ABOUT JOHN CHUCKMAN

      

ME, ROUGHLY: THE DECLINE IS SO RAPID NOW

John Chuckman is former chief economist for a large Canadian oil company. He has many interests and is a lifelong student of history. He writes with a passionate desire for honesty, the rule of reason, and concern for human decency. John regards it as a badge of honor to have left the United States as a poor young man from the South Side of Chicago when the country embarked on the pointless murder of something like 3 million Vietnamese in their own land because they embraced the wrong economic loyalties. He lives in Canada, which he is fond of calling “the peaceable kingdom.”

John’s writing appears regularly on many Internet sites. He has been translated into at least ten languages and has been regularly translated into Italian and Spanish. Several of his essays have been published in book collections, including two college texts. He has published a book, The Decline of the American Empire and the Rise of China as a Global Power, published by Constable and Robinson, London. John also writes book reviews.

Apart from his writing since retiring from the oil industry, John has taught university courses in economics, done a good deal of private tutoring, served as a professional newspaper restaurant reviewer (he likes cooking), followed his favorite hobby of photography, and created a popular family of image blogs on the Internet.

John may be reached directly at:  formersouthsideboy@gmail.com

SOME OTHER INTERNET SITES FROM JOHN CHUCKMAN:

CHUCKMAN'S PLACES ON WORDPRESS: FEATURING THE BELOVED URBAN VILLAGE OF SOUTH SHORE CHICAGO

https://chuckmanplaces.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN'S PHOTOS ON WORDPRESS: CHICAGO NOSTALGIA AND MEMORABILIA

https://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN'S PHOTOS ON WORDPRESS: TORONTO NOSTALGIA

https://chuckmantorontonostalgia.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN’S MONTREAL

https://chuckmanmontreal.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN'S PHOTOS ON WORD PRESS

https://chuckmanphotos.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN'S KODACHROMES ON WORDPRESS: JOHN AND BOBBY LONG AGO

https://chuckmankodachromejohnandbobby.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN'S PORT STANLEY

https://chuckmanportstanley.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN'S BAYFIELD

https://chuckmanbayfield.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN'S GODERICH

https://chuckmangoderich.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN'S ILES DE LA MADELEINE (MAGDALEN ISLANDS)

https://chuckmanmagdalenislands.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN'S ART

http://chuckmanart.blogspot.ca/

CHUCKMAN'S ROBOTS

http://chuckmanrobots.blogspot.ca/

CHUCKMAN'S GALLERY OF GROTESQUES

http://chuckmangrotesques.blogspot.ca/

CHUCKMAN'S CARTOON COMMENTS

http://chuckmancartoons.blogspot.ca/

CHUCKMAN'S PHOTOS ON WORDPRESS: 1920s ARCADE CARD BEAUTIES – THEIR CHARM AND GRACE AND WHIMSY

https://chuckman1920sarcadecardbeauties.wordpress.com

CHUCKMAN'S WORDS ON WORDPRESS: POLITICAL ESSAYS

https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN'S WORDS ON WORDPRESS: COMMENTS FROM THE WORLD'S PRESS

https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/

CHUCKMAN'S MISCELLANEA OF WORDS

http://chuckmanmiscellanea.blogspot.ca/

CHUCKMAN'S NON-SPORTS TRADING CARDS OF THE 1950S VOLUME 01 (OF 4 VOLUMES)

http://chuckmannon-sporttradingcards1950s.blogspot.ca/

JOHN CHUCKMAN: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN

      

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: CHICKEN, RED PEPPER, AND NOODLE NON-ASIAN STIR-FRY TURNED INTO A NUMBER OF DISHES – SOUP – HUNGARIAN – ITALIAN FRITTATA – ALFREDO SAUCE – INDONESIAN – HOW FOOD-LOVERS THINK

CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: CHICKEN, RED PEPPER, AND NOODLE NON-ASIAN STIR-FRY TURNED INTO A NUMBER OF DISHES – SOUP – HUNGARIAN – ITALIAN FRITTATA – ALFREDO SAUCE – INDONESIAN – HOW FOOD-LOVERS THINK

Here is a fairly simple and tasty dish that I develop several ways. The exercise offers not only a number of recipes, but I think some insight into the way food-loving people think about cooking.

We start with a non-Asian stir-fry, strips of sautéed chicken and sweet red pepper tossed with egg noodles

 

BASIC STIR-FRY

INGREDIENTS

Four boneless Chicken Breasts, cut into short, slightly thickish strips.

Two very large, or equivalent, Red Sweet Peppers, cleaned and cut into short strips.

Flat Egg Noodles of medium width. Something like Barilla Tagliatelle will do nicely. Use enough pasta so that it will be an important ingredient when combined with chicken and peppers, like rice in fried rice.

 

METHOD

IMPORTANT NOTE: you will need a very large pan for the quantities given here. As is always the case, too, when you toss a large amount of noodles.

Prepare the pasta according to package directions. When ready, al dente, drain thoroughly.

Oil a sauté pan generously and stir-fry chicken and peppers over reasonably hot burner. Salt and pepper lightly and turn frequently with spatula.

When chicken and peppers are nearly done, add some oil to the drained noodles and toss lightly, and then add them to the chicken and peppers. Begin turning and mixing vigorously until noodles are all heated and chicken and peppers are well distributed.

It is ready to serve immediately.

Simple and delicious, but there are many things we can do with this basic stir-fry.

