Date I made these recipes:
February 17, 2014 (for Valentine's Day—a bit late!)
Love and Knishes – An
Irrepressible Guide to Jewish Cooking by Sara Kasdan
Published by: The
Vanguard Press
© 1956; Fifth Printing 1957
Recipe: Potato Soup – p. 33-34
Purchased at Arc's Value
Village Thrift Stores, Richfield, MN
Cooking with Love – A
World-Wide Collection of Recipes for Entertaining from One of Chicago's
Favorite Hostesses by Florence
Kerr Hirschfeld
Published by:
Houghton Mifflin Company Boston
© 1965
Recipe: Wonderful Chocolate Cake (with Glossy
Chocolate Frosting) – p. 291
Purchased at Bloomington (MN) Crime Prevention Association
annual sale
The Way to a Man's
Heart is Through His Capricorn – A Whimsical Astrological Cookbook by Peggy
Holt
Published by: Price/Stern/Sloan
Publishers, Inc.
© 1970
Recipe: Parfait Pistache (from the Libra chapter) –
p. 67
Purchased on Etsy.com from SALLIEandJUDY
When, a few days before Valentine's Day, I announced to my
husband that a few of the dishes I wanted to make contained sour cream and
butter, he exclaimed – jokingly – "Are you trying to kill me?"
No honey. Just trying
to feed you something fun for Valentine's Day.
But a few day's later, when I got around to making the
dishes, I had to wonder if instead of me killing him, he wasn't in fact trying
to hasten my demise. Because later that
night, after he came home from a part-time job, he took the soup I made that
afternoon out of the fridge to warm up a bowl for a late-night snack and forgot
to put it back in the refrigerator. And
so the soup sat out all night. Now
granted, it is winter and our kitchen is not insulated (making it just a bit brisk
back there until I turn on the oven) but no way was I eating that soup. Nuh uh.
Nope. Visions of emergency rooms
replaced visions of love in quite the burning hurry.
Well of course he felt terrible because he was not trying to
kill me off nor is he big on wasting food.
These things happen. Luckily, I
was of the mind to make the soup for a second time and I can promise you we
have both be vigilant about storing it properly. Still, all that butter, all that sour cream,
all that milk wasted.....sigh.
Now I imagine, although I don't know for sure, that Sara
Kasdan, author of the Love and Knishes
cookbook from which this soup recipe came, also would likely have sighed and
tut-tutted and oy veyed a couple of times at that waste of these yummy
ingredients. Many recipes in her
cookbook contain these precious ingredients, some of which sounded yummy, like
our soup recipe, but others that I just need a moment to ponder—like noodle or
rice kugel which is basically a casserole of butter, sugar, eggs
and...noodles/rice. Nope. That does not compute.
I was really tempted to make a knish but that seemed too
heavy (yeah, right—like potato soup isn't?) so I passed. A knish is basically a mound of filling
(potatoes, cheese) wrapped in dough.
Think of it as a Jewish Hot Pocket.
Now, I love these things but again, didn't want the knish weighing me
down that day as they can be quite filling (with the filling).
By the way, years ago, Andy and I were watching TV show –
maybe the "Tonight Show" – and a comedienne, who was a southern
Jewish woman, just cracked us up. She talked about southern cocktail parties
where the going phrase as hors d'oeuvres were passed was "Y'all want a
knish?" The way she pronounced "knish" was just so southern i.e.
add more syllables than needed.
"Knish" became "kah-ni-ish" and we became fans of
that line. Still, I veered toward the
soup because I had other items to make for our Valentine's Day menu and didn't
want to get too bogged down.
Cooking with Love
by Chicago
hostess with the mostest (who knew?) Florence Kerr Hirschfeld, yielded the very
yummy "Wonderful" Chocolate
Cake recipe, chocolate, of course, being a mandatory – no exceptions –
Valentine's Day incredible edible. The
only thing that puzzled about this recipe was that you had to melt chocolate
squares and water together – those two ingredients don't often mix well – and
so the texture was somewhat odd even though the taste was delicious. The glossy chocolate frosting also yielded a
few "huh" moments when it came to appearance and the only thing I'll
say is that the frosting is good but messy.
