"Beans In My Boots - Quick, Easy Recipes for Skiing Families" - Chicken with Russian Dressing and Apricot Jam

Date I made this recipe: February 8, 2009

Beans In My Boots – Quick, Easy Recipes for Skiing Families by Hoppie Stibolt
Published By: Smoke Tree Ranch
© 1983
Recipe: Chicken 6 (Chicken with Russian dressing and Apricot Jam) – p. 64

Well the temperature finally warmed up to the high 30’s this past week and so ski season is likely (and I hate to say, hopefully) on its way out but what the hey, we might as well live life on the edge and pretend there’s still some schussing to be done out there!

Okay, having said that let me confess that I am not a downhill skier but rather a very retired cross-country skier (blame lack of snow and lack of ambition). The Upper Peninsula of Michigan (where I'm from) is not exactly known for downhill skiing (with the exception of the western portion of the state) but it is known for great cross-country skiing. In fact, some of the better trails are located right on the edge of my parent’s property and my parents were the ones that got me and my brother into skiing in the first place.

Back in the 70’s, my parents were on the cutting edge of the cross-country ski movement. I can’t recall exactly how they got into it but they were very good skiers and even ended up being featured in National Geographic while skiing on a very frozen Lake Superior; the backdrop is a very large icicle collection hanging down from the caves bordering the Lake Superior shoreline. A large, framed black and white commemorative photo hangs in my parent’s living room.

Because my dad wasn’t sure if I would take to the sport, he refashioned a pair of my mom’s old wooden downhill skis for me to use. They were not the prettiest things in the world and the boots that I got to go with them are hilariously outdated but people, let me just say that there was no cross-country hill too big for me to ski down on those puppies. Whereas everyone else sort of turtled their way to the bottom of the hill, I shot down like a lightning bolt leaving me enough time for a cigarette and a cocktail if I so desired. I was the envy of my friends—swift on the straights and dynamic on the downhill.

But alas, all good things must come to an end and finally, the edges wore out leaving me virtually unable to herringbone climb up a hill. I joked that I gave slam dancing a new dimension and finally threw in the towel and rented some skis on subsequent trips. But even then, the snowfall in Minneapolis started dwindling off, other fellow ski friends got busy and I finally retired the skis many years ago. And when I retired my skis, I also retired the hilarious road trips we used to take to ski in Minnesota’s infamous Boundary Waters.

Unlike the luxury that downhill skiing affords, cross-country skiing is all about roughing it. My friends and I typically stayed at a “resort” containing cabins with all the accoutrements except running water (we had to haul jugs of water to the cabin) and a bathroom. Those who know me are amazed that I would spend even a minute in those primitive conditions but it was all made better by a) cocktails b) more cocktails and c) a very large bathhouse with heat, running water and hot showers that I affectionately dubbed “The Big House” that wasn’t too far away from our cabin (although let it be noted that when we first started taking these trips, we had to use an outhouse. This was more dangerous than you could possibly imagine and all I will say on the matter is freezer.burn.) Besides, I was much younger then and more than happy to run outside in minus 30 degree weather in order to luxuriate in the warmth of the bathhouse.

The best part of these trips, besides the skiing, was menu planning and let me tell you, we had some great, gourmet meals in our day. I usually brought a crockpot to be used for at least one meal but there were other times we put something together that was quick and delicious. The meal I made tonight (albeit intended for a downhill ski crowd) would have been perfect after a long day on the trail. It was one of the easiest meals I’ve ever made—mix the ingredients, pour over the chicken and bake – as well as one of the tastiest. Regardless of whether or not you ever strap on a pair of skis, I think you’ll like this recipe. Enjoy! (And while I’m at it-- oh please dear god of the north, let winter end soon. It’s February for crying out loud!)

Chicken 6 (Chicken with Russian dressing and apricot jam) – Serves 4
1 cut up chicken
1 8-ounce bottle Russian salad dressing
1 envelope dry onion soup
1 10-ounce jar of apricot-pineapple jam (I could find it so used apricot)
¼ teaspoon curry powder

Place chicken skin side up in greased casserole. Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over all. Cover and bake 1-1/2 hours at 325 degrees. Baste occasionally.

Note: I served this with rice and I also used just chicken breasts since I’m partial to white meat.

