What to do with all the China

Uncle Tommy - husband of Aunt Dolores of Rum Ball fame - was a Trainmaster for the Southern Pacific Railroad back in the glory days of rail travel. As such, he had the opportunity to buy or otherwise procure unclaimed and damaged freight and baggage. One of the things he procured was a set of china. One of those old-fashioned complete sets - with plates and platters, bouillon cups, fruit cups, soup plates, demitasse cups and saucers... all of those things genteel hostesses used to have their servants place on the table and clean up for those simple midweek dinners.

Over the years many pieces have gone missing and by the time I got it when my father was cleaning out his garage, it - like my grandmother's china I also have - was missing too much to set a complete table. I have a few pieces that I've used regularly - like the platters - and several pieces on display in the hutch, but most of it has just sat downstairs in the basement collecting dust. I finally decided it's time to start using it. It's doing nobody any good sitting down there and I actually like it. It's time for it to see the light of day, again!

I don't know the actual age of the china, but it's German porcelain. The mark on the back was used between 1925 and 1945.

There's lots of random pieces... demitasse cups and saucers...

Bouillon cups and saucers - because everyone sets a table with bouillon cups and demitasse cups, right?!?

And then there's Grandma's china. Grandma was more practical. She had Homer Laughlin china made in the USofA. Lady Greenbriar. This pattern came about around 1951.

Creamer and sugar bowl, covered vegetable bowl...

An awesome teapot...

And cups and saucers, dessert plates, salad plates...

This was the stuff I remember eating from for most holidays of my youth when the folks would pack up the station wagon and haul us down to Bakersfield. Grandma had a lot of everyday dishware, as well. I especially remember the Anchor Hocking Ruby Red - so much so that I went out and bought some. It was a totally impractical purchase, but... what the hell.

Grandma also had Franciscan Desert Rose. We found some at an antique mall and it has pretty much become our everyday china, knocking the Cost Plus china down a notch. Or up a shelf, as the case may be.

It was pretty inexpensive. I also ended up getting the divided vegetable dish and a platter on Etsy for a few bucks.

And then we have Victor's Mom's china...

A complete service for 8 - and it is complete with serving pieces, creamer, sugar bowl, platter... It's Towne China - the Sydelle pattern - made in Japan and classic mid-century. Japanese china was all the rage - elegant, delicate.. and reasonably affordable.

This was supposed to go to Victor's niece, but she has conveniently not had room for it.

And then we have our Mikasa service for 8 - along with just about every side dish and serving piece they ever made. We started buying this when we first got together and for every gift-giving occasion, we'd get another footed bowl, square bowl, platter, compote... I think we have just about everything they ever made in this pattern.

And once we go through the china - and this isn't all of it by any stretch of the imagination - we have the glassware and the unique little things...

My mom always called these Hot Chocolate Cups. They're old but not marked. And delicate. I do not know their provenance.

We have pressed glass Christmas dishes downstairs - service for 32, I believe... 

I bought it at Kmart when we lived in San Leandro - $4.95 per service for 4. Less than $40 for the lot. I keep thinking we're going to have Christmas Dinner one of these years so I hold onto it. You never know... It was almost sold at a neighborhood garage sale a few years ago but since it wasn't, I decided I'm keeping it.

I suppose that one of these days we're going to have to actually deal with all of this stuff, but in the meantime, it can sit and collect dust. Bits and pieces do come out to be used now and again and it really wouldn't hurt to use more of it more often.

Stay tuned...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Pasta Night

Just about any night around here can be pasta night, but I went to bed last night thinking of pasta, olives, and fresh tomatoes. I had been out earlier in the day picking more tomatoes and peppers and was thinking a fresh sauce was in order. We have plenty of jarred sauce downstairs - and plenty of fresh tomatoes that need using up.

I made a few pints of pepper relish yesterday and there's a bush-load of tabasco peppers out there that I hope will make a few bottles of hot sauce this weekend.

The garden is slowing down, but it ain't finished.

