EASIEST MANGO AND AVOCADO SALAD

  

  Adapted from a recipe in “Memories of a Cuban Kitchen”,  by Mary Urrutia Randelman,1992, from my first publisher, Macmillan.  Aside from the authentic family recipes, Urrutia gives us a glimpse of upper-class Cuban society in  Havana before Castro and the revolution—a world of yacht clubs, fine restaurants, elegant department stores, a Woodworth’s where she ate chicken salad on “American bread,” afternoon teas, formal dinner dances, Xmas eves with roast suckling pig, summers at seaside resorts on the Caribbean. 

The family immigrated to Miami, Florida in 1958, merely a year before Castro took power. Mary was 10 years old.

The thing to remember about this salad is that the mango and avocado must be perfectly ripe.  The mango will be slightly soft to the touch... the flavor is peach-like; if overripe it gets fibrous. The avocado should also be slightly soft when gently squeezed.

  

  1 mango

  1 large or 2 small avocados

  sweet or red onion slices

  baby spinach, lettuce or arugula

  olive oil and lemon juice

  salt, pepper, to taste.

1.      Peel, pit and thinly slice the mango

2.      Peel, pit and thinly slice the avocado

3.      Line the greens on a plate or platter. Arrange over them, the mango and avocado and onion.

4.      Whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice, (about 2 tablespoons each, or to taste); season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over the melange.

All photos by Carol Guilford

 1

EASIEST GAZPACHO (SPANISH SALAD SOUP)

With  Scallions Green Peppers and Cucumbers

“Good gazpacho should make you cry” said a friend of mine. He meant he liked it hot and sour.  So do I, but every cook adjusts this unusual cold soup to his/her own taste.

Paula Wolfert, the maven of Moroccan cooking says ‘gazpacho’ is an Arabian word, meaning “soaked bread.”  Brought to Spain by the Moors who conquered, as one historian puts it, for “loot and land.” Other reports cite that the Roman road builders or soldiers ate a combination of bread, vinegar and olive oil.

The main ingredient of gazpacho is tomatoes, but that is a fairly recent ingredient, since Columbus did not introduce tomatoes and peppers to Spain until after his first voyage, circa 1492. 

 A recipe for gazpacho appeared in my first book, “The New Cook’s Cookbook”  (available at Amazon on Kindle or as a used, rare book, from dealers) I have up-dated this version a tad.  Makes about 6-8 servings.

You will need a blender.  Gazpacho should be creamy, not watery.

   I  28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes.

  I use Contadina tomatoes in tomato puree because the can is marked

 non GMO and non BPA and they use sea salt.

  ½ cup sweet onion, coarsely chopped

  ½ cup green pepper, coarsely chopped

 For an extra kick, use an Anaheim pepper

  2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped  or 1 tablespoon garlic powder

  ½ cup vinegar

  10 drops Tabasco sauce

  ½ cup medium dry or dry sherry

1. Put all the ingredients into the blender container.  Blend for at least one minute until the ingredients are well combined.

2. Refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight.  The flavors will intensify.

3. Correct the seasonings, to your taste. More vinegar or more Tabasco sauce, or both.

 Before serving, an idea is to add a small ice cube to each bowl, to keep the soup icy.  James Beard, bless his heart used to add a frozen cube of tomato juice.

 Pictured are garnish or garnishes which are very important to the dish.  Choose from--

With croutons

With  avocados and olives

Persian cucumbers, peeled and sliced

Green pepper, cubed small

Black olives, sliced

Green onions (scallions)

Croutons made from sliced cubed bread, drizzled with olive oil and fried in a

skillet. Keep turning. Don’t leave the stove; they will burn as soon as look at you.

Avocado

Small cooked shrimp

  Cgnote:  You may put the garnish in separate dishes and let guests help themselves.

Makes a brilliant first course, or main course on a hot day. If you want a heftier meal, cheese and crusty bread will do it.

 All photos by Carol Guilford

EASIEST ANTIPASTI

   Here we have some packaged together Gallo brand provolone cheese and Italian dry salame, some green olives (these are Picholine olives from Trader Joe's, selling for a great price of $1.99)  and some marinated mushrooms.      

MARINATED MUSHROOMS

        You can, of course, used canned button mushroom, drained and drizzled with olive oil and vinegar, mixed and chilled for ½ hour, or you can make them yourself.

          These are Crimini. Rinse the mushrooms, pat them dry, cut off the tough end of the  stems.

          Put 3 tablespoons olive oil in an 8-inch skillet, cover and steam mushrooms over low heat for 5  minutes or until they are just tender.  Drizzle over vinegar, mix and chill for at  least ½ hour.   

  

       I call this ‘Laziest Day Appetizers.’

            

         Teeny pearl tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, rinsed—if you leave a little water on them, you can lightly salt them and the salt will adhere.

