Open Window

Parguera, Puerto Rico

Islands off the Coast of Parguera, Puerto Rico

Parguera is a charming little village on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico, with pristine waters, mangroves, and even iguanas. We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed it on a small island just off the coast. A relaxing day all around.

The slide show below is for all of our friends and compatriots who are stuck in the deep freeze. We hope you enjoy it and the warm weather heading your way.

  

Photos and slide show © 2013 Claudia Danforth Ward
Music: "Wish You Were Here", by Christophe Beck from the soundtrack of
Under The Tuscan Sun 

French Flageolet Beans

In our new eating regime, the one we adopted to lower our blood stats, specifically Peter's A1C, an indicator of diabetes, and my cholesterol, we've learned how incredibly good beans are for us. "Beans are the world's most powerful Diabetes-Healing Superfood."  according to Dr. Stefan Ripich, author of The 30-Diabetes Cure. They are:
✓ Extremely low in calories,
✓ High in protein,
✓ Packed with fiber, and 
✓ Really effective in lowering blood sugar.

Beans are super-high in fiber, which is the indigestible part of plant foods, a.k.a. roughage. Since it isn't digested it has no calories and it keeps you feeling full because it's bulky. And, "Fiber is the ultimate weight-loss food."

Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, has a new cookbook called Barefoot Contessa foolproof and we found this divine bean recipe there. We made it last night and it immediately sky-rocketed to the top of our favorites list, flying by Michael Symon's Lima Beans and even the Roasted Tomatoes and Fennel with White Beans. The beans are light compared to many, the bacon infuses a smokey character, the fennel and onions add sweetness, and the rosemary's distinctive flavor is subtly in every bite. These are so easy. The hardest part is to remember to soak the beans overnight, which in fact I didn't remember to do so I soaked them for about 8 hours from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and they worked perfectly. Tender and delicious, these flageolet were a great complement to our Smoked Chicken Breasts and will go well with nearly any main course.

French Flageolet Beans
(Serves 6-8) 

1 pound dried flageolet beans
2 tablespoons good olive oil
4 ounces bacon, diced
2 cups medium-diced yellow onion
2 cups medium-diced fennel, trimmed and cored
2 carrots, scrubbed and medium-diced
4 teaspoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
2 cups canned beef or vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
1 large sprig fresh rosemary
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
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• The night before cooking, place the beans in a large bowl and cover them with water by 1 inch. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• The next day, preheat the oven to 300 ℉. Drain the beans, rinse well, and drain again. 
• In a large ovenproof pot such as Le Creuset, heat the olive oil over medium to medium-low heat, add the bacon, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the bacon starts to brown. 
• Add the onion, fennel, and carrots and cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften but aren't brown. 
• Add the garlic and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add the flageolets to the pot and stir in broth, bay leaves, and rosemary. (Don't be tempted to salt! The beans will become tough.) 
• Add 2 cups of water, which should just cover the beans, and bring to a simmer on top of the stove. 
• Cover the pot tightly and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. 
• Remove the lid, stir in 1 tablespoon kosher salt and 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and return the pot to the oven without the lid. 
• Raise the temperature to 350 ℉ and bake for 30 to 45 minutes more. 
• The beans will be very tender and there will be just a little liquid in the bottom of the pan. (If the beans are dry, add a little more water.) Discard the bay leaves and rosemary. Taste for seasoning and serve hot. 

Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup

The temperatures have dropped significantly here in the northeast which means Peter and I are looking for new and even unusual soup recipes. This one for Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup qualifies. The spice comes from the sriracha sauce which is a Thai chili sauce. The canned San Marzano tomatoes are consistently good for a canned product and a welcome addition to our winter food locker, and the blue cheese I used here was relatively-mild for a blue cheese - a raw milk bleu d'Auvergne. Together these ingredients make a creamy mixture that is as memorable as it is good. We did think that the heat was a little too much, so the next time we make this soup, we'll halve the sriracha sauce. Peter adores blue cheese and he wants it to really shine.

By the way, this soup is utterly delicious with grilled cheese sandwiches eaten in front of a roaring fire while watching a good movie. Thanks once more goes to Michael Symon and his cook book Live to Cook Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen.

Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup
(Serves 4 to 6)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red-onion, finely chopped
Kosher salt
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 28-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes, with their juice
1½ cups Chicken Stock
¾ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sriracha sauce
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
½ cup Roth Kase Buttermilk Blue Cheese
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Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart ppot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and a three-finger pinch of Kosher salt and sweat for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to sweat for 2 more minutes. Add the tomatoes, their juice, and the stock and bring to a simmer. Add the cream, sriracha sauce, and oregano and simmer for 45 minutes.

