Holiday Recipes

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mrsl
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Holiday Recipes

Post by mrsl »


From the desk of:
Mrsl:

to: Dean Moira Finnie:

Subject: The Thanksgiving menu:

As you know, many folks stay around campus for the 4 day holiday in order to prepare for the Christmas festivities, decorations, parade, etc. It occurred to me that rather than the normal turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, carrots and peas, and cranberry sauce, some of our folks might like to describe favorite unusual dishes their families make.

I recall long ago when the Campbells cream soup and green beans casarole was 'discovered'. That year someone brought it, and after the platter was scraped of every crumb, everyone wanted to know where it came from. After all this time, it is now a staple of the table for nearly every holiday meal. Therefore, if anyone has a very special, and different idea for a dish, or dessert, this would be a great place to put it, giving us plenty of time to collect any necessary ingredients.

I could be wrong, but this seemed like a good place to input this idea, since I am usually the one to plan the menu.

Mrs. L
Anne


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moira finnie
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Post by moira finnie »

Memo from the desk of Dean Moira Finnie

To: MrsL, Proprietess of the CCC B&B

Re: Holiday Recipes

Dear Mrs. L,
The first relevant files I came across in this category happened--not so oddly, perhaps--to be the specialties of two of our most esteemed and yet somehow elusive faculty, Mr. Spencer Tracy, Professor Emeritus of Ethics and Pediatric and Adolescent Group Psychology. The other recipe is scrawled across a grease-stained 3x5 card from the galley kitchen of the Santana by one Professor Humphrey Bogart. Prof. Bogart, you may have heard, authored the groundbreaking philosophical study, entitled "Alienation and the Sardonic Response to Society", which is still studied by serious students in the field to this day.

One note of caution, please: Mssrs.Tracy & Bogart specified that these dishes are meant to be eaten alone and with a wicked hangover as your only companion. I'm not sure that these can be doubled or quadrupled to serve a Holiday crowd, but--what the hey--give it a whirl, me girl!
Spencer Tracy's Roast Beef Pie
Ingredients:
Cold roast beef
Butter
Sliced onions
Potatoes
Milk
Salt, pepper
Flour
Tomato sauce

From a cold roast beef, or any other leftover roast, chop enough pieces to fill your baking dish half full. Put the chopped beef into a stewpan with a lump of butter, some sliced onion, and seasoning of salt and pepper.

Now add water to make plenty of gravy. Thicken it with a teaspoonful of flour. Cover the pan and let the ingredients stew slowly. Meanwhile, boil enough potatoes to fill up the rest of the baking dish, after the stewed meat has been transferred to it.

The potatoes must be boiled done - mashed smooth and beaten up with milk, butter and seasoning - just as if they were being served alone.

Just before the dish is placed into the oven, brush a slightly beaten egg over the top of the potatoes. Let it remain in the oven long enough to brown. Make sure there is enough gravy left with the beef, so the dish will not become dry and tasteless.

Serve with Scotch and Milk on ice, or, if nutrition rather than oblivion is your goal, make it tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or any other sauce you like.

Spencer Tracy
If I might indulge in some affectionate speculation, the following dish must've been the kind of thing a sullen Prof. Bogie made for himself while living on his boat after fighting with our "artist in residence" Mayo Methot and before a certain Ms. Betty Bacall, the well-liked Art-as-Therapy instructor, became his soulmate. I think you'd have to be drinking as well to savor this dish. Maybe you'd have to be "in a lonely place" to consider it appetizing fare. Yes, you are correct in surmising that I'm not a pasta aficionado. I'd probably have to down several stiff drinks before swallowing any of this--no matter what the holiday.
Humphrey Bogart's Spaghetti Loaf
Ingredients
2 cups spaghetti, "all busted up inside" to quote Mr. B.
1/2 lb American cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1 2/3 cups milk, (Bogie says that it doesn't matter if it's sour milk)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup minced parsley
1 tablespoon grated onion
1 clove garlic

Boil the spaghetti in salted water with garlic, until tender. Then drain water and remove garlic.

Add cheese, melted in milk, to beaten eggs.
Combine with salt, onion, parsley, spaghetti.
Mix thoroughly. Pour into buttered pan. Bake in moderate oven for 1 hour.
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moira finnie
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Rum Cake

Post by moira finnie »

Here's a real life recipe below that I've been trying to perfect for years, but simple does seem to be best with this one. Today I'm making 4 of these rum cakes for my family and friends, who look for this from me every Christmas.

Do you have any recipes that you're making for the umpteenth time or the first time this holiday?:

Rum Cake
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Cake Ingredients
1 package Yellow cake (i like Duncan Hines)
1 3/4 oz box of vanilla pudding
3 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. oil (vegetable)
1/2-1/3 c. dark rum (Meyer's is best, i think)
1 small charm such as a bird, a star or a snowflake

Glaze ingredients
1 stick of butter
1/4 c. of water
1 c. of sugar
1/2 c. of dark rum
Combine the glaze ingredients in a sturdy non-reactive pan, and heat on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the butter & sugar are melted and a bubbling glaze coats the back of a spoon. Hold in stove area to keep warm while the cake bakes.

Grease one bundt pan or angel cake pan. Combine all of the above cake mix ingredients except the charm. Beat for 2 min. on high & pour into bundt pan. Bake 1 hr. on middle rack, turning half way through to insure even baking. Remove from oven after 1 hour or when toothpick comes out clean after being inserted into cake. Cool for a few minutes, making sure that a butter knife is run around the edges to separate cake from pan. Place a platter or cooling rack on top of cake, flip and it should come out easily. Immediately pierce the cake with toothpick, skewer or fork.
Pour the glaze repeatedly over the cake, allowing it to be absorbed into cake. Repeat until all of the glaze is used. Allow the cake to cool completely without covering. Covering is not a good idea with this cake until you're ready to transport it. This cake may keep for about 2 weeks and some say it actually tastes better after a week. Very rich and very much an "adult" cake. (most kids wouldn't like it).

The charm that you've saved off to the side may be gently inserted into the cake from beneath and the person who gets the charm in their slice will have good fortune in the coming New Year. I hope.

P.S. When you're done baking and cleaning up, be sure to have a nice Rum Cocktail afterwards. :wink:

P.P.S. Since I rarely drink, and never use oil, whole milk or butter except in this recipe, I stick to the traditional here...'cause it's Christmas. Next year is time enough to be good.
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Sue Sue Applegate
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Post by Sue Sue Applegate »

Dear Moira,

O.K. I'm convinced. I found some Meyer's Dark Rum and will attempt this specialty for my contribution to the New Year's Eve buffet I'm going to and the open house at another friend's on January 1st. It sounds so yummy!

Happy New Year!
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