The Need to Feed...

Everyone has their own special way of expressing love, don't they?


Whether it's hand-holding and a heartfelt Hallmark or skywriting and something that sparkles, isn't wonderful to be shown how much you are loved?


Charlie? It appears, he prefers to say it with Charmin.  Yes, this is the love note I awoke to the other morning...it's perfect and it made my day.


Me, on the other hand? I find the need to say it with soup...and bread, and cookies and pies and jam and pickles...anything made by my hands and with my heart.

The rolls Will and I made for Grandpa Ole's 80th.

But love, it seems, isn't the only emotion that fires up my burners.


When I'm angry and the world seems cold and wrong, there's nothing like beating a big wad of stiff bread dough into submission then watching it transform into something warm and soft and pure and good.

When I'm frustrated that I don't have the power to cure my kid's croupy cough, I take up arms with a stock pot and a raw chicken and proceed to fill the house with steamy goodness and the eternal hope that chicken soup really does cure everything that ails you.


When I feel guilty about cancelling Sunday night dinner with the in-laws...again...I make a lasagna and leave it on their doorstep.

When I'm worried about one particular friend, I make her butterscotch pudding. When I'm happy for another, I make her cupcakes with sprinkles. And when I get the news that yet another is bracing herself for a round of chemo, I know that sweet and creamy baked custard (the one that my mother-in-law makes for me when I'm sick) is one of the only things that will soothe and settle and nourish.


Sad?
Tired?
Lonely?


Chocolate.
Chocolate.
Chocolate.

Put simply...I have the need to feed.


I don't know what it is about cooking for the people I love...


Is it that cooking gives me power to do "something", to somehow try to "fix-it", when all too often life is completely out of control?


Is that I have an even greater need to feed my own ego as I eagerly anticipate the gratifying sights and sounds of my friends and family enjoying the fruits of my labor ?


Is it that I love to eat so much that I'll take any excuse to open a bag of chocolate chips?


I don't know for sure but I'm guessing the answer, quite simply, is: yes, yes and yes.


It's what my mother does. It's what I do. And, quite frankly, I could think of less productive ways to work through my issues! Ya think?

Mom and I with the Jack-O-Lantern cookies we made for Kindergarten.

Mom and I teaching a kids' cooking class.

So, the other day, I got a wonderful email from a friend who is two months into a long recovery from a brutal car accident. It seems that their scheduled homemade meal deliveries had come to an end and my name was on a list of those who signed up to help out but didn't yet have the chance...and I jumped!


One of my favorite meals to deliver a home bound friend and their family is pozole with all of the fixins'. It's an authentic, Mexican, one-pot pork and hominy stew which is surprisingly simple to make yet rather fun and spectacular when adorned with all of the fresh toppings that go with it. I like to surprise my friends with it when I know that they just can't take another Pyrex full of lasagna or creamy chicken casserole! I always make a double batch and we eat it for days too and freeze a little for later.


It starts with dried New Mexico chiles...they're pretty mild as chiles go but still have a little kick. I couldn't believe it when both of my kids gobbled the pozole up the first time I made it (they call it Mamma's Spicy Soup). They're not culinary wimps mind you but they are kids none the less...I think there is something magical about this stuff.

After the chiles are soaked, they're blended with onion and garlic to make this killer, potent, puree that gets dumped into the stock pot with the pork that has been simmering for a while...

Here's what the pork looks like when it comes out of the pot. It has been simmering with chicken stock, water, Mexican oregano and enough garlic to ground a coven of vampires, then removed, cooled, shredded, and added back to the stock with lots of hominy and the chile sauce.

Once everything is added back to the pot it's almost ready to go. While it simmers, you are preparing all of the tasty stuff that gets piled on top to your liking...diced onion and radish, avocado, shredded Romaine, lime juice, and...

...this is the best part...lot's of freshly fried tortilla strips sprinkled with salt.

Here's how I like mine. I just love the combination of warm and hot, spicy and cool, stewed and fresh.

Pozole Rojo (Mexican Pork Stew)

Ingredients:

 • 1 large head garlic
• 12 cups water
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 pounds country-style pork ribs
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano crumbled
• 7 dried New Mexico red chiles (2 ounces)
• 1 ½ cups boiling-hot water
• ¼ large white onion
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 3 15-ounce cans white hominy
• 8 corn tortillas
• 1 ½ cups vegetable oil


• Accompaniments: diced avocado, thinly sliced romaine lettuce, chopped white onion, diced radishes, lime wedges, fresh cilantro, sour cream


Directions:

Peel garlic cloves and reserve 2 for chile sauce.


Slice remaining garlic. In a 7- to 8-quart heavy kettle bring water and broth just to a boil with sliced garlic and pork. Skim surface then add the oregano. Gently simmer pork, uncovered, until tender, about 1 1/2 hours.


While pork is simmering, discard stems from chiles and in a blender combine chiles with boiling-hot water. Soak chiles, turning them occasionally, 30 minutes. Cut onion into large pieces, add to the blender and purée with chiles and soaking liquid, reserved garlic, and 2 teaspoons salt until smooth.

