Rebranding the Prune: Dried Plums

Dried plums [or prunes, if you must] offer a sweet touch to savory chops. Recipe below.

Prunes have gotten a bad rap. The name alone conjures up visions of old codgers with their waistbands hiked up under their armpits ordering prune danishes from waitresses who call everyone Darlin’ or Hon.

Now that we’ve all figured out that fiber is good and that these babies are loaded with it [not to mention potassium—ounce for ounce, about twice the amount found in bananas], you’d think they would be flying off the shelves at the supermarket. But they’re not because they’re, well, prunes.

The industry is now trying to do something about that. Has been for a few years, in fact. From Sun-Maid to Trader Joe’s, somewhere near the word Prunes on the package, you’ll also find Dried Plums. That’s what they are, after all. And yes, I know that raisins are really dried grapes, but raisins have never suffered from an image problem like prunes. I doubt dried plums will ever completely replace prunes on the label, but I suspect it will continue to become more prominent over time.

This all reminds me of a successful rebranding by a Japanese automaker. Nissan used to sell its cars in North America, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand under the name Datsun. Datsun had been the company’s name originally, even in Japan, but they had switched over to Nissan for the domestic market.

At some point, they decided Nissan should be the name in all markets. To me, it sounded like a difficult task. And a reckless one—they risked pissing away the equity built in the Datsun brand in a lot of markets. They handled it just right, though. First, there was the necessary if somewhat awkward phase of tagging both their product and their advertising with both names: Datsun/Nissan.

But the final move to the name Nissan was brilliant. A simple, assumptive statement delivered in a “we have arrived” kind of voiceover as the Nissan logo appeared sans Datsun at the end of each commercial: “The name is Nissan.” Beautifully done.

So what does this have to do with prunes, er, dried plums? Get over the name—call them dried plums, if that helps. Buy them. Eat them. They’re healthy, quick snacks—five is a single serving, and you don’t have to peel or slice them—and they’re sweet and pretty satisfying between meals. They also add a nice, fruity complexity to this wintry meal. Continue reading “Rebranding the Prune: Dried Plums” →

The Joy of Cooking, at 90 miles an hour

Chicken and Mushrooms with Farfalle comes together quickly with a flavor boost from tarragon and brandy. Recipe below.

Quick, what comes to mind when I say cooking? I’m guessing you’ve probably started fantasizing about standing in a warm, pristine kitchen on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and luxuriating in playing with ingredients, preparing for an intimate dinner party for friends or a leisurely family dinner. Things are marinating. Whole heads of garlic are roasting in the oven. Maybe you’re sampling a little wine as you cook.

I don’t know about you, but for every moment I have like this, I have probably a dozen or so when we’ve finally made it home from work and are ravenous. And chances are, we’re hoping to run an errand or get to the library or the gym or something after we eat. So we’ve got maybe 3.2 seconds to get dinner pulled together. Sure, we can throw in the towel and grab some carry-out [and there are plenty of times we do], but when we rise to the occasion and get something good on the table quickly that we’ve made ourselves, it feels pretty good.

The challenge here is to embrace the moment for what it is and savor this kind of cooking experience as much as the extravagant weekend celebration of food. Maybe it’s my over-caffeinated approach to life—my Brooklyn buddy has likened me to a border collie [you have to know the breed to get the comparison]—but I’ve actually come to often prefer the high-speed kitchen.

Here’s a quick and delicious dish I pretty much invented in one of those 90-mph moments. No, you won’t get it on the table in 3.2 seconds [hey, I work in advertising—hyperbole is my stock in trade], but if you’ve already got the ingredients on hand, chances are you can beat the pizza delivery guy. Continue reading “The Joy of Cooking, at 90 miles an hour” →

Direct from the source: Brazilian Rice and Beans

Brazilian Rice and Beans, a daily staple on dinner tables throughout the country, is cooked up by Brazilian guest blogger Patricia. Recipe below.

As comedian Steven Wright says, “It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it.” And the Internet keeps making it smaller every day. It’s shrunk my world in many ways—and made it a more interesting place at the same time. For example, I’m in touch more now than I have been in ages with a high school friend, Helmut, even though he moved back to Germany several years ago. I know a blues-playing barrister in Bakewell, England. Through Marion’s work for a Francophile website, we’ve made numerous friends [including our Brooklyn buddy Ronnie and San Francisco-based mystery writer Cara Black] and have stayed in the fabulous Paris apartment of the site’s founder.

And now I’ve met Brazilian food blogger Patricia Scarpin. Well, met her online anyway—the Internet has also redefined meeting and knowing people. Patricia produces two versions of her blog Technicolor Kitchen—one in English and one in Portuguese.

