Author Archives: TempInnKeeper

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About TempInnKeeper

Margot loves people and is very energetic and organized. She is also a quick study. Her background includes having renovated, owned and operated an 1887 Victorian bed and breakfast in Paso Robles, CA for 5 years. Her guests loved her and she loved her guests. What a perfect combination. Margot’s marketing skills and love of people also was used in her career as a Realtor and in participating in many charitable non-profit organizations. Margot loves to cook and to offer concierge services to people. She was born in Geneva, Switzerland.; has lived all over CA. including Beverly Hills, in the Silicon Valley area, Paso Robles, the San Joaquin Valley as well as in Sun Valley, ID. She has traveled extensively throughout the world; is a CAL alumni (go Bears!); and also speaks French fluently and Spanish semi-fluently. Her interests are people, cooking, arts, books (look at the blog book club and join if you wish), travel, sports, gardening, painting, music, playing classical piano and animals. Margot Van Horn 208-721-3551 PO Box 3788, Ketchum, ID. margot6@mindspring.com TempInnKeeper@mindspring.com
Jan7

The Magic of Beets

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beet greens cooking beet greens beets and greens on plate beets in aluminum foil

golden beets

The Magic of Beets

Beets weren’t one of my most favorite veggies, however, when I started encountering the golden and other colored milder tasting beets, I became very fond of them.  So, when I saw these three gold beets at the market, I couldn’t resist.  Beets are truly multi faceted because not only can you use the root but the greens as well.  So for dinner last night, I devoured both and it was truly divine.

The history of beets is very interesting.  It has had a long history of cultivation stretching back to the second millennium BC.  Aristotle and Theophrastus mention them.   This little root has been used for food, sugar, fodder, food color, medicine and health, as an aphrodisiac, juice, and wine.  It can be consumed deliciously cold or hot.  Various countries of our world have made this root into a specialty dish and it’s even used as an integral part of a Jewish prayer for Rosh Hashanah.  And that is just the root—because the tops are delectable as well.  So here are two of my favorite recipes for this miraculous vegetable.

Beets Baked in Foil (oh so easy and delicious—try to buy beets which are uniform in size so that they’ll cook evenly.  Additionally, you can store just the uncooked roots in a plastic bag in the frig and they’ll last for weeks.)

  1. Preheat the oven to 400.
  2. Wash/scrub the beets well and leave an inch or so of the green top on to minimize bleeding.
  3. Wrap them individually in foil and place them on a baking sheet.
  4. Cook, undisturbed, for 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours—until a think-bladed knife pierces the beet with little resistance.  (They may cook at different rates—so watch for that.)
  5. You can peel them right away and serve them sliced or whole with butter or olive oil, any vinaigrette, or freshly squeezed lemon juice.  I like them with just butter or olive oil.
  6. You can also remove, cool and refrigerate them in their foil until ready to peel and use.  They’ll last for several days.  Then you could serve them cold with a good dressing; or sliced mixed with olive oil, balsamic, ground pepper and salt served over some Greek yogurt. A bit of fresh chervil to top this last suggestion will make this a perfect dish.

Beet Greens: They actually were “the in- green” eons ago—that is until spinach came along.

  1. Wash the beet leaves, cut and then chop the stems.  Separately chop the leaves.
  2. Bring a pot of water to a boil; salt it.  Cook the stems until they are almost tender (about 5 minutes) and then add the leaves.  Cook a couple minutes more or until it’s tender.  Add butter or olive oil at the very end as well as S&P to your taste.  Additionally you can also add the ingredients in the optional #4 paragraph below.
  3. Optional: add sunflower seeds (or other seeds of your desire) and raisins at the very end.  If you wish you can pre- soak the raisins in warm water for 10 minutes.  Also, you can pre- roast the seeds in a pan.
Jan5

Spiced Tongue

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pork tongue plate Pork Tongues

Spiced Tongue

6 servings for a 3 pound beef tongue

Ok, I bet a lot of you are going EWIE, but I know that some of you are going to be interested in this recipe.  I remember when I was a little girl being totally freaked out when my mother brought to our dining table “the tongue” and it was a big one—unpeeled.  She peeled it in front of me and I thought that I would get sick.  But I braved it and ever since have enjoyed the lesser loved dishes including sweet breads, liver, kidneys, snails and well, you get the picture.  So, when I saw 4 pork tongues at the grocery

store the other day, I was happy indeed.  This was my first experience with pork tongues.  They turned out delicious however they were much harder to peel than the other tongues I had encountered.  There are many ways of cooking a tongue but this recipe is one which ends up having a nice sweet sauce on it and I think that even first timers may enjoy it.

