The beans are soaking and later today I’ll be putting together a simple but hearty soup of Navy Beans and Ham. Here are some soups to tide you over until then:
TOP: Portuguese Green Soup, Chunky Root Soup, Basque Vegetable Soup
MIDDLE: Portuguese Bean Soup, Chicken Soup
BOTTOM: Clam Chowder, Vegetarian Black-eyed Pea Soup, Sausage and Navy Bean Soup
My children never understood just how lean those years were. A single mom making ends meet … And the most economical meal I made (and actually loved) was this one.
These recipes have few ingredients and are simple with little preparation time. I still love this meal not only because of the memories it evokes … It just tastes good!
When I say country I’m speaking about the hills of Arkansas where Granny and Grampa had a farm with just the right amount of livestock to keep the plates full. Granny wasn’t particularly a good cook but she could can and pickle like no one else.
These recipes were hers with this exception … Her cornbread had only five ingredients; cornmeal, buttermilk, eggs, baking soda and salt. The cornbread I taste in restaurants today is more of a cake texture and very sweet. With this in mind I put together a recipe I felt would give the texture of my granny’s without being too gritty and added just a bit of sugar. Bacon was a big thing in those hills … So, there is bacon in all of this. Yikes! But don’t fear … I’ve precooked the bacon and only 2 teaspoons of bacon grease are used in the beans.
The only thing we know for sure is this dish, further, any Tetrazzini dish, is named after Luisa Tetrazzini, an Italian opera star popular in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. What seems to be in question is what hotel chef put this together for her and gave it her name. This is my own version of the dish. And it’s simmering.
Baking this a few minutes after the initial cooking gives a truly different twist to this pasta dish.
Here are a few apple recipes to tide you over until My Apple Dumplings Post.
Top L-R: Spinach Apple Banana Smoothie, Mother’s Day Muffins, Apple Empanadas
Bottom L-R: Pork Chops Recipe, Apple Dessert, Apple Pie
Did you know there are over 7000 apple cultivars? Just within the last weeks I was looking through the apples at my grocer’s. And up popped a new one … to me anyway. Do you get confused about which to use for what? I kinda stick with my favorites. But it’s interesting and recommended to mix cooking apples to get a little different taste and texture.
The crabapple is the only apple variety native to North America. It’s not used in cooking often because of its extremely sour taste. Apples are usually categorized by use; cider, cooking, eating. Below I’ve listed what I often find available and their recommended use. Yep, in my youth I baked an apple pie with Red Delicious. It took forever for the apples to ‘cook.’
Braeburn-sweet, tart; eating and tarts (can turn brown inside from long storage)
Empire-sweet, crunchy, juicy, tangy; eating (cross between McIntosh and Red Delicious)
Fuji-one of the sweetest, crisp; eating (brought to market in the 60’s-developed in a research station in Japan)
Gala-sweet, juicy, crisp, grainy; eating and sauces (one of the most popular apples)
Golden Delicious-very sweet; eating (found in West Virginia-not closely related to Red Delicious)
Granny Smith-crisp, juicy, very tart; cooking and eating (originated in Australia)
Gravenstein-crisp, sweet, tart; cider, cooking and eating (been around for 100’s of years)
Jonathan-tart; cooking and eating (Origin-Woodstock)
McIntosh-slightly tart and crisp; cooking and eating (very popular in eastern Canada and the Northeast US)
Red Delicious-sweet, very mild to little taste; eating (easy to recognize by the mounds circling the bottom)
Rome-crisp, juicy, mild; cooking (flavor develops in baking)
Winesap-sweet, tangy; cider and eating (Stayman apple)
Oops, a picture of this delicious Lemon Jello Cake (click for recipe) … Not ribs! The ribs are in the oven but this is today’s dessert. Yes, we have a celebration planned for Austin which includes food of course. Oven barbecued ribs and blender potatoes. And a huge green salad! Stay tuned. More Later Today!
This recipe is good for pork or beef ribs. Tender ribs with a tangy slightly spicy sauce are so succulent. No fuss oven barbecued ribs!
Maybe a tiny bit misleading. But with the exception of rice and pasta and one other ingredient these two recipes are the same. Once cooked and soy sauce added to one and Parmesan to the other the tastes are distinctively different.
Linguini Carbonara has always been on the brunch menu, more like eggs and bacon, but is quite versatile and easily makes a great family dinner. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how easy these two recipes are with minimal ingredients. Great for the inexperienced cook.
Serve it as a brunch on the patio or dinner in a pinch. Do it the simple way with mushroom soup and your favorite store bought salsa … Or for the purest make a béchamel and if you don’t make salsa try fresh chopped tomatoes and cilantro as the garnish.
Ecstatic! A surprise package of cheeses, fresh and seasoned (aged), arrived from the producers of Asiago Pdo (Protected Designation of Origin) … from the Asiago Region in Italy. Cheese has been produced not for hundreds of years in this region but thousands. I’d say, practice makes perfect!
Not sure if I’ve ever tasted fresh Asiago before today … soft, melt in your mouth texture but not sticky, mild smelling and tasting, not bitter nor salty-definitely maintaining a bit of sweetness all the way through. It’s amazing! As far as shelf life after opening, this one is fairly short … maybe two weeks but don’t hold me to that. It won’t last that long around here anyway. The seasoned Asiago Pdo has three levels of maturity, 3-6 months, over 10 months and over 15 months. My little wedge was from the first level. And just an aside, domestic Asiago that I purchase locally (made in Wisconsin) is in the 5 month range. Obviously the flavor (nutty) and smell (bread-like) increase and change with the seasoned process. And rather than accepting my opinion that there is a definite taste difference, Pdo vs Domestic Asiago, do your own taste test.
Try it in a great pasta salad like this one!
I received these cheeses in the mail today and plan to try them out in a couple of recipes. I love cheeses of all kinds … limburger-maybe not, sorry grandpa, but then I haven’t smelled that cheese in years. It might be more palatable to me now.
The history of this Asiago Cheese is interesting and know it has been around for hundreds of years. But all Asiago’s are not the same. So here I am, to do a little testing of my own.
Coming Soon!
