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Flowers For Socrates 
Hungarian Tomato Soup with Egg Dumplings
1 small can good quality tomato paste
4 cups chicken stock
4 to 6 cups water
4 big cloves garlic, pressed
8 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1/4 cup flour
1tbsp. Hungarian paprika
Salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper blend.
Large bay leaf
1 Tsp. basil or a bit of fresh basil.
Sour cream.
Dumplings
3 large or extra large eggs, beat
Start with one cup flour, add teaspoons to make dough consistency of thick pudding
Dash of salt
Mix well, refrigerate
Start with the roux ( called einbren in German)
In a largish pot add olive oil (my mother made her roux with oil) or butter and the 1/4 cup flour and the minced garlic
Toast the garlic and flour over medium heat to golden color, or darker of you like a stronger flavor, but don’t scorch it!
Add the paprika, toast it for a few seconds, scorches quickly.
Add broth and water
Add bay leaf and basil, a couple of grinds of pepper, stir well, bring to boil, turn down immediately to low simmer.
Let simmer for about half an hour, or longer if you’re busy.
Ok tricky part here.
Take dumpling dough out of fridge
Bring soup back to boil
With a teaspoon drop dumpling dough in soup, the dough should cover just tip of teaspoon. Immerse the teaspoon with dough into the soup, it will release the dumpling dough easily. Work fast until all the dumplings have been immersed. Don’t worry if some stick to bottom of pot for a minute. Just take a spatula and gently lift them. Turn soup back down to low simmer and cover. Cook until dumplings are soft about 20 minutes. Depends on how thick your dumpling dough is to begin with. You wan the dough to be thick enough not to fall apart in the soup, but not so thick they take an hour to cook. Before serving, drop a teaspoon of sour cream in each serving.
My daughters have mastered the egg dumpling, finally. They’ve served this peasant soup to their guests and have had many compliments. It was a simple dinner my mother would make on wash days. She served it with palacinka, which are crepes. We spread jam on them and rolled them up. Sometimes she would fill them with sweetened ricotta cheese and bake them. I preferred the jam. In the old country, Croatia, the Donauschwaben( ethnic Germans who emigrated to the Austro-Hungarian lands in the 1700s) would have many meals that were meatless. Especially on busy wash days.
Oh yes, if the dumpling dough is too thin add more flour, if too thick add another egg. Dumpling makers already know this, I’m sure. 😀
This one’s for Blouise!
“Cashew Crack”
(Highly addictive)
Ingredients:
2 cups salted cashews (halves and pieces)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick salted)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
Directions:
1. Heat the cashews on a non-stick baking sheet in the oven (toaster oven) at 200 degrees F. This warms the peanuts so they don’t cool the candy too quickly when added later.
2. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter.
3. Add the sugar and corn syrup; simmer, stirring occasionally until the mixture reaches 300 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
4. As the mixture rises in temp, you’ll notice the bubbles lessen in frequency and the color will turn from white to a golden brown. When the mixture reaches 300 degrees F, add the cashews and stir until coated. Pour out mixture onto the baking sheet and spread out. When cool break into chunks. Store in a covered container.
Should read: “this warms the cashews…”
Also, best results if you use an induction cook top with which you can precisely control the temperature.
Reisa’s Cheese Cake
CAKE:
Mix Together:
1 pound cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Butter a pie pan or spring form pan
Bake 350 degrees or until the middle is dry and brown
Cool 10 minutes or until the center falls in
TOPPING:
Mix together
1 pint sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pour over cake leaving the edge showing so that it looks like a crust
Bake 15 minutes
I don’t cook this anymore because it is loaded with stuff I am trying to avoid. But the recipe is pretty effective. Even a guy like me can produce something that looks and tastes like… well… cheese cake.
Bob,
Excellent!
I requested an induction cooktop for Mother’s Day and am given to understand that one has been purchased so during the week following Mother’s Day the first recipe I try will be Crack.
I will return next week with my killer lasagna sauce but right now don’t have access to my cookbooks as Tex and I are traveling while the interior of our house is being painted, shampooed, and given a thorough cleaning.
Arggg! I forgot to mention to add the can of tomato paste to the liquid. I bet y’all guessed that.
For summer, a marvelous cold soup that is easy-easy and refreshing. Excellent accompaniment to a hollowed out fresh tomato stuffed with either tunnafish or chicken salad :
Cold Cucumber Soup
1 can (103/4 0z) cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, sliced (I use an English cucumber [ http://files.recipetips.com/images/glossary/c/cucumber_english.jpg ] so don’t have to worry about seeds and I leave a bit of peel for color)
1 cup sour cream
Dash of curry powder
Dash of minced onion
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend well. Chill then serve in chilled cups. Occasionally I add some well drained cocktail shrimp just before serving. One can also garnish with very thin slices of cucumber.
4-5 servings
Gene’s Quick Chili
1 lb. ground beef (85/15) or chili ground beef (usually 80/20 unless you custom order it from the butcher), if you’re not going to use beans or hominy, use 2 lbs. of beef.
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 medium or 1 whole small onion, diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 quart chicken broth
2 Knorr Beef Stock packages
2 tbs. chili powder (your choice of blend)
1 tsp. ground cumin plus 1/4 tsp. set aside
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup flour or 2 tbsp. corn starch
Optional: 1 can, drained, of black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans or white hominy.
In a 4 quart pot, add chicken broth, beef stock, diced tomatoes with liquid, chili powder, 1 tsp. of cumin. Add beans or hominy.*
Bring to simmer over medium/low heat.
In a large skillet, brown the beef with the onions and garlic. About half way through the cooking process, add the 1/4 tsp. cumin, black pepper and salt. Brown and drain excess oil off if necessary (often not with the 85/15). Add beef mixture to pot. Simmer for an hour minimum.
