This was a family favorite and my father, especially, enjoyed it. I, too, loved this, and have duplicated the flavor RARELY because lamb is not something that is easy to find in the grocery stores, or even from the butchers in the mid-West. You see, true Shepherd's Pie has to be made with lamb -- thus the name -- shepherds herd sheep (lamb) not beef, which (the beef variety) is what you will find in most restaurants/diners/cafes that have this dish.
My mom's recipe was really very simple. And, once again, it was made with leftovers. Maybe I should rename this BLOG Runnemede Left Overs because it seems that so many of the dishes I've been writing about were made from left overs. Mom never threw anything away!
About once a month mom would buy a leg of lamb or a shoulder lamb roast. This roast was the basis of our weekend meals. Saturday night we feasted on the fresh roasted product, Sunday, we ate the left overs. We always had some sort of roast on Saturday night. I think maybe mom bought that first and then we ate on what was left the rest of the week. My father NEEDED that roast and the accompaniments that went with it.
Well, on Saturday night, after the dishes were cleared from the table and soaking in the sink (no dishwashers other than me or my mom back then) she would get out the old meat grinder and attached it to the table and start grinding up the left over lamb. She should peel the potatoes and put them in water in the refrigerator, and store the ground lamb in a casserole dish mixed with the left over gravy (also in the fridge) until she needed it for Sunday supper (which was after church). We always had out "big" Sunday meal right after church, or as soon as mom could get it ready, along with her hungry helpers.
So, out came the ground lamb and gravy mix. The potatoes were put on the stove to boil and become mushy for mashing. After mom whipped up those potatoes she would top the lamb/gravy mix with the potatoes and then put the casserole in the oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. That gave the potatoes a nice tan to brown crust -- the peaks of the mashed potatoes got browner than the valleys.
Served as sides with the Shepherd's Pie were peas, pickled beets, and dessert which was usually some sort of boxed cake made the night before and iced with an orange juice/powdered sugar icing. Or if mom was real ambitious, she'd make a big bowl of jello with some sort of fresh fruit in it.
What makes my mother's shepherd's pie so good is the way she made her lamb roast. I've had lamb roast made by people who would invite us over for dinner (others who lived in Runnemede) but none was as good as my mom's, and I think that's because her lamb was saturated with garlic and she didn't cook it to death. Even then she knew that a medium well lamb was cooked just perfect, made the best gravy, and was easiest to chew.
Thanks mom for giving me a great dish to remember you by.
NOTE: Since we didn't have lamb when my children were growing up, I substituted left over roast beef, also ground up in a meat grinder, and topped with mashed potatoes. Not quite the same, sorry to say.
ttfn
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Not your ordinary Fried Chicken
My mom made fried chicken about once a month, maybe more often. We did eat a lot of chicken, mainly because our neighbor raised them and his church "offerings" were in the form of chickens and eggs. I'm thankful that he gave us those chickens and eggs because I know that we would have had a lot more mush (now called polenta) which wasn't a favorite dish of anyone in our family.
My mother's fried chicken did not have a crispy crust -- in fact I had never eaten crispy crust chicken until I moved to Cincinnati. I always assumed that the way my mom made this dish was the way everyone did.
Here's her recipe, which my children loved dressed up with onions and olives (fried in the pan with the chicken), but which I now make crispy, and I'll tell you how at the end of the recipe.
What you need:
1 chicken cut up
a paper bag (lunch bag size is fine) or a plastic baggie
1 cup bisquick
20 shakes of seasoned salt
20 shakes of garlic salt
EVOO (extra virgin olive oil -- you can substitute your favorite cooking oil, but it won't be the same)
In paper bag place the chicken pieces, the bisquick, the seasoned salt, and the garlic salt. Shake well so that the pieces of chicken are well coated.
In the meantime, heat your skillet with a good covering of EVOO. When the skillet is HOT (you can tell because a drop of water will sizzle, or just hold your hand an inch or so above the pan and you'll feel the heat) put each piece of chicken in the pan. Allow about 2 minutes on each side. After you have browned the chicken pieces, turn the heat down to low, and cover the pan. YES, cover the pan. The chicken should be cooked in 45 minutes.
Now days, I put the skillet that I used to fry the chicken in a 350 degree oven after I brown the chicken and cook for 1 hour (instead of the 45-minute pan method). That makes the chicken crispy, more like KFC (if that's what you like). But try it my mom's way. I think you'll like it. Honestly, I prefer my mom's way of making the chicken, but Alan prefers the crispy, so I make it his way.
By the way, the pan drippings make a great white gravy. Add milk, or half and half, or cream to the drippings, stir and bring to a slow boil. Turn off the heat.
NOTE: When my children were growing up I always used an electric frying pan for this dish. When we moved after retirement, I got rid of the electric pan, and now just use a skillet. I recall once, my daughter Becky was making dinner and couldn't find the EVOO, so she used honey to "fry" the chicken in because I had run out of oil. Actually it was quite good. Some mistakes make good eats.
Enjoy!
ttfn
My mother's fried chicken did not have a crispy crust -- in fact I had never eaten crispy crust chicken until I moved to Cincinnati. I always assumed that the way my mom made this dish was the way everyone did.
Here's her recipe, which my children loved dressed up with onions and olives (fried in the pan with the chicken), but which I now make crispy, and I'll tell you how at the end of the recipe.
What you need:
1 chicken cut up
a paper bag (lunch bag size is fine) or a plastic baggie
1 cup bisquick
20 shakes of seasoned salt
20 shakes of garlic salt
EVOO (extra virgin olive oil -- you can substitute your favorite cooking oil, but it won't be the same)
In paper bag place the chicken pieces, the bisquick, the seasoned salt, and the garlic salt. Shake well so that the pieces of chicken are well coated.
In the meantime, heat your skillet with a good covering of EVOO. When the skillet is HOT (you can tell because a drop of water will sizzle, or just hold your hand an inch or so above the pan and you'll feel the heat) put each piece of chicken in the pan. Allow about 2 minutes on each side. After you have browned the chicken pieces, turn the heat down to low, and cover the pan. YES, cover the pan. The chicken should be cooked in 45 minutes.
Now days, I put the skillet that I used to fry the chicken in a 350 degree oven after I brown the chicken and cook for 1 hour (instead of the 45-minute pan method). That makes the chicken crispy, more like KFC (if that's what you like). But try it my mom's way. I think you'll like it. Honestly, I prefer my mom's way of making the chicken, but Alan prefers the crispy, so I make it his way.
By the way, the pan drippings make a great white gravy. Add milk, or half and half, or cream to the drippings, stir and bring to a slow boil. Turn off the heat.
NOTE: When my children were growing up I always used an electric frying pan for this dish. When we moved after retirement, I got rid of the electric pan, and now just use a skillet. I recall once, my daughter Becky was making dinner and couldn't find the EVOO, so she used honey to "fry" the chicken in because I had run out of oil. Actually it was quite good. Some mistakes make good eats.
Enjoy!
ttfn
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Chicken Cacciatore
Tonight I'm making chicken cacciatore. Mom made this dish rarely, maybe once a month or less. I'm not certain whether it was a favored dish in our home. I personally loved it. Once again, mom used left over chicken, if she had it, or she'd get a whole chicken, cut it up, and just use the breast meat for the dish. If she used the breast meat, she'd cook it first (in water and keep the stock) and then cut it up for the dish.
What you need:
1 large can tomato puree
basil
oregano
garlic salt
1 onion, cut into large chunks
1 pepper, cut into large chunks
chicken pieces
olive oil
In skillet, coat the bottom of the pan with drippings of olive oil, don't overdo it with the oil. Turn the heat on high and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of garlic salt over the oil (personally, I just shake the garlic salt shaker about 10 times). My mom didn't measure anything, so I'm guessing at the measurement on the garlic salt. When the salt starts turning brown add the onion and pepper. Stirring with wooden spoon, so that they don't burn, cook for about two minutes. Turn down the heat to low, and add the chicken, puree, oregano (a smidge), basil (1 tblspn dried, if fresh, use more). Simmer this for at least one hour. Use as "gravy" or "sauce" for your favorite pasta.
