Easy New Year Recipe: Cuban Sandwiches with Leftovers!

Happy New Year!

New Year's is a really low-key event in our household.  We no longer have any interest in joining mobs of loud people to ring in the new year, so, usually, it's just a quiet evening at home with family and a few friends and a super simple menu.  After the rich, luscious food and the requisite endless cooking from Thanksgiving through Christmas, New Year's Cuban Sandwiches are a welcome respite for the cook.

Here on the farm, the Resident Dragon usually mans the griddle, taking custom orders from each celebrant.  Options include type of bread/bun, types of leftover meats (usually turkey and ham or pork), and types of cheeses.

New Year's Cubana Sandwiches

• Bun or leftover large roll
• 2 types of leftover meat
• 3 types of sliced cheese
• Favorite mustard
• Favorite pickle

Here's a great opportunity to
enjoy your summer's pickles!

The basic sandwich:  Slice the bun in half length-wise and smear with favorite mustard and apply a pickle.  On top, layer cheese, meat, cheese, meat, cheese, pickle, and bun top smeared with mustard.  Smash until bread is slightly flattened, then grill on both sides until bread is toasted, cheese is melting, and meat is warm.  Slice in half and serve with chips or fries, and your favorite beverage.  The combinations are endless, but here are a few we like:

Bread and butter pickles
add a little sweetness!

• The Resident Dragon:  French roll with spicy brown mustard, dill pickles, turkey, pork shoulder, cheddar, muenster, and swiss.

• The Dragon's Lady:  Onion roll with sweet mustard (recipe below), sweet pickles, turkey, ham, muenster, muenster, and muenster.

Sweet mustard:  To taste, add brown sugar to prepared mustard and allow to blend for 24 hours.

What a tasty way to clean up those leftovers from the old year and begin the new on a creative note!

From our kitchen to yours--

Happy New Year!

Nancy

Creole Cakes with Sweet &Spicy Remoulade: A luscious leftover turkey recipe!

A rare holiday snow
followed
monsoon-like rain!

When my children were younger, we enjoyed roast pterodactyl for our holiday meals.  It wasn't a real pterodactyl; it was a 25-pound turkey that filled up my oven.  It was during that time I discovered the joys of a programmable oven.  I would prepare my turkey, stuffing each cavity with fresh parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, then plugging the cavity with a sweet onion before roasting in the oven overnight.  The programmable function allowed me to put it in the oven, set the oven to start a few hours later, and wake to a lovely turkey.  We had lots of turkey leftovers, too, so a great leftover turkey recipe was relished.  Here's our favorite, adapted from Cooking Light (actually, I took all of the light out of it!).

Creole Cakes with a Sweet and Spicy Remoulade

Remoulade:

1/3 cup sour cream
2 T. minced green onions (my grandmother called them scallions)
2 T. mayonnaise
1 T. Zatarain's Creole mustard (or Grey Poupon Dijon mustard)
1 T. sweet pickle relish (sometimes I substituted dill)
Dash of garlic powder
Dash of ground cayenne
Tiny sprinkle of gumbo file (very optional, file is an acquired taste)


Combine the sauce ingredients into a small covered bowl and chill until ready for use.

Cakes:

The Resident Dragon says
smoked turkey would be
delicious in this recipe, too!

2 slices bread
3 cups chopped turkey (white or dark, or both)
1/3 c. minced green onions
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1 T. Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1 t. cajun seasoning
1 large egg
1 t. Watkins grapeseed oil

Place bread in food processor and pulse into small crumbs; measure out 1.25 cups.  Combine the turkey, scallions, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, cajun seasoning, and egg.  Stir in the breadcrumbs.  Form 8 patties (1/2 inch thick).  Heat oil in a non-stick or seasoned cast iron skillet and fry patties 5 minutes on each side (10 minutes total).  Each serving is 2 patties plus 2 tablespoons of sauce.  C'est bon!

From our kitchen to yours,

Happy New Year!

Christmas Treat Genealogy: Traditional Dipped Fruit

Ready for apricots!

Chocolate-dipped dried fruit is a tradition in our house which dates back to my daughter's first Christmas.  Her older brother was feeling a little left out because of the new baby, so I decided that, together, we could prepare a treat for his pre-school teachers.  He was just over 2 years old at the time, so the treat had to be simple:  chocolate-dipped stemmed maraschino cherries.

Dipping pretzel rods

We carefully lined a cookie sheet with waxed paper, rinsed and dried the cherries, and melted the chocolate, then pulled up a chair for him to stand in.  Very carefully, he dipped an entire tray of cherries.  Somehow, his foot slipped, causing him to lose his balance, and his elbow to catch the corner of the tray.  With the edge of the counter as a fulcrum, the entire tray shot across the kitchen as if launched from a trebuchet, sticking to walls, cabinets, and appliances.  We were only able to save four cherries from the entire tray, but we packaged them carefully.  The next morning, he toddled proudly into his pre-school, bearing one cherry for each of his four teachers.

Don't forget the sprinkles!

The next year, baby sister joined in the fun, and the tradition has continued.  Both of them have their own homes now--baby sister turned 25 this year--but, tonight, together we again dipped cherries, and dried apricots, and pretzel rods, and dried pineapple, and banana chips, all festooned with various sprinkles.  And we needed that, to do that again, together.

Tempting Treats!

That's what traditions are:  things we do together.  The thing we do is not as important as the people we do it with.  Simple acts become special when we share them.

