Lemon Shortbread Cookies by The Careless Cook

 

Lemon Shortbread Cookies by The Careless Cook

 

My mother was quite the cook and baker.  I still dream about her lemon pies and cakes.  Guess that’s why lemon anything, from tea to hard candies, brings back wonderful memories of my childhood and being in her kitchen and the magic and wonder of seeing delights come out of the oven, along the simple joys of tasting the batter and licking the bowl.  Seems no matter what I cook, the trail always leads back to my mother’s kitchen

 

But, this day I was cooking for a group of twenty ladies whom I pictured sipping tea or coffee, while in the midst of conversation, which was a pleasant picture, but not relevant to cakes and pies. But the bright lemon flavor was still on my mind.

 

Despite not going for big baked treats, the Careless Cook didn’t let that stop him from creating a baker’s lemon delight!  Needed a treat that one could easily hold in one’s hand and not require the careful balancing of plate and silverware.  

 

Ah, yes.  Shortbread.  But I was in the mood for LEMON.  As I sipped my breakfast brandy and dreamt of my mother’s kitchen, it came to me.  Tasty. Convenient. A blending of the two! Voilá!  Lemon Shortbread Cookies!

 

As my three faithful readers already know, the Careless Cook does not do exasperatingly difficult recipes, with ingredients found only in the far corners of the earth, but neither does he skimp on deliciousness.

 

So, if you have a food processor, this recipe is a cinch.  If you have a bowl and a mixer, it doesn’t take much longer and even if you only have a bowl and a stick picked up when you raked the yard, stick with it. (Yes, one and all, that was a pun.)  

 

And baking in a 350ºF oven takes only 12-14 minutes. You barely have time to wake up your sweet tooth before the cookies are springing forth.

 

Lemon Shortbread Cookies

Heat the oven to 350ºF

 

Ingredients for the Cookies

 

2 sticks of butter, softened, not melted

1 cup powdered sugar

1 ½ tablespoons lemon zest (Takes about the whole skin of one lemon. More is ok, less is not.)

1 ½ tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

2 cups flour (and maybe a little more if the dough is too wet)

¾ teaspoon salt

 

Ingredients for the Glaze

 

½ cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

 

Puttin’ It Together

 

1.    Toss the sugar and butter in a bowl or your food processor and beat until they are smooth.  Now toss in the lemon juice and zest and beat again.

2.     Add the flour and salt and beat until dough forms.   The dough will appear sticky, but with all that butter, it won’t stick to your hands.

3.    Roll the dough into 1 inch balls, place them on a baking sheet and gingerly flatten each ball. Depending on the size of the balls, you will end up with 30 to 35 cookies.

4.    Bake for 12-14 minutes.  Everyone’s oven has different hot spots and different bake times. My cookies took 13 minutes.

5.    Give the cookies five minutes or so after then come out of the oven, then use a spatula to move them either to your counter or to a cooling rack.

6.    Make the glaze by mixing all glaze ingredients, but do not brush it on the cookies until the cookies are cool and the glaze has thickened.  Both cooling of the cookies and thickening of the glaze will take about 30 minutes.

 

I am happy to report all the cookies disappeared and none were returned for a refund.  This gives me license to bake again, regardless of allergies or dieting.

 

So, the next time your wife is on a trip and you feel like inviting twenty ladies to the house…be sure to save some brandy.

 

 

 

 

 

Taste, My Life Through Food, by Stanley Tucci

 

Taste, My Life Through Food, by Stanley Tucci

 

There are books that you enjoy reading and others not so much. But, there are also those rare finds that keep you awake into the wee hours and wake you up early.  Whether the topic is food or has remarkably interesting characters, or a plot that won’t stop, I call these kinds of books ‘delicious.’  They are the mental bread of life, the kinds of books that keep you hungry for more, and you never quite get your fill.

 

The actor, Stanley Tucci has written such a book.  Oh, my goodness, what a book.  Taste, My Life Through Food is a delightful trip through his life, from growing up in an Italian American family, living in New York, to his becoming an actor, to his travels, and always with a background of food and restaurants and recipes.

 

As an actor with decades of film and television, and stage plays behind him, he has traveled the world and as a true and adventurous gourmet, he collected not only recipes, but a wide breath of people he’s met and restaurants where he felt at least a breath of the warmth of home.

 

But, this book also sweeps you along with laugh out loud humor, and a personal and conversational tone that makes you feel he is chatting with you, his new friend.  The book is so well written, and that makes it a remarkably easy read, but one you wish would never end!

 

Along the way, you’ll learn about cooking and drinking, from the making a perfect Martini, to the sensational side-splitting story of his wife

offering her crazy rendition of her mother’s British style roasted potatoes.

 

I mentioned travel.  Well, I’d rather call it the intimacies of travel.  Stories of food from the Mediterranean to Iceland, and from Germany to England, always with a cast of characters, some famous, some not, and along the way, some sadness that America has changed, with so many cafes and restaurants and small shops that have closed under the unceasing and powerful wave of conglomerates.  Tucci takes care to mention how and why we should become patrons of the still existing small grocers and butcher shops, and fish mongers.  And this is part of what makes the book so intimately moving and human.  We all need the warmth and the feeling of belonging and the book makes perfectly clear the importance of personal contact.  When you buy meat, does the butcher call you by name? Does he ask what you’re cooking, so he can suggest the best cuts. Does the fish monger ask if you making more of the fish soup you’d previously mentioned? Do you walk in a coffee shop and have the barista ask:  Same as always, Sam?  And is this your day for a croissant?

 

What a wonderful experience to read a book and feel like it would be ok to call Stanley Tucci just plain Stanley, and feel like he knows you. After all, he wrote a book to entertain you and you alone.

 

Join Stanley on a trip through his life.  It’s a hell of a story and you might want to sip a perfect Martini while you read.

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Italian Style Ragú With Penne Rigate Pasta From The Careless Cook

 

Italian Style Ragú With Penne Rigate Pasta From The Careless Cook

 

This is the best pasta dish I’ve ever made and one of the best I’ve ever tasted, including those in Rome.  Simple to make, nutritious and the clean up was very simple.  Matter of fact, I was able to sit and have another glass of wine while my wife cleaned the kitchen! 

 

Well, not the whole glass.  A broom spilled a lot of it down the front of my shirt.

 

Where did I get the idea for this ragú?  From a book by the actor, S. T., but that’s enough of a hint.  I’ll blog about the excellent, breezy, humorous, and delicious book soon.

 

As usual, The Careless Cook did not waste time following the recipe as written.  But, close.  Hey, every Italian mother has her own version, so why not me?

 

You may already know this, but for my three faithful readers who often have a loss of memory after …. Well, I can’t remember when, but often.

Anyway, here’s what the Italian cooks say about pasta:  Ogni salsa ha la sua pasta!  (O-knee salsa-la soo-a pasta!) Every sauce has its own pasta.

 

Ok, I made that up.  BUT, it’s true.  Certain pastas for certain sauces. Don’t mix and match….’cause with mixin’ there ain’t no matchin’!

 

In a dish like ragú, which has a rather thin sauce, you want pasta with ridges to catch all the flavors.

Italian Style Ragú With Penne Rigate Pasta

(feel free to use any other ridged pasta, such as Rigatoni)

Oven to 250ºF

 

Ingredients

 

A slosh of olive oil (Several times, as needed.)

1 onion diced

1 large carrot diced (I used colorful carrots and left some cut in rounds)

1 large stalk celery diced

4 oz diced pancetta (usually comes in a packet) 

¾ lbs lean hamburger meat

6 oz pork, finely diced, or use ground pork

¾ cup dry red wine

2 cups chicken broth (I used Tuscan style)

2 tablespoons tomato paste (I used tomato paste from a tube)

handful of fresh basil

handful of fresh oregano

(No herb garden?  Use dried herbs to taste.)

 

16 oz package Penne Rigate pasta

NOTE: No garlic on the list.  Quite often, Italian cooks do not put both onion and garlic in the same dish, although in the U.S. we commonly do.

 

Putin’ It Together

 

Use a large frying pan with a lid. This makes a meal for four to six folks.

 

Put a slosh of olive oil in the frying pan and add the onion and pancetta. Cook until onions are limp and pancetta is slightly browned.

 

Add the other two meats and stir occasionally until cooked.

 

Add the other vegetables and stir.

 

Add the wine, chicken stock, tomato paste and herbs. Bring to a simmer.

 

Cover the pan and place in the oven for an hour and a half.

 

Meanwhile, make the pasta in a large pot, according to package directions.  My directions called for 12-14 minutes.  I like my pasta a little past al dente, so I went the full 14 minutes.

 

Set aside two cups of pasta water and strain the pasta.  Why save the pasta water?  When you mix in the sauce, the pasta will soak up much of the thin sauce and you may want to add it to any pasta left over.

 

Toss in another slosh of olive oil and stir.  

 

Add the sauce to the pot of pasta and mix well.

 

In serving, add a couple of basil leaves for garnish.

 

And, don’t forget to fill all the glasses of red wine! Hey, this is an Italian meal!

