Recipes for Life (9 page)

Often while we were sailing, John and Duke played chess. Duke would drink mezcal (with the worm) and John his usual whole milk. But no matter how much the big man drank, to my John’s chagrin, Duke always checkmated him.

The Duke’s Favorite Recipes

Pilar Wayne is a great cook who actually published her own terrific cookbooks. But back when we were fortunate enough to dine with the Waynes, Pilar shared some of Duke’s favorite recipes with us that have become mine, too. Here are two of them.

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

5 tablespoons whole milk

2 tablespoons dried onions

1 tablespoon Tabasco

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over, any shells discarded

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Put the cream cheese in the bowl of your electric mixer. Beat the cream cheese on low, slowly adding the milk. Keeping the mixer on low, add the dried onions, Tabasco, and salt. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to fold in the crabmeat by hand.

Spoon the mixture into a 1½-quart casserole dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until it’s lightly browned on top. Serve warm, with tortilla chips (I make them myself).

If there is ever any leftover (rare . . .), put it in an omelet.

One of the great things about making Duke’s Crab Dip is that the next day you can make a terrific omelet with the leftovers. Here’s a simple recipe that I discovered for making an omelet. To my surprise, I have never seen it in any cookbook. The broiler is the trick!

Small Omelet: 2 eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt

Regular Omelet: 3 eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

2 to 4 tablespoons Duke’s Crab Dip, at room temperature (page 53)

Set an oven rack close to the broiler and preheat the broiler.

In an 8-inch nonstick, broiler-safe omelet pan, melt the butter over medium heat. While the butter is still bubbling, add the beaten eggs.

Cook until the eggs just start to set on the bottom, and then place the pan under the broiler. Broil just a few seconds, until the top is barely set—don’t look away! It’s preferable to undercook the omelet just a little, as it will continue to cook in the hot pan.

Remove from the broiler and spoon Duke’s dip over the eggs in a thin layer. Put the pan back into the broiler just to warm the dip. Then take it out, fold your omelet over, slip onto a plate, and serve at once.

Pilar says this dish was such a favorite of Duke’s that he would take the recipe with him when he filmed on location, folded up in his pocket, so he could have it made for him.

1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

2 (7-ounce) cans Ortega whole green chiles, drained, patted dry, and cut into ½-inch pieces

1 pound cheddar cheese, shredded

4 eggs, separated

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 (5-ounce) can evaporated milk

½ teaspoon Tabasco

2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced (see page 56)

Preheat oven to 325°F.

In a 2-quart casserole dish, put a layer of Jack cheese, some chopped chiles, and a layer of cheddar cheese. Repeat until all the cheeses and the green chiles are in the dish.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon colored. Sift the flour over the egg yolks, add the evaporated milk and the Tabasco sauce, and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until just beginning to form stiff peaks. Gently fold the whites into the egg yolk mixture with a spatula.

Pour half the egg mixture over the top of the casserole. Then, with a metal skewer or a chopstick, poke holes through the casserole so the egg mixture can seep down to the bottom layers. Pour the rest of the egg mixture over the casserole.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

While the casserole bakes, peel the tomatoes by putting them one by one into a pot of boiling water for about 15 seconds. (If they’re not very ripe, you may need 30 to 60 seconds.) Lift the tomatoes out with a slotted spoon and put into cold water to stop the cooking. Pull the skin off with the tip of a knife. Cut the tomatoes in half and squeeze to remove the seeds. Chop the tomato into 1-inch chunks and then pat dry with a paper towel.

Remove the casserole from the oven and dot the top with the chunks of tomatoes, pushing them into the top layer. Bake an additional 30 minutes.

After removing from the oven, allow the dish to rest for 15 to 20 minutes before eating so that the cheese is softly set.

A
S I MENTIONED
earlier, many of John’s friends believed that Ursula Andress would one day leave Jean-Paul Belmondo and come back to get my John, because he was the love of her life. The rest of his friends also believed they’d get back together, but they felt it was because she was the love of his life. Not exactly words to warm my heart, especially toward her. So, when John suddenly told me “Urs” was in town and on her way over, I was far from thrilled.

