Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

Well, we’re back!

I thought we’d do something different this week, and post the recipes that our friends and family like the most and always request.

I have two that I’ve routinely taken to potlucks and parties that are always asked for again. The first is Olive Cheese Balls – a pimento-stuffed green olive wrapped in cheesy pastry. This is a very old recipe that has always remained popular, and is very easy to do. It’s one pastry that I do make in the food processor rather than manually cutting the fat and cheese into the flour , and I make the balls/puffs the easier way, by just pinching a bit off of the dough and forming it around the olive. (The pic above comes from Betty Crocker; but the recipes for this are almost all identical; sometimes a modest pinch of cayenne is added to the dough.)

Olive Cheese Puffs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Blend together in food processor:

2 Cups grated Cheddar Cheese

½ Cup Butter (or Margarine)

1-1/4 cup of Flour, salted to taste

Process until dough comes together in a ball. Chill before forming puffs.

You will need a jar of small to medium sized pimento stuffed olives.

Puffs can be formed by pinching off small balls of dough, patting into a circle, and forming the circle around a green olive. Or, dough can be rolled out to ¼ inch thickness, cut into 2 inch squares, and each square wrapped around an olive.

Place Puffs on a cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes.

To freeze unbaked, freeze on cookie sheet and remove to freezer containers when frozen. When ready to bake, allow 3-5 minutes extra baking time. These are every bit as good when frozen this way and baked later.

There is always the odd person who doesn't like olives, and in that case you can just form the dough into balls, leaving out the olive. You will want to double the recipe in that case, and might add the good pinch of cayenne.

_______________________________________________

The other recipe that I receive repeated requests for is Chicken and Dumplings. I use the America’s Test Kitchen recipe, and make the dish the night before. I do this on the stove-top, and once the dumplings are done I take them out and store them separately. At the party, I carry the chicken mixture in a crockpot, and add the dumplings to heat up about ½ hr. before serving:

Here, step by step, is the recipe from ‘A Feast for the Eyes’:

http://www.afeastfortheeyes.net/2010/12/chicken-dumplings-american-classic-from.html

(My husband would like credit for being the one who actually executes this recipe – he’s got a great ‘quenelle’ technique going on, when making those dumplings ;-)

-JT

[mylife]

We just beat the beaJeeppers out it LOL

[Jamestown1630]

My husband just passed by the computer and was attracted to that!

(My Granny used to give us “Huckleberry Pie”, and I loved it; but what is a ‘Huckleberry’, and how different from blueberry?)

[pugmama]

I have been making Chicken Marbella for years and it always popular with guests.
There is a modernized version that I like very much as well.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/8752-the-silver-palates-chicken-marbella

http://www.food.com/recipe/modernized-chicken-marbella-cooks-illustrated-493445

[mylife]

Welsh marched to a different drummer, always have
Not England, Not Scotland, Not Ireland LOL

Try to keep up lads :)

[Jamestown1630]

I love the mixture of sweet and savory. I will save that.

[lizma2]

Requested a lot.

MOM’S CHEESE BALL (1950’s)

1 (8 oz. each) packages Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 (8 oz.) package shredded mild Cheddar Cheese
1 tablespoons diced green pepper
1/2 tablespoons minced onion
1/2 tablespoons pimento
1 pinch salt
2-4 drops lemon juice
1 large packages chopped pecans

In a mixer mix 1 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese with 1/2 (8 ounce) package shredded mild cheddar cheese. Add 1 tablespoons diced green pepper. 1/2 tablespoon minced onion and 1 tablespoons pimento. Mix well. Add a pinch of salt and a couple drops of lemon juice; mix well.Form a ball.
Add 2 TBL cup chopped pecans; stir. Put remaining chopped pecans on wax paper and roll cheese over nuts. Mix cheese into pecans so it is completely covered in nuts; form a ball.

Refrigerate overnight. Serve with crackers

Most requested..

Baked Brie.

Dump a handful of pecans and dump them into a baking dish. Add a circle of Brie. (rind off or on, no difference) Dump on more pecans. Bake @ 350 5-7 minutes til gooey. Top with salted caramel sauce. Serve with Club crackers.

This one is easy and heavenly. Got it from a mom n’ pop restaurant near Ashville.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

The only way I would eat peas when I was a kid was fresh off the plant.They would almost make me throw up. After the microwave came out I eat them now. No canned or boiled for me.

[neefer]

Had never heard that phrase. Such a Yankee, I am. And yes, it is like crack!

[lizma2]

Well, my family is Welsh. They cook everything until it turns gray!

A branch of my family is Welsh. Thought someday I would research this part of the tree but after hearing they love "grey food" not as enthusiastic! LOL

[lizma2]

Can’t get on NYT web site. But the other one... PRUNES!!! Ugh!! They are nasty raisons!! LOL!

Would craison work? Love them.

[Jamestown1630]

Yuck!

“Don’t touch that thing Don’t let anybody touch that thing!”

:-)

[pugmama]

I would use dried apricots.

[Ellendra]

but what is a ‘Huckleberry’, and how different from blueberry?

Officially, huckleberries have 10 or so large seeds, while blueberries have very tiny seeds.

Unofficially, it depends on the region. There are many varieties of blueberry that get called huckleberries, but the reverse seldom happens.

To add to the confusion, there's a variety of nightshade that has been renamed the "Garden Huckleberry". Probably as a way of avoiding the word "nightshade".

[Jamestown1630]

Back in the 1950s-60s my Grandmother always bought those cans of Le Seur baby peas, for holidays. I guess to her, they were a ‘delicacy’; but they were almost as disgusting as regular canned peas.

I didn’t like peas until I discovered frozen ones (nobody in my family had a garden, back then.) I like to just thaw the frozen ones and put them in salad, without even cooking.

[JayGalt]

Pepperoni Pie
¾ cup pepperoni sliced and diced
¾ cup Munster cheese cubed
¾ cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
Stir together all the ingredients. Pour into a 9” greased pie plate or pyrex pan.
Bake @ 400 degrees for 30-35 min, adjust for convection oven by checking after 20 minutes.

[JayGalt]

This is something we serve every holiday while the food is cooking. Cut it into squares & watch them disappear.

[Jamestown1630]

Thank You! Someone else has told me that the Huckleberry is more tart, and that may be why I remember it so well. (Not sure if that’s just a kid’s memory of a first introduction, or that my Granny actually had true Huckleberries :-)

[Jamestown1630]

That sounds great - would be a nice Brunch dish!

[Liz]

American folklore has it that colonists in the New world thought blueberries were the hurtlberrys they knew in England....later corrupted to denote them as huckleberries.

[JayGalt]

Yes, and if there are leftovers they are good hot or cold.
I think I’d better make some this weekend...