All Things Being Equal

Pari passu.  I know a good term when I run up on it– that is, one I can adopt for my own purposes.   Pari passu, used extensively in legal matters, is a Latin phrase that literally means "with an equal step" or "on equal footing.”  In the kitchen, pari passu offers a pleasant shared experience instead of what can become a solitary time consuming chore.  I take it to mean “I do the cooking; you do the dishes”.  It means  “I’ll set the table; you open the wine.” It means “You cooked last weekend; I’ll cook this one”.  This past Saturday night pari passu was “You cook the fish; I’ll handle the vegetables.” 

I’m not a natural cook.  I wouldn’t know to put salt in the grits unless the recipe called for it.  My talent is to know where to go for recipes and advice on all things culinary.  The cookbooks in my kitchen are well-used and loved and each cookbook written by Ina Garten, Sara Foster, the Lee Brothers and Robert St. John proudly occupies a shelf of honor. For my contribution to our Saturday night meal, I turned to Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, for some fresh ideas for winter vegetables.  In the dead of winter, tomatoes and basil are the stuff of which dreams are made.  Her recipe for Scalloped Tomatoes or Tomato Pie (as we call it in the Deep South) is one suited for "cold weather cooking" and calls for grocery-store plum tomatoes, available all winter long.  This delicious dish can be prepared in advance and baked before dinner. Along with roasted fennel,haricots verts and fingerling potatoes, a Caesar salad (a special request by my friend John) and butternut squash soup, the Tomato Pie was a tasty reminder of summer.

My companion was so intrigued by the idea of Tomato Pie he forgot the tuna steaks ... so we happily enjoyed a colorful vegetable plate for dinner.  And all things being equal, pari pussu that is, it was a lovely meal.

Scalloped Tomatoes

By Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa “How Easy Is That?”)

Serves 6

5 tablespoons     good olive oil, divided

2 cups               (1/2 inch) diced bread from a round rustic bread, crusts removed

3 pounds           plum tomatoes, ½ inch diced (14 – 16 tomatoes)

1 tablespoon      minced garlic (3 cloves)

2 tablespoons     sugar

2 teaspoons       kosher salt

1 teaspoon        freshly ground black pepper

½ cup               julienned fresh basil leaves, lightly packed

1 cup                freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large (12-inch) sauté pan over medium heat.  Add the bread cubes and stir to coat with the oil.  Cook over medium to medium-high heat for 5 minutes stirring often, until the cubes are evenly browned.

Meanwhile, combine the tomatoes, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl.  Add the tomato mixture to the bread cubes and continue to cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, for 5 minutes.  Off the heat, stir in the basil.

Pour the tomato mixture into a shallow (6 to 8 cup) baking dish.  Sprinkle evenly with the Parmesan cheese and drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is browned and the tomatoes are bubbly.  Serve hot or warm.

Celebrating the 3-Point Shot

 If you’ve got a hankering to pull out the linen napkins and pop the champagne cork, there’s always a reason to celebrate. No need to wait till Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, a birthday, anniversary or another “sanctioned” holiday on our common calendar to light the candles on the dining room table or as my grandmother used to say – “put the big pot in the little pot”.

Some of the best celebrations in life are spontaneous-- like mine this past Saturday night.  It was a damp, dreary afternoon – the perfect excuse to curl up in a big comfy chair and watch college basketball. The patter and chatter of announcers filling air time had nearly lulled me to sleep when they announced with an air of excitement that this was the 25^th anniversary of the 3-Point Shot in college basketball.  Wow!  Who knew?  Because of the announcers’ enthusiasm and the sheer amount of coverage devoted to this auspicious anniversary during the Ole Miss-Georgia game and later during the Mississippi State - Vanderbilt game, I realized this was an important and historic milestone…and I needed to participate.

The Silver Anniversary of the 3-Point Shot turned a simple Saturday night supper into a festive occasion.  And why not?  My companion and I broke out a nice French Chablis, set the table with the best linens and dinnerware, lit the candles and toasted the 3-Point Shot (again and again).  What does one serve at such a celebration?  We chose the following menu to honor the import of the occasion:  Balsamic Glazed Salmon (recipe below), Spinach and Artichoke Casserole, Roasted Red and Yellow Beets, and Roasted New Potatoes with Rosemary and Sea Salt.

