The Essential James Beard Cookbook (49 page)

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon Tabasco

Softened butter for the baking dish

2 cups shredded Gruyère cheese

Light Tomato Sauce

Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook according to the package directions until just tender. Drain, rinse under cold running water, and drain well.

Combine the chicken, mushrooms, garlic, parsley, tarragon, egg, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and Tabasco in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process until the mixture is well blended.

Spoon some of the meat mixture into each of the cooked shells. Lay them in a buttered baking dish, open sides up. Sprinkle with most of the Gruyère, cover with tomato sauce, and then with the rest of the cheese. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 minutes, until bubbling hot.

VARIATION

SAUSAGE-STUFFED SHELLS:
Substitute 2 cups hot Italian sausages, casings removed, for the leftover meat. The sausage is seasoned, so omit the garlic, tarragon, salt, pepper, and Tabasco. Cover the shells with cheese and tomato sauce as suggested, although you may prefer to use an Italian cheese, such as mozzarella or Fontina.

CORNMEAL GNOCCHI

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

These gnocchi are, I admit, somewhat fattening, but I adore their soul-satisfying flavor and texture. Here I use the Italian method of making the basic polenta, but instead of water I prefer milk, which gives a more delicate result. Serve these gnocchi as a first course or as an accompaniment to meat.

5 cups whole milk or water (or a combination of water and evaporated milk)

1¼ cups coarse cornmeal (polenta)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Olive oil, for the pan and baking dish

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Bring the milk to a boil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, taking care not to let it scorch or boil over. While it is boiling, gradually cascade the cornmeal into the liquid in a thin stream, stirring constantly until the polenta thickens, heaves, and bubbles. Stir well to make sure there are no lurking lumps. Remove from the heat, stir in the salt, then pour into a lightly oiled jelly-roll pan, and let stand until cold and firm.

Cut into rounds with a 1½- to 2-inch cutter, and arrange the gnocchi in a lightly oiled baking dish, with the edges overlapping slightly. Pour the melted butter over the gnocchi, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until they are hot, soaked with butter, and slightly browned on top.

VEGETABLES

Artichokes

Minute Asparagus

Fresh Asparagus Vinaigrette

Broccoli Beurre Noir

Buttered Brussels Sprouts

Red Cabbage with Chestnuts

Champagne Kraut

Carrots Vichy

Purée of Celery Root

Chard, Spinach, and Zucchini Tian

Corn on the Cob

Corn off the Cob

Corn Oysters

Braised Fennel

Cold Green Beans with Walnut Oil

Quick-boiled Green Beans

Imam Bayildi

Leeks à la Grecque

Braised Lettuce

Philip Brown’s Romaine Soufflé

Onions Monégasque

French-fried Onion Rings

French-fried Parsnips

New Peas

Roasted Sweet Peppers with Anchovies

Stuffed Green Peppers

Potatoes Anna

Baked Potatoes

Twice-baked Potato Skins

Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Perfect French Fries

Potato Galette

Puréed Potatoes

Roesti Potatoes

Sautéed Potatoes

Hot Ratatouille with Grated Cheese

Braised Sauerkraut

Spinach with Cream and Nutmeg

Sautéed Summer Squash

Baked Tomatoes Stuffed with Mozzarella

Tomatoes with Okra

Steamed Cherry Tomatoes

Scalloped Fresh Tomatoes

Glazed Turnips

Mashed Yellow Turnips with Butter

Vegetable Fritters

Spiced Winter Squash

Sautéed Zucchini with Walnuts

Artichokes

Earlier in the (twentieth) century, Italian and Chinese truck farmers raised great quantities of artichokes in Oregon because they grow extraordinarily well in that part of the country. Our itinerant vegetable man, who came by three or four times a week with horse and wagon, grew some himself and would bring us choice globe artichokes throughout the season. Most of them had been picked the same morning. We took them as a matter of course and ate them in great numbers. In later years, I remember driving from San Francisco down through the countryside around Salinas and Big Sur and seeing acres and acres of this glamorous vegetable, ready for budding and soon to be picked. The plants are stunning, with handsome foliage, and when beyond the edible stages, with extraordinary blue flowers.

