Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Rum – Part II

Gingerbread with Rum Butter
There are some interesting rum-based recipes in the Beatrix Potter’s Country Cooking (1995) by Sara Paston-Williams. A word of warning, the recipes are reflection of the Lake District area where Potter lived. Some people might be offended by the recipe for RABBIT CASSEROLE WITH CHEESE AND HERB DUMPLINGS!

Warm Sticky Gingerbread with Cumberland Rum Butter (page 111)
1 cup black treacle (molasses)
1 cup demerara sugar (raw cane sugar; I used brown sugar)
1 cup butter (I used 1 and ½ sticks)
2 large beaten eggs, beaten
2 ½ cups “strong plain flour”
Pinch salt
1 ½ tablespoons ground ginger
1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
Sprinkle nutmeg
1 ¼ cup warm milk
2 teaspoons baking soda

Rum Butter (1/2 recipe)

½ cup soft brown sugar
⅛ Whole nutmeg, freshly grated (1 ½ teaspoons)
2 Tablespoons dark rum (less for more solid butter mix)
¼ unsalted butter

Some of the terminology used in this cookbook may require a British reference source.

Pre-heat oven to 300° F.

“Put treacle, sugar and butter in saucepan and melt over a gentle heat, stirring all the time. Remove from heat and stir in the beaten eggs. Sieve the flour with the salt and spices into a large mixing bowl and stir in the melted treacle mixture. In a separate bowl, pour the warm milk over the bicarbonate of soda and stir well. Add the flour and treacle mixture and mix together well.”
“Pour into greased and line 20-cm (8-inch) square cake tin and bake in the centre of a cool oven for about 1 hour, or until firm to the touch.”
“Meanwhile, to make the rum butter, mix the sugar, nutmeg and rum in basin. Melt the butter and pour over the other ingredients. Mix well, then pour into a bowl and leave to set. The butter is ready to use, but can be kept in a cool place, well-covered, for several weeks. If you find it too sweet for you, reduce the quantity of sugar by half.”

Serve gingerbread warm with the rum butter. I also like serving it with lemon curd or hot lemon pudding.

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Rum – Part II

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Soufflé – Goat Cheese and Walnut

Photos by Lena

You probably can find different variations of this recipe on the internet. I prefer as a base recipe the one from Joy of Cooking (1997 edition, page 138), with some modifications. The recipe calls for eight 6 ounce buttered ramekins. Coat each with a mixture of ¼ cup coarse corn meal (Goya) and ¾ cup toasted and finely chopped walnuts. This amount of coating seems to be more than required. I end up evenly distributing the excess across the cups. Make the roux, 3 tablespoons butter melted and ¼ cup flour cooked over low heat for 1 minute. To the roux add ⅔ cup milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Scrape into mixing bowl along with 10 ounces (10.5 is a common size) goat cheese. Smash with spatula.

Have ready 6 egg whites whipped with ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar. Add five of the yolks to the goat cheese. The Joy of Cooking uses a 5 to 4 white/egg yolk combination. Add 1-2 cloves of smashed garlic. Normally I would add the ¼ teaspoon of thyme, eliminate salt, and add some pepper. For this version I also eliminate the thyme because I will be serving the soufflé with a dill sauce from a cookbook I highlighted in a older blog- The Vegetarian Epicure, Book II (page 104): To Roux (2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons flour, 2 teaspoons dry dill or 2 tablespoons fresh minced), add 1 cup milk, ¾ cup sour cream and whisk until thick. Add ¼ cup white wine, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and ½ teaspoon sugar. To this mixture add, depending on your preferences, a pinch of cayenne and nutmeg, salt and pepper, then simmer for 10 minutes.

As for preparing the soufflé, just do the basics. Stir egg and cheese mixture with spatula until smooth. Fold in egg whites gently with spatula, gently zig and zagging spatula to get an even consistency. Don’t stir the mixture.

Distribute batter across 8 ramekins, put in water bath in a preheated 360° oven, and cook in lower middle oven for 30 minutes. Let sit in bath for 15 minutes.

The great thing about this dish is you can serve it immediately, or refrigerate for three days and microwave for about a minute.

I serve the soufflés with broiled asparagus and toasted French bread rounds.

