Tembleque (Puerto Rican Coconut Pudding)

Ingredients:
2 (14 ounce) cans coconut milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup cornstarch
ground cinnamon
Instructions: Stir coconut milk, sugar, and salt together in a saucepan. Spoon a few tablespoons of the coconut milk mixture into a small bowl and stir cornstarch into the mixture to dissolve; pour into the mixture in the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring constantly; cook until smooth and thick, about 5 minutes.

Pour the coconut milk mixture into molds, and refrigerate until cold and firm.

Cut around edge of mold to loosen, remove from mold and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Rice Cream

1 cup white rice (not instant)

½ tsp. salt

1 qt. milk

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. almond extract

½ chopped almonds and 1 whole blanched almond

2 cups heavy cream, whipped with 1 tsp almond extract and sweetened to taste

Cook rice, salt, and milk in double boiler until rice is soft and mixture is thick, about ½ hour.  Add sugar and almond extract.  Chill.  Add chopped almonds and whole almond.  Stir in whipped cream.  Spoon into dishes and serve with red fruit sauce.  The person who gets the whole almond gets a gift and gets to help hand out the Christmas presents.  

Quick Potato Lefse

2 cups water

2 cups instant potatoes (shake to settle)

3 tbs. shortening

3 tbs. butter

2 tsp. salt

1 tbs. sugar

Bring water to a boil.  Remove from heat and stir in instant potatoes, shortening, butter, salt, and sugar.  Cool.  For each cup of this mixture, add ½ cup of flour and divide into 4 portions.  (Keep remainder of potato mixture refrigerated until ready to use.)  Roll each portion into dinner-plate size, as thin as possible, using additional flour if needed.  (to aid in rolling it thin, use a grooved rolling pin with a sock and a pastry board covered with a pastry cloth.  Use a lefse stick to turn.

When lefse is as thin as possible, flip one end of the lefse over the lefse stick and up to center.  Place lefse on hot lefse griddle and unroll.  When bubbles appear, turn and bake on other side. If needed, turn over once more and bake till brown spots appear.  Do not overbake or lefse will be dry.  Lefse is traditionally served spread with butter and sprinkled with sugar, then rolled up to eat.  

Red Fruit Sauce

Possible fruit juices: pomegranate, currant, cherry, strawberry, cranberry, or raspberry.

2 cups juice

Sugar if needed

2 tbs. cornstarch

Cold water

Bring juice to a boil.  Meanwhile, dissolve cornstarch in cold water.  Remove juice from heat and slowly stir in cornstarch & water mixture, stirring constantly.  Bring  back to a boil quickly.  (Mixture will not be too thick.)  Pour sauce into a pitcher or jar.  Chill before serving.  Can be spooned over rice cream, crepes, pancakes, ice cream, etc.  

Grandma O's Breakfast Cheese Souffle

Okay, this isn't cheese souffle in the truest sense of the word, but it's what Grandma O served every Christmas morning for years, along with "funeral potatoes" and bacon, sausage, and fruit.  Dad has served it for the last few years, reviving the tradition and I'm happy about that. I had forgotten how tasty it is.  

• 1/2 lb. Kraft Old English Cheese (It comes in those little bottles that you can use for juice glasses if you want, once they're empty and you remove the labels)
• 1 cube butter
• Garlic salt and pepper to taste.  

Bring butter and cheese to room temperature, then mix thoroughly with seasonings.  Trim crusts off approx. eight slices of bread and put in bottom of 9 x 13 pan. Spread cheese mixture thickly onto bread.  (This is easier if the bread is frozen, according to Gary.)  Pierce thoroughly with long-tined fork.  

Lightly beat 6 eggs and add 2 cups milk.  Beat together and pour over bread.  Refrigerate overnight.  Bake covered 1 hour at 350 degrees or until it is set up and the edges are nicely browned.  (People will fight over the corner pieces.

Perfect Prime Rib with Creamy Horseradish, "baked" potatoes, and Spinach Salad

Found this on another blog and I want to try it this year.  Thought it would be good to put it here so I could remember it.  :)


Prime Rib 

1.       Get a prime rib roast at your supermarket. It's usually labeled bone-in ribeye roast.

2.       Mix up equal parts of onion salt, seasoned salt, and garlic powder. Approx 1/4 cup total.

3.       Pat the salt mixture on both ends and the fat side of the roast. The salt may not stick as well on the fat side. Don't worry about it.

4.       Using a small knife, cut slits in the fat side of the meat and stick in slivers of fresh garlic before roasting.  This method allows it to melt into the fat and the meat while it cooks(Optional)

5.       Pre-heat oven as high as it will go. Usually 500 degrees, but NOT broil.

6.       Stick the roast in a dutch oven preferably on a small rack that will lift it off the bottom. Bone side down (fat side up). Get a meat thermometer and stick it in the middle of the roast.

