Joanne Fluke Christmas Bundle: Sugar Cookie Murder, Candy Cane Murder, Plum Pudding Murder, & Gingerbread Cookie Murder (84 page)

This recipe is from Bridget Murphy. It came from her sister, Patsy, who got it from a cousin who got it from her next-door neighbor, a man named John Brady.

2 pounds hamburger
(don’t use lean—it needs some fat in it)

2 minced garlic cloves
(or one Tablespoon of jarred, chopped garlic)

1 large onion, finely chopped

8-ounce can tomato sauce

3 whole cooked tomatoes, skins removed and cut into large pieces
(you can use canned)

1 bottle Guinness Stout
(12 ounces)

3 teaspoons chili powder

¾ teaspoon ground red pepper
(cayenne)

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons whole green peppercorns

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Brown the hamburger in a large skillet. Add the garlic and onion and stir until the onion pieces are translucent.

Add the tomato sauce and the tomatoes. Stir well.

Add remaining ingredients and heat everything up over medium heat, then cover, turn heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Toppings:

chopped celery sautéed in oil, but still a bit crunchy

chopped green onions

shredded cheese

chopped black olives

sour cream

chili beans
(but only if you must—real chili doesn’t have beans)

Fill bowls with chili and top with any or all of the above.

This chili is especially good served with Bridget’s Soda Bread.

Bridget says to tell you to back off a bit on the red pepper if your family doesn’t like things spicy. A generous dollop of sour cream mixed into your bowl will also work to cut the heat from the pepper.

This chili will hold for hours in a crock-pot and it’s perfect for halftime at football games—just make it the night before and refrigerate it in the crock. Four to five hours before you want to serve it, just put the crock in the slow cooker and turn it to LOW.

This is the soup I always order when I go out to the Lake Eden Inn. Sally says you need a blender to make this soup. She also says that if you don’t have one, borrow one.

4 bunches red radishes
(approximately 12 radishes per bunch)

2 medium onions, cut into large pieces

42 ounces chicken broth
(about 5
½
cups)

6 Tablespoons butter

6 Tablespoons flour

4 cups Half & Half
(or light cream)

6 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon white pepper

3 Tablespoons horseradish sauce
(I used Heinz)
***

*** If you can’t find horseradish sauce, mix 1 Tablespoon ground horseradish with 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise.

Clean the radishes
(cut off the tops and the bottoms and wash them)
and place them in a large saucepan. Add the onions. Pour the chicken broth over them and simmer for 35 minutes.

Let the contents of the saucepan cool slightly and then puree in a blender.
(You’ll have to do this in batches—it won’t all fit at once.)
Transfer the puree to a large bowl and cover it to keep it warm.

Put the large saucepan back on the burner. Melt the butter on medium heat and then sprinkle in the flour. Stir until bubbles appear. Keep stirring and cooking
for one minute. Add the Half & Half
(or light cream)
and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture has thickened. This should take about 5 minutes or so.

Add Worcestershire sauce, salt, white pepper, and horseradish sauce. Then add the radish puree and stir thoroughly. Return to the heat and stir until heated through.

If you want to get fancy, get a few extra radishes, slice them very thinly, and float them on top of the soup bowls. You can also add fresh, minced parsley for color.

Sally has a tip for you. If you want to bring this soup to a buffet dinner, don’t return the saucepan to the heat after adding the spices at the end. Instead, transfer the soup to a slow cooker sprayed with Pam or other non-stick cooking spray. When you get to the potluck dinner, plug in the crock-pot, set it on LOW, and go off and enjoy yourself. Sally says to tell you that this soup will hold for at least 3 hours on LOW and maybe even longer.

Vera Olsen contributed this recipe. It’s called “Summer” Gazpacho, because she only makes it when tomatoes are in season.

1 cucumber, peeled and seeded

1 medium sweet onion, cut into chunks

6 medium tomatoes, peeled and seeded

½ cup flavorful olive oil

¾ teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

3 Tablespoons wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cans Spicy Hot V-8 Juice
(for a total of 23 ounces)
***

*** Vera says if you don’t have Spicy Hot V-8 Juice, you can use Bloody Mary mix, or regular tomato juice spiced up with a little hot sauce.

Chop the cucumber and onion in small chunks and put them in a blender.

Peel the tomatoes by dipping them, one at a time, in boiling water for a few seconds until the skin cracks, and then into a bowl of ice water. This will make the peel come right off.

Seed the tomatoes by cutting them in quarters and poking out the seeds with your finger. Once that’s done, chop the tomatoes up a little and put them in the blender with the onion and cucumber.

Blend the chopped cucumber, onion, and tomato on the lowest speed as you add the olive oil, chili powder, garlic powder, vinegar, and kosher salt. Pour contents into a large pitcher and add the V-8 Juice. Stir well and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
(Overnight is fine, too.)

