Full Everyday Recipes

3 tb Oil, olive

1 md Onion, finely chopped

2 ea Garlic, cloves, finely

– chopped 1/2 ts Thyme, fresh, chopped, OR

1 pn Thyme, dried

1/2 ea Bay leaf

7 ea Chorizo, links, ** OR

7 ea Sausage, spicy, links **

1 ts Paprika

1 ts Flour, all purpose

1/4 c Wine, white, dry

1/3 c Sauce, tomato

1/3 c Water

8 sm Potatoes, boiling, boiled

– and peeled 1/4 c Parsley, chopped

** Thinly sliced.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add the onion, garlic, thyme and bay leaf and cook, stirring, just
until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the chorizo or
other sausage and saute until golden brown, about 4 minutes.
Add
paprika and flour and stir to coat chorizo.
Cook 2 to 3 minutes,
pour in the wine, and cook briefly until it evaporates.
Stir in
tomato sauce and water.
Lower heat and simmer gently, uncovered,
until the sauce just coats the chorizo, about 5 minutes.
Serve hot
over boiled potatoes.
Sprinkle with parsley.
Source: New York’s
Master Chefs, Bon Appetit Magazine : Written by Richard Sax,
Photographs by Nancy McFarland : The Knapp Press, Los Angeles, 1985
Chef: Felipe Rohas-Lombardi, Rojas-Lombardi Restaurant, : New
York

8 oysters (per person)

oyster liquor milk flour celery salt pepper

From James A.
Michener’s “Chesapeake”, Copyrighted in 1978 by
Random House, Inc., Chapter 22, “The Waterman”: (An excerpted
conversation between the cook, Big Jimbo and the crew aboard the
Skipjack, Jessie T.
as she prepared for her maiden trip to dredge
for “arsters” in Maryland’s Choptank River).
eaters.’ the galley.
A
She-Stew is the traditional one: Eight oysters per person boiled
slightly in their own liquor, then in milk thickened with flour,
flavored with celery, salt and pepper.
A great opening course, but
not a meal for a working man.
A He-Stew is quite different, as Big
Jimbo prepared his version.
First he took a mess a bacon and fried
it crisp.
As it sizzled he chopped eight large onions and two hefty
stalks of celery.
Deftly he wisked the bacon out, tossing the
vegetables into the hot oil to saute.
Soon he withdrew them,
placing them with the bacon.
Then he tossed the forty eight oysters
into the pan, browning them just enough to implant the flavor, then
he quickly poured in the liquor from the oysters and allowed them
to cook until their gills wrinkled.
Next Big Jimbo did two things
that made his stew unforgettable.
Taking a small pinch of tapioca
powder, he tossed it into the oysters and liquor and in a few
minutes the finely ground tapioca powder had expanded it into a
large translucent, gelatinous mass.
When he was satisfied he poured
the oysters into the milk, which he had already brought to a
simmer, tossed in the vegetables, then crumbled the bacon between
his fingers, throwing it on top.
The sturdy dish was almost ready.
Finally, Big Jimbo dusted the top of the stew with Saffron, giving
it a golden richness, which he augmented with a half-pound of
butter at the last moment.
When the crew dug in, they found one of
the richest, tastiest “Arster” stews a marine cook had ever
devised.
‘Do we eat this good every day?’ and Big Jimbo replied.
‘You brings me the materials, and I brings you the dishes.’