Broccoli Salad

This was so popular at the Garland Womens Retreat that we asked the kitchen for the recipe.  I notice it comes from a popular cooking show hostess.  I hope she won't sue us for publishing the recipe.  We're not making any money from it, we're just making a great compliment to the cooks at Camp Gilmont and the Cooking Show Hostess whose name I won't mention because I don't want her people surfing the internet for recipe thieves and finding me then sueing me for a million dollars just for one little broccoli salad recipe.  Sheesh.

Now I'm almost afraid to ask who brought the spicy crackers she made and get her recipe for it.  Proceed at your own risk.

Fresh Cranberry Relish

This is from the Dallas Arboretum cookbook.  Whenever I think of cranberry relish I think of the canned stuff you invariably forget to put on the table until after the meal is over. It also doesn't taste all that great.  THIS recipe is delicious.

4 cups fresh cranberries (or one package)
2 apples, cored
2 oranges, seeded
Orange zest
3/4 cup sugar

Zest the oranges.  Chop the cranberries.  Peel and chop the apples.  Peel and chop the oranges. Mix it all together with the juices from all that peeling and chopping.  Add the sugar.

If you have any left over after the big meal you can use it to make a great fruit smoothie.

Cheese Wafers

I got a lot of compliments on these crackers at the annual Womens Retreat at Gilmont this weekend.  I can't take credit for them because I got the recipe from a cookbook the Dallas Arboretum put out.  It has recipes of some of the great dishes they serve in their tea room.

No matter where it came from this recipe produces a crisp, light and tasty savory for afternoon tea:

1/2 pound butter (Now you understand why this is so good.)
4 cups of grated Sharp Cheese
2 cups of flour
1 cup of finely chopped pecans
1 Tablespoon Paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Blend the butter and cheese together.  Add the pecans and spices and mix well.  Add the flour and mix well. 
Roll this into a 2 inch roll.  Wrap in plastic and chill.........30 minutes in the freezer will do.  Use the refrigerator if you will chill longer.  You don't want to have to cut frozen dough.

Slice into 1/4 inch slices.  Bake at 350 degrees 10-15 minutes or so until crisp.

After they've cooled you can freeze them if you need to. This makes about 36.  Maybe a bit more.  I tasted some and kind of  lost track of how many I ate.

Shrimp Bisque

Once in a while Elizabeth and I like to try a new recipe so we do what I call a "Buddy Cook" at her house and make it. Sometimes we come to my house but it's usually a holiday weekend and there are a lot of other people around and it can get hectic.  It's much more civilized at her house.   And, certainly if knives are involved you want the atmosphere as civilized as possible.

I have been watching a lot of Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, on TV. She makes everything look so easy.  And, actually, this one is pretty easy.  Except for finding the Brandy and Dry Sherry. 

Since Texas has started allowing beer and wine to be sold at the supermarket the liquor stores are going out of business right and left.  I drove past three liquor stores that had been closed until I found one still open.  Even it was in the process of going through bankruptcy and the walls were almost bare.  The best I could find in Brandy was four of the little airplane sized bottles. Folks, you know I've quit drinking.  You're going to have to get in there and do your part to keep the liquor stores alive. There is nothing sadder than a half-stocked shelf in a liquor store.

The seafood stock was on the shelf at Whole Foods in the yuppie part of Dallas.  Later I found it in the soup aisle at my Walmart out here in the boondocks. 

Ingredients

• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, shells reserved
• 4 cups seafood stock
• 3 tablespoons good olive oil
• 2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (3 leeks)
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic (3 cloves)
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup Cognac or brandy
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Place the shrimp shells and seafood stock in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain and reserve the stock. Add enough water to make 3 3/4 cups.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the leeks and cook them for 10 minutes over medium-low heat, or until the leeks are tender but not browned. Add the garlic and cook 1 more minute. Add the cayenne pepper and shrimp and cook over medium to low heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the Cognac and cook for 1 minute, then the sherry and cook for 3 minutes longer. Transfer the shrimp and leeks to a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until coarsely pureed.

In the same pot, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium-low heat for 1 minute, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the half-and-half and cook, stirring with a whisk, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the pureed shrimp, the stock, tomato paste, salt, and pepper and heat gently until hot but not boiling. Season, to taste, and serve hot..

Serve it with baguettes of French Bread and some butter.  This should serve a whole lot of people. But if there's only the two of you then you don't have to share.  I especially liked sitting in Elizabeth's living room and watching an episode of Ina on TV and dipping chunks of buttered bread into the soup.   This recipe is a keeper. And I found the flavor got even better the next day after it sat a while.

Coffee Cake

I've been channeling Ina Garten the last two weeks in search of the perfect coffee cake. We used to always have a store-bought one on Christmas morning.  But, to my horror, I couldn't find one in the freezer case this year.  When I went to the recipe sources it was slim pickings.  I wanted one with no exotic ingredients like sour cream.

The first one I tried was nasty.  I suspected the Crisco I used was too old.  So I tried it with fresh Crisco and still didn't like it.  The next one--sans Crisco-- was too dry.  This morning, I added apples and half a banana for extra moisture and a second egg to give it more body.  And I love it!

Three coffee cakes later I think I have a recipe that I'm happy with.

ingredients:

2 cups of Bisquick
2/3 milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
cinnamon
1 teaspoon orange zest
vanilla (you know how I am about vanilla)
1/2 apple chopped fine
1/2 bananna chopped fine
1/2 cup blueberries (OK, so maybe this is an exotic ingregient but I swear I had some in the freezer.  It's not imperative you put blueberries in. And if you don't have a banana or an apple in the house, then shame on you for not eating healthy like I do.)

mix everything well except for the blueberries. Pour it all into a greased pan (I use a round spring-form)
Once everything is in--and only then--carefully sprinkle the blueberries on top

Then add the strusel topping:

1/3 cup Bisquick
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter
cinnamon
mix this in the Cuisinart until the butter is pea-size
then add in 1/3 cup granola cereal (or not if you don't have it)
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Bake at 350-375 for about 25 minutes. 

Pecan Ice Cream Topping

Bulletin!  I just discovered the most wonderful (actually, I can't think of an adjective good enough so 'wonderful' will have to do) and amazing topping for ice cream.  Better yet, it makes use of the pecan pie filling you have left over after making my famous pecan pie. 

Repeat our mantra once again:  "It's a Pecan pie, not a Filling pie."

Take this cup or so of filling, add some finely chopped pecans and heat it on the stove until it begins to thicken and boil.  As soon as it starts to boil, remove from heat and add a teaspoon or so of vanilla or brandy or bourbon.

Seal it in a jar and let it cool in the fridge.  Great on top of ice cream.

Holiday Cooking

Of course I know better than to say I know more about cooking Thanksgiving than you do.  But I AM just sayin’ that I’ve cooked probably 80 holiday meals in the last forty or so years, if you add up all the Thanksgivings, Christmases and Easters then subtract the times we ate at Beaven’s parents' house.  For some reason I’ve always been the holiday meal sponsor but I’m not complaining because I absolutely love it.  It must appeal to both my love of control and food.  By cooking the meal I get both wishes.

Here is how I go about the big meal:

• Start at the finish:  get out all the serving and warming dishes first.  Put post-it notes to say what will go inside them.  Then work backwards: 
• This is where  everyone will sit
• This is where the food will sit while we eat  
• This is what I will keep it warm in,
• This is what I will cook it in…do I have enough burners or room in the oven?   
•  what do I need to buy?.. make a grocery list

The turkey is the bossiest food you can invite to the dinner.  It takes up the entire oven.  Plan on this and cook around it.  But:  you can also cover the turkey in foil and hold it an hour.  This gives you just enough time to cook the dressing and roasted vegetables.

Plan to put the rolls into the oven about the time you start calling everyone to the table.  It will take 10 minutes to get everyone seated.  Say the blessing and by the time you say “amen” the rolls will be ready. 

Other tips:

• Those big turkey roasting pans can be used to keep the dressing warm. 
• Mashed potatoes will stay perfect in a slow cooker set on low. 
• Put the gravy in a coffee carafe. It keeps it warm and you can even pour from it.
• Buy a new can of baking powder and sage every November.  You probably haven’t  used any since last year at this time and it’s out of date.

It’s too hot in November but by Christmastime you will be able to use the outside BBQ grill as an alternative refrigerator.  Remember to keep the lid on it or critters will eat your stuff.

I’ve got to go.  I let my day get away from me and the grands are about to descend and I realize I have no food in the house for any of the other days besides Thursday. 

I have an index on the blog for Thanksgiving food, including the turkey.  You’re on your own.

PS- be very careful what you put down the disposer.  It’s not used to potato peels or celery strings-- that sucker will stop up in a heartbeat and all the plumbers are out at their deer lease.