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.
Slice eggplant and salt. Let drain on paper towels for 15 to 30 minutes. Press to remove excess moisture.
Cook spinach for 5 minutes in salted water and drain. Sauté mushrooms, onion, garlic and green pepper lightly in olive oil. In ovenproof dish, layer eggplant, tomatoes, mushroom mix, cottage cheese and 3/4 cup of the mozzarella. Sprinkle basil and oregano on each layer. Season to taste. May add 1/4 cup thick white sauce if desired. Top with breadcrumbs, remainder of mozzarella and Parmesan. Place in 350ºF oven for about 20 minutes.
Heat oil and sauté onions and green peppers slowly until very limp. They need constant stirring so they do not burn. Season. Add the quartered potatoes and continue frying until potatoes get crisp brown on the outside. Season.
1 cabbage, shredded
1 T wine vinegar
2 oz. fat
1 pint sour or double cream
1 large tomato
3 or 4 green peppers
2 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
Cook the shredded cabbage in very little salted water with the quartered tomato, the seeded and sliced peppers, caraway seeds and seasoning. Cook till all vegetables are tender. Make a light roux with the flour and fat and mix it into the cooked vegetables. Stir in the cream and heat through before serving.
Brown pork with 1 of the onions in oil in large pot. Add a little water and cook until pork is done. Add sausage. Add rest of onions, green peppers, tomatoes, hot peppers and rice and combine well. Heat over low flame until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
Crunchy, chunky, savory Greek salad with olives, basil, and oregano can be eaten as a side dish or a meal in itself. Greek salad always reminds me of Anna.
Ingredients:
That looks like an olive tree in the background… (by Anna)
1 small red onion, sliced
1 large tomato, chopped
1 green pepper, in strips
1 red pepper, in strips
1 cucumber, pared and diced
2 T olive oil
1 T lemon juice or vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 T fresh basil, minced
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. thyme
Freshly ground pepper
12 large black olives
1/4 lb. feta cheese, cubed
Toss vegetables together. Mix oil, lemon juice, garlic, herbs and seasonings. Shake. Pour over vegetables and chill. Toss with feta cheese and olives and serve.
Vegan version
Easy: Just omit the feta cheese or substitute cubes or crumbles of well-drained tofu that’s been marinated in a mixture of oil, vinegar or lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic, oregano, and other herbs to your taste.
Garbriela’s Salt Cod with Peppers is a Mexican version. Here it is eaten traditionally on Christmas Eve.
3 lbs salt cod, soaked, cleaned and cubed
6 lbs.green peppers, roasted, deveined, and halved
3 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic
Fry garlic and onion until tender. Add green peppers and cook, stirring, until soft. Add the salt cod cook over low flame until done. May add a little olive oil if desired.
Don’t let salt cod recipes scare you off. Just make sure you really soak the cod for many hours and change the water often in order to get the saltiness out.
When my friend Linda and I went to Lisbon in 1991, we took a tram northiward along the coast and finally came to the end of the line. Being hungry, we went into a tiny restaurant that from the looks of it was the proprietor’s living room. No space to waste. The place was crowded. and looked like a good bet for some good food. Since one of the only things I recognized on the menu was Salt Cod, and since in Portugal it is something like the national dish, I ordered it. With wine, of course. I could not beliieve how delicious it was and I keep looking for more recipes, trying to equal what I had at the end of the tram-line.
Dredge meat cubes with flour. Season. Melt shortening in large pan. Brown meat and onions, then stir in paprika, caraway, bay and green peppers. Cook 10 minutes. Drain the sauerkraut and rinse well. Add to meat with bouillon. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until meat is tender, adding extra bouillon if necessary. When done, stir in sour cream and reheat without boiling. Serve with homemade noodles.
1 small onion or 3 green onions with tops, chopped
1 green pepper
1 stalk celery
4 radishes
1 clove garlic
3 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper
1 tsp thyme or fines herbes
Mayonnaise
1 tsp vinegar
Boil potatoes in their jackets with carrots till tender. Drain and cool. Cut potatoes into large cubes and carrots into small cubes. Steam whole zucchini until barely tender. Cool and cut into small cubes. In a bowl, combine finely chopped green pepper, celery and onions. Add seasonings, herbs and garlic. Toss together carefully with cooked and cooled vegetables, adding enough mayonnaise to moisten well. Sprinkle on vinegar (garlic or cider vinegar is best) and toss lightly. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours to let flavours penetrate. Serve topped with sliced or quartered eggs, parsley and radish slices.
Slice the onion into thin rings and cook in the hot fat till they shrivel, but do not turn brown. Wash the green peppers, take out the seed cases and the inside veins. Slice them into rings and add them to the onion in the saucepan. Fry lightly and then add the quartered tomatoes. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Put the lid on and cook very slowly till the tomatoes get – mushy and the peppers are tender. Serve hot.
Although this has no meat in it, to make it truly vegetarian and vegan friendly, substitute vegetable oil for the bacon fat or drippings! Add a sprinkle of smoked paprika for extra flavor.
