Recipes from the Bitterroot Kitchen

Lemon Muffins

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Grated lemon rind

1. Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in egg yolks and beat until light.
2. Mix flour, baking powder and soda. Add to creamed mixture alternately with lemon juice.
3. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into muffin mixture with 2 teaspoons of lemon rind, mixing until just blended.
4. Fill buttered muffin tins 3/4 full.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. Cool and remove from tins. Sprinkle with grated lemon rind.

Cheese Straw Bundles

1 1/2 cups plain flour
salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup butter
1 cup dry cheddar cheese

1. Sift flour with seasoning into bowl, rub in butter to texture of bread-crumbs, add cheese and work into a smooth dough, knead until completely smooth, wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Roll out on a floured board, 1/2 inch thick, cut out a few circles and the rest into long narrow strips, lift onto a baking sheet, cook in a moderate oven, 190 degrees F until golden brown for 15-20 minutes.

Boef Bourguignonne

2 tablespoons bacon drippings
6 ounces (4 to 5 slices) bacon
1 1/2 pounds beef steak
2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
salt and black pepper
4 ounces button mushrooms
4 ounces button onions
4 carrots, chopped

1. Fry diced bacon until brown. Remove from pan and place in casserole dish.
2. Fry steak in bacon drippings until browned on all sides. Remove and place in casserole dish with bacon.
3. Blend flour with fat remaining in skillet and cook gently. Stir in stock and wine and bring to a boil.
4. Pour over meat in casserole dish, add herbs and seasonings. Cover and stew slowly for 1 1/2 hours in oven, 350 degrees F.
5. Add mushrooms, onion and carrots. Continue to cook for one hour. Adjust seasoning and serve with parsley garnish.

Chicken Elizabeth

1 lemon
1/4 cup butter
1 chicken
1/2 cup white wine
1 small onion chopped
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
2/3 cup chicken stock
1/2 tablespoon chutney
3 tablespoons apricot jam
1 1/4 cup cream
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup sour cream

1. Squeeze the lemon, place shells with a knob of butter inside chicken. Place in roasting tin, spread the remains of the butter over the bird, add the wine and roast.
2. Soften the onions in oil and add curry powder and cook for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the chicken juices, stock, chutney and jam and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes then liquidize.
3. Whip cream, mayonnaise, sour cream and curry sauce, season. Cut up chicken and add to sauce; let simmer in sauce for 10 minutes.

Cheese Souffle

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sifted flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
dash cayenne or hot pepper sauce
2 cups milk
1/2 pound sharp cheddar cheese
8 eggs, separated

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. (You can mix this souffle as much as 3 hours before baking time, if you like, and set it in the refrigerator. Remove it about 20 minutes before putting it in the preheated oven.)
2. Melt butter in a double boiler, over – not in = boiling water. Add flour, salt, paprika, cayenne or hot pepper sauce. Mix well.
3. Gradually stir in milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is thick.
4. Dice cheese. Stir in cream sauce until cheese melts. Remove from heat.
5. Beat egg yolks until light. Gradually pour yolks into cheese sauce, stirring constantly.
6. Wash beater. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold cheese sauce into egg whites. Pour mixture into baker and refrigerate if you wish. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees F and bake 25 minutes longer.

Stuffed Zucchini

2 narrow 6 to 7 inch long zucchini
1 cup corn
2/3 cups ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons chives
salt and pepper
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

1. Blanche zucchini in boiling water for 5 minutes. Place under cold water and drain. Cut in halves and scoop out seeds.
2. Mix corn, ricotta cheese, chives and salt and pepper. Fill zucchini halves with mixture. Cover with grated cheese and place in greased baking dish.
3. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake 20 to 25 minutes until topping is brown.

Beet And Apple Salad

1 pound cooked beets, peeled
1 large cooking apple
4 teaspoons finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/3 cup Italian Dressing

1. Peel beets and cut in strips.
2. Peel and core apple in thin strips, about same size as beets. Set aside.
3. Add onion and parsley to beets. Mix.
4. Add dressing. Chill for 1 hour.
5. Add apples and toss just before serving.
6. Sprinkle with chopped parsley as a garnish.

Mozzarella And Tomato Salad

1 ball fresh mozzarella
1 ripe avocado
Salt
2 teaspoons sugar
4 large tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
Pepper
Fresh basil (2-4 sprigs) or dried oregano and basil

1. Slice mozzarella and tomatoes
2. Lay in alternate strips on a large flat dish.
3. Peel and slice avocado. Place in strips on top of cheese and tomatoes.
4. Pour oil over surface.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Sprinkle with sugar.
7. Add herbs, sprinkled on top, especially if fresh, only when ready to serve.
8. Garnish with ripe olives.

Apple And Blackberry Fool

1 pound tart cooking apples
2 cups blackberries
2-4 tablespoons sugar
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
2/3 cup heavy cream, whipped

For the créme pâtissiére:

2/3 cup milk
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch

For the decoration:

4 teaspoons creme de cassis (blackcurrant liquer)
1/3 to 1/2 cup whipped cream
4 blackberries

1. Peel, core and slice the apples. Wash the blackberries and cook the fruit with the sugar in 2 tablespoons water, covered for 10 minutes or until the fruit is thoroughly softened.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and sieve the fruit.
3. To make the créme pâtissiére, pour the milk into a medium-sized pan and bring to boiling point. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until thick and light. Gradually whisk in the flour and cornstarch. Pour the milk carefully onto the egg yolk mixture, beating with the whisk until well blended. Pour the mixture back into the pan. Bring to the boil over a moderate heat, stirring constantly, then simmer for 3 minutes, beating vigorously with a wooden spoon to disperse any lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and add immediately to the apple and blackberry purée.
4. Add the lemon juice and fold in the whipped cream. Spoon the fool into individual serving glasses and chill until ready to serve.
5. Just before serving, spoon 1 teaspoon of the blackcurrant liquor over each fool. Pipe each dessert with a rosette of whipped cream and top with a blackberry.

Chocolate Mousse

6 squares Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1 tablespoon brandy
dash of salt
4 egg yolks slightly beaten
4 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar

1. Melt chocolate in pan over very low heat, stirring constantly.
2. Remove from heat and blend in cream, vanilla and salt. Gradually add mixture to egg yolks and beat until thick and creamy.
3. Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually beat in sugar until mixture forms stiff peaks.
4. Gently fold egg white mixture into chocolate mixture. Spoon into individual dessert dishes. Chill at least 2 hours.

Orange Sorbet

1 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups water
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Thin slices of oranges to decorate

1. Put sugar and water in large pan. Bring slowly to a boil and boil and stir for 10 minutes. Set aside until completely cool.
2. Add juices and zests to syrup. Pour into shallow freezer container and freeze for one hour or until frozen around the sides.
3. Beat mixture vigorously every 30 minutes to break up ice particles. Then leave for 2 to 3 hours until frozen hard. Serve by the scoops in individual dishes.

Cream Filled Brandy Snaps

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon unsulphured molasses
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon brandy
1 cup whipping cream, whipped and sweetened with 1 tablespoon powdered sugar.
Grated lemon rind, optional

1. Combine butter, sugar, corn syrup and molasses in small sauce pan. Heat only until butter melts.
2. Mix flour, ginger and nutmeg. Add butter mixture. Beat until smooth. Stir in brandy.
3. Drop by teaspoonful, 6 inches apart, onto greased baking sheets.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Cool a few seconds. Then ease cookies off sheets with spatula. Lift 1 at a time onto greased handle of a wooden spoon. Roll loosely around handle. Remove to wire rack, seam-side down to cool.
6. Shortly before serving, pipe whipped cream into both ends of snaps until filled, using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Sprinkle cream with grated lemon rind, if you wish.

Russian Teacakes

1 cup butter
1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup chopped nuts
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.
2. Shape into 1 inch balls. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes until set but not brown.
3. Roll in powdered sugar while warm. Cool. (These can also be shaped and baked in a tubular shape and one end can be dipped in hot fudge sauce.) Allow to cool on a rack.