Archive for September, 2008

Marinara Sauce for Pasta

September 26, 2008 at 12:14 pm · Filed under Laurel's Kitchen, sauce ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Back in my vegetarian days I bought one of the only vegetarian cookbooks readily available — Laurel’s Kitchen — and used it for most meals. My original copy fell apart and I bought “The New Laurel’s Kitchen” when it was published in 1986. I’m not sure what made it “new” but it is bigger than the original.

One of the recipes we still make today, and have memorized, from that book is what the book lists as “Tomato Sauce”. I’ve adapted it a little for our tastes.

We sometimes add half a jar of prepared spaghetti sauce to this recipe to thicken it up if it is thin.

We use this sauce as a topping on pasta and pizza as well as for lasagna and baked tortellini.

  • ½ onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 1 small carrot, grated (optional — I rarely include this anymore, but it is for sweetness)
  • 2 T. or more chopped sweet red pepper (the original recipe calls for green pepper, but we are not fans of green pepper)
  • 1 bay leaf, broken in two bits
  • ½ t. oregano, dried or 1 t. fresh (although I usually just use about 1 T. italian spices — from Penzey’s of course — instead of the oregano, thyme and basil)
  • ½ t. thyme or 1 T fresh (see note above)
  • 1 t. basil or 2 T. fresh, chopped (see note above)
  • 2 T. chopped parsley (I rarely have parsley, so don’t use it much — but if you do use it, use flat leaf, Italian parsley instead of the curly kind)
  • 2 c tomatoes, coarsely chopped (I usually use a large can of diced tomatoes, but fresh Italian plum is really best)
  • 1 t. salt
  • freshly ground pepper — a few turns of the grinder will do
  • a few shakes of crushed red pepper if you’d like it spicy

Saute onion, sweet red pepper, and garlic clove in oil until onion is soft. Crush garlic with a fork. Add carrot (if desired), bay leaf and herbs. Stir well.

Add tomatoes and seasonings. Simmer 15 minutes or more. Remove bay leaf before serving (or not — we always say that whomever finds the bay leaf is the winner).

This makes about 3 cups of sauce. You can thin it with vegetable broth, but I rarely do. If you don’t like chunks in your sauce, you can process the sauce in a food processor or blender.

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Lentil Shepherd’s Pie

September 24, 2008 at 10:17 pm · Filed under Dona, entrée, unknown source ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Lentil Shepards Pie

Lentil Shepards Pie

My mom used to make shepherd’s pie. She’d brown some hamburger, toss in some canned green beans and tomato soup and spoon it into a pie plate. Then she’d smooth some mashed potatoes over it and bake it in the oven.

It still is a comfort food for me, but I’ve not made it in years. When I was a vegetarian I modified my mom’s recipe to meet my needs and never went back to the ground beef version (although it’s really tempting now that I’m thinking about it…)

I don’t know if I found the recipe in a book or someone gave it to me or I just made it up myself, but here is my lentil shepherd’s pie recipe.

  • 1½ cup dried lentils, rinsed then cooked in water or broth and fresh or dried rosemary (I use brown lentils usually, but sometimes throw in yellow and or red) until tender.
  • ½ of an onion, chopped and sauteed in butter or oil
  • Any cooked vegetable — green beans are best, otherwise you can use almost anything.
  • Mashed potatoes — about 2 or 3 cups
  • 2 eggs
  • salt and pepper if desired
  • shredded cheese — whatever kind you like

Mix the lentils with one egg until you cannot see egg anymore (the lentils should not be very hot or the egg will start to cook).  Mix the onion and cooked vegetable into the egg-lentil mixture. Add salt if desired.

Mix the mashed potatoes with an egg.

Place lentil-egg-veg mixture in a pie tin. Top with mashed potato mixture.

Cook at 350 for about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and cook until cheese has melted.

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Fried Chicken

September 24, 2008 at 12:52 pm · Filed under Elvin Patrick (Dad), entrée ·Tagged , , , , ,

While my dad was not atypical for his generation (meaning he thought women should be in the kitchen) he did cook a few things. He made steaks and baked potatoes on the grill and he made fried chicken. He was not a big fan of chicken, but did like it fried. He also used to gripe that when my mom made the chicken she’d leave the stove and the chicken wouldn’t be done correctly. His philosophy was that you had to stand there, a slave to the chicken, to make it perfect. It was pretty darn good, I’ve gotta say.

