Post-Thanksgiving

Well, my turkey-induced tryptophan coma has finally cleared. I know I'm 'way late this week, but it took awhile to recover from the Big T. I cooked for 13 guests most of Wednesday and half of Thursday, and then spent the weekend rushing around with other things...

I thought I'd pass on some of my new and old favorite holiday recipes.

Strawberry Grapefruit Pie

What a great tart-sweet counter to all the richness of typical Thanksgiving dishes!

This was my new discovery for Turkey Day 2016. We got a whole bag of yummy Texas Reds, and I went looking for other things to make besides fruit-inna-bowl. This pie is as simple as can be:

1-2 Ruby Red Grapefruit, peeled and sectioned

1 box Strawberry Jell-O tm

1 Graham Cracker Pie crust (store-bought or home-made)

Place the grapefruit pieces in the pie crust. Make up the Jell-O according to package directions. Pour the Jell-O over the grapefruit and put the pie in the fridge to chill for at least a few hours. Longer is better.

I made the mistake of keeping the grapefruit segments whole as you can see in the photo. It makes a pretty pie that way, but a pie that's hard to eat. Cut the sections into bite-sized pieces!!

Red Cooked Turkey

It's been a couple years since I posted my favorite way to make turkey (or other poultry for that matter. I swear I learned this from Martin Yan, of Yan Can Cook, back when Saturday morning PBS was the equivalent of Food Network, but I can't find the actual recipe anywhere.

If you're like us, you mostly go for turkey breast anyway. Legs and thighs are OK for Turkey curry or ragout or whatever else you do with those lesser leftovers. In the past that breast has oven been far too dry. Nevermore! As the Raven said.  The only thing you don't get in this recipe is crispy turkey skin.  That's OK... I can do without.

Just in time for Christmas, this recipe can be adapted from a 8-14 lb turkey breast to a whole chicken or two, or bags of chicken parts; and it's this simple:

1. Put the meat in a large stockpot n your stove top.
2. Fill the pot to cover the meat by 1 inch with half soy sauce and half water, plus one whole Star Anise. Yep soy sauce and licorice!! Have no fear.
3. Remove the meat from the pot, and bring the liquid to a hard rolling boil.
4. Return the meat to the pot and bring things back to a hard rolling boil.
5. Turn the heat off. Put a lid on the pot, and WALK AWAY FOR TWO HOURS!

That's it!! Now you're free to use the oven for all those other great holiday dishes we all love.

The heat from the boiling liquid, the pot and the stove top takes that flavor all the way to the bone! You have the most moist, juicy, flavor-filled turkey breast you can imagine. 

 IT DOES NOT TASTE OF SOY SAUCE OR LICORICE, it tastes of “please sir can I have some more?”. People who normally hate turkey (including my foodie friend Sara Peterson) ask for seconds and thirds!

This year I got a 13 lb boneless breast.  HUGE!!  When it came time to assemble, I "accidentally" used a lot more soy sauce than normal (I was trying to use up the jug of rich, dark, mushroom soy sauce I bought last year).  When it came time to serve I cut the meat into 1/2" and 3/4" slabs and let folks pick what they wanted.  The picture above shows a leftover slab which was stored in the fridge in some of the braising liquid -- hence the dark surface.  Still the inside is white and tender and juicy!

Update: I've been thinking that this technique can go far beyond Chinese. I made a ham this year to a recipe by my friend Sara, which called for simmering the meat in a large jug of Sangria with additional fruit. I used my slow cooker for 4 hours on High. But I'm thinking there's no reason you couldn't use the Red Cooking technique and half the time.  If  you like Coq au Vin, use chicken and cheap red wine.

And what about a Mojo infused Pork Roast..... Now where'd I put that stockpot....

My Green Bean Casserole

My take on this 1950s classic. Cook this in the oven while your Red Cooked Turkey is on the stove top. Using Alfredo sauce cuts out all the salt from the Cream of Mushroom soup. Minced crimini mushrooms ensure the quintessential mushroom flavor remains. I like my green beans al dente rather than squeaky so I only cooked them half an hour. If you like softer beans go for more time!

