BRAINPAN LEAKAGE

Actually, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t know Aunt Ida at all. Never met the woman, and were she still around I wouldn’t recognize her if we bounced off of one another at the Galleria… Not that such would be likely, what with the fact that I absolutely despise shopping in malls – most especially the crowds – but, you get my drift.

However, the mysterious (to me) Aunt Ida was apparently ubiquitous in the lives of Evil Kat and all her siblings, and furthermore she left a lasting impression upon them… Well, upon E K, at least.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, my father-in-law is a minister, and therefore E K and her brothers grew up in and around Baptist churches throughout Saint Louis. I’m a bit sketchy on some of the details since I wasn’t there, but if I remember the story correctly, Aunt Ida, who was in no way, shape, or form of any blood relation to E K and her family, was a kindly older lady who often watched after the kids around one of the churches. And, in taking care of them she often saw to their meals.

Sounds like a perfectly wonderful Aunt Ida to me…

Anyway, fast forward several years. E K loses her halo, sprouts horns, and grows up to be an evil redhead. Somewhere along the line she meets up with me and becomes enamored of my Timex-like qualities (punctual, but moreover, can take a licking and keep on ticking.) So, being in need of a domestic servant/doormat/punching bag, E K takes out a contract and before you know it has signed on the dotted line of the State issued paperwork which guaranteed I would be indentured unto her for the rest of my natural life.

Still with me so far? Yeah, we’re coming back around to the whole Aunt Ida thing…

So there we were, about a year or so into my life sentence, when The Evil One began to wax nostalgic. I was in the midst of wrapping and bagging a ham bone from what else, a ham. It was sometime around the holidays as I recall. At any rate, I was wrapping up the ham bone in order to save it for use in a big ol’ pot of navy beans. Alas,  I was soon to discover that legumes of the “seafaring” variety were not to be in my future, because overcome with this attack of nostalgia the redhead proceeded to announce, “I really miss Aunt Ida’s green bean and ham stew.”

To begin with I asked, “Who’s Aunt Ida? Was she at the wedding?”

This was when I was given the thumbnail sketch of the mysterious Aunt Ida that I relayed to you in an above paragraph.

Accepting this explanation, and still being like a new puppy and all, I was eager to please my “Mistress”, so I asked, “Was that all that was in it, just green beans and ham?”

“No,” her evilness explained. “It was green beans, ham, and potatoes.”

Now it made a little more sense to me. However, it wasn’t making the same sense to me that it was making to E K. To understand what I mean, scroll back up and make note of her initial statement – green bean and ham stew.

Stew is quite obviously the operative word here. At this stage in our marriage I had not yet figured out that not only was E K a non-cook, she wasn’t well versed in the nomenclature of the kitchen either. As brilliant as the woman is, kitchen talk simply wasn’t her thing.

Now, just in case some of you fall into the same category – brilliant but not kitchen savvy – allow me to define stew:

A stew is food, generally meat and vegetables, though it can be all veggie, that has been cooked long and slow in a liquid and then is served in a resultant thickened gravy-like stock. The gravy consistency of a stew stock can be obtained by reduction, by adding a starch, or some combination thereof…

Remember that. It’s going to be extremely important later… In fact, the crux of this entire missive hinges upon it.

And so, being eager to please, I promptly… well, within the next day or two… took myself off to the grocery, obtained some fresh green beans, a sack of taters, and then dug out my giant, stainless steel stock pot. I prepped a simple stock, then added the ham bone. After cooking it to death and extracting the inedible portions (gristle, excess fat, and the bone itself), I tossed in the green beans and diced potatoes, proceeding to cook them to death as well, bringing the stew to a healthy boil so that the potatoes would disintegrate and the stock would reduce. See where I’m heading here? I turned it into a nice, thick, stew with bits of potato, ham, and green beans. Then, wagging my tail because I just knew I had done something that would make the redhead ecstatic, I served it up.

She ate it, but never cracked a smile. I began to worry. Finally, I asked what she thought.

She replied, “It was okay, but it’s not right.”

