The original title on this recipe is “Happy Hour Mushrooms” and the handwriting on the recipe is one I can’t identify so I can’t give attribution to the cook who shared this recipe with my mom, I can only say that we loved these mushrooms and I suspect she at least doubled the recipe when she made them.  If there had only been the 10 the recipe makes, riots would have ensued.

We used to make pilgrimages to a local mushroom farm to get the freshest and most consistently sized mushrooms available when she was going to entertain and we certainly bought more than 10.  In the absence of a reliable local mushroom grower, I would recommend buying from the bulk bin at the grocery store and finding out when they get their shipments because this recipe really shines when made with fresh mushrooms.  Here it is:

• 10-12 (about 1/2 pound) medium-size mushrooms ( each about 1 1/2″ diameter)
• 6 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 3 Tablespoons shredded jack cheese
• 2 Tablespoons dry white or red wine (I suspect Mom used white)
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/3 cup fine cracker crumbs or as much as required to make stuffing mix dry

Remove stems from mushrooms and chop finely.  You may also buy and chop a few more mushrooms, thus 10-12 are called for in the ingredients.  Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter and brush over mushroom caps, coating thoroughly.  Stir together the remaining 4 tablespoons of soft butter, garlic and cheese and chopped mushroom stems until well blended.  Stir in wine, soy and crumbs until well blended and hanging together.

Place mushrooms, cavity side up, on a large rimmed baking sheet.  Evenly mound filling in each mushroom, pressing filling in lightly.  Broil about 6 inches below broiler until bubbly and lightly browned (about 3 minutes).  Serve warm.  Makes about 10 appetizers.

It’s been a while since we had Tourshee, but I’ve been craving it lately. Last time I made it I burned my hands so severely while pouring the boiling brine over the vegetables that I had to go to the nearest urgent care center and they slathered the second degree burns with cream and wrapped my hands in gauze. What happened was that the brine sloshed over one hand and then my reaction caused it to splash back over the other hand. Then I dropped the pot. I was lucky it didn’t splash back into my face, really.

Next day when I went to my own doctor, he declared all the gauze wrappings to be overkill and introduced me to Aquaphor ointment which quickly became a staple in the household first aid kit. I was ready to get back on the pickle horse right away, but the family was too traumatized and begged me not to make Tourshee anymore and I haven’t until now.

But enough about that, let’s talk about the actual Tourshee, a life-saving Armenian staple. Basically Tourshee is any pickle, but the way we make it, it’s a brined or marinated pickle. It could be a fermented one, or a traditionally canned one, depending on your choice of recipe.

I say Tourshee is life-saving because I remember when there was a terrible earthquake in Armenia I read about a man who was dug out of the rubble that had been his home and rescued 3 or 4 weeks after the event when the hope of finding survivors was virtually gone. He explained that he had been making pickles and carrying them down to his basement when the earthquake struck. He survived all that time by eating the pickles and as I recall, was in pretty good shape when they found him.

I’ve been craving them because they are a perfect low carb food as long as you don’t eat the onions or carrots and I’m bored with my usual fare. Trust me, there is nothing boring about Tourshee! Oh my, the vinegar burn and the heady garlic and onion fumes will knock your socks off. Nothing subtle here. The only other Armenian food I’ve tried that comes close in assertiveness is Basturma, a preserved meat that shares a common linguistic heritage with Pastrami, but let’s just say I’ll never be ordering a Basturma sandwich even though a nice Pastrami on Rye used to be my standard deli order back in the sandwich days.

Recipes abound on the internet for mixed pickles. Nothing too special about this one I got out of an old Sunset book on Canning and Preserving, the vegetables do all the work. So I won’t post the recipe. If you have a hankering for pickles outside of the ordinary, pick the recipe that sounds best to you and get going, just be careful handling that hot brine!

I’m adopting Kefir grains this weekend. Kefir is reputed to be many times more beneficial than yogurt and lower carb to boot. Supposedly, any metal is anathema to the living grains so I laid in this non-metal strainer in order to separate the grains from the milk as directed. This claim is suspect since one of the sites that stridently proclaims that contact with any metal will kill the grains clearly shows photos of a standard metal mesh strainer being used to drain off the kefir and save the grains for re-use. Well, just to be safe. Here’s to my new Kefir grains, slainte!

For a short time in the fall, if you get your lettuce seed planted early enough and have indeterminate tomato varieties still hanging on bravely, you can have bursting-with-flavor, vine-ripened tomatoes plus tender, sweet early lettuce leaves and thinnings from your garden in your dinner salad at the same time.  Bliss.

Okay, so you know how to make Rice Pilaf from reading my previous post and you have mastered that, right?  Super!  One day, you may want to make LOTS of rice pilaf for a big party.  The recipe is basically the same but I have converted everything to weight and changed the method slightly to accommodate the larger batch.  Here you see everything staged to make several batches.  I make 4 batches of the bulk recipe to serve over 100 people, start around 8 in the morning and have it ready by 11:30 to serve at our annual end of harvest BBQ.

