A few years ago, we were invited to a very cool retro summer party: cocktails and appetizers from the 60’s, and everyone contributed to the music by bringing in their favorite songs on vinyl.
We were also asked to contribute to the apps, so I brought waffle chips with clam dip.
2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
3 6-oz. cans of chopped clams, drained, liquid reserved from one can
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Combine all the ingredients, except the clam liquid, in a bowl and mix them well with a fork.
Add 1 tablespoon of the clam liquid and mix well. Keep adding the clam liquid until the dip reaches a consistency you like.
Back in the 80’s, I worked at a radio station in Mobile, Alabama. My New York buddies thought I was crazy to move to the South, but that’s where the job was. When they realized that I was only a 2-hour ride from New Orleans, I wasn’t so crazy after all! What a great town. I spent every possible weekend there: the food, the music, the people…
When I moved to Rhode Island, I really missed all the fun of the Big Easy. So I decided to have a Mardi Gras party every year. I’d invite 80+ people, and I cooked all of the dishes myself. I made all the classics: red beans and rice, crawfish etouffe, gumbo, Cajun chicken (my own recipe), and, of course, jambalaya.
For the seasoning mix:
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
I find it easier to measure and chop all the ingredients before I start cooking.
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions, in all
1 1/2 cups finely chopped celery, in all
1 1/2 cups good quality chopped ham
1 1/2 cups chopped andouille sausage (Here in RI, I use local Portuguese chourico from Mello’s in Fall River, MA)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper sauce (I use Frank’s Red Hot)
3/4 cup tomato sauce made from pureed whole tomatoes
2 cups uncooked rice (I like Texmati brown basmati rice)
3 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade)
1 lb. peeled and de-veined wild-caught American shrimp
Over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan. Add 3/4 cup of the onions and 3/4 cup of the celery. Cook until the onions are translucent.
Stir in the seasoning mix, then the chopped ham and the chourico, and then the cayenne pepper sauce. Cook until the onions are a dark brown, about 20 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the remaining 3/4 cup of the onions and celery. Cook about 5 minutes.
Open a can of whole tomatoes and puree them in a food processor to make sauce. Add 3/4 cup of this and cook for about 5 minutes.
Stir in the rice, mixing well. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 12 minutes.
Add the chicken stock, stir well, and bring it all to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, over very low heat until the rice is tender but firm, about 15 minutes.
Remove the cover, toss in the shrimp, stir, then put the cover back on and cook for 5 minutes more.
Sometimes it’s hard to get wild-caught American shrimp at my local seafood store or supermarket. But for me, buying tiger shrimp or other Asian products is not an option. Once I learned about how they are farmed, I decided I’d never eat those shrimp again!
When I find wild-caught American shrimp locally, I buy extra to keep in the freezer. (The better supermarkets, like Whole Foods, have them.) For many years, I bought my shrimp online from http://www.cajungrocer.com. Not only will you find shrimp there, you’ll find many other Cajun classics: King cakes, Turduckens, andouille and alligator sausage, even live crawfish. And the price of their shrimp, even with shipping, is the same as the nasty Asian shrimp you buy in the store. Make some room in your freezer, order large to save, and stock up on the real deal!
Sure, it’s Super Bowl Sunday, but Fat Tuesday is just 2 days away! Why not celebrate it early?
If I asked you to name a cocktail that defines New Orleans, you might say The Hurricane. After all, it’s a tourist favorite at the famous Pat O’Brien’s on Bourbon Street.
But the official cocktail of New Orleans is the Sazerac, a potent concoction that was created early in the 19th century by Antoine Amédée Peychaud, a Creole apothecary who emigrated to New Orleans from the West Indies and set up shop in the French Quarter. He was known to dispense a proprietary mix of aromatic bitters from an old family recipe, now famously known as Peychaud’s bitters.
Sazerac ingredients.
Around 1850, Sewell T. Taylor sold his New Orleans bar, the Merchants Exchange Coffee House, to become an importer of spirits, and he began to import a brand of cognac named Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils. Meanwhile, Aaron Bird assumed proprietorship of the Merchants Exchange and changed its name to Sazerac Coffee House.
Legend has it that Bird began serving the “Sazerac Cocktail,” made with Sazerac cognac imported by Taylor, and allegedly with bitters being made by the local apothecary, Antoine Amedie Peychaud. The Sazerac Coffee House subsequently changed hands several times, until around 1870, when Thomas Handy became its proprietor. It is around this time that the primary ingredient in a Sazerac changed from cognac to rye whiskey, due to the phylloxera epidemic in Europe that devastated the vineyards of France.
