The Perfect Corned Beef Sandwich

 All I can say is YUM!

The Perfect Corned Beef Sandwich:

Montreal smoked corned beef, very, very thinly sliced 

Sauerkraut, squeezed dry of moisture

Swiss cheese (optional), thinly sliced 

Dill pickle (mandatory), sliced lengthwise

Dijon mustard, to taste

Horseradish, to taste

Buttered rye bread

Pile ingredients atop lightly buttered rye bread, with corned beef on each side - upper and lower - of the sandwich. Be generous with the corned beef: Use lots! I like a pickle in mine, as well as one on the side. (This may be why my Aussie friends always say: “Nicole, you’re such a dill!”) 

As one of my favorite all-time sandwiches, this one’s a mouthful. What makes this sandwich “perfect,” is its association with big cities such as Montreal or Noo Yawk - two places I deeply love.

No-Bake Chocolate-Coconut Macaroons

These no-bake Macaroons are easy and semi-delicious. They’re also among the first recipes I’ve published in more than a year (Ged-dover it: I lost my password, finally discovering it in a shoe). 

You probably won’t be hearing much from me over the next year, either: I’ve been working on a “project” (code for eating bon-bons and noodling away on a book. Litmus test: If I collapse with hysterical laughter, I know a section has succeeded. If I collapse with hysterical laughter and start crying, I know a section has failed).

This, too: Just as I was thinking about maybe, possibly, perhaps posting a recipe, Himself and I suffered a hu-u-uge infestation of moths … Battalions flying from closets, from under beds, sofas, tables, behind pictures on the wall … Every one of those little %$#@! must have assumed our house was a brothel, with each prepared to go forth and multiply (which they did) by “doing it” - mercifully not with us, but with the thousands of other moths who mistakenly took our house for a Tinder site.

During this time, both the kitchen stove and the kitchen floor caught fire: We stayed in a motel for days while the restoration company that came to help posted a sign reading DANGER: DO NOT ENTER on our front door. I kid you not.

With our house a scene of buggery, almost our clothes went outside to be checked, sorted, washed or dry-cleaned, bagged, and stored in zippered plastic bags bearing seasonal labels. As recently as this morning, I came across two moths “going at it.” Seeing and catching are entirely different: They’re still out there, procreating. 

In an effort to find some sanity,  I wandered into the kitchen and (in a dull stupor), began to make these easy Macaroons. The fact that they’re no-bake was a major plus (our new stove won’t arrive for two months). 

And PS: I dedicate this post to Mariee (with a double “e”), who - in  reading my blog yesterday - was polite enough not to say “No recipes for the past 10 months???” Such is life. 

I made a double batch of these tasty Macaroons - mostly because I’m bringing them to a party, and won’t be back in the kitchen for awhile. 

No-Bake Chocolate-Coconut Macaroons:

3 c. (750 mL) quick cooking oats (see Oat Note)

1 c. (250 mL) sweetened flaked coconut

½ c. (125 mL) butter or brick-style margarine

½ c. (125 mL) milk 

2 c. (500 mL) granulated sugar (See Sickeningly Sweet Note)

½ c. (125 mL) unsweetened cocoa powder

Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. To medium bowl, add oats and coconut, combining well. Set aside. 

To large saucepan over low heat, add butter or brick-style margarine just until melted. Stir in milk. Increasing heat slightly, add granulated sugar and cocoa powder, stirring until mixture is well combined. 

Et voilà! Pour over oats and coconut; mix quickly to coat. Drop spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet. Chill slightly, or just until macaroons start to firm up. At this point, you have two choices: To slam them down by the spoonful, heaping them high, as if to say: “Calories be damned! Damned, I say, damned!” 

Or to roll them small and delicate between your palms, nestling them in small cup-cake papers, as I’ve done. A little of something as sweet as these goes along way.

Regardless, store them in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.  At their daintiest, these make men-nee, men-nee Macaroons. At their largest, they make a dozen. This is a heaven-or-hell choice. You can choose which is which. 

Oat Note: These Macaroons are a great way to use up one of those massive boxes of Quaker’s rolled oats you bought at Costco and wish you hadn’t. 

Sickeningly Sweet Note: These Macaroons are best eaten frozen. They’re actually quite stomach-churning at room temperature. Too sugary. I made them before driving to a party, slamming on the brakes to dodge a squirrel who? that? raced onto the road, upon which every Macaroon I’d made flew from its pretty plate onto the floor of the car. After picking off the hair and the usual stuff on car floors, I proudly served them. There wasn't exactly a rush to eat them. It may have had something to do with their appearance. PS: The squirrel survived.

Three-Ingredient Salad Dressing

Three ingredients. Three. That’s all it takes to make this ... Salad Dressing! Sauce! All-Purpose Super-Duper-Can’t-Live-Without-It recipe!

Three-Ingredient Salad Dressing:

2 tbsp. (30 mL) Dijon-style mustard

2 tbsp. (30 mL) red wine vinegar

6 tbsp. (90 mL) olive oil

Whisk mustard and vinegar until well blended. Gradually whisk in olive oil. That’s all there is. Job done! No substitutions or additions, please: This is already precision perfect. Unless ... 

