Gracie Allen's Roast Beef

I was once asked by a food writer if I were stranded on an island, what one utensil would I want and what one spice? The answer rolled off my lips, it was my now 45 year old iron skillet passed down from my mother. The one spice although not a spice would be garlic. The best companion to your propane gas grill is the iron skillet. If you don't have one you're missing out.

My mother fried every veal cutlet in this pan for more than 20 years at her restaurant. It is perfectly seasoned. It is wonderful on the gas grill you can caramelize onions and peppers and alike, and achieve that wonderful smoky infusion unattainable on the stove top. You can get a great sear on anything you cook and you can fry a buttermilk chicken right on your ProctorGas propane grill with it.

Make sure you clean and season the skillet  correctly. I like to wash them with soapy water, wipe them dry and re-season. To re-season pour a little oil in the pan and put it in the oven upside down for about 30 minutes or you can put it right on the burner on your stove and heat it up. Many times I just wipe them out after using.

My mother was a creature of habit, she would only fry her veal in the skillet and she had this k-mart fork that had been purchased for about $1.50. It was a long handle, designed for the backyard grill. It had two prongs, it was in her kitchen for at least 15 years, until she passed. I believe she got her money's worth as she did with most things. Somewhere along the way we had to duck tape it together but it was the only fork she would use to turn the veal in that iron pan!

Use your new grill from Proctor Gas and skillet to make the best brunch combination you ever had. You have to plan for this when you have weekend guests.

Gracie Allen's Classic Recipe for Roast Beef

1 large Roast of beef
1 small Roast of beef
Take the two roasts and put them in the oven.
When the little one burns, the big one is done.

Hope some of my readers are old enough to remember Gracie

On Saturday night or a couple of nights before hand prepare the classic Prime Rib dinner. Cook the rib to 120 degrees. If you desire your rib cooked to a medium temperature remove it from the oven and let it rest before you cut off the end to reserve for the hash. Then simply finish it to your desired temperature. The best way to finish it would be on your propane gas grill on an indirect heat with the lid on your grill closed or use the oven.

Sunday Morning Hangover Prime Rib Hash

Serves four

Ingredients

3lb piece of cooked prime rib, trimmed of all the fat, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 medium sized Yukon gold potatoes peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow pepper chopped

1 medium Vidalia onion chopped

4 stems of scallions chopped

1 bulb of fennel fronds and stocks removed, cored and finely chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons parsley

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped rosemary

Two cloves fine chopped garlic

S&P to taste

4 large eggs (optional)

Hollandaise (optional)

Heat your propane gas grill to a medium heat, if you're using charcoal it's not worth building the fire for this. Just use a medium heat on your stove. Place your iron skillet on the grill to get hot.

In a bowl place the potatoes with two tablespoons of the oil, 1/2 the rosemary, all the garlic, half the parsley a little salt and pepper and toss to cover the ingredients.

Add the potatoes to the skillet and brown them turning them for about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Add two more tablespoons of oil to the pan and add the onions, and fennel and let them begin to break down and caramelize about 5 minutes and then add the peppers and finish for 3 minutes.

Toss the rib with the remaining garlic, rosemary, parsley, S&P. Add the remaining oil to the pan and on a medium high heat add the rib. Toss for two minutes and then add your potatoes, peppers, and alike to the pan and stir for about 4 more minutes. Remember the rib is already cooked your just mixing it together and incorporating the vegetables.

Scoop it out of the pan and pile it up on the plate in a little mound.

Optional

If it is brunch I love to add a sunny side up egg or over easy if you must. and then drizzle a little hollandaise on top ...this is so good!

There are many hollandaise recipes using a blender is the easiest way but here is a traditional recipe in case you don't have the blender.

http://www.incredibleegg.org/recipes-and-more/recipes/hollandaise-sauce

Have a Happy and Safe fourth of July from all of us at Proctor Gas (the propane people) "we'll keep the flame burning forya"

Eat well

Mrs. Tom

Kielbasa Smothered in Peppers & Onions

Father Time

Some of you know that I grew up in a family that's very fiber was food and politics. My uncle Peter Bove the only father I knew was a powerful and loved figure in the State of Vermont during the Aiken and Gibson administrations. The 1930's and on into the 40's. In 1957 my mother opened the Casa Bianca where she would entertain my Uncle's political friends for years to come.