When you’re ready to serve, stir the gazpacho a final time and check for seasoning, adding more salt if needed. Pour the gazpacho into small bowls. Top with a generous dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with minced chives.

This is Ellie Kuehn’s recipe. She tried serving it on a sausage pizza out at Bertanelli’s and it was really good!

One large mild or sweet onion
(a red onion is nice—more colorful)

¹
/
₃
cup white
(granulated)
sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon fresh baby dill
(it’s not as good with dried dill weed)

½ cup white vinegar

¼ cup water

4 large ripe tomatoes as an accompaniment
(optional)

Cut the onion in thin slices. Separate the slices into rings and put them in a bowl.

Combine the sugar, salt, dill, white vinegar, and water.

Pour the liquid over the onion rings.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 5 hours, stirring every hour or so.

Serving suggestions: Slice large ripe tomatoes and arrange on a platter. Lift the onion rings out of the brine and sprinkle them on top of the tomato slices. Garnish with fresh, chopped parsley leaves if desired.

You can use these onion rings to garnish cooked carrots, cooked green beans, even mashed potatoes. They’re also a wonderful garnish for a mixed green salad.

Covered tightly and stirred a couple of times a day, these marinated onion rings should last for at least a week in the refrigerator.

Claire Rodgers contributed this recipe. She got it from one of her mother’s friends, Mabel Drager.

1 can
(10
¾
ounces)
condensed tomato soup
(Claire used Campbell’s Classic Tomato)

¹
/
₃
cup wine vinegar

¾ cup olive oil

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ cup brown sugar

Dump all ingredients in a quart jar. Put on the top and shake vigorously. Refrigerate.

Use to dress a nice green salad. You can put a few Dilly Onion Rings on the top, if you like.

From my sister Andrea, the Queen of Jell-O. She got this recipe from Immelda Griese, Father Coultas’ housekeeper. The original recipe used canned green grapes, but Andrea couldn’t find them at the Red Owl unless she bought a huge can of fruit cocktail and picked them out, grape by grape. Since she didn’t want to do that, she substituted pears, and Immelda says she likes it even better this way.

One 6-ounce package lemon or peach Jell-O

1 ½ cups boiling water

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon paprika

2 cups cold ginger ale
(Andrea uses Vernor’s)

2 cups sliced canned pears, drained two 8-ounce cans pineapple tidbits, drained

²
/
₃
cup sliced almonds

Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Add salt and paprika. Let cool to room temperature.

Add cold ginger ale. Refrigerate until partially set.
(Andrea’s instructions are: “It should look like jelly on hot toast.”)

Stir in sliced pears, pineapple tidbits, and sliced almonds. Pour into a 2-quart mold and refrigerate overnight.

Dressing:

1 cup mayonnaise

¼ cup heavy cream

1 Tablespoon honey

Mix up the mayonnaise, cream, and honey. Put them in a little dish with a spoon next to the Jell-O on the table.

To serve Jell-O, turn out on a platter and invite people to take a slice and top it with a little dressing.

Andrea’s recipe again. She collects Jell-O recipes.

Spray a Bundt cake pan
(8 cups)
or other 2-quart mold with Pam or other non-stick spray. Set aside.

1 large package
(6 ounces)
lime Jell-O

1 cup boiling water

¾ cup cold water

Stir Jell-O powder into boiling water until dissolved. Add cold water and set aside to let cool.

1 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 medium-sized ripe avocados, mashed

¹
/
₃
cup sour cream

2 to 3 drops green food coloring

Combine salt, lemon juice, mashed avocados, and sour cream. Stir until smooth. Add food coloring and mix thoroughly.

Stir avocado mixture into cooled lime Jell-O and pour into Bundt cake pan. Refrigerate until firm.
(2 to 4 hours—overnight is fine, too.)

1 and
¹
/
₃
cups boiling water

1 large package
(8 ounces)
cranberry or raspberry Jell-O

One 8 ½-ounce can crushed pineapple with juice

Two 16-ounce cans whole-berry cranberry sauce
(2
¼
cups)

1 Tablespoon prepared horseradish

Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Add pineapple, cranberry sauce, and horseradish. Mix thoroughly. Refrigerate until syrupy.
(Approximately one hour.)

Spoon cranberry mixture carefully over the avocado mixture. Refrigerate until firm.
(At least 4 hours—overnight is fine, too.)

Unmold on a pretty platter to serve.

Andrea complains that this recipe is too complicated for her, but if we beg, she makes it every year for Thanksgiving and it’s wonderful with turkey. She does the lime Jell-O layer the night before and the cranberry Jell-O layer on Thanksgiving morning.