And last but not least, a book which made me laugh (but made
Andy's forehead wrinkle in confusion—as in "why did you buy that?")
is The Way to a Man's Heart is Through
His Capricorn, featuring a nude woman (cartoon drawing) on the front. Similar artwork abounds featuring nude woman
with various animals like frogs and lions----we won't go there. As to the recipes, nothing for February
(Aquarius) or March (hubby's birthday) (Pisces) tripped my trigger but wouldn't
you know, the ice cream dessert for Libra – my birth month – did! Coincidence?
Yes! So in addition to the
chocolate cake, we had a parfait of – be still my heart – coffee ice cream,
chocolate ice cream, pistachios and...drum roll....dark rum. Woot! Does that cake/ice cream combo sound like
Valentine's Day, or what?
"Or what," people!
Although the culinary combinations might sound a little odd—potato soup,
chocolate cake and ice cream, it all worked.
And hubby was happy. So there you
go—happy hubby, Happy Valentine's Day!
Potato Soup (Milchik)
– serves 8
3 cups diced potatoes
1 cup diced onions
2 stalks celery, diced
1 quart water
2 teaspoons salt
1 quart milk
1/8 pound butter (or more)
3 sprigs parsley
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons minced parsley for garnish
Paprika
Cook potatoes, onions and celery in salted water until
tender (about 30 minutes). Remove from
heat. Mash vegetables with a potato
masher. Add milk, butter, and
parsley. Return to heat and simmer
gently for about 15 minutes (do not allow to boil). Remove parsley. Stir in sour cream and allow the soup to
remain over a low flame just long enough to heat the cream. Garnish with minced parsley and paprika.
Ann's Notes: I made
half the recipe and had to adjust my cooking time when boiling the
potatoes. Simmer on low for about 15
minutes, then check. If necessary, add a
bit more water.
I cannot say that the addition of the sour cream made for an
attractive-looking soup but the taste was great. Think of this dish as a bowl of mashed
potatoes with a bit of liquid in it.
Yum!
Wonderful Chocolate
Cake with Glossy Chocolate Frosting – makes a 9" x 13" pan
For the cake
2 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
½ cup water
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
For the frosting (You can also skip the frosting and dust
with confectioners' sugar if desired)
3 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
¾ cup evaporated milk
¼ cup water
1 cup sugar
Dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
To make the cake, place chocolate and water in top of double
boiler and heat until chocolate is melted.
Cream butter and sugar together.
If using electric mixer, beat only at low speed, just enough to blend
thoroughly; stir in eggs only until mixed.
Sift flour again with baking soda, then add to butter mixture, alternately
with sour cream; mix lightly, starting and ending with flour. Blend in chocolate and vanilla. Bake in 9" x 13" x 2" pan,
well greased, at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides
of pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar
or frost with Glossy Chocolate Frosting.
Cut into 3-inch squares.
To make the frosting, melt 3 squares of chocolate in top of
double boiler; combine milk, water, sugar, salt and stir into chocolate. Cook over hot water 20 minutes, then beat
with rotary beater 1 minute or until smooth.
Stir in vanilla; cool.
This icing may be made in advance. It will store well in refrigerator, tightly
sealed.
Parfait Pistache –
serving size not indicated although I'm guessing it's one serving for you, one
for your Valentine!
½ pint coffee ice cream
½ pint chocolate ice cream
1/3 cup dark rum
½ cup crushed pistachio nuts
In parfait glasses, alternate layers of coffee ice cream,
crushed pistachio nuts, and chocolate ice cream. Store in freezer two to three hours. At serving time, trickle rum over each glass.
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