Welcome to my Kitchen

I met Robert and Joan Labrosse from Calgary, Alberta, when I stopped into the Odessa Museum Research and Quilt Room a week or so ago. They were visiting, and in search of information about Joan’s family, the Millers, who lived here around 1900. Christina (Giese) Miller was her grandmother’s name. Christina was famous among family and friends for her kuchen, and Joan has shared the recipe and would love to hear from any reader who might remember or have information about her relatives.

The ingredients and proportions are very similar to the recipe used by most, for Deutsches Fest baking, but the filling poured over the fruit includes raisins. The recipe calls for baking in pie plates but cake pans work fine. This recipe makes six kuchen, a little less intimidating than the dozen from the official Deutsches Fest recipe. I recommend this recipe with or without the raisins, if you are wanting to try your hand at this German coffeecake.

Kuchen

Dough:

1/2 cup warm water

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 package, or 1 tablespoon yeast

1/2 cup scalded milk

1/4 cup vegetable shortening (or margarine)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 beaten eggs

1 teaspoon salt

3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Fruit Filling:

12 ounces dry curd cottage cheese

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins

Cinnamon for sprinkling

In a small bowl, mix together warm water, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar and the yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine scalded milk, shortening, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, beaten eggs, one teaspoon salt and the flour. Stir in yeast mixture. Cover with a tea towel and leave dough for 1 1/4 hours in a warm place out of drafts.

Divide dough into 6 balls, cover and let stand for 15 minutes (leave the balls in the bowl). Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick, put into pie plates and prick with a fork. Put a layer of fruit on top of the dough, then put on filling.

While dough is resting mix together all of the filling ingredients. When fruit has been added, spread the filling over the fruit (this is a very thick filling). Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake in preheated, 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Check by inserting a knife near the center (knife should come out clean).

Yield: 6 kuchen.

Jenna Shafer, senior this coming year at Odessa High School, has been helping Nancy Glines prepare the meals for the summer meal program. She made potato salad last week and shared the recipe, from memory, as Nancy has taught her to make it. The key to this salad is to make it the night before so the salt flavors the potatoes.

Jenna’s Potato Salad

8 potatoes

1 dozen hard-boiled eggs

Green onions

2 cups of Best Foods Mayonnaise

1/4 cup prepared mustard (more or less to taste)

Salt

Pepper

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender. Remove from heat and run potatoes under cold water to stop the cooking process. Once cooled, peel potatoes (skin will be soft, a knife may be easier than a peeler). Dice potatoes into chunks and place in large bowl.

Thin slice hard-boiled eggs, then slice again perpendicular to the first slices. Add eggs to potatoes.

Slice and dice green onions and add to potatoes and eggs.

In a separate bowl, mix mayonaise and mustard until thoroughly mixed. Add salt to mixture, the mixture should taste salty. Add pepper to taste.

Combine the potato-egg-green onion mix with the mayonaise-mustard mixture.

Let sit (refrigerated) overnight.

Yield: about one gallon.

Note: for you who like to measure, I used about 2 teaspoons of salt, but most like it saltier, so start there and see how it tastes before adding more.

Gooseberries are ripe, and if you happen to have a bush or two in your yard, you most likely have a bumper crop. Pie is how we usually see gooseberries served, but they also make a tangy sweet jam, especially when combined with pineapple. The recipe I like calls for canned crushed pineapple, but if you want to use fresh, be sure to cook and cool the pineapple before starting the recipe or the jam may not set.

Pineapple Gooseberry Jam

4 cups diced, stemmed and washed gooseberries, pressed down

1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple, including juice

1 box powdered pectin

7 cups granulated sugar

Place fruit in large kettle and stir in pectin. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil ( a boil that does not stop bubbling when stirring) over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Return to a full rolling boil and boil exactly one minute. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with a metal spoon.

Ladle immediately into hot sterilized jars, filling to within 1/4 inch from the top. Wipe rims clean. Top with two-piece lids. Screw bands tight. You may process in a water bath canner 10 minutes. Yield: 7 half pints.

Finger Jell-O, made with part unflavored gelatin is a welcome cool treat for harvest lunch boxes. By request, here is the recipe.

Finger Jell-O

2 packages (6 ounces each) any flavor Jell-O gelatin

3 packets unflavored gelatin

4 cups boiling water

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir until the gelatin is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Pour into a 9x13 inch pan and chill until firm. Cut into squares and enjoy a cool treat. Yield: 3 dozen squares.

So many more good recipes to come in the next few columns. Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cowboy Marinade (for the beef, not the cowboy’s) Giant Cinnamon Rolls and Tomato Chips, plus more that have been requested and are yet to arrive.

Share your summer favorites by sending them to: Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa, WA 99159, email therecord@odessa office.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in The Odessa Record office. Water tomatoes in the evening. They take up water more efficiently when the air is cooler.