Grandpa's Home Cooking

Cream Cheese, Cucumber, & Red Bell Pepper on Pecan Raisin Bread

Goodness, how delicious!

Get inventive. This sandwich idea popped into my head today as I thought about all of the possible sandwich ingredients in our kitchen. I could eat like this all of the time. And I now do, since I put away the habit of eating greasy burgers and picked up on the idea of eating foods that are both healthy and delicious.

Just look in your fridge and bread box and bring together the best ingredients!

Ingredients:

• Raisin & pecan bread (you can find it, but if not, bake your own. It's worth it!)
• Cream cheese
• Cucumber slices 
• Red bell pepper slices

This sandwich is so delicious you do not need a dressing.

Note: Out of Bell pepper? Got some nice fresh peaches? Slice 'em and use them. Try a big slice of a beautiful tomato from your garden.

Instructions:

Just make one of these great sandwiches and enjoy! Spread the cheese thickly on the bread. Add the cucumber slices, and bell pepper slices, and top it off!

 

 

 

 

Irish Beef Stew

Farmers Market, Dingle, Ireland, August 2011

I wanted to make a good Irish Stew as soon as soon as we returned home from Ireland. How nice it would have been to buy the ingredients at the Dingle, Ireland, Farmers Market. But I found great local produce here in Durham, North Carolina.

I didn't have an Irish Stew recipe that suited me, but I found one on the Internet and then adapted it to make the stew I had in mind. Here are the ingredients I bought to make the stew. 

Ingredients:

• 8-10 nice firm red potatoes cut in bite-size chunks
• 6 carrots, peeled, sliced into thick chunks
• 4 stalks celery, cut in chunks
• 4 bay leaves
• 3 pounds stew beef (chuck) cut into bite-size chunks 
• 1 cup flour, put into a bowl to roll meat
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• olive oil
• 1 large onion , diced
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 32 ounce box of beef broth
• 1 envelope of onion soup mix
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 (12 ounce) Irish beer (A stout is nice!)

Note that some Irish farm folks might use lamb instead of beef as thousands of sheep can be seen as you drive through the beautiful contryside of quilted emerald green fields. They also raise beef, but you see more sheep than cows as you drive through the country. Tis lovely! 

Instructions:

This recipe requires a large crock pot and will provide at least 10 servings, so you may wish to halve the recipe. And it is good enough to have!

Put your vegetable chunks in the bottom of your crock pot. All those pretty potatoes, carrots, and celery.  Throw 2 bay leaves on top.

Pour a couple of Tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet, set it on a burner of your stove and turn the heat to a medium setting. Mix the flour salt, pepper, and garlic pepper in a bowl.  Coat each chunk of beef in flour and brown the  chunks of beef. You'll likely need to brown the meat in 3 batches. Add more olive oil to the skillet for each batch.  Toss the browned beef into the  crock pot. Keep the skillet hot.

Add the onion and garlic to the same skillet and saute the onions until they're translucent. Then scoop the onions into the crock pot. Then pour a little beef broth in the skillet to deglaze the pan, making sure to scrape up the brown bits and pour these goodies in the crock pot.

Mix the remaining beef broth with the tomato sauce, onion soup mix, and remaining seasonings. Add this goodness to your crock pot. Now pour a nice 12 ounce Irish beer intpo the crock pot. If you figure you need a little more liquid, you can open a second beer. Pour a little into the crock pot and drink the rest!

Now you can cook the stew in your crock pot for 8 lovely hours and sniff your day away getting hungrier and hungrier for a golden bowl of Irish Stew. If you don't have 8 hours, start the crock pot on the high setting for an hour or so and then turn it down to low.

Serve this with Brown Irish soda bread. If you don't have the time to bake the bread, eat the stew with a crusty peasant bread.  Serve the stew with your favorite beverage and enjoy!

Two pictures follow; 1) the Irish Stew and, 2) a picture from an Irish Pub where you might order a similar stew and enjoy some traditional Irish music while you're eating.

