BEAUTIFUL CHICKEN FROM THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PART OF FLORIDA

For anyone who has ever been to Florida’s Southern Coast, you already know that the most beautiful place down here is the Florida Keys.  Especially Key West.  You don’t have to have really visited here.  You might have seen it in the Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Becall film, Key Largo.  It’s a classic, as is this recipe for Key West Chicken.  I hope you’ll try it. Then, as the Bertie Higgins s song tell us, “You’ll have it all.  Just like Bogie and Bacall”!

KEY WEST CHICKEN
3 T. Soy sauce
1 T. Honey
1 T. Vegetable oil
1 tsp. Lime juice
1 tsp. Chopped garlic
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

In a shallow medium dish, blend soy sauce, honey, vegetable oil, lime juice and garlic. Place chicken breast halves into the mixture.  Marinate in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes. Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat and lightly oil grate. Place marinated chicken on the prepared grill. Cook 6 to 8 minutes on each side, until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear. 

IN MEMORY OF A LEGEND

 They say celebrities are taken in threes.  Two legends are gone this week.  First Robin Williams, and last night it was announced that one of my favorite actress, Lauren Bacall, is dead at eighty-nine years old from a massive stroke.

She became a hit at 19-years-old in "To Have and Have Not." The movie also helped light the flame between she and her co-star, who eventually became her husband, Humphrey Bogart.  Bogie and Bacall were married until his death from cancer in 1957. 

In the 1944 movie, the sultry-voiced Bacall famously said, "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."

She became my heroine when I saw my first Bacall film as a child.  Key Largo.  I collected photos of her and bought her books as soon as they were released.  I wrote to her and she kindly answered, making her autographed photos my treasures.  I loved every film I ever saw her in.  

I even adored the commercials she made for Fancy Feast cat food.  Like me, Bacall was a real animal lover.  She had a Cocker Spaniel before her marriage.  She and Bogie had Boxers.  In particular, one named Harvey.  Her autobiography was so touching when she wrote about her beloved King Charles Cavalier, Blenheim.  And her latest devotion was to her Papillon, Sophie.

 

Sophie & Lauren at a booksigning of her autobiography

 Bacall died Tuesday morning, August 12^th, in her longtime home in the Dakota, the famous Upper West Side building that overlooks Central Park in Manhattan.

Bacall is survived by her three children:  Stephen Humphrey Bogart, Leslie Bogart and Sam Robards. 

Son Stephen is a documentary filmmaker, news producer and author. He wrote a book about his father and hosted a television special about him for TCM. He has been married twice and has three children. He now lives in Naples, Florida, where he now works as a real estate agent.

Stephen Humphrey Bogart withg his Parents

Daughter Leslie (named for her Father's friend, Leslie Howard) has rarely talked about her parents publicly. She has been married to yoga master Erich Shiffmann since 1990 and is a yoga teacher.

 

Leslie Bogart with her Mother and Brother Stephen

Son Jason is an actor.  He married fellow actor Suzy Amis in 1985. Their marriage produced a son, Jasper, and ended in divorce in 1993. In 1997, Robards married the Danish model Sidsel Jensen, and they have two sons together.

Bacall's Boys:  Stephen Bogart (son of Humphrey) and Sam Robards (son of Jason)

I can’t say this is a recipe I would choose to make, but I found it on line.  She had sent it in for publication in a celebrity cookbook.

Potage Cressoniere (Watercress Soup)

From Lauren Bacall

Here is my recipe:
1 lb potatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ pints milk
one bunch of watercress
1 oz butter
Peel the potatoes, quarter them and boil them in salted water until tender. Drain, crush them with a potato-masher, and when free from all lumps add the boiling milk and salt. While the potatoes are soaking, wash and pick the leaves off the watercress and chop roughly. Add to the soup and cook for 5-6 minutes. Take off the fire and add the butter. Pout into a hot tureen and serve.
This recipe has been chosen by me as a favorite recipe for the simple, logical reason that I had it for the first time on my first trip to the most beautiful city in the world, Paris. It was a happy time, as it always is in Paris, so I pass this on hoping that a flavor of the city of the chestnut trees will be felt by all who have Potage Cressoniere.  Serves 6 to 8.


Cordially
Lauren Bacall