Dinner is Late

About 7 months late. That's how long since my last post. Eh. Been busy. Here's another for old time's sake. I set dinner on the table and got out the camera. "This is going on the internet, isn't it," my partner stated. "Yup."

I don't have names or recipes cuz these are 'inspired' by various recipes I've looked at over the last week but I didn't follow anything. This is ranier cherries and fontina cheese on a pizza crust with a hefty dose of rosemary and tarragon from the plants my mother gave me for mother's day this year. Fabulous. 

Pork chops marinated in hard cider, black and red pepper, garlic, and onion. I used my panini grill--another big thank you, Mom, for getting me that for Christmas. I use it constantly.

Cucumber, tomatoes, red lentils, mung bean seeds, red onion, feta, and mint, in a dressing of raspberry vinegar, honey, oregano, basil, olive oil, and a pinch of salt, over a pile of spring greens.

If only my children would eat what I cook.

Potluck treasures

With Thanksgiving coming up, I’m looking back on various recipes collected from people at large gatherings and written into the margins of my main cookbook. Sometimes when you ask for a recipe at a potluck, you really mean it.

Penney brought this first one over for a holiday gathering for my spiritual group, it was so long ago I don’t remember which holiday, but let’s say sometime in fall or winter because its gooey and filling and would go well with a harvest theme.

Corn Casserole

1 17 oz can creamed corn

1 17 oz can whole corn with liquid

1 cup uncooked macaroni

½ cup melted butter

2 T chopped onion

2 T chopped green pepper

1 cup cubed processed cheese

Mix all the above and put in 2 quart casserole dish. Bake covered for 30 min and uncovered for 30 min at 350.

I don’t remember but I think the next one is Afghani. At least I have other Afghani soup recipes that use yogurt so it’s a safe bet. It’s also very healthy and tasty.

Yogurt Soup

1 med onion, chopped

½ stick butter

2 cup chicken broth

¼ cup pearl barley soaked overnight

¼ cup parsley

¼ cup dried mint

1 egg

2 cups yogurt

Lemon juice

Saute onion in butter. Add broth, simmer til just below boiling. Add drained barley and cook til tender, about 20 minutes. Add salt, pepper, parsley. Beat the egg and add it to the yogurt. Pour yogurt slowly into the broth, don’t boil or it will curdle. Simmer 10-15 minutes. Garnish with mint and a little lemon juice.

This next one took major arm twisting to get ahold of. I’ve never understood the idea of keeping a recipe a secret unless you’re like Colonel Sanders or something. So here I go, blowing all opportunities of becoming a franchise billionaire by posting the recipe for simply the best homemade ice cream EVER.

Liz’s Ice Cream

3 cups sugar

3 T cocoa

8 beaten eggs

As much milk as there is eggs

Mix the above and make into a custard on the stove over med heat, stirring constantly. Make sure you beat the eggs into it well or you will end up with scrambled eggs in your ice cream. It may curdle, and that’s okay.

Pour into ice cream freezer while still warm and add:

4 cups half and half

4 cups heavy cream

1 T vanilla

Freeze as directed.

I’ve also left out the cocoa and doubled the vanilla to make a vanilla version that was deadly good. Mexican vanilla. There’s nothing like Mexican vanilla in the world. And yet it’s illegal to sell it here, so get someone to sneak some across the border for you. It’s heavenly.

One food I can't live without

Ode to Cheese

God of the country, bless today Thy cheese, For which we give Thee thanks on bended knees. Let them be fat or light, with onions blent, Shallots, brine, pepper, honey; whether scent Of sheep or fields is in them, in the yard Let them, good Lord, at dawn be beaten hard. And let their edges take on silvery shades Under the moist red hands of dairymaids; And, round and greenish, let them go to town Weighing the shepherd's folding mantle down; Whether from Parma or from Jura heights, Kneaded by august hands of Carmelites, Stamped with the mitre of a proud abbess. Flowered with the perfumes of the grass of Bresse, From hollow Holland, from the Vosges, from Brie, From Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Italy! Bless them, good Lord! Bless Stilton's royal fare, Red Cheshire, and the tearful cream Gruyère.

FROM JETHRO BITHELL'S TRANSLATION OF A POEM BY M. Thomas Braun

“I cannot think why this cheese was not thrown from the aeroplanes during the war to spread panic amongst enemy troops. It would have proved far more efficacious than those nasty deadly gases that kill people permanently.” Eric Weir

“In early days a large cheese sufficed for a year or two of family feeding, according to this old note: "A big Cheddar can be kept for two years in excellent condition if kept in a cool room and turned over every other day." But in old England some were harder to preserve: "In Bath... I asked one lady of the larder how she kept Cheddar cheese. Her eyes twinkled: 'We don't keep cheese; we eats it.'"