She responded to my last week’s post on chili and mentioned a popular basic Brazilian rice and beans dish. After a couple of email exchanges, it sounded like a great dish to post here—and a chance to take Blue Kitchen global. Patricia not only supplied the recipe, she sent me photos too! So I’ll turn the kitchen over to Patricia now, then come back at the end and tell you what little modifications I made when I tried it in the test kitchen—well, in the kitchen. Continue reading “Direct from the source: Brazilian Rice and Beans” →

A Tale of Two Chilis, Part I

My Three-bean Chili is a hearty, spicy, satisfying bowl of red you can have on the dinner table in 45 minutes or less. Recipe below.

You know, I was going to start this post about two chili recipes with a semi-apologetic note about some of the less than traditional ingredients in them. Then I got an email newsletter from Better Homes and Gardens’ site, bhg.com, with 20 chili recipes that used everything from chocolate bars to portabella mushrooms, cream cheese, wild rice, pineapple chunks and sprigs of fresh thyme! So maybe non-traditional is the new traditional.

Besides, who gets to say what’s traditional? In Cincinnati, traditional means adding cinnamon. In Texas, adding beans to chili is akin to a hanging offense. So who’s right? Not Cincinnati or Texas, as far as I’m concerned—but that’s just my opinion, nothing more. In the end, maybe all you can say of what’s traditional is that chili is a comfort food with robust flavors and spices [although not necessarily fire] and a bigger personality than, say, most soups or stews.

I said I was going to talk about two chili recipes. Marion and I each have our own separate but equal recipes, and we like them both—a lot. Whose chili gets made any given time depends on who has the time to cook at the moment and which flavor we’re craving. Both recipes include beans [adios, my Texas readers]. Both also use red wine, and one uses soy sauce. But these aren’t precious, dainty chilis. The less than traditional ingredients disappear into these robust dishes, leaving behind only a satisfying depth.

The more astute among you probably noticed that part of this post’s title was Part I. So today, I’ll give you one recipe, mine. You’ll have to wait for Marion’s delicious chili in a future post. Continue reading “A Tale of Two Chilis, Part I” →

A non-Wednesday bonus post: Art and food

My friend Carolyn in St. Louis [she would correct me and say, “Eureka!”] found this great story on the NPR website about two grocery store chains hiring artists. It was so good, I had to share it.

Marshall McLuhan once said, “Ads are the cave art of the twentieth century.” Some people probably thought he was calling advertising people [of which I’m one] Neanderthals. But I understood his point. Those wonderful cave paintings, mostly of herds of running animals, weren’t the prehistoric equivalent of sofa-sized paintings to decorate the home. They served a very practical purpose: To ensure the success of the hunt. The otherwise well-preserved paintings are pockmarked, probably by attacks with spears and other weapons as part of some kind of good luck ritual. And the artists stenciled handprints onto the animals’ necks and other control points, probably intended to give them control over their prey.

I frequently shop at Trader Joe’s and, on occasion, at Whole Foods. I’ve always noticed the fun and often funny hand-drawn signage in the stores—kind of cave art for the twenty-first century, designed to ensure the enjoyment of our hunt. And I’ve wondered about its creation. I’m delighted to learn that these two smart chains find it worth their while to hire artists for each store.

The photo is by the artist, Katie Lanciano, and is from NPR’s site. I trust neither will mind me using it to publicize their story.

A little something on the side: Simple, Spicy Roasted Potatoes

Baking and sweet potatoes join forces with cayenne pepper for a lively side. Recipe below.

First things first. I’m doing two postings today—so after you read about this easy, tasty side dish, be sure to check out the cool tool I found at Ikea.

This roasted potato dish is roughly based on one I found on epicurious.com. That recipe used only sweet potatoes. As you can see from the photo, I used both sweet potatoes and baking potatoes. I started doing this because one of my daughters, the antithesis of picky eater by just about any measure, for some reason doesn’t like sweet potatoes. Now I use both because I think the dish looks and tastes more interesting with both. You can use just sweet potatoes or just baking potatoes, if you like.

I like these roasted potatoes for a few reasons. First, when I’m jonesing for some french fries, these will kind of satisfy that craving without all the frying evils. That said, I do indulge my fries desires on occasion, but only on occasion. As Oscar Wilde said, “All things in moderation, including moderation.”

Second, the kick of a little cayenne pepper and the mixing of sweet and baking potatoes actually makes them more interesting than fries, I think. More versatile too. You can pair them with burgers, roast chicken, salmon… or pan seared, bone-in pork chops, as I did the other night.

And finally, after a few minutes of simple prep work up front, you’ve got about a half hour to pull together the rest of the meal while the potatoes roast. Continue reading “A little something on the side: Simple, Spicy Roasted Potatoes” →

Cool tool: DIREKT Whisk

Don’t you love when you find a kitchen tool that not only works great, but is dirt cheap? This whisk is one of those tools. Unlike regular balloon whisks, which are great for mixing big bowls of stuff, this one concentrates lots of mixing action in a small area. Its flat mixing head makes it perfect for whisking something into shallow liquid in a sauté pan, for instance.

