Veronica and Marty's Salad Dressing

I came up with this for the dinner we did after their wedding rehearsal.It seems to work pretty well. They're still married.

• 1 Tbsp dry Basil flakes
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 c V8 vegetable juice
• 1 c red wine vinegar
• 2 c pure pomegranate juice

Stir the above together well

• 4 c cheap Italian salad dressing
• 1 c extra virgin olive oil

Stir well while adding these last two ingredients.

Serve over a lettuce-based salad or over mixed greens.

Tomato Rosemary Lemon Soup

The other day, my wife suggested Tomato Soup might be good. It was a cold day and soup sounded good to me too. So, I did some recipe searching and found a recipe from Giada DeLaurentis from the Food Network. Of course, I had to change a few things. Mostly I didn't have all the ingredients for her recipe. In particular, her recipe has you sauteing a couple of chopped carrots. Also you add a can of cannelloni beans which are, I think, small white beans. If those were in this soup, and got blended with the other parts, it would change the taste and texture quite a bit.

• 1/2 large onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp butter

Saute until translucent in a non-small cook pan. (Not a skillet.)

• 2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes (stewed or simply canned tomatoes would work or you could use a large can of crushed tomatoes)
• 1 whole bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (it might taste ok with less of this)
• 3 cups chicken broth (this shouldn't have too much salt)
• 1 tsp fresh Rosemary (You are going to need another 1/2 tsp down the page a bit so prepare it all at this point. Just keep the leaves. Discard the stems. Chop finely. I also put some olive oil on the rosemary when it was still on the stem and set fire to part of it. It smells wonderful and adds a bit of smokey flavor)
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Add the above and bring to a boil over med-high head. Reduce heat and simmer, covered 20 min. Remove from heat. Run through blender a ladle/cup at a time.You will need another pan or heatproof mixing bowl.

• Salt
• Pepper

Season to taste. Warm back up in the same pan after you wash it out.

• 1/2 cup whipped cream cheese
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Zest of one lemon
• 1/2 tsp fresh Rosemary (prepared as described above)

Stir together vigorously. Try to get rid of lumps.

Serve hot soup with a generous dollop of the cream mixture. Diners should stir it up before eating

Jan 2011

Ginger Orange Tea

We've been making this for some time but just recently came up with the ginger. It adds something undefinable but good.

• 1 tea bag - Brooke Bond Red Label or other simple tea. (Brooke Bond Red Label is an Orange Pekoe tea grown in India. It tastes wonderful hot. Cold...not so much.)
• 1 cup water - boil water and add tea bag, steeping for 3 minutes (don't tell anyone, but sometimes I nuke it with the bag in the water for a minute and a half)

Make the tea pretty strong

• 1 Tbsp orange juice concentrate - three teaspoons are easier to measure if it's still frozen. This is the concentrate right out of the can. Don't prepare it by adding water.
• 1 thin slice of fresh finger about the size of a US nickel - no need to peel (If you aren't in the US, that's about 2 cm diameter and 1 mm thick.)
• 1 tsp white sugar

Stir and drink hot

Hall Twins Mushroom Salsa

Over Christmas, my wife, her sister and I went to 3 Margarita's restaurant in Loveland Colorado. We loved the mushroom salsa so much, we spent way too long discussing what was in it. This is what we came up with. It's not exactly the same. Their's is better (even ignoring I don't have to cook when we go there).

• 4 large mushrooms fresh chopped very finely - I used the Baby Portobello mushrooms but plain white mushrooms might be better.
• 1/4 jalapeno less veins plus seeds - chop finely and adjust for your heat tolerance.
• 1 tsp fine chopped red onion - white onion would work
• Carrot - peel off a few curls with a potato peeler and chop into small strips
• 4 tsp chopped cilantro - include some of the stems (and you might like more than this)
• Dribble a little olive oil over the top. Just a tiny bit.
• 1/4 tsp salt but heaped up a bit
• Pinch sugar - this makes a big difference
• 2 Tbsp lime juice (the juice of 1 lime)

Stir it all up making sure the juice gets on all of the bits. Let set 1 hour and stir it some more. You can keep it from turning brown by covering it with a wet paper towel.

Eat over tortilla chips.

Vesuvio Salad

This is inspired by a salad we had at a small Italian restaurant tucked back behind the Pizza Hut in a strip shopping center. It was sometime in the mid-1990's. We asked the owner/cook what was in it and he told us. Maybe he left something out. Maybe not but it tastes wonderful.

It's even better if you put all the ingredients together except the tomatoes and part of the fresh Basil and then let it sit for a few hours (or overnight). Then add in the tomatoes and some more fresh Basil. (Of course it might just be better because you knew you were waiting for it.)

Recipe serves four. It may take up to 20 minutes to prepare depending on how fast you are with a knife and how meticulous your cutting.

2” of the white of a leek, skin removed.	Cut into 2 inch pieces. Cut lengthwise into toothpick shapes. Each piece will be roughly 2 inches by 1/8 inch. The shape of the pieces is important to the taste.
2 thick slices Provolone Cheese
½ can palm hearts
2 or 3 roma tomatoes, fresh	Cut into marble sized bits.
2 Tbsp Fresh Basil, chopped plus a few whole leaves. (Dried Basil can be substituted.)	Add with all the ingredients above into a mixing bowl.
3 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar	Pour over ingredients in bowl. Exact measures don’t really matter.
2 Tbsp Olive oil
Salt and Pepper	To taste

Mix gently but thoroughly together. Serve a large spoonful on a small plate to each of four people.

Green Peas with Orange Dressing

This recipe started in 2005 when I saw a PBS show where Julia Childs had a guest chef. He was from France or Canada (by his accent) and spoke very calmly and softly. I don't know his name.

