Red Friday

Tis the Season for Gluttony Detox

By Jeff

Traditions are a huge this time of year. Like the big pickle said to the little pickle: “I’m sort of a big dill.”  

On Thanksgiving night, I had so much tradition that when they asked me if I would like another piece of pumpkin pie I almost blogged all over the turkey carcass. Man, I was FULL, in fact I was FULL before they brought out three Marie Callender pies, hugely chunky cookies and Arrissia’s amazing pumpkin spice cake. Like the Washington Redskins I soldiered on just to show everyone what a champ I was. Ugh.

So, almost 24 hours later, I was prepared to introduce my guts to food again. So what was for dinner? Lots of turkey, ham, potatoes, and roasted vegetables in the fridge…THAT’s when I remembered the Other Thanksgiving Tradition!!! My overwhelming desire that night for something RED. Salsa would be fine, but here’s what I had handy—the $5 standby, spag and sauce.

Red, red wine.

Sauces have come a long way. Classico in a jar is tough to beat. Heat it up in a saucepot (not a microwave), but add some olive oil and red wine. I splash a bit of water in the jar and shake to get it all out. Use the same spoon to stir the sauce and the spag, that little bit of sauce in the noodle water is good for flavor.  Even when you add a fine solid parmesan and fresh bread $11 feeds everyone.

But most importantly, it’s RED, delicious, and the antithesis of a turkey dinner. 

RED!

Tomorrow's dinner? Turkey sandwich on a dinner roll with cran, of course!

Tonight, the girls are watching the traditional favorite, A Charlie Brown Christmas. We're going to try our best this year to not get caught up in the over-commercialization of Christmas and focus more on family, friends, the reason for the season and, of course, food. 

From Arrissia:

When A Charlie Brown Christmas originally aired, CBS executives were certain it would be a flop because of its technical errors, as well as Linus' reciting the story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke. The network suits felt that viewers would be bored by the Bible passage, but Peanuts creator Charles Schulz wouldn't budge. He reportedly said: "If we don't tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?"

The result was huge. Audiences loved it. 

Another concern was the Vince Guaraldi jazz soundtrack. The special's producer Lee Mendelson, heard Guaraldi's "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" on the radio while riding in a taxicab on the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Mendelson contacted Ralph Gleason, a jazz columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle who got him in touch with Guaraldi. He jumped at it. Guaraldi went on to compose 17 Peanuts specials for TV, even though the execs originally thought the compositions were too complex for children's television. They were wrong. A Charlie Brown Christmas has aired every year since its premiere in 1965. 

The special's other classics, "Christmas Time is Here" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" were performed by the choir of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California. Our favorite version of "Christmas Time is Here" is by Scott Weiland (click below). 

“Snowflakes in the air, Carols everywhere, Olden times and ancient rhymes, Of love and dreams for all to share…”

The Eggy Cheesy Man

Inside-Out Omelette

An Inside-Out Omelet is a dish Jeff invented after talkin’ food with a friend.

From Jeff:

It came up that we shared a love of cheese-in-the-crisp…you know, that blob of cheese that slides off your grilled cheese sandwich and blackens in the butter on the skillet. That delectable morsel sometimes found on the edge of a jalapeño-cheddar bagel, or stuck on the paper wrapper of a cheeseburger? Yeah, that stuff.

Normally I would sauté my omelet fillings and transfer them to a bowl. Cook the whipped egg thin, toss the fillings back in, add cheese and fold. Now how’s that cheese going to get crispy, stuck inside there?

Well try this: Leave those cookin’ veggies in the skillet (broccoli, mushrooms, onion, whatever), pile the cheese on and around ’em and let it sizzle baby. 

Just the veg and cheese to start.

The eggs go last (you must cover the skillet to get it to cook right). Then fold…crispy cheese and veggies brilliantly displayed on the outside with a clean egg center. It’s faster, too, because you’ve removed that bowl part.

Important tips:

1. Use a non-stick pan.

2. Use about a tablespoon of butter AND a tablespoon of olive oil to sauté the veggies.

3. Give the veggies and cheese a scrape and lift before you put the egg on top. It will make the fold much easier. Salt and pepper the egg. Maybe even top with avocado if you have one.

