A couple more really good uses for breadcrumbs...

-Browned in good olive oil and sprinkled over pasta (poor person’s Parmigiano)
-Judy Rodger’s eggs fried in breadcrumbs (here on Culinate: http://www.culinate.com/books/collections/all_books/The+Zuni+Cafe+Cookbook/fried_eggs_in_breadcrumbs); really, really good
-what I call fritters: leftover vegetables (mostly) bound with egg, breadcrumbs, and pan fried (http://realgoodfood.com/recipes-2/the-fritter-chronicles/)

Even here in the damp of Oregon I can leave old bread on the countertop to dry and it doesn’t get moldy. How I make breadcrumbs: http://realgoodfood.com/recipes-2/basics/bread-crumbs/

Nice interview. I’ll be getting the book.

Jim

Chet,

Since your newspaper reprinted the recipe without letting me know, I’m not sure if it was altered. But I’m guessing that your version was dry because the pork was too lean. It’s a common problem with most supermarket pork. You could try reducing the cooking temp to 250F and the time to a couple of hours or until the pork is done but not too dry.

Jim

I recently posted an old story I did about one of the first Beard birthday celebrations in 1988. I actually met his childhood friend Mary Hamblett, interviewing her at her house near Council Crest.

http://realgoodfood.com/writing/celebrating-james-beard-1988/

Jim Dixon

I used a basic refrigerator pickle approach, equal parts water and vinegar (shameless self-promotion: best is Katz Gravenstein Apple Cider Vinegar, Orleans method vinegar from California’s Suisun Valley), 2 parts salt to 1 sugar, boiled, cooled, and poured over sliced cardoons (prepped as you describe above). A few days in the refrigerator and eat.

I’ll admit that we mostly grew cardoons for the flowering thistle heads with their electric blue tops. But we did a little garden makeover last summer and pulled them out. We had several growing, all from a sampler seed packet I’d planted several years earlier. They were robust, and I’d moved some to different parts of our small garden, but they got to be about 10 feet tall and the lower leaves crowded out anything nearby. The biomass from trimming took over the compost, so we decided we could do without them for awhile.

Cardoons grow well here in the Pacific Northwest, and I had them in our garden for years. I usually stuck with the classics like gratins, but inspired by some I had at Higgins, I made pickled cardoons that were very tasty.

I’ve decided the best use of winter squash is what I call fritters. Here’s a recipe from my site:

http://realgoodfood.com/recipes-2/the-fritter-chronicles/winter-squash-polenta-fritters-with-romesco-and-creme-fraiche/

I recently tweaked this approach a bit and made pancakes with the cooked squash, too:

Squash Corncakes with Bacon
In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients: 1 cup good cornmeal (Ayers Creek, Anson Mills, or similar whole grain ground corn), 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon each baking soda and salt. Add about a half cup of chopped, cooked bacon.

Separate two eggs. To the yolks, add a cup of cooked winter squash, and a cup of milk (or buttermilk or yogurt or a mix). Blend well, then combine with the dry ingredients. Add more milk if the batter is too thick to pour. Beat the whites to soft peaks and fold in. Cook on a griddle, serve with maple syrup (and maybe a dollop of creme fraiche).

My issue with her article is the implication that “regular” pasta is somehow bad for you. More ranting here: http://realgoodfood.com/?p=342

What I ate Tuesday:

Toast with peanut butter, orange juice, espresso for breakfast.

Lunch at work was leftovers evolved from a chickpea & farro stew made Friday. Added leftover pork loin, stirred in Ayers Creek polenta and cooked until thick.

For dinner I fired up the Weber for grilled chicken thighs (with Shawn’s secret rub), resurrected the clarklewis version of caramelized brussells sprouts with mustard, experimented with Cajun butternut squash (a keeper), and made another whole wheat olive oil tart with plums.

Local albacore is perfect for olive oil poaching. I slice the filets crosswise into sections about an inch and half thick, then arrange the pieces cut side down in a small sauce pan with enough extra virgin olive oil to come about halfway up the fish. You want to use a pan that just holds the tuna so you don’t use more oil than necessary.

Heat on low just until the oil begins to bubble a little, then turn the fish pieces over so the other ends are in the oil. Cover the pan and turn off the heat. Let sit, covered, for at least 30 minutes. Serve the tuna warm with the poaching oil or store, with the oil, in the refrigerator, and use for salads.

Warning: Shameless self-promotion ahead

I’m eating a lot of the roasted rhubarb right now, mostly with yogurt, and I made the most recent batch using the Katz Meyer Lemon Olive Oil I sell. The citrusy tang made it even more delicious.

Jim

While some of the flavor elements in extra virgin olive oil are volatile and will be diminished at heats over about 190F, otherwise it is quite stable and can be used both for sauteing and deep frying at temperatures up to about 375F. At higher temperatures, some of the phenolic compounds (the antioxidants) may be lost as well, but it isn’t accurate to state that heating destroys the nutritional properties of extra virgin olive oil.

