Oyster Stew
This oyster stew recipe includes butter, clam juice, sherry, half and half, and oysters.
INGREDIENTS:
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
2 dozen oysters, shucked, with their liquor
4 bottles (4 cups) clam juice
1 cup dry sherry
2 cups half-and-half
freshly ground black pepper
PREPARATION:
Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the celery and onion; saute until softened but not browned, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the Worcestershire, Tabasco, celery salt, oysters with their liquor, clam juice, sherry, and half and half.

CHICKEN GUMBO

This is so easy-to-make that even a caveman came do it and it can be made all in one pot.

Makes 8 servings

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup flour
3 cups chicken broth
1-1/2 pounds chicken breast, skinless and boneless, cut into 1-inch strips
1 cup white potatoes (1/2 lb), cubed
1 cup onions, chopped
1 cup carrots (1/2 lb), coarsely chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
1/2 medium carrot, grated
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 stalks scallion, chopped
1 whole bay leaf
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper, ground
2 teaspoons hot (or jalapeno) pepper
1 cup okra (1/2 pound), sliced into 1/2-inch pieces


1. Add oil to a large pot.

2. Heat pot over medium flame.

3. Stir in flour.

4. Cook, stirring constantly, until flour begins to turn golden brown.

5. Slowly stir in all the broth using a wire whisk and cook for 2 minutes. The mixture should not be lumpy.

6. Add all ingredients except okra. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

7. Add okra and let cook for 15 to 20 more minutes.

8. Remove bay leaf.

9. Serve hot in a bowl or over rice.

Sinigang na Baboy (pork in sour broth)

1-1/2 pounds pork riblets or pork ribs, country style,cut to pieces
5 cup water
4 medium tomatoes, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium Icicle radish, cut into 1" pieces (or 10 red radishes
1/4 pounds green beans
1/2 pounds Spinach (or cabbage mustard greens or watercress)
5 medium sampaloc (tamarind) [available as powde

1. In a large pot, bring water and pork to a boil. Add tomatoes, oni salt and tamarind. Simmer 1 hour or until pork is tender. 2. Optional: Remove tamarind and mash with some broth. Strain juice into pot.
3. Taste for seasoning. Bring to a boil. Add green beans and radish 10 minutes.
4. Add spinach, cover and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minute to fi cooking spinach. Variations: Beef (stewing, brisket, shank or plate) may be used in pl of pork. Adjust cooking time for each. Preparation Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes Serves: Sorce: Dennis Santiago
Yield: 4 servings

My very best friends

We are bonded. I refer to them as my little children. Their names; Baron von Dieter, age 1, and his half brother, Sir Winston of Churchill V, age 3. They were born to the same mama. You may view more pictures of them on the Man’s/Woman’s Best Friend page of my Web site.

You have found many great recipes in my Web site cooking page and now I will announce the very best prepared store bought food on the market for your best friends if you should be lucky enough to share your home with Yorkshire terriers, as I do.

The Royal Canin USA folks prepare and sell specific food for Yorkies. They love it. I serve each of them about 1-ounce at breakfast time and about the same amount for dinner. At the dinner meal, I add a very small amount of my dinner into their bowl.

The food is called ROYAL CANIN. I buy it in a 3 pound bag from Pet Smart stores. You will see a picture of a beautiful Yorkie on the side of the food bag. I get the little bites since they are more than 10 months old. They do sell larger bags if you should choose.

Fake Baked Beans with Crispy Bacon

1 pound dry Great Northern or Navy white beans
2 whole cloves
1 small onion, halved lengthwise and peeled
2 garlic cloves, more to taste
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt, more to taste
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup molasses
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1-1/2 teaspoons dry mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 slices thick-cut bacon
Chopped red onion, for garnish
1. Cover beans with water to top them by 2 inches and refrigerate overnight, or bring to boil in water to cover, cool 1 hour.
2. Drain and rinse beans. Put them in a pot. Stick whole cloves into onion halves and add to pot along with garlic and bay leaf. Cover with enough water to top them by 1 inch. Simmer beans, partly covered, until just tender, about 2 hours depending upon age and size of beans; do not overcook. Add boiling water if beans look dry during cooking; they should be surrounded by just a little liquid.
3. Remove onion, cloves, garlic (if desired) and bay leaf from pot. Stir in salt.
4. In a small bowl, mix together ketchup, molasses, vinegar, mustard powder, Tabasco and pepper. Pour mixture into beans and stir well. Add 1 slice of bacon to pot and bring everything to a simmer. Let simmer over low heat until beans are thickened, about 30 to 45 minutes. Remove bacon slice, if desired. Season with more salt if needed.
5. Just before serving, reheat beans, if necessary. Fry remanding bacon in large skillet and drain on paper-towel-lined plate. Transfer beans to heated gratin dish or baking pan top with bacon and red onion. Serve hot.

