GK

Tempura

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In California, the fourth grade does a unit on Japan.  The Japanese mothers who volunteered to prepare a meal for the kids did not bother with the recipe below – they all said they only use the box mixes!  Tempura Sauce also comes in a bottle. However, if you must be authentic – here is the recipe.

This works best in small groups 4 – 6 for each wok.  One of those big metal scopper/strainer works best for removing the items from the oil.

Ingredients:

  • 3 eggs
  • 2/3 c ice-cold water
  • 1 c flour
  • Vegetable oil for frying

Foods we liked – almost anything works.  Close to bite size pieces works best.  Be sure to cook raw meat and chicken completely.

  • shrimp – raw
  • fish (salmon, halibut, etc)
  • chicken breast – raw, cubed
  • mushrooms
  • green beans
  • parsley
  • onion rings – thin sliced
  • broccoli
  • sweet potatoes – peeled, sliced raw
  • snow peas
  • carrots – cut in small match sticks
  • asparagus
  • green peppers

Directions:

  1. Stir eggs to combine white with yolk, Do not whip. (use chopsticks)
  2. Blend in water.
  3. Stir in flour quickly.  Do not over-mix.
  4. Dip thin sliced vegetables and meat into batter.
  5. Deep fry in oil.

Serve immediately with Dipping Sauce.

Serve with rice.  I like extra soy sauce on my rice.

Tempura Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1 c water
  • 1/4 c dry Sherry
  • 1/4 c soy sauce
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp chicken broth granules

Directions:

  1. Combine.
  2. Heat until boiling.

Serves:  4?  Here’s the problem – there is always too much food because there are so many items and everyone might want everything and you cannot buy half a green pepper etc.  A basic rule of thumb is 1/3 pound protein per person.

Source:   International Dining with Spice Islands

Note:   A pinch of baking powder doesn’t hurt the batter.

Swedish Shrimp Salad – Joppes Rakssallad

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A traditional salad on a smorgasbord.  Nice for summer luncheons or barbecues. No mayonnaise to give you food poisoning if left out too long.

Ingredients:

  • 1# shrimp – (I used bay shrimp)
  • 2 ½ c sliced fresh mushrooms
  • 2 medium tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 cup peas, cooked (I used frozen, defrosted)
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 2 teaspoons vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon dill
  • 2 eggs, hard cooked, cut in wedges

Directions:

  1. Arrange shrimp, mushrooms, tomatoes and cold peas in salad bowl.
  2. Combine oil, vinegar, salt, dill,
  3. Pour over salad mixture.
  4. Garnish with egg wedges.

Serves:  4

Source:   The Swedish relatives.

 

 

 

Egg Souffle Casserole, a la Providence Speech and Hearing

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Another great “refrigerate over night” brunch dish.  Serve it with sour cream, bacon crumbles, and salsa for an added kick.  An added plus, it reheats.
 
Ingredients:
  • 14 slices of regular squishy grocery white bread, crusts removed
  • 2 tsp dry mustard (don’t skimp!)
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

  1. Butter the bread slices on both sides (use the whole stick).
  2. Divide them into two piles, 7 slices each.
  3. Cut them into 3/4-inch squares.
  4. Grease a 9 x 13 pan generously.
  5. Beat the eggs in a large bowl until foamy.
  6. Add the milk, mustard and salt
  7. Alternate layers of bread and Cheddar twice.
  8. Pour in the egg mixture, and press the bread and Cheddar down into the egg.
  9. Refrigerate overnight, covered, so the bread soaks up the liquid.
  10. About 1 1/2 hours before serving, position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°.
  11. Bake until puffed, golden and cooked through, about 1 hour.
  12. Serve hot or warm.
Serves:  8 to 10
Source:  Villa Park Providence Speech and Hearing Auxiliary

Chili Love 4 Ways

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Serve this over baked potatoes or, over spaghetti.  Quick, easy, good!  Build your bowl of “almost” Cincinnati Chili with spaghetti, chili, and cheese, then top it off with onions, kidney beans, or even oyster crackers if you want to. Here’s the official guide to the “ways” Skyline Chili :  2-Way: Spaghetti, Chili
             3-Way: Spaghetti, Chili, Cheddar Cheese
             4-Way: Spaghetti, Chili, Cheddar Cheese, Onions OR Beans
             5-Way aka “the works”: Spaghetti, Chili, Cheddar Cheese, Onions AND Beans

