One of the newer segments to the beverage scene is hop water. Basically, these are sparkling beverages infused with hops and other flavorings in various ways. Generally, hop waters are very low or zero calories, often unsweetened, and have a wide range of flavors, but in most, the flavor of hops is dominant. They can be a refreshing alternative to soda, being that the dominant flavor isn’t sweetness from sugar, corn syrup or other artificial sweeteners, and as they are non-alcoholic, they don’t have the “near beer” deficiency because they don’t attempt to impersonate beer in any form. Most are gluten-free as well. Continue reading “Tasting hop waters”
Out of the hundreds of restaurants we’re likely to patronize, a few stand out for being above the ordinary. There’s a history, a family connection, and a unique perspective on hospitality. And we are fortunate to have enjoyed the food and atmosphere at Diamond Jim Brady’s Bistro in Novi. But more than customers, we consider them friends.
Jim Brady founded the original restaurant on the east side of Detroit in 1954, serving burgers, salads and other tavern food in a neighborhood hangout. Jim’s son Tom took over the business and moved it to Southfield, and eventually to Novi. Tom also had the good fortune to be married to a certified executive chef – the first female CEC in Michigan. Tom and Mary Brady built a faithful clientele with a menu that combined the traditional dishes from Detroit – the Seven Mile burger, caesar salad, chili – along with the bistro food that Mary brought to the kitchen. Tom was the affable host who greeted guests – nobody was a stranger more than once – and Mary kept the kitchen humming, turning out dishes tried and true as well as fast-forward cuisine. Continue reading “Diamond Jim Brady’s Bistro”
My sister Micki (who, incidentally, has a new book out on the foodie phenomenon that is Zingerman’s of Ann Arbor) gifted me several Meyer lemons recentl
y. Pondering what to do with these sweet waxy beauties, the thought of a rich, lemony pound cake crossed my mind. After perusing recipes from several of my favorite cookbook authors, I settled on a hybrid approach, borrowing ideas from several. The cake turned out firm but not dense or heavy, rich without being overly buttery, and sweet without too much sweetness. The lemons added the perfect amount of brightness and the glaze made the cake nice and moist without being soggy. Continue reading “Meyer Lemon pound cake”
Instead of the usual multi-family Easter dinner, we had a small affair this year with just our two sons and our older son’s fiancee. Our younger son has gotten good at sourdough starters and made waffles using some excess starter a couple weeks ago. Older son mentioned he hasn’t had the fried chicken from Guernsey Farms Dairy in a long time, so we settled on chicken and waffles. I also bought some shrimp, and thought a good alternative for those who don’t eat chicken would be shrimp and grits.
The grits were straightforward – just grits and water, cooked until done, but with the addition of shredded Jarlsberg Swiss cheese off the heat. And the shrimp were already cooked, so they didn’t have to simmer in the sauce. I decided to make a sauce and add the shrimp just to warm them up before serving.
After consulting a few recipes, I decided just to wing it. Continue reading “Shrimp and grits”
Coming from a Polish background, many of the foods I ate as a child were of Polish or Russian origin. And since Easter is the highest holiday in the Christian calendar, we would always have traditional foods around Eastertime. In addition to hard-boiled eggs dyed a rainbow of colors, poppyseed cake, chruschiki, babka, and Kowalski kielbasa that my mother would drive to the next town to get, we’d have a homemade treat, mazurek.
Lent is a time of fasting, self-denial and meditation for devout Christians, and this includes starting the season with ridding the pantry of all the “fun” ingredients – sugar, butter, cream. But with Easter, the fasting ends and once again we could enjoy decadent treats, if only for one day. Mazurek is hard to describe – it’s basically a flat shortbread cake topped with almond paste, jams, nuts, fruit and anything else you want to put on it. It’s not hard to make, either. It takes under two hours and requires only a few ingredients. Try this once and it’ll be part of your Easter brunch or dinner every year. Continue reading “Mazurek”
I won’t go into how this is an unprecedented time in human history because everyone else is saying it. But it has changed the dining dynamic, certainly limiting options for those who enjoy having someone else do the cooking for a change. And since atmosphere and service is a big part of dining out, we’ll have to make do with candles on the kitchen table or a blanket by the riverbank as our environment for the next little while. Continue reading “Dining in a pandemic”
We had some cool and very rainy weather this past week so I though it was a good opportunity to make some vegetable soup. It’s yet another version of the vegetable soup we enjoy making and eating. With a soup like this, you can use whatever vegetables you have in your refrigerator or pantry.
It’s hard to go wrong with soup, but there are four things that you need. Continue reading “Ten vegetable soup (almost)”
While not as quick as opening a red & white can and adding water, this quick bean soup is tasty and takes about an hour and a half from start to finish. Most of the time is inactive as the soup simmers, so you can get other things done while the soup cooks. And there’s no soaking – using canned beans makes this recipe ultra-convenient and can probably be made with things you usually have on hand.
Makes about four one-cup servings. Continue reading “Quick bean soup”
We were hungry for some nachos one evening and didn’t want to go out, and I had some flour tortilla chips on hand (easy to make: just fry flour tortilla wedges in canola oil until golden, flipping once, drain and salt to taste), a bag of shredded chihuahua cheese and a can of pinto beans. A few minutes later – before we could have driven even to Taco Bell – we had nachos.
Homemade refried beans are not only easy to make; they are infinitely better than canned refried beans, which to me look and taste like dog food (not that I’ve ever tasted dog food…).
Makes about one cup – enough for two servings as a side dish or a topper for a large plate of nachos. To make more, just double the recipe (just be sure to use a big enough pan!). Continue reading “Easy refried beans”
Tonight I made two New York-style thin-crust pizzas. These were inspired by a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen on PBS from a few years ago. I was reminded about how good the pizza looked when it was featured on the top twenty countdown from the first twenty years of the show.
The dough is the shining star of this dish. A fairly wet yeast-raised dough is refrigerated for at least 24 hours and up to three days before it’s divided, rested, stretched and baked. I made two pizzas, one with just cheese and the tomato sauce from the episode (tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and oregano simply pureed and refrigerated for a day or more) and the other with mushrooms and spinach.
The pies baked up hot, crisp and bubbly – one of the best I’ve made, and I have been making pizza for years. Continue reading “New York-style pizza”