Put shortening in heavy pot – black cast iron being the best – add ground meat, onions, bell pepper, celery and salt and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes. Then add soups, raw rice, parsley and onion tops. Turn into a 2 quart buttered casserole. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 and 1/2 hours.

As a note: My friend had doubled this and it fit nicely in a 9 x 13 baking pan. She also mentioned that she’d cut back a bit on the seasonings for the kiddies.

2 cups cooked rice (do not use instant)
3 Tbsp. butter
1 box frozen chopped broccoli or fresh florets from 1 large stem
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 soup can of milk
3/4 cup cheddar cheese
1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Thaw frozen broccoli or wash and chop fresh broccoli. Saute onion and celery in butter. Add soup and soup can of milk to vegetables and simmer until everything is dissolved. Then add cheese and simmer until melted. Remove from heat and mix with cooked rice, chopped broccoli and seasoning. Bake 30 minutes at 350 in a 9 x 13 casserole. Makes 8 – 10 side servings.

1 pound boiling potatoes, peeled
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil for cooking

Cut half of the potatoes into pieces. Cook the cut-up potatoes in boiling salted water until tender,12 to 15 minutes. Drain and mash. Transfer to a bowl.

Grate the remaining potatoes into a small bowl lined with cheesecloth. Squeeze the cloth to extract as much of the starchy liquid as possible, catching it in the bowl. Add the grated potatoes to the mashed potatoes, then sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together over them. Add the potatoe starch liquid and buttermilk. Mix well.

Brush a large nonstick skillet [though I love and use my cast iron!] with vegetable oil and heat it over medium-high heat. Drop the potato mixture, a tablespoon at a time, onto the skillet. Flatten each cake with the back of a spatula, then cook on each side until browned and slightly raised, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Repeat until all the mixture is used.

Serve immediately or transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in a preheated 200F oven.

Broccoli Salad
Recipe from Ptelea

5c. broccoli florets
½ c diced red onion
½ c grated cheddar
¼ c sunflower seeds
6 bacon slices, in bits
¼ c raisins

With dressing:
2T sugar
2T red wine vinegar
6T mayonnaise

Combine all salad ingredients in mixing bowl. Stir together dressing in another small bowl. Toss the salad into the dressing and chill.

Notes:
This salad is easy on substitutions and omissions. Last time I used mozzarella instead of cheddar, white onions instead of red, and had to leave out the bacon and raisins completely. Personally, I like to lower the broccoli to about three or four cups and replace what’s missing with shredded raw cabbage. Any way you do it, you are not likely to miss.

So, that begs the question – where do the broccoli *stems* belong? In the compost, the trashcan OR a new dish? For so long, it was one of the first two for me. I had no idea what to do with them. Then a little recipe gave me an idea, and eureka, no waste. Hurray!

Fancy Vegetable Medley
From Whole Foods for the Whole Family

1 c. thinly sliced onions
2 T. butter
2 c. diagonally sliced carrots
4 c. broccoli
1 t. basil
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. salt
dash of pepper

Saute onion in butter in large skillet until tender. Add carrots. Saute 5 minutes. Slice broccoli stems thinly and cut florets 1 inch long. Add broccoli stems to skillet; saute for 2 minutes longer. Add florets to skillet with seasonings. Simmer, covered, for 3 to 5 minutes.

Notes:
My spin on this is to only use the broccoli stem, as the florets have been enjoyed in the above salad. Without the florets, I don’t have to worry about overcooking them and can therefore keep the other vegetables on the fire a little longer. So, I add in 1/2 to one cup of chicken broth with the seasonings.

Madame Queen’s Cornbread Dressing

1 baked cornbread crumbled
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large bell pepper, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
1 chicken bouillon cube, dissolved in 1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoons onion tops
3 tablespoons parsley
seasoning to taste
milk to moisten

Saute onion, garlic, bell pepper, and celery in sauce pan with the oil. Add the meat and bouillon cube that has been dissolved. Cook meat until light brown. Mix with crumbled cornbread, onion tops and parsley. Add more milk to moisten if necessary. Season to taste. Bake at 350 degrees until brown.

This dressing can be prepared the day before and baked the next day which is a good to know for holidays.

My living grandmother was following just about the same recipe, except the browning the meat part. Once the vegetables became transparent, the meat was added but cooked for quite some time after it had turned light brown. She would let it stick to the bottom of the pot just a little, then from a cup of water perpetually at the side of the stovetop, pour in like 1/8 cup of water. It was just enough to allow her to scrape the browned bits off the bottom with her spatula and allow it to keep browning without burning. And that’s the cycle – brown, water, scrape. I really believe it gives a greater flavour to the meat in a recipe like this.

But it’s also the basis for any good gravy making. Recently, I attempted a pork roast in my dutch oven on the stovetop. My neighbour couldn’t believe I wasn’t doing it in the oven, but I remember my father doing it this way and wanted to try. I seared every side first, then added the remaining vegetables of the marinade I had stuffed into little holes all over the roast. No, I’m not talking potatoes and carrots, but the three veggies Cajuns won’t do without – onions, bellpepper and celery. In this case, I added in garlic. There was never too much garlic for pork, according to my Dad.

Again, once the vegetables were withered and mostly transparent, I began the brown, water, and scrape. I let it do that all afternoon. Half way through I put a good amount of water – a cup or two – in the bottom to turn all the delicious brown stuff into the gravy. But I still had to be watchful and careful it did not burn. The roast did fall apart in the end, but I just forked it into serving size pieces. It and the gravy was the best I’d ever done. I was so proud!

I experimented with this technique last week when I made chili. A pound of beef and a pound of pork after the vegetables, and browned them until at least half of the meat was just kissed with that dark brown color. From there, I followed the instructions on the back of the chili seasoning packet – yum, yum! OH, only belatedly did I realize the seasoning was only sufficient for one pound of meat, so I scrounged out this homemade version to get the double seasoning I needed and it worked. It was my first chili that I really liked. For bean lovers, just add the beans with the tomato sauce.

2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
dissolved in a little cup of water

I’ll post more recipes to use this browning technique with as I find them.