“Roquefort: Homage to this fromage! Long hailed as le roi Roquefort, it has filled books and booklets beyond count. By the miracle of Penicillium Roqueforti a new cheese was made. It is placed historically back around the eighth century when Charlemagne was found picking out the green spots of Persillé with the point of his knife, thinking them decay. But the monks of Saint-Gall, who were his hosts, recorded in their annals that when they regaled him with Roquefort (because it was Friday and they had no fish) they also made bold to tell him he was wasting the best part of the cheese. So he tasted again, found the advice excellent and liked it so well he ordered two caisses of it sent every year to his palace at Aix-la-Chapelle. He also suggested that it be cut in half first, to make sure it was well veined with blue, and then bound up with a wooden fastening. Perhaps he hoped the wood would protect the cheeses from mice and rats, for the good monks of Saint-Gall couldn't be expected to send an escort of cats from their chalky caves to guard them--even for Charlemagne. There is no telling how many cats were mustered out in the caves, in those early days, but a recent census put the number at five hundred. We can readily imagine the head handler in the caves leading a night inspection with a candle, followed by his chief taster and a regiment of cats. While the Dutch and other makers of cheese also employ cats to patrol their storage caves, Roquefort holds the record for number. An interesting point in this connection is that as rats and mice pick only the prime cheeses, a gnawed one is not thrown away but greatly prized.”

The Stieff Recipe Basic Milk Rabbit (completely surrounded by a lake of malt beverages)

2 cups grated sharp cheese

3 heaping tablespoons butter

1-1/2 cups milk

4 eggs

1 heaping tablespoon mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Pepper, salt and paprika to taste--then add more of each.

Grease well with butter the interior of your double boiler so that no hard particles of cheese will form in the mixture later and contribute undesirable lumps. Put cheese, well-grated, into the double boiler and add butter and milk. From this point vigorous stirring should be indulged in until Rabbit is ready for serving. Prepare a mixture of Worcestershire sauce, mustard, pepper, salt and paprika. These should be beaten until light and then slowly poured into the double boiler. Nothing now remains to be done except to stir and cook down to proper consistency over a fairly slow flame. The finale has not arrived until you can drip the rabbit from the spoon and spell the word finis on the surface. Pour over two pieces of toast per plate and send anyone home who does not attack it at once.

This is sufficient for six gourmets or four gourmands.

Nota bene: A Welsh Rabbit, to be a success, should never be of the consistency whereby it may be used to tie up bundles, nor yet should it bounce if inadvertently dropped on the kitchen floor.

After-Dinner Rabbit

Remove all crusts from bread slices, toast on both sides and soak to saturation in hot beer. Melt thin slices of sharp old cheese in butter in an iron skillet, with an added spot of beer and dry English mustard. Stir steadily with a wooden spoon and, when velvety, serve a-sizzle on piping hot beer-soaked toast.

All of the above found in the Complete Book of Cheese by Robert Carlton Brown, 1955.

Cheese Dreams

Another irony of me doing a food blog is that my children do not like my cooking. This has nothing to do with my skills or overestimation of my skill. To call them picky eaters would be to say that cats have an attitude once in awhile. Here is the complete list of foods my younger daughter will eat. Note: all vegetables and fruits are to be eaten raw. Seasoning consists of salt. Period. Nothing should be mixed with anything else. Those childhood staples of mac and cheese, PBJs, and sugar frosted cereal are strictly off limits. Some foods, like hard boiled eggs, have come and gone off the list without warning, this is the current status.

carrots

broccoli

apples

grapes

cabbage

lettuce

bananas

tangerines

lemons

orange juice

strawberries

blueberries

meat sticks

salami

yogurt, some brands, no lumps of fruit

chicken breast

turkey

tuna

salmon

tilapia

shrimp

bread: white, wheat, some rolls

crackers: goldfish, saltines, ritz

muffins: blueberry, chocolate

milk

American cheese

ice cream

some cake

some candy

French fries

cheese pizza, some brands

chicken strips, some brands

chocolate chip pancakes

some chips

Oh, and one new item as of last weekend. There was not one thing at the Renaissance Festival that she would eat until, after an entire busy day without food, she decided she could nibble the tiniest tip of a deep fried cheese curd to see if it would kill her. Then she got her own large order. Food of the Gods.