Pour the soup into a blender or food processor, add the blue cheese, and blend until smooth, working in batches if needed. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean pot, taste, adjust seasoning if necessary, and reheat to serve. This soup will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for a few days.

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I didn't find the brand of cheese that Symon recommends but my sister, in Tennessee, did. Check out their website by clicking here.

Lima Beans à la Michael Symon

Michael Symon, a chef with Greek and Sicilian roots, owns several restaurants in the midwest but his first was the Lola Bistro in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Tucked away on East 4th Street, Lola is unpretentious but serves food packed with flavor. Peter and I heard about the restaurant on the Food Network and went out of our way two years ago to eat lunch there. What could draw us in to downtown Cleveland you ask? How about Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup and a dessert Symon calls "The 6:00 a.m. Special". The latter is brioche French toast served with maple-bacon ice cream and caramelized apple - now wouldn't that get you to drive to Cleveland? Sadly, the latter was only served at dinner, so we settled on the sublimely delicious Warm Chocolate Cake. Having fallen in love with Symon's food, we naturally had to buy his cookbook so we could make that incredible soup ... but more on that later. For now, we were sold on all-things Symon.

So when I was cruising the internet for recipes that include beans, I was thrilled when I ran across Symon's recipe for Lima Beans. It's an easy stove top recipe that simply requires time, and by that I mean 2-3 hours. This dish is satisfying, given the roughage in the beans, and flavorful - with just a touch of heat from the crushed red pepper flakes. Peter's given me permission to have a pot of these in the fridge at-the-ready to accompany any meal.

Lima Beans à la Symon
(12 servings)

1 pound dried lima beans (or gigante or dried Great Northern)
¼ cup olive oil
3 cups chopped onions (about 2 medium)
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 cups (or more) low-salt chicken broth
1 28-ounce can whole plum tomatoes in juice (preferablt San Marzano), tomatoes chopped, juice reserved
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup ouzo (Greek anise-flavored liqueur) (use Sambuca, it's less expensive)
1 tablespoon dried oergano
1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 cup chopped fresh dill
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1. Place beans in large bowl. Pour enough water over to cover beans by 3 inches; let soak overnight. OR, place beans and 1 quart of water in a large kettle, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to moderate and let beans boil for 2 monutes. Remove from the heat and let stand one hour with the lid on. Drain beans; set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add chopped onions and garlic and sauté until onions are golden brown, 6 to 7 minutes. Add beans, 8 cups chicken broth, tomatoes with juice, vinegar, ouzo/Sambuca, oregano, and crushed red pepper to pot; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until beans are tender, adding more broth by cupfuls to keep beans submerged and stirring occasionally, 2 to 3 hours, depending on freshness of beans. If necessary, uncover and cook beans until tomato mixture thickens and liquid is slightly reduced, 10 to 15 minutes. Season beans to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. DO AHEAD Beans can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Rewarm beans before continuing, adding more chicken broth by 1/2 cupfuls if beans are dry.
3. Stir chopped fresh dill into beans. Serve.

Have you got a tried and true bean recipes? We sure would love if you would share one with us. Thanks.

New Year

Happy New Year One and All!

 

Open Window 2012 - Year Three

Open Window is three years old! I find that so hard to believe as it's simply become a part of my life and some of yours. Open Window began as a personal blog with vague boundaries covering nearly anything that interested me and I thought might interest you too. Over the past three years, Open Window has increasingly focused on Photography, Travel and Food - three great pleasures in life.

My objective at the beginning was to entertain and I still hold that as a dear priority, one I hope I've met frequently if not with every post. We've covered subjects from Participles and Prepositions to the Moon and Jupiter to Caramelized Bacon, and we've covered a lot of territory from the small Austrian village of Mauterndorf to the big island of Hawaii, and all along the way we've provided photographs to share with you.

