Lynne’s Vinegar Noodles

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Chuck Rang

We first had this salad at Medicine Lodge, Kansas, when Jerri’s niece Lynne made it for a family dinner. Jerri and I were both very much taken by the combination of flavors and the simplicity of the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz. mostaccioli noodles
2 medium cucumbers (about 6-7 inches long), unpeeled and sliced thinly
1 medium onion (about 3 inches in diameter), sliced thinly
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tsp. MSG (Accent)
1/4 tsp. powdered garlic

PROCEDURE:

Wash and remove the stem and flower ends of the cucumbers and peel the onion. Slice them very thin.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a teaspoon of salt and cook the noodles al dente, ten to eleven minutes. Drain and then rinse the noodles in cold water. Combine the noodles, onion and cucumber in a large bowl.

To make the dressing, put the sugar, water, vinegar, salt, garlic powder and MSG in a quart jar, cap it tightly and shake well to dissolve the sugar and mix everything thoroughly.

Pour the dressing over the noodles. Stir well, cover and refrigerate overnight. This salad is even better on the third day and keeps well.

NOTES: Accent is a brand name for monosodium glutamate, which enhances the flavor of many foods. Although there may be people who are sensitive to MSG, the United States Food and Drug Administration classifies MSG as safe when “eaten at customary levels” and multiple double-blind studies have failed to demonstrate adverse health effects from MSG.

Our bodies actually make glutamate, and it is found in everything from bouillon cubes to veggie burgers. On the plus side, MSG has 60 percent less sodium than an equal amount of salt. Lynne’s recipe called for a full tablespoon of MSG, but a bit less seems to work just fine.

Posted in Salads and Stuff, Side dishes, Vegetarian Dishes | Tagged | Leave a comment

Pan-Fried Asparagus

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Chuck Rang

“Chuck, I’ve found a real good place for brook trout,” said my father when he picked me up at the bus station in Hayward. The spring semester was over and I was home for a few days before heading back to the University of Wisconsin at Madison for summer school. He was not primarily a trout fisherman, so I knew he had gotten the lead on a hot spot for brookies for my sake.

As we drove home I asked for details. He had gotten the directions from an old friend who fished it during the Great Depression. The friend was older than my father and had not been back to the stream since shortly after World War II. In my few years I had learned to be suspicious of wonderful bass lakes “that nobody fished because you have to carry a canoe in and trout springs that held huge fish because “most fishermen are too lazy to walk in to get to them.”

As an eager teenager I had carried a canoe through some pretty dense woods and waded through my share of swamps surrounding spring holes. While my fishing buddies and I did occasionally catch fish that way, we were never tempted to repeat those expeditions, being mainly just happy to have made it back to the car without getting lost or drowning. When he told me who had revealed this brook trout haven to him, I was even more skeptical: Ole (not his real name) spent most of his time enjoying retirement by telling tall tales in the local taverns.

I was looking forward to spending a few days fishing brown trout on the Namekagon River, but Dad was determined that we should try his friend’s stream on one of those days. Not being a “kiss and tell fisherman,” I will call it Frenchman’s River, with a nod to Robert Traver and his “Frenchman’s Pond.”

It turned out to be nearly a 40-mile drive, a third of it on National Forest Roads graded by men who had been trained to scrape large rocks up to the surface. I was driving, and Dad was giving me directions. We turned off a perfectly good stretch of Forest Road onto a trail that Dad had been told led to some cabins. The alders scraped both sides of my old Desoto, but we got to a turnaround where there were indeed two abandoned cabins.

The river did not look all that promising, but the thick brush on both sides made it clear that it wasn’t being fished very much. The trail crossed the river on a rickety bridge just beyond the cabins. My father announced that he would fish from the bridge, and that I could take my pick of going upstream or down.

When I got back from a half-mile hike that took me to some of the best brook trout fishing I had ever had, Dad was sitting in the car with a can of Leinies and his limit of trout. I cleaned twenty beautiful fish along the river and we headed home with just one stop at a tavern where we acted like any serious brook trout fishermen, explaining that “we caught a few small ones at a culvert where a crick crossed the road.”