I’ve seen similar versions made of tightly coiled metal, but the business end of the DIREKT Whisk is made of heat-resistant plastic—that means it won’t scratch non-stick surfaces. Its long, curving stainless handle keeps your knuckles out of harm’s way. And at a mere $1.99 at IKEA, it’s a steal. Unfortunately, while they show it on their website, you can only buy it in the store—by the time you add shipping and handling to a two buck item, I guess they figure it’s not worth it. Although personally, it would be to me.

I used it a few nights ago when I was making a chicken and mushroom dish with a sauce. The sauce wasn’t thickening, so I browned some flour in a little butter and olive oil in a separate skillet. When I added water and started stirring, it immediately became a mass of tiny lumps. My first solution was to let loose with an impressive string of curse words [if you’ve read About Blue Kitchen, you already know that’s my first solution anytime something goes wrong in the kitchen]. When that didn’t work, I grabbed the DIREKT Whisk. In moments, it tamed the lumps into a velvety smooth liquid that I was then able to whisk into the mustard cream sauce I was making.

Okay, your turn. What modest little kitchen tool makes you glad you bought it [or made it, inherited it or got it as a gift] every time you reach for it? We’re not talking big ticket items here—no Viking ranges or even food processors. Just something basic and cheap but utterly indispensable for what it does for you.

“…Christmas gifts. Hahahaha!”

Like Thanksgiving, Christmas is another tradition-laden holiday. For seven or eight years now, one of our traditions has been to go to Chinatown for dinner on Christmas Eve. It started when Marion’s sister Lena told us in an offhanded, “isn’t that interesting” kind of way that two of her coworkers did this every year. We are HUGE fans of Chinese food—and of Chicago’s Chinatown—so any excuse to go there is fine by us. Thus, a tradition was born. Continue reading ““…Christmas gifts. Hahahaha!”” →

Salmon Tarragon on a Bed of Vegetables: Better late than never

Steaming salmon over a bed of vegetables in wine keeps fish moist and delivers delicate flavor. Recipe below.

This is the salmon dish I was going to prepare last week, before painting the living room got in the way. So it’s a week late—and given my history with fish, it’s much later than that.

Fish and I haven’t always been on the best of terms. I grew up in the midwest—St. Louis, to be exact—before reliably fresh fish was readily available in just about any supermarket. Fish for my family was frozen, breaded ocean perch, fried up and served with canned stewed tomatoes, cold from the fridge, and my grandmother’s sour German cole slaw. Even though we weren’t Catholic, this dreaded meal appeared without fail every Friday. So Friday became my day of semi-fasting at the evening meal, breaking up the fish and tomatoes with my fork and redistributing them around the plate, while consuming as little as humanly possible. I don’t think I fooled anyone at the table—I just outwaited them. Eventually, I would be excused so dinner dishes could be washed.

If this weren’t enough to put me off fish, every winter also brought daily tablespoon-sized doses of cod liver oil, which tastes exactly like its name. I can’t remember now what my mother thought this vile, viscous liquid would ward off. What it in fact warded off was any hope of me liking fish for many years to come.

So of course I married a fish lover. Marion, to her credit, was patient and gentle with me as she gradually reintroduced seafood to my palate—much as one would be with any rescued abused creature. She only served fish occasionally and then, only milder-flavored species. That she is a superb cook also helped. But it took years before I willingly chose fish in a restaurant if any creature that had walked the earth was also offered on the menu. And even more years before I attempted to cook fish.

Now I really like fish—like cooking it too. Thanks, Marion! After you try this simple, quick, delicious dish, I think you’ll thank her too. Continue reading “Salmon Tarragon on a Bed of Vegetables: Better late than never” →

The kitchen boombox moves to the living room

This was supposed to be a photograph of a quick, delicious salmon dish. But Sunday Marion and I started painting the living room. We’re moving this spring and had to return the living room to a more landlord-friendly off-white [see the wall behind the boombox] from its lovely deep coral [see the wall behind the brandy bottle from an earlier post]. So instead of salmon, today I’m going to serve up some music as the main course, with a side of painting antics.

Let’s start with the antics. Sunday is normally the day I cook and photograph the week’s upcoming post. Instead, we spent the morning moving a couch and a loveseat, three side tables, an old flea market find kitchen table that is our computer desk, various lamps, three paintings [one of them 6′ x 8′ and another 5′ x 7′], a rug and a mountain of family photos, tschotskes and vintage cameras. Oh, and about a bazillion little jingly cat toys discovered under the couch and loveseat. Oh, and a beautiful but monstrously heavy piece of decorative terra cotta from some long ago demolished St. Louis building.

Sunday afternoon, Marion took on the umpteen other things that needed accomplishing around the apartment and out in the world, and I started painting. With the first few brush strokes, I could see this was going to be a two-coat job. Two coats in our 12′ x 19′ living room. With two built-in shelving nooks. And five windows, one door and miles of baseboard to tape around. And a radiator to work around. Yep, this was going to be fun. Continue reading “The kitchen boombox moves to the living room” →