At some point before his death in 1889, Handy recorded the recipe for the cocktail, which made its first printed appearance in William T. Boothby’s “The World’s Drinks and How to Mix Them” in 1908, although his recipe calls for Selner bitters, not Peychaud’s. After absinthe was banned in the United States in 1912, it was replaced by various anise-flavored liqueurs, most notably the locally produced Herbsaint, which first appeared in 1934.
In March 2008, Louisiana state senator Edwin R. Murray filed Senate Bill 6 designating the Sazerac as Louisiana’s official state cocktail. The bill was defeated on April 8, 2008. But, after further debate, on June 23, 2008, the Louisiana Legislature agreed to proclaim the Sazerac as New Orleans’ official cocktail.
The Sazerac, served at the Sazerac Bar in New Orleans.It’s always more fun when someone makes your drink for you!
Peychaud’s bitters are now owned by the Buffalo Trace distillery, home of many a fine bourbon, and also the makers of Sazerac rye, a registered trademark. So the Sazerac Bar has to pay a fee to use the name. That also explains why they use Sazerac rye in their version of this classic cocktail.
But like many popular drinks, everybody has their own version of a Sazerac. In fact, if you Google the drink, you’ll find dozens of versions: with cognac, rye, or bourbon (or even a combination)…with a sugar cube or simple syrup…and with a variety of absinthes.
Note: you can buy simple syrup–I prefer it in this recipe over sugar cubes–but it’s easy to make at home. Simply combine a cup of sugar with a cup of water in a saucepan and heat it until all the sugar dissolves. I keep my simple syrup in the fridge in a sealed container.
2 oz. rye whiskey (I use Old Overholt ) 1/2 oz. simple syrup 3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters Absinthe, to rinse, about 1/4 oz. (I use Herbsaint) garnish lemon peel
Add ice to a rocks glass to chill it. (I also put it in the freezer.)
While it’s chilling, get a cocktail mixing glass, add some ice, and combine the rye, simple syrup, and the bitters, and stir. (Thirty times, according to tradition.)
Take the rocks glass out of the freezer, pour the ice out, and pour the Herbsaint into the glass, swirling it around to coat the glass, then pouring out the excess.
Strain the mix of rye, simple syrup, and bitters into the rocks glass with the Herbsaint.
Run a lemon peel around the rim of the glass and garnish with it.
For me, rye, specifically Old Overholt, is the down-and-dirty way to go. After all, this is not a kiddy drink. A few sips, and you’re feeling no pain.
A Sazerac at the Napoleon House in New Orleans.
Though sipping a Sazerac in New Orleans is an amazing experience in itself, and I’ve had it at the SazeracBar as well as the Napoleon House and other bars in NOLA…perhaps my craziest Sazerac experience happened at the famous White Horse Tavern in New York City, the Big Apple’s second oldest continuously running bar. (It opened in 1880.) I think this is where I was told to use Old Overholt in my Sazerac, and have ever since.
Dylan Thomas was a regular there, and other celebrities, like Norman Mailer, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, and Hunter S. Thompson also had drinks there. So it’s probably not surprising that my buddy, Lee, and I overindulged on Sazeracs at this historic tavern.
It was a very cold winter’s night in the late 1980’s–a blizzard, in fact–and we decided to go out drinking in the city, because I was back home in New York on holiday vacation from Alabama, where I was working at the time. We had more than our share of Sazeracs, when we decided we would walk to a new eatery called the Gulf Coast, located on the west side. (All we knew was that the restaurant was about 10 blocks from where we were, but after 4 Sazeracs, “where we were” was questionable, to say the least.)
Now, this was before the internet–before cell phones–before Uber–and no cabs were running (because it was a blizzard, after all)–so we decided we would walk! Not the smartest thing we’ve ever done. It only took a few blocks for us to realize, even in our drunken stupor, that we made a very bad choice! We were certain that we would be found, huddled and frozen in an alley somewhere, only after the spring thaw.
The storm was so bad, we couldn’t even find our way back to the bar. Miraculously, somehow, we did make it to the Gulf Coast, and we lived to tell the tale.
As Homer Simpson once said: “To alcohol…the cause of, and cure for, all of life’s problems!”
Sazeracs. Try your first one at home. Or take an Uber!
