Fast & Fancy - elda eats

“Cooking well doesn’t mean cooking fancy.” ~Julia Child

Indeed, Julia! Cooking well definitely does not have to mean cooking fancy, and it also doesn’t have to mean cooking slowly or in a complicated way either. It can mean that, of course—and has, at times—but not always. And not with the next two recipes I made from Food & Wine’s list of their best ever 40 recipes.

Cooking Well

I do like to cook well, and if that also means that it’s easy to do so, why not!

Now, you’d think that recipes in this challenge I’ve taken on would not be so easy, but several of them have not been difficult at all, but rather take a few good ingredients and match them up perfectly in a great recipe. These next two are no exception.

Have I mentioned that I think Food & Wine knew what it was doing when they put together their list?

Photo of the magazine cover. — Best-ever recipes? Let’s see how the next two measure up.

Cook the 40

Why take on Food & Wine’s best-ever recipes from their forty years in publication? Because I do like to eat, I like to cook and well, I also like a challenge.

Plus, it’s something to write about.

40 Years of Food & Wine

According to the September 2018 anniversary issue of Food & Wine, and editor Hunter Lewis, https://twitter.com/notesfromacook?lang=en, what makes a good recipe is it being delicious, of course, and (I think even more important sometimes) the best recipes “tell a story worth repeating.” Well said, Hunter.

Let’s see what stories these next two recipes will have to say.

If Julia Child made it, it must be good!

Recipe Sixteen: Ham Steaks in Madeira Sauce

Ham Steaks in Madeira Sauce by Julia Child. Even without a magazine challenge, I love a good Julia Child recipe.

I will admit though, that most Julia Child recipes I’ve made have not been so simple, but rather quite fancy. Since this recipe was being made during the week, after work, I was looking forward to a change of pace.

Simple ingredients and simple prep for Julia Child’s Ham Steaks in Madeira Sauce recipe.

Starting simple: fry up the ham in some butter.

Once the ham is browned, remove, and add diced shallots and the madeira (I used port that I had on hand).

After a few minutes, add the ham back. And yes, it was as simple as it sounds.

So, how was the ham? Pretty good, although I’m not a huge fan of ham. I do also think that a real slice of bone-in ham from a butcher shop would have made a difference, I couldn’t find anything like that here in San Antonio. Not sure I looked too hard, but either way, the recipe was simple and pretty tasty.

What Was I Doing in 1994? What Did I Eat? Where Did I Go?

I have mentioned before here on my blog, but in 1994, I was 23 years old when I took a solo trip from Chicago to Boston on a Greyhound bus with very little money in my pocket. Maybe very little money in my pocket, but no maybe about having had a great desire to see a Boston Bruins game in old Boston Garden before it was torn down.

I stayed in a hostel and packed lots of cheap snacks for my bus trips to and fro, and for any small bouts of hunger I might have while I was there. It was my first solo adult vacation trip somewhere and it was amazing. Despite the fact that I had almost no spending money, I took mental notes of places I couldn’t afford to visit at that time, and made an extra special note of the fancy place with the best clam chowder for a future visit; I visited all of the historic sites that I had only read about in history books; and I saw a new place through my own eyes by myself and through every step that I, alone, took.

My thoughts were my own, my memories were my own, all of it, even being broke—the entire experience was all my own, and it was wonderful. It was a great experience. Not fancy, but really, really great.

My first glimpse of the old Boston Garden from the Boston T. Neither the building nor the train are there anymore but my memories remain.

Recipe Seventeen: Crispy Okra Salad

…prep with a few ingredients, slice them all up.

Slice the okra and fry in oil. I used olive oil. (Beware of popping seeds.)

After draining the fried okra, toss all the sliced ingredients together and sprinkle with the garam masala seasoning and voila! A very tasty dish!

Crispy okra salad? Oh, you bet! The garam masala seasoning is what makes this recipe. I may fry up just about any vegetable now and sprinkle with garam masala! Maybe even popcorn!

What About 2006?

What was I eating and where did I go to eat well in 2006?

I was living in Austin in 2006, so while I was eating well, I’m sure, I was probably eating really bad tacos.

Just kidding. Well, kind of kidding. Austin tacos are still better than a lot of tacos outside of Texas, but they are nowhere near as good as the people in Austin think they are. Those really good tacos can be found in San Antonio.

Anyway, as usual, I digress. So, where did I go?

Peter and I went to Tarpon Springs, Florida that summer for a friend’s wedding, and we ate very well!

Of course, because it was 2006, I didn’t get too many photos of the food, but I did get a few.

Did you know that Tarpon Springs has a great Greek tradition and Greek-American community? It’s tradition of being a Greek community in the United States comes from the fact that there once was a great sponge industry there on the coast of Florida, and well, Greeks were really known for (or at least liked to?) diving for real sponges. Who knew?!

I didn’t know that before 2006, but I do now. And now you do, too. You’re welcome.

A little too happy with the Greek olive oil at Hallas Restaurant in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

My Greek chicken was delicious!
Our flaming saganaki behind an excited Peter.

Peter and me at our friend’s wedding in Florida in 2006. We may look a little fancy, but I assure you, we’re not really.

Fancy Free

While it’s taken me forever to write and publish this blog post, it’s not because the meal itself was complicated, in fact it really was fancy free!

Fancy free. Kind of like most of life should be, I think. Maybe living well doesn’t have to mean living fancy either. Right, Julia?

Bon appetit!

Elda XO

For more information on both of these delicious recipes, click here to be taken to the Food & Wine links: