Christmas Eve Salad

This is the time of year when Folks throw office, church, garage, AA, bowling team, study group, etc. POTLUCK parties. That can be a problem if you cannot cook, or if you are too lazy to cook much, and some other fortunate Soul snags the Chips & Dip or Beer & Soda contributions.

This Salad can be your saving grace. You do not have to cook but only prepare the fruit with care and combine carefully. Everyone will think you are a whizbang gourmand. And if you are Vegan, you will have something you can eat. There is more than one way to skin a Potluck.

Happy Holidays! This was the salad served at Christmas Eve Dinner to Stanford-in-Mexico students in 1972. Recipe from Steve and Pilar Stein of Latin Studies.

Ensalada de Noche Buena

4 small Apples, cored and sliced
4 medium Oranges, peeled and separated in sections
3 cups of canned Pineapple, drained
4 small Bananans, sliced
3 tablespoons Sugar
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
Romaine Lettuce leaves
2 cups canned Betts, drained
1/4 cup Peanuts

Combine the first six ingredients in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until they are cold. At the moment of serving cover a salad bowl with the Lettuce leaves, mix carefully the Fruits and the Beets, and place the mixture over the Letttuce. Sprinkle Peanuts on top and serve immediately. Serves 12.
Note: Some folks are allergic to peanuts. Serve them salted and roasted as a garnish on the side.

Simpson-Fletcher's Soul Food Stuffings

I love Philadelphia. If you poke around in corners of the city, you can find unexpected treasures. I found Simpson-Fletcher's Soul Food Recipes at the Tacony Library Book Sale. 

Find out about the Church that created the cookbook HERE if you want to know more about the particulars. Just scroll on down past the chickens.

Simpson-Fletcher's Soul Food Recipes devotes a whole chapter to Stuffings. I produce two of the recipes verbatim. I am making the Fish or the Capon. Or maybe Roast Duck. I hate Turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!

Sweet Potato Stuffing the Jamaican Way
from Ms. Thelma Graham

1 and 1/4 cups mashed Sweet Potatoes
7 slices toasted Bread cubes
6 links Pork Sausage
2 tablespoons Water
1/4 teaspoon crushed Marjoram leaves
1/2 cup finely chopped Celery
1 finely chopped Onion
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Sage
1/2 teaspoon ground Thyme
2 tablespoons Butter
1 and 1/2 teaspoons Salt

Combine toasted Bread cubes and Celery with mashed Sweet Potatoes. Mix and set aside. In a frying pan, put Sausage links and cold Water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes then pour off any fat and break links into small parts. Add chopped Onion to the pan and cook until Sausage is browned and onions are clear. Remove from heat and add all the seasoning. Mix well. Now add Sausage mix to the Sweet Potato mixture. Blend well and stuffing is ready for stuffing a large Capon.

Sweet Pickle Stuffing for Baked Fish
from Albert the Chef

2 cups Rye or Whole Wheat Bread crumbs
1 cup Sweet Pickles, minced
2 Celery Stalks, chopped
2 tablespoons Onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Sage (optional )
2 tablespoons melted Butter

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Toss the crumbs so they are well coated with melted butter. Stuff the Fish cavity. This is enough for a 3 pound Bass or Trout.

Halloween Gets Devil Sauce and a Soul Fondue

I have a charming small cookbook entitled The Gourmet Fondue Cookbook by B. Arthur Paull. This cookbook was written in the 70s during the Fondue craze. It was sold at Fante's here in Philly.

I am bringing Fondue back for my private little Halloween Party.  Mr. Paull's recipes are not long on quantities and procedure. They are terse. I produce them verbatim. The intrepid Foody will not be deterred. These two are adventurous and very good.

This is a savory Fondue in which the bits of food (chunks of bread, shrimp, cheese, tofu, veggies etc.) are individually cooked by the diner.

Soul Fondue

1/2 cup pureed Chicken Liver
1 minced Onion
1 teaspoon Cayenne
1/4 cup Brandy
1/2 cup Butter
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup Tomato Paste
1/2 cup Cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt to taste.

Pan fry onion in butter. Add flour and stir fry 5 minutes. Add tomato paste, salt, cayenne, Worcestershire, chicken liver and cream. Stir constantly for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and add cheese. Stir until cheese melts. Add brandy.

Devil Sauce

Combine tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, horseradish and garlic. Pour into a serving dish, cover and chill.

Roasted Pumpkin Guts

CLICK ME!

I am seeing beautiful pumpkins in the market so I am doing this again. Note: you can roast the seeds of any hard Winter squash.

When I was a child, you could buy a box of roasted Indian Brand Pumpkin Seeds at the corner candy store. The box the seeds came in had a beautiful illustration of an American Indian in full Chief's headdress.

When you get done carving that pumpkin for Halloween or just to make a pie, you can roast your own pumpkin seeds. Roasted pumpkin seeds are so good.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

1 and 1/2 cups raw whole Pumpkin Seeds
2 teaspoons Butter, melted
Pinch Salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

Toss seeds in a bowl with the melted butter and salt. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown; stir occasionally.

This recipe comes from allrecipes.com - for my money the best recipe site on the net. Cooks share their variations on the recipe and their opinions of the recipe's quality.

Cooks also share practical tips for recipe execution like this tip below. There are a lot of creative cooks in the world. This tip is from Valerie's Kitchen.

If you've never roasted pumpkin seeds before here are my tips. When you carve your pumpkins scoop the seeds into a colander and the guts onto newspaper. Inevitably some of the guts will be mixed in with the seeds but when you run water over them it's separated out pretty easily. After you drain the rinsed seeds, pour them onto a large, dry cookie sheet and let them sit for 24 hours or so to dry out. Now you can pick out the remaining pieces of pumpkin stuff that didn't get pulled out earlier and they will roast better if they are not wet when they go in the oven. My family prefers them seasoned with garlic salt in place of regular salt but you can use whatever suits your taste. So good!

White Hominy Casserole

It is getting colder today in Philadelphia. I will use my oven a lot in the coming Winter. This bit of Southern goodness comes from A Taste of Georgia cookbook.

White Hominy Casserole
Excellent with Baked Ham and Curried Fruit

One 1-pound can of Hominy, drained
1 cup sharp Cheese, grated
2 Pimentos, chopped or 1 small jar Pimentos
12-15 Black Olives, sliced or chopped
1 can Mushroom Soup, diluted with 1/3 cup Water
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 teaspoon prepared Mustard
Bread Crumbs

Butter an ovenproof pie dish or a 1 1/2 quart casserole. In this, place a layer of Hominy, then a layer of Cheese, and over this sprinkle some Pimentos and Olives. Cover with a layer of Soup which has been mixed with the Worcestershire Sauce and Mustard. Repeat until all ingredients have been used, ending with a layer of Soup on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly and hot, then sprinkle with Bread Crumbs and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until brown on top.  Recipe courtesy of Mrs. Willis Edwards (Catharine).

Mrs. Swiacki's Kielbasa Bites

I am not a sports fan. I am often surrounded by sports fans who are ravenous - watching football is calorie intensive activity evidently - and require snacks and copious amounts of beer. These Kielbasa Bites are delicious. Just delicious.

KIELBASA APPETIZERS

1 – pound kielbasa
1 cup dry white wine
1 heaping tablespoon light brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons of brandy
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut kielbasa into one-inch slices. Cut each slice into quarters. Put kielbasa in heavy skillet large enough to hold all the pieces in a single layer. Cover with wine.

Bring the wine to a boil. Cook, uncovered, until wine almost has evaporated and looks syrupy, about 12 minutes. Stir in brown sugar, mustard and brandy. Cook one minute more.

Toss kielbasa with parsley and pepper to taste. Serve with toothpicks for spearing and thin rounds of crusty bread for dipping in the juices.

Bug Off Container Garden

Water is the universal solvent. Chemical pest control eventually ends up in our water supply. I try never to use manmade pesticides. Those Frankenstein concoctions are killing our bees. I am always looking for natural solutions to environmental problems.

Rob Sproule of Salisbury Greenhouse writes excellent garden articles. He is doing interesting work in the community with school gardens. Teaching children gardening is one of the better things one can do with one's time. I bet you can find a place for this container on your balcony or the patio. 

“Mosquitos are a fact of life in Canada, but dousing our skin in DEET doesn’t have to be. This container, though non-edible, is perfect to grow on your patio, in your gazebo or anywhere you like to sit and unwind in the evenings. You could also break it up into smaller pots to create a scented perimeter.” – Rob Sproule

Fifties Football Food

I love my library book sale. I found a copy of Pillsbury's 10th Grand National Bake-Off Cookbook. The cookbook cost 25 cents in 1958. A recipe for this decadent bread was in it. Nobody worried about cholesterol in the Fifties.

The whole cookbook was chock full of yeast dough recipes I will never make. The Bubble Loaf was hidden at the end under "Busy Day" Short-cut Recipes. Meets my requirements: easy to make and tastes good. And you get to pull the loaf apart with your fingers.

Upon reading the recipe, I imagined eating this Bread with cold Beer, a Cheese Board and Apples while watching football in front of the TV. I can imagine this with Soup too. And I think this loaf might be excellent done with Salami. Then you would not have to cook all that Bacon. I have one of these yummies in the oven right now.

Bacon Cheese Bubble Loaf

2 cans Pillsbury Refrigerated Biscuits
1/2 pound cooked Bacon, chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup Green Pepper, chopped
1/4 cup Onion, chopped
1/2 cup melted Butter or Margarine

Combine Bacon, Cheese, Onion, Green Pepper in a large bowl. Cut the Biscuits into quarters. Dip Biscuit pieces into melted Butter and drop into the Bacon mixture. Mix until well blended. Turn into a greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake in a moderately hot oven (400 degree) oven for 30-35 minutes. Loosen edges. Cool 3 minutes before removing from the pan.

Note: I did this recipe in a loaf pan, and found the middle does not bake well. I liked the way it tasted (yummy) but it did not turn out well. Then the light dawned. The refrigerated biscuits of the 50s and 60s were about half the size of current refrigerated biscuits. You only need ONE PACKAGE of biscuits. Duh.

Dog Days Yummy

I posted a Dog Treats recipe my dog likes.

I found this Dog treat on the internet and just had to share. The dog days of Summer are here. I am making this. Picture is kind of fuzzy but the recipe is great. If my Baby Dog will not eat this, I will.

Ms. Susan Dunn's Sweet & Sour Sauce

This is another recipe from Simpson-Fletcher's Soul Food Recipes.  I am making homemade Egg Rolls today. I buy the Egg Roll Skins at local Asian Market. I am going to make this Sauce. So good for anything one would find on a PuPu Platter extravaganza. I like it on Crackers with Cheese. 

I produce this recipe verbatim. I use a small can of Crushed Pineapple. 

SWEET & SOUR SAUCE.

1 (1 lb.) can of Apricots
1/2 (1 lb.) can of Pineapple
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 teaspoon White Pepper
1/2 cup Honey
4 tablespoons Vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Force Apricots through a sieve. Put into a saucepan and add all the remaining ingredients except the Vinegar. Cook the mixture over high heat until the Sugar is dissolved and the mixture boils. Reduce heat and cook 10 minutes longer. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly and then stir in the Vinegar.

Don Marquis' Baked Beans Nirvana

Don Marquis' Very Special Baked Bean Recipe

From "The Almost Perfect State"
By Don Marquis
Doubleday, Page & Company
1927

If you WILL eat beans, here is the way to prepare them.

First, you must have an earthenware Bean Pot, about six hands high, and of a dark bay colour. It is better if this Bean Pot is inherited from a favourite grandmother, with a porous texture (the pot, not the grandmother) that has absorbed and retained the sentimental traditions of at least three generations. But if you own no such heirloom (more precious than the rubies of an imperial crown!) a new one can be made to do.

Procure your white navy beans, and pick them over on a Friday night, not hastily or cursorily, but with love and care, one bean at a time, for this is both an art and a science on which you have embarked--it is more; it is almost a religious rite. Cast from you all split beans, all rusty or spotted beans, all too-wrinkly beans; save only such superior beans, smooth, hard, and shining, as a twelve-months' old child would love to poke up his nose.

Put these aristocrats to soak in water that has three or four tablespoonfuls of baking soda in it. Don't ask me why the soda. I am not arguing with you. I am telling you.

