Aunt Jenny's Minestrone Soup

I made this minestrone soup from Alice's Brady Bunch Cookbook a few months ago, but it was so good and the weather has turned cold so thought it warranted another go. The first thing anyone attempting to cook out of that "cookbook" learns (as any faithful follower of my other blog, Cooking with Alice, would know) is that most of the recipes are severely flawed and generally taste bad. I mean bad. This one stands out because it was actually delicious. I can count on one hand the number of recipes from that book that I would make again and obviously this is one of them. The only change I made (and yes, it seems I am compelled to always change something - I have no idea why I can't just follow a recipe but it is possibly a problem with authority) was that Alice added Italian sausage, and as much as I love Italian sausage, the soup didn't need it. It is flavorful on it's own with just the veggies and pasta. Soup is good food.

Alice called it Aunt Jenny's Minestrone Soup after the episode "Jan's Aunt Jenny" (even though, presumably she was the Aunt of all six Brady children). Anyway, this is yet another identity crisis for sad sack middle child Jan. She finds an old photo of a girl who looks just like her (because it is) and discovers it is a picture of her mother Carol's eccentric Aunt Jenny, played by comic great Imogene Coca (see Sid Caesar and "Your Show of Shows"). Jan is anxious to meet Aunt Jenny until she sees a current photo and realizes she might grow up to look like a kook, like Imogene Coca. Ultimately, Aunt Jenny comes for a visit and Jan learns that true beauty may lie from within, like Imogene Coca. It is no secret to me why  Eve Plumb (aka Jan) refused to do any of the early reunion shows like "The Brady Bunch Hour" - she is probably still dealing with the trauma of the original series. 

See for yourself - they are practically identical cousins!

The Recipe:

1/3 cup olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced (I say dice it, Alice said slice it)
4 large carrots, peeled and diced (or use thawed frozen diced)
1 bulb fennel, chopped
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced (white, waxy ones are best, although Alice didn't specify)
1 green pepper, diced
3 medium zucchini, diced
5 cups beef stock
5 cups water
1 20 oz can plum tomatoes, with juice (chop them up, although Alice doesn't say this. Trust me)
2 tblsp oregano
1 tblsp basil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese
1 8oz package of small shell pasta
1 14oz can of white kidney beans, drained

In a large stock pot heat the oil and saute the onion for 10 minutes or until soft. Add the carrots and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. One at a time add the fennel, potatoes, peppers and zucchini, cooking each for 2 minutes before adding the next. Add the beef stock, water, tomatoes with juice, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Stir in cheese and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 1/2  hours. The soup will be thick. Increase the heat and add the pasta and the kidney beans. Stir occasionally until the pasta is cooked, about 15 minutes.
Makes 8 servings.

Thanksgiving "Pop" Corn Pudding

Thanksgiving, can't get more American than that. Not even our neighbors to the North can get it right, celebrating a month too early. About 7 or 8 years ago I discovered this little recipe for corn pudding and it has been a holiday staple ever since. It is simple (frozen corn, milk, eggs) and tasty, and can even be made the day before and just reheated prior to eating to ease the burden of the day. I always host/cook dinner at my house, ever since my mother relinquished her duties 15 years ago. I must also say, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing are flat out my favorite meal and always the best thing my mother made when I was growing up. The woman knows how to make gravy, let me just say that. She is also famous, or infamous depending on your position, when it comes to her stuffing. It basically consists of  herbed bread cubes (dried), bulk pork sausage, celery, onions, chicken broth and the pan juices from boiling the neck of the bird. Over the years, I have tried to recreate how she does it all, with pretty good success, especially since none of her "recipes" are written down or have any exact measurements. It's more like 'add the broth until it's moist'. But the corn pudding is my addition to my mother's Thanksgiving dinner. Try it, you'll like it.

