Salmon

A friend gave me about 100 pounds of salmon.  What to do, what to do.

I'm not a big fish eater, mainly because of fish bones.  But occasionally I like a salmon steak.

I have found the easiest way to cook salmon, is to broil it.  My favorite recipe is to salt and pepper the fillet, broil it just until done, and top it with a generous pat of compound butter.  It's easy, delicious and makes for a very nice presentation.  Serve with asparagus spears.

Compound Butter

1/4 pound butter softened (1 cube)
1/2 shredded jalapeno pepper
1 medium clove of garlic shredded

Blend pepper and garlic in softened butter and place on waxed paper and roll into a log or get fancy and use candy molds.
Refrigerate for a couple of hours, for flavors to develop.


But with so much fish, I decided I would smoke most of it.  Since I have never smoked anything (and I mean anything) in my life, I had to do research.  The results were delicious!

I borrowed a home made smoker barrel from a friend that worked well.  Since the first time was a success, I am going to make my own smoker.  Here's how:

You will need a 30 gallon galvanized garbage can with lid.
Drill a hole 2 inches from the bottom, wide enough for a cord to fit through.
An electric hot plate
An iron skillet

Place the hot plate in the bottom of the can and extend the cord through the opening.  Place the iron skillet on top of the hot plate.  Smoke wood chips (any hard wood) in water for 30 minutes to an 1 hour and place in skillet.   You may want to drill additional holes around the bottom of the can for air. Cover can. That's it. A smoker.

For the brine:

1 1/2 cup sea salt
2 cups brown sugar
1 gallon water

Mix all ingredients together and soak fish in brine for 3 to 5 hours.
When done, rinse fish.

Skewer fillets on wires to suspend from top, or cut into chunks and place on a grilling rack, and let air dry for about 2 hours in a cool drafty place.

Place in smoker, cover with lid,  and smoke for 3 to 5 hours. You will probably need to add more soaked wood chips to keep the smoke going  for that length of time. When done the internal temperature of fish should be about 140 degrees.

When done let fish rest and cool.  Place in seal-able bags and freeze until ready to use.

For a nice appetizer flake some salmon, mix with cream cheese and eat on a Ritz cracker.

 A reward for a job well done!

Strawberry Dream Cake

Every April or May as a child, my father would drive us 100 miles to Oakland’s Chinatown for dinner and strawberry cake.  Strawberries were in season and the cake they made was to die for - at least I thought.  We’d eat a Chinese dinner family style, and have strawberry cake for dessert.  My father would then buy a whole cake to bring home with us.

That Chinese restaurant is no longer there, as are most restaurants from my childhood, but I can still taste that strawberry cake.

Over the years, I’ve sought to recreate that cake.  Through trial and error, I’ve come very very close.  Now every year while strawberries are in season (which they are now) I have to make a strawberry cake.  I like doing the 4-layer number.  Below are 2 variations using box cake mixes:

This one comes the closest.

Strawberry Dream Cake

Cake:

1 package  (2 layer) yellow cake mix

1 packet Dream Whip Topping Mix

4 eggs

1 cup cold water

Topping:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 pint strawberries, cleaned and sliced
(reserve a few whole strawberries for garnish on top)

Combine all ingredients for cake in a large bowl.  Blend with electric mixer at medium speed for 4 minutes.  Pour into greased and floured 9” cake pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes in pans; then remove from pans and finish cooling on rack.  If you want a 4-layer cake, after cooling, cut each layer in half.

Whip whipping cream on high until thick and fluffy.  Add sugar to taste.  Spread whipped cream on each layer, then place sliced strawberries on top.  Repeat.  On the top layer decorate with whole strawberries placed in center.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

1 package Duncan Hines Butter Cake Mix

Follow recipe for the Sock-It-To-Me Cake on cake box side (omitting streusel filling)

Proceed with whipping cream as above.

These cakes make a lovely presentation. Try one, I think you will agree!

Turkey Leftovers

The best part of cooking a turkey is the leftovers!  For the last 15 years, I always had a craft show the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday.  I would always cook a turkey, a large one so there would be plenty of leftovers for the next 4 days. After my family picked over the carcass like a vulture might pick over road kill, I would make Posole  Soup.  Now that's what I'm talking about!  My favorite part of cooking a turkey!

Posole is a traditional Mexican dish from the pacific coast region of Jalisco. A  soup that's usually made with pork, hominy, garlic, onion, chili peppers, cilantro, and broth.   In my version, I make a broth of the turkey carcass, smoked ham hocks, celery, and onions.  The key is getting the broth right.  Here's my recipe for Posole.

