Hey, Good Lookin'!

[BoatBabe]

Whether it's tried and true
Or brand spankin' new
tell us what ya got cookin'

Secrets needn't be blurry
Add a pinch of curry
Just tell us what ya got cookin'.

Old family favorites
Beauty Parlor plagiarites
All make for some very good cookin'.

Bulgur with tofu
Or pies maybe for you
Rhubarb makes some go do cookin'.

Lard in the crust
For Shepherd's Pie must
Make somebody have to go cookin'.

Steak, fries and mangos
Kale with grape tomatoes
All good ones. Let's just get to cookin'!

[gailkate]

Brilliant, BB, just like a rousing cheer to get us hyped up - but where's the potato pavé?

[brutus]

Ohhhhhhhh......
When, first, I saw the title to this thread, I thought you gals were hittin' on me.........again...............

Sorry, I'll go back to my sewers again.

~B~

[hartlikeawheel]

Yes. Now tell us about the potato dish, Babe. It caught my eye some time back when we were listening to the show and I had meant to ask you.

Sewers? You got a whole mess of those Betsy Rosses somewhere, B?

[BoatBabe]

Ahhh, we are always hittin' on ya, ~B~ . . .






as in, Move outta the way! I got a recipe.

;D

Yukon Gold Potato Pave' _{cuz' I lost my guide to the ' above the e}

I'll give you the recipe _{and then I'll tell you all the stuff I have done differently. It all works! Some for far less $}

Heat the oven to 350 and put on a pot of salted water to boil. Put a colander in the sink.

1-1/2 lbs Yukon Golds, unpeeled and washed; this is about 6 of 'em, small to medium. Put them in a bag and weigh them at the store so you know how much it looks like for future reference. _{White and red potatoes work fine. If you use bakers, peel them first.}

Slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch rounds. Dump them into the boiling water, lid on, and set the timer for 10 minutes as soon as they go in.

4 ounces Pancetta, sliced _{This is a lot, and expensive. I use 4 slices of bacon, sliced, browned, save fat, wash pan, and continue with adding butter and saute'ing onions. Throw in the bacon bits after the sauce is made.}

Slice Pancetta into small pieces, and saute in

1/4 stick unsalted butter _{I use less salted butter} for two minutes. Add shallots and garlic

1/4 c shallots, finely chopped _{I use 1 or more cups of coarsely chopped sweet onions and delete the chives later}
1 tsp Garlic, finely chopped _{clove or two, minced. I saute' the onions more than two minutes and throw in the garlic late so it doesn't brown and get bitter.}

and saute' for 1 minute.

When the timer goes off on the potatoes, dump them in the colander, and let them cool.

To the onion pan add:

1/8 c flour, stir around with fork. It won't really brown, but it works anyway. Remember the butter? You are really making a white sauce, so don't cut it too much.

Add:

1 c heavy cream _{I haven't tried half-n-half or skimmed milk. I don't know, but I would be tactilely fascinated}
1/2 tsp kosher salt _{sea salt}
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper _{A Must. I use a little more}

and cook until thickened. _{You really don't need to 'cook until thickened' much, because next you are folding in:}

1 c grated Romano cheese _{Tillamook sharp white cheddar}
1/4 c chives _{or not. Diced green onions work here, too, if you haven't already done the onion thing. Throw in your bacon bits here. I've also added chopped spicy pickled red peppers, whatever sounds good.}

It says to spray the inside of the pan with non-stick spray. I've never done it. I've used an 8 X 8 pan, a 9 X 9 pan, but my favorite is my new Hot Dish casserole dish with the lid from Pretty Good Goods. It is taller and narrower so it gets custardier!

Cover the bottom of the pan with potatoes. Place sauce mix on top. It says do this three times. I've never done it more than twice, ending with the sauce on the top. Cover with foil (lid) cook for 30 minutes. Uncover, and cook 15 minutes more at 375.

You know about setting, right? I make this on the weekend, then we spoon out servings during the week, and nuke it for the Best Instantaneous Side Dish Ever.

[hartlikeawheel]

Oh. My. Goodness.

Glorified 'scalloped potatoes! That sounds heavenly and my mouth is watering.

Got it printed out and set to try. The neighbors brought over a couple of steaks as payment for use of our trailer. Bet it would go good with them.

I am forever grateful for you introducing me to Tillamook cheese. Once in a while I can find it here and do just like you did for our handy breakfast one morning. Toast and Tillamook.

Thank you.

Here's one back. It's a dressing for seafood that I concocted a while back and now that summer veggies are coming around again I have it at the waiting.

