Here's the newspaper routine while I am here in Carmel. Each Friday, The Carmel Pine Cone is distributed all over town, though, of course, not delivered to homes, as even mail is not delivered to homes here in Carmel. The Carmel Pine Cone is a free, local newspaper which occasionally has articles or interviews that get picked up by other news services and newspapers, say like, The New York Times. This most often happens when Clint Eastwood has done something noteworthy (or stupid), as he graciously grants interviews to his hometown newspaper. One of the best things about The Pine Cone is its published log of police, fire department, and sheriff's reports. Here is a sample of same from last week's edition:
Carmel-by-the-Sea: Carmelo Street resident was concerned for her neighbor's cat who she believed may have an infection. She was advised to contact the neighbor who owns the cat.
Having lived in a big city most of my life, I don't think I ever conceptualized a community where people can call the police to report barking or loose dogs, or someone ringing their doorbell at an unexpected time, and, be still my heart, the police will beat a path in a timely response to their door! I thought this was sorta like a Brady Bunch fiction, until I spent time here. I live in LA, people. If I want the police to quickly appear at my door...well, the truth is, I can't think of something that would get LAPD to my door quickly. Luckily I have a bit more faith in LAFD.
But, back to the papers. I buy The Monterey County Herald every afternoon. It is a rather skinny newspaper, but aren't they all these days? It is basically two or three sections, depending on the day of the week. Weather is now a part of the front section; TV listings part of the Sports section. I can read it from the front page to the last, without wasting a lot of time doing so. Sunday's edition is a little fatter, thanks to a couple of added sections, and all of those CVS, Rite-Aid, and Target ad inserts. Sundays, I also purchase The San Francisco Chronicle (more about this below). It's a good read. And, last but not least, I purchase The New York Times on Wednesdays so that I can read the Dining section. The Times, like all of the other newspapers, has been on a diet over the last few years. I read it daily online, as do a lot of other people which I know accounts for the diminishment in the volume of the print edition.
Now, about The Chronicle. I've always been under the impression that the Chronicle doesn't have proof-readers on staff. This impression began with the summer I was staying with my cousins in Santa Cruz and a headline of the Chronicle reported a bank robbery. Within the first couple of sentences of the article (high school journalism classes taught me that the first sentence was the who/what/where/when lead) it stated, and I am paraphrasing, that:
police were seeking a 200-year old college student in connection with the robbery.
Even back then, college students would do more or less anything to get out of commencing payment on their student loans, including staying in school for as long as possible. Still, that statement strained belief.
On this trip I have enjoyed the food section of The Chronicle, and even clipped a recipe for:
White Bean Brandade With Crispy Breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons butter + add'l for greasing dish
2 leeks, white + lt. green parts, only
cut into medium dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
6 cups cooked white beans such as
canellini beans + 1 cup cooking
liquid
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 - 1 teaspoon kosher salt, depending on saltiness
of the beans
Freshly ground black pepper
1 8-ounce baguette, 1-2 days old and left to dry
or 2 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
2-3 tablespoons melted butter
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter bottom and sides (to the rim) of a large gratin dish.
Melt the 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks; cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and thyme; cook 1 minute. Stir in half of the beans (about 3 cups), the bean cooking liquid, cream, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 10 minutes.
Pour the bean mixture into the bowl of a food processor and process until pureed. Transfer back to the skillet or a bowl, and fold in the remaining 3 cups beans. Adjust seasonings.
Remove the crust from the baguette and cut the bread into 1/2-inch cubes. Place in a food processor and pulse to coarse bread crumbs. Add the melted butter, and pulse a few times to combine. (You can prepare both the beans and breadcrumbs up to one day ahead and store separately, in refrigerator).
Pour the beans into the prepared pan. Pack on the breadcrumbs. Bake until the beans are bubbly and the breadcrumbs are golden, about 30 minutes.
Let sit 15 minutes before serving. Or, let cool completely, cover and refrigerate. Reheat for 15 minutes in a 375 degree oven before serving.
