is all about. And for those of us who love the flavors of the south her recipes are a joy to recreate at home.
Makeover Broccoli Mac & Cheese
1 cup shredded 50 percent reduced- fat extra-sharp Cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
3/4 cup shredded 75 percent reduced-fat extra-sharp Cheddar cheese (3 ounces)
2 tablespoons panko (Japanese) bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 3/4 cups 2 percent milk
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces (2 cups) whole wheat elbow macaroni
12 ounces ( 4 cups) broccoli florets and stems
Preheat oven to 450°F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Coat an 8-inch-square (2-quart) baking dish with cooking spray. Combine the two cheeses. Mix 1⁄4 cup of the cheese mixture, the bread crumbs, and paprika in a small bowl. Set aside.
To make the cheese sauce, heat 11⁄2 cups of the milk in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat until simmering. Whisk remaining 1⁄4 cup milk and the flour in a small bowl until smooth; add to the hot milk and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce simmers and thickens, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining 11⁄2 cups of the cheese mixture and the cottage cheese until melted. Stir in the dry mustard, and nutmeg, and add salt and pepper to taste.
Cook pasta according to package instructions. In the last 3 minutes of cooking, add the broccoli florets. Drain well and add to the cheese sauce; mix well. Spread the pasta-broccoli mixture in the prepared baking dish; sprinkle with the bread crumb mixture. Bake until bubbly and golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool slightly. Serve warm.
Oven-Fried Chicken On-a-Stick with Vidalia Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed (1 1/2 pounds)
2 cups panko (Japanese) bread crumbs
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 large egg whites
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Freshly ground black pepper
Vidalia-Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Vidalia onion, peeled and quartered
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup canola oil
Coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a large bowl, combine the salt, 1 teaspoon of the paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of the onion powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of the garlic powder. Add the buttermilk and whisk until the salt is completely dissolved and the spices are dispersed in the liquid.
Cut the chicken lengthwise into about 1-inch-wide strips. Add to the marinade and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. (Do not marinate any longer or the chicken will be too salty. If you can’t cook it right at the 30-minute mark, remove the chicken from the marinade and refrigerate until ready to continue.)
In a large shallow dish (a 9 by 13-inch baking dish works well), combine the bread crumbs, the remaining 1 teaspoon paprika, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of the garlic powder. Add the 2 tablespoons oil and toss well to coat. Whisk together the egg whites and mustard in a second large shallow dish. Season both mixtures with pepper.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, then set an ovenproof rack on it. Coat the rack with nonstick cooking spray.
Remove the chicken from the marinade, shaking off any excess, and thread onto sixteen 12-inch bamboo skewers, dividing the meat evenly, about 1 strip per skewer. Dip the chicken into the egg mixture, coating both sides. Place in the bread crumb mixture one skewer at a time, sprinkle with crumbs to cover, and press so the coating adheres to both sides. Gently shake off any excess crumbs and place the skewers on the prepared rack.
Bake the chicken, turning halfway through, until golden brown and the juices run clear, about 25 minutes. Serve warm with the dipping sauce.
Vidalia-Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce:
Put the vinegar, onion, garlic, honey, and mustard in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse until smooth. With the motor running, add the oil in a slow steady stream until thick and emulsified. Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