 

SOUP

Although it is not the way I normally make Chicken Noodle Soup, this stir-fry makes a quick and tasty one. Simmer some Chicken Stock with a bit of White Wine in it for some minutes. Then simply add some portion of the stir-fry to the broth, making a soup as thick as you like. Simmer briefly.

 

HUNGARIAN

We can make quite an imitation Hungarian dish of this.

In this case, before you add noodles, sprinkle chicken and peppers well with Paprika, either mild or hot, as you prefer. Make sure you add the Paprika only while there is plenty of oil in the pan, at the early stage of cooking. Paprika mixes with the hot oil and nicely coats meat and peppers while cooking itself. Some extra salt is appropriate. Then toss in the noodles, just as you did before.

Use a half container of whole-fat sour cream and add half a cup of flour (or double both, if you prefer). Whisk thoroughly together and toss into the Paprika-ed meat and pepper and noodles. Stir together well. Add some chicken stock to thin a bit, stir in well, and simmer for about twenty minutes. Voila, the dish is ready. Hearty and delicious.

 

ITALIAN - FRITTATA

Frittatas are among the tastiest and most useful of all relatively simple dishes. They suit both formal and informal meals.

I think we could do an interesting, slightly oddball Frittata with this stir-fry. Yes, noodles have been used on Frittatas, although they are not common. Since potatoes are among the most common ingredients, noodles do not seem so out of place.

 

FRITTATA RECIPE

A basic Frittata – a kind of open-faced baked omelette which gets cooked ingredients on top just like a pizza – is simple.

Six large eggs

Quarter cup of heavy cream

Whisk egg and cream and cook in a well-oiled heavy, oven-suitable skillet in a 350-oven on the order of 8-10 minutes. Sometimes longer with lots of ingredients. All toppings are cooked ahead, as is our stir-fry. They are placed on top of the raw egg mixture before baking. Quite typically, a cheese is sprinkled on last.

And a nice grated cheese suits our stir-fry ingredients handsomely.

 

ITALIAN – ALFREDO SAUCE

Alfredo Sauce does sound a little overly elegant for this kind of food, but the ingredients are suitable, so why not?

 

ALFREDO SAUCE RECIPE

1 cup of heavy cream

1 and a half cups grated Parmesan

2 tablespoons butter

1 small garlic clove, finely chopped

 

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook one minute without browning.

Whisk in the Heavy Cream and gently heat for about 5 minutes.

Remove pan from stove and gradually whisk in Parmesan cheese.

Heat the sauce gently for about 5 more minutes.

Some people add a touch of grated Nutmeg and/or a small bit of chopped Parsley.

 

The sauce is finished. Now is the time to turn warm pasta into the sauce. Serve immediately.

I’ve not tried this, but it just has to be good.

 

INDONESIAN

I have long relished Indonesian food, and I’ve cooked many of its dishes. The delightful and extremely savory Indonesian condiments – Oelek, Brandal, and Manis – are available in many specialty stores and readily available on-line. So, we could easily do with one of these what we did with Paprika, above.

This is not wildly inappropriate, a noodle dish being a national staple. One of these condiments would be added at the stage when frying the meat and peppers so that it spread in the oil. I think Oelek might be most suitable. Careful, it is pretty hot. In this case, it would be appropriate to serve the stir-fry with a couple of fried eggs on top. Yum.

 

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: PENNE RIGATE IN HOT SAUCE WITH SAUSAGE MEAT

CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: PENNE RIGATE IN HOT SAUCE WITH SAUSAGE MEAT

 

Prepare some of my basic red sauce, but season it with a fair bit of dried red pepper flakes. Careful, these can quickly create something very hot. Let simmer.

Remove casings and break up some Italian sausages – either hot or sweet – and sauté.

You may sauté some chopped onion and sweet red pepper with the sausage if you like.

Place the meat – and vegetables, if you are using them – into the red sauce and simmer a short while.

Boil some Penne Rigate pasta to al dente and drain.

A plate consists of a serving of pasta smothered with the hot meat sauce. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

Great with some crusty bread and a salad.

 

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL ADAPTATION OF A RECIPE FOR A WEDGE SALAD FROM A RESTAURANT WHOSE NAME I DO NOT REMEMBER

CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL ADAPTATION OF A RECIPE FOR A WEDGE SALAD FROM A RESTAURANT WHOSE NAME I DO NOT REMEMBER

 

Instead of the usual rather massive deep-cut hunk of Iceberg lettuce, this salad offers several shallower-cut wedges whose size comes closer to large dill pickle quarters.

Some people sneer at Iceberg lettuce, but I think it a silly thing to do. No less a culinary genius than Jacques Pépin has said he quite likes it with its crunch, and I quite agree.

 

FOR A SINGLE SALAD

Hard boil two large eggs and set aside to cool.

Four of the lettuce wedges make a plate, or more if you wish. You can arrange them almost like a little pile of campfire logs to give the plate some height.

Dress the lettuce with any of the creamy-style salad dressings – Thousand Island, Ranch, Blue Cheese, Creamy Italian, or other. Swirl the dressing around a bit across the lettuce and the plate for appearance.

When the eggs are cool, mash them using a potato masher, the kind that has a large number of small round holes. This will produce pretty egg bits which resemble Mimosa flowers.

Sprinkle these gracefully over the dressed lettuce and onto the plate.

Simple but delicious.