Ingredients for boiling the tongue:

  1. One fresh beef tongue (3 lbs.) but I cooked my 2 lbs. of 4 pork tongues
  2. 1 Tsp. salt
  3. 1 onion studded with 3-4 cloves
  4. 6 sprigs of fresh parsley
  5. 3 celery stalks with leaves
  6. 2 peeled carrots cut into large pieces
  7. Few whole pepper corns
  8. 1 bay leaf
  9. Water to cover

Instructions for boiling the tongue:

  1. Place the tongue and the ingredients above in a tall pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover the pot and simmer until the tongue(s) are fork tender—about 2 ½ to 3 hours.
  2. Remove the tongue(s) from the water and cool slightly.
  3. When cool, if need be, cut of bones and gristle at the thick end; slit the skin from the thick end to the tip on the underside.  Use a paring knife to loosen the skin at the thick end pull and peel off the skin from the thick end to the tip.
  4. At this point you can slice it and serve it with mustard, horseradish or whatever you enjoy with tongue.  You can eat it hot or cold.  However, after slicing this is what I do if I don’t feel like just having slice tongue with a homemade mustard, horseradish,  piquant or nice vinaigrette sauce:

Ingredients for the spiced tongue sauce:

  1. 3 strips of lemon peel
  2. 1 Tsp. cinnamon
  3. 2 Tsp. brown sugar
  4. 1/8 Tsp. freshly ground pepper
  5. 2 C. white wine or dry vermouth
  6. 1/2 C. raisins (optional)
  7. 1/2 C. Blackberry or currant or cranberry jelly or sauce (optional)

Instructions for the spiced tongue sauce:

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2.  Simmer (but don’t boil) the sauce ingredients so that they are mixed well.
  3. Place the tongue slices in an oven proof casserole dish and add the sauce ingredients and bake, covered in the 375 degree oven until the meat absorbs nearly all the liquid—about 35 minutes.
  4. I serve this with roasted fingerling potatoes and a nice side vegetable.
Dec31

Janet’s Crab Mold Appetizer (an appetizer made the night before serving)

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Janet’s Crab Mold Appetizer- (an appetizer made the night before serving)

My friend is a twin.  She lives here in Sun Valley but her sister lives in Alaska.  This is the sister’s recipe.  Her sister says that at her parties her guests can’t get enough of this and I can see why.  It’s delicious!! and like potato chips, hard to stop once you start. Even though I don’t favor cream cheese that much, Miracle Whip at all or processed foods like canned mushroom soup, however, with this particular recipe, II totally concede.  If you think like me, I believe that once you taste this, you will too.

Ingredients:

1-      1-8oz. package of cream cheese

2-      1 small grated or finely chopped onion

3-      1/2 C. finely chopped celery

4-      1/2 C. cream of mushroom soup-undiluted

5-      1 package unflavored gelatin—(you only use 1 dissolved Tblsp. for this recipe)

6-      1/2 C. Miracle Whip

7-      1 ½ C. crab meat (fresh is the best however good canned , drained, will do)

Instructions:

  1. Heat soup in a medium sized pan and add the dissolved gelatin. (Dissolve the gelatin according to package directions.) Stir well.
  2. Add the cream cheese and the Miracle Whip.  Mix until melted.
  3. Add rest of the ingredients and put in a pretty greased mold.
  4. Refrigerate overnight.
  5. Before serving, set mold in warm water to help release.
  6. Serve on a pretty plate surrounded by thinly sliced baguette bread, good crackers, and celery.
Dec30

A Holiday Menu to Accompany A Nice Beef Roast and/or a Pork Roast

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From Margot’s Table to Yours

