Holiday Recipes 2006

[anna]

Since we have so many dessert recipes, here is the opposite of dessert - squash casserole. Again, there are enough different recipes to fill a book. The only constant is that you will find some variation of this on every dinner table in this region on any given holiday and many Sundays in between.

SQUASH CASSEROLE

6 lbs. yellow squash
6 Tbs. butter
1 medium onion, diced
2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
black pepper
Ritz crackers, crushed - about 3/4 of a sleeve of crackers

Trim and cut up squash. Boil it in salted water until tender. Drain it well - strain it, press it, blot it, whatever it takes.

Saute the onion in 4 Tbs. butter until tender. Stir it into the squash and refrigerate over night. (See note below.)

Whisk together the eggs, mayonnaise, sugar, salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Then whisk in 2 cups of the cheese. Stir into the squash and onion mixture. Spoon into a lightly buttered shallow casserole dish. (I use the large square Corningware dish for this. And if you know which one I mean, you probably are around my age.)

Sprinkle the top with the rest of the shredded cheese. Melt the other 2 Tbs. of butter and toss in the crackers crumbs with a fork. Sprinkle over the cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes until set.


Note: I grew up boiling the squash and onions together, but sauteing the onions separately gives it a better taste - probably because there is a slight caramelization of the onions, even though you don't brown them. Also, you don't really have to refrigerate the squash and onions over night, but they need to be cool before you stir in the egg mixture, and leaving them over night allows the flavors to mingle.

[anna]

eyphur said:

So it's really called Chess Pie? I thought it was cheese pie and a typo. I was confused as to why there isn't any cheese in the recipie.

Why is it called chess pie?

There are several theories. I did a search to see if I could find any that I had not heard. I didn't, but this quote summarizes the common ones.

============
Although chess pie is considered a Southern dish, it originated in England and became popular in both the South and New England as this country was settled.

James Beard, to be contrarian (or authoritative), says that chess pie traditionally included brown sugar instead of white, as well as walnuts, raisins or dates, and orange juice, grape juice, or sherry. He says the Jefferson Davis pie, with evaporated milk or cream, egg, sugar, flour, and salt is what became known in the South as the chess pie. In any event, the dessert most of us call chess pie is a very simple custard in a pie crust.

There are various theories about how the pie got it’s name, seeming, as it does, to imply that it might include cheese, when it does not. The theories to consider are these:

- A slightly corrupted reference to the pie safe or "chest," in which the pie was kept.
- A Southern homemaker drawling to her husband that, "It’s jes pie."
- An older tradition that called custards "cheese." (This choice seemed to get the most votes in the cookbooks we checked).

[hoosier]

maggiethecat said:

housemouse said:

Someone please tell me, what is chess pie?

Chess pie is very old and very Southern, and very simple. I'll dig out the recipe later today and post it. It's -- oh, how would you describe it? -- eggs and sugar and flavoring, a sort of very rich curtardy thing, sort of like the non-pecan part of a pecan pie. Very simple and, as I said, very rich, best with a dollop of unsweetend whipped cream and coffee.

It sounds like what we call a custard cream pie. I would have to check a recipe to be sure. Its one of my favorites.

[maggiethecat]

Time to catch up on The Great Chess Pie Discussion! Hoosier, I too think this is very like what you know as Custard Cream Pie, and I've also heard of a Midwestern "Sugar Pie" that sounds very like it.

Anyway, I wanted to thank anna for her recipe, which I will try! I've never run into one with the evaporated milk, which would make for a creamier custard, and anna is right: there are as many Chess Pie recipes as there are cooks.

Mine is very simple, and has been passed around the family forever. I've always heard that the cider was to replicate citrus in the days before lemons were readily available, which makes sense considering the age of the recipe. I have no idea who came up with the cornmeal, but it disappears and helps make the buttery brown-y crackly-thin topping. Yum.

Oh, and anna is absolutely right -- this you eat at room temperature.

And all this discussion makes me want one for Christmas dinner, so I think I will -- it's so easy!


Chess Pie

One stick butter, melted
One-and-a-half cups sugar
3 eggs, beaten
Scant tablespoon each: vanilla, corn meal, and cider vinegar.
Pinch salt

350 degrees for 45 minutes.

BTW, this recipe fits perfectly in an Oronoco 9" (either regular or) Deep Dish frozen pie shell.

Tip for the day: Let the pie shell defrost and pinch the "store" edging into a fluted edge. Looks more homemade, and holds in spill-y filling better, too.

[housemouse]

Has anyone out there ever made homemade marshmallows? I found a recipe I want to try, but is says a stand mixer is required. So have any of you made them with or without a stand mixer?

[hoosier]

Thinking about Carl's post from yesterday about Christmas cookies I thought I would look up a few of our favorites. They aren't the traditional cookie that is rolled and cut and decorated.

Brown Sugar Cookie--all time fav. My mother said the other day that she would have to make some because it wouldn't be Christmas without them and my brother (who has been know to eat them by the handful) heartily agreed.

This makes appox. 12 dozen

2 cups of brown sugar, packed
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of shortening
4 eggs
5 cups of flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

oven 350 degrees 15-18 minutes. We don't roll these into balls but put them onto the sheet with two spoons, just eyeballing the amount. They are best right out of the oven all warm and gooey.