Ingredients:

  • 90 oz chili with meat (beans or no beans – your choice.  No meat would make it vegetarian.)
  • 48 oz cream cheese – softened, cut into cubes
  • 4 c chopped onions (you can buy these already chopped you know)
  • 90 oz diced tomatoes (canned)
  • 4 c sour cream
  • 1/4 c chives
  • 1 1.2 lb grated cheese
  • 2 c more diced onions

Directions:

  1. In a Large pot, mix chili, tomatoes, 4 cups onions.
  2. Heat.
  3. Add cream cheese.
  4. Stir until mixed in.
  5. Serve with cheese, sour cream, chives/onions on top.  Crackers are sometimes served if no potato or spaghetti.

Serves: 50

Source:    GK

Ann’s Hot Corn Dip

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Pretty yummy!  Cheese, sour cream, corn and all the other good stuff – not to be laughed at.

Ingredients:

  • 5 ears corn ( or 3 1/2 cups canned or frozen corn)
  • 1/2 red onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 red bell pepper, Seeded And Diced
  • 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
  • 1 T fresh jalapeno, seeded and diced fine
  • 2 Tab butter
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened (not whipped/soft cream cheese)
  • 1/2 c mayonnaise – not Marcel Whip
  • 1/2 c sour cream
  • 4 c (1 pound) Monterey Jack cheese, grated
  • 2  green onions, sliced
  • chili owder, for sprinkling
  • 1 can (4 Ounces) diced green chilies

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
  2. Brush the corn cobs with vegetable oil, sprinkle with a little salt, and place on a grill pan for about 10 minutes, turning constantly.
  3. Remove it from the heat to cool. Cut the kernels off the cobs once they’re cool enough to handle. (Or saute the canned/frozen corn in a large frying pan until well browned.
  4. Set aside
  5. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and add the onion, garlic, bell peppers, and jalapeno.
  6. Stir and cook for 5 minutes, until the veggies are soft and golden.
  7. Remove the skillet from the heat to let the veggies cool slightly.
  8. In a mixer, combine the cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, and 2/3 of the Monterey Jack.
  9. Mix with the paddle attachment on low until combined.
  10. Add the green onions, the veggie mixture, the corn, and the green chilies.
  11. Mix on low until just combined.
  12. Spread the mixture in a shallow baking dish and sprinkle with the rest of the Monterey Jack.
  13. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until bubbly and golden.
  14. Remove from the oven and serve warm with tortilla chips!

Serves:  6 cups

Source:  Ann Crane

Cheesecake in a Rectangular Pan

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This process involves some math – volume and area, but is useful if cooking for a crowd.

The largest challenge you will face is that cheesecakes are notoriously difficult to release from the pan, and they are not very strong. The traditional crumb crust is also not very strong, so it doesn’t provide much support or structural integrity to the slice.

This is why spring form pans are normally used for cheesecakes: they let you leave the cheesecake on its base plate, and just remove the ring. The crust sits on the base plate until service.

If you want to try it in another pan, to facilitate getting it out, I suggest that you:

  • Consider using aluminum foil instead of parchment, as it is easier to shape. Make a sling for the cheesecake, so that the foil comes up the edge of the pan. You will want to do this in both directions.The sling will be used after baking to lift the cheesecake out of the pan. You should then be able to carefully peel the foil back from the edges, and slice it. (Many brownie recipes recommend this technique.)
  • Consider a sturdier crust than a crumb crust, perhaps a full shortbread, that will survive the lifting from the pan, and be strong enough to support the pieces when you cut them.
  • Changing the shape of the pan may change the surface area of the cheesecake, and thus its depth, which will affect the cooking time. You want to choose a new pan that is as close in area to the pan anticipated in your recipe as possible, so that the baking time and temperature do not have to be adjusted too much. Getting the perfect balance of time, temperature, and thickness of the custard is a tricky matter.If your original recipe calls for a 9″ spring form pan (which is fairly typical of cheesecakes), that is approximately 64″ square inches. So you would choose an 8×8″ square pan to have approximately the same area.A complication is that spring form pans tend to be taller than square cake pans, and cheesecake recipes often take advantage of this fact. If all of your filling will not fit (with some reasonable room for a tiny amount of expansion (cheesecake should not really expand when cooked), you are going to have to adjust the baking time and possibly the temperature.Your cheesecake should be done when it jiggles slightly at the center, and has an internal temperature measured in the center of approximately 180-185 F. You will need an instant read thermometer to measure this.If you are changing the depth or the area, you will definitely want to monitor your cake closely for when it is done.