Transfer pork with tongs to a cutting board but save the broth mixture! Shred pork the pork when cooled, and discard bones. Rinse and drain hominy. Return pork to broth mixture and add chile sauce, hominy, and remaining teaspoon salt. Simmer pozole 30 minutes and, if necessary, season with salt.

While pozole is simmering, stack tortillas and halve. Cut halves crosswise into thin strips. In a skillet heat 1/2 inch oil until hot but not smoking and fry tortilla strips in 3 or 4 batches, stirring occasionally, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. They get dark fast so watch 'em! Transfer tortilla strips with a slotted spoon as they are fried to paper towels to drain (I place my paper towels over a flatened brown grocery bag for added absorbtion). Transfer tortilla strips to a bowl.

Serve pozole with tortilla strips and bowls of accompaniments.

Serves: 8

Adapted from Gourmet Magazine


Note: This is a great do-ahead recipe. Make the pozole a couple of days in advance, no problem. Fry the tortillas the day before and prep all of the fixins' morning of.



I'm in the mood for love...

...and I love chocolate.

So, what's a Swiss miss like me going to lay on my lovies this Valentine's Day...I'm thinking we're gonna have a fondue freak out.

Not that Charlie and the kids are first-time fonduers.

In fact, Carly's last birthday party was a Swiss-themed extravaganza complete with cheese and chocolate fondues, a cake shaped like a dairy cow, Swiss flag decor everywhere(toothpicks, napkin rings, candles, balloons, t-shirts), Edelweiss confetti...and even paper napkins with Heidi's little face emblazoned on them...

Here's the famous cow cake. I tried to make her stand upright but she fall down...go boom. I think I like her this way better...

Why, you ask, would a fourteen-year-old girl yearn for such a celebration (other than her DNA-encoded obsession with cheese and chocolate)? Perhaps it has something to do with the GIANT box of Swiss tchotkes collecting dust on our junk closet shelf. Mind you, this is just the tip of the Matterhorn, so to speak.

We've got pillows, beach towels, calendars, books and fanny packs shoved into drawers all over the house and pounds and pounds of Swiss chocolate that is, let's just say, no longer with us. Check out those Heidi paper napkins in the middle of the box...awesome!

You see, about ten years ago, Mom got a letter from a long-lost Swiss cousin. She had just had a baby girl (my cousin, not my Mom!) and, as an English teacher, was anxious to connect her young family with some real-live American relatives. So, these cousins (we're talking the real deal here...peasant blouses, dirndl skirts, snow-capped mountains, shuttered chalets, yodel music, cows with bells...the works) made the connection and over the years we've gotten to know each other by trading trinkets via airmail.

By now, Mildred (the little Swiss girl) must have the most impressive collection of Barney, Brittany and Hannah Montana t-shirts, tote bags and pencil sharpeners of any girl her side of the Alps. For sure, more than any family that flies the Stars and Stripes, we must hold the record for most wacky items brandishing the Swiss flag. I bet you don't have egg cups like these. In fact, I bet you don't have egg cups, period.

Anyway...back to fondue.


Aside from being one of the most delicious desserts on the planet, it is also one of the fastest and easiest to prepare. And, since we're talking Valentine's Day, what could be more romantic than gazing through the flicker of the fondue flame into each other's eyes over a silken pot of molten chocolate. Or, in our case, what could be more fun than wrestling over that same pot with two sugar-crazed kids and big daddy over the last cube of pound cake (the more likely scenario at our Valentine's table). Whatever your scene...chocolate fondue never disappoints.

Let's get fonduing...

Chop 8 ounces of great-tasting chocolate (I like bittersweet). This is Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet.

Pour 1/2 cup of cream into a heavy saucepan and heat until it begins to steam (don't let it boil). Remove the pot from the heat, add the chopped chocolate and let stand for a minute or so while the chocolate begins to melt.

Stir the mixture until it is smooth and glossy then stir in 1-3 tablespoons of Grand Marnier, or to taste. I think I'll stick with 1 tablespoon this time so flames don't shoot out of my kids' ears ...it's pretty potent stuff but I think it makes the fondue special. Try other liqueur flavors if you're not an orange fan or a little vanilla and grated orange zest if you choose to go booze-free.

Pour the mixture into your fondue pot and place over a low flame to keep warm. Or, if you don't have a fondue pot or are too lazy to get it out of the attic (that would be me), serve it out of the pot or spoon it into a pre-warmed bowl. Reheat it if necessary but it'll probably go so fast you won't need to.

Serve with your favorite dipping stuff. Here are some ideas: cubed firm pound cake, cubed Rice Krispy treats, pineapple, strawberries, bananas, sliced pears, sliced apples, marshmallows, pretzels, dried fruit...

Chocolate Fondue

Heat:

• 1/2 cup of cream

Stir in until smooth:

• 8 ounces of chopped chocolate (I use bittersweet).

Add in:

• 1-3 Tablespoons Grand Marnier

Spoon into fondue pot over low flame and serve with your favorite dipping treats.

Serves: 4-6