LITTLE ROCK — Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
We received a rather passionate e-mail from Aaron Smith in response to last week’s Mexican punch recipe. The e-mail’s subject line - “lies, Lies, LIES!!!!!!!” - certainly got our attention, and suspecting it was spam we almost deleted it without opening it. Luckily, we didn’t. It was most entertaining.
Smith writes:
“There are legends of the recipe. Legends of how very few people actually know the exact recipe, and those who become made men into the inner fruit-punch mafia are forced to sign Non-Disclosure agreements and risk extensive civil liability and financial ruin if they ever reveal the Masonic-like secrets. The veracity of these statements are unclear, but one thing is crystal clear however. The recipe is simply not out there. There are a few that claim to be the real deal, including the one that was printed this morning, but they ain’t it. I have made batch after batch of these recipes, I have toyed with the sugar, toyed with the juices, toyed with the mixes, each one tasting (to borrow from Douglas Adams) not quite entirely unlike the real thing. Deep within the confines of my OCD ravaged brain, obsession has developed.”
Apparently the recipe we printed is not the same as the oft-sought-after, ever-elusive restaurant Mexican Punch. Our apologies to anyone who’s hopes we raised only to quash them with the impostor recipe.
Now on to the good stuff.
The following recipes are from Virginia George of Illinois, by way of her cousin Joe Riddle. Riddle describes them as “excellent.”Virginia’s Coffee Cake 2 cups baking mix such as
Bisquick plus more as
needed 1 egg 1 /4 cup granulated sugar PLUS
more for sprinkling 1 package instant yeast 1 /2 cup hot water plus more as
needed Cinnamon Sugar 1 /2 cup (1 stick) butter, sliced
in pats
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Coat a 9-by-12-inch or similar size baking dish with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, mix Bisquick, egg, the 1 /4 cup sugar, the yeast and hot water until sticky. Add more hot water or Bisquick if needed. Spread mixture in prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and drop pats of butter over mixture. Swirl with spatula. Sprinkle more cinnamon and sugar over swirled mixture.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Makes 12 servings.
Crock-Pot Italian Beef 1 (5-pound or larger) chuck
roast 1 package onion soup mix 1 tablespoon Italian
seasoning, or more to taste Salt and ground black pepper
to taste 1 (16-ounce) jar pepperoncini
peppers, with liquid Buns, for serving Place roast in slow cooker set on high. Sprinkle roast with soup mix, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper. Cook 8 hours or until meat is cooked through and very tender. Drain grease and shred meat with fork. Pour peppers and liquid over meat and cook another hour or so.
Serve on buns.
Dave Johnson shares this recipe for dressing up jarred spaghetti sauce with fresh vegetables and andouille sausage. Johnson suggests serving the sauce with garlic bread.
Spaghetti Sauce With Andouille
1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon butter 1 /2 medium sweet onion,
minced 1 /4 green bell pepper, diced 1 tablespoon dried sweet basil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 /2 pound andouille sausage,
sliced 1 /4 inch 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti
sauce 1 pound pasta, cooked
In a pot, heat olive oil and butter until butter melts; add onion, green pepper and basil, and cook until vegetables soften. Add garlic and sausage and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, then stir in jarred sauce and continue cooking until sauce is heated through. Serve over pasta with garlic bread, if desired.
REQUEST
Chicken prepared in the slow cooker with beer and tomatoes for P.J. of Hot Springs. P.J. writes that the recipe was originally published between 1978-80 and again between 2002-04. We were unable to find it in our archives.
Send recipe requests, contributions and culinary questions to Kelly Brant, Idea Alley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; e-mail:
Please include a daytime phone number.
Food, Pages 33 on 06/23/2010