Chicken Mushroom Fusion Soup ]
1 oz Dried Shitake Mushrooms After rehydration thin slice 3 cup water For boiling water to rehydrate mushrooms and soup base 1 to 1 ½ pound Chicken, dark meat Dice or shred fresh Ginger Peel and thin slice at least one inch. 2 Tbs Soy sauce marinade 2 t Sugar marinade 1 Tbs Corn starch marinade 1 t Sesame Oil marinade Chicken Stock Soup base Bring water to a boil, turn off heat; add dried mushrooms. Let mushrooms rehydrate for at least 10 minutes, turn occasionally. While mushrooms are rehydrating debone chicken and either dice or shred. In a bowl, mix soy sauce, sugar, ginger, sesame oil. Add corn starch and mix until smooth, drizzle in cold water if necessary. Add chicken, stir well and let sit until the mushrooms are fully hydrated and soft. Remove stems from mushrooms, think slice, add to chick mixture. Let sit while bringing the mushroom water to a boil. Add the chicken mixture and stir well. Simmer 20 to 25 minutes, adding chicken stock to maintain liquid level above chicken mixture. Serve with noodles.
Grandmother’s Potato Salad
This is the best potato salad I haver ever eaten!
Servings 8
Equipment
- 2 pots 1 large for boiling potatoes, 1 medium for boiling eggs
- 3 mixing bowls 1 small for creaming egg yolks, 1 medium for holding egg whites, 1 large for mixing all the ingredients together in
- 1 cooks knife 1 knife for chopping
Ingredients
- 5 ea Potatoes Gold or Red Use 4 if very large, 6 if small medium. These hold together when dicing and mixing, you avoid mashed potatoes
- 3 ea eggs, hardboiled 2 if you like, 4 if you like more. See the How to make a perfect hardboiled egg recipe
- 3 Tbsp Red wine vinegar Match to number of eggs
- 3 Tbsp Yellow mustard The star of the show, match to the number of eggs
- 1 Tbsp Hot Sauce, optional I use Tapatio or Red, Adjust to your taste
- 1 tsp Cayanne pepper, optional Adjust to your taste
- 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning, optional 2 if you like
- 1 stalk celery, small dice, optional 2 if you like
- 1 ea Bell pepper, small dice, optional 2 if you like
- 1/4 ea yellow or red onion, grated The liquid from grating is used in the yolk mixture
- 1/4 Cup Mayonnaise This will vary a lot, but start with a 1/4 cup.
- 1 Tbsp Salt Needed to bring out flavors
- 1 Tbsp Black pepper Needed to bring out flavors
- 2 tsp White pepper, optional This adds some kick.
Instructions
- This recipe is built on the hard boiled eggs and the boiled potatoes. Both of those require cooking and then chilling.
Perfect Boiled Eggs
- Using a pot large enough for one layer of eggs, cover the eggs with water and bring to a boil. Boil ten minutes, turn the burner off and let the eggs come to room temperature. If you do not need to use these put them in the refrigerator.
- Peel the eggs. Separate the yolk from the whites and put each in separate bowls.
Potato Boiling
- Wash the potatoes to remove any dirt
- Peel if you want to, I like to leave the skin on
- Using a pot large enough to hold the potatoes and let water boil, bring the water to a boil.
- Add potatoes to the boiling water and cook just above a simmer for around 35 minutes. You will need to check the potatoes to make sure they are not over cooked.
- Drain the water from the pot, immediately dump in cold water, and if available, ice
- Cool the potatoes down as fast as you can. If you will not be using them store in the refrigerator.
Dicing every
- The order you do things is how you want to work. I like to dice the potatoes first, then optional celery, bell pepper. Stir those together.
- Dice the potatoes, I do mine in small and medium sizes. Place in large bowl.
- Dice the option vegetables, and mix in with the potatoes.
- Dice the egg whites and mix in with the potatoes
Creaming the Egg Yolks
- Using a fork, mash the egg yolks to a rough paste
- Add the vinegar and mix in to a smoother paste
- Add the yellow mustard and cream.
- Add the spices to the creamed egg yolks.
The Grand Finale
- Using a large spoon or scraper mix the egg yolk mixture into the potatoes. Carefully mix to ensure it is evenly
- Using a large spoon drop mayonnaise on the potato mixture. Carefully cut it in with the spoon or scraper. If your potatoes are too soft you could end up with mashed potatoes.
- You want a dry mixture right now. Taste! Sprinkle any additional spices, salt, pepper, hot sauce, cayanne pepper, on top of the potato salad.
- Add small spoonfuls of mayo and cut in to moisten the mixture. This will absorb mayo as it chills later on.
- Sprinkle paprika over the salad. I will add some mayo on top that will be cut in when dishing out the salad.
Notes
This is an old-fashioned potato salad, probably from the 1880’s or 1890’s. My grandmother was a great farm wife cook. I learned a lot from her on how to make kitchen magic.
I add the seasonings to bring out the flavors of the eggs and potatoes. My preference is to use the Old Bay seasoning in the egg yolk mixture and sprinkle paprika on the top and then Old Bay over that. Careful though.
Although not in the ingredient list but something I use a lot is Accent flavor enhancer. It is MSG and it brings out more of the flavors too. A tablespoon would work in this recipe.Â
Saffron Cupcakes – Rose Bennett
Grandma Bennett was a very good cook. I learned a lot from watching her while I was growing up. She used saffron in many dishes. This is a cup cake recipe that is very tasty.
Equipment
- 1 cup cake pan
- cup cake papers
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- 1 mixer optional
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound butter
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- dab salt
- 1/2 cup saffron water
- 2 boxes saffron
- 1 cup milk
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup nuts
- 1 cup `candied red cherries
- 1 cup pineapple drained
- 1 cup white raisins
Instructions
Prepare saffron water
- Put the saffron in a small pan & add ½ cup hot water
- Let come to boil for one minute then set aside with cover on to steep & cool.
Make batter
- In a large bowl, combine the wet ingredients
- mix until smooth
- stir in the flour, salt and baking powder until smooth
- mix in the fruit and nuts
- pour into cupcake cups
Baking
- Bake in wax baking cups in cupcake pans 350F oven for 20-30 min