Source: Melissa Clark, published in The New York Times.

George Washington Recipe

Cherry Thumbprint Cookies

1 teaspoon vanilla
2 sticks butter or margarine
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
maraschino cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the vanilla, butter, egg yolks and brown sugar until creamy. Add the flour and salt and mix well.

Have the children roll the dough into 1" balls and place them on greased cookie sheets. Have the children make a thumbprint in each ball and then place a maraschino cherry in each thumbprint. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. (Makes about 3 dozen cookies)

Pink Lady Valentine Cake

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

1 (16 ounce) package sliced frozen strawberries

1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 (3 ounce) package strawberry gelatin mix

2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, beat eggs and add oil, water and 1/2 of strawberries; mix well. Beat in cake mix, flour and gelatin mix. Pour mixture into greased and floured pan

Bake in preheated oven for 75 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

To make icing: In a medium bowl, mix sugar and remaining strawberries; frost cake while warm.

Chill in refrigerator before serving.

In The Florida Cookbook (Knopf, 1993), Jeanne Voltz traced the original recipe for the grits to Henry Richardson, who sampled a similar dish in the Bahamas. Voltz obtained the recipe from Richardson's niece Molly Biggs for her book. Edge tweaked it a bit for Saveur.

If grits are the glue that keeps the South together, I think I've found the super-glue, cooksters. Saveur's special edition hits newsstands Tuesday.

Nassau Grits

Yield: 4 servings.

8 slices bacon

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, finely chopped

1 cup finely chopped smoked ham, about 6 ounces

14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

3/4 cup old-fashioned stone-grou nd white grits

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Fry the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels. When cool, crumble bacon into pieces.

2. Leave 3 tablespoons drippings in skillet. Reheat pan on medium. Add onions and peppers. Cook until onions are translucent, 5 minutes. Add ham and cook, stirring, until peppers are soft, 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and their juices along with chopped garlic. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the moisture has evaporated, 30 minutes.

3. Bring 3 cups water to boil. Add grits and salt. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thick and creamy, 30 minutes. Stir in ham-tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Top with bacon.

 

 

 

 

 

Irish Soda Muffins

 

2 1/4 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour                                  

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar (1 tablespoon

reserved for sprinkling on top)

3/4 cup currants (first choice) or raisins

1/2 to 2 teaspoons caraway seeds (the

effect will range from faint to assertive)

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk (or plain yogurt, or sour cream)

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick, 1/4 cup) butter or margarine, melted, (OR ?? cup vegetable oil)

 

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, currants or raisins, and caraway seeds. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk (or equivalent) and melted butter (or equivalent). Quickly and gently combine the dry and wet ingredients; honestly, this won't take more than a few stirs with a bowl scraper or large spoon. As soon as everything is evenly moistened, quit; further stirring will cause the muffins to be tough.

 

Spoon the batter into 12 lightly greased cups in a standard muffin pan, filling the cups about 2/3 full. Bake the muffins in a preheated 400?�F oven for 15 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove them from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan and cool them on a wire rack. Serve them plain, or with butter and/or jam. Yield: 12 muffins.

 

 

 

 

Fried Rice - a Basic Recipe for Fried Rice

Serves 4 to 6

This is a basic recipe for fried rice that you can add to as desired. If adding other ingredients, increase the number of eggs to 3.

INGREDIENTS:

1 green onion

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt

Pepper to taste

4 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed

4 cups cold cooked rice

1 - 2 tablespoons light soy sauce or oyster sauce, as desired

PREPARATION:

Wash and finely chop the green onion. Lightly beat the eggs with the salt and pepper.

Heat a wok or frying pan and add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the eggs. Cook, stirring, until they are lightly scrambled but not too dry.

Add 2 tablespoons oil. Add the rice. Stir-fry for a few minutes, using chopsticks or a wooden spoon to break it apart. Stir in the soy sauce or oyster sauce as desired.

When the rice is heated through, add the scrambled egg back into the pan. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the green onion. Serve hot.