On a day devised merely to give thanks, I suggest a cornucopia of the finest Thanksgiving episodes TV has to offer. First, you've got to watch the Peanuts in "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving". It remains unclear to me why all of the children have been left alone to fend for themselves on the hoilday, but Snoopy rises to the occasion and is a master chef when it comes to his popcorn and toast dinner. Then, if you haven't already, watch the "WKRP in Cincinnati" turkeys can't fly episode - empty your bladder first, just a word of warning. Then, you can move on to "The Brady Bunch" and the Un-underground Movie episode depiction of the first Thanksgiving, "The Bob Newhart Show" when Emily goes out of town and Bob, Howard and Jerry get drunk and order chinese food. A hilarious TV moment when Bob slurs the order and says Moo-Goo-Goo and wonders if he's ordering chinese baby food. Another good one is the "Cheers" Thanksgiving at Carla's that ends up in a food fight (there are times when that could actually happen here). And finally, the "Friends" episode where everything completely goes awry and Joey ends up with a turkey on his head. Forget the football, give thanks to classic TV.

The Recipe:

30 oz. frozen corn, thawed
3 cups milk (2 + 1)
4 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Puree half of the corn and two cups of the milk in a blender until almost smooth. In a large bowl, whisk eggs with the sugar, flour, nutmeg, and salt. Then whisk in the pureed corn mixture, along with remaining corn and cup of milk. Pour into a 9x13 or other shallow 4qt baking dish. Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and very loosely set.  Serves 10.

Note: I often cut the recipe in half for smaller crowds or when serving other vegetables. It can also be made and baked up to two days in advance. Cool completely, cover and refrigerate. Reheat in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Identical Cousin Calzones

Calzones are an easy and tasty alternative to ordering pizza. The best part is that everybody gets to put what they want in them, at our house it is usually whatever is left over in the fridge (salami, ham, peppers, mushrooms, etc so no two are exactly the same) and loads of mozzarella cheese. Keeping with the traditional method, no sauce goes in them, but is served on the side for dipping. I used to make my own dough, but I have begun buying my pizza dough at Trader Joes (I know, I don't know how I would live without that store), and at $1.09 for a 16 ounce dough ball, it is too good to pass up. When my daughter and I recently made these, it was uncanny how they came out looking exactly the same, even though we each made our own they were filled differently on the inside. As fun to make as they are to eat.

As a side note, I would like to welcome my Russian readers. Thank you for discovering "Cooking with Alice" and now reading this blog as well.

Identical cousins, a kooky idea that was employed on numerous shows, Ann B. Davis as Alice/Emma on "The Brady Bunch", Carolyn Jones as Morticia/Melancholia on "The Addams Family", to name two. Now, what about  "I Dream of Jeannie"? Well,  it was Barbara Eden as Jeannie and her evil twin sister (also known as Jeannie because there was apparently a shortage of creativity on that set), although she also occasionally did have a cousin who caused trouble as well - that show had it all. But, when strictly speaking of identical cousins, the stand outs for me are of course "The Patty Duke Show" and "Bewitched." Both shared the same producers (as did Jeannie), who obviously thought doubles were such a good idea they used the technique over and over and over again. The difference was that Patty Duke's overall premise was two identical cousins, Patty Lane from New York, and Cathy Lane from Scotland. Bewitched, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, had Samantha (the good witch) only occasionally bothered by Serena (the bad witch).  My husband's cousin had a baby and named her Serena and my first reaction was "who would name their child after the evil cousin on "Bewitched"?! Nevertheless, the gimmick remains the same: one with blonde hair, one with dark hair, highlighting the yin and the yang between the two look alike characters, and asking the viewers to suspend all common sense that it could actually happen. Yet, as a child, I was mesmerized by the "technology" that allowed Patty, Elizabeth, Barbara, Carolyn and Ann B.to be in the same room with themselves. And when Serena would show up, cleverly "disguise" herself as Samantha, and cause trouble for Darren when he had an important advertising account that Larry Tate was counting on, boy was that comedy.  Patty Duke, however, wins for best theme song with lyrics, describing the cousins identities as follows: "Where Cathy adores a minuet, the Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette, our Patty loves to rock and roll, a hot dog makes her lose control -- what a wild duet! Still, they're cousins, identical cousins and you'll find, they laugh alike, they walk alike, at times they even talk alike -you can lose your mind, when cousins are two of a kind". A hot dog makes her lose control, that cracks me up. For the record, my cousin Kathy does not even remotely resemble me.

