Friday Happy Hour

It's a little late, but what can I say. It's been a long week. Today was day 6 of an 8-day stretch at work. And, boy do I need a drink. So today's drink is one of my favorites.

Old-Fashioned

1/2 slice orange

1 maraschino cherry

1 sugar cube

4-6 shakes of Angostura bitters

1 1/2 oz. Brandy or Canadian Whiskey

seltzer water or lemon-lime soda

garnish: 1/2 orange slice and a cherry. Thread on a skewer: in orange, through the cherry, out the orange.

In the bottom of an old-fashioned glass (yes, this is where it gets it's name) place cherry and orange, add sugar and bitters to taste. Muddle this all together with a muddler. When this has been completely crushed and mixed, add ice. To this add the brandy or whiskey and finish off with water or sprite.

Adding sprite makes what the Wisconsinite will call an "Old-fashioned, sweet". Making it with seltzer will mimic the Old-fashioned you would be offered anywhere else in the country.

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I was taught how to make this drink at my first bartending gig. I was just a kid of 22. Her stage name was Simply Divine, but her real name was Brian Femrite. He sat me down early one night and took the time to really show me how to make a drink. It was the beginning of my fascination with a good cocktail. I've been hooked ever since. So hooked that most of the time I don't order one, because they are usually made so poorly. A few places where I know you can get a good one include: The Old-Fashioned-Madison, WI (duh!), Angel's Share-NYC, Grand Cafe-SF.

Friday Happy Hour Rescheduled

Hey folks,

My apologies for not posting a cocktail on Friday. Poetically, happy hour was cancelled due to Happy Hour. Jeremy and I went to a wine and whiskey tasting at Barriques. It was great!!!!

The whiskeys we tasted were very nice. They were from Tuthilltown Spirits and Templeton Rye Prohibition Whiskey. Tuthilltown was excellent. Their corn whiskey was good, but tasting it after 4 years of aging was even better. These are very well crafted whiskeys, one of which even had a hint of maple syrup to it.

Templeton was also very good, but not available yet in Wisconsin. It's coming soon, they tell us. Take a look.

Beef Roll

1 beaten egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup crackers, 14 crushed saltines
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 tsps. salt
Dash pepper
1 lb. ground beef
1 cup cooked rice
2 oz. shredded swiss cheese (1/2 cup)
2 Tbs. chopped green peppers

Combine first 6 ingredients; and beef and mix well. On a piece of waxed paper, pat mixture into a 10" x 8" rectangle. Combine rice, cheese and green pepper. Pat onto the meat leaving a 1" margin around the edge. Roll jelly roll fashion, beginning with the narrow sides. Seal side seams and ends. Place roll in an 11 x 7" baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 mins. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Yield: 4 -5 servings

Delicious, yet easy meal.

Submitted by Mrs. Linda Nelson of Kenosha, WI

Bloggers Note: 2 Tbs. of chopped green pepper is a ridiculously small amount of pepper. I added 1/2 of a green pepper and even then it was barely noticeable.

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I was very pleased with this recipe. Mostly because it's the first recipe that actually looks good coming out of the oven! Note the pride take in the garnish in the photos.

Please note, there is a difference between 1 cup of rice, and 1 cup of cooked rice. I learned this the hard way and it was very hard to roll. Because of this, I could not seal the ends. Also... I've never made a jelly roll, so I'm not quite sure if I rolled it correctly. But it was rolled, and had I not been a master sushi chef, this take might have been a bit more challenging than it already was.

I used Village Harvest, Jasmine Long Grain Fragrant Rice, and without it I think the recipe would have been extremely different. There isn't a whole lot of flavor in it, so adding this rice really gave it a very nice subtle flavor.

To jazz up this dish I might substitute a pepperjack cheese for the Swiss cheese and add mixed vegetables to make a complete meal in one dish.

Beer Cake

2/3 cup butter or oleo
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 sq. bitter choc.
2 1/4 cup flour
2 tsps. soda
1 cup beer
3/4 cup buttermilk
8 oz bottle maraschino cherries
1/4 cup cherry juice
1/2 cup chopped nutmeats

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and melted chocolate and mix well. Sift flour and soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with beer and buttermilk. Add cherries, cherry juice and nutmeats. Mix well. Pour in 9 x 13" pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 mins.

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 tsps. vanilla

Blend softened cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Spread on cake.

Submitted by Dona Jahn, Tripoli, WI

Bloggers Note: I used "Point, Special Lager" beer from the Stevens Point Brewery.

It was only after starting to mix the ingredients did I realize that all of our 9 x 13" pans were in use with left over casseroles. So, I had to use three, eight inch round cake pans. As I learned, this cake is not meant to be a layer cake! It's very moist, and therefore very hard to stack. Keep that in mind as you gander at the pictures. It really does taste much better than it looks!

I was really happy with how the cake tastes and am excited to make it again in a 9 x 13" pan. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted.

