Banana Ice Cream Pie - Aug 19, 2012

When I was little, my Mom used to buy these pre-packaged ice cream pies that I don't remember the brand name of.  I do remember both a chocolate flavor and a banana flavor.  The banana was my favorite.  I was in love with these things.  They had a graham cracker crust and some sort of whipped cream topping.  The banana ice cream was a bright, sunshine yellow, and clearly flavored with some sort of fake banana flavoring concocted in a food science lab somewhere.



Well, I decided to try my hand at a homemade version, with Nick enthusiastically supportive of my plan.  I picked up a pre-made graham cracker crust, although I'm sure this would be extra gourmet with a baked-from-scratch graham cracker crust, see here, and here. 

Now, finding a banana ice cream recipe online proved to be more of a challenge than I had hoped, mostly due to the Kitchn's massively popular "one ingredient banana ice cream" recipe that became an Internet meme.  I'm sure it's awesome, but I wanted some cream in my ice cream, if you know what I mean.



I eventually decided upon Alton Brown's recipe, although it wasn't exactly what I was looking for (mostly due to the inclusion of light corn syrup).  I didn't follow directions exactly, but in the end this was an easy and relatively quick (the way I did it at least) way to make banana ice cream.  As you can see, mine is not the lovely, if potentially harmful, sunshine yellow of my memories, but the flavor was pretty close.

I ended up with a half a cup of heavy cream left over from the ice cream recipe, which was the perfect amount to make a whipped cream topping for my pie.  After filling the crust with ice cream, I popped it in the freezer while I whipped up the cream.  Then, I spread the whipped cream over the top of the pie in a thin layer and put the pie back into the freezer.  After a couple of hours, everything was ready.  Nostalgia on a plate.
 
 

And, speaking of nostalgia, here's another childhood favorite of mine.  It turns out that I had some ice cream left over after making the pie.  And it also turns out that I had purchased these chocolate wafers earlier in the summer from a great little bulk grocery store in downtown Osage, Iowa that we sometimes visit while staying with my parents in southern Minnesota.  How fortuitous!  While I actually prefer my ice cream sandwiches with the traditional vanilla ice cream, banana and chocolate is not a bad combination. 

Broccoli-Bacon Salad - July 23, 2012

Nick and I have been having a wide assortment of salads for dinner of late.  Does anyone else remember this one?  This, or something quite similar, was a favorite at my house growing up.  Fresh broccoli florets, crispy bacon, and crunchy sunflower seeds with some sort of mayonnaise-based dressing.  This is not my mom's recipe, just one I found online after consulting with my visiting sister, who begrudgingly informed me that, yes, the dressing mom uses is mayonnaise.  Turn up your nose if you like, but the end result is delicious.  It's classic Midwestern summer food, and you'll likely see a big bowl of it at most pot-lucks and graduation parties.

Plaid Flannel Hash - March 21, 2012

This is the last meal made with our home cured corned beef.  Traditionally this dish is referred to as red flannel hash due to the use of beets which lend their deep coloring to the dish.  It turns out that the only beets I had left from our CSA were golden and chioggia varieties.  Just as delicious, but 'red' no longer seemed appropriate.  Plaid flannel hash was born.



The recipe I used is from the May 1993 issue of Gourmet magazine.  Nick's parents received their Gourmet subscription faithfully starting sometime in the early 80's all the way up until publication stopped a few years back.  Over the years they kept every issue, neatly organized by month and year, creating a well stocked pantry library.  Just recently they decided it was time to send them on to new homes.  Nick received two issues, coordinated with some personal life milestones, for his recent birthday.  It was really fun to look through both of them.  Food publications have changed drastically over the past couple decades in style and format.  Perhaps the biggest change I noticed was the complete lack of web addresses in the 1993 issue.  "Need more information?  Call this phone number and we will be happy to assist you." Ah, how times have changed.  I am happy to report, however, that the recipes are still delicious, and retroactively now found online.

Tuna Noodle Casserole - February 1, 2011

Richie is not a fish or seafood eater, and absolutely detests canned tuna fish. I, on the other hand, enjoy the occasional well-prepared fillet or shellfish dish. And I have a special place in my culinary heart for a nice tasting Tuna Noodle Casserole (or "Hot Dish" as my people call it). The recipe in this month's Cook's Country magazine (sorry, no link... to access their recipes online you have to pay a membership fee) for the pot-luck classic intrigued me and when Richie went out of town and I was fending for myself I decided to give it a try.