Click here for some other souffles:  Sasha's raspberry souffle, dark chocolate souffle and PB&J souffle

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Soufflé – Goat Cheese and Walnut

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Rum – Part I

Photo by Lena

After doing research for my last blog, walking and eating on the Freedom Trail, I became very interested in food and the Colonial Period. I found out some interesting facts about Rum:
“But of all of the drinks that warmed the eighteenth-century American interior, rum was the most important. It is estimated that just before the War of Independence the colonists were downing twenty four pints of it per head per year, women, and children included.” (Food in History by Reay Tannahill, page 254) In fact some historians, according to Tannahill, believe the Revolutionary War may have actually been triggered by the tax on molasses (1733) more than the tax on tea (1773). Rum is made from the “syrupy liquid left after the juice of the sugar cane" that is "boiled, once, twice or three times to produce sugar crystals” (256).

In honor of the drink that played a part in American history, I am propose you make yourself a cup of Grog:
1 cup hot tea
1 jigger dark rum
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 twist of lemon peel.

To a mug (or heat resistant glass), add tea, rum, honey, and lemon juice. Stir. Garnish with lemon twist.
Source: Famous New England Recipes (Colourpicture Publishers, Boston), page 32.

Check out other beverages on this blog!  Click here for Sasha's Limoncello; Click here for Sasha's Amaretto; Click Here for my Irish Coffee and Click Here for Sasha's Brooklyn Egg Cream

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Rum – Part I

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston - Sesame Chicken with Orange Sauce

Photos by Lena

While I am preparing a blog on places to eat in Boston, starting with the Freedom Trail, I thought I might blog about a variation on battered-fried cooking. In general my successes with battered fried food is quite frankly, pathetic. The batter usually falls off during the frying stage. The result ‒ a greasy mess. I’ve experimented with an alternative batter-like substitute that involves simply dredging chicken in flour (shake off excess), then dipping floured pieces into a batter made up of several beaten eggs. I use a wok and cook with a mixture of olive oil and cannoli oil on medium heat (preheat 5+ minutes).

For the sesame chicken I use chicken pieces the size of chicken tenders. When the oil is heated place several chicken pieces in the wok. Don’t overcrowd the pieces. I use about 1 ½ pounds of chicken which I split into three batches.
When each side is lightly browned (3-5 minutes per side depending on thickness of chicken tender piece), place on oven-proof flat dish lined with paper towel, drain, then place in low oven 150°. Don’t layer; use more than one plate.
As for the sesame in the chicken, brown about 3-6 Tablespoons of sesame seeds on foil in the toaster oven, or regular oven at around 385°. Be careful; they burn easily after 5 minutes. The rest of the recipe is fairly simple: make the sauce recipe below and serve with browned sesame seeds. The photo includes basmati rice and grilled red pepper slices.
A word of attribution on the sauce and the recipe. I am using a modified recipe from a renowned Pittsburgh chef and cooking instructor (now retired) Anna Kao. Her cookbook is a classic, and I would highly recommend it, although it is in short supply.
Orange Sauce from Classic Chinese Cooking by Anna Kao:
1 ¼ cups orange juice
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoons Cointreau
1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Mix ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring until sauce thickens (88).

STAY TUNED FOR FOOD ON THE FREEDOM TRAIL……………………….

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston - Sesame Chicken with Orange Sauce

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Valentine’s Day Special Brunch Drink – Irish Coffee

Photos by Lena

This year, 2010, Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday and for this reason I am suggesting a menu for a Valentine’s Day Brunch. In my previous blogs I began with Crunchy French Toast, followed by Strawberries Romanoff. Now I am ready for the finale, Irish Coffee. I must admit that if it wasn’t for a trip to Ireland three years ago (Brad In the Kitchen and Sasha in the Kitchen were there, too), I would have never, ever, ever suggested any drink with whiskey. But a little roadside bar/ restaurant on the Ring of Kerry between Killorglin and Glenbeigh next to the Kerry Bog (Peat Bog) Museum, changed my opinion. Inside the venue were two women preparing Irish coffee for the tourists. Mind you, it was 10 in the morning. They had quite a production line that began with trays of glass mugs filled with some sort of syrupy-looking concoction, then they poured coffee over this mix and ended by pouring cream(with a bit of a head) on the top of the brew. After watching the expression on the faces of the tourists who drank the potion, I was enticed (by a fairy no doubt) to partake in the drink myself, even though I was dreading the taste of whiskey. I didn’t look precisely at how they achieved each step, but the final product was a piece of art ‒ on the bottom a syrupy swirl, then the dark, clear black coffee, and floating on the top was a beautiful creaming head. To optimize the pleasure of the drink one must drink through this cream, and I must tell you it was quite heavenly! It was so good that I even took my finger and swirled it around the empty glass to taste every last drop; this act of desperation coming from a woman whose favorite expression to her children when they were in a public place, “Don’t touch anything!”