NOTE: Sometimes mom would add mushrooms, but most of the family didn't like mushrooms. It was a texture thing. Me? I liked the mushrooms, and if I make this dish, I use mushrooms. So, tonight, we'll have CC with mushrooms, because, ta-da, I just happen to have some in the fridge.
ttfn
What you need:
1 large can tomato puree
basil
oregano
garlic salt
1 onion, cut into large chunks
1 pepper, cut into large chunks
chicken pieces
olive oil
In skillet, coat the bottom of the pan with drippings of olive oil, don't overdo it with the oil. Turn the heat on high and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of garlic salt over the oil (personally, I just shake the garlic salt shaker about 10 times). My mom didn't measure anything, so I'm guessing at the measurement on the garlic salt. When the salt starts turning brown add the onion and pepper. Stirring with wooden spoon, so that they don't burn, cook for about two minutes. Turn down the heat to low, and add the chicken, puree, oregano (a smidge), basil (1 tblspn dried, if fresh, use more). Simmer this for at least one hour. Use as "gravy" or "sauce" for your favorite pasta.
NOTE: Sometimes mom would add mushrooms, but most of the family didn't like mushrooms. It was a texture thing. Me? I liked the mushrooms, and if I make this dish, I use mushrooms. So, tonight, we'll have CC with mushrooms, because, ta-da, I just happen to have some in the fridge.
ttfn
Monday, February 23, 2009
Two recipes
My mother was so very good at stretching food items. If we had spaghetti for dinner, we knew we would have home-made pizza for lunch the next day. Don't get excited, my mom didn't make pizza crust like they do at pizzerias, but she made what she called pizza and we ate it and enjoyed it very much. And we thought this treat WAS pizza because (1) they didn't have pizza in any freezer section of the food store, and (2) we had never been to a pizzeria, although we did smell the treat when we went to the boardwalk in Ocean City.
So, here's mom's pizza treat:
Left over Italian bread, sliced into thin slices (two per person)
Left over spaghetti sauce
Grated cheese -- either Parmesan or mozzarella or both
Olive oil
On a cookie tray put the bread slices. Sprinkle, minimally, olive oil on the slices. Top with a spoon full of sauce -- if you like extra sauce, slather it on thicker. Then finish off with the grated cheese -- add a lot of cheese if you like it that way.
Bake in 350-degree oven (preheated) for 10 minutes. Yummy.
NOTE: The day-old Italian bread is hard enough so that the sauce doesn't seep into the bread and make it soggy. Fresh bread will be soggy, even though it's heated in the oven.
Second Recipe for the day:
This is something we all loved and we ate this often.
FRIED NOODLES:
Items needed:
1/2 pound wide curly noodles
1/3 stick butter
salt/pepper
Cook the noodles according to package directions. Drain the noodles after you've cooked them. Melt butter in skillet, add the drained noodles to the melted butter and fry until the bottom is starting to brown, but not burn, then with spatula, turn the noodles and cook the other side. Add salt and pepper to taste. We had this as a side dish instead of potatoes or rice.
My variation is to fry the noodles in the pan drippings when I make pork chops or steak or brazed meat of any kind.
I know this probably sounds weird, but it really is quite good.
ttfn
So, here's mom's pizza treat:
Left over Italian bread, sliced into thin slices (two per person)
Left over spaghetti sauce
Grated cheese -- either Parmesan or mozzarella or both
Olive oil
On a cookie tray put the bread slices. Sprinkle, minimally, olive oil on the slices. Top with a spoon full of sauce -- if you like extra sauce, slather it on thicker. Then finish off with the grated cheese -- add a lot of cheese if you like it that way.
Bake in 350-degree oven (preheated) for 10 minutes. Yummy.
NOTE: The day-old Italian bread is hard enough so that the sauce doesn't seep into the bread and make it soggy. Fresh bread will be soggy, even though it's heated in the oven.
Second Recipe for the day:
This is something we all loved and we ate this often.
FRIED NOODLES:
Items needed:
1/2 pound wide curly noodles
1/3 stick butter
salt/pepper
Cook the noodles according to package directions. Drain the noodles after you've cooked them. Melt butter in skillet, add the drained noodles to the melted butter and fry until the bottom is starting to brown, but not burn, then with spatula, turn the noodles and cook the other side. Add salt and pepper to taste. We had this as a side dish instead of potatoes or rice.
My variation is to fry the noodles in the pan drippings when I make pork chops or steak or brazed meat of any kind.
I know this probably sounds weird, but it really is quite good.
ttfn
Friday, February 20, 2009
Sausage and Peppers
I was talking to my sister last night and I asked her if she remembered having sausage and peppers. I do, and I loved that dish. We didn't have it often, but as a special treat on Christmas Eve, and maybe one other time during the year.
When Alan and I married I made that dish often, then when I got pregnant, I couldn't stand the smell of it, and that went off the list of things I cooked.
My mom's recipe included tomatoes. Some recipes don't. And we didn't usually eat the dish in a roll (Italian roll), unless we had leftovers, then mom would send me to the store on the corner of Clements Bridge and the Pike and I would pick up four Italian rolls and we would feast at lunch. We ate it with spaghetti -- and the spaghetti was NOT put into the sauce/sausage pot, the sauce/sausage dish was heaped over the spaghetti.
What you need:
Sweet Italian Sausage
1 bell pepper -- sliced into thin strips
1 large onion -- sliced into thin slices
olive oil
1 large can crushed tomatoes (still chunky, but not whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes work well)
Salt and pepper to taste. I often add hot pepper flakes.
Brown the sausage in the olive oil. After the sausage is browned lower the heat and add the pepper and onions. When they have softened and caramelized add the tomatoes. Simmer until the tomatoes reduce by 1/2, or the sauce becomes thickened (sometimes one hour, sometimes less).
Are you all getting the picture that Italian cooking is a guessing game? You have to watch the pot, and taste it often until you're satisfied that it's exactly right.
NOTE: For those of you living in the midwest where finding true Italian sausage is difficult, I've found that Bob Evans mild Italian sausage is closest to the kind my mom bought in NJ.
ttfn
When Alan and I married I made that dish often, then when I got pregnant, I couldn't stand the smell of it, and that went off the list of things I cooked.
My mom's recipe included tomatoes. Some recipes don't. And we didn't usually eat the dish in a roll (Italian roll), unless we had leftovers, then mom would send me to the store on the corner of Clements Bridge and the Pike and I would pick up four Italian rolls and we would feast at lunch. We ate it with spaghetti -- and the spaghetti was NOT put into the sauce/sausage pot, the sauce/sausage dish was heaped over the spaghetti.
What you need:
Sweet Italian Sausage
1 bell pepper -- sliced into thin strips
1 large onion -- sliced into thin slices
olive oil
1 large can crushed tomatoes (still chunky, but not whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes work well)
Salt and pepper to taste. I often add hot pepper flakes.
Brown the sausage in the olive oil. After the sausage is browned lower the heat and add the pepper and onions. When they have softened and caramelized add the tomatoes. Simmer until the tomatoes reduce by 1/2, or the sauce becomes thickened (sometimes one hour, sometimes less).
Are you all getting the picture that Italian cooking is a guessing game? You have to watch the pot, and taste it often until you're satisfied that it's exactly right.
NOTE: For those of you living in the midwest where finding true Italian sausage is difficult, I've found that Bob Evans mild Italian sausage is closest to the kind my mom bought in NJ.
ttfn
Terms for the cook
Yes, as I've mentioned my mom was Italian -- off the boat Italian -- South Philly Italian, whatever.
However, there are things in Italian restaurants and foods cooked by today's Italian cooks that we ate, but we certainly didn't call them the fancy names they have for them now -- at least not at our house.
First, let's get this clear, we never called pasta, pasta. I never heard the word pasta until several years ago where I heard the term on the cooking channel.
Here's the list of what we had in the "pasta" family:
Pastina -- we enjoyed that on Sunday night with salt and butter
Bowties (not farfalle) -- we enjoyed this occasionally with spaghetti sauce
Rigatoni was called chewfs -- don't know why it was called chewfs, except maybe it was a name given to it by one of my siblings, and it was always served with spaghetti sauce (not gravy)
Spaghetti was called Sketts
Macaroni was always elbow macaroni
Ravioli -- there were only three kinds: cheese w/spinach, meat, and plain cheese filled. No fancy ravioli filled with pumpkin or squash or any of the fancier items they're filled with today, and always served with a tomato sauce
Stuffed shells? Never heard of them.
