Calabacitas or Summer Squash and Corn

 A lovely Mexican and Mexican American summer dish, made with summer squash and zucchini, cooked with green chiles, bacon and corn.   

4 cups diced yellow squash and zucchini squash, mixed together

about 2 cups fresh or frozen corn cut off the cob 

4 slices of bacon cooked until crisp, then set aside

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

3-? cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped (use as much as you like)

about 1/4 cup, seeded and chopped green chiles of whatever heat level you prefer, I like to use roasted Hatch green chiles when available.    you can use more chiles if you wish, I often use ½ to 1 cup if the chiles are milder in flavor

1 cup heavy cream 

3-4 tbsp. bacon fat left from cooking the bacon

 Cook the bacon until crisp and set aside.   Remove all but 3-4 tbsp of the bacon fat from the pan.   Cook the onion,  and squash until lightly browned, stirring often.  Add the garlic and green chiles, cooking until the garlic is fragrant.    Add the corn and cook until the squash and corn are both tender.   Add the heavy cream and reduce the heat, cooking until the mixture is nearly dry.   Salt and pepper to taste.   Serve as a side dish or even as a main dish for a Mexican/Southwest themed meal.   It is addictive. 

 If you wish to add a protein to it, add cooked diced or shredded chicken, whatever amount you have or wish.   Some people will top this with cheese, but I find that with the cream it is gilding the lily.    

Dolci di Noci or Italian Nut Cookies

 

Italian Nut Cookies/Dolci di Noci

2 room temperature egg whites

½ teaspoon of cream of tartar

pinch of salt

¾ cup white sugar

3 cups finely ground nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, etc)

a few drops of both vanilla and almond extract (optional)

1 tablespoon corn starch

powdered sugar for the balls, about ¼ cup

Whip the the egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt until just starting to inflate, don't whip until stiff. Stir in the remaining ingredients (except powdered sugar) until well mixed and the egg whites are well incorporated. You can either bake now or chill for a while.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Take about 1 tablespoon of the dough and form into a ball. Roll the ball of dough in the powdered sugar and place on the cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the sides are just lightly browned. Remove the parchment sheet to a rack to cool. Do not attempt to remove the cookies until completely cooled. Store in a tight container. This should make about 2 dozen cookies, according to how big you make the balls.

For the nuts, place whole or pieces of nuts in a food processor and process until it looks kinda like wet sand. Do not over process or you will end up with nut butter. You can also use premade nut flours, but the freshly ground ones will have a better flavor.

Granny Sielert's Applesauce Cake

 

Growing up in Poplar Bluff, we had some awesome neighbors. One in particular, Granny Sielert, was more like family than just a friend. I was going through some of my mom's old recipes and found one that I hadn't seen before, it is titled "Granny Sierlert's applesauce cake".  You can tell it is an old time one, by the use of lard instead of butter or shortening.   The recipe, like a lot of old recipes, took a bit of deciphering, but this is it. Sounds like it would be a good one.

 

Cream together: 2 cups sugar, 1 cup lard (you can use half butter) and 2 eggs.

Mix together 2 cups unsweetened applesauce with 2 teaspoons baking soda and set aside.

Mix together in a large bowl, 3 cups flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp. cocoa powder, and 1 tsp. salt.

Beat the lard, sugar and eggs together, then add the applesauce, mixture and dry ingredients. Beat in the 1 cup raisins and 1 cup nuts (walnuts or pecans). Bake in a well greased tube pan at 350 degrees for about an hour.  Cool in the pan about 10-15 minutes before removing and cooling completely.  

Creamed peas and new potatoes

 Growing up, creamed peas or creamed new potatoes were a springtime treat.  We rarely grew green peas in the garden, but when we did they were well received.    We more often grew potatoes and new potatoes were considered quite special.    If we happened to have both at the same time, they were often fixed together as one dish and are so very good when done this way.   You can also add other vegetables, such as carrots or pearl onions.   In times past, creamed vegetables were a popular way to serve vegetables and old cookbooks have numerous recipes for making them, the main way was to cook the vegetables in water until tender, drain and add to a plain cream sauce.    I sometimes will use more than one vegetable when doing this dish, for example, green peas mixed with carrots and the potatoes.  If you want to switch things up a bit, you can add cheese to the cream sauce.   You can even make the creamed vegetables, put into a baking dish, top with cheese and bake until browned.    

4 tbsp. Butter

3 tbsp. Flour

2 cups milk or half and half

salt and pepper to taste

3-4 cups cooked peas

Heat the butter in a largish sauce pan and then add flour. Cook a minute or two, then whisk in the milk and simmer until it thickens. Add the cooked peas and simmer a couple more minutes over very low heat. Salt and pepper to taste, then serve.

If you wish to add the potatoes. Wash and peel, or leave unpeeled if you prefer. Simmer in water until tender. Drain very well, cover the pan and allow to sit for a few minutes while you prepare the white sauce and peas. Stir the potatoes into the finished creamed peas, taste for seasoning and serve.  Or just add the cooked potatoes to a cream sauce with out the peas.   

To make this a cheese sauce, add a cup to cup and a half of grated cheddar and a tablespoon or two of Parmesan to the hot cooked cheese sauce, stirring until the cheese has melted and fully incorporated into the sauce.   Use as above.    

Salmon Patties

 When I was growing up my mom would often make mackerel patties, using very strongly fishy canned mackerel.   Later, on she began to use canned salmon for these patties, and this was a huge improvement.  I must confess, that I am not the biggest fan of these, but on rare occasions they do taste good, more as a nostalgic thing, than as a major culinary delight.   They are also a very good way to use leftover salmon that had been cooked for another purpose.    Another reason I don't make them often, is they do tend to make your house smell fishy for a while, so when I do cook them, I tend to cook them on my patio.    So here is my recipe!

1 15-oz can pink salmon, bones and skin removed or about 2 cups leftover cooked salmon or other fish, skin and bones removed

1 egg, or two if needed to hold the mixture together

1/4 cup,  onion finely chopped

25 saltine crackers crushed

any other seasoning as desired (chopped parsley, dried dill, garlic powder, paprika, celery salt, etc)

  3-4 tablespoons oil

Open the can of salmon and drain really well. You can remove the skin and bones if you like. In a bowl mix the salmon, egg, onion, and cracker crumbs, as well as any other seasoning you might like. Be sure you mix really well, you can add a second egg if you need too. The finer the mixture the less likely your patties will fall apart when cooking. Form 6 patties. In a frying pan, heat the oil. On medium heat, fry the patties 5 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Adding more oil as needed.