As I headed off to Wegman's for my weekly grocery trek, olives stayed front and center in  my mind. I hit their Mediterranean Bar and picked up a pint of assorted pitted olives. They went into the skillet with chopped fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, a bit of oregano, and lots of pepato cheese - a sheep's milk cheese with peppercorns from Sicily.

I thought about chopping the olives but decided I wanted to taste different olives instead of having everything blended together. Either way would work - this is what I chose this time.

My original vision had wide noodles soaking up the sauce - I really do have a vivid imagination when it comes to this stuff - but when heading into the cupboard, I found a bag of Arcobaleno - rainbow - pasta shaped like a rather large orecchiette.

Vision was tweaked a bit.

Sausage was cooked off with some onion and garlic - and a goodly splash of red wine. And then fresh tomatoes were added. No peeling or seeding...

I cooked it down and then added the olives and cipollini onions.

Heated it all through, added the pasta that was slightly undercooked, and finished it off in the sauce.

It came out exactly as I hoped it would, albeit with a bit more heat than Nonna likes. She ate a goodly amount but wanted a piece of cheese cake to cool her mouth off.

We, on the other hand, went for it with both barrels. And... there's enough left for lunch tomorrow.

Life is good.

 

 

 


Pogaca Rolls

I love it when a new cooking magazine arrives and I immediately see a recipe I immediately want to make. Fine Cooking did not disappoint.

Pogaca rolls - pronounced po-ah-cha - hail from Turkey. We know my penchant for international foods, so these fit right in. I truly believe we could really learn a lot from one another if we just sat down and started eating different foods from different cultures.

My first recollection of Turkey comes from the Four Lads tune Istanbul (not Constantinople) recorded in 1953. There was also Bonomo's Turkish Taffy which is neither Turkish nor taffy - but what did I know? And, of course, Agatha Christie and Murder on the Orient Express - a story that drew a vivid picture of the foreign and exotic city as seen through the eyes of the colonizing British.

It's really not surprising that our views of different cultures are so skewed...

Pogaca rolls are extremely versatile and can be eaten with any meal. The fillings can be as varied and exotic - or simple and plain - as you wish. They can also be sweet or savory, depending upon your mood or time of day for eating them. I decided on a cheese filling based upon one of the offerings in the magazine. It called for simple feta and parsley. I went for chevre, queso fresco, chives, and parsley because that's what I had in the house.

Pogaca Rolls

adapted from Fine Cooking magazine

Dough:

  • 1 cup whole milk, warmed to 105°F
  • 1 tbsp active dry yeast
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup neutral oil
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp kosher salt

Filling:

  • 4 oz chevre
  • 4 oz queso fresco
  • 1 tbsp chives
  • 1 tbsp parsley

Combine warm milk with yeast and sugar in a mixer bowl. Proof about 5 minutes.

Add egg and oil and mix.

Add flour and mix on medium low speed about 10 minutes or until silky smooth.

Turn dough out onto a lightly-floured board and shape into a ball. Place in a lightly-oiled bowl, cover, and allow to rise until doubled - about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Shaping and Forming:

Lightly flour a work surface, and turn the dough onto it. Deflate the dough, and divide into 13 - 15 pieces, about 2 oz. each.

Roll each piece into a ball, cover, and let rise again for about 30 minutes.

Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Lightly flour a work surface.

Roll or press a dough ball into a 5-inch circle.

Starting from the edge and heading toward the center, cut four evenly spaced slits, each about 1-1/2 inches long, into the circle.

Place about 1-1/2 tablespoons of the filling in the center. Wrap one quarter of the dough around the filling; the dough will partially cover but not fully enclose the filling. As you wrap, fold ¼ inch of the top of the dough edge back to form an open petal.

Fold the dough quarter opposite the first quarter around the filling and fold back the top to form an open petal. Secure the dough on the bottom with a pinch.

Wrap and fold a third quarter in the same manner.

Then, when folding the final quarter over, tuck the edges underneath the rose, and pinch to secure.

Place on the prepared baking sheet leaving at least 2 inches between the rolls. Let rise at room temperature, until almost doubled, 30 to 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Whisk the egg and milk. Lightly brush the dough with the egg wash.

