Tuna Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients & Directions 2 cn Tuna; drained and flaked 1 Box frozen peas & carrots; -rinsed to separate and -drained 1 cn (small) mushroom pieces or -1/2 cup chopped fresh -mushrooms (optional) Salt & pepper to taste -(don’t need much salt at -all because the tuna is -fairly salty) Mayonnaise (low-fat works -fine, and you just need -enough to bind together.) Cooked; seasoned mashed -potatoes This was my Mom’s recipe…I still make it today, and everyone always loves it. It’s a bit different… no noodles…it’s more like a tuna shepherd’s pie. It’s simple, but the flavors blend together nicely and it really does taste wonderful. I usually serve it just with celery and carrot sticks and some crusty rolls. (make the mashed potatoes with at least a little butter or margarine along with the milk…this allows them to brown nicely–I find using 3-4 large potatoes makes enough for this…depends on how thick you like them) paprika Spray an 8′ baking dish (or 1 1/2 to 2 qt casserole) with Pam. Gently mix tuna with peas & carrots, mushrooms if using, and just enough mayo to help bind it together. Press into the baking dish. Top with cooked mashed potatoes. Using hte back of a tablespoon, press down & up quickly along the potatoes to make little waves (doing this make it look nice, and makes little peaks that brown and crisp a bit). Sprinkle with paprika, and bake at 350 about 35-40 minutes, or until tuna mixture is bubbly. Yields 1 Servings
Bestever Pound Cake
Ingredients & Directions 1 c Butter 1/2 c Soft shortening 3 c Sugar 5 Eggs 3 c All-purpose flour (Mama Always used Gold Medal) 1 ts Baking powder 1/8 ts Salt 1 c Milk 1 ts Each vanilla and lemon Extract (Mama always Substituted almond For the lemon) Cream butter, shortening and sugar until very light and fluffy. Then add eggs, one at a time until very creamy. Blend in flour, baking powder and salt mixture alternately with milk in small amounts, beating well after each addition. Blend in flavorings. Turn into greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake in preheated oven 350 degrees 1 hour. Turn off oven heat and allow cake to remain in oven 15 minutes longer. (Or place cake in cold oven, set temperature to 300 degrees and bake 1 hour 40 minutes.) Cake is done when cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10-15 minutes in pan on cake rack, then remove from pan and finish cooling on rack. Delicious as is, dusted with confectioners sugar, or frosted with 7-minute icing. Yields 8 Servings
Apricot Nut Bread`
Ingredients & Directions 1/2 c Dried Apricots — packed Chopped 1/2 c Hot Water 2 c All-Purpose Flour, Plus 2 -Tsp 1 tb Baking Powder 1/4 ts Baking Soda 1/4 ts Salt 1/2 c Orange Juice 3/4 c Corn Syrup 1/2 c Sugar 1 lg Egg 1 tb Vegetable Shortening — -melted 1 c Pecans — coarsely chopped 1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly butter and flour a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. 2. In a small bowl, soak apricots in the hot water for 30 mins. Drain well, reserving 1/4 cup of the soaking liquid. Pat the apricots with paper towels to remove the excess moisture. 3. Sift 2 cups of the flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt together onto a piece of wax paper. In a glass measuring cup, mix orange juice and reserved soaking liquid. 4. In a medium bowl, whisk the corn syrup, sugar, and egg until well combined. Whisk in the shortening. Alternating in thirds, mix in the flour and orange juice mixtures. Toss the apricots and pecans with the remaining 2 tsp of flour. Stir into the batter. Transfer to the loaf pan. 5. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in the pan for 10 mins. Unmold onto a wire rack and cool completely. Makes 1 (9 by 5-inch) loaf from Cecil R. Gerloff of X-G Ranch of Belen, NM. Yields 1 servings
Cranberry Pie
Ingredients & Directions 1 qt Cranberries; (chopped) 1/2 c Molasses 1 1/3 c Sugar Salt to taste 1 ts Cornstarch 1 tb Butter 1 Double pie crust Mix sugar, salt and cornstarch and add to chopped cranberries and molasses. Pour into pastry-lined pan. Dot with butter and cover with top crust. Bake at 425 degrees for about 35 minutes. Yields 1 servings