These locals gather at one pub just about every night to make lovely music. The guy on the drum uses about a 4" bone rod wedged between the little index finger (over his 2nd and 3rd finger) and moves his hand back and forth rapidly to make 2 beats and does it so fast that your eyes can't follow it. He is very, very good. Many, if not most, Irish play instruments and sing. There are pubs all over the place and about all of them offer traditional Irish music every night. This is an Ennis pub. We stayed in Ennis one night in route to Dingle. Ennis is a nice small, old fashioned Irish town.  Notice that one person was drinking a beer, 3 were drinking coffee, and 1 an orange juice. A good deal more patrons were drinking a Guinnis, but a t surprising number of customers were drinking coffee or a soft drink. Pubs are family places in Ireland. You'll see children their with their parents. We heard two little Irish girls, one in each of  two pubs, rise to sing a ballad to the customers. I didn't see any tipsy people in any of the many Irish pubs we visited.

Toasted Brie, Heirloom Tomato, & Red Bell Pepper Sandwich on Brown Bread

Here is a different and delicious sandwich to serve family and guests.  It is a Toasted Brie, Heirloom Tomato, and Red Bell pepper sandwich served on brown bread. It would be even better to serve it on Brown Irish  Soda Bread. Use whole wheat bread slices until you get around to baking Irish Brown Soda Bread. I'll provide an Irish bread receipe soon.

Ingredients:

• Brown bread slices
• Iceberg lettuce
• Brie cheese, carefully sliced
• Red bell pepper, cut into thin slices
• Mayonnaise

Instructions:

Lay a piece of Iceberg Lettuce on each slice of bread. Place a big slice of Heirloom Tomato on one slice. Then add generous slices of Brie cheese on top of the tomato. Cut thin slivers of Red Bell Pepper and spread them evenly over the top of the Brie Cheese. Put the top piece of bread on top of the sandwich ingredients. Carefully transfer the sandwich to a Teflon skillet. Lightly butter the top of the sandwich. Turn the sandwich over and lightly butter the top piece of bread. Now turn on the gas flame or electric burner and toast the botton half of the sandwich. Use a spatula to peek under the bread to determine when it is toasted. Then use the spatula and your fingers to carefully turn the sandwich over and toast the other side. If you like, pop this sandwich in the microwave for a minute to melt the brie. Oh yeah!

I'd like to serve this sandwich on Irish Brown Soda Bread (with raisins) and I'll do this soon, when my Irish flours arrive from the King Arthur flour company.

Just A Monday Night Pot Roast

So what makes this roast different than your exquisite Sunday pot roast? Well, that you prepared a delicious pot roast to make Monday night special. It is also a simple meal to prepare. This pot roast was slo-roasted in my cast iron Dutch oven and in a 325 degree oven. And, the flavor of this roast was sensational.

Note: If you're only cooking for one,  you can 1) make yourself a complete pot roast. Eat what you want and freeze the extra servings. Thaw and warm the extra servings when you want them, or 2) roast a steak in a small Dutch oven, using the same ingredients, and roast either in the oven or a mini-crock pot.  Yeah, they make  and sell small crock pots for single folks. 

I browned all sides of the perfectly marbled chuck roast in my well seasoned Dutch oven.  Then I added all of the layers of flavor. I used my big fork to raise the roast enough to fill the bottom of the pot with chopped Vidalia onion. I then poured all of the liquid ingredients on the roast. Then I tucked the vegetables around the side of the meat. This resulted in a beautiful presentation and a delicious roast. I covered the Dutch oven with my cast iron lid and slid the pot into my pre-heated 325 degree oven at 2:00 pm. I forgot the pot until 6:00 pm when I took it from the oven, removed the lid, and smiled. Picture perfect. But the real reward was when we started eating the roast. There were a lot of "Oh this is delicious" remarks from those about the table.