2 lbs fresh Green Beans, tipped and cut in half

2 cups Alfredo Sauce

1/2c cup Milk or Half & Half

1/4c cup minced Crimini mushrooms

1 Tbsp Soy Sauce

1/4t tsp Black Pepper

French Fried Onions to taste.

Preheat over to 350F.

Lay green beans and mushrooms in a suitable baking dish Combine Alfredo sauce, milk, pepper and soy sauce, and pour over the beans. Top with onions as desired. Bake 30 minutes. Remove from oven, top with more onions, and serve.

Banana Bars

Harvested and ripened another big bunch of bananas (20).

So it's time for another banana recipe. Here's a quick and easy (and pretty healthy) banana bar that I first posted back in 2014. No added sugar, for those of you watching such things in your diet. Gluten free too. Easily made lactose free. Diabetic friendly.. All that good marketing hype.

3 ripe Bananas, peeled

1/3 cup Applesauce (no sugar added variety)

2 cups Rolled Oats

¼ cup Almond or real Milk

½ cup Raisins or other dried fruit

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 tsp ground Cinnamon

Mash everything together in a bowl until well mixed. Turn out into a 9x9 baking dish or 9x4 loaf pan. Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes. Makes a dense, chewy 'bar' that would be a great lunch bag addition.

Cashew Chicken, Yams, Trifle and Black-eyed Peas

Cashew Chicken

Another great recipe from Guest Chef Fiona Barnes. An English take on a traditional Chinese dish with chicken and cashews in a light soy/ginger/garlic sauce.

Fiona usually does this in a slow cooker, but we used the electric skillet set down to 200F. Cooked in about two hours. Serves 4.

4 Chicken Breasts, boneless, skinless, cut into short strips and pieces

4oz. Cashews - unsalted

3 Tbsp Corn Starch

4 Tbsp Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

4 Tbsp Ketchup

4 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar

1” finger fresh Ginger, grated

2-3 cloves Garlic, minced

2 Tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce (I like Frank's Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce tm)

1/4t tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Salt & Pepper to taste

Rice – we used Valencia because it was what we had on hand.

Cinnamon Baked Sweet Potatoes

Fiona served these as a tasty counterpoint alongside her Cashew Chicken. Our Thanksgiving guests will be having them alongside the turkey and ham. Just sweet and cinnamon-y enough! This recipe serves 4.

2 large Sweet Potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2” thick crescents

1/2s stick Butter

2 Tbsp Honey or Cane Syrup

1 tsp Cinnamon

Melt the butter, honey and cinnamon together in the microwave. Coat each slice of potato with the melted yummy. Stack in a 9x9 dish, 2 slices deep. Cover and bake at 400F for 30-45 minutes. Enjoy!

Traditional English Trifle

It seems no English dinner is complete without some form of dessert.    This is Fiona's take on a traditional favorite.

You need a large, deep glass bowl; called a Trifle Bowl. This is somewhat smaller in diameter but much deeper than a standard mixing bowl.

Start with Sponge Cake to cover the bottom of the bowl. Use store-bought cake like those strawberry shortcake things, or lady's fingers. If you can find lady's fingers, they are often stood up around the inside wall of the trifle, as well as to cover the bottom. Once the bottom is in place, some people add a layer of strawberry or raspberry jam on top or between two layers of thin spongecake. Sprinkle 1-3 tablespoons of Sherry on top the sponge.

Now add a layer of drained Fruit. Fiona used canned Mandarin Oranges, and reserved the juice for later. Here in Florida we could use any sort of tropical fruit to kick things up – kiwi, mango, banana, papaya, carambola, pineapple, etc.

Make up a batch of flavored Jello-O tm. Fiona used Orange, to go along with the mandarin fruit. She also used the reserved mandarin juice as part of the cold water added to the Jell-O. Gently pour the Jell-O over the layers in the bowl and put the bowl in the fridge to set up.

