Broccoli, feta, hazelnut and cherry tomato salad

Another favourite recipe from the Avoca Café in Ireland.

½ cup hazelnuts (or cashews or almonds), toasted
About 1 pound broccoli florets in bite-sized pieces
4 oz. feta cheese, cut into small cubes
8 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved
7 oz. dressing (see below)

To toast nuts, spread on a baking tray, in a 350° F oven for 5-10 minutes. They can burn very quickly towards the end, so be careful. Turn them onto a tea towel and rub off the skins. Allow to cool. Put the nuts in a bowl with the broccoli, cheese and cherry tomatoes. Gently toss with the dressing and season with pepper. Salt is usually not required as the feta is usually salty enough.

Dressing
Equal parts (about 300 ml each) sunflower oil, olive oil, peanut oil and red wine vinegar.
2 cloves garlic
3 Tbsp grainy mustard
2 Tbsp honey
Salt and pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients and liquefy. This dressing can be stored in a bottle and shaken vigorously before using. It will keep for several weeks in the fridge.

Jennifer’s famous apple pie

I think Jennifer has perfected the apple pie recipe with this one, modeled on variations in the Five Roses Flour Cookbook.

1 double crust pastry recipe, below.
6 medium apples (Courtland works well)
6 Tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup butter or margarine
1/tsp grated lemon rind (optional - Jennifer usually omits it))
6 Tbsp whipping cream (can be omitted, but why would you want to?)

Preheat oven to 450° F. Prepare pastry and line a 9” deep dish pie plate, reserving some for top crust. Core, peel and slice apples. Combine brown sugar, sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt together, and then mix with apples (we layer the apples in the pie crust and alternate with sprinkling the sugar-cinnamon mixture as we go, it saves time). Spread apple mixture into unbaked pastry shell. Dot with butter; sprinkle with lemon rind. Pour whipping cream over the top. Cover with top crust, sealing carefully and making slits to allow steam to escape. Bake at 450° F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° F and bake until apples are cooked, about 30 – 35 minutes.

Double Crust pastry recipe

2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup lard
8-9 Tbsp ice-cold water

Stir flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together. Cut in lard and butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is crumbly. Add water, a little at a time, using just enough to bind the mixture so that dough can be patted lightly to form a ball. Handle as little as possible. Split dough roughly in two. Roll dough from center outward, with a light, even pressure to form a circle, 1/16” thick and 1” larger than inverted pie plate. Fold double and lift gently into pie plate. Unfold and fit loosely in place. Do not stretch. Bake as directed for filling.

Potato Latkes

From "Second Helpings, Please" published by Montreal B'nai B'rith 1968:

6 potatoes, peeled and grated
1 small onion, grated
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ cup flour
1 Tbsp oil
2 tsp baking powder
(Oil for frying)

Grate potatoes and drain well. Blend in remaining ingredients. Drop from a spoon into hot oil in a frying pan and brown on both sides, turning only once. Yield: about 2 dozen latkes of 3” diameter, depending on the size of the potatoes.

Serve with your favourite toppings (sour cream, yogurt, fruit) or enjoy plain with butter as a side dish. Our kids prefer these if the onions are 'invisible' - you can put the onions and potatoes through the food processer if you wish.

Easy Cheese Blintz Puff

This recipe is from "Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant." It is one of Angela's favorites.

Preheat the oven to 350°. With a blender or mixer, combine:
4 large eggs
1 ¼ cups milk
2 Tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt
¼ cup melted butter or margarine
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups unbleached white flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 ¼ Tablespoon baking powder

Blend until very smooth. Pour 1 ½ cups of the batter into a buttered 9x13 baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until set. Meanwhile, shred into a large bowl:
1 pound farmer cheese
1 pound ricotta cheese (or other combination of flavourful cheeses)

In a small bowl, beat together:
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Mix the beaten egg mixture into the shredded cheese mixture. When the bottom layer of batter has set, remove the baking pan from the oven and spread the cheese filling over it. Briefly remix the remaining batter and then gently pour it over the filling, covering it completely. Return the pan to the oven and continue to bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the top is puffed, set and browned. Remove the Blintz Puff from the oven and allow it to rest for 10 minutes before cutting it into squares. Serve as an entrée or as a dessert topped with yogurt, applesauce, fresh fruit or fruit conserve. Serves 6 – 8.

The Best Iced Tea

This is a most refreshing Tracy family secret, perfected over the years. We are a tea-drinking family and when it gets too hot for Earl Grey, we make the switch to our summer staple. We have a large covered jug with a built-in, dedicated stirring spoon, as the lemon pulp needs a quick stir before each pour. Wonderfully thirst quenching on a hot summer day!

For the tea: Place 4 Tetley orange pekoe teabags in a large teapot. Pour 1.5 litres of boiling water into the teapot, and allow to steep for 6 - 8 hours (or overnight or until you get around to the next step).

In a large jug, mix one 355 ml can Minute Maid frozen lemonaide concentrate and three cans cold water (NOT four cans of water as it says on the label!). Add the steeped tea to the lemonaide, stir, refridgerate and enjoy.

Note: I don't usually do the brand-name thing, but in this case, we have tried cheap brands and they just don't cut it.

The Night Before Breakfast

Prepare this Ham & Egg bake the night before, and bake it fresh in the morning. It's easy and our kids love it! All measures are approximate, you can add more stuff as you wish.

6 slices bread
1 lb or more ham cubes or pieces or slices
(or your favorite pre-cooked breakfast meat)
12 eggs
1 ¼ cups milk
1 cup shredded cheese

Beat eggs well and add milk. In a 9 x 13 pan, layer bread and ham. Sprinkle on the cheese. Pour egg & milk mixture over top. Cover and let stand overnight in the fridge. Bake for one hour in oven preheated to 350°. Serves 6.