"Three Rivers Renaissance Cookbook IV" & "Three Rivers Cookbook - 'The Good Taste of Pittsburgh'" - Tortilla Rice Soup and Tamale Ring

Date I made this recipe: February 1, 2009 (Super Bowl Sunday)

Three Rivers Renaissance Cookbook IV by the Child Health Association of Sewickley (PA)
Published by: Child Health Association of Sewickley
© 1980
Recipe: Tortilla Rice Soup submitted by Leslie S. Kelly – p. 39

Three Rivers Cookbook -“The Good Taste of Pittsburgh” by the Child Health Association of Sewickley, Inc.
© 1973
Recipe: Tamale Ring submitted by Mrs. Robinson F. Barker – p. 121

Well, today is Super Bowl Sunday and even though I didn’t really give a diddley boo as to who won (because it’s all about the commercials, right?), I wanted to acknowledge the day and like the Super Bowl, there was a clear winner in the dish department. But before I get to that, please indulge me in a teeny rant against the machine that is known as Top Chef.

For those of you who don’t know, Top Chef is a TV show on Bravo in which chefs compete on a weekly basis to be the last one standing and therefore, Top Chef. Every week they are presented a new challenge with one person emerging as the winner and advancing on, and another, the loser who is told to pack his/her knives and go.

And so it came to pass that last Wednesday, the producers (that would be you, Tom Colicchio!) decided to focus the show around the upcoming Super Bowl and brought in cheftestants from previous seasons to compete against this year’s contestants to make a signature dish representing the food of one of the NFL teams selected for this challenge.

And so it also came to pass that the Miami Dolphin contestants got seafood, the New Orleans team got crawfish, Seattle had salmon and so on and so forth, and then came Green Bay (the greatest team of all times) and my dear, darling Italian stud-muffin, Fabio, this season’s hottie contestant got….drum roll….venison.

Whaaaa?????????? Tom Colicchio, are you out of your mind? The word we are looking for, dear Thomas, is “bratwurst” (or brats). I mean, sure, venison is popular in that region but I can guarantee you, Thomas, as a lifelong member of Packer Nation, we do not run to the concession stands during a break in the action for venison. We do not tailgate, dear Thomas, for venison. We live for brats and beer…or brats soaked in beer…or beer (who the hell needs a brat, anyway?) but never, ever, ever for venison. Sheesh. Any Wisconsonite knows that.

And so it eventually came to pass that Fabio was on the chopping block for overcooking his venison and for misusing cheddar cheese in his salad although I hardly know how it is possible to misuse Wisconsin cheddar; really, these judges have antlers stuck up their…. At least he was spared for another week (and good thing, too, because je t’adore his Italian accent…and yes, I realize that phrase is French) but so is the evil, egotistical (“I love me, who do you love?”) Stefan who, sad to say, seems poised to take the contest this year (but so help me, if he wins Fan Favorite, I am outta here).

But I digress. This week is about the actual Super Bowl where men do not have to cook venison in the shape of a bratwurst (now that would have been something, huh?!) to show their mettle.

This year’s contest pitted the Pittsburg Steelers (no pun intended on the “pitted”) and the Arizona Cardinals. It was a very close game and it looked like the Cardinals just might pull it off when the Steelers scored a touchdown with 35 seconds to go to take a 4-point lead. Nuts. Although I intended to root for the Steelers, the fact that Arizona was such an underdog got to me and so I started pulling for them and they came oh-so-close; maybe next year?

So speaking of hits and misses, winners and losers, and Pittsburg and Arizona, I think I was very creative in finding foods from both camps to serve for Super Bowl Sunday. And here’s how: I have two Pittsburg cookbooks but not one specifically for Arizona, and so was momentarily stumped until I found a recipe for Tortilla Rice Soup in the Pittsburg cookbook. Ah ha! Tortilla + Rice = Southwest = Arizona = touchdown! (You see how easy that was?) And the dish was, in fact, a winner.

But then the challenge was to find another Southwest dish to go with the soup in the other Pittsburg cookbook I had and I almost threw in the towel until I came across the Tamale Ring recipe. And while it tasted okay, it didn’t turn out like I thought it would and so that dish, dear reader, was a loser.

Methinks the reason that the Tamale Ring was a loser was because it was supposed to set up more like a bread pudding or a spoon bread, especially since it was baked in a water bath, but instead didn’t have enough liquid and so ended up being more like savory bread in texture. That didn’t seem right. The other thing that didn’t seem right was the look as it was much too red from the chili powder for my satisfaction.

