There were two points in J. Peter Thompson’s life that inspired him to get into the kitchen. “First of all, I couldn’t stand my mother’s cooking,” chuckles our Cook of the Week. “Then, when I was in college, I learned that a guy who knew how to cook was interesting to the girls.”

From there on, there was no looking back. “During college, I was a short-order cook. I’ve had experience cooking at logging camps and on boats, too.”

From his early days, Peter says that recipes were just a guide to greater things. “I never really followed recipes directly. Even when I first started, I had a sense that when a recipe called for cooking something for three minutes, it really was closer to six minutes. If it called for a certain amount, it could really be a little more or a little less.”

Peter stresses, though, that his strategies work only for meal recipes. “I don’t bake,” Peter emphasizes. “You either follow the recipe exactly (for baking) or you have a disaster on your hands.”

Peter enjoys preparing Italian cuisine most of all. He gets many of his ideas for recipes from watching the cooking channel and from various cooking magazines. In addition to Cooks Illustrated, Peter highly recommends Gourmet. “It’s wonderful! There’s a crusted chicken Parmesan recipe that we can’t get enough of that we found there.” Other “must-haves” for a kitchen that Peter recommends are proper kitchen utensils and a good set of knives. “I’m addicted to them,” he confesses. “I have so many knives. I don’t know what each of them is for, but I love them anyway!”

The one piece of advice that Peter has for cooks just starting out is simple: “Go out and get yourself a ‘Joy of Cooking’ book. That was the first cookbook I bought. Now, I have around 100, but ‘Joy of Cooking’ is the one book I really use all the time.”

When not preparing his favorite dishes, Peter is a litigation attorney, a career he has had since 1965. His practice specializes in personal injury and insurance defense cases. He is a resident of Auburn. His family includes his fiancée, Suzanne; his daughter, Ilse, of Portland, Ore.; and his “surrogate” daughter, Heather Violette of Seattle. Peter also enjoys gardening, woodworking and making furniture.

Turkey meatloaf
Ingredients:
1 package of turkey meat (about 1½ pounds – get the best)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1½ to 2 cups chopped mushrooms (any kind you like)

1 to 2 shallots, chopped

Salt & pepper

1 cup cornbread stuffing, rolled out to be like bread crumbs (use any stuffing you like)

3 or 4 sprigs of fresh sage chopped fine (about 2 tablespoons)

1 beaten egg

2 tablespoons butter

2 to 3 cups chicken stock

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
2 tablespoons or more pourable flour (the stuff that comes in a round box)
Method:
Use a nonstick pan. Sauté mushrooms and shallots in olive oil with salt and pepper until soft. Remove and set aside in a bowl. Return pan to heat for the turkey patties.

Add turkey, sage, egg, stuffing crumbs, salt and pepper to the bowl and mix well together. Make 3 to 4 patties each one-inch thick. Sauté them in 1 tablespoon olive oil about six minutes on each side until they are browned. Remove and set aside.

Add butter to the pan. Melt. Whisk in the flour and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in chicken stock, poultry seasoning and salt and pepper. Simmer gravy. When it starts to thicken add the patties back in, cover and simmer a while (15, 20 or 30 minutes). You are trying only to get the sauce to permeate the meat a little. If the sauce isn’t thick enough when you’re ready to eat, whisk in a little more flour.
Peter’s note:
Gotta have mashed potatoes with this!
Lobster stew
Ingredients:

Stock:
2 tablespoons olive oil

2 ribs of celery, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

4 (at least) lobster bodies

6 cups of water

Peppercorns, to taste (at least 1 teaspoon)
1 bay leaf
Method:
In a large pot, heat olive oil. Add celery and onion and sauté two to three minutes.

Remove and discard stomachs from lobster bodies (the small, soft sack directly in back of head). Break up the bodies with a hammer or rolling pin and add to pot. Sauté five minutes. Add six cups of water, peppercorns and bay leaf. Bring to a full boil and then turn to a low boil and cook, uncovered, until stock has reduced to about 4 to 5 cups.

Strain stock through a fine sieve.
Stew:
Get some lobsters (the more the better, at least two to four) and cook them up. Then take all the meat out and set aside. Save some of the water the lobsters were cooked in. You may want to add it to the stew.
Ingredients for stew:
Lobster meat

Shallots (1 to 2) and scallions (5 to 6), chopped fine

¼ cup butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup half and half

1 cup milk

White pepper (to taste)

½ cup butter

Pinch of nutmeg
Sherry (add this by the teaspoonful when you sit down to eat. A little goes a long way and adds a wonderful flavor).
Method:
Sauté shallots and scallions in ¼ cup butter for one to three minutes. Then add lobster meat, stock, paprika and white pepper, and sauté a little longer with a pinch of nutmeg. Then dump all this into a double boiler and add milk and cream, and let it heat up over low heat.
Peter’s notes:
First, you have to make some lobster stock. It’s the secret to a great stew. I usually let the stew heat for at least half to one hour (after adding milk and cream).