Korean Spinach or Kale Side DishThis has become my signature dish for potlucks. It's delicious, healthy, and easy--and since you serve it at room temperature, it's very portable. Because the leaves cook down a lot, I usually make a double or triple batch. All of the measurements for the sauce are approximate or "to taste." I usually eat mine with a little Sriracha. Enjoy!


Ingredients:1 pound spinach or kale

Sauce:2 Tbsp soy sauce1 Tbsp sesame oil1 Tbsp mirin (optional)2 tsp rice wine vinegar2-3 cloves crushed or minced garlic1-2 tsp sugar1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

To Make:Bring a large pot of water to a boil. If using spinach, blanch the spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds. If using kale, leave kale in boiling water for 10-15 minutes, until leaves are soft.
Remove spinach or kale, strain in colander, and rinse in cold water.
(If using spinach, time is of the essence—remove quickly. Kale is more durable.) Gently squeeze leaves to remove excess water.Mix sauce and add to spinach/kale.Sprinkle on sesame seeds and toss.Serve at room temperature. Makes about 4 servings

Goat Dip

I suppose this dip came out of a necessity for nicety. Virginia, aka Scout, had been begging for a 'real' tea party for weeks and I finally had the time and fortitude to grant her wish. We decided on cucumber sandwiches because they come so highly recommended by Fancy Nancy. 

Cucumber sandwiches sound delightful: moist white bread, smooth texture, refreshing cucumber and good creamy fat. Unfortunately I have been mostly disappointed by dry bread and tasteless sandwiches. I set out to improve a bit on this traditional lady's luncheon food.

Gathering whatever I found that might be of use from the fridge, I soon started plopping things in the food processor. It turned out better than I could have hoped, mostly due to the goat cheese that needed using. For the sandwiches I merely spread the Goat Dip on potato bread, and a favorite of you know who, and cut off all the crust. I sometimes use a cookie cutter to make shapes for the kids. The Goat Dip is really great as a crudites dip and has become my go to for parties. Its easy to make and doesn't heat up the kitchen during the summer months.

Goat Dip. Photo and Recipe by Anna Sindelar

Goat Dip

Makes 3 cups. Great on sandwiches or a dip for veggies and chips. 

Ingredients:

3-4 Persian Cucumbers or 1 large American cucumber, sliced thinly 

3 tsp salt

5 oz Goat Cheese

6 oz Cream Cheese, cubed

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp parmesan, grated

1/2 tbsn assorted herbs: lavender, savory, sage, rosemary

Salt if necessary

Directions:

Toss cucumber slices with salt. Arrange slices up the side of a colander and let sit for 30-60 minutes. Pat cucumbers dry and dust off excess salt. Process cucumbers, herbs, garlic and parmesan in the food processor until finely chopped. Add cream cheese and goat cheese and process until smooth. Add milk if texture is too thick. Refrigerate.

The Tea Party was a success!

Double Orange Biscuits

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp grated orange rind

2 tbsp butter

½ cup orange juice

½ cup milk

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add orange rind. Cut in butter. Stir in orange juice and milk, mixing well. Knead lightly and mash out to a rectangle shape about ½” thick and 6” wide.

Paste

6 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

1/3 cup orange juice

grated rind of one orange

½ cup sugar

In a double boiler, cook all ingredients except sugar until thickened. Add sugar and remove from heat. If the sugar is added while it’s on the heat, some sort of chemical reaction takes place and the paste doesn’t thicken. Let cool. This can be kept in the refrigerator for some time, too.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Melt the rest of the stick of butter in the biscuit pan.

Spread the paste on the biscuits, but retain some to spread on their tops after baking and roll up, jelly roll style. Cut into 1” rounds and gently dredge one side in the butter, turning that side up. Bake till lightly browned on the top.

Pour the remaining glaze over them and serve warm.

