COVID, Cooking and Connections

 In early February, I had made the rounds of dropping food off at new neighbors homes; Pasta with Tomato-Fennel Sauce and Home made Italian Sausages, Beans with Smoked Ham Hocks and Rice, culminating with Baked Chicken and Brown Rice with Gravy Side.  Comfort foods that any family, any ethnicity would enjoy in those chilly winter months.  My new house in Gladstone, Ore. warranted that a savory outreach was the best calling card. 

Then, COVID hit!

OK, I thought, it'll be a few weeks and life will resume.  Maybe a month or two at the very worst.

As weeks turned into months and the end-game kept getting pushed out, we saw our jobs, our families, homes and neighborhoods retreat into storm-shelter mentality.  It seemed this was a tornado siren that would never turn off.  We became existents; people that lived from hour to hour, day to day in our government imposed shelters, devoid of human contact that required us to hunker-down until the extended tempest was determined to have passed.  

It is October now and we're sick of it!  We missed all our summer cook-outs.  For the 1st time in God-knows-how-long, I didn't have a 4th of July BBQ.  We didn't can and pickle vegetables as we always have.  There is no jam made from Oregon marionberries, raspberries, apricots and peaches.  Fear gripped us like no CNN news bulletin could.  It has been a story worthy of a Netflix series of a Zombie Apocalypse.  

Then, the corpse of existence began to breathe.  

Sherri, my neighbor across half my back yard, was watering her garden one afternoon, behind the dense arbor vitae that separates us and I called out through the hedge.  It's so thick, we can't see through to each other.  

"Hey, Sherri!  Long time, how's it goin'? I hollered, looking away from the hedge.  

"Brian?  Is that you?  Oh my gosh, well, things is fine, but, dang I'm 'bout to go crazy with all this COVID nonsense!  Cain't go anywhere and my apartment is only so bi-iig!"  Sherri is from San Angelo, TX where I lived for period, chasing a wild-cat drilling, oil-rig dream. 

We visited about our vegetable gardens, families and restrictions relating to "th'CO-vid."

"D'ya'll like peppers?"  she asked, "Jalapenos and Sweet Peppers?"

"Well, heck yeah!"  I promptly replied, "who doesn't ?!"  

"Wait uh min-it, Ima bring ya some..." she replied.   As Sherri took off to retrieve her garden bounty, I ran into the house, flipped open my pantry door and grabbed 2 qts of home made tomato-fennel sauce for trade.  

Before she arrived, I found a thin area of our hedge to offer as a pass-through; digging away at branches and thicket to create a conduit for our garden sustenance.  It was like a prison exchange with COVID as our jailers. 

As I stood on my side of the hedge, a faceless arm extended to me through shrubbery, with a cardboard flat of cherry tomatoes, heirlooms and sweet peppers.  I reciprocated with 2-one quart jars of Tomato-Fennel sauce.  

Each of us felt we got the better of the deal.  

"Thank you, Brian!"

"Thank YOU, Sherri!"  

"God bless you, stay safe and say hey to Janice,"  she followed.  

"Yes, ma'am,"  I concluded. 

Walking back through the yard, admiring Sherri's harvest, I was warmed by the notion that a few kind words and some lovingly tended vegetables passed through a hedge can go a long way in keeping our friendships nurtured with the food we need most.  

Love!

Take care, God bless and remember: 

"Food, Faith, Family and Friends, 

the Best Things in Life Aren't Things!"

COVID, Octavia Spencer and Spring

Jeez-Luh-WEEZ!

This is real.  Oregon is on "Stay at Home" recommendation from the Governor's office; only essential industry personnel are to be out and about.  

I'm one of those.  Today we served about 600 meals to students in the school district and are working on contingencies for weeks and months ahead. 

As a professional challenge, I love it.  From a humanitarian standpoint, this is devastating for our country and the world economy. 

To be honest, as an American, I've always figured, "it's over THERE," wherever 'there' may be.  

Not in the U.S. of A.  Not here, we're above this Third World menace.  

The sting of reality has set in as most everything is closed down.  

Boulevards, hiways, Interstates are at 10% traffic.  

An open sign in a shop indicates the keeper will unlock the door for you to buy something, then leave.  Door locked.  

