Nana Cooks

I guess every family has secrets. Some are so well kept they just pass out of memory. Some go on for years and then –zap– there you are caught by surprise at some one’s distant knowledge, when suddenly a secret is brought to your attention.

 I think there are at least two type of family secrets: the one’s that are family skeletons that tend to rattle people when talked about, and the type that cause you to wonder, “what’s is all the secrecy about?” I’m certain my family has a few skeletons, but the one I’m writing about is the latter type.
And NO ONE talked about it for over 60 years, but here it is: I’m 1/4 Irish. Is that a joke? Who could possible care?! But somehow my family cared.

But for me it quickly became funny!

I learned this gem a few years back from my elderly aunt. Turns out my grandmother’s [the one with the tobacco farm] parents came over from Ireland. Exactly how they arrived in this country isn’t clear. Grandma’s marriage to a gentleman with English background made my mother 1/2 Irish. Which she never mentioned.
It was the “never mentioning” that kinda’ surprised me. You would think it would have come up in conversation. Like when my sister married a man who was 100% Irish. Or when Kennedy was elected President, or when he went to Ireland, or when he died.
But, nada from any family member until recently. Because it was so not talked about and we were  led to believe that we were 100% English, my sister and I were quite surprised. Actually, my sister was a little dismayed, but I believe she is reconciled to the information. Now it is a reason for laughter and amazement.

 I’m Irish!!   But before we don too much green–my family colour would be orange. So I’ll go on celebrating St Patrick’s Day the way I always have–I’ll keep a secret and wear green!

To help celebrate this great day, I have an easy, quick, and very good soup to share. Of course it is Irish potato soup. Does anyone else remember when all white potatoes were called Irish potatoes? I am also adding a recipe for Irish soda bread. This has got to be the easiest bread to make, and is surprisingly good.

So, as you enjoy St Patrick’s Day you can quickly whip up an Irish soup, and if you’ve planned a little, real Irish bread. All from a women who’s really Irish–at least a little.

Potato Soup 

I first made this soup when my kids were very young.  It was quick and easy, and everyone liked it.  I have no idea where I got the recipe, or how much I may have changed it from the original. But as with most soup, you can vary the amount of each item to suit your need. I will give amounts in general terms. Cooking hint: try a product called “Better Than Bullion” when you need broth.  Easy to store, easy to measure, and excellent taste.

* 4 – 5 Irish potatoes

* 1 – 2 onions [any type but red]

* 3 – 4 peeled carrots

* 1 – 2 stalks of celery

*  some butter

* 1 large can of condensed milk

*  water for cooking

*   you may add 1 cup broth–can be chicken or vegetable–don’t over do broth

 

Chop the carrots and celery into small pieces.  Heat a heavy bottomed pot and add  one or two tablespoons of butter.  Stir in carrots and celery. Cook for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Chop onion rather small, and add to carrot and celery mix and cook another 5 minutes. Stir.

Peel and chop potatoes into half inch cubes.  Add to pot and just  cover with water and broth. Cook until potatoes are done.  Add can of  milk. 

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Turn off heat ands let soup rest for 5 minutes.

Soup’s on! 

The Soda Bread also has a secret:  it is actually a very large biscuit.  But it is a good biscuit, makes wonderful toast- with butter,or cheese,or French! And so very, very easy. I understand you can fancy this up by adding 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of raisins, but I did mine plain–with great success.

After cooking this bread, it should be wrapped in a damp cloth and allowed to rest and settle for 8 hours.  It is best that way.  I tried it while fresh from the oven, and it was quite good then too.  The wrapping made it even better.  I kept it stored in a tightly closed container after the initial wrapping and was able to enjoy it for days.

This is from”The Fannie Farmer Cookbook”, 13th edition.

 

* 4 cups flour

* 1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt

* 1 teaspoon baking soda

* 2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375*. Grease a baking sheet or a cake pan.  I liked the cake pan.  Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix with a fork.  Add buttermilk and stir quickly until mixture  holds together. Place on a slightly floured surface and knead for about 30 seconds.  [Everything in this is done quickly--because the only leavening action is between the soda and the buttermilk- and it happens fast.] Place  the dough in cake pan in a slightly rounded mass and slice an X on top. [this is supposed to let the devil out--but most likely allows for proper cooking of a large loaf.]  Cook for about  40 -50- minutes, until it is nicely brown.  The X will have opened.  Let it cool, and then wrap in a slightly damp towel for at least  8 hours. 

The soup and the bread are good and make a wonderful supper on any weeknight–any time of the year.  And both bread and soup last for several days.  Wonderful.

