School Night at the Manigault's

Cooking is Dean Manigault's artist outlet, but yet, she has been cursed with two daughters who don't like to eat her food. Last night's dinner was a roast chicken with a homemade gravy, black rice, haricot vert, and melon and prosciutto. India (15) took one slice of chicken and one string bean and then ate neither. Gigi (12) took several pieces of chicken, a little bit of rice and some beans. She ate a few beans, a bite of rice, and left most of the chicken and gravy. After seven minutes of communal dining they both begged to be excused. Thankfully Dean Manigault has two neighbors who love to come to dinner most nights, because her ego couldn't take the lashing her daughters inflict. 

Since Dean Pollak's children are adults, she knows what works. Her solutions:  Give birth to seven foot sons. Insist that your children participate in a lively sport every day. Only allow carrots and apples for snacks. Any food that they look askance at, announce that the food is just a different kind of chicken, such as, "that's not salmon, that's pink chicken." The final and most useful tip is to enlist the children's help in cooking, starting when they are toddlers and taking over a whole meal by the time they are teenagers. 

Below are a few recipes that may help entice your child to participate at dinner.

FRIED ZUCCHINI

Serves 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS

1 cup water

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 pound zucchini, sliced lengthwise 1/8 inch thick and 2 inches long

Vegetable oil, fro frying

Salt

1.  In a shallow bowl, whisk together the water and flour.  The batter should have the consistency of sour cream.  Adjust your measurements accordingly. 

2.  Into a Dutch oven or stock pot, over high heat, pour enough oil to come 3/4 inch up the side of the pot.  When the oil reaches 375 degrees F, dip the zucchini slices into the batter.  Transfer to the hot oil one handful at a time, so as not to crowd the pan.  Flip a couple of times until the zucchini are golden brown all over.  Your oil must be hot enough so the cooking is finished within 2 to 3 minutes.  

3.  Sprinkle with salt and serve piping hot with homemade mayonnaise or remoulade.

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EGG STRATA

Breakfast for Dinner!

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1 sourdough boule, sliced 3/4 inch thick

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Thin slices of Gruyere or cheddar, enough to cover the bread on the bottom of the pan

6 eggs

3 cups whole milk

1 pound bulk sausage, browned

1.  Grease a 9x11 inch glass or ceramic baking dish.  Spread both sides of the bread with the butter.  Layer the bread in the bottom of the baking dish.  Top with the cheese.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.  Pour over the bread, up to 1/2 inch below the top of the baking dish.  Any more liquid will bubble over when cooking.  Add the sausage.  Cover and refrigerate the strata overnight or for up to 2 days.

3.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Bake the strata until puffy and golden brown, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

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Find the Chicken Pie recipe and many more recipes here.

The Two Most Dreaded Words in the Western World: School Lunches

The only person we ever knew who liked making school lunches was Dean Pollak. She relished what the others of us despise. She even took it to irritatingly dizzying heights: homemade breads, hand pulled mozzarella, organic apples picked by virgins –- even she can’t believe what a dork she was. Not until years later she discovered that her children never ate those lunches, and were further burdened because they couldn’t trade them with anyone else either. Today they would kill for those lunches but not back then.

So, what are the rest of us to do? Dean Manigault has her children join her at the store so they can select what they will actually eat, not what she wants them to. You can’t have your child starving all day, neither can you have them eating lunchables. If they truly adore Oreos above all other cookies, let them have an Oreo but counterbalance it with a piece of fruit. Let them choose, just not the entire lunch. Compromise is key.

Lunchtime...

Starting in kindergarten make your children invest their own time and energy making their lunch the night before so there is no time crunch involved in the morning. 

Even though her mom is a Dean, Gigi Manigault's favorite mac and cheese recipe is not her mom's, but from local chef, Robert Stehling, from Hominy Grill. Maybe because Robert's daughter, Carson, is Gigi's classmate, or maybe because this is the best mac and cheese recipe ever? The Deans use Yeti's thermos cup to keep the mac and cheese at the optimal temperature until lunchtime because Gigi does not like the cold mac and cheese, and we doubt anyone else does either. 

An alternate version to the classic mac and cheese is our cheesy rice recipe which provides just as much cheesy satisfaction.