This weekend I'm reminded of those days when my home was quarters to governors, senators and politicians from both parties. One couple was always the highlight of those visits, George and Lola Aiken. This weekend there was a celebration in Montpelier to mark the 100th birthday of Lola Aiken. She has managed to keep Father Time at an arms length. She was pictured on the news, vibrant and remembering George.

George was the Jack Benny of Vermont Politics, tight as the bark to a tree. After refusing to accept a republican national commitee's offer to run for President at the end of his term in 1938 so he could stay home and tend to his much loved flower gardens. Mr Aiken gave a speech at the Waldorf in New York during a lavish reception that didn't sit well with George. When he was asked what was wrong with the Republican Party he responded this is the problem referring to the lavish spending all around him.

When George and Lola would visit my Uncle would always give George a hard time because he generally was wearing shoes with worn out bottoms with holes through the first few layers of soles. Lola tells us that once they were married he fired her from his staff in order to save her salary.

Wonderful memories that are indelibly etched in my mind from those days on Grove Street. I want to take a moment and wish Lola the happiest of Birthdays and let her know I remember her fondly and the tight guy she used to hang out with. Happy 100th Lola from all of us at Proctor Gas.

One of Mrs. Tom's favorite grilling items is:

Kielbasa smothered in peppers and onions and simmered in a dark beer.

 6 Kielbasa

1 large Vidalia onion or yellow onion

1/4 bulb fresh fennel

1 large red pepper/ seeded

1 large yellow pepper/seeded

1 jalapeño pepper/seeded

2 tablespoons of butter

1/4 cup olive oil

2 table spoons prepared brown mustard

1 bottle of good dark beer

Salt & Pepper to Taste

6 Buns

Fire up two zones on your grill to a medium heat and place an iron skillet on one zone. If you don't have a skillet you can use whatever heavy pan you have. Make sure your grates are clean.

Cut the seeds and extra membrane from the bell peppers, thinly slice the peppers, onions and fennel. Chop the jalapeño small, Careful not to touch your eyes or better still wear a pair of rubber kitchen gloves.

Put the butter and oil in the skillet, get it hot and add the onions and let them caramelize and then add your peppers. Stir them about and let them soften and caramelize, close the lid on the grill.  Now pour 1/2 can of the beer add the mustard and stir in. S&P taste. Move the pan to an indirect heat.

Place the Kielbasa on the grill and close the lid and turn them slowly for about 10-15 minutes letting them char on the outside. When they are ready add them to the vegetables and stir them in closing the lid on the grill and leave them another 10 minutes on a low or indirect heat. If you need to you may add more beer if they are getting dry or too dark.  Otherwise drink the beer!

At Proctor Gas we specialize in all the grills and tools you need to become a backyard celebrity chef. So stop in and say hello to Mrs.Tom and share your favorite recipe with her.

Eat, prosper and be well

Mrs. Tom

Stayin’ Alive

Reposted for you enjoyment from Proctor Gas The Propane People. Providing service and products to the surrounding communities for over 40 years.

I enjoyed this so much I have reposted it. I hope my friend Cindy ( who wrote it) and the Mountain Times do not object. It is longer than most of my stories but takes me back to a simpler time that we all shared together. Follow Cindy's Boomer Column in the Mountain Times they are always a great look back.

Hope you had a great Father's Day to all the dads. Remember Proctor Gas for all of your outdoor grilling needs.

Stayin’ Alive

By Cindy Phillips posted Jun 13, 2012

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Robin Gibb couldn't do it. Neither could his brother Maurice. And when it comes to Andy, well, we all know that story. Three of the four infamous Gibb brothers have crossed over to the other side- sad for us, but what incredible additions to the band in Rock and Roll Heaven.

Seems like just a few weeks ago I wrote a column with this same theme. It was right after the passing of Levon Helm and Dick Clark. We also lost Donna Summer since then. And I was actually writing a column about the beach, but within minutes after the death of Robin Gibb was broadcast, I received a text from my daughter. It simply said, "Robin Gibb died. Write a column. Go." After I laughed out loud, I realized she was right.

Ask any Boomer to name their favorite Bee Gees song and they will ponder the question for just a minute before admitting there is no way to narrow it to one. The ultimate boy band produced a string of hits from thought-provoking love songs to plucky dance numbers . Whether it was a slow ballad or a jolting disco number, they all shared the trade falsetto voices of the brothers Gibb.

