So there I was. Staring at two very ripe tomatoes.I don’t normally stare at produce, but these things needed to be eaten. And soon.I didn’t want to eat the same old shit, Caprese salad, or my Mom’s tomato salad, no disrespect to my Mom or Capri!I just wanted something different. Then I thought of making baked tomatoes, but they seemed so...Antiquated. Out of style. Not in vogue.Which is why they appealed to me. I looked up recipes, but nothing was clicking; they were all missing something.Know what they were missing?
Slimness.I wanted to make a stuffing with stuff I like. So I made a mixture of panko and Parmigiano and parsley and garlic, along with some dried oregano. Why dried oregano?I like the taste better. Especially in Italian-American dishes, although I’m pretty sure this dish is more American than Italian.Until now!I added a little olive oil to keep it together and moist.I scooped the seeds out of the tomatoes. I’m not a big fan of tomato seeds, especially in fresh tomatoes. I cut out the top tab/button of both tomatoes first. Then I cut them in half, horizontally. Then I scooped seeds.I mixed up the stuffing, stuffed it in the tomatoes, and baked them for 20 minutes at 450 degrees.Wow. They were real good. I mean...real good. I’m staying away from the hyperbole these days. Leaving myself a little headroom. But these were...delizioso. And quick. And easy.
INGREDIENTS¼ cup panko breadcrumbs¼ cup fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese1 teaspoon minced garlic1 teaspoon dried oregano1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsleyKosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper1 generous tablespoon olive oil
2 ripe tomatoes, top buttons cut out, cut in half horizontally, seeds scooped outHERE WE GO...Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.Put all the ingredients except the tomatoes in a small bowl.Mix with a fork.Put the 4 tomato halves in a small baking dish.Drizzle a little olive oil over each, add a little Kosher salt and fresh cracked 
black pepper to each.Add equal amounts of the panko mixture to each tomato. Fill the tomato holes. Put the extra on top. Be judicious. Be equitable.Put the dish in the oven for 20 minutes. Keep an eye on these maters.When the tops are golden brown, take the dish out of the oven.Let it sit for 5 minutes.Dish ‘em up! Make ‘em look nice, add a sprig of fresh parsley, and...
MANGIAMO!!!!
Slim Man Cooks Primavera Sauce
Cooking these days can be a pain in the ass.I’ll tell you why…This weekend, there were some folks visiting the Slim Shack. People came in from around the globe to pay respects to my friend, Abe, who passed away recently.He was a colonel in the Army, and one of the good guys. He was well-read, kept himself in great shape, was thoughtful and generous and kind and strong and had a sense of humor, too. Plus, he was a sharp-dressed man.I cooked many dinners for Abe. He ate everything, and when I say everything, I mean he didn’t turn vegan or vegetarian or paleo or Mediterranean, Abe ate a balanced diet. Reasonable. Moderate.And he passed away at the age of 97 recently. Not from something I cooked, promise!He live
d a very healthy life right up until his last days. And he ate whatever he wanted. But that was then. And this is now…And now folks have all kinds of dietary restrictions. Here is what I was up against this weekend. Seriously.This one doesn’t eat meat. That one doesn’t eat onions. This one is a vegetarian but can’t eat tomatoes. The other one can’t eat pasta. Another one doesn’t eat anything fried or even sautéed. This one is completely vegan, and…What the hell was I supposed to cook?Well, I made one of the best dishes ever. Seriously. All these restrictions forced me to come up with something I never would have made. Sure, in the beginning I felt like smacking each numbskull upside the head with a wooden spoon, but after…Wowoweewow. I’m telling you, it was so good and so healthy.And I’m gonna show you how to make this primavera dish.Primavera in Italian means spring. So, the point to this dish is to find all the fresh—not frozen—and colorful spring vegetables you can, and make a dish of pasta with them.I went to the local grocery, and picked out the most gorgeous vegetables I could find. And there were plenty. Here in California, all the produce looks so beautiful and tastes like it hasn’t been sitting on a truck for a month.Because it hasn’t.Never in my life have I seen so many fresh and beautiful and scrump-diddly-umptious vegetables. And not to mention Gilroy, the Garlic Capital of the World, is not far away!So I found some magnificent vegetables, and then I roasted them, that’s right, roasted