It is important to select a well-marbled chuck roast. Don't buy too lean a roast or you'll likely serve a tough piece of meat. And I avoid picking up a roast with big chunks of fat. I look for a piece of meat that has nice thin lines of fat throughout the beef. If you don't see what you want, ask the butcher to show you "a nicely marbled roast." They'll find one!

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 3-4lb well-marbeled chuck roast. A 4 lb roast is pictured.
• 1 large onion, chopped (I like sweet whites, but yellow onions are also good)
• 1 10 oz can of cream of celery soup
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup water
• lavishly pour Kitchen Bouquet (liquid gold!) over the meat*
• 4 stalks celery, cut in 1-2 inch chunks
• 3-4 leeks or large green onions
• flour
• salt and pepper

* Never forget to use the Kitchen Bouquet 'gravy mix' that great grandma, grandma, and your mother used to make pot roasts! You'll likely find it on the sauce aisle of your supermarket (but not at Whole Foods). You got to go Krogering or to the Food Lion to buy Kitchen Bouquet's liquid gold. They better never quit selling this good stuff!

Instructions:

Put enough flour in a pan or on a plate to coat all sides of the beef. Press each of the four sides of the beef into flour. Salt and pepper the meatboth sides of the floured meat. Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch oven and put the pan on a medium hot stove burner. Brown all sides of the meat. Add the liquids. Arrange vegetables around the sides of the roast. Cover the Dutch oven and slide it into a preheated 325 degree oven.  Remove the pan from the oven in 4 hours. The roast should look beautiful and perfectly cooked and ready to carve and eat.

I set the Dutch oven on a straw pad on the table and cut and serve the meat and vegetables each person's plate at the table. We pass the serving bowls of mashed potatoes and sweet baby peas and eat the delicious Monday night meal to kick off the beginning of another happy week.

 

Cukes & Onions and Tomatoes Are In

Nothin' could be fina than sittin' down to eat Grandpas cukes n' onions and a big ol' tomato fresh from the garden on a summer's eve. If you're like me, you'll want more love. So I'd serve some other garden treats like hot corn on the cob drippin' with butter and salted well, and while you're at it, why slide not a pan of slo-roasted vegetables on the table.  This is a garden love feast. Serve it all up with a pitcher of sweet iced tea. You're looking at a gallon jug of cukes & onions that I can pull out of our refrigerator for a great instant meal side.

You'll find my cukes and onions recipe, dated just over a year ago, June 7, 2010, in my category for Side Dishes. Just look at my blog Category List in the right column of the blog and click on side dishes. Then scroll down until you come to the cukes and onions recipe. Also look at the Cottage Cheese Farm Salad recipe which follows the Cukes & Onions recipe. Cottage Cheese Farm Salad also includes fresh summer cucumbers and tomatoes.

I've constructed this blog to be just like a cookbook so that you can easily find recipes I've posted in the past. This is a recipe you don't want to forget!

Put a crock of cukes & onions on your table for lunch and supper. They offer goodness and a fresh bright taste to every meal. Add them to your salads. Eat them for a snack. 

It's a great time to visit your local farmers market and stock up on wonderful fresh produce.

Slow Roasted Vegetables

What do you do when you open your refrigerator vegetable bin and find an odd lot of vegetables that you'll lose if you don't do something with them soon. Don't wait. Gather them up, wash them, trim roots, peel, and arrange them in a roasting pan to make a nice looking presentation.

Last nights roast included cabbage, potatoes, sweet onions, beet greens, and beets. When I have beets, I try to separate them from other vegetables so they don't color the other vegetables. Some people cut off beet greens and throw them away. What a shame. They are so sweet and delicious.

Last week's roast included potatoes, small white turnips, Vidalia onions, and about two dozen cloves of garlic. I tucked the garlic in between the vegetables throughout the pan. Goodness how delicious. When you eat one of the roasted garlic cloves it's like biting into a piece of candy! 