Though the brothers had been singing and trying to launch a career from a very early age, it was in the early 70's that their career took flight. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart hit number one in 1971. That song tugged at the heart strings of many a teen-aged girl, including this eleventh grader. I was hooked.

One of my fave Bee Gees songs has always been Fanny (Be Tender With My Love). It is one of the ultimate love songs. Of course, it was also a perfect candidate for mis-sung lyrics like so many songs of our Boomer generation. What did you think some of the lyrics really said? I remember being surprised to learn it was "be tender with my love."

Songs like Holiday, Massachusetts and New York Mining Disaster 1941 were certainly not the typical love ballads we often expected from the Gibb boys. But let's face it, with those voices the subject matter could have been Port-a-Potties and halitosis and it still would have sounded like angels singing. And we would have sung along no matter how bizarre the lyrics.

The first time I heard Jive Talkin', I couldn't believe it was my Bee Gees. I actually got a little ticked off and wondered who they thought they were trying to pull a fast one like this. I admit, it was a wild year of music with genres all over the place. David Bowie was crooning Fame, we were bopping to Captain and Tenille singing Love Will Keep Us Together, Barry Manilow hit the charts with Mandy and Glen Campbell paraded Rhinestone Cowboy. Talk about a mish-mosh. But it still didn't give the Bee Gees the license to leave behind the ballads and step into dance music. Or did it?

The boys were simply prepping me for the big show - a movie and a soundtrack that would change everything. I can remember it like it was yesterday, going to see Saturday Night Fever on the big screen. John Travolta strutting his stuff on the streets of Brooklyn, chowing down on a slice and swinging a paint can. I grew up outside of New York City, so I was very familiar with the likes of Tony Manero, Stephanie, Annette, Double J and the rest of the gang. I was completely drawn in by the characters, the scenery and the plot lines. But it was the Bee Gees music that rounded out the experience.

Stayin' Alive was the perfect beat for John Travolta's bee-bop strut. It was as if his steps were totally in sync with the music. You Should Be Dancin' was the perfect backdrop for Tony's gyrations and floor slides, while Night Fever did the same for the synchronized group dance. But what girl's heart didn't melt when Tony twirled, swirled and swooned Stephanie to More Than a Woman.

Though not a member of the Bee Gees, let's not forget brother Andy. He led a troubled life, but certainly held heart throb status for teen girls worldwide. Of course we all shook our heads at the relationship with Victoria Principal. We simply could not wrap our heads around sweet, young Andy hooked up with Dallas's Pam Ewing, aka the Jhirmack Girl. How dare she rob the cradle when so many of us younger ones were waiting in the wings.

Though Barry is the sole survivor of the Gibb brothers, their songs and legacy will live on for generations. I have heard my daughters singing along with lyrics that were written before they were born. It only takes a few notes to recognize a Bee Gees song, and like so many more of our generation, it quickly invokes a cherished memory. Go ahead, try it. Put on an old Bee Gees and album and see just How Deep is Your Love.

Great Grilling

Mrs.Tom

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce & English Cucumber Salsa

Where were the men?

I grew up surrounded by strong, opinionated, activist aunts. There was a plethora of them. In most cases the men just did as they were told or else. My Aunt Teresa who lived with us, known inside the family as Senorita Teresa Bove' "the countess of Grove Street". Aunt Teresa was a spinster she never married. She dedicated her life to her family especially me!

As the story went she fell in love with a count in Italy while studying music there for many years. She was educated at the college of Saint Rose before it was fashionable for women to do so. If the countess was still with us she would be 108. That would put her at St Rose somewhere around 1922. She came home from Italy and taught music at the New York Conservatory of Music for a few years, never getting over the heartbreak she experienced in Italy and never dated again.

She was a relentless disciplinarian. Over the years she attained two additional masters degrees, spoke three languages and drove my brother and I about crazy, making us play classical music on the piano, never a Beatles tune oh no!. She was her brother Peter's right hand and became the state chairman of the Vt Fresh Air Fund something Uncle Peter started.

Mother was just about as opposite as you could design from Aunt Teresa. The Casa Bianca was where mother held court for many of  other aunts who would assemble and play scrabble all night long. It was a group of strong women, career and business women all of them. Aunt Elmer owned and managed the 7up bottling plant in Rutland. Aunt Vee along with her husband Jack owned and operated the Schlitz Beer distributorship, my mother a restaurant aunt Janet a charge nurse at the hospital and Ameilia an antique dealer.

Aunt Elmer's plant became the rite of passage for all the male cousins. It was the first job all my male cousins had summers once they were old enough to work. Elmer ran the plant with an iron fist. She had a vocabulary akin to the railroad employees. When she was upset you knew it. My brother Peter was no exception and he tells me this story.

Aunt Elmer left cousin Harmon and Peter at the plant one Saturday morning to receive a truck load of sugar. The bags of sugar were 100 pounds each and there were 100 bags to arrive. Peter and Harmon were to bring the bags to the second floor via a escalator. However while waiting for the truck my brother and Harmon decided to make the escalator into a skate board and ride it up and down the stairs. The escalator came to a stop.

Scared to death of of Aunt Elmer the boys carried the 100 bags of sugar up the stairs one at a time. They were afraid to tell her about the escalator and didn't want her to see the unfinished job as well. So the story was that the escalator stopped working with just a couple of bags to go. Elmer walked to the breaker box and flipped the switch and off it went! Fear is a funny thing.

Fathers day is here and we hope you bought dad a new Propane Gas Grill from the propane people at Proctor Gas. In case you didn't we are still here waiting for you! Happy Fathers Day to all the dads especially the grilling dads.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce & English Cucumber Salsa

Marinade

1/4 cup of peanut oil

grated zest and juice of one lime

1 teaspoon of fish sauce

1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic

1 teaspoon  hot sauce

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon cumin

You can use chicken breast 4 halves or boneless skinless thighs, the thighs are more difficult to skewer but have a wonderful moist finish.

Cucumber Salsa

 1 English cucumber/ they have no seeds

1/2 sweet red onion chopped small

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

juice of 1 lime

1/2 chopped jalapeño
 

Peanut butter Sauce

 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 fresh lime juiced

2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce

2 teaspoons fish sauce

Mix the marinade together

16 wooden skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes

Prepare the chicken, slice in 1/2 inch slices and place in marinate for 2 hours in the refrigerator. Make sure they are covered with the marinade.

Cut the cucumber into pieces about the size of a dime place into a bowl and mix with all the ingredients, let it stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

On a very low heat put the ingredients for the peanut butter sauce in a sauce pan and warm stirring slowly with a whisk. Do not let it simmer. If it gets too thick add a bit of water. Take it from the heat.

Take the chicken from the marinade and place on the skewers. Fill the skewers best you can.

Heat the grill with one side on high heat and the other on medium. Place the chicken on the hot grill with the open part of the skewer hanging over the lower heat so it doesn't burn. Cook about 3 minutes on each side testing for the pink to be gone in the chicken. Cook with the top closed on your PROPANE GAS Grill. Serve with the warm sauce and salsa.

NY Strips

Mr. Tom's favorite grill menu

I don't think there was a man alive who enjoyed a great steak like Mr. Tom. Around the propane gas industry both local and national he was legendary for his leadership when it came to choosing a great steak house. He was always anointed with this task on behalf of the group when they traveled to both regional and national shows. It was on one of these journeys that he would acquire a nick name that lasted him the rest of his days. T-bone!

As the story goes Mr. Tom made reservations at Bern's Steak House in Tampa Fla. ... Bern's is reputed to be one of the best steak houses in the world. The experience there is legendary this included a million bottle wine cellar that stretches two full blocks under the restaurant. The evening always includes tours of the kitchen and cellar given by the servers. In order to have dessert you make the reservation during dinner and you are reserved a seat on the second floor, you are escorted up in the elevator by your server, dessert is not served at the dinner table. Rolling carts of after dinner cordials are brought table side and the over sized desserts were just the way t-bone liked them, spectacular. It was not unusual for the dessert tabs to run fifty dollars and up, dinner, well forget about it!

The servers at Bern's make 70 to 80 thousand a year and as you might imagine, once in as a server you go nowhere else. Getting in is another story. Bern's has their own farm and raises their own produce, beef and has two 15 foot tall round fish tanks in the kitchen where the fish are still swimming until you order them. The tanks have glass walls so the guests are able to view the swimming fish. The whole experience is like Disney for foodies and especially for steak lovers. As a rite of passage the waiters are required to work on the farm for one year before the go on the floor at the restaurant. Their product knowledge is second to none in the industry.