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: DELUXE MACARONI AND CHEESE

CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: DELUXE MACARONI AND CHEESE

This has long been one of my signature dishes. Some people actually develop a craving, as for a kind of soul food.

There are two general approaches to macaroni and cheese. One is just cooked macaroni in a Cheddar cheese sauce, often used as a side dish, much like mashed potatoes. Popular in diner-style eating with meat loaf, for example.

The other approach is more elaborate, a loaf-like casserole that is the meal’s featured item. Done well, it has a variety of textures in one dish. It is very satisfying and eye-appealing. This is the one I make.

 

INGREDIENTS

Decent pinch of Dry Mustard

2 modest splashes of Worcestershire Sauce

Heavily-reduced Chicken Stock, two standard boxes, reduced to just a fraction of their volume - this is a key ingredient not usually found in these sauces. Also, one box of chicken stock not reduced.

Milk

Flour – white and whole wheat both work

Butter

Panko Bread Crumbs

Good Cheddar Cheese, and lots of it.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE

La sauce, c’est tout, as they say.

 

While I made this many times, I have not made it in about five years. I also often made two casseroles at the same time, freezing one (it freezes well).

I never did make this with measuring, nor did I keep notes. It was the kind of instinctive, natural cooking used in my Eggplant Parmesan, a sensational dish and made without measure.

So, bear with me as I write something descriptive and accurate but inexact.

 

You might be guided by the following considerations.

If you wind up with too much sauce, there is no problem. It makes a terrific kind of Welsh Rarebit to be served on toast any time. Fabulous on fresh, steamed or sautéed Asparagus.

And if you have some of this sauce on hand, you can prepare at any time some of the simple, side-dish Macaroni just by boiling up pasta and stirring it into some hot sauce.

Too little sauce simply ruins the dish.

You must judge by appearances as you make this recipe, but you can’t do that well without adequate material at hand to adjust, and especially sauce.

So, I’ll be generous with the sauce estimates.

 

The sauté pan in which I used to make sauce I no longer have. It was extremely large, far larger than the average sauté pan.

The casserole dishes I used for baking are 8 inches x 10.5 inches x 3 inches, oval Pyrex. I have also used others. There are no rules.

 

You start by making a White Sauce, but contrary to popular belief, you do not need to make a roux. It is indeed better not to do so.

I read from a very famous chef that the best way to approach White Sauce was to whisk the flour directly into the milk, then pour that mixture into a pan with heated butter, whisking it, and I have followed his advice for years.

You will never have lumpy White Sauce this way. It will come out like silk. The method also allows moderate adjustments in amounts to be easily made.

 

To start the sauce, melt some butter or buttery (buttermilk) margarine in the bottom of a large saucepan, enough to coat the bottom well. Don’t make the pan very hot.

Pour a half cup of flour into a quart of milk and whisk together well. Pour into heated pan and whisk. The proportions I’ve given, flour-to-milk, are too heavy for normal white sauce, but normal white sauce is not quite what we are making. We are adding a good deal of chicken stock. You can always add some more milk if it is just too dense, but we do not want a thin sauce.

Add the box of undiluted chicken stock to the white sauce and let it all simmer on low heat for ten minutes to reduce starchiness. The flavoring ingredients are next. Cheese comes last.

Worcestershire, Dry Mustard, Reduced Chicken Stock.

 

To reduce the chicken stock, just bring it to a gentle boil in a saucepan and leave it until it is where you want it. This takes a little while. Keep your eye on it. You want no more than about a fifth of the original volume from two boxes of stock. Use salted stock. The salting is desirable.

 

When sauce ingredients are all nicely blended, start adding cheese. Slice the cheese up so that it dissolves more easily. Keep gently stirring while dissolving the cheese. Soon, you will have a lovely pool of the most delicious cheese sauce. You will add a minimum of a pound and a half of Cheddar. Taste it, see if it needs more cheese because here we are working with rough estimates.

 

In a large saucepan, start some water boiling and add the dry macaroni. Make plenty. I don’t have an amount to give you, but be generous and learn from your first effort. Stir occasionally. Don’t overcook. The pasta will become soggy, losing its texture and effectively diluting the sauce. Drain well.

Reserved cheese is shredded with a grater to use for lining sides and bottom of casserole dish and covering top of Macaroni.

 

Prepare the casserole dish or dishes.

Butter all the sides. Sprinkle in grated cheese and Panko breadcrumbs and swirl around until nicely coated. This is going to form a nice crust when baked.

The top of the Macaroni gets the same treatment at the end, only thicker.

Place the dish or dishes on a lined cookie sheet – baking them this way can prevent a big oven mess

 

To fill the casserole (remember, we do not want to disturb coating on sides), start by ladling a modest layer of sauce into bottom of the dish. Then, ladle a moderately thick layer of pasta evenly over it. Ladle more sauce on top of the pasta, allowing it to seep down through the pasta. Continue until you just barely cover the pasta with sauce. Repeat with a new layer on top and repeat again until you are at the top of the dish.

Now, prepare the top. Dot with tiny dabs of butter and sprinkle with lots of grated cheese and lots of Panko bread crumbs. Break into a third pound of cheese, if required. Don’t skimp. Cover the top with foil – not loose, but snug.

Set cookie sheet and covered casserole into a preheated 350-oven. Bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and return to baking until the top looks inviting.

Great with coleslaw or any crisp salad.

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL ADAPTATION OF A JACQUES PEPIN RECIPE FOR BAKED BEANS

CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL ADAPTATION OF A JACQUES PEPIN RECIPE FOR BAKED BEANS

 

I have always loved well-made baked beans and salt pork. They were a dish you often found in Chicago of the early 1960s. The best I ever had was one of the weekly offerings at the Marshall Field’s Department Store employees’ cafeteria. I never missed them. Just seeing one of the ladies behind the counter in the cafeteria slide out a new tray from the wall oven or warmer and catching the aroma made your mouth water. At least it did mine.

This adaptation of a Jacques Pepin recipe comes as close as I’ve had since.

 

4 16-oz cans of white “Navy Beans,” also called “Pea Beans.” Leave the liquid of two of the cans in the  recipe. Drain the other two.

2 large onions or equivalent – fairly finely diced up.

One-half cup of tomato ketchup. 

2 and a half teaspoons of dry mustard.

One-third teaspoon cayenne pepper.

1 and a third teaspoons of dried oregano.

One-half cup dark brown sugar.

4 tablespoons of molasses.

1 pound of very thickly-sliced fatty bacon 

In a large flat casserole dish, whose sides and bottom you have buttered, assemble all the ingredients - except for the pork – and mix thoroughly.

Then cut the bacon into squares or rectangles that will blanket the entire top of the bean mixture, almost like a quilt.

Place the casserole on a parchment-covered cookie sheet for oven protection and cover the top with aluminum foil.

Bake, covered, in a 350-degree oven for two hours.

Remove the foil covering. Do not disturb the beans and pork.

Bake for at least one more hour. Until the top looks nicely done and appealing.

Fresh baked brown bread and butter are heavenly with it. Delicious with homemade coleslaw.

 

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: GRILLED SALAMI AND SWISS SANDWICH – AND A NUMBER OF OTHER HOT SANDWICH IDEAS - THE DEFINITIVE REUBEN SANDWICH

 

CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: GRILLED SALAMI AND SWISS SANDWICH – AND A NUMBER OF OTHER HOT SANDWICH IDEAS - THE DEFINITIVE REUBEN SANDWICH

It is such a simple concept, and an extremely tasty one. I am sure many have done this at home, but I have never seen it noted anywhere. Here is an opportunity to discuss a number of related hot sandwich ideas.

 

INGREDIENTS

Hard Salami - slices of any good variety, although other “softer” salamis are good too.

Emmenthal Swiss Cheese – only the real thing will do, with its uniquely nutty flavor.

Rye Bread – the German-style crusty loaf. This exceptionally tasty bread is not commonly found in supermarkets, but carried by specialty stores. If unavailable, another rye will do.

Butter or the kind of buttery-tasting margarine made with buttermilk.

 

METHOD

Butter one side of two slices of bread. These will be the outside, frying sides.

In a skillet, assemble the sandwich with as much salami and cheese as you like on top of the unbuttered side of one slice of bread. Place the other slice, buttered-side-up, on top.

Set burner for medium high. Use a spatula to turn the sandwich shortly. Also use it to press the sandwich down as the cheese begins to soften. You may turn it several times. You do not want any scorched bread. For turning, before the cheese has become gooey to behave as glue, use a fork in your other hand, pressing against sandwich on spatula to hold the still-dry sandwich together as you turn it.

ThIs is the method I use for simple grilled cheese sandwiches, which I make with a good many different cheeses and breads.

This sandwich is excellent all by itself. It is even better with a great dill pickle, and it is delicious with an appropriate soup, such as white pea soup.

But it becomes something very special served with a large soft-boiled egg broken on top so you must eat it with a knife and fork. The soft-boiled egg is a superb touch for many hot sandwiches.

 

NOTE ON SOFT-BOILED EGGS

I find an “extra-large” egg, the largest grade, is perfectly soft-boiled by exactly four minutes in boiling water. A smaller egg, as a “large” one, needs three minutes. For the timing, do not leave the egg in the water as it heats up. Lower it into the water, very carefully with a spoon (they crack easily), once the water has lightly begun to boil.

 

VARIATIONS

Ham and Swiss are also excellent. I like the Westphalian-style (dry-cured) hams best, although any of a number of hams are good. With the egg on top, this sandwich begins to resemble a breakfast/brunch offering.

Even further along the lines of breakfast/brunch is substituting Cooked Bacon for the ham. This makes something pretty special with the soft-boiled egg.

When preparing sandwiches with ham or bacon for breakfast/brunch, you may prefer replacing the rye bread with something like slices of French Country Loaf or a lovely Brown or Multi-Grain loaf.

The basic Salami and Cheese is also good on a sliced Bagel, although cooking with two halves of a bagel is awkward. It definitely requires a fork in the other hand when turning. Also, just a bit of first mashing down the bread’s bumps.

 

THE REUBEN SANDWICH: HOW I MAKE THIS TRADITIONALLY-GRILLED SANDWICH WITHOUT GRILLING BECAUSE MY REUBEN SANDWICHES ARE TOO MASSIVE AND MESSY FOR ORDINARY STOVETOP COOKING

For such a famous, and relatively simple, sandwich, it is remarkable how many different ideas there are for its preparation. Here is a small list of common differences in recipes:

Rye Bread versus Pumpernickel Bread.

Pastrami versus Corned Beef.

Russian Dressing versus Thousand Island Dressing versus Mustard.

Thin, hand-held sandwiches versus massive piles that must be eaten with a knife and fork.

Frying in a skillet versus either broiling or baking.

The order of the ingredients in the sandwich.

