My thanks to Seattle artists Sarah Paul Ocampo, Sierra Nelson and Rachel Kessler of “Typing Explosion” for writing the following poem about my blog!
Day 4—Typing Explosion
Leftovers/Good Returns Day 3
Leftovers/Good Returns
No one wants to be thought of as a “leftover”. Right? As a Good Husband Cook, leftovers are a big part of making the work week sing for my wife and me. If we depended on an original creation for dinner each night, this undoubtedly would put an unnecessary strain on both of our lives. We all have hectic schedules and the occasional bad day. Who wants to come home after a difficult day at the office to cook? I love to cook. Don’t get me wrong. However, if I have a late day at the office, or have to mentally prepare for an important meeting the next morning, the last thing I want to do is make a lasagna, soup, stew, etc…when I get home.
That’s why I make at least one of these awesome comfort creations on the weekend, or early in the week so Gini and I can get at least a couple of meals out of it. I like to think of these meals as “Good Returns” instead of leftovers. You can always spice up a Good Return with a side salad or a sautéed vegetable and some awesome French bread. So, every week, we will have at least one day dedicated to Good Returns and how to make the most of them. I’m not a big believer in freezing food, so I’ll usually suggest a dish that will be good two or three days after it was cooked. In almost all cases, you shouldn’t go beyond day five on any of my Good Returns so that they don’t turn into Bad Returns. If you plan correctly, you won’t have to.
As I mentioned last week, I’m on a journey with my family to find the right kind of care for my ailing parents. We struggle as a society, I’m afraid, with how to properly care for seniors as they age. As we age…If you are lucky, you don’t have to deal with these issues. Your parents and grandparents are in good health, good financial standing and enjoying their golden years. Unfortunately, my parents’ journey has taken them down a dark path that their children are forced to confront on a daily basis. I’m not sure where this journey will end, but it is important that they not be “left over” but honored and cared for in the way they deserve.
Good Return Soup (Kale)
One thing that you may have to get used to is that I don’t make complicated menus as the Good Husband Cook. It is usually one main dish, sometimes a side, rarely a dessert. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m a big believer in buying local produce and what is in season. We could all learn a lesson from the work of chef/restaurateur/innovator and pioneer, Alice Waters. Alice was at the forefront of understanding the advantage of using local ingredients that were in season long before the rest of us came to the dance. It’s November in Michigan, and we can still get a variety of greens at our local farmer’s markets. Let’s take advantage of that! Again, I frequent the Royal Oak Farmers’ Market every Saturday. This past Saturday, I was in need of some simple, but flavorful ingredients to make a healthy and satisfying soup. I decided on Kale Soup. There are many uses for Kale, but most people think I’m crazy to make it into soup. I love it that way. With just a few ingredients and a few easy steps, you will have a soup that you can enjoy for several meals during the week.
Regarding equipment. For me a “must have” in any kitchen is an Immersion Blender. If I had to use a traditional blender to make soup, I probably would have stopped on my first try. I find them extremely messy and unnecessary when making soup. You can find a decent Immersion Blender at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond or if you are looking for the more high end versions, check out Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma.
Ingredients
I bunch of Flat Leaf Kale (chopped)
2 to 3 stalks of celery
1 Spanish onion
2 to 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
4 cups of Chicken Stock
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
2 Tablespoons of Hot Mustard
1 Tablespoon of Crème Fraiche
Chop up your onion and sauté it in a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Sprinkle a little of your sea salt over the onion and stir frequently with a wooden spoon. While the onion is “sweating”, chop up your celery and add to the onion. Drizzle a little more olive oil and sprinkle some more salt. Sautee this mixture for about 5 minutes.
While your onion and celery are sautéing, wash your flat Kale and then roll it tight on your cutting board. Start at the top of the Kale and chop into fine ribbons down to the stalk. Add the Kale to your onions and celery. Add more olive oil, just another drizzle, and a little more salt. Stir continuously until the Kale begins to wilt down to the same level as the onions and celery.
Now add your 4 cups of Chicken Stock. (Homemade is best, but if you are in a pinch, then I use Kitchen Basics which is readily available in most grocery stores. If I go this route, I also recommend opting for the low sodium version to give you more control on the seasoning of your soup.)
Bring the mixture to a boil. Once at a boil, turn down your heat to just a simmer. Cover the pot. Let simmer for about 30 minutes.
After your time is up, remove the soup from the heat. Taste. Taste. Taste. Adjust salt if necessary. Now add a few dashes of black pepper.
Take your Immersion Blender and place it so it is completely “immersed” in your soup. Turn it on and blend all the ingredients together until everything is chopped and your soup is smooth and creamy.
Now, to add an interesting flavor profile, I like to add a spicy mustard to this soup. I think the tang of the mustard really helps balance the bitterness of the Kale. There is a local mustard in Southeast Michigan that I like quite a bit; Dearborn Sausage’s HOT Mustard. Excellent choice if you can get your hands on it. Dearborn Sausage is an awesome company with some of my favorite meats. I use them whenever I get the chance. Their mustard is some of the best I’ve ever had.
