A New Way to Use Mayonnaise

Grilled egg salad sandwich using Mayo instead of butter. 

In this morning's News and Observer there was an interesting article about the many ways to use mayonnaise in the summer.  The article was actually reprinted from the Chicago Tribune. Mayo is my favorite condiment, and being from the south, Duke's Mayo is the only one for me.  The article mentions many different sauces that can be made from Mayo, but what I didn't know is that Mayo can be used instead of butter when making grilled sandwiches.

And sure enough, it is so much better than butter and so easy too.  For lunch, I grilled an egg salad sandwich using Mayo for grilling.  The Mayo spreads so easily across the bread, and with all the oil in Mayo, it browns perfectly. 

I spread one side of the sandwich with Mayo and placed it into a hot cast iron frying pan.  While that side was browning I spread the other side with Mayo and then flipped the sandwich over.  Voila, a perfectly grilled sandwich.  So easy!!!!

Spread Mayo on the outside of the sandwich. 

Grill in a cast iron pan.  

It browns so beautifully. 

A perfect grilled egg salad sandwich. 

The next time I grill chicken I shall use this technique as well.  Or even when grilling vegetables this will work nicely. 

Berry and Peach Cobbler

Berry and peach cobbler. 

Today I had fresh blueberries, fresh strawberries, fresh blackberries, and fresh peaches.  The perfect combination for a berry and peach cobbler.  I chose a recipe from one of my favorite dessert cookbooks, Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts by Alice Medrich.  Her recipes are just that, sinfully easy to make.

Ingredients:

For the filling:
6 cups of berries (one kind of berry or a medley of berries) plus I added some peaches not called for
3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar

Ready for the oven to cook the fruit.  

For the topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fine cornmeal *
3 tablespoons sugar
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup heavy cream (I used Trader Joe's

To make the filling: Mix the berries with the flour and sugar in the baking dish.  I dotted with a few bit of butter, although the recipe didn't call for this.  Place the dish in a 350 degree preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until the mixture is bubbling at the edges.

Into the oven with the topping added. 

When the filling is ready, drop clumps of dough (each about a heaping tablespoon) all over the top of the fruit.  Turn the oven heat up to 400 degrees and bake for 10 to 15 more minutes, until the filling is bubbling vigorously in the center and the topping is browned.  Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Out of the oven and the aroma is terrific. 

Ready to eat.  So good. 

* The cornmeal gives a great little crunch to the topping.  I'll have to remember that.

Virginia's Cookbooks: Rhubarb Pie

I've been going through the cookbooks that I inherited from my friend Virginia, and I found this very unusual recipe for rhubarb pie.  Rhubarb is a favorite of mine whether in a pie, a crisp, or a beverage.  This recipe seemed so simple, and frankly, I was a bit wary of it considering the few ingredients it contained.

I had only one slice.  A friend was here and I shared. 

It was so easy, and it was delicious.  However, next time, I shall use about two full cups of rhubarb, because I thought it was a tad too sweet and the extra rhubarb should add enough tartness to counteract the sweetness.  

Virginia's Cookbooks : Accidental Baklava

Virginia's Cookbooks

I recently inherited a number of my friend Virginia's cookbooks.  I had actually been purging some of my own cookbooks, but when I had an opportunity to become the proud owner of Virginia's cookbooks I immediately made room for hers on my bookcase.  What a fun time I am having reading through these.  I think I have mentioned that I actually like to read cookbooks and imagine all the wonderful dishes that can be made.  I'm planning on making one recipe from each of her cookbooks over the next few months.  

I'll make room for Virginia's cookbooks

Since I had some phyllo dough on hand, I perused her book Phyllo until I found just what I wanted to make.  The recipe I was trying to make were these Caramel-Pecan slice cookies.  Following the recipe, I brought 3/4 cup of honey, 2 cups of heavy cream, 1 1/4 cups of sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to boil until the mixture reached 240F on a candy thermometer (which I did not have) or until the mixture formed the softball stage when a small amount is poured into a cup of cold water. I thought it had reached that stage so I removed it and added 2 tsp of vanilla and 12 oz of pecans, coarsely chopped.  The mixture even after cooling never did firm up where you could form it into long ropes per the recipe.  But I thought this is about the consistency for making Baklava.  

Caramel-Pecan cookies. 

Boiling until mixture reaches softball stage. 

Add pecans and cool.  

Made Baklava instead.  

That's how I made my very first batch of Baklava.  It turned out really well if I do say so. But it was an accident because I didn't set out to make Baklava in the beginning.  But, all's well that ends well.

Roasted Artichoke Salad with Capers and Grilled Red Pepper

Roasted Artichoke Salad with pickled okra on the side. 

Today our Fabulous 80s women's basketball team enjoyed our belated Holiday Luncheon.  Host Judy prepared ham sliders, sweet potato casserole, and drinks.  The rest of us took a favorite side dish or dessert.  Since I had a jar of artichoke hearts in my pantry I decided to prepare a roasted artichoke salad.  After googling for recipes, I chose to use Ina Garten's recipe which I tweaked just a bit. 

