Jul 28
Tarrant FiglioRecipes, Vegetables, retro food
My 14-year-old got excited about this recipe when she saw it. What isn’t to love about corn fritters? Corn, deep-frying, a doughnut disguised as a vegetable.
Another recipe from “My Favorite Maryland Recipes”
2 cups corn, fresh or canned (of course, true Silver Queen fresh off the vine works best)
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, well beaten
1 teaspoon melted butter
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder for frying
Chop corn very fine, add salt, pepper, egg, butter, milk, flour and baking powder. Mix well. Fry in hot deep fat, 1 tablespoon batter for each fritter. Serve with strips of fried bacon or with brandy sauce. (I just dusted mine with powdered sugar.)
Jul 27
Tarrant FiglioBreads
My childhood best friend, Beth Carey, had a grandmother from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I spent a lot of time with her after Beth’s mother died of breast cancer, just before Beth and I entered 6th grade. Her grandmother spent a good bit of time caring for Beth and her brothers and painting a fabulous mural on the wall of their living room. I spent a lot of time at Beth’s house and it mostly was a fend for yourself affair. Every so often beaten biscuits made by Beth’s grandmother appeared. Beth-always delighted. Me? Not so much. I preferred the fluffy southern biscuits of my mother’s southern heritage. A drop biscuit even. These hard overgrown crackers? Not so much.
Of course, the thing about growing up is realizing why these were special to Beth and more why so many people love them. I have to admit, every so often I get a craving for beaten biscuits and wish Beth’s grandmother was around to make some.
This recipe is not quite the same of course. Grandmothers add love and magic to foods-and this is just a recipe from “My Favorite Maryland Recipes”, 1964. They work though. Of course, you do have to beat the love into them and it is more than a good workout to make them.
Maryland Beaten Biscuits
2 pounds flour
6 ozs lard
scant teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 cup cold water
pinch baking soda, size of pea (no larger)
Work all ingredients together well, have dough stiff. Beat 20 minutes with iron mallet. To shape biscuits, squeeze dough through hole made by thumb and forefinger, pinch off and pat down a little. Place on baking sheet and prick three times with fork. Bake in oven about 400 for 25 minutes.
Jul 26
Tarrant FiglioSalads
Bacon! That should be enough to grab your attention. Wilted salad can sound so blah though if you have either not had one or have only had a really wilted one (which makes it icky in my opinion).
This recipe makes 6 servings of salad. Best made fresh and served immediately. Do expand the image to read some interesting history of wilted salads. This came from The Evening Sun, but no idea what year.
Wilted Lettuce Salad
8 strips bacon
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 quarts torn leaf lettuce
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
8 minutes cooking time. Cook bacon in 10-inch skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 6 minutes. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon and set aside. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons bacon drippings. Combine vinegar, water, sugar and salt with the 3 tablespoons bacon drippings. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, about 2 minutes. Combine lettuce, onions, and bacon in large serving bowl. Add hot vinegar mixture and toss to coat lettuce. Garnish with hard-cooked eggs and serve at once.
Jul 25
Tarrant Figlioretro food
A hand written recipe tucked into a cookbook of my mothers and in her hand. I have a crab allergy, but would sneak a bite every so often. She didn’t make it often because my father also did not eat seafood.
Crab Casserole
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 c. milk
2 hard boiled eggs-minced
1 lb crabmeat
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp parsley-minced
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 c. breadcrumbs
cracker crumbs
Melt butter–Add flour, stir to smooth. Add parsley, mustard, lemon juice, salt, pepper, milk and stir until browned. Add crab meat (shrimp, lobster) and eggs and stir until mixed. Remove from heat and when cool, place in casserole. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Dot with butter and paprika. Bake at 350 until warmed through.
Jul 17
Tarrant Figlioretro food
This isn’t retro at all. I have seen these from the beginning of time, but this one came on the back of a pad from a local plumber last week–a grocery reminder list. Not a bad list, but not a soy product on there or even much of what we end up picking up at the grocery store. Baby supplies is a grocery. Wieners is deli, but hot dogs is meat.
I am also bemused by being able to pick up incontinents at the store. I already have one of those at our house–as you can read in my post Caregiving Surprise on my review blog. Go over and read it and enter a caregiver you know for a chance at a cruise. More importantly, read the rest of the great posts on the topic. All of them are really touching and wonderful.
Jul 08
Tarrant FiglioMeat, Recipes, retro food
I am not sure whose famous barbecued meatballs are but based on the tattered look to the recipe they were someone’s favorite. I am getting better with the grill though still getting teased about char by my family. Oh well. These don’t require a grill and thus are immune to teasing by family.
I leave out the additional salt-the seasoned salt, Worcestershire sauce and celery all add enough saltiness for our house.
Famous Barbecued Meatballs
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 small onion, minced
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups diagonally sliced celery
Blend all ingredients, form into balls using 1 tablespoon of mixture per ball. Place in a greased shallow pan or cookie sheet with edges (to catch the grease). Bake at 350 degrees about 20 minutes. This is so much easier than browning in a skillet. Drain cooked meatballs carefully on paper towels before putting into sauce.
Sauce
1 onion minced
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup catsup
3/4 cup water (may need more later)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 teaspoon salt
Saute onion in butter; add remaining ingredients and simmer 10 minutes. Place meatballs in sauce; simmer 15 minutes. Serve hot with toothpicks.
Jul 07
Tarrant FiglioVegetables, retro food
There comes a time in summer when all the fresh sliced tomatoes, tomato salads, tomatoes eaten like apples gets old. But, tomato season runs all too fast to turn up the fresh, wonderful, farmer’s market tomatoes. Time to add something else to the mix…like baked tomatoes. This recipe works perfectly with the overripe tomatoes as well as the not quite ripe tomatoes.
Baked Tomatoes
4 large tomatoes
Salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon minced onion
2 tablespoons each fresh chopped basil and dill
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 cup bread crumbs
4 teaspoons butter
Remove stem ends from tomatoes without cutting flesh. Cut tomatoes in half horizontally. Set cut-side-up in a shallow baking dish or casserole. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, onion, herbs, toasted bread crumbs. Dot with butter. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Makes 4 servings.
Jul 06
Tarrant FiglioCake, Desserts, Recipes
Everyone seems to serve angel food cake with strawberries. I am not a strawberry fan. There…I confessed it. I only like small, homegrown strawberries warm from the sun and very ripe.
I love the fact this version, found taped in the front of an old cookbook uses grapes or blueberries as the topping. The sour cream/brown sugar mixture is a nice change of pace from pudding or whipped cream.
Wash and chill about one pound of seedless green grapes (or blueberries). Mix 2 cups cold sour cream with 1 cup brown sugar. Stir until well dissolved; fold in chilled grapes. Put on top of cake, filling center completely and running down sides decoratively. Serve immediately; cake tastes better when topping is cold.
Jun 23
Tarrant Figlioretro food
.Yes, there is such a thing. I am not entering though-so tempting.
Read more at Swissmiss.
Jun 21
Tarrant Figlioretro food
I got a grill for Father’s Day. It is a propane grill. I have never used a propane grill.
There are issues. Tips? Recipes? How not to char everything?
Older Entries
My 14-year-old got excited about this recipe when she saw it. What isn’t to love about corn fritters? Corn, deep-frying, a doughnut disguised as a vegetable.
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