When we got home and showed Mom our fish, I think it was the first time she told me that she really liked smaller brook trout.

She fried trout in butter or bacon grease accompanied by boiled potatoes and a green vegetable. My favorite was asparagus, but since we depended on harvesting “wild” asparagus from fence rows and roadside ditches, we often had to make do with peas or beans she had canned the previous summer.

If you ignore the recently created catch-and-release season, trout fishing begins the first Saturday in May and ends on September 30th for most streams in Wisconsin. In northern Wisconsin the asparagus season also starts in May, which may explain why I have always felt that asparagus goes especially well with fried brook trout.

Even canned asparagus makes a good accompaniment, but fresh asparagus boiled or fried until crisp-tender in olive oil and butter is the best. Mom usually boiled asparagus in a little water, but I prefer it fried. Here is how to make enough pan-fried asparagus for four.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. fresh asparagus
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

PROCEDURE:

Wash and trim the cut ends of the asparagus. You may need to trim a bit more on some stalks to remove the woody portion. Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan over moderate heat. Add the asparagus and turn to coat the spears with oil. Sprinkle on the salt and grind pepper over the spears. Cook them eight to ten minutes until tender but still crisp.

NOTES: You can also use this recipe to roast the spears. Preheat the oven to 400º and melt the butter. Mix the butter and oil in a glass baking dish and add the asparagus. Sprinkle the spears with salt and pepper and turn them until they are coated evenly with the oil and spices. Roast them for 20 to 25 minutes until tender but still crisp. I usually use sea salt for roasting vegetables, but ordinary iodized salt is okay.

Posted in Side dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian Dishes | Tagged | 2 Comments

Savory Pork Chops with Fennel

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Chuck Rang

In Wisconsin, we tend to think that “invasive species” refers mainly to zebra mussels, Eurasian milfoil and Canada thistle. In California the list might well end with fennel. Driving in California, you will see miles of shrubs that look a bit like dill along the highways. Those bushes are actually fennel, a plant native to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It has been used by doctors and cooks for thousands of years and was probably brought to California by the people who also brought wine grapes to the state.

Fennel seeds stick to clothing, wagon wheels, car tires, bird feathers and animal hair, and soon feral fennel was thriving. With much of the state enjoying a Mediterranean climate, California seemed like a beautiful new home to the new immigrant families from places like Italy, Spain and Greece. Fennel also found it the ideal place to “be fruitful and multiply.” Today, fennel is a major pest in the Golden State, but it is also one of my favorite herbs.

Fennel has the same flavor as anise, but it has a milder or softer effect in recipes. It is cultivated today around the world. The bulbs, leaves and seeds are all used in cooking. I have tried a couple of recipes with fennel bulbs, but we depend mainly on the seeds.

Jerri and I use them in making marinara and spaghetti sauces and include them in a spice mixture we make for commercial pizzas that we “doll up” with extras like tomatoes, green peppers, onions and mushrooms.

If you like mild Italian sausage, you will enjoy the flavor of these pork chops. They are quick and easy to cook but make a delicious main dish for an elegant dinner.

INGREDIENTS:

4 pork chops, each about 3/4 inch thick
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. fennel seed
2 T olive oil
3/4 cup dry white wine

PROCEDURE:

Crush the fennel seed with a mortar and pestle and mix with the flour, salt and pepper. Peel and mince the garlic. Put the olive oil in a frying pan over moderate heat.

Dredge the chops in the seasoned flour and fry them until they are a dark golden brown. Sprinkle the minced garlic on them and add the wine. Cover and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.

If the sauce is too thin, raise the heat to moderate and remove the cover for the last few minutes to thicken it.

Serve with a glass of the wine, a salad, bread and rice or pasta.

NOTES: Couscous pilaf goes well with these chops as does a steamed vegetable such as carrots or green beans.

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Mexican Rice

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Chuck Rang

When the Hayward School District was consolidated, I was exposed to cafeteria food served in the high school gymnasium. Compared to the home-cooked meals Winifred Larson used to make for us in the basement of Blair School, the offerings scooped onto our plates in Hayward were not even second rate.