them in a pan. Because this one doesn’t like fried or sautéed.And then I put them over pasta. Well, I made one batch with real pasta, and the other one with some quinoa-edamame-tofu-Styrofoam-type fake pasta.I wasn’t jumping for joy when I tasted the fake pasta.But when I put this primavera sauce over farfalle? It was one of the best-tasting dishes I’ve made in a while. All because of those knuckleheads!So, in life, when confronted with knuckleheads, know that they are there to improve you. They are like sandpaper that smooths out your rough edges. When you have a bunch of knuckleheads over for dinner, and they have a bunch of dietary demands, cook this.This dish is simple. And quick. And easy. And inexpensive. And ridiculously healthy.NOTES: 
I put the chopped, slivered, sliced vegetables in two baking pans. After I sliced and diced and smashed and chopped, I divided up the vegetables equally…half the carrots in one pan, half in the other, and so on, with all the vegetables.The carrots need to be sliced thinner than the other vegetables. They cook quicker that way, and will be done when the rest of the other vegetables are.I used a whole garlic bulb. There were about 10 cloves inside, I smashed each one, peeled off the paper, and put 5 in each pan. The roasted garlic was delizioso.I have two racks in the Slim Oven.I put one pan on the lower rack, and one on the rack above it.After 20 minutes, the lower pan was perfection, so I took it out of the oven. But the upper one needed a little more time.So I put the upper pan on the lower rack for 5 or 10 minutes, and wow, it was done to perfectly perfect doneness.I put the grape tomatoes in at the end. For two reasons…One is that they really don’t need to cook/roast. They just get all mushy.The second reason is…that one couldn’t eat tomatoes. Or didn’t like them. Whatever, I left them out of her dish, and put them in after I served her.Cazzo!INGREDIENTS1 yellow bell pepper, de-seeded, and sliced into thin pieces1 red bell pepper, same way4 carrots, sliced into matchstick-size slivers1 zucchini, sliced the same way, but thicker1 yellow squash, sliced the same as the zucchini1 generous cup asparagus tips2 shallots, slivered10 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved, seeds squeezed out1/3 cup of fresh snipped basil leaves1 tablespoon of chopped fresh oregano1 tablespoon of chopped fresh thymeOlive oil1 pound of farfalle pastaKosher salt and fresh ground pepper Here we go!Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.Divide all the vegetables in half (except for the tomatoes) and put half on each baking tray.Drizzle with olive oil and mix.Add Kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper to taste, and mix.Put the trays in the oven for 10 minutes.Then take them out, and give ‘em a stir, stir, stir.Bake for another 10 minutes.When the carrots are done, take the trays out of the oven.
You can put this over pasta, or quinoa, or rice, or hedge-clippings.I used farfalle pasta, 1 pound.I put it in rapidly boiling water (I added a couple of tablespoons of Kosher salt first) and cooked it until al dente.Al Dente! Wasn’t he a pitcher for the Yankees?Drain the pasta and put in a bowl.Give a little drizzle of olive oil and stir.Add the vegetables to the bowl, stir gently.Add the tomatoes and the herbs, and mix gently. Gently, Slim boys and girls!Dish it up on a nice plate, maybe garnish with a sprig of oregano or thyme, and sprinkle with some freshly grated parmigiano cheese (unless you're vegan, or dairy intolerant, or whatever) and…MANGIAMO!
Chicken and Eggplant Parmigiano
Chicken Eggplant ParmigianoWomen have helped me be more creative with my cooking.Not so much with the recipes, but with their peculiarities.For instance, Selma Krapoff, our Head of Slim Merch, is on a new kick. She wants protein with every meal. And nothing can be fried. Not even sautéed.So when I had a craving for eggplant Parmigiano, I had to get creative. I didn't want to cook two dishes. I racked my brain, what’s left of it. Then it hit me like a frying pan. Or maybe it was Selma who hit me with the frying pan. The light went on above my horsehead, and I knew what I had to do.I decided to make chicken and eggplant Parmigiano! Ain’t I smart? I did a layer of eggplant, a layer of broiled chicken breasts, and a layer of eggplant, instead of just three layers of eggplant.I put in the tomato sauce, mozzarella, Parmigiano and basil with each layer, of course.Then I baked it for about 20 minutes.It was so good. Selma loved it.Then she yelled at me because she ate too much. She told me that if I didn’t cook stuff that tasted so good, she wouldn’t have to worry about getting fat.
