EASIEST CHEESECAKE

Yummy, the recipe can be doubled.  Actually, this recipe is halved, so I know it can be doubled.  I use an 8 X 8, 3-quart Pyrex dish.  To double, use a 8 x 10.

If you want topping, any fruit will work, and canned cherry pie filling makes it outrageous.

I wrote in The Easiest Cookbook (I barely remember the event) “I gave this recipe to my friend, writer Carl Gottlieb (co-author of the screenplay, Jaws) who fed a dozen people on a yacht race from Los Angeles to Mazátlan, Mexico. Carl logged the Cheesecake triumphant, baked and eaten in the middle of tossing, turbulent waters”.

2      

  

 8-ounce packages or 1 16-ounce package cream cheese.

1 pint sour cream

       If you shop at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, there will be no bovine growth hormone

   in the product

2 large eggs

¾ cup sugar

    As always I use organic cane sugar

¾ cup milk

2 teaspoons unsifted flour

1. Soften the cream cheese at room temperature.

2. In a large bowl, mix the cheese with the sour cream, eggs, sugar, milk and flour. The mixture should be smooth and light.  I use a potato masher.

3. Pour mixture into the baking pan, and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour.  Cool for 2 or 3 hours, then chill in the refrigerator.  The cake rises during cooking, then flattens down as it cools.

EASIEST PESTO SAUCE

Done by blender or food processor.  I knew how much I liked this sauce when I realized I had included it in three of my five cookbooks.  In Carol Guilford’s Main Course Cookbook, I wrote:  “For centuries, Genoese cooks pounded the basil leaves in mortars, slowly incorporating droplets of oil into the herb, but...”  In The Easiest Cookbook, I wrote: “Basil is an herb grown since ancient times; it was cultivated in the gardens of Babylon.

This latest is from The Gourmet’s Recession Cookbook . Yeah, I wish I could change the title, but the recipes are dynamite and I hope you’ll buy it... Only 99 cents.  Come on, gang. 

I wrote: “Fresh basil is the basis of this  sumptuous sauce.  I like it on fusilli (corkscrews/spirals—some say the shape is really a helix) because the sauce sticks to the noodles. 

On sliced tomatoes with a splurge of real buffalo mozzarella, a dollop of pesto is a fresh twist for Salade Caprese, usually drizzled with with olive oil with a few basil leaves, on top. 

Divine on cold poached salmon. To poach/steam the salmon I like to use a collapsible steamer basket in a 4 quart saucepan. With about 2 inches of water below the basket add the salmon and cover the pot. The late great James Beard’s rule --any 1 inch piece of fish no matter how you cook it will be done in 10 minutes.

 Agreeably pungent on a baked potato.

 One cup pesto is enough for 1 pound pasta.  Will keep in the fridge for 10 days.  For new cooks, you are right--the sauce is not cooked or heated!

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed down

½ cup olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

½ cup pine nuts (pignoli)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon salt.

1.  Wash the basil leaves with cold water.  Pat dry with paper towels.  Discard the stems. 

  2.  Put all the ingredients into a blender or food processor.  Whirl or pulse until well mixed.  Pesto should have the consistency of mayonnaise.  Add a tad more olive oil if it is too thick.  Stir before using, as the sauce darkens with exposure to the air. 

Photos by Carol Guilford

EASIEST CHINESE BEEF WITH PEAS

Photo by Carol Guilford

Tempting ground beef dishes are found in the cuisine of all countries.

Take a look at the Easiest Barbecue Beef recipe. Switch a few ingredients and the dish hops from the United States to China.

10-inch skillet and lid

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 pound ground beef

1 cup chopped sweet onion

¼ cup soy sauce

   I use organic San-J tamari sauce

¼ cup dry sherry

1 teaspoon peeled chopped fresh ginger

1 cup frozen organic peas

1.      Heat the oil over medium heat until oil is hot. Sauté the chopped onion for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently

2.      Add the ground beef.  Don’t throw in the entire pound; instead pull off small chunks and add them to the pan. Use low heat and stir with a wooden spoon to get the red out of the meat. Recipes usually say, “brown the meat” but what one wants to do is get the red out. Add the soy sauce, ginger and sherry. Stir. Cover the skillet and simmer 15 minutes.

