Pat's Red Hot Peppers

Pat Wilson grew these hot red peppers over the summer. They look so beautiful and festive in the jar, I thought they deserved a photo. There are a few brave guests in my house who enjoy eating them straight out of the jar, I plan to grind them and use them in my chili. Awesome peppers!!

Crab Cakes

Ingredients

1 8oz jar Boss Crab Meat
1/2 cup crushed saltine crackers
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 egg
1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1 tablespoon Worcester Sauce
1 dash Tobasco Sauce
Vegetable Oil for frying







Directions

Spread the crab meat out in a flat pan and sprinkle the crushed saltines over the top.
In a small bowl, mix  1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce and a dash of Tobasco Sauce.

Pour the mayonnaise mixture over the crab meat and gently toss or fold the ingredients together, taking care not to break up the lumps of crab meat.
Let the mixture sit for 2-3 minutes. before forming cakes.

Form the cakes by hand into about 3 inches in diameter and 3/4 inches thick. Do not pack the mixture too firmly.
The cakes will be loose yet still hold their shape.
Place the cakes on a tray lined with parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Prepare to fry, pour vegetable oil into skillet and heat, it is important to have the oil hot,
Saute crab cakes until golden brown.
Gently remove and place on a paper towel to drain.
Serve immediately with tartar sauce (Ken’s tartar sauce is very good).

Tartar Sauce

Ingredients
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup finely chopped dill pickles
1/4 cup minced onion
2 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon pickle juice

Mix all ingredients together or buy a good tartar sauce, Ken’s is excellent

Zaatar Pita Chips

Ingredients






2 cups of zatar
4 flat tablespoons of sumac
1 cup of lemon juice
4 cups olive oil
1 Package of thin Pita Bread

Directions

Preheat oven to 325  degrees Fahrenheit

Place 2 cups zaatar in a bowl








 

Add 4 tablespoons of sumac.













Mix in 4 cups olive oil.
Mix thoroughly, density should be
liquidy so, if needed, add a little
more oil to reduce density. Density
of zatar mixture should be to your taste.

Some people like it thicker. Stir in
1 cup lemon juice. Fresh lemon
juice or Real Lemon works fine too.













Split the pita bread and place
the two rounds on a large baking pan.

Spoon the zatar mixture on to the bread and then brush the mixture on to opened pita bread with a small brush

Put in oven, when the edges turn brown, remove from oven and place on 2 layers of paper towels for absorption of extra oil. Let cool a little and enjoy.
Stack the baked pita bread with paper towels between each piece.

Vincent Price's Cheese Cake

Spring form cake pan coated with graham cracker crumbs

Cheese Cake

This is from Vincent Price’s Cookbook, now out of print, but a fabulous recipe book. His cheese cake is unusually light, not dense
or heavy. I make this every Thanksgiving, it freezes well so I make this ahead of time. Cheese cake can be made up to a month ahead and kept in the freezer.

I doubled Vincent Price’s recipe so I used a 12 inch spring form cake pan instead of an 8 inch pan. (the doubled recipe also works well with a 2 smaller pan, a 10 inch and a 9 1/4 inch cake pan)
Using a 12 inch spring form cake pan, grease the inside
of the pan with 2 tablespoons butter and then coat the
butter with graham cracker crumbs. Coat the sides first
by turning the pan on its side, and shake the pan so the
crumbs can stick, keep turning the pan and add more
crumbs as needed. When the sides are well coated, shake

a light coating of crumbs onto the bottom of the pan. Put
spring form cake pan in freezer for at least 30 minutes.
If you want to make this recipe with an 8 inch cake pan,
cut the ingredient amounts in half.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter                                   

Showing baked cheese cake standing in a shallow pan filled with 1 inch water

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
24 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
8 egg yolks (reserve the egg whites)
4 tablespoons flour
3 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit
Put 24 oz cream cheese in a large bowl and let it come to room temperature.

Pour 4 cups heavy cream in a saucepan and heat over low heat, not allowing the cream to boil.

In a separate bowl, separate 8 egg yolks and the egg white.Add the egg yolks to the cream cheese. Reserve the 8 egg whites in a separate bowl.
To the cream cheese and egg yolks, add 1 1/2 cups sugar, 4 tablespoon flour, 3 teaspoons vanilla and 1 teaspoon salt. Beat thoroughly until with an electric mixer until mixture is smooth and creamy.