Download recipe card

Posole Soup

1 turkey carcass

2 smoked ham hocks  (with meat on them)

1 med onion chopped

2 stalks celery chopped

Salt to taste

Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for about an hour.  Strain broth into another pot.  Pick off the turkey and pork meat and set aside.  Discard the rest.  Be sure to get the broth right!

To the broth in the pot add:

The reserved meat

2 shredded carrots

1 sm onion diced

1 can hominy (without the liquid)

Cook just until carrots are tender.  It shouldn't be long at all.

Serve the pot on the table.  Garnish soup with thinly sliced cabbage, chopped cilantro, sliced radishes, lime slices and tortillas.  You'll be in heaven!

Soup Anyone?

My husband Barry dislikes yams or is it sweet potatoes?  Why, I can't figure out.  How could anyone not like yams or sweet potatoes?  Whenever presented on the table, he will pass them by.

Yam and Sweet Potato

Though interchanged, the yam is  unrelated to the sweet potato.  The yam is a tuber from the lily family, whereas the sweet potato is of the morning glory family.  Both are very tasty, the yam being sweeter with a deeper orange flesh, or is it the other way around?  Both are loaded with nutrients, with the sweet potato outshining the yam only slightly.

I was telling this to a  friend who, like my husband was not fond of yams.  She told me whenever she disliked a vegetable, she would search for a recipe using that particular vegetable, hoping that it would appeal to her.

Great idea!  She told me about a yam soup recipe that she made and liked very much.  I thought I'd try it.  Lo and behold,  my husband ate and enjoyed it.

Download Recipe Card

This recipe for yam soup came from the magazine "Something Extra"  put out by Raley's and Bel Air Supermarkets.  It's easy.  Try it, you won't be disappointed!

Yam Soup

4 strips bacon, cooked and cut into bits

2/3 cup onions, chopped

2/3 cup celery, chopped

2/3 cup carrots, chopped

4 cups chicken broth

4 cups chopped fresh yams

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Saute vegetables in bacon drippings about 10 minutes.  Add stock, yams, salt, pepper and cinnamon. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, covered.  Puree soup in a blender.  Add bacon bits and simmer 10 minutes more.

If you dislike yams or sweet potatoes, and you decide to try this recipe, let me know what you think?

Karita Loua

Coffee Liqueur is a nice addition to afternoon coffee on a chilly day.  It's even really good over ice cream.  I’ve made this in bulk for years, giving bottles away as gifts.  I recycle pretty bottles I find at the dollar store. 

This recipe does not need to age.  So try it.  You’ll be surprised how much it tastes like the name brand!

Coffee Liqueur

1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp. Vanilla extract

1 qt. Brandy (I use 750 ml, the rest vodka)

1 cup vodka

4 cups water

6 ½ cups sugar

4 oz. Instant coffee

2 TBSP. Cocoa

Bring to just a boil (do not let it boil over) everything except brandy, vodka and vanilla.  Remove from heat.  Cool to warm.  Add brandy, vodka and vanilla. Pour into bottles.

If using a vanilla bean, cut it into equal portions and place in bottle.

Cinnamon Mulling Spices

This time of year naturally we want hot refreshments.  The days start to get shorter and the temperatures are more temperate and cooler.  Apples are readily available this time of year and fresh apple juice and cider is very good.   I have always wondered what the difference is between apple juice and apple cider?  So what is the difference?  According to http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/cider_juice_difference.htm

Apple juice and apple cider are both fruit beverages made from apples, but there is a difference between the two. Fresh cider is raw apple juice that has not undergone a filtration process to remove coarse particles of pulp or sediment. It takes about one third of a bushel to make a gallon of cider. 

 

To make cider, apples are washed, cut and ground into a mash that is the consistency of applesauce. Layers of mash are wrapped in cloth, and put into wooded racks. A hydraulic press squeezes the layers, and the juice flows into refrigerated tanks. This juice is bottled as apple cider.

Apple juice is juice that has been filtered to remove solids and pasteurized so that it will stay fresh longer. Vacuum sealing and additional filtering extend the shelf life of the juice.

The flavor of cider depends on the blending of juice from different apple varieties. The term "flavor" refers to the palatability of a distinct apple juice flavor and the aroma that is typical of properly processed apple juice. Cider makers are most particular about concocting a blend that will create the desired flavor and produce the perfect balance between sweetness and tartness.