Some people say that after these beans have soaked all night they are ready to bake. These people lie. They are not ready to bake. They are merely ready to boil.

Boil them from ten o'clock Saturday morning until noon, in a pot with a piece of salt pork in it. And time your boiling so that on the stroke of twelve there is very little of the liquid remaining. For they must not go into the Sacred Earthenware Bean Pot, the Ancestral Amphora, too soupy or sloppy.

Put into the bottom of the Bean Pot a layer of Beans four fingers deep. Poke deeply into this one bay leaf. Put on top of this a layer consisting of pieces of just the right kinds of salt pork. On top of the layer of pork, dribble a thin layer of thick New Orleans molasses.

Put in another layer of beans. Into this second layer poke four or five slender curling strips of pungent shredded onion. Put a dab of mustard on the onion. Then a sparse layer of pork. Then another dribbled layer of molasses.

Pause and put your Ego in harmony with the Cosmic All.

Build up these successive layers of beans, pork, and molasses, alternating the subtle bay leaf with the poetic onion, until the pot is filled within two inches of the top. From time to time, a conservative sprinkle of black pepper, as you work from the bottom upward. From time to time hum a verse of "Old Hundred." Don't put in any salt; the pork salts all.

Let the top layers of pork and molasses be a bit thicker than any of the others.

Bake, slowly, in a moderate oven, from noon until six o'clock in the evening. Some say it must be a brick oven. Nonsense! Your Bean Pot itself is your bricky heat-retaining medium.

Eat from six in the evening until midnight--and without fear of indigestion. The thorough cooking has taken all that sort of thing away.

Each separate bean of all these beans retains its form--almost. Almost. Not quite. Each bean is ready to melt tenderly into amalgamation with his neighbor bean. At the touch of the serving spoon the touched beans lose their individual identity, yield up their pride, merge gently into a kind of Bean Nirvana.

Some eat them with vinegar. Very good. Others with tomato catsup. I eat them with a squeeze of lemon juice. Ambrosia!

Texas Weiners

July is National Hot Dog Month.

I am not a sports fan. I am often surrounded by sports fans who, on crucial game days, require sustenance that is easy to make and goes well with beer. Hot dogs are also called wieners. 

I serve Texas Weiners with this sauce and chopped onions. This sauce is HOT so exercise discretion. For a milder sauce, omit the Cayenne Pepper.

This recipe comes from a chef who posted on the old AOL Comfort Food Board named Big Saab Guy. He actually lives in Texas. It will dress about 2 dozen hot dogs. I give it to you as he gave it to the board. You can keep the Sauce and the Hot Dogs warm separately and the sports fanatics can assemble and eat at will. Give lots of napkins.

The sign on the right comes from Plainfield NJ. It hangs on one of the original Texas Weiner joints in business since 1924. The Texas Weiner was actually created by a Greek in Paterson NJ.


Texas Hot Dog Sauce

1 pound finely ground Beef
3 tablespoons Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon White Vinegar
2 cups Water

Very thoroughly brown Beef and drain. You want the pieces to be as small as possible. Really work to break them up as you brown them.

Add the spices and mix well. Add the Water and simmer for one hour, uncovered, stirring often. It should be the consistency of something like tomato soup.

Stir in the Vinegar. Then serve as follows: put a thin smear of Yellow Mustard on both sides of an open hot dog roll, then insert the Hot Dog, then a layer of finely chopped Onion, then drizzle the top with about a tablespoon of the Sauce.

This video and the recipe that it contains is an elaborate sauce more like the North Jersey version I know and love. Feel free to use cinnamon if you have no allspice. Garnish with chopped onion for sure.

June is the Month of Roses - or - Sweet Honey in the Jar

The Old Design Shop provides the illustration from Flower Children, The Little Cousins of The Field and Garden by Elizabeth Gordon published in 1910. My title is a hat tip to Sweet Honey in Rock. One of their songs below.

I am off on a quest only a Mad Gardener and dedicated Foody would attempt. I am going to make this Rose Honey. My quest? Find a good source of unsprayed Pink Roses. I will make and taste this. I must.

This recipe comes from Gourmets for McGovern. I reproduce it verbatim. The Colophon reads "This cookbook has been peacefully and lovingly put together by volunteers for McGovern." I wrote the article at dkos. That article gave birth to this article. 