So the challenge in preparing the drink in the USA, I thought, was only to make sure that I had all the ingredients in hand so that I could mimic the process I observed in Ireland. Most Irish coffee recipes call for a shot of good Irish whiskey*, two teaspoons of sugar, either brown or granulated (I used brown), whipping cream, and coffee. The cream should be whipped slightly.

So let’s begin:

Warm up the glass with warm/hot water and let it sit for a minute or two. I would suggest using a tempered-type glass. Pour out the water add the sugar and whiskey, stir and let the sugar dissolve. Then add coffee, followed by the whipped cream, which is to be poured over a large spoon placed over the glass (concave side up). Unfortunately, none of my recipes specify amounts of coffee or cream, and my first attempt looked more like a milkshake.

On my second attempt, I poured less coffee (½ cup) and just placed the head of the cream gently on top of coffee mix. It was a bit better looking but not what I saw in Ireland. As for taste, the milkshake version was quite good, and my second take did not have enough cream; neither compared to the brew I had in Ireland. Maybe I needed to add some fairy dust!

SOS to Bryan’s Kitchen in Dublin: Can you ask any of your Irish sources for tips on the art of making Irish Coffee?

*Bushmills and Jameson Brands.

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Valentine’s Day Special Brunch Drink – Irish Coffee

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston Valentine’s Day Special: Brunch Entrée – Strawberries Romanoff

Photos by Lena

This year, 2010, Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday and for this reason I am suggesting a menu for a Valentine’s Day Brunch. The brunch begins with Crunchy French Toast. The recipe can be found in my most recent blog [I made a correction in my initial posting: ½ cup, not 1 cup of milk]. The next entrée is Strawberries Romanoff, which looks surprisingly simple to make that one might wonder whether the addition of a liqueur and orange zest could make much of a difference to the taste of plain strawberries; they do!

I’ve looked around at different recipes and settled on a simple version by Pierre Franey from the classic “60-Minute Gourmet” Series in The New York Times. This recipe is from a second cookbook from the series titled, More 60-Minute Gourmet (page 277 “Fraises Romanoff”), with one exception, I use orange liqueur (Patron Citronge ) and not Grand Marnier (cognac and orange liqueur):
2 pints strawberries, ⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (I would cut in half), peel from one small orange, ⅓ cup Grand Mariner, ¾ heavy cream (I use whipping cream which is a bit less calories—5!)
Remove the stems from the strawberries. I usually take a knife and hack off the tops but I’ve come to respect the importance of food presentation after writing in this blog. For this reason I now carefully cut the strawberries around the stems then rinse, drain, and thoroughly dry on paper towels. When dry, place strawberries in bowl (flat bottom), sprinkle with sugar, and then pour liqueur over strawberries. Add orange peel and gently mix and refrigerate; no time is specified. You want enough time to allow liqueur to penetrate strawberries, 1 hour preferably. Whip cream with 2 tablespoons of sugar (or less if you desire) just before serving. Put strawberries in separate dessert-style glass bowls. Pour residual liqueur mix over the tops of each serving bowl and serve with whipped cream. Stay tuned for my last Valentine’s Day Brunch entrée.

