Remembering Margaret Mathews with a bowl of Split Pea Soup and a smile.

        My mother, Margaret Somerville Stewart Mathews was born on this day in 1911.  That would make this her 99^th birthday.  She would have loved to have been here for it, especially if there were any kind of party involved. She was a true extrovert.  She loved to laugh, dress beautifully, enjoy a cocktail or three, travel far and wide, keep up with a circle of friends that literally dated from first grade at the Trafalgar School for Girls.  She was full of fun, told wonderful stories, volunteered for every possible charitable, civic and club activity, took what life gave her and had an uncanny ability to believe that whatever she had was the best. She loved life and would have gone on living indefinitely had cancer not taken her from us at 88 years of age.  About the only thing she truly did not like about life was cooking.

My nephew, Michael, Mom and my son, Alex at her 85th Birthday

        Now this is not to say she didn’t enjoy eating.  She and my father had epicurean appetites and spent a great deal of time at better restaurants everywhere.  Since we lived in Montreal growing up, there were plenty of opportunities to indulge their mutual passion for fine food and endless martinis.  But for Mother, somehow the joys of the table never translated into the Joy of Cooking.  So you can imagine her delight when frozen food was introduced and much of her kitchen labor was reduced to slipping boiling bags into hot water or firing up the oven and feeding us all TV dinners at every opportunity.  

        Her sister, Helen Douglas Stewart Rankin Prescott, on the other hand positively excelled in the kitchen.  She attended cooking classes given by the doyenne of French Canadian cooking, one Jeanne Benoit.  She was always, almost reverentially, referred to as Madame Benoit.   And Aunt Helen absorbed everything Madame Benoit taught her.   She was particularly fond of making soup.  And I mean soup from scratch.  No College Inn here. Stocks were prepared using bones hand selected by Aunt Helen.  Hours were spent simmering and reducing and tasting and salting and pureeing.  And this was pre-Cuisinart!  My mother’s reaction to all this activity was succinct: “Why not just open a can?”

        I must admit that my own coming of age in the kitchen came as a kind of an answer to one of my mother’s horrified response to my divorce.  “You’ll never eat again!” she protested.  I thought, oh yes I will.  And I’ve enjoyed cooking ever since.  In fact, I enjoy it so much that it now consumes the better part of my day.  Between getting Brick Kiln Kitchens LLC up and running and getting Chewing the Fat written and published, I have become a virtual slave to the kitchen my mother worked so hard to avoid.  And today, in her honor, I want to share a recipe for that most comforting of meals, a bowl of soup.  In this case, Split Pea soup.  A rich, deeply satisfying soup where the ingredients literally melt in the pot soaking up all the goodness of the Ham bone, becoming one beautiful shade of green.  It’s a delicious way to use the last of a Monte’s HamTM.  And in honor of my Mother, it’s incredibly easy to make.    

Recipe for Split Pea Soup the Monte’s Ham way

1 large white onion diced, about 2 cups.

2 tbsp. Olive Oil, bacon fat or butter.

2 lbs dried Split Peas

1 Monte’s HamTM bone

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

1 cup pancetta in ¼ inch dice, cooked. (Optional)

Sour Cream (Optional)

1.   

    In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil, bacon fat or butter over medium heat. 

2.   

    Add the onion and cook it stirring until it is softened but not browned.

3.   

    Add the split peas and the Monte’s HamTM bone.  Cover with water until the bone and the peas are submerged.

4.   

    Cook for two hours over medium low heat, stirring occasionally.

5.  

    Continue to cook until the ham is falling off the bone, about another half hour.  Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Remove the ham bone. (The meat around it is exceptional and the cook should enjoy it.) 

6.   

    

    At this point, you can puree it in batches in the blender if you want a smoother, more refined soup.  Or leave it as is, topping either version with a dollop of sour cream and the crispy diced pancetta.  Serves 8 as a main course.

Chicken with Escarole, Apples and Potatoes

        Out on Long Island, the apples are coming into play as we head into Fall and go back to wanting to eat something more substantial than summer fare.  Right near us, there’s a tremendous Pick-Your-Own Orchard run by the Halsey Family on Mecox Road in Water Mill.  Now Halsey is a name that dates back to the original English settlers who arrived on the South Fork in 1640.  Imagine, the descendants of the Pilgrims who landed on Long Island from the Massachusetts Colony are still farming the land, 370 years after their ancestors arrived!     

