Roger's View of the World, Love and Seafood Gumbo!
Seize the Day! Put no trust in the morrow! — Horace
Much happens around our house during the holidays… especially a lot of culinary magic! However, with all of our blessings we want to thank all of our men and women in service to our country… and those not able to leave the hospitals at this time. Our thoughts are with you all!
Lots of baking today…a time to spend with family and give thanks.
Enjoy the day!
In any event, Karla wanted rabbit and not presented in the the usual stew, skewer or filet cuts. After a bit of looking I found a stuffed rabbit ( the stuffing resembled more than any other a simple turkey bread stuffing) on which an interesting glaze was added in the last 20 minutes or so. I say an ‘interesting glaze’ — because in the way of hunters — it is full of ‘shortcuts’ based on whatever is at hand. In this case, the glaze was a mixture of steak sauce and orange marmalade.
Karla was kind enough to share a bite and it was very tasty!
Anyone faced with family coming home for the holidays has many things to balance to make the occasion enjoyable for all. The biggest challenge is to have all of the favorite foods that everyone prefers: Stroganoff, cured and spiced bbq ribs, homemade corned beef transformed into pastrami, a “Greek Night”, a ‘Turducken’, a few South African delicacies ( I am hoping for ‘Bobotie’)… and beef in many forms ( the Brazilians would be so proud!).
Oh I haven’t forgotten desserts, cookies and other goodies! I will be making some of President Washington’s favorite Eggnog from an old recipe that is guarenteed to be remembered!
Fortunately, much is in stages of development, but all will be ready when everyone arrives!
Bon appetite!
Roger
Okay, sometimes I do cheat a little and I don’t use everything from scratch… but I thought that these were so enjoyable that they deservd to be combined together! Obviously, I buy raw shrimp, boil until pink and sautee in gralic butter before adding the sauce from South Africa. The organic wheat noodles from Japan are gaining popularinty in this county and offer a distinctly different taste and texture to the meal.
My grandmother gave me some great advice as a young person. She said — do what we all do ( chef’s) when caught with a time constraint find a nice mix that gets you close to where you want the recipe to be…. then amend it. Ah, the secret of quick cooking!
The best part? I still have some left for today!
The holiday season is a great time to bake cookies! If memory serves, nearly all of the cookies baked today are chocolate chip ( roughly 80%); however, chocolate is grand but there is so much more to try. One of our favorite cookies is this spicey gingerbread style cookies made in the shape of a mushroom that has been a family favorite forever…. and if you hide a few they keep virtually forever!
Besides mushroom cookies, we’ll be making some of the basics, sugar, butter, gingerbread, oatmeal, shortbread, lemon squares and a few more that you may have never heard of… but fun! One of my favorite that I enjoyed making in my youth comes by many names: Russian Tea cakes, Sandies or Mexican Wedding cakes. These little powdered sugar dusted nutty canonball shaped delights are wonderful with a frosty glass of milk!
So what will you be making this year?