The Recipe:

16 oz. pizza dough, cut in half
Mozzarella cheese
Salami/Pepperoni/Ham/Peppers/Mushrooms/Pineapple (whatever strikes your fancy)
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 oz. of tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface (I have a most excellent bread board that I use) and cut in half. Set aside one half and punch down the other, lifting and stretching it into a thin circle. Fill with cheese/meat/veggies and fold over, sealing edges by pressing with a fork. Repeat with second dough piece. Brush each with the egg and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and the cheese begins to ooze. Serves two, whether you look alike or not.

Book'em Dan-O Pu-Pu Platter

Ah, the pu-pu platter. It is a culinary salute to all 50 states, but mostly Hawaii. This is commonplace here, to have an all hors d'oeuvers dinner with a few Mai Tais to wash it down. Now the good thing is that it is never the same meal twice as I mix it up every time. Basically we are talking about pigs in a blanket, chicken wings with various sauces, pot stickers (funny story about the first time I made these from scratch, it was also the night I went into labor, but I thought it was the food, not the baby - that's a mistake you don't make twice), fried mozzarella balls, spring rolls, etc. Pretty much anything. A lot of the aforementioned I buy already made, but the mozzarella balls I make myself. My daughter first had them at at the Italian restaurant at EPCOT a few years ago and fell in love at first bite. She of course expected me to be able to recreate the recipe when we got home, but it was more challenging that I anticipated. Fresh mozzarella balls (bocconcini), egg, bread crumbs, oil - seemed easy enough, but I just couldn't get it right. Then, my savior Gourmet Magazine (god, how I miss it) had a recipe in the "Last Touch" page and voila (I'm sure there is an Italian word for that but oh well) perfection! Turns out I was making two big mistakes. First, my oil wasn't hot enough (easily remedied by a candy thermometer) and second, I needed to dip and coat the balls twice in the egg and crumbs instead of just once. Finally getting it right was enormously satisfying, just like a good platter of pu-pu.

Now, when I think of Hawaii, I think of one thing: Hawaii Five-0. As a kid I loved watching this show, seeing the exotic locales and the seedy underworld of our 50th state. It was like a travelogue and a scared straight intervention neatly wrapped in a one hour package. The main characters were Steve McGarret and his trusty side kick Danny Williams, whom he affectionately referred to as Dan-O. As Hawaii State Police,  they were charged with cleaning up the crime in Honolulu. Their nemesis was a mastermind criminal named Wo-Fat, but they occasionally came up against minor no-goodniks, like Chicken, played brilliantly by a pre-MTM and Love Boat Gavin MacLeod. Amidst the backdrop of the beautiful beaches and tropical sunsets were drugs, murder and prostitution. The funniest part, if you watch an episode today (which I highly recommend), is that the filming apparently required any car scene with McGarret and Dan-O  riding together that they be seated directly next to one another - McGarret driving and Dan-O essentially in the middle of a giant '70s Mercury bench seat. They look like they are on date while chasing down the bad guys (I guess the island spirit will do that to you). No matter what obstacles they faced, in the end McGarret always got his man, and delivered his line: "Book 'em Dan-O". Be there, Aloha.


The Recipe:

Special Equipment: Deep- fat or Candy Thermometer

About 5 cups vegetable oil
1 lb. drained marinated small mozzarella balls, patted dry
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup plain bread crumbs
Marinara sauce for dipping

Double coat the mozzarella by dipping in eggs, then crumbs and repeating. Transfer to a sheet of wax paper. Heat 1 1/2 to 2 inches of oil in a  3 1/2 to 4 quart heavy sauce pan to 360 degrees. Working in small batches, lower balls into oil with a slotted spoon and fry until golden brown, about 30 seconds per batch. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Return oil to 360 degrees between batches - that's the tricky part. Makes about 3 dozen.