Fat Tuesday is coming up! This is a great recipe to cook up if you’ve got friends coming over for the Super Bowl. Let’s do some Cajun-style cookin’! Poo-yah! I garonteee!
I lived in Mobile, Alabama, back in the late 80’s, and if you asked the locals, they’d quickly tell you that Mardi Gras originated in Mobile, not New Orleans.
Joe Caine paraded through the streets of Mobile dressed in a Native American costume in 1868, and is credited for our current way of observing the Mardi Gras celebration. Of course, it’s hard not to think of New Orleans when you hear the phrase “Mardi Gras,” and I spent many a weekend on the streets and bars of the Crescent City back in the mid-80’s…actually was part of a Mardi Gras parade one year.
It was then that I fell in love with Cajun food, and needed to learn how to cook it. I bought cookbooks by two of the greats: Justin Wilson and Paul Prudhomme. I learned about layers of seasoning, and often I’d use those ideas in my own dishes.
When I moved to Rhode Island in 1990, I had yearly Mardi Gras parties at my house, and I cooked massive batches of these Cajun chicken breasts, using a spice mix I honed from my cooking experiments.
Double-dipping in the seasoned flour is a messy step, but it makes them extra crunchy and flavorful.
You can make this recipe gluten-free, simply by using a GF flour instead of the all-purpose flour.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
4 eggs
oil for frying (I like using a high smoke point oil like avocado or grape seed)
Cut the chicken breasts into manageable pieces, about 3″ square. If they’re too thick, slice them horizontally to make two thinner breasts. You want them about 1/4″ thick. A piece of chicken that’s too thick won’t cook all the way through. Plus, you want more crunchy crust per bite…trust me!
Combine the flour, salt, paprika, onion, garlic, basil, black pepper, thyme, white pepper, and cayenne in a bowl. Mix well.
Separate the 4 eggs, scrambling 2 eggs in each of 2 separate bowls. This keeps the first bowl “clean” and not gummed up with flour. You’ll see what I mean once you start, because it’s a bit messy. So, crack 2 eggs in the first bowl and the other 2 eggs in the second bowl. Scramble them up and put the bowls on either side of the seasoned flour bowl.
Pre-heat a pan of oil or a fryer to 350 degrees.
Dip the chicken in the first egg bowl and then the seasoned flour mixture. Shake off the excess flour and dip the chicken in the second egg bowl, making sure the flour is covered by egg. Then dip the chicken back into the flour for a second coat. I like to bread all of my chicken pieces before I start frying them so that I can get my hands clean for the next step.
Carefully place the chicken in the pan. Don’t overcrowd the pan. Work in batches. Fry the chicken until it’s cooked all the way through and golden brown. Drain on a wire rack or paper towels.
Nothing like a hot, fresh batch!
If you need to feed a crowd, just double or triple the recipe. I used to make a 10x batch for my Mardi Gras parties!
I’ve gotten a few requests for my chicken fried rice recipe. Not sure if it’s authentic Asian, but I use a lot of the flavors and veggies that I find in chicken fried rice when I get takeout. It’s really not a difficult thing to do, but it does take some work, chopping everything up and getting it ready.
I don’t have a wok, and I don’t think it’s necessary. As long as you have a pan that’s big enough to hold everything at the end, you’re good to go.
All the Asian ingredients can be found in any supermarket. And if you want this dish to be gluten-free, use GF soy sauce and hoisin sauce. La Choy and Kikkoman make them.
I like to start by sautéing all the veggies, then removing them from the pan, putting them in a separate bowl, and then continuing with the chicken. It seems like the best order of business for me.
They say that you should use day-old rice, so, if you plan on making this recipe, boil up some rice the day before, and put it in the fridge. I like to use jasmine rice, but use whatever rice you like.
All measurements for this recipe are approximate. Again, add more of what you like, and take away what you don’t.
Don’t be afraid to explore the international aisle in your supermarket as well as the produce section for interesting veggies that you can add to this dish. I’m not a fan of water chestnuts, but that’s one option. And if you don’t like the little corn cobs, add some frozen corn. Bok choy, mushrooms, and scallions are all great choices.
1 small onion, finely chopped 1cup of finely chopped cabbage 1/2 can of small Asian corn cobs, chopped 1 cup or more chopped broccoli 1 cup mung bean sprouts or pea shoots 1 cup frozen peas (optional)
3 cups of cooked rice 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breast, cut into small cubes 2 eggs
To make the marinade, combine the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, Chinese garlic sauce, and sesame oil in a bowl.
