Thanks for the recipe Rick! That was some mighty fine eats!

Thank you, that was so delicious! And I am also going to look for the bean recipe and copy it to my notebook so I do not have to carry the laptop to the kitchen.

Francine...

https://garden.org/thread/repl...

RickM: thanks.

Jill's Homemade Mac & Cheese

Preheat oven to 350'F or 325'F convection. Lightly grease the sides of a 9x13" pan or a couple of loaf pans. Recipe can be doubled; it freezes & reheats well.

1 lb macaroni (try to get one with Durum wheat)
1/2 lb. aged sharp cheddar
1/8 to 1/4 pound additional cheese
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) cold unsalted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 c. milk
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp Penzey's "California Seasoned Pepper"
(or 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper)
1/4 tsp half-sharp paprika or cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp turmeric, only if using white cheddar cheese

Start the water boiling for the pasta, and get everything else ready while the macaroni cooks. Don't dwaddle, as it's important to add everything to the pot while the macaroni is still hot.

Shred 1/2 pound of cheese to combine with the macaroni and shred several additional handfuls to cover the top of the casserole. The better the cheese you use, the better the results. I've used half sharp cheddar and half fat free cheddar, and that's not bad, but using only well-aged cheddar is better. Cabot "seriously sharp" is good, Cabot "private reserve" is better (and available in 2 lb black-wrapped bricks at Costco or Sam's). Although I usually use more of the same cheddar on the top, for the swap today I used about 3 oz. of Butterkaise (German "butter cheese")

Measure the seasonings and add to the shredded cheese, mixing a little so the seasonings won't clump together. Chop the cold or frozen butter and add it to your pile of shredded cheese.

Cook the macaroni in lightly salted water, only to the al dente stage -- ideally, you should still see a little speck of white when you cut a noodle in half and look at the cross section. Keep in mind, the pasta will also be baked for 30+ minutes, so starting with soft floppy noodles will not result in the best texture.

Drain the macaroni well. While it's still steaming-hot, stir in the cheese and the butter and the seasonings. The butter and most of the cheese will melt and coat the pasta. If it only melts a little, that will still be OK!

Beat the eggs and stir together with the milk. Now the pasta and cheese mixture has to cool down a little, or the eggs will scramble. I wait until I can stick my finger into the pot for a count of 10. Then add the milk and eggs and stir well to combine.

Pour at once into the prepared pan, and sprinkle the additional shredded cheese over the top. Put into the oven on the upper rack (I usually use the second highest position). If there's some delay in getting it into the oven, you may need to add another 1/4 cup or so of milk, since the pasta will absorb liquid as it sits. You should be able to see the liquid just under the first layer of macaroni.

Set your timer for 30 minutes. The casserole will jiggle rather than slosh when it's cooked through. This may take 35-40 minutes total. Raising the rack to the top position for the last 5 minutes will help brown the top.

Serve at once, or wrap it up and bring it to a plant swap!

Rick's Oven Roasted Prime Rib

The spice rub was enough for a 3 pound roast, with some left over. If your roast still has the rib bones attached, carefully cut the bones from the roast. You can either save the bones for another use or lay the seasoned roast on top of the bones for roasting. Removing the bones before cooking make carving a lot easier.


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Spray rack and roasting pan with oil.

In medium bowl or jar with tight fitting lid, combine the following:
1 Tbl Dried Thyme
1 Tbl Garlic Powder
1 Tbl Ground Cinnamon
1 Tbl Ground Ginger
1 Tbl Onion Powder
1 Tbl Dried Parsley
2 Tbl Ground Black Pepper
2 Tbl Salt
3 Tbl Brown Sugar
3 Tbl Finely Ground Coffee (1 Keurig K-Cup)

Pat roast dry with paper towels. Trim most of the fat from the top of the roast, but DO NOT DISCARD!

Completely cover roast with spice rub. Coat trimmed fat with spice rub and place back on top of roast.

Put roast on rack and place in oven. Roast for 30 minutes then reduce heat to 300-325 degrees.

Roast until desired internal temperature.

Remove from oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Remove trimmed fat from top of roast, slice and serve.

RIck, I love your trick of cutting off the fat and then placing it on top the roast during roasting... not only do you get to season under the fat, it makes it a lot easier to carve and eat. The thick rim of fat around a slice of prime rib has never had much appeal to me. (My FIL on the other hand eats every bit of it, blaming it on a taste acquired in Korea, where they were chilled nearly all the time and ate every bit of fat they could get.)

I got the roast at Aldi (go figure). When I unwrapped it, there was the somewhat useless pop-up timer firmly embedded in the fat. When I pulled the timer out, a slab of fat came with it. Huh. I had never seen a roast come prepped that way. I decided to take it a step further and cutout all of the large chunks of fat. I seasoned the roast and fat separately and then put the fat back where it came from. The result was a well seasoned roast without all of the fat. YUM!!!

It started with the leek. I was going to make some potato leek soup initially. Then, I thought about thick slicing the leek and using that with the cod. As we all know, there is more green than white on grocery store leeks, so I went looking for what to do with them. I found a quick, simple recipe that was for the greens.

Prep the Cod
Soaking the cod in salted lemon water not only seasons the fish, but also helps get rid of any strong flavors
- Fill a large mixing bowl about half way with cold water
- Add salt and lemon juice, stirring until the salt is dissolved
- Optional: Add sugar to taste to the water and stir to disssolve
- Cut the cod into serving size pieces and place in the bowl, making sure the fish is completely covered with liquid


Persimmon-Mango Coulis
I had a couple of very ripe persimmon that needed to be used.
- Remove the stem cap and any black spots from the skin
- Put persimmon into a large blender jar
- Peel and coarsely chop an almost-ready mango and add it to the blender with the persimmon
- Run the blender at high speed until you have a smooth puree.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary

Sauteed Leek
- With the leek laying flat on the counter, split it lengthwise in half. Try to split the leaves at the fold.
- Once split, slice into pieces about 1/2 wide. Rinse thoroughly to remove all grit.
- In a large pan, heat a combination of butter and olive oil to cover the bottom.
- When hot, add the leek and stir to coat.
- After 10 minutes, add 1/2 to 1 cup of chicken stock and simmer leek until almost tender

Steam the Cod
- Remove the code from the brine and let it 'drip dry' for a few seconds
- Spread the leek in the pan into an even layer
- Lay the cod pieces on top of the leek and cover
- Allow fish to steam until it flakes easily

Putting it together
- Once the fish is cooked and flakes easily, carefully remove it to a warm plate.
- Remove the leek to a warm bowl and allow it to sit for a minute or two.
- Pour the accumulated liquid from the leek back into the pan
- Deglaze the pan with white wine
- Bring the heat up to medium
- When the liquid has reduced, add a tablespoon or two of butter to the pan and swirl it around to thicken the sauce.

Plating
You can either put it all on a large platter to serve family style, or do individual plates.
- Spread the leek out on the platter or plate, covering only half of the surface
- Spread some of the coulis on the open area of the plate
- Gently place the pieces of fish partly on the leek and partly on the coulis
- Spoon the hot sauce over the fish and leek
- Put the rest of the coulis in a small serving bowl to pass

Serve and enjoy!