Grandpa's Home Cooking

Roasted Poblano Pepper and Corn Chowder

This is a really nice soup with just enough warmth to soothe your soul.  It is gentle. You need not worry about it being too spicy. It contains wonderful ingredients and has a rich  taste. Serve Roasted Poblano Pepper and Corn Chowder as a meal or to compliment a meal. It is so good that the people at your table are likely to eat the entire pot of soup in one setting.

Double or triple the recipe to serve it to a crowd. This is a terrific soup to serve to a group.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Tbsp butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 ½ -2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 2 red potatoes, diced with skin on
• ¼ tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp red pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 14.5 oz cans cream style corn
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 8 oz. cream cheese, cut in pieces
• 1 large poblano pepper, roasted, peeled, and diced*

* To roast the pablano pepper: Cut off the top of the pepper and take out all of the seeds. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet about six inches under broiler. Broil on each side for about 5-6 minutes. The skin should be blistered. Remove the pepper from oven and wrap it in the foil. Put the foil/pepper in a zip-topped bag and let it rest for at least 10 minutes. When you're ready to make the soup, unwrap the foil and peel the skin off of the pepper. Then dice the pepper pulp.

Instructions:

Melt butter in soup pot, add onion, and sauté until tender. Add 1 ½ cup vegetable or chicken broth and diced red potatoes and seasonings. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-12 minutes until the potatoes begin to get tender. Add the cream corn and evaporated milk. Simmer another 10-12 minutes. Add the cream cheese and the diced poblano pepper. Stir and heat until the cream cheese is melted, and the soup is hot (but not boiling). Serve this soup with tortilla chips or a good crusty artisan bread.

This soup will become a favorite!

Avocado, Cream Cheese, & Tomato Sandwich

Here's another healthy, delicious sandwich served with a dish of sweet watermelon for a great lunch. Make the sandwich at home and eat it at home, or make it and pack it for your lunch at work. This sandwich combines wonderful ingredients including artisan bread, cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, and slices of fresh avocado.

Cover two slices of fresh baked artisan bread with cream cheese. On the bottom slice of the sandwich layer fresh lettuce, a big slice of a fresh tomato, and slices of fresh avocado. Top with the other slice of bread that you spread with cream cheese. Serve with chunks of fresh watermelon or canteloupe and a tall glass of sweet iced tea or water and you'll enjoy a perfect lunch.

It is not difficult to prepare the avocodo. Pick one that is slightly soft. It's ripe. Run a sharp knife around the vegetable lengthwise. Hold the avocodo with both hands, with the cut visable between your hands, and twist and pull the ripe fruit open. Remove and discard the large seed. Then use your knife to peel off and discard the skin, leaving the beautiful ripe fruit to slice on your sandwich, in a salad, or to make Guacomole.

Sinful Pleasure

I dare you to quit eating this sinful pleasure. Once you taste it, you'll not stop eating it until it is all gone. When you serve your guests my favorite French appetizer, Pate & Onion Marmalade on Toasted Baguette slices, the platter of this food will disappear so fast that folks will be looking at you as if to say, "You got anymore of this?" That's when I say, "Dinner will be served shortly ... does anyone need another glass of wine?" You'll see some heads nodding ... and when they get a whiff and taste of your new wine selection, a Trimbach Alsatian Gewurztraminer, they'll be wondering how your table can be better than what they've had. Nancy and I consume this combination on our old fashioned front porch for an outdoor spring, summer, or fall meal.

Just set out a platter with a slice of pate, a jar of red onion marmalade, and a basket of toasted baguette slices that have been brushed with extra virgin olive oil after being toasted. Set a table knife on the platter and let folks fix their own.

Here's what you need:

1. An outstanding liver mousse.  Your local gourmet stores will likely offer a variety of pate. My favorite would be a Goose, Duck, and Pork Mousse.  Chicken liver mousse is a favorite of a lot of folk and we like it too.  A Southern Season occasionally sets out a 12 inch loaf of Goose, Duck, and Pork Mousse. Just ask the folks behind the food counter to cut and wrap a 1 1/2 to 2 inch slice. This is plenty for 2 people. Chicken liver mousse is more reasonable and quite good. If you are a vegetarian, you can buy vegetarian pate and it is good and quite reasonable. 

2. A great Onion Marmalade. We love the imported Mussini, which is a sensational red onion marmalade. You can order this from A Southern Season. You might want to make your own. I'll publish a recipe soon.

3. 1 or 2 French Baguettes, sliced (ask the bakery to slice the baguettes for you) 

4. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

5. Wine is so fine with this appetizer.

You can easily transport this meal to your favorite lawn concerts. We do.

We discovered onion marmalade in France when we traveled to Normandy with Nancy's brother, Chuck, and his wife, Morrisann. Chuck and I wiped out a large bowl of onion marmalade that is served at a delightful seafood restaurant in Bayeux. Here is a picture of the restaurant:

 

Grandpa's Winery Bruschetta

Simple and loaded with flavor, Grandpa's Winery Bruschetta is the perfect accompaniment to a glass of Italian wine. I love wine and this appetizer is a perfect match.  Don't forget to eat the fresh basil while your at it. It's all good!

This appetizer and a glass or two of Italian red will set you free. You better make a large tray of this appetizer because they'll disappear in a hurry. (This little plate was for the photograph.) Then I'd bring on a large tray of Grandpa's French appetizer. (This will be my next post!)

Ingredients:

• Jar of Sun-Dried  Tomatoes (packed in extra virgin olive oil and herbs)*
• Best Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Baguette or 2, sliced **
• Fresh basil leaves
• Sea salt for the table

* You'll find jars of sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil in the produce department of a Harris Teeter; on the grocery isle at a Whole Foods; at A Southern Season (call them toll-free); and who knows where at your local giant supermarket. Ask the store manager to walk you to the product.

** Ask the bakery to slice and bag the baguette for you.

Instructions:

Toast both sides of the slices of baguettes in your toaster oven or range oven. Brush one side of the baguette slices with your best extra virgin olive oil and plate the slices. Some may then choose to lightly salt the toast with fine sea salt. Use a fork to set slices of sun-dried tomatoes on each slice of toast. Garnish the plate with fresh basil (and expect it to be eaten too).

Once upon a time, before I was a grandpa and Nancy was a grandma, we did an 8-day walking tour of Tuscany. Our little group walked 8 to 10 miles a day through vineyards, forests, and farms in Chianti. We had picnics under the shade of glimmering olive trees. Sometimes we had lunch in a village home, and another time in a farm yard. We enjoyed several late afternoon wine tastings at vineyards along the walk. One vineyard offered a tray of sun-dried tomatoes on toast points to eat while sampling their wine.  We stayed at quaint inns, including a  150 year-old farmhouse that served sumptuous 7-course dinners and wine from pitchers filled from their barrels. Am I serious? I am.  We did our walking tour many years ago and it is one of the most memorable vacations we've had. Nowadays you'll find these walking tours provided by a Vermont company, www.vbt.com/.

Here is a still picture I took as we approached a vineyard in Tuscany.

 

Baked Sicilian Olives

Here's a great appetizer to eat while sipping wine. Set plates about for guests to nibble while sipping. This is a munchie that is reasonable in cost and easy to prepare.  

Ingredients:

• 8 ounce's, drained seedless Kalamata olives*
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1-2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary
• Additional herbs for presentation (I love leaves of  basil for garnish)

* Tell guests the olives are seedless, but remind them to chew carefully in case a seed was missed.

Instructions:

Pour olives in a bowl of cold water and let them soak for 10 minutes. Drain the water and return the olives to a bowl of fresh cold water to soak for 1 hour. You'll do these to remove the briny taste of olives that come from canned olives.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the drained olives in an ovenproof baking dish. The olives should touch but not be more than two deep in the dish and should fill the bottom of the bottom of the dish.

Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, red pepper flakes, thyme, and rosemary. Pour the mix over the olives.

Bake the olives in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes until they start to crinkle.

Use a slotted spoon to move the olives to serving plates. (you don't want the liquid dripping on your furniture or your friends clothes. Set small napkins about. Garnish the plates with an herb such as basil and serve. You might even want to chop some basil and sprinkle the herbs over the warm olives.

 

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.

Salmon With Honey & Ginger

Here's a wonderful way to prepare fresh salmon. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a suitable baking dish with cooking oil. Lightly coat both sides of the salmon with extra virgin olive oil. Put the salmon in the baking dish, skin side down. Cover the top meat side of the salmon with wildflower or orange blosson honey. Peel a piece of fresh ginger. Use your grater or a sharp paring knife to chop fine pieces of fresh ginger all over the top of the salmon. Bake the salmon to your satisfaction for 20 to 30 minutes.  This is so delicious I may now use this recipe everytime I prepare salmon, which is about twice a week.

Some people who have medical issues just rub their salmon with extra virgin olive oil and bake it. I know of folks who eat salmon every night and say it has improved their medical. Whn I told my doctor I eat salmon at least twice a week he said, "Excellent!" 

Irish Pub Stew

Twill be St. Patty's Day before you know it, so you may want to get the ingredients to make this Irish Stew. There are pubs in Ireland that make this stew every day of the year for the lads and lassies who eat at their establishment. I got the recipe from the book Irish Pub Cooking and I made a pot of the stew for our dinner yesterday. We'll enjoy it again tonight.

You'll want to serve this stew in bowls with the juices. I put some on a plate to photograph the goodness of the stew.

"Pull up a stool, sup a pint, and tuck into some delicious pub food."

Ingredients:

• 4 Tablespoons of all purpose flour
• 3 pounds of lamb, cut in chunks
• 3 large onions, chopped
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1 pound of potatoes cut in chunks
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• A scant 3 1/2 cups of beef stock (A carton of beef stock contains 4 cups)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsely to garnish

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Put the flour in a plastic zip lock bag with some salt and pepper and shake the bag to mix the ingredients. Add the chunks of lamb to the bag and close and shake the bag to coat the meat. (You'll need to do this in batches.)  Arrange the chunks of floured lamb in layers on the bottom of your large casserole dish.

Add a layer of onions, then the carrots, and finally the potatoes. Sprinkle on the thyme and then pour in the beef stock. Cook your casserole for 3 hours. Garnish the bowls of stew with chopped parsley.

Dates Stuffed With Cream Cheese And Almonds

Simple to prepare and reasonable in cost, fresh Middle Eastern dates stuffed with cream cheese and almonds are elegant to serve and absolutely delicious. Every time I prepare this appetizer the platter is cleaned before you know it! Try them. You'll like them.

Cut each date lengthwise a bit more than halfway through, separate the fruit, and remove the seed. Dispose of the seed. Bring the two halves nearly together and stuff the inside of the date with cream cheese. At this point, I cut the date in half. Then I push a smokey almond in the center of each half date. 

You're looking at a pound of dates. The cost at our super market was $7.99 a pound. In this case a pound offered 24 dates. Stuffed and cut, the pound yielded 48 hors devoures.

The yellow flower was cut from one my many pansy plants that I plant each fall in my front and backyard beds. The plants produce many flowers that grow regardless of the temperature. We often have mild winters, but even when it is icy, the pansies flourish. I've had plants sealed in a frozen layer of water, which actually magnifies the beauty of the flowers.  The flowers are happy, happy now as we are having temperatures in the 60's, but we have many blooms like this one when the temperatures are in the 20s. My pansies produce orange, purple, and yellow flowers. 

Southern Buttermilk Biscuits For 1 or More

Aren't they pretty! Split and dressed with pure butter and fruit preserves while they are HOT, these biscuits were out of this world delicious. But the best news yet is that you can make these biscuits for just you ... for two ... or for whatever number of people you want to serve.  No fuss, no muss, and no waste ... and they taste like the biscuits grandma used to make when I was a boy.

Nowadays, you can go to the frozen food department of your supermarket and pick up a bag of ready made Southern Buttermilk biscuits ...just  like the ones in my picture. I buy a bag of 20 frozen biscuits and toss them into our freezer. When I want a couple of biscuits, I preheat our oven to 375 degrees. I take the number biscuits I need from the freezer, put them in a dark metal non-stick pan, and bake the biscuits according to directions on the back of the bag.  (You might find the biscuits take 2-3 more minutes to bake than indicated on the bag.)

You can choose the ready to bake biscuits or put your apron on at 6:00 a.m., grab the bag of White Lily Flour (still the best) from the pantry, and go to work. Meanwhile, about 9:00 a.m., I'll be eating hot biscuits. Here's all you have to do to fix them. 

Ingredients:

• Oven preheated to 375 degrees
• Your morning newspaper
• Hot coffee or tea
• A bag of frozen Southern Buttermilk biscuits*
• A dark metal teflon cake pan or cookie sheet
• Pure butter or margerine, soft and ready to spread**
• Preserves or honey

* I've tested 3 brands of biscuits. Mary Jo, Alexia, and Pillsbury Grand. All 3 were good, but I like the Pillsbury Grand the best. They rise, look, and taste as I expect.

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Go to the freezer and pull out as many biscuits as folks will eat. Follow the directions on the back of the bag. Put the biscuits in the pan with the sides touching.  Put the pan in the preheated oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. I've added one more step to the directions. When the biscuits start to brown, about 2 minutes before they are done, I brush the top of the biscuits with butter and finish baking them. This step improves the browning of the biscuits. 

While the biscuits are baking, put the butter, preserves, plates, butter knives, and whatever else you want on the table. Use a hot pad to pull the pan of biscuits out of the oven. Use a spatula to move the biscuits to a serving plate and enjoy eating the hot biscuits!

**How many of you remember, back to the war years in the 1940's, when grandma mixed lard with an orange coloring pellet to make oleo margarine? The product came in a kit which contained the lard and a plastic packet with the coloring pellet. You put the fat in a bowl, opened the plastic button, dropped it in the bowl, and then used a big spoon to knead the coloring into the fat until you had smooth yellow margarine. I can picture Great Grandma See sitting on a chair mixing the margarine. 

Maple & Thyme Baked Salmon

Here's a wonderful way to prepare, bake, and serve fresh salmon. Put a nice coat of your best Vermont Maple syrup, seasonings, and chopped fresh thyme on a beautiful piece of fresh salmon and bake the fish at 350 degrees for 18-25 minutes. It's a healthy choice and mild in flavor. A light coating of maple syrup provides a delcate sweetness. Dressed and baked with the leaves of aromatic thyme you'll enjoy a delicious taste and a visually attractive entre. We eat with our eyes, nose, and taste so all of our senses are blessed with this wonderful fish. You can easily prepare this sensational salmon as well as a pricey gourment restaurant.

I saw a similar presentaion in the food section of our local newspaper and I made a very slight adjustment to the preparation instructions for this recipe. The fish looked and tasted so nice that my wife said she would like have it often. The portion pictured can be halved for a generous serving for two (each serving is about a half pound).  Serve more or less to your need, but allow  a two to three inch wide cut from a center section of a fresh salmon filet for each person. This amount is all a person needs for a great meal. Serve the fish with a baked sweet potato, sauteed fresh asparagus, and a dazzling salad and you'll enjoy a perfect and healthy meal. 

Ingredients:

• 1-2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
• A nice piece of fresh Atlantic salmon
• 2 -3 Tablespoons of fresh lemon thyme (or regular thyme), chopped
• Seasonings*
• Maple syrup

* I make a well balanced blend of a seasoning mix.  Combine 1 cup of salt, 1/4th cup of black pepper, and 1/4th cup of garlic powder in a wide-mouth jar. Cap the jar top and shake the seasonings well. Use your fingers to sprinkle several pinches of the seasoning mix on both sides of the salmon.

Instructions:

Lightly grease a baking dish with a very thin coating of olive oil. Season both sides of the salmon with a light dusting from your seasoning jar containing a mix of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Rub a light coating of maple syrup on both sides of the fish. Place the fish in a lightly oiled baking dish and bake the fish in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. A very thick cut might require an aditional amount of baking time. 

Note: If the supermarket where you shop does not have fishmonger to service their fish department, just pick out a package of wrapped salmon that is big enough to meet your serving needs. If there is a fishmonger available, ask the person to cut enough salmon to serve an approximately 2 & 1/2 to 3 inch serving per person wedge from the center a salmon filet. You could ask the fishmonger to trim off the skin off of the salmon filet, but it isn't  necessary to remove the skin and perhaps easier to manage with the skin.

Roasted Maple Pork Tenderloin, Braised Red Cabbage, & Black-eyed Pea Salad

Here's the finale! A delicious and tender roast pork tenderloin. Serve this roast with a braised red cabbage and a black-eyed pea salad and you'll have a great dinner. (Scroll down or use the index to find the recipe for the braised red cabbage and black-eyed pea salad sides.) 

This is a delicious meat option that is often overlooked. Although called tenderloin, the meat may not be tender if not carefully prepared. The cook can influence the outcome. The tenderloin is the leanest cut of pork. As you know, without fat, meat may end up being really tough--unless you prepare the meat to achieve a better result.

Great grandma used her muscle power and a great big sharp kitchen fork to tenderize lean meat. You can do the same--or--you can use a modern hand tool, such as a Jaccard Tenderizer, to get a super result. Put the tool on the meat and push down. This tool has many blades to penetrate the meat. Secondly, great grandma didn't overcook the meat. When she looked in the oven, and she may have even poked the center of the roast with her index finger, she knew when the meat was done just right. Great grandma may have also used her carving knife to make a cut in the middle of the roast to see if it was still slightly pink.

A roast ought to be still slightly pink in the center to be done just right! You lose the pink and you've over-cooked the meat and it's going to be d-r-y and t-o-u-g-h. Fortunately you and I have the option to buy an instant read thermometer and check the roast temperature often enough to make sure we do not cook the meat beyond 160 degrees. That is done! If you don't have an instant read thermometer--use your eyes to look for doneness, your index finer to feel the doneness, and cut into the center of the roast with your carving knife to see if the center of the roast is still a little pink! Suit your self on doneness, but I prefer to serve the meat at a bit less than 160 degrees (155 degrees), but still done. To each his own. 

The picture is of 1/2 of a 3lb pork tenderloin roast I prepared. Spoon some of the liquid from the pan on the roast (I didn't do this for the photo to keep the picture clear.) I spooned baked Granny Smith apple chunks around the roast.

Three pounds will serve 6. If you buy a prepackaged roast, as I did, and you have a small family, you'll probably have enough meat for two dinners. We like to prepare enough food for two meals. 

Here's how to prepare a pork tenderloin roast.

Ingredients:

• 2.5 to 3 pound pork tenderloin roast
• 2/3rds cup maple syrup
• 3 Tablespoons dijon mustard
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider (or whatever juice you've got)
• 1 Granny Smith apple chopped 
• 2 Tablespoons of soy sauce
• Salt and pepper (I like to use my mix* of salt, pepper, and garlic powder)

* 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 over the meat. Keep your jar handy and use the seasoning mix often. 

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small mixing bowl, mix together the maple syrup, mustard, apple cider, apple chunks, and soy sauce.

Get your cutting board and tenderizer tool out and set them on the counter. Put your pork tenderloin roast onthe cutting board and use your tenderizer to puncture the entire roast! Use a big cooking fork if you do not have a tenderizing tool.

Put the meat in a roasting pan. Pour the sauce over the roast. Season the meat to your liking. Roast the meat at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Baste the meat every 15 minutes or so. After 30 minutes when the meat starts looking near done, start using your instant read thermometer to check the temperature. The meat will be done at 160 degrees.  (I prefer the meat to be roasted to 150 to 155 degrees).  When the roast is done to suit your taste, let the meat sit for 10-15 minutes before you start carving it.

Delicious Braised Red Cabbage

This is a wonderful dish to serve with a pork roast. I'll bet your family table hasn't had this braised sweet and sour red cabbage dish since your great grandmother was cooking. I served it with a roast pork tenderloin and we ate it in abundant quantities.  The recipe makes about twice as much as you see pictured. I got this recipe from the book Louis Osteen's Charleston Cuisine, Recipes from a Low Country Chef.  I took a cooking class with Mr. Osteen at the gourmet emporium, A Southern Season in Chapel Hill, NC.

Ingredients:

• 1 large red cabbage, cut into ribbons or chunks
• 1/4th cup duck fat or peanut oil (Mmm Duck fat!)
• 1/2 cup carrots, sliced thin
• 4 cups yellow onions, sliced thin
• 1 cup red wine
• 3 cups chicken stock or broth
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 ths tablespoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• (forget the bay leaf ... yadda yadda)
• 1 sprig fresh parsley
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 4 cloves fresh garlic (a big tablespoon of minced works)
• 2 cups unsweetened chestnuts (I didn't add this schmaltz because I didn't have it:-)

Instructions:

Core the cabbage and chop the whole head in threads or bite size chunks. WOW ... its a lot! Don't fret because it will cook down and you'll be happy, happy, happy that you have it all.

Now melt that lovely duck fat in a heavy bottomed non-reactive pot (or whatever pot you got) over medium-high heat. Saute the carrots and onions stiring the pot frequently until the onions are translucent. Add the cabbage until you can get it all in the pot and then simmer the pot until all of the cabbagge is all wilted.

NOW ... have a sip of red wine from your full glass and add the cup of red wine, stock, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar,garlic, and  herbs to the pot.  Stir the pot well. Adjust the heat to a simmer and heat the pot for 1/2 hour. If you have the chestnuts, add 'em now! Simmer the pot for another 1/2 hour.

Delicious!

 

Grandpa's Black-eyed Pea Salad

I came up with the idea for this salad as I considered a menu to prepare a special Saturday night dinner for Grandma. I'm calling it a Black-eyed Pea Salad, though it occurred to me that it could be called Grandpa's Carolina Caviar. Nancy liked this salad so much she asked me to please fix it often. Together, we ate the whole bowl of salad in two meals (about twice the amount pictured). 

I served this black-eyed pea salad with a delicious braised red cabbage and a wonderful roasted apple pork tenderloin. I'll post the braised red cabbage and roast pork tenderloin recipes soon. 

Ingredients:

Here's the exact ingredients; but use whatever you have on hand and/or what is available!

• 2 1/2 to 3 cups black-eyed peas, cooked but still firm  (not mushy!)*
• 1 cup white onion, chopped fine
• 1 cup yellow, orange, and green bell pepper, peppers chopped fine
• 1 stalk of celery, cut  lengthwise in three strips and sliced thin
• 1 carrot, cut lengthwise in three strips and sliced thin
• 1 cup chopped cucumber
• Grandpa's sweet and sour dressing (see below)
• 4 very small heirloom tomatoes (red, blush, orange, and/or yellow), chopped

* Use dried black-eyed peas. Rinse twice. Put in a saucepan. Pour water to provide two knuckles of water above the peas. Bring to a boil & tun heat to simmer for an hour or until the peas are cooked but are still firm. You don't want 'em mushy! Hold on there!! You also need to check that water level regularly and pour more water in the pan if the water gets low. You don't want burned peas and a burned pan. Use canned black-eyed peas if you must, but mark my words that they'll be too soft.

Grandpa's Sweet & Sour dressing:

• 3/4ths cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup salad oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Combine the vegetable ingredients and pour on just enough dressing to coat the vegetables. Salt and pepper the salad to taste and serve it when you feel like it:-). If you end up with too much dressing, just do a little dance and pour the leftover in a canning jar and refrigerate. You'll use it up soon enough on salads or on another batch of black-eyed pea salad. My wife likes it so much she said, "Why don't you make more of that salad the first of the week."

Here's a picture of a dinner plate with rounds of roast pork tenderloin the braised red cabbage, and the black-eyed pea salad. 

Yellow Cake & Mom's Caramel Icing

My great grandmother and my mother were wonderful bakers. Lately I've been remembering the wonderful cakes that my great grandmother made. I quickly decided I wanted to make a good yellow cake from scratch and ice it with Mom's caramel icing. This is by far my favorite icing. I found an interesting cake recipe and got busy.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups King Arthur cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 & 1/2 cups sugar
• 8 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup of whole milk

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two, 8 inch cake pans. In a medium size bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set the bowl of dry ingredients aside. 

Use your mixing bowl to cream together the butter and sugar well. Then beat in all of the egg yolks, 1 yolk at a time. Stir in the vanilla extract. Mix in the dry ingredients and milk alternately in small amounts until all of the dry ingredients and milk are mixed into the batter.

Pour the cake batter into greased  and floured cake pans and bake the cakes in a preheated 350 degree oven for 24 to 30 minutes. Be very careful not to over bake this cake. When the cakes are golden brown, insert a tooth pick in the center of the cakes and if the toothpick comes out clean the cakes are done. 

In my gas oven, the cakes are done in 24 minutes.  When done, use hot pads to pull each of the cake pans out of the oven and set them on a rack or the top of the stove to cool. In 15 minutes lay a plate on top of one of the cake pans and flip the dish over. The cake should drop easily from the pan onto the plate. Turn the other cake out on a cooling rack. Let both the cakes cool completely before trying to ice them.

Now mix up your icing and when the cakes are cool, ice the top and side of of one cake. Then carefully move the other cake on top of the first layer and complete the icing to the top and sides of the cake. 

Mom's Caramel Icing

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of pure butter
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed (I had dark brown)
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 and 3/4 to 2 cups confectioner's sugar

Instructions:

Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add brown sugar; boil over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add milk; stir until mixture comes to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat; cool. Slowly add confectioner's sugar, beating well with a spoon after each addition, until thick enough to spread.