Chicken and Eggplant ParmigianoYour breasts and the eggplant should be about the same size. So should the chicken breasts.I bought 2 chicken breasts and cut each in half horizontally, I had 4 cutlets about ½” thick. Then I cut them in half vertically, so I had 8 small cutlets about ½" thick.Then I sliced the eggplant into circular slices, about ½” thick.NOTE:You only have to broil the chicken for a couple minutes per side. It will bake with the eggplant for another 20 minutes in the oven, so you don’t have to worry about salmonella.I hope.Seriously, Slim People? Clean everything that touches raw chicken with warm, soapy water. Or a powerwasher.You gotta keep it clean.INGREDIENTS3 eggs3 cups panko breadcrumbs (or whatever breadcrumbs you like!)Salt and pepper2 medium eggplant, ends trimmed off, sliced into ½” circular slices
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound) each sliced in horizontally in half; you should have 4 cutlets about ½” thick. Cut each in half vertically, now you got 8 cutlets, each ½" thick, capisce?3 cups of tomato sauce (make your own, it’s so easy and takes just 25 minutes!)1 pound mozzarella, cut into circular slices1 cup fresh-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese¾ cup of fresh, clean basilHERE WE GO…Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.Put the eggs in a bowl (I used a glass pie dish), add salt and pepper, and mix ‘em up!Spread the breadcrumbs out on a large platter (I used another pie dish).Dip an eggplant slice in the egg, then press each side into the breadcrumbs.Place on a non-stick baking pan.Do this with all the eggplant slices.Put the pan in the oven on the second-lowest rack, let the eggplant cook on one side for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
Flip each slice over and cook for another 12 minutes or so.Remove.Turn the oven to broil.Take a piece of chicken.Dip it into the egg.Then press each side into the breadcrumbs.Do this with all the chicken.Place it under the broiler, on the second rack. You don’t want it too close, or it will burn.After 2 minutes, or when golden brown, turn over.Cook on the other side for 2 minutes or until golden brown.Remove from the oven.Get a glass baking dish--I used an 9X13-inch dish.Put a layer of eggplant on the bottom.Add a cup of tomato sauce, spread it around evenly.Add ¼ cup of the basil, snip it with scissors evenly on top.Add 1/3 cup of Parmigiano, spread evenly.Add 1/3 cup of mozzarella slices, spread evenly.
Add a layer of chicken cutlets.Add a cup of tomato sauce.Add ¼ cup of basil, snipped on top.Add 1/3 cup Parmigiano.Add 1/3 cup of mozzarella.Here we go! Final layer!Add a layer of eggplant.Add a cup of tomato sauce.Add ¼ cup basil, snipped on top.Add 1/3 cup of Parmigiano.Add the final 1/3 cup of mozzarella.
Turn the oven to 350 degrees.Put the dish in the oven on the middle rack.Let the eggplant and chicken bake for 20 minutes.Put the oven on broil.Put the dish under the broiler FOR A MINUTE! Keep your eye on these guys, you want the cheese golden brown, not burnt!Remove from the broiler and let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes.Then, cut it up, dish it out, maybe sprinkle a little freshly-grated Parmigiano on top of each serving, maybe garnish with a fresh basil leaf or two, and…
MANGIAMO!
Slim Man Cooks Baked Salmon with Pesto
Most women I know love salmon.I once went out with a woman who ate so much salmon, she started developing small gills behind her ears. Most women I know prefer to have things baked or broiled, rather than fried or sautéed.That’s OK. I’m a big admirer of women folk. I like to keep them happy. The world seems to work best that way.So if there are Lady People involved when I’m cooking, baked salmon is always a good bet.The thing about baked salmon is, it can get a little dry if you cook it too long. Don't overcook!Wild Alaskan King salmon is best, a nice thick piece. I found a nice piece of sockeye salmon at the local grocery (Ralph’s) for $7 a pound, and yes, it was wild.I baked it in the oven for about 8 minutes, took it out, put a little pesto and some toasted pine nuts (pignoli) on top and put it under the broiler for a minute or two, and it was…Delizioso.Keep in mind...Thicker fish take longer to cook.You don't need to toast your nuts for too long, they'll get another roasting when you stick them under the broiler.My pesto sauce has Parmigiano and romano cheese in it, and a lot of cooks frown upon putting cheese on fish.But what about the fish sandwich at McDonald’s? What about tuna casserole?Ingredients1 pound wild sockeye salmon filet, (the piece I used was about ¾ “ thick)1 tablespoon olive oilGlass baking dish Salt and freshly cracked black pepper.1 tablespoon Slim’s pesto (the video link to my recipe is down below)1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts (toast and shake in a dry pan over medium-high heat, don't burn your nuts!)Here we go…Heat oven to 425 degrees.Rinse the fish, and pat dry with paper towels.Put a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of the baking dish.Put the fish in the dish, turn it over so each side gets a little olive oil.Put the skin side down, add salt and pepper to the top.
