Beaumont-Wilshire neighbor and BWNA board member Kathy Campbell provided her favorite recipes to newsletter readers for years in a column entitled “Kathy’s Kitchen.” I’ve offered to fill her shoes, so thought I’d launch this first recipe contribution by starting with my unofficial and generally useless cooking credentials.
“No one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.” —Julia Child, Chef & Author
My fondness for quality food started with my grandfather. Fresh off the boat from Italy, he was a chef with an emphasis on, of course, Italian food. Blessedly he passed his skills on to my father, because my mom’s idea of haute cuisine when we were kids was chipped beef on toast—really.
On the nights my father cooked I would smell the goodness of garlic in the house and rejoice that he was taking a turn in the kitchen. With family from the Abruzzo region of Italy, meat was regularly featured on his menus. We were treated to pungent, green-pepper-laden chicken cacciatore, spaghetti with spicy homemade tomato sauce accompanied by piping-hot cheese and spice-filled meatballs. Fresh grated Parmesan cheese dusted over the top of the dish was not optional! His spareribs were another favorite of mine, seasoned simply with fresh garlic, salt and pepper, and roasted until crisp—kind of like bacon. No wonder I loved them!
In my post-college years I was drawn to eating and cooking a variety of cuisines. A stint in the restaurant business taught me fresh fish doesn’t need a heavy sauce to make it sing. Trips to South Africa, Madagascar, and Zanzibar cemented my love of African cuisine, and the recently published cookbook Fresh India aroused my interest in fare from there. Its emphasis on vegetarian cooking makes many of the book’s recipes a great choice for family and friends who (borrowing a maxim from someone I know) “don’t eat anything with a face.” (However, this particular “vegetarian” I know eats fish, so personally I think he’s bending his own rules!)
Today, I still treasure a 1983 Metropolitan Home magazine I’ve held onto for an article titled Intriguing Pasta Recipes. That same year, when I was around 24 years old, I purchased and still covet The Ark Cookbook annotated by James Beard. The Ark Restaurant in Nahcotta, Washington, which showcased fresh seafood from the Willapa Bay and surrounding area, was a regional draw for at least a couple of decades. The peanut butter pie recipe in it is sinful…in a good way.
Suffice it to say I’ve been fond of food for many years. And if you want to EAT great food, learning to cook is essential.
Why the title “Cook Like No One is Watching!”? Because to be truthful, I’m a mess in the kitchen: I chop onions with abandon, pieces landing on the floor. I sling spices sans measuring device, and taste often, using a ton of clean silverware. My husband, who cleans up after me, swears I use every pan we own for one meal. Thankfully, he enjoys most of what I cook, so the ribbing I get doesn’t deter me. In short, cooking can be great be fun, assuming you don’t have a 2-year-old wrapped around your legs. (It happens).
After all those words, let’s start with an easy recipe for my dad’s meatballs (see page 15). While not really a summer entrée, after all that talk about garlic and Italian food, it seems a must!
Susan Trabucco is a Beaumont-Wilshire resident who is passionate about cooking and tropical-ish gardening. Her wish for this regular column is to inspire the fearful to cook with abandon, and the experienced to find a new “keeper” recipe. Cook on!
For recipe questions or to submit your recipe ideas for this column, e-mail Susan (susan@trabucco.biz).