Another approach would be to make individual cheesecakes or tartletts in a tartlet mold or lined muffin tin.

Source:  Seasoned Advice

 

Bacon Wrapped Onion Rings

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 There are several variations of this on line but there is nothing wrong with an un-enhanced treat.  If you want to try some different treatments try brushing the onions with Shiraka sauce, BBQ sauce, or soy sauce.  
Ingredients:
  • 3-4 sweet onions, large (the flater the better – like Maui onions)
  • 2 lbs bacon, not thick sliced
  • Toothpicks
Directions:
  1. Cut the root end and stem end off the onion.
  2. Peel the skin from the outer layer of the onion.
  3. Cut the onion into ½ inch slices and remove the centers to only leave about 2 layers.  (If your onions are large enough you may get another two layer piece from the center.)
  4. Wrap strips of bacon around the edges of the onion slices. Expect to use about 2-3 slices each.
  5. Lay the bacon wrapped onion rings onto a lined rimmed pan.
  6. Bake at 300° for 30 minutes.
  7. If the bacon is not quite done, turn the rings over and finish in the broiler.
  8. Serve immediately when finished.

Serves: 4-6

Source:  Several internet recipes – modified by Donna Barasch

Grilled Sweet Potato Baba Ghanoush

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Our foodie friend, Donna Barasch, shared this recipe.  Really tasty, especially with the smoky sweet potatoes.  Dip can be made 3 days ahead.  (I suspect a drop or two of smoke flavoring would work too – unless you are a purist.)
Ingredients:
  • ¼ cup olive oil, plus more
  • 2 pounds sweet potatoes (about 2 medium)
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • ½ garlic clove (more is better!)
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

  1. Prepare a grill for medium-high heat; lightly oil grate.
  2. Grill sweet potatoes, turning occasionally, until skin is charred and flesh is fork-tender, 50–60 minutes. (Alternatively, you can tuck vegetables into coals left over from grilling something else. Wait until charcoal is completely covered with ash and no black spots remain. Shake grill to knock excess ash off coal, then rake them around and pile them up around vegetables.)
  3. Let cool slightly.
  4. Halve sweet potatoes.
  5. Scoop flesh into a food processor.
  6. Add lemon juice, tahini, garlic, and ¼ cup oil and process until smooth.
  7. Season with salt and pepper.
  8. Serve with flatbreads or pita bread.

Serves:  Makes about 2 cups

Source:  Bon Appitite

Rock Salt Standing Rib Roast

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This does work!

Ingredients:

  • 1 standing rib roast
  • roast seasoning mix
  • rock salt – lots (water-softener salt, not pellets)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven 500°.
  2. Season the roast.
  3. Place a layer of salt in a deep pan.
  4. Sprinkle it with water.
  5. Place the roast in the pan.
  6. Cover it with salt.  You can sort of mound it.
  7. Sprinkle with water.
  8. Bake for 12 minutes per pound.
  9. Knock the salt off the roast.
  10. Wipe any reaming salt off with a paper towel.
  11. Serve.
  12. Save the salt for next roast.

Serves:   Figure 1 pound per person for a bone in rib roast.  a third to half a pound per person for boneless beef.

Source:   Some magazine long ago.

Glazed Kielbasa Bites

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 These Glazed Kielbasa Bites are the perfect make ahead, bite-sized appetizer. It has a sweet and salty flavor that people can’t stop eating!
Ingredients:
  • 2 lbs. kielbasa, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 14 oz can pineapple slices, in juice, quartered
  • 3 Tab teriyaki sauce
  • 1 Tab sweet chili sauce
  • 1 Tab honey
  • 1 Tab pineapple juice (from can)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425°
  2. Place a piece of pineapple on top of a slice of kielbasa.
  3. Stick a toothpick into them.
  4. In a small bowl combine remaining ingredients.
  5. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
  6. Place kielbasa bites onto the baking sheet.
  7. rush glaze over tops and sides of bites.  (I found it easier to dip them in the sauce.)
  8. Place in oven and cook for 15 to 20 min (keeping an eye on them).
  9. Remove and enjoy hot!

Serves: 10

 Source:   Aubrey, Real Housemoms