When the oven comes to temperature, place the fish on second lowest rack.Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until almost done (pink inside).Remove from oven.Turn the oven to broil.Spread the pesto evenly over fish.Top with the toasted pine nuts.Put the salmon under the broiler for a minute or two.Remove from oven.Dish it up! Make it look good. She’s a-so nice!MANGIAMO!Click on the pic to see the YouTube pesto video:
Slim Man Cooks Asparagus with Parmigiano
Our manager told us about this new television network that was about to launch, a 24-hour network that was going to play nothing but music videos. They were gonna call it…MTV. Music Television.He played us a few videos that were scheduled for rotation, and asked us if we could do a couple like that. We, the boys in the band, looked at each other and told him, ”Yes, we can.”But we didn’t have a lot of time. The launch of MTV was about to happen.Our manager was Carl Griffin (Griff), the same guy who signed me to Motown. Our band was BootCamp. We had just released a 7” vinyl single with two songs, “Hold On to the Night” and “I’m A Victim.” It was doing really well.We had no idea how to make a music video. We didn’t even know what a music video was until Griff showed us the MTV demo reel. But we knew a guy who worked as a cameraman for the local TV station. He worked in the news van, doing live remotes.We called him. He told us he could “borrow” the cameras and stuff from the TV station, but it had to be after hours. My guess is that he was gonna borrow this stuff without asking, because he asked us to keep it on the down-low. The hush-hush.The first video we shot was for the song “Hold on to the Night.” I wanted to shoot the video at night (clever!) on The Block, which is a two-block section of Baltimore Street in downtown Baltimore that has strip clubs, adult bookstores and peep shows. And a hot dog place called Pollack Johnny’s.But how were we gonna get Baltimore Street closed down in the middle of the night, when all the action was going on?I called the Baltimore Police Department. I told them we were shooting a movie with Ben Vereen. It was the first name that came to mind. To my surprise, the BPD agreed to shut down the street. Ben Vereen is an actor and singer, he was pretty popular in Baltimore, had done a bunch of shows there. So the Baltimore Police Department put out the order to close Baltimore Street for a few hours for a movie shoot for Ben Vereen.We showed up with our TV cameraman, and a couple of guitars, and…we had no idea what to do. We had no script. We had no Ben Vereen. We had a boombox and an empty street. It started to drizzle…so we pressed “record” and started rolling. In the rain.Action! We did take after take. The drizzle worked in our favor—it made the street look shiny and cool. The camera guy was really creative. He did takes where he was lying on the wet ground with the camera looking up. He swooped and swerved and shot some crazy footage.Hit Man Howie Z started banging his drumsticks on the side of a trashcan. Some garbage got stuck on one of his sticks, and crap started flying everywhere. The cameraman was getting it all, but if he had panned out, you would have seen a sergeant with the BPD standing next to Howie, yelling at him…“You better clean up all that s**t when you’re done, son!”We did some more takes, and…Maybe the cops finally figured out that this wasn’t a Ben Vereen movie, or maybe the strippers were complaining about us driving away the customers, but the police put a halt to the filming. They took down the barricades, and traffic started flowing slowly down Baltimore Street again.We left without having any idea if what we shot was good, bad or ugly.It’s a wrap! One down. One to go.A friend of mine had just finished working on an Al Pacino movie that was shot in Baltimore, And Justice for All. The filmmakers had used an old courthouse and the old Baltimore City jail for the movie, and the sets were just sitting there vacant, waiting to be torn down.All the props and the furniture had been left behind, completely intact. It would be perfect for the “I’m a Victim" video.Once again, we had to do it all on the hush-hush. We didn’t really have permission to use the vacant And Justice for All set. We just showed up on the sly and started shooting. Our camera guy had “borrowed” the gear from the TV station once again, and we all sneaked into the courthouse and the jail, and commenced with the craziness.For the “I’m A Victim” video, we actually had a vague idea of what we wanted to do. I was going to be a lawyer. Hit Man Howie Z (BootCamp drummer Howard Zizzi) would be the guy on trial, Rob Roberts (Bob Fallin, guitar) was the judge, and Tom Alonso (keyboards) was the stenographer.There wasn’t a real story. It was just us, in a courtroom, clowning around, with our assorted friends as