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston Valentine’s Day Special: Brunch Entrée – Strawberries Romanoff

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston:Valentine’s Day Special: Brunch Entrée – Johnny’s Crunchy French Toast

Photos by Lena

This year, 2010, Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday. Starting with this blog, I will be suggesting a brunch menu. The main entrée is French toast. I am using a recipe published many years ago in the “old” Boston Globe Magazine. I don’t have a date but the authors, Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven, wrote a food review titled “Breakfast of Champions.” One of the featured items was French toast from Johnny’s Luncheonette in Newton Centre. Johnny’s still exists and the Crunchy French Toast is still on the menu. I’ve modified Johnny’s recipe by substituting for the challah (or you could use Sasha's Cinnamon Raisin Challah) the Pane di Signora Belurgi (lemon egg bread) from Mary Ann Esposito’s Ciao Italia (see my blog on lemons (lymons)):
½ cup almonds, ½ cup walnuts, 1 cup cornflakes, ½ cup bran flakes
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 eggs, ½ cup of milk
Pinch of salt
8 thick slices of challah or lemon egg bread
Butter

Set the oven to 375°. Place walnuts and almonds on baking sheet and cook for 5-10 minutes until nuts are brown. Cool nuts then using blender, set to chop, blend for just a 20 seconds. Place nuts and cinnamon in flat bowl big enough to hold bread. Crunch cereal and add to nuts. Beat eggs, milk and salt in another flat bowl. Dip one slice of bread into egg batter and then into nut/cereal mixture. Heat flat grill on medium/high temperature for 5 minutes. Add a little butter then bread. Cook 5 minutes on each side and place in oven-ready plate. Repeat for remaining slices of bread.
Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar.

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston:Valentine’s Day Special: Brunch Entrée – Johnny’s Crunchy French Toast

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Making Pierogi

photos by Lena

After writing about making crepes and recalling them from my trip to Poland last summer, I began to think about Pierogi, which are really the Pole’s form of ravioli but made in a different shape. These photos of pierogi are entrees from two different restaurants–one in a small village near the Lithuanian border and the other in Krakow.

There are various fillings but the most common are cheese, potato, or sweet cabbage. I must admit that I’ve never made pierogi from scratch; I usually buy them frozen at one of two Polish specialty stores (1, 2) in the Dorchester section of Boston. But I decided to dig out my Polish cookbook to see how difficult they are to make.

Polish Cookery is an English adaptation of what has been referred to as the bible of Polish cooking (UNIWERSALNA KSIAZKA KUCHARSKA (The Universal Cook Book) by Mme. Marja Ochorowic-Monatowa published originally in1911: “Its original purpose, stated rather primly by the author, ‘is to give brides a knowledge of how cooking is done, so that they may supervise the servants properly’” (iii). Well, I don’t have any servants, but I could supervise my husband (he’s Polish) in making Pierogi.

As I mentioned previously, the recipe (page 253 Polish Cookery) for the dough pockets is similar to ravioli, except the pierogi dough uses fewer eggs (4 instead of 2): 2 cups flour, 2 small (or 1 large) eggs, and few spoonfuls of lukewarm water. Mix together until firm and cut into 2 pieces. Keep dough covered in a towel while preparing each piece. If you have a pasta machine roll each piece until it looks like a thin sheet and cut into 13 inch pieces (x 5” or so) (otherwise use a rolling pin). Arrange stuffing by the spoonful along one edge every 2” then fold over the top of the filling dough from the other end. Cut out around the filled sections in the shapes of a half circle using a pastry cutter, then press edges of dough together on the seam side. Any remaining dough can be reshaped and rolled out to repeat the process again. Cook in hot boiled water. When they float to the surface, take out with slotted spoon and serve with butter.

As for filling recipe here is the recipe for cheese filling (253 Polish Cookery):
2 egg yolks, 1 Tablespoon butter, 1 pound of pot cheese, farmer cheese, or cottage cheese mashed, dash of salt, 1 Tablespoon sugar, and ¼ raisins (optional). Mix yolks and butter first, then add other ingredients. Sugar and raisins are added for sweet-tasting cheese filling.

Another easy filling is quite simply 3-4 pitted cherries (or equivalent amount of berries). After pierogi are boiled serve sprinkled with sugar and sour cream. Sounds yummy!

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Making Pierogi

Margie's Kitchen in Boston: Making Crepes

Crepes are easy to make and have four basic ingredients: eggs, milk, flour and butter. The key to making a good crepe is a good pan and a little agility with one’s wrist. Once made, crepes are easy to store and can be prepared with an infinite variety of possibilities: filled or plain, folded, rolled or shaped into cups (with the aid of a muffin tin), or dessert, main entrée or breakfast fare. I was in Poland recently, and at a rest stop a person was selling fresh crepes rolled up, filled with jelly, and sautéed in butter.

