Exploring the Eastern Heartland

The Eastern Heartland, it seems, is centered on Amish country and the Germanic feel imparted by good Pennsylvania Dutch cooking was clearly evident in this week's menu.

The Book: Time Life, American Cooking: The Eastern Heartland

The Menu:

• First Course: Shaker Potato-Leek Soup
• Main Course: Chicken & Parsley Dumplings, Broccoli Puree
• Dessert: Apple Jonathan

I'll start with heresy: Time Life's potato-leek soup is much better than Julia Child's.  Although I like potato-leek soup a lot, Julia Child's always comes out bland and mealy when I make it.  Not so with this recipe.  I don't especially care for caraway and might use a little less in the future or, perhaps, remove the seeds after boiling the potatoes.  I'd also tinker a bit with the ratio of leeks to potatoes - a little more leek or a little less potato.   I did use a stick blender rather than putting the soup through a food mill as directed in the recipe.  Certainly easier and I was happy with the texture.  I probably also used a little more of all the seasonings except caraway - I grow more and more convinced that in the nearly 40 years since these books were published American palettes have grown more sophisticated and demand stronger flavors, mine does anyway; Time Life recipes consistently call for far less seasoning (except salt which is generally fine) than I would normally use.

The chicken & dumplings was good.  The chicken could probably use a bit more seasoning, although the texture and basic flavor was nice.  They gravy didn't thicken the way I'd expect.  I think next time I might try removing the chicken then boiling the sauce down some - that would help concentrate the flavor as well.  The dumpling recipe is fantastic, though.  It definitely produced the best dumplings of any of the recipes I've used (notably New Basics and New York Times).  They came out beautifully light and fluffy.  The broccoli puree was fine, but maybe not really worth the effort.  If I were to make it again I'd probably use a little less butter - an entire stick seems like...well...more than necessary for a cup and a half or so of pureed broccoli.  I also don't really get the chopped egg garnish.  I mean, it looked pretty - the bright white and yellow against the green of the broccoli, but didn't really add anything flavor or texture wise.

Ben liked the apple jonathan, but it didn't do anything for me.  The flavors all conflicted unpleasantly in my mouth - the apples fighting with the maple syrup and none of it very pleasant with the spongy, yet dry, slightly salty cake-like topping.  I knew the topping was going to be trouble even before I put it in the oven; after one taste I put the bowl aside unlicked.  I was surprised to discover that there was too much topping for the volume of apples since when I poured the batter I had a hard time even spreading it to cover the apples.  The baking powder really did its job, though.  Too bad it didn't taste good.

Leftovers: We threw the soup in the freezer.  I am sure it will make a great lunch or easy dinner on a cold day.  The chicken we left in its pot and had again a few days later.  It was terrific left over.  Maybe even better than the first day.  I only made a half recipe of dumplings the first night on the theory that they wouldn't keep so well.  I made more dumplings fresh the second night (it takes about 60 seconds in the food processor).  I just reheated the chicken gently on the stove and when it was simmering dropped in the dumplings.  The gravy thickened up nicely the second night, presumably a combination of a little extra simmering and a little mores starch.  Come to think of it, maybe part of the reason it seemed think the first night is because we didn't make a full recipe of dumplings so it go less added starch.  Food for thought...

Come with me next week as I head out west.