Ingredients:
4 boxes (9 ounces each) frozen artichoke hearts, defrosted.( I used a 32-ounce jar of artichoke hearts.)
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 shallot, minced
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
5 tablespoons white wine vinegar, divided (I used rice vinegar that I had on hand.)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
6 tablespoons capers, drained
2 roasted red pepper, sliced thin (I used a 12- ounce jar of grilled red peppers.)
1/2 cup minced red onion (I omitted because I didn't have one.)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves (I omitted.)
2 pinches hot red pepper flakes, optional (I omitted.)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the artichoke hearts in a bowl with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 grind of fresh black pepper and toss until the artichoke hearts are coated.  Dump the artichoke hearts onto a sheet pan and spread out into 1 layer; roast in the oven for 20 minutes.  (I had to roast for 30 minutes until they were charred.)

Roasted artichoke hearts. 

Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette. Place the minced shallot, lemon juice, mustard, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper in the food processor.  Process for 5 seconds.  Add the basil leaves and process into a green puree.  With the processor running, slowly pour 1/2 cup olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube until the ingredients are finely pureed.  Set aside.

Basil vinaigrette. 

Place the roasted artichoke hearts in a bowl and toss with enough vinaigrette to moisten.  Add the capers, red peppers, red onion, parsley, 4 tablespoons vinegar and toss gently.  Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and let stand for 30 minutes for the flavors to blend. (I refrigerated the salad overnight.) Serve at room temperature.

Roasted artichoke salad ready to serve. 

I garnished the salad with a row of pickled okra around the edge.

There was quite an assortment of delicious dishes, and a good time was had by all of us senior basketball players. 

An Old Fashioned Dried Apple Pie

Dried apple custard pie. 

I was puttering around in my pantry this morning to see what I might want or need to cook today when I spied a little bag of dried apples that I had bought at the Farmer's Market back in the fall.  Those reminded me of dried apple custard pies that my grandmother used to make.  In fact, my grandmother would often dry the apples herself by spreading them out in the sun on a sheet during hot days and taking them in at night or on damp days.  In a few days or weeks (? I don't remember I was not interested in drying apples myself back then), the apples would be dry enough to put away for use when there were no fresh apples available.

Dried apples. 

Several recipes came up when I googled for a recipe that I thought might be close to what my grandmother used to make.  I combined several of them to come up with my own recipe.  First I covered the dried apples with water and brought them to a boil and cooked them until the apples were soft.  After straining off the water, I had about two cups of apples.  Let the apples cool and discard the liquid.

Straining the cooked apples. 

Recipe for Dried Apple Custard Pie

2 cups apples (Prepared as explained above.)
4 eggs
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
Juice of one lemon
3 tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of fresh nutmeg
2 cups of milk
1 10-inch (large) pie crust (I used Trader Joes)  These are my favorite. 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  In a bowl, beat the eggs slightly.  Add the sugars, lemon juice, butter, salt, nutmeg, and milk.  Mix until well blended. Stir in the cooled apples.  Pour mixture into unbaked pie crust. 

Stir apples into the egg custard mixture. 

Ready to bake. 

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake another 1 to 1 1/2  hours or until knife inserted into the center of pie comes out clean.

Out of the oven.

When cool it slices nicely. 

Ready to eat.  A dollop of whipped cream would be a nice addition. 

Store in the refrigerator and can be eaten cold or at room temperature. Enjoy!

I just remembered that my husband gave me a dehydrator some years ago which I have never used.  I think it is up at Chatfield.  I'll have to get it out and dry some apples myself one of these days.

Meyer Lemons in January

Lemon Parfait.

I'm always happy when I see Meyer Lemons for sale in the early winter, and this week I grabbed a bag of them at the grocery.  Meyer Lemons are a cross between a regular lemon and a mandarin orange and are a wee bit less tart than the regular lemon.  Before deciding how to use them, I replaced the Christmas centerpiece in the dining table with the Lemons and oranges.  The pretty yellows and oranges brighten up cold winter days.

A sunny centerpiece of Meyer Lemons and oranges. 

As it would happen, I fortuitously received an email from my favorite food blogger https://www.italianbellavita.com/2017/02/mini-meyer-lemon-parfaits/ with a recipe using Meyer Lemons to make a lemon parfait.  You can check out the recipe on her blog.

Meyer Lemon parfait. 

I was expecting guests on Sunday, so I made these for our dessert.  I used small dessert bowls rather than the mini parfait glasses that Roz used.  For the cookie crumb layer, I used Trader Joe's Meyer Lemon Cookie Thins

A bouquet of yellow flowers on the table added a sunny ambiance to the day.

Meyer Lemons certainly can brighten up a cold winter day!