1 large onion, coarsely chopped
6 cups water
3 potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 zucchini, thickly sliced
2 cups tightly packed washed and dried fresh spinach leaves
Several twists of freshly ground pepper
1/4 package (3.5 ounces) enoki mushrooms (optional)
Place the onion in a large pot with 1/2 cup of the water. Cook and stir
until the onion softens slightly, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining water
and the potatoes, zucchini, and soy sause. Bring to a boil, reduce the
heat, cover, and simmer for 35 minutes. Add the spinach and pepper. Cook
for another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Puree the soup in batches in
a blender and return to the pan. Add the mushrooms, if desired. Heat
gently for 5 minutes. Serve hot.
This is how the recipe appears in the book. I have noted some additions
from a posting here on the FF list to use 2 bunches of fresh spinach, and to
add cayenne pepper and garlic powder to taste.

Date: Thu, 28 Apr 94 16:36:59 MDT
From: “Sharon Badian, AT T – GBCS Labs, Denver”

Fish Fragrant Eggplant
(no, there is no fish but it is supposed to taste something like fish)

Serves 4
Radically adapted from Ethnic Cuisine by Elisabeth Rozin

1 large eggplant
4 tbl soy sauce
1 tbl cornstarch
3 tbl dry sherry
3 tbl sugar
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp crushed dried red pepper
6 slices ginger, about the size and thickness of a quarter
4 scallions, chopped, separate white and green parts

1. Cut stem end off eggplant. Dice eggplant into small cubes.
Sprinkle eggplant with salt and place in a colander to drain.
Let sit for 15 minutes. Squeeze as much liquid out as possible.

2. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and water.

3. Heat 1 tbl dry sherry in a large skillet or wok. Add red
peppers and stir. Add ginger, white part of scallion. Stir
fry briefly until ginger becomes fragrant. Add the squeezed
eggplant and saute approximately 8-10 minutes, stirring
occasionally, until eggplant is thoroughly cooked. You shouldn’t
have any trouble with sticking because the eggplant still
has a bit of moisture in it but if it does, add a little bit
of water or sherry.

4. Add soy sauce mixture and cook over high heat until most of
the liquid is evaporated and eggplant is thoroughly
coated with reduced sauce – about 5 minutes.

5. Combine 2 tbl sherry with cornstarch.

6. Add chopped green part of scallions and sherry mixed with
cornstarch. Stir and cook until thick. Serve hot over plain rice.

Title: Pumpkin Rice Apricots
Categories: Fruits, Harned 1994, Rice/grains, Side dish, Russian
Yield: 1 batch

3 tb Butter
1 md Onion; peeled fine chopped
6 c Cubed, peeled pumpkin*
3/4 c Dried apricots; chopped
1 ts Salt; or to taste
3/4 c ;Water
1 c Cooked rice

*Or can substitute butternut or buttercup squash or sweet potatoes.

Melt butter in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook,
stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown. Peel and cube
pumpkin to about 1″ pieces. Add pieces to skillet as you prepare it.
Stir to coat with butter.

Chop apricots and add to skillet along with salt and 3/4 cup water.
Cover and simmer the mixture 15 minutes. Add cooked rice and cook 10
minutes more, or until pumpkin is tender. Stir often as it cooks.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Fritschner writes: “In the pumpkin and apricot dish…, the natural
sweetness of pumpkin, dried apricots and onion all play off each
other to make a subtle side dish. The original recipe came from
Sonia Uvezian’s _Cooking from the Caucasus_, which has several
recipes using pumpkin as a savory side dish or addition to a main
dish. It isn’t quick to prepare, but it’s delicious.”

From Food Editor Sarah Fritschner’s 10/19/94 “Pumpkins: Beyond Pie”
article in “The (Louisville, KY) Courier-Journal.” Pg. C4. Posted by
Cathy Harned.

MMMMM

> From: “Angie Klidzejs”
> Date: Thu, 22 Feb 96 13:22:25 CDT
> Subject: Homestyle brick ovens — information requested
>
> Hello fellow bakers:
>
> As I’ve learned more and more about bread, I’ve found that I’m
> becoming more and more interested in reducing the baking process to its
> most rudimentary forms. Four years ago I was thoroughly incapable of
> baking bread from scratch — I ended up with grain-based equivalents of
> concrete blocks. Then I got a bread machine, which served as “training
> wheels” (as baker and cookbook author Dan Leader would describe it). I’ve
> graduated to using a KitchenAid mixer for making dough, and using a
> grain mill to grind my own flour, and am presently quite content with
> them. However, I’m interested in more than my electric oven can do for my
> breads.
>
> Does anyone on this list have experience with, or knowledge of, baking
> bread in brick ovens? I don’t mean the commerical variety. I’m seeking
> information on building and using homestyle and homesize brick or stone
> ovens. Is this something a person can build and keep out in the yard?
> How is it constructed? How is it used? Where can I find technical plans
> and information? I destroy baking stones pretty easily and don’t want to
> invest in more of them. I think that clay flower-pot saucers may be okay,
> but their use is limited. (My house isn’t air-conditioned, and baking
> indoors during the summer is out of the question.) I would appreciate any
> and all information that people can suggest. Thank you.
>
>
> Angie Klidzejs Internet: a-klid@maroon.tc.umn.edu
> Accountant
> Department of Horticultural Science
> University of Minnesota
> 305 Alderman Hall
> 1970 Folwell Avenue Telephone: (612) 624-3795
> Saint Paul, MN 55108 U.S.A. Fax: (612) 624-4941