If you want a really big trifle, you can repeat all of the above for a second level of yumminess!!

Two last layers complete the trifle. First a layer of Custard. Brits usually use Birds tm brand powdered custard mix. Follow directions to make a pint of custard. 

 If you absolutely can't find Birds custard powder, you can, reluctantly, use a packet of vanilla pudding mix.

After the custard layer has set in the fridge, the last layer is real Whipped Cream – a 1/2 pint container of heavy cream whipped into stiff peaks and spread over all. You could wimp out with that imitation stuff from the freezer section, but it just would not be the same. Garnish the final result with a few bits of fruit, or sliced almonds, or shaved chocolate.

Blackeyed Peas Tex-Mex Style

Super simple. I created this as a side dish for watching the Gators beat the LSU Tigers in the last 3 seconds of a hotly contested game that was delayed from when Hurricane Matthew gave central and western Florida a close miss a month or so ago.

1 cup dry Blackeyed Peas

1 can Ro*Tel Chili Fixin's

Cook the peas about 1-1/2 hours on low, until tender. Drain. Toss with the Chili Fixin's and serve. The Fixin's adds a great smokiness from chiles en adobo and roasted tomatoes.  You can also mash this preparation, and make a great scoopable chip dip.

Chicken Leeks & Feta, Blood Orange Cake and more...

Sorry about the week's delay, but I had horrible muscle pain for a couple weeks, that have finally faded. Hurt so much I could not bend over, or lift my legs enough to put on socks, or tie my shoes! Migraine type headache for a week on top of it all. We think it was an interaction between the statin I take for high cholesterol and one or more other drugs I take for my diabetes, probably triggered by a couple months of gym workouts. As soon as your body starts getting better, it smacks you just to see if you're serious about getting healthier.

This week's post is a combination of things for your dining delight. Sally's oldest friend and her husband came to spend almost a month with us, in celebration of their 35^th wedding anniversary. Fiona and Sally grew up in Brighton, on the south coast. Today Fiona and her husband Toby Barnes live in Mablethorpe, on the northeast coast of England.

Fiona's Chicken with Leeks and Feta

Our Guest Chef this week, Fiona Barnes, has been friends for some 45 years! She's a great cook herself, and I sure don't mind sharing a few column inches to showcase her most excellent dish!

4 Chicken Breasts, boneless, skinless, and butterflied

2 large Leeks, sliced into thin rings just into the green ends

1 lbs New Potatoes, quartered - she used Dutch Yellow

7 oz block Feta, cubed and crumbled

1 stick unsalted Butter

1/2 cup chopped Mint leaves

Steam the potatoes. While they're working, cook the leeks over medium heat. Add half a stick of butter and a dash of salt & pepper to taste as they start to cook. Reserve the leeks when softened.

Lay the butterflied chicken out on a griddle pan, and dust with salt and pepper to taste. Fire the broiler to High, and cook about 5 minutes on the beauty side, then flip and cook the second side of the chicken 3-4 minutes. You want the meat done, but not browned.

Pull the pan from the oven, and top each breast with ¼ of the leeks and ¼ of the feta. Return the pan to the broiler for 3-5 minutes until the feta just gets a bit brown on the edges. Plate the finished breasts.

Put the hot potatoes in a bowl, top with a couple tablespoon sized dollops of butter, and the chopped mint. Stir with a large spoon of a minute or so until the butter is melted and the mint evenly distributed. The scent of the heated mint is intoxicating!! Serve alongside the plated chicken.

What great flavors!! The mint and feta play wonderful counterharmonies with each other. Simple but savory and oh, so good. You've gotta try this one folks!

Blood Orange Sponge Cake

It's been dog's years since I've made a cake from scratch. Knowing I'm a fan of The Great British Bake Off program, Fiona brought me a copy of the cookbook from Season 2, called How To Bake The Perfect Victoria Sponge and Other Baking Secrets. You'll be hearing about other recipes over the coming weeks/months, but while surfing through the delicacies, my eye was first caught by a Blood Orange Sponge Cake recipe. I love Blood Oranges, and earlier this year, as they were going out of season, I frozen about a dozen whole fruit. This recipe, I thought, would be a perfect use for these dark beauties.