We don’t make this recipe very often, however. Dean and Andrew don’t much like chicken and Clare is a vegetarian. Plus, the hot oil always burns my hand. Still, I wanted to include it since we have made it and enjoyed it in the past. 

Here’s his recipe.

1 broiler-fryer, cut up and patted dry
1/2 c. Flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 t. paprika
Crisco

Mix flour and seasonings. Dip chicken into flour mixture. Heat Crisco in a heavy iron skillet (spider). The oil should sizzle when a bit of flour is dropped into it. Place chicken pieces into heated oil and fry over medium heat. Cook, covered, for about 40 minutes, turning occassionally.

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Marinated Red, Yellow and/or Orange Peppers with optional Anchovies

September 23, 2008 at 10:50 pm · Filed under Marie Monte, Pines of Italy, appetizer, salad ·Tagged , , , , ,

Years ago, when we first moved to the DC Metro area we frequented a restaurant called Pines of Italy in Arlington, Virginia. I almost always ordered the Red Peppers & Anchovies and white pizza. We’d almost always also order their fried calamari. It was always a treat to go to Pines, but I wanted to know how to make some of their menu items.

When I visited my friend Marie’s mom in Rhode Island, I asked if she knew how to make that salad, her being Italian American and all. She did. Here is her recipe, edited a bit for our tastes.

  • 2 sweet peppers (red, orange or yellow)
  • 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 5 – 8 Fresh basil leaves
  • ¼ cup Olive Oil
  • 2 Tablespoons Balsamic or red wine vinegar
  • 1 can anchovies if desired

Roast peppers via your preferred method. We usually use our grill, roasting the peppers on medium heat until charred. You can also roast them in your oven on a high heat, or broil them 4″ from the heat or even place them on your gas burners and remember to turn them when they start getting charred (note, this method is messy and leaves your house smelling like a fire).

Then, after they’ve had a chance to cool down, slide the charred skin off. You’re left with the tender and limp meat of the pepper. Don’t forget to remove the core and seeds.

Cut the roasted peppers in strips, the long way.

Mix olive oil and vinegar. We usually use balsamic, but if you prefer a less intense salad, use red wine.

Slice the cloves of garlic into very thin strips, then sliver them by cutting the strips into, well, slivers.

Take your basil leaves, stack them in a pile, and roll them up. Kind of like rolled cigarettes were once made, then slice the roll to shred the basil. This is called chiffonade, by the way. (I had to look that up when I heard the word for the first time).

Now get a pretty dish that will hold the peppers and place the peppers on them. Any juice that is left over from roasting is fine. Now sprinkle the garlic slivers over the peppers and pour the olive oil over everything. Finally toss the basil on the mixture. Feel free to sprinkle with salt and pepper if you want.

If you like anchovies (I do) add a can of anchovies (rinsed if you want) to the mixture before the basil.

This should marinate for at least a few hours or overnight. If you don’t use anchovies, you can leave it out of the fridge if you want, but I always refrigerate it.

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Easy Apple Cake

September 23, 2008 at 3:14 pm · Filed under Penzey's Spices, cake, dessert ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Easy Apple Cake

Easy Apple Cake

I found this delicious and true to its name, easy, apple cake recipe in a Penzey’s* catalog a few years ago and since lost the catalog. Luckily the recipe was online for a while, but I just now discovered they’d taken it down. I found it via the Internet Archives, but didn’t want to risk not having it when I needed it next fall.

The cake is moist and has just the right amount of sweetness.

  • 3 baking apples (the recipe calls for Macintosh but I use Stayman)
  • 1½ sticks butter, room temperature
  • 1 Cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/3 Cup flour
  • ¾ -1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • ½  cup raisins (sometimes I use dried cranberries or currants or leave these out altogether)
    powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350°. Peel, core and cut the apples into eighths then cover with water or sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent them from browning. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla extract, beat until well mixed. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Add the flour and raisins to the butter/egg/sugar mixture, gently combine and place in a greased 9” round pan. Push the apples into the batter and bake for 40 -50 minutes until the sponge is golden brown and coming away from the edges of the pan. Dust with powdered sugar to serve.

Serves: 6-8
Prep. time: 15 minutes (more like 30)
Cooking time: 40-50 minutes

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*If you don’t know about Penzeys, check them out. They have the best spices around. If you’re lucky there is a retail store near you — the smell in one of these is amazing.

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