Good-bye to Jane: An Oatmeal Pecan Cookie Tribute

We recently lost my older sister, Jane, to an aggressive form of Parkinson's disease.  Her decline was very fast and we are all very sad that she is gone at such a young age.  It has been a big shock.  

Family and friends traveled to Texas hill country outside San Antonio last weekend for her funeral.  It was a lovely tribute to her and wonderful celebration of her life.

Afterwards we gathered at their new home nestled in the hills with fantastic views.  Jane had decorated it beautifully with the help of her family and caregivers.  It has a very large great room with an open concept so we were all able to eat and talk together. 

There were trays of Texas beef brisket BBQ with fixings brought in from a nearby BBQ place.  And their new neighbors had brought over all kinds of desserts, including a buttermilk pecan pie, which I had never had before.

Colleen arrived from California with tubs of her popular cookies ---she says it is the Hungarian way ----to comfort people with food, and baking in their honor.

Black Lava Cookies 

A Slab of Barefoot Contessa Pecan Bars 

Gallets, a Hall family tradition

Oatmeal Pecan Cookies, see below

Jane was a big supporter of Feast Everyday, and participated from the beginning in 2009, both contributing and making recipes from the blog, until she could no longer cook.  Many of her recipes were dishes she would make and take to her book group. 

And earlier this year, she (with Rex's assistance) made sure I finally got a gallet iron of my own off eBay.  

The last meal I remember her cooking for Tom and me was a chicken cacciatore with side dishes, and homemade cookies for dessert.   She was more a decorator than a cook, now that I think about it, but she always made good food.  And she loved her sets of dishes, creating tablesettings, and celebrating the holidays.  We shared that in common. 

Jane has been sending me Texas pecans on and off over the last 20 years, because she knew I loved them. She used to know a woman who would gather them from under the trees so I'd get a delivery of very fresh pecans, which are the best!  In more recent years, she notoriously sent us 10 pounds of pecans which we worked on using up for months and months...and months.    

So I think it is fitting that I post this Oatmeal Pecan cookie recipe from Colleen today.   It is packed with extra pecans.  

Good-bye, Jane, we will miss you!  

---Barbara

Oatmeal Pecan Cookies (Colleen's)

Makes 36 big cookies

5 sticks butter, softened
1 ½ cups light brown sugar packed
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
6 cups old fashioned Quaker Oats (or one small container)
3 cups chopped pecans


Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Add flour, salt, soda and cinnamon and blend. Add oats and chopped pecans. Scoop with an ice cream scoop onto cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and cover and refrigerate for a few hours.Remove cookies from fridge and then set oven to 375. This allows balls to warm up a bit before baking. Bake a few inches apart on sheets lined with parchment. Check after 10-12 minutes – cookies should have flattened a little and be set in the middle. You might need to bake another minute or two depending on your oven. Remove and let sit on cookie sheet to cool. These freeze well!
---Colleen

Swiss Chard with Pine Nuts and Raisins

Lemony and sharp, this dish paired well with the buttery sweetness of the halibut.  Will make it again!
---Barbara

Swiss Chard with Pine Nuts and Raisins
(adapted from Fine Cooking)

Serves 4

1/3 cup golden raisins
1 lb, or 1 large bunch of Swiss chard, washed
2 T. olive oil
2 large shallots, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, finely sliced or grated
1 t. red pepper flakes
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 t. finely grated lemon zest
juice of one small lemon
salt and pepper
2 T. Parmesan-Reggiano, grated

Prepare the washed Swiss chard:  pull or cut the stems away from the leaves. (Run a knife along each side of the main stalk to speed up the process.)  Cut or rip leaves into large pieces, and slice the stalks into thin 1/4 inch pieces.  Then, dry all of the chard, either in a spinner or towel dry.

In a large, deep skillet with a lid, add the oil and heat to medium.  Add the chard stems and shallots, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to brown, about 4-5 minutes.  This will depend on how thin you choose to cut the stems and onions.  Thinner will cook faster.

Add the garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the red pepper flakes and stir. Add the raisins and stir.  Add the chard.  It will fill the pan completely.  Immediately, start turning the mix with tongs over and over until the chard begins to wilt.

Once wilted, lower the heat, and cover the pan to finish cooking the chard, about 5-7 minutes more.

Remove from the heat, place in a serving bowl and sprinkle with the pine nuts and grated Parmesan-Reggiano.

Toss and serve.

Morgan's Grocery in Penn Yan

An old-school butcher and grocer with a small lunch counter, too.  

If you find yourself in Penn Yan, New York, then the best place to buy quality meat is at Morgan's Grocery.  It's where the locals go.  There is a real butcher counter.