Stuffed anything else? Never heard of them.
Lasagna was lasagna, but we very rarely had it. I think we didn't have it for two reasons: it was a lot of trouble to make it, and it was expensive. But when mom made it, she always added sausage to the meat sauce making it super special.
Minestrone -- vegetable soup!
Bruschetta -- that was not so fresh Italian bread with whatever topping my mom had handy, usually olive oil and marinara sauce (but it was called chunky spaghetti sauce)
Polenta -- I never heard of polenta until I watched cooking shows, which they all said was a staple in an Italian home -- then I figured it out...my mom called it corn meal mush -- we hated it. Yes, we ate it, but we didn't really like it.
Peppers were NEVER put into my mom's spaghetti sauce. The first time I tasted a spaghetti sauce with peppers, I spit it out. I have since become used to this variety of sauce/gravy, but I don't particularly like it, unless it's the sauce that goes with chicken cacciatore, that was something special, but it was part of the cacciatore, not part of the mom's sauce.
Desserts: As mentioned before we didn't have them often. Tiramisu? Never heard of it, but I sure do love it. Yes, we had cannoliwith the cream in the middle, but my mom never made them. My dad loved Italian cookies (the name started with a "T"), but they were too hard for me to enjoy. And I do recall that my mom put almond extract in a lot of her cookies. We did have biscotti, but we called them teeth breakers :).
Balsamic vinegar -- couldn't afford it, but we had a friend who always used it in her salads and they were so good. Mom always used wine vinegar in salad (by salad I mean a tossed salad), and white vinegar for other things like pickled beets.
Capacolla was called ca-pa-gole; prosciutto was bra zhoot.
Capreze was just plain tomato salad, our very, very, very, most favorite in the summer time. And the bottom of the bowl juice was always sopped up with Italian bread. Oh my, I'm craving that right now. Only 4 more months until we have good tomatoes for that.
Carpaccio -- a raw beef with olive oil dish. We didn't call it anything fancy, and we ate raw beef, yes, and that accounts for my love of really rare steaks, we just called it: "Mom, give me a piece of the minute steak before you cook it." Those thin slices of beef were minute steaks and when I went to the Italian deli in town, that's what I ordered, and they'd cut the frozen beef right there in the store, very thin, so that the "minute steaks" were just the right thickness to put in a cheese steak sandwich without doing all that chopping they do at Penn Station. I know this may gross some of you out, but mom and I loved this dish as a snack.
Fritatta -- that was fried potatoes with eggs. I'm trying to figure out why mom didn't use the Italian names for all these foods. We caught Italian words rarely, yet her Bible was an Italian Bible which she read faithfully each day, in the morning, while drinking her a.m. coffee.
FYI: A great glossary of Italian foods can be found at http://www.italiancookingandliving.com/food/glossary/index.html.
So that's today's offering. Tomorrow's treat? You'll have to wait and see. I have a really long list I'm working through, and I hope you readers enjoy trying them.
ttfn
However, there are things in Italian restaurants and foods cooked by today's Italian cooks that we ate, but we certainly didn't call them the fancy names they have for them now -- at least not at our house.
First, let's get this clear, we never called pasta, pasta. I never heard the word pasta until several years ago where I heard the term on the cooking channel.
Here's the list of what we had in the "pasta" family:
Pastina -- we enjoyed that on Sunday night with salt and butter
Bowties (not farfalle) -- we enjoyed this occasionally with spaghetti sauce
Rigatoni was called chewfs -- don't know why it was called chewfs, except maybe it was a name given to it by one of my siblings, and it was always served with spaghetti sauce (not gravy)
Spaghetti was called Sketts
Macaroni was always elbow macaroni
Ravioli -- there were only three kinds: cheese w/spinach, meat, and plain cheese filled. No fancy ravioli filled with pumpkin or squash or any of the fancier items they're filled with today, and always served with a tomato sauce
Stuffed shells? Never heard of them.
Stuffed anything else? Never heard of them.
Lasagna was lasagna, but we very rarely had it. I think we didn't have it for two reasons: it was a lot of trouble to make it, and it was expensive. But when mom made it, she always added sausage to the meat sauce making it super special.
Minestrone -- vegetable soup!
Bruschetta -- that was not so fresh Italian bread with whatever topping my mom had handy, usually olive oil and marinara sauce (but it was called chunky spaghetti sauce)
Polenta -- I never heard of polenta until I watched cooking shows, which they all said was a staple in an Italian home -- then I figured it out...my mom called it corn meal mush -- we hated it. Yes, we ate it, but we didn't really like it.
Peppers were NEVER put into my mom's spaghetti sauce. The first time I tasted a spaghetti sauce with peppers, I spit it out. I have since become used to this variety of sauce/gravy, but I don't particularly like it, unless it's the sauce that goes with chicken cacciatore, that was something special, but it was part of the cacciatore, not part of the mom's sauce.
Desserts: As mentioned before we didn't have them often. Tiramisu? Never heard of it, but I sure do love it. Yes, we had cannoliwith the cream in the middle, but my mom never made them. My dad loved Italian cookies (the name started with a "T"), but they were too hard for me to enjoy. And I do recall that my mom put almond extract in a lot of her cookies. We did have biscotti, but we called them teeth breakers :).
Balsamic vinegar -- couldn't afford it, but we had a friend who always used it in her salads and they were so good. Mom always used wine vinegar in salad (by salad I mean a tossed salad), and white vinegar for other things like pickled beets.
Capacolla was called ca-pa-gole; prosciutto was bra zhoot.
Capreze was just plain tomato salad, our very, very, very, most favorite in the summer time. And the bottom of the bowl juice was always sopped up with Italian bread. Oh my, I'm craving that right now. Only 4 more months until we have good tomatoes for that.
Carpaccio -- a raw beef with olive oil dish. We didn't call it anything fancy, and we ate raw beef, yes, and that accounts for my love of really rare steaks, we just called it: "Mom, give me a piece of the minute steak before you cook it." Those thin slices of beef were minute steaks and when I went to the Italian deli in town, that's what I ordered, and they'd cut the frozen beef right there in the store, very thin, so that the "minute steaks" were just the right thickness to put in a cheese steak sandwich without doing all that chopping they do at Penn Station. I know this may gross some of you out, but mom and I loved this dish as a snack.
Fritatta -- that was fried potatoes with eggs. I'm trying to figure out why mom didn't use the Italian names for all these foods. We caught Italian words rarely, yet her Bible was an Italian Bible which she read faithfully each day, in the morning, while drinking her a.m. coffee.
FYI: A great glossary of Italian foods can be found at http://www.italiancookingandliving.com/food/glossary/index.html.
So that's today's offering. Tomorrow's treat? You'll have to wait and see. I have a really long list I'm working through, and I hope you readers enjoy trying them.
ttfn
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Chicken pot pie
My dad loved chicken pot pie. My mom was so glad when Swanson's came out with a TV dinner of sorts and happy that my father really enjoyed those little pie treats. So, once in a while, she would get chicken pot pies in those little aluminum pie pans, dad would get two of them, the rest of us would get one. I loved them, too. All I needed was a pie and a large salad, and I was set.
Well, my mother also made her own pot pie (chicken) and I wish I had the casserole pan she used to make the pie in. It was just the right size. She'd make her best pie crust -- I'd use Pillsbury Refrigerated pie crust to top the pie.
Her recipe for chicken pot pie was:
On the rare occasion we had left over chicken, she would use that. Most of the time, though, she'd get a small chicken from Leap's grocery store (later the A&P when they came to town), cut it up and boil it until the meat fell off the bones. Then she'd take the meat pieces, small and large chunks, and enough of the stock from where she boiled the chicken and start working on her pie.
She thickened the stock she set aside so it was a nice filler for the pie. To the chicken she would add cut up carrots, peas, small pieces of potato, and sometimes a little bit of corn. Then she'd put those items in the casserole dish she used. She top that mix with the gravy she'd made from the stock, just to cover, and then topped the dish with the pie crust. She'd bake that at 350 until the top crust was nicely browned -- about 30-45 minutes.
