Food: 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Family Recipe Friday

The 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History prompt for Week 5 is Favorite Food:

What was your favorite food from childhood? If it was homemade, who made it? What was in this dish, and why was it your favorite? What is your favorite dish now?

My mother did some amazing things with hamburger.  With five kids in the family, we ate a lot of it.  Here are two of my favorite recipes:

Hamburger Stroganoff

Dice three slices of bacon and brown.  Add 1/2 cup chopped onion and saute until tender.  Brown a pound of ground beef, add to onions and bacon.  Add 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon paprika, and a dash of pepper, stir in one can of cream of mushroom soup.  Cook slowly, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.  Stir in 1 cup sour cream and heat, do not boil.  Serve over buttered noodles.

Texas Hash

Slice one large onion and mince one large green pepper and saute until onions are golden.  Add one pound ground beef and fry until mixture falls apart.  Stir in 2 cups cooked tomatoes (#1 tall can), one cup washed uncooked rice, two teaspoons Worcestershire sauce and two teaspoons salt.  Pour into greased two-quart casserole, cover and bake about one hour in 350-degree oven, removing the cover the last 15 minutes.

My grandmother, Sara Wolfe Guokas Archibald, could do amazing things with vegetables, making even okra and eggplant taste good.  She rarely wrote down recipes, but here is one I watched her make:

Nani's Corn

Heat contents of two regular-size cans of creamed corn with 1/4 pound Velveeta cheese until the latter melts.  Add some chopped celery, 1/4 cup chopped red bell peppers, and some chopped onion if desired, and mix.  Top with more Velveeta, bread crumbs, and parsley flakes.  Dot with butter and cook in the oven.

My favorite dish today is anything my husband makes!  Seriously, my absolute favorite would have to be the following recipe, which he first made for me almost 32 year ago:

Mark Gresham's Quiche

Pre-bake a 9'' frozen pie shell 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Saute 2 tablespoons chopped green onions and chopped mushrooms (to taste) in one teaspoon butter.  Add one package of thawed frozen spinach (cook off or squeeze out most of the water first).  In a separate bowl, mix 8 ounces of whipping cream, 3 eggs, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and a little salt and pepper to taste.  Add the sauteed mixture and mix well.  Pour into the pie shell, cover with grated Swiss cheese, dot with butter, and bake at 350 degrees 30 minutes or until done.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.