I intended to serve the meal with cranberry wine but it wasn't until we went to open the bottle that I realized that I didn't have a corkscrew. I did not forget pictures this time although I had no batteries for the camera and had to use the camera phone resulting in them being somewhat blurry. You might also note that presentation is still something on which I need to improve.
All of the recipes except for the soup are from ``The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors'' by Jeff Smith, first edition, 1992 by Avon Books (ISBN 0-380-71708-5). The soup came from that old staple that every cook, home or otherwise, should own, The Joy of Cooking.
The menu
• vichyssoise
• Cuban ropa vieja over Hungarian dumplings
• cheesecake, New York style
Basic Preparation
A word about working with garlic. The ropa vieja required two cloves of crushed garlic. This is not a time to simplify and use powdered or dried...get a press and crush it yourself. But, a word to the wise, unless you want your hands to smell of garlic for a couple of days, use gloves. I personally don't mind the smell and will sniff my fingers periodically as a way to remind myself of the fun of cooking and eating the meal.
Vichyssoise
This is a perfect example of how an amazing dish can be created quite easily and with very little work. I prefer the first version in The Joy of Cooking to the second. The recipe says 1-2 cups of cream and I like it best with the minimum since more covers the potato flavor. Since all you have done is to puree potatoes, leeks, and onions boiled in chicken broth, it is one of those things you can cook frequently while making changes to see how it changes your appreciation for the dish (i.e. try it with beef broth or add shallots). Finally, although usually served cold, I prefer it hot like all soups.
Cuban Ropa Vieja
This was one of my first lessons on why it is important to read a recipe fully before starting: the meat must be simmered for two hours and then allowed to cool so that it can be deboned and shredded which can take another hour. If you didn't realize this, you might be rather inconvenienced when you found that you main course had no hope of being finished on time. When I first made this stew, I accidentally doubled the tomato sauce. I corrected my mistake the second time around only to find that I liked it better with the extra and that is how I always make it now.
Hungarian Dumplings
These are similar to German spaetzle and quite easy to prepare. You will need a spaetzle press but almost any gook cooking shop should have an inexpensive one and they are easy to use. When I first made these, I learned another lesson on why you read the entire recipe making sure that it makes sense with the ingredient list given. After reading the ingredient list, I spent quite a while trying to figure out what ``mil'' was. Had I read the preparation section, I would have realized that there was a typo in the ingredient list and that all I needed to locate was ``milk'' which is readily available at most grocery stores.
Cheesecake, New York Style
I have never tasted a cheesecake as good as this recipe. In fact, this version is what made me a cheesecake purist. After eating it for the first time, I came to realize that you only put other things in them or drizzle sauces over them to cover up inferiority. The hardest part is making the graham cracker crust which seems to be intended to be spread very, very thin. I doubled it this time but it made too much and it became a little hard after baking. This is one of those items where simply following the time and temperature in the recipe is important since there is no way to tell when the cheesecake is done as it will continue to cook after being removed from the oven. If you use the knife or toothpick insertion test you will surely overcook it and although it will taste fine, it will have the texture of cottage cheese. For best results, you should purchase a good oven thermometer.