WKRPumpkin Muffins

I am a huge fan of pumpkin: pumpkins muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream - you name it. What disturbs me is that something like 96% of all the pumpkin consumed in the U.S. is canned, so why do we think of it a seasonal item if virtually none of us are using fresh and canned pumpkin is available year-round? This is a question that has always perplexed me. Really, why is there no pumpkin pie on the 4th of July? As a result, I make these pumpkin muffins all the time and any time and they are a family favorite breakfast as well as a snack. The recipe comes from the 1974  Bantam paperback version of the Betty Crocker cookbook, complete with a retro chic cover with pictures of a fondue pot and some sort of cheese mold with olives and crackers on it.  This was my first cookbook and I received it in the late 80's from my Uncle Dan when I moved into my first apartment in New York. Honestly, though, I don't think I have ever made anything else out of it other than these muffins, yet this book has stayed with me all of these years. It  boasts to have over 1600 of the world's most thoroughly tested recipes, which is comforting, but clearly it only takes one.

Now, all that being said, pumpkin still reminds me most of Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving, as far as TV is concerned, has only one truly great episode - WKPR in Cincinnati's turkey drop (okay, I love it when the Peanuts have the dinner of toast and popcorn around the ping-pong table too,  but for comedy sake WKRP wins). The premise is that the station's owner, Arthur Carlson, has a brilliant promotional idea to give turkeys away the day before Thanksgiving in a shopping center parking lot. The plan goes awry when they decide to drop the live turkeys from a hovering helicopter with roving reporter and Buckeye Award winning newsman Les Nessman on the ground reporting what turns out to be carnage. Two great TV lines are uttered, the first by Les, "Oh, the humanity" which was made famous by the radio reporter witnessing the Hidenburg disaster and the second by Mr. Carlson, "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."  True TV gold, '....in Cincinnati'.


The Recipe:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar (although, I use slightly less and they are still good)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted ( I use reduced fat margarine with excellent results)
1 egg

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin pan with 12 muffin cups. Mix all ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter should be lumpy. Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake 18 to 20 minutes. Immediately remove from pan and cool on a rack. Makes 12 any time of year muffins.

Appealing Banana Cupcakes

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...yes, that's right I'm cookin' from Mary Ann's Gilligan's Island Cookbook! Followers of my other blog, Cooking with Alice, had to know it wouldn't be long before I started a three hour (culinary) tour. Even though there are no fewer than 17 coconut cream pie recipes, I decided to go bananas, as there seemed to be an abundance of both on the island. These are billed as cupcakes, but they seem more muffiny to me, or perhaps more accurately,  like banana bread in a cup, especially since they have no frosting. They are good though, and the recipe was complete and easy, the proportions and timing were spot on - things not often said about Alice's Brady Bunch Cookbook. Not bad for a farm girl from Kansas.

"Voodoo Something to Me," just the third episode into the series (surprisingly, 95 more followed along with three TV movies, including the one where the Harlem Globetrotters visit the island - Go Trotters!). Don't confuse this episode with the one just called "Voodoo" where a witch doctor makes voodoo dolls of all of the castaways and then wreaks havoc (my personal fav). No, in this one the supply hut is being raided and in an effort to determine the culprit, the Skipper believes voodoo magic might be involved. The Professor, being a man of "science" dismisses the notion and insists there must be another explanation. Meanwhile, Gilligan falls into a mud hole and takes off his clothes to bathe in the lagoon when a chimp (the real thief) takes his clothes and puts them on, as undomesticated jungle chimps tend to do. The other SS Minnow passengers assume that Gilligan has been turned into a chimp (you know, cause of the voodoo). Finally, Gilligan emerges from the jungle wearing a well-placed leaf and tries to explain, but the chimp has the ship's flare gun and is pointing it at everyone. Gilligan cleverly saves the day, trading the chimp a banana for the gun. Phew! That was close, I think I'll make like a banana and split.

The Recipe:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar (I used less and they were still sweet, just like Mary Ann)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup soft butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 4)
2 eggs
 1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the butter, banana, eggs and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, until the ingredients are blended and the mixture is smooth. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Makes 24 cupcakes (muffins/cups o' banana bread)