Once you have been seated and have ordered your favorite libation the attentive staff is at your beckon call. This is generally when the kitchen tour takes place, the server will find your order hanging in the kitchen while you journey through and point to where the butcher is cutting your steak. They are not cut until your order arrives in the kitchen.

At Bern's Steak House you order your steak by the type of cut and whatever size you desire. There are minimums but no ceiling on how large, music to Mr. Tom's ears.. A typical order from Mr. Tom would sound something like this. "I'll have the king cut, just knock the horns off wipe its butt and put it on the plate". He liked it with the chill taken off! There were 8 propane gas men at the table and when the steaks arrived, the other 7 looked at Mr. Tom's Plate in amazement and asked the waiter "Lord how big is that steak". The waiter replied "that's not a steak that's a roast for a small family"! from that day forward he was T-bone.

Well the fourth of July is upon us, arguably one of the busiest grilling days of the year. Here is Mr. Toms favorite meal for the grill. Purchase a choice steak, a NY Strip would make Mr. Tom happy, 10 oz minimum, T-bone would say "14oz minimum". Mr. Tom loved a good dog with the same passion and if its dogs on the grill or a good kielbasa we suggest you stop by Big Lenny's Cart and purchase his savory relishes and mustard's to accompany your grilling. Oh and just to get into the spirit have a Big Lenny Treat while you're there. It's the thing I miss most about Rutland! Mr. Tom loved Lenny's kielbasa with the onion sauce and would always say" Lenny I'm not sure I liked that, better try another just to see".

Ingredients

4 12 oz NY Strips CAB or Choice

4 russet potatoes or good baking potato
1 bunch medium stock asparagus
2 large Vidalia onions if you can get them or white Spanish
1 stick unsalted butter/ room temp

Marinade

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
4 cloves chopped garlic
2 teaspoons course cracked pepper
salt to taste

Place the oil, rosemary, garlic and pepper together in a bowl and whisk. Place the steaks on a flat plate and brush on the mixture and let them sit for 30 minutes at room temperature. Do not salt until the steaks are on the grill or it draws the juices from the meat.

Cut the potatoes lengthwise and open up. With a sharp knife score the potatoes fairly deep in a crisscross pattern. Spread butter across and salt and pepper them, wrap them in foil.

Do the same with the onions. Make sure to peel the outside of the onion first.

Wash the asparagus and wrap them in foil with butter and S&P.

Heat the grill on high/ turn one side to medium heat

Place the potatoes cut side up on the grill so the butter will seep into the crevasses where the potato is scored. Leave them for about 15 minutes on the hot part of the grill, turn them over and move to the medium heat for another 20 minutes.

Place the onions on the grill in the same fashion they will take a little less time and come out with a wonderful caramelized texture.

Place the asparagus on last, turn it a few times and leave them on the medium heat for 10 minutes.

Remove the steaks from the plate and let the excess oil drain leaving as much of the herb mixture on the steak as possible. Place the steaks on the hot side of the grill. Depending on how hot your grill is about 7 minutes on each side for medium rare. The meat is expensive so to be sure I would always check with a meat thermometer. Brush the steaks with the remaining marinade as they cook. 120 TO 130 for medium rare.

Mrs. Toms Secret

Make sure to let your steaks rest for at least 10 minutes before you serve or cut them in order to let the juices recover and keep the meat nice and juicy. If you pay extra for Angus beef make sure it says CAB or Certified Angus Beef. Unless it does just purchase the choice cuts.

Veal or Chicken Maria

Cooking with Propane

"There is something about Mary"

The Casa Bianca where I grew up was a wonderful place if you liked great food, lots of aunts, uncles and cousins and plenty of drama! It was reality TV without the TV. It was truly extended family living in-house, as a result, there was always somebody in crisis. Growing up in our house there was Uncle Peter, Uncle Gigi, Aunt Esther, Aunt Teresa, Mama Lee, my brother and me. Then there was the staff at the restaurant; Anna and Pauline two polish sisters  who worked in the kitchen for twenty plus years with my mother. They were like family but then there was Mary.