jurors and observers.We just started filming and improvising. The camera guy was shooting everything, trying to get as much footage as possible in the little time we had. We had one camera, that’s it. We didn’t have any microphones, or audio. We just sang along with a battery-powered boombox. We didn’t have any lighting. We didn’t have any assistants or stylists or producers or directors telling us what to do, where to go or what to wear.At one point, we were filming in a jail cell, and the door accidentally slammed shut with a CLANG! I was locked inside and they couldn’t get the door back open. It freaked me out a bit. I have recurring nightmares about being in prison.We were making it all up as we went along. I was just hoping the real cops wouldn’t bust in, and bust us for trespassing and send us to a real jail.We wrapped up—no sense in pressing our luck. Once again, we left the shoot with no idea if what we shot was any good.The cameraman edited both videos on his own. He snuck into the editing suite at the local TV station, and “borrowed” a few hours at a time. He eventually cut all the footage together. He showed us the two videos.They had a certain charm, for sure. Maybe the cinematography wasn’t gonna win an Oscar, and our acting wasn’t gonna keep Robert DeNiro up at night worrying about us stealing his next acting job, but the videos had a unique down-home allure.Griff sent them to MTV. We, the BootCamp Boys, didn’t think much about it after that. We had no idea how big MTV would be.When the network launched, MTV included the two BootCamp videos. They were two of the first 100 videos MTV ever played. They put us in regular rotation. MTV caught fire. We started getting calls…labels, agents, producers.It was an exciting time. I gotta give it to the camera guy. His name is Kurt Kolaja. He did a great job doing everything, from shooting to editing.MTV took off. So did BootCamp. We were in for a crazy ride…Asparagus with Parmigiano
When you’ve just finished a video shoot outside a strip club, ain’t nothing like a little asparagus to make your pee-pee smell funny.I like to use thin asparagus—the size of a pencil. They’re more tender and tastier than the big boys.So try to find asparagus that’s not the size of a tree trunk. As a general rule, the larger the vegetable, the tougher it is.If the asparagus are really thick, you’ll have to peel the skin off the outer stalks.This dish should serve four people, depending on the people. Members of my family eat like horses. That’s why I feed them in the barn.INGREDIENTS1 pound thin asparagus2 tablespoons olive oilKosher saltFresh cracked black pepper¼ cup fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus a little more for sprinklingHere we go…Rinse off your asparagus and pat dry with paper towels.Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.You need to break off the bottom ends of the asparagus. Grab an asparagus spear. Grab one end with your thumb and forefinger, and the other end with the thumb and forefinger of your other hand, and bend until it snaps. Discard the bottom end.Do this to all the asparagus. Rinse well, pat dry with paper towels.Put them in a glass or ceramic baking dish.Drizzle with olive oil, about 2 tablespoons.Mix them up; make sure each spear is coated.Add some kosher salt and some freshly cracked black pepper.Mix them up again.Put the dish in the oven.Bake for 15 minutes. Check the asparagus, make sure they’re done. If they ain’t, put ‘em back in for 5 minutes. They should be firm, but not crunchy.Take the dish out of the oven, sprinkle the asparagus with the grated cheese.Set the oven to broil. Put the dish back in the oven for A MINUTE OR TWO! Keep an eye on these guys!When you see the Parmigiano start to brown, take the baking dish out of the oven, try an asparagus spear, make sure it’s done, and dish it up!This dish goes well with Slim chicken Marsala, or chicken Milanese, or lemon chicken.
MANGIAMO!!!!!!!!
Slim Man Cooks Cippolini and Red Bell Pepper Sauce (for fish)
I saw a tour bus driving north on Route 29. I started following it.I had just come from the recording studio in Washington, DC. It was the early 1990s. I had written a song for a singer named Brian Jack. Brian was the former lead singer in a Baltimore band named Child’s Play. He had a great voice, big charisma, and I took him into the studio to do some songs I’d written. We hit it off.The two of us lived in a house on Sue Creek, in a town outside Baltimore called Essex. People in Baltimore made fun of Essex--probably because a lot of rednecks lived there. I liked Essex.The house we shared was incredible — 21 Woody Road. It was right on the water--kinda like a Redneck Riviera. We had windsurfers, Sea-Doos, all these great water toys. None of them were ours - people parked their things at our pier, and they’d let us use them in return.