Part of the problem with recipes submitted by the home cook is that the instructions are sometimes lacking. With the tamale ring, I was instructed to put one can of corn through a grinder but as I did so I wondered if I was supposed to include the can liquid or not; I decided “not.” And then the tomatoes were supposed to be drained and so what this left was a glop of “dough” without any liquid and I don’t think this was supposed to happen. But seeing as how I couldn’t just call up Mrs. Robinson F. Barker who submitted the recipe, I went with what I thought was best and like the Cardinals’ efforts, it just wasn’t good enough.

The soup, on the other hand, was really good although I almost ruined it by forgetting to turn off the burner resulting in most of the liquid evaporating off the top. No doubt this happened during a commercial break seeing as how that’s the real reason I tuned in to the game in the first place. (But let’s contemplate for a minute what’s wrong with this picture: you skip watching the game so you can be in your seat for the commercials?).

So…is it too early to start chanting “Go Pack Go!” for next year’s Super Bowl?? If so, I promise you, dear reader, there will be no such silliness as venison. Stay tuned.


Tortilla Rice Soup – serves 4
Cooking spray
1/3 cup green oinion, sliced
4 cups chicken broth
1 14 ½-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained
1 cup cooked chicken breast, cubed
2 4-oz cans chopped green chiles
Salt and pepper
1 T fresh lime juice
2 cups cooked rice
Tortilla chips for garnish
½ cup chopped tomato for garnish
½ cup cubed avocado for garnish
4 lime slices and chopped cilantro, for garnish

Coat a Dutch oven or large saucepan with cooking pray. Saute onions over m,edium high heat until tender. Add broth, tomatoes, chicken and chiles. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in salt, pepper and lime juice. Just before serving, add rice.

Pour into soup bowls and top with tortilla chips, chopped tomatoes and avocado. Garnish with lime slices and cilantro.

Tamale Ring – serves 6
½ large can of tomatoes, strained
1 can of corn put through a grinder
1 green pepper, chopped
1 pint ripe olives, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 cup white corn meal
1 large T chili powder
Salt
2 eggs beaten separately

Mix the first five ingredients; add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bake 1 hour in a buttered ring mold set in a pan of water at 350. (The author says to serve with creamed chicken or shrimp but I’m sorry, that texture combination didn’t work for me so instead I served it with my soup.).

"The Black Family Reunion Cookbook" & "Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook" - Yam Pork Chop Skillet and Golden Brown Macaroni and Cheese

Date I made these recipes: January 25, 2009

The Black Family Reunion Cookbook – Recipes and Food Memories from the National Council of Negro Women
Published by: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0-671-79629-1 © 1991
Recipe: Yam Pork Chop Skillet – p. 104

Sylvia’s Family Soul Food Cookbook – From Hemingway, South Carolina, to Harlem by Sylvia Woods and Family
Published by: William Morrow & Company, Inc.
ISBN: 0-688-16219-3 © 1999
Recipe: Golden Brown Macaroni and Cheese – p. 206-207

Well, this is part two of Inauguration food and today’s focus is on food from African-American kitchens.

One of the first things I think about when thinking about African-American foods is macaroni and cheese, something that until recently was almost exclusive to the African-American household. (Sorry, Kraft macaroni and cheese does not count in my book). In my household, the only time we ever had macaroni and cheese was when we made a dish called “Western Mac” that contained macaroni, cheese, ground beef, tomato paste and corn. This does not count as macaroni and cheese, either. Nope, if you’re going to have it, you need to make the real deal.

The mac and cheese recipe I used is from Sylvia’s Family Soul Food Cookbook. Sylvia Woods, the owner, runs Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem and try as I might on many and many a trip, I have never gotten up that far to try her restaurant but I am determined. Still, if you can’t get the real thing, making something from her recipe book is the way to go.

The other cookbook I used, The Black Family Reunion Cookbook had to have been sponsored by Crisco because there was hardly a recipe that didn’t call for Crisco oil or shortening. Lucky for me, I had both in my cupboards.

These dishes are easy to make and were darned good on yet another below zero day here in the heartland. The mac and cheese in particular was very tasty; what was surprising about this recipe is that it didn’t call for mustard (a typical component of macaroni and cheese) and yet the flavor didn’t suffer at all.

So happy post-inauguration, everyone and now dig in!

