The World is Your Oyster! Let's Make Stew

Also available on SheSpeaks

As this winter drags on, I don't know about you but I could use a little comfort. I take mine in the form of a soul-warming soup. There's nothing like a full belly to fortify me against another grey day. One of my favorites is Oyster Stew. It's quick, easy, and guaranteed to ward off a chill.

Oyster Stew

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:
2 pints small to medium shucked oysters
8 strips of bacon
4 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
1 pint heavy cream
4 c milk
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil
pinch of thyme
sliced green onions (optional)

Directions:
Heat a pot of salted water. Blanch oysters for 2 – 3 minutes. Drain and cut into bite-sized pieces.

Using kitchen shears, snip bacon into small pieces. Cook bacon slowly in a large pot over medium low heat. When the bacon starts to crisp, add butter and melt. Increase heat to medium and add diced onion. Sauté until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Add oysters, heavy cream, milk, salt, pepper, basil and thyme. Stir until warm (do not boil). Garnish with green onions.

What is your favorite cold weather soup or stew?

A Little Love to Share - Hearty Supper Salad

As seen on SheSpeaks.com/Special Edition July 30, 2010

The unbearable heat blanketing much of country has reminded me of my summers growing up in Wisconsin. My mother, ironically, never cared for cooking so we rotated through a consistent menu that I could probably recite even today.

When the sticky Midwestern summers were bogging us down, my mom always made a variety of cold salads gleaned from sixties cookbooks or peeled from food labels to avoid heating up the kitchen. For the next several nights, we'd serve ourselves a salad smorgasbord for dinner. A typical salad sampler would include classics like macaroni salad, potato salad, and tuna salad and we'd occasionally have beet salad or sour kraut salad. But the salad we all loved best was "Hearty Supper Salad."

These days, as soon as the temperature rises I start craving the stuff -- no kidding. Remember the blog I wrote a few months ago about food memories letting me down? Well this one, emphatically, does not. I love this stuff. My husband loves this stuff and, soon enough, I think you'll love this stuff too.

My mother got the recipe while watching a local television morning show in the mid-sixties. I have decided to make it my mission to revive our beloved "Hearty Supper Salad."

This is the original recipe and, frankly, I wouldn't change a thing. So do me a favor? Don't substitute any of the low fat alternatives when you make it the first time. Savor the delicious innocence of a quintessential middle-American-childhood-church social-picnic-salad. You don't get that much sour cream and cheese in a serving anyway, so live a little.

Hearty Supper Salad

Ingredients
1 cup elbow macaroni
2 cups diced ham
1 1/2 cups diced cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped celery
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup sweet pickle relish

Dressing
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tbsp yellow mustard

Cook elbow macaroni as directed stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite. Rinse with cold water and drain well in a colander set in the sink.

Combine macaroni, ham, cheddar cheese, celery, onion and sweet pickle relish in a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and yellow mustard. Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients, toss until ingredient are completely coated with dressing. Cover and chill for at least one hour prior to serving.

Do you have any salad recipes that have passed down through your family? Please share your recipes!

Guacamole! Ole!

As posted on SheSpeaks.com Special Edition June 30, 2010

On a recent trip to San Antonio, my husband and I were walking along the Riverwalk when we passed a Boudro's Texas Bistro. A waiter with a cart full of ingredients was chopping an avocado into a bowl of fruit juice. Table-side guacamole. I was sold.

This isn’t your typical avocado paste. It’s a chunky colorful blend of avocados, tomatoes, and chiles. The twist is a combination of orange and lime juice – slightly sweet, aromatic, and tangy. It’s like summer in a bowl!

I’ve recreated the recipe for you. It’s my new favorite and I hope it will be yours too.

Guacamole Naranja

Guacamole with Orange Juice -This guacamole has
a juicy, coarse texture that is closer to salsa than a paste.  

¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
½ tsp salt
1 large or 2 medium avocados
2 roma tomatoes, roasted, peeled, seeded and diced*
½ to 1 serrano chile, roasted, seeded and minced*
¼ cup diced red onion
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Tortilla chips for dipping

Combine orange juice, lime juice and salt in a medium bowl. Stir until salt is fully dissolved. Halve the avocado(s). Remove the pit and scoop the flesh into the salted juice. Use two butter knives to ruggedly chop the avocado. This guacamole is rustic so don’t worry about precise cuts.

Next, stir in the diced tomatoes and chile. Add a little chile at a time so that you get just the right amount of heat. Then add the red onion and cilantro and stir to blend.

Serve with tortilla chips and a frosty margarita!

*Roasting Tomatoes and Chiles - Line a cast iron or heavy sauté pan with aluminum foil. Heat the pan over medium high heat. Add the tomatoes and chiles to the pan. Use tongs to turn often until they are charred on all sides and starting to soften, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel away most of the charred skin using a sharp pairing knife. Then, slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise, scoop away the seeds and dice. When the chiles are cool, slice in half lengthwise and use the tip of your pairing knife to scrape out the seeds and ribs. Mince.