RICE AND BROCCOLI CASSEROLE (Mrs. Mills' recipe)

There were a few years when Mom made ham. And she always served it with this broccoli casserole. The recipe was from Mrs. Mills, our sweet neighbor who was also the cook at Kennedy School for years. Mom just told me Dave likes this, and when I looked on the back of the recipe card, indeed it says, "David loves it."

2 cups cooked rice

1/2 cup onions

1/3 cup minced celery

3 T butter

1 package (big bag) chopped frozen broccoli

1 small can evaporated milk

3/4 cup Velveeta (I think there are lines on the foil for measuring).

1 can cream of mushroom soup



In a frying pan, cook broccoli, onion, and celery in butter. Mix all ingredients together, put in a casserole pan, and bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

TOMATO GARLIC SAUCE/Salsa Pizzaiola

This is the sauce for The Meatballs! In China, you eat long noodles on your birthday for longevity, and so we ate this with spaghetti.

In a 3-4 quart enameled or stainless steel saucepan heat:

3T olive oil
1 C finely chopped onions

Stir constantly for 7-8 minutes. Add:

1 T finely chopped garlic.

Simmer for a minute, then add:

4 cups Italian plum tomatoes chopped but not drained (canned is okay, but not the kind with basil flavoring and so on).

1 6 oz. can tomato paste

1 T dried and crumbled oregano

1 T finely cut fresh basil (or 1.5 t dried and crumbled)

1 bay leaf

2 t sugar

1.5 teaspoons salt, maybe less if you don't like saltiness

few grindings of black pepper

Bring to a boil and then simmer one hour. Remove bay leaf and serve with meatballs.

The Meatballs/Polpette alla Casalinga

These are the meatballs. You know, the special *birthday* meatballs. The ones everyone likes, but they take a while to make. The real deal. The meatballs are from the same book as the pumpkin pie (see below).

2 slices French of Italian or white bread torn into small pieces

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1 pound ground chuck

1/4 pound sweet Italian sausage (you may have to buy a whole pack at Kroger, but you can grill the extras).

6 T grated Parmesan

2 T finely chopped parsley

1 T olive oil

2 T finely chopped garlic

1 t finely grated lemon peel

1/4 t ground allspice (actually, mom and I leave this out)

1 1/4 t salt

freshly ground pepper

olive or vegetable oil

1 batch of tomato sauce (recipe above).

Soak pieces of bread in milk for 5 minutes. Then squeeze them dry and discard the milk. Mix in large bowl the bread, egg, ground beef, Italian sweet sausage (cut out of the casings), Parmesan cheese, parsley, 1 T oil, garlic/lemon/all spice, salt and a few grindings of pepper.

Kneed mixture vigorously with both hands until mixture is smooth and fluffy. Shape into 1" diameter balls. Lay them in one layer on a baking sheet or tray. Cover with wax paper when done (or cling wrap -- whatever you have). Heat up one fourth a cup of vegetable oil in a heavy skillet until a light haze forms on top of it. Fry the meatballs about 15 at a time, always shaking the pan or gently turning them with a spoon to keep them brown and round. In 7-10 minutes, the meatballs should be thoroughly cooked. As you cook them, throw them in the pot of sauce. Add oil to the meatball fry pan as needed/scrape pan as needed.

One batch for one restrained King meal. If you want leftovers, you might make two batches. :)

POUND CAKE

Here's the second copy, in Mom's handwriting, of the pound cake recipe. It's actually several recipe cards held together with...medical tape of course.

This cake is not too sweet, so you keep eating it, even though it's got a truckload of butter in it. Mmm.

8 egg whites (1 cup)
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder and 1 t salt
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of butter (4 sticks/or one pound)
8 egg yolks
1 T grated orange peel (don't grate to the white pith -- it's bitter)
2 T grated lemon peel (same)
2 T lemon juice

Let egg whites warm to room termperature (about an hour).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Grease and flour a Bundt pan.

2. Into a large bowl, sift the flour, salt and baking powder and 1/4 t of the salt.

3. With mixer at high speed, beat egg white with 1/4 teaspoon salt till foamy throughout.

4. To the eggwhites, add 1 cup of the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time until stiff peaks form.

5. In a different large bowl at high speed, beat butter with remaining cup of sugar until light and fluffy (5 minutes) Important!

6. Beat egg yolks into the butter mixture with mixture on high speed; beat in peels, lemon juice and 2 T of water until smooth.

7. Divide flour mixture into thirds and at low speed blend the flour into the butter mixture a third at a time until just combined. Takes about seven minutes to get all the flour incorporated.

8. Fold in egg whites (or use lowest speed on hand mixer). Blend in egg whites, half at a time just until blended. Scrape batter into Bundt pan in 350 oven for 60 minutes. Cool on rack 15.

You want glaze? Mama doesn't make it with glaze. But here's the recipe anyway, for the glaze.

1 T butter
1 pound confectioner's sugar
1 t grated lemon peel
1/3 C lemon juice

Blend butter, sugar, lemon juice, until smooth then drizzle over cake.

