Rich food dominates fall

By NATALIE MIKLES World Scene Writer - 11/4/2009


Opening up the e-mails and letters we receive for the monthly Reader Exchange column is like opening a window into your kitchens.

So, what are you all cooking and thinking about this fall? Cheesecake (apple-cinnamon in particular). Potato soup. Chicken wings. Pumpkin cake. Beer-cheese dip. Onion rings. Jambalaya. Chocolate bourbon cake.

If these foods have anything in common, it's that they're not light. Some of you who shared your favorite cheesecake recipes mentioned that you only make the recipe once a year or for special occasions.

So yes, we're going to give you more recipes that aren't so beneficial to your waistline, but remember, this isn't everyday food.

Karen Droms, who shared a recipe for a beer-cheese dip, said her daughter and triplet grandkids know it's a special day when she makes "the dip." She started making it years ago for Sunday dinners when her family would get together to play cards.

Try it for a football party or your own family game night.

CHEESE DIP WITH BEER

3 (6-ounce) packages garlic cheese (such as Aloutte)
2 ounces blue cheese
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
1/2 cup beer

1. Melt garlic cheese, blue cheese and butter. Add onion, Worcestershire, Tabasco and beer. Heat thoroughly, and stir until blended.

2. Optional: Hollow out a round rye loaf of bread, and fill the cavity with the warm cheese mix.

Claudia Butler shared this recipe for a chocolate bourbon cake. It's based on a recipe from famed cake decorator Colette Peters, and it's one that Butler has used for her own cake decorating business, Sweet Sensations in Grove.

BOURBON CHOCOLATE CAKE

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
1 3/4 cups hot coffee
1/4 cup bourbon
5 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into small pieces
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Grease and flour 2 (8- or 9-inch) round pans. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

2. Combine the coffee, bourbon, chocolate and butter in a large covered metal bowl. Let stand until completely melted, then whisk together. Whisk in the sugar and cool. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, then the eggs and the vanilla.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 45 minutes (checking after 30 minutes for even baking) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes completely in the pans on wire racks. You can then either refrigerate them in the pans, wrapped in plastic, or use them right away, though it's easier to decorate a cooled cake. To remove the cakes from the pans, run a knife around the inside edges of the pan and place it over a low flame to melt the grease, making sure to keep the pan moving to prevent burning. The cake should slide out easily when you invert the pan.

Tortilla soup usually falls into one of two categories — a spicy broth-base or creamy and cheesy. This one, shared by Ken Oliver, is a little bit of both.

CREAMY TORTILLA SOUP

1 pound ground chuck
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup flour
1 (1.24-ounce) envelope taco seasoning mix
4 cups beef broth
2 cups milk
1 (15-ounce) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained or 1 can Rotel tomatoes, undrained
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese or Mexican-blend cheese, finely shredded
Crushed taco chips
Sour Cream

1. Cook ground beef and onion together until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off the fat. Add melted butter, stir in flour, taco seasoning mix, beef broth and milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

2. Add beans and undrained tomatoes to meat mixture. Heat through. Add cheese. Stir over low until cheese melts. Ladle mixture into soup bowls and add crushed corn chips and dollop of sour cream on top.

Variation: Use 1 pound of cooked and diced chicken breast instead of the ground beef. Use 4 cups of chicken broth in place of the beef broth. The other ingredients remain the same.

Carolyn Boyce and Betty Ache wrote to help a reader looking for a cheesecake made without a graham cracker crust. Both sent the same recipe, which comes from a Philadelphia Cream Cheese cookbook. Top it with fresh fruit or pie filling.

METROPOLITAN CHEESECAKE

Dough:

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups flour

Filling:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3 eggs

Topping:

1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; blend in egg. Add flour; mix well. Spread dough with spatula on bottom and 1 1/2 inches around sides of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 450 for 5 minutes.

2. Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, juice and rind, mixing until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Pour mixture into crust. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.

3. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees; continue baking 30 minutes.

4. Combine sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Spread over cheesecake. Continue baking 10 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan. Chill. Before serving, top with fresh fruit or pie filling.





Requests

A reader named Carolyn would like a recipe for candy cane fudge.

Pat Seibert is looking for the recipe for the Elliott’s barbecue sauce. Does anyone have it?

Muffie Harton would like to have the recipe for tomato soup served at the Bistro at 101st Street and Yale Avenue.

A reader has tried to track down the recipe for the smoky chicken salad served at the now-closed Smokehouse barbecue restaurant in Sand Springs. Did anyone get away with the recipe or know of a good copycat version?

Kay Todd remembers a recipe for chicken soup from a Southern Living Christmas magazine from the late 1980s. Once finished cooking, you added an egg and stirred it in. If anyone has the recipe, she would love to have a copy.

Cynthia Foster wonders if anyone has the recipe for the chocolate zucchini bread made by the Two Sisters catering business.

Treva Romero is looking for the recipe for the fruit sauce Luby’s serves on its baked ham. She would love to have it for her Christmas ham. She’s tried the Internet with no success. Does anyone have this recipe?

If you have a recipe for one of our readers or a request of your own, send it to Natalie Mikles at natalie.mikles@tulsaworld.com or 315 S. Boulder Ave., Tulsa, OK 74103.



Natalie Mikles 581-8486
natalie.mikles@tulsaworld.com




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