A basic recipe for crepe batter can be found in most comprehensive cookbooks, but the one I like the most is from a quirky little book called Crepe Cookery by Mable Hoffman. Her all purpose batter uses four eggs, ¼ teaspoon salt, 2 cups flour, 2 ¼ cups of milk and ¼ cup melted butter (page 12). You just combine eggs and salt, and then add flour in batches alternating with milk while beating with a mixer or whisk until smooth. At the end of the process add butter. Refrigerate batter for at least 1 hour before making crepes.

I use this basic recipe to make my grandmother’s manicotti stuffed with a mixture of ricotta (part skim) (16 oz.) egg, ½ cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, 1 cup of steamed or cooked frozen spinach chopped and squeezed of excessive moisture, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg or mace. Spread a light coating of marina sauce in a 2 quart Pyrex style casserole dish. [I am not embarrassed to admit that I prefer a Vermont brand ― Dell’Amore]. Cover with foil and bake at 375۫ for 50 minutes; take off foil for last 10 minutes.

For the desert recipe shown above, I use the “Basic Desert Batter” from Crepe Cookery, using the same amount of eggs, 1 cup of flour, 2 Tablespoons of sugar (I use only 1), 1 cup of milk, ¼ cup of water, and 1 Tablespoon of melted butter (page 17). This recipe claims to make 20-24 crepes, but with my size of crepe pan it is more like 10-12. As for the crepe production, have on hand 10 inch (or so) squares of wax paper to match the number of crepes you plan to make. When you’ve made one crepe, place it on wax paper and cover with another piece, continuing until you’ve finished all of the batter. I use an 8 inch good quality non-stick sauté pan coated with a small amount of canola oil rubbed around the pan using wax paper. Before heating up the pan on medium heat have the batter ready. It actually isn’t a bad idea to use 2 pans at one time, the process will go much faster, however timing is everything when making crepes, so I choose the slow route using only one pan. Make sure the pan is heated up for at least 5 minutes or more. I use a 1/3 measuring cup to scoop batter into the center of the hot pan. Immediately lift the pan off of the burner and begin to roll the batter as if you had a marble inside the pan that you wanted to keep in a circular motion. Eventually the batter spreads out from the center and up the sides (slightly) of the pan looking like soft pasta dough. Place it back down on the burner for just 10 more seconds and using a very thin heat-resistant spatula take the crepe and flip it over. Heat for about 15 seconds [or until a slight browning of bottom-side surface area] , then turn crepe out onto one of the sheets of wax paper and cover with another. Continue making the remaining crepes. You can store in the refrigerator or freeze in a sealed proof freezer bag.

As for the filling in this featured desert, I used a modified cannoli recipe: 1 ½ cups of ricotta cheese (drained, i.e. let sit in a colander in fridge for about 2 hours), 3-4 Tablespoons confectionary sugar, 3 Tablespoons of Polish cherry vodka (Wisniowa). Take one crepe and spread 1-2 Tablespoons on the bottom of the crepe and then rollover twice. I spooned over the crepe fresh cooked cranberries (because it is in season).

I have yet to explore a “flambé” version but it sounds easy. Basically, I could have heated up the cranberry sauce in a large enough pan to hold the crepes, added a warmed up liquor (about ½ to 1 cup), ignite it (with a long fireplace match), and with a long-handled spoon pour the flaming sauce over the crepes until the flames disappear. Mable Hoffman provides these guidelines:
"Heating the liqueur–Liqueur with high alcohol content (proof) will flame quite high if hot when ignited. Therefore the rule is: The higher the proof, the lower the liqueur’s temperature needs to be when ignited. A 35-proof liqueur should be very hot–but not boiling–when ignited. 80-proof should be warm. Proportionate temperatures should be used for other proofs. It is difficult to flame liqueurs below 35-proof." (page 124)

Just a note: The Polish cherry vodka is 35-proof.




crepe

Margie's Kitchen in Boston: Making Crepes

Margie's Kitchen In Boston: How To Prepare Lobster

Roadside lobster shacks were common 20 years ago driving north on Route 1 in Maine. Now you rarely see any on a drive “Down East”. There is one establishment in Wiscasset (past Bath, Maine) at the base of the bridge that crosses the tidal river. In a netted bag, they boil a lobster, egg, potato, and corn on the cob, and then they serve the boiled dinner on a paper plate with a cup of melted butter. You need a hot shower when you’re all finished.

