Tammy Wynette's 24-Hour Salad

Tammy Wynette's 24-Hour Salad

1 head lettuce, washed and torn into pieces
1 package cleaned fresh spinach, torn into pieces
3 onions, diced
1 head cauliflower, chopped
1/2 cup bacon bits
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup salad dressing spread (Miracle Whip)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Layer lettuce in bottom of large salad bowl. Add layer of spinach. Layer onions on spinach. Top with cauliflower. Sprinkle with bacon bits. Add sugar. Spread salad dressing spread over top and cover with shredded cheese. Cover with plastic wrap. Chill in refrigerator 24 hours. Toss and serve. Serves 6.

Recipes by Tom Wopat: Christmas Sugar Cookies; Guess-and-by-Gosh Beer Beef Stew

Tom Wopat's Christmas Sugar Cookies

1 1/3 cups butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Scant 3 tablespoons milk
Plain or colored sugar
Vanilla butter frosting (recipe below)

In mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla; mix thoroughly. Sift together flour and baking powder. Stir into creamed mixture with milk. Blend well.

Flour hands. Form dough into 2 rolls. Wrap in waxed paper. Chill 1 hour or longer to facilitate handling of dough. Work with 1 roll at a time, keeping the other chilled until ready to use. Roll out dough on floured board to 1/8-inch thickness. Dip Christmas cookie cutters in flour, then cut out shapes. Place cookies on lightly greased baking sheets. Sprinkle with plain or colored sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees F. 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Cool to room temperature on sheets of brown paper. Frost, if desired, with vanilla butter frosting and colored sugar. Store in airtight containers. Makes
about 5 dozen cookies.

Vanilla butter frosting:

4 tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 1/4 cup milk

Cream butter until soft and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, blending each addition of sugar thoroughly with softened butter. When mixture begins to stiffen, stir in vanilla. Add milk, drop by drop, beating until icing is thick and smooth. Can be spread on cookies with decorating tube or knife.

Notes: If cutters are not available, draw and cut patterns from brown paper. Cut shapes with sharp knife.

Cookies make attractive tree ornaments if made with slightly more flour and rolled 1/4-inch thick to prevent breaking. Punch small hole in cookie before baking for tree ornament hanger.

Tom Wopat's Guess-and-by-Gosh Beer Beef Stew

3 pounds top-grade boneless lean beef steak
Seasoned flour
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
About 2 cups beer, water or beef broth
1 onion, peeled and sliced
2 teaspoons salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 large bay leaf
1 scant teaspoon leaf oregano
1/2 teaspoon leaf thyme
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
6 large carrots, peeled and cut in large chunks
4 large potatoes, peeled and cut in large pieces
Handful of cleaned fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced

Dredge beef in seasoned flour; shake off excess flour. In large skillet, brown a few pieces of beef at a time in hot shortening. Add beer, onion, salt, pepper, bay leaf, oregano, thyme and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to boiling point. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until beef is almost tender (about 45 minutes).

Add carrots, potatoes and mushrooms. Cover and cook 30 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender. Add more liquid if needed.

Taste to correct seasonings. Uncover, cook down to reduce in volume. Spoon stew into heated casserole. Garnish with snipped parsley. Serve with tossed green salad and cornbread. Makes about 8 servings.

Recipes by Joanne Woodward: Cranberry-Apple-Nut Pie; Never-Fail Hollandaise Sauce

Joanne Woodward's Cranberry-Apple-Nut Pie

Prepared pastry for 2 crust, 9-inch pie
2 cups fresh (or frozen) cranberries
3 large apples, peeled, sliced to make 1 1/2 cups
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds (toast in slow oven to slightly brown)
Pinch of salt
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp. finely grated orange rind
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsps. melted butter

1. Roll out 2/3 of pie crust and line bottom and sides of an ungreased 9-inch pie pan (or long-handled skillet).

2. Wash, drain, and chop cranberries in halves; combine with remaining ingredients. Toss to coat all particles; pour mixture into lined pie pan.

3. Roll out remaining crust. Top with lattice top made by cutting pastry into 1/2-inch strips. Crimp edges to seal lower and upper crusts. Bake in preheated 425 degrees F. oven 40 minutes (or until brown and bubbly). Cool before cutting. Serve alone or top with cranberry whipped cream (2 cups crushed cranberries cooked with 1 cup sugar for 15 minutes over medium heat, cooled before adding to well chilled whipped cream), hard sauce or scoops of vanilla ice cream. Serves 6.

Joanne Woodward's Never-Fail Hollandaise Sauce

3 large egg yolks
3 wooden spoonfuls cold water (3 tbsps.)
1/4 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
2/3 lb. salted butter, cut in small bits, at room temperature
Fresh lemon juice to taste (about 1 tbsp.)

1. Place egg yolks in small crock (or top of double boiler) with cold water beating with wire whisk (or wooden spoon). Place bowl (or upper half of double boiler) over lower half of double boiler filled With hot, not boiling water. Over low heat add salt and pepper to yolk mixture.

2. Cook, stirring sauce constantly until it begins to coat the spoon. Remove from heat, still keeping bowl over hot water. Bit by bit add butter to sauce, stirring constantly after each addition to make a thickened, smooth sauce. Lastly, beat in lemon juice. Sauce can be made in advance by placing in pan of lukewarm water (or near the faint heat from a gas pilot light). Serve warm with artichokes or asparagus. Makes about 1 cup.