Well that group was truly old school; they saw the world different, they ate different, they didn't value their time, it was their gift to everyone. We were the first group of children to really protest the old ways. I was relieved when we broke from the tradition of waking the recently passed in the living room of our home.  The Italian women were professional mourners it was epic when we said goodbye.

Mother was a tough cookie with a mind of her own, it is well documented her distrust for almost everybody; doctors, lawyers, bankers even the catholic priests that frequently dined with her. She was translucent about her feelings.. I find myself from time to time invoking the same skepticism, distrust fostered by our mother. Is it inherited? I catch myself and think that's Mom talking. The very same response from her used to make my skin crawl.

That being said Lee had a heart of gold, if you were hungry she would feed you, her true passion in life, if you needed a room because you may have had one too many she put many guests to bed in our 10 upstairs bedrooms over the years. Her life was built from the sacrifice she made for her children, her brother and her sister. She was what is all good in people.

Mother was stubborn, I hear the story that the night I was born mother was on the stove cooking when her water broke. Her cousin and OBGYN Dr. Bove was just finishing dinner in the dining room and he was alerted of the situation. He got up and went to the kitchen. Lets go Lee, "Doc you just sit yourself down until I put out the rest of these dinners"! He had no choice. My mother only left the building under duress or to go to the hair dresser. My brother would have to take her and pick her up she hardly ever drove but claimed she was an accomplished wheel woman. My brother was late picking her up one day and she hated to spend any more time than necessary listening to the women at the parlor. Angry with Peter the next day she bought a car, maybe she drove it twice.

Lee was kind, and loving but mean as a junk yard dog when she was riled. She was plum impossible to reason with if she had made up her mind. Thankfully there was Mary she subscribed to a whole different perspective about most everything. She would say Lee "let them be" Lee was a control freak. Mary somehow could see into the future, she was like having our own palm reader. For instance she would always maintain that she could tell when a girl who my brother brought to dinner was crazy about him. Oh yah I can tell she would say "she's crazy about him". Generally she was wrong on this account!

Mary was always there to be the voice of reason and was about the only person who could tell my mother to chill! Mary worked at the restaurant full time from her late twenties and on into her sixties. She spent a lifetime with us. I think her 5 children gave her a better view into the real world and she at least left her house!

Mary had a way with the guests at the restaurant all those years, many people thought she owned the place. We didn't advertise so all of our business was word of mouth, Mary was social media old school style, she communicated with our guests face to face. If you were sent to the Casa via word of mouth, it was normal for people to show up at the front door on their first visit and ask for Mary. They would say 'so and so sent me' and Mary in one smooth movement would acknowledge the sender and give them a hug at the door and sit them on the stairs to wait for a table. She owned them right out of the gate even if she had no idea who the people might have been who sent them.  

It was rare that we didn't sit at the round table in the back room at some point each night and discuss the overall problems of the group. (The table now in my kitchen) Mary had five children and they are, each of them extremely diverse. It seems like she had one of each, kind of her own Gilligan's Island. The oldest was somewhat like Thurston a business man, then a jet setting movie star type, beautiful, sultry and a hand full like Ginger, there is the professor, ethereal, musical, clever and quietly a real ladies man, the little sister like Maryann beautiful but more reserve and a bit less precocious no flying about, a bit more grounded than her older sister. Then came the restaurant guy who would if allowed have been the "Skipper" he inherited his mothers engaging personality.

There was always an issue with one of them, or the favorite topic, my brother. Somehow the madness of it all gave Mary a sense of decorum and just made her stronger. Mary could shift through the BS of most situations and leave you with an answer that would satisfy the group. As a result her children are all fiercely dedicated to her, she is still the glue that holds them all together.

People still like to talk about the Casa Bianca, fond memories for most. I always hear "I loved your mother" and then they ask me about Mary. We talk once in a while... not enough, she is still putting out the fires alongside her children, still the rock she always was. I just answer "There is something about Mary"

This is a dish my brother named after Mary at the Casa in 1982. It became our best seller and was on the menu until the end. Use the stove or your new Saber Grill from Proctor Gas.

