Category Archives: Recipes

Cocido or Caldo (depending on your Iberian origins)

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Now I have to tell you that, when I was posting these notes on Facebook back in 2009, I had no idea if anyone was actually reading them.  I was just trying to see if I could come up with enough recipes to fill a whole month.  Turns out, that wasn’t a problem.  Especially when my friends started chiming in.  So this next recipe isn’t mine. You have been warned.

Getting into the spirit of sharing food ideas, here’s something from Andrew Peterson of Kansas City. Andy is the one who got the Kansas City Chorale connected to Nimbus Records back in the 1990s, and I am pleased to share his recipe with you here (but I take no responsibility for his editorial comments).

“Here’s something to spring on your friends. An old family heirloom handed down from my great great aunt Dona Singularo Edwarda Mephisto Caracas Meyer Petersen. (A quiet and gentle servant of the Lord.):

Cocido or Caldo (depending on your Iberian origins)

“This recipe can have as many variants as you decide, though in Spain the important and consistent ingredient is Garbanzos.

2-3 lbs of pork (boned) Loin, Butt – it does not matter. (A bit of fat on.)
1 Cup Breadcrumbs
2 Large Onions (any color) – it does not matter – sliced thin.
1 Cup Jalepeno Salsa or fresh Jalepenos or Anaheim Chiles or Serrano peppers – it does not matter.
1/4 Cup Olive Oil – it does not matter – so don’t listen to that freak Rachel Rae. Sin verguenza!
1tbs Garlic powder
1tbs Spanish (smoked) Paprika) – it does indeed matter.
11/2tbs Kosher Salt
1tsp Cumin
1tbs Oregano
1tbs Basil
1tbs Cracked Black Pepper
1Bay Leaf
1/2tsp Ground Cloves
2-3 (12oz) Cans of Garbanzo beans
2-3 (12oz) Cans of Diced Tomatoes
(1 Cup of Red Wine)
1 ½ Cup of Green Olives (pimento stuffed)

“Okay, here we go. In a bowl, add the Breadcrumbs and half the Salt and Pepper. On the stove Heat a large (3-4 quart) Dutch Oven or pot. Turn heat to low. Add ¼ cup of olive oil. Dredge the meat in the breadcrumb mixture and turn into pot…browning on all sides.

“When the meat has browned, add the Garbanzos, Tomatoes, half the Onions, Jalepeno Salsa, Bay Leaf, Cumin, Oregano, Basil, and remaining Salt and Pepper. Turn the meat one time in this mixture and cover.

“Heat oven to 350 and cook the stew for 1 hour.

“When 1 Hour is up, remove the meat and cut into cubes. Add the meat back to the stew, and add the Wine, Olives, Paprika and cloves. At this time, depending on the consistency, add more wine or water to thin it, or more of the breadcrumbs to thicken it. Or, leave it alone. Cover, turn oven down to 300 and cook 2 hrs.

“Remove from oven. Allow to set for 30 minutes before serving. Bring to table with a rustic bread and a hearty red wine. You are now a genius!

“Listen, this recipe can be varied any number of ways. Use Lamb Shanks or Ox Tail, Duck or Turkey. The cooking time will be less for fowl. Vary the spices. You might want to substitute Thyme, or Coriander, or even Sage. What should remain stable is the Garbanzo. It is the signature to all good Spanish stews. Have fun, enjoy the recipe, and for god’s sake…if it turns out bad, it really is your fault … Don’t call me. Hope you like it, Andrew”

Pumpkin Dip

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This works as an appetizer, a dessert, or a snack with a cup of afternoon coffee.

1 15 oz can pumpkin
8 oz cream cheese
1 lb powdered sugar
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
(or 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp nutmeg & 1/4 tsp cloves)

Cream the cheese and sugar together. Add the pumpkin and spices. Blend well. Refrigerate. Serve with ginger snaps (we get the Hostess brand from the bread store… buy 2-3 bags).

Bonus recipe:

Make a pumpkin pie out of the leftovers. Add 3 eggs and 1 c. Half & Half to 2 c. pumpkin dip. Add some more pumpkin pie spice. Pour into a prepared pie crust and bake at 350 for an hour, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. (You could even make a crust from crushed leftover ginger snaps and melted butter – but if you had any ginger snaps left, you’d be dipping them instead of making pie, right?)

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

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This is, hands down, my all-time favorite dessert. I suppose most people consider anything with pumpkin in it to be a Fall dish, but why wait? If you have a can of pumpkin in your pantry, left over from last Thanksgiving, this is a great excuse to rinse off the dust and open it up.