Bake, swapping and rotating the pans about halfway through, until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

One thing I noted was I wasn't careful enough in pinching the ends of the petals. You really do need to be firm with this step - some of the rolls really did come apart. It's not changing the flavor, but esthetically, they could be more flower-like.

The recipe called for 2 teaspoons of salt. I made it that way but think they would be better with just one.

But they are light, really flavorful, and with just enough cheese filling to flavor but not overwhelm.

I see other shapes and fillings in our future!


Lasagne

I took some ground beef out of the freezer before work this morning, figuring I'd throw something together when I got home. I had no plan - but we do have plenty of things to use up... lots of tomatoes from the garden, cheeses... we always have a well-stocked larder.

We're actually going out tonight - just like Big People. Tickets to see HAIR at Footlighter's Theater in Berwyn - right down the road from us.

I first saw HAIR in 1968 at the Geary Theatre in San Francisco with my high school Drama class. I'm thinking it may have been my very first actual real, live, professional theatre experience. It was pretty cool and it definitely set the stage - so to speak - for my love of live performances. The Geary back in those days had a third balcony that was pretty much right up against the ceiling and the back wall. The stairs were steep and if you tripped you probably would have gone tumbling over and into the crowd below.

Berger, in the San Francisco run, swung down from that third balcony onto the stage for a pretty dramatic entrance. I'm not sure if he was in his loincloth at that point or if it came later, but... I was enthralled. A live cute boy swinging through the air and in a loincloth on stage. I was definitely in my element!

I've been humming the music all day, revisiting those thrilling days of yesteryear, and was thinking of what to make on the way home. When I walked in the house, Victor had dinner all made - LASAGNE!!!

Talk about psyched!

Major Let the Sunshine In!

Ya know how something unexpected can sometimes be so much better than something planned? This was one of those times - especially since Victor makes such good lasagne!

The toothpicks show the dividing line between the hot pepper side and the Nonna-No-Pepper side. She won't eat spicy and we love it. We do what we need to do...

Layers of cheese and ground beef and tomatoes and tomato sauce from the garden...

It's the dawning of the age of aquarius!

 


Almond Torta

A good dinner deserves a good dessert - and Victor made a good dessert!

Quite a few years ago we saw Lidia bake this cake on one of her shows. We thought it looked great, we were intrigued - and then promptly forgot about it. We saw it, again. Started paying attention - as in we really should make this.

Time went by. And, finally, Victor decided to make it today.

Mike and Barbara were up from South Carolina - coming back down from their trip much further north - and good friends always need a good dessert, right?!? Well... we think so! Dinner was a five hour affair, because we talktalktalk about everything under the sun.

We're good at talking. And good at eating.

Dinner was the basic pasta, sausages, breads and rolls... lots of Onion Fig Jam with shavings of pecorino... Typical fare from the garden.

And then, dessert.

To say that the cake was spectacular is an understatement. It's light, it's dense, moist, yet dry. The mixture of flour and almond meal is perfection. The only sure thing is that after every bite you want another one.

I topped it with a dollop of vanilla and almond whipped cream just because.

It worked.

Almond Torta

Adapted from “Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy’’

  • 2 1/2 sticks butter, at room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • Grated rind of 1 lemon
  • 2 tablespoons Amaretto
  • 2 cups almond flour or almond meal
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds
  • Confectioners’ sugar (for sprinkling)

1. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch springform pan. Dust the pan with flour, tapping out the excess.
2. In a bowl, whisk the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt to blend them.

3. In an electric mixer, cream the butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat each on medium speed before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl several times.

4. Beat in the lemon rind and amaretto. Turn the speed to high and beat the batter for 1 minute or until very light.

5. With the mixer on low speed, beat in half the flour mixture just until it is incorporated. Beat in half the almond flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the remaining flour mixture and almond flour. Beat briefly on medium until the batter is smooth. On low speed again, beat in the chips until they are evenly distributed.

6. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Scatter the sliced almonds on top.