One thing I learned the hard way is that what the Brits call “caster sugar” is not the same as our “confectioner's sugar” as I had always been led to believe. In the first step I used confectioner's sugar rather than granulated sugar, and the mixing took 4 times as long as it should have! You'll want to use an 8” non-stick Springform pan for this recipe, and line the bottom with parchment paper. A common 9” pan would make too thin a cake.

For the Sponge:

6 large Eggs, at room temp

6 oz. Granulated Sugar

3-1/2 oz. Almond Flour

3 oz Slivered Almonds

Zest of 2 Blood Oranges

For the Syrup:

4 oz Granulated Sugar

Juice of 4 Blood Oranges

Preheat the oven to 350F. Separate the eggs putting yolks and eggs in separate large bowls. Freeze one blood orange to make slicing it easier.

To the yolks add the 6 oz of sugar and the orange zest. Beat with an electric mixer for 3-5 minutes until the mixture is thick like a mousse. Fold in the almond flour.

Beat the egg whiles until you get very stiff peaks. Fold the eggwhites gently into the yolk mixture, in three additions, until well combined. Lastly fold in the slivered almonds.

Spoon the sponge into the springform pan and spread it evenly. Bake for 45 minutes or until the sponge is golden brown and springy when pressed lightly. During the baking the mix will swell up like a souffle and then gradually sink.

While the sponge is baking, make the syrup. Combine the sugar and blood orange juice in a pan, bring to a simmer, stirring often until the sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes, then set aside to cool slightly. Makes about a cup of syrup.

When the sponge is done, remove it from the oven and set the pan on a large plate. Run a round-tipped knife around the inside of the pan to loosen it sponge. Stab the cake all over with a skewer or chopstick. Pour the warm syrup all over the top, reserving about a quarter cup.

When it's time to serve, slice the frozen orange into thin rounds and place them on top of the cake. Heat the remaining syrup in the microwave (30 seconds) and pour it all over the top of the cake. You can garnish with more slivered almonds if you choose. The cake won't keep long, but it is so tasty, it's not going to last more than 24 hours in the fridge.

This one is a "Show Stopper, folks!  You've gotta try this one!

Lemon-Basil Butter Salmon

Simple is as simple does. Juice of a lemon, quarter cup of chopped fresh basil, half a cup of melted butter. Stir together, brush over salmon or other filets while they cook on a bed of diced onion and tomato.

Simple No-Boil Lasagna

Our English guests got to try out my new, simpler version of Lasagna twice this week. As a main dish on Thursday, and again on Sunday as a “lite” dinner (smaller squares).

12 Lasagna Noodles

1-1/2 lb “meatloaf mix” (Beef, Veal, Pork)

2 cloves Garlic, chopped

1 tsp dried Oregano or Italian seasoning

Salt and ground Black Pepper to taste

16 ounce small curd Cottage Cheese

2 Eggs, beaten

1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

1-1/2  jars tomato-basil pasta sauce (I used 1 jar red sauce, 1/2 jar Alfredo sauce)

12 oz box of sliced Crimini or White Mushrooms

2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Sauté meat with garlic, herbs and spices. In a separate bowl combine the sauces and beaten eggs. In a bowl, combine the cottage cheese and Parmesan. In a 9x13 baking dish lay down a splash of the sauce. Lay down three noodles length-wise and a shorter piece across the end,

Layer the sauce, then the cottage/Parmesan, and top with half of meat. Next lay down the entire package of mushrooms. Now repeat layering the sauce, meat and cottage/Parm. Top everything with the mozzarella. 

Cover with tinfoil and bake in a 350F pre-heated oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until the cheese gets brown and bubbly. Wait at least 15 minutes before serving.