1C. Miracle Whip. Mayo for the naysayers.
1 heaping t. lemon zest, or more
Juice of 1 lemon
2 t. honey mustard
2 T. cream-style horseradish
Cracked black pepper.

I don't use salt but it wouldn't hurt. Pinch of sugar never hurts either.

I've used this as a dip and also for a seafood rice salad which is a hodgepodge of druthers including Greek olives and fresh tomatos.

scallops
shrimp
firm white fish
scallions
pimiento olives
chopped parsley
stuff like that.

It occurs diced fennel would be good.

Can serve it warm or cold.

[BoatBabe]

Dang, hart! That dressing looks great.

And the seafood rice salad reminds me of things that can be done.

Good presentation of a recipe that looks like endless possibilities instead of one measured thing.

[BoatBabe]

Fill in the Blank Salad

I have used this basic salad as a main course or a side dish. Sometimes it is more sweet, other times spicier. You can make it big or small. Whatever.

Granny Smith apple, cored and large diced
Fresh pineapple, chunked
Seedless red and/or green grapes, halved or not
Red or sweet onion, small diced
Celery, small diced
Fresh Basil leaves, snipped into slivers

Now Fill in the Blank

Chicken or Ham, cooked, chilled, large cubed or
Nice cheese crumbles or cubed or
More veggies or fruit or
Nuts or
Nothing at all

Then Taylor the Dressing

1/2 c mayo
1/2 c sour cream
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
Sea Salt
Freshly ground pepper

With chicken, I add a glug of Red Hot Sauce or spicy roasted red peppers, or pickled spiced corns, beans or asparagus (usually requires more sweet with the vinegar.)

With ham, I add spicy deli mustard

Let Me Know What You Fill In

[jspnrvr]

Now, that right there sounds good, I don't care who you are.

[hartlikeawheel]

Easter ham here.

Sounds very pretty.

If it were summer I'd use the chicken with fresh tarragon.

[BoatBabe]

It's a great Turning Leftovers Into Something Brand New recipe.

[BoatBabe]

Have you ever slow roasted tomatoes in your oven?

It is the most amazing thing, particularly this time of year. And I can see it really coming into fruition during real tomato season.

Dahhlink got it off one of his websites. It is the best.

Line cookie sheet with tin foil or parchment paper, quarter tomatoes, place on cookie sheet, slow cook in slow oven, like 225 F. or less, for several hours. They will be dried-esque, brown to black on the edges. Freeze them or refrigerate them.

Add them to any tomato sauce, like spaghetti, or whatever to simmer. The Best Fresh Tomato taste ever! Even in the winter months when those tomatoes have no taste, and don't throw away any tomatoes during Max Tomato Season.

[hartlikeawheel]

No, I haven't tried that yet. Sarah does it and you are right - best and sweetest tomato taste ever.

Thanks for the reminder. Will put it on my list for later.

No, ma'am. We never throw away tomatos. I haven't been canning them for a couple years now. Easier, and cooler in the kitchen, to freeze them but their texture can get sort of tough that way. I suppose it would be warm in the kitchen to do them in the oven in the summer. But I've often thought about sun-drying.

Maybe this year.

Marion's been planting grape tomatos and we eat them off the vine while we are picking the others. Never seem to get enough for a salad! Have a recipe for tossing them with angel hair pasta I'd like to try.

I'm counting the days to morel season. With this early warm weather all we need is a couple of good showers followed by a couple warm days and it should be time.

When they show up I'll post my very simple recipe.

Every year there's a restaurant in Bayport on the Mississippi River which throws a morel festival. Have always wanted to go.

Wonder if they are available where our readers are.

And where do you buy your tomatos during season, Babe? Are their local Farmer's Markets nearby?

[hartlikeawheel]

Here's a recipe I'm thinking many must already have. But just in case. . .

I burnt it tonight while I was playing with you during the show. Turned my oven on the old familiar 350 degrees without thinking!

Had planned to serve it tomorrow when I host movie afternoon. So I'll be busy tomorrow morning tossing it out for the squirrels and making a couple of new batches.

Caramel Corn

In heavy sauce pan heat, stirring, to boiling:

1 stick butter
dash of salt
1/4 corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar

Boil one minute. Remove from heat and add:

1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. baking soda

Stir and pour quickly over about three quarts of popped corn.

Spread on cooky sheets and bake at 200 degrees for an hour.

This is really quick and easy if you use the packages of puffed corn without the hulls. At Christmas I add whole pecans and almonds and give it as gifts.

[BoatBabe]

The Caramel Corn sounds yummy, hart. What is Movie Afternoon? Got a Movie Group?

Man, I haven't lived somewhere that had Morel Season for years. The best ever was in the Rocky Mountains, northern Idaho. We did full dinners of morels sauted in butter.

