Read Online Man With a Pan by John Donahue - Free Book Online Page A

I’m fine with that. You say tomato, I say to- mah -to.
    I also love the microwave … and if you’re sneering, it’s because you think the only things you can do with the microwave are make popcorn and nuke the living shit out of Stouffer’s frozen dinners. Not true. I don’t do recipes, but before I go cook some lamb chops, let me pass on a great fish dish that’s beautiful in the microwave. Simple to make, and a dream to clean up.
    Start with a pound or so of salmon or trout fillets. Squeeze a lemon on them, then add a cap or two of olive oil. Mush it all around with your fingertips. If you like other stuff, like basil, sprinkle some on, by all means, but in both cooking and life my motto is KISS: Keep it simple, stupid. Anyway, wrap your fish up in soaked paper towels—just one thickness, no need to bury the fish alive. You should still be able to see the color through the paper towels. Put the package on a microwave-safe plate and then cook it for six minutes. But—this is the important part— don’t nuke the shit out of it ! Cook it at 70 percent power. If you don’t know how to use the power function on your microwave (don’t laugh, for years I didn’t), cook it on high for three minutes and no more. If you cook a pound of salmon for much more than three minutes, it will explode in there and you’ll have a mess to clean up.
    When you take the fish out of the microwave (use an oven glove, and don’t lean in too close when you open the paper towels or you’re apt to get a steam burn), it’s going to be a perfect flaky pink unless the fillets are very thick. If that’s the case, use a fork to cut off everything that’s done and cook the remainder—very gently—for ninety seconds at 60 percent power. But you probably won’t need to do this. People will rave, and all the mess is in the paper towels. Cleaning up is, as they say, a breeze.
    I’ve learned a few other little things over my years as a cook (always shock the pasta in cold water before removing it from the colander, test steaks for doneness with the ball of your thumb while they’re still on the grill, let the griddle rest if you’re planning on cooking more than a dozen pancakes, don’t ever set the kitchen on fire), but the only real secret I have to impart is be gentle . You can cook stuff people love to eat (always assuming they have a sense of taste) without loving to cook.

    “We must be getting close.”
    Recipe File
    Pretty Good Cake
    I found this recipe, by Scottosman, on the Internet at allrecipes.com and adapted it. It’s simple and it works.
    1 cup sugar
½ cup butter
3 teaspoons vanilla
¼ cup milk
1 cup white flour (or a little more: check your batter)
2 eggs
1 stick melted chocolate (don’t expect a chocolate cake, you just get a hint of flavor)
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1. Preheat the over to 350°F while you’re getting ready.
2. Grease a 9 × 9-inch pan with lard or Crisco. I use my fingers.
3. Mix the sugar, butter, and chocolate into a nice sweet soup.
4. Beat the eggs, add the vanilla, then add these ingredients to the sweet soup. Start adding the flour and the milk. If you need to add extra flour or milk, do so. Your objective is the kind of batter that made you say “Can I lick the bowl?” when you were a kid.
5. Put in the baking powder last. Keep mixing, but don’t overdo it.
6. Bake it for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Frosting? You can find lots of recipes for that, both on the Net and in Betty Cooker’s Crockbook, but why not buy a can? It’s just as tasty. Don’t do it until the cake cools.
    IN THE TRENCHES
    Josh Lomask, a forty-one-year-old firefighter, lives in a rambling Victorian house in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. He cooks most nights of the week for his wife, an administrator at a private school, and their twin eleven-year-old boys and ten-year-old boy. Josh’s house has been under renovation since they moved in more than a decade ago, and all he has