Recipes

This month we’re running another edition of Retro Recipes, pulled from the archives. We were reminded about some of the absolutely delicious recipes that have run in the past that deserved another look. Obviously, there are too many to reprint them all, but here’s a small selection:

Corrine Dunbar's Red Bean Soup

This recipe first appeared in April 1991.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound red kidney beans
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
1/4 stick butter
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 pound ham, ground fine
water
salt and pepper to taste
Claret wine, sieved hard-boiled egg, 8 lemon slices (garnish)

Method: Sauté onion in butter. Simmer beans for about three hours with onion, garlic, celery, thyme, and bay leaves in enough water to cover. Keep an eye on the beans as they cook; it's important that they not go dry, but equally important that there not be too much water. Press mixture through coarse strainer, using large spoon to force mixture through. Add ham, and correct seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Place one tablespoon claret wine in bottom of each bouillon cup. Pour soup. Garnish with sieved egg and lemon slice. Serves eight.

Portuguese Chicken and Rice
by Bill Bridgeman
           
This recipe originally appeared in November 1999.

Ingredients:
3/4 pound Polish sausage, kielbasa, or any other garlic smoked sausage (I like to use Mexican chorizo or medium-flavored Italian sausage)
2-1/2 pounds cut-up frying chicken
2 medium onions, chopped
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup long grain rice, uncooked
2 cups chicken broth
3-1/4 ounce can pitted ripe olives, well drained, and cut in half
2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Method: Brown sausage in a little oil; remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Brown the chicken in the same pan, adding more oil if necessary. Set aside. Stir in the chopped onions and continue cooking until the onions are softened. Add pepper flakes and rice, stirring until the rice is coated. Add the olives and return sausage to pan. Mix together. Add the chicken broth and arrange the chicken over top. Sprinkle with cider vinegar, bring to a boil, cover, and cook in 375-degree preheated oven for thirty minutes. Uncover and cook another five to ten minutes, or until the chicken is done.

Potato Chip Cookies
by Pat Robbins

This recipe first appeared in June 2003. At that time Pat Robbins was a member of the Charlotte chapter and served on the chapter's board of directors.

Ingredients:
1 pound margarine
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 cup potato chips, crushed (1 snack pack)
1 cup chopped nuts
Powdered sugar

Method: Cream together margarine and sugar. Add vanilla and egg yolks. Work in flour. Add potato chips and nuts, stirring well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. These cookies rise very little, so you can place them close together. Bake at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes. Roll in powdered sugar. Makes about four dozen cookies.

Vanilla Flan
by Lydia Usero-Quiones

This recipe was originally introduced in February 1996 like this: Lydia Usero-Quiones has a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Puerto Rico. She plans to keep studying to obtain her master's degree in education. Presently she is working as an English teacher at Ramirez College of Business and Technology. She is a founding member and first elected president of the NFB of Puerto Rico. Currently she serves as first vice president of the affiliate. She is also the treasurer of the Society of Friends of the Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar for caramel glaze
3 cups milk
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
teaspoon salt
6 large eggs, plus 2 additional yolks
1-1/4 teaspoons vanilla
flan mold, round, 8-inch by 2-inch
larger mold for the bain-marie

Method for Glazing Caramel: Put one cup sugar in the flan mold over low to moderate heat for eight minutes. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon until the sugar is completely melted. Keep over very low heat while glazing the mold. Using your hands and working rapidly, tilt the mold in a circular pattern to spread the syrup evenly over surface. You want the bottom and sides of the mold to be caramelized. Set aside to cool.

Method for Making Flan: Preheat the oven to 325-degrees. Add enough water to the bain-marie mold to reach two thirds of the way up the flan mold and set water-filled mold in the oven. Mix well the milk, sugar, and salt without foaming and scald mixture in a saucepan. Don't let it come to a boil. Beat the eggs and additional yolks lightly, just enough to blend them. Don't let the eggs foam up because this will produce a grainy flan. Add the scalded milk slowly to the eggs and strain. The idea is to combine the mixtures without curdling the yolks. Add the vanilla, pour into caramelized mold, and set in the pan already in the oven. Bake for ninety minutes or until a cake tester inserted slightly off center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for two hours before refrigerating. Refrigerate covered. To serve, invert a platter with a rim, which will hold the liquified caramel. Note: This recipe is specially dedicated to Ollie Cantos, president of the National Association of Blind Students. During his visit to Puerto Rico in June, he ate tons of Vanilla Flan. Enjoy, Ollie!

Easy-to-Make Brownie Blitz
by Kathy Davis

This recipe was originally introduced in December 2005 like this: This recipe should be made a day ahead of serving. Therefore, depending on the time available for cooling of the brownies, you may want to make the brownies two days in advance.

Ingredients:
1 package brownie mix, baked, cooled, and broken into bite-sized pieces
1 large package instant chocolate pudding
1 12-ounce container Cool Whip
2 to 3 Butterfinger candy bars, sliced into very thin slivers (or 3 to 4 Heath bars broken into small pieces)

Method: In a large fluted or glass salad bowl place approximately half of the crumbled brownies. Prepare pudding as directed. Add about half the pudding to the brownies and spread a layer of Cool Whip over the pudding. Then sprinkle with half the candy bar slivers. Repeat these layers in this order with other half of the ingredients. You will have to work quickly to prevent pudding from setting before layering is complete. Refrigerate overnight to allow the pudding to soak into the brownies and to set. Serve and bask in the compliments.