Just a word of advice: if you want a refined way to cook and eat lobster, I would suggest you prepare another entrée. But if you are up for the challenge, the Yankee Magazine’s More Great New England Recipes is you best guide. Published in 1985, the expert at the time was a woman named Bertha Nunan. She recommends a steamed approach using only 2 inches of water and it doesn’t vary by the number of lobsters or the size of the pot. No specific pot size is suggested but I use a 10 quart (8 inch high) pot that I only use for cooking lobster. I can fit four 1 pound lobsters in the pot.

Bring the water to a boil and then sprinkle in a quantity of salt. Bertha’s recipe doesn’t specify any particular type of measurement, just sprinkling three times around the pot, plus 3 teaspoons (page 98). Essentially, you want to create the same salt level as ocean water. I’ve seen other recipes that use 1/3 cup for 1 ½ gallons of water. I compromise and use 1.5-2 tablespoons and the 2 inch water level. When the water is boiling add lobster (head first), cover and steam for precisely 20 minutes. Bertha suggests serving it with melted butter and vinegar. Just a quick note, the lid of my pot has never been kicked off by a lobster; however they do make a scratching noise with their tails which might disturb some folks. Putting them in the freezer for a couple minutes numbs them, but frankly who wants to have their freezer smell like lobster.
Eating the lobster requires utensils (nutcrackers, picks or shrimp forks) and large bowls for disposing waste. I would suggest looking at the link which provides detailed instructions on how to eat a lobster. I serve lobster with home made cornbread and a gelatin-based fruit salad.
boston
lobster

Margie's Kitchen In Boston: How To Prepare Lobster

Margie's Kitchen in Boston: Lymon

Photos by Lena

My title uses the Middle English name for lemon in deference to the first English reference to this berry fruit at the beginning of the 15th century. The lemon goes back much further, back to the beginning of civilization. Its earliest identification is associated with the Indus (Ancient Indian/Pakistani) Civilization around 5,000 B.C. (see Food in History by Reay Tannahill for more interesting insights on the importance of food and cookery in history). As for modern cuisine, the lemon is an important source of the “sour” flavor, and along with the other four flavor groups: bitter, hot/pungent, sweet, and salty, are considered essential balancing agents in the human body.

The lemon is an ingredient seen in every kind of food to sharpen flavor alone or in combination with other seasonings. When combined with sweetness, the true essence of a lemon is revealed. What I recall with fondness about the ethnic cuisine of my mother and grandmothers are many things, but in particular those dishes that used lemon as a key ingredient: lemon meringue pie, homemade lemonade, hot lemon pudding served over home-made ginger bread; and then there were my Italian grandmother’s fried artichoke hearts sprinkled with lemon juice. They say that touching and smelling lemons makes one happy. I think this may be true because I’ve gotten the greatest satisfaction from cooking with lemons, and my favorite liqueur is limoncello, a homemade variety introduced to me ten years ago in my cousin’s flat in Arezzo. A close imitation to hers is the Pallini brand (remember to place the liquor bottle in the freezer for several days to get the true affect).

So, before I tell you all about my favorite “lymon” recipes,

let me first pour a little glass of limoncello—now I can begin:

Over the years I’ve collected many cookbooks, particularly of the ethnic variety, and embedded as an ingredient in many of the recipes is lemon: The Flavor Principle by Elisabeth Rozin, Memories from Brownie’s Kitchen by Brownie Schrumpf, The Vegetarian Epicure: Book Two by Anna Thomas Nationality Rooms Recipe Book of the University of Pittsburgh, Ciao Italia by Mary Ann Esposito, and Irish Traditional Cooking by Darina Allen, just to name a few.

The Flavor Principle (1973) is a wonderful cookbook. I bought my copy (now out-of-print) at CMU’s (Carnegie-Mellon University’s) bookstore many ions ago as a graduate student trying to escape operations research and other quantitative coursework [I should have trusted my instincts more.] The recipes all center on one or more ethnic flavor principles, e.g. lemon-oregano or cultured milk (sour cream or yogurt)-herb or spice. I have many favorites that use lemon, including “Baked Eggplant and Zucchini (Lemon-Oregano)” (201).

