Great Home Cooks : By Food Obsessed

“This kitchen is so small it’s a three-ring circus,” says Virginia Eisen in mild exasperation, dancing around her 6-year-old daughter with a hot tin of popovers in her hand. Of course, she might have made things easier on herself by cooking fewer than the dozen dishes she’s made; but, as she says, she loves food.

She’s a forceful woman, and the food she loves is forceful too--rich, spicy, garlicky, meaty food, sometimes with a hint of India in the background, as she herself has more than a hint of India in her own background. She seems to be just what she is--someone who grew up in Encino and lives in Reseda--but she was born in Bombay.

“My father was a Parsi,” she explains, stirring fully two heads’ worth of garlic into a pan of scampi, “and my mother was Anglo-Indian, mostly Irish and some German stock, but with a little Indian in there.”

It was already a melting-pot family, in other words, and it must have made sense for them to move to New Jersey in 1958 when she was 4. (At the first New Jersey snowfall, they promptly moved again, straight to Encino.)

Her parents both died within the next two years, however, and during her childhood, several stints in Encino were interspersed with a year in England and stays in India with a guardian and an aunt. The aunt lived on a farm in Hyderabad, in the central plain of India, and Eisen remembers fondly the fresh eggs and vegetables they had, the buffalo milk cream and butter they made for their afternoon tea and crumpets, and the basmati rice her aunt raised (“You could smell it cooking even outside the house”).

In Hyderabad she started her own recipe collection, a mixture of Indian, American and European dishes. Inscribed on the endpaper of the little notebook and dated Jan. 22, 1971, is a youthful insight: “The secret of being a good cook is throwing in everything you can find.” An amendment that clearly speaks from experience is dated Sept. 10: “ Almost everything, but not quite.”

The guardian she stayed with in New Delhi was, of all things, a New Delhi-ite who cooked strictly and without deviation from Fannie Farmer. “That’s not my way of cooking at all,” Eisen comments. “I never follow a recipe exactly. I read a couple of recipes and take the ideas I like and throw them together.”

Needless to say, Eisen does cook Indian food, but not every day. “There’s an awful lot of chopping and so on if you want to do it right,” she says. But there are Indian touches here and there in her extremely eclectic style of cooking. Her eggplant and pepper dish is like a ratatouille that’s thinking about turning into a chutney. Sometimes she chops up mango chutney into barbecue sauce for Bill Eisen, her husband of 11 years, who’s the barbecue and taco specialist in the family.

But here’s what she’s cooked for this dinner: split pea soup with ham hocks; a rich, spicy bean dip; potatoes stuffed with cheese and green onions; the ratatouille-like eggplant and pepper dish; the scampi with its exuberant quota of garlic; linguine in a thick, meaty tomato and sweet pepper sauce; chicken breasts with a tarragon and Marsala cream sauce; zucchini and crookneck squash sauteed with butter and maple syrup (a dish she also likes for breakfast); chocolate mousse cake; and carrot cake with orange peel icing. To say nothing of garlic bread and popovers.

Everything has personal touches, but it all works as crowd-pleasing American party food, and it’s made in party quantities. Needless to say, the Eisens entertain a lot. The house seems made for a crowd, and in fact it always has quite a few residents--two Dobermans, three cats (who have a sort of enclosed jungle patio to themselves), a huge and haughty Moluccan cockatoo, a green parrot fond of leftover barbecued spareribs and a tankful of fish, as well as the Eisens and their daughters, Alexandra and Emily.

When she nominated herself as a home chef earlier this year, Eisen had written: “I love food. I love to read about it, I love to talk about it, I love to be in the kitchen creating it, and most of all I love to eat it. When I am miserable, or mad at someone, I love to cook something, the more complicated the better.”

It’s evidently a full life. But she confesses one problem: Both of her little girls prefer packaged macaroni and cheese to her homemade version that uses English Cheddar, dill and garlic. It’s enough to drive one to cook.

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EGGPLANT AND PEPPERS

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 (1 1/2-pound) eggplant, peeled and cubed

1 large onion, chopped

1 sweet green pepper, stemmed, seeded and diced

1 sweet red pepper, stemmed, seeded and diced

1 sweet yellow pepper, stemmed, seeded and diced

1/2 to 3/4 head garlic, peeled and chopped

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes

1/2 cup red wine

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons crushed hot red pepper

1/4 cup bottled chile sauce

1/8 teaspoon crushed rosemary

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Salt, pepper

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Pita bread

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add eggplant cubes and saute few minutes. Add onion and peppers and saute until onion is transparent. Add garlic and saute briefly. Add tomato with juices, wine, turmeric, fennel, crushed hot pepper, chile sauce, rosemary and cumin. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cook until vegetables are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Just before vegetables are done, stir in cilantro. Serve hot or cold with pita bread. Makes 7 cups, about 20 servings.

Each serving contains about:

40 calories; 71 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.64 gram fiber.