"According to The Pittsburgh Press Sept. 16, 1972: "Philadelphian Joan Cantor has written a cookbook 'Gourmets for McGovern,' to raise money for the senator's presidential campaign. The 46 page book contains such recipes as 'Mexican Drunken Chicken' and 'peaches poached in apricot sauce' -- all composed by local ladies. The national campaign headquarters has ordered 100,000 copies which it hopes to sell at $2 each." Printed on multi-colored cardstock and illustrated throughout with line drawings presumably done by the same "local ladies," the book includes Cantor's excellent recipe for Banana Cake re-blogged by Cooking with Kos May 31, 2015." - description Abe Books.

HONEY

from Kathy Weinerman

5 pounds Sugar

1-1/2 pints hot water (sic)

alum (about the size of a cherry)

20 red clover blossoms

12 white clover blossoms

8 pink roses

Melt sugar in the water. Add alum and boil 2 minutes. Remove pot from the flame and immediately add the petals of the blossoms and the roses and let stand 10 minutes. Strain and bottle. Try it, you'll like it!

 

Foody Helping Foody or the Sour Cream vs.Yoghurt Evaluation

I published the best recipe I know for Banana Cake and it generated the following discussion. I heart my readers. I am thrilled to have foody pen pals.

Banana Art by Zazzle

Sour cream substitute by pdh

It's Sunday morning. I'm suddenly feeling a need for McGovern-inspired banana cake ... but I have no sour cream. I have some plain yogurt; will substitute that ... should work according the intertubes.

My concern is more profound, though. Since you are a student of the politics of food, can you tell me if the substitution will be politically correct?

Please let me know how it goes by Yours Truly

Politically correct. But there is something about the fat in the sour cream and the taste of sour cream that makes it essential, I think. However, I am a fan of experimentation. I look forward to your analysis of the sour cream situation.

So I need two cakes, I guess by pdh 

Actually, I think I will try the experiment. Today, with yogurt ... then with sour cream after my next trip to the market. I will let you know my opinion after a proper comparison.

Drain the yogurt by UnionJok

Years ago, a native of the Middle East showed me how to "thicken" yogurt for use in the standard recipe for baba ganooj and hummus. The traditional process consists of removing the whey by placing the yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined strainer over a bowl. The result is pretty much the same as "Greek" yogurt, and the whey can be used for other things. Even when made from fat-free yogurt, the texture and taste of the result make it a good substitute for sour cream in baking, salad dressings, dips, or desserts.

More convenient, if somewhat less effective, is to dig a well down the side of the container with an iced tea spoon, periodically pouring off the whey accumulating there. In this method, the top layer of yogurt becomes thick and creamy.

The denouement by pdh

Some time ago you posted the McGovern Banana Cake recipe to DailyKos.
I inquired about substituting plain yogurt for the sour cream which I did not have available. Another dkos poster suggested draining the yogurt in a cheese cloth to get a more appropriate texture, which
sounded like a sensible thing to do. So I prepared a banana cake with the drained yogurt; found it quite satisfactory.

Not trusting my memory of the taste of banana cakes past, I prepared
two cakes the same day, sampled them both at the same time. It was
very close, but the sour cream did seem to give a slightly better result. I expect that the flavor added by the sour cream counts for
more than the fat since there is 1/2 cup of shortening already in the
recipe, but didn't test any other variations. Next time I think I'll
add some chopped walnuts, though.

So my conclusion is that Dannon yogurt (plain whole milk kind) drained
in a wire mesh strainer lined with a paper coffee filter is a
satisfactory substitute for sour cream in recipes where the sour cream
is not a main ingredient. One would not slather a baked potato with
the densified yogurt and expect a sour cream experience, though.

I almost always keep some yogurt around because one of my favorite
snacks is yogurt with berries. In fact, I've prepared little single-
serving sized packets of whole berry cranberry sauce for the freezer
for those times when fresh berries are scarce. I'm sure I'll be
repeating the McGovern cake ... using the pseudo sour cream in other
places, too!

Right on Time Barbecue Sauce

I am blessed with seriously foody friends. Only a friend will give you their prize recipe for Barbecue Sauce.