A couple of notes:

These recipes were found side by side in a cookbook. The first one called for sprinkling the tops with grated orange rind and sugar. The second one called for plain old biscuit dough. I combined them to make double orange breakfast treats!

And I used Ginger Davis’ San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Blue Ribbon winning biscuit mix. Adding buttermilk to the biscuit dough rather than milk.

Glazed Lemon Cake

½ pound (2 sticks) sweet butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, sifted

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 tightly packed tablespoons grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Lemon Icing (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 10” tube pan.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Add lemon zest and juice.

Pour batter into prepared tube pan. Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pan and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool cake in the pan. Set on a rack, for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and spread on icing alt once, while cake is still hot.

Lemon Icing

1 pound confectioners sugar

8 tablespoons sweet butter. Softened

3 tightly packed tablespoons grated lemon zest

½ cup fresh lemon juice

Cream sugar and butter thoroughly. Mix in lemon zest and juice; spread on warm cake.

Some notes about making the cake:

It takes about 6 large lemons to get enough zest. You’ll have extra juice for lemonade.

I lightly dust the greased pans with flour.

The icing recipe is generous. Use the leftover to glaze something else, or to pipe onto berries you’re serving with the cake.

The cake freezes well - and can be made in individual-sized bundt pans.

La Pryor Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla (I use Mexican Vanilla)

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup coconut

2 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Melt butter in a decent sized sauce pan, slowly. When melted, remove from heat and add sugars and mix. Add eggs and mix in. Add vanilla. Add oatmeal and cocoanut. Sift together remaining dry ingredients, add and mix well. Place in walnut-sized nuggets on a cookie sheet. I line mine with parchment paper for quick cleanup. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until just browning.

I get my coconut from Nutsonline.com. It’s a big wide flake, but without sugar. And it’s a great website for nuts, granola, and good stuff. Speedy shipping.

The cookie recipe was developed by the ladies of the elementary school cafeteria in La Pryor TX. They freeze well and are the best cookie to accompany ice cream.

Each 1 ½ -2” diameter cookie is about 35 calories.

Roasted Okra

Roasted Okra (not a fancy pants recipe but more of a process)

Ingredients:
Fresh Okra
Olive Oil
Salt
Cracked black pepper
OR whatever your preferred seasonings are . . .

Tools:
oven
cookie sheet
non-stick foil
tongs
spatula/egg turner
hot pads for your hands

Well, I like Okra, but I don't like to fry in a house with a 1930's kitchen without an exhaust fan, so I roast my Okra. (Yes, "Okra" with a capital "O" because I respect and love my Okra).

Here's what I do:
- Choose my Okra carefully at the Farmer's Market, usually getting that smallish Okra about the size of my ring finger or little finger. And, I get the green velvet Okra - yes, I like my Okra fuzzy. I take it home and introduce it to my kitchen.

- Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees; line a cookie sheet with non-stick foil; tear off a piece of foil for a cover for the cookie sheet.

- Put the Okra in a large mixing bowl (maybe with other vegetables such as potatoes and red bell peppers just so it won't get lonely) and drizzle it with oil and season to taste. Toss it all with your hands to get everything evenly covered. Wash your hands.

- Dump the Okra onto the foil lined cookie sheet and spread everything out until it's only one layer. Cover tightly with the other sheet of foil. Place in oven and set timer for 20 minutes.

- When the timer goes off, take the covered pan out of the oven and shut the oven door. Remove the top foil lid (you are through with this sheet of foil unless you know there is a good chance the person you will be eating with will be late coming home to eat - then you will need it later). Use your tongs to turn over every Okra ( or vegetable) piece on the pan. Put the pan back in the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes.

- At 12 minutes, because you can't wait for 15 and you don't want to look at your timer any more, take the pan out of the oven, turn the oven off, and serve your Okra immediately. Unless your dining partner is late, and then you will cover it with that other piece of foil, and eat it after it gets slightly soggy and coolish - but it will be tasty. Yum.