Green Banana Curry, Tuna Melt and Cottage Pie

Tuna Melt

This has become a sort of Sunday evening lite supper for us. Until we met, Sally had never even heard of a Tuna Melt! Now it's one of her favorite simple suppers.

1 can Solid White Albacore Tuna – not Chunk, you're buying mostly water!

1 small stick Celery, diced

2"x2” piece Red Bell Pepper, Diced

Spices, if you like – sometimes I do curry powder, other times Cajun blend – to taste

Mayonnaise or Ranch Dressing – Bleu Cheese Dressing is good too

Cheese – we like Sharp White Cheddar

4 nice slices Bread

Butter or good Margarine like Olivio tm

Drain and flake the tuna into a bowl, then add the celery and bell pepper, spice if any, and a couple tablespoons of mayo or dressing. Stir to combine.

Butter both sides of the bread slices. Slice enough cheese 1/8” or thicker, to cover two slices of bread. Lay the cheese out on two slices of bread, then top each with a largish scoop of tuna salad and gently spread it around. Top with the other slice of buttered bread.

Heat a griddle or skillet. Using a turner, transfer the sandwiches to the hot, dry, griddle or skillet. Cook the first side 2-4 minutes until nicely browned. Carefully flip the sandwiches over and cook the second side a further 2-4 minutes. Carefully transfer to plates and serve.

Green Banana and Shrimp Curry

Pretty simple, this one, although you will need access to green bananas. Behind Sally's is another banana 'tree' with a half-ripe stem of bananas, so I 'borrowed' 4 of them. Green bananas are starchy, not sweet, and make a nice change from tofu for vegetarians and vegan who would leave out the shrimp.

2 Tbsp EVOO

1/2ttsp Turmeric

1 tsp Powdered Chile

4 large Green Bananas

1 Onion, diced

4 cloves Garlic, chopped

2 Tomatoes, chopped

Juice of a Lemon

1 can Coconut Milk

12 nice large shrimp, sauteed and peeled

Cut the bananas into wedges, say 1/2” thick rounds, quartered. Saute the banana in the oil, then add the onion, spices, lemon juice and then tomato. When the onion is tender, add the coconut milk and stir to combine well. Lastly add the shrimp and let them warm through before serving with rice.

Cottage Pie

This is a great staple to feed a lot of people. In England it's only Shepherd's pie if you use lamb. This version of meat pie uses a mix of beef and pork. Cottage pie is invariably made crustless, and is topped with a layer of mashed potatoes.

1-1/4 lbs ground Chuck

3/4llb ground Pork

8 oz sliced Crimini mushrooms

1 cup Carrot rounds, par cooked

8 oz frozen Peas

1 cup diced Onion

Spices of your choice, to taste. I used a Czech goulash blend of paprikas and marjoram.        Equally good would be Old Bay, one of the Pride of Szyged spice blends, etc.

4-6 Potatoes for mashing. I used a combination of Russet potatoes and Turnips. 

 The turnips give a nice tang to the mash. You'll need enough mashed potatoes to cover your pie at least an inch thick.

Milk, butter, sour cream... whatever you use to make mashed potatoes

Bisto tm for gravy and thickening

Saute together the meats and onion until the meats are browned and the onion translucent. Add the carrots and peas and spices. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, stirring to combine everything well. Dust the surface with a couple tablespoons of Bisto powder and stir it in. This turns the released liquids into wonderful beef-flavored gray. Remove from the heat, and place in a casserole dish to cool while you boil the potatoes. Preheat your over to 400F.

Drain and mash and add all the goodies to make mashed potatoes. Spoon them into a thick layer on top of the meat and veg filling. Dust the surface with a little paprika for color and flavor.  Bake for 45 minutes or so until the mashed potato crust is starting to brown in spots. Remove from the oven and let the pie rest for few minutes before serving.

Hungarian Fish, Banana Bread, Florida French Toast and Veggie Pizza

Banana Bread

Simple, simple recipe. When you have an entire stalk of bananas ripen at once (as happened on Saturday) this is a great thing to do with some of the 30+ bananas on that stalk.

As bananas grow on the stalk they start out pointing upwards as you see in this photo.

As they ripen, the fruit sag downward until almost all are horizontal. That's when we cut the entire stalk, wrap it in a large trash bag to contain and concentrate the ethylene gas being given off (which causes the fruit to finish ripening and turn yellow). We hang the bag outdoors in semi shade for a week or ten days and everything ripens almost literally over night. – one day green, the next day yellow.

Now you've got between 20 and 50 ripe bananas. What do you do?

2-4 ripe Bananas, peeled and sliced

1/3 cup melted Butter

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

3/4 cup Sugar – white or brown (1/2 cup for less sweet, 1 cup for more sweet)

1 large Egg, beaten

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Pinch of Salt

1-1/2 cups of all-purpose Flour

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter or non-stick-spray a 4x8-inch loaf pan or six large muffin cups.  My silicon cups are free standing, and are completely non-stick.

In a mixing bowl, mash ripe bananas with a fork. I'm not fond of over-ripe fruit; and I like to leave the banana a bit chunky. Some folks like it almost pureed. Stir the melted butter into the mash.

Mix in the baking soda and salt. Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Last, stir in the flour. When completely combined, pour the batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Homemade Veggie Pizza

Pizza was invented in 18^th or early 19^th century in Naples (the one in Italy, not the one 50 miles south of Fort Myers). Many years ago, I shared an office with a Neapolitan named Luciano Furia, a computer geek and photography aficionado who came to the US as a Fulbright Scholar. “Luke” as he was known worked with us at the University of Utah Computer Center. Since then he returned to his hometown and has become an internationally recognized pizza photographer! Check him out on Facebook!!

Homemade pizza is a LOT cheaper, healthier and tastier than store-bought! Of course you can make your own dough from flour, water, eggs, yeast, etc. But that takes time I didn't want to use. So for this one I used pizza-crust-inna-tube from the chill-chest at my local megamart. They also have, in the Bakery, one pound bags of ready-to-roll-out dough. That's a bit much for just two of us. Although we like pizza, a pound of dough would make either a very large or very thick crust.

The crust-inna-tube gave us a decent size pie and cost about half that of a pound of Bakery dough. Plus the bakery dough had too much sugar in it for my taste. I pre-baked the crust according to instructions, and then began building our pie.

For the base I brushed on Alfredo sauce rather than the usual overly sugary marinara sauce.

For toppings, I started with the idea of a Pizza Margherita – tomato, fresh basil, and mozzarella. I used yellow tomatoes because Sally prefers them. To this I added red bell pepper rings, mushrooms and diced green onion. I topped it all with shredded mozarella and took it for a trip in the oven. A few minutes later, dinner was served!

My photo isn't in the same league as Luciano's by any stretch of the imagination.  But the end product was pretty darn tasty!

Hungarian Fish Dinner

Continuing my theme of Eastern European dishes, inspired by Sally and Holly's trip to Croatia and the Czech Republic, here's a Hungarian style fish dinner. I used Flounder, because we got a good deal on a bunch of filets.  In Hungary they use a lot of freshwater fish, notably carp, because it's available and very tasty.  Not the same carp we have in the US at all!

I also used my favorite fish rub spice; the Fish Rub from Pride of Szeged tm which you can find online. For the side vegetable to counterpoint the fish I served some of that great Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage that I gave you the recipe for last week.

I pan poached the fish on lemon slices over a courtbouillion (poaching liquid) of water, white wine and lemon juice.

Sally even likes that cabbage as a topping on her lunch salads, along with a ranch or other creamy dressing.

My Florida French Toast

I just had to show this one off. I use Challah bread cut 1” thick, and leave it out overnight to dry and get “stale”. It soaks up more egg-cream the next morning, a trick I learned from Alton Brown!

I dust the cooking toast with Mace rather than the more common cinnamon. Then I serve it with real Cane Syrup handmade by a good 'ol boy near Clearwater. This time I added a sliced fresh strawberry and a small sliced banana from the giant bunch (see above).

Czech Please! and more...

Bringing home the flavors that Sally and Holly experienced during their Eastern European excursion last month.

Czech Beef Goulash – Cesky Guláš
As a kid growing up we heard about Hungarian Goulash.  Lots of Hungarian folks in Toledo, OH.  But other folks make goulash too.  This recipe comes from the Czech Republic.

This is the simplest of goulashes – beef and onion and spices. No peppers, no tomato. I did it in the crockpot to get the beef falling-apart tender. Simply wonderful – slightly sweet, rich and flavorful

2 lbs Beef, cubed

4 large White Onions, sliced – I used Valdosta sweet onions

3 Tbsp Czech Goulash Spice Mix

Wondra tm to thicken

Put everything in your crockpot and cook for 6-9 hours on Low. In the last hour or so, add a tablespoon or two of Wondra sprinkled on top and stir, to thicken.

Don't have a premade spice blend handy like the one the ladies brought me? Try this combination:

2 Tbsp sweet Paprika (more if desired)

1 Tbsp hot Paprika
2 tsp of ground Caraway seed
1/2 tsp Marjoram

2 cloves Garlic, minced

The resultant flavor is definitely sweet-ish not hot spicy. Simple Czech guláš does not have any added tomato or bell peppers or anything else. It is simply beef, onion and spices. This would be equally fabulous served over mashed potatoes, or even on English muffins. Next time I may try it with pork as well. Chicken would be good this way too, I suspect.

Sweet-and-Sour Red Cabbage – Červene zelī

Some version of this cabbage dish is served all across northern Europe from Western France to Moscow. This recipe is Czech in origin.  Just like the name says, it's sweet and sour -- and a really good thing to do to a head of red cabbage. Goes well with pork or beef.

1-½ pound Thinly Sliced Red Cabbage.  If you have a mandolin slicer, use it!

1 whole Onion, Chopped

1 Tablespoon Shortening

1-½ cup Water

½ cups White or Apple Cider Vinegar

½ cups Sugar

1 teaspoon Salt

¼ teaspoon Pepper

1 teaspoon Caraway Seeds

Wondra tm as needed

Saute onion until golden. Add water, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper, and bring the liquid to a boil.

Place cabbage in the liquid. Slightly crack and grind caraway seeds before sprinkling them over the cabbage. This helps release the maximum flavor.

Simmer for approximately 30 minutes until the cabbage is wilted and soft. Stir occasionally.

Sprinkle with Wondra to thicken the remaining liquid slightly and boil for a few more seconds until desired “doneness” is achieved. Should be wilted and soft, but not mushy.

Bean & Veggie Stoup

It's finally cooled off enough here in SW Florida to making and eating soup worth considering. Sally wanted something 'beany and veggie', and that's what she got. 

 Stoup? Oh yeah... that depends on how much liquid (water or broth) you add. You could end up with a thin soup – or a thicker stew – stoup. You can use any dried white-ish beans you please. Blackeyed Peas would go well here too. I used up a handful here and there from the cupboard.

1/2 cup dry Anasazi beans

1/2 cup dry Great Northern beans

1/2 cup dry Garbanzos

3 sticks Celery

1/2 Red Onion, diced

1 cup Sweet White Onion, diced

3/4 cup Carrot coins

1 can Ro*tel tm Tomatoes, original, no-salt-added

2 small Turnips, peeled and cubed

To taste:

Marjoram

Sage

Thyme

Black Pepper

Smoked Paprika

Old Bay Seasoning

Cook the beans together in a significant amount of water until they are just al dente. Remove to a stock pot, with their cooking liquid.

Add the other ingredients, stirring occasionally to distribute the items. Add additional liquid as you see fit (stoup). To help things along, I also par-cooked the carrots and turnips, which would normally take a long time. Bring your stoup to boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until the veg are as 'dead' as you want them. Serve with nice crusty bread to mop up the juices.

