Fare Exchange: How to make green desserts for St. Paddy’s Day

Welcome to spring and the culinary delights thereof. As always, we need a little help in making some of these delights. For instance, we are seeking help with Fehn’s clam chowder, with roasting, sugaring and spicing raw almonds, and recipes for anything made with sprouted grains or vegetables.

It’s Gene, no last name given, who “would love to have the recipe for Fehn’s clam chowder. I would go there on Friday’s just to get that. No one makes chowder like they did.”

And it’s Jeff G who is seeking ways to use a 3-pound bag of raw almonds he purchased recently.

“I tried roasting them at home but they are not as good as the kind you buy. I also want recipes for preparing them with sugary coatings and spicy coatings.”

The final request, a repeat, is for sprouting grains and vegetables and how to cook them.

ST. PADDY’S CAKE

Here it is the eve of St. Patrick’s Day and Roseann Strazinsky of Fairfield Glade tells us how to make two desserts in the appropriate green. You will need an angel food cake pan.

Green Cake

Nut Filling

1 cup chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Combine and set aside.

Cake

1 package Duncan Hines Butter Golden cake mix

1 package pistachio instant pudding mix

4 eggs

pint sour cream

cup oil

Pour half the cake batter into an ungreased angel food cake pan. Sprinkle with half the nut filling mixture.

Pour rest of the cake batter in the pan, spreading it over the nut filling the best you can. But don’t worry; it will all bake together.

Sprinkle with the rest of the nut filling.

Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. DO NOT preheat the oven.

Cool cake completely for about 3 hours, remove from pan, then dribble on the glaze (recipe follows) or frost the cake with your favorite frosting.

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk or a little more

Mix together well. Add a little more milk if needed.

Crème de Menthe Cheesecake

Crust

1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs (9-ounce package)

cup butter

Heat oven to 300 degrees. In medium bowl, combine crust ingredients. Mix well and press in bottom and sides of ungreased 9-inch spring form pan. Set aside.

Filling

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese

cup sugar

3 eggs

cup whipping cream

cup green crème de menthe

Beat cream cheese till fluffy. Gradually add sugar and beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in whipping cream and the crème de menthe until well blended.

Pour into crust-lined pan and bake at 300 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes or until edges are set but center still jiggles slightly when gently shaken. Turn off oven, open door at least 4 inches and let cheesecake sit in oven for 30 more minutes or until center is set.

Remove cheesecake from oven. Cool in pan on wire rack for 1 hour until completely cooled. Cover; refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.

Just before serving, carefully run a knife around the sides of the pan to loosen; remove sides of pan.

Garnish

cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

8 thin chocolate mint candies, coarsely chopped

In a small bowl, beat whipping cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Pipe a spoon of whipped cream around edges of cheesecake. Garnish with candies, coarsely chopped.

CROCK POT BROTH

Valerie Bowers uses her crock pot for the most healthful of foods: bone broth. She also explains why not just any crock pot will do. Read on:

“Some crock-pots leach lead and other contaminants into your food. If you use a crock pot with a nonstick insert, you may be getting unwanted chemicals. Some glazed crock pots also leach lead, and some are safe. Check the manufacturer’s website. My crock pot is an Instant Pot, which has a stainless-steel insert and is also a pressure cooker and grains cooker. I love it.

“My crock pot is most often used for my version of Dr. Mercola’s Chicken Bone Broth.

Valerie’s Version of Dr. Mercola’s Chicken Bone Broth

Note: All ingredients listed are organic, so that you get all of the nutrition without antibiotics, growth hormones and pesticides. Don’t substitute conventional chicken and vegetables. Organic chickens may be obtained from Costco, Earth Fare, Whole Foods, Main Street Meats and Ingle’s in Ringgold.

1 (3 to 4-pound) whole organic chicken or 3-4 pounds organic chicken backs wings and necks

4 quarts filtered water

3 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar (such as Bragg)

3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

2 carrots, coarsely chopped

1 sweet onion, quartered

1 handful of fresh parsley

Put chicken in crock pot with 4 quarts water; add the vinegar. Let sit for 30 minutes so the vinegar can leach the minerals from the bones. Add all vegetables except parsley and turn the heat to high. Once it comes to a simmer, skim off the scum that forms on the top of the liquid. Don’t skip this step. Then turn to low and simmer in your pot for 24 hours.

If you use a whole chicken and want to use the meat, pull the chicken from the pot after about 2 hours and remove the breast meat and any other larger pieces you’d like. Then return the carcass to the pot and continue to simmer. You may have to turn your pot back on a couple of times, depending upon its timer. During the last 10 minutes, add the parsley.

Cool and strain the broth. I don’t salt mine, as I prefer to add salt depending upon the recipe I use the broth in- soups, stews or to drink straight.

CRAVING CUSTARD

The custard discussion continues, this time from the pen of Addie McCarty.

“I just had to send my recipe for vanilla custard. It is so simple and it never fails. This came from my mother. I have made this for years.”

Vanilla Custard

2 egg yolks (reserve egg white for meringue)

1 cup sugar

4 tablespoons plain flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon butter

In top of double boiler, mix egg yolks, sugar, flour and vanilla. Mix well. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. Cook on stove over boiling water until thick. Add butter and stir well.

This is great for banana pudding. When making pies, not puddings, add more flour to make pudding thicker.

CORNBREAD QUESTION

A reader asked about the recipe for Lacy-Style Cornbread printed a few weeks ago, in particular that the cornbread mixture is dropped into oil in a skillet. The recipe was accurate in saying, “Drop by tablespoons into 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet, approximately 2 tablespoons of oil per piece.” So one would need a good bit of oil for the frying. Hopefully that is clear.

JUST A DASH

Mr. and Mrs. Sunday have a Dash addendum to the bone broth mentioned above. “North Shore Publix sells chicken backs and necks for stock at 99 cents per pound. If they’re not in the case, ask at the counter. We have a pot cooking as we write this. Smells great in here.”

And sure enough, cooking aromas make a great deal of difference.

Thank you for joining us, and please don’t stop now. Next week?