Latkes Interruptus

   

George Segal, Cinema, 1963

     Life's Tilt-a-Whirl apparatus tilted unxpectedly yesterday when we arrived home in Orange County to findourselves with no power, no heat and only the utility company to complain to."They" say Death Don't Have No Mercy (link), but "they" have probably never encountered the folks at Orange& Rockland Power and Light (and Darkness and Cold).

     We were planning toattend a holiday party today in Stamford, CT given every year by goodfriends who knock themselves out creating a faith and cuisine-crossingcusp-of-winter extravaganza.  Unfortunately we needed to turn rightaround and head back to Pennsylvania or risk turning into simulacra of JackNicholson's icy rigor mortis effigy at the end of The Shining if we dared toremain overnight.

   The centerpiece(s) of thisparty are my friend Ken's latkes or potato pancakes, which arealways excellent.  I grew up eating these Eastern European beignets,but they were originally a novelty for Jane and Caroline that they've now grown to love.  To salve their disappointment, we're preparing them at home tonight for the firsttime.

    Sorting through recipes, Ifound the one which follows below in the 1977 Museum of Modern ArtArtist's Cookbook.  It comes from the kitchen of the sculptor George Segal (1924-2000), who was best known for hisEdward Hopper-esque "American scene" tableaus featuring white plaster-cast figures.  (Actually,these latkes are Segal's mother's recipe.)   I alsodecided to include here Martha Stewart's variation in last position, wherebeer replaces baking powder as the leavening agent and pink applesauce and caviar are suggested as garnish lily-gilt. 

      I hope you enjoythese (and that our own dinner experiment works out).  Please try not to let that Jack Nicholson image linger too long in your brain.

 

GeorgeSegal, The Tar Roofer, 1964

Sophie’sPotato Pancakes

Makes about 2 dozen

4 large potatoes, peeled and finely grated

3 large eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

4-8 ounces of vegetable oil for frying

1/8 teaspoon pepper

In a large bowl, beat eggs lightly.  Add salt, baking powder and pepper.  Add egg mixture to potatoes and mixthoroughly with a wooden spoon.   Mix inflour.  In a large frying pan heat 3tablespoons of oil until it smokes. Spoon potato mixture by the tablespoon into the pan.  Brown 2 minutes and lower heat.  Turn and fry another 3 minutes.  As pancakes absorb oil, add more to the panso that half the thickness of the pancakes is always covered.  Drain pancakes on paper towels.  Repeat until all batter is used.  Serve hot.

NOTE:  Thesepancakes are delicious with applesauce. George’s mother Sophie substitutes matzo meal for flour during Passover.

 

GeorgeSegal preparing to plaster cast art historian Barbara Novak, Dublin, 1993

Martha Stewart's PotatoPancakes

Marthashares her favorite recipe for latkes -- potato pancakes that are traditionallyprepared for Hanukkah dinners. Serve them warm from the oven with warmapplesauce, sour cream, or caviar.

Ingredients

• 4 large russet potatoes, peeled
• 1 small white onion, finely grated
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup beer
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• Pink applesauce, for serving (optional)
• Sour cream, for serving (optional)
• Osetra caviar, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Grate potatoes in long strips, using smooth strokes to run the potatoes across the grater into a large bowl of cold water. Drain potatoes well, reserving liquid, and transfer to a second bowl.
2. Set reserved liquid aside for 10 minutes to allow the starch to sink to the bottom of the bowl. Carefully pour the liquid from the bowl, reserving the milky residue (potato starch), and discard. Transfer potatoes back to bowl with potato starch.
3. Add onion to the bowl with potatoes. Stir in eggs, beer, flour, salt, and pepper.
4. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with paper towels; set aside. In a heavy skillet, heat 1/2-inch of oil. Spoon 1/2 cup of potato mixture per pancake into skillet. Make a few at a time, being careful that they don't run into each other.
5. Fry on both sides until golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to prepared baking sheet to drain. Keep warm in oven while preparing the others. Serve hot with applesauce, sour cream, and caviar, if desired.