Iron Pyrite's Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients

1 stick of Butter
1 chopped white Onion
1 minced Garlic clove
4 teaspoons of Tabasco sauce (more of less to suit taste)
1 tablespoon of Lemon Juice
2 tablespoons of Chili Powder (more or less to suit taste)
2 cups of apple cider Vinegar (rice vinegar will give a more “sour” finish)
1 32-ounce bottle of Ketchup (more or less to suit taste)
1-1/2 cups of Brown Sugar (more sugar will tend to thicken the mixture, and make more of a glaze on the meat)
4 tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce (Lee and Perrin’s is good)
Fine ground Black Pepper (add to suit taste while cooking)

Melt butter in a large frying pan, and sauté the onions and garlic until light brown. I like to sauté the onions and garlic starting with a low heat, then gradually increase the heat up to a “medium” level, until the onions and garlic start to “liquefy” in the butter. If you choose to do this, you will have to ensure that the onions and garlic are finely chopped/minced.

Bring the heat down to a high simmer, and add the remaining ingredients, starting with the ketchup; thoroughly stir the ketchup into the mix, then add the brown sugar a few small scoops at a time, so that it will not “clump”, and continue to stir consistently.

Once all the ingredients have been added, bring the heat down to a low simmer, and stir frequently for about 45 minutes to an hour. This is time to add the “suit to taste” ingredients that you like.

Keep refrigerated - will keep well in the refrigerator.

Solomon Gundy

I love my library.  They fund raise by having a donated book sale every Tuesday afternoon. I always go directly to the cookbooks. I found two gems. They cost me $1.50. I am interested in Caribbean Food. Since I live in Philadelphia, capital of Food Nation, my local Bodega stocks Salt Cod which seems like a reasonable substitution. 

Solomon Gundy is a Jamaican Salad. The name of the salad is a transformation of Salmagundi or vice versa. Salmagundi is also an Art Club in New York City. Somehow the Name transformed. 

Salmagundi is a whole meal salad created in the 17th century. One takes cold cooked Meat, Seafood, Vegetables, Fruit, Flowers, Nuts and Oil and Vinegar and combines them. Sort of odd bits salad. In Jamaica they used 'pickled' fish. This and that. 

Here are two vintage recipes verbatim. I prefer the second recipe which actually helped me understand the first recipe.  This is a really good appetizer or lunch. Persevere. 

Traditional Jamaican Cookery by Norman Benghiat, Penguin Handbooks, 1985.

Solomon Gundy

2 lb. (1kg) pickled shad
1/2 lb. (250kg) pickled cod
1/2 lb. pickled mackerel
2 onions
2 hot peppers, preferably Scotch bonnet if possible, chopped
1/2 cup salad oil
12 pimento berries
vinegar

Place the shad, herring and mackerel in a large bowl. Cover them with cold water and leave to soak for at least 4 hours to get rid of excess salt. Discard this water and add enough boiling water to cover the fish completely. Leave for 5 minutes, then again discard the water.

Remove the skin and heads from the fish, and as many of the bones as possible. Either put the flesh of the fish through a food mill with the onions and hot peppers, or chop the fish, onions and peppers very finely. Mix very well. Add the oil, the whole pimento berries and enough vinegar to make a paste. Store in sterilized jars. It will keep indefinitely. Serve on crackers or thin slices of bread. If shad is unavailable, use increased quantities of the other fish.

Cooking the Caribbean Way by Mary Slater, Paul Hamlyn Ltd., 1965

Salamagundi (sic)

4 Servings:

4 large Pickled Herring
1 breast of cold Chicken, cooked and minced
3 Apples, minced
3 Onions, cooked and minced
1 hard boiled Egg
Lettuce
Radishes
Tomatoes
Salt and Pepper

Slit each Herring along the side, being careful not to take the cut right to the head or the tail, keeping Fish intact. Carefully scrape out the flesh and remove the bones. Clean the Fish skin, pound the flesh with Chicken, Apples, Onions and season with Salt and Pepper. Pack the mixture inside the Fish skins until they look full and plump.

Old Jamaican recipes tell you to garnish with Barberries and Samphire, but failing these, a bed of Lettuce and a garnish of sliced Radishes, Tomatoes and Egg are very good indeed.

Cinnamon Pecan Tea Cakes

These Tea Cakes are exquisite. The recipe makes one dozen. These little cupcakes are so good I would take them to tea with the Queen.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Sugar

2 cups Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 cup Butter

1 Egg, beaten

1 cup Milk

3/4 cup Raisins

Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup light Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped Pecans

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, Cream the Sugar and Butter together. Add the beaten Egg and mix well. Whisk or sift the dry ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients and the Milk alternately to the creamed Butter mixture. Stir in Raisins.

Thoroughly combine the topping ingredients. Spoon the batter into greased muffin cups and sprinkle with the topping. Bake 20 minutes or until done.

Notes: I have taken all kinds of liberties with this simple recipe. If I do not have nuts, I use oatmeal. My children hate raisins, so I use dried cranberries or leave the raisins out. These cakes still turn out delicious. You can keep this batter in the refrigerator covered tightly and it will keep three weeks. I never keep the batter because these cakes disappear as fast as I can make them. Just be sure to leave the butter out until it is really soft and all the rest is easy.

Giovanni's Fig Tree - UPDATE

UPDATE: I wrote this in 2013 and time brings changes. Messy and Picky Blog cannot be found. Go HERE for more great photos. The Messy and Picky article can still be found in pdf format.

Whoopee! You can grow Figs in Philadelphia. I just paid off my mortgage. This is the year I am going to buy myself a brand new Paradiso Fig Tree to celebrate.

My Nonno (Grandfather) grew Figs and Wine Grapes in a small backyard in Trenton in cold New Jersey. I have fond memories of warm ripe Figs picked off our own Fig Tree. Mr. Giovanni from South Philadelphia is an inspiration. You can read about his enormous Fig Tree, his history and see more photographs at a great Philadelphia food blog Messy and Picky. 

At the link you will find the recipe for Strawberry and Fig Jam from Marisa McClellan. There are so many Fig Trees in South Philadelphia that our city is an urban foragers dream. See more fabulous Fig recipes and read about the South Philly Food Co-op Garden Tour. Philly is Foody Nation.

Giovanni's figs are available for purchase at Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market by the 12th St entrance for $4 per half dozen. More / larger photos in this flickr set.

Fair Food Farmstand
Tu – Sat: 8a – 6p
Su: 9a – 5p
Mon: Closed, but starting October 5, 8a – 6p
215.627.2029
Reading Terminal Market
12th & Arch Sts

Bookies ... of the Library Kind

CLICK ME !

I hoard books. I have entirely too many of them. And I can rarely part with any one of them.

I found a site about books that I am hereby recommending BOOKRIOT.

What sold me on the site enough to subscribe and send you there was an article on literary gifts. Click the picture to go there. I have a daughter who reads. Oh how she reads. Guess what she is getting for Christmas.

The second attribute that sold me on the site was an article about cookbooks as historical and sociological sources. I love it when I find a fellow traveler.

E. H. Kern writes:

At my parents’ house, in the room where the book scorpions live, there is a cookbook from 1886. The title is Cookbook for Housekeepers. A Manual to the Current Practices of Fine Cooking and Everything That They Include. This cookbook was first published in 1822 and by 1886 it had been printed in fifteen editions.

The fact that Cookbook for Housekeepers exists tells the story of the nineteenth-century European class system. The book is not intended for the lady of the house, but for the cook working in her kitchen with a kitchen staff. 

And then I found my way to this Poster just googling 'literary gifts.' Bless my google finger. I have to have one. You can find a poster you love HERE. I have no monetary interest in these recommendations, Bookies. Enjoy.

Wildflowers in the Garden

Wildflowers are more than beautiful. Wildflowers attract beneficial insects. Those insects control garden pests without the use of poisons. And beneficial insects pollinate the vegetables, flowers and herbs in my backyard garden.

Wildflowers can also help to control insect pests. No plot is too small or too large to farmscape for productivity and insect pest control. This farmscape plot looks suspiciously like a flower border

I found this glorious Wildflower site to share with you. You can sort Wildflowers by color, region, common name and a host of other qualifications. This is an invaluable guide to garden planning.

