I Miss It So!

There's a book out about Jacobson's. You say that to anyone from the lower peninsula of Michigan, and they're bound to get misty-eyed. I'm definitely in that crowd.

Jacobson's (affectionately referred to as "Jake's" by clientele) was a retailer of the first order for much of the last 100 years in this state and closed their doors in 2002. At the end of it, there were about thirty stores in the chain spreading throughout Michigan, Ohio, Florida and beyond. For me, though, none of those stores bring on my sad puppy-dog face as much as the Saginaw store.  

Filling an entire block in downtown Saginaw, Jacobson's was the premier department store in the region. If you needed a dress for a special occasion, you could always find it at Jacobson's. Heck, if you needed anything to beautify yourself or your home, they probably had it or could order it.

Sure, there were other department stores in the area. Almost weekly mom and I trekked through Seitner's, Weichman's, and Heavenrich's. But Jacobson's stood out from the crowd. Way, way out in front of the crowd.

And for a birthday or Christmas, nothing was better than seeing a large silver box embossed with a pattern of the letter "J" and tied with a red ribbon. It didn't matter that I usually knew what was in the box, it was the fact that the clothing came from Jacobson's.

• That red terry-cloth robe I can't let go of because it's still in decent shape? Jacobson's. 
• That red wool dress that made me feel great every time I wore it? Jacobson's.
• The 1970s cool plaid bell-bottom pants & matching bomber jacket? Jacobson's.
• Most of my best clothing throughout high school? Totally Jacobson's and the Miss J Shop.

I was on the Miss J Board for a year in high school, and then, following college graduation, worked in the office on the second floor. Several times each day it was my job (and that of my co-worker) to walk through the store and collect tickets from sales. It meant that I knew the store backwards and forwards, and always knew where the best items were on sale. It also meant that a good deal of my paycheck went to those best items.

Did I say "tickets?"

I sure did.

It took Jacobson's a very, very long time to adapt to using registers and computers in the store. So when I was working in the 80s, the people on the sales floor were hand writing sales slips. And, from each item sold, they removed a ticket that included stock number, size, and price. I returned the tickets and sales slips to the office, where they were batched and totaled by a small, dedicated staff. Just imagine what it was like at Christmas time to collect and process all of that. By hand.

Jacobson's I Miss It So - The Story of a Michigan Fashion Institution by Bruce Allen Kopytek delves into the history and mystery of the stores. He reveals the humble origins of the store and the reign of Nathan Rosenfeld. He also explores many of the individual stores, including Saginaw. Thought there are interviews with some people who worked in Detroit area stores, I was sad to see there weren't any interviews with people who worked in the 207,000 square foot store. The handful of pictures of the store, though, are something special.

Still, this is a food blog, and focuses on cookbooks. So what does a book about ancient department stores in Michigan have to do with food or cookbooks?

As the stores were mostly free-standing, they often had gourmet sweets and restaurants. The new book has many beloved recipes from Jacobson's. And though I can't say I recognize a single recipe, it warms my heart to be cooking some chicken salad that -at one time- was indeed offered in a Jake's store.

Well, it kind of warms my heart. It's salad, so nothing warm. But it's tasty and beautiful. Like Jake's.

Jacobson's Cashew Chicken Salad
(adapted from Jacobson's...I Miss It So.)

4 cups or so chicken, cooked and diced
1/4 cup scallion, chopped
2 tablespoons Craisins (those dried cranberry raisin-like things)
1/4 cup cashew pieces, chopped
2 tablespoons mango jam (with chunks of Mango if you can find it)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon curry powder

The original recipe calls for a little celery and mango chutney, but I wasn't going to buy celery for just 1/4 cup. And there's no way I would buy mango chutney when I have a perfectly good jar of mango jam from World Market in the fridge. Mix it all together, chill for at least two hours, and savor. Preferably while dressed in your finest outfit and sipping wine from a crystal goblet.

P.S. Someone was going to get this book for Christmas, but then I read it, cooked from it, and posted about it here. So much for surprise gifts. Unless that someone might still have a Jacobson's box lurking in a closet?

Captivated by Cappelini Caprese

Caprese salads are typically composed of fresh tomato, buffalo mozzarella, julienned basil, olive oil, salt, and pepper. This recipe adds pasta into the mix, and is great for the lazy, hazy days of summer that we're in now.

This recipe comes from a magazine. I have no idea what magazine, though I'm sure I found the recipe sometime in the mid-90s, and have been preparing it every summer since then. It's so simple, and so celebrates the season that you'll add it to your summer repetoire in a heartbeat, too.

The pictures show a recent version of this salad that uses the last bits of cooked and cooled macaroni, red onion, and leftover chicken breast. The recipe is easily adapted in that way. Don't have parsley? Don't worry about it. I'm sure the salad will be delicious anyway you make it today. And - if there are any leftovers - it will be even better tomorrow.

