Lamb Kidneys (don't let an Australian talk you into them)

Farm Boy has a co-worker from Australia with whom he shares a love of lamb.  For years Mr. Oz has been telling Farm Boy how delightful lamb kidneys are and how it's a shame that they are so hard to find here in the US.  A few weeks ago Mr. Oz found a supplier for his beloved kidneys and insisted that Farm Boy and I try them.

Mr. Oz gave us instructions to just butterfly the kidneys and sauté them in butter.  Thinking that England is known for consuming both lamb and kidneys, I consulted Mrs. Beeton's Everyday Cookery (1963) and it recommended cooking them the same way, along with several choices in brown sauces.  I decided to try an onion and mushroom sauce.

Let me just state for the record that Farm Boy and I are both fairly adventurous when it comes to food.  Neither of us is prone to selective squeamishness and we both agree that all parts of the animal should be used.

Except, perhaps, the kidneys.

To prepare this, I dutifully butterflied the kidneys and removed the "cores".  So far, so good.

Yep, those are kidneys.  Cold, quivering kidneys.

I prepared the onion and mushroom sauce, then sautéed the kidneys in butter, as directed.  For the last few minutes, I simmered them in brown sauce, just the way Mrs. Beeton instructed. Again, so far, so good.

Kidneys simmering in my new old Wagner Ware square cast iron skillet.  I hope it will forgive me!

We plopped the kidneys onto plates and sat down to eat.  As I was cutting the first piece off of mine, the aroma wafted gently toward my nose and hit me just as I bit down.

Liver.  Liver that someone has peed on.

I managed to choke down that one bite, but I couldn't even make myself cut off a second piece.  In fact, I had to push the plate to the other side of the table to make the smell go away.  I gave up and ate cheese and crackers for supper.  Farm Boy powered through both of his, but he was retching and gagging by the end.  As an added bonus, he burped kidney all evening long, cursing every time.  I found that very amusing, but he didn't see the humor in it.

So now that we've tried lamb kidneys, I can share my recipe for them:

Don't.  Just don't.

Martha Washington Candy

My mother-in-law made these when Farm Boy was a child. Unfortunately for him, as that time he refused to try anything with coconut, so he missed out.  If I had known him then, I would have gladly volunteered to take his share!

MIL's recipe calls these Chocolate Candy Balls, but I have mostly seen them called Martha Washington Candies.  With the two names, I feel like I should call them Washington's Balls.  Mostly because I want to say that while my brother-in-law is eating one.  He gets really discombobulated when someone uses the word balls.  Obviously there are a lot of conversations about balls when we get together.

I didn't have any paraffin on hand and didn't feel like driving to get any, so I took my chances with straight chocolate chips.  The paraffin would have made the coating smoother, so I rolled some of the less-smooth ones in unsweetened shredded coconut to cover up some of the lumps.  It never hurts to have more coconut.

Martha Washington Candy aka Washington's Balls (Printable recipe)

Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
2 cups chopped pecans
1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 pound semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cakes paraffin wax

unsweeted coconut for decoration (optional)

Directions
In a large bowl,  combine the powdered sugar, butter, coconut, pecans and sweetened condensed milk.  Stir with a wooden spoon until well-combined. Refrigerate until firm.  Roll into balls and place on waxed paper.  Refrigerate again until firm.

Melt the chocolate and the paraffin wax in a double boiler.  Using a toothpick, dip each ball in the chocolate.  Roll in unsweetened coconut, if desired.  Place on waxed paper.  Keep refrigerated.

Flourless Almond Cake

Technically this isn't from one of my cookbooks, but I hope that won't make me lose too much cred.  'Cause I really don't have any to spare.  Or maybe not any at all!

I found this recipe over at Pati's Mexican Table.  I haven't watched the show since our satellite receiver moved on to the great electronics heap in the sky (errr, attic.  Computer parts never go away; they just move upstairs.), but I really enjoyed it.  She always came across as a real person who loved food and she made things that most people would make and eat. I became a lifelong fan when I emailed her about one of her recipes and she emailed me back within the hour and included a phone number in case I ran into any problems. 

