I Should be a Jewish Mother...

I make a brisket you would be lucky to taste. I smother my children with love and brag about them to strangers on the street. And I love, love, love latkes. I seem to have some sort of natural talent for concocting crispy, subtly-sweet potato pancakes. Could be the non-Jewish bacon fat I use instead of schmaltz. I mean, who has schmalzt when you need it?

Since it's the first night of Hanukkah and I hate being left out of celebrations, I cooked up some of my infamous latkes with home- made applesauce, and sour cream and chives to serve alongside a pork roast. I said I should be a Jewish mother...

                                      Lovely Little Latkes

Eggs, potatoes, bread crumbs, onions and some other stuff.

 




 

Bacon fat..yes please.

Fry it up in the pan.

                                      Latkes and pork...after the bacon fat all bets are off.



Anytime a person goes into a delicatessen and orders a pastrami on white bread, somewhere a Jew dies. Milton Berle

Apple Crisp

Three years ago I moved to the 'Apple Capitol  of the World."

Who knew?

Unfortunately the place is on fire.

Fortunately many of the apples have been picked and the folks out there picking the apples are tough and have a fantastic work ethic..being from Mexico and all.

ANYWAY, I recently found this recipe because I have about 100 pounds of apples on my own tree and in the past I have make applesauce, apple butter, apple crisp, apple Brown Betty, apple pancakes, apple juice, apple pop tarts (recipe a few posts back) apple bread...well, you get the drift.

So I needed a new recipe and lucky for me I found this fantastic cupcake site where I found this yummy, yummy apple cupcake recipe: http://bakeitinacake.com/recipes/applebuttercupcakes


I make my own Apple Butter from this recipe: http://www.pickyourown.org/applebutter.htm

Another way to make these cupcakes is to say the hell with it and buy a box of white cake mix or I am thinking a spice cake box recipe, make the frosting and toss in homemade or...if you must, store bought apple butter and toss it in the mix.

As for me, I had to leave Apple Country for a week because the smoke was driving me crazy and I couldn't go outside and pick my apples. I'm here on an island with my mom, so I won't be cooking for a bit.

Which is nice.

"I tell you, all politics is apple sauce." -- Will Rogers

 

Drunken French Toast

The night before Bastille Day I has an epiphany. (That's a French word.)

 I shall make a breakfast pudding!

I've made this French Toast/Bread Pudding/Breakfast Casserole before, but last night I had polished off a few ( 3?) Cosmo's on a booze cruise on the lake in our boat. When I arrived home, I immediately set to work and started tossing the breakfast  together for the next morning's party.

I followed my recipe which I found in Diane Mott Davidson’s book,  “Crunch Time.” And then...I decided to add some cherries that I had  picked myself and soaked in brandy last week.

Then I saw the cooked bacon, sliced it up and added it as well. I think I might have poured one last little bitty Cosmo and then toddled off to bed.

This morning I wondered what the heck I had created, shrugged, (it's Bastille Day- I can shrug like the French.) and popped everything in the oven.

BREAKFAST BREAD PUDDING WITH RUM SAUCE

 1 tsp cinnamon

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

1 ½ pounds bread, torn up into bite-sized pieces

4 tbs (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

4 large eggs at room temp

4 cups of half and half

2 tbs of vanilla (preferably Mexican, or you can use

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste)

Mix the cinnamon into the sugar until well combined; set aside.  Butter a 9 x 13” glass baking pan and place the torn-up bread into it.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until it is creamy.  Mix in the cinnamon sugar and beat until very creamy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until well combined.  Mix in the half and half and the vanilla, and beat well.  (The mixture will be thin and will not be completely combined; this is normal.)  Stop the beater and use a spatula to mix as well as possible.

 Pour the butter mixture over the torn-up bread.  Cover the pan with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.

 In the morning, remove the pan from the refrigerator and discard the plastic wrap.

 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the pudding for 30 minutes, then remove from the over and stir with a wooden spoon.  Place the pudding back in the over and bake for an additional 30 minutes, until it is puffed and golden.  While the pudding is baking, prepare the rum sauce.

 The above makes 8 servings

  RUM SAUCE

 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup dark rum  ( I've also used Amaretto- yum!)

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 large egg

 In a medium sized sauté pan, melt the butter.  Add the sugar, rum and nutmeg, and stir with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula until the sugar dissolved and the mixture is well blended.

 Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, still in the pan.

In a small bowl, beat the egg until it is very frothy.  Beat the egg into the butter mixture until well combined.  Place the sauté pan back on the stove and cook, stirring, over medium-low heat, until the mixture thickens.

 Remove from the heat and immediately pour over the pudding. You will have extra, so drink it, I mean, serve it on the side.

The pudding was a hit. I however, could not eat it due to a slight hangover. C'est la vie!

“Here's to alcohol, the rose colored glasses of life.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned    

Billy Burgers for the Dad

Old Photo of the Kids- but it's a good one!

The kids live far away- but they called- so it's up to me to give 'The Husband' the royal Father's Day treatment. Steak and eggs for breakfast AND I cleaned the kitchen and did the laundry. (His regular jobs- what can I say?)

He took a hike  over the mountains and through the brush and then went for a Flexi (Flyer) ride (he's crazy,)

 and then he settled in- like millions of other dads- to watch the U.S. Open.

But he had one more request.

"Hey, they have this thing at the Olympic C.C. called Billy Dogs, can we have those tonight?"

"Yeah, sure, " I said as  I rubbed his feet and poured him a boubon while wearing a bikini.

My kids so owe me.

But actually, all I had to do was make the burger look like a hot dog, toss it on the grill and I was done. (Don't tell him how easy it was.)

 'The Husband' was semi-happy. He bit into his burger-dog and watched his man Furyk implode and hottie Web Simpson win. 

Oh well.

Thank Gawd tomorrow is Monday and we go back to normal.

Honey, I like my eggs poached.

Nanny Couldn't Make Jello!

Seriously- she was my favorite person in the world, but Lois could not cook. Her Jello was lumpy and her mash potatoes were runny.

But she knew a good contest when she saw one. She entered recipe contests and cooking contests and all kinds of sweepstakes. I think she won a TV (black and white) and maybe a few trips, but other than that, she spent a lot on postage.

Here is a contest that she entered in 1949. I found this in her scrapbook.

She couldn't cook, but she could dish up the love!

Here is the "Just Name That Dish" Recipe:

"Heat 3 tbsp shortening and add 1/2 cup celery, 2 tbs green pepper and onion, all finely chopped and 1 pound ground beef.

Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine 2 tbsp flour, dash of salt and pepper and stir into mix.

Gradually stir in 1/3 cup of water and cook until thickened.

Mix a recipe for baking powder biscuits using 2 cups flour. Roll out onto floured surface- 10 x 12' and spread w/meat mixture.

Roll as for jelly roll. Seal edges and bake on a baking sheet  at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Serve immediately with Brussels Sprouts, spices crab apples and a medium white sauce to which chopped parsley has been added."

Yield 6-8 servings.

Hmm..'Biscuit 'n Meat Roll?

The World is my Lobster!

Last week, for no reason other than he is AWESOME, The Husband purchased lobster tails, broiled them, served them up and cleaned the kitchen.

Did I die?

For the most part he can cook, but he has only one or two recipes - baked chicken and tacos. Both are marvelous, but I'll take the lobster please!

He's made these buttery delights before, but he forgot how, so he threw caution to the wind and broiled these puppies...guppies up, and served them with melted butter. 
 

Seriously though, it's really about the butter, right?

"We should have gotten steaks, 'cause they don't have legs. They don't run around." Alvy Singer