Boat Club for September

It was Boat Club this week again.   And as usual, there were a variety of dishes.   I've said this before and I'll say it again, we have some incredibly talented cooks in this neck of the woods.  And luckily they like to share their talents at events like our monthly potluck.
Before I get to the food offerings, I wanted to show you how pretty it is here.  So I took a couple of snapshots outside before heading in to the building.

There was a little confusion this month, the start time went from 7pm to 6pm, so some people came in a little later, and I didn't get pictures of their dishes.   However, as usual, we ran the gamut from appetizers, to main dishes, side dishes and desserts.   And this is all a totally uncoordinated effort.   We just bring what we feel like bringing.  And it always works out.
To start with, a perennial favorite, chips and salsa.

Next up a chicken and rice dish, which was lovely and spicy.   (Which I failed to get a picture of.)
I brought some Chile Verde and Chips

Then there were some lovely deep fried Pork Chops.  ( I do live in the south and fried is how a lot of food is prepared).

Next up, a Cornbread dressing, and I have to say, I finally found a Cornbread Dressing I like.

A lovely fresh fruit salad, which was really yummy, and last but not least a Lemon Meringue pie.

And one of our people brought a sample of southern stemware, and we all fell in love with it. I wish the picture was a little clearer, but basically it's a mason jar on a glass candlestick.    I have to get one of these for myself, it is too cute.

See, I told you it ran the gamut.   And then the stuff I didn't get a picture of, there were some hot wings, a fresh fruit and cheese plate, a chocolate pie and I'm sure I missed some other stuff, but hey, I was off duty, and was too busy enjoying my plate.  

Pork Chop, cornbread dressing, fruit salad, chicken and rice and chip and salsa and Chile Verde in the bowl. 

You know, potlucks are a lot of fun.   And I'm so glad I live in an area where we do potlucks on a regular basis.  There's just something about getting together with friends that's priceless. 

Vintage recipes, Fruitcake Recipe

I'm not sure just when I became enamoured of old recipes, but somewhere along the way I started collecting recipe books that pre-dated 1960.  That's my arbitrary cut off date, why, I don't know.   I do know that many of the modern cookbooks don't have the variety of recipes, methods or interesting list of ingredients that the older cookbooks have.   So, I thought I would start sharing some of the older recipes that I think are really interesting.     And some of these, I've even made.   And when I do make them, I'll include the pictures, and any comments and procedures and failures here.  

The first one is actually a fruit cake recipe I found hand written on the inside frontispiece of cookbook I purchased at auction a couple of years ago.  It's a Boston Cooking School Cookbook, published in 1937, and was a present to a young woman for Christmas in 1938.   





 

There are actually two fruit cake recipes, on the left is the following:

6 cups plain flour
1 doz. Eggs
1 lb. Butter
1 small orange extract
1 lemon extract medium or Large
1 tablespoon Mace
1 lb. Candied Pineapple
1 1/2 lbs. Candied Cherries
1/2 lb. Citron
5 cups nuts
1 lbs walnuts, the rest pecans
Bake 2 1/2 hours at 250 degrees.
and penciled in below,
1lb. light-brown sugar
1lb. white raisins.

Then below that is this note from the author of the recipe on the right side of the frontispiece.
Note;
This recipe adapted from an old English recipe used by your Great Grandmother Catherine Pierson Bancroft and has been used by the women in the family for over a hundred years.
Mother.

Now for the recipe on the right side.
To Kathy (Kitty?) from Mother   Christmas 1938
My Fruit Cake
1 lb. Dates
¾ lb. Figs
¼ lb. Citron peel
¼ lb. Lemon peel
¼ lb. Orange peel
1 tbsp. Ginger
2 tbsp. Cinnamon
1 tbsp. Allspice
1 tbsp. Mace
2 lbs. Whole raisins
1 lb. Seeded raisins
1 lb. Seedless raisins
1 lb. Blanched almonds
1 lb. pecans
½ lb. Black walnuts
½ lb. English walnuts
1 lb. Candied pineapple
1 lb. Candied cherries
(Save a few nuts and fruits to garnish).
3 lbs. Flour
3 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Salt
1 lb. Sugar
½ lb. Butter or Crisco
1 tbsp. Vanilla
1 tbsp. Lemon
Enough eggs and whisky to mix a sticky dough. (usually about 8 eggs- 1 cup whiskey)
With hands, mix Flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and butter together dry – add spices,
chopped fruits and nuts, mixing thoroughly – add eggs and whiskey, flavouring extracts
to a thick paste – pack in greased funnel pans lined with brown paper – bake slowly in
cold oven 4-6 hours. Dunk in wine, brandy or whiskey to keep moist.

Makes 18 lbs.

* I wanted to add a postscript to this.   By sharing the recipe here,  hopefully I've ensured that Catherine Pierson Bancroft's recipe will live on, even though her great-great granddaughter wasn't able to keep the cookbook with the recipe, maybe someone will make a note and keep it.  

I thought I would start with the Fruit cake recipe since it's almost time to make Fruitcake so it can be 'ripe' enough to serve at Christmas. 

One Lovely Blog and some useless? facts about me.

I got such a lovely start to the week when I got the following email. (actually the week got away from me, and this actually happened last week).

"You have received a Lovely Blog Award. The reason is you inspire me and do such an amazing job with your blog. I enjoy your Danish recipes and it helps me stay in contact with my roots. Thank you.  "
Gitte from My Danish Kitchen sent it to me.     

Well, you can imagine my surprise and pleasure to receive that acknowledgement of my efforts.   *giggle*  Someone's actually reading this blog and likes it, gosh.   
I know I enjoy Gitte's posts, and if you look at my blog roll to the left, you can see she's one of the blogs that I have there.   Her Danish recipes  are wonderful and they in turn inspire me to try making some of the many foods I grew up with.    I don't really follow that many blogs, so I had to go out and look for some, and guess what I found.   Get the impression I'm kinda into Danish food?  But I also like humor and the offbeat as well. 
Now there are some rules to this and here they are:

1. Post a link back to the person that gave you the award.
2. Share 7 random things about yourself.
3. Pass the award to 15 recently discovered blogs.
4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.

The seven random things about me, hmmm....

1. I'm actually quite shy, hard to believe, I know, but something I've actually worked on to be more comfortable with my whole life.
2. I'm very proud of my Danish heritage, and will share it with you at any time, whether you want me to or not.
3. I love to get on public transport in a new city and just ride around and see where the bus line goes.  A great way to explore a city without going to the local tourist spots. 
4. I'm hooked on museums, and go to them every chance I get.   I love to see how people used to live, especially the kitchens.   Makes me very grateful for all the modern conveniences I have and enjoy.
5. Can't imagine my life without my dogs, even when they get under my feet as I'm cooking.  On the other hand, they're great at picking up spilled food. 
6. Hate to waste food, but don't hesitate to throw food away if it's been in the fridge longer than my three day rule.   Trust me, food poisoning is no fun at all.  
7. Never, ever thought I would be/could be a food blogger, but having a blast doing it.
   

First for the 15 recently discovered blogs, hmmmm. that required some thought, I don't actually have that many I follow.     One of my interests is collecting old recipe books, predating 1960.   Just an arbitrary year, actually I have cookbooks dating from 1912 to just a few years ago.   It's just the old ones have such an incredible array of recipes that the new 'modern' cookbooks don't have.  The oldest books I have are ones my mom had, and as I said date back to 1912.  And they're in Danish as well.  But that's OK, I can read Danish.   

And then there are a couple others that I follow because they've got some Danish recipes on them, and more than that, they're also interesting.   And of course, everyone needs a good laugh now and then, and Wendy Aarons tickles my funny bone. 

1. Eating in Denmark
2. Nami-Nami 
3. Culinaria Kitchen 
4. The Old Foodie
5. Sweetopia
6. Homesick Texan
7. Wendy Aarons
8. Changeable Table.
9. Isabelle at home
10. Cookin Canuck
11. A Neurotic Glamour Girl
12. lostpastremembered
13. Island Vittles
14. Mad med hjertet
15. LasVegas Food Adventures

Again, thanks Gitte for the Lovely Blog Award, it really means a lot to me.  

Beef Enchilada's ala Ree

I'll be posting about the Lovely Blog award I received last week from a fellow blogger soon.   I'm still working on the post though.  So stay tuned...
For now though, here's what I made for dinner the other night.

I made some Beef Enchilada's the other day after catching Ree Drummond on an episode of Paula Deen's show.   If you're not familiar with Ree Drummond, check out her Pioneer Woman website.   She also has a cooking show on Foodnetwork for the next few weeks.  I'm a big fan of her and check out what's new with her almost daily. 

I followed her Beef Enchilada's recipe, well, mostly.   I did make a couple of modifications to the enchilada sauce recipe, but that's only because I tasted it and decided that I wanted to make it more something to our taste.   And when I served it, it was decided that while it was very good, my DH preferred an old family recipe called Enchilada Casserole over the Beef Enchilada's.   However, the enchilada sauce was over the top good.    So, guess I'll be augmenting enchilada sauce this way from now on. 

Here's the recipe, but first the pictures.   And ummm, taking pictures while your hands are gooped up with rolling these, well, it isn't easy, believe you me.    However, I persevered, and learned a new trick along the way.

Brown meat with the onions.

