Patty Fabian learned how to cook at her mother's knee.
Now she's doing her mom proud, as chief cook in her own household.
Fabian estimates that she makes dinner four to six nights a week for her son, who will be a high school senior in the fall, and her "significant other." After getting home from her job as a graphic designer and creative director at McConnell and Associates, she tackles dinner, which can range from homemade chili to a fish or chicken dish.
And she credits her mother with teaching her the basics.
"It was my job to be in the kitchen after school helping cook," she says. "It was required. I had other sisters and we were all in there."
Fabian recalls starting out on KP duty -- peeling potatoes, washing and trimming green beans.
"You were just there and helped put together dinner," she adds. "My mother actually instructed me and showed me how to do things."
In her own kitchen now, Fabian represents the next generation of home cooking. She peruses magazines for recipes and says she is more adventurous with spices than her mom was. She also prefers to cook from scratch when she can.
Common on weeknight menus are beef stroganoff and lasagna. Crediting her Polish heritage, she makes pork with sauerkraut and dumplings, or stuffed cabbage, based on her grandmother's recipes.
On weekends and special occasions, she might try something like tuna with fresh mango salsa. Conscious of calories, she avoids too much butter unless she's splurging (dumplings excluded).
Her favorite recipe source is a magazine called "Cuisine at Home."
"It has all kinds of tips and they explain all about different kinds of salts, just the basics of making bread, how to make a roux -- things like that," she says. "It's just got incredible meals you can make, and it's inspired me to use different seasonings."
She also experiments and combines elements of various recipes to develop her own. One of her favorite self-devised dishes is what she calls Tarragon Chicken Over Pasta.
"I was just trying to figure out something to do with chicken and looked through recipe books to find things," she says. "You can't go wrong with a little bit of white wine, a little roux and chicken stock, right?"
Roast Pork, Sauerkraut and Dumplings
Pork roast
Garlic cloves
Caraway seed
Sauerkraut:
1 large can sauerkraut
1/2 c. barley (not quick barley)
Water
Caraway seed
1 t. sugar
1 T. flour
Dumplings:
3 slices bread, white or whole wheat, dried overnight and cut into half-inch cubes
1 egg
1/2 c. water
1 c. flour
1 stick butter, melted
For pork roast: Trim excess fat from pork roast and coat with chopped garlic and caraway seed. Bake at 350, with time based on weight (check a cookbook for directions).
For sauerkraut: Mix sauerkraut with barley in a pan with at least 1 can of water and a pinch of caraway seed and let simmer until the barley is cooked. Stir in sugar then, along with flour to thicken. Stir in some pan drippings from the pork for extra flavor.
For dumplings: Beat egg with water, add flour, then bread cubes. Fabian says you have to work this, and if it's too sticky add more flour. Shape into a loaf about six-eight inches long and five inches wide. Meanwhile, get water boiling in a large pan. Put the whole loaf into the boiling water; boil on one side for 10 minutes, then turn over and do the other side for 10 minutes; it may require an extra few minutes, the loaf should be cooked through.
After it's cooked, put on a bread board and slice into 1/2-inch disks. Put in a bowl and pour a stick of melted butter over it.
Finish dumplings by making a gravy with pan drippings. Separate out the grease, then put what's left back in the roasting pan. Add water, use a spatula to deglaze the pan, whisk in 2 t. flour, stirring until thick, then add salt, pepper and garlic to taste. Pour over dumplings. (Sometimes Fabian adds some of this gravy to the sauerkraut if she thinks it needs more flavor.
Tarragon Chicken Over Pasta
Chicken breasts, deboned with skin off, fat trimmed, cut into strips
3/4 c. flour
3/4 t. tarragon
3/4 t. thyme
Dash of garlic powder
Salt to taste
1/2 large white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. white wine
1 c. sliced white mushrooms
1/2-3/4 c. diced red pepper
3 plum tomatoes, diced
1 small can chicken broth
2 t. tomato paste
1 lb. fettuccine, cooked al dente
Mix flour, tarragon, thyme, garlic powder and salt.
Dredge chicken pieces in that and set remaining flour aside to make roux for the sauce.
Brown the chicken strips in olive oil on both sides; it is not necessary to cook them through at this point. Remove and in the same oil, saute onion and garlic, then stir in leftover flour mixture to make a roux. Into that, stir white wine until smooth. Add mushrooms, red pepper, tomatoes, chicken broth and tomato paste. Return chicken to the sauce and let simmer for 10 minutes, or longer if you prefer softer vegetables. Pour over fettuccine. Serve.
Kathy Gibbons can be reached at gibbonskath@yahoo.com.
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