More from the Amateur Gourmet

By Gini Anding

More from the Amateur Gourmet is a continuation of The Amateur Gourmet, published in 2006. Like its predecessor, it strives to lessen the complexities of gourmet cooking for the everyday cook. It contains recipes that can be prepared just as easily in a small and limited cooking space as in a large state-of-the-art professional kitchen. A few are so effortless that one marvels at their actual simplicity. Again, as in the original, the section on Tips and Techniques provides shortcuts, making the complex dish eminently do-able.

Each page offers the home cook an insight into the world of gourmet cooking, turns the kitchen into an art studio, and makes creative cooking an everyday event instead of a mundane boring same old same old. The discerning palate knows good food and really doesnt care if the food served is prepared by a rank beginner, a non-professional cook, or a highly paid chef. All that matters is that the dish taste good and provide the diner with pleasure.

A French poet, Marcelin Pleynet, has written that each book always has one more page, and so it is with any cookbook. There is always one more recipe, one more tip, one more approach to the tried and true, one more twist to the old standby, one more dish to be attempted, one more food discovery to experience, one more technique to master. In a nutshell, Irma Bombeck was right. Cooking is a joy, and that is why there is More from the Amateur Gourmet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462056927

Gini Anding

Gini Anding earned her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. She taught at the College of William and Mary, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Kentucky. She is the author of four books on nineteenth- and twentieth-century French poetry. She now divides her time between St. Augustine, Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia, and writes mysteries (Amy Page / Jean-Michel Jolivet Witness series) and cookbooks (The Amateur Gourmet).

Book preview

NOTES ON

More from the Amateur Gourmet

I could have titled this cookbook The Amateur Gourmet, vol. 2, because it is indeed a sequel, a second volume. I could also have opted for a revised and expanded edition, but to my mind such a venture would entail a lot of repetition and double the cost to the reader. In a nutshell, it seemed to me that what I had written and assembled was a continuation, not a true second book, but quite literally more of the same. I suppose it is a supplement in that it provides more information on making the cooking process easier and new recipes to enhance the pleasure of both the kitchen and the table. In that spirit, I have appended at the end the Index from The Amateur Gourmet so that the reader unfamiliar with that work has at hand a ready reference to the contents of that volume and so can more easily understand that More… is exactly that: more—additional recipes, additional amounts, substitutions, variations, tips with no repeats of items from The Amateur Gourmet. The format remains the same with just two new sections: Fruit and Grilling.

Working on More… provided me with the opportunity to make one major correction to the first book: a recipe for Gumbo. For some unknown reason, it appears only in the Index, so it is included here. I apologize for the previous blunder. In an ongoing effort to demystify the art of cookery and haute cuisine, this volume includes quite a few variations to recipes in its predecessor and most of them require very little effort and literally no prior knowledge or kitchen experience.

The basics and rules of thumb of The Amateur Gourmet remain unchanged. The style is still fast-speak, eliminating, for example, the words cheese, extract, etc. Flour is all-purpose, milk is milk, onion is onion (red, yellow, white), butter means real salted butter but one can use unsalted, while oleo means just that or butter. Dry herbs are a staple, but certainly fresh may be substituted. Using jarred minced garlic can be the everyday cook’s best friend. While a true gourmet cookbook will distinguish between shredded and grated cheese and stress the need to list chopped before or after the ingredient, it is really all the same to the non-professional cook. The amateur doesn’t have the time or the equipment, much less the work space needed to produce an award-winning meal. Still, the amateur enjoys preparing different dishes and is willing to try new approaches as long as they are not complex and expensive. Most fans of gourmet cooking do not have access to a fishmonger and are not able to undertake time-consuming operations, such as boning a duck. For certain dietary concerns, it is more than OK to use fat-free, sugar-free, and salt-free products, omit wine, and eliminate hot spices. The home cook is free to start with a mix or packaged seasoning, make a sauce out of a can of soup, avoid using parsnips, skip the garnish, use a shaker of coarse black pepper instead of freshly grinding it, cut a refrigerated piecrust for making mini-tarts, use domestic cheese instead of imported, learn that most slow cooker recipes can be done in 3 hours at 325°, and crumble foil to line a baking sheet in place of rock salt. Even the pros create a panni pan by placing a small heavy pan (iron or weighted down by an unopened can of anything) on top of the sandwich or specific item.