Woodburning Oven, part deux – brick2.txt [1/1]

From: milligan@smartdocs.com (Nancy Roatcap)
Date: 1995/08/26

organization: SmartLink.net Premier ISP 805-294-1273
content-type: Text/Plain
mime-version: 1.0
newsgroups: rec.food.sourdough

Here comes more of the chronicles of ovenbuilding, for those
of you following my folly. If you didn’t catch the first
installment and would like to do so, mail me and I will be happy
to send you a copy.
If you remember, I left off frustrated with a minor
construction error, unchangeable, that left me unable to follow
the plans for the front of the oven.
The plans call for fire brick to be laid on top of the
foundation wall for the front, where you would rest your peel
while loading. In order to bring the brick up to the height of
the interior hearth, pavers are laid on the wall before the brick
can be mortared on. The interior hearth is 1/2 inch lower than
the plans show and there is no room for a mortar bed for the
pavers, and too much room to fill with mortar for the firebrick.
The only solution is to pour a cap on the foundation wall
that will allow the bricks to be laid flush with the hearth.

July 9: After much consideration and a good 4th of July getaway,
I decide to redesign the front. I want the oven to have more of
a “southwest” look, than a “backeast” look. The plans call for an
enclosing (weatherproofing) wall to be built atop the foundation
wall (of bricks or wood, no matter), but I want the rounded form
of the oven to be apparent, and so then would be the top of the
foundation wall. The cap that must be poured in the front will
now be a visible part of the finished oven. I decide to pour the
entire front up to the hearth level rather than using the called
for firebrick.

July 12: I pour the first of 3 slabs that will make up the front
of the oven. This one is 2 inches thick, the width of the wall
and protrudes 1 inch out from the front and sides of the
foundation. I did the formwork yesterday and it resembles a
torture device, complete with clamps, ratcheting tie downs and
pieces of wood sticking out here and there. For the first time I
mix the concrete from scratch; white cement, sand and pea gravel.
This is all new to me and I am not confident of the outcome. I
decide to put “veins” of color in the concrete, shooting (in the
dark) for a marbled granite look. The concrete is very dry and
hard to work, but I have learned the drier the better, so I pound
it into the form, sprinkle a little red powder in a line against
the form, then pound in some more.

July 13: In the morning I pull the forms and decide not to tear
last nights work apart. After work I build the form for the
second slab. Also 2 inches thick, it protrudes 1 inch out from
the first slab and is 8 inches narrower on each end. Tomorrow
evening I will pour the slab, then build the forms for the third
and final pour day after tomorrow. It will also be two inches
thick, (making it flush with the interior hearth) protrude an
inch beyond the second slab and again be narrower by 8 inches on
each end. The effect, I am told by a Saturday morning visitor,
is decidedly “pueblo”. By Sunday I am ready to begin construction
of the walls, throat and the dome; three arches of 16 bricks
each.

Woodburning Oven, part deux – brick2.txt [1/1]

From: milligan@smartdocs.com (Nancy Roatcap)
Date: 1995/08/26

July 16: I stand all the wall bricks up, spacing them with a
story stick 1/4 inch apart and marking their positions on the
firebrick with a china pencil. I mix the mortar and revel in the
difference between the readymix and my mixed from scratch blend;
more plastic and less gritty, it is much easier to work with. I
wish we had used this to put up the foundation blocks. The walls
go up, one bricks height with a 1/4 mortar bed, skinny side
facing in. The interior hearth is 28 inches wide and 37 inches
long. Before I finish, I tear out the jamb bricks twice to get
them exactly on the same plane. The door must be 10 inches high
so I mortar a 2 inch piece of brick to the top of the jamb
bricks, leaving enough room for a mortar bed to level the 2X3
inch piece of 1/4 inch angle iron that spans the door and holds
up the front of the dome.
During the week I lay the bricks that comprise the “throat”, two
lines of four courses just 1 1/2 common bricks long protruding
from the jamb bricks out onto the slab I poured the week before.
These courses bring the throat up higher than the 10 inch jamb so
the angle iron can be mortared and leveled behind them, as it
will require this support when the oven dome is completed against
it. Also this week I work on building the form to support the
arch, two pieces of plywood cut from a pattern made by placing
the bricks on the wood in the desired shape and tracing their
outline. I clamp the pieces together and carefully cut it with
the jigsaw, then put a block between them and screw them together
with the driver drill, checking for square and level.

