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Upscale Downhome Help for Cooks

If you sneer at cooking with canned soups and packaged seasoning mixes, "Upscale Downhome" is not for you.

But if you're a busy mom carting kids around, juggling schedules, maybe working too, you will love this book. And so will anyone forced to get food on the table fast, figure what to take to a potluck and desperate for something easy to serve guests.

Rachel Hollis (at the top)  fills her book with encouragement, like celebrate every day and entertain no matter how humble your living space. "I think that the dinner table is sacred. I think that's something we've lost," she said, when she came to Melissa's Produce to sign books. "I never just cook dinner. It's always a sort of event."

This doesn't mean getting pretentious. Hollis says to assemble bargain china from closeouts, the Goodwill, yard sales and the 99 Cent Store. In one of the photos in the book she's wearing a shirt from Walmart that cost $1. "It's one of my proudest purchases," the caption says.

There's no false pride in the book. Hollis praises a commercial frozen pot pie, then gives her own recipe for hamburger pot pie, made with store-bought crust and frozen vegetables. Hot dog taquitos require only three ingredients plus oil for frying. Here's one of her tips, "When in doubt, add bacon."

How is she qualified to write such a book? Experience. In 2004 Hollis founded a party planning company called Chic Events. Now she dispenses food and fashion advice on the Chic Site. Check there for recipes, 13 ways to style a scarf and a link to buying the book through Amazon. 

"As soon as I could stand upright, I was cooking," she said. The subtitle of the book is "family recipes, all gussied up," meaning dishes from Hollis's family. "When I start to miss them, I cook their food," she said.

A mom with three kids, Hollis was asked to write the cookbook after the success of the Chic Site. It's her first cookbook. Before, she wrote historical romances. 

This is the plate I assembled at Melissa's from a buffet of dishes that are in the book. 

I ate three helpings of this spicy corn dip. The dips chapter "is maybe my favorite," Hollis said. "If you don't like dips, I don't know if we can be friends."

Along with dips, chapters cover snacks, casseroles, the slow cooker (which is the most popular category on the Chic Site), potluck and leftovers. Each recipe comes with step by step photos so that the outcome is no surprise.

This turkey chili is "the first thing I learned to cook as a newlywed," she said. Lucky husband.

I ate two of these sticky ham and cheese sandwiches.

And two of these BLT bites.

And some of this fresh green bean salad.

Dessert was cookie pudding pie (refrigerated cookie dough, instant pudding, frozen whipped topping), layered in a Mason jar. Hollis loves presenting food in jars. It "makes things a million times cuter," she said. Here, she is assembling the pudding. 

The food in her book tends to be rich. "If you are on a diet, this is not the food for you," Hollis said, surveying the buffet at Melissa's.

That didn't stop me from overeating the corn dip. Here is the recipe, which is one of the most popular on the Chic Site. 

SPICY CORN DIP
From "Upscale Downhome" by Rachel Hollis

2 tablespoons butter
1 yellow onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 cups corn (frozen or fresh)
1 1/2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded pepper Jack cheese
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 large bunch scallions (green onions), chopped (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
2 tablespoons hot sauce, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat the butter in a large skillet. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper and corn and saute over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream cheese until well combined.

In a large bowl, mix the remaining cheeses, mayonnaise, cilantro, scallions, chipotle chiles, hot sauce, salt and pepper with the veggie and cream cheese mixture. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Pour into a baking dish and bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the edges are bubbling.

Serve hot out of the oven with chips or chopped vegetables.

Makes 8 to 12 servings. 

Photos by Barbara Hansen

A Mystery Squash Invades My Yard

Help! I've been invaded--by a squash vine so vigorous that it climbed over a 7-foot wall into my yard.

Its offspring, hanging there for me to pick, was a 6-pound green-skinned squash.

I've not seen anything like this squash at the market. It's like a winter squash, with pale golden flesh, big seeds stuffed in the center, and so tender you don't need to peel it.

