Fare Exchange: Pumpkin cake, a granddaughter’s favorite pancakes and a specific egg request

Requests:

– A recipe for “Heat and Hold” scrambled eggs

– Good meals from surprise ingredients on hand (and from the garden)

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Good morning, companions in a fond farewell to October, with all its glories.

Yeast of the Ridge, longtime reader, is also a longtime rememberer “of a recipe called Heat and Hold Scrambled Eggs. I need it for serving a crowd, and cannot find it.” Can you help? Will you?

In the dining room of Little Coyote in St. Elmo last week, two friends talked about food over their small plates: avocado halves topped with brisket, chimichurri mayonnaise and tortilla gremolata. What food memories came to life, as they often do when a good meal is shared?

The younger one spoke of a remarkable Tennessee family, who have an abundance of children.

“It is impossible to take their family out for a meal like this,” he said, “but they have a plentiful garden. One of their many children tells me that their mom often heads out the kitchen door to the garden, promising, “Tonight we are having Garden Soup.”

Her recipe? You guessed it. The soup is made from whatever happens to be growing in her summer and winter plot. Oh, and with a heaping portion of motherly love, which is the best seasoning in any season.

It’s a fun challenge for many of us foodies, to head into the kitchen and make a memorable meal from whatever happens to be on the premises. Sometimes it is a challenging challenge. How can one cook without lemon? Eggs? Some kind of cheese, at least? We’d love to know how surprise ingredients have produced a surprisingly good meal in your kitchen. In such moments great cooks and chefs are born.

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Lynda is a quinoa salad lover, and had an exceptional version last week. She would like to share it with the rest of us, though “you will have to make your own decisions about proportions.”

Spicy Quinoa Salad

Cooked quinoa

Garbanzo beans

Diced fresh tomatoes

Diced cucumbers

A little red onion

A little feta cheese, ideally from a block, crumbled into salad

Diced pepperoncini peppers (2 or 3), reserving juice from the jar

Your choice of herbs: fresh dill, parsley and mint

Mix together and toss gently with the following dressing.

Dressing

Olive oil

Zest of a lemon and juice

A little Dijon mustard

Liquid from the pepperoncini jar

Mix according to your preference, but not too little lemon juice, and not much Dijon.

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This family favorite of A.L. was made and multiplied when a beloved college child (an adult by any measure, but still a child in the best familial sense) came home for her fall break. The tastiness was heightened by the memories of the college girl, whose great-grandmother, Gigi, made these for her often.

Favorite Pancakes

For buttermilk pancakes:

1 ¼ cups sifted flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

1 teaspoon salt

1 beaten egg

1 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons melted shortening

To prepare with regular milk:

1 ¼ cups sifted flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

1 teaspoon salt

1 beaten egg

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons melted shortening

Instructions:

In a bowl, stir together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl beat egg, buttermilk or milk and melted shortening. Stir wet ingredients into dry, stirring just until moistened. Batter will be lumpy. Cook on a stovetop griddle. Makes 6 to 8 medium-size pancakes.

Note: Gigi said buttermilk makes a lighter pancake, but any milk will do.

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These autumnal, cold-weather favorites appeared on a page of a local cookbook, all attributed to Barbara Hoover. She testifies that they are still successes in her kitchen.

Pumpkin Cake

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons cinnamon

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

4 eggs

1 ¼ cups oil

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin

Pumpkin and sunflower seeds (optional)

Mix dry ingredient in a mixing bowl. Add eggs, oil and pumpkin and beat two minutes. Bake in a greased and floured Bundt pan for 1 hour at 375 F. I like to toss in some pumpkin and sunflower seeds.

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Apple Bundt Cake

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs, slightly beaten

2 cups peeled apples, thinly sliced

Sift together flour, baking soda, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine oil, vanilla extract and eggs and add to dry ingredients. Fold in peeled apple slices and mix well.

Bake at 325 F for 1 ½ hours.

(Note the intriguing postscript on this recipe: “Received two marriage proposals over this one.”)

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Fantastic Pepper Steak

1 pound round steak, cut in small strips

¼ cup cooking oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon soy sauce

½ cup water

1 cup green pepper pieces

1 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 cup water (or more – see note below)

2 tomatoes, cut in chunks

1 teaspoon salt

Brown beef in oil. Add garlic and cook until yellow. Add soy sauce and ½ cup water. Cook for 45 minutes, adding water as necessary. Add peppers and onions and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixed in water. Add tomatoes and cook 5 minutes more.

Serve over hot fluffy rice.

Note: I add more water as I like it saucier.

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Plantation Cornbread

2 cups white cornmeal, plain

½ cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

¼ cup shortening, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 450 F. Five minutes before mixing, place a well-greased 9-by-13-inch pan on bottom shelf of oven.

Sift together cornmeal, flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.

In a separate bowl combine buttermilk, eggs and melted and cooled shortening and stir into dry ingredients until moistened. Pour batter into hot pan and bake at once on top half of hot oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

It is good to be with you across the virtual table. Let’s do this again next Wednesday, what say?