Yam Pork Chop Skillet – 4 servings
1 tablespoon Crisco Shortening or Crisco Oil
4 pork shoulder chops
4 medium yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into rings
¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
¼ teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can (14 ½ ounces) tomatoes

Heat Crisco Shortening or Crisco Oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Brown the pork chops.

Arrange the yam slices, onion slices and green pepper rings over pork chops. Sprinkle with thyme, marjoram, salt and pepper. Top with tomatoes. Cover. Cook on low heat one hour or until tender.

Golden Brown Macaroni and Cheese – Makes 5 to 6 servings or more as a side dish
6 cups water
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
2 ½ cups grated mild Cheddar grated cheese, divided
2 large eggs
½ cup milk
Paprika, for the top

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan.

In a 6-quart pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain. Return the macaroni to the pot and stir in the butter or margarine until melted. Add 2 cups of the Cheddar cheese.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs then beat in the milk. Add the milk mixture to the pot with the macaroni. Stir until combined. Spoon into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup Cheddar cheese on top. Dust with paprika. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the casserole is warm throughout.

"The Food of Paradise - Exploring Hawaii's Culinary Heritage" - Portuguese Bean Soup

Date I made this recipe: January 24, 2009

The Food of Paradise – Exploring Hawaii’s Culinary Heritage by Rachel Laudan (International Association of Culinary Professionals – IACP – The Julia Child Cookbook Awards Winner)
Published by: University of Hawai’i Press Honolulu
ISBN: 0-8248-1778-8 © 1996
Recipe: Portuguese Bean Soup – p. 144

Well folks, this past Tuesday was inauguration day in the U.S. and so I tried to find foods befitting our newest president, Barack Obama (by the way, I had to add Barack’s name to my spell check as it thought I was trying to say barracks—as in military).

Prior to today, I cooked from all my “Presidential” cookbooks as well as cookbooks from Illinois and when last seen, I don’t think I acquired any from Kansas (where Barack’s mother was from) but I am happy to report that I have several Hawaiian cookbooks as well as several African-American tomes. And so on Saturday night I cooked Hawaiian and on Sunday will be cooking from the African-American cookbooks.

Although you wouldn’t think of this at first blush, the foods of Hawaii and African-American recipes have a lot in common: both are influenced by food and traditions from other ethnic groups. African-American recipes, particularly southern recipes, are influenced by African, French, and English settlers and Hawaiian food is an amalgam of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino and Portuguese cooking. It was hard to select one recipe from this book but after careful consideration (and menu-planning), I went with the Portuguese Bean Soup.

My husband and I visited Portugal several years ago and do not recall this type of soup on the menu but that didn’t matter in the least as it provided a hearty meal for a cold winter’s night. Although the recipe itself was easy to make (providing you soak the beans the night before), finding a single ham hock proved to be a challenge. One grocery store had 4-packs, two stores didn’t have any and I finally settled upon ham shanks (not quite the same) from a fourth grocery store (after consulting with a butcher). Sheesh!

I cannot say that I ever contemplated making a Portuguese-Hawaiian dish to honor the first African-American president who spent some of his life growing up in Indonesia, but like his presidency, there’s a first time for everything. Enjoy!

Portuguese Bean Soup – 4 servings
1 ham hock (or ham shank)
Olive oil to coat the pan
1 good-sized onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic
2 celery stalks cut into dice
1 carrot cut into dice
1 cup navy beans or kidney beans, soaked overnight
3 tomatoes skinned and chopped (or substitute canned tomatoes)
Dried red chili pepper, deseeded
1 potato cut into dice
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons chopped parsley (for garnish)

Take two pots (the soup can be cooked in one, but using two allows you to control how much of the salty ham stock you use.). In one, place the ham hock, cover with water, and simmer until tender, about 2 hours. Remove the hock, skin and cut the meat into small cubes. Reserve the stock.

Meanwhile, in another pan, sauté the onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in olive oil until soft; then add the beans, tomatoes, chili pepper, and sufficient water to cover. Simmer until nearly done (1 hour) then add the potato. After 5 minutes, add the cubed meat and enough of the stock to create a good flavor. (Note: When I made the dish, I added about 4 ladles of the ham stock and that seemed to strike the right balance.). Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Simmer for another few minutes until the potato is cooked, add the parsley and serve.

