Fare Exchange: Cranking up the crock-pot; planning for holidays

Jane Henegar

Good morning. It's good to know that you are there on the indispensable other side of these words. We've got requests today, the first from Jerry Harper, who asked, "Do you have Tomlinson's Restaurant's recipe for Faucon salad dressing?" We don't, and we hope you do.

The next request is from M.N.N. "I heard about an easy crock-pot recipe that included white beans on the bottom, and pork roast on top to provide flavor to the beans, and a little Rotel tomatoes and green chilies to add spice. It seemed so easy as there was no need to brown the pork. But I can't find it anywhere, though I will include today a similar recipe made with a pot roast and pinto beans. The pork roast sounds better as it might not have so much fat, and I prefer white beans to pintos."

Her request raises a third one about meat cooked in crock-pots. Who has recipes for crock-pot recipes that do not require stove-top browning of the meats that will go therein?

CROCK-POT DESSERT

From LaFayette, Ga., came an envelope marked with Linda Leake's return address and this appealing use of a crock-pot for a dessert sweetened with a tiny bit of brown sugar and a larger dose of maple syrup. In this recipe the crock-pot holds a water bath for the pots de crème.

Maple Pot De Crème

2 egg yolks

2 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

Pinch salt

4 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, plus more for serving

Butter or oil for cooker

In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and eggs until light and frothy. Add cream, milk, brown sugar, salt, maple syrup, vanilla and nutmeg. Mix well.

Grease a baking dish that fits into your slow cooker. Pour the maple mixture into the dish, and set it in a slow cooker.

Carefully pour water around the baking dish until the water comes halfway up the middle.

Cook on high for 2 to 3 hours until pot de crème is set but still a little jiggly in the middle.

Remove dish from slow cooker, and place on baking rack to cool to room temperature. Cover tightly, and chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Sprinkle with additional nutmeg.

Makes 4 to 8 servings.

BITS & PIECES

Fare Exchange is a place to share sources not just recipes, including this one with an autumnal flavor. Ms. Leake recommended a cookbook that is all about cooking with maple syrup. "The name of it is 'Sugar Shack Maple Recipes' by the chef Louis Tremblay. It was published in Quebec."

Thank you, too, Ms. Leake, for the shopping information that crunchy almond butter may be purchased at Costco. One doesn't have to drive two hours, after all, to purchase it at Trader Joe's.

POT ROAST AND PINTOS

Here is the recipe that M.N.N. sent, hoping you can give her a similar recipe using a pork roast and white beans. This hearty crock-pot dish is made with a beef chuck roast, dry pinto beans, Rotel tomatoes, onion and Mexican seasoning. She found the recipe at keyingredient.com.

Crock-Pot Mexican Roast & Pinto Beans

2 to 2 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, excess fat removed

2 cups dry pinto beans, uncooked (rinsed and drained)

1 (10-ounce) can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies, undrained

1 small onion, chopped (about 2/3 cup)

1/8 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon beef bouillon granules

Salt and black pepper, optional

Water as needed

Pour the rinsed and drained beans in the bottom of a 6-quart crock-pot. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, stir together the undrained Rotel tomatoes, chopped onion and all the seasonings (including the bouillon granules). Pour mixture over the beans, and give it a little stir. Lay the roast on top, and season the surface with a little garlic salt, salt and black pepper. Add enough water to cover beans and about half of the roast. (May need additional water during cooking.)

Place the cover on the crock-pot, and cook on high setting for 4 to 5 hours or until roast falls apart and the beans are tender, adding more water as needed. Taste and adjust seasonings to your taste.

Serve with plain tortilla chips or cornbread. Can be garnished with sour cream, salsa, etc., if desired or served with a side of corn. Makes 8 servings.

PLANT-BASED CLASS

Lil Yarosh has a plan-ahead announcement for us, in the form of a holiday cooking class featuring all plant-based recipes.

It will be held on Monday, Nov. 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Collegedale Church fellowship hall, 4829 College Drive East in Collegedale, she reports. "There will be demonstrations, samplings and distribution of recipe packets. The cost is $5, and reservations may be made at 423-430-9695."

There is a monthly event as well. Dinner With the Doctor events are held there the second Monday of most months. "Physicians give talks on different health topics, such as heart disease, and the reasons for following a whole-food, plant-based diet. A full meal (incorporating these principles) is served, providing the specifics. Cost and reservation info is the same as for the cooking class."

By Nov. 13, we should all be thinking holiday, and long before that we are surely thinking that good taste and good health ideally meet together around our dinner table. Easier said than done, of course, though the world is full of so many foods, so many tasty options.

TABLE-SCAPE MEMORIES

There was one more recipe needed in our home kitchen today. I had taken a photo of it, in a friend's kitchen, but I couldn't find that photo. Instead, here as holidays are looming near, I found a photograph of a Thanksgiving table sent last year from another home hours away.

A crisply ironed linen tablecloth covered the table, which was surrounded by not just dining room chairs but kitchen ones too, to accommodate a crowd. Pumpkins centered the table along with two pottery turkey candlesticks. Then came the memories: these candlesticks once appeared every Thanksgiving at the hostess's paternal grandmother's table.

Ornate, colorful china was set at every place on this 2016 table, an inheritance from her maternal grandmother. More sweet memories.

There was a different view out that South Carolina window, perhaps a different menu from those of her grandchildhood. But no doubt those women, those memories, helped set the scene for this table set for thanks-giving.

Thanksgiving 2017 is around the corner. Shall we set the scene with gratitude and good memories of the tables of our past? I vote yes.