          A can of artichoke hearts, rinsed quickly and marinated with olive oil and vinegar.

          And a can of drained smoked oysters.

All photos by Carol Guilford.    

EASIEST SALISBURY STEAK

I wrote in The Easiest Cookbook--

Below, a multiple-choice question:

Salisbury steak was named for

a)      Salisbury, England

b)      J.H. Salisbury, a New York City socialite doctor specializing in obesity

c)      the Duke of Salisbury, who first served it at his table.

The correct answer is b.  At the turn of the 20^th century Dr.J. H. Salisbury’s Steak

appeared on the ornate menu at Delmonico’s Restaurant.

What this is, is a glorified, seasoned, baked hamburger — once you start putting in stuff, such as an egg or breadcrumbs, it’s meatloaf.  The recipe will serve 2-3. I do it in my shallow Pyrex, oven-proof deal.

      1-pound lean ground beef

    I like 15 percent fat. The beef should be at room temperature

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon salt

Worcestershire sauce

1.      Mix the beef, garlic powder, onion powder and salt.

              2.  Shape into a steak-like oval.                  

3.  Put the steak into the pan and brush the top with Worcestershire.

4.      Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. The inside will be

slightly pink. If you want medium, cook for 5 minutes more.

Cg note: To serve with baked potatoes, put the potatoes in the oven before preheating and bake 30 minutes.  Then put in the steak and cook for the recommended 20 minutes.

A small green salad  goes well with the dinner.

EASIEST KAMBUCHA

I am delighted to see Kambucha is once again getting notice and gaining popularity. An ancient elixir, the seminal book by Gunther W. Frank, Kombucha (Healthy beverage and natural remedy from the Far East) explains this apple cider tasting fermentation detoxifies and is an immune booster.

While very pricey in stores for small bottles, with a small amount of start-up money, one can make the folk remedy cure inexpensively. My first kombucha “mushroom” lasted 20 years because the amazing thing is that with each brew, a new culture forms.

Frank relates the true story about cancer researchers in the Soviet Union after WW11, when the disease had increased dramatically. In the midst of these dire statistics, two districts stood out because they had hardly any cases reported, although there was plenty of industrial pollution there and, in fact, trees and fish in the area were dying. Teams of investigators were set up to study this anomaly.

It happened that one of the scientists visited the home of a family selected to be studied. Only the elderly grandmother, ”babushka” was at home. The elderly woman offered the doctor a drink she called “tea kvass.”

All the people in the region drank it. Very interesting, yes?

I’m on the band-wagon.

        2 gallon glass jar

             Target sells them for under $15

         1 mushroom culture

               amazon.com has a list of sellers from which to choose. Some come as ‘starter’ kits

               which means they enclose the culture with a little fermented tea. But you don’t

               really need it, just means the first time you make your tea, it will take a

               few more days to be ready to pour off and drink. For following batches, you’ll add

               a cup of the made tea to the pot.

         3 ½ quarts water

                If you don’t have a water filter attached to your sink faucet, such

                as Brita, use bottled water

         5 black tea bags (Twinings, Lipton, Trader Joe’s Breakfast Tea or black tea of your choice)

         1 cup sugar

                I use organic cane sugar

         cheesecloth/rubber band

                The culture must breathe.

1.      Use a 6-quart pot to bring the water and sugar to a boil. Boil 5 minutes.

2.      Turn off fire. Add 5 black tea bags. Steep tea for 15 minutes.  Remove tea bags and cool to room temperature.

It’s important to cool as hot tea will hurt the mushroom

       

3.      Pour the tea into the 2-gallon glass container and add the mushroom.

4.      Cover the jar with with cheesecloth and secure with a rubber band.

5.      Store in a warm, dark place for 10 days.  Frank says the antibiotic properties develop  on the

7^th or 8^th day. You will know the tea is done when you see the new culture on top of the jar.

Most of the sweetness should be gone.

6.      Line a colander with the cheesecloth and pour the liquid into a glass container. I use a 4-quart pyrex measuring cup, then transfer the liquid into glass bottles. Refrigerate.

During storage if  “rat’s tails” appear, you may strain again through cheesecloth.

The amount to drink daily will be determined by how you feel. Start with 4-ounces daily. Some people drink 6-ounces, some 8.

Frank recommends 12--4 ounces three times a day, but it’s too much for me. You should find out for yourself what is the best dosage for you.

COSMETIC TIP

After I cold-cream my face, I use a cotton ball dipped in Kambucha as a skin-freshener.

Hope you enjoy this elixir of life as much as I do!

 

 

These are the cultures. One is older, the darker one, and I will probably use it a few more times before I switch to the young one. As the cultures multiply you can give them to friends who are interested.

 

The brew in the two gallon jar is ready to ferment.

 

Straining the tea.

In the bottle, ready to drink.

All photos by Carol Guilford.

.