Seeing pictures from the Bach Festival’s dining hall reminded me of this delectable appetizer, willingly shared by the dining hall chef one afternoon.

Marinate a pound of sliced mushrooms in some balsamic vinegar for at least an hour.
Sweat some chopped onions and garlic in a little olive oil. (Sweating is the technical term, I learned, for using low/medium heat to barely cook the onions until they are translucent.)
Add the mushrooms to the onion, and cook until the moisture has evaporated.
Toast some pine nuts.
Crumble some feta, and grate some Parmesan.
Melt some butter.
Thaw some puff pastry, and keep between damp towels as you work.

To assemble: Brush melted butter onto a sheet of pastry, top with another sheet, butter, top with a third sheet and butter. Cut the pastry into 3-4 inch squares. Spoon a little mushroom mixture onto each square, top with a few pine nuts and a little feta. Add just a touch of Parmesan to each mound. Gather the four corners of each square into a loose “packet” to lift it into a lightly oiled mini-muffin cup. (If you don’t have these, pinch the pastry together just above the filling, and give it a slight twist, placing the packets on a cookie sheet.) Bake at 350 until the pastry is golden and the cheese is bubbly.

This goes great with salmon – grilled or poached (we cook ours in the microwave in just a bit of olive oil, with some lemon slices and freshly ground pepper).

2 c. wild rice (or part wild, part brown rice)
broth (4 c. or so, to cover – add more water if needed)
1 c. chopped dried apricots
3/4 c. dried cranberries (or dried cherries!)
1/2 c. slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 c. chopped fresh chives
1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley

Cook the rice in the broth, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. Toss with all the other ingredients in a large bowl.

2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
2 c sugar
4 eggs
1-1/2 c vegetable oil (this works just as well if you cut it down to 1 c.)
2 c grated carrots
1 8.25 oz can crushed pineapple
1 c chopped pecans (optional)

Use more potatoes if you like a thicker soup (or have more bowls to fill, in which case you’ll also want to add some water and another bouillon cube). Use fresh parsley if you have it, or parsley flakes if you don’t. Put everything in a pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 – 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Serve with good homemade bread and butter, and some sliced cheese. Have Aunt Ellen’s Sour Cream Apple Pie for dessert (See the first of these “If You Can Read,…” notes back on 6/27).

Put the corn out to thaw. In a large, heavy skillet, warm enough olive oil to coat the pan, and sweat the onions and the garlic over medium heat. Add the loose meat and fry it, stirring constantly to avoid chunks, and to incorporate the onion/garlic throughout the meat. Turkey has a lot of water in it, so cook this down until most of the liquid is gone. Add the cumin and chili powder (and the Anaheims, if you are using fresh peppers), stirring well to combine flavors. Add the tomato paste and just enough water or V-8 juice to make a thick sauce – about like you’d use for Sloppy Joes if they were a little runny. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally while you assemble the cornbread.Mix up the Jiffy cornbread, adding milk and egg according to package directions. Add the canned chiles (if you didn’t use fresh Anaheims) and half of the shredded cheese, along with the corn to the cornbread mixture.Pour the meat mixture into a buttered (or cooking sprayed) 9×13 pan, and top this with the cornbread mixture. Sprinkle the other half of the shredded cheese over the top, and bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes (it depends on your oven, and how wet the sauce is), until the cornbread is golden brown.If you want to add the El Torito touch, sprinkle a combination of chopped tomato, green onion and black olive over the top of the casserole to garnish just before serving.

Chicken variation: Cook 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, seasoned with oregano, basil, thyme, and ground pepper, and one chicken bouillon cube, in the microwave (or on the stove, in about an inch of water). As the chicken cooks, remove it from the microwave and cut off the already-cooked portions occasionally, so they don’t get tough. Cut up the cooked chicken – to be authentic, you should shred it with two forks, but you can cube or chunk it for this recipe.Sweat the onions and garlic as above, add the cooked chicken (and all its microwave liquid, or 1/2 – 3/4 c. of the stovetop liquid) to the pan, and continue the recipe…

Meatless variation: Instead of ground turkey and sausage, use one can garbanzo beans and one can kidney beans, with a vegetable bouillon cube and some thyme. Throw in some chopped celery. You may want to add a can of diced tomatoes, adjusting the liquid with the tomato paste accordingly. Continue with the recipe…

1 Tbsp. Butter
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 C. chopped Vidala onions (or other sweet onion)
5 C. Fresh or frozen corn
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 tsp. salt (optional)
Dash of sugar
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. Dijon mustard (or any brown prepared mustard)
2/3 c. Half & Half (or plain yogurt)
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped chives for garnish

In a skillet or wok over medium heat, melt butter with olive oil. Add onions and saute for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add corn, peppers, and sugar (+salt). Toss and cook (5-6 minutes – longer if you use frozen corn), stirring only occasionally so vegetables will “stick” a bit and brown nicely. Whisk together cayenne, mustard and Half&Half (or yogurt). Add to vegetables and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce has almost completely been absorbed (about 3 minutes). Serve immediately. This is a nice accompaniment to grilled chicken, and only needs about 10 minutes to cook.

I remembered this dish after getting Allen Morrill’s recipe for Cheesy Corn. We adapted it from a newspaper clipping, and find it works just as well without salt, substituting yogurt for Half&Half to make it a little more heart-healthy. I added the chives for color, because they grow right by the back step, and I like chives. I can make this while Bruce is putting the finishing touches on the grilled chicken. With a nice salad, you have a beautiful summer meal. As my late father-in-law, Byron, used to say, “It’s all in the presentation!”

9″ pie shell, unbaked (1-1/2 cups flour, 1 stick butter, 3-4 T. Chilled shortening, cut in until fine crumbs, gently mix in enough ice water to pull the dough together with your hands, divide into two lumps and roll each out on a well floured board. Makes two crusts plus some extra for “wedding cake”)

Sift together: 2 T flour, (1/8 tsp. salt), 3/4 c. sugar
Add: 1 egg, 1 c. sour cream, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
Beat to a smooth batter.
Stir in: 2. c diced or sliced (peeled or not) apples
Pour into pie shell
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then at 350 for 30 minutes
Crumble together 1/3 c. sugar, 1/3 c. flour, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/4 c. chilled butter. Sprinkle over the pie, and bake for another 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Aunt Ellen was my mom’s older sister. We spent many happy wheat harvests on her farm near Spivey, Kansas. Aunt Ellen could never understand people who took their showers in the morning. In her mind, that meant they went to bed dirty, and farm dirt isn’t something you want to sleep in. Ellen kept chickens and milk cows, and made her own butter. She was always a no-nonsense kind of gal, so it’s probably a good thing that she married my uncle Rex, one of the goofiest guys on the planet. Rex reminded me a lot of the actor Ray Bolger – remember the scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz”? Rex and Ellen have both gone on to their eternal home with Jesus, and I cherish their memory, as I cherish this pie recipe. I hope you enjoy it.