My daughter can tell when, in an effort to be healthier, I substitute turkey for beef meat sticks. She can tell when, in an effort to be more frugal, I switch to a cheaper brand of turkey for her sandwiches. (That would be plain bread and baked sliced turkey lunch meat. No condiments. No “honey- roasted” or smoked.) She knows if I mess with her pancake recipe. I think she’s one of those supertasters I’ve heard tell of. She is a strong bitter PTC taster, while I can’t taste it at all. (And yet, oddly enough, will contently devour cruciferous vegetables that supposedly taste bitter to supertasters.) The only other form of sandwich she’ll eat is grilled cheese, or rather Cheese Dreams as given in the Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, 1918, vol 2. 

CHEESE DREAMS.

If something delicious to serve with fruit or salad is desired for luncheon or Sunday night supper, the accompanying recipe for cheese dreams should be tried. They should be served at once on being taken from the stove, because as soon as they cool the cheese hardens and they are not appetizing. Cheese dreams may be sauted or prepared in a broiler or an oven, but if they are sauted, they may be made in a chafing dish.

12 thinly cut slices of bread

Butter

Cheese sliced 1/8 in. thick

Spread the bread thinly with butter and make sandwiches by placing a slice of cheese between two slices of bread. Place these sandwiches under a broiler or in a very hot oven and toast them on both sides, or omit the butter from the center, place the sandwiches in a slightly oiled frying pan, and brown them on both sides. In heating the sandwiches, the cheese melts. Serve hot.

Who wouldn’t want to eat a Cheese Dream? This book also notes:

“The use of cheese, however, is not nearly so great as its food value warrants, the amount used in the United States per capita being only about 3-1/2 pounds annually. This is a condition that should be overcome, for there is a large variety of ways in which cheese can be used to advantage in the diet. When eaten raw, it is very appetizing, and when used with soups, sauces, and foods that have a bland taste, it lends additional flavor and makes an especially attractive dish.”

I agree, extra cheese, please! Bring it on!

(I just looked it up. Americans now eat about 30 lbs. of cheese per person per year. Mission accomplished.)

English Monkey

I've certainly heard of Welsh Rabbit before (or rarebit, yeah, whatever) but not English Monkey. I would like to think that this was invented in Wales in answer to the British making fun of them with their "rabbit." I guess Monkey would be the grossest thing they could think of to eat. In the U.S. maybe we'd call it Road Kill Possum. I guess if you used stinky enough cheese.

English Monkey

1 Cup bread crumbs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup mild cheese
1 egg
1T butter
salt and cayenne

Soak bread crumbs in milk 15 minutes. Melt butter in saucepan, add cheese cut in small pieces and let it melt; then add soaked crumbs, egg beaten a little, 1/2 t salt and a few grains cayenne. Cook 3 minutes. Serve on crackers.

Matthew Arnold, British poet.
An English monkey? Or the prototype for Wolverine.

This recipe is also from the undated 1890s(?) Perfection Stove Company Cook Book. A few other odds and ends that are noticeable:

• In older cookbooks they always talk about breaking macaroni in pieces so it must have originally been sold as long tubes.
• Either they had such sensitive taste buds they needed very little flavor, or the food tasted more flavorful, which is possible given the huge but styrofoam veggies the abound in the American marketplace, or we have completely jaded palates. If there's one thing I have to adjust with these old recipes it's to give them some flavor. ("A few grains cayenne." Sheesh)
• Bread crumbs abound in old cook books. Not a scrap was left unused. Consequently the next item:
• There's often a section for ways to reuse leftovers, especially in croquettes. I have not, to my knowledge, ever actually eaten a croquette. But in the past there was nothing that couldn't be smashed together, rolled in bread crumbs, and fried.
• There's an opposite dearth of vegetable recipes. Boil the crap out of them and put them on the table. Enough said.

Workbasket recipes

More Workbasket recipes, from February, 1957.

Spicy Carrot Pie

2 cups mashed cooked carrots

½ cup brown sugar, packed

1 t cinnamon

½ t cloves

¼ t ginger

¼ t nutmeg

1 t salt

2 eggs, beaten

1 c evaporated milk and ½ c water or use 1 ½ c milk

Place the first seven ingredients in a large bowl. Mix. Beat eggs, milk and water together well. Add to first mixture and blend thoroughly. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake for 10 minutes at 400° then lower temperature to 300° and bake approximately 40 minutes or until a knofe blade comes out clean. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Mrs. Gwen Pease, New York

Hearty Cheese Bread

2 c sifted flour

½ t salt

2 ¼ t baking powder

1 ½ t baking soda

¼ c shortening

¾ c thick sour milk

½ c sharp cheese, crumbled

1 T minced green pepper

1 T minced onion

Sift flour, add the other dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening. Then add the milk and mix with a fork until a soft dough is formed. Stir in the cheese, onion, and pepper. Turn into a greased pan and bake 30 minutes in a 375° oven. Cut into wedges and serve hot with or without butter.