Kabobs!

Here's a great way to make everyone happy, happy, happy. Marta will not eat salmon or fish. Period. But she loves chicken, chicken, and chicken! Grandma loves salmon, all kinds of fish, and will occasionally tolerate beef, including steak. Grandpa loves steak! We all love vegetables. So grandpa fixed up this meal to give everyone what they like, so that everyone will be happy, happy, happy.

From the top of the picture down we have a salmon kabob, a chicken kabob, a NY strip steak kabob:-), and a family kabob of extra vegetables and chicken.

How hard is this? Not. This cooking project requires that you first broil one side of the chicken, steak, and vegetable kabob. Use your tongs to turn the kabobs to the flip side when the first side is cooked perfectly. Then add the salmon kabob to the rack (because fish doesn't require as much time to cook). You can cook both sides of the salmon kabob while the flip side of all of the other kabobs cook. When you see the first side of the salmon kabob cooked, flip it over to the second side. And when all of the kabobs are perfect use your hot pads to pull the pan out of the broiler.

And wala! All four kabobs are cooked perfectly and are ready to serve at the same time! 

Ingredients:

• 2 and 1/2 inch strip of salmon fillet (a Whole Foods/other store fishmongers are delighted to cut only as much as you request).*
• 1/2 of a skinless boneless chicken breast (ditto Whole Foods/other meat cutters are delighted to cut and wrap only what you want).* 
• 1 NY strip steak
• 1 large onion cut into large pieces
• 1 Orange and/or yellow pepper cut into large portions
• 1 Green bell pepper cut into large portions
• Seasonings (Marta loves Toronto Rub which is pictured on her chicken kabob, Grandma wants just a little salt, and Grandpa wants his mix of salt, pepper, and garlic powder.)
• wood or metal kabob skewers (available at most stores) 

* If your store fish or meat counter is not staffed, ring for a butcher. Ask them to cut a package open and cut and package only what you want. I've yet to find one who hasn't been happy and/or agreed to cut and package only what you need!

Instructions:

Preheat range broiler.

Add sections of meat or fish and vegetables to kabob skewers.  Set the kabobs on a metal rack on a broiler pan or in a dish as shown in the picture. Broil one side of the meat and vegetable kabobs until the food is well done. Use your tongs to turn the kabobs. Add the uncooked salmon kabob to the broiler rack. Cook both sides of the fish kabob while the flip side of meat and vegetables cook. When all of the kabobs are broiled, use your tongs to move the skewers to a sering platter and serve immediately.

You can bet that our cat, Frisky:-), wasn't sitting in "Frisky's big chair" when this meal was served. She was at her usual place on the floor by Grandpa's feet, looking up wantonly in my eyes every time I looked down. Here's Frisky all nice and cozy in her big chair.

 

 

 

Island She-Crab Soup w/ Fresh Marjoram

My 100th post since Grandpa's Home Cooking was launched March 12, 2010.

♫ If your fond of sand dunes and salty air, quaint little villages here and there♫  ... then you may love Island She-Crab Soup. Try topping it with chopped fresh marjoram. Nancy went out to our herb patch on a cold January night and picked and chopped some fresh marjoram for our soup. Ooh, oh, oh, is that a nice flavor to lift an already great soup up a notch. If you make this soup in the summer, try chopped marigold leaves.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup crab meat, drained and flaked*
• 2 cans cream of celery soup
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cup half and half
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 boiled eggs, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4th teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4th teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4th cup of good dry sherry
• Chopped fresh marjoram or marigold leaves

*Ask the fishmonger about crab meat options. For this supper, Nancy got the soup started while I sat at a table and carefully picked the crab meat out of leftover Dungenous crab, added it to the pot, added the seasonings, and served the table. You can also use fresh Blue crab, Snow crab leg, Alaskan king crab leg, or even canned crab meat. 

Instructions:

This is easy cooking. Just combine the celery soup, milk, cream, eggs, butter, Old Bay seasoning, Worcestershire, garlic, and white pepper in a large soup pot or dutch oven. Stir the soup while bringing the mixture to a boil. Then add the crab meat and lower the heat to medium. Stir the soup until heated through. Then stir in the sherry. Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle the top of the soup with chopped fresh marjoram or marigold leaves. 

Here are Nancy and I pictured on our first ferry boat crossing to Ocracoke Island, NC, circa 1978.(33 years ago). We were newlyweds. I believe we got the She-Crab soup recipe from the Island Inn while we were on this trip. We would soon move to Kansas City, Missouri. A year later we returned to Chicago where we lived on the 32nd floor of a hi-rise apartment just off of Michigan Avenue. We had a nice view of the The John Hancock Center, Lake Michigan, and the Chicago Skyline. With North Carolina still on our mind, we finally moved here in 1986. 

 

Fabulous Sandwiches On 2 Buns

Hey Joe, don't call 'em Sloppy. Try Fabulous! Put this elegant meat and vegetables with sauce combination between the two halves of a hamburger bun, plate it, and dine on gourmet. This gourmet burger will expose the ahhh ... industry standard fast food sandwich ... to be the awful cardboard burgers they are. You must also know this meat and vegetable with sauce ... provides 2 fabulous sandwich options. For the second option, trying spooning this gourmet burger combination on a hot dog tucked into a delicious bun and WOW ... the kids and adults will go nuts. Plate up either or both sandwiches with chips (the one that you can't eat just one) and an ice cold diet cherry Pepsi and ...  ♫Do da, do da ...shake on over here with another of those super sandwiches♫

But. Wait a minute. Add an optional can of pinto beans to the recipe and kick this dish up at least one notch. You can still serve the combo on sandwich buns or plate some as a meat dish.

An added attraction: Dip into your Seasoning Jar and dust a little seasoning on top of your meat and sauce. (The Seasoning Jar is a canning jar containing a mix of 1 cup of salt, 1/4th cup of coarse black pepper, and 1/4th cup of garlic powder.)

Yes! Your family will love this meal. This meal could become a Friday night special!

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 pound of 80/20 ground chuck (leaner if you like, but a little fats good)
• 1 medium size yellow or white onion, chopped to provide large chunks (see photo above)
• 1 medium size green bell pepper, chopped to provide large chunks (see photo above)
• 1 can pinto beans, drained of juice (optional)
• 1 can (15.5 oz) Hunt's Manwich Sauce (also contains vegetables)
• Hamburger and/or hot dog buns
• Cooked hot dogs (optional to provide 2 sandwich choices)

Instructions:

Brown the beef in a sauté skillet. Drain off the grease. I put a large colander in the sink and pour or spoon the burger into the colander. Momentarily set the cooked meat aside.

Use the same skillet to lightly sauté  the onions and green peppers. (Look at the picture above. You want the vegetables to be large chunks and lookin' good when you return the beef to the skillet.) Return the meat to the skillet and use a spatula to mix the beef and vegetables well.

Season the meat and vegetables with salt, coarse black pepper, and garlic powder (use the combined seasonings from your mixed seasoning jar ... refer to the above). 

Spoon the meat, vegetables, and sauce on sandwich buns. Serve immediately. 

Monet's Leek & Potato Soup

Soup was served at every evening meal in Monet's house. What a great idea. It sounds as if it was the customary 1st course. At our house, a delicious soup and a fresh rustic baked bread, and one of Grandma's beautiful salads is enough food to satisfy as our complete meal. Tonight I prepared Monet's Leek and Potato soup for our dinner. It is delicious. The soup and slices of a rustic French bread provided us with enough food for a hearty cold winter night dinner. Afterward, we relaxed in our living room listening to classical music and enjoying a fire in the fireplace.

I'm happy to have a beautiful used copy of Monet's Table, The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet. The book is available online and at bookshops. You might enjoy using this book to prepare meals for your table. This book contains beautiful photographs of Giverny, writing about the family's life at Giverny, and Monet's favorite recipes. The book contains recipes for Soups (11), Eggs, Sauces, Appetizers and Side Dishes, Poultry, Meat, Game, Fish, Desserts, Teas, Jams, and Preserves. I'll continue to prepare recipes from this book and post some on Grandpa's Home Cooking. 

Soupe aux poireaux et pommes de terre (Leek and Potato Soup):

 

1/2 cup unsalted butter

6 large leeks, white parts only, cut into 1/2 inch slices

1 teaspoon salt

4 large potatoes, sliced (with slices quartered)

fresh parsley, chopped for garnish

seasonings

Provides 4 servings

 Heat 1/4 cup of butter in a (heavy) pan and sauté the leeks. While they are cooking, heat 1 quart water with the salt to just below a boil. Add the water to the leeks, all at once. Cover the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Add the sliced (I quarter) potatoes, add seasonings, cover, and continue cooking the soup for 20 minutes. Add the rest of the butter before serving. Sprinkle parsley over the top of the soup. Delicious.

Now. A word about the potatoes. I researched this and learned from Kate's Global Kitchen that for making chowder and chunky soups one should select waxy low-starch varieties such as Superior, Kennebe, Red Bliss, and other white and red skinned potatoes. I selected red skin potatoes. Monet's recipe says to slice the potatoes. For ease of eating, I quartered the slices. The firm texture holds up even after a long simmer. 

For rustic soups that rely solely on the starch from the potatoes to thicken them, the best are high starch russets or medium-starch Yukon Golds.

Monet's recipe said nothing about seasonings. Adding salt and pepper is a given. However, I use a mix of seasoning which includes salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I have a glass canning jar which contains a mix of 1 cup salt, 1/4th cup pepper, and 1/4th cup garlic powder. I added a couple of pinches of this seasoning to this soup. (I warmed leftover soup for lunch the day after and it was really good.)

And there you have it. Why not have one of Claude Monet's artistic soups for super. I'll be making another of his other favorite soups soon.

Overnight Breakfast Coffee Cake

Here's a mighty tasty coffee cake to serve family or guests. You can make it. It's easy. Put this cake together the night before so the rolls can thaw and rise before you bake the cake just before breakfast in the morning. You'll need a Bundt cake pan to turn out a beautiful cake. I got this recipe from my daughter, Stephanie, who is an excellent baker. 

Ingredients:

• 15-18 frozen white yeast dinner rolls (such as Rhodes Rolls)
• 1, 3.5 oz box of instant butterscotch pudding
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

1. Layer all ingredients in the order present in a greased deep Bundt pan. Spray the pan with cooking oil. Add the ingredients, Cover the pan with foil (spray the foil with cooking oil). Top with a clean dish drying towel and allow the cake to sit overnight.

2. In the morning, remove the towel and foil and bake the coffee cake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. (Some people bake this coffee cake at 350 degrees, but we think 325 degrees works better).

3. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes. Put a platter on top of the cake pan and flip the coffee cake out onto the platter. Each person can use a fork to pull off the rolls as shown in the picture. (We didn't have the pecans for this baking, but I highly recommend that you use them.)

This is a rich and delicious coffee cake!  

Country Sausage & Fried Taters

This old *Hoosier still likes to make and eat Country Sausage and Southern Fried Taters! Yep. Just like Pappy used to eat, except this batch was made from shredded taters and on-yown instead of sliced tater rounds and shredded own-yons. I still like to fry up sliced taters, but I think the country sausage and shredded taters looks pert good together in my cast iron skillet.

Yes, I fried the taters with yellow onions in my cast iron skillet just like my great grandmother fixed 'em for pappy. And they tasted real good. Although, I must admit, I think I like to eating the sliced fried tater rounds a  bit more. Why? I don't know. They just seem to be more like the real deal. Maybe it's because they're a little greasier. (Oh I can hear the howling clear down here in NC.)

The sausages were broiled. I always broil sausage rather than fryin' them to cut back on eatin' grease. You get enough grease from eating the taters:-) And all together, it is an unbeatable combination. Specially if you put a little catsup on your plate and pull your fork full of taters, onions, and sausage through the catsup on the journey up to your mouth.  Try 'em. This is the way to put a little taste of the South in yo mouth!

Ingredients:

• 3-4 peeled and sliced potatoes or a bag of shredded potatoes
• 1-2 yellow onions, sliced (white onions are too sweet)
• Crisco:-) or vegetable oil
• 1-2 pounds of country sausage (as much as your bunch can eat)

Instructions:

Turn the heat under a heavy skillet to medium. Put enough Crisco, vegetable oil, or saved bacon grease in your skillet to fry the taters golden brown. About a fourth cup will do just fine. Use a spatula to keep turning the potatoes now and them to get them to brown evenly. When I fry round potato slices I look to fry them to a uniform golden brown. As the potatoes start to brown I turn the flame down as slow cooking is the best way to get the potatoes golden. 

I prefer to broil the sausage. Set a rack on a pan. Put the sausages on the rack. Then put the pan in the oven under your broiler. Use tongs or a spatula to turn the patties now and then until they are fried just right--just like you see them in the picture. I put the sausages on the potatoes and then set the cast iron skillet on the dining room table for folks to serve themselves.