I was devastated, but resolved to fix the problem. “What isn’t right about it?” I asked. “I can change the recipe…”

“I don’t know,” said the redhead. “It just isn’t the same as Aunt Ida’s…”

Of course, I knew all too well that I would never in a million years be able to duplicate Aunt Ida’s stew exactly. After all, I wasn’t Aunt Ida. But, I was certain I could come close enough to bring a smile to The Evil One’s face. So, a few months later I returned to the drawing board. I had a fresh ham bone, so I gathered together the green beans and potatoes. I adjusted my seasonings, added extra ham, cooked it to death, and even did it up as a split batch so I could immersion blender the hell out of a batch of potatoes, heavy cream, and butter before folding the silky mixture into the pot full of ham and green beans. I was not going to allow Aunt Ida to best me, nor my evil bride to pine for something I should be able to easily duplicate. After all, in the kitchen I definitely “gots skillz” if I do say so myself…

With much trepidation I served up the creamy, piping hot stew to my wife. She ate it. Never smiled. Then, at the end of dinner slipped into a leather outfit and ordered me into the basement where I was then severely punished for preparing green bean and ham stew that just wasn’t the same as Aunt Ida’s…

This trend continued for a few years and each time the tortures became worse, with power garden implements, battery chargers connected to jumper cables, and sometimes even blowtorches, all while the Evil One screamed, “It’s Not The Same As Aunt Ida’s!”

I have to tell you, I was really beginning to despise Aunt Ida, and I’d never even met the woman…

So, ham bone time rolled around again and I was dreading a day spent in the kitchen concocting a new take on the stew that would only result in me making yet another trip to E Kay’s Basement Of Horrors. I was already seriously considering fixing up a batch of navy beans instead. That way, if I ended up being tortured anyway, at least I would have a meal that I wanted for a change.

Fortuitously however, the redhead had been ruminating over this whole Aunt Ida’s stew debacle, and was apparently feeling magnanimous.

“Lackey,” she called to me. “Come here!”

I skulked in from the kitchen, wondering if I was about to recieve a pre-stew beating just for good measure. “Yes, Oh Grand High Exalted One?”

“I’ve been thinking. The way I remember Aunt Ida’s Stew it wasn’t thick like you keep screwing up and making. It was brothier.”

Whistles tweeted, horns blared, bells rang, and a 250 Watt halogen bulb ignited above my head as I smiled. “Oh… So it’s not stew, it’s soup?”

She frowned, kicked me in the shin really hard with her pointy toed pump, then grabbed me by the hair and slapped me a few times just to be sure she had my attention as she instructed, “Don’t you dare question me, lackey. It’s stew.”

“Yes, ma’am…” I mumbled while hopping on one foot and holding my cheek (On my face, people. My face… Sheesh…).

“Now get in the kitchen and make me some stew. I’ll be in the basement sharpening a few things for later…”

And so I scurried off, however, being armed with this new and important information I took a quick detour to the store for a different kind of potato.  Something less mealy and with a firmer, waxier texture. Then, I came home, prepped a stock, cooked a ham bone to death, then added green beans. During the last 45 minutes or so, I cranked it and tossed in the diced potatoes and then served up the wonderfully “brothy” green bean,  ham and potato soup, complete with a pan of fresh cornbread.

E K ate the soup. E K smiled. E K purred. E K looked and acted like a little kid again. And, I didn’t have to go to the basement… (Well, not that night, anyway…)

To this day, her supreme evilness still refers to this dish as Aunt Ida’s Stew, even though it is in point of fact a soup, not a stew. Well, I am not about to correct her, because we know what will happen if I do. All I can say is that it is far less work than I had been putting myself through before the serendipitous revelation, and when you consider the fact that Aunt Ida was watching after a whole raft of kids – the young version of her supreme evilness included – it’s no wonder she employed the KISS principle. I should have recognized that from the outset, but back then I wasn’t a parent, and well, we all know that hindsight is 20-20.

The long and short of it is this – Aunt Ida’s Stew is probably as close as it gets to number 1 on E Kay’s hit parade when it comes to comfort food from my kitchen.

Aunt Ida’s Green Bean-Potato-Ham “Stew”

(Serves 8 – 12 Adults or 1 Evil Redhead)

You will need: Tongs, a 20 quart stock pot, large colander (preferably stainless steel), large mixing bowl to accommodate colander, patience

Ingredients:

1 Large Ham Shank and Bone (The shank and bone from a good sized spiral cut ham works famously)

4 Cups Ham, Diced (Reserved from the cut ham at the outset, or purchased separately – I’ve done both)

2 -3 Lbs Fresh Green Beans, cleaned, stemmed, and snapped into 2 inch pieces

3 Lbs Waxy Red Potatoes, Peeled and cut into 1 1/2″ to 2 ” Cubes

1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

6 Cloves Garlic

2 Medium Yellow Onions

6 Ribs Celery

3-4 Large Carrots

2 Tbsp Olive or Vegetable Oil

Cooking Directions:

Begin by chopping carrots, onions, and celery into 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces. Those of you who have taken a turn or two around the kitchen will recognize this as Mirepoix – the holy trinity of aromatic veggies that is the basis for many dishes, especially stocks and broths.

