Fare Exchange: Feast on pineapple spread, pound cake, potato hash, lemon icebox pie

Good Wednesday morning, foodie friends. We are hot on the August trail of a curry sauce and of biscuit wisdom and a frozen birthday cake.

* S.A.R. remembered a curry served by a cousin half a century ago. “I know the sauce contained celery, onion and apple, but I don’t know what liquid was used in the sauce. It could be used for curried chicken or shrimp.” The entire recipe would be most appreciated.

* Hummingbird Man wrote, “I received a Rick Bragg cookbook from my daughter, with Bragg’s mother’s recipe for biscuits. I followed the recipe exactly, and it was very easy, but the biscuits seemed crumbly, maybe better with sausage gravy on top than to eat with just butter and honey. What makes a biscuit ‘short’? How can you keep your biscuits crusty on the outside, but tender and held together on the inside?”

* And, finally, here’s a request from a girl who lives far away, who wants a homemade ice cream cake for her 4th birthday. We’ll call her Elsa, because the “Frozen” heroine is her heroine as well.

PINEAPPLE SPREAD

Glenna Johnson’s sandwich-making file includes a spread made with pineapple. “My cousin Simmie, a caterer, gave me this pineapple spread recipe. She uses it at wedding receptions.” And why not an everyday sandwich from a spread sometimes saved for weddings?

Glenna’s Cousin’s Pineapple Spread

2 (15 1/4-ounce) cans pineapple in its own juice

1 cup granulated sugar

3 (8-ounce) cream cheese blocks

1 cup toasted pecan pieces

Drain pineapple well, and simmer over medium to low heat with 1 cup of sugar. Cool to room temperature. Mix with cream cheese, and fold in pecans.

This spread is pretty when spooned into a fresh pineapple “bowl.” Serve with Ritz crackers, bread or pound cake.

POUND CAKE

Sure enough, the next recipe is for pound cake. Margaret McNeil, who writes at margaretsmorsels.blogspot.com, weighed in this week on weighty matters: pound cakes and the benefits of buttermilk.

First, the latter: “I saw the question about what buttermilk does in baked goods and thought I’d offer my 2 cents’ worth. Buttermilk makes baked goods more tender because it helps break down the gluten. Buttermilk also gives the finished product a slight tang that you won’t get with regular milk.

“I wrote about buttermilk and shared the Loaf Cake recipe of my Chattanooga grandmother, Lillie Barger, in my blog a few years ago. When I posted it, I wasn’t sure it would be well received because – in an age of cake mixes – this recipe was made from scratch. Much to my surprise, it has remained in the Top 10 most viewed recipes on my blog since it was posted five years ago.”

Ms. McNeil’s grandmother’s cake is called a loaf cake, but Ms. Barger’s descendants have always baked it in a Bundt pan.

She continued, “Pound cakes got their name because they were originally made with 1 pound each of flour, butter, sugar and eggs. Nowadays, pound cakes can include leavening agents such as baking soda or baking powder; flavoring or even multiple flavorings; additions such as fruit, nuts and chocolate, to name a few.

“Pound cakes are still made with butter or margarine, although not necessarily a pound. Some recipes also call for shortening, in addition to the butter or margarine. My grandmother’s recipe is made with shortening. I can tell you from personal experience the cake isn’t as good when it’s made with anything other than shortening, so no substitutes.”

Here is that three-generational treasure.

Lillie Barger’s Loaf Cake for a Bundt Pan

1 cup shortening (no substitutes)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, beaten

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk (no substitutes; see note)

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes. Beat eggs, and add all at once to creamed mixture; mix well. Add flour and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with flour; mix after each addition until just combined. Add vanilla, baking soda and baking powder; mix until combined. Pour batter in a greased and floured Bundt or tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes, or until done. Put the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes; remove the cake and cool completely on the wire rack.

Note: To make 1 cup sour milk, put 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar in a measuring cup. Add enough milk to make 1 cup. Thoroughly stir the mixture, and let it sit for 5 minutes; proceed as directed.

POTATO HASH

A college student, new to his summer apartment kitchen, found this recipe at Delish.com and tried it with success. Thank you, J.T. The jalapeño and chives are optional, as is the gravy, really.

White Trash Hash

Hash:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 pound frozen hash browns (not thawed)

1 large onion, diced

1 bell pepper, chopped

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeño, thinly sliced

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

4 large eggs

Chopped chives, for garnish

Gravy:

1/3 pound Italian sausage, casings removed

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk

Pinch of cayenne pepper

In a large cast-iron skillet, heat oil. Add hash browns, and cook undisturbed for 10 minutes, then flip and cook 5 minutes more, until golden and crispy. Add onions and bell pepper, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until tender, 5 minutes more. Add garlic and sliced jalapeño, and cook until fragrant, 1 minute.

Add cheese to hash browns, and let melt, 2 minutes. Stir together so hash browns are fully cheesy.

Make four nests for eggs, and crack eggs in each. Season eggs with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until whites are set and yolks still slightly runny, 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, make breakfast gravy: Cook sausage in a medium skillet over medium heat until browned all over. Sprinkle flour over the sausage, and cook 1 minute. Pour milk over, and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until very thick, about 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne. Remove from heat.

Serve hash drizzled with breakfast gravy and garnished with chives.

ICEBOX PIE

Martha Parker had a lemon icebox pie question, and we are answering her with a recipe that should constitute a clarification if not an answer. This recipe contains no eggs, as more than one of us hesitates in preparing a no-bake pie with eggs.

No-Bake, No-Egg Lemon Icebox Pie

Graham cracker pie crust (homemade or store-bought) or crushed vanilla wafers

2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/2 pint whipping cream, whipped

Prepare pie plate with vanilla wafer or graham cracker crumbs or a graham cracker pie crust.

Open the 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk into a mixing bowl, add in the lemon juice and stir. Put mixture in pie shell, and refrigerate. Spoon whipped cream over top, and refrigerate or freeze.

To serve, garnish with fresh lemon slices if desired.

Come back next week, will you please?