All posts by ZihGoe

Meat and Poultry

Hungarian Beef Goulash

Goulash is a rich, fragrant Eastern European stew that is excellent accompanied by homemade noodles, rice, dumplings, or potatoes.

Ingredients for Hungarian Beef Goulash

1 lb. stewing beef
2 T fat
2 sliced onions
1/2 tsp salt
1 T paprika
2 T flour
1 cup tomato puree
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup sour cream

Preparation for Hungarian Beef Goulash

In a heavy skillet or pot, sauté the stewing beef in fat over medium heat until browned. Add the sliced onions and stir until translucent. Add the salt and paprika, stirring until the paprika releases its fragrance. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for one hour. Stir frequently to prevent sticking.

Stir in flour and brown lightly. Add the tomato puree  mixed with the beef broth. Simmer for one hour longer, or until meat is tender.

Remove from heat and add the sour cream, stirring until smooth and warm.

Serve with rice, noodles, potatoes, or dumplings.

Servings: 3

Hungarian beef goulash

Meat and Poultry

Boxing Day Turkey Rice

This was always the traditional left-over-turkey dish that was made in our home on Boxing Day. Mom would make Boxing Day turkey rice in the turkey roaster and it would fill the kitchen for a second time with the rich smell of roast turkey, stuffing, and sage.

Boxing Day is December 26th, the day after Christmas. It stems from the British tradition, followed in Canada, of giving gifts to the poor after Christmas (perhaps in the form of leftover food, I’ve always thought…just like this turkey rice made of all the table leftovers from our Christmas meal)

Ingredients

  • Shredded left-over Christmas turkey meat
  • Left-over turkey stuffing, crumbled or cut into small pieces
  • Left-over Christmas dinner vegetables, diced or chopped
  • 1 can kernel corn
  • 3 carrots, cubed
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 5 chicken livers, chopped (optional)
  • 1 T sage
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 T chopped parsley
  • 2 tsp salt
  • Rice (2-1 liquid-to-rice ratio )
  • Turkey broth from bones, plus left-over gravy
  • Water as needed

Preparing Boxing Day Turkey Rice

Remove meat from turkey bones. Boil up bones until a good broth is formed, the longer, the better.

In a large roasting pan, combine all ingredients except broth and rice. Measure out enough liquid (gravy mixed with turkey broth and, if necessary, extra water) to cover all ingredients in pan well. Add rice at a 2-1 ratio and stir it all together.

Cover with foil and place in a 350ºF oven. Bake for about 1-1/4 hours or until most of liquid is absorbed, then uncover and bake more (up to about 2 hours) until the top of rice is crusty and brown.

Fish and Seafood

Chupe de Camarones

Chilean shrimp stew

1-1/2 lbs jumbo shrimp in shells
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 lb. whitefish heads and trimmings
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large tomato, chopped
1 tsp. chopped chiles
1/2 tsp oregano
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 quarts water
2 large potatoes, cubed
2 potatoes, halved lengthwise
1 lb. green peas
1/2 cup long grain rice
2 ears of corn, cut in thirds
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tbsp chopped parsley

Clean the shrimp, saving shells. In a casserole, heat the oil. Add onion, shrimp shells, fish trimmings, and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 6 minutes.

Stir in tomato, chile, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook 3 minutes. Add water and diced potatoes. Cover and simmer 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Pour into a sieve over a bowl and force through with a spoon. Discard the pulp. Return puree to casserole, bring to a boil and add potato halves and rice. Simmer for 25 minutes.

Add peas and corn. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Drop in shrimp and cook 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat eggs. Pour eggs slowly into the stew. Add milk and simmer to heat through. Season and sprinkle with parsley.

Meat and Poultry

Liver in Spanish Sauce

This was one of Mom’s standby recipes. I did not like liver until one day when I was about four. I distinctly remember sitting in the dining “nook” in the kitchen in McConnell Creek, having eaten my mashed potatoes and vegetable, pushing the little pieces of liver around my plate and trying to make it look like I was finished. I guess I’d done it before, because THIS time Dad wasn’t having any of it. He gave me an ultimatum: “I’ll go into the living room to sit on the  (Chartreuse) couch beside the (Hammond Chord) organ, and will wait for 5 minutes. When I come back, either the liver is inside your stomach, or you go to bed for the rest of the day without anything else to eat, no books, no toys.” I debated momentarily before resignedly setting into my plate. There really wasn’t all that much on it, after all–I hadn’t been served a large portion. I survived the experience and liver became one of my favorite foods. I used to hate cheddar cheese, too, if you can believe that one.