The amount of sauerkraut, some reducing it to almost a tiny relish, others keeping it as a primary ingredient.

Some of these differences do not matter. Pastrami and Corned Beef are really two versions of the same thing. Overwhelmingly, Rye Bread seems to have displaced the Pumpernickel I knew many decades ago.

Dressing very much does matter. Mustard no more belongs in a Reuben than ketchup belongs on roast beef. Russian Dressing is the correct and most delightful ingredient. Many use a close relative, Thousand Island, because it is easily available. You usually have to make Russian Dressing.

Both dressings start with a mayonnaise-and-dollop-of-ketchup base. Thousand Island tends to be sweet while Russian has spicy ingredients with a good deal of horseradish, very suitable for beef. Here is a Russian Dressing recipe:

 

RUSSIAN DRESSING

Adjust to your taste:

1/2 cup of Mayonnaise

3 tablespoons of Ketchup

2 tablespoons of Horseradish

2 teaspoons of Worcestershire Sauce

1 tablespoon of Sugar

1/4 teaspoon of Paprika

 

I very much like these sandwiches on the massive and messy side, and while that is possible to do on a large restaurant grill, it pretty much precludes frying them in a skillet. The method I’ve arrived at is baking on a cookie sheet with a loose foil covering. The bread is buttered on the outside just as you would butter it for a fried sandwich. With the butter, the bread pretty well “fries” in the heat of the oven.

 

INGREDIENTS

Pastrami or Corned Beef, as available.

Emmenthal Cheese - again, only the real stuff from Switzerland. All the domestic efforts I’ve tried in the past fail to capture the special taste and texture of the original.

Sauerkraut - I recommend Kuhne from Germany. It is the best bottled or canned kraut I have ever eaten, and I have eaten many. It is not at all watery, which many are, making it perfect for piling on a sandwich.

Russian Dressing and no substitute.

Rye or Pumpernickel Bread, your choice. Pumpernickel stands up better to many wet ingredients, but Rye has a texture and taste most prefer.

 

METHOD

On parchment-lined cookie sheets, lay out your bread and butter well the side which will be outside the sandwich. Put the bottoms of the sandwiches butter-side-down to begin building them.

Mound sauerkraut on each one generously. While Kuhne brand is not at all watery, you might give each dollop a light squeeze before putting on the bread. Maybe two inches deep. Next comes the meat. Be very generous, making sure the slices are placed individually if they have all been packed tightly together, as is often the case.

Now, the cheese. Again, generosity is key to a great sandwich. The melting-down of the cheese onto other ingredients is important.

Finally, the Russian Dressing. Slather it on top heavily and, if you like, drizzle sides lightly. Now put the tops on the sandwiches, butter-side-up.

There is a reason for this order. During cooking, both the cheese and the dressing will be running down onto other ingredients.

Cover loosely with foil and bake in a preheated 350-oven. They should take about 15 to 20 minutes. Check them after 10 minutes.

The sandwich is a complete meal itself, but a dill pickle is nice. So are buttery mashed potatoes.

 

ANOTHER SUGGESTION – ROASTED VEGETABLE AND CHEESE GRILLED SANDWICH

Using some of the roasted vegetables from a previous recipe here, create a Roasted Vegetable and Cheese Grilled Sandwich. A cheese such as Fontina is very suitable, but there are many others.

Use a French Country Loaf Bread or you can use a sliced baguette with some effort, like mashing the halves down a little first. You can avoid the shape problem by cutting the baguette into slices at, say, a forty-five-degree angle, but you get smaller sandwiches. Butter the outside and fry in a medium hot skillet.

An aioli – a mayonnaise flavored with garlic, and sometimes other ingredients, is a nice condiment to offer with this sandwich. It is also nice with roasted vegetables generally.

 

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: COUS COUS AND ROASTED VEGETABLES

CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: COUS COUS AND ROASTED VEGETABLES

A Middle Eastern and Mediterranean-inspired dish – savory and beautiful and simple to make. You may eat it alone – it is an excellent semi-vegetarian dish – or serve it with some roasted meat.

Cous cous is a terrifically flexible staple food. It cooks very fast (5 minutes), much faster than rice, and many people who like rice end up liking cous cous just as well. It offers endless variations just by changing the liquid in which it is cooked, apart from what else you may add.

Almost any broth or vegetable juice may be used. You may add nuts or raisons or peas or any other bits that take your fancy. You may just cook it in a previously prepared soup, as, say, a vegetable soup, so long as the soup is dilute enough. Adding bits of leftover meat works well.

I adore roasted vegetables, but I like them cooked down perhaps more than is typical, say, in restaurants. It intensifies their flavor, and I like to see some dark golden portions.

Roasted vegetables, too, offer great variety through both the mix of vegetables and the seasoning used. You may add meat broth reductions, too, to the oil and seasoning you use over the vegetables.

Here, I reduce chicken stock and use that as the liquid for the cous cous. It is not strictly vegetarian of course, but it is very good. Just moderately boil off part of the chicken stock you start with before using it as the cooking liquid for the cous cous.

Because well-roasted vegetables suffer great reduction in volume, you must start by using a greater volume than you might at first think suitable. Some vegetables, like tomatoes, reduce more heavily than others. You may want to take account of that.

The vegetables suggested here are tomatoes, onions, red sweet pepper, eggplant, and zucchini.

