Lora - Stuff It!: Fun Filled Foods to Savor and Satisfy

Lora Brody and Max Brody

Stuff It!

Fun Filled Foods to
Savor and Satisfy

Benjamin Jacob Brodyborn into the businessthis ones for you.

Lora: Bridging the generation gap between me and my middle son, Max, are music (Bob Dylan, Elvis, The Beatles), the love of travel to exotic places, and food. Plus a certain kind of humor. During our cross-country tour of cooking schools in 1993, during which Max drove and prepped while I taught in small towns and large cities from Essex Junction, Vermont, to Nashville, Tennessee, we listened to hundreds of tapes, including one of George Carlins classic monologues. Even though George Carlin is a product of my generation, it was Max who introduced me to his deliciously vulgar, nail-on-the-head brand of humor. It was the monologue about stuff that lit the fire that cooked up this book.

You may not quite follow the logic or sequence here, but trust me, everything in my life relates to food. And the leap from George Carlin saying, Theres all different ways of carrying your stuff, to a dj vu of my mother sneaking last nights leftovers into tonights main course makes perfect sense if youve grown up in the Brody family. Hey, Ive got a great idea for a book didnt faze Max; after all, hes been hearing this all his life. The Lets do it together! part made him wince only slightly.

To his credit, Max tackled this project as he was completing the externship requirement for his degree at the Culinary Institute of America. His job as a line cook at Bostons venerable French restaurant Maison Robert left him little time for extracurricular activities. His schedule meant we communicated mostly by Post-its. It was only by finding in the refrigerator unusual ingredients or dishes I hadnt made that I knew Max was holding up his end of the project. The times we did get to cook together were educational and fun. He showed me how to cook using every pot, pan, and utensil in the kitchen, and I taught him how to clean up to my satisfaction. Mostly we laughed, and in every instance we ate great food.

Max: Food and cooking have always brought our family together, whether it has been macaroni and cheese at the kitchen table, a picnic at the beach, Thanksgiving, or an eight-course meal at a French restaurant. That is why I dont find it a bit odd to be writing a book with my mother. Throughout my few years, my memories have been punctuated by meals with family and friends and the foods we have eaten. When I think of my fourth birthday, I remember the electric-blue Cookie Monster cake made for me and my classmates by good old Mom (almost as good as the cupcakes she made for me and the rest of my school on my sixteenth birthday). One of the few memories imprinted in my brain by the blur that was Paris is the dinner I had with my parents during which the waiter, with a truffle in one hand and a peeler in his other, slowly sliced slivers of heaven upon my risotto.

In a little town outside Bowling Green, Kentucky, during our cooking road-trip tour, my mother and I stopped in for breakfast at what appeared to be the only restaurant in town. After consulting the menu, each other, and the waitress, we agreed to have what turned out to be the worst peach cobbler we had ever eaten. Even though we found the food inedible, we still had a good laugh and a good meal; I have found that food (good or bad) is, like company, just a component of a memorable meal.

While writing this book, my mother and I had to test the recipes, giving us a great excuse to have friends over for dinner. Many nights would find us sitting around the dining-room table, a glass of wine in one hand and pen and paper in the other, jotting down notes and reminders and laughing and eating and living. So I hope, whether its a simple snack for supper or an entree for eight, that the recipes in this book provide you and your guests and your family with many good meals and good times.

So, to begin. In the beginning there was wrapped food. We tried it, but, to tell you the truth, wrapped food reminds us of a pair of shoes that takes forever to lace up, hurts like hell to walk in, but looks so great and gets so many compliments that its worth the trouble. There had to be an easier wayand there was. Meet the Birken-stocks of wrapped food: stuffed foods. The idea of presenting food in bundles is a terrific one, and clearly popular, since wrapped-food books are flying in and out of bookstores as fast as you can say moo-shoo shrimp. However, all that prissy fussing and playing around could make you really crazy. Give us the faster and easier method, and lets get the food on the table, where it belongs.

Stuffed food is downtown food. Its things like deviled eggs, celery sticks filled with whipped blue cheese, Cheddar-stuffed grilled burgers and calzones, stuffed peppers, chili-stuffed baked potatoes, and chocolate-ricotta-filled cannoli. Its homey, old-fashioned food that anyone can make. Its composed of things found in the supermarket (as opposed to the gourmet or super-natural grocery store). Its economical, made with inexpensive ingredients and leftovers. Its quick, its adaptable (stuffings can be easily switched or substituted to accommodate special diets), and its versatile (many dishes can be either appetizer or main course). Many of these recipes can be prepared ahead and refrigerated or frozen, to be cooked and served later. Stuffed foods can be baked, steamed, grilled, fried, microwaved, sauted, or cooked in the pressure cooker or Crock-Pot, or over a campfire. These are dishes that little hands (with adult supervision, of course) could help make.

Whether you are a rank novice or an experienced home cook, these recipes will speak to your desire to eat good food, made from good ingredients, and served up in a novel but unpretentious manner. Enjoy!

Makes 2 servings

Lora:As the youngest member of this family, Sam is used to eating the tested recipes of the day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hes quite opinionated about which dishes go and which stay. He pronounced this easy-to-prepare croissant stuffed with scrambled eggs a keeper and advises not to make it just for breakfast.

Max:Try adding sauted onions and peppers to the eggs (although Sam, who never met a vegetable he liked, would never eat it this way).

This recipe makes enough for two servings, but it can easily be doubled or tripled.

2 large, very fresh plain croissants (the taller they are, the prettier the final dish)

2 tablespoons butter

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon salt

teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Grated Parmesan or Cheddar cheese (optional)

Use a serrated knife to slice off the top quarter of the croissants. Set the tops aside. Use your fingers to pull out the soft insides of the croissants to form a pocket about 3 inches across and 2 inches deep.

Heat the butter in a small skillet over moderately high heat. While the butter is heating, use a whisk to mix the eggs, water, salt, and pepper together in a small mixing bowl. Beat for 30 seconds, then pour into the hot butter. Use a fork to move the eggs around in the skillet, scraping the bottom and sides often, until the eggs are softly scrambled. Just before the eggs are cooked, mix in the cheese, if you want it. Divide the eggs between the 2 croissants, spooning them carefully into the cavity and mounding them slightly. Cover with the tops and serve immediately.