Nancy Hanson, Wisconsin

Doughnut Muffins

1 ½ T shortening

½ c sugar

1 egg

2 c flour

2 t baking powder

½ t salt

½ t nutmeg

½ c milk

Melted butter or margarine

Confectioner’s sugar

Mixed sugar and cinnamon

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add egg, beat well. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg; add alternately with milk to creamed mixture. Fill greased small muffin pans 2/3 full. Bake in hot oven (400°) 20-25 minutes. Dip in melted butter or margarine. Roll half in confectioners’ sugar and half in cinnamon mixture. Serve hot. Makes 24.

Mrs. Frederick N. Holmes, Massachusetts

the All-Family Drink

When I was very young there was always an emergency bottle of 7-Up in the fridge. My mother had certain sovereign remedies for things: 7-Up for stomach flu and any digestive discomfort, Noxema on all skin conditions, liberal applications of Vicks and flannel for lung conditions. Consequently I have always associated the taste of 7-Up with vomiting.

I have heard from others that I’m not alone in this. Perhaps they were unfortunate enough to have a mother who read this little brochure of ideas and decided to try:

"Mix chilled 7-Up and cold milk in equal parts by pouring 7-Up gently into the milk. Do not stir. The addition of 7-Up gives the milk (white or chocolate) a new flavor appeal especially pleasing to children."

The fact that it didn’t curdle is only proof of how very little lemon/lime is actually in it.

This advertising brochure has tons of other recipes in it that basically involve switching 7-Up for the water in pie crust, jello, cake mixes, etc. Then there's the ones about basting various meats in 7-Up or soaking fruit in it. Fair enough. I can see how adding carbonation to a cake mix might make a lighter angel food cake. Might be worth trying. And thanks, don't really need to hang onto this "cookbook" to be able to do that. However the previous owner found the need to mark this recipe for future reference:

 Who doesn’t know how to pour a bottle of 7-Up over sherbert to make punch?

Actually there are a few real recipes in here. I adore cheese blintzes so this one might be worth a try:

2 cups ready-mix for pancakes

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups 7-Up

2 T melted butter

Combine eggs and 7-Up. Add to pancake mix, stir lightly and fold in butter. Cook like regular pancakes on a griddle. Fill with cottage cheese, roll, and top with strawberry preserves and powdered sugar.

Maybe this weekend, with a bottle of 7-Up on the side, because "more and more women are serving 7-Up with food..."[italics in the original] as opposed to over the toilet bowl. Though it does say 7-Up is at home anywhere!

Why is the guy behind them doing a 'gun finger' with his left hand? Is this a painting bomb?

Eggs of Doom

All I wanted was a simple sunny side up egg. I worked late, came home, and warmed up some casserole in a bowl for dinner. All I wanted was a simple egg to top it off. I cracked an egg over the top of the leftovers and gently poked a hole in the yolk to release steam, nuked it, and took it out of the microwave when the white was just cooked and the yolk was still gooey. It looked perfect. All I wanted was a comforting egg. I ground some pepper on top and went to put a fork in the bowl before carrying it into the other room to eat.

The second I stuck the fork in, the egg exploded. I mean a BANG that brought everyone else in the house running to the kitchen and sprayed me, the cabinets, and even the ceiling with my dinner. I was so stunned it took a few seconds for me to realize that I had boiling yolk glued to my face. The second degree burns across my upper eyelid would have been a much worse prospect had the yolk landed one centimeter lower.

Apparently, the steam vent had not stayed open. Now before you say, duh, know that I had been using this following recipe for many years without incident when I wanted a quick cozy breakfast. While it isn’t old enough to be ‘vintage’ for the purposes of this blog, I’m going to include it as one that is definitely retired. I’ve never made it since the day the eggs fought back. Try it at your own peril.

Eggs in a Basket

1 slice toast

1 egg

1 slice cheese

Salt and pepper

With a small glass, remove a 2 ½ inch circle from the center of the toast. Break and egg and slip into the center of toast. Pierce yolk three times with a toothpick. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover with wax paper and cook on medium one minute or til white is almost set. Place cheese on top and cook 30-45 seconds til melted. 

Come to think of it, I do have a pair of safety goggles now...

curds and whey

You can't possibly get easier than this. One ingredient. One.

BUTTERMILK CREAM CHEESE.--A slight variation from the cottage cheeses just described is buttermilk cream cheese. This cheese is formed from the curd of buttermilk, which is finer in texture and not so likely to become tough as that formed from ordinary sour milk. To prepare buttermilk cream cheese, warm the buttermilk slowly, being careful not to allow the temperature to rise beyond 100 degrees Fahrenheit. As the milk is heated, the curd will form and will gradually sink to the bottom of the vessel. After this occurs, remove the whey and mix the curd with a little thick cream. The result will be a mixture having a delightfully creamy consistency.

Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 2, 1918.

I used a double boiler cuz I figured that would be the easiest way to control the heat. Sure enough, the buttermilk  curdled like a dream leaving behind a slightly sour/tart soft version of cottage cheese. I skipped adding the cream and cut up a very juicy sweet peach over it instead. It might have warranted a touch of sugar too but it made a lovely dinner as is. I guess that's really two ingredients. Just two.

Tacodile

Who can predict what recipe is destined to become a classic? Back in the 80s, on a visit to relatives in Oklahoma, my Aunt Linda made this layered taco dip for us and my mom promptly acquired the recipe. What was new and attention-getting then has become such a staple you can find a version ready-made in any grocery store deli section.

Taco Dip or Salad

First Layer

2 cans bean dip

Second Layer

4 mashed avocados mixed with 2 t lemon juice

Third Layer

8 oz. sour cream

½ c mayonnaise

1 pkg taco seasoning

Fourth Layer

Shredded cheddar cheese

Diced tomato

Chopped lettuce

Fast-forwarding to my daughter’s 2 birthday party, a time she was completely fascinated by Teletubbies and crocodiles--only she pronounced it “taco-dile”. So we had a polka-dotted cake made like Dipsy’s hat, tubby custard, and this layered dip shaped into a crocodile with tortilla chip scales down its back and olive claws. Hmmm, looking at it now it bears more of a resemblance to a road kill possum.

Cheese Wafers

When we lived overseas, sometimes my parents’ house looked like the United Nations. They frequently had gatherings of 30 or more people drawn from the ex-pat community, mostly fellow scholars at the university. There were British, Australian, Austrian, Nigerian, Sudanese, Iranian, Afghani, Palestinian, Egyptian, Korean, Indian, and other folks that came around regularly. My mom got this recipe from a quiet sweet Iranian woman who had fled Iran with her husband during the Revolution in 1979. She had a kind of retro Agnes Moorehead look, not as in her wild Bewitched days, but as in her 1940s film work. Speaking neither English nor Arabic, she did a lot of smiling and nodding while her husband visited at length with my father.

Persian Cheese Wafers from Mrs. Nazami

½ c melted butter

½ c yogurt

2 eggs

1 ½ c grated cheddar cheese

3 c flour

Baking powder

Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can chopped green chilies

1 pint sour cream

¾ lb monterrey jack cheese, shredded (reserve some for the top)

2 cups cooked chicken

Grease a 9x13 pan. Mix all of the above and spoon into 12 corn tortillas. Arrange seam side down in the pan, top with any extra filling and reserved cheese. Bake 350° until melted and bubbly.

Don't remember where I originally copied this one from. Make it ahead of time, freezer friendly too. And everyone loves Mexican--err..Tex-Mex...err...Mid-Western Mex...whatever--can't go wrong. Just ignore any nutritional concerns about fat or sodium.

Sandwich Ideas

The previous cookbook has a section devoted to appropriate etiquette and menus for meals, teas, picnics, etc. Sandwiches make a steady appearance in the lists, so here are some of the ideas from the recipe section, including the original recipe for a PBJ!


Open Sandwich
3 eggs
1/2 t paprika
3/4 t salt
3/4 lb bacon
3/4 lb cheese
Beat eggs until light. Add grated cheese. Add other ingredients and mix well, then spread on eight slices of bread cut 1/4" thick. Cut bacon in very thin slices the length of the slice of bread. Cover cheese with bacon ten minutes in hot oven. Garnish with parsley.


Cream Cheese and Date Sandwich
To one cream cheese add ten dates, cut fine, and one-half cup chopped nuts. Add mayonnaise dressing to spread. Put between slices of graham bread, cut thin and buttered.