Cut them into fair-sized chunks – the “drier, harder” vegetables should be cut into somewhat smaller pieces - and lay them out on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Drizzle well with oil and sprinkle with a seasoning combination you like. Just sea salt is nice.

Set the oven for 400 degrees. After the first half-hour, do a periodic check. They take a while.

Serve with a generous amount and variety of vegetables draped over a nice mound of cous cous.

Also nice sprinkled with roasted sesame seeds.

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: COATED, PAN-FRIED FISH – BATTER AND METHOD

CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: COATED, PAN-FRIED FISH – BATTER AND METHOD

 

An excellent method for all coated, pan-fried fish. Especially good with perch.

Set fish fillets in a very shallow milk bath. I always soak them just for a bit, advice from a renowned English fish’n’chips cook many years ago.

In a second dish, crack and beat three extra-large eggs, or equivalent, dilute just slightly for workability, and lightly salt.

In a third dish, add one cup of panko bread crumbs, one cup of corn meal, and one cup of white or whole wheat flour. Add a tablespoon of baking powder. Mix thoroughly.

The fish fillets are drained from the milk, dipped into the egg mixture, and gently coated with the dry batter mix. Put them aside until you finish all that you are going to cook. A large sheet of waxed paper is a good way to hold them ready. Note the coating is somewhat fragile.

If you run short of one of the ingredients, just prepare a little more. It is not possible to be really accurate on batter amounts since its adequacy will be affected by how neatly you work and the size of the fillets.

When all the fillets are nicely coated, start heating a large skillet with a moderate amount of oil. Medium high heat. I tend to use Canola, but any other light oil is fine.

Carefully lay the prepared fillets in the pan with a spatula or two forks. Do not crowd.

Fry briefly and turn. If fried side is not golden enough, you will turn again afterward. The ideal look is golden.

Set the fried fillets on a plate covered with a couple of layers of heavy paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Note, never overcook fish. It loses its wonderful succulent and tender qualities. Overcooking fish is undoubtedly one of the most common errors of home cooks.

Fish cooked like this is to be eaten almost immediately, so all other meal preparations should be in place.

Excellent with a home-made coleslaw or chief’s salad. Buttery mashed potatoes are terrific. Of course, French fries are wonderful, but what a job they are to make properly with their two fryings (required for best crisp results) and all the cleanup. I rarely make them. Also nice with rice or cous-cous. Also, great fish sandwiches with baguette or other fine bread.

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: TUNA MELTS

 CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: TUNA MELTS

These are serious food, not just “pub grub,” hot open-face sandwiches as complete meals. They are beautiful to the eye and very satisfying.

 

THE BASIC SALAD

In assembling the salad, keep in mind for proportions that the ideal is for each tuna melt to have the full range of flavors and textures and colors in it. A bit demanding, but worth the effort.

Solid Light canned tuna – broken up finely with a fork or potato masher. Two or three cans, or whatever amount tastes right to you.

Avocado – de-pitted, skinned, and diced into small chunks.

Celery – moderately thick slices, cut across the stalk – a generous amount.

Small pimento-stuffed green olives – sliced or cut into quarters – a generous amount.

Mayonnaise – no substitutes. You must use the real stuff – a generous amount – vary according to how “wet” you like your salad. Remember that baking will dry it out a bit, too.

Ripe cherry or grape tomatoes (grape tomatoes are sweeter but not always available) – cut into quarters or halves depending on their size - a generous amount.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Mix ingredients in a bowl thoroughly, being careful not to smash things together because we want the individual items to remain individual. Set aside and allow to warm to room temperature.

Note: this basic salad, minus the avocado chunks, is also excellent as a filling for avocado halves served cold or at room temperature.

Cheddar cheese – grated roughly – the real thing – no substitutes – a generous amount.

Pitas – either Greek or Middle eastern – or bagels – either New York style or Montreal. If you use Montreal-style bagels, it is a bit difficult to mound up the sandwiches because of the bread’s large hole. It can be done, but it is a bit of extra fuss. If using pitas, cut them into quarters ahead. Bagels are just cut in half.

If using bagels, ones with seeds or other coatings add still more eye-appeal and taste to the sandwiches.

 

OPTION

Salsa – whatever temperature you like – La Costena from Mexico is the best bottled one

 

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and begin building your sandwiches. Arrange the bread bases.

Pile a generous helping of the salad onto each piece. The sandwiches should be fairly tall to feature the variety of ingredients, not flat like pizzas.

If you are using the salsa option, now is the time to dab some on the top of each pile of salad. While I very much like this, I do not suggest making them all this way. Some people do not like it.

Next is the cheese. Sometimes, you have to play a bit to make sure each sandwich gets a goodly amount of cheese. You are trying to pile loose shavings on a little hill. A bit of patting and shaping help. Extra on top is good, as it will run down.

The cookie sheets are placed in a preheated 350-degree oven until all the cool ingredients are heated and the cheese nicely melts. This should be about ten to fifteen minutes.

 

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: BEEF AND BARLEY SOUP

CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: BEEF AND BARLEY SOUP

A hearty and delicious meal in a bowl



4 quarts of beef stock or broth with a good splashing of dry red wine brought to a simmer in a large soup pot.

True stock is best, but broth is fine and far more readily available.

2 pounds of good beef stew cut to bit-size pieces. More if you like it meatier.

Sprinkle the beef lightly with flour and salt. Sauté briefly in a hot well-oiled frypan.

Add golden beef to simmering stock.

