Good morning, readers. We've got lettuce preservation on our collective mind this morning, as well as cookie and muffin requests, both from G.P. "I would like a recipe for Kitchen Sink Cookies, and I wonder if anybody kept a recipe (printed in Fare Exchange long ago) for muffins. They were made with Raisin Bran cereal, I think, and you kept the batter in a big tub in the refrigerator and could keep it for a month or longer. The other muffin recipe may have been in a Memphis cookbook. It is for oatmeal muffins."
If you have figured out how to keep spinach or arugula (or any kind of lettuce) fresh, we need your expert advice. Nadine Carden wrote from Flintstone, Georgia. "I have a big problem with a head of lettuce. In just a few days after purchase, it turns brown beginning at the core. I keep the lettuce in the refrigerator in a freezer bag with a straw that I use to pull out the air. I would appreciate any help."
PESTO FAVES
Anne Brunasso added to the discussion of fresh pesto, but first we will give you a bright idea from Ms. B., one that works with pesto but in other contexts as well. She wrote, "At a cooking school long ago at Mia Cucina, the instructor explained that since basil can be expensive, especially when not growing your own, and since baby spinach doesn't have much taste, using it is a good way to stretch basil. I found it to be a very good tip."
Jane HenegarAnd you will note in Mrs. Nicholas Aspen's pesto recipe that parsley is also a good stretcher; in her pesto recipe she uses two parts basil to one part parsley.
Greenness makes the difference, doesn't it? Once one Fare Exchanger recommended green peas as a substitute for avocados in guacamole. Has anyone tried it? If so, what proportions? And were you satisfied?
Here is a tested Anne Brunasso recipe. "This is a very good recipe for Basil Pesto I got at a cooking class at Mia Cucina several years ago. The Tomato Pesto Cream Sauce was also from the same class and is a favorite with friends when we make gnocchi; it's also good on any pasta. It's a shame Mia Cucina went out of business, but I do hang onto these two recipes."
And this is her benediction in Italian: "Mangia e Buon Appetito." You can probably guess the meaning.
Basil Pesto
1 cup fresh basil
2 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup Parmesan, Asiago or Romano cheese
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 clove fresh garlic
Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
Salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Using a food processor or blender, add the basil, spinach, cheese, pine nuts, lemon juice and garlic. Pulse the machine, and roughly chop the ingredients. Slowly drizzle olive oil to loosen the mixture, and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
This recipe can be made in a large quantity and frozen in ice cube trays. When frozen, store pesto cubes in a zip-lock freezer bag, and you have pesto on hand for whenever you need some.
Tomato Pesto Cream Sauce
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half
White wine - a splash
1 recipe basil pesto (you may experiment with less)
1 pint heavy cream
Salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Olive oil
Fresh Parmesan cheese
In a sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil, and add the tomatoes; sauté for 3 to 4 minutes until tender and warm. Add a splash of white wine. Add the heavy cream, and reduce heat to medium-low; reduce cream until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add in the pesto, and stir well to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper. Serve over fresh pasta, and finish with olive oil and fresh Parmesan.
Mrs. Nicholas Aspen has a recipe trove though not a trove of fresh basil at her Lookout Mountain home. And she finishes her missive with lots of ideas for using pesto.
"I have a great recipe from Anne Byrn (also known as The Cake Mix Doctor) from her early cookbook 'Cooking In the New South', which by the way is a fabulous book first published in 1984.
"She calls it Melody's Pesto Sauce. Here is the exact recipe, although these days when I make it, I use a lot less olive oil, like sometimes no more than 3 tablespoons. Then I just get it to a chopped consistency and not so butter-like. I like the fact that it has both basil and parsley. It makes it more green and a little less bitter. Pesto freezes extremely well in small or larger containers."
Melody's Pesto Sauce
1 cup fresh basil
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cut pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
In blender container or bowl of food processor, place basil, parsley, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic and salt. Blend or process with steel blade until it forms a paste. With motor running, gradually add oil until sauce is consistency of soft butter. (See Ms. Aspen's notes advising trimming the amount of olive oil.) Serve over hot pasta or with sliced fresh tomatoes. Makes 2 cups.
Note: This recipe is served most often with pasta, but pesto is versatile and able to accompany scrambled eggs or grilled chicken or fish if need be.
I save this in small Tupperware or Pyrex glass or other plastic containers in freezer, marking the date made. Or one could save it in ice cube trays and, when frozen, spill out into a plastic bag. I use for soups, cheese balls, dips or spreads, meatballs, meatloaf, crock-pot chicken breasts, vegetables like corn on cob, just lots and lots of different things.
KITCHEN FLOW
And for a basil-free finish, Mr. and Mrs. Sunday offer advice on remodeling a kitchen.
"Today, we want to talk about workflow and layout.
"Most folks have heard about the kitchen triangle and minimizing the path among sink, refrigerator and stove. That's good advice as far as it goes, but forgets that no kitchen is ever a one-cook kitchen. We stumbled into this understanding as a two-cook family, but we'll bet yours is a two-cook kitchen even if you don't think so.
"'Balderdash,' we hear you cry. (Insert your choice of disbelieving expletive here.) My spouse never cooks.' Maybe not, but if one of you has to walk through the other's traffic pattern to get a soda or beer, there's going to be conflict and maybe somebody gets splashed from a hot pot. Even if you live alone, you'll have guests who will get in the way unless you design to prevent it.
"Consider two work triangles:
* "Primary cooking: range/ovens, prep sink, refrigerator.
* "Snacks: Microwave/toaster oven, cleanup sink, refrigerator (yes, the same one).
"The entrance to the kitchen should be closest to the snack side so someone starving is unlikely to disturb the primary cook.
"Islands can be incredibly valuable or pestiferous interruptions you have to walk around all the time. Don't add one because they're cool but only if they make the traffic flow better."
JUST A DASH
To simplify the way to fine meals, Mrs. Nicholas Aspen confirms, "Anne Byrn's 'The Dinner Doctor' is another cookbook I use all the time for great shortcuts to good meals."
OF INTEREST
So begins the name of another occasional entry in Fare Exchange. You can pin a recipe on Pinterest, you can purchase Bread Basket's cream cheese muffins at Vinterest, and now this column will add your comments "Of Interest" in Fare Exchange recipes you have tried. It is super-helpful when you all try a recipe from this column and write to tell us how it went and also what adaptations you made.
Mrs. Nicholas Aspen writes the inaugural entry. "I made the mushroom orzo (July 31, from Carli Snyder) for a crowd, and they all loved it. At the last minute, I swapped bow ties for orzo. It was one of the best pasta dishes I have ever made."
Keep it coming, and you, keep on coming for the conversation.
REQUESTS
* Kitchen Sink Cookies
* Muffins made with Raisin Bran
* Oatmeal muffins
* Lettuce preservation tips
TO REACH US
Fare Exchange is a longtime meeting place for people who love to cook and love to eat. We welcome both your recipes and your requests. Be sure to include precise instructions for every recipe you send.
Mailing address: Jane Henegar, 913 Mount Olive Road, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750
E-mail: chattfare@gmail.com