Menu for the December 26th Holiday Dinner for Clients (2012)

Appetizers

Caesar Salad Spears topped with Shredded Parmesan

Lox Salad Spears topped with Dill Sauce

Jumbo Shrimp with sides of Dill Sauce, Red Sauce and Orange Marmalade/Horseradish sauce

Vegetables

Braised Celery and Julienned Carrots Caribbean Style

Zucchini and Mushroom Melange

Potatoes

Scalloped Yams and Parsnips

Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes with Chives

Salad

Red and Green Salad with Pears, Cheese and a Cranberry Vinaigrette

Relish

Cranberry, Clementine and Pumpkin Seed Conserve

Desert

Linzer Torte

Balsamic Roasted Pears with Pepper and Honey over Manchego Cheese

Bon Appétit and Happy Holidays

Ruth and Gunnar Lie—Phone Message

“Everything was just wonderful.  There wasn’t one thing we didn’t love. Our son in law said I would like to cook with her because she used ingredients that are different.  I can’t wait to do it again next year.  I love some of those dips for the shrimp.  I could eat the orange marmalade one with a spoon.”

 

Dec30

Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes

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sour cream mashed potatoes

Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes

Serves 8

Sometimes plain is the best.  Mashed potatoes are one of those dishes where this axiom may hold tried and true.   In this recipe, one who is watching his calories can use low-fat milk and fat-free yogurt but frankly, I like the more decadent version.  As a last note, my daughter makes some really good mashed potatoes and she actually uses bakers.  She scrubs them well and leaves the skin on.  Then she boils them and when they are tender proceeds with the recipe below.  They are delicious and after beating them with an electric beater, you barely note that the skins were left on.

Ingredients:

  1. 2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes or other boiling potatoes peeled and quartered-I used Yukon Gold and left on the skins
  2. 1/2 C. milk or half and half
  3. 1/2 C. sour cream
  4. 1/4 C. chopped fresh chives
  5. 1 egg well beaten (optional)
  6. S&P to taste
  7. Melted butter to float on top at the end (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water to barely cover.  Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes.
  2. Drain and place them back in the pot to mash by hand or with an electric mixer
  3. Add the milk and mash or mix until blended and fluffy.
  4. Stir in the sour cream, chives, S&P.
  5. If you wish you can add the one egg, beat some more and then put the potatoes in an oven proof dish.  Pour some melted butter on top and place under the broiler for about 3-5 minutes or until the top has browned somewhat.  The egg addition is a very old tradition and the reheating of the potatoes will ease your worries about the raw egg addition.
Dec30

Zucchini and Mushroom Casserole

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Zucchini and Mushroom Casserole

8 serving

 

This is a good, easy and nutritional dish to serve.  Zucchini and mushrooms are so versatile so it’s nice to see them meld together.  Enjoy.

Ingredients:

  1. 1 ½ Lb. zucchini, trimmed and scrubbed
  2. Pinch of chopped or dried dill
  3. S&P to taste
  4. 1-2 cloves of garlic
  5. 3/4 Lb. mushrooms, sliced
  6. 4 ½ Tblsp. butter
  7. 2 ½ -3 Tblsp. flour
  8. 1 ¼ C. sour cream
  9. Bread crumbs dotted with butter
  10. Up to 1/4 C. chopped parsley (optional)
  11. Up to 1/4 C. shredded Parmesan (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Cut the zucchini crosswise into one-inch slices.  Place in a pot with salted water to cover. Add the dill and garlic and some S&P.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer gently until the vegetable is barely tender (about 8 minutes).  DO NOT OVERCOOK.
  2. Drain, reserving 2 Tblsp. of the cooking liquid, and discard the garlic. Set the zucchini aside.
  3. In a skillet, sauté the mushroom in the butter (about 5 minutes), stirring occasionally till they glisten; then stir in the flour. Cook about 2 minutes longer till flour is well absorbed.
  4.  To the mushrooms in the skillet add the sour cream and zucchini and the reserved 2 Tblsp. zucchini cooking liquid stirring constantly.  DO NOT BOIL but heat thoroughly.
  5. Transfer the mixture to a buttered or Pam sprayed casserole dish and top with some buttered bread crumbs.  If you wish, you can mix the crumbs with chopped parsley and/or some shredded parmesan.
  6. Brown quickly under the broiler.
Dec30