This is another one of those meals that serves well with a glass of ice cold milk, a glass of red wine, or a cup of hot coffee. Whatever suits you! Make sure to set a bottle of catsup on the table because this provides a a fine taste to round out the meal.

*Hoosier:

Just what is a Hoosier. That's a person who was born and raised in Indiana. This old Hoosier, as were others my age, the children of ancestors who moved up from Kentucky--or in the case of A. Lincoln, folks who moved down to Indi-aner from Illinois. What does Hoosier mean? I don't know. There are many theories on this. The one I like best is that it was a quick, slurred salutation exchanged by town folk--"Hows Yor?" -- Meaning, how are your kin doing.

It has been said that Hoosiers were folk who moved up from Tennessee or Kentucky to get flat farm land or to find jobs in manufacturing. I suspect both are true, except southern Indiana is beautifully hilly.

And by the way. There is a southern state that no one considers southern. It's Indiana.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I got very hungry for one of Mom's Pineapple Upside Down Cakes. So I rounded up my daughter and said, "Let's make one of Grandma's Pineapple Upside Down Cakes." Marta was all for it. She said, "Which recipe do we want to use?" I replied, "Let's start with the easy one." Mom had 3 recipes for Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

I got out my cast iron skillet, put it on the stove top, and started gathering ingredients. Mom's original recipe was for a from scratch cake. The second was a variation of the first recipe. And the last recipe uses a Duncan Hines Butter Golden cake mix.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 stick of butter (you'll need another stick for the cake mix)
• 1, 20 oz can of Dole pineapple slices in pineapple juice
• Jar Maraschino cherries
• Duncan Hines Butter Golden Cake Mix
• Iron skillet (or a Pyrex dish)
• Cake platter
• Container of Cool Whip

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the cake up using the ingredients and instructions called for on the back of the cake mix box--EXCEPT--substitute pineapple juice instead of using water. You'll find the can of pineapple slices packed in juice will contain enough juice to more than satisfy the liquid requirement for the cake mix.

Set the cast iron skillet on a burner turned to medium. Melt the stick of butter and stir in the cup of brown sugar. Place pineapple slices around the skillet and one in the center so that the entire skillet contains a single layer of pineapple. Place a Marachino cherry in the center of each pineapple slice.

(If you use a Pyrex dish instead of an iron skillet, melt the butter in the dish in your oven, stir in the brown sugar, and follow the same instructions for adding the pineapple and cherries.) 

Pour the cake mix batter on top of the pineapple rings in the skillet (or dish).

Put the iron skillet (or dish) in the oven and bake the cake until it is done.

If you're using an iron skillet, the cake will be baked in about 30-35 minutes.

The baking time will vary if you bake the cake in a Pyrex dish. Dish sizes and baking times are shown on the back of the cake mix box.

The cake is done when you insert a tooth pick, pull the toothpick out, and the toothpick comes out clean.

Let the cake cool for 5-10 minutes on the top of your range. Put a cake platter on the skillet/dish and holding both the cake skillet/dish and platter together firmly, carefully flip the containers so that the cake will fall perfectly onto the platter.

Serve the cake warm with Cool Whip cream.

 

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.

Country Ham, Bean, & Collard Greens Soup

Here's comfort for a cold winters night. Tasty. Nutritious. And just plain good, with rich flavor, warmth, and goodness for your body. It's easy to make. You'll wish to have enough of this soup to provide at least two meals. You can use regular ham, but I like to make it with country ham. If you can't find a slice of country ham at your grocer (and you probably won't), go on out to the Cracker Barrel country store on I-Whatever. I expect you'll find a slice there. Either way, country ham or city ham, this soup's good.

As for the beans, Emeril Lagasse convinced me that canned beans are good. But if you want to mess around picking through and soaking dried beans, go right ahead.

Ingredients:

• *2 Cans of white beans (Great Northern or Cannellini will do the trick) 
• 1/2 pound country ham cut into 1/4" x 1" pieces (Put your ruler away. You want small pieces)
• 1 Yellow onion, diced into small pieces
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (Don't you leave this goodness out!)
• 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 8 oz fresh Collard Greens (Yeah, you can use spinach, arugula, or even mustard greens)
• Salt and pepper to taste (If you use country ham, you may only need add black pepper)

* If it makes you feel better, soak 1/2 pound of dried Great Northern beans over night and use them in place of canned beans. 1/2 pound of dry beans equals 2 cans of cooked beans and vice versa:-)

Heat the olive oil in a heavy soup pot over medium high heat. I like to use my cast-iron Dutch oven to make soup. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme. Stir good to combine and saute the ingredients for 6-8 minutes. The onions ought to be translucent (and not burned brown). Add the beans, ham, and chicken stock and simmer until the beans are tender, but not mushy. Now add your greens and continue to simmer the soup until the greens are wilted. 

Serve your soup with fresh cornbread. Grandma made a pan of fresh pan o'cornbread for our supper. It goes so well with this soup!

Country Sausage & Rice Casserole

This is a great one dish hearty supper. And it is easy to fix. Use any ground sausage you wish, but if you can find bulk country sausage it is wonderful in this dish. Around here the place to buy it is Cliff's Meat Market. But you can find packages of country sausage at the supermarket too.

I haven't had sausage this good in years! There is nothing to compare with fresh farm prepared country sausage. 

Ingredients:

• 2pound of bulk country sausage, browned 
• 6 cups of cooked rice (2 cups of uncooked rice cooked will yield 6 cups)
• 4-5 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 large sweet onion chopped
• 1 Green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 cup (or more) of chicken broth
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley

Note 1: My daughter, Stephanie, makes this dish and she adds a can of the Rotel diced tomatoes with green chiles (mild).  This sounds very good to me!

Note 2: I love white basmati rice. You can buy it in bulk at Whole Foods. Try it. The aroma and taste is wonderful.

Instructions:

1. Chop the vegetables and set them aside.

2. Cook the rice. Rinse the rice with water in a strainer several times. Then pour the rice in a saucepan. Add water to be one index finger knuckle above the rice. Boil until the water is level with the rice. Put a lid on the pan and turn the heat to low. Do not take the lid off of the rice until you're instructed to do it:-) Cook the rice on low for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, set the pan off the burner for an additional 15 minutes to allow the rice to steam. Then take the lid off the pan and use a fork to fluff the rice. Pout the cooked rice in a casserole bowl and set the dish aside.  

3. Brown the sausage in a frying pan over medium heat. Drain the excess oil. Use a spatula to move the sausage into the casserole with the rice. Stir the sausage and rice together. Set the casserole aside.

4. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

5.  Sauté the celery, onions and bell pepper in butter in a frying pan over a low medium hot burner. Add salt and pepper as desired. When the vegetables are cooked through, use the spatula to transfer the vegetables into the casserole dish with the rice and sausage and stir the ingredients together.

6. Pour a cup of chicken broth over the rice, sausage, and vegetables and stir. 

7. Put a lid on the casserole dish and put the casserole in the oven and heat for 30 - 40 minutes. If you need to keep the casserole warm for more time than is needed to reheat the dish, add a little more chicken broth if it is needed and reduce the temperature of the oven to 225 degrees.

8. Sprinkle fresh chopped parsley over the top of the ingredients in the casserole and serve. 

Serves 4-6. Multiply the ingredients as is required to serve a crowd. Make this dish for a church pot luck dinner, covered dish dinner, or bake an extra large casserole in an aluminum pan to take to the community shelter.

Lloyd Pipes Famous Fudge Since 1937

Everyone and I mean everyone, wanted my dad, Lloyd Pipes, to make his creamy and buttery fudge for them. He made it for family, employees he supervised at Western Electric in Indianapolis (a former AT&T company that manufactured phones for Bell Telephone), neighbors, church members, and in colossal quantities for ministers and their guests. Dad never tired of making his candy. He put pure love for people and candy in every batch. Dad was amazing. We always had Dad's fudge for every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day. He was  often in the kitchen  working on his candy while Mom was cooking dinner. Sometimes he finished making his candy and served it to family and guests right before Mom served the dinner(to Mother's dismay)!

Dad passed away in November, 2007 at age 92, but you'll always remember him if you master the art of making his fudge as he did. When properly prepared, it's very special candy. You'll be in the race to clean the platter with everyone whose in the room with you.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups of sugar
• 2/3 cup half and half
• 2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, grated (Baker's changed the size of the squares!)
• 2 Tablespoons clear Karo syrup
• 2 Tablespoons butter, plus butter to cover the candy platter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup black walnut pieces 
• Heavily buttered platter

Instructions:

Combine the sugar, half and half, grated unsweetened chocolate, and Karo syrup. Heat to soft ball stage.

Use your candy thermometer to determine the temperature required for candy to be at a soft ball stage (240 degrees).  Dad continually tested the bubbling chocolate by spooning a drop of fudge in a cup of ice cold water and working it together with his index finger and thumb to try to work it in a ball. I remember his doing this methodically over and over until the candy reached the desired temperature to form a ball between his fingers.

I use a candy thermometer to determine when the heated ingredients reach the soft ball stage; Dad never did this and scoffed at my doing so. Dad’s fudge was always creamy and he stood by his manual efforts in getting this result.

Now add 2 Tablespoons butter and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Drop a big silver spoon in the hot candy pan to start whipping the hot fudge immediately. Steady motion, not fast.  Dad always beat the candy by hand rhythmically, until the candy was stiff. He used the same heavy pan for years and stirred the fudge with a his big metal spoon. I can see his arm moving now and it never stopped until the fudge was ready. I use to say, “Dad doesn’t your arm feel like it will fall off,” and he would smile and say, “Oh no, I'm fine.” Dad was always fine! I don't know how he did it! To be honest, my arms are not strong enough.

I use a big Kitchen Aid mixer and beat that mixture until it gets stiff. I made a batch today. I used the paddle to mix the hot candy. I set the mixer dial on stir. I turned the machine on and let it stir the fudge until it started getting thick.  On the stir setting, the machine mixed the fudge at about the speed of Dad's arm. It worked perfectly! 

Quickly stir in the black walnut pieces and quickly push the mixture out on a heavily buttered plate with a spatula. Let it set until the fudge is set up. Cut it in squares and take the platter to the family room and start serving the candy to family and guests -- even though Mom may be about ready to serve her Christmas dinner:-) 

Mom used to say, "Lloyd don't be serving that candy now ... no one will eat my dinner." He'd give her a big kiss and she'd look around to all of us ...  smile real big and say ... "I'll never be able to change him ... he's a sweetheart!" 

Lloyd and Charlotte Pipes love never failed. We always had a happy home. 

Mom's Starlight Mint Surprise Cookies

This was the cookie of all cookies for me at Christmas when I was just a lad. Then all of the sudden, Ebenezer apparently quit making the mints and I have not had one of Mom’s Rockwood Starlight Mint Surprise Cookies since. What made the Rockwood mint so special? It had a vibrant mint taste and it was coated with dark chocolate. When you wrapped Mom’s dough around those cookies and bake them, you were treated to a multitude of flavors.

Since you can no longer buy the Rockwood chocolate mint, you can try any chocolate mint you like. The one that has worked best for me is Ghirardelli mint.  This comes in a scored bar and can be broken into squares.  Just wrap some dough around the mint and bake a pan full. Here are the instructions followed by an Internet posting about the history of the Rockwood family.

Mom’s Starlight Mint Surprise Cookies

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Sift and set aside:                             

• 3 cups sifted flour
• 1 tsp soda
• ½ teaspoon salt

In a large mixing bowl use your mixer to cream:

• 1 cup shortening (with at least half being butter)

Then mix sugars together and add gradually to the shortening:            

• 1 cup sugar
•  ½ cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

Mix the shortening and sugars thoroughly.

Now add in:                           

• 2 eggs, unbeaten
• 1 Tablespoon water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Now beat well into the mix of shortening and sugars

Beat well well into the mix of shortening and sugars.

Now gradually blend in the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Cover, and chill the dough at least 2 hours.

Then enclose each chocolate wafer in about 1 Tablespoon of chilled dough.

Place the cookies on a greased baking sheet about 2” apart.

Top each cookie with a black walnut half.

Bake the cookies at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes

Mom's Luscious Apricot Squares

 

Mom made her luscious apricot squares every Christmas. She put them up in cookie tins and then put this tin along with her many Christmas cookie tins on the dining room sideboard for family and guests to help themselves as they wished. She baked as often as she needed to keep the tins full and the family happy.