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SPICY BEAN DIP

1 (1-pound 14-ounce) can spicy refried beans

1 (1.25-ounce) package taco seasoning mix

8 green onions, sliced

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 (8-ounce) carton sour cream

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 pound Jack cheese, shredded

1 pound Cheddar cheese, shredded

In large bowl, mix beans, taco seasoning mix, green onions, cilantro, sour cream and cream cheese. Mix Jack and Cheddar cheeses. Place 1/2 bean mixture in medium casserole. Cover with 1/2 mixed cheeses, then remaining bean mixture. Cover with remaining cheeses.

Bake at 350 degrees until cheese on top is bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with corn chips. Makes 16 to 20 servings.

Each serving contains about:

366 calories; 767 mg sodium; 77 mg cholesterol; 27 grams fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 19 grams protein; 1.85 grams fiber.

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“I learned this recipe from an Italian girlfriend in junior high,” Eisen says. “I make a lot--it freezes well.”

SPAGHETTI SAUCE

5 links hot Italian sausage

5 links mild or sweet Italian sausage

3 pounds lean ground beef

2 large onions, chopped

1 head garlic, peeled and chopped

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 pound Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

1 sweet green pepper, stemmed, seeded and diced

1 sweet red pepper, stemmed, seeded and diced

25 mushrooms, scrubbed and sliced

1/2 cup red wine

1 to 2 tablespoons dried basil

1 to 2 tablespoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

Hot cooked linguine or shell pasta

Squeeze hot and mild sausages out of casings and crumble in hot skillet. Fry few minutes. Add ground beef and stir until meat is crumbly. Add onions and saute until tender. Add garlic and saute briefly. Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, tomato paste, green and red peppers, mushrooms, wine, basil, oregano and thyme. Cover and simmer gently 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Cool sauce, then refrigerate overnight before using. Skim off fat. Reheat sauce and serve over hot pasta. Makes 14 cups, about 18 servings.

Each serving, without pasta, contains about:

360 calories; 562 mg sodium; 81 mg cholesterol; 28 grams fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 19 grams protein; 0.66 gram fiber.

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“The original recipe called for Madeira wine,” Eisen says, “but I bought Marsala by mistake the first time I made it, and found I preferred it with Marsala.”

TARRAGON CHICKEN

2 cups whipping cream

1 1/2 tablespoons dried tarragon

3/4 head garlic, peeled and finely chopped

6 small chicken breast halves, skinned and boned

Garlic powder

Salt, pepper

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup Marsala wine

Combine cream, tarragon and garlic in saucepan and simmer over very low heat until reduced 1/3.

Season chicken breasts to taste with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add and saute chicken until just tender. Pour Marsala into cream sauce, bring to gentle boil and cook, stirring, 8 to 10 minutes, or until thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken. Makes 2 to 3 servings.

Each serving contains about:

595 calories; 267 mg sodium; 218 mg cholesterol; 48 grams fat; 4 grams carbohydrates; 34 grams protein; 0.16 gram fiber.

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“What’s great about this recipe,” says Eisen, “is that the cake and the mousse are made from the same batter.” After the cold mousse is added to the baked mousse, the cake can be refrigerated one or two days. In making the Chocolate Leaves, two criteria are important: The leaves should have a nice shape and prominent veins, and, of course, they shouldn’t be poisonous--some decorative plants, such as oleander, are poisonous. Eisen prefers camellia or citrus leaves.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE

8 ounces semisweet chocolate

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1/4 cup coffee liqueur

7 eggs, separated

1 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 cups whipping cream

Chocolate Leaves

Strawberries or raspberries, optional

In small saucepan over very low heat or in double boiler, carefully melt chocolate with butter. Beat in vanilla, almond extract and coffee liqueur. In mixing bowl beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in chocolate mixture.

In separate mixing bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at time, and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.

Fold beaten whites into chocolate mixture. Pour 2/3 batter into 9-inch springform pan. Cover reserved 1/3 batter and refrigerate.

Bake cake at 350 degrees 35 minutes. Remove from oven (cake will collapse). Cool to room temperature.

Remove reserved batter from refrigerator and stir to soften. Remove springform ring from cake. Fill collapsed center of cake with cold batter.

Whip cream until stiff and frost cake. Decorate with Chocolate Leaves and strawberries. Makes 12 servings.

Note: Although many recipes call for uncooked eggs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has found them to be a potential carrier of food-borne illness and recommends that diners avoid eating raw eggs. Commercial egg substitutes may be used in place of raw eggs in certain circumstances. Check egg substitute package for applications.

Each serving contains about:

472 calories; 132 mg sodium; 199 mg cholesterol; 34 grams fat; 35 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 0.09 gram fiber.

Chocolate Leaves

12 nontoxic leaves

4 ounces semisweet chocolate

Wash leaves and dry thoroughly. Melt chocolate. Using butter knife, spread chocolate thickly on undersides of leaves. Place leaves, chocolate-side up, on wax paper and refrigerate 4 hours. Carefully remove chocolate from each leaf.