Despite my feisty reputation as Krystle, wrestling Alexis to the ground, I’m really not an aggressive person by nature. However, that day, as I waited for my so-called rival to arrive, I knew she’d have to fight me to get him.

But it’s really hard to want to deck someone when you open the door to find her already in tears. “Damn,” I thought, “I think I like her. And she’s so beautiful, I really pray she’s not here to get him back.”

Fortunately, she had come to try to save their friendship. Of course I didn’t know that until later when Jean-Paul arrived to join us for dinner and I could finally put the “Ursula-will-mess-up-my-life-myth” to rest. And on top of that, I got a new friend.

Damn, she’s beautiful!

I’ve been making my artichoke dip for years. Practically everyone who has ever tasted it has asked me for the recipe. It’s perfect for large parties or for smaller, intimate gatherings. Or when your husband’s ex-wife comes to dinner! The secret here is to use the artichoke bottoms, not the hearts. Artichoke hearts may be easier to find, but they don’t produce the same results. The recipe easily doubles or triples for large gatherings. You can also replace the artichokes with 7 ounces of lump crabmeat for a delicious variation.

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature

½ cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Tabasco (or more, to taste)

1½ tablespoons thinly sliced scallions (white part only)

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (I prefer Parmigiano-Reggiano)

1 (13¾-ounce) can artichoke bottoms (not hearts), drained and finely diced

Preheat oven to 350°F.

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese with the mayonnaise. One by one, blend in the Tabasco sauce, scallions, and Parmesan.

Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the artichokes (don’t use the mixer for this).

Spoon the mixture into a 3-cup baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm with crackers.

B
ECAUSE OF HIS
love of beauty and photography, John became a brilliant cinematographer, something he learned from Russell Harlan, one of the best cinematographers in the business. Russ was nominated for an Oscar for
To Kill a Mockingbird
and two John Wayne classics,
Red River
and
Hatari!
(one of the reasons my John and John Wayne became friends). Russ was like a second father to John and John named his son Russell in his honor.

News of John’s ability with a camera somehow found its way to Evel Knievel, the motorcycle daredevil. Evel was getting ready to do his most challenging jump ever at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and wanted John to shoot it, so he invited us to come.

John agreed. He also agreed to shoot with two cameras, which meant I would be operating one of them. John had taught me over the years how to shoot a still camera, but now I was about to get a crash course in motion picture photography.

The night before the shoot, we arrived in Vegas to have dinner with Evel. He could not have been nicer, more gracious, or more forthcoming; to the point, Evel admitted that he did not believe he could actually make the jump.

John and I were stunned. John asked, “Then why the hell are you going to do it?”

Evel said that he had given his word; people had flown in from all over the world to see him, so he felt he had a responsibility to do it.

We did everything we could to try and talk him out of it, but he’d made up his mind. John said he didn’t want anything to do with it. He wouldn’t do business with a man who knew he probably wouldn’t
make it. But since it was impossible to replace John at this point, he agreed to shoot it, give him the film, and have nothing more to do with his insanity.

John and I went back to our room and I told him there was no way I could sleep knowing what might happen. John said that neither of us would be getting any sleep because we had to rethink our plan. John had expected to be on the camera with the long lens, because it was the most challenging. But now we realized Evel might not complete the jump, and I might not be able to pan with him as he sailed through the air or if—God forbid—he didn’t make it. John was determined to give Evel what he wanted, so he had to give me a crash course in how to operate the camera and pull focus with the long lens. Neither of us slept at all that night.

The next day, we set up our cameras at Caesars Palace. One look and we understood why Evel didn’t think he could make it: two jump ramps were set on either side of the palace fountains, 141 feet apart. It was absolutely insane, but at this point all we could do was take our positions and pray.

John set up my camera on a tripod at the far end of the jump, the idea being that if Evel made it all the way, I’d be set up to have him in the shot as he was landing on the ramp. The challenge would be keeping him in focus as he was riding straight for me.

John took the side view so he would have to pan along, always keeping Evel in the frame.