People don't look at each other now; as if a smile or eye contact will transmit the COVID virus.  This is what makes me most sad about this pandemic. 

We are de-sensitizing ourselves to each other and avoiding any kind of contact, be it verbal, eye or God forbid, tactile.  Orwellian or Twilight Zone, pick one.  

Trails, parks, beaches, public places...all closed.  Crime scene tape on playgrounds, like something horrendous has happened and an investigation is forthcoming.  

But, there are no law enforcement, there is no wreckage or smoldering embers. 

Only emptiness.  

Except for Spring...

Spring has sprung and there is no holding her back!  The vacant playground is ringed with precocious daffodils, the parking lot mulch pushes pinks, scarlets and purples of Hyacinth towards the sky in stubby clusters.  

Her greenery, delicate textures and soft pastels will neither be hindered, muted nor squelched.  

I see Spring as Octavia Spencer in a gingham dress and a floppy hat on a Sunday morning!  Mmmm-MMMM!

  

Girl has got it goin' on an' she AIN'T goin' back ta' the house!

Mmmm-MMM!

If you find yourself feeling down, think of the actress in the movie, "The Help," or any other uplifting film character she has done. 

We've all felt this adversity, but, let's find the beauty in it, too.  

Maybe it's just your yard, or a neighborly greeting across the street, or even the sound of robins going to roost at night.  

Find something to be grateful for, something in it's simplicity that was drowned out by our previous daily noise of a key strike, a news network broadcast or a 'need.'  

Slow down, observe and listen.  

We'll get through this; our parents and grandparents survived the Great Depression and WWII. 

We'll be fine as we tighten our belts, assess our priorities and be forever thankful for what we are blessed with everyday.  

Each other.  

Take care, God bless and Remember: 

"Food, Faith, Family and Friends, 

the Best Things in Life Aren't Things."

chefbq

www.chefbq.com

Building a Better Brunch

Certain combinations are just expected.  Salt ‘n Pepper.  Toast and Butter.  Cheap bubbly and a headache. 

  

Crime and Jail.

When it comes to food items, we usually group dishes by origin, ethnicity or even time of day.   Bacon and Eggs at Breakfast, Grilled Reuben for Lunch and Prime Rib with Twice Baked Potato at Dinner; all most comfy and expected, thank you very much. 

What if you were to attend a meal that served everything from malted flour waffles with real maple syrup and strawberries to tortellini with pesto and maybe a few slices of roast leg of lamb with rosemary demi-glace.   Start with a coffee, go to a fresh juice, then maybe sparkling wine and finish with a beer.

 

“Chef, that sounds either in-SANE or a really good Brunch menu!”

Indeed, it is both crazy and perfect, plonked right in the middle of the day with a menu comprised of anything you like from any breakfast, lunch or dinner you’ve ever had.  Nothing is off-limits: 

Crepes filled with sweet cream cheese and topped with a fruit compote?  Yes!

Smoked Salmon with red onions, capers and spicy mustard on toast points?  Mmmm-Hmmm!

Fluffy Omelette made to order with your choice of fillings?  We can SPLIT it!

Bay Scallops with a creamy, White Wine-Chive sauce in a delicate pastry shell?   It looks VER-y light…

Hazelnut Torte with Fresh Rasberry Sauce?  Perfect…I’m gluten-free today!

See how easy it is to justify any food combination when you put it under the heading of “Brunch?”

This year, I’m hosting a Brunch on Easter and can’t wait to ‘Wow my Crowd’ with the best Eggs Benedict in the Known and Unknown Universe.  And that’s just for starters, but, let’s talk a little about what it takes to host an amazing meal in the middle of the day.   Let’s call it “The 3 Ps: Passion, Planning and Procurement.”

Passion:  If it’s not bursting out of you, if you couldn’t care less about serving pieces, if packaged sauce mix tastes the same as the Real Deal, stop here and make a reservation at Denny’s.  If, however, Perfection is your Goal and the Journey is your Joy, please continue.   It’s Springtime and the Earth has awakened with pastel colors and delicate aromas.  People are smiling again as the sun extends its glowing presence by a few more minutes each day.  Songbirds have returned to remind us when to sleep and wake.   The subtle hues of Spring ease us out of Winter and prepare us for the next cycle of living: Summer.