GeorgeSegal  Seated Man In Front Of Window sculpture adjacent to Jasper Johns Target painting




12-11 POST-SCRIPT:  Our own dinner, created using Malvina W. Leibman's Elizabeth David-like recipe in her Jewish Cooking From Boston to Baghdad (1975), was really superb and is very similar to Martha Stewart's version.  I think Sophie Segal uses much more flour than is needed, but that the George Segals displayed here are nicely balanced in terms of observation and execution.  Would love to try this with caviar, but to everything there is a season, I guess, and now is not the time, unless you happen to be invited to a soiree at the Russian or Iranian embassies or, perhaps the White House.

Massive Networks Of Stripes Appear In Chinese Desert (from SlashGear)

Talk about your morning weird. Some people studying Google Earth forsome reason managed to run across some very weird patterns in the Chinese desert that have a bunch of folks stumped. The patterns look like stripes that were etched or dug over the top of the landscape in thearea. Some of the lines appear to be made from a silver/white material.

Consideringthese can clearly be seenfrom orbit the formationsare raising some eyebrows with geeks trying to figure out what exactly they arefor. Are these some sort of alignmentor targeting grids for space weaponsor what? In one of the photos, you can clearly see a grid of structures with three of them either destroyed orpartially standing as ifthey were for target practice.

The strangest one is the intersecting grids lines; the structure covers 18 miles of space. The other pattern that looks like some sort of targeting gridis set up with concentricrings of what appear to bestructures with straightspokes radiating out fromthe center. There areaircraft placed in the center of this circle. I have no idea what it is, but it reminds me of how the militarywould test the blast radius of some sort of bomb to see what thedamage is like further out from the point of impact. What do you think? Is thisa military testing ground or theChinese equivalent of crop circles?

 

NOTE:  Some interesting points of visual comparison follow below:

Jasper Johns, Between The Clock and The Bed, 1982-3.

Walter de Maria, Line In Tula Desert, 1969.

Jasper Johns, Flag (Detail), 1957.

Cooking For Madam (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Summer Recipes)

        Trying not toeat yesterday, or to complain about that or the sweltering heat, which assumed anincreased degree of difficulty because I chose to perform strenuous outdoor choresand save money by not turning on the air conditioning inside, I managed to cool down my spiritand body temperature a little by reading these three summer dessert recipes from Marta Sgubin’scharming book, Cooking For Madam: Recipes and Reminiscences from the Home ofJacqueline Kennedy Onassis. (New York, Scribner, 1998) 

        Marta Sgubinworked for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis from 1969, when she was first hired asgoverness for Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, Jr., until Mrs. Onassis’sdeath in 1994.  Her role in evolved asthe Kennedy children got older and eventually she became Mrs. Onassis’s cookand household major-domo. Later, she continued working as part ofCaroline Kennedy Schlossberg’s household.

        After Mrs.Onassis’s death, Ms. Scubin was encouraged by the Kennedy children to assemblethis discreet memoir/recipe book and it’s excellent, entertaining and useful.  Most of the recipes, including these three,are highly appealing and absolutely within the mastery of practicing (asopposed to expert) and enthusiastic home cooks, which is really how it shouldbe.   Caroline and I, realizing that we’re currently in a sortof recipe rut, will undoubtedly cook from this book this summer.

 

        Charmingdetails abound, including the one included below about what it’s like to haveJasper Johns supply your mangoes for mango ice cream.  Gossipy, really interesting stories, aremissing, such as those concerning Mrs. Onassis’s strict dieting habits(inserting a fork in items of food toextract the essential flavors and calling that a meal; making a day’s total calorieconsumption a small portion of a single dry baked potato topped with Belugacaviar), but I don’t think that’s any cause for concern.  Those stories might be fiction; so might the storiesincluded in this volume.  Anyone who hasever tried caption writing knows that pictures say 1,000 words and words can beused to paint various artistic pictures. The point is that they seem real and they weave a part of Americanhistory that is still very much with us.  

 

        Democrats,Republicans and Independents can all cook from this book and, I think, enjoyit.   The RaspberrySauce, which is paired with the FrozenLemon Soufflé here, also accompanies the Peche Cardinale in Marta Sgubin’s book.  I’ll publish that highly appealing recipeanother time.  

 

Frozen Lemon Souffle

(Serves 6)

 

        I used to makethis soufflé often for parties, multiplying the recipe as needed to serve thenumber of guests.  I always try to allowenough so that everyone can have two generous helpings and then there will besome left over to go back into the freezer for snacking time.