Serves 8-10
Now, this is all well and good, I suppose. I mean, I must confess I haven't actually prepared the dish, but it sounded enticing to me. Of course, anything with crispy breadcrumbs is going to appeal to me, being a crispy sort of gal. I'm on a big creme fraiche thing, so I might just try to sub out the heavy cream for that cultured cream which I'm discovering tastes yummy in almost everything I've prepared with it. And I'm kinda wondering about throwing in some...cheese (you knew that was coming, didn't you?). But none of these musings are the point of this post.
This recipe was printed in the December 23, 2012 food and wine section of The Chronicle, with a correction (and I've copied the corrected recipe above) printed a week or so later. Here is the text following the word CORRECTION at the top of the recipe:
police were seeking a 200-year old college student in connection with the robbery.
Even back then, college students would do more or less anything to get out of commencing payment on their student loans, including staying in school for as long as possible. Still, that statement strained belief.
On this trip I have enjoyed the food section of The Chronicle, and even clipped a recipe for:
White Bean Brandade With Crispy Breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons butter + add'l for greasing dish
2 leeks, white + lt. green parts, only
cut into medium dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
6 cups cooked white beans such as
canellini beans + 1 cup cooking
liquid
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 - 1 teaspoon kosher salt, depending on saltiness
of the beans
Freshly ground black pepper
1 8-ounce baguette, 1-2 days old and left to dry
or 2 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
2-3 tablespoons melted butter
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter bottom and sides (to the rim) of a large gratin dish.
Melt the 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks; cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and thyme; cook 1 minute. Stir in half of the beans (about 3 cups), the bean cooking liquid, cream, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 10 minutes.
Pour the bean mixture into the bowl of a food processor and process until pureed. Transfer back to the skillet or a bowl, and fold in the remaining 3 cups beans. Adjust seasonings.
Remove the crust from the baguette and cut the bread into 1/2-inch cubes. Place in a food processor and pulse to coarse bread crumbs. Add the melted butter, and pulse a few times to combine. (You can prepare both the beans and breadcrumbs up to one day ahead and store separately, in refrigerator).
Pour the beans into the prepared pan. Pack on the breadcrumbs. Bake until the beans are bubbly and the breadcrumbs are golden, about 30 minutes.
Let sit 15 minutes before serving. Or, let cool completely, cover and refrigerate. Reheat for 15 minutes in a 375 degree oven before serving.
Serves 8-10
Now, this is all well and good, I suppose. I mean, I must confess I haven't actually prepared the dish, but it sounded enticing to me. Of course, anything with crispy breadcrumbs is going to appeal to me, being a crispy sort of gal. I'm on a big creme fraiche thing, so I might just try to sub out the heavy cream for that cultured cream which I'm discovering tastes yummy in almost everything I've prepared with it. And I'm kinda wondering about throwing in some...cheese (you knew that was coming, didn't you?). But none of these musings are the point of this post.
This recipe was printed in the December 23, 2012 food and wine section of The Chronicle, with a correction (and I've copied the corrected recipe above) printed a week or so later. Here is the text following the word CORRECTION at the top of the recipe:
The recipe instructions for White Bean Brandade that appeared in the December 23, 2012 Food & Wine section omitted when to include the pureed garbanzos. Here is the recipe again, with complete instructions.
Garbanzos? Any even quasi-experienced cook worth her salt knows that garbanzos are not white beans. The word garbanzo was not in the original recipe nor the corrected one. Not to put to fine a point on it but cannellini beans are NOT garbanzo beans. Not the same texture, not close in appearance, only similar because they are both BEANS. So this is what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that where The Chronicle is concerned, the only way you could improve upon this recipe would be to have it prepared by a 200-year old college student. If you run into one, please give them the recipe for the White Bean Brandade with garbanzos. And, thanks for reading my blog (btw: I know there are both grammatical and typographical errors in my posts. Problem is that proofreading is a one-man job, and I'm a girl...)
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