The best tomatoes here are at the Sunday Ballard Farmers' Market, held on a closed off street. However, even the grocery stores are carrying Heritage Tomatoes during the season, and I really like those. They taste like Home Growns!

[hartlikeawheel]

Heritage tomatos. Yum. Looking forward to tomato season. It's Marion's project and he's built a monstrous (and somewhat unnattractive) trellis for his vines.

I don't recall that you do much baking Babe, but I have found the perfect Key lime pie recipe and I believe it's authentic. If Jay sees this he'll have to let us know.

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 C lime juice (I take time to squeeze my own. Key limes if I can get them but it doesn't matter much in the taste.)
3 egg yolks

Bake for twenty min. @ 350 degrees.

For crust I used 1 C. shortbread cooky crumbs and 3T. butter, melted.

It called for using the egg whites as a meringue and if you did so you wouldn't have to double the recipe. But we wanted whipped cream on top for serving so I saw that it made a very thin layer of filling and doubled it. Baked it for about thirty min.

It's very smooth and creamy. I added a teaspoon of lime zest into the filling to cut the sweetness. Needed to slice it very thin as it is rich.

Decorated the top of the whipped cream with a twist of lime.

If you put the can of milk in a hot waer bath before you start squeezing the limes it will come out of the can more easily.

[BoatBabe]

OOOOooooo, doesn't that Key Lime pie sound great!

Actually, I am a very good baker. It's just that I only bake when on cruises, or have people over for dinner, because Dahhlink and I really don't need the calories, and if it is Here, we will Eat It.

;D

[BoatBabe]

I've been trying to get into roasted vegetables. I've had some at other people's houses for dinner, and I've always liked it. Here is a recipe I haven't tried, but will soon:

Roasted Veggies


Basically, cut up vegetables you like into edible pieces, peeled and seeded if necessary and put them in a large shallow baking dish. (Cookie sheet comes to mind, lined for easier cleanup)

Whisk together in a bowl:

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp chives
4 cloves garlic, minced
sea salt and fresh pepper

Drizzle oil over the vegetables and stir to coat. Roast at 425 F. until the vegetables are tender, stirring once. Serve warm.

Now, I can tell already that I am not going to add 1/2 tsp chives. I'm doing sliced onions as part of the vegetables, Yukon Gold potatoes (no peeling,) red peppers, maybe zucchini sticks, maybe summer squash sticks, whatever.

And adding fresh rosemary.

Maybe some of these pictures will pique your interest. I know the top picture has sausage in it. Um, Um, Good!

[BoatBabe]

I'm sure I've posted this elsewhere, but I can't find it.

I can't find well spiced sausage, so I make my own:

1 lb. ground pork
2 tsp rubbed sage
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp thyme

I use the edge of a fork and just slice through the pork to incorporate the spices, keeping the meat crumbly, not pressed. Refrigerate overnight. Form patties, don't smash it tight. Or fry up crumbled for milk gravy and biscuits.

[gailkate]

Love the drying and roasting tips, BB.

[BoatBabe]

Thanks, gk.

[hartlikeawheel]

Oh yes, perhaps we did that in another time - share sausage recipes. Seems like I have your sausage recipe. I've a good one for Italian sausage if anyone's interested.

Those recipes where you takeabunchofstuff and make something out of it are my favorites. And they look pretty as well.

Rhubarb is nearly ready. Plenty early this year.

[BoatBabe]

Yes, please, on the Italian sausage recipe.

Hart, I don't have your rhubarb pie recipe. Willing to share? Dahhlink was just saying that he wished he had a piece of rhubarb pie like the one you shlepped all the way out here.

[jspnrvr]

By Request: "Almost As Good As Sex Cake"

Sift together... into mixing bowl
2 1/2 C. sifted all purpose flour
1 pkg. (4 oz.) Chocolate pudding and pie filling mix
1 tsp SALT
1 tsp soda

Add...
1 1/2 C. firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 C. shortening
1 C. buttermilk

Beat...
1 1/2 minutes (with electric mixer, blend at lowest speed, then beat at low speed). Or beat 225 strokes with a spoon.

Add...
3 unbeaten eggs and
1 tsp. vanilla. Beat 1 1/2 minutes.

Turn...
into 3, 8 inch round pans greased and floured on bottoms. Use about 1 1/2 cups batter per pan.

Sprinkle...
1 C. (6 oz. pkg ) semi sweet chocolate morsels over layers.

Bake...
at 350 degrees 30 to 35 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center. Cool. Frost, stacking layers top side up. Decorate with walnuts.

