Mom's Gazpacho

My mom passed away a little over 2 years ago. Sunday would have been my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. This soup always makes me think of my mom. She used to make a big batch of it in a blue lard bucket with a tight fitting lid for us to take on picnics in the mountains. I made this last night, along with some yummy "deviled" chicken legs - basically just chicken legs rubbed with dijon mustard & rolled in panko, parmesan, salt, pepper & cayenne pepper. Oh yeah, and some butter :). Baked at 450 for 30 minutes, then cooled in the fridge, they went perfectly with this gazpacho. Wow, what a terrible photo! Oh well:
Note that this is not a traditional Spanish gazpacho (no bread, not blended), but my mom's special recipe. Sometimes I substitute cilantro for parsley, or half & half. My mom HATED cilantro though, so this time I made it just the way she did:

1 large (46 oz) bottle tomato juice (use PLAIN)
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1 cup parsley, chopped
2 cups chicken stock (or to taste - depends on how thick you want the soup)
juice of 1 lemon

Mix everything together, season to taste with salt & pepper, maybe a hit of hot sauce. Refrigerate for as long as you can - serve it COLD (add ice cubes if needed)

I like to serve with a dollop of sour cream in the bowl.

It tastes like summer. Try it :)

"Picnic"

This is a tradition that I brought over from my parents. Owning and operating a restaurant often means that cooking was the last thing on my parents' minds. We would often have what my mom always called "picnic", even if it was the dead of winter. In fact, this was our normal New Year's Eve dinner! The actual picnic (in the mountains at a picnic table) was something altogether different, and consisted of a bucket of my mom's gazpacho (I'll post about that soon) and peel/eat shrimp. "Picnic for dinner" is more of a concept than a meal.
We generally just do this in the summer months, when we have an ample supply of rose wine such as Commanderie de Peyrassol. Sadly, importation of this wine was super limited this year, we are already down to our last bottle and we haven't even had a paella party yet. But, I digress....
The idea behind "picnic" is just to sort of graze, usually while watching a movie or sports on TV, or just hanging out in the back yard listening to music and talking about random stuff. Items can include salumi (prociutto, bresaola, sopressata, salame), cheese (usually at least 2 or 3 varieties of varying style, I like cambozola, aged cheddar and gouda-type as a good combo), olives or tapenade, and sometimes pate & baguette croutons. I like to include one instant cooked item that I can pop in the toaster oven, Trader Joe's is great for these - escargot in brioche, mini crab cakes, or those shrimp in the rice paper wraps (these are awesome with Thai sweet chili sauce, toss the packet that comes with them).
Tonight's bill of fare: Trader Joe's mushroom puffs (basically duxelles loaded into little pastry moons), sopressata, prociutto, aged cheddar, cambozola, gouda and wheat crackers. I didn't bring out the olives for some reason, but I had them. I'm the only one that eats those anyway. Topped off with some rose wine, a perfect meal for a hot evening. (Sorry about the blurry picture and the ugly cutting boards and the missing mushroom puffs, they were in the toaster oven)

A famous Australian Dessert

A few years ago my son's class did an International Recipes book as a heritage project. On his request, I baked (yes, BAKED) great-grandma's Date Raptures. Here's the recipe, they are really good:

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp each of baking powder, baking soda & salt
1/4 cup shortening (do not substitute, please use Crisco - it will not kill you)
1/2 cup sugar plus 1/4 cup sugar set aside
1 egg
1/3 cup buttermilk (I used the powdered kind: 1/3 cup water where you would add the buttermilk & add the appropriate amount of powder along with the flour mixture)
1 Tbsp grated orange rind
1 cup chopped dates
3/4 cup orange juice strained of pulp

Preheat oven to 350
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt
With a mixer or beater, beat the sugar (1/2 cup), shortening and the egg.
Add the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk & orange rind. Beat until smooth.
Stir in the dates.
Pour into greased muffin tins about 2/3 full and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Mix the orange juice with the 1/4 cup of sugar & stir to dissolve sugar (don't cook)
Pour the juice over the individual cakes when serving - serve hot.

I baked these early and then heated up in the toaster oven briefly before pouring the juice over. What a nice, light treat! Perfect for proper afternoon tea or a not-too-sweet dessert. Try it!

PS
I did have to buy Crisco, and then had a good laugh when I found an unopened package that expired in 2006 in the pantry. Now you can see that I really don't bake! No idea why I bought the first can. I also noticed that on the package it says "not intended as a spread". Eeek.

Yes it is old fashioned...

Not only that, but it contains canned soup. I suppose if you want to be all gourmet you can make a bechamel instead. But really, this is part of history. My mother in law was given this recipe by one of the presidential daughters at a luncheon back in the 60s. My husband and his brother grew up with it, and my son adores it. Why mess with tradition.

Chicken Divan!

I usually microwave and then dice 2 big fat chicken breasts (or else I buy an 8oz pack of already cooked chicken chunks from Trader Joes), steam a bag of cut up broccoli florets (but not too much or it gets too mushy). Place the broccoli in the bottom of a casserole, add the chicken on top.

Mix 1 can of cream of chicken soup with ½ soup can of mayo, 3-5 Tbs curry powder and nearly all of a 4 cup package of grated cheese (I like to use a sharp cheddar). Stir this all together, pour over the casserole, and top with what is left of the cheese.

Cook uncovered in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes until the cheese on the top is nice and crusty. Serve over white rice.

Brocolli & Rice Soup

This is the Best…. Soup….. Ever. This is my dad's recipe. It is the perfect wintertime meal, I make this at least every other month from September to March.

1 onion chopped

2 crowns of broccoli chopped (or I use one bag of broccoli florets & chop them up a bit)
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1/2 cup rice
Parmesan cheese freshly grated - for garnish

Sautee the onion in a pot in some olive oil. Add the broccoli, stock & water. Sometimes you may need to add more or less water - taste it, make sure the broccoli is well covered. Bring to a simmer, add rice. Simmer uncovered until broccoli is tender & rice is done. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve in shallow bowls, garnish with parmesan cheese.

My variation: before the parmesan, drizzle a dab of truffle oil or nut oil. I know it is over the top but who cares!