For more information about extra virgin olive oil, see my articles:

Extra virgin, extra confusing
Do you trust your olive oil?
http://www.culinate.com/read/articles/Extra+virgin*2C+extra+confusing

How to speak olive oil
What the labels really mean
http://www.culinate.com/read/articles/How+to+speak+olive+oil

Erin,

Thanks for capturing so eloquently that time. I can’t condone Michael’s actions, but I fell under his spell willingly. We all were having a great time, and the food was unbelievably delicious, And you accurately described the thing he did that made it possible: a recognition of talent.

While I won’t minimize the amount of pain that so many of our friends endured, the balm of time, along with food that’s evolved but still delicious, helps us forget a little. We can take our solace at Clyde Common, Bunk, Ned Ludd, Lovely Hula Hands, Park Kitchen, and even the New Seasons delis and bakeries where the so very talented cooks that were washed in the blood of the Ripe empire landed.

And let’s not forget Naomi. She had the balls to stick it out, and she stood by the many, many people who relied on Ripe for a paycheck.

My own contribution to the saga first appeared in Willamette Week, and you can find it on my web site:

http://realgoodfood.com/family_supper.html

Jim

Kelly,

My approach reflects my own laziness. Whenever a loaf has been sitting around for more than a few days, I cut it up and put the slices in a baking dish or sheet pan. I’ll either leave that out on the counter for another few days until the slices are dried out, or if I’m in more of a hurry, I’ll put them into my 1950s vintage gas oven so the pilot light can speed the process.

I store the dried slices (often crudely broken up by hand so they take up less space) in a plastic bag until I’m ready to grind them up in the Cuisinart. I use crusts and all, and the food processor results are a mix of fine and rather chunky crumbs, but I find the uneven texture adds more interest.

I toast crumbs by heating extra virgin olive oil in a cast iron skillet, adding some crumbs, and stirring occasionally over low heat until they’re browned. I add these to simple pasta dishes, like this one I call quatro gigli (gee-lee, Italian for lily, the family to which onions belong):

Cook chopped garlic, onion, shallot, and leek in extra virgin olive oil with a healthy pinch of sea salt. Cook an extruded pasta (rigatoni or penne, for example) in well-salted water, then ladle it into the vegetables with a slotted spoon (it’s good to get a lottle of the pasta water, too). Toss in toasted bread crumbs (a common substitute for more expensive grated cheese among the poor), cook a few minutes longer, and serve.

I use untoasted crumbs when I make fritters, meatloaf or meatballs.

Jim

Deb,

McGee debunks the “salt-makes-beans-tough” in his books and the article in the NYT, and salting the beans when you start cooking makes them taste much better (ditto for adding the ham hock at the beginning).

I recently made my annual investment in the world’s best beans (grown by Anthony and Carol Boutard at Ayers Creek Farm here in western Oregon). At $6/lb, they’re not cheap, but they taste so much better than any other dried bean I’ve ever had.

And if you compare the price with canned beans, they’re actually a great deal. The very cheapest canned beans are about a buck, organic canned beans at the store where I work are about $1.75. The typical 14 oz can yields about a cup and half of cooked beans. While I haven’t measured it precisely, pound of dried beans provides more than a quart of cooked beans, along with incredibly delicious “bean juice” (as an old Chicano coworker calls it).

So the Boutards’ beans are really a pretty good deal, especially given the heirloom varieties such as zolfino, tarbais, and borlotto that are hard to find anywhere else.

Jim

“Cheaper extra virgin” is an oxymoron; there’s really no such thing. These are refined olive oil blended with a little virgin oil so there’s a semblance of extra virgin flavor.

While you could dip bread in this oil, it won’t taste nearly as good as using true extra virgin olive oil.

Jim

Carrie,

I’d add Faith Willinger’s Red, White, and Green. It offers the Italian approach, and some of my all-time favorite vegetable recipes are in this slim volume, including these incredibly tasty little fritters].

Jim

Kelly,

All of the vinegars made by Albert Katz are slowly aged using the Orleans method. But only the Champagne vinegar actually says so on the label. Albert’s vinegars have been included in the Slow Food Ark of Taste in recognition of his work to preserve this important food tradition.

Anyone interested in trying the Champagne, Gravenstein Apple Cider, Sauvignon Blanc, or Zinfandel vinegars (the last two are made from late harvest grapes and have a sweet-sour flavor) can email me from my website.

Jim Dixon

Sharon & Gordon,

Sorry, but I don’t make any dog treats. We get bulk treats at our local market.

And I’m sorry to report that Marty, our older pug, died last fall. Carlo seems to have adapted to being the only dog in the house.

Jim

anon #16:

We’ve switched to brown rice because it provides more nutrients

anon #18

No loose stools from the pugs. And the carrots actually make the poop stand out in the yard so you’re less likely to step in it.

Jim