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11/06/2019 11:01 PMThese days, I cook way more often than I go out. But it wasn’t always that way.
Growing up, we mostly ate dinner at home. We ate in the dining room, always steak, chicken, lamb chops, canned vegetables, and either mashed or baked potatoes. On Sundays, we had kosher deli and bagels and rye bread from Lew’s on River Street in Troy, New York. On Saturday nights, we went to my parents’ country club, where I had prime rib and éclairs filled with vanilla ice cream.
Every now and again, my father would bring home a pizza from Nicky’s and that was always a red letter day since it happened so rarely.
I loved the food at college—meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, pork chops, hot dogs and beans, and chicken covered with this yellow gravy. I had never had gravy before. I had never tasted a casserole.
After I married my first husband, I learned to cook, but it wasn’t fun: meat, potato, and canned vegetables, separated from each other on a plate. We didn’t eat out often; he was a student, I worked full-time, and we had a baby. One of my daughter’s favorite dinners was going out to A&W for hamburgers and root beer.
Life changed with a divorce. I dated and sometimes that including going out to dinner. I met my second, and last, husband. He lived in Manhattan and we ate out a lot. When he visited me in Rochester, New York, I would cook for him. He was grateful. His mother did cook, but she hated it.
In 1976, I began to write about restaurants. It was great fun, but after a few decades, I wanted to know how that great food from restaurant kitchens came to be. And so I really learned to cook.
Often friends tell me about new restaurants and sometimes it takes me a while to visit them. Some are okay, others are a real find, and I kick myself for not going sooner—case in point Ella’s in Westerly. I went with friends and now I am a fan. I bought Jeanie Roland’s cookbook and love the fact that the ingredients are simple and, often, local. The recipes are simple, too. The photographs are gorgeous. Here is an easy recipe with ingredients that are often readily available in supermarkets. Her book is available at her restaurant, 2 Tower Street, Westerly, Rhode Island. It’s definitely worth the drive.
Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer for more than 25 years. You can email her at leeawhite@aol.com.
Bibb Salad with Pickled Red Onions, Buttermilk Bleu Cheese, and Toasted Pecans
From Jeanie Roland’s Butter, Love & Cream
Yield: Serves 2 to 4
Salad:
3 heads Bibb lettuce, washed and torn into bite-sized pieces
4 ounces pecan halves, toasted
Pickled red onion:
3 red onions, sliced thin
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup hot water
Method
Mix vinegar, sugar, salt and water. Bring to a simmer and pour over onions. Marinate overnight.
Buttermilk blue cheese dressing
8 ounces sour cream
8 ounces mayonnaise
4 ounces buttermilk
1 clove garlic, grated
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon Tabasco, shaken well before using
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
⅓ cup Champagne vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 pound good blue cheese, grate half on the big hole of the
box grater, crumble the rest
Method
Add all ingredients except crumbled cheese and whisk well.
Toss lettuce and nuts with dressing. Top with pickled red onion and crumbled cheese.