This year began with our participation in The Thank You Art Show sponsored by Hampton Photo Arts at Ashawagh Hall in East Hampton where we made new friends and saw some awesome art. In February, we celebrated my birthday eating caviar for breakfast on a balcony overlooking the ocean watching the seagulls dance on the banisters. And by winter's end, we were doing a photo shoot for a book a friend was writing called Secondhand New York - shooting secondhand and vintage shops and boutiques in the East Village of Manhattan. When spring arrived, we celebrated our "sixties" by traveling across "the pond" to Switzerland, Austria and Italy - spending 12 glorious days in Venice, eight of which were with a like-minded group of photographers led by David duChemin and Jeffrey Chapman. Having seen the America's Cup catamarans sailing in the crowded Venetian lagoon, we had to go to Newport just six weeks later to watch them race in Newport harbor - what a way to end the spring - on the grassy rolling hills of the Inn at Castle Hill. This past summer was all about horses, and we enjoyed the races in Saratoga and the Classic horse show in Bridgehampton. Finally fall, found us on beautiful Lake Monroe in Bloomington Indiana for our nephew's wedding, followed by some R&R in French Lick Springs Indiana. Peter and I are never ones to drive home in a straight line, so when we read about a regatta on Lake George and a balloon festival in Queensbury NY, we pointed the car northeast - doing a quick overnight in Niagara Falls in Ontario Canada before arriving in the Adirondack Park. And of course the holiday season always includes a visit to Rockefeller Plaza and Montauk Light.

During the year, there were a lot of new creations in our kitchen too from homemade Ginger Ale to Thai Watermelon Soup and lots of healthy salads and soups.

 

Photos and Slide Show © 2012 Claudia Ward and Peter Tooker
Music: End Creditouilles from the Movie Soundtrack of "Ratatouille" by Michael Giacchino  

So here's the year in review. As always, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continued support and enthusiasm. Stay tuned ... there's more to come.

Caramelized Bacon

"Caramelized bacon", if that doesn't sound like gilding a lily I don't know what does! If you love any bacon-lovers, you MUST make this for them, but if you really love them you must make sure they get no more than two of these outrageously delicious hors d'oeuvres for surely they must be deadly.

Peter and I have been very good over the last nine months, learning how to change what we eat so we not only improve our blood stats but also lose weight. It's been an adventure and neither of us has felt wanting in any food category. We are now satisfied with what we eat and crave very little. The holidays did find more sweets in our diet, but when ever possible I made baked goods with oat flour instead of white flour, and I limited the white sugar as much as I could. Oatmeal and yogurt were recurring breakfast themes rather than our traditional scrambled, eggs, sausage and white-flour English muffins; but - I cannot tell a lie - that rascal bacon snuck into the menu on the family's last visiting day. I packed turkey club sandwiches for the travelers and we all reveled in the wonderful aroma of cooked bacon permeating the house.

Well the bacon wasn't gone after the guests had, so when I saw this recipe in a cookbook Peter gave me for Christmas I just HAD to try it. One of our favorite, now special-event, things to eat is maple-flavored bacon. Well this recipe in Ina Garten's newest cookbook barefoot contessa FOOLPROOF takes that mediocre store-bought product and blows it out-of-the-water! Brown sugar, pecan and maple syrup sweet, bacony-salt and smoke, and cayenne heat send this appetizer to the stratosphere for flavor and sensual pleasure. Enjoying it with a cocktail just gilds that lily.

So if you love a bacon-lover make this for him or her just once, I promise neither you will ever forget the experience, just don't make it often, caramelized bacon in large doses just might kill you ... but what a way to go!

Light, Lines & Color

Many photographers assign projects to themselves as a way to practice techniques and continue to learn. Projects could center around a particular lens, a range of settings, a style of image, or even a period of time. Some very ambitious photographers start a New Year with a "365 project" which means they would post a photograph every day of the year, others - perhaps less ambitious but certainly no less enthusiastic - begin a "52 project" meaning they would post an image once a week for an entire year. Well I've decided to embark on just such an assignment and I've created a separate blog for just this project. I'm calling it Light, Lines & Color (LLC) (click on the name to link to the blog) and it will be focused on what I'll call the ABCs of photography. LLC will be about understanding the basics of cameras, tools, and techniques, and maximizing their use to create images. I figure if I force myself to write about these basics, I will force myself to truly understand and utilize them. This is going to be a year-long photographic journey and I hope some of you will join me.

Now, what does this mean for Open Window? I cannot tell a lie, it probably means there will be fewer posts to Open-Window but I am not shutting the window completely. I will try to make at least a weekly post to Open-Window throughout the year, focusing still on life in the "slow-lane", recipes and food, and snippets and observations. You all have been so supportive, I promise I will not abandon you or the Window. Hopefully this is simply broadening horizons and I'll see you at both sites.

Happy New Year everyone!