7. Bake the torta in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, or until the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

8. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run the blade of a paring knife around the edge of the cake, then release the spring and remove the ring. Cool the cake completely. Cut it into wedges and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

I'm kinda glad we waited to make this because we got to share it with some good friends. We also had some Pistachio Cookies I had made yesterday for a neighbor's party we missed. These pull together in the food processor and then freeze before baking. It's a really simple recipe with only 5 ingredients!

Pistachio Cookies

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
  • 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped pistachios

In a food processor, process butter, confectioners' sugar, and salt until smooth. Add flour and pulse until a dough forms. Stir in pistachios. Shape dough into two 8-inch-long logs, tightly wrap in plastic, and freeze until firm, 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut dough into 1/4-inch slices and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until cookies are set and barely golden at edges, 10 to 15 minutes.

Cool and dust with powdered sugar.

They had cookies, BBQ Sauce and Salsa to take back home with them.

A great visit.

And now I need a nap.


Fig and Onion Jam

We have friends from South Carolina stopping by, today. That means we have to cook.

We're doing a simple pasta, rolls... For dessert, Victor made a killer Almond Cake that I'll be writing about, later. But we needed something simple for an hors d'oeuvre.  bruschetta of sorts... Figs. Caramelized onions. Made into a jam.

Talked me into it!

It's a pretty basic concept... cook onions and figs with some sugar and balsamic. Basic concept, powerful taste!

Fig and Onion Jam

  • 2 lbs figs
  • 2 lbs onions
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup fig balsamic vinegar
  • 6 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 tsp salt

Thinly slice onions and place in large pot with butter and olive oil. Cook until they begin to color. Add 1 cup sugar and mix well.

Meanwhile, stem and halve figs. Add to the onions and mix well.

Add thyme, salt, and balsamic vinegar. Cook until thick.

Cool, jar, and refrigerate.

It's really good on toasted baguettes with a shaving of pecorino or your favorite cheese.

It's also great on top of a burger.

Or just with a fork out of the jar.

If you can get a hold of some fresh figs, make some, today. You will not be sorry.


Smoky Sweet BBQ Sauce

When we did our latest harvest from the garden, I thought a BBQ sauce was in order. We've already done pasta sauce, straight tomato sauce, and salsa. Time for something new.

I've made BBQ sauce in the past with varying degrees of success and thought it was time to tackle it. again.

Armed with a boatload of tomatoes, I started off.

I didn't peel the tomatoes - although I did core them. I used an immersion blender and didn't use a food mill, either. The end result isn't the thick, silky sauce from the national brands - there are no emulsifiers or thickening agents - but it's still thick and rich with lots of sweet smoky flavor!

Smoky Sweet BBQ Sauce

  • 8 pounds Tomatoes, chopped
  • 4 onions, chopped
  • 6 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 3 hot peppers, chopped
  • 1 cup bourbon
  • 1 cup brown sugr
  • 1 cup molasses
  • 2 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 3 tbsp ancho chili powder
  • 2 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 3 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • 1 tbsp black pepper

Saute the onions in olive oil until they begin to become translucent. Add garlic, tomatoes, peppers, and bourbon. Cover, and cook until tomatoes break down - 20 to 30 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, puree tomato mixture. It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth at this point - you'll keep blending as you go along.

Add remaining ingredients, using the immersion blender to mix everything really well and to make the sauce as smooth as possible.

Bring to a slow boil and cook, mixing often with the immersion blender to prevent scorching, for another 45 minutes to thicken.

Taste and check for seasonings, tweaking the smoky/spicy/sweet balance to your liking.

Bottle the sauce according to the type of jar, bottle, or container you choose.

I used 12 ounce sauce bottles and got exactly 12 bottles - pretty much a miracle. I never get exact amounts like that when I can!

You can play with this one a lot. Switch out the type of chili powder, the type of hot pepper, use a different vinegar... Have fun with it!

And speaking of canning...

You can get mason jars at pretty much any major grocery store, but if you're looking for special bottles or jars for something more fun or special, take a look at Fillmore Container. Their jars and lids are reasonably priced and they ship immediately! I've had great luck with them!