Adapted from a Gerald Norman recipe
Eilene and Jan wanted beer bread so I found Gerald’s recipe online. After a couple of loaves using his recipe (which makes a really decent bread), it was time to branch out. Beer bread tastes strongly of whichever beer you use as the fluid. It is best to use a beer that you would happily drink warm (pretend you are British). This bread is good with a mediocre beer, but it is great with a good tipple.
Filed under bread, Side Dishes, Starches
By itself this dish is a common weekday meal in our house, because it is relatively quick, inexpensive and low fat (if you go easy on the guacamole and cheese). Any leftovers may be used the next morning as either cold fish tacos (still very good) or fried up with eggs for a really tasty omelet. It is also easy to scale this recipe up or down depending on how many people you have, as written it is good for 4 diners. Since I was planning to make Mexican Rice and Refried Beans to go with the tacos I knew that there would be plenty for a Sunday of five hungry people.
Karl’s Fish Tacos with
Karl’s Mexican Rice and Refried Beans
Filed under Main Dishes, Seafood
Technique drawn from Mel’s Kitchen Café
I have been trying to make Mexican rice for years with only limited success. Yes, the rice I made usually tasted good, but it was always a bit gummy. It never turn out like the fluffy savory rice you find in almost any Mexican restaurant.
This is one of those ethnic “home cooked” dishes that, if you did not watch your mother making it growing up, you will rarely discover the secret to making it. This technique is really not a secret, it is just considered too obvious to mention by the people who grew up with the dish.
Karl’s Mexican Rice and
Karl’s Refried Beans
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches
For this Sunday I was going to use a recipe I adapted from Chelsie Kenyon, but my local Mexican market did not have the epazote, which is a key ingredient to her dish. Off to the internet.
Most recipes for refried beans I found tended to be very simple. Some used only beans, fat, onions and salt. The main two distinctions between recipes seemed to be: 1) What kind of fat do you use? and 2) Do you add any other ingredients beyond the basic four?
Karl’s Mexican Rice and
Karl’s Refried Beans
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches
Like many Americans who cook Mexican food, I always thought that tortillas came in a package of 10, soft and flexible when fresh, hard and brittle when they quickly turn stale. When we were in college (way long ago), La Super-Rica Taqueria opened and introduced us to what real Mexican street food was like. Instead of commercial tortillas covered in cheese and guacamole they served (and still do) simple fillings in tortillas that were cooked just before in went into your mouth.
Filed under bread, Side Dishes, Starches
This year we had a Thirdsgivingday feast (the third day after Thanksgiving–an Eilene-ism). The kids were having Thanksgiving dinner with friends, so I was doing the whole Roast Turkey dinner thing as our Sunday dinner.
I don’t do much of anything special when I cook a turkey (butter, poultry seasoning and some kind of citrus in the cavity (lemon or orange, whatever I have to hand). My dressing, on the other hand, is something I always make. It is based on my mother’s Poultry Dressing recipe, but I have taken it a long way from there. This year I had to leave out the pecans, because Jan had used them all for her Pecan Tarts. But it is all good, this is a very flexible recipe.
Thanksgiving Dinner
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches
The kids really like mushrooms, so I am constantly trying new ways to make them. This is one that I started making about a year ago, but it is well worth repeating. Jan does not like bacon (a childhood trauma), but you may sauté the vegetables in the grease of 1 strip of fatty bacon instead of butter. If you do this, you may also crumble up the bacon and add it to the mix.
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegetables
The chives in our garden are beginning to look a bit sad, but they inspired me to add this dish to our Thirdsgivingday feast (the third day after Thanksgiving – an Eileneism). The kids were having Thanksgiving dinner with friends, so I was doing the Roast Turkey thing as our Sunday feast.
This dish is something to make when you are using your oven to cook a main dish. The time and cooking time will vary depending on the temperatures used the main dish. How you mash your potatoes are a personal preference, but I like to use a potato-ricer. This is a device that looks like a giant garlic press. The press forces the chunks of potato through tiny holes and produces rice thick strands of feathery potato. Mixed with butter and cream this produces perfectly smooth fluffy mashed potatoes.
Karl’s Chive & Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches
Adapted from a Nutmeg Nanny recipe
Jan was going to make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, but Myr wanted pecan pie. Jan found a recipe on line, but then pretty much ignored it in making these treats.
Jan wanted to make individual mini-pies, so she ordered pans on line. They turned out to be much smaller and shallower than she had in mind, but she went with it.
Jan’s Pecan Tarts
She also wanted to use the crust she had created for her Jan’s Five-fold Ginger Pumpkin Pie, but she felt that it was too course for the tiny tart pans. After crushing the gingersnaps with a rolling pin as before, she then ground the course crumbs through a large sieve with the end of the rolling pin to make a fine-sifted ginger cookie meal.
Filed under Desserts & Treats, Pies & Tarts
This is adapted from a King Arthur Flour recipe. I, being by nature unable to follow any recipe, upped the spices and reduced the salt. Americans tend to use way too much salt most of the time.
One problem I ran into in making this treat was that the Trader Joe’s canned Organic Pumpkin I was using was very dry. This is the opposite problem I usually have with using fresh steamed pumpkin, which tends to be very watery, giving you the dilemma of getting rid of the excess fluid. In this case I used whey to make up the moisture. I usually do not have whey lying around my kitchen, but Eilene made fresh butter to go with the meal (see the post below). Milk or cream would work as well, but I was looking for a way to use up the whey.
Karl’s Mini Scones
Filed under bread, Breakfast, Side Dishes, Starches
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Miriam
Jabberwocky Stew 