"The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper" - Corn Chowder

Date I made this recipe: January 11, 2009
The Splendid Table’s How To Eat Supper – Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio’s Award-Winning Food Show by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift
Published by: Clarkson Potter/Publishers
ISBN: 978-0-307-34671-1
Recipe: Corn Chowder – p. 62-63

Year ago I was sitting in my car, listening to Minnesota Public Radio when I heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like the late actress, Marilyn Monroe…except it wasn’t.

“Hi, she breathed, it’s Lynne Rose-etto Kas-purrrrrr and you’re listening to The Splendid Table….”

Lynne who? Splendid Table what? I didn’t know what to think except “what is with that voice?” It was half sexy “come hither,” half nails on a chalk board! For the longest time, I used to go around mimicking her (and dare I say, not in a good way), pretending I was the Marilyn Monroe of the cooking world. Radio announcers were not supposed to be sexy or sound pretentious, they were supposed to be…well, radio announcers!

And yet I tuned in, week after week, month after month, year after year to listen to the woman whose voice initially drove me nuts because what she had to say about food was fascinating and her guests were fascinating and her stories were fascinating.

Over time, Lynne lost that Marilyn “Happy Birthday Mr. President” Monroe sound as she became more comfortable in her own (radio) shoes and I became much more comfortable listening to her as well, much in the same way that Julia Child eventually grew on me and the rest of America. (Although I doubt anyone ever likened Julia Child to Marilyn Monroe.)

Now I have to confess that I a) have met Lynne on several occasions (she’s very nice) where she b) autographed her cookbooks for me and c) answered one question years ago about borlotti beans while she was doing a live broadcast from the Twin Cities’ Food and Wine Extravaganza (I have to confess that at the time, I accidentally Stumped the Cook – a regular feature on her radio show—but that was before borlotti beans were as easily obtainable as they are now). And yet, I was reluctant to blog about one of her recipes because a) I’m half Sicilian and while I collect all kinds of cookbooks, I have been reluctant, until recently, to try someone else’s “family” recipes, b) what if I made one of her Italian recipes and screwed it up or c) what if I made it properly but (gasp) didn’t like it? The horror, the horror! All of this is made worse because Lynne and I live in the same town and she could track me down and a) cut me up for stew meat? (I have a vivid imagination!) b) never speak to me again…not that we speak at all but I can dream, can’t I? c) ruin my chances to ever make an appearance on her show (Lynne, I promise you I am quite.the.whit) or d) make sure I never cook or blog in this town again!

And so people, I cheated. Rather than go out on a limb and make a dish from either of her two-Italian cookbooks, I made a “safe” Corn Chowder recipe from her newest cookbook, The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper (in my family, we called it dinner but here in Minnesota, it’s definitely supper time). This recipe was easy-peasy and was (big sigh of relief here) de-licious!

Selecting a dish from Lynne’s (and Sally Swift, her producer) cookbook wasn’t difficult because people, I love, love, love corn chowder but am never really sure when to make it—is it a fall dish, a winter warm-up or is summertime the right time to make it using fresh corn? I tend to be a soup/stew/chowder/roast type of gal and for me that means winter but this dish was so refreshing (and light) that it would clearly work well during the height of corn season.

Lynne wrote that “this recipe begs for variations” and so I added diced chicken to my dish. You can add seafood or more potatoes—the choice is yours. (Garrison Keillor, he of A Prairie Home Companion fame, wrote something even funnier that Lynne included in the book: “People have tried and they have tried, but sex is not better than sweet corn.” I’ll let you chew on that one a while.)

By the way, Lynne’s radio show, The Splendid Table, can be accessed via the internet at http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/. (Check out the archives for previous broadcasts) Locally, I listen to her on Saturday afternoons on 91.1 FM from 2-3 p.m. Jane and Michael Stern (subject of last week’s blog) kick off the first five minutes of the show with their restaurant and food reviews and I have been known to pull off into a shopping center parking lot to sit in my idling car until their piece is done. If you see a woman sitting all by herself, cracking up laughing in a green Honda, that would be me, folks! But mostly I wait for the (now normal) voice: “Hi. It’s Lynne Rossetto Kasper and you’re listening to The Splendid Table….”