PUMPKIN BREAD

This is that pumpkin bread made with raisins and walnuts. Way better than a fruitcake, and good served with whipped cream. It's not too sugary, and if you reduce the amount of sugar by a third or half, it still tastes pretty good. I have memories of this cake being eaten by Jack at midnight in the kitchen, and also I remember the cool whip sticking to his mustache. Good times. :-)

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cups butter (11 and a half tablespoons)
2 and 2/3 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 cups pumpkin
2/3 cups water
3 and 1/2 cups flour
2 t baking soda
1.5 t salt
.5 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup raisins

Grease and flour a Bundt pan or two loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 65 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

This is a pretty good gift for neighbors and co-workers.

*THE* PUMPKIN PIE

This is The Pumpkin Pie recipe. No other pumpkin pie compares. It's in the Time-Life Foods of the World set, 1968, often seen in thrift stores (American volume). Well, other pumpkin pies are fine, but if you really want to do something special for Jack, David or me, make us this pie.

Find some pie crust, pre-made or from scratch.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll out the pie doughs and bake for about 8 minutes. This makes the crust flakier, or just don't bother. Dave likes chewy dough and I think Jack might too.

The following recipe fills two deep dish shells since making only one would be kind of wrong.

FILLING

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1.5 cups dark brown sugar
2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1 t ground ginger
6 eggs, lightly beaten in separate bowl
4 T applesauce
3 cups pureed pumpkin (Libby's)

Here's what the cookbook says. Ahem.

"In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Stire thoroughly, then add the lightly beaten eggs and the applejack. Stir in the pumpkin puree. Carefully pour the filling into the pie shell(s). Bake for 40-50 minutes in the center of the oven until the filling is firm and the center of the pie barely quivers when the pie pan is gently moved back and forth. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or stiffly whipped cream.

(Or Cool Whip).

SPINACH PIE

2 10 oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

2 lbs ground chuck

1 T olive oil

3 cloves garlic minced

garlic or garlic salt

salt

(I put in 1t-1.5 t dill seed, crushed, and 2-3 oz crumbled feta, but that's not the original recipe)

4 pie shells (shallow)

Brown meat, drain. Add salt, garlic, dill, oil, pepper, spinach, garlic salt to taste (plus dill seed and feta if desired). Put half of this mixture in a pie shell, and the rest in another pie shell. Lay the remaining two pie shells over the hot filling upside down and let the steam loosen them from the tins. Lift off and crimp with a fork along the edges. Bake 375 for 30 minutes or until crust is done.

Serve with white rice.

Note: cook the two bottom shells for 7-8 minutes just to get them on the dry side before you fill them, if you have the time. Otherwise, it'll get eaten anyway.

OXTAIL SOUP STORY

Okay kids, gather round. When I was a little kid, sometimes Grandma would go to Paris to visit Mimie, your great grandmother for a couple of weeks. They would go to fancy restaurants in the 15th arrondissement (a fancy word for neighborhood or quarter in French) because Mimie was a real bon vivant and lover of fine foods.

Meanwhile, at home, Grandpa would take care of us. Sometimes this meant things were quieter. Sometimes this meant he'd wash his dark socks in the bathroom sink like the old days when he was a student at Cornell or Columbia.

Then he would start cooking things he never usually cooked since no one was there to stop him. Sometimes this meant dumplings. Sometimes this meant egg rolls with some stuff in them we normally didn't eat. Then my friends, he would make Oxtail Soup, or as he told Mom it was called, Russian Oxtail Soup.

He's bring home the oxtails from the Kroger butcher, wrapped in paper usually which made them seem even more disembodied and sinister. I caught sight of one once -- looked like a long turkey neck. Anyway, he'd make a soup of them with cabbage and garlic and so on. I've blocked out the precise ingredients. A really big pot of it, too. Big production. I stayed out of the kitchen so I wouldn't have to see the tails.

We ate this every dinner until it was finished. Along with some other good stuff. It tasted a bit like butt and the worst slimiest vegetables you can imagine. So when the soup-level would go down in the Dutch oven, which would be brought out, ladeled from, then put back in the fridge, I would keep my fingers and hairs and toes crossed because I was afraid he would do the THING.

Guess! Guess what he did!

He poured a quart of water into the little bit of soup left and would say, "Now we have more soup!"

Oh, my face must have been the definition of "disappointment". Maybe even "devastated". He felt very proud about this thrify move. I'm sure today I'd give anything to sit with Grandpa and eat some of that horrid soup again. I don't have the recipe because I never wrote it down, for obvious reasons. But here's one that doesn't look too bad. Try it if you dare. Russian Oxtail soup usually has tomatoes, cabbage, the kitchcen sink in them. Ugh.

MOM'S SECRET WONTON SOUP

Buy a package of wonton wrappers and a few cans of Campbell's chicken broth. Follow the directions on the cardboard in the wrapper.

Ta-da!

Actually, here is the recipe for the filling:

1/2 pound minced pork or chicken
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 t salt
1 T soy sauce

She used a food processor to mix the pork, the water chestnutes, the egg, the scallion, the soy sauce and whatever else it says in there. Though she never used shrimp. Bleh!