After you have stirred in the mustard, then add a tablespoon of Crème Fraiche. This gives the soup a rich texture without being too heavy.
Serve with your favorite French bread. (Michigan local option—-Detroit’s very own Avalon bread.)
Enjoy the many Good Returns!
Day 2
November 12, 2014
Yesterday was another tough day. Good husbands don’t like to talk about tough days. That’s why we are good husbands, right? We keep it together, we make it happen, and don’t sweat the small stuff. Easier said than done. I wish I could say I was sweating some small stuff. I even would encourage some small stuff.
My parents are anything but small stuff. My dad, a wonderful man, is being ravaged by this MSA disease and not only feels trapped in his own body, but a prisoner in his own home. He lives in Tennessee, and I live in Michigan. We just hired around the clock caregivers to help him in his home while my mom recovers in the rehab facility. This is expensive and not sustainable, but a good interim solution until my siblings and I figure out a permanent housing solution.
So, what’s for dinner, right? We still have to eat and no matter how bad your day was, the communal aspect of making a meal and using dinner as a time to discuss the days travails with your spouse will make everything better; if only until morning….
Spence’s Mildly Spicy Chicken Enchiladas
These enchiladas are very easy. The dogs love them. Well, not really, but my Tennessee Bluetick, Susie, waits patiently by the kitchen counter, hoping , pining for a small piece of chicken, maybe a bite of salsa that the Good Husband Cook might occasionally drop while creating these little masterpieces. Luckily, I’m pretty careful, so Susie will need to stick to the kibble for tonight….
Easy, Easy Ingredient list
½ chopped onion
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
I 27 ounce can of Marzano Tomatoes (there they are again. These will show up a lot in my recipes)
I small bottle of roasted red peppers
Garlic salt
Tobasco sauce
Salt
Pepper
Smoked Paprika
Six small flour tortillas
Melting cheese (I prefer to use Chihuahua shredded cheese)
I small roasted chicken
Preheat Oven to bake at 350 degrees
In a medium sized skillet, heat up the olive oil and throw in the chopped onion. Sauté’ until translucent, but not burnt. Throw in the chopped roasted red peppers and a couple of shakes of the smoked paprika. Stir for a couple of minutes on medium heat. Now throw in the tomatoes, a couple of shakes of salt, pepper, and tobasco sauce. Taste, taste, taste and adjust to your level of tastiness.
Now, start shredding some of the white meat from the roasted chicken. We have a local market here in Michigan called the Westborn Market which has terrific pit roasted chickens on a daily basis. Keeps it simple. Although I like baking my own chicken, for purposes of expediency, this is a very good substitute after a long workday and easy to pick up on the way home from work.
Lay the tortillas flat, place a handful of chicken and shredded cheese on the tortilla, and then roll it up. Do about six of these. Once done, put a couple of spoonful’s of your sauce at the bottom of a Pyrex dish. Place the tortillas, all six, right next to each other. Then pour the remaining sauce on top. Now, take a generous helping of the generous cheese and sprinkle on top of the tortillas and sauce.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Serve right away. You and your spouse won’t be able to eat more than two. Leftovers for another day this week!
You won’t be disappointed. Enjoy!!
All the best,
Spence
Day 1
The “good” husband.
What does that really mean? I’ve been on a journey to figure that one out for the past six years, and discover a new meaning to this question every day. I’m sure those of you who have been married for much longer, would agree, that the answer to that question will change on a daily basis. That said, the important thing is to create your own definition, approved by your spouse, of course, and then to try and create ways to live up to that definition.
For some, a good husband means being a good father. Perhaps being a good son or brother. A good friend perhaps? The list can go on and on. For me, although there are many facets to trying to achieve the Good Husband Mojo, this blog will be about finding your way through cooking.
First, let me tell you a little about myself. I’m not a chef. I’m not a professional cook, sous chef, line cook or restaurateur. I’m just Spence. A professional fundraiser for a non-profit in Michigan who uses the glories of good food, local food and local ingredients, to connect with my wife (and three dogs) on a daily basis.
I cook out of joy, out of sadness, for relaxation and for accomplishment. Most of all, I cook to commune with my wife and to nourish our souls. Pretty cool, right? Needless to say, I hit on some successes and learn from my failures. My hope is that you will do the same. My kitchen is filled to the brim with countless cookbooks from noted celebrity chefs, to local restaurateurs, to family recipes.
My hope is that we can go on a journey together. Explore the ups and downs life has to offer and with any luck, have a little fun cooking along the way.
What this is NOT is a recipe source. Most of the recipes I’ll share will be variations on recipes I’ve collected over the years. I’ll make sure to reference each recipe and credit each chef. My hope is to share some of my favorites and together we will make some life connections.
Thanks for taking the journey with me. I look forward to hearing your stories along the way.
All the best,
Spence
DAY 1 November 10, 2014
Today was tough. Unusually tough. I just arrived back to Detroit from Memphis late last night after spending the last five days caring for my ailing parents. My father suffers from a debilitating disease called Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) a Parkinson’s like disease that attacks the mind and body in a wickedly rapid way. My mother is in a long-term rehabilitation facility after a nasty fall. Neither are able to care for themselves. I have two sisters and none of us live in the same town. A perfect recipe for a helping slice of Disaster if ever I saw one. We’ve hired caregivers to take care of my dad 24/7 and are in the process of locating an assisted living community for them both to move into to.
