Shoestring Gourmet: Dam Yangtze |
In October, we met at the lovely, southerly home of Esther Shaw for the comfort food of our oldest and fondest memories. For appetizers, we noshed on Ursula Gore’s steamed asparagus, and flowers of radish, with Nedra Case’s vegetable salad and Glenn Case’s homemade bread. This introduced Ursula’s flaky-crust beef pies – a variation on the classic pierogi. Esther, our host, cooked up green pea soup with marrow. Yes, you can still find marrow bones if you know whom to ask! David Fidelman – and the rest of us – contributed red and white wines. We welcomes our newest Shoestringer, Linda Cutting, just arrived from Boston Mensa; she brought cheese cream, black olive and walnut spread with crackers, and cut up fresh fruit with vanilla ice cream-based dip, including amaretto, orange and lemon juice. Yum, yum!
The hearty entrees followed fast. Joice and Chuck Braden served beer batter fried chicken, accompanied by green beans and onions in sour cream and fresh dill sauce. Nedra & Glenn slow-cooked sauerbraten, and Leigh Butler brought us a Native American vegetarian stew of corn, red peppers, and squash.
For dessert, we kept it simple: vanilla ice cream with Ursula’s little cup cones.
In December, we return to the Gore residence for the cuisine of America’s industrial heartland, China. You’ll be impressed with how far Chinese cuisine has expanded beyond the small number of culinary regions we grew up with. We’ll look at the rest of Asia, too. Please: if you own a wok, electrical or otherwise, bring it, for we will be doing a lot of cooking on-site. Make sure to bring your food pre-cut, pre-seasoned, and pre-marinated, so we’ll be ready to wok. Thanks for your cooperation!