The previous tenant had been hauled off to jail for insurance fraud. I remember the first time I met him. He was standing in the huge living room. It had cathedral ceilings, a big fireplace, and massive floor-to-ceiling glass doors that overlooked the deck, the pier and the river. I’ll never forget what the guy said,“I laid a lot of pipe in this house.”I thought maybe the guy was a plumber. Then it hit me — he wasn’t talking about shower stalls.Brian and I moved in soon after the guy was taken off to prison. I wrote songs for Brian, he sang ‘em. Things were starting to take off, he was getting airplay, and packing the clubs.Brian and I were heading home from the studio when we saw the tour bus and started following it. I had this intuitive feeling that we should tag along behind the bus. A couple minutes later, it pulled over to the side of the highway, onto the shoulder. I pulled right behind it. The driver got out of the bus, came over and asked me if I knew the way to Merriweather Post Pavilion.As a matter of fact, I did. I told him to follow me.I saw the Doors at Merriweather Post Pavilion on their first tour. I saw Led Zeppelin at Merriweather when they opened for the Who back in 1969 — the only time that ever happened. Procol Harum, Paul Simon, and Frank Sinatra; I’d seen them all there. I’d even played on that stage before. I knew where the backstage entrance was. The big-ass tour bus followed me in my little blue Honda station wagon.
We reached the security gate, and I told them what was going on, and they waved us through. They didn’t even ask any questions. I’m guessing they were well aware that whoever was on that tour bus was running late.The tour bus followed me on the small winding road through the woods to the backstage area. When we got there, the bus driver parked, got out, and thanked me a million times.And then guess who stepped off the bus?B.B. King. When I was a kid, my Mom had brought home an album of his called Indianola Mississippi Seeds. Man, did I love that record. I must have played it a million times. “Chains and Things”, “Nobody Loves Me But My Mother”, “Hummingbird” – which was written by Leon Russell—I loved those songs. Joe Walsh played guitar on that album, Carole King played some keyboards. It was one of my favorites.I loved B.B. King and here he was standing right in front of me.He thanked me. He asked me and Brian if we’d like to stay and see the show. Then he walked us to the side of the stage, and dropped us off, right behind the curtain. We waited in the wings. I looked out at the crowd. It was buzzing.A few moments later, B.B. King’s band took the stage and played one song. Then B.B. King came out, and played and sang his heart out. All night long. Brian and I watched the whole concert from the side of the stage, a couple yards away. It was an amazing show.After the show, B.B. King invited us back to his dressing room. He signed autographs for everybody waiting in line. He told stories. He was charming, laid-back and as gracious as could be.B.B. signed a photo for me.A crazy coincidence…The guy who signed me to Motown way back when was Carl Griffin. Carl had produced a CD for B.B. King called Live At The Apollo. It won a Grammy in 1992 for both B.B. and Carl. When I mentioned to B.B. King that night that Carl was one of my best friends, B.B. smiled and said,“Carl’s a good man.”Yes, he is!Want to hear the rest of the story about the Live at the Apollo CD?Ray Charles was scheduled to do the concert that night with B.B. King. But right before the show, Ray Charles demanded to be paid an additional 50 grand--in advance--to be included in the live recording. Nobody had that kind of cash lying around on short notice. So Carl decided to go ahead with the show. Ray Charles played, but was not included on the live CD.The CD went on to win a Grammy for Griff and B.B.And that’s the rest of the story.
Cippolini and Red Bell Pepper Sauce (for fish)After a night of singing the blues, this is a dish that will make you happy.The first time I made this sauce, I used maple syrup. Not pancake syrup, maple syrup! Big difference.My Dad lived on top of a mountain in upstate New York. Maple syrup was everywhere—you could see taps on maple trees with buckets underneath all over the place. Real maple syrup is real good.Getting to the grocery store at my Dad’s house was an ordeal. So if you ran out of something, you had to spend a good hour driving to and from town to get what you needed.One time I ran out of sugar for my coffee. I put in some maple syrup instead and loved it. It’s still my preferred coffee sweetener. Another time, I ran out of honey--I was going to use it in a sauce for grilled salmon. I used maple syrup instead—just a little—and loved it.I know some real good cooks who look down on this kind of thing. One of them suggested I try a medium sherry instead, and I did. I cooked the sauce both ways, with sherry and with maple syrup.I did a taste test at Slim’s Shady Trailer Park. Everybody loved the sauce with the maple syrup much better than the one with the sherry. But what the hell do those people know?If you want to substitute sherry for maple syrup, use a cream/sweet sherry.You can use this sauce over fish. I’ve used it over seared mahi and it turned out well. Mahi is a strong-tasting fish—so I used a little more sauce than I normally would. If you’d like to use a milder fish, you can use this sauce on seared or baked grouper, halibut, or salmon. Less is more—less sauce is mo’ better on mild fish.I used this sauce on baked salmon recently and it was magnifico. I used just a drizzle of sauce.This is powerful stuff!