Adapted from Renaissance Cuisine published by Fontbonne Auxiliary of the Saint John Hospital, Detroit.

Avoca Irish Brown Bread

Last summer in Ireland, Angela and I went to a small café in Avoca at the handweavers workshop in Co. Wicklow, and picked up a local cookbook of modern Irish recipes as a souvenir. This recipe is from the Avoca Café Cookbook, with modifications for Canadian terminology and ingredients. It is the best, wholesome, solid delicious brown bread we’ve ever had! Using weight rather than volume for the flour is different, but we love the result! Best eaten the same day you bake it. It freezes well.

200g/6oz white flour
300g/11oz whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp bran
2 Tbsp wheat germ
2 heaping tsp baking powder
1 level tsp salt
1 Tbsp molasses
500-900ml milk

Preheat oven to 400°C. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the molasses and enough milk to make a “moist but not sloppy” mixture. Pour into well-greased bread pan (or we prefer to line the pan with baking paper, which makes it much easier to get the loaf out). Bake for 20 minutes at 400°C or until risen, then reduce heat to 325°C and bake for a further 60 minutes. Remove from pan to cool.

For more info on the Café, go to http://www.ireland-guide.com/establishment/avoca_handweavers_kilmacanogue.4151.html.

Shredded Wheat Bread

This is one of our favorite bread machine recipes:

1 ½ cups water
2 Tbsp butter
3 cups white flour
2 large biscuits shredded wheat cereal, broken
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
2 Tbsp instant skim milk powder
1 ¼ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp yeast

Put in bread machine on the dough cycle. Remove and split dough, place each half in a greased bread pan. Let rise 30 minutes. Bake for 30 minutes at 350° degrees.

Alice Fraser's Raisin Pie

Nana Fraser wrote out this recipe for my Aunt Marilyn in 1986. She modified it slightly by reducing the sugar and adding the lemon juice. Marilyn submitted it to the 1992 Fraser family reunion cookbook:

Prepare a 9" (deep dish) piecrust.

2 lbs seedless raisins
¾ cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
2 tsp flour
¼ tsp ginger
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Boil together for about 30 minutes. Put in a 9" unbaked piecrust. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

June Patterson's Bread & Rolls Recipe

This recipe was submitted by June for the 1992 Fraser family reunion cookbook. (The editorial comments in this recipe are June’s own words.) June learned to make bread from her mother, Alice Fraser (nee Hood).

1 quart milk
1 cup water
1 Tbsp shortening
½ cup sugar
1 Tbsp salt

Combine above ingredients in a large pot and heat on low until the shortening melts. Remove from heat.

¾ cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 package yeast

Combine in a cup and let yeast rise. Stir into the milk mixture. Start adding flour a bit at a time until the mixture is not too sticky yet not too dry (you know what I mean). Let rise in the pot. When risen, cut down with a knife. Repeat at least twice – can be done more depending on when you have time to put in pans.

Knead pieces of dough the size you need for your pans (can be made into loaves, rolls, or even pizza crust). Before placing in pans, coat pieces in melted butter.

Place pieces in pans and let rise until double. Bake at 375° until golden brown.

June Patterson's Tuna Casserole

The Fraser clan of Cookshire (my mother's family) published a collection of their family recipes for their 1992 reunion. This one was submitted by my mother's sister, June Patterson:


1 can tuna
1 cup macaroni, uncooked
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 can mushroom soup
1 can celery soup
1 cup milk
1 cup grated cheese


Boil macaroni and drain. You may wish to precook the celery and onions for a few minutes first. Mix everything together and bake at 350° for about 45 minutes.


Rick's Variations: Add a can of kernal corn, or any other vegetables you have on hand. Use any variety of pasta, including whole wheat pasta.

Donald Fraser's Favorite Cookies

The Fraser clan of Cookshire (my mother's family) published a collection of their family recipes for their 1992 reunion. This one was Grandpa Fraser's favorite cookie:

1 cup soft butter
3 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup coconut
2 cups rolled oats

Beat first four ingredients until fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into mixture until well blended. Stir in coconut and rolled oats.

Drop by rounded tablespoon 3” apart on greased cookie sheets and flatten with a fork.

Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until firm. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Fry's Fudgey Mint Brownies

This recipe is from the Fry's Cocoa package and has become our brownie of choice. Jennifer usually leaves out the peppermint and nuts, but either way they are great:

1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup oil
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp peppermint extract (optional)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl combine oil and cocoa powder. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla and peppermint. Blend in dry ingredients and nuts. Pour into greased 9” x 13” pan. Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes.

France Pronovost's Cranberry Orange Bread

This is one of Rick's favorites, with a mug of Earl Grey tea:

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ cup water
1 egg
1 cup cranberries (cut in half if fresh)
1 cup sugar
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp vegetable oil
¼ cup orange juice
2 Tbsp orange zest
1 cup chopped nuts

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a well-greased loaf pan. Bake at 325° for 60 minutes.

Letitia Cousens' Oatmeal Scones

Not only are these thin scones healthy, they've become one of our favorites and a staple in our house. The kids and parents both love them and, although the batch makes several dozen, they seldom last more than a day as they 'evaporate' very quickly:

3 cups oatmeal
2 cups flour
1 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk (sour if desired)

Mix and roll thin on a floured surface, about ¼" thick max. Cut into rectangles with knife, or use cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheets (they don't expand much, so you can put them quite close together).

Bake at 350° until lightly browned around the edges, about 12 - 15 minutes. (If they remain soft in the middle when they are cool, you didn't cook them long enough.) Letitia's recipe says, "serve buttered if desired."