Cut the chicken breasts into small 1/2-inch cubes and place them in a bowl. Add the marinade to the chicken, and make sure the meat is coated well. Let it marinate for a couple of hours at room temperature, or in the fridge if you need more time.
Get a large pan that will hold everything and put it on high heat. Add an oil with a high smoke point, like peanut oil, avocado oil or grapeseed oil.
Add the onions to the pan and sauté until they’re translucent. Add the cabbage, and let it wither. Add the corn cobs and sauté for a few minutes. Add the chopped broccoli, and continue to sauté. You can add the bean sprouts now, or save them for later if you want them to be very crunchy. Save the peas for later.
When the veggies have softened, pour them into a bowl and return the pan to the stove top. Add a little more oil and let it heat up.
Add the chicken pieces to the pan, pouring in all the marinade with it. Make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked, and just starts to caramelize.
Scramble the two eggs in a small bowl and add them to the pan, constantly moving the chicken and eggs around to fully cook the eggs.
Add the rice to the pan and mix everything thoroughly. Then return the veggies and mix thoroughly again.
This is where you taste everything. Add what you think it needs. Maybe it’s some soy sauce…maybe a little hoisin…maybe salt and pepper…maybe a little sesame oil. Maybe more of everything! It’s up to your individual taste.
Toss the fried rice with the added seasonings, then add the bean sprouts and the peas, giving it one more good mix.
This chicken fried rice is great as meal in itself, and leftovers are always welcome.
I’ve had Clams Casino in many different forms. Back when I worked in Italian restaurants in New York, we would make a breadcrumb mixture, press it onto a freshly opened whole clam, and then place a small piece of bacon on top before it went into the oven. It was good, but the clam often stuck to the shell, and many people didn’t want to gulp down a whole clam like that.
Oyster knife (left) and a clam knife (right.) Different tools for different jobs.
When it was time for me to make my own recipe, I decided that I would chop the clams and mix them into the breadcrumb mix, so that every bite was the same.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion (about a 1/2 an onion)
2 garlic cloves, squeezed through a garlic press
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup unflavored bread crumbs
1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Freshly cracked black pepper
2 dozen medium sized clams
1/3 lb. bacon, cut in small squares to fit the clam shells
Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onions, and sauté them until they’re translucent. Add the garlic, and cook for 10 seconds. Add the wine and simmer for a minute. Add the bread crumbs, and stir the mixture until it becomes thicker, like a paste. Add the parsley and oregano. Season with pepper. (There’s going to be plenty of salt in the clam juice and bacon, so no salt is needed.)
The bread crumb mixture.
Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool.
It’s time to open the clams. If you know how to do that, open them over a sieve with a bowl underneath so that the clam meats and juices are captured. Discard any broken shells, but save the good ones.
If you struggle with opening clams, this method makes it a little easier: Bring a large pot of water to boil, and drop the clams into it, about 10 at a time, for 30 seconds. Don’t let them open! Remove the clams with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl to cool. Continue doing this in small batches until all the clams have been in the water. You’ll find this makes opening the clams much easier. Then proceed as above.
Once you’ve shucked all the clams, let the clam juice sit for a bit, so that any grit settles to the bottom of the bowl. Then pour off the clean clam juice and add it to your bread crumb mixture. (Don’t worry if it looks soggy at this point.)
Looking a little soggy, but that’s OK.
I like to hand chop the clam meats instead of using a food processor. You want tasty clam chunks, not too big, but not mush. Add the clams to the the bread crumb mix.
At this point, if the clam mix looks very soggy, simply add a little more bread crumb to dry it out.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line a large baking sheet with foil. Separate the clam shell halves and wash them, making sure you don’t have any shell fragments left in the clam shell. Fill them with the clam mixture, mounding them slightly, and placing each one on the baking sheet.
Clams and bacon…delicious!
Cut the bacon in small squares to fit the clam shells. Place a small piece of raw bacon on the top of each clam.
Bake until the clams are just cooked through, the topping is golden, and the bacon is cooked, about 30 minutes.
This makes a great appetizer, but it’s hard to just eat a few!
Chimichurri is a garlicky, herby green sauce usually used with grilled meats. This pesto-like condiment originated in Argentina and is also commonly used in Nicaragua and Uruguay. Though some recipes include cilantro, many people insist the original is made only with parsley. To pack an extra punch, chimichurri also makes an excellent marinade for grilled meats.
