The past month has been filled with reader requests. Today,
we’ll clear a few off the shelf and make room for your questions,
recipes or searches.
The past month has been filled with reader requests. Today, we’ll clear a few off the shelf and make room for your questions, recipes or searches.
• Poor Man’s Ice Cream:
Reader Dorothy Comin writes: “I would like to know if you have ever heard of ‘Poor Man’s Ice Cream’? I was told it was made many, many years ago. I have never heard of it, but they say the recipe is out there somewhere. I would appreciate it if you would let me know what you find …”
I had never heard of ‘Poor Man’s Ice Cream’ and I wasn’t able to find a recipe by that exact name. I did, however, find “Poor Man’s Orange Sherbet.” In the back of an old cookbook from the 1950s, I found this very simple recipe. Notice it calls for “bottles” of soda, but I think cans will do. You can do this with any soda.
Poor Man’s Orange Sherbet
6 bottles Orange Crush soda
1 can eagle brand milk
Mix together the Orange Crush and the Eagle Brand Milk. Pour into an ice cream maker. Prepare as your ice cream freezer directs.
• Great meatloaf:
Reader Loretta White sent in a copy of an old Ann Landers column from the late ’50s or early ’60s. Loretta has been using Ann’s meatloaf recipe ever since. It calls for Accent, which is a seasoning salt. If you cannot find it, something like Lawry’s can be substituted. Loretta says she doesn’t use the bacon most of the time.
Ann Landers Meatloaf
2 pounds ground round steak
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
3/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp. Accent
1/2 cup warm water
1 package onion soup mix
Beat thoroughly. Put into a loaf pan, cover with 2 strips bacon, if you like that flavor. Pour over all one 8 oz. can tomato sauce. Bake one hour at 350 degrees. Serves 6.
• Crabby patties:
Move over, Sponge Bob. You’re not the only one who wants to cook with crab. Gina Varna of Morgan Hill e-mailed a request for crab recipes. It seems she has been allergic to seafood all of her life. After 20 years of not eating it, she recently tried crab and found out that her allergy has disappeared. She wants to make up for lost time.
I found these two crab recipes in a new cookbook called “Crazy For Crab” by Fred Thompson. It’s a beautiful paperback book with color pictures of many recipes, as well as photos of crab catchers and their boats. If you love crab, you’ll love this book. Gina: Please send me your address and I will put my review copy of the cookbook in the mail to you. Enjoy!
Crab and Artichoke Dip
1/2 pound sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon brown mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
Finely ground black pepper to taste
14-oz. jar artichoke hearts, drained well and cut into small pieces
1 pound crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 1 1/2-quart casserole.
Combine cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, Worcestershire, lemon juice, hot pepper sauce and black pepper in a large mixing bowl and stir until well mixed. Gently fold in the artichoke hearts, crabmeat, parsley and chives until well combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole.
Bake until hot and bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve immediately with crackers, toasted slices of French bread, or raw vegetables. Serves 12.
Dungeness Crab Salad with Winter Citrus and Avocado
2 cups fresh orange juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Peel and cut into individual sections:
3 blood oranges
2 limes
2 tangerines
1 grapefruit
1 lemon
2 precooked Dungeness crabs, picked of their meat OR 2 pounds lump crabmeat
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1 ripe but firm Hass avocado, halved lengthwise and sliced into half moons
3 cups mixed salad greens
Pour orange juice into a small nonreactive saucepan and simmer over medium heat until reduced to a thick syrup, 5 to 10 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a small mixing bowl, season with salt and pepper, and gradually whisk in the oil. Set aside.
Combine blood orange, lime, tangerine, grapefruit and lemon segments in a medium-size mixing bowl and set aside. Put the crabmeat in another mixing bowl, add 1/2 cup of the orange-flavored oil, sprinkle with chives and toss gently. Taste and correct seasonings.
Divide the avocado slices among 4 serving plates and spoon some of the citrus salad on top. Spoon the crab on top of the citrus. Scatter the greens on top of each serving. Drizzle with a little olive oil and also drizzle with some of the remaining orange-flavored oil. Serve immediately. Serves 4.
• Clever Mother’s Day poem:
This is a few days late, but it’s never too late to thank a mom again. Stephanie Chisolm’s second-grade class made up this “recipe” for their moms.
Mothers
2 cups of patience
3 cups of laughter
5 tablespoons of kindness
3 1/2 tablespoons of comfort
4 teaspoons of helpfulness
Stir with love
Sprinkle with hugs and kisses
Bake with a warm heart
Serve with a smile.
Happy Mother’s Day!
This week’s tip
If you love potato chips, but don’t like the trans-fat-full oil in which they’re fried, try the Red Bliss potato chips by Terra Chips. They’re fried in olive oil.
Notes
• Licorice lovers unite: Love licorice? You’re not alone. Licorice International Inc. features one of the largest selections of licorice in the United States. They feature nearly 100 types of licorice from 13 countries, including twists from Australia, pipes from Finland and salt licorice from Holland. You can peruse the selection at www.licoriceinternational.com.
• Enhanced chicken breasts?: The California Poultry Federation is warning consumers that “enhanced chicken” can cost more, though the terminology doesn’t mean much. You may have noticed enhanced chicken showing up in the fresh chicken case. What does the term mean? In most cases, it means the addition of extra water, salt and phosphates to chicken products. The excess water can weigh 15 percent more than the chicken alone, so consumers are paying more. Christine Bruhn, director of consumer research at UC Davis says, “The producers selling enhanced chicken are making profit off of water weight.” Sodium content can also be a concern. A natural, untreated chicken breast contains about 80 milligrams of sodium; an enhanced one can contain about 540 milligrams.
• How much fat?: A survey by Specialty Food Magazine found that 65 percent of consumers are interested in fat content of foods; 55 percent are interested in carbohydrate content. Interest in vitamin and mineral content is strongest among 18 to 24-year-olds, and it declines with age.
End notes: “To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.”
