Chorizo and the Man

Much like celebrity deaths, good food blog posts come in threes. And so, here is the third and final recipe from my rebel high school reunion weekend. This one comes via Anne (who lives in Milwaukee) via her brother-in-law Pedro (who lives in Washington DC, but is from Puerto Rico) who picked this one up in Spain. Still with me? Good. Chorizo (Spanish, not Mexican),  hard sparkling cider, and an onion.  The good news is, we found the chorizo at my favorite gourmet market, Folgarelli's, and it included a mandatory trip to the best cidery (not to be confused with a cider mill) in Northern Michigan, Tandem Ciders. Located just North of the 45th Parallel, it is a terrific little place that uses local apples from a grove that specializes in antique varieties (which is not to say that they are old apples, just old seeds). Anyway, we served up this tasty treat with some pizza bianca (see What You Talkin' bout Pizza Bianca), but any good crusty bread will do. Have food, will travel.

Chico and the Man, NBC's 1974 answer to CBS' All in the Family. A unique storyline of a west-coast bigot named Ed (played by Jack Albertson) and the young Chicano Chico (played by Freddie Prinze) who shows him the sunny side of  Mexican (not Spanish) East LA. Set in an auto garage, not to be confused with a junkyard (that's another cantankerous old man/young man storyline), courtesy of Jame Komack- who brought us the endearing Courtship of Eddie's Father- after being inspired by a Cheech and Chong skit aptly titled "Pedro and the Man." In the first episode, Chico moves into an abandoned van on Ed's property - I guess we should be glad they didn't name the show "Chico and the Van". Anyway, the show was a hit until Prinze's untimely suicide in 1977. And sadly, the producer's felt the show must go on, and it did for a time but was never the same.


The Recipe:

12 oz Chorizo (if you didn't get the message - Spanish NOT Mexican)
1 large onion, sliced thin
1/2 bottle Cidre (Spanish, NOT Mexican sparkling cider)

Slice the chorizo about 1/8 inch thick (or thin as the case may be) on an angle. Saute in a large pan with the sliced onion until the onion is soft and the chorizo is lightly brown. Add the cidre and simmer a  loooong time until liquid is mostly reduced (30 minutes - hour). Serve with toothpicks and crusty bread. Buen Provecho.

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Joanie Loves Chi-Chi Beans

A by-product of a great girl's/high school rebel reunion weekend is good food. Last year we made beignets (see Beignet There, Done That), this year we decided to do an all app (appetizer, that is) dinner. Regular readers know that our bevy included freshly hunted and picked morels (see Mary Tyler Morels). Next up is a chickpea feta salad, courtesy of my friend Ann via her friend Donna. I met Donna once at a New Year's Eve Party, but because it was a very good party I don't really remember her. That said, her salad is divine. I do love chickpeas, aka chi-chi beans. aka garbanzo beans - whatever you want to call them. I will eat them in salads, I will eat them in soup. I will eat them mashed as hummus. I will eat them on a roof. Eat them, eat them, I will. Add some olive oil, feta cheese (which makes anything better), parsley and garlic and you have a recipe simple in ingredients, complex and satisfying to taste. This would make a perfect go-to salad for any pot luck (you should be so lucky) or summer BBQ. Try it, try it you will.

Joanie Loves Chachi, the most unfortunate spin off of Happy Days (post shark jump, literally and figuratively). In fact, TV Guide named it one of TVs 25 Biggest Blunders ( also on the list, Cousin Oliver, just sayin). Anyway, the premise for the 1982 disaster was Joanie and Chachi move from Milwaukee to Chicago to make it in the music business. Apparently, they didn't go far enough. As a punishment, ABC cancelled the show and made Erin Moran and Scott Baio (BTW, this Joanie really did love Fonzie's nephew) go back for the final season of Happy Days. Lucky for us, Scott Baio bounced back to go on to Charles in Charge. Poor Erin Moran wasn't so lucky, I'm not even sure she ever made it to Battle of the Network Stars. Play this clip and you'll never wonder why they were a flop...

The Recipe:

Serves 6-8 as a side dish

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 tbs olive oil
• Pinch red chili flakes
• 2 400g (14oz) tins of chickpeas
• 4 spring onions (scallions), green part only, chopped
• 1 cup chopped parsley
• Juice of one lemon
• 150g (5 ounces) feta
• Salt and pepper

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook the red onion till lightly golden. Add garlic and chili and cook till the garlic is fragrant. Set aside to cool so it doesn’t melt the feta when you mix it in.

Drain the chickpeas, rinse and place in the salad bowl. Add crumbled feta, spring onion, parsley and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper. Add the cooled onion and garlic mixture and remaining oil and mix well (like at a party where you don't know anyone). Serves 6 to 8 as a side.

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If You Build It, They Will Come

So an amazing event took place in Detroit last week - a grocery store opened in the city. A Whole Foods in Mid-town, to be exact. In no other place on the planet would such an opening be so anticipated (the hype has been rampant for over a year), ballyhooed and celebrated (with marching bands, no less). Lines formed blocks long, TV news crews covered it like a presidential visit, and it was, by all accounts,  truly a circus. Why so much fuss? It's the only grocery store, with fresh meat, organic produce, a cafe and a salad bar in the city. Only in Detroit. And did I mention that the people came in droves? I will admit to being a nay sayer about the whole thing since it was announced - I don't particularly care for the chain in question, and in an economically downtrodden urban area, a store better known as "Whole Paycheck" didn't seem the right fit.  I'd rather have seen a Trader Joe's (but my regular readers know about my on-going affair with Joe). And as such, I stayed away on opening day, but curiosity got the best of me and I went the following morning. The store was still packed, although the lines had abated. People seemed genuinely pleased to be grocery shopping. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe this is the start of something. Is this heaven? No, it's still Detroit.

Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner's (when he WAS Kevin Costner) 1989 baseball film par excellence. In a Iowa cornfield, a farmer down on his luck and about to lose everything, listens to a voice in his head telling him to plow his land into a ball field. Much to the chagrin of his wife and financial advisor, he listens and creates a place for dead major leaguers to reunite and play. At first only he can see the eight men out, but over time his family and friends become believers as well. Of course, it is really all about Costner's character and his unresolved feelings for the father that abandoned him, with a little Shoeless Joe Jackson thrown in for good measure. Nevertheless, a classic baseball film that I watch every time there is a rain out and Fox Sports has to show something (okay, we will get to Bull Durham another time, I promise but never The Natural, I still don't get that one). If you build it, he will come.


The Recipe:

Hope
Faith
Trust
(And, a little pixie dust)

Don't stop believing in Detroit Rock City. Serves 700,000

Mary Tyler Morels

Tis the season for morel mushrooms. Now, I had never moreled before (to the extent I thought we might need a pig to sniff them out, but that is truffles and a totally different head, totally). Anyway, cue high school reunion girl's weekend up north (Michigan, for those not in the know). Luckily, we had an expert on our team (she had harvested some fine Wisconsin specimens the weekend before) so we knew to look in the forest, near dead or dying elm or oak trees, either in the sun or in the shade. There is a reason these things sell for $35.00 a pound! If a needle in a haystack, except with swarming mosquitoes comes to mind, then it was like you were there. Oh, and here's a tip: watch for the poison ivy (and not the cool Uma Thurman kind). Yeah, my first bout with the three leaves of death. Again, luck was on our side as our intrepid hostess had a very good remedy skin scrub (albeit, expensive at $35 dollars as well. Coincidence? I think not). At the end of the day we had a very tasty appetizer and everything came out in or as a wash.

Who can turn the world on with her smile?. Mary Tyler Moore, that's who. From 1970-77, arguably the sweet spot for television,  The Mary Tyler Moore Show was the epitome of situation comedy. Plucky (or should I say spunky?) Mary Richards, a 30 something single woman, was determined to make it in the cut throat world of Minneapolis television. Armed with the best cast ever to grace a sound stage, Mary, Murray, Ted, Lou, Rhoda, Phyllis and Sue Ann graced our TV sets every Saturday night for seven glorious years. Through two apartments, many many boyfriends and even a stolen kiss with Mr Grant, Mary flung her beret much to our delight. And, in going out on top of the ratings, set the tone for every successful show that followed to quit before they jumped the shark. Even the memorable final Kleenex huddle sob scene showed that Mary could take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile.With each glance and every little move, it's MTM and you know it.



The Recipe:

Really expensive, hard to find morels; as many as you can stand to find
Butter


Special Equipment: Buji  poison ivy scrub.; Damp wooded area. Keen eye

Rinse and slice each morel lengthwise, removing any lingering slugs (yes, I said slugs). Put in a bowl and cover with a damp paper towel and refrigerate until ready to cook. Heat saute pan. Melt butter and add morels, cook over medium heat for about 6- 8 minutes. Allow them to melt in your mouth. Serves 1, unless your are overly generous.