Lewis Stone's Stuffed Meat Loaf

Lewis Stone's Stuffed Meat Loaf

1 1/2 lbs. beef (minced)
1/2 lb. pork (minced)
4 slices bread (soaked in warm water and drained)
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup chili sauce
Onion stuffing

Meatloaf:
Combine beef, pork, bread, onion, salt, pepper, and eggs. Mix thoroughly. Line bottom and sides of a greased loaf pan with 1/2 meat mixture. Fill center of pan with onion stuffing. Cover top with remaining meat. Spread loaf with shortening and cover with chili sauce. Bake in a hot oven (400 degrees F.) for 1 1/2 hours. (Serves 6-8.)

Onion Stuffing:
3 onions (chopped)
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs
1 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons parsley (chopped)
1 egg (beaten)
2 tablespoons water

Cook onions slowly in melted shortening until yellow, add bread crumbs, sage, salt, pepper, and parsley. Saute until slightly browned. Remove from fire and add beaten egg and water.

Jill St. John's Chicken Curry Madras-Style

Jill St. John's Chicken Curry Madras-Style

For the stock:
1 small chicken, about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds
4 cleaned chicken feet (optional)
Bottled spring water
1 large peeled yellow onion, cut in chunks
6 bruised peppercorns
Celery leaves from 2 stalks
3 sprigs of parsley
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon monosodium glutamate
1 teaspoon salt
2 chicken breasts, each weighing about 3/4 pound

Remove breasts from carcass and set aside. Cut rest of chicken into frying-size pieces and place in stock pot with enough water to cover chicken. Add onion chunks, peppercorns, celery leaves, parsley, bay leaves, monosodium glutamate and salt. Cook slowly uncovered about 2 hours. Skim off scum and fat during cooking. Add all chicken breasts. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes or until fork tender. Remove chicken breasts to plate. Cool. Skin and strip chicken from bones. Cut into bite-size pieces. Strain stock and reserve. Use leftover chicken for salads and stuffing.

For the sauce:
5 tablespoons sweet butter
2 small yellow onions, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon curry powder
One hot red Indian pepper, crushed (or cayenne or Tabasco)
Pinch of ground ginger (or coriander or cumin), optional
Salt to taste
1 tart apple (Pippin preferably), peeled and grated
About 2 cups strong chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
Cooked, cut-up chicken breasts
Good squeeze of lemon (about 1 teaspoon)

Melt butter over low heat until foaming; skim off milky substance. Saute onions lightly, blend in flour, cook over low heat 1 minute, stirring. Blend in curry powder (add more as taste dictates), pepper, ginger and salt. Gradually add chicken stock and cream, stirring. Cook over low heat until thick and smooth (about 15 minutes). Correct seasonings, add chicken and lemon. Heat through. Spoon over cooked rice. Serve condiments in side dishes, pass in large tray, allowing each person to choose their own. Serves 4.

Condiments:

Onion Sambal (prepared by mixing minced, salted onion with chopped fresh mint leaves. Marinate a few hours with a little lemon)

Cucumber Bhurta (peeled, very thinly sliced cucumbers squeezed to remove exceed liquid, soaked in a small amount yogurt spiced with crushed red Indian chili or flavor with Tabasco)

Chutney (top quality bottled mango or homemade such as coriander chutney made as follows: Put into blender 4 spring onions, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 red Indian chili [crushed], 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon curry powder, 2-3 cups fresh coriander leaves, and a pinch of sugar. Blend 1 minute.)

Shredded fresh or packaged coconut, chopped green scallions, pine nuts, toasted slivered almonds, peanuts (peeled), chopped ripe banana (squeeze with a few drops lemon juice to prevent fruit from turning brown), raisins (plumped in water or sauteed in butter), dried currants, tomatoes (peeled and chopped), poppy seeds, grated peeled tart apple (add few drops lemon juice), crisp bacon bits, sieved hard-cooked egg, cauliflower or lime pickle.

