Monthly Cooking Thread - August 2019

[Jamestown1630]

My husband got to reminiscing recently about a cake his mother used to make – a molasses flavored confection called ‘Shoo Fly Cake’, apparently a classic Pennsylvania recipe. (He remembers catching his grandmother sneaking into the kitchen and dragging a finger through the rich, gooey remains on the bottom of the pan after everyone had been served. And he insists that this MUST be made in a metal pan, never glass, so that those 'goodies' at the bottom are done to perfection ;-)

I had heard of Shoo Fly Pie, but not cake; so I went looking.

Here, from the ‘Yesterfood’ blog is a recipe done in a skillet:

https://yesterfood.blogspot.com/2012/11/shoo-fly-cake.html

And from 'Helga’s Pennsylvania Cooking', a video where Helga makes it as a sheet cake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otQygwOvS8g

___________________________________________________

If you have an abundance of Zucchini coming on – or a neighbor who generously gifts you from their own abundance – this is a great sauce to serve over steamed Zucchini:

Tarragon Mustard Sauce for Steamed Zucchini

Mix in a saucepan:

½ Cup chicken or vegetable broth

1 shallot or scallion, minced

1-1/2 tsp. fresh tarragon

2 T. dry white wine

1 T. cornstarch (or arrowroot)

1/8 tsp. Black pepper

Cook uncovered for 2 or 3 minutes; and add 1 T. butter (without the butter, this is low-fat.)

Serve over steamed Zucchini.

_____________________________________________________

I was home one day last week dealing with a maintenance issue, with nothing much to do but wait around, and watch TV. I happened to find videos of a delightful woman humorist – and spent an entire afternoon watching her videos and laughing hysterically. (This happened to be on July 24, and my afternoon viewing was a great antidote to that of the morning :-)

North Carolina native Jeanne Robertson is a humorist, author and motivational speaker who was named Miss North Carolina in 1963, and went on to become Miss Congeniality in the Miss America pageant that same year. Among other awards, she has won the Toastmasters International Golden Gavel Award.

Here is Jeanne telling us why we should NOT send a man to the grocery store:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YFRUSTiFUs

and here is Jeanne’s website:

http://www.jeannerobertson.com/

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

Sounds good, and refreshing! I will go with the shrimp salad :-)

[nopardons]

Glad you liked this!

I don't know if my mother made it up or saw it someplace, but on a hot day/evening it is a very filling, good for you, delicious and very easy to make dinner.

[nopardons]

I'm SO happy that you liked it!

It's a family summer recipe that I've always loved and the thing is...you can add or subtract so many different things to that plate! Hearts of palm, marinated artichoke hearts,raw kholrabi slices...and there's very little to NO cooking involved.

[Jamestown1630]

It’s my bedtime; but tomorrow, I’ll post the recipe for Liptauer that you shared with me - I tried it last week, and really liked it!

[nopardons]

Oh good; it’s a GREAT cheese spread! :-)

[nopardons]

Pleasant dreams!

[Jamestown1630]

Dreams have been strange, lately. Been studying Jung, to try and figure them out :-)

G’Nite!

[nopardons]

Talk to me in FRmail about them...I used to be really good re the symbology in dreams. ;^)

[V K Lee]

The song sung by Dinah Shore. Remember that being played on the radio as a young'un. ShooFly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy
However, never made nor eaten the pie or the dowdy.

[Ellendra]

You can make a dump cake using real ingredients. Probably just as bad for you, but at least it doesn’t have the additives.

Find a pie recipe that uses real fruit, and follow the directions for the filling, but pour it in a cake pan instead. Then use your favorite yellow cake recipe, but leave out the wet ingredients. Sprinkle that on top of the pie filling. Melt a stick of butter, mix in the amount of vanilla extract that the cake recipe called for, and drizzle as evenly as possible on top of the dry cake mixture.

You may need to adjust the amount of butter, depending on how big a cake your recipe is for. But generally this works. Bake at 350 until the top is starting to brown and the filling is bubbly, usually 30-45 minutes.

[catnipman]

Super Duper Dark Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups Saco Premium mixed Dutch & natural cocoa powder
• 1 ¼ cup Hammond’s black walnut bits (not California walnuts)
• 1 ¼ cup raisins or other chopped dried or candied fruit (like maraschino cherries cut in half)
• ½ stick unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup heavy table cream
• 1/3 cup local honey
• 1 TBS Vanilla extract (natural not synthetic)
• 2 tsp Ceylon cinnamon (not Saigon cinnamon)
• 1 tsp fresh ground Black Cardamom (not Green Cardamom)
• pinch of salt

Preparation

First melt butter in large glass mixing bowl.

Next add cream, honey, Vanilla extract, and spices, and then mix thoroughly. (Tip: measure out honey first, and then measure the cream to rinse honey out of measuring cup.)

Add cocoa powder, using a sifter with a fine mesh to break up lumps in cocoa powder

Thoroughly mix everything together so no dry cocoa power remains.

Now add nuts and dried fruit and mix these in thoroughly. Works best to don a pair
of disposable nitrile (or similar) gloves and kneed this mixture together with your
hands.

Pack finished mixture in a 6”x 6”x2” Gladware (or similar) container that’s been greased with butter, covered, and then refrigerated overnight.

Makes about 1 1/3 pounds fudge.

[pops88]

I absolutely love Jeanne Robertson. She can have you in tears, laughing, without swearing or being off color. To me, that’s the true measure of comedy / humor. Be careful eating over your keyboard if you’re watching her on Youtube.

[Jamestown1630]

Now that song has been stuck in my head for 12 hours!

Here’s an article explaining what a pandowdy is, and a recipe:

https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/life/2015/01/20/apple-pan-dowdy/22049957/

[Jamestown1630]

That looks very good. I’ve never seen a fudge recipe using spices.

[BBB333]

Thanks!

[Liz]

A perfect recipe for us'ns who can never get enough crust in our pie slice.

[Liz]

..... grandmother snitched the rich, gooey remains on the bottom of the shoo fly pan after everyone had been served....

I read where there are wet and dry shoo fly pie recipes.

[Jamestown1630]

It really is therapeutic to just spend an afternoon *laughing*.

[leaning conservative]

I think crust should be another food group ; )

[Liz]

No question.......I sill cant make as good a crust as mom did. .......light and crumbly and so so tasty.