Friday, December 30, 2011

RE-cipe sharing: Chicken Monique salad

The ladies above are having my usual ladies' luncheon meal of cranberry gelatin salad, Chicken Monique, green salad and mini muffins.  You can find our grandmother's FANTASTIC Cranberry gelatin salad HERE.
At this shower, I seated my mother-in-law, Sherry, our mother, and some of their friends together.  You may notice that the serving of Chicken Monique has already disappeared off some plates.   That is not surprising.  It certainly disappears off my plate very quickly. 

This is my favorite chicken salad recipe.  I serve it at almost every shower and everybody likes it.  To dress up the salad, I serve it in a baked pie crust and top it with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese.  This is the way chicken salad was served at one of my favorite restaurants that has since closed.  At the restaurant, the chicken salad served as a slice of pie was called Chicken Monique.

Chicken salad
4 servings
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper (if you don't like pepper, reduce to 1/4 teaspoon)
2 lbs. chicken cubed
3 cups seedless grapes halved
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup celery slices

Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, salt and pepper in one bowl.  In another bowl, combine chicken, grapes, pecans and celery.  Add the mayonnaise mixture to the chicken until it is all mixed.  Chill. Serve over lettuce leaf.

For Chicken Monique, you will need
 1 frozen pastry pie shell
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

To serve the Chicken Salad in the Chicken Monique style, bake a frozen pie shell per instructions.  Let cool.  Fill pie shell with chicken salad, mounding the salad a little in the center.  Cover the chicken salad with 1/2 cup sour cream.  Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese on top. Put the pie in the refrigerator for at least three hours.  Slice the pie into five slices and serve.

WRITTEN BY REBA

RE-ceiving Guests: New Year's Eve table

Individual clocks were pulled from different rooms and placed at each place setting to countdown until the new year
Silvery and glittery pinecones add a festive touch to white roses.
For this New Year's Eve table, I decided on a white and silver theme.  The plates are my wedding china.  The silver plated chargers were purchased through amazon.com.  The crystal is my wedding crystal, Waterford Sheila. I wanted to set a formal table so I have a water goblet, a wine goblet and a champagne flute set at each place.  The napkin is wrapped with a silver ribbon.  I bought silver boxes from Michael's for favor and each has noise makers and  a paper crown inside for the midnight countdown.  I have small crystal clocks throughout my house so I pulled them all to place them at each setting for the new year countdown.  Silver candlesticks and white roses with glittered pine cones are the centerpieces.  I didn't have a silver table cloth or runner so I simply laid silver ribbon over the table cloth to add a bit of sparkle to the table.

WRITTEN BY REBA

See the rest of our tablescapes from this year at our Tablescape Round-up

























Sunday's Best Linky Party!






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Saturday, December 24, 2011

RE-ceiving guests: A Tamalada & a tamale recipe

Tamalada is a social gathering to make tamales.  Since tamales are a favorite food during the Christmas season, many Hispanic families will get together for a tamalada in November or early December to make tamales for Christmas.  The above painting, "Tamalada" by highly regarded Hispanic artist, Carmen Lomas Garza, captures a familiar scene of a large family getting together in the kitchen for a tamalada. Image source HERE

A lot like the painting, right?  A few weeks ago, I went to a Tamalada organized by my sister-in-law, Yvonne, who is a great cook. Normally Yvonne has all our nieces over to make tamales before Christmas time.  This year she rented a professional kitchen to have the tamalada.   I hadn't made tamales since I was 10 and my grandmother, my aunt, my younger cousin, our housekeeper and I got together to make tamales. The 5 of us worked for hours just to make enough tamales for our families. I only did it twice until my grandmother decided it was too much work and we began buying tamales instead. If you have never made tamales, you may be surprised by how much work they are.  The reason people gather their family members to make tamales is because it is a time consuming process.  The corn shucks must be cleaned.  The masa or "dough" has to be mixed and prepared for use.  The fillings (pork, beef, beans, cheese etc.) must be cooked.  Only once the ingredients have been prepared, can the assembly commence.  That's where the family members come in.  They man an assembly line that would make Henry Ford smile.
MIXING IN FUN.  Although tamaladas can be work, they are also a lot of fun.  Since it takes hours to make tamales, a tamalada is a chance for extended family members to visit and really catch up with each other.  Above, two cousins are chatting and visiting in the kitchen.  My sister-in-law, Annette, is observing her cousin Missy's tamale rolling technique while opening a bottle of champagne.  Annette made a delicious fruity cocktail for all the adults to enjoy. 
SNACKS? A MUST! Since a tamalada takes hours, there should be snacks and drinks for people to keep them going.  For Yvonne's tamalada, she had mini quiche, filo dough stuffed with spinach, bacon wrapped shrimp and lots of freshly baked cookies and assorted cold drinks. 

