Crudites with Dip

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Made this for Thanksgiving 2007, and 2013. I think the dip is originally a Martha Stewart recipe. Part of the fun is to have lots of different, interesting vegetables. I gathered lots of little clear glass containers for the veggies and put them on a tray, with the dip in the center. Prepping the veggies take a little time but it’s worth it. You can also serve hummus with roasted red pepper.

green beans, tips cut off and blanched
thin asparagus, trimmed and blanched
celery sticks
jicama sticks
cucumber spears
scallion sections
baby carrots
grape tomatoes
yellow squash spears
zucchini spears (Both the yellow squash and zucchini are surprisingly good with dip.)

Arrange in glasses and bowls and serve with dip, below:

1 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp buttermilk
1 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp minced chives
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 large shallot, finely diced

Mix all in a large mason jar and refrigerate until just before serving. (Note, I didn’t write down salt when I wrote the recipe, but I’m certain I added some. Taste and add salt as needed.)

Note: blanching vegetables is super easy. It just means slightly cooking vegetables. I use a deep basket shaped strainer that I got an an Asian grocery store, but you can just do it with tongs if you don’t have a strainer that fits in your pot.

Here’s how you do it. Bring a medium sized pot of generously salted water to the boil, and have another large bowl of ice water close by.

Put veggies in very briefly, maybe 2 minutes. Remove and plunge veggies into ice water for a few minutes, until they don’t feel warm anymore. This softens them up just a bit without losing their crunch. It also keeps the colors nice and bright.

Maya’s Delicious Jello Dessert

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A proud Midwestern gal, I know the value of having a few good jello desserts in my repertoire and this is one of the best. I think Maya and I probably made this together the first time.

1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup sugar, divided
6 Tbsp melted butter
12 oz. cream cheese
2 Tbsp milk
3 cups sweetened whipped cream or cool whip, divided
2 cups boiling water
1 large or two small packages jello (any flavor that works with the fruit)
1 1/2 cups cold water
2 cups fruit, cut into bite-sized pieces (Berries, peaches and pears work well or a combination of fruits. Strawberries are pretty traditional.)

Mix graham crackers, 1/4 cup sugar and butter and pat into a 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 375 for 7 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Beat cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar and milk until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Gently spread onto cooled crust.

Mix jello and boiling water, and stir well until the jello is completely dissolved. Add the 1 1/2 cups cold water and fruit and stir gently so you don’t break the fruit up too badly. Pour jello mixture onto cheese layer.

Cover the dish and refrigerate it for 2 hours. Just before serving spread 2 cups of whipped cream on top. If you have extra fruit, use it to garnish the top.

Texas Caviar with Avocados

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We had this at our friend Dot and Johns’s New Year’s Eve party and I couldn’t stay away from it. It’s a wonderful appetizer, especially for me since I find appetizers challenging.

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup jalapenos, seeded and diced
1 cup Italian salad dressing
dash of cayenne pepper
2 avocados, diced

Mix all above and serve with scoopy corn chips.

Goa Shrimp Curry

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Made this on Christmas Day, 2006, with basmati rice. It makes a pretty spicy curry, so if you’re not sure, halve the dry spices.  You can always add them back later if you want to. Just cook them for a couple more minutes if you do.

This recipe is cooked in a process adding ingredients every couple of minutes. I wrote it in sequence to help keep it easier to follow, and you may want to keep the additions sorted into little bowls so you can just add them as you need them.

1 lb. cooked, peeled shrimp
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vinegar

Mix in a bowl.

3 Tbsp olive oil
2 onions, very thinly sliced

Saute onions until very soft and lightly brown.

1 tbsp garlic puree
2 tsp ginger puree

Add to onions, and saute a couple of minutes.

1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (add less if you don’t like it too spicy.)

Add to frying pan and saute a minute or two.

1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Add to frying pan and saute for a minute.

1  14-oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 can coconut milk
1 cup water

Add shrimp, tomatoes, coconut milk and water to pan and cook five minutes.

1 jalapeno pepper, diced
2 tsp chopped cilantro

Add to pan and cook 2 minutes.  Serve over hot rice.

Hot Buttered Something , possibly Rum

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Served at our 2006 office holiday party. It makes a nice large batch that keeps well in the freezer. Thanks to Cathy R for sharing her family’s recipe!

1 lb. butter
1 lb. brown sugar
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 qt vanilla ice cream
1 tsp instant coffee
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
Rum

Heat all together in a big pot until dissolved. Let cool a little, then pour into a freezer container.

For serving, add two big spoonfuls to a mug and fill with boiling water. It’s delicious this way, and if you’d like, just add a shot of rum.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

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Butternut squash is a wonderful fall vegetable and I made this soup for the first time for Thanksgiving, 2006.   I had just gotten an immersion blender, and was anxious to try it out pureeing the soup.

I didn’t read any instructions or warnings, and just plopped the blender right in the hot pot of soup.  Hot squash soup, when it splashes up, is essentially vegetable napalm and it sticks and burns in a very dramatic way. I carry an oval  scar on my left forearm to this day.

Operator error aside, it’s a delicious soup and perfect on cold fall nights.

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
1 cup chopped onion
4 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup half and half

Saute onion and squash in butter. Add spices and cook 10 minutees. Add broth and cook 30 more minutes. Remove from heat. Let cool a bit and then buzz it with an immersion blender, or in a regular blender.

Just before serving, check the salt and pepper, and stir in half and half.

Succotash with Cream

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This recipe is from “The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark: Recipes for an Expedition”, a fascinating cookbook by Mary Gunderson. Mary combed through the historical records of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, looking for details about their provisions and what they ate on the expedition and recreated dozens and dozens of recipes.

We met Mary in 2007 at a cooking demonstration at Niobrara State Park in Nebraska, on a blazing hot Saturday evening.  She made some wonderful food and I bought her cookbook on the spot.

Every year at Niobrara, I bring that cookbook and we have one dinner  by candlelight, with recipes from the Lewis and Clark cookbook.  This is one of the simplest and one of the kids’ favorites.

2 cups fresh corn
2 cups fresh or frozen lima beans
1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 Tbsp half and half

Cook the corn, lima beans and water until the water is completely dried up. Remove from heat. Add salt, pepper and half and half and stir gently.

Israeli Couscous with Chicken

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Israeli couscous is much bigger than regular couscous and takes a longer to cook. It’s often available in the Kosher section at the grocery store , and has a nice chewiness we really like.

1/2 lb Israeli Couscous
2 Vidalia onions, finely chopped (can also use regular yellow onions)
2 tsp garlic puree
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 heaping tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 lb. chicken tenders
salt and black pepper
2 cups chicken broth

Saute onions in oil and butter until soft and translucent. Add garlic and saute a little longer. The add cous-cous and saute for 2 minutes. Add everything else but the chicken and cook for 5 minutes.

Salt and pepper the chicken and lay it on top of the Couscous. Cover the pan and cook on low heat 10 more minutes, until chicken is done.

Toss gently with a fork and serve.

Spinach on Polenta

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More and more, we’re finding that we can’t resist the flavor of spinach that’s sauteed and just slightly wilted. This is a nice way to serve it and even people who don’t like spinach seem to like this.  (Check the prepared polenta label if you are being careful about Gluten.)

1 package of prepared polenta, sliced
2 Tbsp Butter

4 Tbsp butter (or 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil)
1/3 cup half and half
2 tsp crushed garlic (or a generous sprinkle of garlic powder)
1/3 cup good Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
Big bag of spinach (or two!)

Melt butter in your biggest frying pan. Saute the slices of polenta in butter until they’re warmed through. Remove and put on a platter and cover them to keep them warm. Add the 4 Tbsp of butter and garlic, and saute for a couple of minutes. Add spinach and start to turn it, using tongs or a big spoon. Keep adding spinach until it is all just wilted.

Add half and half, salt and pepper and parmesan cheese. Gently combine all the ingredients. Go easy on the salt at first, because the parmesan is pretty salty.

Ladle the spinach mixture over the polenta and serve hot.

Onion Soup

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I used to make french onion soup in Karachi quite often because I could get all the ingredients fairly easily and Kumy loved it. I used the only cheese available back then – “Greens”- which came in a wax cover. These days I use Gruyere.

3 onions, sliced very thin
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp brown sugar
5-6 cups water
2 Tbsp white wine
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
French bread, cut into 1/2″ thick slices
Gruyere Cheese, cut into nice slices

Saute onions in oil and butter, until completely translucent and the onions are starting to brown. Add the flour and sugar and cook until the flour is starting to darken. This can happen fairly quickly so don’t let it burn.

Add water, wine, salt and pepper and cook 20 minutes, stirring to get up all the brown bits from the pan. Cook longer if you want to reduce the broth a bit.

Melt some more butter in a frying pan and fry the bread slices in it for a little bit.

Ladle soup into oven-proof bowls, and place the bread on top. Add just a bit more broth on top of the bread, then add cheese. Heat under a broiler until the cheese melts and starts to brown a little bit.