Ingredients:

• 2/3rds Cup *California Dried  Apricots
• 1/2 Cup soft butter
• 1/4th Cup sugar
• 1-1/3 Cup sifted flour
• 1/4th teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 Cup brown sugar, packed tight
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 Cup chopped walnuts
• Confectioner's sugar

* California dried apricots are smaller than Turkish/Middle East dried apricots but they have a sweeter and much better flavor. You'll need to go to a chain supermarket like Kroger or Harris Teeter. You'll find them in the dried fruit section. They'll likely have two rows of the Middle East apricots and one thin row of the California. (You won't find them at Whole Foods.)

Instructions:

1. Rinse apricots. Cover them with water in a small saucepan and boil for 10 minutes. They should still be whole, but soft. Don't overcook the fruit. Cool and chop. 

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 X 8 X 2 inch pan.

3. Mix butter, sugar, and 1 Cup of flour until crumbly. Press into pan and bake for 25 minutes.

4. Sift 1/3 Cup flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually beat brown sugar into eggs. Mix in flour mixture, then vanilla, chopped walnuts, and chopped apricots.

5. Spread over baked layer. Bake 30 minutes or until done. Cool into pan and then cut into 32 bars. Roll the bars in confectioner's sugar.

Eat one and you may not be able to stop! 

 

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.

Standing Rib Roast

There is nothing to compare with the taste of a delicious standing rib roast. But prime roasts are pricey, so when you splurge make sure you get a good piece of meat. I suggest you go to a good butcher and be specific in communicating your needs. Be generous in ordering a roast to serve your guests and family.

If you want a lean cut, ask for a lean cut. I don't ask for a lean cut and here is why. You really need some fat to get a juicy, tender roast. I tell the butcher I wish to have "a well marbled roast." This should tell the butcher you want enough fat on top and within the grain of the meat for the roast to be tender, juicy, and flavorful. The rest is up to you. Cook it long enough that it fits the taste of the people at your table, but not so long that it is overcooked.

If you demand a lean cut, expect to eat tough meat. 

First decide first on how much roast to buy. A general guideline is that you'll serve two people to a rib. Therefore, a three rib roast will serve about 6 people. 

Chefs like to serve a roast medium rare. However, most people will say they want the meat to be cooked medium, medium well, or well done. You'll often have at least one person who'll say, "Well done." So you might ask, "How can I satisfy everyone?" You may not, but here is my suggestion for coming close.

First. I suggest you not attempt to cook a pricey roast without using a digital meat thermometer. I would cook the roast until the middle is done to a temperature of 145-150 degrees. If more people ask for medium well, roast the meat until the temperature of the middle of the roast is about 155 degrees. 

Start roasting the meat at 425 degrees for 15 minutes to sear the roast and then drop the temperature to 325 degrees. I start taking temperature readings when the meat has been in the oven for about an hour. Take frequent readings. I've discovered that if the center is cooked to medium, the end pieces will be cooked to medium well or near well done. Cut and serve to your guests accordingly. Give end slices to those who prefer well-done meat. 

This plan usually works for me and it may or may not work for you. It is a challenge to meet everyones wish. It's much easier for a chef at a restaurant who can selectively heat portions of roasts to the desired doneness. 

If you want some more precise instructions and don't mind wading through a lot of detail, you might wish to refer to  http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beef/ClassicPrimeRib.htm. This site provides some nice charts to help you select your meat and determine how long to cook the meat.

Here are some do's and don'ts.

• Do rub the meat with olive oil.

• Don't salt the meat because salt draws the moisture out of meat when you roast. You don't want that. You'd like a juicy roast. Let your guests salt and pepper their meat to taste at the table.

• If you're tempted to trim fat off the roast, I'd wait until after the meat is roasted. The roast needs to be roasted with fat to make it juicy and delicious. 

• Do stand the roast bone on the rack above a pan containing about an inch of water or white wine.

• Buy roasts when they are on sale and freeze them to thaw and roast for special occasions. 

I roasted the meat pictured to medium well and was enjoyed by all. I like to roast enough meat for everyone to have their fill. If some is leftover, that's fine ... it can be sent home with guests or served at a second or even a third meal. My preference is to serve the whole roast at the table. Slice half or more than half of the roast and leave the knife on the platter. 

I like to serve mashed potatoes, green vegetable, and a nice salad with this meal.

Jalapeño Corn Casserole

  
You've all seen a dish of corn, so I decided to give you a different picture. When I think of corn, I think of my visits to corn fields near San Juan Ostuncalco in Guatemala. Here women pat out their staple corn food, tortillas. The Mam Indians I've visited in the Western Highlands of Guatemala actually grow their corn right up the side of a mountain. It's true. You should see it for yourself. It's back breaking work from sunup until sundown. Plowing is done by hand with a tool that is similar to a hoe, but larger. It's primitive out there, but not so primitive that you can't find a bottle of Pepsi, as seen in the picture. The Pepsi will not be cold. I could tell you more stories than you want to hear, but hopefully I've put you in the mood for a taste a Jalapeño corn casserole.

Ingredients:

• 2, 15 1/2  oz cans Green Giant Sweet corn, drained of juice
• 1, 8 oz container of onion & chive cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2-4 Jalapeño peppers, deseeded and chopped into small pieces

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a mixing bowl, combine the ingredients and mix as well as possible with heavy wooden spoon. Pour the mix into a greased 1 1/2 quart casserole and bake for 30 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Stir the corn and serve the dish hot.

I got this recipe from my Sister-in-law, Maryanne, and it is delicious!

Here is a picture of corn growing near San Juan Ostuncalco, Guatemala:

Sugar Cream Pie

When I was a boy in the 1940s my great grandmother, Margaret See, regularly baked and served Sugar Cream Pie to our extended family as a lunch pie. The other pie great grandma often made for lunch was a custard pie. Then she fixed up fruit pies, cakes, and other baked goods for supper. Far as I'm concerned, you can serve this pie anytime. 

Grandma called this her sugar pie. Some folks call it a Hoosier Pie. Hoosiers is what they call folks from Indiana. Just what does the word "Hoosier" mean? Depends on who you ask. There are all kinds of theories about what the term "Hoosier" means. I don't know, but the one I like is "Hows yur?" (meaning how's your kin).

I'll tell you what. There is not an easier delicious pie to make than this one.

My great grandmother Margaret inspired me to cook. And when I expressed interest, she taught me to cook. She was in the kitchen all day cooking and baking wonderful food for our large extended family. She was a Saint. 

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees if you're using a pie tin or to 425 degrees for a glass pie plate. 

Ingredients:

• 1  9" unbaked pie shell
• 1 1/3 Cups sugar 
• 1/2 Cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 pint heavy (whipping)  cream
• 3/4ths Cup milk, + some to brush around crust (yeah, best be whole milk)
• 2 Tablesppons butter (cut into small pieces)
• Pinch or two of ground nutmeg.

Note: It works well to keep a few unbaked frozen pie shells in your freezer to make pies like this. 

Instructions:

How easy can it get. Pull out a large mixing bowl. Pour in the sugar, flour, cream, and milk. Combine ingredients with a whisk. Pour the mix into the unbaked pie shell. Spread the small pieces of butter about the top of the pie (and watch them disappear). Use you fingers to sprinkle nutmeg over the top of the pie.   

Cover the edge of the crust with foil. I sit my tin or dish on top of a piece of aluminum foil and bring the edges up to cover just the edge of the pie crust. You don't want to burn your crust at the higher temperature.  Bake the pie for 10 minutes. 

Reduce the heat to 350 degrees.

Very carefully pull the pie out of the oven and remove the foil.  Use a brush to apply milk around the edge of the pie crust so it will bake to a golden brown. 

Now put the pie back into the 350 degree oven and bake it for 30 to 35 minutes until the crust is golden brown. It's still going to seem lidquidy, so carefully remove the pie from the oven to the top of the stove. Let it sit to cool for 30 minutes or more until the pie sets up. Then put the pie in the refrigerator.

Your pie ought to look as pretty as the one in the picture. I just pulled this pie out of the oven 30 minutes before I photographed it. The pie is in the refrigerator now and it will be served for supper. Keep what's not eaten in the refrigerator as this pie ought be serve cold. 

Chicken Vegetable Soup

It's as easy as can be to make a pot of wholesome chicken vegetable soup. You might intentionally shop for ingredients to make this soup, but hold on. Look first to see what you already have on hand. You might, as I do, keep some zip bags in the freezer of chicken parts you didn't need to cook for a meal. I keep a zip bag of livers, another of wings, and I've a notion to start keeping one chicken legs since they often do not get eaten. Then too, you might use the white and dark meat left over from last nights dinner. 

By the way. Get busy some afternoon and make a pot of chili or chicken soup for shut-ins or folks living in an independent living facility. Take them some freezer containers of your homemade soup. There are times they don't want to go to the facility dining room.

Ingredients:

• Chicken, cubed (use as much or as little leftover or fresh chicken as you have)
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 2-3 large fresh carrots, chopped
• 4 stalks or more of celery, chopped
• 2-3 (32 oz) boxes of chicken broth, or as much broth from cans 
• Parsley, chopped (optional)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Crackers
• Butter

Note: If you do not have leftover chicken, buy a small package of fresh skinless chicken breasts. Cut the breasts into cubes and add the raw chicken to the pot. Just bring the pot to a boil until the chicken and vegetables are thoroughly cooked. 

Instructions:

Chop vegetables and chicken and put them in your soup pot. Pour enough chicken broth over the vegetables to make a good pot of soup. I usually use 2-3, 32 oz boxes of chicken broth (or like amount of chicken broth from cans). Season the pot with salt and pepper. Cook the soup over a medium hot burner until the pot is boiling (and any fresh chicken added is thoroughly cooked). Lower the heat to very low to keep the soup hot until you're ready to serve it.  Yes, you surely can add other chopped vegetables you have on hand and wish to use.

Serve up this great soup with crackers and butter and you've got a great meal for tonight and maybe tomorrow night too!

Mom's Apricot-Pineapple Pie

Charlotte Lou Allen Pipes was a great pie baker. Mom’s Apricot-Pineapple Pie has been a family tradition for more than 60 years. Baked to mouth watering perfection, we could expect one of these delicious Apricot-Pineapple pies every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years day, as well as other special days throughout the year. In fact, Mom sometimes made several of them along with other baked goods, such as her delicious pumpkin and apple pies. Cake? Well of course.  Mom made wonderful cakes and brownies too. We had lots of fresh baked goods in our house. And Dad (Lloyd) always brought a big container of French Vanilla or Peppermint ice cream from the freezer and put generous dollops of ice cream on the warm baked goods.

Ingredients:

• 2 pie crusts
• 2 packages of *California dried Apricots
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 small (8 oz) can of crushed Dole pineapple, undrained
• Dab of butter (1 Tablespoon)

Intructions:

1. Cook apricots until tender in just enough water to cover (about 12-15 minutes). I like it better when the apricots are still a bit chunky and not sauced.

2. Mix together sugar and cornstarch. Add to apricots and cook until clear and thickened.

3. Remove from heat and add pineapple and a dab of butter. Pour into pie crust.

4. Cover with the second crust. Bake at 350 for about an hour or until crust is gold and bubbly.

Mom did one more thing that I haven't mastered and this little touch brings the taste even more alive. She somehow put very tiny bits of pastry dough ball crumbs with salt on the top crust. It was good. 

* I wouldn’t substitute with Turkish or Mediterranean dried apricots. There is a big difference. California dried apricots are superior in taste. My experience is that gourmet markets only sell dried apricots from the Middle East. They are much larger and much prettier. California dried apricots are smaller and darker--but they are sweeter! I sometimes have to work at it, but I often find the California dried apricots (Sunsweet) at chain super markets. There you will often find 2 rows of Middle East apricots and one little row of California apricots. And for some reason, the packages are often not marked California. You must look at the fine print. When I find them, I stock up.

“Probably anywhere between 30% and 40% of our business is done internationally, be it retail or bulk packs,” said Jeff McLemore, product manager for North America at Yuba City, Calif.-based Sunsweet Growers Inc. “Consumption levels are strong, if not stronger, in places like Japan. The eastern European countries are also strong.”

History:

Mom invented this pie in the 1940s. On the day before Thanksgiving, Dad was flat on his back in bed as a result of a bad fall. He couldn't work for weeks. When he didn't work he didn't get paid. Mom was about out of money. She had already bought a turkey, potatoes, and vegetables. But she was worried about how to make dad a nice pie for Thanksgiving. She went to the pantry to see if there was anything to put together a pie. She found two packages of dried apricots and a small tin of Dole crushed pineapple. This was enough! She immediately recognized these would be the ingredients she'd use to make Dad a pie. She thought about how she would do it and came up with this recipe. 

This pie, along with pumpkin and pecan pies, have become a family tradition. Mom and members of our extended family have baked this pie for every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years day for over 60 years. My daughter helped me bake the pie pictured. The tradition continues.

