'Puttering gourmet' raises the bar for home cooking

Long before the Food Network infected so many of us with the urge to cook there was Graham Kerr, "The Galloping Gourmet" of public television fame.

Wacky and entertaining and liberal with butter and cream, Kerr premiered in 1969 and captivated Alan Gard.

"I watched him from ninth to 11th grade," says Alan, now 52 and living in Warrenville. "I copied down recipes from his shows, and when my parents went out for the evening I would cook for my sister and me.

"Ever since then I have always enjoyed cooking."

His girlfriend, Donna Kolar of Bartlett, affectionately calls it "puttering around," but this "puttering gourmet" goes beyond what most home cooks are willing to tackle.

Homemade breads, some kneaded by hand, others in the bread machine, from-scratch pie crust, tricky cookies and main dishes from a variety of cultures are routine stuff for Alan.

If he gets bored making French toast or pancakes for breakfast, he'll switch to blackberry, or maybe blueberry, muffins.

A hunk of filet mignon on a plate is a bit ho-hum for Alan, whose father worked for the U.S. State Department and moved his family from San Francisco to Japan, Connecticut, Virginia, Hong Kong, Maryland and New York.

"When I was growing up, I had Mongolian hot pot, tempura, Indonesian yogurt chicken … that is part of what got me interested in cooking."

Another early memory is the candy-making cookbook from his father that inspired him to try peanut sour cream candy, caramels and fudge.

More common these days are Alan's routine bread-baking sessions.

"I always seem to have to have my couple slices of bread at a meal," and typically that bread is homemade. Honey wheat, whole wheat and sourdough are standards; he makes a cranberry-orange too that's featured today.

"That is so good as toast I've gone through half a loaf at a time."

Rather than eat lunch out every day, Alan often makes enough food on the weekend so he can take his lunch to work.

"I never cared for prepared foods. Even something simple and quick tastes better."

That may be true, but today Alan shares several not-so-fast recipes that are worth the effort, each with a different country of origin.

The orange-cranberry bread is from Alan's own kitchen in Warrenville. He created it as an alternative to oatmeal for breakfast.

The Moroccan Cookies are a thin, delicate treat from his Czech-born mother and a little trickier to make than they look. Be sure to let them brown enough to caramelize and cool them a while before removing from the cookie sheets.

The Indonesian beef recipe is technically easy but you'll have to let it simmer more than an hour so it tenderizes.

Is the food always this good at Alan's house? Well, sometimes not.

"There are days I get home from work and just open a can of beans," he admits.

I'll bet The Galloping Gourmet knew that trick, too.

Beef Cooked in Soy Sauce -- Semur Daging

2 tablespoons peanut oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ginger, finely grated

1 pound chuck or round steak, cubed

½ teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

teaspoon ground cloves

3 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon palm sugar or regular sugar

2 tablespoons tamarind liquid

1 cup hot water

Heat oil in saucepan and fry onion until soft and transparent. Add garlic, salt and ginger and fry again, stirring until onion starts to color. Add meat and fry, stirring, until meat loses its redness.

Add spices, soy sauce, sugar, tamarind liquid and water. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer until meat is tender and gravy reduced.

Uncover after 1¼ hours and simmer about 45 minutes or longer to reduce liquid to desired amount. Serve with white rice, vegetables and bread for dunking.

Serves four.

Cook's note: Tamarind liquid (or paste) is available at Indian food stores.

Nutrition values per serving: 250 calories, 12 g fat (3 g saturated), 8 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 26 g protein, 75 mg cholesterol, 1030 mg sodium.

Cranberry-Orange Bread

1 cups orange juice

2 tablespoons oil

1¼ teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons buttermilk powder

2 cups bread flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup dried sweetened cranberries

Into a bread machine put the orange juice, oil, salt, buttermilk powder, bread flour, wheat flour and nutmeg. Place yeast in yeast compartment and select the dough cycle.

When cycle is complete, remove dough to a clean surface and knead in cranberries by hand. Place dough in a greased bowl and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake bread in 9-inch, greased loaf pan for about 50 minutes or until top is brown. Cool several minutes in pan and then remove to wire rack.

Serves eight.

Nutrition values per serving: 290 calories, 5 g fat (.5 g saturated), 54 g carbohydrates, 4 g fiber, 8 g protein, 5 mg cholesterol, 390 mg sodium.

Moroccan Cookies -- Marokanky

½ cup milk

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons butter

4 teaspoons flour

½ cup almonds, sliced and blanched

½ cup candied orange peel, sliced or chopped

Coating

3-4 semisweet chocolate baking squares

2 tablespoons butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Use nonstick cookie sheets or grease and flour two cookie sheets.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, sugar, butter and flour. Bring to a gentle boil and let cook, stirring, about 3-5 minutes, or until mixture has thickened slightly. Add almonds and orange peel and stir to combine.

Pour batter from a teaspoon onto baking sheet about 4 inches apart; batter will spread into a thin layer. Bake 5-10 minutes until cookies have browned slightly. The sugar needs to caramelize, but be careful it does not burn. Let pan cool on wire rack about 6 minutes; remove carefully with spatula and cool flat side up. (Cookies are very thin and delicate.)

In a heat-proof bowl, melt chocolate and butter together in microwave. Spread over flat side of cookies and allow to cool.

Makes 16.

Nutrition values per serving: 80 calories, 5 g fat (2.5 g saturated), 10 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 1 g protein, 5 mg cholesterol, 10 mg sodium.