Good Guacamole Salad , yes, you make it yourself!

One of the questions I am getting more and more frequently at work, really troubles me about the disconnect people have with the food they eat!
My job is to prepare recipes and offer customers a copy of the recipe and a sample to taste so that they may determine whether or not they would like to prepare the recipe at home. They can alter it to suit their own preferences, but the basic idea is offered at my work station along with all the ingredients to prepare it as is.

The response which troubles me is,"Does this come in a bag or box or can?" When I try to explain how simple it is to prepare (and most of our recipes are quick and easy), I'm met with a blank stare. "I don't cook, why don't you sell this ready made"? My return stare is just as blank..."why would I have a recipe, raw ingredients and even a job if this were ready-made?"

Fortunately, most of my customers enjoy food, and many either know or are eager to learn about real food in it's pristine form.

The following is a basic recipe which one can embellish with fresh food, OR food from a can or bag with equal success. Have fun!

GOOD GUACAMOLE SALAD

8-12 ounces romaine and butter lettuces chopped (bag, ok)
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2-3 avocados, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
2 limes
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (sorry Rachel, I say, XVOO)
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Spread lettuces onto a platter and drizzle with 1/2 olive oil
Add chopped jalapeno, tomatoes, onion and avocado to a bowl. Toss with cumin, salt and pepper and cilantro. Squeeze juice of 1 lime over all and drizzle with a little oil.
Top lettuces with this mixture and toss.

ADD: kernels from 2 ears of corn, grilled OR 1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup cooked black beans homemade OR from a can, rinsed
1 pound poached or grilled shrimp OR cooked shrimp from a bag
Arrange these around or on top of salad and drizzle with oil and squeeze juice of remaining lime over all.

May garnish with more freshly sliced avocado and tomatoes and add a dash of hot sauce!

Oh and by the way, Happy Cinco de Mayo!

ARMENIAN SUGAR FINGERS

1 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
2 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 cups finely ground nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans or pistachios)
granulated sugar/additional confectioners' sugar piced with cinnamon and cloves

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Cream Butter and sugar together
Add egg yolks, extracts and spices
Stir in flour, baking powder and nuts. Mix well

Take a well rounded tablespoon of dough and roll it between your palms to make "finger" shape.
Roll fingers in granulated sugar
Arrange on an ungreased baking sheet, leaving 1/2 inch between cookies
Bake at 300 for 25 minutes until sandy colored, NOT brown
While still warm, sift spiced confectioners' sugar over cookies
Dust once again after cooled

This is obviously expensive to make and labor intensive. The "unsugared" cookies can be frozen and dusted after defrosting.

VERY SPECIAL COOKIES

The phone rang! This was our first catering customer...
Weeks prior we had worked hard to meet all the requirements to obtain a license, created a menu and sent out fliers to likely households and businesses plucked from the phone book.

Now, our reward, a potential customer on the phone. Visions of hors d'oeuvres for a grand cocktail party, or perhaps an elegant dinner, or even a wedding or other celebration were were in our minds...the caller said, "I'd like to try those Greek cookies (Kourabiedes) on your menu." Still hopeful, we inquired whether this customer wanted platters of other desserts as well. "No, just one dozen Greek cookies" ONE DOZEN?! Our first mistake, readily apparent, was omitting a minimum order requirement on the flier..so one dozen cookies it was, to be delivered as well!

Later in the week, the customer asked if she could increase the order. Hopeful once again, "of course", was the eager answer. The order was now for one and one half dozen cookies...

The day of the great Cookie Delivery arrived. It was bitterly cold with a biting, ferocious Northeast wind (not unusual for January in a New England seacoast town). The delivery address was, of course, on a street facing the wild open ocean. It took two of us to protect the fragile cookies from blowing away in the gale!

Disheveled and shivering, we retreated and drove off with the cash from our first sale..enough to buy two steaming hot cups of coffee to savor while planning a new strategy...

My recipe for nutty, buttery, delicate Armenian Sugar Fingers is similar to the Greek cookies. My catering partner is the master of those, but you will find these as delightful and worthy of the story above.

Early Adventures

The signs were all there, but they were not heeded at once. It took years of following another path, another passion, before my real love was revealed..love of cooking and food, that is.

The backyard was my "restaurant", mud, and anything I could find to mix in, was my medium and giant rhubarb leaves were my cooking and serving instruments. Fortunately, I was discerning enough NOT to eat any of the creations, as rhubarb leaves are poisonous...

The first time my parents left me alone in the house, did I try to smoke, or hunt for smutty reading material, NO!
I tried to create a CAKE. Foraging for the ingredients I'd seen my mother use when baking, I put them in a bowl, mixing and stirring with abandon. My parents returned just as the creation went into the oven.
The adventure here, was that I had used a match to light the gas oven...parents were aghast, but the cake was not bad..a bit dense, but it had a lovely flavor of vanilla and almond..just what I wanted!

When I was a college student, my "other passion" took me to study in Italy. All of the American students in my class were amazed at the beauty of Italian clothing and leather artifacts and saved their pennies to purchase what they could. I saved also, and bought a cookbook by Ada Boni, the Julia Child of Italy at that time.

Despite all these signals, it was years before I took a hiatus from studying and teaching and started a catering company with a dear friend. We were The Happy Cookers and thus the adventures began....professional and otherwise...

Stay tuned for yummy recipes and the catering stories behind them.