A Dish of Hot Beans, Onions, & Potatoes

Would you like to make the job of preparing supper easier? When you're feeling fresh in the morning, snap some beans, chop some sweet onion, and peel and cut up some nice redskin potatoes. Put the vegetables in your crock pot. Pour a box of organic chicken broth over the vegetables. Season the pot with salt and pepper. Then put the lid on the crock pot and set the temperature on low. Let those vegetables cook slowly all day long. Peek now and then and stir the pot.

I would have liked to add a few more ingredients to the pot, but the family would not have approved, so I didn't. What other ingredients would I have added? Heh, heh, heh ... you can bet on it ... that I would have added some apple smoked bacon grease and a hefty shot or two of balsamic vinegar.  It also would have been excellent to add some chopped cabbage. I like'em like that. But, sometimes the cook has to instead add a dash of temperance.

Now when I was a boy, way back into the 1940's, times were tough. Those were war years. I remember I loved spending a lot of summer days and nights at Grandpa and Grandma Pipes house. They were poor. For the most part, we got along grand. I only remember being in trouble once. On the third night in a row grandma once again sat  a dish of hot cooked green beans, cabbage, onions, and potatoes on the table for our dinner. All were from grandpa's garden. I said, "You mean, we're having beans, cabbage, and potatoes for dinner again?" (Yeah, and we had already said grace.) Grandpa said, "Son, you go to your room and not come down until breakfast." I was to go to bed with no dinner. I lay in bed and wished for some beans, cabbage, onions, and potatoes. Besides, I knew there was also going to be toast and grandma's homemade jam.

Tastes good. Been even better if the vegetables and been cooked with a little bacon grease and balsamic vinegar:-)

Delicious Sea Scallops

R.C. Wilson often asked, "Just what is a scallop?" "It's a muscle." "A what?" "It's a muscle that powers the sea Mollusk to swim freely. Scallops don't have brains, but they do have eyes." "Well, how do they know where they're going if they don't have brains?" "Ah well, ahh?" 

These beautiful shells are not clinging to a rock beneath the ocean like other shellfish.  What are shellfish? Shellfish is a term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Say what? Well, a lot more could be said, but what's the point? They are delicious seafood! And yes, they are rich in nutrients.

Aren't there little baby scallops good too? Yes. They cook in half the time and are also very tasty!

Jumbo scallops can be pricey. I love fresh jumbo scallops. But if they're priced at $23.99 a pound, I mosey on over to the frozen seafood department. There I'll find a bag full at half the cost. They taste the same but are a little smaller. I usually just salt them and fry them in a little olive oil. Today I added a tablespoon of butter to the oil and seasoned them with Herbes de Provence. You can also season them with thyme.

What are Herbes de Provence? They are a collection of herbs frequently used for cooking by people who live in the south of France. It depends on which French person you talk to as to what this collection might include. I've found there are a lot of combinations. When you buy a bottle of herbs labeled Herbes de Provence it might contain dried  marjoram, rosemary, thyme, sage, savory, fennel seeds, and basil. Others might, for example, include lavender, ginger, coriander. Whatever! The bottle you buy or the mixture you prepare is likely to be very good. 

So why not get busy and prepare some delicious scallops. Salt them and roll them in Herbes de Provence and cook them just so. Yum. Here is my recipe.

Ingredients:

• Fresh or frozen jumbo or large scallops
• Salt
• Herbes de Provence
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon butter

Instructions:

Season the scallops with salt and Herbes de Provence. 

Heat olive oil on a medium high stove top burner. Add 1 Tablespoon butter. Use tongs to set the scallops in the hot skillet. Cook them for 1-2 minutes until the one side is golden brown. Gently turn the scallops with tongs and cook them for 1 -2 minutes until the second side is golden brown. Use your tongs to take them from the skillet to a pretty plate and serve them.  They are this easy to prepare!

If you use the baby scallops, they'll cook to a golden brown in exactly 1 minute on each side.

Whether jumbo, large, or small, they are fine dining. Scallops can be served as a main course or as an appetizer. 

Nancy's Healthy & Delicious Homemade Granola

Grandma Nancy makes her own granola because it is good stuff! She makes it with ingredients she selects and buys individually to insure she'll have the best granola for her breakfast.

Nancy eats cereal for breakfast. Period. Oh yes, now and then she likes to have a plate of Grandpa's bacon and eggs and sometimes she likes to prepare and eat pancakes, which daughter Marta loves. But typically, you can expect to see Nancy sit down at breakfast with her big bowl of cheerios or wheat flakes, her homemade granola, and fresh blueberries and/or bananas, chopped fresh dates, peaches, or strawberries. Nancy brings a bountiful bowl of goodness to the table nearly every morning.

Here's Nancy's recipe for homemade granola that is out of this world. Nancy regularly makes granola on Sunday afternoon.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups Oatmeal (Old fashioned Quaker Oats--no quick oats!)
• 1/2 Cup Wheat germ
• 2/3 Cup Flaxseed meal
• 1 Cup Almonds, slivered
• 1 Cup Pumpkin seeds
• 2/3 Cup Coconut
• 2/3 Cup Walnuts or pecans, chopped small
• 1 Cup water
• 1/2 Cup brown sugar
• 1/3 Cup Canola oil
• 1/2 Cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. 

2. In a large bowl combine oats, wheat germ, flaxseed meal, coconut, pumpkin seeds, and nuts and mix well.

3. In a large saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, oil, honey, molasses or sorghum, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla.

4. Heat until thoroughly mixed; do not boil. 

5. Pour syrup over the dry ingredients and gently stir until coated well.

6. Spread onto large cookie sheets.

7. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

8. For a crunchier texture, bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes.

9. Stir in an airtight container in a dry place.

10. Granola will keep up to 6 months but it's gone at our house so fast that you can expect Nancy to sometimes make it twice in a month (unless more than 2 people are it daily). 

Fill airtight tins of granola and give goodness for Christmas. This would be an especially nice gift for a person living in an independent living facility.

Grandpa's Chili, Famous Since 1949

Everyone, it seems, has their own chili recipe. And many think their chili is the best! I’m not an exception. I came up with this chili recipe in 1949. After I got home from school, mother called me from her office and said, "Son, I'm tired, I don't suppose you'd like to make a pot of chili for the family dinner." I jumped at the chance. She knew I loved to cook and that I had watched her make chili many times. But I took this opportunity to make the chili the way I wanted and invented the following recipe. I'd be very surprised if anyone makes chili like I do. But you ought try it, you might really like it.

Ingredients:

• 28.5 ounce can of original Hunts Diced Tomatoes
• 15 ounce can Hunts Tomato Sauce
• 1 can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup (an 8-year old's addition and I still use it)
• 2 cans dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed in a colander
• 2-3 large carrots, diced
• 4 stalks of celery, remove the strings and  slice
• Chopped leaves from one stalk of celery
• Large sweet onion, diced
• Water
• 1½ pounds of ground chuck
• Bunch green onions, diced
• Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• A few shakes of Tobasco sauce, (or Cholula Sauce)

Mom used a little chili powder when she thought I wasn't looking and wouldn't notice.  A kid wouldn't use chili powder or hot sauce in 1949. Now I like to use Mexican Cholula sauce because it has a wonderful bright tomato taste.

This pot ought to provide 12 large servings.

Instructions:

Pour the diced tomatoes, 2-3 cans of water, tomato sauce, tomato soup, kidney beans, carrots, celery, sweet onion, onion, salt, and freshly ground pepper in a 4 qt or stock pot, and begin to heat the ingredients using a moderate setting (lower the setting if the soup starts boiling). Stir now and then.

Meanwhile, crumble and lightly brown meat in a skillet. Add salt and pepper to taste. As the meat begins to brown, add the chopped green onions, and about 5 healthy shakes of Worcestershire sauce. When the meat is browned, pour the contents of the skillet in a colander to drain off as much grease as possible. Then pour the meat mixture into the soup pot, add the spices and a couple of shots of Cholula sauce (if desired).

Finish heating until the chili is ready to be served.

I like to serve the chili with both soda crackers and club crackers and I always butter my crackers. I know. The Fat Police be on you if they catch you doing this! When I was a kid, I'd lather the butter on the cracker and then I'd spoon some of the soup solids on top and it it:-) You can't take the boy out of some men.

Now I want to tell you of something good that you can do. Make a big pot of this for folks living in an Independant Living Facility. Divide the contents of the pot into freezer containers and freeze the chili. When folks don't feel like going down to the dining room now and then, they can take a container out of their freezer, thaw it, heat it in their microwave and have a fine dinner. Provide thawing and heating instructions. 

You going to have a crowd for dinner. Make as much chili as you'll need. This is a fine meal for a crowd. They'll love being served this chili on a cold winter's night. Serve some Merlot with it, or ice cold milk if that's what your crowd might like. A glass of ice cold milk goes great with this chili.

A Delicious & Juicy Roasted Turkey

There is a lot you can do to insure you turn out a delicious, juicy Thanksgiving and/or Christmas Turkey. Here are the things I think one must do to set a delicious and juicy turkey in front of your family:

1. Buy a premium turkey at an quality meat or poultry market, Whole Foods, or a Fresh Market. Can you buy a good turkey at the Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Kroger, Lowes, or another supermarket? You certainly can. I would chose a premium organic turkey. The one thing on my holiday menu that I want to make certain is done right is the turkey. Therefore, my preference is to buy my turkey at a store well known for the quality of its meat and poultry. The turkey pictured was purchased at Whole Foods.

2. However, the way you prepare your turkey will be the biggest determining factor in whether or not you serve a delicious, juicy turkey. Scary? Yes. None of us is perfect, including Grandpa, but if you properly thaw the bird, prepare it well, keep your eye on the bird, take its temperature, and do not under or overcook the bird you're likely to fix a delicious, juicy bird.

3. If you don't have one, buy a meat thermometer and spare batteries. Use the thermometer to determine when the bird is done just right. You want the temperature of the middle of bird's breast to be 170 degrees (the thermometer should not be touching the bone). If you'd like take another reading, take one in the middle of a thigh (the thermometer should not be touching the bone) and the temperature ought not to be more than 180 degrees.

 4. Roast the turkey for 12-15 minutes per pound. If you look at a lot of recipes you're going to see recommendations of anywhere between 12 and 20 minutes per pound for an unstuffed turkey. Sure, there are variances in oven temperatures and this is a darn good reason to own and use a meat thermometer. The turkey in the picture was 12.38 pounds. The breast temperature was 170 degrees in 2 hours and 45 minutes which was very close to 12 minutes per pound (unstuffed). This was a delicious, tender, and juicy turkey!

Why does a turkey turn out to be dry? Probably because it was overcooked. Start taking temperature readings when your bird has been roasted at something close to 12 minutes per pound. 

When the center of the turkey breast registers close to or at 170 degrees, pull the bird from the oven and let it rest for a full 15 minutes before you start slicing it. (Be careful. Don't let the turkey fly off the platter:-)

It is your choice, but I don't recommend stuffing the bird. I bake dressing in a casserole dish.

Ingredients:

• A great turkey:-)
• Duck fat and butter (or olive oil)
• Rock sea salt
• Coarse black pepper
• Fresh rosemary
• A good white wine

Move the turkey from the freezer to the refrigerator to thaw 2 to 3 days before the day you cook the bird. Two days is usually enough for a small bird. Move a big bird 2 1/2 to 3 days before you want to cook it. The turkey must then be cooked within 24 hours after it is thawed. Check the bird the night before you cook to make sure it is close to being thawed. If not, run cold water over it for an hour or so (preferably while it is still tightly wrapped in plastic). Of course, one should also read and heed the USDA recommendations for cleanliness (aka the Poultry Police).

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees

1. Remove the giblets and neck from the cavity of the bird and save these parts in the fridge to make juices to use in preparing a nice dressing (used to be called stuffing but since some of us no longer stuff as a result of warnings from the Poultry Police, we now bake a dish that we call a dressing). Truthfully, I prefer eating dressing baked in a casserole. Refer to my dressing recipe which explains how to cook the giblets to make turkey juice.

2. Wash the bird thoroughly and pat it dry with paper towels. Oh yes, wash your hands with hot soapy water, the counter, cabinet doors and drawers, the walls, the seat of the car, your spouses arm, or anything else that might have come in contact with the raw bird, as recommended by the Poultry Police. Sure, if you like, get out your Clorox wipes and give the counter an extra good cleaning. Then get out that fancy bottle of that soft and soothing Hand Sanitizer, pour a dollop in the palm of your hands and rub your hands tenderly as you would in the old days with hand lotion:-) 

Now comes the fun part.

Use your lovely clean hands to tenderly rub duck fat (or olive oil) all over the cavity of the turkey (the inside the bird). 

Now rub the cavity of the bird with sea salt and coarse black pepper.  If you have a rosemary bush, cut a wad of it off the bush and stuff the cavity of the turkey with the rosemary.