It is still unknown to many.  And it is really worth looking for in Penn Yan.  Homemade sausages, great steaks, chicken that tastes like chicken, nice pork chops, and a few seafood items like scallops.

It's in a old train station along the tracks, near the former Agway, now Lakeview Organic Grain:

                       100 Hamilton St., Penn Yan, NY 14527

The entrance is on the road side.  And the aisles are jam backed with groceries. Every inch of their space is utilized.  On the porch, they will park a grocery cart with ears of corn, or whatever is in season.

Mr. Morgan makes the pies and they are sometimes in the aisles.

It is a fun, friendly place to shop.  Very popular.  Sometimes there are people 2 and 3 layers deep waiting at the butcher counter.

Small ham loaf from Morgan's baked at home

They even sell ham loaf! 

B 

Grandma Hall's Ham Loaf

Grandma's recipe for ham loaf has been the best ham loaf so far.  Not too salty.  Not too sweet.  Nice dark brown exterior, while the interior was just right.  Not too firm, not too soggy. 

I thought it fitting that I found it, unexpectedly, on the back of another of her recipes.  I have been looking for it for years.  

Baked it last Sunday while I was going through all of the boxes of family "heirlooms" as we work on wrapping up the estate of my aunt, my Grandma Hall's daughter, the last of my parents' generation.  

It took me a while to find a place who would grind ham for me. Morgan's in Penn Yan does it.  No one else seems to grind ham.  And I really didn't want to do it myself, although I do have an old-fashioned meat grinder. 

---Barbara

Grandma Hall's Ham Loaf
(adapted from her original recipe)

Serves 6

1 lb. ground baked ham
1 lb. ground pork
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1.5 cups bread crumbs (4 slices of bread)
lots of pepper

Mix in loaf.

Sauce for basting:
1 heaping Tablespoon dry mustard
1/2 cup vinegar
2 cups brown sugar (loosely, not packed)

Cook until thin syrup.

Baste 400 degrees 1 hour

My notes:
Preheat oven.  Combine well so your loaf will stay together.  Place in a baking pan with a rim, and form into a log.

Whisk the sugar, vinegar, and dry mustard together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, watching to be sure it doesn't boil over.

Bake in oven for 1 hour or more, until 160 degrees internally, basting every 10-15 minutes.

Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

The drippings do turn very black from the sugar in the glaze.   Smells like toasted marshmallows when you are basting towards the end.  Either line the baking pan with aluminum foil, or let the pan soak overnight.

B

Harvesting Lemongrass

Lemongrass is used in Asian recipes, in particular, Vietnamese and Thai dishes.  It looks like a scallion but the texture is fibrous, more like ginger than an onion.  Has a woody-lemony fragrance and flavor.  

It is very easy to grow.  Depending on your climate, you can put it in the ground, or do as I did:  Put it in a large pot on the deck for the summer.   It was a wee little plant at the beginning of the summer.  It came in a 3 inch pot and cost $1.50.  

I harvested my plant last week, and ended up with 30 usable stalks.  It is easy to do.  First you cut off the excess blades of the plant and cut it down to about 18 inches.  

The hardest part was removing the root structure because it became dense and root bound in its pot.  

After that, peel away the outer layer, and clip the root from the ball.  

I cut them down to fit in a plastic bag and froze the stalks for use throughout the year. 

It's the first time I have harvested a lemongrass plant.  I usually just buy a few of stalks when needed at the grocery store.  Will be fun to see how my frozen ones compare to the fresh. 
---Barbara

Honey from Peigi the Beekeeper

I was the lucky recipient of a jar of Peigi's honey last week.  Peigi had shared this post on Facebook with her friends:

"One of my goals I set for myself in retirement was to get back to beekeeping.  I am pleased to report that we just finished harvesting, extracting and bottling over 100# of honey.  A little late in the season, but it feels good!" ---Peigi



I asked Peigi how she uses her honey, just in tea?  She said we use it for everything...  although not often for tea because I don't like my tea sweet.  So I asked if she used it in place of sugar in recipes.  Gosh...  we use it in pies and pie crusts, pancakes, chili, ribs, many chicken recipes, etc..

So I decided to put honey in the search engine for Feast Everyday and had fun seeing all the recipes we've posted over the years which utilize honey.  Here are 10 recipes that might be fun to try again.  Click on the recipe title to go to the post.  
---Barbara


Honey Buns

Grilled Coriander Honey BBQ Chicken

Grilled Honey Hoisin Pork Tenderloin

Peanut Butter and Honey Blondies

Ginger Honey Muffins with Apricots, Toasted Coconut and Slivered Almonds

Bacon Wrapped Honey Chicken

High Fiber Bran Muffins

Roasted Winter Veggies with Miso Dressing and Sesame Seeds

Hoisin Pork Chops by Tom

Lime and Honey Glazed Salmon