George Schaefer's Coconut Chicken Hawaiian

George Schaefer's Coconut Chicken Hawaiian

6 large chicken legs with thighs attached (or 3 large chicken breasts, split)
2 lemons
1 lime
Seasonings for chicken: seasoned salt, ground pepper, paprika, poultry seasoning, ground ginger, coriander, thyme and rosemary
6 large mushroom caps (fresh or canned)
Basting sauce (recipe below)
Romaine lettuce
Hawaiian coconut chips (available in most supermarkets or health food stores)

Wash and pat dry chicken parts. Place skin side down in large, lightly greased dish. Squeeze juice of one lemon and one-half lime over chicken. Sprinkle chicken with seasoned salt, pepper, paprika and poultry seasoning. Turn over and squeeze remaining lemon and lime juices and season again with the same seasonings. Place mushroom caps (lightly saute fresh caps in butter, or use drained canned mushroom caps) on top of chicken, stem side down. Bake uncovered in preheated 400 degrees F. oven about 30 minutes, basting several times during cooking. Serve on platter lined with romaine leaves. Garnish with coconut chips. Lovely for summer dining.

Basting Sauce

One 6-oz. can unsweetened pineapple juice
One 4-oz. can banana-orange juice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup sherry
1/2 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1 dash white rum (or Cointreau)

Combine all ingredients and shake well.

Ludmila Savelyeva's 24-Hour Shchi

Ludmila Savelyeva's 24-Hour Shchi

2 pounds beet (brisket or flank)
2 pounds lean pork (from neck or rump)
2 or 3 marrow bones
About 3 qts. water
1 small package soup greens (celery knob, parsnip, carrot, parsley)
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (optional)
6 peppercorns, crushed
Salt to taste
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
3 carrots, scraped, in one-inch pieces
1 pound sauerkraut (soak well to remove brine, squeeze well)
4-6 dried mushrooms, optional
4 small, ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons butter
Sour cream

Lay beef, pork and marrow bones in large stock pot. Add water, soup greens, bay leaf, dill, peppercorns and let simmer, skimming off foam and scum as needed, for about 2 hours. Salt to taste, adding onion, potatoes, carrots and sauerkraut to broth. Cook 1 hour longer. Add mushrooms (soaked in 1 cup of cold water about 4 hours), and tomatoes sauteed in butter. Cook 20 minutes longer. Correct seasonings. Cool to room temperature, refrigerate. Skim off fat that has congealed on surface. Reheat. Ladle soup into soup plates, garnish with minced parsley and dill and pass side dish of chilled sour cream. Sense with thick slabs of dark pumpernickel bread and sweet butter. Serves 6-8. 

Recipes by Telly Savalas: Kourambiethes; Spanakopita

Telly Savalas' Kourambiethes

1 lb. butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
About 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
Good pinch ground cinnamon (or cloves)
1 cup blanched, ground almonds
Confectioners sugar

1. Melt butter, let it settle, discard milky white residue that forms in bottom of pan. Put cooled drawn butter in mixing bowl with vegetable oil. Add egg and sugar, beat until light and fluffy.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder and cinnamon (or cloves). Add to egg mixture and mix well. Add ground almonds, mix well. Turn out on lightly floured board. Roll out with rolling pin and shape into diamond shapes or wedding bells. Bake on ungreased baking sheets in preheated 350 degrees F. oven about 25 mins. (or until lightly browned).

3. Remove from oven and roll in confectioners sugar while still warm. Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies.

Greeks are never without Kourambiethes! Traditionally, they serve the confection with wine or coffee. For bridal feasts, the wedding bells are served. For Christmas, each cookie should be garnished with clove to represent the wise man who brought spices to the Christ child.

Telly Savalas' Spanakopita

2 lbs. fresh spinach (or 2 pkgs. frozen chopped spinach)
1 medium-sized onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsps. chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
1/2 lb. feta (or pot) cheese
Salt and white pepper to taste
1/2 lb. phyllo pastry
Melted butter

1. Wash spinach and dry thoroughly. Chop spinach coarsely and set aside. Saute onion in olive oil until limp. Add spinach (or cook frozen spinach until barely tender according to package instructions; drain thoroughly) to cooked onion. Saute a few minutes. Add dill and parsley; set aside.

2. Crumble feta (or pot) cheese in a mixing bowl. Add cooled spinach mixture (or drained cooked frozen spinach), salt and white pepper to taste. Mix well with fork.

3. Brush 12"x8"x2" deep baking dish lightly wnh melted butter. Line pan with one sheet of phyllo pastry. Brush lightly with melted butter. Top this with four more sheets pastry, brushing each layer lightly with melted butter. Cover with spinach mixture. Top with remaining sheets of phyllo, lightly brushing each layer with melted butter. Sprinkle a few drops of water on crust to prevent curling. Bake in preheated 400 degrees F. oven until crust is brown (about 30 minutes). To serve, cut in squares a few minutes after removing from oven. Spear each square with toothpick to hold pastry layers together. Serves 4.

Thoughts: Feta cheese (distinctive-flavored goat cheese) and phyllo pastry, sold by the pound, are available at Greek or Middle Eastern food specialty shops. Phyllo pastry is transparent and paper-thin. Strudel dough may be substituted or use flaky pie pastry (bake in conventional manner lining pie plate with crust; partially bake crust before adding spinach filling). Greeks prepare spanakopita many ways: by giving filling a custard-like consistency by adding eggs, cream sauce and flavoring with a dash of nutmeg (omit herbs) or placing bite-sized morsels of filling on small squares of pastry, wrapping and baking to serve as snacks with cocktails.