        You can wander among their trees and pick a cornucopia of apples—this week, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Empire, Mutsu, Idared, and  Stayman varieties can be combined in ½ bushel bags weighing 20 lbs for $30.00.  You can find out which varieties of apples of the 20 they grow are ripe for picking by going to http://www.milk-pail.com/upick.htm .  Now half a bushel may sound like a lot of apples.  But they keep surprisingly well for a good long time.  And read on, because your future may not belong to Apple Pie alone. The Orchard is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  You can also find your own Halloween pumpkin sized for ½ lb to 150 lbs.  There are gourds and squash too.  And directly across the lane from the Halsey’s “Milk Pail”, another one of our great farming families, the Ludlows, have a Corn Maze that’s an annual tradition for families out here. 

        With all those apples, I was pleased to find a recipe that used them as part of a delicious main course—a whole dinner when you add some fingerling potatoes!  It came from Sara Jenkins.  Now Sara is better known for her Pork.  In fact, we featured a riff on her recipe for Porchetta right here.  (http://www.chewingthefat.us.com/2010/07/porchetta-slow-roasted-pork-shoulder.html)  Sara is the Chef/Owner of Porchetta  (110 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10000 (b/n 1st Street and Avenue A); 212-777-2151; porchettanyc.com).   She’s also the author of the highly praised ‘Olives and Oranges” which Mario Batali is quoted as saying makes it clear that Sara has

“olive oil in her veins and blood oranges in her heart”.  

Remember how good crispy chicken skin tastes?

        This recipe for Chicken is an example of Sara’s gift for taking the simplest ingredients and making something fresh and clean and easy.  It uses one skillet to steadily build flavor in the pan.  First you cook the chicken in olive oil until the skin is crispy and crunchy.  Then you add the apples, next the potatoes and finally the garlic, escarole and white wine.  I confess that this was my first foray cooking escarole and it strikes me as the perfect green for this time of year with its slightly bitter taste that contrasts beautifully with the sweetness of the apples.  This is one quick one dish dinner that’s satisfying comfort food and perfect for a Fall evening meal.

Recipe for Chicken with Escarole, Apples and Potatoes courtesy of Sara Jenkins

12 ounces small new potatoes

4 8-ounce boneless chicken breasts with skin

Fine sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 semi-tart apples, such as Empire or Macoun, peeled, cored, and cut into eighths

1 garlic clove, smashed and peeled

1 pound escarole, leaves torn

1/2 cup dry white wine

1. Heat oven to 250°F.

2. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain and place on a plate in a single layer to cool. When potatoes are just cool enough to handle, flatten each one slightly by gently pressing on it with the side of a chef's knife. Set aside.

3. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, skin side down, in batches if necessary, and cook until skin is golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn and cook, until underside is slightly golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a baking pan, cover with foil, and place in oven.

4. Drain oil from skillet, return to medium-high heat, and add 2 tablespoons butter. Add only as many apples as will fit in a single layer and cook, turning apples as they brown, until golden on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with any remaining apples.

5. Add 2 more tablespoons butter to skillet. Add only as many potatoes as will fit in a single layer, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat, turning once, until potatoes are warmed through and golden, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with any remaining potatoes.

6. Add garlic and as much escarole as you can comfortably fit into skillet, increase heat to high, and cook, stirring, until escarole starts to wilt and you can add more, about 1 minute. Add remaining escarole and cook until just wilted, about 1 minute more. Add wine and cook until escarole is tender and wine is slightly reduced. Add apples and cook until warmed through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

7. Remove chicken from oven and pour any juices from pan into skillet with escarole and apples. Stir to combine.

8. Divide potatoes among four plates, then add chicken and escarole mixture, leaving juices in skillet. Return skillet to high heat, bring juices to a boil, and boil for 1 minute. Whisk in remaining tablespoon butter. Season sauce with salt and pepper, pour over chicken, and serve.