We’ve narrowed the search down to two communities. The question, of course, is how to pay for it. I’ll save that for a future post.
Tonight, I thought Gini (my wife and inspiration for this blog) and I could use a dose of Southern comfort food in honor of our journey…and it really is “our” journey. A good husband never makes a journey alone. Let’s go for a Sausage Gumbo with Emmett’s Baked Rice! It makes enough for about 8 servings. You’ll have enough for several meals. As you will soon discover, I’m a big fan of leftovers. The Good Husband certainly cooks, but doesn’t have to cook every night! Serving leftovers at least twice a week is perfectly acceptable in the Good Husband Cooking handbook. Or so I’ve been told.
Sausage Gumbo with Emmett’s Baked Rice
First you need to get the rice dish started. Once it is baking you can jump into preparing the Gumbo.
A word about your ingredients. I like to source ingredients locally if possible. I’m not as concerned about organic ingredients as some people are. If I can get both local and organic, that’s ideal. However, I’ll choose local over organic any day if I have to choose. Do you really want an apple that has travelled 2000 miles across the country and has had every ounce of taste refrigerated and gassed right out of it? I don’t.
I’d rather go down to Detroit’s Eastern Market or the Royal Oak Michigan Farmer’s market and see what’s in season that week. This approach may mean I only get my Honey crisp Apples in September and October, but the one’s I do get, are REALLY REALLY Good!
Now, back to our dinner for tonight.
First, let’s start with an ingredient list:
Emmett’s Baked Rice (named in honor of my second father, my godfather, the late Emmett Garner, Jr.)
2 cups of long-grain/whole grain wild rice
4 cups of chicken stock
One small onion
2 to 3 celery stalks
On red bell pepper/chopped and seeded
Salt
Black Pepper
White Pepper
Garlic Salt
Spicy Sauce (My favorite is Tobasco—love that it is still family owned!)
Preheat your oven at 350 degrees
Chop up the onion really fine, chop the pepper, the celery
Mix the chopped veggies with the rice and the chicken stock. Now add a couple of shakes of salt, the black and white pepper, garlic salt and a few shakes of the Tobasco. Stir it real well and then pour it into a medium sized Pyrex dish or Dutch oven.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. If your mixture is still soupy, then keep checking it every 10 minutes. You want the rice to be baked, tender and fluffy.
While Emmett’s Baked Rice is, well, baking…. (about 20 minutes into the cooking time)
Assemble the following ingredients for the Gumbo
Gumbo Ingredients (recipe based on Mark Bittman’s Gumbo recipe from How to Cook Everything Fast)
1 pound of sausage. I usually get my sausage fresh from John Henry’s Meats at the Royal Oak Farmer’s Market. I love this family. They provide all of our meat and dairy needs every week! Check them out at www.johnhenrys.net.
I 27 ounce can of Marzano tomatoes
Salt
Black Pepper (fine to medium)
Green Beans
4 tablespoons of real butter (I like salted)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
½ cup of all purpose flour (unbleached—I like Bob’s Red Mill, but whatever you can find at your grocery store will do
One small yellow onion
The key to this is to get the gumbo nice and thick. You may need to increase the amount of flour to achieve this, but I think a ½ cup should do it.
Take your sausage and slice it into several small round medallions. You should probably get 10 to 12 out of a pound of sausage. Since you are dealing with raw meat, please-please, use one cutting board and one knife for this job. Once you have finished handling the meat, wash the knife and cutting board thoroughly with good warm soapy water. Try to avoid using the same cutting board and cutting utensils with meat as you use with fruit and vegetables. Keeping your raw food separated and your kitchen clean is very important for good health.
In a Dutch oven, or whatever stock pot you can find, turn the burner on medium heat and begin to melt two tablespoons of the butter. Take the sausage and neatly place them in the bubbling buttered pot and cook until the medallions are browned on each side. About 3 to 4 minutes per side should do it. If they aren’t browned, keep them in the pot and keep turning them with your tongs until they are.
Once browned, take the medallions carefully out of the pot and place on a plate until you need them again.
Now, add the remaining two tablespoons of butter and a splash of extra virgin olive oil. Add the chopped onion. You want to get the onion a golden brown, but not burnt. Now add the flour and stir this real well. Add a couple of splashes of salt and pepper. Keep stirring. Now add that beautiful can of Marzano tomatoes (any kind of chopped or diced will do) and bring the mixture to a boil.
Once at a boil, turn the heat down to low and add your green beans and sausage medallions. Add a couple of shakes of salt, pepper, and tobacco. Put the lid on your Dutch oven and let simmer for about 20 minutes.
Taste, taste, taste. Adjust salt and pepper to your desired level of seasoning.
Turn the burner off. Take Emmett’s rice out of the oven and put a couple of spoonful’s in a soup bowl, pour a little gumbo over it and serve with cornbread. Delicious and will impress your spouse as your first attempt at being a Good Husband Cook!
Enjoy!
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