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Arrange the vegetables in the roasting pan. Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil. Salt and pepper the vegetables to suit your taste. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Then pop the roasting pan in the oven and roast the vegetables for about two to two and a half hours. Goodness how delicious!

Some vegetables roast better than others. For example, cabbage is sometimes still a bit firm (but still good to eat). There is nothing quite so good as root vegetables such as potatoes, turnips, carrots, leeks, onions. And if you have it, don't forget the garlic cloves!

Here's a good story. When George Whitman, owner of the Paris English language  bookshop, Shakespeare & Company, met customers and learned they were travelers, he nearly always said, "You can sleep here in the bookshop if you like. There are sofas and chairs throughout." Some folks took him up on the offer. I didn't. I was forewarned that the sofas were full of bedbugs. Some guests of the house reportedly slept at the shop for weeks. One guest, Jeremy Mercer, author of Books, Bedbugs, and Baguettes, writes that George often fed his guests a soup made of vegetables he gathered from the throw away bins of street market vendors. Reportedly, George just cut out the bad spots, washed them up, and cooked them in water. If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. 

Grandpa's Delicious Deviled Eggs

Eggs are reasonable. Start with a dozen or more hard boiled eggs. Some eggs are easy to peel and some aren't. Some look good after they're peeled and cut and some don't. You're going to need more yolk to have enough prepared mix to stuff the whites. You'll not have too many eggs. They'll disappear from the platter lickety split. Mark my words, you'll wish you had more.

Ingredients:

• 12-14 large eggs, hard boiled* and peeled. 
• 1/2 cup of real mayonnaise
• 3 Tablespoons of sweet pickle relish
• 2-3 teaspoons of prepared yellow mustard
• Sweet pickle juice, if needed
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Paprika and chopped fresh basil for garnish

* Hard boil eggs. Gently line a pot with eggs in cold water. It's best to fill the bottom of the pot with eggs so that there is not room for eggs to bump and crack when the water starts to boil. Turn the burner to medium high. Stay close and be watchful for the water to start boiling. When the water boils, turn the heat to low, put a lid on the pan, and set the timer to 12 minutes. The minute the timer reaches :00, turn the heat off and take the pan off the burner. Set the pan in the sink. Take the lid off, position the pan under the faucet, and start running cold water in the pan. Let the water run in and over the pan until the eggs are no longer too hot to handle. When the eggs start to feel cool enough to pick up, gently pull the eggs from the pan and put them in a dish. You can peel them then ... or do as I do ...  put the dish in the fridge and let the eggs get cold before you peel them.

Instructions:

Halve the eggs lengthwise. Gently pick the yolks out of the whites and drop the yolks into a mixing bowl. Set the egg whites on a serving platter. Discard any torn egg whites. You want to have plenty of prepared yolks to fill good egg whites.

When the mixing bowl is full of yolks, use a fork to mash the yolks. Stir in the mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, and mustard. Add salt and pepper to tase. You want a nice creamy mix. If the mix is too firm, add a half teaspoon of sweet picke juice and stir the yolk mix until it's creamy

You can use a teaspoon to fill the whites with the prepared yolk mix, but it is a lot easier to squeeze the filling into the yolks. Fill a zip lock bag with the mashed yolk mix. Cut off a corner of the bag and squeeze the delicious prepared yolks into the egg white shells. Decorate the eggs by lightly dusting the eggs with paprika. I also like to lightly sprinkle the eggs with finely chopped fresh basil.

Salmon With Lemon & Honey

My father, Lloyd Pipes, often said to me, "Son, food must look good, smell good, and taste good to be good. We eat with all of our senses. So you must always make sure the food you serve looks good, smells good, and tastes good." I prepared this salmon to meet his criteria.

Served simply with a baked potato and a nice garden salad, this is a perfect supper.

