Grandpa's Home Cooking

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.

Strawberries Forever

Grandpa created this dessert in 1978 when I was dating Nancy. I had invited her to come to my apartment for dinner. I was shopping for our meal at the Treasure Island store on the near north side of Chicago. As I selected special foods, I began to think, "What will I do for a special desert?" I came up with this idea and set about to make it a reality. It was very special. Nancy loved it and said, "What do you call this?" I came up with the name in a flash and said, "Strawberries Forever." You must taste this dessert to fully appreciate the name!

Ingredients:

• Premium strawberry ice crean
• Fresh, red ripe strawberries, cut into quarters
• Amaretto Di Saronno (The original Italian Liqueur)*
• Whipped cream

*Buy only this brand or you'll be disappointed. What is it? It tastes like an almond liqueur. Therefore, people assume it contains almonds. It does not. It is a combination of fruits and spices. But it tastes soooo delicious you might wish to drink a little glass of it from time to time, especially after a memorable meal. I suggest you buy a large bottle.

Instructions:

Put a luscious big scoop of premium strawberry ice cream in a glass. Spoon fresh red ripe strawberries on top of the ice cream. Pour Amaretto di Saronno Italian liqueur over the strawberries and watch it slide down over the ice cream. Ahhhh yes. Now pull another big scoop of premium strawberry ice cream from the container and put it on top of the strawberries. Spoon more cut strawberries on top of the ice cream. Then pour more Amaretto di Soronno on top of the strawberries. How much do you pour?:-) Well, as much as you like. Remember. This is for your love. Finally, cover the top with whipped cream and top the creation with a whole fresh strawberry.

Russian Cabbage Soup

The flavors in this soup are amazing. We're going sit down to a enjoy bowl of hot Sweet Russian Cabbage soup tonight, while the snow falls all about us. After dinner, with beautiful classical music on the radio and a comfortable chair in front of a roaring fire in our fireplace, we'll still savor the flavors in this delicious soup as we enjoy each other's company. What more could you ask for? You can love this soup wherever you are and whatever the weather. And the after taste of a variety distinctive flavor's will continue to amaze you. 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Pounds lean ground beef
• 1 (14.5 oz) Can diced tomatoes
• 2 Medium carrots, chopped
• 1 Yellow onion, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons white vinegar
• 1/2 Cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 Quarts beef broth
• 3 Tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 Head cabbage, shredded

Instructions:

1. In a heavy soup pot, brown the beef and drain the fat!

2. Add the onions, carrots, cabbage, and garlic and cook until the onions are transparent.

3. Add the last of ingredients.

4. Simmer the soup for 45 minutes or until the carrots are tender.

5. Join hands at the table and prepare for a love feast.

Wherever you are and whatever the weather, you'll have a gourmet meal with this sweet Russian cabbage soup. 

When I made this soup I pictured a peasant family gathered about a candle lit table in Siberia, and looking out their window at the snow blowing across their field. As I cut the onion for my soup, I pictured a snowy night in front of the colorful and beautifully lit St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. I've never been to St. Basil's but I'd love to stand outside on a snowy night and look at the great onion domes.

Crab Legs

King and Snow Crab in your fishmonger's refrigerated case is generally precooked. Ask the fishmonger to be sure. All you need do is warm and serve the crab.  How easy can it get? You can warm the crab in your oven or briefly boil or steam the crab.

If the seafood is frozen, thaw the crab in your refrigerator for about 10 to 12 hours. If you do not have this much time, you can immerse the crab legs in cold water. My experience is that a family dinner size portion of meat will thaw in cold water in less than an hour.  I don't like to thaw or warm crab legs in a microwave.

I prefer to warm crab in a steam basket over boiling water or by dropping the legs in boiling water for 5 to 7 minutes. You may prefer to preheat your oven to 350 degrees and warm the crab on cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes.

Use crab leg crackers or kitchen scissors to cut the shells and extract the meat with your fingers. Dip the crab meat in hot butter or cocktail sauce and enjoy eating this delicious treat. I find that clean scissors make the job easier.

Serve the crab legs with a salad, baked potato, and a nice white wine. I like to serve a good Alsatian Gewürztraminer. I love the herbal fragrance and taste of this wine with seafood.

King crab for the Pacific Northwest is more expensive than Snow crab. Although pricey, you can minimize the cost of crab legs by buying and freezing the crab when it's on sale.

Dungenous Crab Love Feast

I know. He's cute. Yeah, those are his little eyes looking at you, his little nose, and his little mouth. Poor little crab! BUT man-o-day ... he tasted really good! You'll not believe what a heavenly taste you'll experience until you have eaten one. We're close enough to the season that this one was a prime crab. You can buy Dungenous in other months, but the prime season are months ending in "r" (September, October, November, and December). By the way ... this is a big crab. The one you're looking at is sitting on a full sized meat platter. I wanted to photograph it before I reheated the crab.