Of course, I made so many changes that it is barely the same recipe now! Change number one was to scale it way back. The original called for three cans of tuna and serves 8-10 people. I only had one can in the pantry and only needed to serve myself, so I began by dividing everything roughly into thirds. I also didn't have any potato chips, or the specific kind of cheese they called for, and I don't like cooked peppers very much.

After all the changes, I feel like this recipe is more mine than theirs anyway, so here it is...

Jaime's Tuna Noodle Casserole
Serves 2-4, depending on your appetite!

Ingredients:
2/3 cups shredded cheese (any melting variety will do, I did a combination of cheddar and monterey jack)
3/4 cups crushed saltine crackers
1 (5 ounce) can tuna in water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
4 ounces egg noodles (about 2 cups)
3-4 ounces white mushrooms, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 small onion, diced (about 1/4 cup, more if you like a lot of onion flavor)
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup half-and-half
3/4 cups chicken broth
3/4 cups frozen peas

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine the crushed crackers with about 1/8 of a cup of the cheese (I didn't really measure this... just a good pinch) and some pepper to taste. Set aside.
3. Mix drained tuna with olive oil and lemon juice in a medium sized bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
4. Cook noodles in salted boiling water until just al dente (check your package directions... cook about 1 minute less than whatever it says). Drain and rinse noodles until completely cool so you stop the cooking. Set aside.
5. Melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high and cook mushrooms with a pinch of salt until they are brown. Transfer mushrooms to bowl with the tuna.
6. Melt about 1/2 tablespoon of butter in same pan and cook onions until softened. Transfer onions to bowl with tuna and mushrooms.
7. Melt remaining butter in same pan over medium heat. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, for about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in half-and-half and broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until slightly thickened. Off heat, whisk in remaining cheese until smooth.
8. Stir in pasta, tuna-mushrooms-onion mixture, and peas. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
9. Spread in small casserole dish and top with cracker-cheese mixture. Bake until golden brown, 10-15 minutes. Let cool slightly and ENJOY!

Lasagna for Two - Oct 27, 2011

At one of the last Fulton Farmers' Markets of the season, Nick and I made some fun purchases, including a package of fresh egg pasta sheets from the Broder's booth. Since a pasta maker is one of the few kitchen items that we haven't collected (and I think it will stay that way, as I loathe those single purpose tools that take up valuable cupboard space, and I have a sneaking suspicion that we would make pasta once every 27 months), this seemed like a fun way to have fresh pasta without any extra effort. We decided that lasagna would be an excellent use for our market bounty.

I consulted my trusty recipe binder (it's like an old-timey epicurious) and found family recipes from both of our Moms. Hmm...which one to pick? Both are much loved versions from our respective childhoods. I settled on a combination of the two, utilizing ingredients that I had on hand. I'm nothing if not diplomatic. Now for my next dilemma...lasagna recipes are designed to feed a crowd and Nick and I are just two people with limited freezer space. Luckily, I found a third recipe in my binder. One for 'single serving' lasagnas from a cooking class I had volunteered at years ago. This recipe was a basic outline, including proper ingredient ratios, for lasagna made in a small loaf pan.

Now that I had a workable plan, consisting of a mash-up of three assorted lasagna recipes, I was set to start cooking. Our finished version included ground beef (my mom), ricotta (Nick's mom), and a tomato and herb sauce that I made up on the fly. I topped it with shredded mozzarella and baked according to some version of the directions. This came out of the oven right as Nick arrived home from work and the two of us managed to eat about two thirds of this in one sitting, making the amount just about right...perfect if you enjoy having one or two servings of leftovers.

County Fair - Aug 13, 2011

Check out that pork shoulder!

August in Minnesota means it's Fair time. Now, most people opt to go to the Minnesota State Fair with it's fancy foods on sticks, princesses carved out of butter, and massive, massive crowds. I'm not knocking it, but I do prefer the simple charm of my home town fair. I grew up in Austin, Minnesota which is the county seat of Mower County. That means once a year, the fair comes to town. I haven't been in years, but this year Nick and I planned a visit home to see my parents that happened to fall over fair weekend. We went and checked it out. Admission was free! How do you beat that?



Highlights included Reggie, Minnesota's largest boar, weighing in at 1540 pounds. I don't think Reggie does much standing, and seems to quite enjoy his recumbent position.  The people are there for scale.



We also shared a bag of Tom Thumb mini donuts, one of my childhood favorites.  No one was in line, I just walked right up to the window, paid $4, and walked away with a bag full of hot, donut goodness.  I love small towns.