I have to tell you, it really was good, but then there were few things that my mother made that didn't taste good. I think she was a good cook and she rarely made something I didn't enjoy eating -- like liver or turnips.
NOTE: When she used left over chicken, she would use canned stock for the gravy.
ttfn
Well, my mother also made her own pot pie (chicken) and I wish I had the casserole pan she used to make the pie in. It was just the right size. She'd make her best pie crust -- I'd use Pillsbury Refrigerated pie crust to top the pie.
Her recipe for chicken pot pie was:
On the rare occasion we had left over chicken, she would use that. Most of the time, though, she'd get a small chicken from Leap's grocery store (later the A&P when they came to town), cut it up and boil it until the meat fell off the bones. Then she'd take the meat pieces, small and large chunks, and enough of the stock from where she boiled the chicken and start working on her pie.
She thickened the stock she set aside so it was a nice filler for the pie. To the chicken she would add cut up carrots, peas, small pieces of potato, and sometimes a little bit of corn. Then she'd put those items in the casserole dish she used. She top that mix with the gravy she'd made from the stock, just to cover, and then topped the dish with the pie crust. She'd bake that at 350 until the top crust was nicely browned -- about 30-45 minutes.
I have to tell you, it really was good, but then there were few things that my mother made that didn't taste good. I think she was a good cook and she rarely made something I didn't enjoy eating -- like liver or turnips.
NOTE: When she used left over chicken, she would use canned stock for the gravy.
ttfn
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Chicken Soup
I've told you all before that my mom could do more with a chicken and feed six hungry people than I ever could. I had five and one chicken BARELY fed us. Maybe my own family just ate more, I don't know. I don't think so, though, because as children we rarely had snacks, and it was a long time between lunch and supper (dinner). Whereas, my children had a mid-afternoon snack and would not have been as hungry as my siblings and I.
Since my mom was given chickens by our chicken-raising neighbor, we had chicken and eggs (not together) often. And, yes, my mother ate the feet (after they were cooked), and she'd eat the wing tips, you know that tiny part that nobody eats and good chefs keep to make stock from? Well, she'd eat the wing tips, bone and all. She had great teeth, and as far as I know, she only lost one tooth in her whole life (except for baby teeth) and never had a cavity.
Anyway, here's her recipe for chicken soup.
YOU NEED:
1 whole chicken
3 stalks celery, sliced (I prefer to use the leafy part of the celery, as did my mother)
1 carrot, sliced
salt
enough water to cover the chicken
DO NOT cut up the chicken.
Put the whole chicken without the innards into a large pot (a crock pot will work), surround the chicken with the celery and carrot bits. Add about 2 tblspns salt. Bring all this to a boil, then reduce and simmer until the chicken is falling off the bones (about 2 hours at low heat). If using a crock pot (they didn't have them when my mom taught me how to cook) just put on med heat and cook from morning till late afternoon. The longer the chicken cooks, the easier it will be to get it off the bones.
Remove the chicken from the stock. After the chicken has cooled enough to touch, take the meat off the bones. If you cook the chicken this way, you will get the benefit of the skin flavor, the bone marrow, and the back meat, which is hard to get off the bone without cooking it first.
Put the meat back into the pot. Now you're ready to make it soup. Just add either noodles or rice, whichever is your favorite and boil all this together until the noodles or rice are cooked.
You can also use this mix to make another favorite of our family -- chicken and dumplings. At the stage where you have the chicken back in the stock, make dumplings using Bisquick. The recipe is on the box. Yummy!
If you're wondering what happened to the innards, my mom would fry them up and my dad loved the fried liver, heart, and gizzard. Yuck!
ttfn
Since my mom was given chickens by our chicken-raising neighbor, we had chicken and eggs (not together) often. And, yes, my mother ate the feet (after they were cooked), and she'd eat the wing tips, you know that tiny part that nobody eats and good chefs keep to make stock from? Well, she'd eat the wing tips, bone and all. She had great teeth, and as far as I know, she only lost one tooth in her whole life (except for baby teeth) and never had a cavity.
Anyway, here's her recipe for chicken soup.
YOU NEED:
1 whole chicken
3 stalks celery, sliced (I prefer to use the leafy part of the celery, as did my mother)
1 carrot, sliced
salt
enough water to cover the chicken
DO NOT cut up the chicken.
Put the whole chicken without the innards into a large pot (a crock pot will work), surround the chicken with the celery and carrot bits. Add about 2 tblspns salt. Bring all this to a boil, then reduce and simmer until the chicken is falling off the bones (about 2 hours at low heat). If using a crock pot (they didn't have them when my mom taught me how to cook) just put on med heat and cook from morning till late afternoon. The longer the chicken cooks, the easier it will be to get it off the bones.
Remove the chicken from the stock. After the chicken has cooled enough to touch, take the meat off the bones. If you cook the chicken this way, you will get the benefit of the skin flavor, the bone marrow, and the back meat, which is hard to get off the bone without cooking it first.
Put the meat back into the pot. Now you're ready to make it soup. Just add either noodles or rice, whichever is your favorite and boil all this together until the noodles or rice are cooked.
You can also use this mix to make another favorite of our family -- chicken and dumplings. At the stage where you have the chicken back in the stock, make dumplings using Bisquick. The recipe is on the box. Yummy!
If you're wondering what happened to the innards, my mom would fry them up and my dad loved the fried liver, heart, and gizzard. Yuck!
ttfn
Monday, February 16, 2009
Gravy wars
A former workmate friend of mine sent me an e-mail about a book entitled Gravy Wars. It's about South Philly cooking. I must get the book so I can compare my mom's sauce to her mom's gravy. That's why the book is called "Gravy Wars." Apparently, most folks from South Philly refer to spaghetti sauce as "gravy."
In our South Philly family we didn't do that. As I told my friend, gravy was something you put on roast beef or mashed potatoes. Sauce was what we put on the spagetts. (I didn't misspell spaghetti -- we pronounced it spa getts).
Well, I found an interesting quote from the book and it was so true. You'll remember I told you all that we Italians didn't do desserts. I bet you thought it was just me and mine, right? Well...here's the quote:
Italians do not serve dessert. Instead, they prepare a sweet table. Nine tempting recipes, which will entice readers to consider living the "sweet life," follow a self-deprecating account of martyrdom in the kitchen. This chapter mocks a prideful resistance to boxed cakes. Her chapter (8) entitled, Dolce Vita, from the book, Gravy Wars by Lorraine Ranalli.
Thought you would want to know. No new recipe today. I'll have another scrumptious addition tomorrow.
ttfn
In our South Philly family we didn't do that. As I told my friend, gravy was something you put on roast beef or mashed potatoes. Sauce was what we put on the spagetts. (I didn't misspell spaghetti -- we pronounced it spa getts).
Well, I found an interesting quote from the book and it was so true. You'll remember I told you all that we Italians didn't do desserts. I bet you thought it was just me and mine, right? Well...here's the quote:
Italians do not serve dessert. Instead, they prepare a sweet table. Nine tempting recipes, which will entice readers to consider living the "sweet life," follow a self-deprecating account of martyrdom in the kitchen. This chapter mocks a prideful resistance to boxed cakes. Her chapter (8) entitled, Dolce Vita, from the book, Gravy Wars by Lorraine Ranalli.
Thought you would want to know. No new recipe today. I'll have another scrumptious addition tomorrow.
ttfn
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Everybody's favorite -- meatloaf
Well, it's not mine. I loved my mom's meatloaf, but I haven't found any meatloaf at a "restaurant" that I like. Alan loves all things meatloaf, and he will often order meatloaf from a menu, and I will taste it. I still like my mom's best.
My mother made meatloaf often. Ground beef was cheap. She could do a lot with only one pound of the stuff. And her meatloaf was something I really liked. She NEVER made it with ketchup and we never put ketchup on it to enhance (?) it's flavor.
So here's my mom's recipe and then after that I'll tell you how I made it and the way my children loved it.
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound ground beef (use your favorite kind, chuck, round, etc.)