One Pan No Bowl Fresh Carrot Cake
Ingredients & Directions 1 1/2 c Flour 1 c Sugar 1 ts Baking soda 1 ts Cinnamon 1/4 ts Salt 1 c Coarsely grated carrot — About 3 1 tb Lemon juice 3/4 c Water 1/3 c Oil 1 ts Vanilla 1/2 c Chopped walntus Whipped topping Heat oven to 350 F. Put in 8-9″ ungreased pan: flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir to mix well. Add carrot. Stir to blend well. Add lemon juice, water, oil and vanilla. Stir to blend with spatula. Moisten ingredients in cornsers and on bottom. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 F. until pick comes out clean. Cool in pan. Serve with whipped topping. Yields 9 Servings
George Washington Gingerbread Cream Pie
Ingredients & Directions 1/3 c Butter FILLING 1 c Molasses 1 tb Gelatine 1 Egg, unbeaten 1/4 c Cold water 1 1/4 c Flour 1 c Milk 1/2 ts Soda 1 c Sugar 1 ts Baking powder ds Salt 1/2 ts Salt 2 tb Corn starch 1/2 ts Ginger 1 Egg, well beaten 1 ts Cinnamon 1/2 ts Vanilla 1/4 ts Cloves 1/2 c Finely chopped apricots 1/2 c Milk CAKE: Cream together butter and molasses; add unbeaten egg; blend well; add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk; beat until smooth. Pour batter into sprayed 9″ round cake pan or springform. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes. When cool, remove from pan; split in half. Put together with the following filling: FILLING: Soak gelatine in cold water for 10 min. Heat milk to scalding in top of double boiler (or med. saucepan set into lge. saucepan). Stir in mixture of sugar, salt & corn starch; cook in top of double boiler until mixture begins to thicken. Add vanilla and apricot to beaten egg, then add to the mixture in the double boiler. When slightly thickened, stir in gelatine until dissolved. Chill until mixture jells (around 1 1/4 hour). When filling is firm enough, spread between layers of gingerbread. If desired, top with whipped topping. Serves 6-8. Yields 8 servings
Peach And Sour Cream Tart
Ingredients & Directions -SWEET PASTRY DOUGH- 1 c Flour 1/4 c Sugar 1 pn Salt 1/4 ts Baking powder 4 tb Unsalted butter 1 lg Egg POACHED PEACHES 3 lb Ripe peaches 1/2 c Sugar -SOUR CREAM FILLING- 1/2 c Sour cream 1/3 c Sugar 3 lg Eggs 1 pn Nutmeg 1/2 c Blanched, sliced almonds Confectioners’ sugar – for finishing FOR THE DOUGH: COMBINE DRY INGREDIENTS in bowl of food processor and pulse several times to mix. Cut butter into 8 pieces and distribute evenly over dry ingredients in work bowl. Pulse until very finely powdered. Add egg and continue to pulse until dough forms a ball that revolves on blade. Remove dough, press into a disk, wrap and chill. TO POACH THE PEACHES: CUT A CROSS IN THE BLOSSOM end of each peach and immerse in boiling water about 30 seconds. Remove peaches to a bowl of ice water and slip off skins after they cool. Cut each peach into eight wedges, cutting them away from the pit as they are removed. Arrange slices in a wide, shallow non-reactive pan in one layer and sprinkle with sugar. Cover and place over low heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat. Cool. Drain peaches gently by lifting them from the juices with a slotted spoon to a plate or other non-reactive surface. Reserve the juices for another use. SOUR CREAM FILLING: PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 350F and set a rack in the lower third. Roll the pastry dough on a floured surface and line a 10-inch tart pan with it. Arrange the peach wedges on their sides in a concentric pattern. Whisk the filling ingredients together, strain and skim foam from top. Pour filling over peaches and sprinkle evenly with the sliced almonds. Bake the tart about 40 minutes, until the crust is baked through and the filling has set. Cool on a rack. Unmold, and serve at room temperature. Dust with the confectioners’ sugar immediately before serving. Store leftovers refrigerated. NICK MALGIERI – PRODIGY GUEST CHEFS COOKBOOK From Yields 6 Servings