6 c. French bread cubes, toasted (I use the unseasoned stuffing cubes you can buy at the day-old bread store)
2 c. Half & Half or evaporated milk
1 1/2 c sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
1/2 c raisins
1/2 c chopped toasted pecans
3 T. butter, melted
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (OR 1/2 tsp each of ginger, nutmeg, and allspice, with 1 tsp cinnamon & 1/4 tsp cloves)
1 tsp grated orange rind (zest)

Lightly butter an 11 x 7 baking dish, and put the bread cubes in it. Pour the Half & Half over the cubes, and stir to moisten. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl, and gently fold into the bread cubes. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes, or until set (the top will no longer be shiny). Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Zippy Aspic

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Kinda old-fashioned – who serves aspic anymore? – but when someone brought this to a church supper, I went back for seconds. This isn’t the original recipe, but I like it better.

2 c. Caliente V-8 juice (or Snappy Tom)
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 small pkg. lemon Jello
3/4 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. sliced green olives (stuffed with pimiento)

Bring 1 c. of the V-8 juice to a boil. Stir in the Jello until it dissolves completely, then add 1 c. chilled V-8 juice and the vinegar (if you use plain tomato juice, add another T. of vinegar and some ground pepper). Pour over the celery and olives in a pretty bowl, stir a bit. The olives will float to the top and this is fine. Chill until firm. If you make this in an oblong Pyrex dish, it’s easy to cut into squares to serve. You can spread softened cream cheese (beaten with a little milk to keep it soft) over the top – or dollop some sour cream or plain yogurt on each serving if you want to, but I never do.

Bettie’s Fresh Fruit Salad Dressing

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Cut up 3-4 kinds of fresh fruit. Include some berries if they are in season, and work for color variety. Over the bowl of fruit, sprinkle at least 1/4 c. of:

powdered sugar

Toss together until the sugar dissolves. Not kidding. That’s it. Keeps the fruit from turning brown, and the sugar thickens the natural juices just enough. Add a squeeze of lime if you want to.

Byron’s Oyster Crackers

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Bruce’s dad used to make these whenever we had a party at our house. We would have invited him anyway. Now Bruce makes them to munch on during football games and movies. They also work well for a college student’s care package – pack them into ziplocs and tuck into those hard to fill spaces in the box. A batch never lasts more than 48 hours at our house.

2 tsp. dried dillweed
2 tsp. seasoned salt
1 dash garlic powder
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (powdered)
3/4 c. oil
two 10 oz. packages oyster crackers.

Whisk together all the seasonings and the oil, and pour over the oyster crackers in a large bowl. Stir to coat evenly. Let sit one hour to let crackers absorb all the flavors (this is the hard part). Store in tightly covered container. We use a big Ziploc bag.

Byron’s Cock-a-Leekie with Scottish Oatcakes

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You really need the oatcakes to make this traditional soup complete. I made this dish again recently, with the bounty from a parishioner’s CSA farm. The box included leeks, celery, and a paper sack of oats.  I couldn’t bear to cut the unprocessed oats with a pastry cutter, so I mixed up the oatcakes with my fingers, barely patting the dough into a circle instead of kneading and cutting. The result was a lovely batch of oat scones that held together much better than the crumbly oat cakes you get from the recipe below…
Cock-a-Leekie
2 1/2 lb fryer, cut up
4 c. water
1 carrot, sliced
1 rib celery, sliced
1/2 c barley
2 chicken bouillon cubes
salt
pepper
bay leaf
1 1/2 c sliced leeks
Put everything but the leeks into a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is done – if it falls off the bone, your veggies will be mush, but you should be able to pull meat off the bone easily. Remove chicken pieces to a cutting board, let cool slightly, then remove bones and skin and cut meat into bite-size pieces.
While you cut up the chicken, add the leeks to the pot and continue to simmer. Put the chicken back in the soup for about five minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Serve over Scottish oatcakes.
Scottish Oatcakes
1/2 c shortening
1 c. oats (regular or quick, but not instant)
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
salt
2-3 Tbsp cold water
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and cut in the shortening until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add water a tablespoon at a time, until a stiff dough forms. Carefully roll out 1/2 – 3/4″ thick on floured surface and cut into rounds or squares. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until bottoms just start to brown. These are fragile and crumbly. Put 2 in the bottom of a bowl and ladle the soup over them. Put the rest of the oatcakes in a basket on the table, with some butter alongside – but don’t try to cut them open, because they will fall apart!

