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Show ( ; - Cooking Corner By Maureen CTancy Copley News Service Move over prosciutto, pate and precious pommes souffles, the era of modern American cooking is here. Call it a revolution, an evolution, evo-lution, a rebirth or a public relations coup. American cooking demands de-mands the freshest local and seasonal ingredients. Greens and vegetables straight from the garden. ' Fish from neighborhood ponds. Cheese from local cows and goats. In short, American cooking cook-ing is honest and easy, comforting, pure and unpretentious. un-pretentious. The new breed of American Ameri-can chefs, though usually not formally trained, is armed with a formidable battery of European and Oriental techniques and skills. Julie Child, the celebrated celebrat-ed television chef who taught most Americans the basics of boeuf bourguig-nonne bourguig-nonne and Tarte Tatin, now stands firmly and enthusiastically en-thusiastically behind the rebirth of American culinary culi-nary traditions. Though she laughingly calls American Cuisine "a buzz word dreamed up by food writers writ-ers so they'd have something some-thing to write about," she is proud of America's many and varied contributions to international cuisine. Child is also one of the moving forces behind the American Institiute of Wine and Food, a new non-proft non-proft organization "dedicated "dedi-cated to the scholarly study, appreciation and preservation of the fine art of gastronomy." Currently based in San Francisco, but with plans to move to extensive facilities facili-ties on the University of California at Santa Barbara Barba-ra campus, the institute boasts a growing membership member-ship that includes growers, farmers, suppliers, restau-ranteurs, restau-ranteurs, wine makers, writers, teachers and the international public at large. CALIFORNIA CIOPPINO Broth: 3 onions, finely diced 4 tbsps. olive oil 4 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed and chopped lb. fresh Shitake mushrooms, sliced 3 green bell peppers, sliced 3 red bell peppers, sliced 8 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped 3 qts. fish stock 1 bottle dry California Califor-nia white wine 1 large can tomato paste 1 bunch parsley Several sprigs fresh thyme 4 bay leaves 3 tbsps. fresh basil, chopped 1 tbsps. fresh ore-gano, ore-gano, chopped Salt and pepper Chopped parsley Juice of 1 or 2 lemons lem-ons Seafood; 2 lbs. fresh sea bass, snapper, or halibut fillet, cut into serving size pieces 16 large shrimp, peeled and deveined 1 lb. scallops (preferably (prefer-ably fresh) 3 dozen clams or mussels or a combination com-bination of both Method: Add olive oil to pot large enough to accommodate accom-modate the finished cioppi-no cioppi-no and put on a medium heat When heated, add onions and garlic, stirring frequently fre-quently so that onions and garlic do not burn. When they are translucent, add bell peppers and cook several sev-eral minutes, stirring occasionally. occa-sionally. Next add sliced Shitake mushrooms and, after several minutes, add the tomatoes and white wine. Continue stirring occasionally. oc-casionally. Add fish stock, tomato paste, salt and pepper to taste and all the herbs except ex-cept for the chopped parsley. pars-ley. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally occasion-ally for at least one hour. Correct seasonings and add lemon juice to taste. To cook seafood: When ready to serve, bring broth to a boil and reduce heat until it just simmers. Add cleaned shellfish and portioned por-tioned fish fillet, adding the thickest pieces first, after 5 minutes, add shrimp and scallops and cook another five minutes or until fish falls apart easily and shellfish shell-fish have opened Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve in bowls with plenty of sourdough bread. BLUE CHEESE TART, FRESH ASPARAGUS 3 ozs. Iowa blue cheese 6 ozs. cream cheese 2 tbsps. butter, softened sof-tened 2 tbsps. heavy cream 2 eggs 1 tbsp. chives, minced Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste Pinch of cayenne pepper 6 3-inch pastry shells 24 medium asparagus, aspar-agus, poached Method: Blend the cheese, butter and cream until smooth. Add eggs, chives, salt, pepper, cayenne cay-enne and mix welL Divide mixture evenly among the pastry shells and bake in 375-degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until done. Garnish with poached asparagus. Tarts may be garnished with a small bunch of grapes, strawberries or other seasonal fruits. INSTANT Many a man has acquired a huge vocabulary by marrying it. -Record, Columbia, S.C. |