We Lied Note: Maybe not for everyone. If you find this salad dressing just a lee-dle too sour, add 1 tbsp. (15 mL) granulated sugar. I love this dressing tossed with cold macaroni and with any favorite main-course salad such as Beans, Bacon, and Sprouts. 

This will dress a salad for six, or (slightly warmed) makes a beautiful sauce for fish or steak. 

Black Bean and Corn Salad

It’s Winter in the Time Zone and at the Latitude Where We Live, but we’re having this, tonight! Why not? It’s deliciously similar - but not the same -  as the Black Bean and Summer Corn Salad I 

posted several years ago. It’s also less expensive than buying meat, fish, or chicken - important, for these difficult times. 

Black Bean and Corn Salad:

To Prepare the Salad:

2 large tomatoes, finely chopped, juice drained through a sieve at least 30 min.

2 c. (500 mL) frozen green peas, thawed, rinsed, drained

One 19 fl. oz. can (540 mL) black beans, rinsed and drained (see Can Measurements Note)

One 12 fl. oz. can (341 mL) corn, drained (or fresh corn shucked from the cob and briefly cooked) https://nicoleparton.blogspot.com/2012/06/two-corny-tips.html

1/2 c. (125 mL) finely chopped red onion

1/4 c. (60 mL) minced fresh cilantro, sliced into 1/4-in. pieces

2 garlic cloves, minced

Prepare tomatoes first, leaving them to drain at least 30 min. Thaw peas, but don’t cook them. Combine remaining ingredients as ingredient list directs. While tomatoes drain and peas thaw, find a clean lidded jar in which to make and shake the dressing.

To Prepare the Dressing:

2 tbsp. (30 mL) granulated sugar

2 tbsp. (30 mL) white vinegar

2 tbsp. (30 mL) olive oil

1-1/2 tsp. (7.5 mL) lime juice

1/4 tsp. (1.25 mL) salt

1/4 tsp. (1.25 mL) ground cumin

1/4 tsp. (1.25 mL) pepper

12 drops hot sauce 

Combine by shake-shake-shaking well. Do the same just before adding to the salad.  

Simple Barley Casserole

I first published this recipe (with plenty of photos) in June, 2014. My introductory words have changed; the recipe has not. Given the state of the world right now, this economical recipe bears repeating ... but!

Say it isn’t so! Barley has actually fallen out of favor among young cooks? With the stock market up and down like a yo-yo  and interest rates rising and the price of meat and fish so high you’d need a loan from the bank to buy it? Ridiculous!

If I can’t persuade you about the benefits of low-fat, high fiber barley, perhaps its price will: 

 

The cost of the barley in this recipe was only 50 cents! And that, my friends, was for dinner for two, with leftovers!

I used pearl barley in this dish: It’s quicker to cook than pot barley. Pot barley, however, is more nutritious. 

Says Google: “Pot and pearl barley taste pretty much the same and can be used interchangeably in almost any recipe. The only important difference is that pot barley takes longer to cook, so make sure to adjust the cooking time when making a substitution.” 

Barley’s easy to cook. Here’s an excellent “how to” guide:

https://www.mariaushakova.com/2019/09/how-to-cook-barley/ 

Simple Barley Casserole:

2 tbsp. (30 mL) butter or margarine

2 tsp. (10 mL) canola oil

1 10-fl. oz. (284 mL) can sliced mushrooms, drained (see Note), or 5 large fresh mushrooms

1/4 c. (60 mL) chopped onion

1/4 c. (60 mL) chopped red or yellow sweet bell pepper (“capsicum”)

1 c. (250 mL) pot or pearl barley 

1 c. (250 mL) beef stock

1-1/2 c. (375 mL) boiling water

1/4 tsp. (1.2 mL) salt

1/4 tsp. (1.2 mL) coarsely ground pepper

1/4 tsp. (1.2 mL) garlic powder

1/3 c. (80 mL) grated cheese, for topping

1 tsp. (5 mL) fresh parsley, finely minced, if desired

Preheat oven to 325 deg. F. In medium skillet on medium-high heat, melt butter together with oil. Add mushrooms, onion, and bell pepper. Sauté until tender but not brown. Rinse barley in a sieve under cold, running water. Add to skillet, stirring until barley starts to brown.

Combine beef stock and boiling water. Add to barley mixture slowly, so hot barley sizzles. Season and add garlic. Transfer to spray-greased 1 qt. (1 L) casserole. 

Bake, covered, 1 hr., until barley is tender and liquid has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork, topping with cheese and a flurry of parsley. Serves 6. 

Note: Save the drained mushroom liquid to add as part of the total liquid in this recipe. 

Spaghetti Sauce Seasoning Mix

It’s not often I go bonkers over the loss of a commercial product. I did last March, when I phoned and later wrote the Consumer Affairs Department of McCormick & Company, a self-described global leader in flavor, seasonings and spice products.

