Dinner from the Deli Counter

 

Ham BBQ sandwiches have long been a family favorite, but I seldom make them.  I’m not sure why.  They are a direct link to my own childhood, when my mother would occasionally take my brother and me out to lunch at Isaly’s, an East Coast family restaurant/delicatessen chain that served Chipped Ham Sandwiches.  At the end of the meal she would buy a pound of paper-thin slices of ham to take home.

Back to Basics: Making Whole Wheat Bread

In this stressful time when movie theaters have closed, the NBA season has been suspended and restaurants are only offering take-out in an attempt to thwart the coronavirus, food shopping can be a nightmare.  If you’re worried about having a steady supply of bread, now is the time to learn how to make it.

On-the-Run Dinners

There are some nights when real life intrudes on dinner.  The no-food event we were attending started at 7 pm, and it was an hour’s drive away.  Normally we eat around 7 pm. Waiting till we got home at 10 pm for dinner was out of the question.  We would have to eat in the car.

Don’t Cook for 10 When You Are Feeding 2

I’m a big fan of roast pork, but I don’t like it enough to eat it 5 days running.  I have gone that route several times, and each time I decide No More.

I Can Make That Too: Panini with Prosciutto in Mom’s Kitchen vs. the Restaurant Version

Eatalian Café's Version of Panini with Prosciutto 

What could taste better on a summer day than a panini stuffed with prosciutto, mozzarella and tomatoes?  It barely needs cooking.  In fact, you can skip the panini press altogether and just use a loaf of French bread or ciabatta cut into 5-inch sections.

Rescuing a Mistake

When I’m making a chicken dish, I always worry that I won’t cook it long enough and we’ll get salmonella poisoning.  I’m sure that sounds a bit neurotic, but it’s happened to several of my friends.  That’s why chicken should never be served rare. 

That’s also why I over-grilled some boneless chicken thighs the other night.  We each managed to choke down one thigh.  Unfortunately there were 8 left. 

For dinner the next night I decided to slice the thighs thinly, add a little water and lots of barbecue sauce and cook them for about 10 minutes more.  The chicken pieces softened right up, and I served them in heated buns.  Problem solved!

               For more recipes, order "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen!"

Mom Money-Saving Tip 89

Roast Pork Loin

Roasts provide lots of meals.  Buy them when they’re on sale, cook them and then freeze half the leftovers.  Use the rest for sandwiches, cut up in tortillas or soup or a simple repeat of your original dinner.  I just bought a 4-pound pork loin roast for $10 and used some of the leftovers for Cuban Sandwiches.  

                                                                 See all my Money-Saving Tips!

Persian Cucumbers: What Are They and How Do I Use Them?

Persian cucumbers are miniature cucumbers.  They are 5 or 6 inches long, have thin, non-waxed skin and tiny seeds.  They never taste bitter like regular cucumbers sometimes do.  They do not need to be peeled before eating.

I started seeing them in ethnic markets a few years ago, and now they are readily available in many supermarkets.  If you’ve ever bought a regular cucumber, used half of it and left the other half rotting in the fridge’s vegetable bin, you’ll welcome these pint-size versions.

I like Persian cucumbers in salads or as a simple cold side dish.  Use the old fork trick of sticking the tines into the top of a cucumber and pulling down the sides to make shallow indentations.

Toss some slices into a stir-fry or a potato salad.  Make cucumber sandwiches. You can even pickle Persian cucumbers if you want.
                                   
                              For more recipes, order "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen!"

Dinner While Driving

More often than I would like, Bart and I wind up driving somewhere during the dinner hour.  Getting a proper meal on the table before we leave usually isn’t an option, so I have built up a list of dishes we can take with us and eat on the road.

The criteria are pretty rigid:

What Makes a Sandwich?

Cuban Sandwich

Did you ever hear of a Spaghetti Sandwich?  How about a Chip Sandwich (aka Chip Butty or French Fry Sandwich)?  These used to be food staples on British film sets—served to starving actors and crew members, often during shoots in the middle of the night. 

The Perfect Lunch

Smoked Salmon on a Bagel

Is there such a thing as the perfect lunch?  As a kid, I alternated between a deviled ham sandwich and a tuna salad sandwich.  Sometimes my mom made grilled cheese sandwiches on weekends. 

On special occasions, we would go to lunch at Isaly’s, a local delicatessen chain. You could get chipped chopped ham barbecue sandwiches—basically soft buns filled with hot shaved ham in a spicy tomato sauce.  (see recipe below).

Why Wait Around to Eat?

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

One of my most vivid childhood memories involves sitting in a fancy restaurant called The Skyliner.  Our parents thought it was a special treat to dine out at least twice a year.  My brother and I considered it torture because of all the waiting around.  

Back then, bread baskets didn’t exist in Western Pennsylvania.  Or maybe our little town was too unsophisticated to have them.  All I know is that once we ordered our prime ribs of beef, it took the waiter at least 30 minutes to bring them to the table. To a kid that was like half a day.  What were they doing in the kitchen?

How to Get 6 Meals from 1 Rotisserie Chicken…and That’s Feeding 2 People

Vegetable and Chicken Soup

I’ve always considered myself thrifty, but maybe I’m going to an extreme here. 

On the one hand, I’ve never forgotten my budgeting days right after college when I truied to spend just $1 per dinner.  Food was much cheaper then, but my New York City salary was equally low--just under $100 per week.  I ate meat every night because that’s how I was raised.

On the other hand, I’m now older, wiser and more adventurous.  I know I won’t die or become malnourished if meat isn’t on the menu every day.

Do You Prefer Convenience or Taste?

When I was growing up, my mother went through a phase of buying Swanson Frozen TV Dinners for the family.  She loved the idea of sliced turkey, mashed potatoes and green peas organized in their own compartments on a lightweight aluminum tray.  Taste was a distant third to convenience and novelty. 

I didn’t go that route.  Once I realized that food could be more than just something to put in my mouth, I wanted good tastes.  The Meatball Sandwich I discovered at a take-out counter on New York’s West 43rd Street, just down the block from my first real job, tasted better than any homemade food I had in my youth.

Can Food Preferences Be Genetic?

Now that my cookbook co-author/son Kevin is out of the house, I don’t get a chance to cook just for him very often.  However, he dropped by for lunch the other day, and I automatically knew what he would most prefer to eat—a tuna tortilla.

During my 4 years of high school, I packed a tuna sandwich for lunch every day.  I even ate them on weekends.