Crush the garlic cloves.

Heat your stock pot and add the cooking oil (olive or vegetable). Coat bottom of stock pot, then add Mirepoix and garlic. Sweat the vegetables over medium heat until they begin to become translucent – 5-7 minutes. Raise heat for a few minutes and stir until they begin to caramelize. Add Ham Shank and Bone to pot, then pour in cold water until bone is completely covered. Raise heat and bring to a rolling boil. After 10 – 15 minutes, lower heat to a simmer and partially cover, making sure to leave a gap for steam so that it doesn’t boil over. Salt and pepper to taste, add apple cider vinegar. Allow to simmer for 3 to 4 hours, checking occasionally, and adding water to return to near original volume when necessary.

After 3 – 4 hours, remove from heat. Remove bone and shank, set aside to cool. Once broth has cooled somewhat, strain out cooked Mirepoix and return broth to stock pot. Once bone and shank have cooled sufficiently (you can place them in the refrigerator to hasten the process) use a fork, or your hands (my preference) to pick off the edible meat and return it to the pot with the broth. Discard cartilage, excess fat, and bone.

Return broth to heat, add green beans – these should have already been cleaned, stemmed, and snapped into 2 inch pieces. Bring to a boil for 15 minutes. Then, carefully add cubed potatoes and diced ham. Allow broth to return to a boil for 10 minutes, then lower heat to a simmer. Cook for another 30 to 40 minutes.

Re-season with salt and pepper.

Serve with a pan of cornbread or fresh yeast rolls.

Notes:

Sometimes when it is necessary for me to prepare this – i.e. the redhead needs a fix – and I don’t have a ham bone handy, nor do I wish to purchase a large ham in order to obtain one, I will fix up a smaller batch using a small ham shank and 2 or 3 smoked hocks, which are readily available in most supermarket meat departments and are fairly inexpensive. It’s not exactly the same, but the resultant beating is far less severe than it would be otherwise.

More to come…

Murv

PS. I feel compelled to throw a random disclaimer in from time to time, so here it is: If you are new to this blog and are unfamiliar with the satirical bent with which I portray my gorgeous, redheaded bride of 22+ years, don’t take things so seriously. Simply click on any highlighted E K link and read about her. She’s an absolute doll who deserves a halo just for playing along, and furthermore, for putting up with me.

As you are all well aware, E K  and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary on Halloween this year. Many of you already know there is a long and involved story behind the courtship, wedding, and our forgetting that costumed kiddies would be knocking on our door during the ceremony – the ceremony and reception were both held at our house. For those of you who may be new to this blog, you can read about it here (if you so desire) – The Mahwage Blogs

The other thing you long time readers know is that I am the cook in the family and that the kitchen is my domain. On our anniversary we usually go out for dinner, but sometimes circumstances dictate that we stay in for the evening. Such was the case on this recent Halloween 2009.

But, stay in or no, we are talking about Evil Kat here and a celebration of my 22 years of indentured servitude to her redheaded evilness, so obviously dinner needed to be something special or terrible and horrible things would happen to me.

So, I fixed a dinner fit for an Evil Redhead and all was good. After said meal,  being ecstatic that I would live to see another day, I posted the following Facebook status update:

Much to my surprise comments were flying left and right with folks jokingly begging invites to my house. However, among the comments were also requests for the recipes, and one of them came from Reverend Alicia Lyon Folberth who wanted to know if she could include them in an upcoming cookbook being produced for her temple.

Since many of my dishes are created spur of the moment, I didn’t necessarily have a recipe at hand and wasn’t quite sure where to start, especially since a good portion of this particular meal relies simply on knowing how to cook a steak. However, after ruminating a bit I managed to jog my memory enough put something on paper for her. And, since there were many others who won’t have access to the cookbook proper, I thought maybe I’d post the recipes here.