I make many things from scratch, but McCormick makes the best commercial spaghetti sauce I’ve ever tasted.

The problem is, this outstanding product is no longer available in the Time Zone and at the Latitude Where I Live. So I kicked up a (polite) fuss. Did no good. Some smart (not-me) cookie came up with a recipe for the stuff. 

Spaghetti Sauce Seasoning Mix:

1 tbsp. (15 mL)  garlic powder

1 tbsp. (15 mL)  onion powder

2 tbsp. (30 mL) dried oregano
3 tbsp. (45 mL) dried basil 

1 tbsp. (15 mL) dried rosemary
2 tsp. (10 mL) black pepper, freshly ground

Combine ingredients well. Store in an airtight container in a dark space (such as a spice drawer) to use another day. Add according to taste to your homemade or anned tomato sauce. This recipe’s definitely a keeper! This recipe's especially great with Sophia’s Slow-Simmered Spaghetti Sauce with Meatballs.

How to use: Just add some of this spaghetti seasoning to your pasta sauce as it cooks, according to taste. Even better: Follow Sophia’s recipe.

Breaded Shrimp with Veggies

Food costs are high, these days … (“How high is high?” asked the customer of the cash cow. “Very high!” said the cash cow, grinning …) 

Let’s start again: With food costs high, many of us have been watching our pennies. But oh-h-h-h, I’m a sneaky one! I’ve had a dozen breaded shrimp in my freezer for weeks. Buying them on sale, I was waiting for the moment when I could showcase them as a lovely (but inexpensive) dinner.  If I remember correctly, the package was $8-to-$10.

I didn’t want to use these as an appetizer. Appys are what you stuff into your face, from the lips to the hips. But Ron ... He’ll eat anything - anything - served with a bit of flair. He didn’t know these breaded shrimp were packaged appys: He thought I’d made them myself.

Which is why I excavated the contents of the fridge to dig up some carrots from 1997, a few Brussels sprouts, and a chunk of squash. A day or two before, with the shrimp on my mind, I made some Tartar Sauce and Seafood Cocktail Sauce. 

So … Toasting a few slivered almonds in the toaster oven, and then baking the shrimp in the same place (follow the directions on the package, dearies), I steamed the squash and slivered the sprouts, lightly salting and sautéing each in a skillet coated with olive oil on medium-high.  

Finding two rectangular serving plates, I arranged a ribbon of each sauce to the left, the shrimp at the center, and the almond-toasted veggies to the right. This produced to meals, with plenty of sauce left over. Everything looked so attractive that Ron stuffed his face, from which the calories will never migrate to his hips. This is the cross we women bear. Such is life.

Grandpa’s Secret Macaroni and Cheese

Be still, my beating heart! Himself has given up the secret recipe he has clutched to his bosom for 28 years, since he first created it for his younger daughter’s first-grade class. It was an instant hit, and has been a family favorite ever since. Friends and family have tried without success to pry this recipe from him, but I’m his wife, and I haf vays!  

Got the recipe! Promised him I wouldn’t tell a soul! Liar, liar, pants on fire, here it is! The secret ingredient is Worcestershire sauce - and plenty of it! The correct way to pronounce that lovely word is “Woos-ter” - but some folks disagree.

Grandpa’s Secret Macaroni and Cheese:

4 c. (1 L) dry macaroni

2 tsp. (10 mL) canola or olive oil

4 c. (1 L) milk

¼ c. (60 mL) butter or margarine

¼ c. (60 mL) all-purpose flour

Salt and pepper, to taste

7 tbsp.(105 mL) Worcestershire sauce
5 tbsp. (75 mL) ballpark mustard

1 lb. (454 g) pkg. grated aged cheddar

Two pieces dry toast, crumbled 

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water and a little oil to a rolling boil. Add macaroni, stirring well to keep pasta from sticking to bottom of pot.  Cook about 12 minutes. Drain cooked macaroni, returning to pot. Melt butter in a medium saucepan on medium-low heat. Add flour, stirring about 30 sec. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until sauce thickens. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Remove from heat, adding half the grated cheddar cheese and stirring until melted. Pour cheese sauce over macaroni, combining well. 

Preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Transfer cooked, sauced macaroni to large, greased baking dish. Spread half of remaining cheddar evenly over macaroni. Top macaroni and cheese with crumbed toast. Sprinkle remaining cheddar over bread crumbs. Bake 20 min.

Assemble your ingredients - milk
and cheese, too!

Boil salted water. Add macaroni.
Cook al dente - just until tender.

Cheese sauce: Combine melted butter with flour.

Gradually add milk, whisking well.

Whisk! Whisk! Whisk! as the macaroni simmers.

Whoo hoo! Bring on the mustard for some zip!

Add Worcestershire sauce - lots!

Remove from heat: Stir in half of cheese until melted.

Pour sauce over well-drained macaroni: Mix well.

Transfer to greased baking dish.

Sprinkle with half remaining cheese.

Crumble cubed toast (or croutons).

Sprinkle crumbs over entire dish.

Top with remaining cheese. Into the oven this goes!