Rub the skin of the turkey with duck fat (or olive oil) and sprinkle salt and pepper on the skin.

Set a wire rack in a baking dishing. Taste the white wine to make sure it is good stuff. Pour about an inch of white wine in the dish below the baking rack. Set the turkey on top of the rack. Make a foil tent and set it over the bird. Put the turkey in the pre-heated 450 degree in the oven.

Then wash your hands in hot soapy water and rub them with some more of your soothing Sanitizer!

In 15 minutes, reduce the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees. Do not forget to do this or you're going to burn the bird!

When there is an 45 minutes to an hour of roasting time left, remove the foil tent and baste the bird with butter. Return the turkey to the oven without the tent. Start checking the temperature of the turkey's breast when there is 30 minutes of baking time left. Follow the instructions above for taking the temperature of the turkey. Now that you know the temperature, you'll have a good idea of how much longer you need to roast it. Take the temperature often enough to get the bird from the oven at 170 degrees. Pull the bid from the oven and follow let the bird rest before slicing it.

Apple & Berry Stuffed Pork Loin Roast

 

Ask the butcher to butterfly a pork loin roast twice to result in having a piece of meat that is in one long, evenly thick rectangle (the term is "butterflied twice"). There are butchers who are happy to do this for you. My experience has been that Whole Foods butchers respond with a smile and tell you they'll be glad to do it. The butcher starts with a nice round roast and cuts the meat so it will become a flat piece of meat of equal thickness. See the first picture below. Make sure the butcher leaves a piece of fat on top for roasting to keep the meat juicy. 

You're going to prepare a stuffing that you'll lay evenly over the top of the piece of meat. See the second picture below.

Then you will simply start at one end and use your hands to roll the meat back into a round roast. You will then secure the roll by tying butcher string tightly around the roast at each end, and with another one or two stings in the middle if your doing a big roast. This is what you see in the picture above.

Ingredients:

• A pork loin roast equal to the size you need to feed those at the table (6-8 oz per serving)
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 2 tart apples, chopped in cubes (such as Granny Smith)
• 1 Cup dried berries (raisins are good. I used dried tart cherries and apple juice infused dried cranberries)
• 8-10 fresh sage leaves
• 2 cups bread cubes
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 Slices of Applewood bacon (optional)
• Chicken broth (You'll need 1/2 to 1 Cup, but it's good to have more available if needed)

The above ingredients are enough for a 3 1/2 to 4 pound roast.  The roast pictured is only a 2 pound roast, so I cut the recipe in half. Double the recipe if you're going to fix a 6 or 8 lb roast.

Instructions:

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a heavy deep skillet, heat the olive oil using a medium-high heat setting. Add the onions and apples and stir the ingredients well. Add the berries and stir them in. Finally, gently stir in the bread cubes. When the ingredients are cooked just to the point of being soft, gradually start adding chicken broth until the ingredients are nice and moist.  Turn the heat off and move the skillet off the hot burner. Let the ingredients cool.

Lay the roast out flat on a board and start spooning the cooled stuffing ingredients on the meat from one end to the other until there is a nice even layer of stuffing. Then use your fingers to start rolling the meat up into a mice round roast. Tie butcher string tight around each end to hold the roast together. Then add 1 or 2 more strings in between only if they are needed to hold the roast together. You can buy a small quantity of butcher string at supermarkets or at stores that sell kitchen utensils.

You may want to consider topping the roast with 2 strips of Applewood bacon for moisture and flavor. 

Cook the roast for about an hour and a half at 375 degrees until a meat thermometer inserted into the center of the roast registers 160 degrees. If you do not have a digital meat thermometer it is a good idea to buy one, along with a replacement battery or two for back up. It's not way cool to need your thermometer and discover the battery is dead.

Let the roast rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing it. 

Here are photos of the butterflied roast and two of the preparation steps.

Mom's Thanksgiving Sage & Celery Dressing

Mom's Thanksgiving and Christmas Sage & Celery Dressing and Sage and Celery Dressing with Oysters is so good there is none left by the end of the day (and each was a double recipe). One dish was just her great dressing and the other dish was her great dressing with oysters. The kids just wanted the dressing. Mom, the grandmothers, and the great grandmothers wanted Mom's dressing with oysters. Mom learned this recipe from my great grandmother, Margaret See. Grandma See always bought a big refrigerated jar of oysters from the grocer the day before a holiday and the whole jar went into a batch of dressing. I made a batch on just a regular old day, a month before Thanksgiving to go with an apple stuffed pork loin roast.

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf of stale bread, cubed (I use an equal amount from a bag of cubes purchased at the Whole Foods bread department.)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• Oysters, from a jar of fresh refrigerated oysters (optional)
• 1/2 stick of butter, melted
• 8 sage leaves, sauted in butter (or 2 tablespoons dried sage)
• Juices from chicken or turkey giblets
• Chicken broth
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions:

Mom always laid out fresh slices of artisan bread on cookie sheets to sit out the night before she was to make dressing to let the bread "get stale" (or dried). I just go to the Whole Foods bread department and ask for a bag of large bread cubes.   

Use butter to grease the casserole bowl you'll use to bake the dressing. Do not forget to do this or you're going to have dressing sticking to the bottom of the dish. 

Save chicken or turkey giblets. Cook the giblets in a quart of salted water just before making the dressing. I like to use a mix of water and chicken broth to cook the giblets. The reason you're cooking the giblets is to get the benefit of a big infusion of poultry taste in the dressing.

Put the stale bread cubes in a large mixing bowl. Add beaten eggs, salt and about 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Mix gently with a wooden spoon.  Add the hot melted butter and juices from the chicken or turkey giblets a bit at a time and mix gently with a wooden spoon. You want to get the bread nice and wet (but you do not want liquid on top of the bread).

If you want oysters in the dressing, mix them in now.

Transfer the dressing from the mixing bowl to the buttered casserole you'll use to bake the dressing. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour and a half. Check the dressing now and then. Add poultry juice or chicken broth if the dressing is getting dry. Remove the lid about 20 minutes before the dressing is done so that the dressing will brown nicely.

Double the recipe for a large crowd or if you have folks like me that eat this stuff like it is going out of style. Which it does after Christmas until the next Thanksgiving (unless you're like me and make a dish on a regular old day just because you love Mom's sage and celery dressing). Here's a 1942 picture of my mom, my brother, and me (the pudgy little guy).

Duck Breast

Does this duck breast look good or what? They were delicious and preparing them is so easy. The duck skin contains all of the fat you'll need to cook them when you prepare them following my instructions. Unless you have an large meat store with a comprehensive selection, you're probably going to have to buy packaged frozen duck breasts. The Bell & Evans brand of frozen split duck breasts are excellent and you'll find them in a case of frozen specialty meats at Whole Foods. The box contains two perfect 6 oz servings.

Ingredients:

• Split duck breasts
• Salt
• Pepper
• Your favorite heavy skillet (I reach for my seasoned cast iron skillet.)

Instructions:

Thaw the duck breasts.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then heat a heavy skillet on a medium high burner on a range top burner. 

Cut the individually wrapped packets and turn the split duck breasts out onto a cutting board, skin side up. Use a sharp carving knife to cut the skin into a cross-hatch design. Score the skin one way and then the other so that you have diamond shape cuts in the skin.

Put the breasts, skin side down into the hot skillet. The skin will release enough duck fat for cooking. You shouldn't need to add any fat to the skillet.Turn the breasts over after the skin side is brown and crisp. Cook the meat on the flip side for 2 minutes. If you're using a cast iron skillet, you can immediately put the skillet in your preheated oven. Otherwise, transfer the meat to a baking dish, put the baking dish in the oven, and bake the breasts until they're done as you like them (about 10-20 minutes). 

If you're using a heavy skillet and you prefer, you can do all of the cooking on top of the range and the breasts will turn out great. 

Breakfast at the Mabry Mill in the Meadows of Dan, Virginia

Grandpa and daughter Marta know how to chow down. While Mom slept in, Marta and I slipped out of the Inn and went to the Mabry Mill restaurant at the Meadows of Dan. There was a long line of people waiting from the front door out to the driveway at 7:50 a.m., both Saturday and Sunday. The dining room opens at 8:00 a.m. You bet, we were there both days for a big breakfast. It was a chilly 34 degrees, but we didn't mind because we knew we were in for a treat.

Marta ordered scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuit, grits, and apple juice. Dad ordered hot coffee, eggs over medium, sausage, wheat toast, and grits, plus one great big pancake for Marta and I to split. We cleaned our plates:-)

As we returned to the Woodberry Inn, Marta looked through the window of the Inn and saw Mom having the fine continental breakfast with innkeepers Shep and Angie. We wheeled into the first parking space and joined everyone. I had a little more hot coffee and Marta sipped some of Mom's orange juice. Mom loves her morning Cheerios and she was content to have the chance to sleep in before heading up front for her breakfast.

Already beautiful, the sunny days warmed to the mid-70s and we enjoyed the Blue Ridge Mountain vistas and the colorful red, orange, and yellow autumn leaves that were still on the trees.

The Mabry Mill restaurant closes for the winter at the end on October (and reopens in April), but the Blue Ridge Mountains continue to be beautiful and the Woodberry Inn is open all year. You can bet we'll return in the winter. The beautiful pines will still be green and the mountain vistas will still be breath-taking. And, if you arrive early on Friday, make sure you visit the Country Store at Floyd, VA on Friday night, 'cause the mountain folks will be jammin' with their fiddles, guitars, and banjos. You're likely to find music around and about because Floyd, VA is on Virginia's Crooked Music Trail.  http://www.thecrookedroad.org/. The Woodberry Inn http://www.woodberryinn.com/. Mabry Mill http://www.virginia.org/site/description.asp?attrid=40045.

Duck Fat Potatoes

How 'bout it! Do these potatoes look good, or what? I picked up one of those small mixed bag's of fingerling potatoes from Trader Joe's. I lik'em because you're getting a pretty and a good tasting collage of white, yellow, and purple potatoes! You can also shop at Whole Foods, where you don't have to buy a 10-pound bag of one kind of potato:-) Just just pick up an assortment of a few white, yellow, and purple potatoes. 

On a beautiful fall day like today, I like to take a collander of washed potatoes, my parin' knife, and bowl of ice cold water to the front porch and sit in a comfortable wicker chair to prep the potatoes. I have a little table next to my chair that comes in handy for kitchen chores. "Hey Nance, will you bring ol' grandpa a glass of red wine to sip while I'm peelin' these taters?" 

I peel'm and let the peelin's drop into the collander and then drop the potatoes in the ice water, so they don't turn brown while I'm takin' my time peelin' taters and sippin' wine. When the wine glass is empty it's a good time to go back in the house to cook.

Ingredients:

• As many white, yellow, and purple potatoes as you or your family can eat
• 2 Tablespoons of duck fat or olive oil if you happen to be out of duck fat:-)
• Salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• Your favorite oven-proof skillet (I love my seasoned cast iron skillet!)

You'll find duck fat at a local gourmet grocery or at nearby farm. I keep asking the local Whole Foods to carry it, but so far they haven't listened. You can also order it online.

If you ask, don't ask the butcher. This is a dairy item ... the dairy folks don't seem to understand this. If you ask, you'll need to explain that duck fat ought to be sold right next to the cow's butter. 

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

After peeling the potatoes, cut the potatoes into bite size chunks. 

Drop a couple of Tablespoons of duck fat into your favorite skillet on a hot range burner. When you've drained the water off of those potatoes so good that you're not going to get popped with hot grease, drop the potatoes in the hot skillet.

Salt, pepper, and brown the potatoes a little (as shown in the picture). Then pull the potatoes out of the skillet with a spatula and put them in a baking dish. Put the baking dish in your preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked to perfection. 

That's all there is to it. Enjoy those potatoes! 

Delicious Orange Brownies

As Burl Ives would have sung, "Goodness how delicious, eating orange brownies instead of goober peas." I got this recipe from my daughter Stephanie. She got the recipe from Paula Deen. Paula probably got it from a housewife in Virginia. Whatever. I made these delicious brownies exactly as instructed by my daughter. I garnished the plate with an orange and purple pansy from one of my fall gardens. 

Why don't you drink a cup of hot Orange Pekoe tea with your brownie. And look at the picture of Nancy's teapot which appears below the recipe.

Brownie Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Cup of all purpose flower (flour)
• 2 Cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Sticks of softened butter
• 4 Eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure orange extract
• 1 teaspoon orange zest

Glaze Ingredients:

• 1 Cup confectioners sugar
• 2 Tablespoons of orange juice 
• 1 teaspoon of orange zest

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Take that big bowl out from under your mixer. Pour in flour, sugar and salt. Stir the ingredients. Add the butter, eggs, orange extract and orange zest. Mix all of the ingredients with your mixer until you have a smooth batter.  Pour the batter into a buttered baking dish.  Bake the brownies for 30 minutes. Insert a knife or a toothpick in the center of the dish to determine if the brownies are cooked through. Put the dish back in the oven because they won't be done:-) I always have to give them another 5-8 minutes. Maybe it is because I have a gas range. Whatever.