Mommie Taylor’s German Apple Cake

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Bruce’s grandmother had a fool-proof method for desserts: use whatever sugar the recipe calls for, then close your eyes and add some more! This cake, however, called for too much oil, so I’ve adjusted it a bit. Serve warm or cold, with vanilla ice cream or Cool Whip. No frosting necessary, but see note from my sister, below.
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar (see what I mean?!)
1 tsp. soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
(1/2 tsp. salt)
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. oil (she used a full cup)
2 eggs
4 c. apples, cored and thinly sliced
1 c. raisins
1/2 – 1 c. chopped walnuts
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a wooden spoon. (“Do NOT use the electric mixer!” she said emphatically.) Batter will be quite stiff. Spread into a greased and floured 9×13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean.
My sister Karen saw this and wrote, “This is German Apple Bread from my ex-step-mother-in-law’s family recipe trove! I got in trouble for posting it in a fundraiser cookbook back in the day – apparently top secret stuff, who knew? Glad that’s not the way YOU feel about recipes! Anyhow, it’s really good topped with a powdered sugar/milk glaze drizzled over the top, coffee cake style. Yum!”   So there you have it.

Chili con Queso

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Here’s another recipe adapted from my El Torito days. This is supposed to be an appetizer, but it makes a nice lunch. This is the real deal. Read to the end for the cheap and easy version.

Make a Ranchera Sauce … make a big pot of this and freeze it in quart containers. It’s the backbone of just about every good Mexican dish. This recipe makes about a quart; adjust quantities as desired.

Cook a chopped or sliced onion and some minced garlic in a little oil. Add 3-4 chopped chile peppers (Serrano are good). Add chopped celery and green pepper if you want to, but don’t feel like you have to. Add 4-6 chopped fresh tomatoes, skins and all, or 2 cans diced tomatoes (with or without added chiles). Throw in a cinnamon stick and about a tablespoon of ground cumin. Cook down over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened slightly – it should be more soupy than spaghetti sauce. Simmer over low heat another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cinnamon stick. Pack into containers, label, and freeze. Thaw as needed.

For the con queso…

In a small saucepan, combine 2 c. Ranchera Sauce and bring to a simmer. Add a large handful grated cheddar/Monterrey Jack cheese. Stir over low heat just until the cheese melts. Do not boil. Pour into a heatproof bowl and sprinkle some chopped green onion and tomato over the top. Serve with warm tortilla chips.

College kid’s quick and easy version. Open a can of diced tomatoes with chiles and pour into a microwave-safe bowl. Add the grated cheese and nuke on high for 2 minutes, stir, then nuke one minute more. Open a bag of chips.

Crockpot party version: you guessed it. Rotel tomatoes and Velveeta. But honestly, once you’ve had the real thing, this will never taste as good.

Biscuits (and Gravy)

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Back in Miss Coldwell’s Home Economics class, we learned to add cream of tartar to the dry ingredients – I don’t know what it does, but no one has ever complained about my biscuits. I like to add a little cinnamon – you don’t really taste it, but they brown up prettier with it. Don’t bother trying to find the biscuit cutter. If you want round biscuits, use an old tuna can with both ends cut out (but who wants to do all that cutting, scraping together the bits, and doing it all over again, when you can just make square biscuits?).
Jo Anne’s Best Biscuits
2 c. flour, sifted with…
3 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbps. sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Cut in:
4-5 Tbsp. butter and/or shortening
Make a well in the center and add about 1/2 c milk or buttermilk or milk with a little plain yogurt (this is a good way to get rid of the dab at the bottom of the big carton).
Toss the milk into the crumbles until they come together into a ball. Add a little more milk to bring in the rest of the crumbles (you’ll end up using 2/3 to 3/4 c. liquid). Do not over-mix. When all ingredients are moistened, use your fingers to press together into a firm enough ball to turn out onto a floured surface. Barely knead (no more than 12 strokes) enough flour into the dough to make it workable, then roll out to 3/4 – 1 inch thickness. Pat the edges into the dough to form a rectangle. Cut the rectangle into 12 or 16 squares and move to an ungreased cookie sheet, keeping biscuits about 1/2 inch apart. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.Serve immediately with butter, jam, honey, etc. My grandpa used to mix equal parts honey and butter on the edge of his plate, and eat as many biscuits as it took to get rid of the honey butter.
Or make some …
Sausage Cream Gravy:
1 lb sausage
(butter, if you use turkey sausage, since it has no grease of its own)
flour
milk
salt and pepper
Fry the sausage in a large skillet, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper. Sprinkle some flour over the cooked meat and stir it in. Repeat until all the grease has been absorbed in the flour. Stir the roux until it starts to “whistle” (my mom’s term – it’s really more like a hiss), then add small amounts of milk at a time, stirring constantly, until the gravy reaches desired thickness. Mom taught me to stir in the milk until the lumps were dissolved, then let it boil again to the whistling point. Three more stirs would tell you if you needed more milk. If it didn’t start to thicken after three stirs, it was done.
This is the same gravy I make after I fry a chicken, pouring off all but about 1/4 c. of the chicken grease to start the roux, scraping up the bits from the frying pan as I go. Sure makes washing the skillet easier.