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Chef compiles dishes Mother would have made

A Portland restaurant owner fills her book with recipes from “Mothers of the Month”

By Kim Davaz

The lack of good home-style cooking in restaurants led to an epiphany for Lisa Schroeder. What the world needed was good food like mothers used to make (or you wished they did). She studied at the Culinary Institute of America; slaved away at the very posh, very well-starred Le Cirque in Manhattan; then traveled through France, Italy, Spain and Morocco.

In Morocco, she realized there weren’t many restaurants because Moroccans eat the foods their mothers and grandmothers cook at home. Another epiphany: A country’s cuisine isn’t in restaurants - it’s at home, cooked with love and shared with the family.

Schroeder ended up in Portland and opened “Mother’s Bistro & Bar,” serving the foods mothers (and their mothers and their mothers) might have made. But that wasn’t enough for Schroeder. She wants you to take that food back to the source: your own kitchen. She wants “Mother’s Best: Comfort Food That Takes You Home Again” to inspire you to bring back the heart to your hearth. She wants you to serve food made with love.

Each month, a Mother of the Month (M.O.M) is chosen to help create a special menu. Schroeder cooks the recipes with the M.O.M., learning from the source how it’s supposed to be done. Some of the M.O.M.s are profiled along with their recipes, including Schroeder’s own mother, Belle, and Penny Trumbull, aka Penny Lane played by Kate Hudson in “Almost Famous.”

But Schroeder, a trained chef, can’t leave well enough alone. She makes her own mushroom sauce where someone’s mother might have used canned soup. Margarine? Never. Pass the butter, please. And why use water when stock or wine will make it even better?

The recipes have “Love Notes” at the end - cooking tips that your mother might have casually imparted or that you might have learned from watching quietly in the kitchen.

There are some tricky bits in “Mother’s Best.” If you didn’t learn to make a thickening roux at your mother’s knee, it may not come together on the first try. The “Love Note” at the end of the gumbo explains about cooking flour with fat to the right color and consistency for a particular recipe. More roux tips follow the recipe for Meatloaf Gravy.

Schroeder really wants to you cook at home, but she still wants you to come to Mother’s Bistro & Bar, because even Mother deserves a meal out from time to time.

Chicken Paprikas is from M.O.M. Therese Dieringer. Schroeder didn’t find anything she wanted to change in this dish. I like that she gives measurements by number of items and volume: three large onions to make 4 1/2 cups finely chopped.

The “Love Note” says to be sure to use sweet, not hot or smoked, paprika for the right taste.

Chicken Paprikas

• 1 3 1/2 -pound chicken, cut into eighths, or 3 pounds chicken legs and thighs
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 large yellow onions, finely chopped (4 1/2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 pound egg noodles, cooked, or 4 cups spaetzle, for serving

Arrange the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet and season well with the salt and pepper. (I rub the seasoning into the chicken, something I learned from a former M.O.M., Beatriz de Proaño.)

Place a large (8-to-10-quart) Dutch oven or heavy stockpot over high heat for several minutes. (The pan needs to be very hot so the chicken browns and sears instead of steams.)

When hot, add the oil (heating the pan first keeps the oil from getting smoky while the pan heats), swirl the pan to coat, add the chicken in a single layer (skin side down first - that way the fat “melts” as it cooks and gives you a bit more sizzle in the pan), and brown on both sides (about 4 minutes per side), using tongs to turn the pieces. Transfer the chicken to a clean baking sheet or plate as the pieces finish browning and add more as room allows.

When all the chicken is cooked and removed from the pot, reduce the heat to medium-high and add the onions. Saute, stirring frequently, until soft and golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Add the paprika and stir well to combine.

Return the chicken to the pot, pour the stock over it, and bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook until the chicken is tender, 30 to 40 minutes.

Remove the chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Whisk together the flour and sour cream in a small bowl, then stir into the pot. Mix well with a whisk or wooden spoon to incorporate the flour mixture. (It will look a little lumpy, so continue to stir as it simmers; the lumps should cook away.) Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce is thickened.

Return the chicken to the pot, turn to coat in the sauce, and simmer for about 1 minute, until heated through.

To serve, place noodle or spaetzle in serving dishes, ladle sauce over them, and arrange a couple of pieces of chicken on top.

Kim Davaz writes a biweekly cookbook review column for The Register-Guard.

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