My buddy, Lee, a chemist and avid chimichurri fan, is the inspiration for my version of this sauce. It’s incredibly easy to make. Just make sure to use fresh ingredients, and it’s always a good idea to wash all the veggies before using, even if you’re going organic.
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup water
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3–4 tablespoons fresh oregano, leaves only (or 1 tablespoon dry)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon crushed bay leaf
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Place all the parsley and the water in a food processor and begin to chop, pulsing for a second at a time. When the parsley is in small pieces, stop pulsing and add the remaining ingredients, except the vinegar and olive oil. Start the processor on a full run now, and slowly pour in the vinegar, then the olive oil. Try not to make it too smooth…leave some tasty bits. Allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes, but overnight in the fridge is best.
I marinated 2 grass-fed beef ribeyes in chimichurri overnight, simply smearing the meat with the sauce, and placing the ribeyes in a resealable plastic bag in the fridge. The next day, I let the beef come to room temperature and I wiped the marinade off. I discarded the marinade, then I re-seasoned the beef with a little salt and pepper and pan seared them, finishing them in a 350-degree oven until medium-rare. A little dipping of fresh chimichurri on the side.
Grass-fed beef ribeyes with chimichurri
Lots of fresh parsley is key!
I recently saw a recipe that had some chimichurri ingredients but also included avocado, and thought: now that sounds tasty! It’s not the classic recipe, of course, but it is delicious! I can see this used as a dip for veggies or chips. The fresh lime juice keeps the avocado from browning.
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped oregano, or 1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 Hass avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
Kosher salt
In a medium bowl, whisk the olive oil with the lime juice, garlic and a pinch of salt. Stir in the parsley and oregano and let it stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Fold in the avocado and season with salt.
Avocado “chimi.” Chunky and tasty.
This “chimi” can be refrigerated for up to 4 hours.
There’s something about Asian noodle dishes that make them incredibly addictive. They’re great hot or cold, and easy to make at home. I store an arsenal of basic Asian ingredients in my pantry, so slapping this together is no effort at all. And if you don’t have Asian noodles around, chances are you’ve got a box of pasta, which works just as well.
Next time you’ve got a bunch of people coming over, cook a batch a few hours beforehand and let it come to room temperature. It’s great with anything, really. Grab a bag of frozen egg rolls or some potstickers, and you’ve got great munchies for your guests.
Adding boiled and chilled shrimp to these noodles makes it a cool meal. I usually double the sauce recipe when I do that.
If you need to go gluten-free, use GF pasta…and you can find gluten-free hoisin sauce in the Asian food section of most supermarkets.
4 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon Chinese chili garlic sauce (more, if you like it spicy!)
16 oz. package Chinese noodles or pasta
Combine the peanut butter, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and chili garlic sauce in a bowl. Set it aside. I keep my peanut butter in the fridge once the jar is open, so sometimes it’s a bit thick. So I just zap it in the microwave for about 10 seconds to soften it up.
Boil the noodles or pasta until al dente. Drain it and place it in a large bowl.
When I first told my friends that I grew up in a Lithuanian family, that we only spoke Lithuanian at the dinner table, that I went to Lithuanian Saturday school for 8 years, that I was a Lithuanian boy scout…they looked at me with a bit of disbelief. On the surface, I looked just like any other American-born kid that grew up in the suburbs. But the home life was vastly different.
Few things were stranger to my friends than the food we ate. While all my “American” friends had PB&J’s for lunch, I had a liverwurst sandwich on dark Lithuanian bread. While my friends struggled with broccoli, I was force-fed beets. And while my friends ate macaroni with jarred tomato sauce or Kraft mac & cheese, my Mom served us macaroni with sour cream and butter. (Nobody called it pasta back then.)
Few things prove you are a true Lithuanian more than an appetite for herring. (Silke (sil-keh) in Lithuanian.) I loved it at an early age. Didn’t matter if it was in a cream sauce with onions, in a tomato casserole with chopped boletes, or perhaps my favorite: this appetizer my Mom prepared only twice a year when my Dad’s buddies came over to play rounds of bridge all night.
Years later, when I was just out of college and in my first years of radio, I shared an apartment with my college buddy, Don. One evening, I prepared this dish for him when he came home from work. We both had the next day off (smart move, considering the vodka!) and I explained to him my family history behind this strange-looking appetizer. (I don’t think he’d ever had herring before.) Though it looked bizarre, he knew he had to trust me when it came to food, and he popped one of those bites into his mouth. I could see he wasn’t sure whether he liked it or not…a moment of many sensations hitting him all at once…confusion in his eyes…do I spit it out or swallow it?…so I poured him the vodka. He swallowed the food…took a shot of the vodka…and instantly had a moment of clarity. It all came together. It was indeed magical. I’ll never forget that look on his face!