7.       Cook the roast in the oven for 5-6 minutes per pound and then shut the oven off. DO NOT OPEN OVEN DOOR FOR TWO HOURS UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH.

8.       After two hours take it out and check the temp. If its 140 degrees it's perfect. If it's cooler, put it back in the oven at 375 degrees until it hits 140 degrees.. This procedure will yield a PERFECT MEDIUM RARE PRIME RIB. (Don't ask me how to do medium or well done because cooking prime rib roast past medium rare is a felony.)

9.       If desired, get a package of Au Jus mix in the spice section of your supermarket and make following directions.

Creamy Horseradish Sauce

1 cup heavy cream

1 pinch white pepper, or to taste

1 dash hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco) (optional)

3 tablespoons prepared horseradish

Whisk the cream in a mixing bowl until stiff peaks form. Lift your beater or whisk straight up: the cream should form a sharp peak that holds its shape. Season with the white pepper, hot sauce, and horseradish. Stir to combine.

Note: This sauce doesn't keep very well. Just plan to use it the same day you make it.

Baked Potatoes in the Crockpot  (since the oven will be busy!)

Not really a "recipe"...more of an idea than anything. A GOOD idea when the oven is already occupied. Wash potatoes....wrap in foil...pierce with small knife in several places...set in Crockpot....cover...cook. Depending on how much time you have....LOW for 6 to 8 hours....or HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.  Great thing about this is if you're off on your timing a little (or even a lot!)...the potatoes will wait there patiently until you are ready.

Spinach Salad

2 bunches of Spinach

1 head of lettuce (I use green leaf)

3 c. grated swiss cheese

1 container cottage cheese

1 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled

3/4 c. sliced mushrooms (fresh)

1/2 red onion, sliced thinly

Dressing

1/2 to 1 c. oil (I use canola oil) 

3/4 c. red wine vinegar

3/4 t. dry mustard

1 1/2 T. poppy seeds

3/4 c. sugar

1 1/2 t. salt

Wash & dry spinach and lettuce. Take stems off spinach, cut up lettuce. Place in large enough bowl to toss in. (This is a BIG salad!) Add swiss cheese, cottage cheese, bacon, mushrooms & red onion.   Toss with dressing. Serve immediately!  (Don't toss with cottage cheese and dressing until just before serving or it will get soggy.)

Here is a bonus tip for you from a chef:  The best way to reheat a sourdough baguette is to run it quickly under the tap with the water running and then put it directly into a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, until it’s crisp on the outside and warm on the inside...  it works! 

lefse

We used to get this in the mail from my Grandma Iverson every Christmas.  Whenever we go to Epcot we stop by the bakery in the Norway pavilion and get some.  (But they don't put enough sugar on theirs, so I always have to unroll it to add a little more.)


5 large potatoes, peeled, boiled, drained, and mashed

½ cup sweet cream

1 tsp. salt

3 tbs. butter

flour (1/2 cup per each cup of potatoes)

Measure potatoes, make note of amount.  Add cream, butter, and salt.  Beat until light.  Cool.  Add ½ cup flour for each cup of potato.  Roll about ¼ - ½ cup portion of batter as thin as possible.  These need to be as thin as corn tortillas.  They will be fairly large.  You can roll them into a circle or a rectangle, depending on the size and shape of your griddle.  For ease of rolling, cover bread board with thin “flour sack” dish cloth, secure with pins, and flour well.  Flour rolling pin as well.  Bake on ungreased griddle on medium heat till light brown, turning to prevent scorching.  These cook quickly.  Place between layers of towel to cool.  After cooling, fold lefse into quarters.  Stack, store tightly wrapped in refrigerator.  To serve, open lefse, spread lightly with butter on one half, sprinkle with sugar, roll, and eat.

Prime Rib

¾-1 pound prime rib roast per person

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp.  Coarse, freshly ground pepper

1 tsp. Dried thyme leaves (not ground)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine garlic, salt, pepper and thyme; press even into the fat side of the meat (opposite the bone).  Place roast on rack in shallow roasting pan.  Insert meat thermometer (not an absolute necessity, but darn handy)  so bulb is centered in thickest part of roast.  Do NOT add water or cover. Roast for 18-22 minutes per pound.  Remove roast when meat thermometer registers 135.  Let stand 15 minutes before carving, meat temperature will continue to rise to 140 or so.  This will produce mostly medium-rare to rare slices of prime rib, though the end pieces will still be well done.  If you prefer your meat more well done, roast until temperature reaches 155 degrees.  Make gravy from the drippings and serve with mashed potatoes.