Good Recipes And Good Friends

    ...Continued from yesterday:
    I expect that every recipe that someone gives you was passed on to them by someone else, who got it from somewhere else. Which I guess begs the question:  does there exist a branch of geneology for recipes?  Has anyone  ever taken one of their favorite recipes and traced it back to its source?
    Anyway, here are a few of my legacy recipes,  going back one generation.  I'll hopefully be working on writing down the rest of my recipes ( or rather the recipes I've inherited form someone or somewhere else), but in the meantime here are the top-tier most important ones all in one place. (So if anyone is ever looking for them, just remember they're here in the October 9, 2014 Ailantha post).


1.  Green Beans Almondine.
    Back when I was living in Paris back in 1972 my best French friend, Marie-Paule Demets, once made these green beans.

Marie-Paule and me, Paris, 1972

    I don't exactly remember the occasion, but I think it was the time we decided to make dinner together  - or rather, she made the dinner, I just brought the meat, which I'd bought earlier in the day from a butcher's shop.  Or from what I thought was a butcher's shop.  Turned out where I bought it from was a boucherie chevaline,  or a horse-meat butcher's shop.  (I thought "Chevaline" was the butcher's name 'til Marie-Paule saw the name on the shop's bag and set me straight).   So that was the first time I had green beans almondine and also my first (and last) horse meat.

Marie-Paule's Green Beans Almondine
4 cans of French-cut green beans
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
Lawry's garlic salt
Dried parsely

Melt about 1 tablespoon of  butter or margarine in a large frying pan over medium-low heat.  Add the almonds and saute until light brown, be careful not to let them burn.  Drain the green beans.  Add to the almonds in the  pan the green beans, the rest of the butter, the Lawry's garlic salt to taste and parsely.  Cook until the green beans are heated through. 



2.  Mashed Potato Casserole.
     I got this recipe many years ago from my good friend and founding member, with myself, of  the Panera Posse, Marianne.

Marianne and me at Claire's wedding, May 3, 2014, Wickenburg Arizona

   
For years my family referred to this dish as my Marianne's potato casserole, but over time they've come to think of it as mine.  It's really still Marianne's though.

Marianne's Mashed Potato Casserole
MIX:
A large pot full of potatoes, cooked
1 stick of margarine
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
chives - dried or fresh
1 tablespoon horse radish
1 shot pepper sauce
salt to taste

ADD:  1 cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese
Bake at 325 degrees for a while.


3.  Taco Dip
    I got this recipe also many years ago from my college friend and roomie, Lynn, or, as we called her back in the day,  Little Lynnie.

Little Lynnie and me about 12 years ago at  Easton town Center in Columbus, Ohio

    Little Lynnie's Taco Dip
In a square or round glass pan layer the ingredients in the following order:
1 16 oz can refried beans
3 avocados, mashed and mixed with a squirt of lemon juice
16 oz. sour cream mixed with about 1/2 tablespoon of taco seasoning (or more if you'd like)
Mild chunky salsa, enough to cover the sour cream layer
shredded sharp cheddar cheese, enough to generously cover the salsa layer.


4.  Cherry Almond Streusel Pie
    This recipe originated from a cherry pie recipe that I think originally came from some magazine article I found when I was first married.  I've tweaked it from the original, though.


I'll just put Claire and Miguel's picture since this pie is Miguel's favorite.  (As well as mine).

Claire and Miguel, September 2014, our family room.

Cherry Almond Streusel Pie
The Pie:
2 cans of tart red cherries.
2 tablespoons of quick-cooking tapioca
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
 1 9-inch unbaked refrigerated roll-out pie crust

The Streusel:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup slivered almonds

    Drain one can of cherries and mix it with the other can of cherries with the juice from that can. Mix the cherries and juice with the tapioca, sugar, and cinnamon.  Let stand for 15 minutes. 
    Mix the flour and brown sugar then cut the butter into the flour and sugar until the mixture is crumbly.  Mix in the almonds.
    Roll out the pie crust, place it in a 9-inch pie pan  and spread the cherry mixture into the pie crust.  Spoon the streusel mixture over the cherries.
    Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes, until the filling is bubbly and topping well-browned.


So these are some of the good recipes.  Tomorrow I'll share one of the more memorable disasters.  8)