May & June 2006
Hi everyone. Soon after you read this, Jim and I will have traveled the 4,000 miles necessary to reach our McCarthy, Alaska summer home. It’s a long trip but beautiful the whole way and really wonderful when we get there.
This month's recipes are a little bit of a mixture. I am addicted to book stores when we travel and when I go inside the first place I head is to the cookbooks. We recently made a trip to Arkansas and I found some gems! One of them is called Seasoned Greetings, A Celebrity Cookbook put out in 1988 to benefit the WDAF-TV4 Love Fund.
You all must know who Ed Asner is! He contributed
Ed Asner's Mediterranean Stew
1 lb. Chuck steak, cut into 1 ½” cubes
1 lb. Sweet Italian Sausage
1 ½ cups burgundy
2 cups water
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
3/4 teaspoon pepper
3 minced garlic cloves
2 teaspoon paprika
1 lb. cubes cooked ham
3 coarsely chopped medium onions
1 coarsely chopped sweet red pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 1-lb. cans drained garbanzo beans
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 head cabbage, cut into wedges
1 lb. Chuck steak, cut into 1 ½” cubes
1 lb. Sweet Italian Sausage
1 ½ cups burgundy
2 cups water
1 6-
3/4 teaspoon pepper
3 minced garlic cloves
2 teaspoon paprika
1 lb. cubes cooked ham
3 coarsely chopped medium onions
1 coarsely chopped sweet red pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 1-
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 head cabbage, cut into wedges
In a large skillet, saute beef cubes and sausage until brown. Drain meats and slice sausage; transfer to Dutch oven. Add wine, water, tomato paste, salt, pepper, garlic and paprika. Bring to boil, cover and simmer 1 ½ to 2 hours or until meat is tender.
Add remaining ingredients except cabbage. Cover and cook about 20 minutes. Refrigerate overnight to develop flavors. Skim off fat. Bring stew to room temperature.
Reheat in microwave oven 4-5 minutes; top of range 15-20 minutes or until hot. Makes 6-8 servings.
Next I found A Very Special Cookbook from the Packers and Wisconsin Special Olympics which came out in 1991. It was a great book because it gave you info about each player and coach and recipes that each had submitted himself as well as some submitted by their wives and children. It was difficult to choose just one but here goes with one submitted by Keith Uecher, a Guard/Tackle for the team.
Keith’s Chicken with Angel Hair
4 oz. Angel hair pasta
1 medium onion, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 oz. boneless chicken, cut into thin strips
1 can stewed tomatoes, Italian style
½ cup whipping cream
Parmesan cheese
4 oz. Angel hair pasta
1 medium onion, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 oz. boneless chicken, cut into thin strips
1 can stewed tomatoes, Italian style
½ cup whipping cream
Parmesan cheese
Cook pasta according to package directions, drain. In skillet, cook onion, zucchini and garlic in oil 3 minutes. Add meat; cook until browned. Drain tomatoes, reserving liquid. To skillet, add reserved liquid; cook on high 5 minutes or until reduced, stirring frequently.
Add whipping cream; cook 8 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently. Sir in tomatoes and pasta; heat through. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and garnish with chopped parsley, if desired. Cooking time is 20 minutes.
The last one I'll tell you about from this trip is called First Ladies Cook Book—Favorite Recipes of All The Presidents of the United States. It takes us from Martha Washington to Nancy Reagan with historical lore that gives us a little more personal side of the presidents and their wives than we are used to hearing. It was so difficult to choose a recipe to pass along to you. I wanted to use one from one of the earlier presidents but some of the ingredients were a little daunting, like “½ peck of tomatoes, eel skin wrapped around salmon for the lard, a dozen eggs in one cake,” etc. I chose Mary Lincoln's Election Cake for this issue since election is a word we'll all be hearing for the next couple of years! Did you know that her family disapproved of her marriage to Abe because he was just a poor rawboned lawyer in Illinois who was ten years older than she!
