Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook
Page 5
“This is really good chicken salad,” Alice Vogel said as she helped herself to a little more. “You know I don’t cook very often. I just don’t have the time. But do you think I could make it?”
“You could make it easy with some shortcuts,” Edna Ferguson, the woman Hannah secretly called the queen of shortcuts, replied. She turned to her right where Florence Evans was sitting. “Do you have cooked chicken down at the Red Owl?”
“I’ve got better than that. I’ve got cubed cooked chicken and it’s frozen. It’ll keep for three months in your freezer and the cubes are about the same size as the ones Hannah cut for her salad.”
“So then all I have to do is hard-boil some eggs, fry some bacon and crumble it, grate a carrot, and chop parsley?”
Florence shook her head. “Not even that. I’ve got hardboiled eggs in the deli section and crumbled bacon in a little pouch. It’s probably not quite as good as homemade, but by the time you mix all those things together, nobody’ll ever know.”
Hannah remained silent. She really preferred to make things from scratch, but in Alice’s case, she simply didn’t have the time. Alice worked twelve-hour days at Ali’s Alley, Lake Eden’s bowling alley, and she usually made do with sandwiches and soup when she got home.
“Are you planning to invite Digger for lunch?” Ellie Kuehne teased her. “The last time Bert and I went bowling, you two were pretty friendly.”
Alice smiled, but Hannah noticed that she was beginning to blush. “That’s what Digger and I are... friends. I might invite him for Hannah’s Chicken Salad, but maybe I’ll invite Will.”
“Who’s Will?” Lisa asked, setting another platter of Herb’s Herb biscuits on the table.
Alice shrugged. “He’s the gas man. He works for Lake Eden GasCo and he came by to fix a gas leak in my garage. He’s a really nice guy and he told me a funny story about why natural gas smells so bad.”
“Tell us,” Andrea encouraged. “I’ve always wondered about that.”
All eyes were on Alice as she took a sip from her water glass and cleared her throat. “Will said that natural gas has no smell at all, and that makes it dangerous because people can’t tell if they have a gas leak or not. So way back when, the gas company used to scent it with attar of roses.”
“Attar of roses smells nice,” Carrie said. “My mother used to dab it on the radiator and it made the whole house smell good.”
Alice smiled. “That was the problem. Nobody reported any gas leaks, and the gas company knew there had to be some. They figured that people liked the gas leaks because they made their homes smell good. So the bigwigs at the gas company had a meeting, and they decided that they should scent the gas with something that didn’t smell good. They asked for suggestions and somebody came up with the essence of rotten cabbage. That’s an awful smell.”
No one said anything, but there were several nods around the table. Rotten cabbage was definitely not a good smell.
“The gas company didn’t mention they were doing it, but they switched from attar of roses to the rotten cabbage smell one morning, and Will said that they were so swamped with calls about gas leaks, they had to put on an emergency crew.”
“I believe it,” Delores said, reaching for another biscuit. “These are really good. How do you make them?”
“The recipe’s under Breads and Muffins,” Hannah told her mother. “I included all the recipes from the luncheon.”
“I’m going to bake these tonight,” Andrea declared, flipping through the binder to find the recipe. She read it through, gave a little nod, and then she looked up to see that everyone was staring at her. “Oh, come on! It’s really simple. I know I’m culinarily challenged, but I think even I can handle this!”
Breads & Muffins
BERNADETTE’S POPOVERS, WITH FANCY BUTTERS
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray. You can also grease them with clarified butter, oil, or lard if you prefer.
Hannah’s 1st Note: Before I got this recipe, my popovers always looked as if they’d been run over by Earl Flensburg’s tow truck. Now they’re high, light, golden brown, and gorgeous.
4 eggs11
2 cups milk
2 cups flour (not sifted)
1 teaspoon salt
Hannah’s 2nd Note: You should mix this recipe by hand with a whisk. If you use an electric mixer, it will add too much air to the eggs.
Whisk the eggs until they’re a light, uniform color, but not yet fluffy. It should take no more than a minute or so.
Add the milk and whisk it in until it’s incorporated.
Measure out the flour and dump it in the bowl all at once. Dump in the salt on top of it. Then stir for a moment or two with a wooden spoon until all the flour has been moistened and incorporated. You will still have lumps (like brownie batter), but that’s fine. In this recipe, you actually want lumps!
Transfer the batter to a container with a spout (I used a measuring cup). Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling them almost to the top.
Bake at 450 degrees F. for exactly 30 minutes. (Don’t peek while they’re baking or they’ll fall!)
When 30 minutes have passed, remove the pan to a cold burner or a wire rack and pierce the top of each popover with a sharp knife to release the steam.
Let the popovers stand in the pan for a minute or two, and then tip them out into a napkin-lined basket.
Serve with sweet butter, salted butter, fruit butters, jams, jellies, or cream cheese.
Yield: 12 large popovers that everyone will love.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: These popovers are also good at room temperature. I haven’t done this yet, but I’m going to try filling them with egg salad, tuna salad, or salmon salad. If it works, it’ll be a great dish for a brunch.
FANCY BUTTERS FOR POPOVERS
Hannah’s 1st Note: Make these fancy butters the day before you plan to serve them. Take them out of the refrigerator an hour before serving.
CASHEW BUTTER:
½ cup softened butter (1 stick, ¼ pound)
2 Tablespoons ( cup) finely chopped cashews (measure
AFTER chopping)
Soften the butter and place it in a small mixing bowl.
Chop the cashews (salted or unsalted – it doesn’t really matter ) in a food processor with the steel blade until they’re as close to a paste as you can get them. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can grind them in a food mill, chop them by hand and then crush them with a mortar and pestle, or grind them in a blender.)
Measure 2 Tablespoons of crushed or finely chopped cashews. Mix the cashews with the butter, scrape the mixture into a small serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. When you uncover the bowl, place one perfect cashew on top of the cashew butter so everyone will know what it is.
HONEY BUTTER:
½ cup softened butter (1 stick, ¼ pound)
1 Tablespoon honey
Soften the butter and place it in a small mixing bowl.
Add the honey and stir until well blended. Scrape the mixture into a small serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: I usually make a double batch of honey butter because everyone loves it so much.
ALMOND BUTTER:
½ cup softened butter (1 stick, ¼ pound)
1 Tablespoon finely chopped or crushed blanched almonds
(measure AFTER chopping or crushing)
½ teaspoon almond extract
Chop the blanched almonds in a food processor with the steel blade until they’re as close to a paste as you can make them. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can grind them in a food mill, chop them by hand and then crush them with a mortar and pestle, or grind them in a blender.)
Measure 1 Tablespoon of crushed or finely chopped almonds. Mix the almonds with the butter.
Add the almond extract and mix well.
Scrape th
e mixture into a small serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. When you uncover the bowl, place one perfect almond on top of the almond butter so everyone will know what it is.
DATE BUTTER:
½ cup softened butter (1 stick, ¼ pound)
8 pitted dates, finely chopped
1 teaspoon flour
Cut each date into three pieces and place them in the bowl of a food processor. Sprinkle them with flour and chop them with the steel blade until they’re as finely chopped as you can make them. (You can add a little more flour if they stick together too much.) If you don’t have a food processor, you can try this with a blender, or chop them with a sharp knife by hand.
Mix the chopped dates with the butter, scrape the mixture into a small serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. When you uncover the bowl, place one pitted date on top of the date butter so everyone will know what it is.
ORANGE BUTTER:
½ cup softened butter (1 stick, ¼ pound)
1 Tablespoon frozen orange juice concentrate
1 teaspoon orange zest12 (optional)
Measure out one Tablespoon of frozen orange juice concentrate and let it come up to room temperature.
Mix the orange juice concentrate with the softened butter. Add the orange zest if you decided to use it. (It adds a lot!)
Scrape the mixture into a small serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
LEMON BUTTER:
½ cup softened butter (1 stick, ¼ pound)
1 Tablespoon frozen lemonade concentrate
1 teaspoon lemon zest12 (optional)
Measure out one Tablespoon of frozen lemonade concentrate and let it come up to room temperature.
Mix the lemonade concentrate with the softened butter. Add the lemon zest if you decided to use it. (It adds a lot!)
Scrape the mixture into a small serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
BLUE BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
THE BATTER:
¾ cup melted butter (1 and ½ sticks)
1 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (no need to thaw if they’re
frozen)
2 cups plus one Tablespoon flour (no need to sift)
½ cup milk
½ cup blueberry pie filling
CRUMB TOPPING:
½ cup sugar
cup flour
¼ cup softened butter (½ stick)
Grease the bottoms only of a 12-cup muffin pan (or line the cups with double cupcake papers – that’s what I do at The Cookie Jar). Melt the butter. Mix in the sugar. Add the beaten eggs, baking powder, and salt. Mix it all up thoroughly.
Put one Tablespoon of flour in a baggie with your cup of fresh or frozen blueberries. Shake it gently to coat the blueberries and leave them in the bag for now.
Add half of the remaining two cups of flour to your bowl and mix it in with half of the milk. Then add the rest of the flour and the milk, and mix thoroughly.
Here comes the fun part: Add ½ cup of blueberry pie filling to your bowl and mix it in. (Your dough will turn a shade of blue, but don’t let that stop you – once the muffins are baked, they’ll look just fine.) When your dough is thoroughly mixed, fold in the flour-coated fresh or frozen blueberries.
Fill the muffin tins three-quarters full and set them aside. If you have dough left over, grease the bottom of a small loaf pan and fill it with your remaining dough.
The crumb topping: Mix the sugar and the flour in a small bowl. Add the softened butter and cut it in until it’s crumbly. (You can also do this in a food processor with chilled butter and the steel blade.)
Fill the remaining space in the muffin cups with the crumb topping. Then bake the muffins in a 375 F. degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes. (The tea-bread should bake about 10 minutes longer than the muffins.)
While your muffins are baking, divide the rest of your blueberry pie filling into half-cup portions and pop it in the freezer. I use paper cups to hold it and freeze them inside a freezer bag. All you have to do is thaw a cup the next time you want to make a batch of Blue Blueberry Muffins.
When your muffins are baked, set the muffin pan on a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes. (The muffins need to cool in the pan for easy removal.) Then just tip them out of the cups and enjoy.
These are wonderful when they’re slightly warm, but the blueberry flavor will intensify if you store them in a covered container overnight.
Hannah’s Note: Grandma Ingrid’s muffin pans were large enough to hold all the dough from this recipe. My muffin tins are smaller and I always make a small loaf of Blue Blueberry bread with the leftover dough. If I make it for Mother, I leave off the crumb topping. She loves to eat it sliced, toasted, and buttered for breakfast.
*HERB’S HERB BISCUITS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
¼ cup salted butter (½ stick, 2 ounces, pound)
1 Tablespoon dried fine herbs (I used Morton & Bassett
Herbs from Provence) 13
10-ounce to 12-ounce tube of refrigerated, unbaked biscuits
(I used Pillsbury Simply Buttermilk biscuits)
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
If you want to mix your own dried herbs, use 2 teaspoons dried parsley, 1 teaspoon dried sage, ½ teaspoon ground rosemary, ½ teaspoon dried oregano, and ½ teaspoon ground thyme.
Melt the salted butter in the bottom of a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish. You can do this by putting it into the oven until the butter melts or by melting the butter in the microwave and pouring it in the bottom of the dish.
If the herbs are not mixed, stir them together in a small bowl. Then sprinkle them over the melted butter as evenly as you can.
Open the tube of biscuits. Separate them and cut each biscuit into fourths with a knife. Roll each piece in the herbs and butter, and arrange them in the pan.
Bake the biscuits at 425 degrees F. for 12 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
Take the pan out of the oven and let it sit on a cold stove burner or a wire rack until all the butter in the bottom of the dish is absorbed. This shouldn’t take longer than 5 minutes.
Serve the biscuits right in the pan.
Yield: Four times the number of biscuits in your tube.
MANGO BREAD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
¾ cup softened butter (1 and ½ sticks)
1 package (8 ounces) softened cream cheese (the brick
kind, not the whipped kind)
2 cups white sugar (granulated)
2 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and ½ cups mashed mangos (you can use fresh and peel
and seed your own, or you can buy them already
prepared in the ready-to-eat section at your produce
counter)
3 cups flour (don’t sift – pack it down in the cup when you
measure)
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Hannah’s 1st Note: This is a lot easier with an electric mixer.
Beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar together until they’re nice and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs and the vanilla, and mix them in.
Peel, seed, and slice the mangos (or drain them and pat them dry if you’ve used prepared mangos). Mash them in a food processor with the steel blade, or puree them in a blender, or squash them with a potato masher until they’re pureed. Measure out 1 and ½ cups of mashed mangos and add it to your mixing bowl. Stir well.
In another bowl, measure out the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix them tog
ether.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the mango mixture, beating at low speed until everything is incorporated.
Mix in the walnuts or pecans by hand.
Coat the inside of two loaf pans (the type you’d use for bread) with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon in the mango bread batter.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for approximately one hour, or until a long toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top browns a bit too fast, tent a piece of foil over the top of the loaves.
You can also bake this in 6 smaller loaf pans, filling them about half full. If you use the smaller pans, they’ll need to bake approximately 45 minutes.
Cool for 20 minutes in the pans. Then loosen the edges and turn the loaves out onto the wire rack.
Yield: Makes 2 bread-sized loaves, or 6 small loaves.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: This bread is also good toasted. Lisa took it home from the contest and tried it the next morning for breakfast. She said she liked hers plain, but Herb wanted butter on his.
PEACH BREAD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
¾ cup softened butter (1 and ½ sticks)
1 package (8 ounces) softened cream cheese (the brick
kind, not the whipped kind)
2 cups white sugar (granulated)