For the most part I have suppressed the memories of those lunches. I do recall an embarrassing episode involving a banana. Instead of jello or fruit cocktail, one warm spring day we had bananas for dessert. I liked bananas but wanted to get outside for a softball game, so I put the banana in my pocket.

It was not a wise move as I discovered when I slid on my front trying to stop a ground ball. I emptied my pocket and washed most of the mess out of my pants, but the girls giggled when I came into the classroom with a very noticeable wet spot on my jeans. Since then I don’t put even a stick of gum in a pants pocket.

Another lasting memory is the Spanish rice that was served every week. It was made with bacon and some vegetables and was even worse than the greasy “hamburger hot dish” which was also served weekly. My memory may be faulty. It’s possible that these dishes were served less frequently, but once a year would have been more than enough.

This recipe for Mexican rice has no meat or vegetables except for a little onion and tomato sauce. It goes well with Cheese & Bean Burritos or enchiladas. We think that toasting the rice in the oil and heating the garlic and cumin with it results in a delicious flavor. The rice ends up light and fluffy and not at all gummy.

INGREDIENTS:

3 T vegetable oil
1 cup long grain white rice
1 tsp. garlic salt or 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth

PROCEDURE:

Peel and chop the onion medium fine. Have ready the tomato sauce and broth.

Heat the oil in a 1 1/2 or 2 quart saucepan over moderate heat. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains with oil. After the rice has been cooking in the oil for two or three minutes, stir in the cumin and garlic salt (or salt and garlic powder). Stir continuously until the rice grains turn golden brown. This will take five or six minutes.

When the rice has browned, stir in the onion and cook for a minute or two until the onion is translucent. Stir in the broth and tomato sauce, cover the pan and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until the broth has been absorbed by the rice. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

Posted in Side dishes | 1 Comment

Jerri’s Salmon Loaf

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Chuck Rang

It has been a few years, so we don’t feel too guilty for not remembering who gave us Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two Cook Book. Jerri thinks it is remotely possible that she bought it before we headed for Charlottesville, Virginia and moved into our first home, a terrace apartment in an antebellum house.

Terrace apartment, at least in Charlottesville, was the name given to an apartment built partly below ground in what would be the basement but with retaining walls set back a few feet from the house so that we had windows and a certain amount of natural daylight.

It had been the slaves’ quarters before the Civil War with solid masonry walls, broad plank floorboards of pine, a huge living room, and a tiny kitchen added much later. Our landlady, the wife of “the Seventh George Gilmer in Virginia,” as she was fond of explaining, recommended that we hire a cleaning lady to help Jerri, who was teaching high school full time.

That is how we met Mary and Martha, two widowed sisters who were some of the nicest people we ever met, though Mrs. Gilmer warned us that we had to keep our eyes on them. When I asked her, she told us not to pay Mary $1 an hour, the federal minimum wage. She explained that though both Mary and her sister were honest and could be trusted not to steal from us when Jerri was teaching and I was in seminars at the university, they were blacks and therefore slow and inclined to slack off when no one was watching. We paid her the dollar an hour anyway.

A few months after we moved into the apartment, Mary announced that the living room floor needed a coat of wax. She asked me to buy a can of Johnson Paste Wax for her. Since it was spring break at the university, I bought an extra can of wax so I could help wax the floor. The night before the project Jerri and I moved the furniture into the dining room and swept. Moving the furniture was easy, as it consisted of a used sofa, a rocking chair and a couple of brick and board bookcases. We also had to roll up and move the braided oval rug that we lounged on in front of the fireplace.

We got up early that day. Although Mary had to walk two miles to get to our apartment, as usual she arrived at daybreak. While Jerri dressed for school, Mary and I got busy with rags and wax. I had not paid much attention to how fast she worked, as she was usually remaking the bed (Jerri made it even when Mary was going to do it again.) or doing the dishes when I left for classes.

I was about halfway down the thirty-foot expanse of floor on my section when Mary started back on her second swath. When I finished mine, she was headed back towards me on her third swath. I checked her work and found a smooth even coat of wax on the lovely honey-colored wood. She was like an electric floor waxer/buffer. She thanked me for helping with the floor, and when she left that day I gave her an extra dollar. She had earned it, if only for teaching me that a 65-year-old widow could work faster than me.