And outdoor seating is back!

 

Spring has sprung, so, let your passion for food, faith, family and friends manifest itself with one divine, glorious multi-sensory meal at high noon.

Planning:  This is KEY.  Our goal is to ENJOY the day, not dread it and pray for it’s conclusion.  Ready?  Let’s DO this!  OK, first off, build a menu on paper with a pencil.  We need 1-Egg dish, 1- Meat, 1- Fruit, 1-Special entrée’, 2-Pastries, 1-Charcouterie (cold meat and cheese).  Easy-Peasey.   For the Egg dish, do something that is baked like a Frittata, Quiche or Midwest Egg Bake Casserole.  Cook the day-of.  Use fun ingredients and post them on a menu board or calligraphy table tents.  It gets guests salivating before they even taste!  Egg is done. 

Meat: roast something, let it come to room temp or colder, slice it and fan it out on an interesting wood cutting board or large serving platter.  Can be done days ahead.  Remember, we want the look of abundance and symmetry.  Add a ramekin(s) of condiments that are appropriate and an interesting old fork for service.  Meat done.

Fruit:  DON’T make a fruit salad!!!  Please, please, please don’t go to the effort of cutting fresh fruit into fork-sized pieces only to dump it into a bowl.  Arghhh!  Cut your fruit into slices and arrange in either concentric circles or in rows, keeping an eye to progressive color changes and contrasts.  This can be done 2 days prior and kept in Ziploc bags, neat and organized.  A drop-dead gorgeous fruit platter is edible art.  Fruit done.
   

Special Entrée:  I’m doing Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise from scratch.  Labor intensive, but, if you can pull it off, the impression lasts years.  Easier ‘Special?’  hmmm…Leg of Lamb…Canapes of Lox with all the fixins…Biscuits and real Sausage Gravy…something with “Wow” factor that is a ‘fire and forget’ dish; impressive, put it on a platter and never touch it again.  Special done.
  

Pastries:  don’t even THINK of making your own unless you are a trained professional or Austrian grandma.  Your energies can be better spent elsewhere.  That’s why God invented Market of Choice, Zupan’s, and Grand Central Baking.  Spend money here, ladies and germs.  One-bite pastries in little fluted paper cups are a treat.  Everyone loves this.  Everyone.  Pastries done. 

Charcouterie:  People have to grab my arm and haul me away from standing at a board of sliced deli meats and stinky cheeses, consuming the entirety while talking to no one about the brilliance of flavors and textures, regions and history.  This board/marble slab/slate is another work of art that is stand-alone.  Construct it with an eye to symmetry and function, add crackers and sliced interesting bread, 3 good mustards and walk away.  I’m thinking right now of paper-thin Prosciutto and nearly liquid St. Andre’ Triple Cream…I need a tissue, this is getting emotional.  Charcouterie done. 

Procurement:  Don’t buy crap.  Make sure that everything that goes into your guest’s gullets is the best you can source.  That does not mean the most expensive, it means the BEST you can source.  Fruit is going to be your stickiest wicket; finding ripe, sweet fruit 3 days before your brunch.  Travel, look, smell, sample.  Cheeses…if I may suggest a larger Fred Meyer with a cheese dept.  I went to one on McLoughlin and they had a-MAZ-ing cheeses deeply discounted because they were ‘ripe.’  That’s the cheese I WANT!!!  And speaking of crackers, Trader Joe’s is SO much fun to shop!  Olive tapenades, cool crackers, nuts, all kinds of fun party things at great prices.  For Big Meat items, here’s an inside tip from a chef:  go to Cash & Carry, now called ‘Smart Food Service’ or something…wholesale pricing when feeding a large group and they turn over their product daily.  The meat selection is excellent! 

Lastly, as you get closer to Easter Sunday and start to get a little stressed, remember why you’re doing this:  You love your Family and Friends and want to show it with food and service.  They all love you and will forgive any hiccups.   If you are the spouse, be over-the-top supportive and positive all day!

Relax.  Have fun.  Hug, kiss and laugh. 

That’s why we’re here.   For each other.

Take care, God bless and remember:

“Food, Faith, Family and Friends

the Best Things in Life Aren’t Things.”