1 cup bread crumbs (make your own, my mom used Progresso Italian crumbs)
salt and pepper to taste
10 shakes from a shaker of garlic salt
1 small onion diced
1 egg
Mix all the ingredients together. Make into one large hamburger. On top of stove, high heat, brown both sides of the loaf. After you have turned over the loaf to brown the second side, immediately turn down the heat to low (the heat from the pan will continue browning the second side). Cover the pan. Cook for about 1 hour on low heat ON TOP OF THE STOVE. At the end of the cook time, remove the loaf from the pan, and add 1 cup of water to the pan drippings. Stir. Taste. If this "gravy" needs salt, add a little. Use your favorite thickening agent to make the gravy thicker. I use cornstarch (equal parts water and starch) -- no lumps. Use the gravy instead of ketchup to add flavor to the loaf.
That's it. Try it sometime without ketchup. You might be surprised that you like it.
Now, to the way I made it when my children were growing up. Instead of breadcrumbs, I used barbecue potato chips smashed and instead of an egg, I used a little bit of barbecue sauce, about 1/2 cup. The rest of the ingredients are the same. And I cooked this on top of the stove, making the gravy the same way, but it tasted a lot different than my moms because of the BBQ sauce.
The children and Alan would often add more BBQ sauce to season the loaf. I preferred the gravy.
This recipe happened because I was out of bread crumbs and didn't feel like making my own, and I didn't have any eggs, so I improvised. It was a hit!
ttfn
My mother made meatloaf often. Ground beef was cheap. She could do a lot with only one pound of the stuff. And her meatloaf was something I really liked. She NEVER made it with ketchup and we never put ketchup on it to enhance (?) it's flavor.
So here's my mom's recipe and then after that I'll tell you how I made it and the way my children loved it.
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound ground beef (use your favorite kind, chuck, round, etc.)
1 cup bread crumbs (make your own, my mom used Progresso Italian crumbs)
salt and pepper to taste
10 shakes from a shaker of garlic salt
1 small onion diced
1 egg
Mix all the ingredients together. Make into one large hamburger. On top of stove, high heat, brown both sides of the loaf. After you have turned over the loaf to brown the second side, immediately turn down the heat to low (the heat from the pan will continue browning the second side). Cover the pan. Cook for about 1 hour on low heat ON TOP OF THE STOVE. At the end of the cook time, remove the loaf from the pan, and add 1 cup of water to the pan drippings. Stir. Taste. If this "gravy" needs salt, add a little. Use your favorite thickening agent to make the gravy thicker. I use cornstarch (equal parts water and starch) -- no lumps. Use the gravy instead of ketchup to add flavor to the loaf.
That's it. Try it sometime without ketchup. You might be surprised that you like it.
Now, to the way I made it when my children were growing up. Instead of breadcrumbs, I used barbecue potato chips smashed and instead of an egg, I used a little bit of barbecue sauce, about 1/2 cup. The rest of the ingredients are the same. And I cooked this on top of the stove, making the gravy the same way, but it tasted a lot different than my moms because of the BBQ sauce.
The children and Alan would often add more BBQ sauce to season the loaf. I preferred the gravy.
This recipe happened because I was out of bread crumbs and didn't feel like making my own, and I didn't have any eggs, so I improvised. It was a hit!
ttfn
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Alfredo bowties
My mother never made an Alfredo sauce for pasta (pasta was called macaroni back then, and elbows were called elbow macaroni). But she did make a lot of different kinds of pasta dishes, usually they were seasoned with the pan dripping from the meatloaf, or the chops, or some other meat she fried, or braised. And we thought it was a special treat. We got bow ties often. And I love bow ties. I used to make "buttons and bows" for my kids. I'll post that recipe sometime later on.
So, when I first tasted anything Alfredo, I fell in love with the creamy, white, cheesy sauce.
After many years, I have, what I think is, a perfected recipe, at least to mine and Alan's taste, which sort of spoils us for any restaurant recipe.
What you need:
1 pint heavy cream
2 cups finely grated Parmesan cheese (I always grate my own)
1/8 stick of butter
2 pieces of bacon cooked and crumpled into small pieces
1 tspn garlic salt
This is so easy, you'll love it. And I usually incorporate it with the bow ties, or if I'm being really fancy, I use fettuccine.
Just melt the butter in a pan, sprinkle into the melted butter the garlic salt. Stir. Add to that the heavy cream. Stir. Bring this mixture to a slow boil (stirring frequently) and lower the heat. I use a whisk to incorporate all the ingredients. Add the cheese after you have lowered the heat to low (2 on an electric stove, low on a gas stove). This will simmer. I let it simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so.
While the cream mixture is cooking down, I make the pasta, whatever you want to use is okay. No more than 1/2 pound, though. If you need to make more than 1/2 pound of macaroni adjust the ingredients accordingly. After I drain the pasta, I put it right into the sauce and stir it all together, and turn off the heat. I let it set for about 5 minutes and top with crumbled bacon.
NOTE: I have also used 1/2 and 1/2 instead of the heavy cream, but the texture of the heavy cream is much better and it thickens better as well.
NOTE #2: This recipe serves four "older" people. Serve with a side salad of greens, etc. And if you want add some garlic bread as well. High on carbs but oh so good. What can I say, I'm Italian!
ttfn
ttfn
So, when I first tasted anything Alfredo, I fell in love with the creamy, white, cheesy sauce.
After many years, I have, what I think is, a perfected recipe, at least to mine and Alan's taste, which sort of spoils us for any restaurant recipe.
What you need:
1 pint heavy cream
2 cups finely grated Parmesan cheese (I always grate my own)
1/8 stick of butter
2 pieces of bacon cooked and crumpled into small pieces
1 tspn garlic salt
This is so easy, you'll love it. And I usually incorporate it with the bow ties, or if I'm being really fancy, I use fettuccine.
Just melt the butter in a pan, sprinkle into the melted butter the garlic salt. Stir. Add to that the heavy cream. Stir. Bring this mixture to a slow boil (stirring frequently) and lower the heat. I use a whisk to incorporate all the ingredients. Add the cheese after you have lowered the heat to low (2 on an electric stove, low on a gas stove). This will simmer. I let it simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so.
While the cream mixture is cooking down, I make the pasta, whatever you want to use is okay. No more than 1/2 pound, though. If you need to make more than 1/2 pound of macaroni adjust the ingredients accordingly. After I drain the pasta, I put it right into the sauce and stir it all together, and turn off the heat. I let it set for about 5 minutes and top with crumbled bacon.
NOTE: I have also used 1/2 and 1/2 instead of the heavy cream, but the texture of the heavy cream is much better and it thickens better as well.
NOTE #2: This recipe serves four "older" people. Serve with a side salad of greens, etc. And if you want add some garlic bread as well. High on carbs but oh so good. What can I say, I'm Italian!
ttfn
ttfn
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Pies
As I mentioned, my mom didn't bake many pies. I think I mentioned that it was two a year. I'm sure it was actually more than that, because I know in peach season she'd always make a couple of peach pies, same in apple canning season, and she was good for at least one lemon meringue pie a year (my favorite).
As she baked her pies she would explain to me, each time, exactly what she was doing, how much crisco she was using (she didn't use butter), and how much ICE water she was using and why she would drop the water into the flour/crisco mixture by the tablespoon, one tablespoon at a time. Then she would carefully roll out the dough and place it in the pie tin. My mom's pies never had a soggy crust underneath, but she never told me how she did that. NOTE: She used the recipe on the Crisco can's label, they had it there back in the 40s. Then she put it in her green cookbook, which has disappeared.
After many years of making pies (very few, I admit) the old-fashioned way, in the early 90s I discovered Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts and have been using them ever since. I don't use them straight from the package, though. I always roll them thinner. It makes the bottom crust cook better and the rim crust is not so thick you can't get a fork into it. The crust is flaky and not mushy.
I missed making my husband his annual mince-meat pie this year. I always bake him one for his birthday, but we were away for his birthday so he didn't get his annual pie. Sorry, Alan! (He'll never read this, he doesn't read BLOGs.)
So, in trying to think of a recipe for pie, I guess my favorite is apple pear pie.