I haven't modified it much but these are the measurements I use. Don't obsess over being exact though.

This creates enough dressing for four individual salads.

8 Tbsp Mayonnaise	Add to small mixing bowl and stir together gently. Keep chilled. Use Mayo. Do not use “Miracle Whip” or “Salad Dressing”. If you don't have marmalade, you can use a single Tbsp of Orange Juice Concentrate straight from the can. Let it sit until it softens to the point that you can mix it into the mayonnaise (or melts completely).
1/4 tsp orange zest, fresh
1 1/2 Tbsp orange marmalade

Then, for each salad, you make it like this.

Fresh spinach leaves	Cover the center of a small individual salad plate with one layer of spinach leaves. Create a small pile of peas on top of the spinach and just off center. Spoon a 2 Tbsp blob of the dressing mixture onto the top of the pile of peas. Sprinkle a tiny bit of black pepper on top.
3 or 4 Tbsp frozen green peas
Black pepper

Delay about 15 minutes to serve until the peas thaw. If you wait too long, though, they will get soggy, warm or soft, all of which don't taste near as good.

Tomato Sauce for Pizza, Spaghetti, Lasagna, etc.

You may have to divide this recipe down a bit: It makes a bit more than 4 quarts or sauce.

I have been fiddling with this recipe since the early 1980's when my friend Mike Paden showed me how his mother made this type of sauce when he was growing up in Italy. Mike's version, as I remember, just had onion, garlic, salt, oil, tomatoes, and basil. Somewhere over the years, all the other stuff just started appearing in the sauce. Feel free to leave out anything not in Mike's version. You might like it better. (Or experiment with other stuff, like majoram or mushrooms or celery, carrots and/or peppers.)
Before starting, you might want to put some clean jars in the dishwasher with NO soap. Run on a hot cycle. (You can just wash the jars by hand with really hot water.) Part of the plan is to remove the hot jars just in time to add the sauce.

1 large yellow onion (4") or two medium onions - chopped (not too fine, say, 5 mm pieces)
1/2 clump garlic - crush and chop finely the large garlic cloves, throw out the tiny ones
4 Tbsp olive oil
1/8 tsp salt (a generous pinch)

Put into a large cookpot and saute stirring occasionally on medium. I use a wooden spoon. Do not brown (or burn). Cook until transparent.

1 Tbsp oregano (chopped fresh is best, dried flakes works too)
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (like they have for putting on pizza)
2 Tbsp dried Basil flakes

Collect in a small bowl or cup and add all at once to the pot. You only need to carefully measure the salt. Stir constantly for about 30 seconds. You should smell the spices.

1 gallon crushed tomatoes (I get this at Costco) It might work with diced or whole tomatoes.
1 large can tomato paste (or 2 small cans)
1 cup dark red wine (I have tried and approve both cabernet savignon and merlot among others. Use a drinking wine.)

Pour into the pot. Bring to a boil on medium. Reduce heat and simmer, covered about 20 minutes.

1/2 cup fresh loose Basil leaves.

(Yes, there is even more basil.) Measure and then remove woody stems and chop coarsely. After chopping it will be around 3 or 4 Tbsp) If you don't have fresh Basil add 2 more Tbsp dried Basil flakes. (You can also freeze fresh Basil leaves and use them. Frozen and chopped would be 3 or 4 Tbsp.)

Add to pot, stir in and simmer for 5 minutes.

Taste and adjust spices. The taste is going to depend on the strength of the spices, the sweetness of the wine and the flavors of the specific onions, garlic and tomatoes you used.

• If it is at all bitter, try adding another tsp or two of salt.
• If you want more basil flavor, you can add more.
• If the garlic flavor is weak add garlic powder (NOT garlic salt) a half-tsp at a time, stir, retaste and add more garlic if needed. Note that the garlic powder flavor intensifies over time so you might add more garlic powder if you are going to eat the sauce immediately and a bit less if it will sit over a few hours.
• Now and then I add more sugar if it's sour.
• Add crushed red pepper to give it a bit more kick if you wish (this flavor doesn't manifest itself right away so just trust your feelings and guess).

Usually that's all you need to adjust.

If you adjusted the basil or garlic let it simmer 5 more minutes. Otherwise, you are finished cooking.

I then ladle the sauce into glass canning jars fresh from a no-soap machine dishwashing on hot. Fill to within 1/8 inch of the top. Wipe the threads and rim clean ... very clean. Seal each jar with a lid and ring. (I don't always use new lids but the rubber part needs to be pliable.)

Let the jars cool before putting into the refrigerator. The sauce seems to keep for around 6 weeks if kept refrigerated. It will get a discoloration at the top of the jar when it ruins. (I can't say how safe it is but sometimes a process a jar for 20 full minutes in boiling water and use a new lid. By doing this, the jar seems safe outside the refrigerator for a week or so or until you open it. Refrigerate after opening.) Without processing in boiling water, put the jars into the refrigerator within, say, 8 hours. There is no rule but if you put them in the fridge too hot, it makes the refrigerator warm inside, possibly spoiling other food and running up your electric bill. If you wait too long ... well its not a good idea to leave food on the counter for too long.

How to use this sauce:

Warm it up and serve over cooked pasta of any sort. Spaghetti works well. You can fry some hamburger meat or meat balls to serve over the top as well but vegi works too. (You may need to thin it with a little water.)

Use in lasagna recipes where they ask for tomato sauce.

Use to make your own pizza. Buy or make a crust. Spread a thin layer of sauce over the bread. Cover that with cheese and add any toppings you like. Cook at 400 F for 5 - 10 minutes until it looks like a pizza should. If it starts burning, turn the heat down to 375 F (or take it out and eat it).