Author Archives: Renate Valencia

Mushy Peas, Please!

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Mushy peas side dish in red earthenware saucepan
Mushy peas, a British standard, is overlooked here in the US.

Comforting and easy to make, the dish works well as a side to something crispy, like fish & chips (surprise!) or fried chicken.

While the authentic version is made from marrowfat peas — mature and field-dried — this one uses plain old frozen peas, offers savory oomph via chicken stock and white onion, and is easily altered to suit your liking.

You’ll be sorry if you use canned peas.  While this dish is no misnomer, you’ll want some texture.

Mushy Peas
2 pounds frozen peas (not the little fancy ones)
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup roughly chopped white onion, rinsed (this removes some of the sharpness)
1 tablespoon sugar
Couple dashes white pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt (depending upon saltiness of stock)
5 young mint leaves — no stems!!!
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (or a few fine gratings of whole nutmeg)

1).  Simmer all except butter, cream, nutmeg and mint shreds over low heat, covered, until peas are soft.
2).  Drain liquids into cup and drink later.  Why waste?
3).  Blend butter and cream into peas using an immersion blender, but leave peas reasonably chunky.
4).  Heat through over low heat, if needed.
5).  Check seasoning.
6).  Serve topped with a few mint shreds.

Note:  If you want to serve this as pea soup, leave the liquids in.  You may need to add a little more stock to thin out the soup.  See how it goes.  RPWXM2H8ZUF7

Grocery Outlet: A must for the serious cook

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Three bottles of La Tourangelle Roasted Hazelnut Oil from Grocery Outlet in Berkeley.

Three bottles of La Tourangelle Roasted Hazelnut Oil from Grocery Outlet in Berkeley

Some of my friends laugh when I tell them about Grocery Outlet (2001 Fourth Street, Berkeley).  They think it’s downmarket. Fine with me, because that gives me, and other serious food people, less competition for the all the high-end and otherwise wonderful products a person can find there.

Case in point:  La Tourangelle Roasted Hazelnut Oil for $3.99 a bottle last Tuesday.  I kid you not.  This stuff is upwards of $15 a bottle elsewhere.

They had about 15 bottles, total, and I took 3.  I wanted to take more but I didn’t want to be greedy.  I later saw two yuppies with 3 bottles each, and then a couple of people in line behind me saw the oil in my cart, asked where I got it, and then made a mad dash and brought back 3 bottles apiece.  That pretty much took care of the stock on that product.

Now, I have gotten many serious bargains at Grocery Outlet, but this was the best I ever did.

If you know your products you cannot go wrong.  Look at everything in every aisle to get an idea of the place, and then come back at regular intervals so you know what they tend to have and what’s fleeting.

They carry store brands from around the US, and numerous Canadian and European products, too, like Sandstede Westphalian ham from Deutschland that’s sold under the bizarre name of “Black Forest Prosciutto” on our shores.  Prosciutto is cured only.  American-style Black Forest ham is more like pedestrian deli ham than anything they’d be eating in the Black Forest.  Westphalian schinken (ham), on the other hand,  is both cured and lightly smoked.  Kind of an assertive, dry, slightly-smoky prosciutto.   It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing and not so easy to find.  When it’s $1.99 here (for 3.5 ounces) I and the other Germans in the ‘hood clean them out.

You may see huge bags of grated cheese of middling quality next to a small carton of 4-year-old Cheddar or Vintage Gouda.

I’m not gonna tell you anything else.

Two products I avoid at Costco and why

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I buy a significant amount of my “stuff” at Costco, but now and then I do come up with a problem product.  Not often, but once every few years.

Here are two products I won’t buy:

Kirkland brand Environmentally Friendly Liquid Dish Soap.  It works fine, but I can’t find a decent way to dispense it.  It does not come with a refillable bottle, and perhaps here’s why:  no matter how large the hole on whatever dispenser bottle I use, it gets hopelessly clogged within a few days.  I have tried numerous dispenser bottles, and I always find myself having to jam a wooden skewer into the hole to unclog it.  Really annoying.  While I could make the hole in a bottle huge, I would wind up wasting product, which is not, you know, environmentally friendly.

Men’s black Adidas ankle socks.  Nice socks, but if you have a light carpet, you will have sock fuzz all over your house and will be vacuuming every day.  I have never seen worse fuzz from any other black socks.  You have been warned.

While we’re on the subject, I bought a Plantronics Explorer 395 Bluetooth headset at Costco that I have never been able to pair with my phone.  Not Costco’s fault as I should have brought it right back to the store.  Costco is great about returns, but can’t help with customer stupidity.

 

Bye, Bye, Holidays — and a Crazy Stuffing Recipe for Next Year

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Marker drawing of retro White Castle burger stand

Marker drawing of a White Castle burger restaurant

The holidays are over. Although I have several marzipan pigs and some cranberry sparklers hanging around, everything else is a memory. The turkey. The New York strip roast. Many cheeses. The creamed spinach and Yorkshire pudding. God knows how many cookies. All gone.

My final holiday act will be to tell you about a twisted Thanksgiving recipe.

While perusing the coupon insert in my local newspaper ’round November, I caught the words “stuffing” and “White Castle” in the same glance. “No,” I thought. “It can’t be.” It was. A stuffing recipe calling for 10 broken up White Castle hamburgers.

The recipe includes celery, spices and chicken broth and is cooked in the cavity of the bird. It was the 1991 White Castle Cook-off winner.

You know about White Castle, right? If you grew up in the New York metropolitan area or another city the company set up shop, you know it isn’t just about boxes of frozen burgers at supermarkets. Or a Harold and Kumar movie.

White Castle was the first fast food burger chain in the US. It opened its inaugural stand in Wichita, Kansas in 1921. The company is still family-owned, according to its website, and continues to crank out small, malleable — they’re “steam-grilled” — and distinctively potent and addictive hamburgers. Lest you think the product is “less than,” know that these people served their billionth hamburger in 1961.

Nowadays the company calls its basic, cheeseless burger “The Original Slider.”

The frozen supermarket jobs didn’t come on the scene until 1987. Brilliant idea, really. A frozen White Castle burger is the one food in the universe that’s just about as good microwaved as served hot off the line.

Still, White Castle burger stuffing pushes the boundaries of product-driven recipe development to a place few may wish to venture.

Consider Philadelphia Cream Cheese cookbooks. While you can add Philadelphia Cream Cheese to just about any dish to its benefit or at least without causing harm, White Castle hamburgers are a whole other ball game.

The mere mention of this brand — synonymous in my house with “belly bomb” — tends to evoke strong feelings in the initiated. My parents used to go to the White Castle in Bayside, Queens, when they dated in the 1950s. They’d eat 25 oniony burgers between them — bringing to life the old White Castle slogan, “Buy ’em by the sack.”

As a kid in the 1960s and 1970s, they took me to the same White Castle — and it’s still there. Until 1972, when the company discontinued curbside service, we’d eat in the Cutlass Supreme, courtesy of the carhops.

It’s difficult to describe the White Castle hamburger experience. Because they’re small, you can eat quite a few. Because they’re savory, it’s hard to stop. When you’ve had one slider too many things start to unravel without warning. It’s like drinking tequila. One goes from partying hearty to collapsing on a pile of coats in a strange bedroom in seconds.

The stuffing, well, I may have to give it a try next year just for insanity of it.

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek

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Prime Ribeye steak at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Prime Ribeye at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Prime beef is about the only thing that’ll get me on a freeway, over a bridge or through a tunnel — even as a passenger. So, it was with alternating visions of rare ribeye and my lifeless body being pried off SR 24 that I sat in our Honda Civic as it barrelled through the Caldecott Tunnel toward Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek recently.

Hubby Steve and I were treated to a phenomonal media dinner there.

Fleming’s is a smallish, upscale national brand with some 65 locations. It’s owned by OSI Restaurants, which also owns Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Grill, Bonefish Grill and Roy’s.

Because it was early in the week and early in the evening, parking was a breeze. Fleming’s offers valet service, however, so you don’t ever have to worry about it.

It’s a comfy, dimly lit fine steakhouse. Not manly, but lots of wood and a rich color scheme.

Hanging bowl lighting fixtures of an impressive diameter cast a burnished glow over the large dining room as we were warmly greeted and escorted to a plush corner booth near the semi-open kitchen.

Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA -- interior

Interior of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Our server, Erin, introduced herself, menued us and pointed out the chardonnay-feta and sun-dried tomato butters that came with the warm bread she hooked us up with right off the bat. Steve ordered iced tea and I asked for a glass of wine along the lines of a Sangiovese, which turned out to be a nicely bodied, mildly acidic, berry-noted Spanish red: Palacios Remondo Rioja Vendimia 2009.

Fleming’s offers 100 wines by the glass — handy for those of us who eat with people who don’t drink wine.

We liked the chardonnay-feta spread. The mellow funk and mild bite of feta is always nice with bread and wine.

Steven waiting for his meal at Fleming's Steakhouse in Walnut Creek, CA

Steven at Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

We stretched out in our roomy booth and took in the space, enjoying the vibe and quiet, friendly service. The music was pleasant and unobtrusive. We were seriously relaxed.

Fine steakhouses are big comfort all the way. In old movies men like Robert Mitchum took women to steakhouses. “Let’s go for a juicy steak,” they’d say. They always got the girl.

After conferring with Erin, who helped us choose menu items that would give us a good overview in one meal, we went with a small plate, a salad, two steaks, two sides and a dessert. We were going to order one steak but thought it best to try two different cuts. The truth is I wanted my own steak. I don’t eat steak very often. You know how it is.

Lobster Tempura at Fleming's Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Lobster Tempura at Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

The small-plate-cum-appetizer we selected was Lobster Tempura ($23.50). Four little lobster tails partially attached to their shells were lightly coated and flash-fried. They were sweet, tender and moist. A little jicama and apple salad and a soy-ginger dipping sauce with a toasted sesame oil backdrop accompanied the nice presentation.

This plate o’tails plus a side would make a lovely meal for a person who doesn’t want steak.

Lobster Tempura at Fleming's Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Lobster Tempura at Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

I don’t mean to go on and on, but I’ve had numerous ill-conceived and poorly executed lobster concoctions and approach this kind of dish with the assumption that it’s going to be a waste of lobster. This, however, was spot on. A simple preparation done perfectly.

The Wedge salad ($9.50) arrived next — on a chilled plate with a chilled fork. A section of crisp iceberg lettuce was enrobed in a rich blue cheese dressing and then topped with slivers of red onion, whole grape tomatoes and extra crumbled blue cheese.

A classic steakhouse wedge salad is, in my opinion, one of the greats — and Fleming’s’ take was excellent. Hearty iceberg lettuce, with all its nooks and crannies, served as the backbone. Each addition offered unique sweetness and contrasting texture. Acidity, deep and slightly funky creaminess, sweetness, crunch, bite — they were all there.

Never had a wedge salad? It may not seem like much, but it defines that old saw about something being more than the sum of its parts.

Wedge salad at Fleming's Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Wedge salad at Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Then the steaks came. Steve’s Prime Ribeye ($42.95) and my Bone-in New York ($48.95), a special that night, arrived sizzling and rare. Truly rare. Not rare plus five degrees.

Bone-in New York Steak at Fleming's Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Bone-in New York steak at Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

The ribeye was deeply flavored, silky and tender as buttah. The New York had a little chew, as it should, great beefy flavor, and its ring of fat was nicely crisped-up — courtesy of Fleming’s’ 1600 deg. F. broiler.

They were big, too. My New York was 20 ounces.

Fleming’s beef is USDA Prime — the top of the grading heap. It’s corn-fed and “aged up to four weeks,” according to their website. Ribeye in particular benefits from the significant marbling that defines Prime grade and bumps it into that never-never land of steak fabulousness.

Rare New York Steak at Fleming's Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Rare New York steak at Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Steaks at Fleming’s are seasoned with kosher salt and black pepper and finished with butter. Sauces are available, gratis. We tried all four: Béarnaise, peppercorn, chimichurri and Madeira.

Steak sauces at Fleming's Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Steak sauces at Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

A great steak wants no sauce, but go with the Madeira, if you insist.

Sides are an à la Carte proposition at a steakhouse, and each is usually enough for two — though it’s good to order both the house potatoes, which are generally scalloped, and the house creamed spinach. They’re almost always signature dishes.

We ordered both.

Right after our steaks touched down, two casseroles arrived hot and bubbling over — each with copious amounts of melted cheese on top.

The creamed spinach ($8.50) was the bomb. No kidding. The Fleming’s Potatoes ($8.95), which had a jalapeño kick, were very good, but we fought over the spinach. It was deeply savory and übercreamy — by far the most decadent spinach I ever ate. I’m still trying to recreate it.

Creamed Spinach and Fleming's Potatoes at Fleming's Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Creamed Spinach and Fleming’s Potatoes at Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

We shared a slice of Turtle Pie ($8.50), which was loaded with walnuts. Although it looked as if it would make our teeth scream, the bitter chocolate notes provided balance. Once slice is enough for a party of four après steak and sides.

Turtle Pie at Fleming's Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Turtle Pie at Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Walnut Creek, CA

Erin, who made our meal something special, packed up the leftovers, and we slowly extricated ourselves from our plush coccoon.

We’re definitely going back. For a couple of ex-New Yorkers who hate to drive, that says something.

Berry the Akita looking at the bone from the leftover steak

Guess who got to work on the bone?