I use one of those guillotine machines to slice the apples and pears. I remove the skins and then just start pushing and pulling back on the fruit until I have what I think are enough apple and pear slices for a pie. I make a heaping mound in the center of the crust (described above). My pie tins happen to be 12 inchers, so I make a large pie. And, I used golden delicious apples and Bartlett pears. Two apples for each pear. To the fruit I add 1 cup of sugar and some cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and 2 tbspns flour. I mix all this together, and after I put the fruit mix into the bottom pie crust, I dot it with very small pieces of butter. About 2 pats. I top this with another crust rolled thinner than the packaged crust, and try to make the edges look beautiful. Still, after 50 years of making pies, I haven't perfected that skill.
I do not put an egg wash on the top crust. I usually make slits down the center, and then sprinkle the crust with raw sugar about 1 tablespoon for the entire crust. I figure, it might not look perfect, but it tastes perfect.
ttfn
As she baked her pies she would explain to me, each time, exactly what she was doing, how much crisco she was using (she didn't use butter), and how much ICE water she was using and why she would drop the water into the flour/crisco mixture by the tablespoon, one tablespoon at a time. Then she would carefully roll out the dough and place it in the pie tin. My mom's pies never had a soggy crust underneath, but she never told me how she did that. NOTE: She used the recipe on the Crisco can's label, they had it there back in the 40s. Then she put it in her green cookbook, which has disappeared.
After many years of making pies (very few, I admit) the old-fashioned way, in the early 90s I discovered Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts and have been using them ever since. I don't use them straight from the package, though. I always roll them thinner. It makes the bottom crust cook better and the rim crust is not so thick you can't get a fork into it. The crust is flaky and not mushy.
I missed making my husband his annual mince-meat pie this year. I always bake him one for his birthday, but we were away for his birthday so he didn't get his annual pie. Sorry, Alan! (He'll never read this, he doesn't read BLOGs.)
So, in trying to think of a recipe for pie, I guess my favorite is apple pear pie.
I use one of those guillotine machines to slice the apples and pears. I remove the skins and then just start pushing and pulling back on the fruit until I have what I think are enough apple and pear slices for a pie. I make a heaping mound in the center of the crust (described above). My pie tins happen to be 12 inchers, so I make a large pie. And, I used golden delicious apples and Bartlett pears. Two apples for each pear. To the fruit I add 1 cup of sugar and some cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and 2 tbspns flour. I mix all this together, and after I put the fruit mix into the bottom pie crust, I dot it with very small pieces of butter. About 2 pats. I top this with another crust rolled thinner than the packaged crust, and try to make the edges look beautiful. Still, after 50 years of making pies, I haven't perfected that skill.
I do not put an egg wash on the top crust. I usually make slits down the center, and then sprinkle the crust with raw sugar about 1 tablespoon for the entire crust. I figure, it might not look perfect, but it tastes perfect.
ttfn
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Cakes and pies
My dear mother didn't really teach me how to make pies or cakes. She made a really good, flakey pie crust, but I only tasted that once or twice a year, since baking pies wasn't high on her list of dessert and we were only delighted on Thanksgiving and Christmas with a pie from my mom. I guess it was just too much trouble, because after making the crust you had to make the filling. No canned filling in those days, and no "instant" crusts in those days either.
You could by a pie crust mix, but you still had to add the butter or crisco and cut that into the mix and then slowly add the cold water. So why bother? I believe that basically they sold a small amount of flour at a higher price. So, mom didn't use the boxed crust mix very often.
Cakes? If it didn't come in a box, it didn't get made. Those were the days before Duncan Hines and the only choices she had were Betty Crocker or Pillsbury. She preferred Pillsbury mixes for some reason, but when Duncan Hines came out, she quickly switched her priorities. I don't know why, except that the DH cakes were definitely moister than either of the other two.
When I married Alan, he requested that I get his mom's apples sauce raisin cake recipe because that was his favorite. So I did, and here it is:
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups applesauce
2 tablespoons dark Karo syrup
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour tube pan (or you can use two 9" round pans). In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and bitter until fluffy. Add applesauce and Karo syrup and mix in. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat well to moisten. Fold in the raisins.
Pour into a prepared pan(s). Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean. Cake will not rise to top of pan. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan and cool on wire rack.
NOTE: If you use the two 9" pans, bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Alan likes this with a cream cheese icing, but his mom just topped it with powdered sugar. If I make the layer cake, I make a butter-cream icing (1 stick butter, 1 tbspn heavy cream, 1 tspn vanilla extract, and powdered sugar enough to thicken to your consistency of preference)
You could by a pie crust mix, but you still had to add the butter or crisco and cut that into the mix and then slowly add the cold water. So why bother? I believe that basically they sold a small amount of flour at a higher price. So, mom didn't use the boxed crust mix very often.
Cakes? If it didn't come in a box, it didn't get made. Those were the days before Duncan Hines and the only choices she had were Betty Crocker or Pillsbury. She preferred Pillsbury mixes for some reason, but when Duncan Hines came out, she quickly switched her priorities. I don't know why, except that the DH cakes were definitely moister than either of the other two.
When I married Alan, he requested that I get his mom's apples sauce raisin cake recipe because that was his favorite. So I did, and here it is:
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups applesauce
2 tablespoons dark Karo syrup
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour tube pan (or you can use two 9" round pans). In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and bitter until fluffy. Add applesauce and Karo syrup and mix in. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat well to moisten. Fold in the raisins.
Pour into a prepared pan(s). Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean. Cake will not rise to top of pan. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan and cool on wire rack.
NOTE: If you use the two 9" pans, bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Alan likes this with a cream cheese icing, but his mom just topped it with powdered sugar. If I make the layer cake, I make a butter-cream icing (1 stick butter, 1 tbspn heavy cream, 1 tspn vanilla extract, and powdered sugar enough to thicken to your consistency of preference)
Monday, February 9, 2009
Dessert
I know I've mentioned several times on Runnemede Remembered the fact that desserts were few and far between at our home in Runnemede. My mother wasn't a dessert person. And if I recall correctly, we rarely had heavy desserts after a big Italian meal at one of the relatives, either.
That said, my sister and I were talking about this website yesterday and were discussing desserts. We recalled few desserts, and these days, I'm not sure they'd classify as dessert, but this is a short list of what we remembered. This week, being Valentine's week, and the week for "sweet" things, I'll recall the "few and far between" desserts my mom gave us.
Our favorite dessert: Canned fruit cocktail -- who got the cherry?
My father's favorite dessert: Canned peach halves with two cookies, usually those dry, plain butter cookies shaped like imitation flowers. I can't recall their name, but I was never fond of the cookies. I loved the peaches.
Mom canned peaches most summers and taught me how to make peach-pit jelly. You need real peaches for this.
We talked about mom and the fact that on Saturday night, along with scrubbing the kitchen floor, she also made a coffee cake for Sunday morning. I personally didn't like it, but my sister and father did. That cake was taken from the Bisquick box and basically was the Bisquick "cake" with a cinnamon/sugar crumbled topping. Sorry, not my cup of tea. And she would also make jello with some kind of canned fruit in it for dessert on Sunday. Sunday was the day for left overs and I suppose that was her way of dressing them up for us. We did love jello growing up.
Jello: Alan is very fond of all things jello. Personally, I don't like to make the stuff, because I find it difficult to get it from the counter to the refrigerator without slopping some of the stuff over the edge of the container. I know, I should use a larger container, and I've even tried that.
Guess I'm just not steady enough on my feet to do that little trick successfully.
ttfn
That said, my sister and I were talking about this website yesterday and were discussing desserts. We recalled few desserts, and these days, I'm not sure they'd classify as dessert, but this is a short list of what we remembered. This week, being Valentine's week, and the week for "sweet" things, I'll recall the "few and far between" desserts my mom gave us.
Our favorite dessert: Canned fruit cocktail -- who got the cherry?
My father's favorite dessert: Canned peach halves with two cookies, usually those dry, plain butter cookies shaped like imitation flowers. I can't recall their name, but I was never fond of the cookies. I loved the peaches.
Mom canned peaches most summers and taught me how to make peach-pit jelly. You need real peaches for this.
