Peach Jam.
5 very well filled cups of peach pulp
Juice of 1/2 lemon about 1/8 cup
Juice of 1/2 lime about 1/8 cup
Outer peel of (zest)1/2 lemon removed with a potato peeler and then chopped very fine
Total peel of 1/3 lime also chopped very fine
One half heaping tsp of finely chopped ginger root
One half level tsp of powdered ginger
Pectin
2 or 3 cups of sugar

Yield four or five pints

The peaches will have to be peeled. If they are properly ripe the skins will slip right off if they are put in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Parboil the chopped lime and lemon peel in a couple of cups of water for 12 minutes, drain off and discard the water. Peel a small section of the ginger root, slice paper thin disks and then chop very fine.

In a large pot add all the ingredients except the sugar and bring to a vigorous boil. Stir in the sugar and bring to a second vigorous boil (one that cannot be stirred down) Boil for one additional minute and turn off the flame or remove from the burner. Skim off any foam and bottle.

Apricot Jam is made just like peach jam, and no peeling in required. Use twice as much of juice, peel, ginger etc since apricots taste better with more.

Quick soup Ingredients.
1 qt beef or chicken stock (If you have the good fortune to live in San Francisco, Guarra's, at 490 Taraval sells many stocks. They donā't add the salt until the very end of the process. On request they will sell it unsalted )

1 cup bite sized mushrooms pieces preferably Portobello
1/5 lb small shrimp
1/2 teaspoon very finely chopped ginger root
1 cup noodles, rice or any pasta
1 egg blended with a fork. (optional)
Pepper added to taste

Defrost stock in large water bath until it can be removed from plastic Place in two quart saucepan and heat until boiling Add mushrooms, shrimps, etc. Cook until noodles are done Stirring rapidly add the egg.

Hermits Double Recipe.
1 lb unsalted butter left out to soften
3 cups sugar
2 T ground cinnamon
2 t freshly ground nutmeg (no more as fresh nutmeg is strong-grind-too much- save it for chicken soup)
1 lb chopped pecans* (each half cut in 3-4 pieces- or buy broken ones.)
2 lbs golden or seedless raisins , seedless today are often too large and should be cut in two. ( two packages plus)
7 cups less 2 1/2 T of well sifted flour
8 large eggs (not extra large or jumbo) to be separated and beaten -whites until very stiff, yokes until very yellow
2 tsp soda to be dissolved in 4T warm water


Cream softened butter and sugar, dredge raisins and nuts in about a cup of the flour. Add spices to creamed butter and sugar. Starting with the creamed butter and sugar, work it all together adding flour, nuts and raisins, egg yokes and soda alternately, (this takes a strong right arm as batter is very stiff and the only liquids are the egg yokes and the 4T of water in the soda. ) Fold in beaten egg whites. (A Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook would make this mixing much easier-unfortunately I don't own one or even have the space in my kitchen to use or store same.
Preheat oven to 350 - 375 (depending on the oven) Drop batter in small mounds on cookie sheets (preferably the new ones with the two layers of aluminum and an air space between them), the drops should be about the size of a walnut, and bake 13 to 15 minutes. Cookies should be only a very light brown. Yield 180 cookies. A half batch is also possible. If cookies get too dry or are over baked put them in a cookie jar with a small piece of apple. We have seldom had a storage problem in our house.

Salad dressing from the Lakeshore Inn on Ocean Ave in San Francisco

One bunch of fresh dill weed, with the light parts removed from the stems and chopped fine.
A couple of cloves of a shallot-chopped fine
Three rather full teaspoons of Grey Poupon Mustard
Two cups Canola oil.
1 cup white wine vinegar.
A touch of sugar. (For my personal use I omit this)
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Place this in a Waring Blender and beat it a minute or so.

The dressing keeps well in the fridge, and thanks to the mustard is easily remixed with a fork as it is ladled over the greens.

Add some grated Parmesan cheese from your favorite deli and if you want a bit of tomatoes. I have found that S&W peeled and chopped one are fine when fresh ones are sold far from ripe.

No Onion/Garlic Hearty Soup
This soup was designed to show that a hearty soup could be made without onion or garlic. It isn't quick but it may be worth the effort.

Stock:
2 round bones with meat
Marrow bones or knuckle bones 1-2 lbs
chuck cut in cubes (More chuck if you can't get round bones with meat)
1 small turnip
3 carrots
4-5 large dried mushrooms
1 - 1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 chopped shallot (optional)
Large handful chopped parsley
1 tsp dried basil
1-2 bay leaves
8-10 peppercorns

Roll meat in flour/ brown in vary hot oven- put in soup pot with scrapings, add the rest with the last three items in a tea ball. Cover the lot with 2-3 inches of water and cook three hours over low heat. Cool and then put in ice box for several hours. The fat can now be easily removed. Pour stock thru a sieve or colander and save meat and mushrooms. Pitch the rest. Chop the mushrooms.

Day 2 To beef stock add 5 carrots thinly sliced and cook 15 minutes.
Add one large head of bok choy chopped with its leaves.
One small to medium eggplant cubed.
2 large of 3-4 small zucchini sliced 1/8 -1/4 cup soy ( the low salt is best)
I large can good tomatoes, and 1/2 small can tomato paste.

Simmer about an hour. Meanwhile prepare 1 1/2 cups small great northern beans. save the bean water. ( They may have to be soaked over night before cooking) Other starches such as potatoes of macaroni might do as well.

Final seasoning touch up: Use some or all of the bean water to neutralize the sharp taste of the tomatoes ( a pinch of soda will also work if you don't have the bean water). Add some more soy and part of the rest of the tomato paste. Add salt if you choose. Soup improves with age and can be frozen- preferably without the beans.

HOME