Joy of Cooking

This cookbook is one of the most comprehensive cookbooks available. Often it is called the "Bible" of cooking. Although it includes an extremely wide variety of recipes, what makes this book so good is its explanation of cooking techniques. It also explains the background of the recipes and the proper way to follow it. For example, rather than listing all the ingredients and then telling the reader the instructions, it says first to bring all ingredients to room temperature, then beat two eggs, cream with a cup of butter, etc. For some recipes this can be pedantic, but for more difficult ones it makes the difference between a mediocre and a fantastic dish.

Wikipedia also has a brief, but interesting article on Joy of Cooking. You can get the classic Joy or the new version at Amazon.

What's For Dinner: Tamale Pie

This is one of my husband's favorite meals. It combines all his favorite ingredients except pasta. The only problem I have with it is the prep time. Today it took me an hour to get everything done before it went in the oven, and that's not counting clean-up. I did use frozen hamburger, though, so that added a little bit of cooking time.

Tamale Pie

½ pound ground beef
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce
1 and ½ cups whole kernel corn
½ cup pitted ripe olives, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 teaspoons chili powder
Dash of pepper

***

6 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (1½ cups)
¾ cup yellow cornmeal
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups cold water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Cook meat, onion, and green pepper in a large skillet till meat is lightly browned and vegetables are tender. Stir in tomato sauce, corn, olives, garlic, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Simmer 20 to 25 minutes, or until thick. Add cheese; stir till melted. Turn into greased 9x9x2-inch baking dish.

Cornmeal Topper: Stir cornmeal and ½ teaspoon salt into cold water. Cook and stir till thick. Add olive oil; mix well. Spoon over hot meat mixture.

Bake casserole in moderate oven (375°) about 40 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

My comments:

I made the filling in a cast iron pan, so instead of using a casserole dish, I just poured the corn batter on top and put the whole pan in the oven. The presentation isn't as nice, but it makes clean-up easier.

I used only about 1/3 pound ground beef because I don't think that small difference matters very much.

I used frozen corn, but drained canned corn would work as well.

You can substitute butter for the olive oil.

Depending on your tastes, you should be able to use less salt.

The original recipe called for American cheese instead of cheddar, but both my husband and I don't care for it.

Plato's Kitchen

For several months now I have been wanting to begin a food and cooking blog. The Internet has been a great resource for broadening my recipe collection and sometimes they are so good that I want to share them with others. Also, there are times when I find an article or blog post to be interesting or helpful and think others will benefit from them as well.

As for the title, I debated on whether I should name it after Plato. On one hand, the Platonic recipe is the best recipe, but on the other, Plato criticized "cookery" in the Gorgias because he considered it a skill harmful to one's health. I opted for the former because I hope that most of my recipes will be nourishing rather than harmful, as well as tasty enough to be a worthy contender for the Platonic forms. (Don't worry: that doesn't mean that I won't include a dessert every now and then!)