Before I realized that it wasn't like zucchini, I'd decided to use it in a zucchini casserole from an Armenian cookbook.

The recipe worked beautifully, even though I was using the wrong squash. With a few alterations, I had a great casserole.

Published in 1968, the book is "Favorite Recipes" by  Daughters of Vartan, Los Angeles. It's my go-to book for Armenian food, given to me by the woman who helped compile it. The original recipe was contributed by Virginia Kidian.

Later, I saw similar squash, although smaller, in a Korean market, where it was labeled "Korean squash." And I have planted Korean squash myself to use in the dish. But the squash that the vine produces is more like ordinary zucchini, which is fine, because that's what the cookbook intended.  

ZUCCHINI CASSEROLE
Adapted from "Favorite Recipes" by Daughters of Vartan, Los Angeles

1 1/2 pounds zucchini or Korean squash
2 medium eggs
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk 
1 1/2 teaspoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 pound Jack cheese
1/4 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1 tablespoon Italian parsley, finely chopped
Salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the squash into 1/2-inch cubes and cook in boiling salted water 5 minutes. Drain and cool.

Beat the eggs with 1/2 cup of milk. Place the flour and baking powder in a small cup. Stir in the 1 tablespoon milk until smooth, then gradually stir in some of the egg mixture until well blended. Add to the remaining egg mixture.

Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish with some of the butter, then dot half of what is left over the bottom of the dish.

Place the zucchini in the dish, then top with an even layer of Jack cheese cut into small cubes or slices.

Sprinkle the cheese with the green pepper, dill and parsley. Pour in the egg mixture. Season with salt to taste. Dot the top with the remaining butter.

Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes longer, or until the top is lightly browned.

Makes 4 main dish servings.

An Armenian Pilaf Update

Here comes Armenian pilaf the second time around--with an update.

The first time, the recipe combined parboiled rice with fine short pieces of vermicelli that had been browned in butter.

This was the pilaf demonstrated at the Armenian Food Fair & Fest held at Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Montebello.

Then Barbara Harutunian emailed me to explain how cooks working behind the scenes prepared pilaf for the dinners that were sold at the fair. 

That pilaf contained browned wide noodles, not the fine vermicelli used in the demonstration.

There are two schools of thought on this. "The 'old school' prefers the wide noodles, which are really the traditional," Harutunian says. (I liked the way they looked in the dish.)

"The new generation prefers the vermicelli, because they feel it is only being used for color, and the taste does not come into play."

Working in advance, the cooks browned the noodles on baking sheets in the oven, without butter. Frying them on top of the stove would have been difficult. considering they had to prepare 40 pounds of wide noodles and 25 pounds of vermicelli (used when the wide noodles ran out) for 1,800 dinners. 

On the day of the fair, the cooks combined the rice, noodles and broth and then added the butter. "The flavor comes out the same, but it's a lot faster for the cook staff," Harutunian says.  

Keep this technique in mind if you want to make a large quantity of pilaf for a party.

Otherwise, try the way I prepared a smaller batch, following the "old school" method.

"OLD SCHOOL" ARMENIAN PILAF

3 tablespoons butter
1 cup wide egg noodles, in short lengths
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups parboiled rice (Uncle Ben's)
Salt

Heat the butter in a medium skillet. Add the noodles and fry until golden brown.

Bring the broth to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan. Add the rice, the noodles and salt to taste. Cover and cook until the broth is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Stir gently to mix the rice and noodles evenly.

Makes 6 servings.

Feasting at an Armenian Fair

"Don't say rice pilaf," the woman behind me warned. "That's like saying rice rice."

Okay then. I scratched out the word rice from the recipe I was writing down and left only "pilaf."

We were attending a cooking demonstration at Saturday's Armenian Food Fair & Fest at Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Montebello.

The topic was pilaf--rice simmered in broth along with fine vermicelli browned in butter. Simple to make, rich and delicious.

The teacher was Ara Balayan of Montebello-based Catering by Herach & Ara. Balayan cooked the pilaf on a burner, but a large quantity can be put in the oven, which gives "more control and a finer product," he said. Balayan should know, because he caters events for up to 6,000. 

Beyond the demo booth was a tented dining area that could seat hundreds. People had come to eat, and church members had worked tirelessly to show how genuine Armenian food should taste.

Although I bought two dinners, one with lamb kebabs and another with ground meat lule kebabs, and a box of pastries, I couldn't sample it all.

The demo booth offered tastes of Armenian cheeses and sarma (stuffed grape leaves). And Balayan set out rice flour cookies scented with rosewater and sprinkled with poppyseeds.

Long skewers of kebabs cooked over coals. These were transported to an assembly area where they were packed into dinners along with pilaf, Persian cucumbers, pink pickled radish slices, tomatoes and lavosh, which is unleavened flat bread.

Nearby, a pastry booth offered savory pastries and sweets with names that were new to me, such as sheker lokoom and nazook, along with baklava and  slim sugar-dusted pastry rolls called finger cookies.

Non-stop entertainment included Armenian music, folk dances and a class in Armenian line dancing.

Booths sold edible bouquets, toys, silver jewelry, purses, Armenian logo T-shirts, balsamic vinegars and offered hookahs (water pipes) for rent. And guests were invited to tour the cathedral.

The Holy Cross community began in 1907 with a handful of Armenians living in Los Angeles. By 1922, the group had increased to about 3,000 and established its first church at 420 E. 20th Street in Los Angeles.

As growth continued, the original Holy Cross Church was sold and constuction started on the present cathedral, which dates from 1981.

I know all this because I read the introduction to the "Holy Cross Cathedral Ladies' Aid Cookbook," which was sold at the festival.

The Holy Cross Ladies Aid dates from 1917, and vintage photos illustrate the book, which is a valuable source of homestyle Armenian recipes including, of course, pilaf and kebabs.

Following Chef Balayan's advice, I went to the Montebello Ranch Market, where I found spices for seasoning kebabs, Aleppo pepper, which is called for in the cookbook, and the fine broken vermicelli that goes into the pilaf, which I made almost as soon as I got home.

There'll be another food fair next year, so here is the address of the cathedral, as well as addresses for Ara Balayan's catering company, the kebab purveyors and the Montebello Ranch Market. The recipes follow.   

Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Cathedral, 900 W. Lincoln Ave., Montebello, CA 90640. Tel: (323) 727-1113.

Catering by Herach & Ara, 1460 S. Greenwood Ave., Montebello, CA 90640. Tel: (800) 810-0272.

Golden Skewer, 2212 W. Beverly Blvd., Montebello, CA  90640. Tel: (323) 727-2952.

Montebello Ranch Market, 1801 W. Whittier Blvd., Montebello, CA 90640. Tel: (323) 728-2615.

ARA BALAYAN'S PILAF

1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup very fine vermicelli, broken in small pieces
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup parboiled rice
Salt to taste

Heat the butter in a small skillet. Add the vermicelli and fry until golden brown. Meanwhile, bring the broth to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the browned vermicelli, the rice and salt to taste and stir.

Cover and cook over medium heat until the broth is absorbed, about 15 minutes, stirring to blend the ingredients toward the end of the cooking time.

Makes 3 to 4 servings.

ARMENIAN PILAF FOR A PARTY

6 to 8 tablespoons butter
1 cup very fine vermicelli, broken in small pieces
8 cups (2 quarts) chicken broth
4 cups parboiled rice
Salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Heat the butter in a medium skillet. Add the vermicelli and fry until golden brown.

Meanwhile, bring the broth to a boil. Add the vermicelli, the rice and salt and stir.

Turn the rice mixture  into a large baking pan. Cover tightly with foil. Place in the oven and bake 30 minutes.

Uncover and stir until evenly mixed. Cover again tightly with foil. Continue to bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until the broth is completely absorbed.

Makes 15 to 20 servings.