Plain Pleasure

I’m not sure whether it is consoling or depressing that some things never change. In the last few years I’ve criticized restaurants for putting far too many ingredients into dishes. I suspect chefs do this to appear creative, but too often the flavors collide rather than blend.

In the preface of a dilapidated old copy of “The San Francisco Chronicle Blue Ribbon Cookbook” (1904), I came across a paragraph that amazed me. It reads as follows: “What is the object of food? Why do we eat? These queries interest all humanity and have been answered repeatedly by intelligent thinkers. We ‘eat to live’; we eat because waste is forever going on in the human body and must be replenished. But are there not many cooks who act upon the supposition that the greater the number of ingredients crowded into any one dish, the more remarkable the achievement and the more creditable the ingenuity displayed? This is plainly an error, for all right-thinking persons must admit that the cook deserving the highest praise is the one who can prepare the most appetizing, and at the time, the most wholesome and nourishing from the plainest material.”

I only wish an example of such a dish had been given. I wanted to use one of the ginger cookies recipes from this book, but the two I tried were really what turn-of-the-century cooks called “cakelets.” I’ve adapted one of them to be less cake-like; it’s sweet, crisp and full of ginger flavor.

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The supper dish, sauteed mushrooms on polenta, is my idea of a “wholesome and nourishing dish made from the plainest materials.” The flavor of our supermarket mushrooms can certainly compete with the fancy varieties, especially when done this way; and the flavors flow together smoothly, they don’t clash.

GINGER COOKIES

3/4 cup vegetable shortening

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground ginger

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Beat together shortening and sugar in bowl. Add egg and beat until light. Stir in molasses. Add flour, baking soda, salt and ginger. Beat until smooth and blended.

Drop dough from teaspoon or roll rounded teaspoon of dough into ball and place cookies about 2 inches apart on greased baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees 10 to 12 minutes until cookies have spread. Remove from oven and cool on racks. Makes 40 (2-inch) cookies.

Each cookie contains about:

81 calories; 32 mg sodium; 5 mg cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 11 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.03 gram fiber.

SAUTEED MUSHROOMS ON POLENTA

6 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup sliced or chopped shallots, or green onions

1 1/2 pounds mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and sliced thinly

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Basic Polenta

2 tablespoons minced parsley

Melt 1/4 cup butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and mushrooms. Cook, tossing frequently, 5 to 8 minutes, until mushrooms just begin to brown and most moisture has evaporated. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter and stir until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Spoon over hot polenta and sprinkle with parsley. Serve at once. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

433 calories; 966 mg sodium; 78 mg cholesterol; 30 grams fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams protein; 1.59 grams fiber.

Basic Polenta

1 quart water

1 cup coarsely ground cornmeal

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter

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Bring 3 cups of water to boil in heavy-bottomed saucepan.

Stir cornmeal into 1 cup cold water in small bowl. Pour cornmeal mixture into boiling water, stirring constantly, until mixture becomes very thick, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in butter until well blended. Serve immediately.

Dinner plate in polenta with mushrooms photo from Bristol Farms Cook ‘N’ Things, South Pasadena.