Spinach-Mushroom Zucchini Quiche
1 9-inch unbaked pastry shell
4 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 sm. zucchini, diced, unpeeled
2 c. ricotta cheese
1 c. mozzarella grated
3 lg. eggs
1/2 c. frozen, chopped spinach, well drained
1 T. salad oil
1/2 tsp. dried dill-weed
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Saute fresh zucchini about 5 minutes. Beat together ricotta, mozzarella, eggs, spinach, oil, dill-weed, garlic salt and pepper. Add mushrooms and zucchini. Fill pastry shell. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Until knife comes out clean.
Certain it is fine women eat a crazy salad with their meat.
W. B. Yeats
Chicano Recipes from San Antonio
Variations on a Mexican theme
Appetizer -Guacamole
Main course -Carne Asado
Side Dishes:
Fideo (Mexican spaghetti -buy vermicelli)
Arroz (Mexican rice -long grain white rice)
GUACAMOLE - (You can purchase a molcajete at the International Food Store on North Broadway in Ann Arbor and at Mexican grocery stores. A molcajete is a Mexican blender- a rough stone bowl with a hand grinding stone of the same rough material.) Place very ripe (soft and squishy avocados (calavos) peeled in molcajete and grind; use fork in a bowl if molcajete not available. Add pieces of peeled tomato, bits of onion, salt and hot taco or any other hot sauce if desired. True Chicano eaters will grind up bits of Jalapena peppers or use this juice, but this is really hot. Guacamole can be eaten with Fritos or fried bits of tortillas (available frozen at many grocery stores.) Deep fried tortilla pieces are marvelous in place of Fritos, or spread on a whole tortilla, folded and eaten.
CARNE ASADO - Any steak meat available; round, chuck or strip cut in pieces, fried in cooking oil until brown. Add bits of onion, bell pepper, garlic, ground cumin, red chil1 powder and simmer for 15 minutes. Add a tablespoon of flour, water and tomato sauce. Stir to make seasoned gravy.
FIDEO AND ARROZ - Are prepared exactly the same. Take the raw material and fry in lard or cooking oil until light brown. Add bits of garlic, ground cumin seasoning, bits of bell pepper and chopped onion. Boil for 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and a little more water. Simmer until water evaporates (about 15 minutes).
Proper preparation of tortillas in which can be placed almost anything (including carne asado): use a large frying pan and get it good and hot. Then place tortilla in it, and turn frequently with hands (careful!) or a fork until it is soft, tender and has a few spots of brown, but is not cooked or toasted. Use either flour or corn tortillas available in most grocery stores frozen. Serve between folds of a cloth napkin or a dishtowel on a plate, as you would bread. Excellent with peanut butter, cheese, butter, guacamole. Note possibility of making your own Fritos from corn tortillas mentioned above.
Blini - Russian Pancakes
A really sophisticated main dish, serves 5.
5 c. flour
1 c. boiling milk
2 pkg. granulated yeast
3 eggs
2 1/2 c. warm water
Red caviar
1 pint sour cream
Black caviar
1 c. butter (melted)
Ground marinated herring
Mix yeast and water; add flour, mix. Let rise until double (about 2 hours). Add slowly milk, then eggs. Let rise 1 hour. Fry in margarine in heavy iron skillet. Keep warm in covered dish in oven (will keep at least an hour). Serve with dishes of sour cream, melted butter and a choice of black caviar, red caviar and ground marinated herring. Each guest takes his pancake, adds butter and caviar (or herring), rolls his pancake up, and tops it with sour cream. Serve with a light white wine, tossed salad afterwards, then fruits for dessert.
HAMBURGER CRUST PIZZA
1 lb. ground beef
1 (1 lb.) can tomatoes (drained and chopped)
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried crushed basil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried crushed oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. beef broth
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. dried crushed parsley
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
Mix meat with onion, garlic powder, salt, pepper and beef broth. Spread on bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Drain off any fat. Mix remaining ingredients, and spread over hamburger. Cover with 1/3 1b. sliced Mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with 1/3 c. Parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 degrees 15 minutes. Serve cut in wedges.
Serves 4 to 5.
MINCE MEAT FROM GREEN TOMATOES
One peck of green tomatoes, 1 qt. of vinegar, 5 lbs. brown sugar, 1 lb. currants, 1 tablespoon each of cloves and cinnamon. Boil tomatoes 3 hours in vinegar, add sugar, currants and spices and boil 1 hour or longer. If too juicy when making the pies dredge in a little flower and grate in a little nutmeg. Put a layer in the pie and some raisins on top, then another layer of mince meat and more raisins. One qt. can will make three pies. This canned will keep all winter.
STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS
Get peppers that will stand on the blossom end. Cut off the stem end for a lid, leaving the stem on for a handle. Take out all inside being careful to leave no seeds. Make a free meat stuffing by chopping some tender roast beef, or tough parts of steak stewed till tender, with 2 tomatoes size of an egg, piece of an onion, tablespoon of minced parsley, slice of bread 1/2 inch thick. Season with salt and pepper, if not moist enough add a little stock. Fill the pepper; put on the lid and bake 3/4 hour in a moderate oven.
Delicious stuffed green peppers were served at a luncheon recently. Very large ones were chosen. They had been split length-wise into halves, the seeds removed and a mixture of bread crumbs and minced ham, well seasoned with butter, pepper and salt, placed in them. They were then moistened with tomato juice and baked in a hot oven until brown. A little chopped parsley was sprinkled over them just before they were sent to the table.
MEATS AND POULTRY. GENERAL REMARKS
Long, slow cooking breaks down the fibre of meat, and so makes it more tender. Many tough pieces are nutritious, and can by slow cooking be made as susceptible as more expensive cuts. In order to shut in the juices, meat should at first be subjected to a high degree of heat for a short time. A crust or case will then be formed on the outside by the coagulation of the albumen, after which the heat should be lowered and the cooking proceed slowly. Dark meats should be served underdone or red; white meats thoroughly cooked. Clean meat by wiping it with a wet cloth, but do not put it in water. Salt and pepper draw out the juices; therefore, do not put them on the meat before cooking, or until after the meat is seared. Do not pierce the meat with a fork while cooking, as it makes an outlet for the juices. Turn it with spoons.
Stuffed Egg Plant
1 medium sized egg plant, 3 medium onions, 1/2 cup rice (uncooked), 2 eggs, 3/4 cup butter or substitute, toasted bread crumbs.
Cut egg plant in half lengthwise, scoop out pulp and cook covered with water until tender. Drain. Chop onion fine. The amount of onion should equal about 2/3 the amount of egg plant pulp. Cook rice. Mix pulp and onion with 1/2 cup butter and simmer. Beat eggs well. Add rice and pulp mixture. Add toast crumbs until the consistency of dressing. Season to taste. Fill cases. Cover with crumbs and dot with remaining butter. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) long enough to brown. About 30 minutes.
Pirogen
1 C. sifted flour
1 egg, well beaten
3/4 t. salt
2 Tb. warm water
1/2 C. cooked riced potatoes
1/2 C. shortening
Mix and sift flour and salt, add to potato. Make a well and add the egg and water. Mix well. Turn out on lightly floured board and knead until light and elastic. Roll out 1/4 inch thick. Cut with a floured 2 1/2 inch cutter. Roll out circles until they measure 3 1/2 inches. Fill with 2 Tb. of filling. Fold in half to form a semi-circle. Seal edges tightly. Turn 4 pirogen at a time into 1 quart boiling salted water. Boil 5 minutes, remove, drain, then fry in shortening until golden brown on each side. Serve with sour cream. (Makes about 14).
A standard yeast dough or pastry dough can also be used for Pirogen. With these types of dough the Pirogen are baked rather than boiled, on a well-greased pan in a 375°oven until nicely browned.
PIROGEN FILLINGS
I CHEESE
1 lb. Farmer Cheese
2 Tb. sugar
2 eggs separated
2 Tb. honey
1/2 t. salt
1 Tb. bread crumbs
Combine cheese, yolks, and other ingredients. Beat egg whites stiff and fold into cheese. Makes 2 C. filling.
II POTATO
2 C. mashed potatoes
1/4 C. Chicken fat or other
1/2 C. minced onion shortening
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
Saute onions in fat until brown. Add with seasonings to potatoes. Mix well.
III. GROUND LUNG MEAT:
See Appetizers Section, page 62.
IV. CHOPPED MEAT
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
2-3 onions minced fat
salt and pepper to taste garlic (optional)
Saute the onion in the fat until brown. Add to the raw meat along with the egg, season to taste, and mix thoroughly.
Pirozhki Filling
1/2 lb. cooked salmon
cooked rice
2 hard-cooked eggs
salt
a few mushrooms
pepper
Chop the salmon, hard-cooked eggs and mushrooms; mix to- gether with rice, salt and pepper. Place some of the filling on oval of unbaked pastry and cover with another oval of pastry, pressing down the edges. Repeat until all ingredients are used. Let them stand 1/2 hour; bake in moderate oven (350°) 20 to 25 minutes.
OTHER PIROZHKI FILLINGS:
1. Fry a chopped onion in fat until light brown. Combine with ground left-over meat.
2. Fry chopped onion in butter. Combine with riced potatoes.
3. Chop a hard-cooked egg. Combine with 3/4 C. cooked rice. Season to taste.
4. Drain 1 lb. sauerkraut. Cook in saucepan until almost dry. Chop an onion, fry in 2 Tb. fat. Combine fat and onion with sauerkraut.
5. Combine fruit conserve with chopped nuts.
6. Chop any dried fruits, such as prunes, apricots, or apples, add a little nutmeg.