Peter Gethers Learns To Cook Like Mom

Publisher, screenwriter and author Peter Gethers joins us to discuss his new book, My Mother's Kitchen: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and the Meaning of Life. Gethers writes about his mother, Judy, the daughter of the restaurateur who founded the New York establishment Ratner's. He tells the story of how she came to love cooking later in life, the influence she had on names like Wolfgang Puck and Nancy Silverton, and her time working alongside Julia Child. Gethers collects these stories while also learning how to cook his mother's favorite dishes.

Check out recipes from "My Mother's Kitchen" below:

The Matzo Brei recipe from The World Famous Ratner’s Meatless Cookbook

INGREDIENTS:

3 matzohs (Note from Author: No person or book ever spells matzo the same way; it is often spelled “matzoh,” “matzo,”or “matzah.” I don’t know why this is so; perhaps no one bothered to transcribe recipes while wandering in the desert for forty years; personally, I would have preferred a tablet with this recipe carved into it to one with the Ten Commandments, but to each his own.)

½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 eggs, well beaten
2 tablespoons butter
Jam, applesauce, or sour cream (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Soak the matzohs in lukewarm water until soft (Author’s Note: Unless you’re
one of the aforementioned anti-water/matzoh combo lunatics). Drain thoroughly. The matzohs will be crumbly.

2. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the eggs.

3. Heat the butter in an 8-inch skillet. Add the matzoh mixture and cook without stirring. Brown on one side, turn carefully with two pancake turners, and brown on the other side.

4. Serve hot with jam, applesauce, or sour cream.

Serves 2

Chocolate Pudding:

Yield: 6 to 8 servings (Note from Author: or 1 serving, maybe 2, if you’re a twelve-year-old boy)

Total Time: 10 minutes prep time plus chilling

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup sugar
½ cup baking cocoa
¼ cup cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
4 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

(Note from the Indignant Author: This is where I have refused to type in the words “M&M’s optional.”)

DIRECTIONS: In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Spoon into individual serving dishes. Chill until serving.

Martha Stewart’s Tarte Tatin Recipe

INGREDIENTS:
5 to 6 medium apples, such as Braeburn
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 lemon
½ recipe
pâte brisée (recipe follows)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Peel, halve, and core apples. Set aside half of the apples. Quarter the remaining apples and transfer them to a large bowl. Squeeze a lemon over the apple slices and set aside.
2. Combine the sugar and water in a 9-inch cast-iron skillet. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat; immediately reduce the heat to medium and cook until the mixture begins to thicken and turn amber. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.
3. Place the reserved apples in the center of the skillet. Decoratively arrange the remaining apple slices, cut side up, in the skillet around the reserved apples. Continue layering the slices until level with the top of the skillet. Cut any remaining apples into thick slices to fill in the gaps. If the fruit does not completely fill the pan, the tart will collapse when inverted.
4. Place the skillet over low heat and cook until the syrup thickens and is reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Do not let the syrup burn. Remove from the heat and let cool.
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
6. Roll out the pâte brisée to a 10- to 11-inch circle, about ⅛ inch thick; transfer to a baking sheet and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
7. Place the pâte brisée over the apples and tuck the edges. Transfer the skillet to the prepared baking sheet; transfer the baking sheet to the oven, and bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Loosen the pastry from the skillet using a sharp knife. Place a rimmed platter over the skillet and quickly and carefully invert. Serve immediately.