Recipes by Diana Sands: Soft Shell Crab Appetizer; Steamed Lobsters

Diana Sands' Soft Shell Crab Appetizer

Dozen soft shell crabs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Milk
3/4 cup flour
Lemon wedges
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup fine cracker crumbs
Vegetable oil for deep-fat frying
Parsley

1. Have market clean crabs or if you caught them yourself, wash carefully in cold water. With sharp knife, remove feathery substance from side points and sandbags from under shell, between the eyes. Cut off apron that folds under body from rear.

2. Drain well on paper towels. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Cover with milk, let stand about 30 minutes. Roll in flour, egg, then in cracker meal. Heat vegetable oil to 350 degrees F. (or until bread cube browns in 60 seconds). Add few crabs at a time and fry about 5 minutes (or until golden). Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve at once with parsley and lemon wedges or mayonnaise or tartar sauce.

Diana Sands' Steamed Lobsters

4 live lobsters, each weighing about 2 lbs.
Ocean water (or salted water--1 tbsp. salt per 1 qt. water)
Melted butter
Cut lemon

1. Place lobsters in deep kettle of briskly boiling ocean (or salted) water. Boil 7-10 minutes (or until lobster turns bright red). Do not overcook or meat will become tough and stringy.

2. Remove lobsters from water. Serve hot with melted butter and cut lemon wedges; or cold with mayonnaise (or tartar sauce). To eat a lobster: break off claws, crack with hammer (or nutcracker) and pull out meat. Break small claws and suck out meat.

3. Split open body, spread open. Discard dark vein running length of body. Remove small sac on back of head. Do not take out edible green and coral parts. Serves four generously.

Colonel Harland Sanders' Transparent Squash

Colonel Harland Sanders' Transparent Squash

3 cups acorn or Hubbard squash
1 teaspoon mace
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
2 cups water
Pinch of salt

Cut the squash in cubes about 3/4 or 1 inch in size. Then sprinkle on the mace and salt. Add sugar, butter, and water, which should completely cover the squash. Then simmer slowly until the squash appears transparent and has taken in the butter and the sugar.

Soupy Sales' Lemon Meringue Pie

Soupy Sales' Lemon Meringue Pie

1 pie crust

Filling:
1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
4 large eggs, separated (4 yolks)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
4 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest

Meringue:
4 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Filling:

In a heavy saucepan whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt and gradually whisk in water and milk, whisking until cornstarch is dissolved.

In a bowl whisk together egg yolks.

Cook milk mixture over moderate heat, whisking, until it comes to a boil.

Gradually whisk about 1 cup milk mixture into yolks and whisk yolk mixture into milk mixture.

Simmer mixture, whisking, for 3 minutes.

Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter, lemon juice, and zest until butter is melted.

Cover surface of filling with plastic wrap.

Meringue:
In another bowl, with an electric mixer, beat egg whites with cream of tartar and a pinch of salt until they hold soft peaks. Beat in sugar in a slow stream, beating until meringue just holds stiff peaks.

Pour filling into shell and spread meringue on top, covering filling completely, sealing it to pastry.

Draw meringue up into peaks and bake pie in middle of oven until meringue is golden, about 15 minutes.

Recipes by Susan Saint James: Soybean Soup; Susan's Salad

Susan Saint James' Soybean Soup

1 cup dried soybeans
3 cups distilled water
2 scant cups liquid (leftover cooking liquid from vegetables or pulp from carrots)
2 tbsps. unfiltered black strap molasses
1 tsp. sea salt (use 1/2 amount if using crystals)
1 1/2 tsps. dry mustard
2 small onions, peeled and chopped

Soak soybeans overnight and then put them in freezer in liquid in which they have been soaked. Thaw slightly; put into stock pot with liquid (vegetable juice or pulp), molasses, sea salt and mustard. Cook slowly about 1 1/2 hours, stir often to prevent sticking. Add onion, cook 30 minutes longer (or until soup is cooked to thin gravy consistency). Taste to correct seasonings. Add more mustard as desired. Serves 6-8.

Thoughts: The secret of Susan's soup is in the seasoning of the delicately flavored soybean. Added vegetables (grated carrot, celery or turnips) will thicken stock, giving soup a stew-like texture. For flavor variations, omit molasses and mustard, substitute tomato juice for liquid, add herbs (parsley, basil) or toasted nuts (almonds, pine nuts or walnuts) or seeds (sesame or sunflower).

Susan Saint James' - Susan's Salad

Your choice of salad greens: Bibb lettuce, spinach, romaine, cabbage, watercress or parsley, washed and refrigerated to crispen greens.
1/4 bell pepper, cut in rings
2 tbsps. sunflower seeds, toasted
2 tbsps. sesame seeds, toasted
1 small jar artichoke hearts, drained (reserve juice for dressing)
1 large carrot, grated
2 small beets, grated
6 olives (ripe or pimento-stuffed)
1 small avocado
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix greens, pepper, seeds, artichoke hearts, carrot, beet and whole olives in salad bowl. Toss lightly with sea salt and ground pepper to taste. Cut avocado into small slivers to garnish salad. Serve with juice from artichokes to make its own dressing with a squeeze of lemon or serve with creamy avocado dressing made with: 1/2 pureed avocado, 1/3 cup plain yogurt, 1/2 tsp. sea salt, a pinch of snipped fresh chervil (or parsley), a few drops onion juice, fresh lemon juice to taste, and crushed hot pepper to taste. Mix and chill well. Makes about one scant cup.

Thoughts: For added protein, add cooked soybeans, hard-cooked eggs or cheese.