The goal of The Amateur Gourmet and More from the Amateur Gourmet is to help cooks adapt even the most dazzling and daunting recipes to their particular lifestyle and specific food interests. Each page offers the home cook an insight into the world of gourmet cooking, turns the kitchen into an art studio, and makes creative cooking an everyday event instead of a mundane boring same old same old. The discerning palate knows good food and really doesn’t care if the food served is prepared by a rank beginner, a non-professional cook, or a highly paid chef. All that matters is that the dish taste good and provide the diner with pleasure. May each reader enjoy the cooking process.

APPETIZERS

Antipasto Kabobs (@ 3 dozen)

¼ cup Italian dressing

½ pound cheddar in ¾" cubes

¼ pound hard salami in ¾" cubes

1 bell pepper in ¾" pieces

1 jar (4½ ounces) whole mushrooms, drained

1 can (6 ounces) pitted black olives

Mix together and refrigerate 4-12 hours. Thread skewers or toothpicks; each skewer should have 5 different pieces.

Variations: use ½ pound mozzarella in ¾" cubes; substitute marinated artichoke hearts for olives.

Artichoke Dip/Spread

Mix together and bake in preheated 350° oven, 30 minutes:

1 can (15 ounces) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 cup Parmesan

1 cup mayonnaise

Beer Cheese

Mix all ingredients until creamy:

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

12 ounces finely shredded cheddar cheese spread

2 jars Old English cheese

½ can flat beer

2 teaspoons Tabasco

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Brie

Remove the top rind from a round of Brie. Mix listed ingredients and spread on top of the Brie. For an 8-ounce round, bake in a preheated 325° oven, 8-10 minutes; for a 13-ounce round, bake in a preheated 350° oven, 15 minutes; set on High in the microwave, 60-90 seconds. Serve with crackers, toasted rounds of French bread/baguette, apple slices, pear wedges.

A. with pralines

Mix together:

½ cup orange marmalade

2 tablespoons brown sugar

⅓ cup chopped pecans

Variation: use Camembert.

B. with Kahlúa

Mix together:

⅓ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon Kahlúa

Variation: use 1 tablespoon brandy.

C. in puff pastry

On floured board, unwrap 1 thawed sheet of puff pastry and place 8-ounce round of Brie in center. Fold pastry over, and press to seal. Brush with egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon water). Bake in preheated 400° oven, 25 minutes; let stand 15 minutes.

Bruschetta

Slice a baguette on the diagonal and place on a baking sheet. Brush with olive oil. Salt and pepper. Bake in preheated 450° oven, 5-7 minutes. Serve plain or with toppings.

toppings: any combination of seasoned ingredients in small pieces mixed with either olive oil or a red wine vinegar: tomatoes, mushrooms, marinated artichoke hearts, grilled eggplant, cocktail shrimp, olive tapenade, salsa, hummus, egg salad, pesto. One can also buy toppings, especially sun-dried tomatoes with basil; a purchased spread for crackers may also be used.

Camembert Spread

Remove paper from an 8-ounce Camembert and place in a rimmed dish. Cover or return to box and replace lid. Place on baking sheet, bake in preheated 350° oven, 20-25 minutes. Remove top rind. Serve as a spread or as a melted cheese dip.

Checkerboard Canapés

Remove crust from 10 squares dark pumpernickel bread and from 5 squares of white bread, and spread each square with an herbed cream cheese spread. To assemble, place one dark square on top of one white one and top with one dark one; slice in quarters.

Cheddar Balls/Rounds

Cream together 1 stick butter + 1 cup grated cheddar. Mix and add 1¼ cups flour + ¼ teaspoon salt + ¼ teaspoon paprika. Roll into small balls (1 teaspoon) and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated 400° oven, 12 minutes.

Variations: add ¼ teaspoon cayenne; use 1 cup flour, salt, cayenne, cut into ¼" rounds and bake in preheated 350° oven, 10-15 minutes; shape into 2 logs, wrap in plastic wrap and chill 8 hours, then cut into ¼-inch slices, place on greased baking sheet, brush with 2 tablespoons milk, and bake in preheated 350° oven, 12-15 minutes.

Cheese Ball

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

3 bunches green onions, diced

1 large package dried beef, diced, but reserve some