This Dame Cooks A Collection of Recipes from Alaska to the South Pacific and Caribbean

Dad learned to cook in the Navy during WWII aboard a ship in the Virgin Islands.  After the war he was a chef at the Top Hat Cafe in Bremerton, Washington, a naval port and my birthplace.  The words Bolognese and Ragu were not common in the 1940s so it was called Italian Spaghetti Sauce and  the star of the dish was Meatballs.  In fact, I can’t remember ever eating pasta as a child except for spaghetti and meatballs and macaroni and cheese.  Anyway, I inherited this recipe in the 1970s and tweaked the ingredients as our culinary world advanced into the 21st century.  My Italian friends from Milan and Naples love this sauce…and that’s quite an endorsement.  I think fresh herbs is the secret.

This recipe makes enough for 12 servings of lasagna or eggplant parmigiana, 6 extra-large servings of spaghetti, and probably a dozen pizzas, calzones and stromboli.   It freezes well and is always better a day or two after its made.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 1 large stalk celery, minced
• 1 lb. ground round or hamburger
• 1 lb. Italian pork sausage, mild or spicy, casings removed
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup dry red wine (or beef stock)
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste diluted with 1/4 cup water or juice from tomatoes
• 28 oz San Marzano tomatoes, crushed with their juice
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed from stems
• 1 sprig rosemary, minced
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Saute the onions, carrot and celery in olive oil over medium high heat.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Add all the meat and garlic.  Continue sauteeing and breaking up the meat until it is a fairly small mince.
3. Add the wine and tomato paste and cook for 3 or 4 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes, pepper flakes, bay leaves, thyme and rosemary.  Bring to a boil then simmer for 45 minutes.  If necessary add beef stock or more water if the sauce becomes too thick.
5. Before serving add the basil, parsley and salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.
6. Cook spaghetti noodles according to package instructions.  Add noodles to sauce and toss. Add a little pasta water to the sauce if too thick.  Sprinkle with parmigiano-reggiano cheese.  Serve with additional cheese, a crisp salad and garlic bread.

Comfort food seems to be appropriate for cold weather and one wouldn’t expect Puerto
Rico to be cold but when the thermometer drops from 84° F. to 74° F. it feels like soup weather.  Albeit one’s blood is thinner in hot climes it’s all relative to the climate zone and season.  Its actually the dry season now in the Caribbean but we’ve had an unusual amount of rain for the last 2 weeks.

One can never have too many soup or chowder recipes and even though they all start with a basic mirepoix the star of the soup is the main ingredient which distinguishes one soup or chowder from the next.

So, okay I was cleaning out the freezer and frig and dumped it all into a pot of happy mirepoix in white wine.  A fillet of tilapia, a piece of salmon, a small seabass fillet, one russet potato, the dregs of some fresh herbs and tomato paste literally made this a delicious comfort dish.   If I’d had some shell fish on hand, it would have been a bonus.

This dish would be good with pasta or rice instead of potatoes.  You could add white beans like cannelini or northern (navy) beans.

A tip for those who buy tomato paste in 6-oz cans and only use a tablespoon or 2;  spoon the remaining tomato paste into a small zip-lock bag, store it in the door of your frig, it’ll keep for a couple weeks at least.  Snip one end of the bag to extrude the paste as needed.

A spur-of-the-moment dish? Yes!  A hearty dish? Yes!  Easy to make? Amen!  And all from bits and pieces you probably have on hand.  Think about this the next time you clean out the freezer.

