Ginger Dressing Remembered

Dear Merri Lou: Somewhere out there is a book which prints the recipe for the Ginger Salad Dressing that is served at The Mustard Seed. On a lettuce salad, the dressing is delicious. Thank you. Mavis, Post Falls

Dear Mavis: The recipe is in one of the “Spokane Cooks!” cookbooks, and folks at the Spokane Public Library located a copy in their Northwest Room.

Ginger Salad Dressing

From The Mustard Seed Asian Cafe, in “Spokane Cooks! Northwest” (Spokane Community Centers Foundation, 1988).

1 cup vegetable oil

2-1/2 tablespoons ginger root, peeled and minced

1/2 rib celery, chopped

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted

1/8 teaspoon celery seed

1/2 teaspoon ketchup

Pinch white pepper

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup distilled white vinegar

In a blender, combine all ingredients except the soy sauce and vinegar. Blend for 30 seconds. Then add the soy sauce and vinegar and blend for 30 more seconds. Store in refrigerator. Keeps about 1 month.

Yield: About 1 pint, or 16 (2-tablespoon) servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 136 calories, 14.76 grams fat (97 percent fat calories), 1 gram carbohydrate, no cholesterol, 304 milligrams sodium.

Dear Merri Lou: I would appreciate a recipe for Scottish Eggs. It starts with a boiled egg. The shell is removed, the egg is wrapped with pork sausage and cooked. Do you have complete instructions for cooking? Sincerely, - Julia, Rosalia, Wash.

Dear Julia: Some recipes call for deep-fat frying the egg/ sausage mixture, but I came across this lovely recipe that is delicious with a special sauce.

Scotch Eggs With Curried Chutney-Yogurt Sauce

From “Breakfast in Bed,” by Jesse Ziff Cool (HarperCollins Publishers, 1997).

Sauce:

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon cumin

2 generous tablespoons mango chutney

1 teaspoon minced chives

Eggs:

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups toasted bread crumbs

1 pound bulk pork, turkey, or chicken sausage (see note)

2 tablespoons grated onion

2 tablespoons grated carrot

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

1 generous tablespoon unbleached white flour

4 hard-cooked eggs, peeled (see note)

To make the sauce, stir together the yogurt, sour cream, curry powder, cumin, chutney and chives. Refrigerate.

To make the eggs, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover a small baking sheet with parchment paper or a light coating of oil. Put the beaten eggs in one shallow dish and the bread crumbs in another.

Mix the sausage well with the onion, carrot, sage and flour. Using your hands, mold a quarter of the sausage mixture around each of the hard-cooked eggs, encasing the egg completely.

Roll the sausage balls in the beaten egg and then in the crumbs, coating them well. Bake on the prepared sheet for about 15 minutes, until the sausage is browned and cooked through. Serve hot or at room temperature with a generous dollop of sauce.

Yield: 2 hearty or 4 light servings.

Nutrition information per each of 4 servings: 630 calories, 31 grams fat (44 percent fat calories), 37 grams protein, 51 grams carbohydrate, 403 milligrams cholesterol, 1,543 milligrams sodium.

Note: Using a low-fat turkey or chicken sausage and nonfat sour cream will reduce fat calories.

To cook the eggs, put them in a saucepan with water to cover. Bring just to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and let sit, covered, for 15 minutes. Drain the eggs and run cold water over them until they’re cool enough to peel.

To make this dish ahead, make the yogurt sauce. Cook the eggs. Make the sausage mixture. Cover, dip and coat the eggs. Refrigerate, covered, overnight. In the morning, preheat the oven and bake the Scotch eggs. Because they have been refrigerated, they may take as long as 30 minutes.

Dear Merri Lou: Re: Garlic “pickled” in vinegar and spices. What does one do with two jars of this stuff? Is there a salad dressing that can be prepared with pickled garlic? These are great gifts to receive, but what to do with them? Sincerely, - Ann, Coeur d’Alene

Dear Ann: I spoke with Randy Saisslin of OH’Brine’s Pickling in Spokane, and he gave me some ideas:

Chop and puree the garlic and add to salsa or vegetable dips.

Tuck the garlic under the skin of chicken or turkey before cooking for a great flavor.

Add the garlic cloves and hot pickled mushrooms, to your sauce for basting a pork or beef roast.

Mince the garlic and add to whipped potatoes.

Try the “OH’Brine’s Shooter”: Take your favorite cracker (not a saltine), and top with gorgonzola cheese and a garlic clove.

, DataTimes MEMO: Have a food question? Looking for a recipe? Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian in Spokane, would like to hear from you. Write to Cook’s Notebook, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210, or e-mail to merrid@spokesman.com. As many letters as possible will be answered in this column; sorry, no individual replies.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Merri Lou Dobler The Spokesman-Review