A few months later, Martha was filling in for Mary one day when I was home. She was ironing my shirts in the dining almost as fast as I could hang them in the bedroom closet. I had recently learned from someone that Mrs. Gilmer paid Mary and Martha and the 60-year-old “boy” who was her gardener only 75 cents an hour.

When I asked her what she thought of the lower wage, she smiled at me, then cut her ironing speed in half. As she moved the iron slowly down the board, she said, “When ah irons for Miz Gilmer, ah jest goes like this.” If there was much ironing to do, Mrs. Gilmer would have saved money by paying minimum wage.

But back to the cookbook: It is a small spiral bound book that lies flat on the counter so you can follow the recipes easily. As the title suggests the book was intended to help a new bride prepare meals for her husband. It includes sections on American Favorites, Seasonal Specials, Regional Meals, Pennywise Dinners, Good and Easy Dinners, and more. The book was published in 1958 and is no longer in print, but used copies are still available.

Jerri’s Salmon Loaf comes from the Good and Easy section, and we like it a lot. If you want a good and easy meat course to go with boiled potatoes and creamed green peas, this is the recipe for you.

INGREDIENTS:

1 14.75 oz. can or 2 cups of pink or red salmon
1 egg
Liquid from the salmon plus enough milk to make 3/4 cup
1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed cracker crumbs
1 T lemon juice
2 tsp. chopped onion
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to 350º and grease one end of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Make a divider of folded aluminum foil.
Open the can of salmon and drain the liquid into a measuring cup. Add enough milk to make 3/4 cup of liquid and set aside.

Put the salmon into a mixing bowl and use a fork to flake the meat. Coarsely crush about 1 1/2 cups of saltine crackers and mix them with the salmon. Beat an egg in a small bowl until it is lemon colored, then beat in the liquid, salt and pepper. Add the liquid to the fish and cracker mixture and mix well with a fork. Stir in a tablespoon of lemon juice. If the mixture seems too soft, add a few more cracker crumbs. If it seems too dry add a small amount of milk.

Spoon the mixture into the greased end of the loaf pan and gently press the end and top into a loaf shape. Use the tinfoil to help support the open end of the loaf

Bake the loaf on the center shelf of the oven for 45 to 50 minutes until the top is crisp.

Serve slices of salmon loaf with boiled potatoes, green peas in white sauce and bread.

Green Peas in White Sauce

This is an ordinary medium thick white sauce flavored with a dash or two of white pepper.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen green peas
3 T butter
3 T flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. white pepper
1 1/2 cups milk

PROCEDURE:

If you are using fresh green peas, put them in boiling water and cook for about five minutes. If using frozen peas, cook them for about three minutes in a microwave oven.

Melt the butter over low heat in a heavy 1 1/2 quart saucepan. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper and cook for two or three minutes to make a roux, stirring with a whisk or wooden spoon. Do not brown the flour.

While the flour is cooking heat the milk until it is steaming. Add the hot milk all at once to the roux. Stir continuously with the whisk or spoon and cook the mixture four or five minutes to make a smooth sauce. Drain the peas and add them to the sauce. Simmer for one or two minutes.

NOTES: We always use canned salmon and frozen peas for this recipe. Betty Crocker suggests a garnish of lemon wedges and parsley sprigs. I don’t think Jerri did that even when we were first married, and we are still eating her salmon loaf. You can add a small amount of milk to the sauce if it seems too thick.

Posted in Fish & Seafood, Main Dishes, Side dishes, Vegetarian Dishes | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Smothered Cheese & Bean Burritos

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Chuck Rang

Perhaps like us you have been blessed with a vegetarian in your family. If so, give thanks for Cheese and Bean Burritos. Even a confirmed carnivore like me finds them a tasty and satisfying main dish for a meatless meal.

Our grandson Will is a vegetarian who really does not like vegetables very much. Going on eleven, he is doing much better than one of his distant cousins who seems to subsist exclusively on a diet of bread and ketchup. Will does like beans and cheese, which explains how I came upon this recipe.

