Recipes: Antique and Modern

I just got back from the Pacific Northwest and spending a couple of week with Mac. It is good to keep in touch, but especially good to touch. It was a little cool, but all in all, very nice weather.

I shared a recipe with Mac and would like to share it with the blog. I think it is a lot of fun to know how our ancestors cooked and equal fun to convert those recipes.

This is simple recipe for a simple, inexpensive dessert. Indian pudding, then and now.

INDIAN PUDDING (1828 recipe)

1 cup (not quite full) molasses, 1 cup (not quite full) cornmeal, 1 egg, 1 heaping spoonful of butter or fat, salt, ginger or cinnamon to taste, all beaten together. Full quart of sweet milk put on to boil and the ingredients stirred in. Take from fire and add not quite a full cup of cold milk. Pour into pan onto lumps of butter. Bake one hour. Extra good.

This is the way they did it. I tried it like this.

INDIAN PUDDING (today's recipe)

4 cups plus 2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cups molasses (a New England friend uses Maple syrup, yummy)
2 eggs beaten
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger or cinnamon (I tried using both together, taste similar to pumpkin pie)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Heat 3 cups of milk in top of double boiler (can use microwave). Mix 1 cup of milk and cornmeal. Stir into hot milk. Combine the molasses, beaten eggs, butter salt and spice and add to cornmeal mixture. Cook over low heat intil mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat and add remaining 2/3 cup milk. Pour into a buttered 2 quart casserole and bake 2 hours. Serve warm or cool with whipped cream

*NOTE FROM MAC:
This is the sort of thing Mom would do with us, when I was little. We'd look at old recipes for pies, cakes, pancakes, bread -- anything you can think of, really, that people have eaten for generations. Then we'd make the recipe together, and experiment with ingredients and amounts.  So it was extra fun and a little like time traveling to make Indian Pudding together in my mom's RV kitchen.*

Favorite Swiss Steak

My apologies for taking so long to post again. We have been out of a service area for my mobile broadband, lolling on the lake for a couple of months. Hope everyone had a great holiday season and now we're ready to cook something different. This is my recipe for Swiss Steak.

SWISS STEAK

2 pounds (or so) of steak (best if using less tender cuts of round or chuck, The oven and the tomatoes tenderize it nicely.)
Salt & pepper to taste. I also sprinkle with a little garlic powder and thyme.
Pound with steak hammer (or edge of a saucer), pounding into the steak as much flour as possible. Brown steak in small amount of cooking oil(do not fully cook). I like Canola oil. Remove from skillet and place in one layer in a baking pan or oven safe Pyrex.

Saute using 1 tablespoon of remaining oil:
1 diced onion
1 chopped green bell pepper
add:
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of original Ro-tel tomatoes with green chilis
(if Ro-Tel are not available can substitie anothe can of diced tomatoes and a couple of chopped jalapenos)
Pour tomato mixture over browned steak,cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Serve over hot rice. I get a little lazy with the rice and use Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild rice, and microwave it. I really like the seasonings in the rice with the flavor of the Swiss Steak. Should serve six, or lefteovers are great, reheated.
Hope you all enjoy it

Baked Ziti

Gotta love Italian food too. Here's a requested recipe. Love it when you all read the blog and comment.

EASY BAKED ZITI

1 16oz pkg. ziti
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
28 ounces pasta sauce (okay to use bottle sauce or make your own if you don't mind the extra work)
1 egg
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (either fresh grated or the other kind)
1 cup ricotta cheese (can substitute cottage cheese if necessary)
6 ounces mozzerella cheese, grated
Non stick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make ziti according to directions on the package, be careful not to overcook. [...because nobody likes soggy noodles -- ed. note]
Drain well.
In a bowl, mix pasta and olive oil until pasta is well coated.
Spray a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Pour pasta sauce in the bowl with the pasta and oil and mix well. spread 1/2 the pasta mixture into the baking dish.

Mix the egg, ricotta and Pamesan cheese in a separate bowl. Spoon this mixture over the pasta and top with 1/2 of the mozzerella cheese. Spread the remaining pasta mixture for a second layer. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzerella over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes until bubbling hot. Serves about 6.