The drip.

The flip.

Finis.

4. Always listen to good music when cooking.

From Arrissia: We chose Beastie Boy’s “Egg Man” for obvious reasons.

When they say a dozen, you know what they're talking about.

Hey Ladies!

Paul’s Boutique famously the group’s best and most underrated album, or at least it was at the time. In 1989, on the heels of the band’s breakout hit License to Ill, most of their fans just did not know what to make of the hip-hop trio adding to their wiseass raps by playing their own instruments. 

The Dust Brothers’ signature multi-layered samples ripped everything from Curtis Mayfield to The Beatles. Even Miles Davis was a fan of the album. It was no less than brilliant and continues to be hailed as one of the most influential hip-hop albums ever.

(RIP MCA.)

Maybe the egg is underrated in the same way that Paul's Boutique was, written off as a one-time-of-the-day wonder. But it’s a versatile protein that shouldn’t just shack up with bacon and sausage. We’re up for a frittata, omelet or quiche anytime of day.

What we don’t like is egg on our face, or as the Beasties would call it: “an egg moustache.” Not even in Mo-vember.

Soup's On

Great Northern White Bean-Tomato Soup

Mmmm, good.

This is my pantry standby, and one of our family's favorites. It's one of those few meals that everyone can agree on. So to kick off the start of winter—in our home it's whenever the snow starts and the tall, strong one goes back to work on Ski Patrol—I made our favorite fast soup. 

As I started thinking about Great Northern beans and snow, I couldn't help but get an urge to listen to some Portugal. The Man., a hard-rockin' sorta psychedelic "indy" band that is no longer indy now that they're on Atlantic Records. 

Their most recent album, In the Mountain in the Cloud, stole my heart earlier this year. The live shows transform the delicate songs into muscle-clad rock anthems. 

In the Mountain In the Clouds

Lead singer John Gourley and guitarist Zach Carothers grew up in Alaska, but now reside in Portland. Picturing Gourley as a kid in a two-room schoolhouse freezing his mukluks off has a way of making me feel warmer by comparison, despite the below-freezing temps outside. 

There wasn't much exposure to pop culture where he grew up, yet Gourley managed to become the lead singer of a rock band and tour the world. His parents were dog mushers who competed in the Iditarod! His dad picked him up from school sometimes by dogsled. 

"I always knew what the world would be like, but it was leaving and then going back home that I realized how different it was," Gourley once told me.

So what did a young Gourley spend time doing as a young Alaskan lad? When his dad wasn't getting him out of bed at 5 a.m. to build houses or saddle up to a dogsled, Gourley listened to his parents' records quite a bit. 

“For the most part, I was shy and just listened to what my parents listened to,” he said, name checking Sam Cooke and Ray Charles along with rock stalwarts like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. Then he moved onto Nirvana and the Gourley (some of) the world knows started to emerge. 

Elaborate light show at the Fox in April. They are great live.

I like to think Gourley would like this tummy-warming soup. It's like swallowing a blanket fresh out of the dryer. 

Great Northern White Bean-Tomato Soup

Serves 8

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

6 cups veggie broth

4 cans of Great Northern (or Navy) white beans, drained and rinsed

2 cans of diced tomatoes

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tbsp. minced garlic

Cholula chipotle flavor (optional)

In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil and then add the chopped onions. Cook 5 minutes, occasionally stirring, until the onions are a bit translucent. Then dump everything else into the pot. 

Simmer down.

Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for about 20 minutes. I like to add a little Cholula chipotle in at the end, or just put it on the table and let the fam add it if they want. I use a handheld blender to emulsify the soup and thicken it. A blender or potato masher could do the trick, as well. 

We served the soup with grilled cheese paninis, but crackers or sourdough toast work other nights, or even an everything bagel. 

Panini press utilized.

I always make this big of a batch because everyone wants seconds, and sometimes there is enough left over for lunch the next day. 

Warming up after the first day of Ski Patrol.