Ben's Day Wednesday

Time Warp

Posted on by Liz

You can act all fancy, like you don’t want it, but if you were eating solid food in the 80s, you probably not only want it, but have made it yourself. I speak, of course, of the broccoli salad. Admittedly, pairing broccoli with raisins and bacon, then dousing it in sugary mayonnaise does not exactly create a subtle flavor profile. How could it? It was making the church cookbook rounds before the term “flavor profile” was invented. To me, it is the perfect pandemic food. Every ingredient is sturdy and widely available. The last time we made broccoli salad was 1990 or so, when we brought it to a Montessori School carry-in dinner, and I thought Chef Ben’s culinary education would be incomplete without broccoli salad’s inclusion.

Broccoli salad would normally be paired with anything better that someone else brought to the potluck, so we chose Reuben pierogi casserole. If you are looking for a big old pan of comfort, look no further. This recipe is actually relatively new to us, but it feels like an old soul. For dessert, we went way back in time to make everyone’s favorite…chocolate chip cookies. This meal was quick, easy and delicious. Bonus: it travels well. We packaged up a bit of everything to take to one of our friends. The casserole reheats easily and the salad holds up for days.

Ben loved the pierogis, but it was the salad he went back to for seconds.

Broccoli Salad

1/2 pound bacon

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 green onion, white and light green parts finely chopped

3-4 broccoli crowns, chopped

1/2 cup raisins

Cook bacon until crisp and crumble into pieces. Mix mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar, adding salt and pepper to taste. Combine dressing with all other ingredients. 

It was a really trying day for all of us, and I burned the bacon. Phil, unwilling to let it go, stuck a charred piece in his mouth, right out of the oven, screamed in pain, ran to the sink, and rinsed his mouth with cold water from the faucet. Moments later, he declared it wasn’t that bad and had a second piece, then a third and a fourth. Ben tried one and was noncommittal, not wanting to turn his back on bacon. I completed the family’s burned bacon challenge, and tried one too. It was awful. Every now and then, it’s a good idea to norm your own standard of “edible” against your spouse’s standard. Now we know. Needless to say, we started over with another half pound of bacon, and the salad was a huge success.
Chef Ben did a great job mixing up the salad.
Ben loved the salad, though he picked out Every. Single. Raisin.

Reuben Pierogi Casserole

2 pounds cheese pierogis

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup sauerkraut

4 cups shredded Swiss cheese

1 pound corned beef or pastrami slices, chopped

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

Thousand Island dressing to taste

Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a simmer. Add pierogis, simmer 5-7 minutes, and drain. Preheat oven to broil. 

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the butter and heat until foaming. In batches, sauté the pierogis until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes per side. Return all pierogis to the pan, top with sauerkraut, cheese and corned beef.

Place pan in oven and broil 1-3 minutes until top begins to brown and cheese is bubbly. Top with caraway seeds and thousand island dressing.

Knife skills: work in progress.
We give you…Reuben Pierogi Casserole
Earlier in the afternoon, we made cookies. Who says the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing? The left hand, clearly, operates the Kitchen Aid. The right hand flaps in excitement about the impending cookies!
Chef Ben’s cookie dough work was masterful this week. It’s all in the wrist.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 ounces (1 1/4 cup) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375º. In mixer, combine shortening and sugars, beating until thoroughly mixed. Mix in egg and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda and salt, beating until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Use cookie scoop to form balls of dough and place them 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 6-10 minutes. When cookies have spread to an even thickness (no raw lump of dough in the center) remove pan from oven. Prompt removal from oven is the key to soft cookies. Allow cookies to cool 5-10 minutes on pan before placing on cooling rack.

We use shortening instead of butter, and we take the cookies out of the oven well before they look done. That’s just how we roll.
Our days are hard, but our cookies are soft.

2 thoughts on “Time Warp”

  1. This casserole seems like an old favorite to me–we have had it at your house during at least two Thanksgiving weekends. We will put it on next week’s menu!

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