Crab Fritters

Mike's done it, again!  He has the uncanny knack of knowing just when I'm brain-dead but need to update the blog!  And he takes great pictures, too!  His Crab Fritters sound fantastic!  Methinks I'll be making them really soon!

Crab Fritters

Crab Fritters

Mike Amason

The rural South of the early 20th century was never known for haute cuisine. Money was limited most of the year, and cooks were constrained to find new and creative ways to use the few ingredients that were available to them. There was always flour and corn meal, and breads of all types really were the “staff of life”. Most women baked a couple of times a week, but every meal saw a quick bread of some type – cornbread, biscuits, hoecakes, hushpuppies, and, when the garden was producing, corn fritters.

A fritter is as simple to make as it is delicious. It’s essence is nothing more than a pancake with onion, corn and black pepper added (canned corn will work, but fresh kernels scraped from the cob turns this into food for the gods), and the result is a far greater delight than the sum of its parts.

These have been updated, “citified” if you will, by the addition of a few ingredients, and the product is suitable for entertaining the pickiest company. Serve with a good fish chowder, seafood gumbo, or vegetable soup.

I use a cast iron skillet for these and wipe it with oil between batches, but a nonstick frying pan will work just fine. These are fried, but they are not greasy.

Serves: 6-8 Can be made ahead and reheated, but do not freeze well.

Fritters

Ingredients:

  • 16 oz can whole kernel corn, drained, or two large ears fresh corn, kernels cut and cob scraped
  • 1 pound claw crab meat
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • two green onions, chopped with tops
  • ½ stalk celery, finely chopped
  • 2 to 3 sprigs fresh parsely, chopped
  • 1-1/2 tsp Black pepper
  • ½ tsp cayenne pepper
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • ½ cup half-and-half or whipping cream
  • ¼ cup white wine
  • 1-1/2 cups self-rising flour

Put crab meat, chopped vegetables, spices, and liquid ingredients into a large bowl and stir to mix well and coat everything with milk and eggs mixture. Stir in flour just before cooking.

Drop spoonfuls of batter onto a nonstick frying pan or lightly greased skillet or griddle and cook 3-4 minutes until bubbles rise to the top of the batter and bottom is brown. Turn them over to finish cooking. Serve hot or cold.

frit2.jpg


Christmas Stollen

It's not often that I totally and completely screw something up - but when I do, I really do it big-time!  Welcome to one of those times!

A friend of ours gave us her Oma's Christmas Stollen recipe last year and I've thought of making it ever since.  Thought of it.  I hadn't made it.  On Thursday, in the midst of baking Christmas Cookies, making candy, and being my festive little self, I decided it was time to make it.  (I also want to make a traditional Christmas Pudding and about a bazillion other things, but we can only haul so much stuff up to North Jersey.)  But I digress...

I had all the ingredients (no big surprise here) and decided to make a half-recipe.  Even I couldn't eat 8 loaves of Stollen.

I am not sure exactly what went wrong, but the dough just never came together right.  I'll use the excuse that I was interupted a couple of times, but I just wasn't paying attention when I started out the mixing.  The recipe calls for lots of butter and it just never incorporated with the flour right.  It was heavy.  It was greasy.  It wasn't right.  I had never made this recipe before, but I've made enough different doughs to know when one is "smooth and elastic" and when it's tough and greasy.  This one was not smooth and elastic.  But Mr. Determination had to follow it through.  I did the first pitiful rise, and then formed into loaves and did the second.  Pitiful.  Recipe says 350F for 35 minutes.  At 55 minutes it wasn't baked inside.

The loaves spread forever but didn't rise as I imagined they should have.  It smelled fabulous.  It wasn't baked inside.  I tried to convince myself it tasted great.  The following morning, Victor toasted two slices for breakfast.  It was okay, but it wasn't Stollen.  We tossed them.  I conceded defeat - for the moment.

Saturday dawned, and I decided I was going to make them, again.  I was not about to let a supposedly fabulous recipe get the better of me.  Am I ever glad I did!

I followed the recipe once again.  This time I paid attention.  I worked the dough.  I made sure the flour incorporated correctly.  It was night and day different.  Smooth and elastic.  Silken perfection.  Rise.  Form.  Rise, again.  Into the oven.

Stollen

Exactly 35 minutes later, they were ready.  Rich, light, buttery heaven!  We pretty much devoured one on the spot.  And two of them are hading up with us to North Jersey.

