Seriously, I am looking through my vintage cookbooks more and more these days, especially those published around the time of the Depression through World War II. Those women had to feed their families on limited funds and limited ingredients. More and more, as grocery prices seem to swing out of control I find that these old recipes work great for me.

I was skeptical about this rice tart. It seemed a little weird to me but I had several cups of left-over rice that needed to be used up and it seemed a good way to do it. Since it was leftovers there was not much to lose on this one.

I made pate sucre for the crust.  I was afraid that the tart would not be sweet enough. A lot of vintage recipes use much less sugar, palates were more refined and less glotted with high fructose corn syrup back then so you will find you often need to add a little more sugar for today’s tastes. I needn’t have worried. It was plenty sweet, although not overly so. I liked this, and so did the family. The thing I had to get past was the texture of rice…I am not a big fan of rice pudding because of texture issues.

This tastes a lot like an egg nog flavored rice custard. The meringue would not stiffen…the day was a bit too humid and the house was a bit too hot..and then I was talking while I was using the torch to brown the meringue quickly..so it isn’t beautiful.

If you like rice pudding you will probably like this a lot. It is a great way to get rid of leftover rice. Use what you have..I had brown rice and jasmine white so I mixed them. It was fine. I also used a ten inch pie plate for this.

Pate Sucre

• 2 1/3 cups  pastry flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, chilled and chopped
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions

1. In a food processor  combine the flour and sugar.
2. Add the butter and process until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of the cream.
4. Pour  it in the food processor and process until a ball begins to form.
5. Use the other tablespoon of cream if necessary.
6. Remove the dough from the machine, and on a lightly floured surface, press down into a circle.
7. Wrap  and refrigerate for an hour or overnight.
8. Roll and fit into pie plate.
9. Prick with fork and bake at 350F until done – about 15 to 20 minutes.

Rice Custard Filling

• 3 cups of cooked rice
• 3 cups of whole milk
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup rum (or 1/2 tsp rum flavor)
• Freshly grated nutmeg

1. Heat the milk,  rice, flour, salt and sugar stirring constantly until it begins to thicken.
2. Spoon a little of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, beating well until the temperatures of the milk mixture and the eggs are about the same.
3. Pour the yolks into the milk mixture simmer for about three minutes.. stir constantly.
4. Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup unsalted butter.
5. Stir in the vanilla and the rum and pour into the baked crust.
6. Grate nutmeg over the top.
7. Chill overnight.
8. You can use the egg whites to make a meringue or top with whipped cream.

serves 8-10

images-Marye Audet

Post from: Baking Delights

Soup is the best food ever.  Really. Think about it.

It is versatile, generally inexpensive, and is there a better way to get rid of the leftovers in the fridge? I think not.  You can toss everything into a slow cooker or cook it in a stock pot on top of the stove and the results will be the same.  Hot steamy goodness that makes the house smell like home.

As you can see, Chef Kyrie takes her soup seriously.  Real seriously.  She likes it with ABCs in it, or spaghetti rings, or the new pasta shapes that you can find in some grocery stores.  She is not a big eater but I can always  guarantee that she will eat vegetable soup.

The biggest secret for a fantastic veggie soup?  Use V-8 juice as the base.  Ready made flavor right there.  One thing that I do is to keep a plastic storage container in the freezer.  Whenever we have leftover vegetables they go right into the container.  When it is full then I make soup…a meal that is virtually free.  You can adjust anything in this anyway you want, use what you have.

The vegetables listed below are suggestions and approximations.  You just need to throw it together, it iwll work every single time…and you can’t say that about very many things.

Vegetable Soup

2 large cans V-8 juice

2 onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

4 carrots, cubed or sliced

2 cups of green beans

1 cup peas

2 cups corn

1 cup lima beans

2 cups chopped, fresh spinach or kale or chard

1 lb of small shaped pasta, cooked

grated parmesan to garnish

Mix everything but the pasta and parmesan together.  Slow cook for 8 hours or simmer on the stove for at least an hour for flavors to blend.  About fifteen minutes before serving add pasta and simmer.

Serve in bowls with parmesan sprinkled on top.

8-10 servings.

images:(c) marye audet 2009

Post from: Baking Delights

Oddly enough there was a little bit of the creamed spinach left.  And, not so oddly enough I needed a quick side dish.

I took the left over creamed spinach, thinned it down with some cream (yeah, what else?) and stirred it into the cooked fettucine.  Added a handful of toasted, chopped pistachios and there it was…Presto pasta in the truest sense of the word.

And it was perfect.  So much so that next time I am doubling the creamed spinach recipe so I can have more leftover!

This is vey rich…I think it is better suited for shrimp, crab, or scallops if you are going to add a protein.  It seems to me that chicken would get lost in the richness of the dish.  In fact…the more I think about it the more appealing the idea of crab is in this dish…hmmm…

Image:marye audet (c) 2008

Post from: Baking Delights

This is my entry for this week’s presto pasta.  It’s kind of embarrassing because it is so simple that there isn’t even really a recipe.

A few weeks ago I was given a large amount of on-the-edge tomatoes.  I tossed them in the crockpot with garlic, basil, oregeno, onion, and various other sauce ingredients, let them simmer for several hours, and then pureed them and canned them in quart jars.  It was alot of work but I was so glad to have created 8 quarts of free spagetti sauce base!