The recipe calls for port wine in the cake and a glaze of apricot marmalade and lime juice.  I didn't have any of those, so I omitted the wine altogether and used a little Lyle's Golden Syrup on top of the cake, just to give it a little added sweetness.  I think honey or thinned marmalade would be great on top, as would a little splash of rum in the cake. 

Because of all the eggs and the lack of flour, the cake has a custard-like texture and an almond paste-like flavor (at least without the port).  It was a big hit at afternoon coffee and I will definitely make it again.

If you'd like the recipe, you can find it here: http://www.patismexicantable.com/2010/03/flourless_almond_cake/

If you make it, let me know how you like it!

And we're back for 2015!

Between Christmas, catching a cold after Christmas and experimenting with eliminating gluten, things haven't been very bakey around here.  Which makes me sad because baking is what I like to do.  And blast it all, going gluten-free seems to have helped my chronic sore throat and some other problems I have been experiencing, so it looks like it works. 

Obviously I will have to find new ways to bake.

In the meantime, I thought I would share my most recent acquisitions.  A couple of vintage cookbooks and a wacky Mid-Century chair.

On the left is The Bride of Pittsburgh (1951), which includes a combination of tips for brides-to-be and new brides, recipes and advertisements for various sponsors of the book (electric ranges, Irish Brand pork products, Creamettes pasta, etc.). It also appears to be mostly from Minnesota, so I'm not sure how Pittsburgh fits into the name.

 The book on the right, Generation to Generation Czech foods customs & traditions, Texas Style! (1980) by the Czech Club Historical Society of Dallas, Texas, was so battered and torn that I assumed it had to be a good cookbook.  It is missing the back cover and has many loose recipes stuffed in between the pages.  I'm hoping to find a good Czech kolache recipe in there (and I'm even willing to risk the gluten for it!).

And finally, the chair.

Lily and Serafina approve!

This oddly-shaped chair was hanging out in the garage of the estate sale.  The back of the seat is really wide, with the front of the seat ending in a dull point. It is surprisingly comfortable and oozes 1950s charm, so when the guy running the sale said it was ten bucks, I couldn't resist!

Paisley Almond Cakes

I came across this little book, Recipes from Scotland by F. Marian McNeill (seventh edition, 1965) at an estate sale a few weeks ago.  Finding a cookbook printed in Scotland is a pretty rare event in this area.  My dad's side of the family hails from Scotland, so I thought it should come live with me.  Plus, I had been striking out on the treasure hunting scene lately and I was feeling weak.

In thumbing through it, I came across Paisley Almond Cakes and thought they looked promising.  I've been experimenting with cutting out wheat after reading Grain Brain and Wheat Belly, so finding a vintage gluten free pastry was a nice surprise.

I read through the recipe before starting (for a change!)  Yada, yada, yada, I have all the ingredients.  Grease a dozen patty-pans.  Huh?  What the heck are patty-pans?  The first few searches yielded only squash recipes, but with enough keywords, I finally found a pan that looked reasonably like my golf ball gem pan.  Okay, that'll do, pig.

I would say the golf ball pan molds are just a wee bit (hey look, I'm using the Scottish lingo!) small to get an even dozen out of this recipe.  This photo doesn't show it, but some of them oozed over the sides and onto the floor of the oven.  Burning batter overshadows the delectable smell of baking almond pastries.

I really liked these.  They are light and airy, with a subtle almond flavor.  They weren't overly sweet, so we served them with butter and strawberry preserves.

Paisley Almond Cakes (Printable recipe)

Recipes from Scotland by F. Marian McNeill (seventh edition, 1965)

Ingredients

2 ounces cornflour

2 ounces rice flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 ounces soft butter

3 ounces castor sugar

1 1/2 ounces ground almonds

2 eggs

Directions

Grease a dozen patty-pans (or small muffin cups).  Heat the oven to 375F.

Sift the flours and baking powder together.  Beat the eggs.  Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs and flours alternately.  When white and creamy, stir in the ground almonds lightly.  Half fill the tins and bake at 375F for 10 to 15 minutes.  Turn out and cool on a wire rack.