- Wash and peel the peaches, save the peels. Remove the meat of the peach from the stone. If you're canning perfect halves, you get a smaller yield of jelly, but if you're using the peach for something else, like a pie and you're not fussy how the peach pieces look in the pie, you can make a nice jelly.
- In a pan cover the pits and peels with water. Add an equal part of sugar. Simmer until the mixture thickens. Remove the pits and push the remaining mixture through a grinder sieve. You now have a nice jelly that will thicken over age. I personally don't use the skins when I make the jelly, just the pits, that way I don't have to run it through a sieve. It's really good.
We talked about mom and the fact that on Saturday night, along with scrubbing the kitchen floor, she also made a coffee cake for Sunday morning. I personally didn't like it, but my sister and father did. That cake was taken from the Bisquick box and basically was the Bisquick "cake" with a cinnamon/sugar crumbled topping. Sorry, not my cup of tea. And she would also make jello with some kind of canned fruit in it for dessert on Sunday. Sunday was the day for left overs and I suppose that was her way of dressing them up for us. We did love jello growing up.
Jello: Alan is very fond of all things jello. Personally, I don't like to make the stuff, because I find it difficult to get it from the counter to the refrigerator without slopping some of the stuff over the edge of the container. I know, I should use a larger container, and I've even tried that.
Guess I'm just not steady enough on my feet to do that little trick successfully.
ttfn
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Roasted Chicken and potato stuffing
My mother could do a lot with one chicken (and feed four hungry children and one hungry husband-- she was never hungry). She would often stew it (cook in in boiling water with celery and carrots) and she would eat the feet, no kidding. She'd nibble on those toes, like some of us like to nibble on the tips of the wings. She could fry a mean chicken. She would eat the back and neck, leaving the rest (best) of the chicken for the family. And she would often roast a chicken, making a potato stuffing -- a recipe she got from her mother-in-law -- to go with it.
I have modified her recipe very little.
Needed for the chicken:
1 large roasting chicken, innards removed
1 lemon
1/2 head of garlic
butter -- 1/4 of a stick
garlic salt
lemon pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place the chicken in a roasting pan with a rack under it, breast side up. Half the lemon and put it and the half-head of garlic -- no need to take the garlic apart, just cut a bulb in half -- in the cavity along with the lemon halves.
Cut the butter into small "bites" and dot the outside (breast, legs, wings) with the butter. Sprinkle liberally with the garlic salt and then with the lemon pepper.
Place chicken in preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and cook for at least 1-1/2 hours, depending on the size of the chicken. I can tell when the chicken is done by wiggling the leg. If it moves easily, the chicken is cooked. Not scientific, but I haven't gotten sick yet.
The pan drippings provide a wonderful gravy, but the chicken is so moist gravy isn't really needed.
Needed for the stuffing:
6 medium potatoes
1 tspn salt
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 stick of butter (1/8 pound)
1 Tblspn poultry seasoning
Now for the stuffing to serve as a side dish. Pare and slice six medium sized potatoes. Make the chunks about 2" by 2". Put into a pot of water, covering the potatoes. Add 1 tspn of salt to the pot. Bring potatoes to boil and cook until you can stick a fork in a piece of potato and it comes out easily -- about 20 minutes. NOTE: You might want to turn down the heat so that the pot doesn't boil over but keep the water turning over.
Drain the potatoes. Smash them (not mash) until they are in small chunks. Put aside while you:
Finely chop 2 stalks of celery and 1 small onion (or 1/2 large onion)
In a separate pan (I use a frying pan) melt 1/2 stick of butter. Add the celery and onion to the melted butter and cook until the celery and onions are lightly browned. Then add the potatoes, and 1 tblspn of poultry seasoning. Mix well and let the potatoes get a little browned (or crisp) then chunk them up again (or stir them).
You now have a wonderful side dish -- my father's favorite stuffing -- potato stuffing. He preferred this to any kind of bread stuffing. My mother would often make this instead of bread stuffing to put into our Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey. She would prepare it the night before the turkey was to be cooked and put it in the refrigerator (or on the back porch if it was a cold night). .
I often make succotash -- another one of my father's favorites -- to go with this. Plus a salad of greens with cucs, radishes, mushrooms, and celery leaves, which is tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
For dessert? Any pie will do!
ttfn
.
I have modified her recipe very little.
Needed for the chicken:
1 large roasting chicken, innards removed
1 lemon
1/2 head of garlic
butter -- 1/4 of a stick
garlic salt
lemon pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place the chicken in a roasting pan with a rack under it, breast side up. Half the lemon and put it and the half-head of garlic -- no need to take the garlic apart, just cut a bulb in half -- in the cavity along with the lemon halves.
Cut the butter into small "bites" and dot the outside (breast, legs, wings) with the butter. Sprinkle liberally with the garlic salt and then with the lemon pepper.
Place chicken in preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and cook for at least 1-1/2 hours, depending on the size of the chicken. I can tell when the chicken is done by wiggling the leg. If it moves easily, the chicken is cooked. Not scientific, but I haven't gotten sick yet.
The pan drippings provide a wonderful gravy, but the chicken is so moist gravy isn't really needed.
Needed for the stuffing:
6 medium potatoes
1 tspn salt
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 stick of butter (1/8 pound)
1 Tblspn poultry seasoning
Now for the stuffing to serve as a side dish. Pare and slice six medium sized potatoes. Make the chunks about 2" by 2". Put into a pot of water, covering the potatoes. Add 1 tspn of salt to the pot. Bring potatoes to boil and cook until you can stick a fork in a piece of potato and it comes out easily -- about 20 minutes. NOTE: You might want to turn down the heat so that the pot doesn't boil over but keep the water turning over.
Drain the potatoes. Smash them (not mash) until they are in small chunks. Put aside while you:
Finely chop 2 stalks of celery and 1 small onion (or 1/2 large onion)
In a separate pan (I use a frying pan) melt 1/2 stick of butter. Add the celery and onion to the melted butter and cook until the celery and onions are lightly browned. Then add the potatoes, and 1 tblspn of poultry seasoning. Mix well and let the potatoes get a little browned (or crisp) then chunk them up again (or stir them).
You now have a wonderful side dish -- my father's favorite stuffing -- potato stuffing. He preferred this to any kind of bread stuffing. My mother would often make this instead of bread stuffing to put into our Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey. She would prepare it the night before the turkey was to be cooked and put it in the refrigerator (or on the back porch if it was a cold night). .
I often make succotash -- another one of my father's favorites -- to go with this. Plus a salad of greens with cucs, radishes, mushrooms, and celery leaves, which is tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
For dessert? Any pie will do!
ttfn
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Friday, February 6, 2009
First recipe -- spaghetti sauce with meatballs
Be sure and read the first BLOG in this series (see below).
I am starting the recipe BLOG with my mother's recipe for spaghetti. I loved her spaghetti sauce and I know at least my son thinks it's the best. Personally, the best spaghetti sauce (gravy) I have ever tasted did not come from my mother, but from my Aunt Rita. I have tried to duplicate Aunt Rita's recipe, but have never succeeded. So, I'll stick with my mom's. Another note: my mom's sister Anne also made a great spaghetti, but it was different from my mom's. My cousin Micki, however, gave us spaghetti when we visited her last year, and her spaghetti tasted just like my mother's. She was one of Aunt Daisy's daughters, but she probably learned to cook spaghetti from our grandmother because she spent much of her early life with her.
Original recipe: This recipe was modified by my mother after Ragu was introduced to the world in the early 60s. After that she used Ragu and doctored it up with her special spices.
Note: My mother used fresh basil for most of the year. Just before the first frost she would pick whatever was left on her basil plants and dry the basil and use that for the rest of the winter, then in the spring when the basil came back or she planted new plants, she used the fresh basil. I prefer her recipe with fresh basil, but dried basil is okay to use.
The meatballs:
1 pound ground round
1/2 pound ground pork (not necessary, but changes the flavor of the sauce -- you can use a small pork chop and cut it into very small pieces and cook those pieces when you brown the meatballs)
1/2 cup bread crumbs (my mother saved the heels from loaves of Italian bread and then she or I would crush those hard heels with the rolling pin)
1 tspn garlic powder
1 tspn salt
1/2 tspn ground pepper (fresh if you have it)
1 egg
Mix all ingredients (I use my clean hands). Shape into balls that are about the size of a key lime. That's larger than a jaw breaker, but smaller than a golf ball.