Avocado-Chocolate Dessert #2

The Avocado-Chocolate Pudding is back!! This time with lots of caloric (but tasty) additions. If you use one of those LARGE smooth-skinned avocados, this recipe makes about 8 ramekins of dessert.

2-3 ripe Haas or or 1 large smooth-skin Avocado

1 large Banana

1/2 cup unsweetened Coco Powder - the darkest, 'most chocolaty' you can find.

1/2 cup Peanut Butter, creamy or crunchy

1/2 cup sweetener – honey, cane syrup, mild maple syrup, agave

1/4 cup Almond milk, regular milk or half & half

Put everything in a food processor and take for a whirl until smooth and creamy. Too thick. Add a bit more milk. Add more cocoa if the banana or peanut butter flavor is too strong. Add more sweetener. The pudding is best fresh, but it can be stored a couple days in the fridge – place clingfilm on the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

We like ours topped with whipped cream and accompanied by an Italian Wafer Roll cookie.

Czech Grilled Cheese and Guava Bites

Just a couple simple but tasty dishes this week...

Guava Bites

Guava is a wonderful tropical fruit usually eaten fresh. But is also used, as a preserved paste in many Latino pastries. Sweet, but not too sweet, it can be thought of as the tropical equivalent of apricot jam as a filling. The paste is like a brick of fruit leather, easily sliced by a hot, wet, knife.

I made Guava Bites as dessert for a dinner-for-two cooking I did the other night as a charity for the Matlacha Hookers, woman's deepsea fishing club. I donate a dinner-for-two to their annual charity fishing tournament to raise money for the Pine Island elementary school.

This year the winners got Shrimp Stuffed Mushrooms as their appetizer, Brazilian Moqueca as their main dish, and the Guava Bites for the dessert course.

This is a super simple concept that you can keep around in the fridge for a quick dessert or decadent snack. All you need are “biscuits-in-a-tube”, soft cream cheese, and a package or can of guava paste which you can find in the ethnic section of your megamart.

For my bites I chose Crescent Roll dough because it's lighter than ordinary biscuit dough. The neat thing these days is you can find smaller (and cheaper) tubes of dough which only make 4 or 5 biscuits/rolls instead of 8 or 10. Keep a can in your fridge until its Use By date expires. Guava paste, even when opened, has the half life of Plutonium 239!  I've kept an opened block in a zip-top bag in the fridge for well over a year!

Make your Guava Bites just a bit more decadent by laying down a schmear of soft cream cheese before slicing the guava about 1/8” thick and placing on the dough.  

You don't have to stick with the roll-up form, either.  Make freeform shapes, or larger pastries using two entire crescent roll triangles.

Smažený sýr

That's Czech for “grilled cheese” Well, actually fried cheese, but that's OK. This dish is rated one of the five “must try” food from Prague's central square. Sally brought me back a bag of sýr spice blend, so I of course have to at least try the dish out. No calories here folks!

In Prague they either use one of the wonderful local cheeses, or something more generic, like Edam, Swiss, or Jarlsberg – semi-hard cheeses that will stand up to a minute or so of hot oil bath without completely melting down.

The principle is really simple, and I'm surprised we don't hear more about deep-fried cheese as a staple at county and state fairs.

1 “slice” of Edam or similar cheese, about 1/2” thick

Spice for dredging – here in the States a Cajun spice blend might go well

Flour for dredging

1 Egg for dredging

Breadcrumbs for dredging – I used panko because it's what I had on hand, but regular crumbs might work better in this case

Heat 1/2” of vegetable oil in a suitable pot or skillet, to 375F.

Dredge the slice of cheese in the spice blend, then the flour. Follow that with dredging in egg and then breadcrumbs.

Carefully lower the breaded cheese into the hot oil and cook for 20-30 seconds per side. Drain on paper towels and serve.

I let my oil get a bit too hot, but the result was still downright tasty. As an appetizer you could cut the “slice” into 1” squares and remove them from the oil oil with toothpicks for serving. They would need to be kept warm and served immediately, as the delicacy cools pretty quickly.