Lox Salad Spears Topped with Dill Sauce

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lox spears

Lox Salad Spears Topped with Dill Sauce

Up to you as to how many you want to make

I love good lox.  Having lived in Beverly Hills, CA, I frequented Nate ‘n Als (established in 1945) a lot and they had the best lox ever.  Oh well, that was awhile ago and now I’m in a place where we do not, so far, have a  Nate ‘n Als. I wish we did so that I could revisit my childhood delights more frequently. I don’t travel much to Beverly Hills anymore and even though Nate ‘n Als supposedly delivers most everywhere in the US, that’s pretty pricey.  In any case, if you also like lox and some good unpackaged lox is available here in the valley, here’s a simple appetizer dish that is always a hit.

Ingredients needed:

  • Buy as much of good lox (preferably not pre-packaged) you wish to use.
  • Buy a combination of Belgium Endives and fresh Romaine Lettuce (as much as you visualize that you’ll need.  Left over’s always makes for a great salad.
  •  Also you’ll need the ingredients listed below for the Dill Sauce.

Dill Sauce Recipe 😦 makes about 2/3 Cup)

  1. 1/3 C. mayonnaise
  2. 1/3 C. sour cream
  3. 1 Tblsp. finely chopped onion
  4. 1 Tsp. lemon juice
  5. 1 Tsp. prepared horseradish
  6. 3/4 Tsp. dill weed
  7. 1/4 Tsp. garlic salt
  8. Pepper to taste

Instructions:

  • Mix the above Dill Sauce ingredients in a small bowl.  You can make this at the last moment however if you refrigerate this sauce for several hours it’ll make it taste even better.
  • On individual Belgium Endive and Romaine leaves, place a bit of lox and top it with the dill sauce and finalized with some capers.
  • Place on a pretty dish surrounded by some lemon slices.
Dec29

Shrimp with 3 Different Sauces: Orange Marmalade/Horse Radish & Dill & Red

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Shrimp with 3 Different Sauces

Orange Marmalade and Horse-Radish Sauce

 Dill Sauce

Red Sauce

I do love shrimp and really, they are light on the belly and perfect to serve as an appetizer before a big meal.  I like to serve these three sauces along with them to give a person a choice of tastes.  Additionally, the easiest jumbo shrimp to get are those that are frozen and precooked but honestly, if you buy the deveined but uncooked frozen jumbo shrimp, they are FAR superior in texture and taste.  It’s really so easy to follow the directions on the uncooked package if you get it that way and if not, it’s still easy to do.  If frozen, defrost the shrimp in a colander with cold water running over them—for about 10 minutes.  Then, bring a large pot of water to a boiling point and add about 3 Tblsp. of salt per quart of water, dump the shrimp in the boiling water, bring back to a boil and then simmer uncovered for about 3 minutes—or till the shrimp are red and you can’t see their translucency.  Don’t let them boil too long though because then they’ll be tough.  I taste one at the 3 minute point and usually it’s just perfect then.  Drain them in a colander and plunge them in ice water so that they will stop cooking immediately.

Main  Ingredients:

  1. 2 ½ lbs large shrimp, peeled, deveined, cooked and chilled.

Marmalade/Horse Radish Sauce: (makes 1 C)

  1. 3/4  C. Orange Marmalade
  2. 1/4 C. Orange Juice
  3. 2 Tblsp. fresh lemon juice
  4. 1/2 Tsp powdered ginger
  5. 1 Tsp. Prepared white horseradish
  6. 2 Tsp. Dijon-style mustard
  7. 1/2 Tsp salt

Instructions for the Marmalade/Horse-Radish Sauce:

  1. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender. Serve at room temperature.

Dill Sauce: (makes about 1 C)

  1. 3/4 C. olive oil
  2. 3 Tblsp. lemon juice
  3. Salt to taste
  4. 1/2 Tsp. dry mustard
  5. 1 Tblsp. fresh chopped dill or 2 tsp. dried dill weed
  6. 1/2 Clove garlic (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Combine all the ingredients and mix well.  Let stand overnight in the refrigerator.  Discard the garlic and serve the sauce chilled.