Dice up one very large onion, one large green pepper, and two or three large carrots. Sauté these briefly and then add to stock and beef.

Add one large can of diced tomatoes to stock and beef and vegetables

Add about a tablespoon and a half of pot barley to the simmering stock mixture. Experiment to see how much you favor. Careful, because too much barley can literally absorb the stock and produce a porridge.

Cover and let gently simmer for at least half an hour.

Absolutely delicious served with garlic bread (see my spaghetti and meatball recipe).

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: OLIVE AND NUT SPREAD FOR SANDWICHES OR CANAPES

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: OLIVE AND NUT SPREAD FOR SANDWICHES OR CANAPES

There was a wonderful ice cream parlor and snack shop on Chicago’s Northwest side in the 1960s called The Buffalo. A charming place in an old-fashioned apartment-building neighborhood with two movie theaters nearby. On a Friday or Saturday night, there was a long line-up of people, stretching down the block, waiting for tables. The place had a charming and buzzy atmosphere.

One of things they served, the one I relished and always ordered, was an olive and nut sandwich. It consisted of thick layer of an extremely savory spread with thin slices of tomato on toast, cut in the fashion of a club sandwich.

I experimented many times with duplicating the spread and was successful.

The spread makes absolutely wonderful canapes, and I never served them to anyone who wasn’t impressed.

Green pimento-stuffed Manzanilla olives and walnuts and a real mayonnaise, buzzed together in a food processor. Experiment to see what proportion of olives versus nuts you prefer. Start with two-thirds olives. Be generous with the mayo, but don’t add so much that you lose some texture of olive and nut bits.   

You can use this spread for a zesty sandwich, with tomato slices and/or lettuce leaves, or for canapes. For the canapes, use any favorite cracker or biscuit with a generous dollop of the spread and add a decorative little topping, such as a slice of olive or a sliver of pimento.

The original recipe used walnuts, and they are excellent in it, but in my experiments, I discovered a mouth-watering substitute, cashews. The cashews make an extremely rich spread, but the taste is divine.

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: TRUITE MEUNIERE

JOHN CHUCKMAN’S TRUITE MEUNIERE

An absolute favorite


Use whole Rainbow Trout, either fresh or frozen (moderately thawed).

Cut off the heads but not the tails, which are delicious when cooked. You must slit the gut side of each fish the full length if it has not been done (as it will have been with frozen fish).

Dust the outer surface lightly with flour and sprinkle with salt.

Sauté in a well-oiled pan of moderately high heat, Use two-fork method. Do not brown the fish.

When golden on both sides, set aside. Lift side of fish with fork in slit on each serving plate to reveal bones. Grip bones at head-end and gently lift out of flesh. Use fork as required to assist.  It will come out nicely when fish has been properly cooked.

Drain cooking oil from cooking pan.

Add a few globs of butter or a good buttermilk-flavored margarine to pan and melt.

Squeeze a fresh lemon, cut in two, into the melted butter.

Simmer a few moments and pour over golden trout.

Serve immediately.

Absolutely best with a great salad.

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS - GARLIC BREAD

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS

Always a favorite dish of mine. My ideal was what was served at a charming little Italian restaurant called Manzo’s on Chicago’s North Side in the 1960s. It was a sweet little place with checkered table cloths and Chianti-bottle candles on the tables. With subdued light and candles and family-like staff, it had a homey, friendly atmosphere I quite loved.

The spaghetti and meatballs came as a large plate of pasta covered with thick tomatoey sauce and two large meatballs, the size of small fists, on top. I never ordered anything else. Just its appearance was mouth-watering. That memory was my guide over the years in developing a recipe.

Squeeze sweet Italian sausages out of their casings into a bowl. Match with an equal amount of ground beef.

Add a generous amount of breadcrumbs - preferably Panko and salt and pepper to taste.

Two whole large eggs. Hand-squeeze the mixture until is homogenised.

Form into very large meatballs and sauté in in a frypan until golden on all sides. My favorite method is to use two forks, turning the meatballs frequently.

When browned, carefully drop them into a pot of simmering red sauce (see my recipe). For spaghetti and meatballs, I prefer the sweeter version of the sauce. Simmer slowly for a good hour.

Serve two meatballs and a generous drizzle of sauce top of a small mountain of al dente spaghetti.  Sprinkle with fresh grated Parmesan and serve with my garlic bread and glasses of dry red wine.

Note: the meatballs also work nicely with a generous dollop of the garlic puree prepared (below) for garlic bread, but I prefer not using the garlic for spaghetti and meatballs.

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JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: GARLIC BREAD

Place several large, peeled buds of fresh garlic in a mortar-and-pestle.

Sprinkle with a bit of salt, which adds flavor and gives the texture needed for successfully crushing the garlic.

Smash the garlic thoroughly, and add to some olive oil or other oil. I find simple Canola oil works nicely. It is my go-to basic cooking oil.

Generously paint this mixture onto slices of thickly-cut baguette or other crusty bread and set on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Place in a 375-degree oven until just lightly golden. Serve immediately.

An option is to sprinkle each piece of coated bread with some freshly-ground Parmesan before baking. I like it both ways, but prefer it without cheese to accompany spaghetti and meatballs.

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: CHICKEN PAPRIKASH

JOHN CHUCKMAN’S CHICKEN PAPRIKASH

A little different than the classic and absolutely delicious


Bring some chicken broth, with generous splashes of dry white wine in it, to a simmer in a large stew or soup pot.