Ingredients:

• Fresh Atlantic Salmon
• Extra Virgin Olive oil
• Honey
• Lemon
• Parsley for garnish

Instructions:

There are, it seems, endless ways to prepare fresh salmon. Here is a ways that tastes good, smells good, and looks good.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Wash and then rub the salmon with extra virgin olive oil and place the fish in a baking dish. Spread honey over the top of the fish. Squeeze lemon on the fish and then put slices of lemon on top of the fish. Bake the fish until it is cooked through, about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet. Plate the fish and garnish the plate with a fresh green such as parsley.

Monet’s Soup: Potage à la Dauphine

First I will share with you a little retro scene brought up to date in today's real world. I will then share the recipe. Then I will present the Mrs. verdict. Did she like the soup? And finally, I will present a picture of our kitty, Frisky, who is always nearby and sniffing when grandpa is cooking.

Some of you folk may recall a classic 1940s or 1950s scene between a husband and wife. George comes home from the foundry, swinging his lunch pail and smiling broadly as he climbs the steps of 'his' old front porch. He greets Florence with a peck on the cheek, and he says, “Hi Honey, I'm starving, what’s for supper?” The wife trembles a bit, smiles, and fearfully replies “I’ve cooked something new to surprise you George.” His smile disappears and he says, “Like, what?” Florence announces her special creation. And George raises his nose and gives her a :-(,

Now here's an up-to-date 2011 version of this old story brought to life. The husband is the cook.

My wife comes to the front porch to greet me this morning before going to work. I was sitting in an old fashioned, 1940's style  white wicker chair, and I was looking at Monet’s cookbook. I cautiously said, “Hey, sweetheart, I’m going to make you a very special Monet soup for our supper. It will be great with a wonderful spinach salad and a glass of chilled Pinot Grigio on what will be a very hot night.” Nancy’s big smile gives way to a questioning look :-? She deadpans, “Uh, what kind of soup, Ross?” I gave her my big smile and said ... "It's a Claude Monet soup ... it's his Potage à la Dauphine!"

"What kind of soup, Ross:-?"

"Oooh ...  ees what will be a wonderful cream of turnip soup :-!"

The Mrs. wrinkles her nose way up and gives me one of these replies: :-(, 

A discussion follows and Grandpa agrees to a modification. He will add brocolli florets to jazz up the taste a bit, to give the soup more flavor. Here's the recipe and then I will tell you the outcome. Does the Mrs. like the soup?

Ingredients:

• 6-8 small white turnips (about 1 1 /4 pounds)
• 1 & 1/2 quarts of water
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut in slices to ease melting (1 stick)
• 2 cups of light cream half & half, or 1/2 cup salted butter, cut in slices (I used half & half)
• 1-2 cups of broccoli florets (the Mrs. idea, optional)
• Salt, pepper, & garlic powder to taste*

(*Combine 1 cup of salt, 1/4th cup of black pepper, and 1/4th cup of garlic powder in a jar. Cap the top and shake. Use your fingers to sprinkle the seasoning mix. Keep your jar handy and use the seasoning mix often.)

Instructions:

Cut off the leaf and root. Scrap and wash the turnips well. You may want to use a potato peeler to take off the outer skin. Put the turnips in a pot with 1 & 1/2 quarts of water and the 1/4 cup of the sliced butter. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes or until the turnips crush easily. 

Strain and reserve the liquid. Use a potato masher to puree the turnips. Pour the liquid back over the turnips. Put the pot back on a very low heat. While the liquid and puree'd turnips are reheating, add the half & half, cream, or butter slices. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Do not let the soup boil. Season the soup with the mix of salt, pepper, and garlic powder and taste:-)  (so that you'll know how Monet tasted the soup!) Then, if you wish to do as the spouse suggests, add the brocolli florets and keep the pot simmering until the brocolli is soft and the soup is hot. Serve with the pride you feel when you have prepared a special dish for your love. 

Serve the soup with a big spinach salad and with artisan French bread and butter. Claude Monet wanted a soup served at the beginning of every meal. 

The verdict: "It's very good!" 

