Leisa’s Gypsy Stew

2- 14 oz. cans chickpeas, drained

1- 14 0z can fire diced, fire roasted tomatoes

2 big carrots, thickly sliced

1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed

2 large red potatoes, unpeeled and cubed

9 cups rich, homemade chicken stock (or canned)

1 cup dry white wine

4 large basil leaves, chopped fine

2 Tablespoons fresh dill, chopped fine

1/2 cup Moroccan preserved lemons plus a little juice from the jar

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked and chopped

1 Tablespoon smoked paprika

1 pinch saffron threads

1 Tablespoon sweet curry

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 pinch ground cloves

2 bay leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Add all above ingredients to a large crockpot

In a skillet:

heat 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Add~

3 large stalks celery, chopped (plus tops)

7 scallions, chopped (plus tops)

Cook until tender.

Add~

3 large garlic cloves, minced

Cook until golden brown.

Add celery/onion/garlic mixture to crockpot.

Turn on high until stew comes to a low boil (about 3 hours.)

Turn to low and cook an additional hour.

(If you’re going to be gone all day, just set the crockpot on low for the day.)

Serve with…

Leisa’s Gypsy Bread

1 loaf good quality French bread

1 c. grated sharp Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 c. real  mayonnaise

1/2 tsp. curry powder

1/2 c. chopped kalamata olives

1 cup mozarella cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

2 Tablespoons dried parsley

Slice the loaf of bread lengthwise. Combine the rest of the ingredients until spreadable. Spread on the bread and broil at least 6 inches from the heating unit until cheese melts.
For Picnics: Prepare as directed but don’t broil. Wrap in foil, and pack in ziplocks. place in a cooler on ice. Grill or place foil pack on a campfire until heated through.

Enjoy!

~Melissa

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“Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life.” ~Anna Akhmatova

This is our family’s favorite Italian salad. A beautiful, simple, healthy summer dish or first course for a more elaborate Italian meal.

Insalata Caprese

6 ripe Roma tomatoes sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 lb. fresh mozzarella cheese sliced 1/4 inch thick

10 large, fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 large garlic cloves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Mince garlic and add to oil. Saute until the garlic turns barely golden. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Assemble salad by alternating the tomatoes, fresh mozarella, and basil leaves in a swirl pattern on a large plate or serving platter. Sprinkle with salt and fresh pepper. Drizzle the olive oil/garlic mixture over. We like to serve this salad with slices of fresh Italian bread that have been lightly buttered and toasted on a skillet. Just pile the salad on the toast. Yum!

Enjoy!

~Melissa

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~Bob Fosse

Kirsch cherries are the perfect accompaniment to a cheese plate, cupcakes, almond cake or a dish of homemade vanilla ice cream. This makes a lovely Christmas gift.

Kirsch Cherries

•3-4 cups sweet black cherries
• 1/2 cup Sugar
•    1 vanilla bean, split
•    1 cup Water
• Cinnamon stick, broken in 2 pieces
•    ½ cup Kirsch
•    4 Whole cloves

Directions:
Pit the cherries. Discard stalks and pits.
 Sprinkle the sugar over the prepared cherries; gently turn the cherries in the sugar. Cover bowl of cherries with foil and leave overnight in a cool place.
 The next day, strain cherries through a colander into a second bowl, and then place the cherries to one side. Take juices from the second bowl, empty into a saucepan, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves. Bring to a boil.
 Sterilize a preserving jar.
 Take the saucepan off the burner and leave for a few minutes before straining the juices into a jug through a fine meshed sieve. 
Discard the whole pieces. 
 Spoon the cherries into the sterilized preserving jar.
 Add 1 cup water and ½ cup of kirsch to the juices, stir well and pour over the cherries.
 Add more kirsch, if required.  Store in a cool, dark place.

Enjoy!

~Melissa

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2 ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp cloves

1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter at room temp.
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
¼ cup molasses
about ¼ cup turbinado sugar

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°. Rub 2 baking sheets liberally with olive oil.

Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cayenne into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until smooth, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the egg and molasses and mix until blended and an even light brown color, about 1 minute. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate.

Spread the turbinado sugar on a large piece of wax or parchment paper. Roll ¼ cup of dough between the palms of your hands into a 2 inch ball, roll the ball in the sugar and place on one of the prepared baking sheets. Continue making cookies, spacing them 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm, but they are still soft in the center and there are several large cracks on top, about 14 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 9-12 cookies

Enjoy!

~Melissa

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12 medium size  unpeeled red potatoes, boiled until fork tender (but not too soft-about 20 minutes)

10 slices bacon, fried until crispy-reserve 4 Tablespoons of the bacon drippings

1 cup onion, chopped fine

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon celery seed

fresh ground pepper

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup vinegar

After boiling the potatoes, drain and set aside. Once cool enough to handle, slice thin and place in a large mixing bowl. Fry the bacon, set aside to cool. Saute the chopped onion in the drippings until golden brown. In a small mixing bowl: combine flour, sugar, salt, celery seed and pepper. Add to onions. Cook until the flour browns slightly, being careful not to burn. Stir in the water and vinegar, boil for a minute, stirring constantly. Carefully combine the bacon and potato with the vinegar mixture. Serve hot or cold.

Enjoy!

~Melissa

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Simply melt 5 Snicker bars along with 1 cup of heavy cream or ice cream in the top of a double boiler. Allow to cool for a few minutes and layer with vanilla ice cream in sundae cups.

Enjoy!

~Melissa

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~Pablo Neruda

Yesterday when we got home from the pool we were in the mood for something with lemons. I had made a new batch of my Moroccan preserved lemons a couple weeks ago and decided to make lemon spaghetti with shrimp for dinner. So delicious.

Moroccan Preserved Lemons

12 Meyer lemons

Kosher salt

lemon juice concentrate

Wash the lemons thoroughly. Hold them over a plate to catch the juice and make four deep cuts in the lemons lengthwise, evenly spaced around the lemon, effectively dividing it into four sections attached at the ends. Keep the lemons whole.  Pack the cuts generously with salt. Put a couple of tablespoons of salt in the bottom of a jar and pack the lemons in layers, sprinkling a thin layer of salt between each layer of lemons. Push the lemons down firmly to pack them tightly and to help express some of their juice. Finish with a final layer of salt. Pour any juices that collected on the plate when the lemons were cut. Cover the jar tightly. Leave at room temperature for a few days, monitoring the level of liquid in the jar. The lemons should be submerged in juice after a few days. If they are not, add some lemon juice concentrate to the jar. Top off jar with a little extra virgin olive oil. Cover tightly with lid. The lemons will be ready to eat in a few weeks and will keep for up to a year in the refrigerator.

Leisa’s Lemon Spaghetti

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup chopped, Moroccan preserved lemons plus a little juice

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1 pound fresh shrimp, cooked until just pink

3 cloves fresh garlic, minced and cooked in butter until golden

1 lb. spaghetti, cooked al dente

2 green onions, chopped

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain.  Combine the rest of the ingredients and toss with pasta. Serve warm or chilled.

Enjoy!

~Melissa

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From the movie Big Daddy starring Adam Sandler

My friend Sandy is so sweet! She sent me this YUMMY recipe for rhubarb ketchup. I know what you might be thinking….Rhubarb KETCHUP? Well, that’s what Jeff said…and then he tried it. He’s now a rhubarb ketchup enthusiast.

Rhubarb Ketchup is sweet and tangy and vinegary and a perfect substitute for, well, Heinz. It also tastes a bit like chutney, so you could try it in place of the mango Major Grey’s that a lot of people I know, including myself, always have at the ready in the fridge. I tweaked this recipe a little and decided to make 1/4 of the original recipe….

