Tag Archives: food

by | December 18, 2012 · 8:19 pm

Karl’s Christmas Marmalade

Originally adapted from Joy of Cooking

Many moons ago we moved into the house across the street to be near our friends, Peg and Russ. In the back yard was an orange tree, a grapefruit tree, and three lemon trees (there was also an apple tree, three unproductive plum trees and we planted a fig and a mandarin orange tree in the 10 years we lived there). These trees produced a massive amount of fruit every year, far more than a small family could eat as just fruit. My solution to just throwing out all of the excess was to made marmalade to give away as Christmas gifts. Thus a tradition was born.
marmalade
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by | December 18, 2012 · 8:17 pm

Jan’s Christmas Rum Balls

Adapted from Joy of Cooking

Every Christmas Jan, Myr and Eilene make Rum Balls to give to our friends. Originally they followed the recipe in Joy of Cooking, but a few years ago they started to make changes (adding a little instant coffee, rolling them in cocoa powder rather than sugar, using other liquors rather than rum).

Rum Balls

This year they went a little over the top, but to wild success. They still maintained most of the proportions of the original recipe, but they did strange things to the ordinarily plain ingredients, like rum infused with coffee or spices, and adding crystallized orange peel.

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by | December 10, 2012 · 4:24 am

Karl’s Ham and Beans

When Safeway had a half price sale on hams after Thanksgiving I could not resist buying one. This is a lot of meat for my three person household, so I sliced it into three ¾” thick ham steaks to freeze and I was left with a large ham bone and the grisly pieces at the end.  For me this meaty bit says “Ham and Beans.

Karl's Ham and Beans

Karl’s Ham and Beans

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by | December 10, 2012 · 4:10 am

Karl’s Guinness Beer Bread

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.

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by | December 3, 2012 · 7:32 am

Karl’s Fish Tacos

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.

Fish tacos and the best rice and beans ever

Karl’s Fish Tacos with
Karl’s Mexican Rice and Refried Beans

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by | December 3, 2012 · 7:29 am

Karl’s Mexican Rice

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

Karl’s Mexican Rice and
Karl’s Refried Beans

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by | December 3, 2012 · 7:22 am

Karl’s Refried Beans

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

Karl’s Mexican Rice and
Karl’s Refried Beans

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by | December 3, 2012 · 7:20 am

Fresh Tortillas

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.

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by | November 26, 2012 · 6:08 am

Karl’s Thanksgiving Stuffing

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 Stuffing

Thanksgiving Dinner

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by | November 26, 2012 · 5:58 am

Karl’s Shrimp Stuffed Mushrooms

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.

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