I know there will be Christmases  when we will not be able to share some of our family traditions, but I hope my children will share them with their own families, as well as make new traditions of their own.  May you find time during the holiday season to enjoy your family traditions, and create new ones.

From our kitchen to yours,

Merry Christmas!

Cheery Holiday Cherries!

Nancy

Christmas Cookie Genealogy: Miss Dot's Hello Dolly Squares

Luscious layers!

This week's recipe comes from a family friend by way of my aunt Sara.  Miss Dot was the county historian and even published (albeit locally) a history of the antebellum homes in the county.  When we first saw this recipe, coconut came in cans and was quite the luxury, so these were an especial treat.  The batch I just put in the oven has begun to scent the kitchen, attracting the attention of the Resident Dragon, who will lurk around until they're cool enough to eat.

By the way, Miss Dot, a former school teacher, turned 93 this year.

Hello Dolly Cookies

Sweetened condensed milk binds it together!

1 stick butter
1.25 c. crushed graham crackers
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. pecans or hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1 c. shredded coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Place in baking dish in layers in order listed.  Bake at 300 degrees for 30-45 minutes.  Chill and cut into small squares.

These are very rich, so enjoy every savory bite!

What's cooking in your Savory kitchen?

Graham Cracker Brittle: Genealogy from Christmas Cookie Recipes

Graham Cracker Brittle makes a festive treat!

Food is more than mere sustenance in the South; in families and small towns, recipes can constitute almost a genealogy of the community.  Recipes nearly always are attributed to individuals and are a tangible, edible reminder of that individual:  Grandmother's Teacakes, Mrs. Malone's Apple Cake (Aunt Nonie's mother), and Miss Leora's Graham Cracker Brittle.

I mention the last recipe because I ran across some at a reception on Sunday.  While nobody could tell me if it was Miss Leora's recipe, I think it must have been.  I received the recipe in a collection my daddy's sister put together for me many years ago.  This recipe is wonderful reminder of two wonderful ladies.

Miss Leora's Graham Cracker Brittle

Line jelly roll pan with foil and prepare with cooking spray.  Line with good quality graham crackers, broken apart.  Sprinkle 1 c. chopped nuts (I prefer pecans) over top of crackers.

Mix 2 sticks melted butter and 1/2 c. white sugar.  Boil for 3 minutes, then pour over crackers.  Bake 12 minutes at 350 degrees, checking frequently as these burn suddenly.

Remove from pan immediately and cool on cake racks.  Store in airtight container.  Miss Leora says they freeze well, but mine have never lasted long enough for me to find out!

Normally, I would have pictures for you, but you'll just have to trust me on this one; I'll be making at least one batch this weekend.

Happy holidays!

What's cooking in your Savory kitchen?

Nancy

Blooming Fresh Asparagus

Thrifty Freshness

To keep your asparagus fresh, just treat it like the flower it is!  Trim about 1" off the cut end (leave the rubber bands in place), then stand in a jar or large glass of water.  Store in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it.

If you're only keeping for a day or two, a glass or a jar is far less expensive than Crate & Barrel's version!

And don't forget to compost the trimmings!

Bonus recipe:

Roasted Asparagus

Fresh asparagus, pencil-thin, dry stem trimmed
Olive oil
Sea salt

Preheat over to 425 degrees.  Line a jelly-roll pan with foil, then spray with cooking spray. Alternate in pan so that bloom ends are at the edges.  Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with sea salt.  Roast until blossoms are crispy.

Pumpkin Pie Made with Love

A small pie pumpkin after roasting

Back in October, I roasted a few pumpkins and made puree (see Roasting Life's Pumpkins) in anticipation of making the Resident Dragon's favorite pie for Thanksgiving.  Well, Thanksgiving is here and it's time to put that pumpkin puree to good use.

I froze the pumpkin in 2 cup bags which should be just about the right quantity for a pie.  I've adapted a recipe from Yvonne Young Tarr's The Farm House Cookbook.

Pastry for 2-Crust Pie

Homemade pastry is easy!

2.5 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1.25 t. salt
1 cup (scant) cold butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup (maybe a bit more) ice water

Mix together the flour and salt, then cut in the butter until the mixture resembles corn meal with a few pea-sized pieces.  Stir in ice water with a fork, but do not add too much.  It should still look somewhat dry.  Form into 2 dry balls, and wrap each in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes or so before rolling out on a lightly floured cloth to a 1/8 to 1/4" thickness.  Prepare two 8" pie plates and line with pastry.  Set aside to make filling

Pumpkin Pie Filling

The pumpkin puree is more yellow
 than I expected

2 cups pumpkin puree
1.5 c. light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
5 eggs
3 cups milk

The brown sugar turns dark in the batter

The batter seems very thin but firmed up.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix together puree, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.  Add eggs and mix well.  Change mixer to lowest speed, and add milk very slowly, as though making mayonnaise, until all is incorporated.  Mixture will be thin.  Divide between prepared pastries.  Bake approximately 1.5 hours or until knife inserted into center comes out clean.  Allow to cool before serving.  Makes 2 8" pies.

The Resident Dragon, who is a pumpkin pie epicure, lurked around the kitchen until the pies were ready.  It was worth all the effort to see him enjoy the home-made treat.

Love does come in all shapes and sizes--and flavors.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What's cooking in your kitchen?

The pie puffs up right at the end.