Retro Recipes and Traditional Fare

classicpotatosaladSummer barbecues just aren’t complete without this classic side dish. Everyone has a favorite version, and when I’m looking for an authentic home cooked version, this is my recipe of choice.

As a kid, I was pretty fussy about what was in it, and my mother was forced to prepare a pretty bland version.

Feel free to alter the ingredients to your own taste – some people might not like the addition of chopped pickles, but I think it really perks up the salad. If you don’t have sweet pickles, you can use and equal amount of sweet pickle relish.

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cucumbers.jpgI think it's an American consensus that any dish covered with cheese is better. Steamed broccoli drowned in bright yellow processed cheese comes to mind. But what dinner table in America is without scalloped or gratinéed potatoes? Too bad we Americans can't claim the idea as our own invention. The French came up with gratiné, the method of topping ingredients with breadcrumbs, butter, and cheese and baking under a broiler. Potatoes are the most popular cooked in this method, but other vegetables also deserve this special treatment. Cucumbers, a vegetable that really never gets cooked, make the perfect gratiné.

Why cucumbers? In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child offers up her recipe for baked cucumbers and in Julie & Julia, Julie Powell discovers the deliciousness of Julia's baked cucumbers. While reading these books in anticipation of the movie, I couldn't keep cucumbers out of my mind. I just was unable to fathom cooked or baked cucumbers. Then on an episode of Julia and Jacques on PBS, I saw Jacques Pépin sauté cucumbers to serve alongside fish. So I had to try preparing something with cucumbers for myself.

 

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chickenpaprikashIt's well known that paprika is the famous spice of Hungary. What I think most people don't realize is that the red powder is made from ripened peppers also called paprika. The word paprika means pepper in Hungarian, and I don't mean peppercorns, but rather the fruit or vegetable, depending on how you look at it. Hungarian sweet peppers are typically pale yellow to pale green in color when they are fresh. They can be eaten raw or cooked into many recipes. But when they ripen to bright red, they are dried and ground into the fine red powder known as paprika or what I like to call Hungarian gold.

Hungarian paprika (pronounced puh-pri-ka) is available in sweet, hot, and everything in between, with eight varieties altogether. Sweet paprika has a deeper red color whereas hot paprika is more rusty in color. The signature dish most famous for using paprika is chicken paprikash, a stew of chicken with an onion sauce richly colored and flavored with paprika. I grew up on paprikás csirke, as it is known in Hungarian. It is my comfort food, and that's exactly what it is for so many Hungarians and Hungarian-Americans. I consider it my favorite home-cooked dish. And, of course, no recipe rivals my mother's.

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joebidenWe're so glad we get to eat this for the next four years! -Amy Ephron

A family favorite for Sunday dinners, says the Second Lady...
Vice President Joe Biden loves his wife's Chicken Parmesan, says Dr. Jill Biden, who in a bit of election-year foodie wooing has shared the family recipe with Rachael Ray. It makes a big feast, calling for five pounds of boneless chicken breasts and four cups of Mozzarella cheese for twelve servings.

"Our family loves to get together for Sunday dinners. Our favorite chicken parm #recipe is in @rachael_ray mag  –Dr. B," the Second Lady tweeted on her husband's @VP account.

The recipe appears in Ray's Every Day magazine and online. The Second Lady joined Ray on her TV show in 2010, to demonstrate how to make holiday care packages for members of the troops. First Lady Michelle Obama and Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass have also cooked onscreen with Ray. Mrs. Obama was last on Ray's show in September of this year.

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chickenstewChilies, soups, stews have been on my plate and on all those, too, who have supped with me this season. I love making a big pot or pan of something that will feed me for days as well as my staff, family and friends – when you make this dish, all three will surely be in tow!

This dish is also a memory bank of flavors for me. First off, the creamy chicken stew bit is a reminder of a Middle Georgia institution – The New Perry Hotel. They served a cream of turkey soup with hard tack biscuits that was a staple of Middle Georgia cuisine. It never fails, when folks find out where I’m from, they always have a memory or story about The New Perry Hotel. It was always the stop of all stops for those en route to Florida or Georgia’s Golden Isles and many a family has dined at the white linen clad tables, eaten this very soup, adored the camellia prints on the walls and the live specimens in the garden, and smiled at the bud vases filled with the latter blossoms or whatever may be in season.

Mrs. Mary makes THE BEST biscuits. I cannot duplicate, recreate or copy hers. They are small but not tack-like. Butter browned tops with gauzy innards, these divinities are my favorite thing she makes. She will even make them and freeze them for me. But since I cannot have Mrs. Mary’s biscuits, Mary B’s brand of frozen biscuits is a close second. I love the tea biscuit size and the larger size too. This line has won this Farmer over to store-bought biscuits. I use them for this dish and conserve my Mrs. Mary’s for selfish indulgence and very, VERY special occasions. I did learn to share in kindergarten but since Mrs. Mary cannot come cook that often, her biscuits are a treasure I hoard!

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