Jill's Thoughts: Curry should be flavored according to individual taste. Step up "hotness" by adding more curry, ground ginger, cumin, coriander or mace. Red Indian chili peppers are not to be confused with the Mexican variety. They are small and red. If not available, substitute dried Japanese pepper, cayenne or Tabasco.

Jerry Stiller's Chicken Soup with Kreplach

Jerry Stiller's Chicken Soup with Kreplach

For the chicken soup:
1 tender young cleaned hen, weighing about 4 1/2 pounds
3 quarts water
1 small yellow onion, peeled and chopped onion
Handful fresh parsley
2 small ribs celery with leaves
2 carrots, peeled
1 large bay leaf
1 tablespoon salt
4 bruised peppercorns

Wash chicken carefully, trim and discard any excess fat. Cut chicken into fourths; place in large stock pot with water, onion, parsley, celery, carrots, bay leaf, salt and peppercorns.

Bring to simmer; cook uncovered about 3 hours (or until chicken is tender). Skim off scum and fat as it forms. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate; discard layer of congealed fat that forms on the top.

Reheat soup; correct seasonings. Drop in kreplach, cook about 15 minutes (or until they rise to the top.) Spoon into soup plates dividing chicken and kreplach into six portions.

For the kreplach filling:
1 cup broiled chicken livers
1 hard-cooked egg
1 small peeled onion
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
Generous teaspoon schmaltz

Chop livers, eggs and onion together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add minced parsley and enough schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) to hold the mixture together.

For the noodle dough:
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 small eggs, beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour

Mix salt, eggs and half the flour. Mix with fork. Add more flour, mixing well until the dough leaves the sides of the mixing bowl. Turn out on lightly floured board; knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Roll out dough to paper thinness on clean lightly floured cloth. Cut into 3-inch squares. Place about 4 teaspoons of filling in center of each square. Fold over forming triangles. Seal all edges with floured tines of a fork. Makes about 30.

Recipes by Jimmy Stewart: Chicken Breasts Italian; Cowpoke Beans; Favorite Pork Chops; Good Fish Fry; Pork Chops Supreme

Jimmy Stewart's Chicken Breasts Italian

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 pound chicken livers
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons light cream
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
4 parsley sprigs, garnish

Coat chicken breasts with flour and set aside.

Using a skillet over low heat, saute 1/4 pound chicken livers in butter. When browned on all sides, add in chicken breasts and season with garlic powder. Sprinkle on the lemon juice and turn breasts, cooking on both sides. Cover skillet.

In a mixing bowl, blend eggs yolks with light cream. Season with 1 tsp. salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Add in this to skillet ingredients, stirring so as to coat chicken and liver. Cover skillet and cook 30 mins. over low heat. Turn ingredients once or possibly twice during cooking. Remove from heat. Garnish with sprigs of parsley. Serve immediately.

Jimmy Stewart's Cowpoke Beans

Three 1-pound cans kidney (or pinto) beans
About 3 cups water
1 red chili pepper (or 4-oz. can roasted green chili peppers, chopped)
1 large Bermuda onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp. ground sage
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 bay leaf
4-oz. can dried beef
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Put beans and water in large kettle with red chili pepper (or chopped roasted green chili peppers), onion, garlic, sage, cumin and bay leaf. Simmer about 30 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning. Add dried beef torn in hunks and cook 15 minutes longer. Season to taste, adding more sage and cumin if needed, salt and pepper to taste. If desired, add handful of rice during last 15 minutes. Serve with beaten biscuits or cornbread. Serves 6-8 generously.

Thoughts: Cowpoke beans (or frijoles-in-a-pot) can be prepared in the Old Western way by soaking pinto (or kidney) beans overnight, then slowly cooking in water to cover with salt pork (or ham bone) to season. Range cooks used to use jerky (sun-dried, cured beef) or pemmican (dried meat, preferably buffalo, flavored with berries), wild sage, wild onion and-or wild garlic that grew on the Great Plains. Beans, often called Prairie or Pecos strawberries and jerky made excellent portable staples in saddle bags when cowboys took to the range.

As the West grew and the cowboy grew to depend on his chuck wagon, beans were cooked in a pot suspended on a hook or buried in coals in a bucket covered with a tight fitting lid punctured with holes to let out the steam.