You’re gonna LOVE this

Rhubarb Ketchup

1 cup fresh rhubarb, chopped

2 medium size, ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1/4 cup vinegar (I used apple cider)

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 Tablespoons white sugar

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

a couple turns of freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a medium flame, stirring frequently until thick (30 to 45 minutes.)

Cool completely. Transfer to a canning jar or a salad dressing cruet. Keeps in the refrigerator up to two weeks.

Enjoy!

~Melissa

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I use blackberries in this recipe because we have an abundance of them growing on our three huge blackberry bushes in our back yard. You could use any berries you wish. Raspberries, blueberries or strawberries would all be wonderful in this recipe.

Gracie and I went berry picking in the back yard yesterday and baked one of these cakes for our picnic on the porch.

I call it scone cake because it is essentially like baking a giant scone in a cake pan. We like to eat this with melted butter and sugar sprinkled over the top, but any of the traditional scone toppings would work. It’s lovely with afternoon tea or served as a coffee cake for breakfast.

Buttermilk Scone Cake

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9×13 glass cake pan.

2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

2 Teaspoons nutmeg

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup buttermilk

4 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

zest of one lemon

1 cup fresh berries

3 Tablespoons raw sugar

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and nutmeg in a big bowl. In a medium bowl, combine beaten eggs, melted butter, buttermilk, lemon zest and vanilla. Mix well. Combine wet and dry ingredients until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.

Spoon mixture into prepared cake pan. Spread evenly with the back of a buttered spoon. Sprinkle berries and raw sugar over top. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked in center. Allow to cool before cutting and serving. Makes 8 to 12 pieces.

Enjoy!

~Melissa

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My brother-in-law, Mike, was stationed on Oahu for four years when he was in the Air Force. He has told Jeff and I stories about mountain biking through passion fruit groves and almost swooning from the intoxicating aroma of the fruit mixed with all of the other amazing scents you encounter when you’re on a Hawaiian island. He likes mangoes too…hee hee. ‘Nuff said

Jeff and I planned a 10 day trip to Maui in 2003 and before we left we asked Mike if there was anything we needed to see or do while we were there. The only two things he said we HAD to do was go to “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and get a cold ginger chicken plate lunch. Well, we did get to see Cheeseburger in Paradise but, frankly, the 2 hour wait seemed a bit extreme for a cheeseburger. We scoured the island looking for the elusive cold ginger chicken plate lunch. A couple times we found places that served it, but they were always out. We never did have cold ginger chicken while on Maui, and I don’t think I’ve ever been brave enough to tell Mike.

When we got home I looked for a recipe for cold ginger chicken plate lunch online and actually found a couple authentic Hawaiian recipes for this mouthwatering delicacy. After some tweaking, and about 20 batches I think I might make it better than the Hawaiians, of course it is impossible for me to know for sure. I’ve added a bit of vinegar and brown sugar to my recipe, which I think makes this once very good recipe absolutely fantastic.

We just had the privilege of spending the day with Jeff’s dad Greg, his bro Mike and Mike’s wife Robin this past weekend. They are the nicest people you will ever meet, and we can’t wait to see them again. Already trying to coordinate a trip out to Spokane to visit!

Although you do have to be a ginger fan to enjoy this, don’t worry about the whopping two CUPS of ginger that the recipe calls for. Something magical happens when you mix the pureed ginger with the olive oil.

Cold Ginger Chicken-

Rub 2 fryer chickens (skin on) with a generous amount of kosher salt (about 1/2 cup)

peel of two tangerines or limes

Allow chicken to chill in fridge with the salt rub for 2 to 24 hours. Boil with citrus peel until just done.

Cool on counter. Cover and chill in refrigerator until completely cold.

Sauce:

2 cups fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

8 stalks green onion plus tops, chopped

4 cloves garlic

3 cups extra virgin olive oil (or a combination of EVOO and peanut oil)

6 Tablespoons white vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons salt

Puree in food processor until smooth. Chill completely. When ready to serve, plate the chicken and top with the sauce. Garnish with extra chopped green onion if desired.

Enjoy!

Aloha!

~Melissa

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