Notes…Cippolini onions are small onions, a little sweeter and milder than regular onions. You can find them in most grocery stores. If you can’t, use shallots instead.Meyer lemons are my favorites; they’re sweeter and milder than regular lemons. I’m into sweet and mild these days, I guess. If you can’t find Meyer lemons, use a ripe, soft lemon.You can use red bell pepper, or a combination of red and yellow bell peppers. Whatever combination you use, you’ll only need a tablespoon or so.To sear a piece of fish...get a medium sauté pan. Put it over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of butter, and a tablespoon of olive oil. Salt and pepper your fish, then sprinkle a LITTLE brown sugar (or turbinado sugar, or regular sugar in a pinch) on top. Do both sides, but use just a little salt, pepper and sugar, got it?When the butter starts to bubble, sear for 2 or 3 minutes, depending on the thickness. Then flip over and sear the other side for a couple minutes.Thick fish take longer.To bake a piece of fish, heat your oven to 400 degrees. Rub your fish all over with a little olive oil, and then sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top. Put it in a glass or ceramic baking dish and bake for 10 minutes. Check it with a fork. If it flakes, it’s done. If it doesn’t put it back in the oven until it does. Then drizzle a little cippolini sauce on top.
INGREDIENTS2 tablespoons olive oil1 tablespoon butter2 tablespoons chopped cippolini onions1 tablespoon minced red bell pepper (or half and half red and yellow bell pepper)1 tablespoon maple syrup¼ cup dry white wine1 tablespoon lemon juice1 tablespoon chopped Italian flat leaf parsleyKosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper to tasteHere we go…Put the olive oil and butter in a small sauté pan over medium-high heat for 2 or 3 minutes—don’t let the butter burn!When the butter starts to bubble, add the onions and red bell peppers and cook for 2 minutes while stirring and swirling. This is how you swirl…remove the pan from the heat for about 10 seconds, and swirl everything all around. Put the pan back on the heat for 30 seconds and repeat.Add the maple syrup and cook for 2 minutes, swirl and stir.Add the wine and cook for 1 minute. Shall we swirl and stir?Add the lemon juice. Cook for 2 minutes.Add the parsley; add kosher salt and some fresh cracked black pepper to taste.That’s the sauce! You are now The Boss of the Sauce—use it over seared mahi, or baked salmon, or whatever fish you like. You’re the Boss.
MANGIAMO!!!
Slim Man Cooks Salmon Ella
Batu and I were hanging out at the Slim Shack. I had a piece of salmon, we were listening to Ella Fitzgerald, and I became inspired. So I created this recipe. I call it…Salmon Ella.I love salmon. I love Ella. Put ‘em both together and you got Salmon Ella.One of my top five CDs ever in the history of the world? Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. It really is one of my favorites. Louis Armstrong changed my life. When I was five years old, my Dad took me to a movie called The Five Pennies, and I saw Louis sing and play, and I turned to my Dad and said,“That’s what I want to do.” I wanted to play and sing like Louis Armstrong. I begged my Dad for a trumpet.