COUSIN TIME.  Just like Annette and Missy above, my niece Makena and her younger cousin, my daughter, got a chance to bond as Makena showed my daughter  the tamale-making ropes. 

Now, it is my daughter's turn to show her tamale making skills.  It was funny to see my daughter making tamales at about the same age I was, when I last made tamales with my family.  It made me miss my grandmother terribly who is no longer with us.
DOWN TO AN ART.  I asked Hugh, Missy's husband, to demonstrate his tamale shuck battering style with this plastic trowel.  Normally, people use spoons to apply the dough/masa to the corn shucks, but Yvonne has a collection of these plastic trowels that she lets people use if they want. Hugh and Yvonne both claimed it makes the application of dough faster.  I used it and I honestly couldn't tell if it was faster than a spoon or not.  Since this manner of applying the dough was novel, I asked Hugh to do one "for the camera".  Hugh would get a large amount of dough on his trowel. He starts at the top of the corn shuck and presses down to smooth it out.
Because the dough has to cover the filling, you want a smooth, consistent thickness. You don't want uncovered areas.  Those would require a second pass to apply more dough.   Above, Hugh got a nice consistent covering of dough.

After dough is applied, they are set aside for filling, usually by someone else in the assembly line.

Here is what the corn shucks look like with the dough applied to them. 
Now, it is someone else's turn to add the filling by placing a spoonful of filling in the middle of the area covered by dough.  There are countless recipes for fillings.  The traditional fillings are pork or beef.  Bean are my own favorite.

Once the filling is added, then the tamale has to be rolled.  You start at one end and roll them and then you fold the top of the corn shuck down to keep them folded.

This was one of the tamale rolling stations.  I worked the applying dough to the corn shucks station.
I wanted to show what other fillings can be used so I got Hugh, and Yvonne to pull out the Oaxaca cheese and green poblano chiles that she uses in her tamales ahead of time so I could get a picture of them.  Yvonne makes a big assortment of tamales. She makes traditional pork, beef, chicken, spicy chicken, vegetarian, vegetarian deluxe, Oaxacan cheese & green chile, bean & jalapeno and shrimp cilantro.  For outside the family, she will sell her tamales usually for $8.50 a dozen ( $12.50 a dozen for the shrimp cilantro) depending on which filling you want.  If you are in the Austin area, you can email Yvonne to ask about making tamales for you. Her email is jwilson162@juno.com.
If you want to make your own tamales or host a tamalada, I am giving you an Authentic Mexican Tamale recipe by Sherry (Reba's Mother-in-law of  Marriage Saving Pound Cake Fame <--- Click there for the best pound cake EVER!) since Yvonne's recipes are top secret.   Sherry and her husband Gene made a cookbook called "An Adventure From South of the Border" and sold it many years ago. The following tamale recipe is from it.  Even though I rarely cook, I *TREASURE* my copy because every single time I've cooked something from it, my guests have *raved* about the food. Seriously good stuff.  I will be enjoying tamales tonight with my family.  I wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

SHERRY AND GENE'S TAMALES - Dough with Meat Filling in Corn Shucks

Making tamales the right way is quite a project and cannot be accomplished in a short time. They are considered a fiesta food and are made primarily during the Christmas season or for special occasions. The final results produce a delicious tamale that is well worth the time and effort.

2 lbs. pork     2 lbs. beef     1/2 medium onion
2 cloves garlic     salt & pepper     15 peppercorns
1 tsp comino (cumin)     1/2 medium size head garlic
5 dried chiles anchos     1/2 medium onion
9 cups masa harina (3 lb.) or 4 lb. factory-made masa
1/2 lb. suet, rendered     1/2 lb. pork lard   salt to taste
1/2 lb. vegetable shortening     6-to 8-oz. pkg. corn shucks

Boil meats with onion, garlic, salt and pepper (not the peppercorns) until tender.  Strain and reserve water for cooking tamales. Grind meat on medium blade of meat grinder. Set aside.

