For all of you busy cooks, here is Speedy Taco Supper. It will make a dozen tacos. This south-of-the-border feast is fast enough for week nights and easy enough for beginning cooks. If you’re scratching your head wondering why you have to find ground chuck, which comes from front beef shoulders, you don’t. I will use lean ground beef, which comes from the pieces after the beef is cut into roasts and steaks. This has fewer calories than chuck although it is a little pricier. And I usually have a ready supply in my freezer. I’m not buying many steaks these days!
One of Southern Living All-Time Favorites recipes is an Editor’s Choice. Maw-Maw’s Chicken Pie. Their comments: “This simple recipe gives rise to a golden, cakelike crust that won rave reviews at the tasting table. Try replacing a portion of the chicken with an equal amount of frozen, thawed vegetables, or stir a cup of shredded cheese into the soup mixture. We especially enjoyed the pie with broccoli and Cheddar cheese.”
From Joyce LaFray Young’s book Country Cookin’, we are going to try a very simple dish: Fried Squash. This recipe comes from Hopkins Boarding House in Pensacola. You can use either yellow squash or zucchini. They describe it as, “A nice change for an old favorite!”
From Jane Bradley’s Southern Style, here is another recipe that I suspect will be a dynamite discovery for our readers. And, as a BONUS, we are furnishing Bradley’s instructions on how to process your jars in a water bath for preserving. Jane says, “This is my cooking colleague’s (Betty Rosenblum), recipe for chutney. It is without peer. I have made this recipe with peaches fresh from my back yard but it works just fine with frozen peaches. Try with plums, apricots, or mangoes. Delicious! Spoon over a cube of cream cheese and serve with wheat crackers, or fill a peach half with chutney and serve with cold poached chicken. Add 1/4-cup chutney to tuna or chicken salad with a pinch of curry powder and serve in a tomato cup or as a filling for cream puffs. Use for tea sandwiches by adding minced chutney and ground country ham to mayonnaise or butter, perhaps with a dash of curry powder. Spread on bread and sprinkle with chopped, roasted peanuts. Whatever you do, just make lots! It is a wonderful gift from your kitchen and keeps many months when refrigerated and can be kept indefinitely if processed in a water bath.”
For Mrs. Meggett’s Chocolate Cream Pie, she says, “The chocolate lovers in your life will adore this pie. This light filling benefits from a night in the fridge, which will allow the filling to fully firm up. The whipped cream topping adds another layer of sweetness; it also helps to balance some of the chocolaty taste.”
SPEEDY TACO SUPPER
Recipe from 1996 Southern Living
Annual Recipes
1 pound ground chuck
2 to 3 teaspoons Taco Seasoning Blend (see below)
1/4 cup water
12 taco shells
Condiments: chopped onion and tomato, shredded lettuce and cheese
1) Brown ground chuck in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring until it crumbles; drain. Add Taco Seasoning Blend and 1/4 cup water, stirring well. 2) Cook over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes or until liquid evaporates. Spoon meat mixture into taco shells; top with condiments as desired. Yield: 1 dozen.
MAW-MAW’S CHICKEN PIE
Recipe from Southern Living
All-Time Favorites
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 (10-3/4-ounce) can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1-1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1) Place chopped chicken in a lightly greased 12- x 8-inch baking dish. Whisk together soup, broth, and cornstarch; pour mixture evenly over chicken. 2) Whisk together flour, buttermilk, and butter; spoon batter evenly over chicken mixture. 3) Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Makes 8 servings.
FRIED SQUASH
from Hopkins Boarding House
in Pensacola
Country Cookin’ by Joyce L. Young
2 pounds yellow squash
(may substitute zucchini)
Salt
Self-rising flour
Fat for deep fat frying
1) Wash and slice squash into 1” pieces. 2) Sprinkle salt over squash so that all pieces are lightly salted. (The salt draws out the extra liquid.) 3) Let sit 1 hour. Pour off liquid. 4) Dip and completely cover each piece in self-rising flour. 5) Fry in deep fat at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until brown and crisp. Serves 6.
FRESH PEACH CHUTNEY
Recipe from
Southern Style by Jane Bradley
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
1-1/2 cups white, distilled vinegar
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 large onions, thinly sliced
lengthwise
4 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced
4 cups seedless raisins
8 cups fresh peaches, thinly sliced
1) Using a large, heavy pan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened, about 2 hours, stirring from time to time so that mixture does not stick. 2) When desired thickness, place into sterilized jars and seal. (See NOTE 2, below for instructions to processing.) Allow to cool on a double thickness of towels away from drafts. Store in refrigerator or process to keep indefinitely.
NOTE: When peaches are really at their peak, I make several batches of chutney. You have some flexibility with this recipe. If you have a bit more fruit, add it. If you don’t like so many raisins (I use a lot), reduce to 2 cups. If you prefer, cider vinegar can be used. Add the zest and juice of 2 lemons or just thinly slice them and add to the pot. Experiment! Yield: 5 pints.
NOTE 2: For processing in a water bath, wipe any drips off the jars or lids and seal. Process in a water bath for 20 minutes, as follows: The recommended method of processing in a water bath is to immerse filled jars in a container large enough so they are covered by several inches of water. Remember to put the rack in the bottom of the pot to protect the jars from the hot bottom. Bring the water to a vigorous boil and start counting the time only after the water returns to the boil. When required time is up, remove jars and place on a double thickness of towels to cool, away from drafts. When cool, check the seal by pressing down on the lid. If the lid moves, it has not properly sealed. These improperly sealed jars of pickle should be refrigerated and eaten as soon as possible. If there is no “give” in the lid when pressed and the lid is concave, you have attained a proper seal and pickles can be safely stored in a cool, dark place for many months.
EMILY MEGGETT’S
CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE
Recipe from Gullah Geechee Home Cooking by Emily Meggett
3 ounces Baker’s unsweetened chocolate
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups milk, whole or 2%
4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 baked (9-inch) pie crust
Sweetened whipped cream
1) Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. 2) In a mixing bowl, whisk 1 cup of the sugar, the flour, and salt together with 1/2 cup of the milk until smooth. Add the egg yolks and the remaining 2 cups milk. Add this mixture to the melted chocolate, whisking well. 3) Stir constantly and cook over medium heat until thick and smooth, about 10 minutes. Add the butter and vanilla, stir until melted, then pour into the pie shell. 4) Let cool, then cover loosely and refrigerate the pie overnight to chill. 5) Spread the whipped cream over the chocolate.