Jimmy Stewart's Favorite Pork Chops

3 pounds pork loin chops (six 8-ounce chops)
6 tablespoons ketchup
6 tablespoons brown sugar
6 slices yellow onion
6 slices lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In casserole or pan, place pork chops. Top each chop with 1 tablespoon ketchup, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 slice onion, and 1 slice lemon.

Cover and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on thickness of chops. Uncover last 15 minutes.

Jimmy Stewart's Good Fish Fry

To clean: Lay bass on side, hold it firmly by the head. With a few swift strokes using blunt (or saw-tooth) knife, scrape upper side free of scales. Turn over fish and scale other side. Hold fish firmly with one hand (to get a good grip, dip hand in sand) and knife in other hand. Make deep gash on each side of back fin, running length of bone. Grasp fin firmly thus removing fin and row of small spiny bones at the same time. Reverse position of fish so belly is in upward position; remove ventral (end) fin in same manner. Slit open belly to remove entrails. Remove dark streaks of blood near bone. Remove head (or leave on if desired) by cutting on slant pointing knife toward tail so side fins come off at the same time. Rinse well inside and out. Dry well.

To cook:

Dressed, cleaned fish
2 tsps. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper (or cayenne)
1/2 cup yellow (or white) cornmeal
1/3 cup flour
About 3 tbsps. butter
1 lemon

1. Dry fish carefully. Salt and pepper inside cavity well. Mix salt, pepper, cornmeal and flour on clean split log (or sheet of brown paper).

2. Roll fish on all sides in seasoned flour-cornmeal mixture.

3. Heat butter in large frying pan. Brown fish about 5 minutes per side. Do not overcook. Remove fish to heated platter. Garnish with lemon slices (or squeeze lemon juice in frying pan with pan drippings. heat to deglaze skillet, pour piping hot over fish). Serves 1 hungry man. Expect to cook seconds and thirds!

Thoughts: If fish are small, clean, string on forked stick and cook Indian fashion, holding fork over open fire. It takes little longer but fish acquires a marvelous smoked flavor. Or to cook fish without watching: Smear large Dutch oven with bacon fat (or use pair of close-fitting skillets). Heat Dutch oven (or skillets) in coals, pop in fish, cover with lid or heated second skillet. Cook in coals without peeking about 15 minutes (longer if fish is heavier or thick-meated). Fish comes out browned and very succulent.

Jimmy Stewart's Pork Chops Supreme

2 cups long-grain white rice, uncooked
3 tablespoons butter
20 ounces pork loin chops (4 chops, 5 ounces each)
1 cup celery, chopped
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 can (29 ounce) tomato puree

Cook rice per package directions and set aside.

Melt butter in skillet. Brown pork chops on both sides. Remove the chops and place in a large baking dish. Add celery and onion to the butter/drippings in the skillet. Cook until onion is translucent.

Place a mound of cooked rice on each chop and over this sprinkle the cooked celery, onion, and butter/drippings. Cover the entire mixture with a large can of tomato puree. Cover baking dish with foil. Bake in a 350 degrees F. oven for one hour.

Recipes by Kaye Stevens: He-Man Hamburger; Pirohy

Kaye Stevens' He-Man Hamburger

1/2 pound lean ground sirloin
1 tablespoon minced Bermuda onion
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon minced parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/16 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 ice cube

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Put ice cube in center of 3-inch patty. Broil or barbecue to desired doneness.

Kaye Stevens' Pirohy (Baked Stuffed Pockets)

1 cup scalded milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cake (or envelope) compressed yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 eggs, 1 egg yolk beaten until light
1/4 cup melted butter
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve sugar and salt in scalded milk; cool until lukewarm. Add yeast, eggs, butter and flour, beating until smooth and gas bubbles form. Knead on lightly floured board until dough is elastic. Form dough into ball and place in lightly greased bowl. Cover, let rise until doubled in bulk (about 2 hours). Roll out dough on lightly floured board to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut 3-inch circles with glass or cookie cutter. Spoon 1 tablespoon filling on half of each circle; overlap other half, forming crescents. Seal edges. Let rise 30 minutes on greased, floured baking sheet. Brush lightly with egg yolk mixed with a little milk. Bake in 375 degree oven 25 minutes or until crisp and golden brown. Serve hot with side dishes of drawn butter or salted sour cream. Makes 34.