There are a few basic ingredients that make this appetizer work…
First and foremost, you need a bottle of good vodka in the freezer. Despite their lack of love for anything Russian, Lithuanians like their vodka, and Stolichnaya was my Dad’s favorite back in the day. Even now, with hundreds of vodkas to choose from, I still go to the red-labeled Stoli bottle for this dish. (Though it’s now distilled in Latvia.) I find a space in the freezer…jam that bottle in there…and let it get nice and cold.
Obviously, good quality herring is essential. Though I can get them fresh when I’m back home on Long Island, the usual choice is from a jar. For me, there’s no better quality than Acme products out of Brooklyn, NY. (If you saw the episode of “Bizarre Foods America” with Andrew Zimmern where he visited a salmon processing plant in Brooklyn, that was Acme SmokedFish.) You can find them in many supermarkets. The excellent Blue Hill Bay herring in dill sauce is an Acme product and can be found at Whole Foods.
Next: hard-boiled eggs that have cooled in the fridge. Get out the old egg slicer that’s been sitting in the kitchen drawer for the last decade and use it for this appetizer.
Red onion, sliced thin. How much you use is up to you. But it’s gotta be red and it’s gotta be raw.
And finally, Lithuanian bread. Yes, there is such a thing. It’s easy to find in most Polish or German food stores in the New York area. I also recently discovered an Eastern European food store in Hyannis, on Cape Cod, where I can stock up . I buy a loaf and then keep it in the freezer to enjoy throughout the year. Lithuanian bread is like the lovechild of rye bread and pumpernickel, so either one of those will work in a pinch.
To make the appetizer, simply place a small piece of Lithuanian bread, about 1 1/2″ square, on a plate. Place a slice of hard-boiled egg on top of it. On top of that, some red onion. Then finally, a piece of herring.
Pop the whole thing in your mouth, and wash it down with a small amount of frozen vodka. No shots–this isn’t a frat house. Besides, you won’t make it to the end of dinner. Then again, you may not care at that point!
I never learned how to play bridge, but I’m sure my Dad would be proud that I remembered this treat.
Few dishes scream out “comfort food” like meatloaf. My Mom’s meatloaf was awesome, and she’d cut a huge slab of it onto my plate, with fantastic butter-loaded Pennsylvania Dutch egg noodles on the side. I couldn’t stop eating it.
I never thought of making meatloaf when I moved away, because it gave my Mom something special to make for me when I came home to visit. She was thrilled that there was a dish she could make that I would devour every time, without hesitation. (The others were her roasted lamb and Lithuanian pierogis called koldūnai (kol-doon-ay).
But Mom has passed away years ago, so I’ve taken meatloaf matters into my own hands. I never got my Mom’s exact recipe. But I had an idea of what went into it, so I gave it a shot.
The standard mix for my Mom’s meatloaf was one-third each ground beef, pork and veal. I go 2/3’s beef and 1/3 pork instead, unless I can get my hands on humanely-raised veal from a farm down the road. My Mom used Lipton onion soup mix in her meatloaf. I chose to stay away from packaged ingredients which have chemicals and preservatives. And instead of layering slices of bacon on top as many people do, I fry and chop the bacon and mix it into the meat, giving my meatloaf delicious smokey bacon goodness in every bite!
To keep this dish gluten-free, I use GF breadcrumbs. I buy loaves of Udi’s frozen gluten-free bread, toast the bread slices, then put them in a food processor to make great-tasting bread crumbs that have all the flavor of regular bread crumbs, without the gluten.
4 strips bacon, fried and chopped
1 yellow onion, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
pork fat or olive oil
2 lbs. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup ketchup
2 eggs
Fry the strips of bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan and chop it fine. Set it aside.
Keeping the rendered bacon fat in the pan, sauté the onion with it until translucent. Add the salt, pepper and garlic. Set the pan aside, letting it cool to room temperature.
In a bowl, combine the meat, bread crumbs, ketchup, bacon, eggs, and the sautéed onion mixture. Form it into a loaf and place it in a loaf pan. Bake at 350 for about an hour.
Delicious, caramelized meatloaf. Leftovers are always welcome!
Live the Live ™ 