In a large frying pan (my mom used a cast iron pan, I use a stainless steel pan) heat 2 tblspns of olive oil until a drop of water sizzles when dropped in it. Put each meatball in the hot oil, leaving space to turn them over. Brown on all sides -- do not burn. After the meatballs are browned lower heat to the "low" setting (or #1 if you have a flattop stove) and add the following ingredients
2 cloves of garlic -- thinly sliced -- add to the meatball oil and cook for about one minute. The garlic will cook quickly while the pot cools down. Now, add on top of the meatballs and garlic:
1 large can of tomato puree
1 small can of tomato paste. Add two cans of water using the paste can.
1 tblspn basil
1/2 tspn oregano (I don't use this because Aunt Rita said never to use oregano, but my mother did)
salt to taste
Mom cooked her sauce for about three to four hours, stirring only with a wooden spoon, tasting, letting me taste until we had it perfected.
She always had a large bowl of freshly grated Parmesan cheese on the table for those who wanted cheese. She also started cooking only rigatoni because it was less messy for the little children to handle than stringy spaghetti. I prefer spaghetti, or spaghettini (which takes a lot more sauce) to rigatoni, but when my own children were small, I only used the rigatoni for the same reason my mother did -- it was easier to clean up the children after they had the rigatoni than it was after they slurped up the spaghetti (no matter how small I cut it).
ENJOY!
ttfn
I am starting the recipe BLOG with my mother's recipe for spaghetti. I loved her spaghetti sauce and I know at least my son thinks it's the best. Personally, the best spaghetti sauce (gravy) I have ever tasted did not come from my mother, but from my Aunt Rita. I have tried to duplicate Aunt Rita's recipe, but have never succeeded. So, I'll stick with my mom's. Another note: my mom's sister Anne also made a great spaghetti, but it was different from my mom's. My cousin Micki, however, gave us spaghetti when we visited her last year, and her spaghetti tasted just like my mother's. She was one of Aunt Daisy's daughters, but she probably learned to cook spaghetti from our grandmother because she spent much of her early life with her.
Original recipe: This recipe was modified by my mother after Ragu was introduced to the world in the early 60s. After that she used Ragu and doctored it up with her special spices.
Note: My mother used fresh basil for most of the year. Just before the first frost she would pick whatever was left on her basil plants and dry the basil and use that for the rest of the winter, then in the spring when the basil came back or she planted new plants, she used the fresh basil. I prefer her recipe with fresh basil, but dried basil is okay to use.
The meatballs:
1 pound ground round
1/2 pound ground pork (not necessary, but changes the flavor of the sauce -- you can use a small pork chop and cut it into very small pieces and cook those pieces when you brown the meatballs)
1/2 cup bread crumbs (my mother saved the heels from loaves of Italian bread and then she or I would crush those hard heels with the rolling pin)
1 tspn garlic powder
1 tspn salt
1/2 tspn ground pepper (fresh if you have it)
1 egg
Mix all ingredients (I use my clean hands). Shape into balls that are about the size of a key lime. That's larger than a jaw breaker, but smaller than a golf ball.
In a large frying pan (my mom used a cast iron pan, I use a stainless steel pan) heat 2 tblspns of olive oil until a drop of water sizzles when dropped in it. Put each meatball in the hot oil, leaving space to turn them over. Brown on all sides -- do not burn. After the meatballs are browned lower heat to the "low" setting (or #1 if you have a flattop stove) and add the following ingredients
2 cloves of garlic -- thinly sliced -- add to the meatball oil and cook for about one minute. The garlic will cook quickly while the pot cools down. Now, add on top of the meatballs and garlic:
1 large can of tomato puree
1 small can of tomato paste. Add two cans of water using the paste can.
1 tblspn basil
1/2 tspn oregano (I don't use this because Aunt Rita said never to use oregano, but my mother did)
salt to taste
Mom cooked her sauce for about three to four hours, stirring only with a wooden spoon, tasting, letting me taste until we had it perfected.
She always had a large bowl of freshly grated Parmesan cheese on the table for those who wanted cheese. She also started cooking only rigatoni because it was less messy for the little children to handle than stringy spaghetti. I prefer spaghetti, or spaghettini (which takes a lot more sauce) to rigatoni, but when my own children were small, I only used the rigatoni for the same reason my mother did -- it was easier to clean up the children after they had the rigatoni than it was after they slurped up the spaghetti (no matter how small I cut it).
ENJOY!
ttfn
Introduction to Runnemede Remembered Recipes
My grandmother Sbaraglia from whom my mother learned to cook. She was born in Italy and immigrated to America in 1906.
This is a picture of my mother and father taken shortly before my mom went to be with her Lord. She taught me to cook and to love cooking. I think my hsuband has enjoyed my cooking for the last 43 years, and I know I perfer what I cook, although I do enjoy a trip to a restaurant once in a while.
This is a picture of my mother and father taken shortly before my mom went to be with her Lord. She taught me to cook and to love cooking. I think my hsuband has enjoyed my cooking for the last 43 years, and I know I perfer what I cook, although I do enjoy a trip to a restaurant once in a while. 
I have often been asked by readers of Runnemede Remembered or The Fat Lady Singeth for recipes for the food mentioned in those posts and for recipes that my mother handed down to me.
My grandmother Sbaraglia, from whom my mother learned to cook, came to America in 1906 from Torrevechia Teatina Chietti Abruzzi Italy. Her cooking was southern, coastal Italian cooking. My mom also cooked to please my father whose heritage was Pennsylvania Dutch. Those recipes, I suppose came from my father's stepmother, Anna Drexler.
My mother started teaching me to cook when I was 8 years old after I nagged her for months to allow me to cook. Oh, I had helped with cookies before that, and I had snapped beans and cleaned out lima beans and peas from their pods, but actually standing at the stove and cooking? That I had to beg to do. So for Christmas in 1951 I received a Children's Cookbook and the first thing I actually "cooked" was scrambled eggs. I remember that vividly, and those scrambled eggs were perfect -- they were fluffy, not dry, and well seasoned. That initiated my love for cooking.
My dear mother let me cook once in a while, but I watched her like a hawk, and I asked questions, and I was able to follow a recipe from her favorite cookbook -- name forgotten, but it was thick, green, and had lots of handwritten recipes tucked in its pages. That book is long gone, but her recipes are still around in my head, in my handwritten notes, and occasionally on my stove.
I hope you enjoy this BLOG. Please comment and give me suggestions if you have an "upgrade" to the recipe I post. I will try to do one per day, but I may not do that, so don't panic if I miss a day or two.
Now on to the purpose of this post -- recipes.
mtf
My grandmother Sbaraglia, from whom my mother learned to cook, came to America in 1906 from Torrevechia Teatina Chietti Abruzzi Italy. Her cooking was southern, coastal Italian cooking. My mom also cooked to please my father whose heritage was Pennsylvania Dutch. Those recipes, I suppose came from my father's stepmother, Anna Drexler.
My mother started teaching me to cook when I was 8 years old after I nagged her for months to allow me to cook. Oh, I had helped with cookies before that, and I had snapped beans and cleaned out lima beans and peas from their pods, but actually standing at the stove and cooking? That I had to beg to do. So for Christmas in 1951 I received a Children's Cookbook and the first thing I actually "cooked" was scrambled eggs. I remember that vividly, and those scrambled eggs were perfect -- they were fluffy, not dry, and well seasoned. That initiated my love for cooking.
My dear mother let me cook once in a while, but I watched her like a hawk, and I asked questions, and I was able to follow a recipe from her favorite cookbook -- name forgotten, but it was thick, green, and had lots of handwritten recipes tucked in its pages. That book is long gone, but her recipes are still around in my head, in my handwritten notes, and occasionally on my stove.
I hope you enjoy this BLOG. Please comment and give me suggestions if you have an "upgrade" to the recipe I post. I will try to do one per day, but I may not do that, so don't panic if I miss a day or two.
Now on to the purpose of this post -- recipes.
mtf
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