1 medium eggplant, peeled, sliced, and quartered

2 or 3 zucchini, sliced

1 large yellow onion, sliced

½ cup olive oil

½ cup lemon juice

1 ½ teaspoon salt

Dash fresh ground pepper

1 tablespoon crushed dried oregano

1 clove garlic

Place eggplant, zucchini, and onions in fairly deep casserole. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over vegetables. Cover and bake in a preheated 375˚F oven 40-50 minutes. Serves 6. Fresh herbs can be substituted for dried.

Memories from Brownie’s Kitchen (1989) is full of hardy Mainer recipes. My favorite is called “Common Sense Coleslaw” (28).

½ cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground ginger
2 cups shredded red cabbage

2 cups shredded green cabbage

Wash and dry completely shredded cabbage. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl, except cabbage. Add cabbage; toss to coat well. Cover; chill at least 2 hrs. [Note: I first soak cabbage in water for about ½ hr. with the ½ tsp salt]. Makes 8 servings.

The Vegetarian Epicure: Book Two (1978) is another out-of- print cookbook acquired during my time at CMU. I have many favorites but I would like to share one recipe that I’ve never made, because of my fear of layering cooked meringue shells. I may get the courage to make this scrumptious recipe “Lemon Torte” (326-327) but I would love to have a beta taster go first.

1 ¼ cups egg whites

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon almond extract

1 ⅔ cups ground almonds (unblanched)

Lemon filling (see below)

Garnish: blanched almond halves

Beat the egg whites with sugar until they hold soft peaks. “Sift together the second cup of sugar and the cornstarch and then add it to the egg whites along with the almond extract, and continuing beating until egg whites are stiff. Fold in ground almonds.” Butter and flour 2 10 inch cake pans and divide egg whites between the two, “spreading it as flat and smooth as possible”. Bake layers for 1 ½ hours in preheated 275˚F oven. They should be pale and gold in color and shrinking away from sides. Let them cool slightly in pan then remove and let them cool completely on racks.

Lemon Filling

“4 tablespoons cornstarch

¾ cup cold water

⅓ Fresh lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

3 egg yolks

1 ½ tablespoons butter

Combine all ingredients up to eggs yolks in heavy-bottom saucepan. Stir over low heat for 15-20 minutes, or until mixture thickens. Stir with whisk if needed. When thick, remove from heat and beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Return to low heat for 3 minutes only and then remove from heat, stir in butter and let cool, stirring occasionally.

Spread half filling over one meringue layer, place the second layer on top, spreading the remaining filling on the top with some filling spread only on the sides of the top layer. Chill torte for at least an hour. Serves 10.

Nationality Rooms Recipe Book (1975) was originally designed as a fundraising project for the upkeep of the nationality rooms at the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt (University of Pittsburgh). The cookbook may still be available at the gift shop or you can check the link. The recipes in this book are truly ethnic. I just bought this cookbook recently and have tried one recipe (“Iranian Spinach and Lamb Meatballs”). Here are two recipes using lemon that I would like to try very soon: “Leeks-Turkish Style” (155) and “Filled Pastry (Hamantaschen)” (177).

Leeks-Turkish Style

2 pounds leeks

2 onions

⅓ cup olive oil

1 carrot (pared and cut into ¼˝ slices)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon dill weed

2 tablespoons rice

¼ teaspoon sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

1 lemon for garnish

Salt to taste

1 cup of water

Cut leeks into 2˝ long pieces. Wash and drain. Saute finely chopped onions in oil for five minutes. Add leeks, carrots, tomato paste and dill weed. Cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes, shaking pan and stirring frequently. Add rice, sugar, lemon juice, salt, and water. Cover and cook another 30 minutes or until leeks are tender. Remove from heat and cool. Serve with lemon at room temperature. Serves 6.