We walked through all the livestock barns (the poultry was the best by far, who knew people were raising such beautiful and diverse birds in that little corner of Southern Minnesota? Sadly, no pictures...I didn't want to startle the already skittish fowl). I thoroughly enjoyed busting out my dairy cattle judging knowledge while in the cattle barn (gleaned while working the 'night line' at the World Dairy Expo in Madison during my undergrad days. Yes, it's a real thing.). We also checked out the prize winning vegetables, crafts, and flowers. I was particularly fond of the colors of the produce in the display above.

Such an enjoyable, nostalgic outing!

Beef Stroganoff - August 16, 2011

This meal is a crowd pleaser at our house, but I usually reserve it for chilly winter days when you crave some stick-to-your-ribs comfort food, but a tremendous deal on white mushrooms at the grocery store last week inspired me to make it on this August day.

I have played with this recipe quite a bit, using several sources as the base, and now feel like I can call this my own version. I uploaded it to Food52 for all to see and look forward to eventually submitting it for a contest when I see one that is right (your best retro meals, perhaps?).

Nectarine-Buttermilk Pops - Aug 11, 2011

I have a friend* that, like me, enjoys thrifting. She, of course, finds amazing things like a set of four fiberglass shell Eames chairs in aqua blue for $100 and mint condition mid-century modern credenzas in beautiful walnut.  I, on the other hand, find things like this:



A $1.69 popsicle mold set.

Oh well, when life gives you vintage kitchen ware, you should make nectarine-buttermilk pops. Or something like that. This thrifty find is actually quite fortuitous, as Sept 2011's Food & Wine has a delicious recipe for said pops. While Nick and I do own another popsicle mold set and could have made these in it, I so prefer the style of this mold compared to the rocket ship shape of the other, for this particular recipe anyway.



The pops turned out really well and they are so sweet and delicious. I especially like the buttermilk layer. I did make some minor changes to the recipe, most notably using my homemade ginger syrup in place of the ginger liqueur called for in the recipe. After this one small modification, I thought I was ready to go, but then remembered that alcohol changes the freezing point of liquids and thought I'd better add a bit to make sure these turned out right (hooray for chemistry!). I ended up adding vodka in the amounts specified for the ginger liqueur. I think it was a good decision, as these pops, while frozen solid, still have a nice slushy consistency to them. In fact, the nectarine bit reminds me ever so much of the peach brandy slush my Grandma used to make (and that my Grandpa would make sure our little 16 year old selves had glasses full of) at the holidays. Ahh, nostalgia. That's what thrifting's all about, right?

* You know who you are ;)  Hope you don't mind the shout out!

Chicken Pot Pie - April 17, 2011

We've been on a bit of a retro meal streak here at the Hartman house. On Saturday it was beef stew and yesterday I repurposed some leftover chicken from Friday into a yummy chicken pot pie with spring vegetables.

I used the recipe from my bible, The New Best Recipe. This time I opted to do the biscuit topping rather than the pie topping because I didn't have any vegetable shortening left in the house. I prefer the pie topping, although the biscuits are delicious too. And the recipe made more than I could fit on top of the casserole, so I baked them up separately and had them for breakfast drizzled with honey this morning. Yum...

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, except that I thought it tasted a bit bland so I kicked up the amount of thyme and also added some sage and rosemary before putting it in the oven. Last time I made this I think I added sauteed mushrooms and I missed them this time. They add some depth of flavor that I really like.

The bonus is that the recipe is designed for a good sized family and so along with the leftover beef stew from the weekend, our refrigerator is well stocked with tasty and nourishing lunches for the week!

We also finished planting our container garden this weekend. We added two tomato plants, two pepper plants, some cucumbers from seed (that's an experiment... I have never grown them before), and a whole bunch of herbs. The leafy greens are all doing well and I think we might be able to eat our first mini-harvest in another week or so. Pictures will be posted later...

Roasted vegetable soup and grilled cheese sandwich

Back from a week on the road in New York City and Philadelphia, I'm ready to start cooking again! This weekend I also started a 200-hour yoga teacher training program, so from now until mid-July time is going to be really tight in the Hartman house. So I'm doing more careful planning and prepping of our meals, although you know what they say about "the best laid plans..." Today I need to leave for training by 5:30, so I planned to make us an early dinner of flank steak and grilled potatoes. However, I just got a note from my boss that he needs to schedule a call with me at 4:00. Oh well... I guess we'll have leftovers tonight and save the flank steak for another day this week.