July 15: I start out bright and early by laying up the three
straight courses of the back wall of the oven. It takes some time
to cut the bricks as the wall tapers in to conform to the dome,
and I cut them all before I mix the mortar. The arch form goes in
supported by four upright bricks and shims made of old post cards
to bring it up to wall height and level. As I begin to mortar up
the arch, I can see I lose a little ground with each successive
brick as mortar adds a fraction of an inch to the allotted space.
The arch bricks must touch each other, long skinny sides down and
a few grains of sand add enough to keep me from setting the last
brick. By now I am getting good with the brick chisel so I decide
to shape the brick. It doesn’t work so I take out its neighbor
and try the same technique. No good, I can’t cut enough of the
brick off in the right places and the arch comes down after 3
hours of work.

More to come later.
NancyR.

Re: Req. plans for outdoor brick oven

From: chrisb@vid.hp.com (Chris Bostak)
Date: 1996/02/07
organization: Hewlett Packard
newsgroups: misc.rural

Dave Jensen (djensen@mailhost.gate.net) wrote:
: Howdee!

: I would like to build my own outdoor brick oven to bake bread.
: Know anyone who has plans for this?

I know of a few sources for this. I have only heard anything about the
first reference. He has plans for three sizes of ovens. A few people have
tried to do this and apparently, it takes more than your average masonry
skills to make one correctly.

– Alan Scott
Oven Crafters
5600 Marshall-Petaluma Road
Petaluma, CA 94952
(415) 663-9010

– TMR Linea Bar
Bar Restaurant Equipment
219 Ninth Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 621-1171

– Maurice Sabbagh
Earthstone Ovens
1233 North Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(213) 656-5926

– “The Bread Ovens of Quebec”
by Lise Boily and Jean-Francois Blanchette
(National Museum of Canada, 1979)
This guide costs @ $12 (800)555-5621

Title: Eggnog Snickerdoodles
Categories: Cookies
Yield: 48 servings

1 x -Terri Sawchuk PKHJ43B 1/4 ts Salt
1 x -MAIN INGREDIENTS: 2 ea Eggs
2 3/4 c All-purpose flour 1/2 ts Brandy extract
2 ts Cream of tartar 1/2 ts Rum extract
1 1/2 c Sugar 1 x -SUGAR MIXTURE
1 ts Baking soda 1/4 c Sugar or colored sugar
1 c Butter-softened 1 ts Nutmeg

Preheat oven:400 In 3-qt. mixer bowl combine all cookie ingredients. beat
at low speed, scrapingsides of bowl often, until well mixed (2 to 4 min.).
In small bowl combine sugar mixture; stir to blend. Shape rounded
teaspoonful of dough into 1"balls; roll in sugar mixture. place 2″ apart
onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake near center of 400 oven for 8 to 10 min.
or until edges are lightly browned. Reformatted by: CYGNUS, HCPM52C

—–

Green Split Pea Soup

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :1:15
Categories : Soups

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
1 cup split green peas
3 tablespoons margarine
1/4 cup onion — chopped
4 cups water — cold
salt and pepper — to taste
1/2 teaspoon marjoram — ground
2 cups skim milk

Soak peas as directed on package, and drain
Melt margarine in a large saucepan
Cook onion until lightly browned
Add water, peas, and seasoning
Cover and simmer for 1 hour or until peas are tender, stir occasionally
Press soup through a sieve or puree in an electric blender
Return to saucepan, add milk and adjust seasoning
Heat thoroughly, stir occasionally
Serve immediately

Yield: about 1 1/2 quarts

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Per serving: 81 Calories; 6g Fat (64% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 4g
Carbohydrate; 1mg Cholesterol; 138mg Sodium

Title: PECAN ICEBOX COOKIES
Categories: Cookies
Yield: 48 Servings

0.25 lb Unsalted butter; softened
1.00 c Dark brown sugar (packed)
1.00 Egg
1.00 ts Vanilla extract
2.50 c All-purpose flour
0.50 ts Baking soda
0.50 ts Salt
0.50 c Chopped pecans

In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and
fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and sift into the butter
mixture. Blend thoroughly. Stir in the pecans.