Chocolate Frosting

Melt 1 C. (6 oz pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate morsels in 1/3 cup milk in sauce pan over low heat. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 pound (4 to 4 1/2 cups) sifted confectioners' sugar. If necessary, thin with a few drops of milk.

[BoatBabe]

Holy Sh*t, Shirley!

[hartlikeawheel]

Sounds luscious, don't it? I've had something similar but not made with buttermilk. Willing to give it a try, Jay. Will have to wait until AFTER my next blood checkup. Heh.

The recipe I use for rhubarb pie is from an old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Same one my mom used and probably the same as her mom before her.

This time of year I make the first one and bring a piece each to my favorite doctor and his nurse. Always tease whichever one I end up giving it to that I will be checking to make sure the other got his piece. Been carrying on this banter now for over twenty years.

Rhubarb Cream Pie

Four C. cut up rhubarb. I like to use the little bitty red ones and cut them about an inch long.
1 1/2 C. sugar
1/4 C. flour
3/4 t. nutmeg
dash salt

Dot with two generous T. butter.
Bake at 400 degrees 50 to 60 min.

The other day I had just run into my It. sausage recipe and now I seem to have misplaced it. It's probably in the freezer or someother strange place I absent-mindedly tucked it away.

[BoatBabe]

Give it up, hart. Was yours a lard crust?

[BoatBabe]

Almost As Good As Sex Chocolate Cake is in the oven.

My cashier at the grocery said, "So, whaterya makin?"

I, of course, had to tell her. She nearly choked, and insisted on a review.

Of the cake.

Of course.

[BoatBabe]

Hmmmmm . . . I have to confess. I destroyed this cake.

It is not even edible.

Now, in my defense, there were several factors working against me.

Number One was, my oven isn't big enough to put three 8-inch pans in, which I hadn't even realized, but when I got there, what do I do?

So I shoved them in, and mostly closed the oven door, except it wasn't. So, that meant the propane oven kept heating while the heat kept floating out the top, and all layers, even though I rotated them, trying to save them, all layers burnt on the bottoms. I only have one rack, so I also should have used a cookie sheet below the pans to help deflect the bright heat. Burnt chocolate. Makes dry, bitter cake. Mmmmmm . . . not the best.

Granted, there was a killer wind storm during this project, and I was knocked off my feet several times, and this makes fine baking skeptical at its very best, and none of these are good excuses, but this 3-layer "cake" sitting on my counter at this very moment, is going to be fish food tonight.

Now, granted, even before I baked the crap out of it, I wasn't really pleased with the "chocolate" taste of the batter provided by the pudding/pie filling mix. What's wrong with cocoa?

All the other Nearly As Good As Sex Cakes Dahhlink googled used cake mixes, something I try to stay away from due to my allergies. I don't know what the heck is in them.


Any . . . way . . . It should have been Killer with all those great ingredients.


I produced a complete failure . . .

[gailkate]

Poor BB. This is so sad that I've decided to share Obscene Bars. The thing about this recipe is that no one can ruin it.
Plus, you don't need an oven.
Ok, so already you know that this is one of those standard cereal-based cookies that every mother knows by heart and no self-respecting cook would ever admit to making. The reason they're obscene is that the cereal and peanut butter are only vehicles for the sugary fattening inexcusable excess.

OBSCENE BARS
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup sugar
....cook these over medium heat till all sugar is dissolved, starting to bubble

1 1/2 cup peanut butter stirred into the sugar syrup
6 cups corn flakes

I start with half the cornflakes and half the goo, mixing well, then adding the 2nd halves. Jerry's mother was a little woman and I don't know how she managed to whup this stuff into shape, as my arms feel as if I'm mixing mortar.

Spread the sticky cornflakes on a jelly roll pan; it won't quite cover the pan, but no matter.

Melt 1 bag choc chips & spread over the goo.
Melt 1/2 bag butterscotch chips & spread on top of the chocolate.

(This is an opportunity to be creative, making swirls and curlicues through the chocolate and butterscotch. pretending that a deft touch is required to get it just right.)

Put the whole thing in the fridge till it sets (~hour) and then cut into bars. A pizza cutter works, but so does a knife. Store the bars with waxed paper between layers. They freeze well if you don't want to snarf them down all at once.



I learned by accident that these are good emergency trail sustenance. Some friends stopped in to visit on their way back home to Colorado, and I sent them off with a box of obscene bars. They took back roads, wanting to "see the country" ( ) and found nary a cafe or truck stop at which to fill up. A couple of hours into their journey they each ate a bar and laughed at how one at a time was definitely enough. But as the miles and time passed with no signs of civilization, they turned to the box of bars again and again, grateful that they wouldn't end up like the Donner Party.