Family Recipes

That's my stomach announcing its hunger for some of the great food enjoyed at family gatherings.

I could go for some great food right now.

Hummus

Ingredients
3 garlic cloves, minced and mashed to a paste with 1/2 tsp salt.
One can (15-19 oz) chickpeas, rinsed and drained*
1/4 cup well-stirred tahini (sesame seed paste--look in natural food sections)
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
a bit of paprika if desired (~1/8-1/4 tsp)
water

In a food processor, blend together garlic paste, chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, oil and cumin, scraping down side, until smooth. Add spices plus salt and pepper to taste and pulse until combined (taste tests may help ensure proper seasoning). Add water to achieve desired consistency (a few tablespoons or so). You can play with lemon juice/water ratio for altering flavor--Dan and I like it heavy on the lemon juice (recipe here is written as we prepared it). Hummus may be made 2 days ahead and chilled. Makes about 2 cups.

*To make hummus texture as creamy as possible, the chickpea skins/husks must be removed, either with a food mill or by hand. We removed the husks for the batch we brought to the farm. Hummus is still yummy with the husks present, but it has a grainier consistency.

Irish Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 lbs powdered sugar
1/4 lb butter (1 stick, do not subsitute margarine)
8oz cream cheese (1 package, do not subsitute lowfat)
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 lb sweetened shredded coconut
cinnamon

blend powdered sugar, butter, cream cheese & salt until smooth. (helps if you soften the cream cheese and butter first) add vanilla and blend. add coconut and stir in completely.

chill for several hrs in frig (not necessary but makes it easier to roll)

roll into balls (do not make them perfect balls) and roll in cinnamon.

they will look like little potatoes.

Chocolate Truffles

Here is the "recipe" for chocolate truffles--more of a bit of this, a touch of that, but it is fun to play around with.

Ingredients:
High quality chocolate (Valrhona is best, Ghirardelli is also good)
Heavy whipping cream
For dark or bittersweet chocolate, use equal proportions of chocolate and cream (ie 8 oz chocolate and 1 cup (8 oz) cream).
For milk or white chocolate use about 2:1 proportion of chocolate to cream (I don’t have the exact proportions worked out yet—if ganache is too thin, melt more chocolate and add it to mixture. If too thick, melt and add more warm cream)
Prepared coffee (optional)
Flavoring (optional)

Ganache filling:
Finely chop or shave the chocolate and place in a bowl. Heat whipping cream almost to a boil. Pour it over the chocolate through a sieve if possible to avoid getting milk “skins” in the chocolate. Let the chocolate sit in the cream without stirring for a couple minutes to melt the chocolate. Stir the chocolate and cream together to form a homogeneous mixture. You can add a tablespoon or two of coffee to the mixture now—it will bring out the chocolate flavor without adding a coffee taste. If you would like to flavor the truffles with an extract, liqueur, or oil, add some now (if using a flavored oil, be careful not to add too much because they are very strong!). Once mixed, spread the ganache on a parchment paper-lined surface (cookie sheets work well) and allow to cool. Refrigeration *may* be necessary, but use as a last resort as condensation may occur, getting the chocolate wet. Once cooled, the ganache should be moldable into truffle balls. Form into truffles and let sit to re-harden. At this point, the truffles may be left as they are, coated in cocoa powder or rolled in shaved chocolate or crushed candies or nuts. Alternatively, you can coat the truffles in chocolate, but you must temper the chocolate for it to turn out well. Instructions for tempering chocolate are below (also many instructions online).

Tempering chocolate for dipping:

1. Do not get water in the chocolate or crystals may form.
2. Be careful when heating chocolate—it easily scorches. If melting in a double boiler, bring the water in the pot to a boil, remove from heat, and then place the chocolate over the heated water. If microwaving the chocolate to melt, check frequently and stop when partially melted—stir to complete the melting. I use the double boiler method as it is easier to control.
Melt the chocolate, stirring well and bringing to a temperature of at least 110 deg F, but no more than 115 deg for white/milk or 120 for dark/bittersweet. Place the double boiler or bowl in a pot with water at ~70 deg F and stir until the temperature reaches about 80 to 84 deg—the chocolate should become thick and less glossy. Now put the bowl in a pot of water at about 90-95 degrees and bring to a temperature of about 88 to 90 for bittersweet/dark chocolate, 84 to 86 for milk chocolate, or 82 for white chocolate. Maintain the chocolate at this temperature while dipping. It is helpful to have two pots, one with cooler water and one with warmer water (~5 or 10 degrees above and below target temp) so you can switch back and forth to maintain proper temp. I prefer to have a pot of water ~2 deg warmer than the desired temperature. This will keep from overheating the chocolate while keeping it from cooling. If the chocolate goes over about 92 degrees, it must be retempered (starting from bringing it up to 110 degrees).

Sweet Potato Dish

Ingredamints:
5 lbs. sweet potatoes
1 cup butter
1.5 cups granulated sugar
an arbitrary amount of pumpkin pie spice (my recipe didn't specify)
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Due Process:
Boil the potatoes until they are soft enough to mash, then peel and mash them. Stir in the butter, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice, and mix it together.
Add the eggs and cream. Mix thoroughly (an electric mixer is suggested, but not required), and pour into a glass baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees until the mixture has set (roughly one hour).

O'Henry bars

2/3 cup butter
4 cups oats
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup Karo syrup
1 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup peanut butter (chunky, generally)

Melt the butter.
Mix oats and brown sugar. Mix in butter, vanilla, and syrup.
Press into a greased 9x13 pan.

Bake at 325 for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Melt chips and pb together and mix.
Pour over bars. Refrigerate.

Irish Soda Bread

3 1/3 cups flour
1 heaped tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2-3 Tbsp sugar
2-4 Tbsp butter
1 ¾ - 2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425º

Sift dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and rub in the butter until well dispersed through the flour. Make a well in the center and pour in almost all the milk at once. Mix, working very quickly and gently, adding more milk if needed, until all the dry flour has been drawn together to form a spongy dough, a bit like thick oatmeal.

Turn into a lightly greased 7 or 8 inch round pan, leaving the surface rough but level. Sprinkle with whole wheat flour and bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 400º and cook for an addition 40-45 minutes. The bread is done when it is well risen, golden brown, and feels firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cover with a clean cloth and leave to cool. Turn out and wrap in cloth—this helps keep the bread soft and moist.

Variations:

Current Soda bread: Increase sugar to 6 Tbsp. Stir in ½ cup dried fruit, sultanas or raisins before adding buttermilk.

Brown Soda bread: Replace up to 2 ½ cups of the flour with whole wheat flour and use 3-6 Tbsp sugar. You may also add 1 Tbsp wheat or oat bran AND/OR 1 Tbsp wheat or oat germ, if desired.

Note: This recipe is from Clare Connery's "In an Irish Country Kitchen"

Gooey Butter Coffee Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1 stick butter
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese

2 eggs
1 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla
1 box (16 oz.)powdered sugar

Blend cake mix with 2 eggs and melted butter. Pour into 9 X 13 inch pan. In another bowl, combine cream cheese, 2 eggs, vanilla, and powdered sugar minus 2 tablespoons. Mix well and spread over batter in dish. Bake at 300-degrees for 15 minutes, then 325-degrees for 30 minutes. Remove cake and sprinkle remaining powdered sugar on top.

Springtime Soup

1 lb. fresh asparagus spears
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 49 1/2-oz. can chicken broth
1/2 cup dried orzo or tiny pasta
3 cups snow pea pods, ends and string removed
6 cups torn fresh spinach
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup purchased pesto (optional)
1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Snap off and discard woody asparagus bases. If desired, scrape off scales. Bias-slice the asparagus into 1-inch pieces, set aside. Meanwhile, in a 4-quart Dutch oven cook the onion and garlic in hot oil until tender. Carefully add chicken broth; bring to a boil. Stir in pasta; reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes. Stir in asparagus and snow pea pods. Return soap to boiling; cook for 3 minutes more. Stir in spinach and pepper; cook for 1 minute more. To searve, ladle soup into bowls. If desired, swirl some of the pesto into each bowl of soup. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of each.

Enjoy!

Artichoke Dip

Two cans small artichoke hearts (I'm not sure of the can size. I think they're something like 15 oz. They're a little bigger than a can of Campbell's soup.)
32 oz Hellman's mayonnaise
32 oz grated Parmeson cheese
4 cloves garlic

Mix
Bake at 350 until appetizing
Eat

Red, White and Blue Berry Pizza

18 oz. pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1/2 cup whipping cream
8 oz. container low-fat vanilla yogurt
12 oz. strawberries, stemmed and halved
1 cup blueberries (optional) or fruit of choice

Heat oven to 350-degrees. Grease and flour bottom and side of 14-inch pizza pan. With floured hands, press cookie dough evenly onto bottom of pan. Bake in center of oven 14-18 minutes until golden brown. Run metal spatula or thin knife along edge of crust to loosen from pan; cool in pan on wire rack.

In mixer bow, beat cream to form soft peaks. Fold in yogurt to blend. If made ahead, cover and refrigerate. Just before serving, spread cream mixture evenly onto cooled crust. Arrange strawberries and bluebeeries over top; serve immediately, cut into wedges.

Enjoy!

Dan and Peg's Baked Beans

The baked bean recipe is not very accurate, but here is what I know for it. You need a large can of baked beans, a can of butter beans, a can of kidney beans, a pound of hamburger, a pound of chopped bacon, some ketchup, some mustard, and some brown sugar. Cook the hamburger and bacon and add the beans and the other stuff for the sauce. The sauce has no real exact directions to it that I know of; really it's just putting some of everything (not a lot of mustard usually though) and tasting to see if it tastes right. Let this simmer for a couple hours or so, until the flavors blend well.

Mom and Dad, if I missed anything please add it.

[editor's note: remember, unless you follow the recipe to the exact measurements, chaos may result.]

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