Sticky buns recipe a holiday favorite
During the holiday season many cooks fall back on traditional family favorites.
Like hearing “Jingle Bells,” seeing “It’s a Wonderful Life,” or drinking egg nog, many of us find comfort and joy in preparing at least a few traditional recipes during the holidays.
That’s certainly true for Kay O’Rourke, Ruben Trejo and Rosemary Balazs.
About 30 years ago, when artist Kay O’Rourke was a young mother she thought it was important to begin a few traditions for her family.
“Because I like to cook,” says O’Rourke, “I started making sticky cinnamon buns for Christmas morning. Everyone liked them so much; I started giving them as presents.”
This year O’Rourke made 12 dozen of her popular Mashed Potato Sticky Buns. (Recipe follows). “They freeze really well,” she says.
Another familiar sight and smell around the O’Rourke house this time of year is a simmering pot of clam chowder. (Recipe follows).
“With so much going on during and after the holidays, it is nice having a big pot of chowder on the stove,” she says. “One year I didn’t make it, and everyone was disappointed. They said that the chowder was one of the reasons they looked forward to coming.”
When sculptor Ruben Trejo thinks of traditional holiday food, tamales come to mind.
“Back when I was a child,” says Trejo, “I remember my mother and her friends getting together on Christmas Eve and making tamales. Then everyone would go to midnight Mass.” (Recipe follows.)
“Mexicans eat tamales all year round, but it’s traditional to have them on Christmas Eve,” he says. “We always eat them as soon as they were cooked. They are like fresh bread; you want to savor that immediate flavor.”
Over at the Harold and Rosemary Balazs house in Mead, simplicity rules for Christmas dinner.
“Thanksgiving is when we have to do everything exactly the same,” says Rosemary Balazs. “On Christmas, we do the simplest dinner we can think of.”
That dinner includes a mixed green salad, hot French bread and Christmas Crab. (Recipe follows.)
Everything can be made ahead of time and heated just 30-minutes before everyone is ready to eat.
“I put the whole crab in the center of the table and let everyone pick at it,” says Rosemary. “We always serve with lots and lots of napkins.”
Mashed Potato Sticky Buns
From Kay O’Rourke, “Back Porch Cookbook”
2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1 envelope dry yeast
7 cups (about) all-purpose flour
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons water
3 cups chopped pecans
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, melted
Boil potatoes until tender in at least 3 cups water. Drain and reserve the cooking water. Mash potatoes. You should have 1 cup mashed potatoes.
Oil a very large bowl and set aside. Combine the hot mashed potato, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter and salt in another large bowl and mix well. Cool to lukewarm. Add 1 1/2 cups lukewarm potato water, eggs and yeast. Beat until thoroughly blended. Stir in enough flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary 8 to 10 minutes.
Transfer to oiled bowl turning to coat all surfaces. Cover bowl with a light towel. Let stand in a warm, draft-free area until double in volume. Punch dough down – proceed as follows or wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate (the dough can be prepared several days ahead to this point).
Generously butter three 8-inch round pans. Spread bottoms with brown sugar, dividing evenly. Add 2 generous tablespoons water to each pan. Sprinkle 1 cup chopped pecans over bottom of each pan. In a small bowl combine 1/2 cup sugar with cinnamon and mix well. Set aside.
Punch dough down. Divide in half. Roll each half out on a lightly floured surface into a 10-by-16 inch rectangle about 1/4 -inch thick. Brush each with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, dividing evenly. Starting at short end, roll dough up as for jelly roll. Cut each roll in 15 slices. Arrange 10 slices in each pan. Let stand until double in volume, about 25-40 minutes. (If dough has been refrigerated, this will take several hours.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake buns until brown about 30-35 minutes. Immediately invert onto a platter or tin foil. Serve warm.
Yield: 30 sticky buns
Approximate nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate.
Clam Chowder
From O’Rourke’s “Back Porch Cookbook”
6 slices of bacon, chopped
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 pounds thin-skinned red potatoes, scrubbed
2 (8-ounce) bottles clam juice
8 (6 1/2 -ounce) cans chopped clams
1 bay leaf
3/4 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 cups (1 quart) whipping cream or half and half
Salt, to taste
Place bacon in an 8- to 10-quart kettle and cook over medium heat until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Discard all but 2 tablespoons drippings and add carrots, celery, onion, green pepper and garlic to kettle. Cook stirring often until onion is soft.
Cut potatoes into 1/2 -inch cubes. Add to carrot mixture with the clam juice and clams, bay leaf, and thyme. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 20 minutes. Add hot pepper sauce, black pepper, Worcestershire sauce and whipping cream. Add salt to taste. Heat just till hot and serve.
Yield: 10 to 12 servings
Approximate nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate
Rosemary Balazs’ Christmas Crab
1/4 cup olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups dry red wine
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
3 tablespoons sugar
4 strips of lemon peel
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 hot pepper sauce
2 Dungeness crabs, cleaned and cooked
Heat oil in large pan, add onions and garlic and sauté until soft. Add remaining ingredients, except crab, and cover and simmer one hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put crab in large baking dish and pour sauce over the top. Cover and bake 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and crab is heated through. Spoon the crab and sauce into shallow bowls.
Serve with French bread and a simple mixed salad. Dip bread into sauce.
Yield: 4 servings
Approximate nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate.
Trejo’s Tamales
Adapted from recipe on Maseca mix package
Tamale filling:
1 1/4 pounds boneless pork loin or shoulder (can substitute chicken or beef)
Salt, to taste
1 1/2 ounces chili pasilla or California chilis
1/8 cup corn oil
3/4 cup water
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon salt
Masa dough:
2 cups of masa harina
2 cups lukewarm broth from tamale meat mixture or water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup corn oil
16 dried corn husks
Cover meat with water and sprinkle with a little salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until cooked, about two hours. Drain broth from meat and reserve to use in the masa dough. Cut meat into small pieces and cook in cooking oil until brown.
Clean chilies, removing stems and seeds. Place in blender, add 3/4 cup water, minced garlic, cumin and salt; blend until smooth. Add chili mixture to meat, cook for approximately 7 minutes.
To make the masa dough: Combine masa and salt in a bowl, work broth in with fingers to make soft moist dough. In a small bowl, combine corn oil and masa and stir until dough has a spongy texture.
Soak corn husks to soften, separate husks and rinse well.
Spread two tablespoons masa on top half of corn husk and place a tablespoon of meat mixture in the center of masa. Fold long sides to the middle. Fold bottom part of the husk (part without masa spread on it) up toward top. Stack tamales upright in steamer. Cover with a wet cloth and steam, approximately one hour.
Yield: 16 small tamales
Approximate nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate.