Aunt Ann's Waldorf Salad

For my 16th birthday, a friend gave me a copy of “With Love, From My Kitchen”, which is basically a blank yet organized cook-book, to be filled with the favorite recipes of friends and family members. Since then, I have been slowly gathering the classic family favorites, as well as begging friends to write one or two of their favorites in for me; I like the idea of the recipes being written in their own handwriting, leaving a bit of their personality in my keepsake cook-book.

One recipe that is surrounded by wonderful memories is Aunt Ann’s Waldorf Salad. She wasn’t my aunt, but like most people who visit older people with their nieces and nephews, I called her aunt. We played games on the living room floor with the kids and scrabble at the dining room table, and she served this salad with dinner. I’d never had it before and managed to work up the nerve to ask her for the recipe. (I was still in my most dreadful shy stage back then.) I looked up traditional Waldorf salad, and I’m afraid this has been dressed up a bit, and sweetened with whipped cream. I can’t quite imagine I would enjoy plain mayo as the dressing after eating this.

Aunt Ann’s Waldorf Salad

2 C chopped red skin apples

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 C chopped celery (TINY, in my opinion, is the way to go.)

1/4 C chopped walnuts

1/4 C raisins or chopped dates (dates all the way! Raisins are normal. Dates are extraordinary. Remind me to share Nan’s Date Cake recipe.)

1/4 C red grapes, halved

1/2 C whipped cream or cool whip (give or take a little… taste it and see what you like.)

1/4 C mayonnaise

ground nutmeg

In a medium bowl, toss apple with lemon juice. Stir in celery, nuts, dates and grapes. In a separate bowl, fold together whipped cream and mayonnaise. Spread dressing over the top of the apple mixture (I believe this helps keep the apples from browning if you keep it overnight) . Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Cover and chill 2-4 hours, or overnight. To serve, fold dressing into the fruit mixture.

This badly lit picture of the dressing-covered salad is the last picture I have. I meant to take pictures of it all mixed together, but I made it for our dinner on Resurrection Sunday, and somehow… we ate it all. I think we might have been licking the bowl, but perhaps that’s an exaggeration. Anyway, people really love eating this stuff.

(P.S., as long as you don’t get carried away with it, this recipe is HCG P3 approved.)

Rouxbe Online Cooking School

One of the problems that comes from living in a small town in the middle of no-where is then when you have a passion for learning something, you pretty much have to... do it on your own. (There are many, many wonderful things about small town life that out-weigh this, however!) I've dreamed of finding a cooking school workshop in one of the cities nearest me (an hour away) where I could go an stay for a week and learn as much as I could in a short time. In the past year I've done quite a lot of learning on my own, using books on technique* and the 'why' of food.

Today I was catching up on one of my favorite food blogs, and discovered that Kitchen Simplicity is now affiliated with this online cooking School, Rouxbe (clever, wot?). If you go to Rouxbe through KS's link, the cooking school will give you a free 14 day trial, opposed to their normal 7 day trial.

I watched their introductory video and one of the lessons they let you preview and I have to say... it looks like a very effective tool. A lot of basics are covered, but you can chose which lessons you want to do when. Home-made pasta, choosing cuts of meat, sharpening knives... things that for me at least are easier learned from watching than book descriptions.

So what are you waiting for? 14 days to soak up high quality cooking instruction at no risk. I'm getting ready to go on vacation so I won't start my 14 days yet, but I will as soon as I get back.






* Books that I have used and learned a significant amount from...
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol 1 & 2
From Julia Child's Kitchen
Mastering Knife Skills
King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion
KAF Whole Grain Baking
I'm Just Here For the Food
I'm Just Here for More Food

Boston Creme Waffles

Custard*

2 C milk
1 C sugar
5 egg yolks
1/2 C flour
1 Tbs butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Put the milk on to boil. In a mixing bowl, gradually beat sugar into egg yolks and continue beating 2- minutes until the mixture is pale yellow and forms the ribbon (Julia Child's definition of forming the ribbon: "The mixture will turn pale creamy yellow and thicken enough so that when a bit is lifted in the beater, it will fall back into the bowl forming a slowly dissolving ribbon on the surface of the mixture."). Beat in the flour. Beating the egg mixture constantly, gradually add the boiling milk in a thin stream of droplets. Pour into a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir with a whisk constantly, making sure not to let any flour scorch on the bottom. When it begins to boil, lower the temperature and let boil 2-3 minutes. (I found that the custard on the bottom of the pan got VERY thick at this point, a giant lump almost, and stirred like a mad woman to keep it from sticking. It was worth it though.) Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla.

At this point, you can do two different things - use the custard as it is, a thick pudding-like creme, OR you can beat the left-over egg whites with a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of sugar until stiff peaks form and fold them into the hot custard for a lighter, fluffy topping. This is what is pictured here, but I want to try using the thick custard next time.


For the chocolate sauce, use 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped baking chocolate and 1/2 C heavy cream. Bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate, stirring until melted and smooth. Allow to stand 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over your favorite waffles.


* Based on the recipe Creme Pastissiere by Julia Child, Vol. I Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

More Cook-Books

These two are on their way to my eager hands right now... :)

I've loved making biscotti since my very first attempt - not to mention how much I love eating them, dunked in hot milky tea. YUM!

And I'm sure you all know by now that I adore scones. A friend has this book, and I've had a couple of different scones from it - so good.

Loving pastries as much as I do is NOT a good thing, and yet I don't do much to discourage it... other than forcing myself not to make them very often. Trust me, I would be very happy to have scones for breakfast every day.

Eva's Spaghetti Dish

This recipe is so ridiculously easy to put together, and tastes so good! Any night mom wants me to make supper and I'm pressed for time, this is a stand-by that everyone loves. It comes from a local cook book; you know, one of those fund raiser cook books put together by a local church group of ladies. The thing about these cook books is that they are written by real people who use real every-day ingredients. So while it may not be a culinary masterpiece, full of expensive ingredients, requiring techniques that only a chose few can pull off with accuracy, it is delicious and satisfying.

Eva's Spaghetti Dish

6 slices bacon, chopped into 1" pieces or smaller
1 large onion, minced
1 quart tomatoes (stewed or whole, chopped, not sauce)
1 tbsp sugar
Pepper to taste
Cheese
(We prefer feta, but have used cubed cheddar. Anything sharp will do!)
Cooked spaghetti

Cook the bacon and onions together until brown and tender. Carefully add tomatoes, sugar and pepper. Heat through and let simmer just a minute to let the flavors blend. Serve over noodles, sprinkled with cheese.