German Potato Salad

I bet you thought I'd never post a recipe again!  I bet you don't even look at my recipe blog any more! ;-)  But I made this salad for our Relief Society Mother/Daughter Night, and I've had a couple of requests for it.  Because, quite frankly, it is very yummy!  So here it is:

GERMAN POTATO SALAD

1 1/2 lbs. red potatoes, scrubbed and sliced 1/4-inch thick

6 slices bacon, chopped into small pieces [I think it's easier to cut it with kitchen scissors before you cook it, than it is to crumble it after it's cooked.  Just cook it like stir-fry.]

1 Tbsp. flour

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. celery seed

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 Tbsp. parsley flakes [I used fresh parsley that night—if you use fresh, use 1/4 cup]

2 dashes black pepper

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup cider vinegar

Cook bacon; set aside on paper towels to drain.  [If you didn't cut it up before-hand, crumble it now.]
Leave about 1/3 of the bacon grease in the pan and discard the rest.  Cook the onions in the bacon grease until translucent and browned.
Stir in flour, sugar, celery seed, salt, parsley and pepper.  [Actually, if you use fresh parsley, save it until the end.]  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until bubbly.
Remove from heat; stir in water and vinegar; set aside.
Boil potatoes in salted water until tender; drain. [They'll cook pretty fast, since they're already sliced.  Yay!]
Reheat onion mixture to boiling, stirring constantly for about 1 minute; remove from heat.
Add crumbled bacon to the mixture, then stir it all into the warm potatoes. [Add fresh parsley now.]
Serve warm, garnished with paprika and parsley (if desired).

Das ist gut!

Rice Pudding

For Stephanie. :-)

I'm not a big fan of rice pudding, and don't have my own recipe. But this is the recipe from my new Cooks Illustrated cookbook, The New Best Recipe. So try it out and let me know if you like it.

RICE PUDDING

2 cups water

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup medium-grain rice (they say you can use long-grain rice)

2 1/2 cups whole milk

2 1/2 cups half & half

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Bring water to boil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the salt and rice; cover and simmer over low heat, stirring once or twice, until the water is almost fully absorbed—15 to 20 minutes.

Add the milk, half & half, and sugar. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cook, uncovered and stirring frequently, until the mixture starts to thicken, about 30 minutes. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, stirring every couple of minutes to prevent sticking and scorching, until a spoon is just able to stand up in the

pudding—about 15 minutes longer.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Cool and serve at room temperature or chilled.

If you like raisins, or cinnamon, add them to taste when you add the vanilla.

To store, press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Gingerbread Cookies

All right. I have to post this because we just made such a cool gingerbread house! Follow this recipe exactly to make cookies. To make a house, you'll probably have to double the recipe (or more) decrease the baking soda, and bake it twice as long so it will get good and hard.

Have fun!

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 Tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
5 cups flour

Cream shortening and sugar; add egg, molasses and vinegar and beat until fluffy.
Beat in the soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
Mix in the flour by hand.
Refrigerate at least one hour.
Heat oven to 375.
Roll out dough to about 1/4-inch thick and cut out with cookie cutters.
Bake on very lightly greased cookie sheets for 5 to 6 minutes.

Cool and decorate as desired.

* For a gingerbread house: Roll the dough directly on lightly floured cookie sheets; cut out the patterns and remove excess dough. [I do not remove the dough from windows and doors before cooking—they will hold their shape if you cut them out, but leave the pieces in. While the pieces are still hot and fresh from the oven, re-cut them and remove them.]
Or you can fill the empty window spaces with crushed hard candy (like Jolly Ranchers) to make a stained glass effect, but you have to be careful not to burn your dough or the candy turns brown too.
Or, better yet, cook the house with the window-dough cut, but not removed. Remove the dough and let it cool. Now fill in the windows with home-made hard candy.

HARD CANDY

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
2/3 cup corn syrup
flavoring
food color

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan.
Bring to a boil and cook until it reaches 300 degrees.
Add flavoring and coloring if desired. [I didn't do this, because I don't plan on eating our windows. Although maybe the kids do.]
While the syrup is still very hot, spoon it into your gingerbread house window spaces. Keep little kids away from this until it is completely cooled!

Now you can build your house! I just looked up "Gingerbread House Frosting Cement" online for a good glue recipe—it was easy to find.

Have fun!

Creamy Turkey & Wild Rice Soup

This soup is so delicious that Bruce was moved to tears the first time I made it. I’m not making this up.

CREAMY TURKEY & WILD RICE SOUP

1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 ½ cups thinly sliced celery
1 ½ cups sliced carrots
½ cup finely chopped shallots
¼ tsp. thyme
10 cups chicken broth
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
⅔ cup wild rice
24 oz. turkey breast, cut in bite-size pieces or about 2 cups diced, cooked turkey
⅔ cup butter, melted
¾ cup flour
1 cup sour cream
2 cups milk
4 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in a large stockpot.
Add mushrooms, celery, carrots, shallots and thyme; cook, covered and stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened—about 5 minutes.
Add chicken broth, salt, pepper and wild rice; bring to a boil.
Add the raw turkey pieces. [If you're using cooked turkey, add it when you add the sour cream.]

Lower heat to simmer, half-covered, for 45 minutes; stir occasionally.
In a small bowl, mix the melted butter with the flour. Add to hot soup, whisking until soup begins to thicken.
Add sour cream and milk; stir out any sour cream lumps.
Remove from heat and sprinkle chopped parsley on top.
Serve with sourdough bread. So delicious!

Red Pepper Pesto

I have never tried pesto before—the stuff made with fresh basil, pine-nuts and olive oil—although it sounds interesting. But I found this recipe for Roasted Red Pepper Pesto the other day and thought I'd try it out, and it's really tasty!

I wonder what "Pesto" means anyway? Uncooked, blended-up, pasta topping? Whatever it may mean, this was delicious.

ROASTED RED PEPPER PESTO

3 large red bell peppers, roasted *
4-6 unpeeled garlic cloves (4 medium-size or 6 smallish)
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup parsley leaves, packed
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (use fresh, not the dried-out powdery stuff)
1 tsp. dry thyme leaves (or 1 Tbsp. fresh)
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Place garlic cloves into a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Toast them about 7 minutes, until they darken in color.
Remove garlic from the frying pan and peel. [You can snip off the root-ends of each clove with scissors and then just squeeze the garlic out by pinching from the top of the clove.]
Cut the roasted red peppers into about 2-inch pieces.
Put all ingredients into a food processor (or blender, if you don't have a food-processor) and process until smooth. [I did mine 1/2 at a time, because my processor is small. Also, it won't get 100% completely smooth. Just smooth-ish.]
Stir in salt and pepper, to taste
Now it is ready to serve over the top of your favorite pasta. I served mine with additional parmesan for sprinkling on top. :-)

Makes about four servings—depending on how much you like with your pasta. I think this would also make a marvelous sandwich spread to go with roast beef.

*To roast red bell peppers:
Slice off the tops and bottoms of the peppers.
Cut down one side of the pepper and spread the pepper open.
Remove seeds, and remove stem from top of pepper.
Lay all the pepper pieces skin-side-up on a baking sheet.
Place under a hot broiler and cook until the skin blackens—about 5-7 minutes. You may need to rotate the pan every now and then to make sure all the pepper pieces get blackened.
Remove from oven. Place peppers into a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap; let sit for 15 minutes.
Peel the skins from the peppers.
Now they are ready to use. Yum!
(They're delicious on sandwiches, too!)