Add the canned green chile's.

Fried and dipped in Enchilada Sauce Corn Tortilla.

Meat on tortilla, (notice the pan it's in)

Sprinkled with green onions

Add a generous handful of cheese. (this was taken before I realized that the sauce would go all over the place, the rest was prepared in the pan, and it made for an easier cleanup.

All rolled up and ready for another one to join it.

And here it is, the star of the show. 

   I did make a couple of modifications to the recipe.   I used some of my Very Spicy chicken stock from last week in the sauce, and WOW, was that good.   I have to say, using the chicken stock not only stretches the enchilada sauce, but adds a wonderful new layer of flavor.   I also found I needed a little bit more roux, the sauce was too thin otherwise.   But other than that, this was a great recipe.  

Beef  Enchiladas

Recipe courtesy Ree Drummond

Sauce:

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

3 tablespoons all-purpose Flour

One 28 oz. can Red Enchilada Sauce

2 cups Chicken Stock

opt: 

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Pepper

Meat:

1 tablespoon Vegetable oil

1 pound lean ground beef - I use 90/10 

1 medium onion, chopped, about 3/4 cup

2- 4 oz. cans diced green chiles

1/2 teaspoon salt, (opt)

10-14 corn tortillas

Vegetable oil for frying

1/2 cup chopped black olives

1 cup chopped green onions

4 cups shredded Colby Jack Cheese, divided in two

Sauce:     Make a roux out of the flour and tablespoon of oil, cook over medium heat and let it cook for about a minute or so.  This takes the 'raw' taste out, then add the chicken stock and whisk together and let it cook a couple more minutes, then add the enchilada sauce.  Taste and add the salt and pepper if you like.   I don't usually add the salt, as the enchilada sauce and chicken stock have enough salt already. 

Meat:  In a large pan/skillet heat the oil, add the chopped onion, let it sweat a minute or so, then add the meat and brown the meat.   Drain the fat from the meat if you want, then add the green chiles and heat through.   Take off the heat and set aside for a few minutes while you get the tortillas' together.  

Heat the oil in a pan and lightly fry the corn tortilla's.   You don't want them crisp, just cooked a little.  Drain on some paper towels.   Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spread about a cup of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Dip each of the fried tortillas in the sauce, then place on a plate.  Add some of the meat mixture onto the tortilla, add some of the Colby Jack Cheese, and a little of the chopped black olives and green onions.    Roll up, and place on top of the enchilada sauce in the pan, seam side down.  Continue filling and rolling until you either run out of tortillas or meat mixture.  

Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the top, and top with the remaining cheese.  Bake for about 20 minutes or so, until bubbly. 

Serve with rice and beans if you like. 

 

Butter from leftover whipping cream

I was cleaning out my fridge the other day and castigating myself because I'd forgotten some kale tucked behind some other veggies in the veggie drawer, and it was way past its use by date, all yellow and shriveled looking, yuck.  So I chucked it.  But as I worked my way up the fridge I found the rest of the quart of heavy whipping cream I'd purchased for the Layer Cake I made for my birthday.   I had tucked it behind some juice and thought I would make some kind of dessert with it a little later.   Then I looked at the date and it was almost ready to give up and die, OK it was ready to expire in a couple of days.    I really hated to waste that on top of the kale I'd thrown away so, I got out my Kitchenaid and made Butter.

Do you have any idea how ridiculously easy it is to make butter?  I mean, you let the machines do the work.   Just keep an eye on it and be ready to grab it when it becomes butter.   Beats the heck out of the old way of making butter, and yes, I've tried making it in a butter churn.  My arm's still sore. 

Whip the cream, just the way you would if you were going to use it for something luscious and decadent.   Then when it reaches this point you know you're just moments away from your own sweet, home made butter.

See how grainy it looks?  If you're like me, you've done this accidentally once or twice in the past.
Now just keep going.

  See the butter?  That's those yellow clumps, and the white stuff is the buttermilk, well, the whey that's left.

 At this point I change from the whisk to the beater, and pour off some of the liquid that's collected and keep the beater going just a couple minutes longer. But keep that liquid, it's great for baking.  Oh and it freezes beautifully as well.

You want to expel as much of the liquid from the butter as possible.   I usually add some salt at this point and taste it.

Liquid expelled from the butter, aka buttermilk.  Use it in any recipe that calls for Buttermilk. It freezes beautifully by the way. 

You now have butter.  And you made it all yourself.    I have to say, this isn't cost effective, but oh so worth it when you can put this on the table with some of your own fresh made bread.    If I'm not going to use it up within a couple of days, I will freeze the remainder.   But, you do need to keep it refrigerated, except when you're spreading it on nice hot piece of bread or a biscuit fresh out of the oven or ...