Salt and rub generously with sweet paprika some chicken breasts – ones with the skin on.

Sauté the breasts in oil until they are nicely turned orangey golden all around. Set aside.

Rub the vegetables – thick carrot slices, thick green or red pepper slices, and thick onion slices - with sweet paprika, salt, and lightly sauté the vegetables in oil. Set aside.

Add chicken and vegetables to simmering broth. Let simmer gently for a half hour or so.

Use a large container of full-fat sour cream and mix into it about a cup of white flour. Stir and mix thoroughly.

Remove the chicken and vegetables from the broth. Stir in the sour cream-flour mix until it is smooth. This is the sauce. Return the chicken and vegetables to the sauce.

Best served with Spätzle, the tiny German or Hungarian noodles.

JOHN CHUCKMAN REVIEW OF DUNCAN JONES' MOON

I regard this as one of the strongest science fiction movies.

Here is a movie, quite unusual for science fiction, with something rather deep to say about the human condition. That is what sets it apart.

In the opening sequence of the film, we are watching a commercial for a large corporation which runs lunar mining operations to provide energy back on earth. The announcer puts emphasis on clean and virtually limitless energy. The mining operation is where the story is set, and this way of introducing it is brilliant. We’ve all seen such PR from corporations. The tone is just right. Very convincing.

The story is about a man who works alone at the lunar mining operation, a man approaching the end of his three-year contract, something to which he very much looks forward. His only companionship on the moon is an odd but very sophisticated robot and the occasional video of his family from back home on earth. Live communication with earth is not permitted, supposedly for unavoidable technical reasons.

He busies himself with a number of hobbies and pastimes, highly-focused small-scale gardening and the construction of a beautiful and elaborate table-top wooden village model, the demanding nature of the activities telling us that this is a man of some intelligence and focus, and not just an industrial worker.

His job is the regular collection of canisters filled with the element helium-three, canisters filled by gigantic processing machines, resembling in scale the kind of massive machines used in the Alberta tar sands. They run continuously, striping the lunar surface and processing the material to extract the helium.

Sam Bell, the character’s name, keeps track of the gigantic machines back at the base/living quarters, heading out in full astronaut gear and special vehicle to unload full canisters while the machine remains in operation. He returns to the base and regularly shoots the canisters back to earth.

That certainly sounds like a dull, uninteresting situation, but the fact that that proves not to be the case is part of the film’s strength.

We have an outstanding performance by Sam Rockwell, the performance of a lifetime one might think. We become interested in this man and invested with what proves to be a far more complex and mysterious reality than what we first see.

Rockwell, in the tradition of a lot of Hollywood “twins” films of the 1940s, plays two characters. He does so convincingly. They really are two characters, not just an actor changing his facial expressions.

We are taken for a bit of an emotional roller-coaster ride with these two as they clash over personal differences and as we see assumptions about the nature of their situation gradually stripped away.

This peeling away of layers of apparent reality during the story is an effective way of holding our interest. We discover the full and unpleasant truth right along with the characters. Corporate echoes about clean energy come back to haunt.

The key to all good stories, whether in films or books, is getting the reader or viewer involved in the character’s situation. Here is a film that does that extremely well, and the more we learn, the more emotionally involved we become.

Gerty, the robot in the story, is given a character quite different than the menacing ones so often attributed to artificial intelligence in science fiction movies, from Colossus in “The Forbin Project” to HAL in “2001.”

Gerty proves empathetic and helpful. Of course, it has been programed to keep lonely workers company over three-year assignments, and that programming in the end overrides restrictions from the mining company.

JOHN CHUCKMAN DEFINITION OF LOVE

Love means that it makes you feel good just to see a person.

He or she has become an integral and vital  part of your existence.

JOHN CHUCKMAN LINE OF POETRY

Spring comes, trailing robes of purest sunlight, to press her warm and fragrant breast to earth.

- A line of poetry written at about 19 years old.

JOHN CHUCKMAN ORIGINAL RECIPE: MY BASIC RED SAUCE FOR MANY ITALIAN DISHES

MY BASIC RED SAUCE:

Use crushed canned tomatoes (two large cans), a generous addition of dry red wine, a couple of anchovies or equivalent anchovy paste, a small can of tomato paste, a finely chopped onion, a sprinkling of Basil, a small sprinkling of red chilies (only enough to hint - sauce is not to be hot), and a couple of tablespoons of sugar (I leave this out these days, but it is good for Eggplant Parmesan). A splash of olive oil in the pan. Bring to boil and simmer over low heat, covered, for maybe an hour.

Many variations are possible - certainly I often use a bit of chopped garlic - but this is a pretty satisfying general purpose sauce. You may substitute a can (or even both) of crushed tomatoes with diced, giving the sauce texture for some pastas.  Of course, you can add a lot more chili flakes to make it hot which suits penne rigate. This is nice too with bits of sauteed spicy sausage.

Some always lightly saute onions and garlic first, but that isn't essential except in sauces which you simmer for only minutes, which is not the case here using wine. In simmering a longer time the ingredients literally will melt together.

One of my favorite versions is a Putanesca for spaghetti. Add some Kalamata olives and capers and substitute Oregano for Basil. You can throw various other ingredients into a Puttanesca sauce, as bits of sauteed sausage. A bit of diced green pepper is nice, but not for Eggplant Parmesan.

Best sauce to use for Eggplant Parmesan is the simple, somewhat sweet, basic.