Ingredients for Liver in Spanish Sauce

  • 1 lb. sliced beef liver
  • 2 T flour
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1/4 t pepper
  • 2 T chopped onion
  • 2 T chopped green pepper
  • 1 t dried parsley
  • 1/8 t cayenne pepper
  • 2 cups canned tomatoes
  • 2 T oil or bacon drippings

Preparing Liver in Spanish Sauce

Rinse and trim liver. Dredge in flour. Brown in oil or bacon drippings. Add rest of ingredients. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove cover and let sauce thicken if desired. Serve over rice.

Soups and Stews

Sopa de Tortilla

  • 4 corn tortillas, cut in strips and crisped in hot oil
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 2 T tomato paste
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 chiles anchos, dried, whole
  • 1/2 t cumin
  • Cooked beans
  • Sliced avocado
  • Grated cheese
  • Chopped onion
  • Chopped fresh cilantro

Combine broth, tomato paste, garlic, bay, cumin and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Place 1 chile ancho and some of the fried tortillas and beans in each of four soup bowls. Pour broth on top. Top with grated cheese.

Serve with avocado, onion, cilantro, and extra cheese and beans on the side.

Cat by Kati
Cat by Kati

Appetizers

Vegetarian Liver-Style Pate

This is a vegetarian paté, although not vegan, is made with peas, beans, nuts, and hard-cooked eggs.

Ingredients for Vegetarian Liver-Style Paté

  • 4 T oil
  • 1 lb. drained peas
  • 4 hard-cooked eggs
  • 1/2 lb. fresh string beans
  • 1/4 cup walnuts
  • salt and pepper

Sauté onions in oil until golden. Chop and grind together the peas, eggs, cooked string beans, and walnuts. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with crackers.

Servings: 6

Green beans (Vegetarian Pate)

 

Fish and Seafood

Paella Alicantina

Spanish seafood paella (pilaf) from Alicante, Spain… one of the many variations.

Sea Creature, Carol, 1988
Sea Creature, Carol, 1988

  • 1 small frying chicken, cut
  • 1/4 lb fish fillets in chunks
  • 1 green pepper, cut in strips
  • 1 red pimiento, cut in strips
  • 1-1/4 cups crushed tomatoes
  • 4 artichoke hearts, halved
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 cups rice
  • 3 filaments of saffron
  • 1 small head garlic, chopped
  • 1/4 lb whole shrimp
  • 5 cups water
  • Salt

Boil chicken pieces in the water with the garlic for 10 minutes. Remove and reserve broth. Place the oil in a paella pan and fry green peppers with the shrimp for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and add chicken pieces with garlic, fish and tomato. Cook 10 minutes. Add the rice and stir for a few minutes. Add the broth, season with salt and saffron. Place green pepper, pimiento strips, artichoke hearts and shrimp on top. Cook for 20 minutes.

Many other varieties of seafood can be added: clams, mussels, crab, scallops…

Desserts and Sweets

Lemon Cheese Tarts

  • 3 eggs
  • 2 T grated lemon rind
  • 6 T lemon juice
  • 1/8 t salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 8 tart shells, baked

Beat eggs in top of double boiler until light; stir in all of the other ingredients. Cook over hot water, stirring frequently, until it thickens enough to coat a silver spoon (about 10 minutes). Chill for 30 minutes or more; pour into tart shells and chill.

Desserts and Sweets

Flan

A Mexican-style milk and egg custard with caramelized sugar similar to Creme Caramel.

  • 2-1/4 cups milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1/2 t vanilla
  • pinch of salt

Combine milk, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla. Bring to boil and cool 20 minutes.

Place remaining sugar in small pan. Over low heat, leave without stirring until sugar browns, then stir with a wooden spoon until melted and caramel colored. Pour quickly into a 1-quart ceramic mold and swirl to cover bottom.

Beat together the eggs, yolks and salt; beat in milk. Strain to remove foam.

Pour into mold. Tie buttered waxed paper and foil on top. Cover with lid. Pour boiling water in a steamer pan to just below rack. Cover steamer. Cook 1-1/4 hours.

Cool completely. Invert to serve so caramel is on top.

Beverages

Singapore Sling

  • juice of 1/4 lemon
  • 1 oz dry gin
  • 2 oz cherry brandy
  • soda water
  • ice
  • maraschino cherry

Combine lemon juice, gin and brandy over ice. Top with soda water. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

The Singapore Sling was the first “real drink” I ever had, coming into my life soon after big mugs of hot milk with a splash of coffee. They were served regularly when Uncle Alex was visiting us. In fact, I always had a sneaking suspicion that Dad was pretty distracted by his brother at those times because when he was making my drink, he always would forget to take the top off the gin bottle when he poured…