I hope you enjoy cooking–and get lots of compliments in the kitchen!

Have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day–no matter what colours you wear!

 

 

 

I come from Southern families. We love biscuits. I think it is just part of being from the South. Bagels, yep, we’ve learned to like them, but fix them? Not so much. But biscuits, we understand.

 

My daughter,Enslow, who now lives in New York City makes biscuits. Once while I was visiting, she served cheese toasted biscuits and I wondered out loud,” Are we the only people that do this”? Her thinking was that we were the ony people who made biscuits that you could put cheese on.

 

I know that’s not true, but I know we go way back with biscuits. My mother, one of 15 children on the tobacco farm, often spoke of making biscuits before leaving for school. These biscuits would be part of every family meal that day and also food for the field hands. I think the number started at 50, but over the years, I believe it got to about 500. In another story she explained how you cleaned your patent leather shoes with old biscuits. Made them shine. Maybe it was the lard.

 

My father was raised in a really small town,and his family also loved biscuits. Actually the family member that was most found of them was Remus, the hound dog that belong to my uncle. Remus would catch,swallow, and catch again, as quickly as you could throw them. He was a great delight to watch. My uncle often visited the Angle Inn just outside of town, and Remus liked to join him. Feeling badly that his great dog had to sit outside while he enjoyed his beer, my uncle would call the local cab driver and send Remus home. It was wonderful to see the cab pull up in front of Big Mama’s house and the cabbie let Remus out. Life was slower then. And it was a small town.

 

All of my mother’s sisters could cook. I know with so much work and so many helpers, my Grandma quit cooking as soon as she could. No problem. Everyone was a great cook. We lived on my Gradma’s farm for a few years. My sister, Barbara, and I became accustomed to good country food.

 

But time passes and soon it was the early ’50’s and the things -they were a changing. We moved to a different small town and  only got to visit the country.  And they changed there too. Barbara  remembers with dismay the first time she saw Myrtilla, a great bread maker, open a cardboard “can” of biscuits. The world stopped. Actually part of it had. These women, who had cooked for so long, and worked so hard in kitchens and in the fields, now had companies presenting them with prepared food in the grocery store.  Hallelujah! Free at last! Who could blame them. But some of us missed the real biscuits.

 

But I also understand Time and the choices we make when we spend it. And I’ve used “canned biscuits”. They are still awful. But I think today’s shoppers are trying to be more authentic in food and cooking, and still have good food with out too much time preparing.

 

So I did my own small study of what’s available in the biscuit line. We[Bruce, my husband, and I] tried 4 different types:

Canned

Bisquik

From scratch

Frozen

My Aunt Lacy’s Angel Biscuits

The last recipe was written down for me by my Aunt Lacy, my mother’s sister.  She kinda’ gave me  a list of the ingredients, wrote refridgerator and wrote bake.  I filled in the rest.  Lacy was a great cook.  I used the bowl given to me by her twin, Lena, as my mixing bowl.  Family things mean a great deal to me. So, this is a tribute to all those wonderful cooks in my mother’s family–this time it’s mostly for Lacy.

Here are the recipes and our evaluations.
Fair warning, Bruce and I see and taste food quite differently.

Canned biscuits:  just say NO.  they are all awful, and have strange words in them.

Bisquik:  Bruce liked them, thought they had flavour; I thought they were way too dry, and crumbled when trying to open. Did not hold up well over night-even more dry. Still better than can

From scratch: Bruce thought they need salt; I liked them, thought they “opened” well, toasted well and held up the next morning as a cold biscuit; took 13 minutes to fix before cooking.

Frozen; Used Pillsbury Southern Style: we both liked them; really easy to fix–only need cooking time; hold up reasonably well overnight and toast well next day. You can cook as few as one and save the rest.

Lacy’s Angel Biscuits:  Oh good grief. Really, really good. We both loved them.  Great taste, opens well, holds up well over night. wonderful alone, with butter, honey, jelly, cheese.  This is the ONE. Absolutely great. The most time to fix, but oh so worth it if you want a great biscuit. But you need to commit to the bit of extra time and planning.  And the recipe makes about 3 dozen.  Maybe a party for this, or good neighbours, or lots of freezer room. I have great neighbours–who really liked them too–and a freezer. I’ll let you know how well they keep over time.

Two recipes:

Notes:

Don’t mess with the dough too much.  It will make the biscuits tough.

You may have a favourite biscuit recipe or a favourite mom to ask. This is the one I used, and I liked it enough to try it again. There is an art to biscuit making. And it takes a little practice.