Besides, if her supreme evilness decides she wants this again I might need to refresh my memory with my own blog…

E Kay’s 22nd Anniversary Dinner

Irish Whisky Marinated Ribeye Steaks with Crab, Feta, and Herb Butter
Grilled Vodka-Lime Portabello Mushrooms
Steamed Broccoli

(Serves 2 – adjust ingredients as needed for larger group)

INGREDIENTS:

2 Good Quality Trimmed Ribeye Steaks – I prefer Black Angus, dry aged

2 Large Portabello Mushrooms

1 Large Head Fresh Broccoli

1 6 oz Can Lump Crabmeat (Unless you have access to fresh)

1 4 oz Container Crumbled Feta Cheese

1 Large Head of Garlic

Sun Dried Tomatoes

1 Fresh Lime

¼ Lb Sweet Cream Butter (1 Stick)

2 Tbsp Sweet Cream Butter

Olive Oil

Worcestershire

Vodka

Pepper Vodka (Optional)

Bushmills Irish Whiskey

Dark Brown Sugar

Salt

Pepper

Paprika

Basil (Dried)

Onion Powder

INITIAL PREPARATION:

The following should be done 2 to 3 hours prior to cooking

For The Crab-Feta Mixture –

Soften ¼ Lb (1 stick) butter. Drain crabmeat and place in bowl with softened butter and 4 ounces of crumbled feta cheese. Add dried basil, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 Tbsp minced sun dried tomatoes. Mix until fully incorporated. Refrigerate.

For The Portabello Mushrooms –

Remove stems and gills from mushrooms. Clean and rinse in cold water. Pat dry. Place in bowl. Add juice of one lime, 2 minced garlic cloves, and ¼ cup olive oil to cup and mix well. Pour over mushrooms, seal bowl and refrigerate.

For The Broccoli –

Rinse, chop into florets, peel and chop stem. Rinse again, drain, refrigerate.

For The Ribeye Steaks –

How far ahead you do this step is entirely dependent upon the level of flavor you are seeking from the whisky marinade. I suggest 3 hours, however, I have done it at 30 minutes for a milder flavor or even as long as 8 hours for a stronger flavor.

Mix 3 Tbsp dark brown sugar with 4 ounces Bushmills Irish Whisky. If necessary, microwave for 10 – 15 seconds in order to gently warm and fully dissolve sugar. Place steaks in a shallow dish and Spoon one fourth of the mixture over steaks. Flip steaks and spoon another one fourth of the mixture over them. Reserve remaining Whisky marinade. Cover and refrigerate steaks unless you are going to be cooking them right away.

COOKING:

Remove all items from refrigerator 30 to 45 minutes prior to cooking.

Place broccoli in steamer basket and steam in covered pan with 2-3 inches of water. OPTIONAL: Add an ounce of pepper vodka to the water as well. Melt 2 Tbsp butter. When finished steaming, drizzle broccoli with melted butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Heat a grill pan or stainless steel skillet and add 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil. Using tongs, sear mushrooms in hot oil, approximately 5-7 minutes per side. Remove mushrooms to shallow dish. To the hot skillet add remaining marinade from bowl and 2 ounces vodka. Deglaze pan. Allow to reduce by ¼ and pour over mushrooms.

30 minutes prior to cooking drizzle both sides of ribeye steaks with Worcestershire. Season liberally with onion powder and paprika. Salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with remaining whisky marinade. Preheat Oven to 500 degrees or use broiler if you prefer.

Quickly sear steaks in cast iron or all metal skillet, approximately 3 minutes per side. In the center of each place a generous dollop of the crab-feta-butter mixture. Place skillet in oven or broiler and cook to desired level of doneness.

Allow steaks to rest 5 minutes before serving.

Quickly, while meat is resting, separate oil and grease from the liquid in the skillet (I have a separator cup I use). Discard grease and oil. Place skillet over high heat, return juices and 1 ounce bushmills to pan and deglaze. Reduce by ½ and pour over steaks immediately before serving.

Notes:

Multitasking is a pre-requisite, as you will end up doing all of the above simultaneously.

Mix tall vodka tonic with twist of lime for your spouse and one for yourself.

Eat your dinner.

Clean up kitchen.

Hand out candy to trick or treaters while working jigsaw puzzle with wife and daughter.

Have pre-purchased Ben ‘n Jerry’s for dessert.

You will likely have some of the crab-feta-butter mixture left. I generally will use it for a crostini or on crackers.

More to come…

Murv