Corn Chowder – Serves 4
4 slices bacon, sliced into 1/8-inch-wide pieces
2 tablespoons good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil (okay, I can’t resist this: “good-tasting” as opposed to bad-tasting??!)
1 medium to large onion, chopped into ½-inch dice
2 bay leaves, broken
4 to 5 sprigs fresh thyme
¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper, or to taste
1 medium (7 ounces) red-skin potato, peeled and cut into ¼-inch dice (Note: I used some Yukon gold that I had at home and left the skin on for the vitamins)
4 large garlic cloves, coarse chopped
1 recipe Cheater’s Homemade Broth (p. 48) or two 14-ounce cans chicken or vegetable broth
1 pound (3 1/3 cups) Niblets frozen corn with no sauce; or kernels from 8 ears fresh corn
2 cups milk or cream, or a blend of both
1/8 to ¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
*I added I cooked, diced chicken breast

Put the bacon, olive oil, onion, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, salt and pepper in a 6-quart pot. Saute over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to color, about 5 minutes. Stir in the potato, garlic, and broth. Cover the pot tightly and simmer the soup over medium to medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until the potato is tender.

Stir in the corn, milk or cream, and Tabasco. Remove from the heat. Pull out the thyme sprigs and bay leaves. With a slotted spoon, transfer about one-third of the solids to a food processor or blender. Blend for a few seconds to crush the corn. Return the mix to the pot.

Heat the chowder to a bubble, and taste it for seasoning. Serve immediately (so the corn doesn’t overcook), topped with the parsley.

"The Sunset Appetizer Book" & "Southern Living - The Party Snacks Cookbook" & "Square Meals" by Jane and Michael Stern (assorted appetizer recipes)

Date I made these recipes: December 31, 2008

The Sunset Appetizer Book – Recipes for Hors D’oeuvres, Spreads, Dips, Canapes by the Editors of Sunset Books and Sunset Magazines
Published by: Lane Books
© 1965; sixteenth printing January 1975
Recipe: Crab-Water Chestnut Appetizer – p. 49

Southern Living – The Party Snacks Cookbook from the Southern Living Cookbook Library
Published by: Oxmoor House, Inc.
ISBN: 0-8487-0511-4; © 1979
Recipe: Chafing Dish Meatballs – p. 35

Square Meals by Jane and Michael Stern
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf
© 1984
Recipe: Cheese Ball – p. 257-258

Well, my family was in town for New Year’s for the first time ever and we had a lovely time both from a culinary standpoint as well as a family standpoint.

For New Year’s Eve dinner, my husband, sister-in-law and I made homemade manicotti shells (more like a crepe) using my Aunt Rose’s recipe as well as meatballs (also her recipe) and sausage. What a repast!

On New Year’s Day, I pressed my dad into service to make his famous (to us) Chicken Cacciatore recipe. My dad is a great cook and this recipe is now part of my family’s Cucina Costa cookbook, something I put together in 1995 after a family reunion. But just like the manicotti recipe, I can’t give these out to you just yet (or I'd have to kill you!) but I will offer up three appetizer recipes I made to munch on before the cacciatore came out of the oven: Crab-Water Chestnut Appetizer; Chafing Dish Meatballs and a Cheese Ball.

Now the first two recipes came from “legitimate” appetizer books in my vast collection, but no doubt the Cheese Ball recipe taken from Jane and Michael Stern’s cookbook is a puzzler. Here’s what happened: the other day I was in my car listening to The Splendid Table, hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and as usual, the Sterns reported on yet another yummy-sounding restaurant somewhere in America (I LOVE those two). And so I thought maybe I should make something from Lynne’s new cookbook The Splendid Tables’ How To Eat Supper as well as something from one of the Stern’s cookbooks in my collection. But Lynne's new book doesn't include appetizers and so I tabled her (no pun intended) for another day but did go with the Sterns. You should note that the Stern’s recipe is from a section titled “The Cuisine of Suburbia” –nothing says suburban entertaining like a cheese ball (although I live in the city so ???!)

All three of these were very yummy and were promptly snarfed down by my family. We did have a few leftovers as I discouraged people from stuffing themselves before dad’s cacciatore, and so my husband and I are both nibbling on what’s left of the wreckage. If you ask me, that is not a bad way to start a new year.

Crab-Water Chestnut Appetizer – Makes about 3 cups (I made half the recipe)
1 pound fresh crab meat, chopped (or 2 cans of crab meat, drained)
½ cup minced water chestnuts
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons minced green onions

Combine crab meat with water chestnuts, soy sauce, mayonnaise and onions. Note: this recipe ended up being a little watery and I’m not sure if it was because I used canned (albeit drained) crabmeat or because even ¼ cup of mayo was too much. You might want to play with it a bit.

