Food, Gifts, And Recipes

Recipes-Charts
Hints From The Old Farmers Almanac

Ingredients:

• Bumble Bee solid white albacore tuna (in water)
• Hellmans Light Mayonaise
• Russian Salad Dressing (Or Thousand Island)
• Onion Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Cooked Small Shells

• Drain tuna and put in mixing bowl. Break up with fork.
• Cook and cool small shells pasta.
• Combine one part Mayo and one part Russian Dressing.
  (Make a little extra and refrigierate it).
• Add garlic powder and onion powder to Dressing.
• Combine Tuna, Mixed Dressing, and cold shells pasta and stir until evenly combined.
• Refrigerate and add more dressing if needed when serving.

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  Pasta Sauce With Meat

  Ingredients:

  • (2) large cans whole peeled Italian pear tomatoes
  • (1) can of tomato paste
  • (1 - 1.5) pounds of lean ground round or sirloin(no chuck)
  • oregano
  • parsley leaves
  • basil leaves
  • bay leaves
  • chopped garlic
  • diced onion
  • Olive Oil
  • Brown the ground beef in a frying pan to well done and drain off fat. Set aside.
  • Pour some olive oil into a large dutch oven style pan (at least 2-3 tablespoons). Heat the oil.
  • Add diced onion and chopped garlic cook until onion is translucent.(Do Not Allow To Burn)
  • Add oregano, basil, and parsley and stir and allow to blend.
  • Add can of tomato paste and blend into the oil and spices.
  • Put canned tomatoes in blender in batches and pulse until they are liquid. (Don't overblend, some pieces are fine)
    Add tomatoes to the pot and blend well. If mixture is too thick, add about 1/2 cup of water or more as needed.
  • Add cooked ground meat and mix well. Add 4-6 large bay leaves.
  • Bring to a light boil and turn down heat and simmer until the flavors blend together. (At least 1 hour or more).
  • Can be stored frozen in batches for 2 weeks.

Italian Vegetable Pie from
Cooking Light

Spaghetti Squash and Vegetable Gratin
from Cooking Light

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Prosciutto
from Simply Recipes

Ingredients

• I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (Or whatever butter/margarine you prefer)
• Cold leftover pasta and sauce (meat in sauce is ok)
• Eggs or Egg Substitute

• Add ICBINB (butter/margarine) to large frying pan and allow to melt.
• Add cold pasta to butter and stir until heated evenly.
• When pasta is fully heated, add egg substitute or scrambled eggs to mixture and heat until eggs are fully cooked.
• Serve with bread and grated cheese if desired.

Pork Loin Roast
1 can or package sauerkraut
2 apples

Remove All Fat from Port Loin Roast
Filet Roast by cutting 3 times to create flat piece of meat
Pound roast with mallet until uniform height
Core and slice apple sections into small chunks and mix with sauerkraut in bowl
Place layer of sauerkraut and apple mixture on roast and roll up the roast
Secure roast closed with cooking twine or metal skewers
Place remaining sauerkraut and apple mixture in bottom of pressure cooker
Put meat rack in pressure cooker and place roast onto the rack
Add 1/2 cup water if needed
Cook on high for about 30 - 45 minutes depending on size of roast.
Serve slices of roast with side of sauerkraut and apples mixture.

Lucy's Vodka Sauce

• 1 stick of butter
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup grated cheese
• 2 swishes around the pot vodka
• pepper

• Melt butter and Heavy Cream in pan (do not boil)
• Add grated cheese
• Add about 2 cups of your homemade sauce (just enough to make it pink)
• Mix with pasta

• Variation Pasta Antonio
• Saute 2 cut up chicken breasts (boneless) with butter, then add cream
• After sauce is pink add 10 oz pkge frozen peas
• Serve over spaghetti

Lucy's Mocha Balls (Rum)

• 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 cup soft sweet butter
• 2 rounded tsp instant coffee
• 4 tbsp brandy or rum
• 2 tsp vanilla
• chopped pecans or coconut

• Melt chocolate in double boiler over hot water then cool
• Beat egg yolks adding sugar - heating until smooth
• Beat in butter a little at a time
• Dissolve coffee in liquor and add vanilla
• Combine with egg and butter mixture
• Add chocolate and mix

• Chill in refrigerator for several hours
• Shape into small balls and roll in nuts or coconut
• Must refrigerate

Lucy's Eggplant Dip

• Olive Oil
• 2 cups chopped eggplant
• 1 onion chopped
• 4-6 cloves of garlic
• oregano, basil, onion powder
• homemade pasta sauce

• Saute onion and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes
• Add eggplant and spices then cook 10-15 minutes at medium heat until soft
• Add pasta sauce and simmer for 10 minutes
• Serve on Toasted Italian Bread

Chocolate Sorbet
From Claudia Fleming, pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, NY

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (please try Scharffen Berger's Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder)
• 9.75 ounces (1 home chef bar) Scharffen Berger 70% bittersweet chocolate

• In a medium saucepan, combine 2 1/4 cups of water and the sugar, and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally.
• Gradually add cocoa powder, whisking until smooth.
• Reduce heat to low, and cook mixture at a gentle simmer for 30 minutes, until syrupy.
• Put chocolate in a large bowl, add half the cocoa syrup, whisking until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
• Add remaining syrup and whisk well. Strain mixture through a fine sieve, and let cool.
• Stir in 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon of water.
• Chill sorbet mixture covered until very cold, at least 4 hours.
• Freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.

Chocolate Ganache

• 8 oz. El Rey Apamate Dark 73.5% Chocolate
• 1c. heavy cream
• 2oz. almonds, toasted and ground

• Melt chocolate in a double boiler.
• Heat cream to boiling point. Add cream to chocolate and whisk.
• Note: To use with Chocolate Pecan Cake, follow these instructions:
• To finish, place cake on a 10" cake circle or the inverted spring form base.
• Place a cooling rack atop a clean sheetpan. Put cake on cooling rack.
• Pour the ganache over cake, covering as much as possible. Use an offset spatula to scrape off excess ganache and level top of cake.
• Allow ganache to harden somewhat, then press ground nuts onto sides of cake.Refrigerate.
• Note: Partially freezing the cake will make it easier to transfer to a serving platter.

Milk Chocolate and Bourbon Truffles

• 8 oz. El Rey Caoba Milk 41% Chocolate
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 Tbls. butter, at room temperature
• 2 Tbls. bourbon
• 1 oz. El Rey Caoba Milk 41% Chocolate, melted and tempered

• Finely chop the milk chocolate.
• Bring the heavy cream to a boil.
• Remove from the heat and add chocolate.
• Whisk together until the chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.
• Add soft butter and bourbon to the chocolate mixture.
• Whisk together until combined (do not over mix).
• The ganache should be about the same temperature as the butter when you add the butter (do not add butter to a warm ganache).
• Allow the ganache to harden. I normally allow the ganache to sit overnight before using it.
• Scoop truffles with a melon baller. Fill the scoop 3/4 full for average size truffles.
• Round each truffle between your palms. Chill slightly before dipping or rolling them.

• Temper the chocolate:
• Slowly melt 10 oz. milk chocolate in a double boiler.
• Melt over steaming but not simmering water.
• Meanwhile, chop the remaining 6 oz. chocolate.
• The temperature of the chocolate should reach 120 degrees (slightly hot to touch).
• Remove chocolate from heat.
• Add a handful of the chopped chocolate to the ganache. Stir until the chocolate is melted.
• Repeat this procedure. Continue adding chopped chocolate and stirring until chocolate is beginning to set up around the edges of the bowl and the chocolate in the center of the bowl will harden within 1-1/1 minutes when it is tested by dipping a knife into it.
• The chocolate is now ready to use.
• If there are any un-melted bits of chocolate in the bowl, move them to the side of the bowl.
• Should the chocolate harden too much to use, place the bowl of chocolate over a pot of hot water just long enough to warm the chocolate (do not return the chocolate to direct heat).

• For rolling the truffles:
• Place a little of the tempered milk chocolate on each palm.
• Dip a truffle into the chocolate (halfway or so) and roll the truffle between your palms until coated with chocolate.
• Set the rolled truffle on a sheetpan lined with parchment paper to dry.
• If the chocolate is properly tempered and you are in a cool room, refrigeration should not be necessary.
• The chocolate should harden within 1-1/2 minutes.
• If it doesn't, the chocolate is too warm and not properly tempered.
• Repeat this process. Each truffle should have two coats of chocolate.
• YIELD: 2 dozen medium-sized truffles

• Variations:
• Dip the truffles in tempered milk chocolate. Use a dipping fork and remove as much excess chocolate as possible to avoid a 'foot' at the base. The dipped truffles may be decorated with white chocolate by drizzling the white chocolate over the truffles or by using a parchment bag to pipe it in a design.
• Roll the truffles (as explained above) and then dropping them into cocoa powder, ground nuts, or nibs, coating on all sides. This will change the appearance, texture, and flavor of the truffles.
• To achieve a spiky appearance, roll the truffles around on a wire rack after the second coating of chocolate.
• NOTE: Ideally, chocolates should not be refrigerated. Moisture collects on the chocolate giving it an unattractive appearance and rendering it useless (in its pure form) for melting and reusing. Truffles can be refrigerated in adverse conditions but it is not recommended.