Filling:

1 pound fresh ground lean pork
1 medium-sized yellow onion, minced
2 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup undiluted consomme
1 cup drained sauerkraut
1 teaspoon minced fresh dill
1/3 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1/3 cup sour cream

Saute pork, onion, salt and pepper in butter 10 minutes, stirring. Add consomme, cook 10 minutes over low heat, stirring often. Remove from heat, add sauerkraut, dill. bread crumbs, and sour cream. Mix well. Makes sufficient filling for 34 pirohy.

Thoughts: Other fillings might be mashed potato blended with minced onion, Parmesan cheese, farmer's cheese and bread crumbs; or minced cooked chicken mixed with chopped hard-boiled eggs, sour cream, flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper; or leftover fish or vegetables.

Recipes by Inger Stevens: Bean Salad; Greek Bread

Inger Stevens' Bean Salad

1 pound string beans
Boiling salted water
2 cups canned kidney beans, drained
1 cup diced celery
1/2 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup vegetable oil (half safflower oil, half olive oil)
3 tbsps. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tbsps. fresh dill
2 tbsps. fresh parsley
1 small red onion, cut in thin rings

1. Cook string beans in boiling salted water until barely tender. Drain, cut in 2 or 3-inch pieces. Place cut cooked string beans in large salad bowl with kidney beans and celery.

2. Prepare marinade by mixing together crushed garlic, vegetable oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in small screw-top jar. Cover, shake well.

3. Pour marinade over vegetables in salad bowl. Toss lightly adding fresh herbs. Cover bowl tightly. Refrigerate overnight (or at least 6 hours). Garnish with red onion rings. Serve as relish or side dish for meat dish or as a salad garnishing with crisp iceberg lettuce. Serves 4-6.

Inger Stevens' Greek Bread

3 envelopes dry yeast
2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 tsps. salt
2 tbsps. sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or melted shortening cooled to room temperature) About 7 cups flour
Sesame seeds
Few tbsps. milk

1. Soften yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm water. Put salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl with 2 cups hot water. Stir to dissolve salt and sugar; cool to room temperature. Add vegetable oil and softened yeast; mix well.

2. Add about 7 cups flour (or enough flour so dough forms a solid mass in mixing bowl). Turn out on a lightly floured board. Knead vigorously about 10 minutes (or until dough is smooth, stretchy and gas bubbles form when dough is spanked with the back of the hand).

3. Place dough in lightly greased bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place until double in bulk (about 1 1/2 hours). Punch down, let rise again until double in bulk.

4. Turn out on lightly floured board, shaping dough into two round loaves. Place in lightly greased round 8-inch by 4-inch deep bread pans (or place on greased baking sheets). Brush tops lightly with milk; cover with sesame seeds.

5. Bake in preheated 400 degrees F. oven about 1 hour (or until golden and bread gives a hollow sound when thumped with the fingers). Place on cake racks to cool.

Thoughts: The same dough can  be made into Kouloura (ring-shaped bread). Place dough in ring pans; when dough is half risen in pans, cut 1/4-inch slits across top of dough. Garnish with sesame seeds as desired. Bake as directed above. 

Connie Stevens' Chicken Ignolia

Connie Stevens' Chicken Ignolia

3 1/2 pound broiling chicken, quartered
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon pulverized oregano
1/4 teaspoon pulverized sweet basil
1/2 small bay leaf, pulverized
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
A few gratings of black pepper

1. Place chicken pieces, skin side up, in baking dish. Pour olive oil over chicken.

2. Combine remaining ingredients; mixing well. Pour over chicken pieces. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 1/4 hours, or until tender. Baste often with pan drippings. Just before serving, run under the broiler to crisp and brown the chicken. Mix pan drippings well. Pour over chicken before serving. Serves 4.