Peach Cobbler

I love old-fashioned fruit desserts. I prefer them to all-things chocolate. Try this.

Fruit Mixture

2 cups sliced peaches or other fruit
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon minute tapioca
3-4 tablespoons butter

Cobble Topping

2 c. flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 c. milk

Preheat oven to 425F
Butter a shallow 1 1/2-quart baking dish and arrange the fruit in the dish in a layer. Sprinkle with 1/4 c. sugar and the tapioca. Dot with the butter.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/4 c. sugar. Blend in 1/3 c. butter, until mixture resembles moist crumbs. Combine the egg and the milk, and stir into the flour mixture.

Pat out the dough to about a 3/4 inch thickness, and cut into rounds. (I use a glass.) Place rounds on top of the fruit mixtures in the pan. Brush with melted butter. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cobbler is bubbly around the edges and the topping is lightly browned.

Eat this hot awesomeness with ice cream. Yum-o-la.

Great Old Fashioned Desserts, Beatrice Ojakangas, p.34

Strawberry Glacé Pie

I make this pie almost every Easter.

Baked pie shell (I usually make a buttery tart shell.)
1 1/2 quarts of strawberries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup of heavy cream, whipped
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Wash, drain, hull and crush 1 cup of berries
Combine sugar and cornstarch, add to berries and water.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking and stirring over low heat 2 minutes. The mixture will be thick and translucent. Reserve from the heat and stir in the butter. Cool.

Put whole berries in the pie shell. Pour cooled mixture over berries and chill at least 2 hours.
Put whipped cream over pie and garnish with nice whole berries.

Homemade Kahlua

Years ago I worked with a women who made her own Kahlua. While digging around looking for something to make one night, I came across her recipe. It is not as thick as the store-bought one, but just as delish.

4 cups sugar

4 Tablespoons of instant coffee

4 cups of water

a fifth of 100 proof vodka.

1 vanilla bean

Combine all ingredients except for the vodka and boil 40 minutes. Cool. Pour into 2 one-quart bottles. Divide the vodka between the 2 bottles. Split the vanilla bean with a knife and one half in each bottle. Let it stand for 21 days.

Corn Chowder

This recipe was given to me years ago.

5 slices bacon
1 medium onion thinly sliced and separated into rings
2 medium potatoes, pared and diced 1 1/2cups
1 can of cream-style corn
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper

In large saucepan, cook bacon till crisp. Remove bacon; crumble & set aside. Reserve 3 tbs bacon drippings in saucepan; discard remainder. Add onion slices to saucepan and cook till lightly browned. Add diced potatoes and water; cook over medium heat till potatoes are tender about 10 minutes. Add corn, milk, S&P. Cook until heated through, Pour into warm bowls; top each serving with crumbled bacon and a pat of butter. Serve with crackers.

Serves 4-5

Pumpkin Pecan Bread

You know how some days just cry out for baking? Well, it is gray, rainy and 40F here. And I happen to have pecans in the freezer and a can of pumpkin in the pantry. This recipe is from one of those little paperback cookbooks that are at the end of the checkout line at the grocery store. I have made it umpteen times. It comes out perfect every time, freezes really well, stays moist. Makes a great gift. It makes 7 mini loaves, if you prefer ( I've donated them to charity fundraisers). Gotta go, I just heard the timer!

Pumpkin Pecan Bread

2 1/2 c. flour
1c. whole wheat flour
3 c. Sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 c. oil
2/3 c. water
4 eggs
2 c. pumpkin puree
1 c. chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350F. Grease bottom only of 2 bread pans. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine both flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; mix well. In a medium bowl, combine oil, water, eggs, and pumpkin. Mix well. Add to flour mixture; beat for 1 minute at medium speed. Fold in pecans. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350F for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pans and cool on wire rack. Makes 2 loaves.

Pillsbury, Fall Baking Cookbook, 1988.

Guacamole

The Night Writers, my writing group, met at my house last Thursday. I threw together some guacamole to have as nibbles. They all wanted the recipe, so I thought you might too.

3 ripe Hass avocados (the nubbily black ones) peeled, pit removed
1 onion chopped fine (I used ½ of a big Spanish onion)
2 fresh seeded green Serrano peppers (you can also use jalapeños) or to taste, chopped fine
1 red tomato (I used 2 and I think it was too much)
A handful of chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
Salt

Throw all the ingredient in a bowl and mash with a potato masher or a fork. Stir gently. Sprinkle with salt and taste it. Put plastic wrap directly on top of the guacamole and pop it in the fridge for at least ½ hour. It will hold for an hour or so. Spoon it into a molcajete if you have one and serve with tortilla chips.

Red, White and Blue Potato Salad

Ok. It was one of those impulse buys that I am trying not to do these days. But there was a 1.5 pound bag of new potatoes in red. blue and yellow (not white). I hefted it in my hand, remembering a recipe from a Bon Appetit for Red, White and Blue Potato Salad. The little bag of tri-colored root vegetables went into the cart.

After browsing over 10 years worth of the magazine stashed in my hall closet (I really need to figure out what to do with them.) I found it. It is in the June 2003 issue, page 124 if you have it. I didn't really follow the recipe (because I rarely do). Here is my take on it.

2 cups of low fat Mayo
1 good-sized hand full of chives (fresh from the garden, flower buds attached) chopped
Caper juice from 1 jar of capers
2 T of capers
salt to taste
a few grinds of multi-colored pepper

Mix it all together. I thinned it out with a little (2T) powered buttermilk (I keep it in the freezer, not like the real stuff, but it will do in a pinch) and water.

Boil the unpeeled potatoes in salted water. I cut them in half and threw them all in the pot. The recipe says to boil them all in separate pots. (Maybe because of color bleed? That didn't happen to me. ) Drain them with they are fork-tender. Throw on a few T of white wine vinegar while the potatoes are still hot. (dry white wine works too) I spooned a few tablespoons of dressing on the warm potatoes. Don't forget to add onion. I would have used red but all I had in the house was white.

The recipe for the dressing is for 2 pounds of each color (6 pounds. yikes. I had 1.5 pounds. No, I did not read the whole recipe before I started the process.) So I have extra dressing sitting in a jar in the fridge. Darn. I guess I'll have to get more potatoes.

I made this on a lark and took it for a birding outing gourmet picnic lunch. Yum.

¿Que hay de comer?

What's for supper?

This is one of my favorite recipes. It is excellent and easy. Try it!

Puntas de Filete

2 T canola oil
1 ½ lbs tender boneless beef diced in 1-inch cubes (I use London broil)
2 T butter
1 medium onion
3 fresh Serrano peppers, minced (these are the little green ones)
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 32oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 whole small can of beef broth
1 bay leaf
Salt to taste

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, warm the oil over high heat. Brown the meat in the oil, turning frequently for 4 or 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove the meat and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter. When the butter is melted, stir in the onion and sauté until soft. Add the serranos and garlic. Continue to sauté for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, broth, bay leaf and salt. Simmer the sauce for 10-15 minutes. Then add the meat and heat through. Serve hot with rice. Serves 4.

This recipe is from the The Border Cookbook by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. It is a book of the authentic home cooking of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. I diddled with the original recipe a smidge for ease.

I love Easter.

I love that the Hyacinths, opening in the warmth of the house, fills each room all the way to the basement with the smell of spring.

I love the little wicker baskets stuffed with wisps of green cellophane grass and foiled-covered treats.

I love sharing my table with my loved ones at this first feast of the barely budding new season. 

 
I love the bright plastic eggs lovingly stashed in the crevices of rock walls by the Easter Bunny.

I love the ham, Au Gratin potatoes and asparagus with Hollandaise that we eat every year without fail.



I love the set of springtime dishes that grace the table with their gold rims and flights of butterflies, dragonflies and other winged things.

I love that there are 2 little people that look forward to coming to my house for Easter and start to pester their parents months in advance.