It was a fine dinner and a night to remember, thanks to the 3-Point Shot. We left the table hoping the anniversary of the Instant Replay might be coming up soon.

 So much to celebrate.  So little time.

Carol

For more on the Anniversary of the 3-Point Shot, go to: http://es.pn/yRQpOL

Fora list of food- themed celebratory occasions (i.e. Jan. 29 is National Corn Chip Day) visit:  http://www.tfdutch.com/foodh.htm

Balsamic Glazed Salmon

Serves 4

Use salmon filets of similar thickness to ensure uniform cooking.  Remember to make the glaze first.  The glaze can be made up to a week ahead.

 For the Glaze:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (packed)

Combine ingredients in medium saucepan.  Boil down until reduced to 1/3 cup, about 15 minutes.  Season glaze to taste with salt and pepper.  (Can be made 1 week ahead.  Cover and refrigerate then rewarm over low heat before using.)

For the Fish:

4 salmon fillets – 6 to 8 ounces each

½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

¼ teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon light brown sugar

Ground pepper

1 teaspoon olive oil

Place rack in middle of oven and heat oven to 300 degrees. Pat salmon dry with paper towels and season with pepper. In a small bowl combine brown sugar, salt, and cornstarch. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture evenly over top of flesh side of salmon.

Heat oil in 12-inch ovenproof skillet (non-stick is best) over medium-high heat until just smoking. Place salmon, flesh side down, in the skillet and cook until browned, about 1 minute. Carefully flip salmon and cook on skin side for 1 minute.

Remove skillet from heat and spoon glaze evenly over salmon fillets. Transfer skillet to oven and cook  7 – 10 minutes or until thickest part of fillets registers 125 degrees on instant-read thermometer.

Gettin' My Ducks In A Row

I’ve been undercover lately, unrecognizable even to my closest friends and family.  Sporting full-body camouflage from the top of my face mask to the toes of my camouflage thermal waders, I’ve been hiding from migrating ducks on the Mississippi Flyway – a path that extends from Canada all the way down the Mississippi River Valley to the Gulf of Mexico.

Not to worry.  I’ve had a notebook clutched in my gloved hands, not a gun.   Although tempted, I’ve done humanity (mostly ‘man’kind) a favor by not taking up shooting.   In my camo waders I have crouched in duck blinds on icy mornings and blended into flooded timber stands and cypress swamps.  I’ve watched the first rays of dawn break over flooded corn fields, rice fields and timber. I’ve learned to appreciate the intense devotion and passion of duck hunters to their sport and to conservation of the land.  I’ve eaten big hunting camp breakfasts after the hunt and enjoyed lively tradition –filled dinners the night before the hunt. And it’s all in a day’s work, just doin’ my job --which is to observe, absorb and help document the unique culture, history and tradition of the sport.  And what a job it’s been so far.  From St. Charles, Missouri to Stuttgart, Arkansas to Booger Den, Mississippi, I’ve been migrating with the ducks.

My assignment is as part of a team from Wild Abundance Publishing, an offshoot of ArtsMemphis, a creative, cutting edge non-profit arts group in Memphis.  We’re creating a book – their third. Their previous books First Shooting Light and Wild Abundance are valuable testimony to their mission of chronicling, celebrating and preserving the unique culture and tradition of American sportsmen and their intense devotion to land and wildlife.  Proceeds from the books go support the arts and wildlife conservation.  It’s a brilliant fundraising strategy and a first class, tangible legacy to the sport.


The third book, eagerly awaited by thousands upon thousands of devotees of the first two, is scheduled for October 2012 release. My gear bag is by the back door waiting for the call – a duck call, that is.  Tomorrow is the last sojourn to photograph and document a south Louisiana hunting camp and there’s room for only two team members and sadly I’m not one of them.  I‘m day dreaming of the beauty of the marshes at first light and like a child being sent off to her room, and not allowed to play outside, I’m pouting just a little bit.  I don’t like to be left at home…especially when the ducks are flying.


Learn more about Wild Abundance Publishing and the books at www.wildabundancepublishing.com