Cider needs constant refrigeration because it is perishable. It will stay sweet and unfermented for up to two weeks. Cider can also be frozen, but be sure to pour off an inch or two from the container for expansion during freezing.

A Nutritious Alternative: Although a glass of cider a day cannot guarantee good health, the sweet juice is a good source of potassium and iron. Apple cider is pure and natural with no sugar added. A 6 ounce glass has only 87 calories. Apple cider, like other juices, fruits and vegetables contains no cholesterol. Pectin, contained in apple cider, has been shown to keep serum cholesterol levels down.

To spice apple juice or cider try mulling it. This recipe for mulling spices I got out of Sunset Magazine about 20 years ago.  Each year I make a batch or two to use to mull cider or red wine.  It is easy to prepare and has a very nice flavor.  I seal in large tea bags (available on line or at kitchen stores) or you could use muslin and package in pretty tins or cellophane. 

Cinnamon Mulling Spices

1 lemon, peeled

15 cinnamon sticks (3”)

1-1/2 TBSP whole cloves

1-1/2 TBSP whole allspice

1 tsp. anise seeds, crushed

Heat oven to 225 degrees, dry lemon peels (1 hr.).  Crush cinnamon sticks into 1” slivers.  Mix rest of ingredients in bowl.  Add cinnamon and lemon rind.  Divide into 2 TBSP portions.  Seal in large tea bags or Sm muslin bags.  Makes 5 bags.  Serving is 1 bag to 1 to 2 quarts liquid.

Almond Roca Cookies

I am a chocolate and nut lover.  Always have been and always will be.  My dad would not come home from work without a treat for us.  Something sweet of course!  My husband tells me he should have looked at my teeth before he married me, he could have saved a fortune!

Cookies are my favorite.  Chocolate chip with nuts, especially.  I did acquire a recipe from one of my mother’s co-workers years ago that fit my obsession.  Almond Roca Cookies.  I accompanied my mother to a Head Start seminar (she was a teacher) perhaps when I was 18 or so, where refreshments were brought by different ones.  Pat Williams of Davis, CA brought these cookies to the seminar.  Now I am really shy by nature, but I had to ask for that recipe.  It has all the ingredients to fully satisfy my sweet tooth: butter, sugar, chocolate and nuts.  I still have her recipe card written in her own hand, which reads, “Good cooks never lack friends.” For a different kind of cookie try this recipe.

Almond Roca Cookies

Download the recipe on a 3x5 card.

1 cup butter

½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups sifted cake flour

9 ounces milk chocolate

1 cup sliced raw almonds

Cream butter and sugars.  Beat in egg yolk and vanilla.  Add flour and mix well.  Spread batter evenly in an ungreased 10 X 15” rimmed cookie pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Meanwhile melt chocolate in double broiler or microwave and spread over warm shortbread.  Sprinkle almonds on top.  Cut into squares while still warm.

Alice’s Prune Cake

Years ago I worked for Greyhound as a ticket agent and, as my father called me, a baggage mistress.  As a ticket agent I’d help people plan their itineraries, from going to the next town or across country.  As a baggage mistress I would ship and receive freight for local businesses.

One time in particular there was a shipment of prunes, several boxes of them.  It seems they were sent to no one in particular.  No one claimed them.  There was no phone number to call.  They sat in the depot for weeks.  Finally, I asked what to do with them.  “Throw them away”, was the response. 

Enter Alice.  Alice was a partner in a fish wholesale business.  The bank, I believe.  She stopped by the depot dropping off freight, and I told her about the prunes.  “I’ll take them", she said.  We loaded the boxes in her car and off she went.

A few weeks later she brought me a prune cake.  It was delicious!  She shared her recipe. Every time I make this cake, I get compliments.  This cake freezes well, so make a double batch to have on hand.

Alice’s Prune Cake

1 cup oil                            

1 ½ cups sugar                 

3 eggs beaten                 

2 cups flour                    

1/8 tsp. salt                      

1 tsp. baking soda        

1 tsp. cinnamon 
1 tsp. allspice 
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk 
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup nuts
1 cup cooked mashed prunes                

Blend sugar and oil together.  Add beaten eggs and beat mixture for 1 minute.  Mix in sifted dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk.  Add vanilla, prunes and nuts.  Put into greased and floured loaf pan and bake at 325 degrees, 45 – 60 minutes

Mac & Cheese

Macaroni and cheese would have to be my hands down favorite food of all time.  Not the box kind, but the genuine homemade kind.

I grew up in a small country town in Northern California, which had a one-room schoolhouse. My siblings and I attended there. After I finished first grade, we were bussed to school in the next town.  . 