Cappelini With Tomato

CAPPELINI WITH TOMATO
Serves four or more

12 oz cappelini, cooked, tossed with 2 T olive oil, and cooled to room temperature

4 large tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup scallion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz mozzarella, shredded - be sure to use FRESH mozzarella.
Salt and Pepper to taste
Walnuts (optional) for garnish

Combine the tomatoes, scallion, basil, galric, mozzarella, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and let stand, at room temperature, for at least thirty minutes. Toss with pasta and walnuts and serve.

This recipe is great for potlucks and picnics. On top of my worn out recipe card I wrote "A summer classic" - indeed.

Roasted Veggies, Part Two

I recently explored Kitchen Life: Real Food for Real Families - Even Yours by James Beard Award winning chef Art Smith. I choose several recipes that included roasted vegetables, which I wrote about here.

The cookbook begins with a quiz that suggests recipes that suit your cooking style. I definitely fit the profile of the "seasoned and careful cook." I love fresh vegetables, enjoy reading and trying new recipes, and don't shy away from most any challenge in the kitchen (hello Alinea cookbook, I'm talking to you.) The Chopped Grilled Vegetable Salad on page 120 was suggested under the soup and salads category for the seasoned cook.

I'm not sure why it's a "seasoned cook" kind of recipe. I think just about anybody could whip this up. Then again, I've been known to make my own chicken broth and gnocchi, so I suppose not everybody could roast some veggies. Don't be intimidated by this salad; it's certainly not rocket science.

Following the directions for roasting vegetables I gave earlier, you could also grill these with no problem. For this group of vegetables, use a favorite bottled (or hand made) salad dressing. I choose Girard's robust Champagne salad dressing and lavishly tossed the chopped red bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, and asparagus, then settled the vegetables into the pan for roasting. If you use eggplant, be sure to chop, salt and let sit for an hour in a colander; drain with cold water before use. After roasting or grilling, allow the vegetables to cool thoroughly.

Vegetables Before Roasting

Choose and prepare your salad greens, then toss with more of the same salad dressing you used to coat the vegetables. The recipe suggests barbecued tofu, but I used rotisserie chicken breast.  Scatter on some cheddar cheese and almonds, and there's dinner.

Grilled, err, Roasted Vegetable Salad

Except...

What's that funny smell?

If you leave the salad in the bag too long, it smells and tastes funny. It's a nice picture, but I didn't eat the salad that way. Instead, I trashed the lettuce - it was just too far along the trail towards compost for me to eat. I piled the salad onto a smaller plate, added slices of chicken, and used salad dressing as dipping sauce. Not as pretty, but still delicious!

Roastin' Outside? Roast Veggies!

I picked up a paperback copy of Kitchen Life: Real Food for Real Families - Even Yours! by Art Smith on a bargain table for $7.97. A bright yellow sticker on the cover proclaimed "Fast & Easy Meals Everyone Will Love!" I had no idea who Art Smith was at the time, and really didn't know much more until I opened the cookbook recently.

Smith is a James Beard Award winner and was Oprah's personal chef for 10 years; he still works closely with O magazine and has several restaurants scattered across the country.

The book starts with a quiz designed to determine your cooking style. Before taking the quiz I would have roughly summed up my cooking style by saying "I need something to eat now; I think I have a recipe; and whatever it is, it had better be very good." I don't have a problem throwing out stuff that tastes horrible. Well, I do have a problem with wasting the dollars, but that's another issue altogether.

This "what's your cooking style" quiz isn't numbered. Fortunately, there are only five questions:

• What kind of a shopper are you?
• What are your time challenges?
• What kind of cook are you?
• Are you eating right?
• What are your taste preferences?

The problem is that each of these questions is broken down into three or four additional sections. The question "What are your time challenges" breaks into four sections of four potential answers: A, B, C, D - one answer per section. A numbering system could have been very helpful.

Based on your answers, Smith explains what kind of a cook you are and what recipes you should try. The quiz results said I was a seasonal and confident cook, but didn't catch the "What should I make for dinner tonight" part of my repetoire where I call Little Caesar's and walk the block to pick up a small pizza. With the quiz results, Smith also recommends recipes in the cookbook to suit your cooking style.

Here's where I fell off of the cooking style wagon, and plunged into personal preference territory. I tracked through the cookbook and compile a list of things I was interested in trying. A couple of the recipes required that vegetables be roasted - one of my favorite way to prepare veggies. And especially when it's hot outside, there's nothing like having some roasted veggies waiting to be turned into a delicious antipasto-style meal.

So one night not long ago, I roasted asparagus, beets, eggplant, zucchini, and red bell pepper. They were used to create three different recipes, but the preparation method was the same. You might even try these on the grill.

Half of the asparagus was tossed with lemon juice and zest. The beets were diced and coated olive oil, then combined with toasted walnuts and balsamic vinegar. Both were spectacular served cold. The remaining vegetables went into a grilled vegetable salad along with the remaining half of asparagus.

Beets and Asparagus Roasting

Cold Dinner for a Hot Night

 ROASTING VEGETABLES

1. Chop various vegetables into small, yet chunky pieces. 
2. Coat with olive oil, salt, pepper.
3. Add some other flavors: fresh herbs, bottled dressing from the fridge. Marinate for a bit if you'd like.
4. Turn into a large pan. Try to keep the veggies in one layer.
5. Heat oven to 400.
6. Set pan in the oven.
7. Stir occasionally.
8. Remove when veggies look roasted.

Roasting time varies greatly. Asparagus takes no time and all, and the tips become slightly blackened. That's a good thing. Beets and potatoes take longer  (perhaps 30-45 minutes) and can begin to caramelize during the cooking process; that's a really good thing.

Roasted vegetables are fabulous in an impromptu salad, and can't be beat for little nibbles during the day.

Satay Sashay

I'm exploring some recipes from Food Editor's Favorites: Treasured Recipes. When selecting recipes from a cookbook for the blog, I'm looking for a mix that shows off the best of the cookbook (or recipe book as my mom says.) I'm also looking for what will feed me. The Pork Satay on page 81 fit the bill nicely.

I thawed pork overnight in the fridge, then snipped into bite-size chunks. I find that a good pair of kitchen scissors makes chopping meats into small pieces for stir-frys and such much easier than using a knife. It's not as precise, certainly, but also not something I'm worried about for this recipe. No perfection necessary.

For the marinade I combined peanut butter, cayenne, garlic, onion, brown sugar, lemon juice, and soy sauce. I didn't have any ground coriander or fresh cilantro in the house because I'd forgotten to buy it. People either love or hate cilantro; add my name to the list of those who love it. It's light and fresh, and adds a spark of spring to any dish it's added to. The difference between coriander and cilantro is explained well at What's Cooking America.

Marinade Ingredients

So, lacking in any fresh cilantro or dried coriander, I opted to use the remaining parsley from the boring mushroom dish. Parsley isn't a particularly great substitute for cilantro; it doesn't have anywhere near the flavor, but it's OK in a pinch.  I chopped the parsley up and added to the marinade, then stirred to combine.

Completed Marinade

I poured the marinade into a plastic bag added the chopped pork, and squished the bag around. Then I let it sit in the fridge overnight.

Pork Marinade

The  next day, I removed the bag from the fridge and placed the pork on a baking rack and broiled. As suggested in the recipe, I basted with a combination of olive oil and butter.

Pork Satay with Broccoli

Even though I kept my eye on these, I cooked them too long. The first bites of pork were moist and peanuty, but the leftovers the next day and the next were dried out. I can really see this recipe shining as an addition to the ubiquitous backyard barbecue this summer. It's easy to fix, fast to cook, and would work very well on skewers.

Shrimp, Asparagus, and Thunderstorms

I've been in a cooking slump. It's been a good number of days since I had the urge to get into the kitchen and whip up something delicious. And I was really tired of take out food. I mean, how many Subway sandwiches can you eat before you're bored to tears?

I'd recently eaten at a local restaurant and talked to the front of the house manager about the cookbooks on display; she shared her love of collecting cookbooks, and invited me to come back to talk with the chef one of these days. He has a sizable collection that he uses for inspiration when creating dishes. Before I left the restaurant, the house manager gave me a copy of Food Editors Favorites: Treasured Recipes.

This is a cookbook that's been around since 1983, and was published for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) with the permission of the Newspaper Food Editors and Writers Association (now known as the Association of Food Journalists (AFJ.) Like always, I read through the cookbook and made a list of what sounded good. Then I dilly-dallied around, went shopping, and was ready to make food. And what night did I pick to get started? The night of severe thunderstorm watches and warnings.

We'd had a couple of days of 80+ weather, which doesn't make me feel like heading into a kitchen to heat things up. It does make me want to walk to the local Dairy Queen, but I suppose I can't live on just soft serve ice cream...can I?

I decided to make two recipes that required overnight marinading: Chinese Asparagus and Broiled Shrimp with Rosemary.As I started working on the shrimp dish, I could hear thunder in the distance. I kept Weather Underground up on my computer screen to watch the progress of the storm.

First, I took the shrimp out to defrost and placed it into my blue colander.

Both recipes suggest marinading overnight, so all I really needed to do was prep and wait. The skies grew darker and the air seemed calm. A pregant calm, as if something's coming. Soon.

I pulled the asparagus out of the fridge, took pictures. I remembered seeing asaparagus growing at my sister's house over the weekend, the stalks shooting up from the ground. The asapargus had been transplanted from an aunt's house years ago, and now produces a good crop each year.

I peeled asparagus. The rains came, heavy at first, then insistent. The radar changed from green to red to pink. The storm blew threw, dropped the temperature 15 degrees, brought in cooling winds. I chopped asparagus,  checked on the shrimp, ate dinner. I blanched the asparagus in boiling water for a couple of minutes, then drained thoroughly.

I made the marinade for the shrimp - olive oil, lemon, lemon peel, garlic, rosemary, cayenne, parsley.

I made the marinade for the asparagus: soy sauce, sugar, cider vinegar, sesame oil. I tasted the marinade and decided to fuss with it by adding tupelo honey and pepper. I figured fresh cracked pepper would be a nice counter element to the saltiness of the soy sauce. The recipe actually called for additional salt on top of the soy sauce! I added the asparagus and squished it around with the marinade to combine.

Both shrimp and asparagus went into the fridge for an overnight staycation. The next day after work, I ate some watermelon (which I'll tell you about later,) and put the finishing touches on the two salads. But honestly, the asparagus needed no further touches.

I'd never had an asparagus dish quite like this. It was slightly salty, somewhat sweet. And despite absorbing the flavors of the marinade, the asparagus remained tender-crisp. It was a good change from your basic asparagus with lemon-butter sauce.

I separated the shrimp from the marinade and broiled the shrimp...a little too long. I love the flavor of rosemary, and it's a heady compliment to shrimp and lemon.

I piled both the shrimp and asparagus onto my plate, along with some store-bought traditional potato salad, and had a tasty summertime dinner. 

The next day, I had the same combination for lunch at work. I still had potato salad and asparagus remaining, so I munched on both of those until they were completely gone. I'd say that's a success!

Life's Nothing But A Mudcrutch Farm

This week I'm looking at a cookbook titled Backstage Pass: Catering to Music's Biggest Stars. It's filled with recipes made artists, crews, and entourages at various concerts venues near San Diego in the early to mid-1990s. I was excited to find the book and scanned the list of musicians.

I laughed at some of the hospitality and dressing room requirements. Van Halen, for example, asked for bars of Ivory soap; Jackyl, on the other hand, requestd a bar stool, shaved gerbil, and black Sharpie markers. Still others requested exceptional wine, witch hazel, Tootsie Rolls, and Mountain Valley water. The recipes were equally intriguing and the Mediterranean Island Sandwich with Island Vinaigrette on page 193 served at the Hollywood Bowl to Tom Petty and the HeartBreakers on the Wildflowers tour caught my attention.

First up, the vinaigrette. I mixed the lemon juice, red wine vinegar, basil, oregano, dijon mustard together then drizzled in the olive oil.

Vinaigrette

I set the vinaigrette aside to get the flavor going, and moved on to the sandwich proper.

Sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives, red onion, and cucumber

I also turned the tunes up, blaring Disc 2 from The Live Anthology and slipping into a bit of a fantasy.

I did not find "torpedo rolls" at my local supermarket. Heck I didn't even know what torpedo rolls were until I googled them. Most packages of rolls in my store are 8 to a pack - more than one person will ever need. I substituted an all natural country Italian bread called "Pan Bigio" and hoped for tasty sandwiches. I offered prayers to the powers of co-captain Mike Campbell's lead guitar for guidance. Campbell never seems to strike a wrong note, so perhaps the recipe would not fail.

As I slipped into Dreamville, Benmont Tench, adjusted his hat just so and said, "do the same with seasonings." He smiled and returned to his keyboards. I kept cooking.

I panicked briefly upon discovering a signifiant lack of lemon juice. I asked bassist Ron Blair if he thought the sandwich would still work. He said he was hungry, and hoped I'd carry on; after all, he reminded me, I had a meeting in a little over an hour and he had to get to the stage.

I chopped the vegetables quickly. But wait - should I drain my artichoke hearts and olives? I asked ace sideman Scott Thurston what he thought the best move would be. "Drain 'em," was all he said. So I did.

Drummer Steve Ferrone kept a beat while I chopped the Italian parsley. The parsley joined the veggies and posed for a pre-concert photo.The dressing adorned the veggies, gussing up the chopped items in stage gear. Meanwhile, in a different dressing room, the big cheese was getting prepared.

I sliced some bread and gently layered the veggies and dressing, and waited for the cheese.

The Tom Fetty Cheese.

I snapped some photos as the band walked to the stage. The same combination offered several ways, different keys, always tasty.

All in all, a great night at the concert, err dinner table. Too bad it wasn't in the middle of the summer with the sun going down and the chords of Runnin' Down A Dream ringing in my ears.