I'm thankful I for the 30 years I worked on the road in the 40 years I spent working in the Health Care industry. I met wonderful people from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon, and further out to the Hawaiian Islands (where Nancy and I were married at the end of a project and honeymooned there). I worked on many projects for big corporations in 46 states. At times, my wife, a technical writer, was a member of the project teams I directed. Our daughter even accompanied us on a very long project in Oregon. We enrolled her in a preschool near the office. Clients always made sure that we got to sample the special foods of their area. For example, we did a lot of work for many years for a company in Portland, Oregon. A great friend in Portland made sure we experienced Dungenous crab. They're found in abundance on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. 

Some Dungenous crab are shipped frozen to large stores in markets where sales support a variety of seafood. For example, the Whole Foods store in Chapel Hill, NC, has a huge seafood department, and it is currently selling Dungenous crabs at a special price (take a cold bag or cooler and ask for a frozen Dungenous crab and keep it in your freezer until the morning of the day you prepare it). I purchased the crab pictured Friday and we ate him Saturday night. I posted this dinner in a category I call Love Feasts. There will be more love feasts posted in the future.

Love Feast Menu:

• Steamed Dungenous crab with individual ramekins of hot butter for dipping the meat
• Steamed small redskin potatoes
• Corn on the cob
• Heirloom tomatoes with fresh basil
• Hawaiian papaya with lime wedges to enhance the rich flavor of the fruit
• A chilled German Gewurztraminer wine (with herbal flavor and aroma)

I've provided directions for preparing the Dungenous crab following this picture of our dinner table. Notice the beautiful shell has been removed and is now preserved and saved as an attractive baking ramekin.  

Instructions for preparing the Dungenous crab:

Dungenous crabs have been fully cooked before they are shipped to your store. You can eat them cold or warm them. I like to serve them warm. Whatever you do, Do not boil the crab! You'll ruin the crab! Put a raised wire rack in a baking dish and fill the bottom of the dish with water. You can also use a large rice/pasta steamer pot. 

If you steam them in a baking dish, set the crab on top of the wire rack and put the baking dish in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Cover with a foil tent. You want to gently steam warm the crab. After 20 minutes, take the baking dish out of the oven and set the dish on the counter. 

Now don't get nervous. The next steps are going to be easy.

Gently touch the shell to make sure it is not too hot to pick up the crab. Pick up the warm crab with your left hand, with the claws pointing to the left. Move to the sink and turn on warm water. While firmly holding the crab from the bottom, use your right hand to gently remove the desert brown shell ... specifically, use the thumb of your right hand ... placed just under the edge of the shell ... to gently push the shell up and off of the body of the crab. It should come off real easy. Now you'll notice a triangle bone on the left side of the crab ... use the thumb and forefinger of your right hand to pull the triangle bone down and off and discard it. Now notice ... there will be loose, soft grainy material in the middle of the top of the crab ... move the crab under the faucet of running warm water and use your fingers to rid the center of the crab to remove superfluous grainy matter off the top of the crab. Then put the crab on your serving dish and take it to the table.

Look at the picture of the crab on our table and you'll be reassured to know you did just fine.

Now here's what your diners need to know. There is fabulous sweet crab meat in every claw. Use your hands or a tool (as shown in the picture) to break the claws open ... remove the luscious warm meat, dunk the meat in a ramekin of hot melted butter and push the crab meat into your mouth. Oooooh my, now thank God for this delicacy! After you've eaten all of the meat in the claws ... be aware ... the center section of the crab is full of delicious crab meat ... it's just going to be a little messier to get too.

The center of the crab is similar to a honeycomb, except the crab contains a very soft membrane. You just need to push the meat out of each membrane and push it in your mouth ... it's messy:-) Enjoy! 

The claws of our 2 3/4 pound crab had enough meat for my wife, daughter, and I for our love feast. I guess some guys can eat a whole crab in one setting (I used too:-). But, they are a bit pricey, so Mom, Dad, and the little might share a big one and love what is provided. If pricey isn't a concern or you have more people to serve, go ahead and buy two of the crabs.

We saved and refrigerated the middle portion of the crab for Sunday night's dinner. I'm going to sit down at a table and push all of the meat out of the membranes into a measuring cup. I'm quite sure that I'll get enough delicious crab meat out of the center of that crab to make a delicious crab and spinach quiche for dinner. I'll post the recipe for the quiche in a few days.

I always want to serve Dungenous crab with roastin' ears, redskin potatoes, tomatoes, and a desert of fresh Hawaiian papaya with lime wedges (to squeeze onto the flesh of the fruit). When you look for a papaya ... look for one that is turning gold and has little black spots on it. All green = not ripe. Yellowing = ripe. Gently squeeze the fruit to make sure it is not too ripe. It ought to be a little soft, but not explode in your hand:-)

Do you have questions? Email me. I'll respond. You'll find the email address on the blog.

Enjoy a love feast now and then!