Every Friday was macaroni and cheese for lunch day. Different Mothers would bring macaroni and cheese to school.  Many would bring it made from the box.  My mother didn’t do boxes.  Everything she made was from scratch.  Her macaroni and cheese was the best!

Fast-forward 50 years.  I still love macaroni and cheese.  Guess what?  My husband hates it!  It was the first dinner I prepared for him when we were first married.  He graciously ate it, but it came out later – please don’t fix that for me again!  So now I rarely fix macaroni and cheese except when he’s gone, and when he is gone there is no question about what’s for dinner, no question at all.

My mother's recipe is still the bomb!

Bamma Lou’s Macaroni and Cheese

1/2 pound macaroni
(I like using penne rigate, or mostaccioli)

2 cups shredded cheese or more (Colby works fine)

1 egg

 1 ½ to 2 cups milk

Salt and pepper

1.  Cook macaroni to package directions
2.  Preheat oven to 350-degrees
3.  Layer in baking dish half of macaroni.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle half the cheese on top.  Repeat. 

4.  Mix egg with milk (you may want to add a little salt to milk mixture) and pour over macaroni just until milk reaches top of macaroni (not cheese)

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes in 350-degree oven.  Remove foil last 5  minutes to brown.

P.S.  Macaroni and cheese is not a dish I would prepare for someone with cancer.  It isn’t easily digested.

Salad Dressings

My husband was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago.  What a stressful situation that was and is!  What were we going to do, and how were we going to fight this disease?  We immediately switched to a raw food diet, consisting mainly of fruit and vegetable salads.  My husband called it rabbit food.  I called it a necessity.  But I’d have to admit, eating the same thing day in and day out was tiring.  To change it up, I began experimenting with salad dressings.  I wanted one easy to prepare and healthy.  In my search I found one simple dressing with many variations.  Here are seven.

½ cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup organic apple cider vinegar

or

¼ cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed)

1 tsp. Sea salt

1 clove garlic, crushed

Combine all ingredients in covered jar.  Shake well.  Shake each time before using.

Variations – Add to vinaigrette:

Feta Cheese          3 TBSP crumbled, or crumble over salad

Herbal                    1 TBSP Minced parsley

                                1 tsp. thyme

                                3/4tsp. Italian seasoning

French                    1 tsp. Minced onion

                                1 tomato, pureed

                                1 tsp. Agave nectar or honey

Wasabi                  1 tsp. wasabi powder or paste

Horseradish          1 TBSP horseradish

Italian                     1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning

                                ¼ tsp. Garlic powder

Fruit                        ¼ cup orange marmalade

                                1 tsp. Paprika

                                ½ tsp. celery seeds or poppy seeds

Omit garlic in vinaigrette

Use lemon juice instead of vinegar

                               

I Can Get Married Now

The Mexicans have a saying when a woman can prepare a delicious meal; she can get married now.

I was on a Chicken Mole kick a while back, after having tasted a wonderful dish of it.  I asked for the hostess’s recipe, but never followed through.

Thus began my quest for a dynamite mole recipe.  I found it on the Internet and it was easy to prepare, and delicious.

http://www.mex-recipes.com/chicken-mole-recipe.html.

 I prepared it and the consensus was - I could get married now!  Try it.  You’ll be able to get married too!

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes

When tomatoes are plentiful and it is HOT, I know I will not be cooking dinner that night.   I will fix a tub of salsa.  We eat chips and salsa – ALL DAY LONG.

Karita’s Tomato Salsa

4 cups chopped tomatoes in separate bowl

1 cup cilantro leaves

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 med. red onion, chopped

1 to 3 Chilies, to heat level desired

Using a food processor, process all ingredients, except tomatoes.  Add tomatoes, a few at a time, using the pulse mode to desired chunkiness.  Pour salsa back in tomato bowl and add:

1 tsp. Seasoning salt or to taste

Juice of ½ lime, more or less to taste.

Refrigerate to allow flavors to meld.  For extra spunk, add ½ to 1 tsp. Ground chipolte pepper.

Um um good!

For an attractive summer dinner try Ceviche Tostados

2 cups salsa

½ pound of salad shrimp meat

½ pound fake crab meat

Refrigerate 1 hour to allow flavors to blend.

Spread mayonnaise on a tostado shell.  Sprinkle with cayenne pepper (optional).  Spoon ceviche  on top.

Garnish with avocado slices, a cilantro sprig and lime wedge.

Bon Appetit!