Once you have the filling ready, find some slaves (Zack) and have them watch this.

MOM'S BEEF FIVE SPICE STEW

Remember the beef stew with the hard boiled eggs in it? That were cut to the yolk and allowed to simmer in a brown sauce? Mmm. Five spice stew. Mom says you can't make it with both eggs and potatoes. I did, and it was fine, but maybe you don't want to mess with potatoes AND eggs.

1-1.5 lbs lean stew meat cubed to about an inch length

3 cloves garlic, minced (smash the garlic under a knife or a canned good to get the outer skin off, slice in half, get the green stem out, then mince).

6-8 eggs, hardboiled and slit lengthwise only through the whites six times evenly around OR

2-3 large baking potatoes cubed to the size of walnuts. Squared walnuts.

1T-1 1/2 T Chinese five spice

If you have anise powder from a Chinese grocery, add a good pinch

1 t baking soda (This is for tenderizing. You could also marinate the beef in soy sauce and a little red wine vinegar. I've had some bad experiences with baking soda and this dish).

1 T soy sauce

2-3 T canola oil (or vegetable oil)

1 t sesame oil


Heat 2-3 T canola oil with 1 t sesame oil. Fry meat till brown. Add garlic. Do not drain. Add water until cubes are just covered and add five spice, baking soda. Let simmer ten minutes, skimming off the foam (it's scary and grey! mmm!). Add soy sauce and cubed potatoes or hard boiled eggs (or both). Let simmer on low for about 25 minutes. Serve over rice.

EGG ROLLS

1 1/4 lb. ground pork that's been marinated with soy sauce for at least half an hour
3 cloves garlic minced
1 bunch scallions (green onions) chopped
1 bunch celery chopped (slice ribs down middle and dice)
1/2 head cabbage chopped (food processor!)
peanut or vegetable oil
soy sauce
a package prepared egg roll wrappers

Fry pork with 1/2 of the garlic in some o oil till cooked. Drain off fat. Set aside. Add a little oil to the pan (1T?). Fry cabbage with other half of the garlic until half tender. Add celery and scallion. Stir once in a while until everything is cooked through. Add soy until it's tasty. If you have some glass noodles, this is a good place to put some (hydrate one bundle with boiling water, after they're ready, chop them into pretty fine lengths). Put the pork into the pot and stir it up. Turn off heat.

Roll in prepared egg roll wrappers and fry at 450 degrees in peanut or vegetable (not olive) oil in a Fry Daddy (Mom has a little one stored in with the pots and pans). Drain on paper towels when golden (5 minutes?)

Here's a youtube about how to make egg rolls -- I include it for the wrapping segment. Dad used an egg white with a little water beaten in with chopsticks. Find some slave labor (Zack, Valerie, Jamie, Julia) to help you. He/Mom also kept them in the fridge after they'd been rolled but I'd suggest putting wax paper between them or they'll glue together -- if you're going to wait a while to fry them, that is. The bigger you stuff them, the more likely they will explode pork bits and cabbage in the oil bath, so make sure they're tightly assembled. Ten-shun! I can demonstrate, if needed.



This recipe was shown to me by Dad sometime back in the nineties. I remember thinking it was very simple, and I know Mom put in bean sprouts sometimes. You can add them when it's time to cook the celery. Or just do it the youtube way. Whatever you like!

CHINESE STEW

INGREDIENTS:

3 pork-chops cut into tiny slivers

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 bag tofu squares seasoned with five spice (tofu gan, not soft tofu) cubed

1 big can bamboo, chopped into cubes about a centimeter in length.

2T Hoisin sauce

dried shitaki mushrooms

dried shrimp

boiling water

Kikkoman soy sauce.


1.Chop the pork fine, douse with some soy sauce and let it sit in the fridge, covered.
2. Pour boiling water on a half soup bowl of wood-ear mushrooms. Cover with a plate and let soak 15 minutes.
3. Pour boiling water on a half-soup-bowl of dried shrimp. Cover with a plate and let soak 15 minutes.
4. Chop the garlic and put to the side of the range.
5. Chop bamboo into cubes. Keep the juice from the can.
6. Chop the tofu into cubes that are about a centimeter along each edge.
7. Chop each tiny dried shrimp in half. Keep the juice they soaked in.
8. Chop the soaked mushroom caps into long stripes, about 4mm wide. Keep the juice they soaked in.

Chopping phase is now over. (Applause).

Saute the pork slivers, soy and all, in peanut oil with about a half teaspoon or so of sugar sprinkled in. The sugar will caramelize, making the meat extra yummy. When it looks cooked, add the garlic and let it cook for ten seconds. Add the tofu, bamboo, shrimp and mushroom; add the water the shrimp soaked in, and the water the mushrooms soaked in and the juice from the can of bamboo; sprinkle the stew liberally with soy sauce (but not too much!). Put about ½ cup water in a cup and add 1 tsp cornstarch and the 2 T of Hoisin sauce. Mix it really well and dump it into the stew. I can’t remember if you cover it up, but you let it cook gently together for 20-25 minutes. Should have a nice brown gravy on it. Mmmm.

Serve over hot rice.

Serves a bunch of people.