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of maraschino cherries, but I did not mind them in the cake. I also used almonds for the "nutmeats".

When I make it again I will place the cherries in the pan once the batter has been poured in. They had a tendency to clump together so parts of the cake have lots of cherries, and other parts have none.

This definitely will be making a few appearances this summer and parties and cookouts... maybe paired with the Cherry Bounce!

Coating for Baked Chicken

1 tsp. ground red pepper
3 tbsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 c. flour
2 tsp. each: sugar, onion powder, ground oregano
2 c. dry bread crumbs
4 tsp. salt

Cut in 1/4 cup shortening and mix until crumbly. Store in a tight container. This is enough to coat 4 chickens.

Dip chicken in milk and then in mix. Bake in 400 degree oven for 50 to 60 mins.

Submitted by Fran Everson via "Butter 'n Love Recipes II" by the Bloomfield Manor Auxiliary (Dodgeville, WI)Bloggers Note: I misread the recipe and bought red pepper flakes instead of ground red pepper.


I was suprised on how much flavor was packed into this mix!

Because there is only the two of us, I used two chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken. As you can see, you can use this several times by storing it in an air tight container.

I enjoyed how the mix created a crispy coating on the outside of the chicken that seemed to hold alot of the juices in. This was one of the juiciest chicken breasts I've ever had!

Spaghetti Bolognese

Spaghetti Bolognese

1 small carrot
1 thin stalk of celery
1 ounce marbled, smoked ham
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
2 tsp. butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
5 ounces ground beef
1 can peeled tomatoes (8.5 ounces dry weight)
2.5 ounces red wine
2.5 ounces beef stock
1/2 tsp dried italian seasoning
salt, black pepper
7 ounces spaghetti
2-3 Tbsp freshly grated parmesan

1. peel the carrots, wash the celery, and dice them both very small. Also cut the ham into small cubes. Peel the onion and garlic and mince both.

2. heat butter and oil in a large skillet. Add the ham, vegetables, onion, and garlic and lightly sweat them for 3 minutes. Mix in ground beef and cook together until it is brown and crumbly, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the tomatoes with juice, wine and stock. Use and spoon to crush the tomatoes in the pan. Add the italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Allow to stew for 1 hour on low heat.

4. About 30 minutes before the stewing is finished, boil 2 quarts of water and salt heavily. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package instructions. Taste the sauce again and season accordingly. Drain the noodles then mix them with the Bolognese sauce and serve in deep dishes. Garnish with parmesan and serve immediately.

* Tuning Tip: At the end of the cooking time for the sauce, add 2-3 Tbsp of cream and leave to cook for another 10 minutes. You can also double this recipe and use for the base of a lasagne.

Blogger's note: These measurements are approximate. I'm not an expert at metric conversions.

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This is a recipe I found in a great book I bought in Berlin. It's called "Crashkurs Kochen" or "Crash Course Cooking". It provides the basics, albeit German basics, for a lot of areas of cooking that are foreign to people like myself. Knowing this, some of the more basic instructions above, become a little more understandable. The author assumes you don't know how to brown hamburger or clean a celery stalk. Personally, I think giving instructions on celery is a bit too far, but I understand where the author is coming from.

I've had this book for over a year, and I'm yet to make this recipe as it is supposed to be made. I'm always changing something, or lacking that ounce of ham. This last time, though, we came closer than I have ever gotten to actually following the recipe. We used ground turkey instead beef, and we were missing the ham and the carrot.

I love this recipe. It's hearty, it's homemade and it reminds me of Germany. I don't know much about whether this recipe might be authentically Italian, but I can tell you that when Germans think spaghetti, this is what they are thinking of. It's a dish that can be had cheaply at restaurants all over the country, which makes it even better!!

Fluffy Waffles

Fluffy Waffles

2 cups sifted flour
1 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs, separated
6 Tbsp melted butter
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 2/3 cups milk

Sift dry ingredients together. Beat egg yolks slightly; add milk and butter. Combine with dry ingredients. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake in a preheated waffle iron. You can also bake on a hot griddle like hot cakes. Make easy corn waffles by adding 1/2 cup whole kernel corn to the batter.

From my Norwegian Mother-in-law. I've found that these are almost as easy as a package mix, but more delicious. You may use syrups, jams, jellies or sugar and cinnamon. All are delicious.

Submitted by Caroline A. Swanson of Sheboygan, WI

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If it weren't for a really, really low-performing waffle iron, these would have been great. They were very good, but what they lacked was the proper cooking temp.

The beaten egg whites made for a very fluffy batter that translated into a very nice waffle that was light, while still being filling.

I found the note about packaged mixes to be quite amusing and interesting. It certainly shows that women were doing a lot of cooking with mixes even at this time. I'm not sure when Bisquick came out, but I'm happy to report that there was never a box of it in my mother's kitchen. Waffles and pancakes were always made from scratch.

Enjoy!