Oven Roasted Carrots with Orange-Honey Glaze

Serves 4

Watch out for the rabbits!

8 fresh carrots with tops

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400º. Cut the tops from the carrots leaving about ½-inch of the green stems. Wash the carrot tops and dry the tops to use for garnish.

Brush the carrots clean under running water, dry. Place the carrots on a foil-lined baking sheet. Pour the olive oil over the carrots until each carrot is coated.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake for 15 to 25 minutes depending on the thickness of the carrots. Carrots are cooked when fork tender at the thickest part.

Place the carrots on a platter, and set the carrot tops back on the stem end of the carrots so that it appears that you have a fresh bunch of carrots on the plate (see photo above). Pour the dressing over the carrots, and serve. 

Dressing:

1 tablespoon warm honey

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon of orange zest

Mix all ingredients together with a wire whisk and pour over the carrots.

(Seasoned in the Kitchen by Linda Rogers Weiss, available on Amazon)

Mother’s Lemon Ice-box Pie

My mother would begin serving lemon ice-box pie in spring, and continue all through summer. This is one dessert that is definitely satisfying. It’s my absolute favorite pie. I’ve reduced the number of egg yolks and it’s still smooth, silky and lemon tart.

1 (10-inch) glass pie plate

vanilla wafers

3 egg yolks

2 (14-ounce) cans regular or fat-free sweetened CONDENSED milk

1 cup fresh lemon juice

Topping:

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray the pie plate with a non-stick cooking spray. Line the plate on the bottom and around the sides with whole vanilla wafers. In a large bowl, using a mixer or wire whisk, mix the egg yolks, condensed milk and lemon juice until thoroughly blended. Carefully pour the mixture into the pie plate. Bake until the pie is set. It can take as long as 40 minutes in a regular oven or as short as 20-25 minutes in a convection oven. When the center of the pie is set, remove from the oven to cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate when cooled. When ready to serve, add whipped cream.

Topping: Add the heavy cream and sugar to a mixing bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Spoon over each serving of pie.

 (Memories From Home, Cooking with Family & Friends by Linda rogers Weiss, Amazon)

 

 

The menu for Sunday dinner. Tender red lettuce with mandarin oranges, sliced green onions and poppy seed dressing. Chicken Charleston, made with chicken breast, onions, a touch of garlic, curry, cream and brandy over basmati rice, and a side of steamed broccoli with toasted almonds. For dessert, baby cakes with fudge sauce and caramel gelato.

This very old recipe for the wonderfully delicious Chicken Charleston that I made today, is an adaption of one by the late Ronald Johnson, author of The American Table. It might sound a little heavy but it’s not at all. The chicken with its rich, golden sauce will make you feel so nourished and satisfied that you will leave the table thinking that all is right with the world.

The mandarin orange salad recipe is included below, although it is so simple, you won’t need a recipe. It just adds that extra touch that is needed to balance out the curry in the chicken and sauce.

Serve the Chicken Charleston over your favorite cooked rice, and for the perfect side dish, steam some broccoli, and add butter and almonds.

Oh, my goodness gracious. Don’t forget this decadent chocolate dessert recipe below. I can’t wait for you to try this. Too easy with a mix. Shhhh! Nobody will know.

Enjoy!

Chicken Charleston

4 boneless-skinless chicken breast (or, you can use 1 cut-up chicken)
4 tablespoons butter
4 cups finely chopped sweet onion
1 garlic clove, minced
2 1/2 teaspoons curry
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup rum or brandy

Melt the butter in a large skillet and sauté the chicken lightly. Lift the pieces onto a plate. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook over medium heat until straw colored. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the chicken pieces back in the pan and into the onion. Cover, and cook slowly on top of the stove for 15 minutes.
Remove the cover, turn the chicken, and cook slowly, uncovered for 10-15 minutes for chicken breasts, 20 minutes or more for chicken pieces. Add water if it gets too dry. Remove from the pan when its juices run golden when pierced with a fork, and keep warm.
Sprinkle curry powder over the onion and cook a few minutes, stirring, then add the cream and rum or brandy. Boil down, stirring, until the sauce is slightly thickened. Taste for seasoning. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and pour the sauce over the chicken. Serve with fluffy rice. Before serving, slice green onion tops or chop fresh parsley and sprinkle over the sauce.* This is a full recipe for sauce. If you are not a heavy sauce eater, then by all means just cut the sauce recipe in half. Serves 4.

Mandarin Orange Salad

1 small head of baby red lettuce, washed and torn or cut into serving size pieces
1 (14.5 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
sliced green onions to taste
Poppy seed dressing of your choice

Mix all ingredients together except poppy seed dressing. Add dressing to taste. If not making the broccoli side dish, add a half cup of toasted almonds to the salad.

Baby Cakes with Fudge Sauce & Caramel Gelato

 I admit that when I’m in a hurry, I don’t always make home-made. This is one of those times that I took a box of brand name mix called, “Chocolate Lover’s Cupcakes”, and made it even more “decadent “by adding fudge sauce and caramel gelato. Yikes. It’s a wonder I can walk after all this taste testing today.

So here you go. One 19.4 ounce box of a famous brand chocolate cupcake mix that has icing in the box. Follow the recipe for the cupcakes, but instead of the oil, add one stick of softened butter. You can continue on and make cupcakes, which are delicious, or you can use a small porcelain dish with scallops or a Brûlée dish instead and make baby cakes. Just make sure the dishes are about the same size as the cupcake pan. It will take about the same amount of time to bake the baby cakes as it will the cupcakes.

When finished baking, cool and follow instructions for frosting the “baby cakes” as you would frost the cupcakes. Add the cakes to the serving dishes, garnish with hot fudge sauce and caramel gelato. Serve right away. Makes 12 cakes.