"WildflowerSearch is a resource for wildflower enthusiasts and gardeners. With a growing interest in the environment and natural gardening, our objective is to offer comprehensive information that is easy to use, and accessible for those from the casually interested to the expert."

And one great site often leads to another.

The Tulip can be found in Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Volumes 1- 63. 1787-1863.

More images like it can be found at the National Agricultural Library Special Collections Image Gallery. 

One can find the vintage covers of Japanese Seed Catalogues and illustrations from Rare Books and Posters in the Special Collections. I spent hours going through the Special Collections Image Gallery. I wish you the same enjoyment.

Green Sauce (Sauce Verte)

I made Salsa Criolla yesterday to accompany a roast.  It started me thinking about Fresh or Uncooked Sauces and how good and easy they are. I did the Green Sauce below in a food processor.

I served this Green Sauce from Silvana Franco's cookbook Salsas and Ketchups with Grilled Shrimp and Filet Mignon at a dinner party I catered. I always make it fresh before service. I discovered I had no lemon and substituted a small Tangerine. Such an inspired-by-emergency solution. So good. I believe this cookbook, published in 1995, is out of print. It is worth searching for, if only for the Banana Ketchup recipe.

Green Sauce (Salsa Verde)

6 Scallions, finely chopped
2 Garlic cloves, minced
1 Onion, finely chopped
2 Green Chilies, finely chopped
6 tablespoons chopped fresh Cilantro
6 tablespoons chopped fresh Parsley
1 tablespoon capers, well drained and finely chopped
4 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Lemon, freshly squeezed juice and grated peel (or one Tangerine)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a large serving bowl and toss together. Season to taste and serve immediately.

"Asparagus inspires gentle thoughts." - Charles Lamb

Homegrown Asparagus becomes available in Pennsylvania April through June. It is at its best in May. A list of pick-your-own farms in Eastern Pennsylvania can be found HERE. 

Every Asparagus lover has favorite ways to eat Asparagus. This recipe for Chinese Asparagus Salad is one of my favorites.

The photograph comes from Petr Kratochvil. 

Chinese Asparagus Salad

2 pounds fresh Asparagus
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 teaspoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Vinegar (Cider or White Wine are good)
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Sesame Oil

Some folks peel Asparagus and you can if you want to. I never do. I just snap it. Wash the Asparagus well. Cut the spears diagonally across in 1 1/2 inch lengths. Cook the pieces of Asparagus for one minute in boiling water. Then drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Mix all the other ingredients (soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, salt and oil) together in a large bowl. Add Asparagus and toss.

Back Garden Dreaming in Wintry Philadelphia

Borage

SPRING will be here March 21 and I am dreaming my new garden.

I have a very small back garden. Every year I do something different. Ask me "So what is new and exciting?" and I will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about Bees.

You can grow Things to Eat and Flowers in the smallest space. If you are new to gardening and/or tend to be neat and like structure, you may find The Ultimate Guide to Square Foot Gardening of use by George Gerona. George has made his article comprehensive and his blog Loyal Gardener is one of the best gardening blogs I know. Or you may plant a Spiral Garden. Or grow vegetables in a pipe. 

Origanum Syriacum

I come from Farmer stock and I am of the "just throw it in there and see if it grows" school of garden thought. Nature is wild and so am I.

Even I dream and plan. You have to plan. Ever grow too many Zucchini? No? Never do that. Your neighbors will only absorb so much Zucchini before they run when they see you coming.

This year I am adding two new Herbs, lovely blue Borage to attract Bees and an exotic Oregano used to make a condiment called Zaatar to sprinkle on my Hummus. It is so worth it to grow Herbs. I thought I hated Oregano until I grew some and tasted the dried Herb I grew myself. Nothing like that dessicated stuff in the supermarket.

Every warmish sunny day I am outside staring prayerfully at my Texas Star Hibiscus and hoping for that first shoot. I planted it last Summer. It is said to be hardy but it has been a long snowy Winter here in Philadelphia. Even in Texas they pamper it. We shall see. No room in a row house garden for sissy plants.

Last but not least, I am excited about the Three Sisters garden concept, so I am going to squeeze in one of them somewhere. Squash tends to spread.

I have too much shade from neighboring back gardens. So maybe I will have to borrow a garden? And so my fevered garden dreams grow and go.