TEA

A water infusion, we drink tea cold AND over ice in the south. Though Summer the heat has not subsided. Mom recently shared a recipe for Ginger tea and Mary Anna has urged me to post it. I also make tea quite a bit for the kids and I recently learned an easy technique from an Italian mother of three. She calls it "Mint Water" and all you do is put a mint teabag in a water jug and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Its amazingly refreshing and easy! A nice departure from fridge water. Here is the recipe Mom gave me and another I came up with:


Iced Green Tea Elixir with Ginger & Lemon

It tastes a little fruity and sweet — but not at all cloying. The flavor of this tea is perfectly balanced. Gingery spice that lingers and warms the throat, fresh tannins of green tea, bright lemon and... a secret ingredient that adds fruity, sour notes: Pomegranate syrup.

Yes, you will need pomegranate syrup (also known as pomegranate molasses) for this recipe. Here's a little more on pomegranate molasses — it is easily found at Mediterranean and Middle Eastern markets. I really love it; it is a wonderful ingredient to have on hand for syrups, marinades, and drinks; its concentrated flavor is a powerful asset in the kitchen.

Make sure, though, to buy pomegranate syrup without any added sugar or sweeteners. It should just be concentrated pomegranate juice, boiled down to syrup. Again, this should be easy to find; my local Mediterranean market had three or four brands to choose from.

makes 3 quarts

1/4 ounce good quality Chinese green tea leaves
1/4 cup lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
1/4 cup pomegranate syrup or pomegranate molasses, without any added sweeteners (available at middle eastern markets)
3/4 cup ginger syrup, recipe below
Mint, to garnish
Lemon slices, to garnish
Pomegranate seeds, to garnish

Place the tea leaves in a large bowl. Heat 3 1/2 cups of water to about 170°F. (Or bring to a boil, then let cool for 5 minutes.) Pour the hot water over the green tea leaves and steep the tea for 5 minutes. Strain the tea, keeping the liquid and discarding the leaves.

Stir in the lemon juice, pomegranate syrup and ginger syrup. Add 8 cups of cold water. Stir. Let sit overnight in the refrigerator.

Serve over ice with a lemon slice and fresh pomegranate seeds, or a handful of muddled mint.

Ginger Syrup
makes about 5 cups

1/2 pound fresh ginger root, skin on
3 cups white sugar
2 cups water

Cut the ginger into knuckle-sized pieces. Buzz the ginger in a food processor or chopper until it is fine and stringy, like rough wood chips.

Add the sugar and water to a large saucepan and whisk to combine. Bring to a boil and lower the heat. Simmer just until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the chopped ginger. Let the pot cool on the stove, then put it in the fridge to steep overnight.

The next day, strain the syrup through a fine mesh sieve at least twice, to remove the finer bits of ginger. Discard the ginger. Pour the syrup into a bottle or closed container and refrigerate. This syrup will keep for several weeks at least, as long as it is refrigerated.

Optional: Try this tea in a bourbon cocktail — incredibly good. Shake up 1 ounce bourbon with 4 ounces iced tea and a handful of mint. Strain and serve over ice with lemon.

Jamaica-Mint Tea
I first had Jamaica drink at a taqueria while attending San Antonio College at the urging of Mary Virginia. I love it's deep fuchsia color and tart flavor, similar to that of pomegranate. While pregnant with Orion in 2009 I visited my childhood friend, Courtney Czar, in Tucson, AZ. She took me to a tiny foodie cafe, only open during the winter months. There they served a new iteration of my favorite drink: Jamaica Mint Tea. I then set out to make my own.

1 1/2 cup dried jamaica (available at Mexican markets) 1 cup fresh mint leaves, whole 1/2 cup sugar 2 qt Pour quarts of boiling water into a container with jamaica, mint and sugar and let sit for 10 minutes, strain and add ice. Look for more information about the jamaica flower here.

I know there are more of you who have great ideas and recipes for summertime, cold drinks. Please share!