3.      Stir in the peas, just before serving time. re-cover skillet and simmer 10-15 minutes, or until peas are tender but crisp and beef is steaming hot. 

4 servings. I note in The Diet Book  the dish has 9 grams of carbohydrate and 53 calories per portion.

My recommended diet dinner was cucumber salad and baked custard  for dessert.

EASIEST BLENDER VICHYSOISSE

Photo By Carol Guilford

From The New Cook’s Cookbook, available in E-bookfrom Amazon.

 I wrote: “Vichysoisse is mainly known as an appetizer soup, but I also like it as a main course—a dinner to serve on unbearably hot summer days when all you really want to do is sit in a tub of ice water and sip a gin and tonic. “

Satisfying paired with a fresh fruit salad.

4 servings

Utensils: blender, small saucepan and lid

1 ½  cups raw potatoes, peeled and diced (about 1 large baking potato)

½ cup sliced leeks (white part only)

        or

½ cup sliced green onions (white part only)

2 cups chicken broth

       Go organic, sold in quart-size

¼ teaspoon curry powder

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup milk, or add milk to consistency you like

fresh chives, chopped *

1.      Wash, peel and dice the potato(s).  Cut off the whiskers and peel off the thin onion skin of the leeks or green onions.  Slice the bulbs thinly.

2.      Put the potatoes, leeks and chicken soup into a small saucepan.  Use medium heat to  bring the liquid to a boil, then cover the saucepan and adjust the heat so that the liquid will gently boil.  Cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

3.      While still hot, pour everything in the saucepan into the blender container.  Add the curry powder. Cover the container and blend for 30 seconds. Pour the cream into the blender. Mix with a wooden spoon. Add the milk.  Take a taste and add salt, to taste.

4.      Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.  I don’t even pour the soup into a container; I just put the blender into the fridge. Mix well before serving.  Top individual bowls with chives. 

* My neighbor, Catherine gave me a great tip about chives that will turn brown in a New York minute.  She cuts them and freezes them--then they are ready and fresh for use, such as on a baked potato with sour cream and chives.

EASIEST SARDINAS EN CAZUELA (Sardines in Casserole)

Adapted from The Art of Spanish Cooking, (Doubleday, 1963) by Betty Wason (1912-2001.

Wason, notably,  was a war correspondent for CBS during World War 11, a time when discrimination against women reporters was common.  

She authored 24 books, including Bride in the Kitchen and Cooking Without Cans.

If I wrote ‘cute,’ the title of this recipe would be “Day Before Payday Dinner.”

You need a small casserole.  The picture of the dish below is in my ancient ceramic Corningware deal. I went on line to see if Corningware was even around today (it is) but it is made in China, not in Corning, NY. Very inexpensive. I was amazed by the reviews.  I never even had a lid; evidently, now there are plastic lids and the complaints were beaucoup. I don’t use this small 15-ounce (5X7) to cook a casserole that needs covering or to store anything, so... An 8X8 glass Pyrex works too. 

2 tins sardines  

Sardines can be stinky, even the expensive ones. I used Beach Cliff  in water, made by Bumble Bee that vouches for their sustainability.

½ cup olive oil

1 cup sweet onions, chopped fine

1 (4-ounce) can  Dromedary pimentos or Trader Joe's fire- roasted red peppers, sliced small. 

kosher salt

1.      To prep, rinse the sardines (in tin) quickly, and drain.  Drain the pimentos and pat dry. Chop the onion.

2.      Put ¼ cup oil into the bottom of the casserole.  Spread out the chopped onions over the oil. 

3.      Arrange the sardines over the onions, then arrange the pimientos over the sardines.  Cover with ¼ cup olive oil.  Sprinkle lightly with salt.

4.      Bake, uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

 

Wason writes: “Serve hot from the casserole with forks and crusty bread to sop up the sauce. Astonishingly good.  I hesitate to give servings for this, for once I ate half the casserole all by myself. As an appetizer, it should serve 4 to six.”

Photos by Carol Guilford