Sticky Pecan Rolls

One of my friends asked for a cinnamon roll recipe and after sending it to her,  I wanted cinnamon rolls.  Enter Bake the No-Knead Way: Ann Pillsbury's Amazing Discovery by Ann Pillsbury (1946).

I had to enlist the aid of the house pony to prop this one up.

I let Farm Boy decide between the cinnamon or pecan roll option and he chose the pecan rolls.  Since the recipe was originally written in 1945, I decided to double the mixture that is spread on the bottom of the pan.  The sweet recipes during and just after World War II tend to be a bit on the austere side.  They are probably healthier, but that's not really what I was going for here. 

Yep, that's a'risen!

Caramelsicles!

 

This was probably the easiest yeast dough recipe I have ever made and I was impressed with the results.  I had my doubts when I mixed it all up and it was really wet and sticky, but after flouring the board and the top of the dough, it rolled out easy-peasy.  The finished rolls received rave reviews and between 5 people, we polished off 9 of them in one sitting.

Sticky Pecan Rolls (Printable recipe)
adapted from Bake the No-Knead Way: Ann Pillsbury's Amazing Discovery by Ann Pillsbury (1946)

Dough

1/2 cup scalded milk
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup water
2 1/4 teaspoons dry granular yeast
1 egg
3 cups flour

Combine milk, butter, sugar and salt; stir until butter is melted and salt and sugar are dissolved.  Cool to lukewarm by adding the water.  Stir in the yeast.  Blend in the egg.  Add the flour and mix until dough is well-blended and soft.

Roll out on well-floured board into an 18x12" rectangle.  Spread with the filling:

1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Roll up jellyroll style and cut into 1" slices.

For the topping, combine:

1 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons corn syrup
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Spread evenly on the bottom of a buttered 13x9x2" baking pan.  Place the pecan roll slices, cut side down, on top of the brown sugar mixture.  Let rise in a warm place (I put the lid on the pan to keep the tops from drying out) about 1 hour, or until light.

Bake at 375F for 25 to 30 minutes.  Cool for a minute or two, then invert carefully onto a serving platter.

Tokyo Cookies (aka Boiled Cookies)

These cookies, which are almost a candy, have been my favorite comfort food since I was a little kid.  I've tried a few different versions - some with only oatmeal, some with the addition of peanut butter - but my favorite way to make them is with a combination of coconut and oats, but without the peanut butter.

The version I use (and alter to include coconut) is from Azaleas to Zucchini, East Texas Food, Festivals and Entertainment from A to Z (1995) by the Smith County Medical Society Alliance.  I'm not sure why the recipe contributor decided to call them Tokyo Cookies, but the name has grown on me over the years.  It sounds more intriguing than Boiled Cookies or No-Bake Cookies.  Plus, it always makes me sing the Godzilla song while they are boiling.  Wait, maybe that's not a good thing.

This cookbook was a gift from my mother-in-law.

You can see that I've forgotten to allow time to boil them a time or two.  Sometimes it is hard to read directions when one is having a chocolate emergency!

Mmmm, smell the chocolatey goodness!

The recipe optimistically claims to make 3 dozen cookies, but I usually get about 25 cookies out of it. Normally when that happens, it's because someone around here (*cough* me *cough*) likes to sample cookie dough, but boiling hot sugar syrup isn't great for sneaking samples, even if it is chocolate flavored.

They may not look like much, but they have amazing restorative powers!

Tokyo Cookies (Printable recipe)

adapted from Azaleas to Zucchini, East Texas Food, Festivals and Entertainment from A to Z (1995) by the Smith County Medical Society Alliance

Ingredients

8 tablespoons butter

2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 cup milk

2 cups oats

1/2 cup coconut

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Bring to a rolling boil the butter, sugar, cocoa and milk.  Boil over medium heat about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Add oats, coconut and vanilla and immediately begin spooning out cookies on waxed paper.  Let harden.  Yield: 3 dozen