I love that this is the day that we celebrate our faith. Without the crucifixion and resurrection we would not be Christians.

I leave you on this Easter Sunday with my Aunt Evelyn’s recipe for Herb Rolls. She made them for every holiday when I was growing up.

1 pkg dry yeast
3 ½ C. flour
2 tsps. celery seed
¼ tsp. sage
1 tsp. parsley
1 ¼ C. milk
¼ C. shortening
¼ C. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 egg

In a bowl mix together the yeast, 1 ½ C. flour, and the herbs. Heat together the milk, shortening, sugar and salt until just warm (not too hot), stir to melt the shortening. Stir wet into dry. Add the egg and beat at low speed for 1 minute, then move to high speed for 3 minutes, scraping the bowl constantly. By hand, stir in enough flour to make a stiff dough. Grease a large bowl. Put in the dough, turning it over to grease all sides. Chill 2 hours covered with a damp cloth. (Don’t do it overnight, the dough grows too much in the fridge and oozes out of the bowl, then does not rise well when cooked. Been there, did that.) Pinch off a piece of the dough and roll it in the palm of your hand to make a 1 ½” ball. Put 3 dough balls in each opening of a greased muffin pan. Let rise about an hour until doubled in size. Bake at 400F for 12-15 minutes. Makes about 18 rolls. These can be made the day before and put hot into aluminum foil, sealed tight and refrigerated. Pop the unopened foil package into the oven, after the potatoes come out, for about 15 minutes. Set out the butter lamb to soften at the same time. One of my favorite things. I love these. Enjoy.

Perfect End-of-Winter Fare

While most of my friends are adventurous eaters, thank God, I still have requests for “regular” food now and then. (Picture eye rolling and head shaking at requests for regular food). As a result of my outside the box cooking (it happens when you take classes at the CIA), I haven’t made braciole for years. (I don’t know that I have ever made it in this house.) I saw a package of the beef at the store weeks ago and it triggered a memory of dinners past with friends. When a spontaneous dinner party came together yesterday, I immediately thought of browned beef with a lovely turkey cheese stuffing wallowing in a thick brown wine sauce with creamy risotto with mozzarella and parm accompanied by asparagus with mushrooms. Perfect end-of-winter fare. And to bring a touch of spring, fresh strawberries with zabaglione.

I do not stuff my braciole and instead of pork filling I use ground turkey. Let me give you the Robertsonian method.

Buy the cut of meat called braciole at the local market. It is large very thin slices of beef. Prepare the stuffing with a package of ground turkey, a handful of Parmesan cheese-about 4 Tbs, another handful of chopped parsley, 4 cloves of chopped garlic, S&P and 2 eggs. Mix it together and then spread it on the slices of beef. Roll the slices up and tie them with kitchen string. Coat the bundles with flour and brown them in 2 Tbs of butter and 2 Tbs of olive oil—more or less depending on how many braciole you are making. When they are browned nicely, pour in ½ a bottle of white wine and scrape up any brown bits. Cook them for about an hour. Take out the bundles and thin or thicken the sauce as needed. Put the braciole on a platter then pour the sauce over them and put any extra in a gravy boat. Enjoy!

Lazy Italian Sausage and Potatoes

I have just gotten back from a business trip to California and I was on vacation for 2 weeks before that. My flight yesterday was diverted to another city and delayed 6 hours because of high winds. I did not end up getting home until midnight. I fell into an exhausted sleep and woke up to the time change. I feel out of it.

There is nothing in fridge to eat and I am too tired and lazy to go back down the mountain to the store. Knowing I was going to be away, I have not bought anything fresh for weeks.

After scrounging around in the freezer and pantry I give you a spur of the moment, throw it in a pot dinner.

Italian Sausage and Potatoes

1 package of slightly freezer-burned luganega (a type of small Italian sausage. You could even use breakfast links) cut into small pieces

2 onions sliced thin

3 cloves of garlic sliced thin

Cook everything in a frying pan with some olive oil over low heat until the onions are wilted and tender, then turn up the heat and brown them.

Dump in 1 large can of tomatoes and a few bay leaves (I used 4). Cook for a while-like 15 minutes.

Add 3 or 4 peeled chunked potatoes (snap off any growing eyes and use 'em anyway). Cook until they are fork tender. Add salt and pepper.

Hearty. Easy. With stuff hanging around the house. Enjoy!

Potato Leek Soup

Cut 4 LEEKS (or whatever comes in a bundle) into 1” pieces and wash well. You can use both the white and light green parts.

Peel and cube 3 large white POTATOES. I usually use Eastern. Because, well, I live in the east and they are cheap.

Peel and chop 1 ONION. Can be yellow or white. Red will turn the soup a funky color.

Boil BROTH or water and pour 3 cups over the vegetables. It is nicer with broth, but you can use water too. Cover and boil for 35 minutes. OK. Maybe not 35 minutes to the second, but until they are done.

Mash or blend the vegetables. (I use one of those hand-held blender things.)

Add Salt and Pepper to taste. I also throw in a little marjoram.

Add 3 cups scalded MILK. Return the soup to a boil.

Here is the secret ingredient: EVAPORATED MILK.

I substitute one of the cups of regular milk with a can of evaporated milk.

Yum. Enjoy. I know what I am having for dinner.

Brussels Sprout Evangelist

Ok, people, why do you hate Brussels Sprouts?

Here is the trick. Take off the sketchy leaves. Cut an X in the bottom. Saute the sprouts and some chopped shallots in a frying pan until the shallots are translucent and the sprouts have some brown spots. Pour in a can of chicken broth, cover and simmer until fork tender.

Yummy. yummy. yummy. My family can't get enough of them no matter how many we make. Well...we did actually have a few left over at Christmas, but we made a gallon bag full for heavens sake.

Good luck in the New Year

Do you do something for good luck on New Year's eve or day?

I had overnight guests on New Year’s eve. At brunch on New Year’s day (lox, bagels, mimosas) we fell to talking about good luck foods (and the mysterious banging in the night…but that is for another time.) Ros said for him it was lentils. Ah yes, I have read that eating lentils is supposed to bring money in the new year. They supposedly resemble coins. Another guest said for her, it was herring on New Year’s Eve. She even brought a small jar with her. We all ate some. (If someone is offering good luck, how can you refuse?) I have another friend that was born down south and swears by black-eyed peas. A spoon-full is all it takes.

My family has eaten pork and sauerkraut for New Year’s Day since I was small. I have no idea why it started or with whom. And why pork? Well, one theory is that pigs root forward into the new year. (You should never eat chicken on New Year’s Day. Chickens scratch backward. Ooooh, bad.) Silly perhaps, but who am I to shake my fist in the eye of the new year or the good luck gods?

Here is how I do it. Mound the sauerkraut (I use the stuff in the bag not the can) in the center of large oblong pan. Place the rack of ribs folded over sliced onions on top of the kraut. Put on a little S&P. You can also put some peeled potatoes around the kraut. Bake until the meat falls off the bone. Maybe 2 hours.

Another traditional good luck strategy is to have a large dark-haired man be the first person to enter the house in the new year. It is called first footing. One of my guests was large, dark, handsome and obliging. Good luck to all of you in the coming year.

Comfort Food

A Throw-together Beef Barley Soup (with mushrooms, because I had them in the fridge.)

Chop up an onion (you can use half, I usually use the whole thing. I don’t like having all those forgotten onion halves living in baggies and cluttering up the fridge) brown it in canola oil. Meanwhile chop up 2 portobello mushroom caps and toss them in the pot too. Continue cooking on medium heat. You may need to add more oil. Check it. Stir occasionally.

Cut the beef into 1-2 inch chunks. (You can use whatever type of beef you want. I usually use London broil. I know, it’s wasteful, but I hate beef fat and all that nasty sinew.) Brown the beef.

