Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
There's no doubt Idea Alley readers miss Ken Shivey's Villa Italian Restaurant, which closed in October 2012. Requests for favorite recipes appear regularly in this column. And we're lucky to count Shivey among Idea Alley readers. After seeing requests from Jan Gauntt and Steven Matthews for recipes for the restaurant's minestrone soup and Spaghetti Villa, Shivey sent us a note.
"I have never cut the minestrone soup recipe down to a workable amount for home. I'll work on that," Shivey writes.
Shivey did, however, share a basic recipe for the pasta dish.
Spaghetti Villa
Sliced black olives
Sliced fresh mushrooms
Chopped onion
Chopped bell pepper
Fresh minced garlic
Butter
Cooked spaghetti
Saute the olives, mushrooms, onion, bell pepper and garlic in butter until tender. Pour over pasta.
Margaret Clark shares this spinach dip, modeled after another favorite Little Rock restaurant, Trio's.
Hot Spinach Dip Like Trio's
2 3/4 cups grated parmesan cheese
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
2 boxes frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed "dry"
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 small purple onion, finely chopped
2 cans Ro-Tel tomatoes and diced green chiles, drained
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Pita chips, for serving (recipe follows)
In a large cast-iron skillet, combine the parmesan cheese, cream cheese, spinach, Monterey Jack, onion, Ro-Tel, garlic and Worcestershire sauce and cook until melted. Serve with pita chips.
Pita Chips
Pita bread
Olive oil
Lemon pepper
Heat broiler.
Cut pita bread into triangles. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with lemon pepper. Broil 3 to 5 minutes or until crisp.
And a little something sweet to finish this week's column. This is from Marilyn Goldsmith in response to Kay Gurley's request for spice cake like that served in the Greenway school lunchroom in the 1950s and '60s.
"This was a standard from the '50s; [it is] my mother's recipe," Goldsmith writes.
Poor Man's Cake
1 cup raisins
Water
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
Cook raisins in enough water to get 1 cup of liquid.
Thoroughly mix sugar, shortening and eggs.
Sift dry ingredients together. Add shortening mixture and raisins with liquid alternately, mixing thoroughly after each addition.
Spread in a greased jelly roll pan (flat pan with rim). Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
Frost with a thin powdered sugar glaze. Goldsmith's mother used a mixture of milk and powdered sugar.
Makes 1 cake.
Send recipe requests, contributions and culinary questions to Kelly Brant, Idea Alley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; email:
kbrant@arkansasonline.com
Please include a daytime phone number.
Food on 03/19/2014