He and I have made these cheese and bean burritos together a half dozen times now. He grates the cheese and sprinkles it on the filling as I spoon on the bean mixture and roll the tortillas.

We make an even better team eating them. Though I have never managed more than two, he once downed three of them. He is, after all, a growing boy.

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium onion (3 inch diameter)
4 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 (16 ounce) can black beans
1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans
2 cups enchilada sauce
1/2 cup salsa
1 T cumin
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
8 – 10 large flour tortillas
2 T water
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Peel and chop the onion medium fine. Peel and mince the garlic. Open and drain the beans. Put three tablespoons of vegetable oil in a two quart saucepan over low heat and cook the garlic and onion until it is translucent.

Spoon half of each can of beans over the onions and mash them with a potato masher, then stir in the rest of the beans. Add a cup of enchilada sauce, a half cup of salsa, the cumin, salt and pepper. Stir over low heat and simmer for three or four minutes.

Grate the cheese while the bean mixture is simmering.

Put about three tablespoons of bean mixture in a row about a quarter of the way up on a tortilla. Sprinkle the mixture with cheese. Fold about a quarter of the tortilla over the mixture, then fold in the ends and roll up the tortilla to make a burrito. Arrange the burritos seam side down in a greased 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish.

Mix the two tablespoons of water with the remaining enchilada sauce and pour it evenly over the burritos. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the sauce and bake, covered, for about twenty minutes.

Pass extra salsa and serve with your favorite beverage. Try a glass of root beer or a good ale.

NOTES: We use medium salsa, so our burritos are pretty mild. If you prefer spicier food, try hot salsa or add some hot sauce to the bean mixture.

Burritos are the Mexican version of a sandwich, a hand-held food you can eat on the go. Fast food vendors were selling tortillas with various fillings in Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City) five hundred years ago, but the modern burrito apparently was invented in the 19th century. If you cook burritos with sauce, like enchiladas, they are “smothered” and meant to be eaten with a fork.

Posted in Main Dishes, Vegetarian Dishes | 1 Comment

Mrs. Lanier’s Swedish Rye Bread

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Chuck Rang

A few days ago I shared Mrs. Lanier’s recipe for buttermilk sheet cake. Here is another of her recipes that we treasure. It is a rye bread that has only a small amount of rye flour in it but the bread has a wonderful color, texture and flavor. Even if you think you do not like rye bread or caraway seeds, you really should try this recipe. This bread tastes almost like cake.

Mrs. Lanier told Jerri that the recipe came from a Swedish neighbor. Growing up in northern Wisconsin, I believed the grownups who told me that the Swedes and Norwegians settled in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota because the thin soil, rocks and hills reminded them of their homeland. What they didn’t tell me is that a lot of good Swedish farmers headed for Kansas which is flatter than a pancake with topsoil two feet deep.

In fact, Lindsborg, Kansas is known as “Little Sweden” and still celebrates Svensk Hyllningsfest, which is held in October of odd-numbered years. It’s a two-hour drive to Atlanta, Kansas from Lindsborg, but there are Swedish families in every Kansas county today. I’m glad that at least one of them settled near the Laniers, so we can enjoy this bread.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup rye flour
6 to 8 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups water, divided
2 T caraway seeds
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup dark molasses
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. granulated sugar
1 package or 2 heaping tsp. yeast

PROCEDURE:

Put the rye flour, caraway seeds and a cup of boiling water in a large mixing bowl. Stir until smooth and allow to cool to lukewarm.

Put the shortening, molasses, salt, brown sugar and a cup of boiling water into a small saucepan or microwavable bowl and stir until everything is melted. Cool to lukewarm.

Put a half cup of lukewarm water (90 t0 110º) in a cup or small bowl. Stir in a half teaspoon of sugar and the yeast and allow to proof.

Put all the lukewarm mixtures into the large mixing bowl and begin adding flour a cup at a time. Stir well between additions. As Mrs. Lanier wrote, “Use the trial and error method.” When the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, let it sit for five minutes or so, then turn it out on a floured work surface.