 

You’ll note there is no mention of cheese, grated or not.  The Careless Cook sez: This here dish is too damn delicious to mess it up with cheese!

A word or two about my blog: Some folks have had a tough time trying to subscribe.  On the right side of the blog page, about halfway up, you will see “Followers and a group of photos.”  Click on “follow” below the photos. That should do the trick.

 

If you want to leave comments, you must also do it on a computer at the bottom of the page.  You have several choices you can use to comment. If you are reading the blog on an email, you must first go to the blog page.

 

 

 

Beef and Guinness Stew, a St Patrick’s Day Treat, from The Careless Cook

 

Beef and Guinness Stew, a St Patrick’s Day Treat, from The Careless Cook

 

As you inebriates know, Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated every year on March 17, because, supposedly, that’s the day Saint Patrick passed on, circa 493 AD. Why should I add the word “supposedly?”  Because, the calendar and how we tell time, and even the number of days in the week have all undergone many changes over the centuries, but that’s another story.

 

While you’re sipping your first Guinness of the morning, here’s some things you may want to ponder:  Saint Patrick, one of three patron saints of Ireland, was born in Britain and as a young man was taken to Ireland by Irish raiders as a slave.  His life story is one of being in and out of slavery, returning to Britain, then returning to spend much of his life as a missionary in Ireland.  It’s said he brought Christianity to the Emerald Isle. Eventually, he was named as the Bishop of Irish Christians.

 

Did I say three patron saints?  Yep, besides St Patrick, there’s Brigit of Kildare and Columba.

 

We all know the Shamrock (clover leaf) is the symbol of Ireland, but did you know the three leaves represent the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?

 

Another nugget: The name shamrock derives from the Gaelic word seamróg, meaning little clover.

 

And, by the way, St Patty’s day is a feast day, not a drink until the Guinness barrel runs dry and you have to switch to Jameson day, so today The Careless Cook offers a wonderful Irish feast, with a touch of Irish drink! Beef and Guinness Stew!

 

Beef and Guinness Stew (You’re going to need a large stew pot)

 

Heat Oven to 325ºF or 160ºC

 

Ingredients

 

2 tablespoons (or a wee bit more) of olive oil

2 ½ pounds of beef cut into small cubes

Salt and pepper to taste

3 minced garlic cloves

2 large sweet onions, diced

4 carrots, sliced into ½ inch thick rounds (about 5 cups)

2 large stalks of celery sliced (about 3 cups)

2 cups sliced mushrooms

6 ounces of bacon, chopped

3 (or more) tablespoons flour

1 can of Guinness (14.9 oz)

4 tablespoons tomato paste (buy a tube of tomato paste, keeps better)

4 cups (one full carton) of beef broth (plus more beef extract to enrich the flavor)

Fresh thyme, or substitute any herb you like.  I used a handful of fresh thyme and also 3-4 heaping tablespoons of Herbs de Provence.

 

Puttin’ It Together

 

I kept the instructions to five steps, so my faithful readers only need to count on one hand.  Oh, yes, I am considerate.

 

1.    Fry the bacon in the stew pot and cook until almost crisp and set aside.

2.    Add the mushrooms to the pot and cook until most of the water is gone.

3.    Add all the vegetables and cook until the carrots are wilted.  Take out and set aside.

4.    Sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper, add it to the pot and cook until the meat is browned. Add the olive oil if needed. 

5.    Add everything to the stew pot, stir in the flour, then add the Guinness and beef broth, carrots and herbs and bring to a boil, then cover the pot and put it in the oven for three hours or longer.

 

 

I served the stew over rice, with some sliced raw onion on top.

 

Note 1: Taste the stew and add beef extract for more richness.

 

Note 2: Should you want to thicken your stew (I did!), dip out some stew broth in a small bowl and mix in two or three tablespoons of flour.  Mix until the lumps are gone and add it back into the stew. Stir well.

As you can see, making the stew memorable is not about following the recipe as much as it is following your taste buds!

 

Are you ready for the Jameson yet?  Me neither.  Time to pop another can of Guinness!  Sláinte!  Means Health in Gaelic and pronounced Slan-cha.

 

Want to feel more Irish? A few tidbits:  

 

What about Erin Go Bragh?  It means Ireland to the end of time and dates back to an Irish rebellion of 1798.

 

Why wear green on St Patrick’s Day?  Well, a couple of reasons.  Ireland is called The Emerald Isle and a stripe of green is on the Irish flag.  Traditionally, green is worn by Catholics and orange by Protestants.  Be careful if you’re in the wrong Irish neighborhood!