Fortunately we have some yummy leftovers to eat! Yesterday was my second attempt at a "meatless Monday" and the unseasonably chilly weather here made me think of soup and grilled cheese. A few months ago I picked up at Costco one of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food cookbooks and asked Richie to mark recipes in it he thought sounded good. I've liked almost everything we've tried... tasty, yet generally quick to put together. And there are beautiful photos for each recipe, which helps make stuff that Richie might not ordinarily think he'd like be willing to try! Case in point: yesterday's recipe for roasted vegetable soup. He saw me cutting the leeks and wrinkled up his nose, but I just pointed out he'd picked out the recipe.

This recipe was perfect for my work-at-home life. I threw the tomatoes, leeks, carrots, garlic, and oil (seasoned with sea salt and pepper) in the oven to roast at 4:00 while I finished up my office tasks. Then at 5:00 I dumped the veggies in a sauce pan with a carton of vegetable broth, simmered for about 10 minutes, then pureed using my trusted stick blender (greatest invention ever) and set aside while I made the grilled cheese sandwiches.

These were inspired by a late night snack I ordered from room service last week. The hotel version was good and totally hit the spot, but I knew I could improve on it at home. I bought a loaf of sourdough bread at the grocery store and made them with a generous amount of butter and a slice of cheddar and a slice of havarti each. The result: oozy, gooey deliciousness! It was a nice balance to the mild acidity of the soup, which was good also but will be even better in late summer when I can make it with fresh vine ripened tomatoes and not have to settle for the supermarket blah ones.

"Cornflake-Crusted" Baked Chicken and Sweet Potato Fries - Mar 25, 2011

This meal falls solidly into our 'Retro Dinners' category, although that category didn't actually take off like I'd planned. I guess it turns out that Nick and I don't get cravings for meals from our past all that often. It's pretty fun, however, when we do. I'll attribute this one to all the KFC adds running during the NCAA Men's Basketball tourney right now (Go Badgers!). We used this recipe, but instead of cornflakes, I used up the remainder of the multi grain flakes I had purchased to make marshmallow Christmas wreaths (remember, the ones with the red hots? Come to think of it, those might qualify as retro). The chicken was pretty good, although I think it would have been better with actual cornflakes.

Now, on to the amazing part of the meal...sweet potato fries. Honestly, nine times out of ten I'm a traditionalist when it comes to french fries. Sweet potato fries just don't hold the allure for me that they do for some. That being said, we are still slowly working through the massive amounts of sweet potatoes that we received from our CSA last fall and I thought this would be a good use. I also read somewhere recently that using coconut oil makes excellent sweet potato fries, and I just happened to have a giant tub of it because it was on sale and Heidi Swanson recommends it as a healthy alternative to vegetable and canola oils. So after cutting up a couple of sweet potatoes, I tossed them with about 2 Tbsp of coconut oil, which I melted in the microwave since it's a solid at room temperature, and seasoned with salt, pepper and smoked Spanish paprika. Next I spread them out in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet and baked at 400 deg F for about 45 min, turning occasionally to ensure even baking. Sooo good. Let's just say I think I know how we're going to use up the rest of our sweet potato stash.

And, because no circa 1985 dinner plate would be complete without a veggie side dish, we made a simple little spinach salad to balance out our protein and our starch.  My middle school home ec teacher would be proud.

Retro Beef Tacos - April 6, 2010

Hard Shell Beef Tacos

We decided to have a 'retro dinner' last night. It was one of those meals our generation loved as kids, brought back from the past to be enjoyed as much for it's nostalgia as it's tastiness. Nick mentioned to me a few days ago how much he loved hard taco shells and wondered if we could use some sometime instead of the homemade flour variety that we've been using lately. I happened to see a box of just such shells on the shelf at Trader Joe's on Monday and smiled as I put them in my basket, knowing Nick would be pleased. I cooked the ground beef with some sauteed onions and a host of Penzey's spices* that did a pretty good job of mimicking those taco seasoning packets my Mom used to use. Then, in an effort to recreate the memory as accurately as possible, I shredded cheddar cheese and iceberg lettuce (I can't remember the last time I purchased iceberg lettuce). In addition to the cheese and lettuce, we topped with salsa and guacamole and were instantly transported back to our respective family dinner tables, circa 1985.

*Spices include: cumin; coriander; oregano; epazote; smoked Spanish paprika; chili powder; cayenne; cinnamon; salt; pepper; sugar