The dough will be sticky, so Mrs. Lanier recommends that you grease your fingers with shortening to avoid adding too much flour as you knead the dough. Knead for seven to eight minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Form it into a ball and put it into a greased bowl, turning the ball to cover the dough with grease. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and allow the dough to rise in a warm draft-free spot. When the dough has doubled in bulk, knead it briefly and return it to the bowl.

Allow the dough to rise again until doubled, then deflate it and form loaves on your work surface. Grease your bread pans. If you have standard 4 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch pans, make two loaves. Make three loaves if you have smaller pans. Put the pans in a warm draft-free spot and cover with the damp cloth. Once the dough has started to rise in the pans, preheat the oven to 350º

When the dough is even with the tops of the pans, put them on the center shelf of the oven and bake the bread for 50 to 60 minutes. After 50 minutes, tip the loaves out of the pans and tap the bottoms. If the bread sounds hollow, the loaves are done. Otherwise, bake them for another five to ten minutes and tap again.

NOTES: After listing the molasses, Mrs. Lanier noted “the darker the better.” Use blackstrap molasses if you have it. She also noted that she especially liked this bread toasted.

Posted in Breads and Pancakes | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Jodell’s Ravioli Soup

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Chuck Rang

First, make a list of people who might enjoy a soup lunch or dinner at your home. Second, narrow down the list to ten for lunch or six for dinner. Third, call them and get a commitment. Fourth, start the soup about three hours before your guests will arrive.

As you can tell, this recipe makes a lot of soup. Fortunately, you can freeze the leftovers, so if someone doesn’t show, you will have a nice lunch or light Sunday supper.

Jerri first tasted this soup at a meeting of the St. Croix Valley Music Teachers Association. Jodell’s ravioli soup was an unqualified success, and she was generous enough to share the recipe with her fellow music teachers. It is a rich Italian-style soup with a wonderful bouquet.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tsp. olive oil
1 medium onion
1 large clove garlic
1 lb. hamburger
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 cups beef broth
5 cups water
3 beef bullion cubes
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 large carrots
2 medium potatoes
10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach
25 oz. package fresh or frozen ravioli
V-8 juice
Parmesan cheese

PROCEDURE:

Peel and chop the onion medium fine and peel and mince the garlic. Coat the bottom of an 8 to 10 quart soup pot or Dutch oven with the olive oil. Add the hamburger, onion and garlic and fry over moderate heat. Drain any excess fat. Add the tomatoes, spices, liquids, bullion cubes, and tomato sauce. Bring to the boil.

Peel the carrots and potatoes, cut them to a half inch dice and add them to the soup. Return to the boil and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes.. Add the spinach and return to the boil. Add the ravioli and cook as directed. The soup will probably need more liquid at this point. Add V-8 juice as necessary.

Serve in bowls. Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Italian Feather Bread or a crusty French bread goes well with this soup. Add a green salad for dinner.

NOTES: You can vary the character of the soup by using different kinds of ravioli. Jerri uses cheese ravioli. If you buy frozen ravioli, let it thaw in the refrigerator a few hours before you plan to make the soup.

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Mrs. Lanier’s Buttermilk Sheet Cake

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Chuck Rang

On a yellowed scrap of paper torn from a sheet of the thin and inexpensive stationery you could buy in pads at the five and dime when I was a boy is a recipe written down for Jerri by Mrs. Lanier of Atlanta, Kansas. It’s probably the same paper that she used to write letters to her daughter Joyce. Joyce was married to Merle, one of Jerri’s twin brothers.

Atlanta is a small town, but it still has two churches, a United Methodist Church and a Christian Church. The Laniers belonged to the Christian Church, and you can be sure that Mrs. Lanier made her Buttermilk Sheet Cake for a lot of potlucks. For one thing, it’s delicious; for another, you can make it in a ranch house in the Flint Hills of Kansas with no electricity without tiring your arms beating the batter.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup oleomargarine
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 T cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to 400º.

Bring the oleomargarine, oil and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Sift the sugar, flour, cocoa and salt together into a mixing bowl. Pour the boiling liquid into the dry ingredients and beat well with a wooden spoon.

