The Forum: Let’s look toward the cool of fall

  • By Judyrae Kruse Herald Columnist
  • Thursday, August 14, 2008 9:06am
  • Life

There’s nothing like the occasional cool, damp late summer day to kick-start your ponderings on good stovetop and oven dishes to serve for supper when fall finally rolls around.

So here’s a new one to file away someplace safe and sound, so you’ll be ready when the weather is. Longtime Forum helper-outer Irene Gesme of Marysville included it when she sent along her favorite version of the amazingly people-pleasing African chow mein and tells us, “This recipe for shipwreck stew is equally delicious.”

SHIPWRECK STEW

1 pound hamburger

1 onion, diced

1 cup sliced celery

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

1 cup diced potato

¼ cup raw rice

1 can kidney beans or 1 can corn

1 can mushrooms

½ cup ketchup

Salt, pepper and garlic to taste

In frying pan, cook the hamburger, onion and celery until burger is browned and vegetables are tender, turn into Dutch oven or large casserole and add the tomato sauce, potato, rice, kidney beans or corn, mushrooms and ketchup. Season to taste with salt, pepper and garlic and stir well to combine ingredients thoroughly, then cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

SOS: Frequent Forum contributor Marcella Henske of Arlington writes, “I have a couple of requests. One is for a butter cream frosting made with Wondra (self-rising flour). You cook it on the stove and it’s very simple. Then, as I recall, you put plastic wrap on it so it doesn’t form a skin on the top as it cools. I got the recipe from a lady when I worked in Southern California for a short time. I worked for a company that constructed shopping malls, and my boss’s wife gave the recipe to me. It was excellent and she said professional bakers used it on their cakes. It got lots of compliments, but it disappeared during our move north.

“The other recipe I’d like to have is for lima beans. My teacher friend Suzanne gave it to me when I taught middle school in San Jose. It had sour cream and maple syrup or honey in it. I think her mom gave it to her. She said it was for people who didn’t like limas. It’s rich but good, and people would like limas fixed this way.”

SOS: Snohomish cook Carol Redd hopes someone can share a recipe for white chocolate and raspberry scones that would be similar to some she ate at a place in Seabrook, near Ocean Shores.

If you can come up with the how-to for the frosting, lima beans or scones, please write to Judyrae Kruse at the Forum, c/o The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206. We are always happy to receive your contributions and requests, but please remember that all letters and e-mail must include a name, complete address with ZIP code and telephone number with area code. No exceptions and sorry, but no response to e-mail by return e-mail; send to kruse@heraldnet.com.

The next Forum will appear in Monday’s Time Out section.

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