Welcome to Fare Exchange. We begin as always with requests, four from the Lost-and-Not-Yet-Found Drawer. The first three are for Mediterranean dishes: fattoush salad, eggplant fries and moutabal. The final request is for pork chops with grilled peaches.
FRESH GREENS
You open these paragraphs this morning to discover salad greens and muffins that keep.
The comments about salads spring from a request, and as one for whom the saving-all-greens challenge is sometimes frustrating, I am grateful for the variety of answers.
Lauren Pieniaszek of Ooltewah addressed the care of head lettuce and leaf lettuce.
"I've been using this method for years to keep my lettuce fresher, and for the most part it seems to work. I used to buy head lettuce, and now I buy leaf lettuce, but it works with both. I wrap the lettuce in paper towel before putting it in the baggie and removing as much air as possible. (Yes, that straw method's great.) There's something about that paper towel around the lettuce soaking up any extra moisture that just keeps it lasting longer. Hope this helps."
Jane Guthrie added comments about butter lettuce, spinach and fruit - and she too recommended the paper towel method.
"This is coincidental because I have been thinking of telling you how I keep vegetables from perishing on me. There are only two of us here, and the most economical way to purchase nearly always involves quantity.
"So how do you deal with waste when you have a larger purchase of perishables and only two people? For the most part, I have found the problem is impacted by moisture.
"I purchase butter lettuce at Costco in a package with three heads. They will keep. Cut off the bottom of the heads (it is best to use a ceramic knife, not a metal one). Wrap each head of lettuce with a paper towel. Then you can return the product to the original plastic container to refrigerate.
"For loose leaf veggies like spinach, I roll up leaves in a paper towel.
"For fruits - say, strawberries - it's the same premise. You layer them in their plastic container, putting the berries more or less not touching on paper towels in layers."
BRAN MUFFINS
There endeth the greens commentary, and now begin three versions and sources for the large-batch bran muffin. Interestingly, three different kinds of fats are used: shortening, oil or butter.
Pat Pelfrey found this request timely. "What a coincidence: I made those wonderful Six-Week Bran Muffins again this week. I have to use the largest bowl I own for them, but we love them. Be sure you have refrigerator space before you start on these."
Six-Week Bran Muffins No. 1
1 small box or 6 cups of All-Bran cereal (not Fiber One)
2 cups boiling water
1 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
5 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 quart buttermilk
1 1/2 cups raisins, if desired (I use a box of golden raisins)
Pour All-Bran into a large bowl; add boiling water, stir and let soak while you prepare the rest.
Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs. Mix well.
Into another bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Add alternately to creamed mixture with buttermilk. Pour this mixture into All-Bran, and stir well to break up the All-Bran. Stir in raisins, if using. This makes a large amount and will keep refrigerated for 6 weeks. Bake in muffin tins at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (about 12 minutes for convection oven).
Peggy Walkup wrote from Flintstone, Georgia, to share a recipe that has a history among hospital staffers.
"That recipe was shared to us working in the recovery room at Hutcheson about 30 years ago by Durelle Morgan, R.N. She would bring a batch of those muffins and share them with the operating room and recovery staff and anyone else who wandered through. The operating room doctors really enjoyed them too."
Ms. Walkup's recipe is very much like Ms. Pelfrey's, but there are some minor variations. She uses Raisin Bran, not All-Bran. And the final recipe offers another option, Bran Buds.
Six-Week Bran Muffins No. 2
1 box (12 ounces) Raisin Bran
3 cups sugar
5 teaspoons baking soda
5 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup raisins
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
1 quart buttermilk
Mix together in a very large bowl Raisin Bran, sugar, baking soda, flour, salt and raisins. Add eggs, vegetable oil and buttermilk, and stir to mix.
Cover bowl, and refrigerate. Refrigerated batter will keep up to 6 weeks.
To bake a batch, fill greased muffin pan 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.
The third recipe, again a little different, was first sampled by Karen Hart in the 1980s. And if you don't have a huge bowl, this one halves the total amount of muffin batter.
"My son's friend brought us muffins and this recipe when they were in high school. I thought of a recipe that my mother-in-law gave me made with All-Bran that stays in the fridge."
Ice Box Bran Muffins
1 cup boiling water
3 cups All-Bran (or Bran Buds), divided
1 stick butter (or oleo)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 pint buttermilk
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pour boiling water over 1 cup of the bran, and let cool.
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, and beat. Add buttermilk and cooled bran mixture.
Sift flour, soda and salt. Add rest of bran to flour mix. Fold into wet mixture until moistened.
Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees in muffin cups. If the batter is cold when you get ready to bake, bake 5 minutes longer.
This mixture will keep 6 to 8 weeks in refrigerator.
You may add raisins, nuts and spices like cinnamon when you pull out a batch to make.
BEST OF THE BEST
Peggy Walkup's cookbook collection "is my favorite part of my kitchen. I love to try new recipes and looking in my cookbooks, I can always find something new to try."
Time's up for today, but there is more to come. Please come and join the rest of us next Wednesday.
REQUESTS
* Fattoush salad
* Eggplant fries
* Moutabal
* Pork chops with grilled peaches
Jane HenegarTO 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
* Email: chattfare@gmail.com