Peanut Butter Cookies

double recipe that makes 6-8 dozen

2 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, well beaten

Sift flour. Measure flour and add soda, baking powder and salt and sift again. Cream shortening and peanut butter, add sugar. then add eggs to this mixture. Combine dry mix and creamed mix and chill.
Form into one inch ball and flatten with fork. Moderate oven 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Chocolate Crackles

one (i lb 2 1/2 oz) package of devil's food cake mix
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tbsp water
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
confectioner's sugar

Combine cake mix, eggs, water and shortening. Mix with spoon till beaten. Shape dough into balls the size of a small walnut. Roll ball in confectioners sugar. Place on a well greased baking sheet. Moderate oven 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. makes 48 cookies.

[maggiethecat]

Yum, hoosier. I want to come to your house for Christmas! Your Brown Sugar Cookies are very close to my grandmother's Icebox Cookies, a brown sugar cookie with pecans that you form into logs and slice. The trick is to actually get them in the oven since the dough is to die.

[maggiethecat]

Oh, do let me tell you all about mlm88's famous Orange Dessert.

It is, quite simply, to die.

Easy as pie if you follow her specifically-written recipe, and light, light, light -- the perfect compliment to a rich holiday meal. I was off on my schedule (guests arrived early) and didn't have time to unmold and do the splendid presentation where you "frost" with whipped cream and decorate with orange sections. But let me tell you all -- it is every bit as memorable and compliment-inducing when served in your best dessert dishes, festooned with the orange sections and topped with a generous blop of whipped cream. ;D

Instant classisc, and instantly added to the family table. Thank you, mlm88!

[maggiethecat]

maggiethecat said:

Oh, do let me tell you all about mlm88's famous Orange Dessert.It is, quite simply, to die.

And let me give you an update, with a twist. I have a very good friend with allergy problems, one of them being a sensitivity to gluten. She made the Orange Dessert and, instead of using the ladyfingers, made a very good gluten-free Angel Food Cake (mix available at Whole Foods) and used cut-up pieces of it for the cake portion of the dessert. It was, she reported, delicious.

I, meanwhile, have decided that as much as I love the dessert in all its glory, I also love the orange custard by itself. So I will be making it often, and serving it in sherbet dishes topped with whipped cream when I don't have the time or energy to make the whole dessert.

To die . . . and then some!

[Chris]

From the "Getting to know you - Christmas Edition"- thread:

maggiethecat said:

What I really meant to say is that reading this thread is making me hungry! I want the recipes for Matilda's Oz-style Trifle, and for Chris's Rice Pudding with Cherry Sauce, and for anything else that's been mentioned and never posted on this board! Somewhere -- maybe in the archives -- there's great old Holiday Recipes thread. Time to revive it?

I found this recipe online, this way I didn't have to translate it myself. ;D

"Ris a La Mande" a Danish Christmas delicacy.

Despite the pseudo-French name (intended to mean "Rice with almonds" - it's also sometimes spelled Ris à l'amande or Risalamande), this dessert is a 100% Danish recipe. For well over a century, it has been a Danish Christmas tradition, frequently consumed during December - and it is invariably served as dessert on Christmas Eve.

Among the customs that surround this Christmas tradition is the mandelgave (Danish: "almond gift"): The host or hostess, who prepares the dish, adds one whole almond to the bowl, and stirs it in. Whoever finds the almond in his helping is then rewarded with a small gift, usually candy or the like.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ris à la mande

Ingredients:

125 g pudding rice (short grain rice, suitable for cooking into a pudding)
1 l milk
A pinch of salt (no more than a quarter teaspoonful, don't overdo it)
150-180 g sugar
1 whole vanilla bean, or equivalent in vanilla sugar.
1/2 l whipped cream (unsweetened)
50 g of almonds, blanched and chopped into slivers (except for one almond, which is added whole)
Cherry sauce (optional, but highly recommended)
1 small present (optional, but highly recommended)

How-to:

Bring the milk to boiling carefully, in a thick-bottomed pot. Add the rice, and simmer for about 1 hour, stirring frequently to keep the porridge from burning. Add a pinch of salt.

Note: If you stop at this point, you have risengrød ("rice porridge"), another Danish winter dish. You can serve this up with a lump of butter and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, as is, or keep going to make ris à la mande.

Stir in the sugar and the vanilla. If you're using whole vanilla bean, you should allow it to cook with the mixture for a while, before removing it from the heat. Remember to remove the vanilla bean husks from the finished dish, before serving.
Set the finished rice pudding in a cool place (by an open window, or in the refrigerator) until it's chilled.
Just before serving, add the whipped cream and the almonds, stirring them in carefully. The whole almond should be carefully added, and its position randomised, to allow for fair play in the mandelgave ritual.
Serve chilled with warm cherry sauce. Some people prefer cold cherry sauce, though.
Whoever gets the almond gets the mandelgave. If adults and young children are mixed at the table, it is traditional for an adult who gets it to attempt to surreptitiously slip the almond to the nearest child. In any case, if you get the almond early in the meal, try to conceal it in your cheek, so as not to deprive the others of their fun.

Enjoy.

- Chris