Merry Christmas, indeed!

And speaking of Merry Christmas, the cookies are done, as well!  I made up a huge tray for work, today, and have started on trays for the neighbors...
Cookie Trays

And I am going to have to work twice as hard at the Gym... I've been eating an awful lot of them...

Cookie Trays


Turkey Croquettes

Here's another recipe from Mike!  Bein' that I still have some leftover turkey in the freezer, I may just have to make these this weekend!

Turkey Croquettes

Back just before the year 2000 there was a business plan that made the papers where a company would be formed to buy the leftover food from the world’s great restaurants and freeze it for shipping to gourmets around the world.  I don’t know whether it worked or not, but it was a novel approach to the question of what to do with leftovers, especially after the holidays.

Here is a good idea for something to get rid of a little more of the Thanksgiving Monster.   They are especially good to make and freeze for a quick meal later  when you’ve had a long day at the office.

Any poultry will work, and you get a whole new flavor if you substitute crab meat for the turkey.  If you bake these, they are low in fat, high in fiber, and addictive.  They have more flavor fried (OK – so what doesn’t?) which is fine if you can stand the calories.

Turkey Croquettes

Mike Amason

Makes about 24 croquettes 2-1/2” diameter.   Leftovers freeze well.

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds leftover turkey (or 2 chicken breasts, cooked)
  • One large onion, any color
  • 2 medium carrots
  • 1 stalk celery
  • ½  green bell pepper
  • One whole green chili or jalapeno pepper or ½ tsp cayenne
  • 2 Tbsp Olive oil
  • ½ tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp paprika to sprinkle the patties if baking them
  • ½ cup sour cream or mayonnaise
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1-1/2 cups SR flour

Baked:  Preheat oven to 375° and grease a cookie sheet with Crisco
Fried:  Preheat ½” of your favorite vegetable oil in your favorite frying pan

Run chicken and vegetables through a food processor one item at a time and combine in a two quart mixing bowl.  Adding the olive oil to the carrots makes them chop better. Mix sour cream, beaten eggs, and spices in well before adding flour.  You will end up with a bowl of sticky paste that can be formed into patties that will hold their shape.

Scoop out balls of the paste to whatever size you like.  The quantity mentioned above assumes balls slightly larger than a golf ball flattened into patties roughly 2-1/2” in diameter by ½-3/4” thick.

Arrange on cookie sheet, sprinkle with paprika, and bake 30-35 minutes, or fry in oil and turn when edges turn brown. They are done when brown on top and bottom.  Drain on paper towels before serving.  Baked croquettes will not get as brown as the fried ones, but that doesn’t hurt a thing.

Baked Croquettes

These are wonderful served with a pot of large dried lima beans cooked with a ham hock, zucchini strips salted and peppered and sprinkled with parmesan cheese and roasted in a 375° oven for 15 minutes (Why waste the heat when the oven is hot?  You have two racks in there for a reason), steamed broccoli, or just a plate of fresh biscuits.  These make outstanding leftovers and are a good finger food hot or cold.

A good red pepper sauce or a hot pepper vinegar is a great accompaniment for these as is a good chow chow.


Gino Delivers

The finishd tray

We had to cut the cookie baking a bit short because of weather, but what we lacked in quantity, we definitely made up for in quality.  Damn, these are some mighty fine cookies!

Victor made Aunt Emma's filling, but Gino made the dough and rolled them out and put 'em together.  They may flat-out be the best ever.  light, flaky... perfect in every way! Victor and Gino did the bulk of the work - I was at work.  But it's pretty obvious they didn't need me around.  The stuff they made was just stupendous.

Victor and Gino making Nonna’s Biscotti

Methinks that next year we'll get Gino down here for a few days and just let him do 'em all.  I think he's ready!

Tim and Gino rolling out biscotti


Pfeffernusse and Nutmeg Logs

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the kitchen smells so delightful!

Really delightful!  We've been selling tons and tons of pfeffernusse at work, so I decided to try my hand at some homemade!  I have a vague recollection of my mother making them once when I was a little kid, but they were never a family tradition in our Irish household.

I also made them once when we had a "Christmas Around the World" party back in the early 1970's.  (I had Germany.  I made a stollen, too - it was terrible, from my very hazy recollections...)  But I digress.....

Pfeffernusse - which translates to pepper nut - is an easy cookie to make.  The only caveat is the dough needs to be made a day ahead of baking.

Pfeffernusse

  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 cup finely chopped almonds
  • 1 cup finely chopped candied orange peel
  • 2 tbsp lemon zest
  • 3/4 cup dark molasses
  • 3/4 cup brandy

Powdered sugar for dusting

Mix the flour, baking powder and soda, and spices and set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the sugars into the butter. Add the egg yolks and mix. Add the almonds, orange peel, lemon zest and mix some more. Stir one third of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Add the molasses and brandy. Then add the the rest of the flour mixture. When fully blended, cover and refrigerate overnight.

The following day... heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll spoonfuls of dough nto small balls and place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet about 2" apart.  (I use parchment paper - it's worth it!!!)

Bake for about 12 - 14 minutes.  Roll in powdered sugar while still warm.  Roll once again when fully cooled, before serving.

Okay.  Easy.  And really, really good!

My cousin Mary Kate (she'd kill me for referring to her as "Mary Kate" - she's been "Kate" for the past 40 years...) sent off this recipe for our family Reunion Cookbook back in 1986.  I've had it for 22 years, looked at it for 22 years, and finally decided to make them yesterday.  Damn, am I sorry I waited 22 years to make them!  They are really, really good!

Frosted Nutmeg Logs

A Christmas tradition at the Hodsdon house!

Cookies:

  • 1 C butter
  • 3/4 C sugar
  • 3 C flour
  • 1 egg
  • 2-1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 4 tsp rum extract (I used Tortuga Rum)
  • 4 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, nutmeg, and extracts. Stir flour into creamed mixture. Shape into 1/2" x 3" rolls and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Cool. Frost with Vanilla-Rum Icing.

Icing:

  • 1/4 C butter or margarine
  • 3 C powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tsp rum extract
  • 2 tbsp cream
  • Nutmeg

Cream butter. Add part of sugar and extracts. Mix. Add remaining sugar and enough cream to obtain desired spreading consistency. Frost cookies and run the tines of a fork down the frosting. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Makes 3-4 dozen. Another really simple, but extremely tasty cookie!  They're also excellent unfrosted!

So there are now several doughs in the refrigerator ready to be baked - and more tomorrow and Saturday!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.....


Christmas Cookies 2007

In just a few, I'm off to pick up the last few ingredients for the 2007 Christmas Cookie-a-thon.  A couple more bags of flour and a few more nuts should suffice.

I did an Excel spreadsheet to figure out quantities.  About 96 cups of flour, 44 eggs, 14 pounds of butter...

Gino will be down on Friday to assist.

I'm adding Pfeffernusse to the mix this year, as well as my cousin's Nutmeg Logs.

'Tis the Season.  More to follow.


Pennsylvania Bans rBST-Free Labeling

*** The Governor’s Office has intervened in this issue and is initiating a review of the decision.  The implementation has been delayed at least a month past the original January 1, 2008 date.   Call the Governor's office at (717) 787-2500 or EMAIL and voice you opinion.

In a giant step backwards for consumers, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has ordered dairy producers to stop labeling their dairy products as rBST-free.  The hormone is banned in the European Union, Canada, Australia and Japan.

State Agriculture Secretary Dennis C. Wolff said advertising one brand of milk as free from artificial hormones implies that competitors’ milk is not safe.  No, Mr. Wolff.  It gives consumers a choice of whether to ingest dairy products produced with artificial hormones or not.  If a consumer does not want to feed their children products produced with artificial hormones, that should be their choice.

It should not be the policy of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to ban free labeling of dairy products.  The labeling of dairy products as being rBST-free does not state health benefits, it does not make medical or health claims.  It allows consumers to make their own decisions about what they want to feed themselves and their families.  It is a funamental right of consumers to be able to spend their money as they see fit. It is NOT the right of Monsanto - or any other corporation - to write the laws that govern our food safety.

Michael R. Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for policy, wrote the FDA’s rBGH labelling guidelines. The guidelines, announced in February 1994, virtually prohibited dairy corporations from making any distinction between products produced with and without rBGH. The FDA announced that labels on non-rBGH products must state that there is no difference between rBGH and the naturally occurring hormone. Micheal R. Taylor was a lawyer for the Monsanto corporation for seven years. HELLO?!?

rBST/rBGH (they are the same thing) is used to speed up the metabolism of cows.  Farmers who do not use Monsanto's drug are at a disadvantage, because their cows produce less milk.  The only advantage they have is consumer awareness and the desire for natural and environmentally friendly products.

And now. the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has taken Monsanto's stance that consumers should not have any knowledge at all about how their food is produced.

This is nothing more than another instance of our government regulators kowtowing to big business at the expense of consumer information.  Monsanto is finding that less dairies want to use its drug, so they are now using every means they can to keep consumers from knowing when it is being used.

The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act states:

Informed consumers are essential to the fair and efficient functioning of a free market economy. Evidently, this doesn’t apply to someone wanting to know how their milk was produced.  An “informed consumer” is bad for business.

An “informed consumer” also doesn’t need to know where his or her food comes from, either:

  • On May 13, 2002, President Bush signed into law the 2002 Farm Bill. One of its many initiatives required country of origin labeling for beef, lamb, pork, fish, perishable agricultural commodities and peanuts.
  • On January 27, 2004, President Bush signed Public Law 108-199 which delayed the implementation of mandatory COOL for all covered commodities except wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish until September 30, 2006.
  • On November 10, 2005, President Bush signed Public Law 109-97, which delayed the implementation for all covered commodities except wild and farm-raised and shellfish until September 30, 2008.

Anyone want to place bets that the country of origin labels won’t be in place on September 30, 2008?


Mike's Crusty Cornbread

I have been having a great time chatting with and getting recipes from a friend down in South Carolina.  His name is Mike and has a great wife, Barbara, who bakes - and wins all sorts of ribbons and such.  Lots of them.  I admire folks who have the patience to create recipes and enter contests.  It's a lot of work.  And I really love recipes with a story.  Real food with history.

I won 2nd Prize in a Cherry Pie Bakeoff once - and the People's Choice Award for my White Bean Chili when I was on staff at UCSF.  Neither were State fair-type competitions, but they were fun.  But I digress...

Mikes Crusty Cornbread

This recipe (as all great recipes do) comes with a great story - and pictures!

Crusty Cornbread

Mike Amason

Rural South Carolina during and after the Great Depression was a lot like a third world country.  There was little to eat if you didn’t produce it on the farm.  Everyone had a few chickens and a couple of hogs, both very efficient animals at producing meat from whatever could be foraged.  Lots of farms had a single cow for milk and butter.  With chickens came eggs.  The only groceries that were purchased were coffee, flour, salt, corn oil, and on occasion a bag of sugar.  Everything else was grown at home or done without.

Many farms had small patches of corn of a variety suitable for grinding at the grist mill for grits and cornmeal (My grandfather grew a white corn called “Hickory King” just for this purpose).  The miller ground and bagged your corn and kept a portion as his payment which he later sold.  Biscuits ruled at breakfast, but cornbread was the staple quick bread for lunch and dinner.   Many a child in the South in the 30s and 40s went to school carrying a pint jar of buttermilk and a large slice of cornbread for lunch, with a slice of fried fatback if times were good.

The secret to the crust:

The Perfect Crust

This is the way all six of my great aunts and my grandmother made it, baking it in a cast iron frying pan which gives it a crust like no other bread in the world. Cast iron holds heat better than anything else, and that is really the secret of this bread.  You can make suitable cornbread in a roasting pan or a casserole dish if you have to, and some modern cookware may be up to the task, but I have never been able to get this crust from any other cookware I have owned.  Other materials simply lose too much heat while you are pouring the batter into the pan.  If you don’t have a cast iron pan, you can pick one up at a junk store or thrift shop for a couple of dollars.  I use a 7” pan for mine, but an 8” works just as well.  My Mother still uses a 6”pan she bought in 1944 for fifteen cents, and her cornbread beats mine every time.  But I think she cheats.

Serves 6-8    Quick breads are only good the day they are baked.  Leftovers don’t freeze well for reheating to eat, but should be frozen to use later in pan dressing to go with chicken or turkey.  If you already have a freezer full, toss the leftovers out for the birds.   They love it.

Ingredients:

Preheat oven to 450.

  • Two cups self-rising white or yellow cornmeal, or add 3 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt to plain cornmeal
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • One egg, beaten
  • 3 Tbsp vegetable oil or melted fat
  • 1-1/4 cups buttermilk (or plain milk with 2 tsp vinegar to sour it)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil to coat pan

Take the 1/4 cup of the vegetable oil and put it in the frying pan.  Turn the pan to coat the bottom and sides well.  Too much is better than not enough.  You should be able to see a shallow pool of oil in the bottom of the pan.  Put pan in oven to heat.

Put dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Add the wet ingredients all at once and stir to make the batter.

When the oil is HOT! (smoking slightly), pour the batter into the pan and enjoy the sizzle.  Return it to the oven for 20 minutes.  It is done when a knife inserted into the top comes out clean.

Turn out of pan upside-down onto a plate.  Stand and be amazed at the reddish brown crackled crust approximately 1/8” thick covering it.   Do not sample at this point if you plan to serve for dinner.  You may not have any left by the time everyone gets to the table.  It slices better when it cools for a few minutes, anyway.

Outstanding with any vegetables (especially a thick vegetable soup!) or by itself with butter.

WARNING:  South of Pennsylvania it is illegal to serve collard or turnip greens or any type of beans without cornbread.

It is a capital offense in some states to serve black-eyed peas and collards with pepper vinegar on New Year’s Day and not cook a cornbread to accompany them.  And it well should be.

In the hot pan
After 20 minutes in a hot oven.
After 25 minutes

Variations:

1) Any type of onions are great chopped and sautéed for a couple of minutes before adding to the batter.  The result is like a hush puppy but not as greasy.
2) A chopped jalapeno pepper added to the batter improves any bland side dish.
3) ½ cup whole corn makes a good addition. Drain whole corn well if you use it.  For creamed corn, use ¾ cup, reduce the milk to 3/4 cup and reduce sugar to 1 tsp.
4) ½ cup finely chopped broccoli florets gives the bread a flavor that surprised me the first time I tried it.
5) Cracklins.  Many people have never heard of them.  These are bits of pigskin (cured bacon rind) that have been chopped and cooked and are available in groceries all over the South. ½ cup of them make a cornbread you will talk about for years.


Chicken with Leeks

Chicken Smothered in Leeks

I stopped by the Farmer's Market this afternoon after my Saturday workout.  And after the 45 minutes of steam room and jacuzzi that followed.  The steam and jacuzzi are my reward to my protesting muscles after their workout.  I like it. too.  Quiet, peaceful, relaxing...  I just kinda melt.  It's great.  But I digress...

I headed over to the bank after to make a quick deposit, and the Farmer's Market is 20 feet away.  Saturday and Shopping usually do not mix for me, but I was in the neighborhood - literally.

I really didn't need anything, but I did want to see what was available, and maybe pick up a few rolls for sandwiches.  Walking by one of the two main produce stands, I spied a leek.  Not just any old leek, mind you, but a 24"  (at least) beauty that was all "white and pale green part.'  It was perfect. 99 cents.  Sold.  I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner, but that leek was going to play an integral part.

I picked up a few rolls, some German Bologna and then stopping by to say HI to my friend Michael, I spied a great Santa in his display. It was a cast iron door stop that just screamed "take me home."  Not only was the price right, Michael gave me an additional discount (it's his store, afterall!) and happily home I went.

Off to check recipes, I came across one from Gourmet Magazine a few years back:

Braised Chicken Breasts on Creamy Leeks

  • 2 lb medium leeks (white and pale green parts only)
  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 lb total)
  • 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/3 cup dry white wine
  • 1/3 cup chicken broth
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream

Halve leeks lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces.

Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil and 1/2 tablespoon butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then brown chicken on both sides, about 4 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.

Add wine to skillet and deglaze by boiling over high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, until reduced to about 2 tablespoons, 1 to 2 minutes. Add leeks and remaining 2 tablespoons butter and salt and pepper to taste, then simmer over moderately low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until leeks are wilted, about 10 minutes. Stir in broth.

Top leeks with chicken breasts and juices from plate, then gently simmer over low heat, covered, until leeks are tender and chicken is just cooked through, about 8 minutes .

Transfer chicken breasts to a plate. Add cream to skillet and boil over high heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve chicken on top of leeks.

Okay.  That was their recipe.  I changed it just a bit.

I floured the chicken breasts, used 1/2 cup wine and 1/2 cup broth and omitted the heavy cream altogether, and served the leeks on top, rather than beneath, the chicken breast.Otherwise, followed the recipe fairly closely.

I steamed some asparagus and made a brown rice dish by sauteing a bit of green onion, celery, garlic and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil, added 1 cup of water and 1 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of brown rice.  Cooked for 40 minutes.  Dash of S&P.

My stomach is smiling, we have a new Santa, my muscles aren't aching quite as much as they were, and we're supposed to get snow tomorrow.

Life is good.