Thoughts: Joanne's hollandaise sauce particularly deserves your careful attention and patience! She advises, "Never, never melt butter before adding to the sauce--that would be total disaster. I had failure only one time when I used sweet (unsalted) butter. Remember, the water must never be boiling and while it seems to take forever to make, stirring for an eternity, the sauce comes out absolutely divine and never separates. Sauce can be reheated by placing over a bowl of warm water, stirring constantly."

Weight watchers may want to reduce quantity of butter slightly. But in any case, butter must be added to the yolk mixture very slowly to prevent curdling or separating.

Recipes by Peggy Wood: Rodgrot; Tomato Crab Soup

Peggy Wood's Rodgrot

3 cups water
1 cup currant juice
1 cup raspberry juice
3 tbsps. potato flour (or 1 1/2 tbsps. cornstarch)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
granulated (or powdered) sugar
10 blanched, toasted almonds, chopped
milk (or whipping cream)

1. Combine water and fruit juices in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Combine potato flour (or cornstarch) with few tbsps. water (use more water with cornstarch) to form smooth paste.

2. Gradually add paste to hot juice, stirring constantly. Cook over low heat until mixture begins to thicken (slightly longer for cornstarch), stirring constantly. Cool slightly, add vanilla extract. Pour into large glass serving bowl (or individual serving dishes). Garnish with granulated (or powdered), sugar, and almonds. Serve very cold with milk or whipped cream. Serves 4.

This delicious Norwegian sweet can be the beginning of a whole spectrum of desserts. For American innovations: Color it red, blue or purple (substitute rhubarb, cranberry, cranapple, blueberry or grape juices). Flavor with flair ("stew" fruit juices with a stick of cinnamon or a twist of lemon or lime or flavor the sugar with vanilla sugar (cut one-half inch piece vanilla bean and place in closed sugar canister for several days). Or garnish with fresh fruit in season (strawberries, red raspberries or blueberries) or a dollop of vanilla yogurt or sour cream.

Peggy Wood's Tomato Crab Soup

Two 10 1/2-oz. cans condensed tomato soup
One 10 1/2-oz. can pea soup
One 10 1/2-oz. can chicken broth
Two 7 1/2-oz. cans crab meat (or substitute frozen crab meat)
One can water
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup sherry

1. Dilute tomato and pea soup with chicken broth in saucepan. Add water (add more if a thinner soup is preferred). Heat until bubbling, stirring.

2. Add crab meat, reheat to simmering, stirring. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Add sherry just before serving. Spoon into soup plates. Serve alone as first course or with croutons or toasted rounds flavored with Parmesan cheese for luncheon or supper. Serves 4.

Thoughts: For a richer stock, prepare homemade chicken stock. You'll need a chicken carcass, water, a few crushed peppercorns, a stalk of celery (with leaves), a small piece of chopped carrot, a small onion, peeled and sliced, several sprigs of parsley, a pinch of thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer slowly for several hours. Cool to room temperature, strain (discard bones and vegetables). Refrigerate. Lift off fat layer that congeals on the top before using.

Recipes by Natalie Wood: Beef Stroganoff; Eggs Ranchero

Natalie Wood's Beef Stroganoff

2 pounds boneless sirloin, cut in strips 1/2 x 2 inches
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
7 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 cups beef stock (or canned diluted bouillon)
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 tablespoons sour cream
1 cup thinly sliced white onion
3 cups thinly sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup dry white wine

Season meat, let stand 2 hours in cool place. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in skillet, stir in flour, cook over low heat 1 minute, stirring. Gradually add beef stock, cook until mixture starts to thicken. Add tomato paste; simmer gently 5 minutes, stirring. Brown beef in 3 tablespoons butter in separate pan. Cook onion in 2 tablespoons butter in separate pan until golden. Add mushrooms to onions, cook gently. Add meat, onion and mushrooms to tomato mixture. Heat gently 30 minutes in top of a double boiler. Add sour cream and wine, heat gently. Serve immediately with hot fluffy rice or buttered cooked noodles. Serves 6.

Natalie Wood's Eggs Ranchero

4 tortillas
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large clove garlic, mashed
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1 small serrano or other chile pepper, chopped
1 cup fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 eggs
1 tablespoon butter

Fry tortillas quickly in hot oil; drain on paper towel.

Keep oil hot; add garlic, marjoram, chopped chili, tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer tomato mixture for a few minutes until flavors are well blended and sauce has thickened slightly.

Fry eggs in a small amount of butter in separate pan, or poach in the hot tomato sauce.

To serve, place one egg on each tortilla, cover with sauce. Serve at once.

If desired, eggs can be made into an omelet, wrapped with tortillas and topped with tomato sauce. Avocado or chorizo are often served with this hearty dish.

Anna May Wong's Tea Cakes

Anna May Wong's Tea Cakes

1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 and 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar and add egg beaten very lightly. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add alternately with milk to mixture. Add vanilla last and beat all until smooth. Bake in oven at about 375 degrees F. Ice when cool, if desired.

Shelley Winters' Caesar Salad

Shelley Winters' Caesar Salad

2 tbsps. wine vinegar
6 tbsps. fine grade olive oil
1 tsp. dry mustard
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
2 heads Bibb or romaine lettuce, cleaned, well-chilled
1 cup croutons
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 can anchovies, mashed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Combine wine vinegar, olive oil, mustard, Worcestershire and pepper in screw-top glass container: shake well. Put lettuce, croutons, garlic, anchovies and grated Parmesan cheese in salad bowl. Mix dressing well before sprinkling over salad. Toss well; serve at once. Serves 4.