Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen - Details

Just wanted to comment on this not-so-useless device. If you do a lot of canning, you would like to have a sturdy jar lifter. After you have processed your preserves in boiling water for 15 minutes, you grab the wooden handles and put the red rubber curved ends under the boiling water around the neck of the finished jars and lift them out. this allows you to process the next batch without waiting for the water to cool enough to take out the first batch. Your picture is upside down.

Elizabeth Gleghorn, MD
Director, Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition
Children's Hospital Oakland

Today I was digging through more boxes from parents which I had in storage. My mother passed 7 years ago and I knew she had my some of Nana's recipes in her things somewhere. My Nana, of blessed memory, was one of the best cooks I have ever known. The oldest of 13 children and the daughter of 2 immigrants who ran from the Pogroms in Poland, she could make a gourmet meal out of a crust of bread and a carrot! Well, almost.

And I found some of them!! Many of them are for baked goods (will share later) but I found her recipe for Harvard Beets in my Nana's handwriting. While I only like beets in borscht, this was a favorite with most of the rest of my family.

Hope you can use this - I think she'd be amazed her recipes can be immortalized on the Internet now!

Barbara

Harvard beets are cooked beets in a sweet and sour sauce of vinegar and sugar (with spices) and sometimes with butter and/or orange juice. Supposedly created by a Harvard student (or a Yale student), there is also a story that they originated in a tavern in England named 'Harwood' and the 'Harvard' is a mispronunciation of the name.

1. 2 1/2 cups of diced, cooked beets
2. 1/2 cup vinegar
3. 1/2 cup sugar
4. 1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch
5. 2 Tablespoon(s) butter
6. salt to taste

1. Pot for Stove Top
   

1. Dice and boil beets until the are soft all the way through (test with a knife)
2. Mix sugar, cornstarch and vinegar.
   
3. Bring this to a boil and add beets.
   
4. Cover and take off heat and let stand about 20 minutes.
5. Add salt to taste and butter and return to low heat until beets are warm.
6. Serve.

Pipe Rigate

1. One bag of Pasta - (I usually use either conchiglie (shells) or pipe rigate (elbow shells) -This should be about 1/2 Kilo or 1 pound. You can of course make less or more, depending on how many people you need to feed!
   
2. Grated Cheese - Once again you can use any cheese you like. I use Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.You will need around 400 grams of Mozzarella (14 ounces) and 100 grams (4 ounces) of Parmesan.
3. Olive Oil - For the bottom of the pan that you put in the oven.
4. Fresh Mushrooms (I really do not like the canned or bottled mushrooms - but you can use them as well!).
5. 1 Teaspoon fresh Oregano (just a touch) or you can use the spice jar.
   
6. 1 Tablespoon of Salted Butter - My sister adds this, I do not. Your choice.
7. Pepper& Salt to taste
   

1. Oven Tempered Pot or Silver Foil Pan
2. Colander (Food Strainer)
3. Pot To Boil Pasta

1. First you have to get that pasta (macaroni) ready. So put it on the stove in water, (cover the macaroni and add about another 1/3 of water to the pot.
2. Let it cook on the flame between 12-18 minutes. The Macaroni should be soft to the touch when you are done but not soggy! So this timing is really a matter of experience believe it or not, cause it should be an almost exact science!
3. While the Macaroni is boiling on stove stop - cut up the mushrooms and get the oven pot ready by spreading a bit of olive oil on the bottom.
4. Pre-Heat Oven to 350º Fahrenheit.
   
5. When the Macaroni is ready (remember softnotsoggy! don't let it cook too much!) pick up the pot and pour it all in the Colander so now you get rid of the water.
6. Now put the Macaroni into your oven ready dish.
7. Take around 100 grams of the Mozzarella cheese and put on top.
   
8. If you are going to add butter just drop it on the top
9. Add the Oregano on top.
10. Now mix it all together - (cheese, butter and Oregano.)
11. Now mix in all the cut-up mushrooms. (ACK! Forgot this step! Kali found the omission!)
    
12. Now take the rest of the Mozzarella and sprinkle it all around the top.Don't mix it in.This is the cheese cover.
13. Now take the Parmesan cheese and sprinkle it around the middle or around the sides, any which way you like. (See the photo above)
14. In the end you should have a cheese top.
15. Now cover the dish with silver foil -do NOT put that dish in the oven without it being covered! Otherwise the cheese will not melt at a rate that the Macaroni (pasta) is cooked.
    
16. Now believe it or not, this depends on the temperament of your oven. When my oven is having a bad hair day it needs say 60-75 minutes. On a day when the oven is in a good mood and does not want to do some nasty stuff to me it takes 60 minutes! What you want to end up with, is a melted cheese on top and the pasta cooked evenly. I use a glass dish so I can see the macaroni next to the glass. My kids like it crusty!
17. Now take that silver foil off, and let the dish cook for 5 minutes, so the cheese turns a nice light golden brown. Don't burn it so be careful here!
18. Take it out - Serve or let it cool off and put in the fridge until ready to be heated up and served.
19. By the way this is one of those special dishes that I say - go ahead and nuke a part of it when you want to heat it up real fast and you take it from the fridge. (2-3 minutes in the Microwave is usually enough!)