Stand Back, Everybody! Here Comes Cook & Tell!

The First Newspaper Column: July 1, 1976

Small Bites: An Excerpt from Karyl

Every week in this space, there’ll be something for you to cook and, you guessed it, something for me to tell. I speak, so to speak, from a background of eighteen years of galley experience, during which time cooking, for me, went from bewildering to bewitching. Like many young women brought up before the phrase “creative cookery” had entered the conversation, I got married with no previous interest in things culinary. 

Since those early days, things going on around my kitchen table have undergone radical changes. The head count has dropped off sharply. The cat just conked out after fifteen years, and the husband ran away from home for good after eighteen. We three remaining stay-at-home stalwarts include one twelve-year-old daughter who is game for anything except asparagus, one large dog with an insatiable and indiscriminate appetite, and me, the live-in chef. Other things may have vastly changed for us, but three times a day and between meals, I’m still cooking. 

And so, this column explores the question: Can a just-divorced woman of forty – a free-lance artist and writer - from an island off the coast of Maine find love and happiness writing stories about life in the kitchen?

I’ll let you be the judge.

Today’s offering is an invitation to pull up the proverbial chair at the proverbial table every week. Go ahead: Lift the lid and sneak a spoonful.

Amie’s Headnotes

Mom made this classic roast with a twist for supper on cold winter nights, the recipe passed down from my grandmother (Mom’s mother-in-law), who some of you met in my previous story about pumpkin cornbread. Both writers and artists, they seamlessly channeled their creative talents from studio to kitchen.

CIDER POT ROAST

• 1 ½ c. apple cider

• 1 T. brown sugar

• 2 t. salt

• ¼ t. cinnamon

• ¼ t. ginger

• 2 whole cloves

• 3-4 lb. chuck pot roast of beef

• 2 T. olive oil

Mix marinade of cider, sugar and spices. Pour over the beef and let stand in refrigerator 24 hours. Remove meat from marinade. Sprinkle with flour. Heat olive oil in Dutch oven; brown meat 4-5 min on each side. Turn heat to low, add marinade to meat, cover tightly. Simmer 3 hours. Thicken gravy if desired (and that’s some gravy!)

WHIPPED ONIONY POTATOES

makes 4 servings

Peel and quarter 3 large potatoes and chop 1 onion. Cook all in a small amount of boiling salted water until tender. Drain, then mash. Add 3 T. butter, ¼ cup milk, dash of salt and pepper and beat well.

GREEN BEANS & SHALLOTS

Using fresh green beans in microwavable bag, microwave on high for 3 mins. Heat 1 T olive oil, a generous spoonful of minced shallots and 2 cloves minced garlic. Add green beans and sauté for 5-7 mins til lightly browned.

Amie’s Endnotes

We had a ton of leftovers since there are just two of us. I chopped the leftover roast into small cubes and froze it and the potatoes in separate storage containers. Later I repurposed it into a tasty Shepherd’s Pie, sprinkling the beef with Worcestershire sauce, then layering a can of corn over the beef, and topping with the potatoes and grated cheddar. Bake at 375 for 30 mins.