Oh, man, we loved this when we were kids. We also loved it when Mom made us afterschool treats of anchovy paste on buttered toast points … yes, we also loved chocolate chip cookies and Lucky Charms, but Eastern European treats have so much of that lovely salty fatty umami that one just craves sometimes. We honestly thought this was lost until the kids came … Continue reading Mamcik’s Paté
Because both our grandmother Mamcik and Great-Aunt Nela made this recipe (it also appears in Nela’s Cookbook, and I’ve copied her citrus topping here), it most likely came from the kitchen of their childhood home, Ilgovo, in Lithuania. I keep telling myself I should ask Nela’s children (along with whether they know what happened to four of their seven siblings who survived childhood – we … Continue reading Mazourka
Our recipe for this is in Mamcik’s handwriting, in faded blue ink on a folded piece of yellowing paper. Like so many of our family recipes, it is more “notes to remind you how to do it” rather than exact instruction. For example, it doesn’t say a word about how to construct and assemble this famous dessert, so we’ve added that. It also doesn’t include … Continue reading Sachertorte
We cleaned out the garage recently, and when we opened one of the boxes to see whether it was dumpster-bound, we saw two of Mom’s old recipe boxes we didn’t even know we had. We had most of the recipes copied, and many have already been published here, but we found a couple that we thought were lost forever. Mamcik’s paté recipe is here, as … Continue reading from Mom’s recipe boxes
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line 9 x 13 baking pan with parchment paper and lightly butter the paper. In a food processor, process shortbread cookies into fine crumbs; add butter and pulse until blended. Press crumb mix into baking pan and bake at 300 degrees for 10-13 minutes or until just lightly browned. Cool for 10 minutes, then spread all but 3 tablespoons raspberry … Continue reading Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
Another way to use all the lovely summer peaches at the markets. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2-quart baking dish. Melt butter and combine with breadcrumbs. Add cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt to crumb mix. In separate bowl, combine peaches, lemon juice and rum flavoring. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with one-third of the crumb mixture, and top with half of … Continue reading Peach Brown Betty
TBH, she called it “five-cup salad,” but most people know this as ambrosia. As kids, we thought it was weird, but now we understand why this is a Southern staple. Combine all ingredients and chill overnight. Garnish with maraschino cherries; serve very cold. Continue reading Grammy’s Ambrosia Salad
Mix spices with water in small bowl; add lime juice, oil, sugar and salt. Whisk and set aside. Cook corn kernels in boiling water for about 10 minutes; rinse with cool water. In large bowl, mix corn, red pepper, tomatoes, onion and jalapeño. Pour dressing over vegetables, toss to coat and refrigerate overnight. Before serving, toss again and adjust seasoning if necessary. Continue reading Summer Corn Salsa
Just as tasty as the wet version, but without the moist bottom layer. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line bottom of 9-inch pie pan with crust. Mix flour, sugar, butter and salt to crumb texture – you can add 1-2 tablespoons of flour if the mix seems too wet. In mixing bowl, dissolve baking soda in molasses and add boiling water. Blend in two-thirds of … Continue reading Shoofly Pie (dry version)
One of the recipes from our German/Pennsylvania Dutch forebears; legend has it that it’s called “shoo-fly” because the pie is so sweet, when you put it out at a picnic, all the flying insects will gather around this pie and leave the rest of the table alone. I think that’s kind of an insulting story to pass along, especially when this molasses pie, and its … Continue reading Shoofly Pie (wet version)
Around Our Table 