Filled Pastry (Hamantaschen)

1 cup pitted prunes

¼ cup golden raisins

½ orange, sliced

½ lemon, sliced

½ cup orange-chocolate liqueur

¼ chopped blanched almonds or walnuts

1 recipe homemade biscuit dough

(or 8 oz. crescent roll dough)

Churned honey

Grated rind of half and orange

Pour liqueur over dried and fresh fruits in saucepan and simmer lightly, covered for 10 minutes, until prunes are slightly plumped and some of the liqueur is absorbed. Remove from heat and cool. Place cooked fruit (reserve half of raisins) and liquid into a blender. Blend. Remove. Stir together with ½ chopped nuts and other half of raisins. Prepare biscuit dough and roll out into a 6x16 inch rectangle. Cut into 2˝ squares and then cut each square into 2 triangles. Spread half of triangles with honey(not quite to edge) and then sprinkle with grated orange rind. Cover with plain triangles, seal edges, and flatten with rolling pin. Put 1 heaping teaspoon of filling in center of each triangle, bring up corners, and press firmly together. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with reserved nuts. Bake at 375˚F for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Ciao Italia: Traditional Italian Recipes from Family Kitchens (1991) is the first cookbook drawn from the New Hampshire PBS Ciao Italia cooking show hosted by Mary Ann Esposito. Mary Ann has published several other cookbooks, including Ciao Italia in Tuscany. My favorite still is her first cookbook, and there are several lemon-based recipes but my favorite is “Pane di Signora Belurgi”(121), a lemon-egg, Tuscan bread. Making bread had always been intimidating for me, and bread making machines seemed to take away the purpose of making bread at all. It was until I tried this recipe, which yields double the 2 round loaves as suggested, that I got over my fear of making bread. This is a Tuscan-style hard exterior bread. I’ve given it as a gift to many individuals¸ and they have all told me how much they like the bread. As with other breads containing no preservatives, the shelf life is about 3 days, but much longer in the refrigerator for toasting, and all loaves can be wrapped in foil and sealed in a container or bag in the freezer for several months.

2 tablespoons (2 packages) active dry yeast

1 cup warm (not hot) water

3 Tablespoons plus 1 cup sugar

6 large eggs

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) butter, melted

½ cup warm milk

2 tablespoons vanilla

Juice of 1 large lemon (I add juice of two)

2 tablespoons grated lemon zest

9-10 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour

1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon of water and 1 tablespoon sugar for egg wash

In bowl or large glass measuring cup, dissolve yeast in warm water. Sprinkle the 3 tablespoons sugar over and stir to dissolve. (I would warm bowl or glass cup before placing warm water and yeast into them, as well as utensil used to dissolve yeast and sugar). Let bowl sit in warm place until foamy, about 10 minutes (I warm up microwave first then put in yeast bowl). Meanwhile, in large bowl that has capacity to hold 10 cups flour, beat 6 eggs with whisk to pale yellow, add 1 cup sugar, melted butter, milk, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest and beat for 5 minutes with whisk. Stir in yeast mixture and mix well. Add the flour 1 cup at a time, mixing with a spatula until it becomes very thick and holds together (may not need all of the 10 cups). Turn dough onto floured surface (you will need to keep surface well floured) and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Place bowl in lightly butter deep bowl (not metal), turn to coat, cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap (or clean towel), and let rise for 2 hour, or until double size (warm microwave for about 1 minute and then place dough into it).

Turn dough out into well-floured surface. Divide into 2 (there really is enough for 4 loaves or you could cut recipe in half to make two loaves). Shape into 2 free form loaves and place on greased baking sheet, cover with towel, and let rise in warm place for 30 minutes (I place onto of oven while it is warming up). Preheat oven to 375˚F. After 30 minutes brush top of loaves with egg wash. Bake for 45 minutes or until the bread is nicely browned and hollow-sounding (bread should be done in less than 45 minutes (check at 35 minutes for Esposito’s definition of doneness). Let cool on racks (although you will be tempted to slice into this bread immediately).

Finally, let me end with Irish Traditional Cooking (2005), a gift from my son for the holidays. I haven’t had much time to browse the cookbook, but I’ve found several appealing recipes using lemon. In honor of my mother, who made home-made lemonade and would be happy that I’m writing about food, let me present Darina Allen’s version titled “Protestant Lemonade” (269).

Basic Syrup (Makes 3 ½ cups):

2 ½ cups sugar

2 ½ cups water

Dissolve sugar and water into saucepan and bring to boil. Boil for 2 minutes, the allow to cool. Store in refrigerator until needed.

Lemonade:

4 lemons

1 ¼ cups syrup

3 ¼ cup water

Springs of fresh mint or lemon balm (lemon-scented member of mint)

Squeeze juice from lemon and add syrup and water. Taste and add more water or syrup if necessary. Add ice and springs of mint.

Margie's Kitchen in Boston: Lymon