ruth cooks |
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Miss Marigold Takes on the Food Network “Now, don’t get me started on Emeril,” said Miss Marigold, although she’d been the one to bring up his name. I sat in her sunny yellow kitchen, swooning over the aroma of the lamb-and-barley soup she was stirring, secure in the knowledge that once Miss M got started on any topic related to food, she’d go on until at least lunchtime and I’d be invited to share. Still, a bit of encouragement never hurt. “Didn’t you used to watch him faithfully, Miss Marigold?” “You must be thinking about right after that darned cable company finally started carrying the food network. Only after I’d sent them about a thousand letters. At first, I watched Emeril morning, noon and night ‘cause his food looked good and he’s more’n a little bit sexy. Then, all of a sudden, the ‘kick-it-ups’ and the ‘feel-the-loves’ and the ‘I-don’t-know-where-you-get-yours-but-mine-don’t-come-seasoneds’ got to be too much for me. BAM! I was over it.” “So which shows do you like now?” I said, polishing off the last crumbs of one of Miss M’s splendid oatmeal cookies. “Let’s see, I just wrote those food network people another letter last Tuesday,” she said, rummaging in her catch-all cabinet drawer. “Let me hit the highlights for you.” “First off I told them, ‘Here’s some shows you can
forget. The Food Hunter. Who wants to watch that Aussie run around in
his shorts whacking at coconuts or whatever. “That’s five down, Miss M,” I said, cheering her on. “Anymore to go?” “One more, for sure. If ever there was a born smart aleck, it’s that Bobby Flay. He reminds me of that little neighborhood bully, Georgie, who used to steal the kids’ lunches on the way to school. Probably pulled the wings off flies, too. A few years ago, I made the mistake of buying one of Bobby-boy’s books. It was called ‘Bobby Flay Cooks American’, where he supposedly took regional American dishes and made them more flavorful. Hah. Should have been called ‘Bobby Flay Takes Perfectly Good Dishes and Douses them with Chili Peppers’. Pathetic.” Here Miss Marigold busied herself in the refrigerator, choosing this and rejecting that until the selection looked suspiciously like that yummy fruit salad with lemon cream dressing recipe that she got from me first time I served it to her. Mmm, that would go good with the soup and some nice bread, and Miss M always has nice bread. ”So, didn’t you tell the Food Network about any shows you liked?” I asked. “I’m just getting to that…first I told them about a few shows I liked pretty good, but gave them some ideas for improvements. First off, take Alton Brown and Wayne Harley Brachman. Those guys look like they get their haircuts at the John Deere dealer. Tony Bourdain may chain smoke in real life, but couldn’t he put down that cigarette long enough to do his shtick? Wolfgang Puck could use a little Valium before he jumps out of his skin right there mit schlag. And somebody needs to take Jamie Oliver’s just-licked fingers—and his friends’ fingers—out of the food. I had a few general comments, too. Like, why don’t you give every chef on the air a few dozen rubber spatulas so they quit leaving all that food in the mixing bowls and pans? We could feed the third world on what they waste. And tell the chefs not to say, ‘Sauté the onions about five minutes,’ if they’re going to show them cooking 30 seconds max.” Miss Marigold reached up, took some dishes from the shelf and started to set the table. “No, no dear. You just sit there while I finish up our little lunch. Where was I? Oh, yes, I’d just gotten to the shows I like. Well, there’s always Sara Moulton. I bought her cookbook, too, and have already tried a couple of recipes from it. The live show was better because what can you do in a half hour? I have to laugh when she says they’re not growing the jalapenos as hot as they used to. It’s just her taste buds growing new layers of asbestos. Tyler Florence is a sweetie, and how those 911 women do drool over him. Gale Gand is one of my favorites. She seems genuinely nice, smiles a lot but is not terminally perky like that Rachael Ray. I know a lot of people scoff at Martha Stewart, but I have to thank her for the best applesauce I ever put in my mouth. Mario is OK in his own kitchen, but not when he’s traveling around Italy with a half-wit and a bad script. My favorite of the newer shows is the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. She’s good-natured and has some meat on her bones so you know she loves her food. My, but that woman does bake a lot of cakes. The only thing I don’t like is the camera work. Roger Ebert made me laugh last week. I always read his reviews even if I don’t get to the movies all that often. He called that style of filming ‘attention-deficit.’” Setting a bowl of steaming soup before me, Miss Marigold sat down across
the table. Use two pounds of lamb, or just add more bones, for a more pronounced lamb flavor. You will have to season more if you use water than if you use stock. What kind of stock? Lamb is best, but who has it? Half chicken stock or half beef stock and half water would work also. Mostly, I just use water. You may add celery, bay leaves, thyme or whatever strikes your fancy.
1 1/2 pounds lamb shoulder, neck bones, stew meat or a combination Season the meat on all sides and brown well in the butter or oil. You’ll want a wide bottomed saucepan holding about 4 quarts, such as a Dutch oven or stockpot. Remove meat, add chopped onion to the pan, season with salt and pepper and cook until soft. Add meat and water or stock. Season, bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Add barley and season again. Simmer for another 45 minutes. Add potato and carrots and cook until they are done. If at any time liquid is running low, add more water. Remove meat and remove it from the bones. Discard bones and any visible fat, and return meat to soup. Taste for seasoning, adding cayenne pepper or hot sauce of your choice, if desired. Freezes well if the potatoes and carrots are cut very small. Serves: 6 Lemon Cream Dressing ***Unique/Original So simple, but surely one of the best 3 or 4 fruit salads I know. Not as sweet as fruit with poppyseed dressing, no more complicated, and best of all uses fruits which are readily available year round. You can omit the cantaloupe when it is not in season, and possibly substitute fresh pineapple. Combine red grapes with green skinned apples, or green grapes with red skinned apples for best color. Use black grapes if you can find them, they’re usually sweetest. 3 cups cantaloupe balls or large dice Dressing: Grapes may be washed and cantaloupe cut up several hours ahead. Up to an hour before serving, combine dressing ingredients in a small jar and shake to combine. Pour into a bowl and slice apples directly into dressing. At serving time, add grapes and cantaloupe and toss. Serve on lettuce leaves. Yield: 8 servings Note: this recipe reprinted from Nobody Cooks Like Ruth: Menus from Cherotree, copyrighted material. All rights reserved. ©Copyright 2003 - All Rights Reserved |