DOH!

Yesterday, I had a "DOH" moment and I would like to share it to show that all us cooks get goofy sometimes.  I spoiled a wonderful pot of onion soup by not following the recipe carefully.  I was salivating as I again tried to duplicate Julia Child's great recipe for onion soup (Mastering the Art of French Cooking, page 43).  I bought all the ingredients and cleaned and cut up a large leek (a small digression), six large yellow onions, a few garlic cloves (another improvisation) and was sauteing them in butter and olive oil in a large Le Creuset pot.  Now, I noticed that Julia calls for adding three tablespoons of flour after the onions are well cooked down.  I cut this critical corner and added the flour near the beginning of the process.  Needless to say, the flour burned and, not only spoiled the soup, but I had to spend almost an hour cleaning the Le Creuset pot.  (It's still not perfect.)

The moral is -- sometime, but not always, recipes mean what they say.  (Perhaps critical steps need to be in bold type?)

Cyetta’s Superb Spinach Salad

Anytime we have a gathering of friends and Cyetta asks what she can bring, I always request this superb salad:

First the most delicious salad dressing (Makes about one quart of dressing. Can be cut by ½ or 2/3rds. Remainder can be stored for months in the refrigerator.)

Ingredients:
1 cup ketchup
1 cup salad oil (canola oil is good)
2/3 cup good sharp cider vinegar
2/3 cup sugar
1 small onion or shallot, grated (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp celery seeds (Cyetta's choice, but I substitute poppy seeds)
½ tsp paprika
Juice of 1 lemon
1 minced garlic clove (or equivalent in garlic powder)
A pinch of dry mustard
½ tsp Worcester sauce

Shake all these ingredients together in jar of sufficient size.

Use this dressing on a salad made from a package of baby spinach, a good amount of crumbled fried or broiled bacon (at least 1/2 a pound), a small cold can of Mandarin orange sections (or cold navel orange sections), and toasted slivered almonds. (The almonds can be toasted in the bacon grease … but are optional.)

Dried Lima Bean Casserole

Rinse and soak a package of dried lima beans (baby limas or full size, but baby limas are best) overnight in lots of cold water. Drain them well.

Sauté, until light brown, one large yellow onion with one or two cloves garlic, both chopped fine. Add one large can of chopped whole tomatoes, salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste, a heaping tablespoon of brown sugar, a teaspoon of Worcester sauce, a good sprinkling of thyme, a little marjoram, a bay leaf (or a little bay leaf powder), a pinch of powdered cloves, a handful of chopped flat parsley, and a splash of good cider vinegar.

Add this mixture to the lima beans in a heavy casserole dish and bake in a slow (200-250 degrees) oven, covered, for at least two hours, adding water (or cider) as needed to keep the beans bathed in fluid. Uncover the dish and top with a layer of pork chops (or shoulder lamb chops) which have been salted and peppered. Continue cooking, uncovered, until the chops achieve your desired degree of doneness -- an hour or more. It is also good to splash some of the sauce over the chops from time to time to add to their flavor. The more fat you leave on the chops, the more flavor they will add to the beans below.

Serve with hard cider or beer and a good, crusty bread. Enjoy!