ChefBQ

Super Soup or Sneaky Nutrition?

After the Holidays, we find ourselves in need of a “break from the Break.”  Don’t get me wrong, the Holidays were exciting; the anticipation, songs, gifts, traditions and most of all, Family, combined for another fulfilling Season.

 

Maybe a little too full-filling.

 

“Honey, either the dryer is working over-time and shrinking my jeans or the Pecan Pie had more to it than I thought.”

“Oh boy, looks like the bathroom scale is on the fritz again…registering 10 lbs heavier.”

“Chocolate Velvet Cake…don’t mind if I do!”

It reminds me of the 60’s tune by the Birds, “Turn, Turn, Turn,“ that there is a season for every purpose under Heaven.  Now is the season for more balanced intake and less of the “I need dessert after every meal,” song.

 

So, maybe I won’t be a marathon runner this year or do the Pacific Crest Trail, but, I CAN make a habit of sound, balanced nutrition, starting with delicious ways to incorporate a variety of vegetables and legumes into my diet.

 

With few exceptions, I do love my veggies.  Even as a kid, my bothers and I would devour anything put in front of us: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbages, artichokes, lettuces…anything!  It helped that we grew up in a farming community and Mom was an outstanding cook.

  

Two of the things Mom noticed early on was our taste for either raw vegetables or vegetables in soup.  Crunching away on a serving of carrots or quietly slurping a steaming bowl of Minestrone, we delighted in tasting the bounty of the Salinas Valley, as fellow farmers exchanged produce with each other’s families.  And as boys, we were always starving!

I still love Minestrone to this day because it is a comforting bowl of steamy goodness on a cold day AND when you serve it with Garlic Sourdough Bread, the kids will be dunking and devouring your cornucopia of winter vegetables, pleading for another ladle-full.

    

Mom made hers with a base of onions, celery and carrots, white beans or kidney beans and a hardy green like kale or chard.  Every other ingredient was on an “as available” listing.  ‘Must Haves’ included beans and a small pasta like arancinni or orecchiette.  The beans, cooked from dry, and the pasta provided the necessary texture thickness most kids enjoy in a soup.  Either vegetable stock or chicken stock is suggested and ALL vegetables must be saute’d first. 

Please, please, please don’t dump raw vegetables into a pot of liquid.  The flavor will be lacking since the temperature of the vegetables will never get above 212℉.  We need to convert the carbohydrates into simple sugars which give us enhanced flavor.  That’s why we NEVER boil vegetables! Just give 'em a quick jaunt in a saute' pan with a wee dram of oil.

Minestrone is whatever you make it, so, as you’re putting away the tinsel and ornaments, clean out your veggie crisper drawer, chop and saute’ to heart’s desire.  Let that simmer with beans, pasta, garlic and tomato, filling your home with rich, savory and sensible aromas.

 

See you at the gym.  Maybe.

Happy 2020!

Recipe:  Minestrone

¼ cup Oil

2 T  Garlic, freshly minced

1 qt.  Mirepoix (1/2 onions, 1/4 celery, carrots)

1 qt.  Asst. other available veggies (mushrooms, squashes, parsnips, beets…anything!)

2C  Hardy greens: Kale, Chard or Spinach, chopped

16 oz.  Tomatoes, canned or fresh

1C.  White beans or Kidney beans, dry

1C.  Pasta, spoon-sized, dried

1 gal.  Stock, chicken or veggie

1T.  Basil, dried

2t.  Oregano, dried.

Method:

In a 8 qt pot, add oil and heat with minced garlic.  Once the garlic begins to get a little color on the edges, add the Mirepoix and stir. 

When onions are transparent, add remaining vegetables and dried herbs.  While that is saute’ing, cook your pre-soaked beans on the back burner, reserving the liquid for the soup. 

Cook your pasta and drain.  Toss in cold water to stop the cooking process and reserve till the soup is finished.

Add stock to the saute’d vegetables, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Add cooked beans and their water.  

Add pasta. 

Adjust salt to taste. 

Serve with tons of garlic bread!

Take care, God bless and remember:

"Food, Faith, Family and Friends; 

the Best Things in Life Aren't Things"

chefbq

Copyright Brian V. Quinn 2020