Beat the eggs with a fork or whisk until lemon colored. Then beat in the buttermilk and baking soda. Blend the egg and milk mixture into the cake batter and stir just until it is well mixed. You will have a thin batter that looks like milk chocolate.

Grease a 9 by 11-inch cake pan. Pour in the batter and bake it for 23 minutes on the center shelf of the oven. Test for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. If not, bake for two or three more minutes and test again.

Cool and frost with your favorite chocolate icing. You might want to try this very simple recipe for Good and Easy Chocolate Frosting.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup granulated sugar
4 T butter
4 T milk
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

PROCEDURE:

Stirring continuously, bring the butter, milk and sugar to a rolling boil in a small saucepan over moderate heat. Boil for 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and quickly stir in the chocolate chips. Stir until the chips are melted. Cool and use.

NOTES: If necessary, return the pan to the heat to help melt the chips, but do not bring the frosting back to a boil. Add a dash of salt if you make this frosting with unsalted butter.

I normally avoid using oleomargarine for anything, but Mrs. Lanier was from Kansas, where even today restaurants serve oleo and call it butter. Jerri told me that the cake recipe did not work with butter, and I have learned to trust her. It definitely works with oleo. Try it.

Posted in Cookies and cakes, Desserts | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Buttermilk White Bread

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Chuck Rang

My mother used many different liquids to make bread. Water of course, but also potato water she saved when she boiled potatoes, milk, sour milk and buttermilk. Each of them changed the texture and flavor of the breads, but we devoured them all. For us, bread really was the staff of life. I think that we had bread for every meal except those when we had pancakes or waffles.

If we exclude the cinnamon rolls and sticky buns that she made with egg batter doughs, my favorite breads were the ones she made with sour milk or buttermilk.

Buttermilk adds a subtle flavor to bread and I like the texture. This has become my “basic” white bread recipe, at least when buttermilk is available. Whenever possible I like to use hard wheat bread flour, but the recipe works with all purpose flour as well.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups buttermilk
1 package or 2 heaping tsp. active dry yeast
2/3 cup water
2 T butter
2 T sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
5 to 6 cups white flour

PROCEDURE:

Put 2/3 cup warm water (90º to 110º) in a cup with 1/4 teaspoon sugar and stir in the yeast. While the yeast is proofing, warm the buttermilk to about 110 degrees and pour it into a large bowl. Stir in the salt and sugar. Melt the butter and add it to the buttermilk.

Stir in the flour one cup at a time, beating thoroughly between additions. After three cups of flour have been stirred in, mix in the yeast. Continue adding flour one cup at a time until the dough becomes stiff and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Let the dough rest in the bowl for five minutes, then scrape it out on to a well floured work surface with a spatula and use the spatula to turn the dough to coat it with flour before starting to knead it. Powder your hands with flour, and knead the dough until it is smooth and satiny, about seven to eight minutes.

If you have never kneaded dough, you should check out Wikihow.com for an excellent lesson on kneading or go to Thekitchn.com for a good video showing you how to do it. Actually, doing both is a good idea.

Return the dough to a greased bowl, roll it to cover the surface lightly with grease, and cover the bowl with a damp towel. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in bulk. Punch it down and knead it on a lightly floured work surface five or six strokes, then divide the dough into two parts. Form the halves into loaves and put them into greased 9 x 5 inch pans.

Cover the pans with the damp cloth and set them in a warm draft-free place to let the loaves rise. Preheat the oven to 375º once the loaves have started rising.

When the the dough has risen to slightly above the top of the pans, put them on the center shelf in the oven. After 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 350º and bake 25 to 30 minutes longer.

After 25 minutes, remove the loaves from the pans and tap on the bottom of the loaves. They are done when they sound hollow. Bake an extra five minutes or so on the oven rack if necessary.

Remove the loaves from the oven and cool them on a rack. Slice with a serrated knife and serve with butter, jam or whatever!

NOTES: If there is no buttermilk in the house, make sour milk with two tablespoons vinegar and enough milk to make two cups. Mom greased her bread bowls with lard, vegetable shortening, butter, oleomargarine or even bacon grease. They all work, though you may notice slight differences in flavor.

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