recipes

by Hortensia 23 Replies latest jw friends

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  Hortensia

  Beets in mustardy vinaigrette

  1 rounded teaspoon grainy mustard
  3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil1 teaspoon sugar
  6 to 8 ounces mixed baby greens
  Salt and pepper

  4 or 5 boiled beets, cubed

  goat cheese, optional

  Mix oil, vinegar, mustard and sugar, beat with a fork. Taste, add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over beets and put in frig. Serve over greens with some goat cheese on the side.

  Bloody Mary recipe

  12 ounces vodka
  4 cups tomato juice
  1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
  Worcestershire sauce to taste
  Tabasco to taste

  black pepper
  celery stick for garnish

  Combine the vodka, the tomato juice, the lemon juice. Add the Worcestershire sauce, the Tabasco, and black pepper. Shake the mixture well, taste and add more Worcestershire sauce, tabasco and black pepper as necessary. Strain it into tall glasses filled with ice cubes. This is delicious even without vodka. It tasted better after an hour in the refrigerator, still tasted good two days later.
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  Hortensia

  Biscuits

  2 1/4 cups of flour

  1 tablespoon baking powder

  1 teaspoon of salt -- more if you use unsalted butter

  1 stick of frozen butter -- 4 oz.

  1 1/2 cups of thick buttermilk

  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Dice or grate the butter into the bowl. Mix with your fingers until you have lots of flour-coated flakes of butter. Don't let the butter get warm, so work quickly. Stir in enough buttermilk to make a rough dough. Dump the dough on a floured board and pat it into a circle, about 3/4 to 1-inch thick. Butter a 9-inch round baking pan. Cut the biscuits and place into the pan, nearly touching each other. It should fill the pan with a tiny bit of space around each biscuit. Bake for about 15 minutes until the biscuits are nicely browned. I like more brown, not so much golden.
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  Hortensia

  Caponata

  2 medium eggplanst about 2 lb total

  2 medium zucchini

  2 large red or yellow bell peppers

  1 onion

  2 large tomatoes (I used stewed tomatoes)

  ½ cup wine vinegar

  2 tsps sugar

  1 bay leaf

  ½ cup olives (sometimes I leave this out)

  ¼ cup olive oil

  Cut eggplant into 1 inch cubes. Sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 20 minutes. Rinse and pat dry. Cut zucchini into slices. Slice peppers and onion. Place eggplant, zucchini peppers and onion in a large roasting pan.

  Combine tomatoes, vinegar and sugar. Put on vegetables with bay leaf, olives and oil. Mix to blend. Bake in a 400 oven, stir every half hour until vegetables are soft and liquid evaporates. I did it on stove top instead, hardly stirring, until tender and liquid had evaporated. Leave some liquid.
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  Hortensia

  I got this recipe online somewhere -- Chef Pam Anderson, I think. It's for roasting in an electric oven. If you start in a cold oven, the heating element is on most of the time while the chicken cooks, making the skin crisper and browner.

  3- to 4-lb. chicken
  Paper towels
  Kitchen string
  Roasting pan
  1 cube soft butter
  Salt and pepper
  Tongs or 2 wooden spoons
  Instant-read thermometer
  Platter
  Foil
  
  Rinse the chicken inside and out in cold running water. Pat it completely dry with paper towels. Let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
  Truss the chicken, tying the wings and legs close to the body with kitchen string. Use 2 or 3 tbsp of butter to grease the roasting pan. Rub butter all over the chicken's skin. Generously season the chicken with salt and pepper.
  
  Put the chicken in the pan breast side down. Put the pan in the cold oven and set the heat at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roast the chicken for 30 minutes. Remove it from the oven, turn the chicken breast side up, using tongs or two wooden spoons. Return the chicken and cook for another 30 to 45 minutes until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees.
  
  Remove the chicken to a platter. Cover it with foil and let it rest for 20 minutes before carving.
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  Hortensia

  Pears in white wine syrup

  1 bottle of white wine, dryish, not sweet
  1 bottle of water
  2 cups of sugar
  2-inch fresh ginger root, peeled and cut into matchsticks
  Zest strips from 2 lemons -- use a vegetable peeler to make strips about 1/2 inch by 2 inches
  juice from 2 lemons
  
  As many pears as you can peel, halve and core to fit into the syrup.
  
  Combine all the ingredients except for the pears in a large pot. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Start preparing pears next to the stove, and put them right into the syrup as you work. When you have as many pear halves as will fit into the syrup, bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for another 10 minutes or so, until the pears are tender. Serve the pears with some of the liquid and some of the ginger and lemon peel.
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  Hortensia

  I'm not cooking any holiday dinners this year. It makes me slightly sad. So, here, you can vicariously enjoy the meal I'd like to fix for Christmas.
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  Hortensia

  Oh, I forgot. I would use the juices from the chicken to make gravy for the biscuits. I've gotten used to having less starchy stuff at a meal -- one starchy thing such as biscuits is enough -- but you could add mashed potatoes, rice or sweet potatoes if you like.
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  LisaRose

  The pears sound good. I may or may not cook, it's either going to be just me and my hubbie at home, or we might go to my brother in laws for Christmas dinner. They usually have crab, so the pears would fit in nicely. After a traumatic family Thanksgiving, we were reluctant to commit to anything, but I think I could handle one meal, and I would only have to make one dish if we did that. My brother and sister in law were at the the Thanksgiving thing, so we are all in agreement that whatever we do it will be casual and relaxed.
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  Hortensia

  the pears are delicious, and actually, I like the liquid as a drink with lots of club soda
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  crmsicl

  very motivating Hortens. I still have some of your old recipes from when you were Aida.