Spaghetti Contest
On New Year’s Day we had the first ever Valine Spaghetti Cook-off. It was great fun with Naomi, Hannah and Mom each making their favorite spaghetti recipe. The pots bubbled away all afternoon and we were all getting into the spirit of competition by the time dinner arrived. The table was set and each person was given a taste of all three kinds of sauce.
When the vote was tallied we ended up with a tie. Not wanting to leave this contest without a clear winner, we went to our next door neighbor and let her cast the winning vote. Mom’s recipe won. The sauce recipe came from a magazine nearly thirty years ago and the meatball recipe came from an Italian friend in New York City. In case you want to reproduce this “dish of honor� (we can’t call it prize-winning since there was no prize) here is the recipe:
Marinara Sauce
2 tsp.oil
1 small onion
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. basil leaves
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 – 16oz. can tomatoes (I use crushed)
1 – 6oz. can tomato paste
Cook onion and garlic till tender. Stir in sugar, basil, salt, tomatoes with their liquid, and tomato paste. Heat to boiling. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
This makes enough for about 8 oz. spaghetti.
Sharon’s Meatballs
1 lb. hamburger
1 cup bread crumbs
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. parsley
1/4 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. pepper
Mix all ingredients together. It is a bit liquidy. Scoop meatballs with a ¼ cup measuring cup. You can make them smaller if you like. Put them in a jelly roll pan and bake at 350 degrees until they are cooked through. Add them to the sauce and let simmer.
* This is a very large recipe. Depending on the size of your family you probably won’t need a whole recipe.
Posted in Recipes on January 9, 2006 | Comments (0)
A Great Cake
Martha tried a new cake recipe from the May 2005 issue of Bon Appetit magazine. She described it as very creamy, not dry, and not too sweet. One of our friends she served it to said it "changed his life." Imagine a cake doing that for you! Here is the recipe.
Flourless Chocolate Cake With Coconut
16 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped and divided
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 extra-large eggs, separated
2/3 cup sugar
½ cup whipping cream
¼ cup toasted coconut
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 10-inch-diameter cake pan lined with wax or parchment paper. Stir 10 ounces of chocolate and butter in a large metal bowl set over a large saucepan of barely simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water and cool slightly.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar in medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites in another large bowl until peaks form. Fold yolk mixture, then chocolate mixture into egg whites until just blended. Transfer batter to prepared cake pan. Gently tap cake pan on work surface to eliminate large bubbles in batter.
Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cake to rack and cool completely (center will sink). Press outer edges of cake down to level top. Run thin knife around pan sides to release cake. Turn cake out onto rack and peel off parchment paper. Invert cake onto platter.
Place remaining 6 ounces of chocolate in medium bowl. Bring whipping cream to boil in small saucepan. Pour cream over chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Pour chocolate mixture onto cake, spreading just to edges. Sprinkle with toasted coconut. Refrigerate until chocolate topping is set, about 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.)
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Martha said she used bittersweet chocolate. Prepare yourself. The cake really does collapse after you take it out of the oven. Martha didn't have a ten inch cake pan, so she used a springform pan. Because of this, she didn't invert the cake like the directions said. She just left it on the bottom piece of the springform. In the end, she was glad she did, since it was such a delicate cake she was afraid it would have broken if inverted. Martha is away from home right now, so the rest of us here didn't get to taste this life-changing cake. We can't wait to try it ourselves.
Posted in Recipes on April 20, 2005 | Comments (0)
Bread making day
There are seven loaves of fresh baked bread, and the house smells wonderful. Our family’s favorite bread recipe came from a blind neighbor we had in our first home.
She was a wonderful cook. This particular bread recipe she made by feel. Since we loved it so much, she agreed to come over and let me record what she did. She would pour some salt in her hand then I would measure it before she sprinkled it in. She stirred and I measured what she added. It was quite fun, and we are so glad that we permanently recorded this wonderful recipe full of memories and love. She was also a fantastic piano player, kept an apparently endless supply of M&Ms that she distributed freely, and had a great swing on her porch that the Valine children regularly visited. The house she and her husband lived in was the house where she was born. What wonderful people! Here is the recipe:
Mrs. Wilson’s Cracked Wheat Bread
In a large mixing bowl, stir together:
1 stick of margarine or butter
2 tbsp. molasses
2 tbsp. salt
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 cups of boiling water
2 cups of cracked wheat flour.
Let the mixture soak for about ten minutes.
Meanwhile, mix three packages of yeast with a small amount of lukewarm water. Let set.
Add two cups of cool water to the top mixture.
Add the yeast.
Mix in enough white flour to make a dough. (My original notes say eighteen cups, but it has been years since I measured. Just add a cup at a time until it makes a nice dough. I like to use bread flour.)
Knead for about ten minutes. Cover and let rise until doubled.
Punch down and shape into one pound loaves. (I measure the dough with a cooking scale, 16 – 18 ozs. for an 8x4 bread pan. Use one and a half pounds of dough for a 9x5 pan. If you have no scale, just divide the dough into six loaves for the small size pans.)
Let rise again. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown and the loaf appears done. I often tip the loaf out of the pan into my hand to see that it has browned on the bottom. This recipe does not get a real hard crust so tapping it to see if it sounds hollow doesn’t really work. With our oven it usually doesn’t take the whole cooking time, but be careful not to undercook. It cooks much faster in dark pans than glass ones. Don’t let that scare you. Just keep checking. You will be able to tell when it is done.
Yield: 6-7 loaves. We often double this recipe and make 14 loaves. We slice them all after they have cooled, put them in freezer bags, and use them as needed. Makes excellent toast. People offer to pay us if we will just keep them supplied with this bread. We prefer to share it without cost.
—Posted by Tammy
Posted in Recipes on April 1, 2005 | Comments (0)
Dairy Hollow House Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies
In an effort to work on my cookie-making skills, I got a few books from the library on cookie making. One of the books I got, The All-American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett, has a lot of really old recipes in it. One recipe I made came from a 1902 cookbook. They were chocolate cookies, and they actually tasted very similar to a boxed brownie mix--quite yummy!
Tonight I made another great cookie recipe. This time, it was a recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies that used to be served at a bed-and-breakfast before it closed down. (Martha said that wasn't a good sign.) They are delicious! The only spice in the recipe is cinnamon, which gives it a remarkably warm and homey taste. In case you wish to make these cookies (belive me, you won't be disappointed by how they turn out), here is the recipe.
Dairy Hollow House Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies
1 cup raisins
3 cups rolled oats
2 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt,
2/3 cup softened butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease or spray with cooking spray several baking sheets. In a small bowl, place raisins and cover with hot water. Let set. Stir together oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, soda, and salt. Beat butter and shortening in mixer until light and fluffy. Add brown sugar and sugar; beat until fluffy and smooth. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until well-mixed. Stir in all but one cup of the flour mixture. Drain raisins and combine with remaining flour and nuts. Fold into dough. shape into golf-ball-sized balls with lightly greased hands. Pat down gently.
Bake for 8-11 minutes, turning baking sheet around halfway through in
order to insure even baking. Place cookie sheet on wire rack and let stand 1-2 minutes for cookies to stiffen before placing cookies on wire racks. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month.
I really think that letting your cookies sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes after they come out of the oven helps a lot. When I make cookies, they usually fall apart, but so far my cookie "experimental recipes" have both said to let them sit. I think I have only lost one cookie to crumbling so far.
Posted in Recipes on January 19, 2005 | Comments (0)