A couple weeks later, for Christmas, my Dad got me a plastic toy trumpet. I broke it. I told him I wanted a real trumpet, not a toy. I was a rotten kid, huh? For my birthday—January 16th, keep those cards and presents coming—my Dad rented me a real trumpet. I could hardly hold it up. I had to dig my elbows into my sides when I played. I loved it. I fell in love with music. We got married soon after. We’ve been together ever since.I played trumpet for years. I did Louis Armstrong imitations. I still love Louis Armstrong. And the CD he did with Ella Fitzgerald is great. They did a couple. The first one, released in 1957, is the best of the bunch. It features the Oscar Peterson Trio, Norman Granz produced it (the production is stellar), and not only is it one of the best CDs 
ever, it has one of the best cover photos ever.My Mom was an incredibly smart woman, and a huge hero of mine. She had a tough go of it, yet forged an incredible life without a whole lot of help. When she and my Dad divorced, she found herself with three young kids, no job skills, a high school education, and not much else. She didn’t even know how to drive.Still, she picked herself up, dusted herself off and did what needed to be done. She learned how to drive. She taught herself the skills she needed. She studied the dictionary, the English language, learned how to type and how to write. She taught herself foreign languages.She started counseling troubled teens at John Hopkins Hospital, and ended up running the psychology department at Johns Hopkins University. Guys with more degrees than a thermometer were asking my Mom to help them with papers, articles and theses.
She didn’t have a lot of money. She managed to travel, had a chance to see the world – that was important to her. Music was really important to her. She had a nice stereo, and a great collection of music. But she was frugal. She had to be.When Ella Fitzgerald came to the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore, Maryland, my Mom could only afford one ticket. Which she bought for me. She thought it was important that I see Ella, so I caught the bus, went downtown to the concert and saw Ella Fitzgerald sing with the Billy Taylor Trio.Wow. What a show. I sat in the balcony, and soaked it all up. It was a thrill. Ella Fitzgerald was a wonderful singer. What a voice. Such a pure tone. Great diction, always in tune. Joyful. Girlish. Swinging like nobody’s business. Ella scatted better than anybody. Her scats were as good as any Miles Davis solo.Ella didn’t have an easy life. She was born in Virginia, her dad left when she was an infant. Her Mom died when Ella was fifteen. Her stepdad abused her, so her aunt took her away from Virginia, to New York City. Ella took to the streets of Harlem, was a numbers runner and a lookout for a bordello. She was in and out of reform schools and orphanages.
Then she entered a talent contest at the Apollo, and won. The grand prize was $25. She became a regular at the Apollo, and things took off from there. She started singing with Chick Webb, a drummer who led a big band. She started recording, and a song she co-wrote--“A Tisket, A Tasket”--became a hit. Ella started singing at the Jazz at the Philharmonic series, concerts put on by Norman Granz, who became her manager, and produced those incredible recordings with Louis Armstrong.Ella went on to win 13 Grammys, sell millions of records, and tour the world. She was shy and quiet – but strong and determined. Kind of like my Mom. Except my Mom was never a lookout for a bordello. Not that I know of, anyway.SALMON ELLA
In cooking, just like in music, sometimes you have to improvise.I was going to use honey in this marinade, but I ran out. I used maple syrup instead. My Dad lived in upstate New York, and he had this homemade maple syrup that was so stinkin’ good. So when I ran out of honey, I used a little of my Dad’s maple syrup instead and it was really good.Why do they make soy sauce so salty? The next morning my fingers look like bratwurst and my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth. I use low-sodium soy sauce.I like my salmon the way I like my women - wild and Alaskan. There’s a joke in there somewhere, it just hasn’t come to me yet.Salmon are anadromous. It means they are born in fresh water, migrate to salt water, and then return to fresh water to reproduce.Just thought I’d toss that out there.INGREDIENTS1 pound piece of wild salmon filet, skin removedFor the marinade…½ cup low sodium soy sauce1 tablespoon chopped scallions/green onions, bottom root and top leaves cut off and discarded1 tablespoon grated ginger1 tablespoon minced garlic2 tablespoons maple syrup1 teaspoon hot sauce (use less if you don't like it spicy!)Here we go…Rinse off your salmon and pat dry with paper towels.Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Set aside.Put the salmon in a baking dish.
Pour half of the marinade over the salmon. Set the other half aside.When the oven comes to temperature, put the salmon, uncovered, in the oven on the middle rack.Cook for 10 minutes.While the fish cooks, put the remaining marinade in a small saucepan over low heat and reduce for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.After 10 minutes, the fish should be done. Thinner pieces take less time, thicker pieces take more. Ovens are crazy, too. Some run hot, some run cold.Test the fish with a fork. If it flakes it’s done. Some folks like it rare, some like it cooked well. I like it medium. If I want raw fish, I’ll go out for sushi.Dish it up! Put the fish on a nice platter. Drizzle with a little of the reduced marinade, dress it up with a scallion. My broccoli and peppers would go well with this.
MANGIAMO!!!!!