        The orphan eggwhites can be frozen to be thawed and used later.

12 egg yolks

1 ½ cups plus 2teaspoons sugar, divided

¾ cup lemon juice

Grated zest of 1 lemon

½ cup heavy cream

6 egg whites

        Select a deep-sided skillet or sauté panthat will comfortably hold a medium-sized heatproof bowl and allow room for water to come up thesides of the bowl on the outside.  Aftertesting, remove and dry the bowl and bring the water in the skillet to a boil.

        Beat the 12egg yolks with 1 ½ cups of the sugar in the bowl, using either a whisk or anelectric mixer until light and lemon colored. Add the lemon juice.  (Note:  It’s easier to grate the zest off the lemonbefore squeezing the juice, so do it in that order and set the zest aside.)

        When the waterin the skillet is boiling, set the bowl in it and continue to beat until theegg mixture becomes smooth, creamy and custardy.  Be very careful, because if you aren’t payingattention at this point, the mixture can scramble in a minute.

        Scrape themixture into a larger bowl and stir in the grated zest.  Let cool, and then refrigerate and chillthoroughly. 

        Prepare the soufflédish.  Tear off a length of waxed paperthat will fit around the dish and overlap itself by about 2 inches.  Fold the paper lengthwise into thirds to makea long, thin strip, then wrap it around the upper rim of the soufflé dish toform a high collar rising above the rim. Make sure the ends overlap by at least1 inch.   Secure with string tied underthe rim of the dish.  

        Beat the heavycream until it starts to thicken, then add 2 teaspoons of the remaining sugarand continue to beat until the cream is stiff. Fold carefully into the chilled egg mixture.  

         In anotherclean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites. When they start to mound, beat in the remaining ¼ cup of sugar.  Keep beating until the whites hold stiffpeaks, then fold them carefully into the soufflé base.

        Pour into theprepared dish, smooth the top, which should come up almost to the top of thepaper collar, then place the dish in the freezer for several hours or overnightuntil frozen.  Before serving, remove thecollar and decorate the top with thin circles of sliced lemon and mint.  I put a little sprig of mint right in themiddle so it looks like it was growing there.  

        If the souffléhas been frozen overnight, you might want to leave it in the refrigerator forhalf-an-hour or so before serving so the texture won’t be icy.

(Serve with Raspberry Sauce, if desired.  Please see recipe below.)

Mango Ice Cream

(Makes 3-4 quarts)

8 cups heavy cream

1 ½ cups sugar

4 cups pureed fresh mango (6-8 mangoes; they must be veryripe)

Juice of 3 limes, strained

        Scald thecream, then, off the heat, stir in the sugar until it dissolves.  At that point, stir in the mango puree andthe strained lime juice.   Let cool, thenfreeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s directions.  When the ice cream is ready, store in acontainer in the freezer.

        This should beserved the same day it is made so it doesn’t get too hard.  I used to scoop it into the serving bowl alittle ahead of time and leave it in the refrigerator so it would be gooey butfirm.  Madam always liked her ice creamslurpy.

        Madam lovedthis ice cream, especially when I served it with a sort of julienne of freshmango over the top.  We were lucky.  Jasper Johns, a friend of Madam, used to sendmangoes to us from his house on Captiva.

        Another goodidea is to grate some fresh ginger over the ice cream just before serving.  I can just see the expression on her face asshe took a bite.

Raspberry Sauce

(Makes 1 ½ to 2 cups)

1 pint fresh raspberries

Juice of ½ lemon

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon arrowroot

1 Tablespoon Framboise or Kirsch

        Combine theraspberries, lemon juice and ¼ cup water in a food processor or blender andpuree until smooth.  Strain through afine sieve to remove all the seeds.

            Pour the pureeinto a small pan, add the sugar and bring to a boil.  Then reduce the heat and simmer for 15minutes, stirring occasionally.  Dissolvethe arrowroot in the liqueur and stir into the sauce.  Remove from the heat and let cool.  When cool, cover and refrigerate. 

            This can bemade with frozen raspberries, but  in thesummer, when fresh berries are available, it tastes so much better.  

       

Marta Sgubin (l); Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (r)