Sunday Dinner Menu– Grape Salad over Greens, Brown Sugar-mustard glazed Pork Tenderloin with Applesauce-mustard-horseradish Sauce, Squash Soufflé, English Peas with Potatoes & Cream, Hot Rolls, Strawberries in Amaretto Syrup over Lemon Pound Cake.

Yesterday, was Sunday. My husband and I had a delicious dinner, served around noon. For me, the dinner was not about what I cooked so much as it was a reminder of my late mother, dad and my old home. I loved those long Sundays in the South, the feeling of peace in our family, and the sense of belonging that came with us all being together, and sharing a meal.

Sunday dinners were more elaborate meals than weekdays or Sunday suppers with a table full of pretty dishes to put that delicious food on. My mother loved to cook, and she was great at it too. It helped that our vegetables were local, seasonal and produced from dirt that was the color of pure coal, in a region known as the “Alabama Black Belt”. Everybody knew, even way back then, that we had the best tasting food on the planet, partly because of the richness of the dirt.

After dinner, depending on the weather, we’d leave the dining room for the front lawn. Sitting in twig chairs, under giant pecan trees, our mother would serve us desserts of banana splits or strawberry shortcakes, as a breeze was gently blowing away the Alabama heat.

A walk in the cemetery or a quick ride out to my great grandmother’s “old place”, were rituals, a right of passage. Something to look forward to. By the time we had arrived back home, my sister and I were hungry again. Since my dad didn’t like to eat the same food for dinner and supper, there were no leftovers served on Sunday evening. A meal for the evening was more like breakfast than supper. (Southernsundaymornings.wordpress.com).

On hot summer days, our Sunday dinners moved to the Tombigbee River. My daddy loved his boat, and my mother loved a good picnic. The menu changed from something more elaborate and seasonal, to a deep South picnic menu of pimiento cheese, fresh sliced pineapple, baked ham, cold fried chicken, stuffed eggs, sliced tomatoes and lots of iced tea. That was even better as far as we were concerned, because my sister and I could ski, eat, and ski again. To this very day, the idea of that picnic makes me feel excited and when I am really down about something, I have fried chicken with a  pimiento cheese sandwich. Two of my favorites.

Like I had done so long ago, my children have “flown the coop”, so to speak. So, it’s just the two of us now, unless we can coerce them into coming over to eat with us. We do understand that they are busy with their children, even though I wish they had been here. I loved cooking dinner yesterday, and thinking and feeling the past.

I hope you enjoy this dinner. I have to admit that I couldn’t stop eating the squash soufflé. I’ve included the recipe for the salad, pork tenderloin and sauce, squash soufflé and strawberries. I’m still working on peas with potatoes. I’ve never been able to make them quite like my mother could.

Make some Sunday Dinner memories with your food. More to come, including the Sunday picnic foods.

Grape Salad

Green, red or purple grapes, about 1/2 cup per serving
equal parts of mayonnaise and sour cream
brown sugar to taste
toasted, chopped pecans to taste

Wash and dry grapes. Add to a bowl. Mix equal amounts of mayonnaise and sour cream. Add brown sugar to taste. Add toasted chopped pecans. Mix well. Serve on fancy, fresh greens.

Squash Soufflé

I gave mother a soufflé dish as a birthday gift in 1969. I used it to make her beautiful squash soufflé yesterday. It was a little big, but it didn’t matter. You can half this recipe for 4 people. This recipe makes about 8 servings. It freezes well if you have leftovers.

2 pounds squash, washed and cut into small cubes
20 Club crackers, crushed
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 large onions, finely chopped
2 cups grated sharp cheddar
1 cup milk
1 1/2-2 teaspoons salt or to taste
pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook squash and onions together in a small amount of water until very tender. Drain the water from the squash, and mash the squash until it is pureed. Add salt, pepper, cheese, butter, egg yolks, milk and crackers. Beat egg whites until stiff; fold into squash mixture. Bake in a buttered casserole, or soufflé dish until brown, about 30 minutes, depending on what kind of baking dish is used. * I put this in the oven to bake after the tenderloin was removed. When it’s done, there will be no jiggling in the center and the top will be slightly brown.

Brown Sugar, Mustard Glazed Pork Tenderloin
Serves 4

1 (1.5 pound) pork tenderloin
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons yellow mustard

Prepare the tenderloin for roasting by slipping a knife under any sliver skin and removing it. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar and mustard. Place a piece of foil on a baking sheet. Put the tenderloin on the baking sheet and smear it with half of the brown sugar mustard mixture. Bake for about 15 minutes and add the remaining brown sugar mixture. Baste every 10 minutes until the internal temperature of the tenderloin reaches 160-165 degrees. About 35-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and wrap the foil over the top of and around the tenderloin. Let it rest for at least 10-15 minutes before slicing. After slicing and plating, spoon some of the pan juices over the tenderloin. Serve with sauce.

Applesauce-Dijon Mustard-Horseradish Sauce

1 cup “original” applesauce
1 tablespoon horseradish sauce, or to taste
1/2-1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard, or to taste

Mix ingredients together, serve on side of pork tenderloin.

Strawberries in Amaretto Syrup

4 cup strawberries, washed, hulled and cut into slices
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 overflowing tablespoon of amaretto, or to taste

Bring the sugar and water to a boil, reduce heat and cook until the sugar is melted and syrup has thickened. Remove from the heat and add the amaretto.
Place prepared strawberries in containers such as glass canning jars, or plastic storage containers. Fill with the syrup, and freeze until ready to use. Thaw quickly by taking the top off the container and putting in the microwave for 20 seconds at a time. Serve over cake and add whipped cream, or over ice cream as a sundae.