Chafing Dish Meatballs – Yield: 5 dozen (Note: don’t kid yourself; this recipe made far less than that but they were still good!)
1 pound ground beef
½ cup dry breadcrumbs
1/3 cup mined onion
¼ cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup shortening
1 (12-ounce) bottle chili sauce
1 (10-ounce) jar grape jelly

Combine ground beef, breadcrumbs, onion, milk, egg, parsley, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce; gently shape into 1-inch balls. Melt shortening in a large skillet; brown meatballs. Remove meatballs from skillet; drain fat. Heat chili sauce and jelly in skillet until jelly is melted, stirring constantly. Add meatballs and stir until coated. Simmer for 30 minutes. Serve hot in a chafing dish.

Cheese Ball – Serves 8
¼ cup milk
3 ounces blue cheese, cubed
4 ounces Cheddar cheese, cubed (Note: I used crumbled blue cheese and that worked out great but should have used already-shredded Cheddar as the cubes stuck to my Cuisinart blades making it quite difficult to combine the ingredients).
1 small wedge onion
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
6 ounces cream cheese, cubed
½ cup pecans
4 sprigs parsley

Blend milk and blue cheese in food processor or blender at high speed. Add Cheddar cheese, onion, Worcestershire, and cream cheese. Blend until smooth. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

The next day, shape cheese into a ball. Coarsely chop pecans and parsley in blender. Roll cheese ball in nuts and parsley mixture.

"Better Homes and Gardens Junior Cookbook" - Little Meat Loaves

Date I made this recipe: December 27, 2008

Better Homes and Gardens Junior Cookbook by Better Homes and Gardens Magazine/Meredith Publishing Company
Published by: Meredith Publishing Company
© 1955
Recipe: Little Meat Loaves – p. 146-147

People, in my world, there is no better accompaniment to (leftover) mashed potatoes and peas than meatloaf—well, except for the beef tenderloins my husband made to accompany these sides for our Christmas dinner. Since tenderloin is expensive, I didn’t want to purchase another round and so out came the Better Homes and Garden Junior Cookbook.

The thing that I love about these “junior” cookbooks is how basic they are; the thing I oftentimes hate about these “junior” cookbooks is how basic they are; not much of anything spicy goes into these meals but in this case, that was just fine by me. These are really easy to make (4 steps and you are done!) and very bite size—just right for the “junior” palate!

Little Meat Loaves – Makes about 8 servings
2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 ½ pounds ground beef
¼ cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sage (oh- we have a spice!!)
Dash pepper

Set oven at 350. Do you have a serving platter ready? (This is not my note but rather the author’s!). Grease muffin cups lightly.

Put crumbs in a large bowl. Add milk. Beat eggs in small bowl. Stir into milk mixture.

Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix them together well with a spoon.

Place in muffin cups. Round off tops. Bake 45 minutes. Makes about 8 servings.

"Sicilian Home Cooking" & "Cucina Siciliana de Gangivecchio" - Shepherd's Fusilli and Christmas Salad with Oranges, Olives and Capers

Date I made these recipes: December 24, 2008

Sicilian Home Cooking – Family Recipes from Gangivecchio by Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene with Michele Evans
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN: 037510399-X © 2001
Recipe: Shepherd’s Fusilli (Fusilli del Pastore) – p. 119

La Cucina Siciliana de Gangivecchio – Recipes from Gangivhecchio’s Sicilian Kitchen by Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene with Michele Evans
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN: 0679425101 ©1996
Recipe: Christmas Salad with Oranges, Olives, and Capers (Insalata di Natale II) – p. 269

Since this year was the first Christmas without my mom, my husband and I have a very, very low-key Christmas. Some might say it was a non-event since we dispensed with the tree, the decorations and even the holiday music. And I have to tell you folks, it was pretty liberating. Instead of being caught up in the buying and the wrapping and shop-till-you drop mentality, we spent the day holed up in our house with my husband doing some work in his workshop downstairs and with me watching The Hallmark Channel. That’s right, the Hallmark Channel. Got a problem with that?! Don’t worry, earlier in the day I caught the last hour of Holiday Inn and then later in the evening we watched Christmas in Connecticut, starring Barbara Stanwyck. I also addressed my holiday newsletter/pamphlet/small novel to friends who were awaiting its delivery. All in all, it was a fun day.