About 10 minutes before serving, take flour or cornstarch and make a slurry with equal parts of the cooking liquid. Add back to pot. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes. Serve.
Optional toppings: saltine crackers, grated cheese, sour cream, green onions, diced jalapenos, or whatever your lil’ heart desires.
*Notes: I suggest trying the hominy if you are serving to someone with a problem digesting beans or just to experiment. I usually make mine with black or pinto beans, but I tried the hominy (borrowing the idea from the traditional Mexican posole) when making it for a special needs guest and it works like a charm. I suggest the white hominy though. I’ve tried it with yellow and I thought the taste was strong enough to really alter the taste profile of the soup whereas the white hominy brought a milder flavor change but retained much of the chew of the replaced beans.
One of the keys to this quick version is the chicken stock and Knorr Beef Stock (the small “gel” packs). Don’t skimp on the quality of ingredients there. It really bumps the flavor to where it is comparable to a slow cooked version of the dish. Avoid bouillon though as the result will be too salty. Only use ground beef as this cook time will not allow enough time for any diced cut beef to properly breakdown braising enough to be tender.
The slurry choice is a matter of preference, but remember to bring it to a boil after adding it back to the soup. Both flour and corn starch have to come to a boil to properly thicken, but usually the flour requires a bit more cook time not to “taste raw”.
Black-eyed Pea Salad
3/4 pound dried black-eyed peas*
1 med. yellow onion, diced
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1/4 pound of bacon, chopped
2 tbs. olive oil
1 cup diced ham (any kind will do, but I suggest tasso)
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
2 bunches green onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley (flat or curly, your preference), chopped
Dressing
1 tsp. dry mustard (suggest Coleman’s)
2/3 cup olive oil
1 tbs. lemon juice
1 tbs. white wine vinegar**
Put peas in a 4 quart pot with twice the volume of cold water. Add onions, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender (30-35) minutes. Test frequently towards end of cooking, you don’t want the peas over cooked. When done but firm, drain and spread out on a sheet pan to cool.
In a 12 inch skillet, fry bacon until almost crisp. Drain the fat, remove the bacon (a metal strainer works great for this). Set aside.
Add 2 tbs. of olive oil to the pan. Add ham, celery and red bell pepper. Saute for ~ 3 minutes. Allow to cool. Put in large bowl with cooled peas, bacon, green onions and parsley.
In a smaller bowl, make the dressing. Whisk the dry mustard with half (1 tbs.) of the olive oil until lump free. Add remaining oil and ingredients. Mix until emulsified. Fold dressing into the salad. Refrigerate 4-6 hours before serving, folding the salad a couple times while chilling.
Serves 6-8.
* You can make this with canned peas, but I do not recommend it. Texture is important in this salad and overcooked peas (which canned often are) ruin the dish.
** If you like vinegars, you might want to experiment with different types in the dressing. A variation on this salad I’ve made before substitutes red wine vinegar, substitutes 1/2 cup of diced red onion in place of the green onions and adds 1/2 cup of diced or crumbled feta cheese to the salad for a more Mediterranean spin on the dish.
Note on dicing/chopping: This sounds like an installment of the old Phil Hartman “Anal Retentive Chef” skits, but when making a salad of this sort, I find that chop size matters. Try to get your dice to where the vegetables and ham are all about the same size as the peas. It sounds a little squirrely, but it makes for a better texture in the finished product.
This pecan pie recipe is similar to many. But it is not fussy and works reliably, which is an important consideration for cooks like me. If you find the edge of the pie shell tends to get over-done, a little aluminum foil around the edge works to slow down the browning during cooking. A little experimentation will give a pie cooked all the way through with a golden crust.
Aunt Ruth’s Pecan Pie – Makes 2 pies
1 cup sugar
2 cups corn syrup (one bottle) Use the regular light-color corn syrup, but not light-calorie.
1 stick margarine or butter
½ teaspoon salt
6 eggs, beaten
1-2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups pecans, broken pieces
2 deep dish pie shells, unbaked – I use 9 inch pie pans.
Combine sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a saucepan and cook over low heat until syrup boils, stirring as it cooks. Add hot syrup a little at a time to the beaten eggs, stirring constantly. (Make certain you do a little at the time so you will not get scrambled eggs from the hot syrup). Stir in pecans and then vanilla. Pour into two pie shells. (Make certain your pecans are evenly split between the two pies.) Preheat oven to 400*. Start the pies at 400*, after 10 minutes reduce temperature to 375* and continue to bake an additional 35-40 minutes.
Mom said she taps the center of the pie to make certain it is done and the center does not jiggle.
Note: If you find that your pie weeps (clear liquid runs from the pie) after it is cooled, then you need to cook it a little longer next time.
Carterbo’s BBQ Sauce
8 Bacon slices chopped
1 Onion chopped
1 Green bell pepper chopped
1 Red bell pepper chopped
3 Anaheim chilies seeded skin removed and chopped
2 Tomatoes chopped
4 Garlic cloves chopped
½ Cup apple cider vinegar
¾ Cup honey
1 8oz. jar of chili sauce. I use hot Oriental garlic chili sauce
1 Small can tomato paste
½ Cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. chili powder – I like to use Gephart’s
Brown the bacon until crisp in a large sauce pan. Add the onion, peppers, cook for 3 minutes then add tomato and garlic and continue to cook until the onion is translucent. Add the vinegar and reduce by half. Add remaining ingredients, stir well and simmer over low heat stirring occasionally for 1 hour or until the sauce thickens. Puree in small batches and use. I like it served warm. Enjoy!