Marengo.

Maggie McNeill’s recipe post inspired me to dig up this Classic Sasha post from November 2003. More recipes to come.

For a good part of my childhood, my mother was a gourmet caterer. By herself, in the kitchen of our Upper West Side apartment,she would plan and cook meals for upper-class New Yorkers. I would help sometimes, although admittedly my assistance would more often than not be of the bowl-licking variety.

The battle of Chicken Marengo.

One of Mom’s signature dishes was chicken Marengo in a hollowed-out brioche. She used it frequently for last-minute events because she only needed to make the brioche. The chicken was prepared, sealed in portion sizes in double-Ziploc bags, and frozen (in our extra-large standing freezer, the only one in our building). All she needed to do at the last minute was grab as many portions as she needed, thaw them, and fill the brioche. Instant showstopper that never failed to impress.
Unfortunately, I got Marengo-ed out at a young age. Not only would Mom use the frozen chicken for her clients, but also for me when she was too busy to cook dinner. Unfrozen chicken Marengo became the default meal of my childhood. It wasn’t long before I point-blank refused to eat it anymore. I reacted to the mere mention of the word “Marengo” much as General Melas must have in his later years.
So why do I give you the recipe here? Well, just because I loathe it and am traumatized by it doesn’t mean it’s not good. Not to mention it’s easy to freeze and reheat.


Chicken Marengo
5 boneless chicken breasts, cut up
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 teaspoon thyme
3 tablespoons tomato paste (you can use the kind in the squeezy tube)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 pound mushrooms, chopped (optional: I don’t use them)
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1. Heat oil in a large frying pan or Dutch oven. Add chicken saute until golden.
2. Add onions and cook until onions are just translucent, not yet brown. Sprinkle with flour and cook for 3 minutes stirring constantly.
3. Add the garlic, thyme, salt, water, wine, tomato paste, and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
4. Set chicken aside. Cover with tinfoil if you plan to serve it immediately.
5. (Optional) Cook mushrooms in the same pan for 15 minutes. Add to chicken, mix thoroughly, sprinkle with parsley and serve with toast points for that authentic Napoleonic campfire touch. Or freeze. Or fill a hollowed-out brioche.

Kosher makeup.

Classic Sasha, from May 2003.

A few days ago my web-wanderings brought me to Kosherline, a website which, as the name implies, sells supplies to observant Jews to aid in keeping the Shabbat. Most of what I saw I expected, but there was one section which truly intrigued me, being a true-blue makeup buff: kosher cosmetics.
Now I’d heard of kosher lipstick because of the possibility of ingestion, but I honestly never knew that blush, foundation, eyeshadow et. al. needed to be kosher. Not only that, but there are even Halachic guidelines for makeup. Here they are, reprinted from the Kosherline website, as per Rabbi Abraham Blumenkranz:
All cosmetics used on Shabbat must be powder, so use the back of the brush to break them up into fine powder. (See #2 below)
1. Face must be dry and clean from any other makeup. Spray moisturizer spray and allow to dry.
2. When using the powder, turn the container over and use the loose powder from the cap. The powder may not be picked up with the brush from above the cake.
3. You must use a separate brush for every color so you are not blending two colors. No sponges, applicators or fingers may be used. OUR BRUSHES ARE CUSTOM MADE TO ENABLE THE BEST RESULTS.
4. You cannot blend two colors together to create a new shade.
5. You cannot use one product over another. Use the blush first and then the broken powder foundation around it.
6. You can reapply the same color with its own brush as often as you like. Spray moisturizer sprays again to moisten and set.
7. You can remove makeup with makeup remover or wash your face with the diluted cleanser only (without cotton or pre-soaked pads). Rinse off with water, dry with a paper towel, and then with a towel.
Who knew?

Four Actors On Boardwalk Empire Who Deserved the Best Supporting Actor Emmy Just As Much As Bobby Cannavale.

I loved Bobby Cannavale on Boardwalk Empire. I think he did his job awesomely well as the frightening mobster Gyp Rossetti. There were scenes of stomach-churning violence, nudity, sexual depravity and emotional pain –sometimes all in one– that lesser actors would not have had the guts to take on, but he tackled fiercely and fearlessly. The meltdown-inducing BDSM scenes between Gyp and Gillian Darmody (the amazing and underrated Gretchen Mol) in season 3’s last two episodes are so raw they aren’t even on YouTube. (And others that were clearly award bait, like his hilariously blasphemous tirade against Jesus in a church.)

But there are those in the semi-fictional Atlantic City doing work just as good, if less flashy, than Cannavale. The Emmy category could have been populated with just actors from this show. Here are a few of the best.

richardharrow1. Jack Huston as Richard Harrow. Looking up video interviews of Jack Huston will reveal a handsome, plump-cheeked young Englishman approximately a kajillion miles away from disfigured war veteran Richard Harrow. With his half-face mask, his impeccably sober three-piece suits, his facial tics, and his growly stammered delivery, this could have become a caricature.  Instead, Huston makes Harrow into Empire’s most realized character, and possibly its only one with a soul, damaged as it is. His reserved quietness most of the time makes his outbursts of violence, few and far between as they are, all the more shocking.