Shape the dough into a roll 2 inches in diameter. Wrap tightly in
plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to 1 week.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using a sharp thin knife, cut the
dough into 1/4-inch slices and place on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake in the center of the oven for about 15 minutes, or until lightly
browned and set. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Makes 48 cookies

* Recipe by Joanna Pruess * Great Desserts, compiled and edited by
Mardee Haidin Regan * Typed for you by Karen Mintzias

MMMMM

Title: STEAMED SHAO-MAI DUMPLINGS WITH YOUNG GINGER
Categories: Dumplings, Chinese, Masterchefs, Frisco, Cm
Yield: 6 servings

16 ea Wrappers, shao-mai, thin
— (stamped out of thin
— wonton wrappers)
1 ea Ginger, fresh,
— walnut-sized piece
1 ea Scallion, thin, cut into
— 1-inch lengths
1/2 lb Pork butt, ground
1 tb Sauce, soy
2 ts Wine, Chinese, rice OR
2 ts Sherry, dry
1 ts Oil, sesame
1/4 ts Salt, kosher
Pepper (to taste)
1/4 c Waterchestnuts, fresh,
— diced
3 tb Carrots, diced

Mince the ginger and scallion in a food processor
until fine.

Add pork, soy sauce, wine, sesame oil, salt and
pepper and mix with several on-off pulses in the
processor.

Scrape the mixture into a bowl, and add the water
chestnuts. Stir in one direction until mixed.

Put 1 scant tablespoon of filling in the center
of each wrapper. form the wrapper into a loose
four-cornered hat, then press each corner towards the
filling. The dumpling should now look like a cupcake.

Next, make a circle of your thumb and first
finger around the middle of the dumpling and tighten
the circle gently to press the wrapper to the filling
and give the dumpling an empire “waist”.

Dunk the exposed pork top into carrot cubes to
decorate.

Steam the dumplings for 20 minutes on an oiled
steamer rack and serve.

Source: Great Chefs of San Francisco, Avon Books,
1984
Chef: Barbara Tropp, China Moon, San Francisco,
CA

—–

Title: Blanched Gai Lan Dressed with Rice Wine and Oyster Sauce
Categories: Chinese, Vegetables, Ceideburg 2
Yield: 4 servings

2 tb Oyster sauce
2 tb Chicken stock
1 tb Shao Hsing wine, or dry
-sherry
1/2 ts Sugar
1/2 ts Sesame oil
1 To 1 1/2 pounds gai lan
-(Chinese broccoli)
1 ts Salt
1 tb Peanut oil

Gai lan is Chinese broccoli. It’s not much like the Western stuff.
It has thinner stems, flowers and leaves and is eaten more as a green.

Combine the oyster sauce, chicken stock, Shao Hsing wine, sugar and
sesame oil in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until sauce
thickens. Set aside.

Wash the gai lan in cold water. Trim off and discard the tough
bottoms. Peel stalks if they are thick and tough; leave gai lan whole
or cut into thirds.

Bring 3 to 4 quarts of water to a boil in a wok or stock pot; add the
salt and oil. Add the greens, bring back to a second boil. Turn off
the heat and let greens stand for a minute or two. When the green
stalks brighten, test one for doneness. It should be tender and
crisp. Drain immediately and shake off excess water.

Transfer to a platter, pour dressing over, and serve immediately.

Serves 4 to 6.

PER SERVING: 35 calories, 2 g protein, 4 g carbohydrates, 1 g fat (0
g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 298 mg sodium, 2 g fiber.

Joyce Jue, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/8/92.

Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; October 19 1992.

MMMMM

VEGIE GARDEN LOAF

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Vegetarian Vegetables

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
1 tb Olive oil
1/2 c Chopped onion
1/2 c Grated zucchini
1 c Sliced steamed carrots
1 c Steamed broccoli flowerettes
3/4 c Uncooked oatmeal
1 Slice whole wheat bread,
Crumbled
3 tb Oat bran
3 oz Shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c Tomato sauce
1 Egg
1 Egg white
1/4 ts Each salt, pepper and sage
1/2 ts Dried thyme
1/4 c Chopped parsley
6 tb Grated Parmesan Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In small skillet heat olive oil and saute onion
until translucent, about 5 minutes.

3. In large bowl combine zucchini, carrot, broccoli,
oatmeal, breadcrumbs, oat bran and cheese.

4. In small bowl beat together tomato sauce, egg and
egg white, seasonings and Parmesan.

5. Combine all ingredients and stir thoroughly to mix.

6. Turn mixture into 9×5-inch loaf pan coated with
non-stick spray.

7. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until firm. Let stand
15 minutes before slicing.

Why the sudden interest in oat bran? Oat bran is the
fibrous outer layer of the oat grain, which is
generally removed when the grain is processed into
oatmeal. Now that we know the importance of fiber in a
well balanced diet, it is a good practice to put some
of that oat bran back into our food.

DEAL-A-MEAL CARDS USED: 1 Bread 1 Meat 1 Vegetable
1 Fat 198 Calories

Source: Richard Simmons Deal-A-Meal Golden Edition
Cookbook

Enjoy!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –