John says this post is suitable for Halloween because it’s scary.   (What, may I ask, is so scary about poached fish?)

 How do you poach a fish anyway?  

Well, you can catch it out of season, or without a fishing license.  (That could be scary if you consider the fine.) Or, as Julia Child and other food aficionados tell us, you can simply cook a legal fish in simmering savory liquid.

Like dishwater.

We did this about 10 years ago when the kids were little and our family caught a bunch of trout up in the Sierras. After we had fried and baked and barbecued fish, we came up with the idea of poaching some of our catch – in the dishwasher.  You know how that hot steam pours out when you open the dishwasher mid-cycle?  Steam hot enough to… poach a trout! 

 John was not a fan back then and he was not a fan a few days ago when we revisited the idea.  But he was a good sport and he had a “nice steak” as a side dish.

 He did try a bite of my poached fish and I had a bite of his steak.

 Dishwasher Poached Fish

1 or 2 pieces of fish.  This time I used whitefish fillets.

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 sliced jalapeños

1 lime, thinly sliced

Old BaySeasoning

Aluminum foil

Wash the fish and pat it dry.

Place it on a sheet of  aluminum foil

Drizzle with olive oil

Sprinkle with Old Bayand garlic

Arrange jalapeños and lime slices on top of fish

Fold foil closed to make a packet.  Fold several times to seal it well.

Place fold down on another sheet of foils and repeat the wrapping.

Place on dishwasher rack.

Run on the hot cycle for whatever setting is the equivalent of about half an hour.

Serve with a nice baked potato and vegetable…and possibly a steak for the chickens in the family.

This is the bread I make every Tuesday to go with whatever soup I make for our Bible Study dinner.  Everyone loves it and it’s the easiest yeast bread in the world. 

I usually call it French Bread, out of habit, but it’s actually Italian.  I need to get in the habit of calling it that. My name is Paladini, for goodness’ sakes! – That’s Italian!)

But there’s not much difference between what is known as French Bread and Italian Bread. Traditional French bread is the baguette, a long loaf.  Traditional Italian bread is shaped into large rounds. Italian bread may have a little oil or sugar added.

Mangia, mangia!

Italian Bread

Ingredients

2 Tablespoon yeast

2 cup warm water

3 Tbsp olive oil (optional)

2 teaspoon salt

4-6 cups flour

Butter

2 tbsp cornmeal (optional)

Directions

Dissolve yeast in warm water

Stir in 3 cups flour

Add salt

Stir in some more four to make sticky dough

Turn out onto floured surface and knead flour in until the dough is not sticky

Continue to knead for about 5 minutes

Butter a cast iron skillet and sprinkle with a little corn meal (optional)

(*You can also just make the loaf into a flat-ish round, and bake it on a baking sheet)

Coat the loaf of dough with butter and place it into the skillet.

Allow it to rise an hour or two.

Punch it down.

Allow to ride again for an hour or two (until doubled)

Bake at 400° till brown and hollow-sounding when you tap it.

*As a time saving hint – you can make the dough and do not let it rise.  Butter it well and wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it. Then at some future busy day you can pull it out of the freezer in the morning, unwrap it and let it thaw and rise all day.  When you come home your loaf is ready for the oven.

“Guess what I just did?”  Monica’s voice told me I would never guess, so I made a few elaborate stabs. …won the lottery?… got pregnant?…

“I made refrigerator soup,” she announced. (I think I would say she announced it gleefully.)

She said, “I came home for lunch, and I was trying to think of something that would be fast for dinner tonight. Dan and I both have bible study.  I was looking in the fridge and I saw some leftover spaghetti sauce.  And you know spaghetti sauce is the heart of refrigerator soup.”

“Spaghetti sauce is the heart of Refrigerator Soup.” That cracked me up.  And it’s pretty true, although not absolutely necessary. 

I made refrigerator soup all through the kids’ childhood, when the refrigerator got too full of musgos.  Musgos are the things in little tupperware containers that “mus’ go” before they spoil.

Quite simply, you just make soup out of whatever is in the refrigerator!  Leftover spaghetti sauce, rice, pasta, any kind of veggies, the last few slices of Thanksgiving turkey diced up.  (Years ago my friend, Pat, was shocked to find a glob of turkey stuffing on her soup spoon one day, but she had to admit it was pretty tasty!)  Put whatever you have into some broth.  Maybe chop up an onion, and throw in a few spices…simmer… and Voilá!

To be honest though, I didn’t think Monica had been paying too much attention back in the day. She was a dutiful kitchen helper/cook when I asked her, but she seemed to have zero initiative or interest during those formative years.

(David, on the other hand, thrived on all things culinary.)

It gave John fits. “What’s she going to do when she gets married?” he worried.

I joked that she might marry someone like David, but that was no comfort.

So here she was calling me cross country to tell me she made Refrigerator Soup. One more example of the truth of Proverbs 22:6.  She explained that she had just put it together and she was calling to see if I had any ideas to add to what she had come up with.

I asked her to tell me her recipe and this is what she said.

About a cup of spaghetti sauce

About a cup of rice

A little bit of canned tomato soup

To this she added:

a can of beans

a package of frozen mixed vegetables

some dried onion flakes and some chili flakes.

She put it into the crock pot with a few cups of beef bouillon and had the setting on low.

I couldn’t think of a thing I’d have changed, except to be able to close the 3,000 miles between us and sit down and have dinner with them!

Oh my goodness – this one’s a winner! A really easy, and absolutely delicious chicken tortilla soup. I made it for our ladies’ bible study dinner last night, and everybody loved it!

The following recipe filled an 8-quart soup pot. That’s a lot of soup. Served with tortilla chips and bread, it fed 18 ladies and John.  And there is some left over. You can easily cut the following recipe in half, but be sure to make enough so there is some for lunch the next day.

Ingredients

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed

4 tbsp. olive oil

10 garlic cloves, minced

2 large onions, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 Tbsp cumin seed

2 Tbsp chili powder

1 bunch fresh cilantro, minced and snipped

2 cans olives

4 tablespoons bouillon paste

1 large #15 can of diced tomatoes

2 cans kidney beans

1 bag frozen corn

water

tortilla chips

Directions

Brown chicken in olive oil.

Add minced garlic and diced onions. Sauté till the onion is tender.

Add cumin and chili powder. Mix well. Cook for a few minutes.

Add tomatoes and bouillon.

Bring to a boil. Then lower to let it simmer for 20 minutes. Stir a few times.

Add olives along with the brine.

Add ½ cup of cilantro including the finely minced stems.

Add diced bell pepper.

Return to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add drained, rinsed kidney beans

Add frozen corn.

Add enough water to make 8 quarts. (*4 quarts if you are halving the recipe.)

Bring to a boil and simmer for an at least an hour.

Garnish with sour cream, green onion and the remaining snipped cilantro.

Serve with tortilla chips.

This was a dismal year for our garden.  Not one single eggplant…and just one forlorn cucumber. Only three or four zucchini, although we did have a fair smattering of tomatoes. 

But the peppers!  Oh did we have peppers! Peter Piper would have been proud!

 A few days ago I went out there, and I think I had probably picked more than a peck of peppers…when I began to wonder about something. 

How did he do it? 

 Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

 How did Peter Piper pick peppers that were already pickled?

I had to pickle my peppers after I picked them – and even though it was pretty easy, if I ever meet Peter Piper I’m going to ask him for his labor-saving secret.

And then I’ll pass it on to you.

But for now, this is how I did it. 

Paladini Pickled Peppers

About 30-36 red and green jalapeño peppers

4 cups white vinegar

1 cup water

1 cup olive oil

4 tsp. salt

15 peeled garlic cloves

5 or 6 pint canning jars with new seals and rings.

You will need a “canning pot” that’s big enough to hold the filled jars of peppers in order to “process” them.

Put vinegar, water, salt, oil into a saucepan to make the brine. Bring it to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Fill the canning pot about half-way with water and begin to bring it to a boil.  

Meantime, wash the peppers, and using the tip of a sharp paring knife, put 2 small slits in each of them.

Wash the jars and fill them with hot water. This warms the glass so it doesn’t break when you pour in the boiling brine. (Pour the water out before you put the peppers in the jars.)

Pack the peppers in jars and add 2 or 3 of the garlic gloves to each.

Ladle brine over the peppers in the jars. Fill them to about ½” from top.

(I use a wide mouth canning funnel so I won’t spill the oily brine on the edge of the jar.)

Close the jars with seals and rings and place them in the hot water of your canning pot. Make sure the jars are covered with hot water.

Bring this “hot water bath” to a boil and lower the heat to medium.  Process for 10 minutes.

Carefully pour off some of the water so you are able to lift the jars out onto a towel on the counter.

As the jars cool you’ll hear the ping of each jar sealing, and you can be so excited to know that your pickled peppers will be preserved and yummy for months and months.