Red Sauce

Ingredients: (makes about 1 C)

  1. 1 C. ketchup
  2. 2 Tblsp. cider or wine vinegar or lemon juice
  3. 4-6 drops of Tobacco sauce
  4. 1 Tblsp. horseradish
  5. 1 Tblsp. minced chives or grated onion
  6. 1/4 C. finely chopped celery
  7. 1 Tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  8. 1/2 Tsp. Salt
  9. 1 Tblsp minced parsley

Combine above ingredients well and use for shrimp dipping.  Chill before serving.  (Makes about 1 ¼ C.)

Dec29

Caesar Salad Spears

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Caesar Salad Spears

Serves around 6-8

 

This is a wonderful light and delicious hors d’oeuvres to have-particularly before a hearty dinner.   For a faster version, I have used pre-made Caesar bread crumbs and anchovy paste—but the homemade version is a bit tastier I think.  No matter, you and your guests will enjoy this and beware-they do go quickly.

 

Ingredients:

  1. 2 C. 1/4 –inch-diced white bread or for shortcut use somewhat crushed Caesar store bought croutons
  2. 1/4 C. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese plus some for garnish
  3. 5 Belgian endives
  4. Lemon wedges for garnish and additional color

For Dressing: (you can double this recipe because it’s good for a left-over salad dressing)

  1. 2 minced anchovies or a comparable amount of anchovy paste
  2. 1 egg yolk
  3. 1 clove garlic, minced
  4. 2 Tblsp. grated Parmesan
  5. 1 Tblsp. red-wine vinegar
  6. 1 Tblsp. lime juice
  7. 1 Tsp. Dijon mustard
  8. ¼ tsp. Worchestershire sauce
  9. 2 dashes Tabasco
  10. 1/2 Tsp. salt
  11. 1/2 Tsp. ground black pepper
  12. 1/2 C. olive oil

 

Directions:

  1. If you wish to make your own croutons, preheat oven to 350.  In a medium bowl, toss the bread with 2 Tbls. of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Spread the bread on a baking sheet and toast for about 10 minutes, stirring once, until golden and crisp.
  2. In a food processor, blender or by hand, whisk together ingredient #4 through #14. When well blended slowly add the olive oil.  Taste to see if you wish to add more S&P.
  3. Trim the endives and remove the largest leaves from 3-4 of the heads. If you wish you can stack the leaves and trim them to about 4 inches. (I don’t do this.)
  4. Thinly slice the remaining endive and toss with the dressing and the croutons.
  5. Spoon the salad onto each spear and garnish with grated cheese.
  6. Note: If you wish you can use a combination of endive and romaine heart leaves to fill and also you can chop very finely some of the romaine for the inclusion in your salad mixture.  So then you would have a mixture of endive and romaine hearts.  I personally like this combination.  It’s also more financially economical.
Dec29

Balsamic Roasted Pears with Pepper and Honey

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pears in a bowlBalsamic Roasted Pears with Pepper and Honey

Serves 8

 

This is a very simple but elegant desert.  I used the Manchego Mexican cheese which is delicious.  If the pears in your market are not quite ripe enough, buy them a couple of days before serving and place them in a paper bag along with an apple.  Close the bag and several days later, they should be perfect.

 

Ingredients:

  1. 4 Tblsp. sweet butter
  2. 4 firm-ripe pears, halved lengthwise and cored
  3. 6 Tblsp. balsamic vinegar
  4. 8 Oz. Manchego cheese or mild goat cheese, cut into 8 pieces—room temp.
  5. 1/2 C. honey

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400
  2. Melt butter in an oven proof dish in the oven—about 3 minutes
  3. Arrange pears, cut sides down, in 1 layer in butter and roast in middle of oven until tender-about 20 minutes.
  4. Pour vinegar over pears and roast 5 minutes more.
  5. Transfer pears, cut sides down, to serving plates with cheese and spoon some of juices from baking dish over pears.  Drizzle pears and cheese with honey and sprinkle with pepper.