Ingredients:

• 2 strips of bacon, diced
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 large potato, diced
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 cups fish stock (chicken stock or water may be used)
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste diluted in 1/4 cup stock
• 2 dashes of Tabasco or cayenne pepper to taste
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 3 or 4 sprigs fresh tarragon, removed from stem and chopped slightly
• 1/2 lb. fish fillets in bite size pieces ( use the seafood and shell fish you have on hand)
• 1 Tbsp butter, melted (optional)
• 1 Tbsp flour (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Saute bacon in a soup pot over medium heat to render the fat.
2. Add the onions, celery, potatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Cook over medium high heat about 10 minutes stirring ocassionally.
3. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan while stirring.
4. Add the stock, cover and cook until potatoes are done.  Remove 1/4 cup of stock and blend with tomato paste.  Mash some of the potatoes for a thicker and creamier consistency.
5. Pour diluted tomato paste into pot and stir.  Add thyme, tarragon, fish fillets and cook for 5 minutes more.
6. If a thicker chowder is desired mix melted butter with flour and whisk into chowder then cook for 5 minutes before adding fish.
7. Remove a tablespoon of chowder to cool for a minute and taste for salt and pepper.  Add more seasoning if needed.
8. Serve with lemon and parsley garnish, crusty bread, salad and wine.

Those little bites of cake on a stick are all the rage these days and what a terrific medium for artistic creation.  It’s very similar to making and decorating truffles.  This recipe is for my favorite  brownie which is super moist and holds together when rolled into balls.  You’ll have to forgo the nuts in the batter though and use them on the outside.  This brownie is incredibly chocolaty and the chocolate coating is thin enough to not overpower the cake’s flavor.  Such a novel idea, brownie on a stick!

There are numerous demos available on YouTube with directions for making cake pops from box cake mixes blended with store-bought frosting.  There’s also a little cake pop electric iron that makes the balls for you.  But, after watching a video (below) on brownie pops I decided this method was the best for me.

The candy melts are another thing entirely.  While they melt as promised the product is rather thick for dipping.  If you tap the cake pop too hard on the side of the bowl, trying to get rid of some of the chocolate, the cake will fall off and its impossible to repair it once that happens.  When melting the candy melts, the package says you can add 1 tsp of vegetable oil for every 24 candy wafers to thin it out a bit, but it still is rather thick for dipping.  Its not entirely clear how much oil can be added before the integrity of the dipping chocolate is compromised.

A  truffle coating would probably work better since its easier to thin out a chocolate with cream.  My Mom made incredible chocolate covered cherries using a ganache with a couple teaspoons of paraffin wax and the chocolate held up beautifully in gift boxes.  The other option is to dip the cake pops into Royal Icing.  It will flood and dry rather quickly so you do need to work quickly with sprinkles or marbling designs.

Marbling white chocolate on red and vise versa was successful since the dipping chocolate doesn’t dry too fast.  Marbling could also be done with Royal Icing.

All in all this was a successful attempt at making the current rage in sweet treats. So easy to make these treats!  Do give them a try, even if its just for the family.

Brownie Mix makes 3 batches:

• 4 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1-2/3 cups cocoa powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 1-1/4 cups shortening or butter
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Method for 1 batch in 8X8 pan:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.  Butter and flour an 8″X 8″ pan.
2. Beat 2 eggs with 1 tsp vanilla, add to 2-1/2 cups brownie mix.  Mix well.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the center is spongy and a toothpick comes out with crumbs.  Don’t over bake.
4. Let brownies cool.  Remove crust around edge of brownie pan.  Crumble soft brownie cake and squeeze crumbs 1-1/2 Tbsp of crumbs with your hands into a ball. Repeat until all crumbs are used.  Place on parchment and refrigerate for 15 minutes or overnight.
5. Melt candy melts according to package instructions or make Royal icing as desired.  Decorate pops and when dry, package as needed.

Three for lunch and this is all that’s left of my crazy Peruvian Potato Casserole…really delicious.  2012 may be the year of the Dragon but it’s also the year of the Potato.  This year is a double whammy for Peruvian food because Peruvian cuisine is not only all about the potato but its also on the list of culinary trends predicted for this year.  This dish is a hot version of a Peruvian causa which is filled layers of seasoned mashed potato.  This hot version is topped with a very simple cheese souffle, more like a meringue than a souffle.  Its cooking 101 here so don’t be intimidated with those French terms:  souffle and meringue…they’re no big deal.

This dish is real comfort food for the winter months and easy to make for a crowd.  I’ve used a pork picadillo and cheddar cheese for my filling but spinach and chicken with feta would be awesome and any sauteed veggie medley would work as a vegetarian alternative.   There’s no butter, sour cream or bacon to raise the calories of the potato so it’s nearly quilt free eating.  Give this a try next time you’re hungry for mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. of russet potatoes, peeled and boiled until fork tender
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 Anaheim pepper or green Bell pepper chopped
• 1 red Bell pepper chopped
• 3 large  ripe tomatoes chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb. ground pork (beef, turkey, chicken or lamb may be used)
• 1/2 cup Sofrito (substitute with a packet of Taco Seasoning and 1 cup water)
• 1/2 lb. cheddar cheese shredded
• 2 egg whites, whipped to soft peaks
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1/3 cup cheddar cheese shredded

Method:

1. Over medium high heat saute the ground pork until fat is rendered, breaking up the meat as it cooks.
2. Add all the vegetables and garlic and cook until all are wilted and done, about 15 minutes.
3. Add the Sofrito or Taco Seasoning packet and stir.  Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 5 minutes.  Taste and adjust salt if needed.
4. Set aside to cool.
5. Drain potatoes and return to pan to keep warm and dry out a bit.  Mash potatoes with a 1/2 tsp salt.  Don’t over mash, you want a little texture.
6. Preheat oven to 375° F.  Butter a 3-4 quart casserole dish.
7. Line bottom with 1/3 of the mashed potatoes and smooth the top with back of a spoon. Spoon half the meat sauce over the potatoes and top with 1/3 of the cheddar cheese.
8. Repeat layers.   Spoon the remaining 1/3 of the  potatoes over the cheese.
9. Sift 1 Tbsp of flour over whipped egg whites, add the remaining 1/3 of the cheddar cheese and fold into egg whites gently.  Spoon over top of the final potato layer.
10. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.  Let set for 15 minutes before serving.

This started out as chicken noodle soup but when I went to grab the homemade stock from the freezer it wasn’t there.  So be it!  The mirepoix was ready so I deglazed with some white wine, threw in the chicken breast left over from a rotissery chicken, added herbs, olives, some preserved lemon and a small can of red kidney beans.  By the time the pasta was cooked al dente the chicken sauce was ready and dinner was served.  The preserved lemon and Spanish olives was the perfect addition for salt and tang.  The chicken was moist and tender with hints of fresh sage and rosemary.  Garlic bread, a simple Romaine salad with a lemon vinaigrette and a bottle of Chardonnay topped off the meal.  Amazing what can be created at a spur of the moment.  I will remember this improvisation next time I have to cook for company.  Quick and easy wins the day.

Try this dish with your own twist.  White beans and black olives would be delicious.  Rice instead of pasta will work too.  If you don’t have wine, deglaze with chicken stock or water.  You can also deglaze with vodka, rum or gin.  Try it with pork and cumin or lamb and rosemary.  The sky’s the limit.

note:   If using fresh chicken, best to use boneless breasts ot thighs, sliced into serving sized pieces, baked or cooked in stock until tender and done.

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 onion diced
• 1 carrot diced
• 1 stock of celery with leaves diced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil (or vegetable oil)
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 cup chicken stock or 1/2 cup each white wine and water
• 2 chicken breasts (poached, baked or roasted)
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary minced
• 2 to 4 leaves of fresh sage minced
• 1/2 cup fresh flat leaf parsley chopped
• 12 Spanish olives with pimento
• 1/2 preserved lemon sliced thin
• 1 cup of beans (any bean will work)
• dash or two of Tabasco or cayenne pepper to taste

Method:

1. Saute onion, carrot, celery and garlic in oil over medium high heat, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook about 10 minutes.
2. Deglaze pan with wine or chicken stock.  Lower heat to medium.
3. Add chicken and herbs, cook until chicken is heated through.
4. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until pasta or rice is cooked.  May add additional water, stock or wine if needed.
5. Serve with additional parsley garnish over pasta of choice or rice.