Separate corn shucks; soak in hot water until pliable; remove silks. Trim 1/2 inch off pointed tips. Each shuck should be 8 1/2 to 9 inches long and 4 1/2 inches wide at broadest end. This will provide an area of about 3x5 inches on which to spread dough and have 3 1/2 inches at pointed end to fold over. If some shucks are too small, two can be overlapped. Save trimmings to line cooking utensil.  Keep damp until ready to use by placing between layers of damp paper towels.

Grind the garlic head with peppercorns and cumin in a molcajete (mortar & pestle). Reserve 1 tsp to add later to masa. Wash chiles and boil in water to cover about 15 minutes. Reserve the water. Peel skins from chiles and remove stems and seeds. Put chilies in blender with the onion and ground garlic mixture from the molcajete.  Fry the blended chile in 2 tbs. shortening.  Rinse out the blender with small amount of chile water and add to skillet.  Add meat that has been set aside. Salt if necessary.

Prepare the masa harina, following the instructions on the package. Use reserved chile water plus enough tap water if necessary, to make the required amount of liquid.  Add the teaspoon of reserved garlic mixture.  Salt to taste.  Slowly add rendered fat, lard and shortening. Knead until the masa is light and fluffy.  To test, drop a small ball into a cup of water. If the ball does not rise to the top, continue kneading. Dough should be spreading consistency.

Start at the broad end of the shuck, cover an area about 5 inches long and 4 inches wide with a thin layer of masa, spreading it with fingertips or the back of a spoon.  If necessary moisten fingertips to aid in spreading dough. (There will be about 1/4 inch on each side and 3 1/2 inches at the top with no masa.)  Spread 1 Tbs of meat mixture down the center of the dough.  A few raisins or slivered almonds may be added at this point.  Fold one side of the shuck over the meat mixture so that the masa completely covers the meat. Then fold the other side to the edge of the tamale to make the finished tamale about 1 1/2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. Then fold over the pointed end.

Use roasting pan to cook the tamales. Put a penny in the bottom. Pierce 1/4 inch holes in TV dinner trays and invert in bottom of roaster.  Place rack on top. Line the rack with several layers of corn shucks. Scraps will do. Place all the tamales in layers, folded side down, on bed of shucks.  Arrange loosely enough so that steam will circulate freely.  Cover the tamales with more corn shucks. Place a piece of toweling on top of shucks to absorb the condensation from the lid of the roasting pan. Pour reserved hot liquid from meat through toweling.  Make sure the liquid does not rise above the bottom shucks on rack to avoid touching tamales.  Place lid on roasting pan. Simmer over medium heat.

When the liquid comes to a boil, the penny will jiggle. It should not boil violently.  The penny will tell you if the water goes off the boil or is getting low.  When the penny jiggles, start timing the tamales.  They should steam about 1 hour.  If the water gets low, add a little more boiling water.  To test for doneness, remove a tamale from the top and one from the center of the stack.  Open them; they are done if the masa dough is firm, does not stick to the shuck and does not have a raw, doughy taste.  Tamales may be frozen; to reheat, steam in covered colander over simmering water 20 to 30 minutes.
Makes approximately 4-5 dozen.



















Thursday, December 22, 2011

RE-ceiving Guests: Tablescape Roundup

I thought it would be fun to see all the different styles of tables we have already had on the blog the last month or so.

My green & silver table with DIY holiday china.  You can see more HERE.
Hot Cocoa Buffet Side View
Hot Cocoa Buffet Full View. To see more click HERE

Cookie spread for a kids party at Martha's house.
Martha's Two Colorful Tables and more of her gorgeous house can be seen HERE
The formal setting above and this casual one were from Jean's house. More on her house HERE
Reba helped a couple decorate for a charity Christmas home tour by setting an angel theme dinner table.
More on the charity holiday tour Reba went on HERE
Our Dad's birthday party setting. You can see more of it in Reba's House Tour post HERE

Reba's red toile tablescape entry can be seen HERE
Reba's formal Thanksgiving table entry is HERE

Her more casual Thanksgiving table can be seen HERE
You can see the pink & green toile table HERE
Both Blue Toile Tables are discussed in this entry HERE
I actually have 3 more tablescape entries as drafts that I haven't found the time to finish editing yet.  Maybe after Christmas. No promises though.

ETA:  Reba snuck one more tablescape in for 2011.
More on Reba's New Year's Eve Table can be seen HERE



We are starting off 2012 with a bunch of Western Tablescapes you can see by clicking HERE

























See more Tablescapes HERE









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