Huston is appearing in the new Beats movie Kill Your Darlings as Jack Kerouac,  alongside Daniel Radcliffe as Allan Ginsberg. I can’t wait. And I forgive him for being in Twilight:Eclipse.

Stephen Root as Gaston Means.  Stephen Root is always funny, whether in NewsRadio, King of the Hill, or Office Space.  Naturally his Empire character is funny, but with  courtly, formal touches like his elaborate gastonmeanswardrobe and flowery language. His Gaston Means is an old-school confidence man, and he’s a joy to watch and listen to every time he appears.

chalky

3. Michael K. Williams as Chalky White. It’d be inevitable to suspect that any award given to Michael K. Williams would be belated recognition for Omar Little, his epic Wire character. But Chalky’s surly drawl, perpetual sneer, and calculating mind make him such a joy to watch that Williams would deserve it even if Omar had never prowled the streets of Baltimore. (“I sure ain’t building no bookcase!”)

4. Michael Shannon as Nelson Van Alden, alias George Mueller. nelsonvanaldenTo watch a man with a self-righteous, judgmental, ostentatiously Christian worldview like  prohibition agent Van Alden get dragged down into the muck of murder, adultery, organized crime, bootlegging, and (worst of all) door-to-door salesmanship, has got to be one of the finest pleasures on TV.  Shannon’s smiles are so forced they look like they’re painful. Playing Van Alden/Mueller with dead seriousness while allowing us to laugh at him is a brave actor’s choice, for which Shannon should be lauded.

Bonus 5. Paul Sparks as Mickey Doyle. Because he’s got the best screen laugh since Tom Hulce in Amadeus.

Bonus 6. Anthony Laciura as Eddie Kessler. Because he’s adorably funny (and a former opera colleague of mine).

Bonus 7. Michael Stuhlbarg as Arnold Rothstein. Because his glacially eerie calm and terrifyingly good manners are exactly what you’d expect when portraying a man who almost got away with fixing the World Series.

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Ads.

Three very Australian advertisements.

For a laxative:

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For Dick Smith, a chain of electronics stores:

 

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And back by popular demand, for Bonds brand of undergarments:

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Symphony in Black.

Erté, Symphony in Black

Probably Erté’s most famous graphic, seen on greeting cards and collectibles.  I love the mink stole the woman is wearing, and the corresponding lack of fur on the greyhound. And can anyone ignore the sexual implications of the jeweled dog collar and leash, the shackle-like bracelets fastening the stole to her slim right arm, and the high wraparound neck of the slinky black dress?

Years later Erté cheekily twisted his artwork around, to produce Ebony and White.

Erté, Ebony and White

Ten great Law & Order quotes.

Why do I love this show? Because it reminds me of home, and its predictability is comforting to me.  It was one of the few shows set in New York City to actually be filmed there on location. (“Because L&O was filming on my block”, is a completely acceptable excuse for tardiness to work.) But the writing was under-appreciated. Some classic quips…

ADA Kincaid: “Just because he’s condescending to the jury doesn’t mean we have to.”
DA Schiff: “Nobody’s condescending here, young lady!”

Det. Fontana: “There are two things every con wants as soon as he’s released. The second is a pizza.”
ME Rodgers: “What’s the first?”

Lt. Van Buren: “Did the deceased have a man in her life?”
Det. Briscoe:”Yes, but his name is Fluffy and he’s been neutered.”

Suspect (pointing to Det. Munch’s ID badge: “What’s that?”
Det. Munch: “This is my hall pass so I can go to the crapper by myself.”

Witness, referring to an allegedly Native American artist:”Little Moon Birdsong, my ass! Her name’s Linda Epstein, from Syosset.”
Det. Briscoe: “Different tribe altogether.”

Defense lawyer: “I got bent over a chair by Miss Ross once before. Now I’m getting another tingling feeling in my butt. Why is that?”
ADA Ross: “Wishful thinking?”

ADA McCoy: “We’re playing legal tiddlywinks with these punks. What I’d really like to do is take them out to Battery Park and hang them by the scrotum.”

Suspect, who has brought his cousin, a elderly real estate lawyer, to be with him during a murder investigation: “They think I killed Mike.”
Elderly lawyer: “They do? You didn’t, did you?”
The late and great Jerry Orbach as Lennie Briscoe

ADA Schiff, during a strategy meeting about the prosecution of a particle physicist: “So, all we have to do to win a larceny case, is prove how the universe will end?”

Defendant: “Dom is dead, and I did it. I knew exactly what I was doing.”
Arraignment judge: “I’m not supposed to express personal opinions in the courtroom, but I’ve got to tell you, Ms. Perazzo, you make me proud to be an American.”