The Super Bowl is on TV.  I hate to admit it but I’m really not all that interested this year.  I’m not home for the first time in forever.  We used to fly home for my father’s birthday – which just happened to coincide with Super Bowl Sunday.  A big party at my sister Eileen’s house, lots of fun, food, laughter – and football pools.  No matter what, it was the one time of the year we knew we would all be together.   Pop’s no longer with us and because we’re flying home in a couple of months for my nieces wedding, we stayed east this year.  Right off the bat, I’m feeling the blah’s.

And there are two teams playing that I really could not care less about.  Okay.  Not totally true.  I don’t particularly want New Orleans to win, but I do want Indianapolis to lose.  I opened a hotel in Indianapolis circa 1988.  I pretty much dislike Indianapolis.  A lot.

So while others are having their football parties, I’m catching it peripherally.  It’s on in the corner of the computer and it’s on in the living room.

I decided to cook for the weather, not football tonight.  I soaked a pound of black  beans last night thinking I might make chili.  The chili morphed into a cassoulet of sorts.  Not a classic cassoulet by any means.  More just a homey slow-baked bean stew.

Kinda Cassoulet

• 4 bacon slices, coarsely chopped
• 1 lb beef, cubed
• 1 lb pork, cubed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp herbs d’Provence
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1 lb black beans, soaked over night and cooked
• 1 can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 10-ounce package frozen baby lima beans, thawed
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Preheat oven to 275°F.

Cook bacon in heavy large ovenproof pot until wilted. Add onions and garlic. Add meats and brown.

Add brandy and simmer until almost evaporated. Add tomato paste and heat through. Stir in beans with about 2 cups cooking liquid, tomatoes with juices, and spices. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to boil.

Cover pot and transfer to preheated oven and bake 2 hours.

I was going to make some beer bread but  got sidetracked with a project I’m working on for a friend… so we had the last of the Pugliese I made last week.  It worked.

And every dinner needs dessert, right?!?  Well… we think so!

Victor made an Apple and Fig Coffee Cake.  Not a coffee cake in the traditional sense of the word, but a cake with a cup of coffee in it!

Apple Fig Coffee Cake

• 1 Tbsp instant coffee
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 1/2 cups chopped figs
• 2 medium apples
• 2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
• 3/4 c packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 tbsp butter, melted

Dissolve coffee in boiling water. Cool. Peel, core, and shred the apples.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Combine egg, apples, melted butter, and coffee. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just till moistened.

Put it into a greased 9×5x3 loaf pan. Bake at 350°  for about an hour or until cake tests done.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

I did stop what I was doing to watch The Who.  Roger can’t hit those high notes anymore, but he does a pretty good job for being 66.  I was bummed that Pete Townsend didn’t destroy his guitar at the end.  Oh well.

And as long as I’m ranting… Wasn’t the Super Bowl – once upon a time – where they ran really cool, innovative commercials?  These things they’ve shown tonight are awful.

I have to laugh at the pizza commercial that says their frozen pizza is as good as delivery pizza.

Uh.  Right.

I made hand-spun pizza for years.  I made a hellava lot of pizzas for delivery.  Not one of them was half as good as having that pie delivered to your table right out of the oven.  It’s great marketing that can convince someone that a mediocre product is as good as a mediocre product – and get them to buy it.

I’ve had a few frozen pizzas in my time that were reasonably good – for a frozen pizza – but nothing compares to a fresh-made and fresh-baked pizza.

In case you hadn’t heard, it’s snowing back here today.  A perfect excuse to turn on the oven and bake a fresh pizza.

This was a team effort.  Victor made the dough and the sauce, I put it together and baked it.  We work well in the kitchen together.

We have a couple of pizza dough recipes we use.  Today was BH&G New Cook Book. (Well…  it was new in 1981 when Victor got it…)

Pizza Dough

• 1  package active dry yeast
• 1  cup warm water (105 degree F to 115 degree F)
• 2  tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4  teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2  to 3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a small bowl, stir yeast into warm water; let stand for 5 minutes.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine oil and salt. Stir in the yeast mixture. Add 1-1/4 cups of the flour. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Lightly grease a large bowl; place dough in bowl and cover with a damp towel (make sure the towel does not touch the dough). Let dough rise in a warm place until double in size (30 minutes).

4. Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Let rest about 10 minutes.

5. Form into desired shape (round or rectangle).

6. Preheat oven with pizza stone to 450°.

7. Add desired toppings and bake until done – about 12 minutes.

Makes 1 16″ pizza or 2 12″ pizzas.

The pizza sauce was simply a can of tomato sauce, a splash of red wine, garlic, Greek oregano, salt, and pepper.

I topped it with cheese and homemade Italian sausage.

It was the exact size of the pizza stone.  Luck or skill?  If you voted luck, you would be right.

Pizza for lunch was just what the weatherman ordered, since it’s been snowing now for about 20 hours non-stop – with more to come.

A good dinner tonight and another loaf of fresh bread tomorrow.

I love this weather!

It’s just amazing how good a cheap round steak can taste with a béarnaise sauce on top!  Truly amazing.

Victor wanted to cook dinner last night.  It was his distraction from packing for a business trip to Dallas this morning.  I never have to be asked twice if someone else wants to cook.  I love cooking – but I love eating other people’s cooking, too!

He made pan-fried steaks with béarnaise sauce, and oven-roasted potatoes and carrots.  Classic simplicity.

He made a slight variation on a classic béarnaise.  The classic is  egg yolks, butter, white wine vinegar, tarragon, shallots, and chervil.  Many (many, many, many) years ago I worked in a  restaurant in San Francisco called The Red Chimney.  It was a classic 1950’s upscale Dinner House with great food.  Every night, the owner came into the kitchen to taste the béarnaise.  It had to be perfect.  It usually was – but there were times when it was thrown out and remade.    Sadly, the restaurant was torn down to make way for the Stonestown Galleria.  That kind of detail doesn’t always exist anymore.

But I digress…

Victor’s Béarnaise

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp tarragon
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper

Place half the butter, egg yolks, and vinegar in a double boiler over hot (not boiling) water.  Stir constatly until butter is melted.

Add remaining butter and stir until butter is melted and sauce thickens.  Add tarragon, S&P.  Serve immediately.

It was rich, creamy, and so not on our diets.  And we sopped it up with homemade bread.

Since it’s just me and the dog for the next three nights, the gastronomical choices are going to be pretty limited.  I have found over the years that I really don’t enjoy cooking just for myself.  I see a few hot dogs in my future…..