Once everything is browned. Add 6 cups of water or beef broth. If you are using water (which I do all the time) add 1 beef bouillon cube for every cup of water. I put in 3 bay leaves, NO salt (you are getting it from the bouillon or broth) and about 1 cup of hearty dry red wine (I usually pour myself some at the same time.) While this is cooking, soak anywhere from 1/3 to ½ a bag of barley in 2 cups of water. (I like my soup thick, so I add a lot of barley.) You may want to skim off the ugly brown foam as the meat cooks.

After the soup cooks for about an hour (test the meat for tenderness) add the barley. Cook until the barley is done. This depends on how long you soaked the barley and the condition of the grain. It could be anywhere from ½ hour to an hour. The house should start to have a rich beefy smell. Carefully taste the soup. It is tastes lame; it could be the cut of meat, or the wine. Try adding black pepper and another glug of wine, it will perk up. If you think it needs salt, be careful, you can’t take it out.

I make this all the time. It is perfect for a snowy day.

Overheard

The neighbors and I were lying on blankets on my front lawn watching the Perseids meteor shower. On the mountain, we have no streetlights so it is pitch black. We were pointing out constellations to each other and we could even see the Milky Way. These are snippets of overheard conversation in the darkness.

“If you see a falling star, you have to make a wish.”

“The best way to cook corn is to use the microware. You do not husk it or anything. Just pop it in the mic for 7 minutes and voila. It is the best ever. You know the silk is the life blood of the kernel.”

“Look at that one!”

“Edamame is the Japanese word for soybean.”

“You used a snow shovel to move the snapping turtle from the road?.”

“Ohhh, long tail on that one. Crap, I was looking the other way.”

“No, no Katydids are green and look like grasshoppers. They are not the same as cicadas."

"Look, look it's a satellite."

“I almost got poked in the eye by an angry hummingbird when I went to close to the feeder to water my flowers.”

“Has anyone see the new baby recently?”

“There goes one.”

“Honey, you have to look up at the stars to see anything.”

"Are you cold? Want me to get another blanket?"

“The dew point must have been early. The grass is sopping.”

"The Big Dipper is called that because years ago they used to dip water from a barrel with a long handled cup called a dipper. Can you see the long handle and the cup on the end?"

“Are you going to the farmer’s market tomorrow?”

"I made up the recipe. I stuffed the poblano peppers with a picadillo and made a chipotle sauce to bake them in."

“I have been all over Flickr looking for that photo. What did you call it again?”

I heard that if you rub a Bounce dryer sheet on you the mosquitoes won’t bite. Hmmm, I heard it was a Downy sheet. Or maybe that was for ticks."”

“Will this be happening again tomorrow?”

Yes, same time, same place.

Rainy Day Pot Roast

Sunshine on a rainy day.

It has been raining hard here for days. Yesterday it was a cold sleety rain. Brrrrrr.
I decided it was a pot roast kind of day, so I give you my rainy day pot roast recipe.

Rainy Day Pot Roast

1 3-4 lb roast (I usually use a top or bottom round)
Brown the roast in a dutch oven with a little hot olive oil and butter.
Take it out of the pot.

Add 1 large chopped onion, 2 scraped and chopped carrots, and 2 washed and chopped celery stalks. Stir them around until they have some color.

Add about ½ a bottle of red wine, maybe 2 cups. You can also use beef broth (canned is fine) or white wine. I think red gives it more depth. Scrape up the bits on the bottom of the pot. Put the roast back in.

Add 1 large can of whole tomatoes, squished and ½ can of beef broth. The liquid should come half way up the roast. I sprinkle in some herbs. Since I’m lazy, I use Herbs de Provence. I put in 2 good size pinches. You can put in whatever herbs you like. I adore thyme and tend to put it in everything.

Cover the pot, and put it in the oven at 350 for 3 hours. Turn the roast every 20 minutes or so.

Serve with garlic mashed potatoes, a good Italian bread and some asparagus (on sale at the A&P). Enjoy.

The neighbors came over and we devoured most of the roast last night. It does make excellent sandwiches if there is any left over.