Great Cooks : Survival of the Hungry

My son, Bill Miranda, is a great home cook. He’s creative and daring . . . he never limits himself to a single cuisine . . . and he looks like a model.

--Mary Ellen Miranda

Bill Miranda first started cooking for one simple reason: “Survival. . . . My ex-wife couldn’t cook and I was tired of microwave dinners.”

He was living in Chicago at the time, far away from the West Covina home he’d grown up in . . . far away from his mother’s cooking.

On his own for the first time, Miranda came to the realization that cooking isn’t necessarily a wifely duty.

“My mom always took care of us,” he says, sitting at his mother’s dining room table. “I just took good food for granted.”

Maybe that’s why Miranda’s first big cooking project was not bachelor spaghetti or beginner’s baked chicken, but home-smoked turkey. He got the idea from the instruction book that came with his Weber barbecue.

“Sandwiches used to be one of my favorite things to eat,” he says. “So I decided to smoke the meat myself.” He smoked his own pastrami, and eventually he figured out a way to smoke duck, and glaze it with a maple-orange sauce.

In the beginning, Miranda had just one cookbook--long-distance phone calls to his mom got him through the tough spots. “He used to barbecue in Chicago-- in the middle of winter ,” his mother, Mary Ellen, says with pride.

Quickly, Miranda became a serious cook. “I started reading about food,” he says, “studying.” And he started impressing his friends and family.

“The more people who came to eat food I’d cooked, the better,” he says. “I lived off the thrill.”

Back in Southern California, with a wife who knows how to cook but prefers to bake, Miranda manages a 53-unit apartment building and has hopes of attending a professional cooking school. He does the day-to-day cooking, often making a little extra for tenants or friends. But it’s at family get-togethers that Miranda shows off his best stuff--everything from family Mexican recipes (green-chile enchiladas, tamales) to invented dishes (Shrimp Pouches, little omelets he fills with marinated shrimp and shiitake mushrooms, tied like a beggar’s purse with spinach, and Potato Ravioli made with won-ton wrappers).

“We’ve gotten into this sort of family food war,” says Miranda’s sister, Lisa. “Everyone tries to outdo each other.”

“Last time, you did it right,” Miranda’s wife, Jennifer, says to her mother-in-law. “You overwhelmed us at that brunch.”

“Oh, I made the fried chicken,” Mary Ellen says modestly--then offers a visitor one of her own delicious carrot cookies (“They’re just barely frosted with an orange glaze,” she says.)

“Now, Bill will say, ‘OK, it’s my turn,’ ” Lisa says, “and he’ll have a brunch within a week or two. It’s great for my sister Elaine and me. It used to be that whenever we had cooking question, we’d call Mom, but now, if she’s not home, we call Bill.”

For Jennifer, she knew she’d landed a good cook almost as soon as they started going out. “Just the way he talked about food,” she says, “I could tell he knew a lot.” But the first time he made her dinner she overestimated his creativity. Feeling chivalrous, he handed her a flower in a glass cappuccino-cup vase. She thanked him and, thinking he’d made some exotic mixed drink, removed the flower and drank the water--”I guess it was a little bland,” she says.

So who does the dishes?

“We both do,” Bill says quickly.

Jennifer says nothing. She looks at Bill; he looks at her. They smile.

“Well,” Bill admits, “She puts in another two hours after I’m done.”

BILL MIRANDA’S POTATO RAVIOLI

3 Yukon Gold potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and quartered

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 tablespoon butter or margarine

3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 teaspoon fresh chopped basil

1 egg, optional

Salt, pepper

24 won ton skins

Garlic-Feta Sauce

Boil potatoes until soft enough to mash. Drain potatoes. Mash potatoes with milk, butter, feta, basil, egg and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Fold won-ton skins in half, 3 at time, and cut edges off with scissors to form circle when unfolded. Unfold won ton skins. Lay 1 won ton skin flat and brush outer edge with little water on edge of index finger. Fill center with 1 tablespoon potato mixture. Fold won ton skin over and press edges together to seal filling. Repeat process until all won ton skins and filling used.

Drop filled won ton ravioli into boiling water and cook about 3 minutes. Drain ravioli and blot dry, then top with Garlic-Feta Sauce or favorite pasta sauce. Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

242 calories; 538 mg sodium; 49 mg cholesterol; 17 grams fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 0.13 grams fiber; 65% calories from fat.

Garlic-Feta Sauce

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped fine

2 to 3 leaves basil, chopped

2 tablespoons juice of fresh-squeezed orange or orange juice

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Salt, pepper

Paprika

Heat butter, olive oil, garlic, basil, orange juice, feta and salt, pepper and paprika to taste in saucepan over low flame until sauce is smooth. Makes about 1/2 cup.

BILL MIRANDA’S SHRIMP POUCHES

6 spinach leaves with stems attached

6 eggs

6 tablespoons milk

Salt, pepper

Canola oil

Shrimp Filling

Cook spinach leaves in boiling water, just until pliable. Remove from water and, if desired, separate leaves from stems, leaving long string for tying. Set aside.

Beat together eggs, milk and salt and pepper to taste. Place about 1/4 cup egg mixture in hot 8-inch omelet pan, lightly greased with canola oil. Cook on one side until egg mixture set. Remove omelet from griddle and place generous 2 tablespoons Shrimp Filling in center of omelet. Bring omelet edges up toward middle, beggar’s purse-style, and secure with spinach strings tied in knot. Repeat process for remaining omelets. Makes 6 omelets.

Each serving contains about:

113 calories; 221 mg sodium; 222 mg cholesterol; 8 grams fat; 2 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams protein; 0.13 grams fiber; 63% calories from fat.

Shrimp Filling

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

1/8 teaspoon mashed fresh ginger

3 green onions, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped in small dice

1 to 2 large shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

1/4 pound bay shrimp

Combine rice vinegar, soy sauce and ginger and stir to blend. Add onions, celery, mushrooms and shrimp. Marinate several hours or overnight. Drain. Makes 1 1/2 cups filling.