Turn speed to lowest and gradually pour in 4 cups scalded cream

Beat the  8 egg whites until stiff but not dry.
Add to cream cheese mixture and fold the egg whites in lightly.

Pour mixture into prepared spring form cake pan, then set pan in a shallow pan containing 1 inch of hot water.
Bake in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 1/2 hours.
Refrigerate at least 6 hours before serving.
Also freezes well.

Pecan Pie

Dolly’s Pecan Pie

Ingredients

3 eggs
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
dash of salt
1 cup of dark cayo syrup or
use white cayo syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup whole pecans
Uncooked pastry shell (see recipe below)

Directions

Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Combine everything except the whole pecans, pour into pastry shell, add whole pecans on top and bake for 40 - 45 minutes.

I make two of these for Thanksgiving.

Dough for Pastry Shell

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 cup spry
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ice cold water

Directions

Place 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl and mix together briefly.
Add 1 cup spry and rub the spry and flour together with your fingers until the flour looks like  coarse bread crumbs. Don’t overwork the flour. Gently add some of the water and mix the flour around with your hands, it shouldn’t be too wet and mushy, nor too dry. The flour should be beginning to bind like a dough, mold it together with your hands so it is in one ball.
Some people leave the dough in the fridge to chill, but I generally use it right away, sprinkle the cutting board with a bit of flour, place the dough on the flour and flatten the ball with your hands before rolling out to fit the pastry dish.
This recipe is enough for two pastry dishes.
Pecan pie only has pastry on the bottom.

smoked turkey

Our cousin, Chris, smokes the turkey for us at Thanksgiving.
It is moist, tender and absolutely delicious!




We had 2 13 lb birds, he stuffs a whole orange in
 each turkey, on the third rack he has a silver foil pan, filled with onions with the skins on and
quartered, apples slices in half, celery and a large
dollop of red wine. He also pours more red wine
around the turkeys and checks during smoking
time to make sure that none of the liquids dry out.
He may add more wine during the cooking time.











Chris smokes his turkeys for a good four hours, checking to make sure the meat is tender and falling away from the bone.

Honey Hoisin Barbequed Salmon

My friend, Linda, made this the other evening. This recipe is absolutely delicious, served over a bed frisee salad with oranges. You can substitute sword fish or sea bass for the salmon.

Ingredients

 4 Salmon Fillets

For the marinade

1 tablespoon chopped ginger
2 tablespoons pureed roasted garlic
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro

For the Honey Hoisin Glaze

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 finely chopped scallions
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Salt

Directions

To prepare the roasted garlic, usually 4 medium sized cloves yield 2 tablespoons pureed garlic. Cut off the top 1/2 inch of the garlic bulb to expose the ends of the individual cloves. Place the bulb, cut end up, on a double thickness of silver foil, or a small baking dish, cover with foil. Drizzle bulb with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Roast garlic in a preheated oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 minutes of until garlic feels soft when squeezed. Scoop out the garlic until desired amount.

Mix all six ingredients together for the marinade, 1 tablespoon chopped ginger, 2 tablespoons pureed roasted garlic, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro. Rub marinade all over salmon and marinate for 2 hours.

Prepare the glaze next with 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup hoisin sauce, 2 finely chopped scallions, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon black pepper and 2 teaspoons sesame oil. Add salt to taste. Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate glaze until needed.

Preheat grill to medium high.
Place marinated salmon skin side down - grill for 5 minutes.
Baste fillets with sauce, continue to turn another 4 minutes, baste and turn as necessary.

Frisee Salad with Oranges

Ingredients1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
2 heads frisee lettuce
2 heads Belgian endive
2 oranges segmented

DirectionsWhisk the balsamic vinegar, shallots and honey in a bowl.Gradually whisk in the oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Trim the endive and cut into thin slices crosswise, tear the frisee leaves into pieces,
toss the endive and frisee with enough vinaigrette to coat, Season with salt and pepper.
Mound the salad onto plates. Surround with orange segments. Drizzle remaining vinaigrette around the salad.
You can toss some roasted hazelnuts on top if you wish.