Things have been nuts around here with the last quarter of the cookbook (sprint, Marye, sprint!) and Matt starting college and totally messing up my schedule…again.. I miss the days when the kids were small and life was predictible.  Anyway..for the first time in memory I have things like leftovers in the fridge. I know, I know..it is so WEIRD!

Yesterday we had a little of this and a little of that…some zucchini but not enough for a meal, part of an onion, a couple of green peppers…..I immediately thought of a fresh pasta sauce with all of those great vegetables tossed in.  There is almost no way I can give you a recipe for this because I used homemade sauce, and then leftovers…but you can do the same thing.  The best way to put this together is to use the crockpot on low for about 4 to 6 hours.

Lots of great vegetables do well in a pasta sauce, so when you have one limp carrot, for example, chop it, grate it, or slice it and toss it in to the sauce. Vegetables that I have used are:

• zucchini
• yellow squash
• carrots
• celery
• spinach
• onion
• shallots
• leeks
• mushrooms
• okra
• peppers of all sorts
• eggplant
• tomatoes
• chopped green beans

Add whatever you like to the sauce and toss in some basil, oregeno, salt, pepper, garlic, a stem of rosemary, about 2 tablespoons good olive oil…cooked leftover meat..shrimp…whatever …(told you this was easy)…

After it has filled the house with an incredible aroma for several hours,  cook enough pasta a la dente for your family and spoon the sauce over the pasta and serve…

This doesn’t even feel like a real recipe..LOL!

It is a great way to get rid of all the leftovers and have an easy meal that everyone will love!

Image:Marye Audet

Post from: Baking Delights

So, Leftovers…unless you have teenage boys you are bound to have them.

June’s What to do with Leftover….. theme is pasta.

What do you do with that cup of left over rigatoni, or that smidgen of orzo left in the pan? A single lasagne noodle?

So here are the rules:

1. Post between now and June 19th

2Link to this post and state the name of the event in your post. Use the banner, you can make it smaller if you like.

3. email me at maryeaudetATgmailDOTcom with a link

4.Leftover used must be pasta…any type, shape, or style.

Be creative! Be bold! Be frugal!

I am still working on a good image for this event..I have had a busy month.

Oh, man, and you wont believe the cool things that are coming up..I have a cool interview with a world renowned PASTRY CHEF in the works! Plus some other cool stuff, like a photo interview with a local organic cheese maker…and cool stuff like that.

So many things have broken through today that it looks like this blog is about to hit the next level. Please fasten your seat belts and stand by! Oh, and once again..if you are not reading this at http;//bakingdelights.com you are missing alot of stuff!

Image: MaryeAudet 

Content:Marye Audet for Baking Delights 

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Here it is, the round up for , What to do with Leftover……

This month it is eggs. Whether you make a pound cake, or an angel food cake or even a fritter batter you can end up with leftover egg whites or leftover egg yolks. If you have chickens, like we do, sometimes leftover eggs means that the chickens laid more than usual and there are 5 or 6 dozen in the fridge!

Being eco-friendly, taking care of the environment also means not being wasteful. Frugality is cool! Besides, those chickens work HARD to give you those eggs, trust me.

Here are some ideas to help with using them up!

We didn’t get a lot of entries for this but the ones we got were amazing! Thanks to everyone who participated. If I missed you please email me and let me know so I can get you on here!

Marija from Palachinka creates this beautiful Komisbrot .It looks fantastic, doesn’t it?

Esther at The Lilac Kitchen took another approach with Brazil nut and Coconut Financiere (Bankers Cake). I can just imagine these on a tea table with lots of other breads and cakes.

Shoba, from Nangil Girl’s Adventures went with a fantastic sounding Raspberry Custard. MMMMMM…. Raspberry!It is probably one of my favorite berries and the one I have the least.

Becke from Columbus Foodie shares my penchant for slow food and local ingredients where possible. She created this Truffled Egg Salad on Baguette Rounds. They look delicious!

She also posted a recipe for salmon deviled eggs . Obviously another over achiever on the loose!

And my entry is a cake that I did a few months ago and is still one of my favorites. It takes a dozen egg yolks but the texture is incredible.

Orange Gold cake

I will be announcing next month’s ingredient, so check back!

All images used by permission of the websites involved.

Post from: Baking Delights

There are some recipes that have been around a long, long time..and you try them and think…

Why?

But strata is one of those ancient recipes that began because some busy homemaker had some leftover ham, some cheese, a few eggs, and not much time. It has stayed around because, well, it is just good, simple food. And it is quick.

Did I mention versatile?

You can vary the cheese used, the meat, the amounts of eggs. You can add herbs or vegetables, or potatoes…or ALL of that. You can even change the types of bread used. So imagine a chicken and broccoli strata with Gruyere and sour dough…or a hamburger, potato and onion strata with cheddar and rye..the possibilities really are endless. Gotta love it. You can even make ahead and bake the next day.

I found myself in that very position yesterday..hungry family, not much time, and not much in the fridge. Grabbed a fresh salad from the garden, tossed this together, made an olive oil and basil vinaigrette, and we were ready to go. Give it a try.

Ham and Cheese Strata

Place the bread cubes in a greased dish. Saute onion a little butter or olive oil. Mix with the bread cubes. Add the ham and cheese and mix well.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream,broth, half and half, and salt and pepper. Pour over ham and cheese.

If you are making ahead, cover and refrigerate. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 60-70 minutes (for 13x 9 pan) or 25-30 minutes for 2 pie dishes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 12

Image (c) Marye Audet

Content (c) Marye Audet for Baking Delights 

Post from: Baking Delights