From the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, 13th edition

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

2/3 cup of buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425*F.  Grease two 8 inch cake pans. Put flour, salt baking powder, sugar and baking soda in a large bowl. Stir with a fork.

Cut the shortening into the dry mixture with two knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Pour milk in all at once and stir just until the dough forms a ball in the bowl.Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead 14 times.  Pat until 1/2 inch thick. Cut into rounds and place in cake pans with sides touching. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

 

And now The Recipe:

Lacy’s  Angel Biscuits;

* 5 cups flour

* 1 package active dry yeast

* 2 tablespoons warm water [this is for the yeast]

* 2 cups buttermilk

* 2 teaspoons baking powder

* 1 teaspoon baking soda

* 1 tablespoon salt

* 1 cup shortening

   The dough needs to be kept in the refrigerator over night or for about 8-9 hours. This is the extra time and planning part.

Have all the necessary ingredients out on the counter.  Then mix the yeast with the water and set on counter. Combine ALL of the dry ingredients. Stir with a fork. Add shortening. Cut it in with two knives or a pastry cutter. Dump in yeast mixture and buttermilk all at once. I turned the dough in a bowl, but it can be kneaded on a lightly floured surface about 15 times. Pat it into a ball and place in a bowl.  Cover with a cloth and a plate. Put in refrigerator.

Wait.

Take out of refrigerator and pat or roll  into a 1/2 inch round. [learn to measure 1/2 inch by your index finger]cut with biscuit cutter.  I like slightly smaller biscuits than some, but choose your size and cut away. Place on ungreased cookie sheets-have them touching. Put in a 400* oven  for about 18 minutes. This makes a lot of biscuits–really good ones.

Please just try this recipe.  It is fun and wonderful.  As I have done the cooking research for this post, I have learned a great deal about biscuits. Something like a biscuit was one of the first items early people learn to cook over a fire.  And here we are still cooking them.

Cooking is a pleasure–it is also a human gift.

 

 

 

Some times there are nice surprises and sometimes you get socked.  As I was finishing last week’s blog about chickens, I realized I really didn’t feel well. Surprise! Turns out I had the flu–even with shots. Seems I can always find a stray strain out there. But now it is a new week and I have a great recipe to share!

This one has eggs, would make a super, super brunch main dish – just pair it with a vegetable or fruit salad and the guest will rave. Or cut the recipe in half and have it for supper for two.  Wonder if it could be reduce further and be a meal for one?  If you try that , do let me know.
This is not my recipe–I got it from Cooking Light Magazine, January/February edition, 2010. It is on page 198.

 I want to make several observations; I have cooked this dish several times. Once was for a group, using the regular recipe  and once for just my husband and me, cutting the recipe in half . It is easily halved.  So it makes a very nice dinner for two. And it is simple to make.

I also feel that it really helps if you pre -heat the potatoes in the microwave for several minutes. It starts the cooking process and I think that’s good. Ok, here it is–a hearty casserole.

Rosti Casserole with Baked Eggs [extra points for all who know what a rosti is!]

 

1 & one/fourth cups fat free Greek-style yogurt [ I used regular Greek yogurt]
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1& 1/2 grated peeled turnip [about 8oz, 2 small]
1&1/4 cups shredded Gruyere cheese[you can use smoked Gruyere. Also Trader Joe's has the best price on Gruyere cheese]
1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 cup chives [once I used minced onion--it worked]
1& 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 [30-ounce]package shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed[Ore-Ida is good]
Cooking spray
8 large eggs
Chopped chives-optional
Freshly ground black pepper-optional

 

1    Preheat oven to 400*
2   Combine yogurt and flour in large bowl, stirring well.
3    Add grated turnip, cheese,butter, chives,salt, black pepper, nutmeg and potatoes to yogurt mixture. [ Remember to preheat the potatoes  in a microwave. they should not be really hot--just warm.
4    Coat your casserole dish with cooking spray and spread potato mixture into a 13 X 9 -inch baking dish.[ If you are making half the recipe, use smaller baking dish.]
5    Bake at 400* for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
6   Remove from oven
7    Using a large spoon, make 8 indentations in top of potato mixture.
8    Crack one egg into each indentation and return to oven
9    Bake for 8 more minutes or until egg whites are firm and yokes barely move
10  Remove from oven and cut into 8 piece’s
11   Garnish with chives and black pepper if desired
12  Serve immediately

Serving size 1 piece. {Everybody gets an egg!]

You can serve with  lovely toast, vegetable, or fruit salad. It is good.

 The serving of food is one way people show they understand what it is to be human.