Cheese Dream
Cut bread very thin. Spread with butter. Between the slices place thin slices of American cheese. Fry in butter. Turn once. Serve at once garnished with jelly. (I didn't know American cheese existed in 1929.)


Delicious sandwich
Mix together equal parts of cream cheese and apricot pulp made by pressing through a sieve stewed or canned apricots which have been well drained. Add mayonnaise dressing to taste. Spread between thin buttered slices of bread. Nuts may be added if desired.


Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam Sandwich
Spread two slices of graham bread with butter. Cover one with peanut butter and the other with strawberry jam. Fold together. Cut in half before serving.


The International Cookbook, Margaret Weimer Heywood, Merchandisers Inc., 1929

Mrs. Dresser's Cheesecake

When I was fourteen and living in Saudi Arabia, other Saudi-American families were hard to come by. Rumor had it that there were exactly eleven living in the Kingdom, and we knew four of them. One of those American wives gave me her cheesecake recipe. If Saudi-Americans were hard to come by, then cream cheese was an endangered species. Once in awhile a shipment would come in, and my mother would buy up every block and freeze them. And I would make cheesecakes. I developed quite a reputation among the expatriate community. Especially given the scarcity of the main ingredient. Somehow, there was always cheesecake at our house.

Decades later, waiting out a tornado warning in my basement, flipping idly through a dilapidated red plaid cookbook, I discovered a scrap of newspaper, carefully attached to the front page of the dessert section with masking tape, with the recipe for Mrs. Dresser’s cheesecake. I recognized the ingredients and amounts instantly. I wondered at how much distance and lifetime separated Mrs. Dresser from the cookbook’s previous nameless owner from a foreign wife from a teenage girl in Arabia churning out cheesecakes? Definitely a recipe that’s withstood the test of time and space. Oh yeah, and according to the note in the margins it “freezes too!”

Mrs. Dresser's Cheesecake

24 graham cracker squares

1/4 lb. butter, melted

24 oz. cream cheese

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

1/2 pint sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon sugar

1 can cherry pie filling

Crush crackers, mix with melted butter, press into bottom of 9 in. spring form pan. Chill while preparing filling. Beat cream cheese till fluffy. Add 2/3 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and eggs; beat well. Pour over chilled crust; bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. (Handwritten note: bake on lower shelf, takes much longer than 20 min., about 45.) Blend sour cream, one tablespoon vanilla, and one tablespoon sugar. Spoon over cake and return to oven for five minutes. Refrigerate at least overnight. Before serving, spoon pie filling over top. Serves 12.

Browsing the pages

I enjoy flipping thru the glossy pages of a new cookbook or magazine as much as the next person, but my first love is old cookbooks that are falling apart and over-stuffed files of vintage recipe cards. There you will find the handwritten notes in the margins, the yellowed newpaper recipes paper-clipped to a page, the editorial notes about quality, quantity, or even who's favorite it might be. Perhaps these messages make me feel connected to other cooks from the past: other women in other kitchens, doing their best for their families; perhaps in a world swimming with foodie opportunities they help identify what's actually worth trying (so many recipes, so little time); or perhaps they justify my own compulsive need to editorialize whenever I give out a recipe. Whatever...here they are, recipes and notes from myself and numerous anonymous cooks who have left their marks in the margins of my collection.

First Up...

Alfredo Sauce

You can substitute Neufchatel cheese for the cream cheese, and use skim milk, to make a—ha!—lower fat version.

1 stick butter

1 cup milk

1 pkg. cream cheese

1 cup freshly grated romano or parmesan cheese

Nutmeg to taste.

In a saucepan on med.low heat, melt butter in the milk, bring to a low simmer. Cut the cream cheese into chunks and melt it in the milk mixture, stirring frequently. Slowly add the cheese, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Sprinkle with nutmeg to taste. Serve over pasta, or try it on a baked potato. Also good with diced ham and peas, bacon, grilled chicken and/or chopped salami mixed in.

This recipe was given to me in the 1980s on a 3x3 piece of scratch paper by a friend who originally got it from a newspaper who originally got it from a local restaurant. Afraid I'd lose it, I copied it into a new journal I had picked up for a trip to Saudi Arabia to visit my parents and siblings. It went to the other side of the world with me, fed my family, and came back home again. I made it for my ex-husband the first time he ever came over to my house. I think he married me for it. Of course, you can’t make a sauce of love and then put it over plain old store bought pasta; try making your own fresh.