Hope you have an accurate kitchen scale that will measure both ounces and grams because for consistency weighing ingredients is so much better than measuring with cups and spoons:

• 3 cubes butter (12 0z., or 3/4 lb.)
• 520 grams Cut Fideo (approximately 6 cups)
• 1120 grams white rice (6 cups)
• 45 grams salt (2 Tablespoons)
• 36 grams lemon juice (2 Tablespoons)
• 2 Large Cans Swanson’s Chicken Broth (49 oz ea.)
• 6 cups water (50 oz.)

The method is basically the same as before except you will need 2 very large stockpots.  In the smaller of the two, pour the liquids and heat to just below a simmer while you are sauteing the fideo in the melted butter.  Brown the fideo, remove from heat, add the rice and stir well.  Add the heated liquids, the salt and the lemon juice.  Return to heat and wait for a brisk boil to resume before covering, reducing heat to low and cooking on low for 30 minutes.  This rice will stay hot for several hours if you DO NOT OPEN THE LID until you are ready to serve and wrap the pot in heavy towels or some other insulating material.  When I open the first batch at noon (remember I started at 8 in the morning?) it is still piping hot.  Stir well before serving.  The lemon juice helps prevent the rice from getting too sticky, although this big batch tends to be stickier than the normal size based on one cup of rice and one can of broth. On the stove in the photo above you see my largest All-Clad Stockpot…and I own 3 of these just for this annual event.  It may be their 20 quart model, I can’t remember.  It’s BIG.  If you had a restaurant kitchen, you could make this much rice all in one batch, but you’d have to be the Incredible Hulk to stir the vermicelli and lift the hot liquids to pour them in.  I have found this 6-cup batch to be the very limit that I can manage.  You should be able to serve around 50 normal party-goers with one batch.  I have to make 4 batches to serve around 100 because this crowd has been waiting a full year for the rice, we serve a lot of it on each plate and we offer takeout boxes for the leftovers.

What is surprising about these chewy, sweet bar cookies?  Only that they taste so rich and yummy you could swear they are larded with fat as well as sugar.  Nope, just lots of brown sugar.  There is no added fat beyond what is naturally occurring in the eggs and walnuts.

Here’s the recipe:

Mix with a fork in a good size mixing bowl:

• 2 eggs
• 15 oz. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla

Then stir in:

• 4.5 oz. flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda

And finally these:

• 8 oz. chopped walnuts, by hand or carefully in processor with pulses to prevent getting ground walnuts.  You want a fairly coarse chop.

Spread in a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  These are better under-baked than over-baked.  When cool, cut into squares.  Best to cut and serve as needed.  

My grandmother used to make coleslaw with this dressing and I remember loving it as a kid. Funny, my dad doesn’t remember her making it at all. He likes sweet coleslaw, which is about all you can get these days and every time I taste coleslaw, I think, “Ick, this is sweet, coleslaw shouldn’t be sweet, and where’s the horseradish?” So here it is:

3 oz. Sour Cream or Full-fat Greek-style Yogurt
3 oz. Mayonnaise
1 oz. prepared Horseradish (Too hot for you? Back off a bit. Needs more kick? Add more!)
1/2 – 1 teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt, or similar coarse salt (Adjust this according to taste)

10 oz. bag shredded green cabbage
8 oz. bag shredded red cabbage

Mix the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add the cabbage or other coleslaw mix. Of course you can shred your own. And if you are feeling really healthy, throw in some broccoli you’ve shredded or ground up in your food processor. Grandma added chopped bell pepper and shredded carrots to the base of shredded green cabbage instead of using the red cabbage, but I liked the all cabbage version best. Aim for just over a pound of vegetables, shredded or finely chopped. The dressing will stretch to cover a bit more, much less than a pound of vegetables and you’ll have coleslaw soup. Some vegetables weigh more, some less. You’ll have to keep experimenting and you’ll soon discover if you have to increase or decrease the amount of dressing proportionally. This is what I use for the amount of coleslaw I make and it’s just about right.

This coleslaw has attitude. Forget that sickly sweet stuff they offer in restaurants and go bold. More proof that low-carb doesn’t have to be boring!

Secret recipes are doomed to die and isn’t that sad? Therefore, I am sharing the secret of my (extremely) locally (sort of) famous “Tennis Tuna” with the wider world: lots of mayonnaise, ditto sweet pickle relish, a little freshly ground pepper, a splash of vanilla and mix with a fork until there are NO CHUNKS of tuna left. Basically, mix ’til it hurts. The vanilla is the real secret, passed down from an aunt who was an amazing cook.

My tennis team wants finger sandwiches made from this tuna at every match, thus the moniker.