Globe artichokes vary in size from extremely small, 1 to 1½ inches in diameter, to those which in maturity will be 4 inches across at the widest part. They are most often cooked before eating, although I often use the very tiny artichokes as crudités, simply trimmed and eaten raw. In that case, it is merely the bottom, or the
fond
, which is eaten after the cone of pale leaves and fuzzy tiny fibers in the center, known as the choke, are removed. The larger artichokes are sometimes trimmed by cutting off about 1 inch of the tops and removing the stem and small hard leaves around the base before cooking.

Serve hot artichokes with hot melted butter (seasoned, if you wish, with lemon juice or a chopped herb such as tarragon, rosemary, or dill);
Hollandaise
or
Béarnaise Sauce
; or a well-flavored vinegar, such as sherry wine vinegar, if you are dieting.

Serve cold artichokes as an appetizer, or a main dish for a luncheon, followed by a salad, such as crab, lobster, shrimp or scallop, chicken or duck salad, or a finely cut vegetable salad dressed with mayonnaise. Cold artichokes may also be served as a first course or a very light luncheon main course with mayonnaise, vinaigrette dressing, yogurt dressing, or just with the oil and vinegar as a dipping sauce for the leaves. In this case, do not remove the centers, unless you wish to serve the sauce in the artichoke.

To serve artichoke bottoms, after cooling the artichokes, remove all the leaves and choke, leaving only the artichoke bottoms. Use these as a base for hot dishes or as the container in which to serve purées and small vegetables such as fresh peas, whole-kernel corn, or tiny sautéed mushroom caps; or chill and fill with a cold salad or seafood.

To boil artichokes: Stand artichokes upright in a stockpot and cook in plenty of boiling, salted water with a slice of lemon and a clove or two of garlic. Boil from 25 to 40 minutes, according to size, until a leaf from the base can be easily pulled off. Drain upside down on paper towels.

To steam artichokes: Steam in a steamer rack over boiling water for approximately the same length of time as for boiling.

To cook artichokes in a microwave oven: Artichokes cook very successfully in a microwave oven. Stand upright in a nonmetallic dish in a small amount of water and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap, or merely wrap them individually in the plastic wrap. Steam in the oven on full power. According to size, they will take from 9 to 16 minutes.

MINUTE ASPARAGUS

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

Editor: This is a very rapid way to cook asparagus. The recipe is from Beard’s
Theory and Practice of Good Cooking,
so it is a “teaching recipe” that doesn’t leave out a single detail. Essentially, you blanch thinly sliced asparagus and then sauté it in butter.

2 pounds asparagus

Kosher salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

3 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Freshly ground black pepper

Wash and trim the asparagus and cut into diagonal slices no more than ¼ inch thick—thinner if possible. Place the slices in a colander or frying basket. Place enough water to cover the asparagus in a pot large enough to accommodate the colander of frying basket, add salt to taste, and bring the water to a full, rolling boil. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet and have the soy sauce, lemon juice, and pepper close at hand. Plunge the asparagus into the pot of boiling water, bring the water to a second boil, and cook the asparagus for just one full minute. Drain the asparagus very well and add it to the melted butter in the skillet along with the soy, lemon juice, and pepper to taste. Toss well over medium heat until the butter has browned and the asparagus is crisp and deliciously flavored.

FRESH ASPARAGUS VINAIGRETTE

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

Editor: You can pour the vinaigrette over the asparagus, or serve it in small ramekins on the side for dipping the spears.

1½ pounds thick asparagus spears, woody bottoms snapped off

3 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar

1½ teaspoons Dijon mustard

½ cup olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Cook the asparagus in boiling salted water. I use a large skillet, in which the asparagus fit very nicely, and cook it at a fast boil. The spears should be tender but still crisp. About 6 to 8 minutes does the job. Remove the asparagus, drain, rinse under cold water, and cool.

Serve with a mustard-flavored vinaigrette, made as follows: Whisk the vinegar and mustard in a bowl before whisking in the oil. Then season with salt to taste, give it a few grinds of pepper, and add the chopped parsley.