Mashed Potatoes Grandma-Style

This is so not brain surgery. You need the right potatoes. There's debate. But generally use potatoes labeled Russet. Russet sounds like "red" to me, but these are not redskins. They're brown skinned, usually Idahoes. OR use yellow tinged potatoes like Yukon Golds which give you a smooth, buttery appearance. Green Giant sells a yellow Yukon look-alike that seems to work fine as well. (Not frozen or anything, just Green Giant's brand on the bag in the fresh veggie aisle.)

Peel the potatoes (I'd say about six-eight medium sized ones for your first attempt) and as you peel them, put them into a bowl of cold water. Potatoes turn brown if they're exposed to the air after they're peeled. Cut them in quarters lengthwise or just slice them thickly. (Your Grandma Snider figured this out kind of at the end of her potato career. They cook a little faster if you slice them. No biggie.) Put them in a pan big enough to hold them comfortably and cover with cold water. (Cold water is the rule.) Salt the water a bit, but don't go overboard. Cover the pan, bring to boil, simmer for approx 20 min or until they're tender when pierced with a knife. Don't overcook them, but don't be paranoid either. While you're simmering the potatoes also warm about 3/4 cup milk over low heat or in a microwave safe cup.

Drain them in your colander and then return to the pan. And melt a couple TBS. of butter with the milk, too.

Be sure you're using a pot with a sturdy bottom. Or a bowl that can take some abuse. Don't put the hand mixer into the bottom of a non-stick pot for example. It'll flake the Teflon off. Use the mixer or the manual masher and break up the potatoes into small bits. Then add the milk a little at a time and beat/mix as you go. Look for the texture you like, just keep mashing and adding milk until things are smooth. Add a little more butter! Salt, but don't go overboard. Taste them. They'll taste good. This takes a little practice but it's hard to screw up.

Enjoy!

Reports in at "a little crunchy"

Here's the Riz a la Vegas. John says it's a little crunchy. Troubleshooting begins.

Special Rice

More accurately known as Riz au Nouilles or Rice with Browned Noodles, this recipe is from Pierre Franey's More 60 Minute Gourmet cookbook and was a staple at our house while you were growing up. (As you know -- thus, your request.) We cooked out of the two Franey 60-Minute books until they are both kind of in fragments. And we used to talk about Pierre and Craig Claibourne back in the day as though they were family members. It was pretty much WWP&CD all the time. So, this is a tasty rendering of the Rice-A-Roni concept and very easy to do. As follows.

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. canola or vegetable oil. Olive oil may be a little overbearing for this recipe, but it'll do fine in a pinch.
3/4 cup broken capellini or thin spaghetti (1-inch pieces or so)
3/4 cup raw rice
1 1/4 cups cold water
Salt

Directions:

1) Heat oil in a saucepan and add the broken pasta. Cook, stirring briefly, until the strands are are golden brown. Do not burn. (It can happen very fast.)

2) Add the rice and stir to coat with oil. Add the water and salt to taste and bring to the boil.

Note: Good idea to have water measured and ready to go when you start browning the pasta. (See "it can happen very fast," above.)

3)Cover and simmer 17 minutes.

Tah Dah!

Yield: 4 servings.

Gingerbread Babies

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

½ cup shortening

½ cup [that's1 stick] butter

2 eggs [room temperature] [Put them in a little bowl of warm water if they're too cold. It does make a difference.]

½ C. dark molasses [I use Grandma's Molasses in the yellow jar.]

4 C. flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. soda

¼ tsp. salt

In electric mixer, cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Your Grandma Snider was very serious about getting it very light and fluffy. Stir in eggs, one at a time, blending well. Stir in molasses. Sift together dry ingredients (I just measure the flour and the spices into a sieve over a large bowl and use a spoon to rub them through); stir into sugar and egg mixture. Roll into ball; wrap in waxed paper. Chill at least three hours. Cut off about a quarter at a time and re-refrigerate the rest so it'll stay cold and workable.) Roll out to thickness of about ¼" (could be thicker, depending on how chewy you like your cookies.) Cut into shapes. Bake on greased cookie sheet in 325 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Store in covered jar.

I used the little gingerbread boy and girl cutters. I get red drops for belly buttons -- in the baking section where you'll find the flour and stuff. I use one of those corn holders to poke both eyes at once and the "arm" of the cutter to make the mouth.

Your Dad's Corn Bread

Now you have the required skillet, this should be easy.

1 egg
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups regular, cornmeal (unsifted). You can use regular cornmeal. But I bet you could also score some stone ground cornmeal at that fancy Whole Foods across the street. Either way, it'll be good.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Gather flour, soda, baking powder, sugar and cornmeal in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat egg with fork ; stir in the buttermilk and butter. Stir in remaining ingredients until well-blended. Don't beat 'em to death. Pour immediately into a hot pan. See Note. Bake 20-25 minutes. Serve piping hot. (You could probably also get some very passable apple butter at Whole Foods, too. )

NOTE: One of the secrets of good crusty corn bread is to melt some butter -- I'd say a couple of tablespoons -- (until it sizzles) in the pan in which the corn bread is to be baked. This also greases the pan. Your dad always sticks the pan into the hot oven while he does the mixing. Then when you bring it back out and throw the butter in it melts right away. Be careful. Duh. Pan will be super hot. Duh Duh.

The Simple Bean

First, my philosophy about green beans. If they look good in the store, they usually disappoint. The really velvety beautiful ones always seem to me to be tough and not so great. But that wouldn't be common wisdom. It's just me. So, look for pretty, unspotted, nice green ones. What else can you do?

Prepare: Using a paring knife cut the ends off. Your dad uses scissors. Some folks line them up on a cutting board and chop off a whole line of ends at once. I favor my great grandmother Chapman's method which is to dump them into the skirt of your apron and take them, and a bowl to put them in, out onto your rocking chair on the front porch. I figure the apron/porch thing isn't going to work for you -- or for me anymore as far as that goes. So just cut the ends off. At this stage you can rinse them, throw them in a plastic bag with a paper towel to absorb moisture and toss them into the fridge for a couple of hours until you're ready for them.

Boil water. You can steam them or boil them like spaghetti. The time -- 8-10-12 minutes or so -- depends on the beans and how you like them. Avoid cooking them until they're yellowish green. That's too long. Test as you go.

Get them out of the water however you do. But very carefully. One trick is to drain them and then return them to the pan over a medium flame very briefly to dry them off. Careful with that. Just a few seconds. And kind of move the pan around.

Toss on any additions. Butter. Not too much. 1/2 tablespoon or so. (I use Smart Balance Spray.) Lemon juice. Just a squeeze. Salt, pepper to taste.

If you want to, add sliced or slivered almonds, pine nuts, etc. Have them ready to toss in when the beans are done and the butter or whatever is on. A quarter cup is probably plenty. You can toast almonds or pine nuts in a skillet over a medium high flame. Watch them constantly. (They'll be white ... and then burnt. Just like that. ) And have a plate to turn them out on as soon as they start to brown. Dump them over the beans and toss around.

Yum. I wish I were going to be having Olympic Chicken with you tonight!

Breakfast by John

Looks deluxe! And delish! Way to go, John!