And finally, here's a picture of our kitty, Frisky, with her tongue out!  

Grandpa's Fresh, Delicious Chicken Salad

There are not many foods that are quite as good as fresh chicken salad sandwiches on a hot summer day.  Pick and chop chicken from the chicken not eaten the night before and bring together the goodness of the chicken, chopped hardboiled eggs, chopped fresh celery, sweet pickle relish, and salad dressing. Spread the salad on fresh artisan bread and serve the sandwich with sweet ice tea for a happy and delicious lunch.

There are many taste options. Use rotisserie chicken with the nicely seasoned skin which adds flavor to the salad. Chop fried chicken with the seasoned and fried skin for a different taste experience. Use whatever you have and go ahead and chop the skin into the salad as well. Some people will not use the skin because the skin is rich in fat. I use it because the seasoned skin is also rich in flavor. Fix it the way you want it.

Choose varities of bread to suit your taste. I love chicken salad on slices of fresh Great Harvest round white. Nancy's choice is to make her sandwich on fresh, Great Harvest honey wheat. What a great taste you'll experience when you spread your freshly made chicken salad on slices of Great Harvest or other artisan bread. Try using Jewish rye, crusty Italian, sourdough, French, or whatever kind of bread you like. I wonder though, why anyone would still be buying rack (sponge bread, such as Wonder bread) when there are so many choices of fresh baked artisan breads that are available and reasonable. 

I'm not limited to a single recipe of chicken salad. The thrust of this posting is for you to use the ingredients you have on hand and/or to use the ingredients that please you. And while your at it, select some additional ingredients that add flavor.

For example, I love to add apple juice infused dried cranberries when I have them. I also use dried cherrys, raisins, walnuts, pecans, etc. You want a real treat. Chop some California dried apricots into your chicken salad. You might want stir in some fresh blueberries. Or for a real bright taste chop in some chilled seedless green grapes. Put a leaf of lettuce on the sandwich one day and use fresh basil leaves on another day. I love sweet pickle relish and I generally use it as an ingredient in the chicken salad to brighten the taste, but one might like to occasionally use dill pickle relish. Whatever ingredients I add, however, it suits me to make sure the flavor of the chicken, eggs, and celery come through clearly.

Ingredients (The ones I used  for today's chicken salad -- Use what you have available.)

• Rotisserie chicken w/seasoned skin, chopped (I used half of a chicken)
• Hard boiled eggs, chopped (I used 6 today, but less or more is okay)
• Fresh celery, chopped (I chopped 4 stalks; I like to use a lot of celery)
• Sweet pickle relish (I used a half of a small bottle and a little extra sweet pickle juice)
• Mayonnaise (Use just enough to hold the salad together)
• Iceberg lettuce (to dress the put on the sandwiches

Use what you have and/or use more or less ingredients than I to suit your taste.

Instructions:

Mix all of the ingredients and stir in only enough mayonnaise for the mixture to hold together. Grab two slices of preash bread. Lay a leaf of fresh Iceberg lettuce, or multiple leaves of gourmet salad greens, or fresh basil leaves or whatever salad green you have available on one slice of the bread. Spoon on and spread a good amount of your best fresh chicken salad on the other slice of bread. Top off the sandwich with the green and top piece of the bread. Plate. Add chips or another side of your choice. Pour a delicious summer drink. Take your food to a cool spot and sit down and enjoy your lunch.

Alternatives:

• Stuff a big red ripe tomato with your chicken salad.
• Put leafs of lettuce on a plate and pile chicken salad on top.
• Add slices of avacado to your sandwich or salad plate.

Fixes:

Oh my. Is your celery a little limp? Fill a big bowl halfway with ice cubes. Add water. Plunge the celery you have in the icy water and let it rehabilitate for an hour or so. Then remove the celery from the ice water and chop it.

It's 11:58 a.m. I'm going to fix a delicious chicken salad sandwich for my lunch!