But despite our desire to lay low over the holiday, there’s one tradition that I couldn’t ignore and that was to make a pasta dish for Christmas Eve dinner.

When I was growing up, we either had spaghetti and meatballs (if the Pope said meat was okay to eat that year) or spaghetti with tomato sauce. Last year, while up at my parents for Christmas, my sister-in-law and I made homemade manicotti shells and meatballs for our repast. This year none of us were able to get together for Christmas but when they all come in next week for New Year’s we will recreate the scene.

But tradition is tradition and so I pulled these two Sicilian cookbooks off the shelf and used one for my pasta dish and the other for a salad. Both dishes were great and right in line with the food of my childhood. The one thing I can’t get over, however, is that both mother and daughter (cookbook authors) are blonde. Blonde Sicilians? Not in my family (unless it comes from a bottle in which case it doesn’t count!)!

My only complaint about this meal is not with the recipes themselves, it’s with my complete inability to find veal in this town. For once, my local market had veal chops, veal scallopini and veal roasts but did they have ground veal? No. I swear if this were the east coast you could find the damned stuff in a convenience store! So please—local grocers, get with the program!!

Shepherd’s Fusilli – Fusilli del Pastore – Serves 6 as a first course or 4 as a main course
1 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 pounds mixed red, yellow and green peppers, cut into thin strips
¼ pound ground veal (we substituted ground round)
¼ pound ground pork
½ cup dry red wine
½ cup tomato paste
1 cup fresh tomato sauce (Salsa di Pomodoro – I used my Aunt Rose’s sauce and that’s a secret to all but family members)
Pinch hot pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound fusilli
Freshly grated pecorino cheese

Fresh tomato sauce – makes about 4 cups
5 pounds ripe tomatoes, stem ends removed, coarsely chopped
1 large onion, chopped
½ cup freshly chopped basil leaves, plus 6 whole fresh basil leaves
Salt
½ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
Freshly ground pepper

To make the tomato sauce (note: I think you can get away with store-bought, just make sure it contains tomatoes and basil and go with a brand that uses sugar rather than corn syrup).

Combine the tomatoes, onion, and basil together in a large pot. Season to taste with salt. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring often.

A few cups at a time, pass the mixture through a food mill. Return the sauce to a clean pot with the olive oil, basil leaves, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To make the pasta dish

In a large saucepan, heat the oil, add the onion, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until it just begins to turn gold. Stir in the peppers and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the peppers have softened, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the veal, pork and wine. Cook over high heat, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Add the tomato paste, tomato sauce, hot pepper flakes if desired, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add 1 ½ tablespoons of salt. Stir in the fusilli and cook until al dente, stirring often (follow package directions).

Drain the pasta saving 1 cup of the hot pasta water. Return the fusilli to the saucepan and add the sauce. Add a little pasta water if too dry. Toss well and adjust seasoning. Serve with the pecorino.

Christmas Salad with Oranges, Olives, and Capers – serves 8 (I made half the recipe)
2 quarts curly endive or escarole, torn into bite-size pieces
3 celery ribs with leaves, thinly sliced
½ cup green Sicilian olives, pitted and finely chopped (I used Cerignola olives and pitted them myself)
1/3 cup capers, washed and drained
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 navel oranges, peeled, with white pith removed, and very thinly sliced
3 lemons, peeled, with white pith removed and very thinly sliced (seeds discarded)
½ cup pomegranate seeds

Immerse the endive or escarole and celery in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain well.

Combine the endive or escarole and the celery with the olives, capers, and a little olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper to taste.

Oil a 1-quart bowl and spoon the mixture into the bowl. Press the top down gently and let rest for 15 minutes…or not. I skipped this part and instead combined all the ingredients in a bowl. It was much easier, and besides, there was nobody here to impress (assuming it all held together!).

Invert the salad onto a serving dish and place the orange and lemon slices in overlapping, alternating rows over the entire top of the salad, which is now a delicious dome. Sprinkle with rosy-red pomegranate seeds.

Note: never having dealt with a pomegranate before, I was unsure how to get the seeds out. Thank goodness for the internet as they had a simple process in place: cut the top off the pomegranate, then score it all the way around, being careful not to slice all the way through. Place the pomegranate top side down in a bowl of water for 5-10 minutes. This loosens the skin making it easy to take the seeds out without having a mess on your hands. You should know, though, that these seeds stains so be careful with your clothes, cutting boards and cupboards!