Pierce the top of the entire cake with a fork (so the glaze you're about to make will flow into the brownies!)

For the glaze, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, stirring until the glaze is smooth. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake.

Wait until the cake is cool ... I know ... it's hard to wait because your gonna want to eat one NOW! Wait. You want to be able to cut the cake into nice squares. As you can see from the picture, I couldn't wait. But I'll tell you this. This piece was delicious!

Hopefully you've heated water in your tea kettle, for I suggest you brew a cup of orange pekoe tea to drink while you're eating your brownie.

Aunt Martha bought this teapot for Nancy 56 years ago in 1954 at Macy's in New York.

  

Tuna Steaks!

These are baked tuna steaks served with a Mango Teriyaki Sauce. Did I make the sauce? No. I bought a bottle of it at Whole Foods. You'll find a selection of sauces near the fish or meat counter. You might also try putting a spoon of Sweet Onion Marmalade to the side and eat a bit of it with a bite of the tuna.  I buy an English Sweet Onion Marmalade at A Southern Season. You can make sweet onion marmalade (using a forthcoming recipe). You could also put a bit of stone ground mustard to the side for dipping. Actually, fresh baked tuna tastes delicious by itself. Here's how to prepare it.

Ingredients:

• Tuna steaks
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Ground pepper 
• Dipping sauce such as Mango Teriyaki (optional)

I plated the tuna on a stalk of purple basil from our garden. If you have leftovers, put the fish in a dish and pour some Mango Teriyaki  over the fish. Put the baking dish in the oven and warm the fish at 285 degrees.   

Instructions: 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

It's so easy. Rub the tuna steaks with olive oil (top, bottom, and sides). Sprinkle the tuna with salt and pepper. Lay the steaks in a baking dish. Put the baking dish in a preheated 350 degree oven. 20 minutes ought to be perfect for the thickness of the steaks pictured. Keep your eye on them. You'll be able to tell when the steaks are baked through. If they look good in 18 minutes, pull them out. You don't want to over bake the fish. 

Duck Fat!

Oh yeah! Grandpa is going to use more duck fat in his cooking. It is better than poultry fat. Why? Because duck fat is richer in fat. The French have learned. Duck liver cooked in duck fat is sublime. This is superb Foie Gras.  Man, you talk about fat! Spread that on toast points and your eating pure fat:-) Yeah, well, just cut back on portions and/or do a few more exercises and enjoy the richer flavor of duck fat. 

Use duck fat for sauteing vegetables, poultry, and seafood. Use it to make confit. And, I'm told it is good to replace butter with duck fat in savory pastries. Have I used duck fat to cook all of these things? No. But I am about to for some of these things:-) And I will report the results to you on Grandpa's Home Cooking! 

I have rubbed the cavity and/or breast of a chicken with duck fat, coarse kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper and then roasted the chicken. Oh my. Delicious! 

Next up. Roasting potatoes. Then French frying potatoes in duck fat. No. Not American style French fries. Look for a recipe soon for French frites. We're talking pommes frites as you eat in a restaurant in France! Deep fried thin potato sticks. Potatoes that have been fried twice. 

Where can you buy duck fat? Well I doubt you'll find it at the Piggly Wiggly! You're more likely to find it at a local gourmet store. In this area, I buy it at A Southern Season in small containers such as the one pictured in the photograph. If you want, A Southern Season will sell you a 5lb tub! One person reported asking a farmer at the farmers market if he sells duck fat. He said, "Tell me how much you want and I'll bring a tub to you next week." You can also do a Google Search and you'll find a place to order it. Does Amazon sell it? Well, of course. They sell everything, don't they?

How long can you keep duck fat. A chef at A Southern Season told me you can keep it in your refrigerator for up to a month. Indefinitely in your freezer. When you need it, just pull the tub from the freezer, cut off the size chunk you need and immediately return the tub to the freezer. If you have some in your fridge and you don't know how old it is, give it the sniff test. If it smells bad, it is.

Pork Chops ala Rusty Pipes

Here are four pork chop recipes for your dining pleasure. The first recipe is  for Mom's Pork Chops followed by three recipes I came up with over the years. I made my updated Mom's pork chops for dinner last week. Here is a picture of two chops fixed with applewood bacon.

Here are four pork chop recipes:

1. Mom’s Fried Chops: Heat olive or canola oil in a skillet to medium high. Put the flour in a wide dish. Mix in a generous dose of salt and pepper. Then dredge both sides of the chops in the dish. Transfer the chops to the hot skillet. Fry them until they are browned nice on both sides. This is just old fashioned, country boy pork chops and they can’t be beat.

I’ve updated this recipe to cook strips of applewood bacon on the chops. It’s all about adding flavor. And, the fried bacon is good to eat. You’ll see the applewood bacon in the picture.

Serve the pork chops with homemade apple sauce. See my recipe for crock pot apple sauce.

2. Baked Pork Chops: Just pour some white wine in the bottom of a broiler pan and put the top on the pan. Don’t use rot gut wine—it ought to be a wine you’d be mighty proud to drink. Take a sip from a glass to make sure you like it. Then put the broiler rack or top on the pan.

Salt and pepper both sides of the chops. Black pepper will be the choice for most cooks, but I like to cover my chops with Cayenne pepper. Oh yeah! The rest of the family chooses a very light dusting of black pepper.

Place chops on the rack or top of the broiler pan and put the pan in a preheated  350 oven. Bake the pork chops for about 40 minutes until they are done and still juicy. The chops will taste wonderful and cooking them over wine will fill your house with a wonderful aroma.

Before putting the chops in the oven, fork some nice dark Garnett yams or sweet potatoes. You’ll bake the potatoes for a about and hour and 20 minutes. Be sure to prick the skin of the potatoes in several places on each potato with a fork so they don't explode in your oven. Put the chops in the oven when there is 40 minutes remaining. Put a plate of butter on the table for the sweet potatoes. Set a dish of my crock pot apple sauce on the table and you’ll have a fine autumn meal.

3. Broiled Pork Chops: Salt and pepper both sides of the pork chops. Put the chops on top of the broiler pan. Now lay a big wide ring of sweet onion and a ring of green bell pepper on top of each chop. Finally, pour some Thomas or Sweet Baby Ray barbecue sauce in the center of the onion and green pepper rings. Put the pan under the boiler until they are done. The length of cooking time will depend on your placement of the oven rack under the broiler. Keep an eye on the chops. You’ll see when they are done. These chops are delicious.

You’ll see from the picture taken many years ago that this was one of the dishes I prepared for my wife when we were just married … when we didn’t even have a cookbook. Yes, I invented this recipe. Nancy named it “Rusty Pipes’ Pork Chop Aux Champignons.” I remember this being the first meal I cooked for Nancy in our new apartment in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Here I am cooking in that apartment 33 years ago. 

4. Rusty Pipes' Crock Pot Pork Chops Aux Champignons

Ingredients:

• 2 or 3 Irish potatoes, peeled and halved
• 1 bunch of green onions, trimmed of roots and some of the green
• 2 cups fresh mushrooms, cleaned and halved
• 1 can Campbell's Golden Mushroom Soup
• 1 can water
• Lawry's Season Salt
• Fresh ground pepper

Instructions:

Put the potatoes in the bottom of the crock pot. Place the onions (bulb with some of the green remaining) on top of the potatoes. Salt and pepper the pork chops with Lawry's season salt and put them on top of onions. In a medium mixing bowl, mix the contents of 1 can of Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup with a can of water and pour the soup mix over the pork chops. Put mushrooms on top of the soup mix. Cook for about 5-6 hours. When done, put pork chops on platter with the mushrooms and onions and potatoes and pour the gravy in a boat separate bowl. Serve with good black bread and butter. 

Autumn Apple Sauce in a Crock Pot

What you see is what is left of a big crock pot full of apple sauce. Oh my, it was good! We ate a significant amount of a new batch of apple sauce I made yesterday. We make and eat a lot of apple sauce when the new autumn tart apples arrive at the supermarkets. Here is about the easiest recipe you can prepare!

Ingredients:

• 8-12 tart apples (such as Honeycrisp, Gala, Johnogolds, Braeburn, or Granny Smith)
• 1/4th cup sugar
• 1/4th cup cinnamon (try fresh Chinese cinnamon sometime!)
• Crock pot

Instructions:

Peel, core and quarter 8-12 tart autumn apples and put them in your crock pot. Do not add liquid! The apples will make as much liquid as is required. Put as many apples in your crock pot as it will hold, because folks will eat this apple sauce at every meal. It won't last long. Spread 1/4th cup of sugar over the top of the apples. Then spread 1/4th cup cinnamon over the top. Cover the crock pot with the appliance lid. Set the crock pot to low heat and leave the apples alone for 4-5 hours. Peek now and then to see how the apples are doing and to smell the wonderful aroma. You can pull always bump the temperature to high near the end of the cook time if you're running short of time. When the apples are fully cooked, use a big wood spatula or a big spoon to crush the apples into a thick sauce. Don't stir them to death. Its best to serve this sauce nice and chunky, just as the sauce is shown in the picture.

Here is a picture of my neighborhood near the lakefront on West Wellington in Chicago 33 years ago in the autumn of 1976. I had a bachelor apartment (see the next photograph) in a four+one building at 455 West Wellington. I cooked a lot of meals and served them on the little table. I used pillows on the floor for seating. Oh yeah, it was a cool place. A four+one was 4 floors of apartments on top of a floor for parking. I walked to the nearby Lincoln Park Zoo and rode the #151 Sheridan bus to my not too far away office on East Chicago at Michigan Avenue. And, of course, I rode the El all over this wonderful city. I love Chicago.

And here is a picture of my 1978 batchelor studio apartment. I paid $350 a month for this apartment which was considered to be a reasonable rent then. I understand the same apartment rents for $900 a month today.

Mussels with Tomatoes, Garlic, Olive Oil, & Wine

MOULES À LA PROVENÇALE ... Hot off the range! They were delicious!

It is not difficult to prepare this dish. Ask the fishmonger to clean and beard the mussels you order. When the mussels are displayed on ice, a fishmonger will only select mussels which have not opened. You can not use mussels when the shell is open and will not close because they are no longer alive. When you get home, put the mussels in a dish in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook them. Cook them the night you buy them. Do not be surprised if some more shells are open when you take the mussels from the refrigerator. Tap the open shell on the counter. If the shell closes the mussel is still alive and can be cooked. It the shell doesn't close, throw it away. I've found that mussels are usually reasonably priced and you can therefore afford to throw some away.

When mussels have already been cleaned and de-bearded, you run the risk of some of them dying before you can prepare them. Some people prefer to clean them and de-beard the mussels themselves to reduce the loss of dead mussels. Use a stiff plastic brush and water to clean mussels. De-beard them with a paring knife. 

When you cook mussels in a frying pan the closed shells will open in 3-4 minutes. This is how you'll know they have been cooked and are ready to eat. Immediately remove the mussels when the shell opens and put them in your serving dish. If you leave them in the boiling water after they have opened, you may over cook the mussels and they may then be tough to chew. Cooked right, using the recipe below, mussels are delicious and worth the minimal effort of preparing them.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of fresh mussels
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped 
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 Tablespoons minced flat leaf parsley
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1, 28 oz can of imported peeled plum tomatoes, drained
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Non reactive large skillet (such as Teflon)

Instructions:

1. Put the ingredients in the skillet and cook the mussels until the shells open. Pour the cooked mussels and shells into a serving dish. Each person will open the shells and eat the mussels. Mussels are sometimes served in a large bowl at restaurants. They bring you a bowl of mussels in the cooking sauce and you pull them from the pot, open them, and eat them.

Or

2. If you or the folks you're serving do not want to open and eat the shells at the table, prepare the mussels as follows:

Put the first 6 ingredients in the skillet and cook the mussels until they open (3-4) minutes. Immediately remove them from the skillet with a slotted spoon and set them aside in a dish to cool. Pour the liqueur through a a strainer layered with several thicknesses of cheesecloth and reserve. Wipe out the frying pan and pour the reserved liqueur back into the skillet. Add the tomatoes and red pepper flakes and reheat the ingredients over low heat. Set the pan aside when the soup has warmed.

Meanwhile open the mussel shells. Throw away the top shell and arrange the bottom shells with the meat on a serving platter. Use a spoon to top the juices and tomatoes over the mussels and serve.

Or

3. Alternatively you can spoon mussels and soup into individual serving soup bowls.