Wolfgang Puck’s Salmon Coulibiac Recipe
In Wolf’s book Modern French Cooking for the American Kitchen, the recipe calls for pike instead of salmon and crayfish instead of shrimp. But my mom, at her dinner parties, made it with salmon and shrimp, and that’s what you’re going to get here. Wolf does specify that shrimp make a fine crayfish substitute, and he makes it clear that salmon works just as well as pike, so I figure I’m on safe ground.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 recipe
brioche dough (Note from Author: D
on’t panic, I’m giving
you that recipe,
too; it follows soon enough.)
2 pounds boneless salmon fillets
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 eggs
1½ cups heavy cream
1½ cups white wine
2 shallots, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh tarragon
6 tarragon stems
1 recipe court bouillon (Author’s Note: No need to panic again, I’m got you covered here,too.)
24 rock shrimp (Me Again: The recipe calls for 24 live crayfish. Good luck finding that if you don’t live in New Orleans or elsewhere on the Gulf Coast. Rock shrimp—the tiny ones they use for popcorn shrimp—work just fine. They’re about the same size as crayfish so I figured I’d use the same number. I was correct.)
8 to 12 stalks asparagus, cooked until al dente
1 bunch basil leaves (Final Author’s Note for This Part of the Recipe: For some weird reason, when I was shopping for all of this stuff I couldn’t find basil anywhere. I hesitated, meditated on what to do, and took the plunge, grabbing a handful of mint instead. A few minutes a fter my carefully considered choice I panicked and called Janis. I asked her what she would do if she had to substitute something for basil, but I didn’t give her any of the choices I had. She pondered for a moment then said, “Mint?” I love validation.)
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:
1. Prepare the brioche dough a day in advance (through step 5).
2. Slice 1 pound of salmon into small pieces. In the bowl of a food processor, puree the salmon with the salt, pepper, cayenne, and 1 egg. Transfer the mixture to a chilled bowl.
3. Whip 1¼ cups cream to a soft Chantilly. Over ice, fold the cream into the salmon mixture. Test the mousse for taste and consistency in simmering water (to do this, poach a spoonful of the mousse in simmering water
for 4 or 5 minutes. Remove the mousse from the water and taste) and correct the seasoning as necessary. Refrigerate until needed. (AUTHOR’S NOTE : No way did I bother to test this.)
4. Marinate the remaining 1 pound salmon fillets in a mixture of ½ cup wine,1 shallot, and the tarragon.
5. Bring the court bouillon to a boil. Add the crayfish and return to a boil. Remove the crayfish and, when cool, shell twelve of them and reserve the other twelve whole.
(Note: Just reminding you that I didn’t use crayfish, I used shrimp, and even though they weren’t alive, I still boiled them exactly as instructed above. It all worked fine.)
6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. (Note from Author to Computer Keyboard Designers: Why the hell don’t you have one of those little circle symbols that symbolize “degrees” on your keyboards? I hate having to write out the word “degree” every time. Come on! Shape up!)
7. Divide the brioche dough in half and roll out one piece ⅜-inch thick on a baking sheet. Spread half of the fish mousse down the center. Arrange half of the salmon fillets over the mousse, top with the asparagus, and spread the remaining mousse over the asparagus. Finally, arrange the remaining fillets over the mousse.
8. Lightly beat the remaining egg for an egg wash and brush all around the edges of the dough. Roll out the remaining piece of brioche, large enough to cover the fish. Press the edges together and trim. Brush with egg wash. Decorate with strips of dough and poke a vent in the top. Bake for 40 minutes.
9. While the fish is baking, reduce 1 cup wine, the remaining shallot, the tarragon stems, and ¼ cup cream until one-third of the liquid remains or until the bubbles are thick.
10. Using the food processor, puree the basil leaves. Add the butter and process until well blended.
11. Slowly add the basil butter to the reduced wine. Strain and correct the seasonings, adding a bit of lemon juice if desired. Add the shelled crayfish (SHRIMP!) to the sauce, just before serving. PRESENTATION: Using an electric knife (or a very sharp chef’s knife), slice the coulibiac into six or eight slices. Nap each plate with the sauce and arrange the whole crayfish (SHRIMP) decoratively on the plate. Center a slice of coulibiac in the plate.

BRIOCHE RECIPE
INGREDIENTS:
To make 2 large brioches or 16 to 18 individual ones
1 pound 2 ounces all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons dry yeast
½ cup milk
6 eggs
10 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg, lightly beaten, saved aside for egg wash

DIRECTIONS:
If brioche dough is allowed to rise in too warm a spot, the yeast will be killed and an odor will develop. This recipe should give you perfect results; smaller proportions will not be as successful.
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle, combine the flour,
sugar, salt, and yeast. Add enough of the milk to make a stiff dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl.
2. Add the 6 eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after
each addition. Continue to beat until the dough is elastic.
3. If your machine has a dough hook, substitute it for the paddle and add
the softened butter, a small amount at a time, until it is well incorporated and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
4. Transfer the dough to another bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and allow to rise at room temperature for approximately 1 hour, until double its original size.
5. Punch down the dough, cover again with the damp cloth, and allow to rise overnight in the refrigerator. Be sure to cover the bowl with a plate weighted with a brick (or other heavy object) to prevent the dough from over-rising and over-fermenting.
6. Form the dough into two large brioches and place them in lightly buttered 6-cup molds. Allow to rise until double in size.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (Again: Wouldn’t it be nice to have one of those little circle symbols?)
8. When the brioches have risen and are ready to bake, brush with the egg wash and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F (Need I say it?) and continue to bake for 30 minutes more, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. The baking time will be shorter for smaller brioches. (Author’s Note: I didn’t really have to include steps 6 through 8 because for the salmon coulibiac, we only needed to focus on steps 1 through 5. But I put in the whole recipe for two reasons: 1) I just like being thorough, and 2) there’s an a ctual mistake! I typed the recipe exactly as it is in Wolf’s Modern French Cooking book and, in case you missed it, it says “preheat the oven to 350 degrees” and then, in the very next step, it says to turn the oven down to 350. I am not saying all this to admonish Wolf. I am pointing this out to show that anyone can make a mistake. As you will see if you keep reading.)

COURT BOUILLON RECIPE
2 medium carrots
2 stalks celery
1 leek, thoroughly washed
1 sprig fresh thyme or pinch dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 quarts water
2 cups dry white wine
DIRECTIONS:
1. Slice the carrots, celery, and leek into ¼-inch
pieces. Put them in a saucepan.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Continue boiling for 20 minutes, until the liquid is flavorful.