Veal or Chicken Maria

Serves 4

4 chicken breast

4 paper thin slices prosciutto
4 slices  eggplant cut lengthwise/ brush with olive oil and S&P grill on both sides
8 thin slices of fresh mozzarella
flour for dusting the chicken
4 tablespoons good basil pesto
1 cup marinara sauce
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 stick cold butter cut in small pieces
olive oil to pan sear the chicken

 Dredge the chicken lightly in the flour shake off any excess. Pour olive oil in a saute pan and heat. Place the chicken into the hot oil and brown on both sides lower the heat. Deglaze the pan with the wine and let the wine cook out. Add the chicken stock and marinara sauce let it simmer covered until the chicken is tender and cooked through about 15 minutes depending on the thickness of the breast.

Take the cover off and build the chicken breast:

spread a spoon full of pesto sauce over the top of the chicken
place a slice of prosciutto over that
place the grilled eggplant on top of the breast
place the two pieces of cheese on top

Place the lid back on the pan and let it simmer just to get hot and melt the cheese. Remove the chicken from the pan, dish it up...turn the heat to medium and add the cold butter to the sauce and simmer together, pour over the chicken

Mrs. Tom's Secret

I like to use my gas grill to cook this. It does take a pan on the grill but you use the grill same as a stove and the grill lid acts as a cover, just close it. Also be aware for your guests, that there are no nut allergies in the group. The little spoon of pesto to the wrong person can be a real bummer for all. Serve with a nice wild mushroom risotto.

How Should You Choose an Oil and For What? (Pt 2)

Mrs. Tom is barefoot in Tuscany

Continued: FROM 5/15/12

Cooking with propane gas from Proctor Gas the propane people

As we emerged out the back end of the tunneled walls a steady rain continued to fall. The walls led way into a cobble stone courtyard about the size of a basketball court. There appeared to be about four stone buildings nestled around the courtyard and it was desolate, nobody in sight. We stopped to survey the scenario that Linda had charted us into. Just when it seemed as though we needed to turn around and high tail it out of there, a small sunken door, round at the top, resembled a hobbit hole opened and a young girl who had to crouch over to exit, appeared and took the one step up to the courtyard..

 As we sat in the middle of this courtyard and the young girl approached the car, I heard my brother say three words "thank you Lord". They were not words of relief about the concerns that we harbored thinking would be meet by a shotgun. Instead as the girl approached the car she was wearing a white apron and carrying something in it. She was holding the apron from the bottom up forming a pouch like a marsupial. Once my brother got a closer look at the  pouch...it was filled with fresh homemade sausage...game on...thank you Linda!

We asked the young girl about the town and she told us that Sofia would be glad to give us a tour. How would we find Sofia? The young lady pointed and yelled "Sofia". Mrs. Tom had to lean out the window to look up and there was a stone tower straight ahead some 40 feet in the air. A moment later Sofia appeared in the tower opening answering the call of her name. Her hair was long, midnight black and wet from a shower. Our little sausage making girl said these people would like a tour. "just a moment I will be right down". Just like that, we were amazed!

We had stumbled literally into the tiny village of Volpaia Italy famous for their olive oil. On this chilly rainy day we ate steaming hot sausage and peppers, sipped full bodied Tuscan wine and toured their olive oil production. Deliverance...I think not, we had discovered a little piece of heaven.

There are hundreds of varieties of olives and they vary from year to year as do grapes. Weather and soil will affect the crops from year to year as does the time when you choose to harvest the olives and the method of trimming the trees. When you see that olive oil is green it indicates that the olives were raked by hand early before they ripened on the tree. This process is labor intensive and hard on the hands. Pickers will tape their fingers to protect them. So when you pay for the oil and it seems expensive think again about what it takes to get that pure gold from the tree to the bottle.

How should you choose an oil and for what?

There are many kinds of oil out there and can be confusing when you are trying to select one. The truth is you shouldn't choose one but have a few different kinds on hand for different uses.

The kings are the extra virgin and virgin olive oils the difference being the acidity levels. Extra virgin must be less than 1% acidity and virgin can be up to 3%. Olive or Pomace oil is less pricy and has a great flavor profile without over powering what you are cooking with it. I suggest it for all your infused oil needs.

"Light Oil" according to Michael Chiarello (our oil guru) is not healthier. It is just a marketing gimmick he says, it's nonsense to pay more for less. I get it Michael thanks for the heads up!

Michael's book Flavored Oils  is where much of the research on infused oils and cooking with them has come from.