01-24-12

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
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This Week's Theme: Favorite Ingredients - Crab

Today's Recipe: Easy Corn and Crab Soup

Here's a good one from Rosemary:

Bad weather meant I was stuck overnight at O'Hare airport in Chicago. Along with hotel accommodations, the airline issued each passenger a $10 meal ticket, or "chit." That evening after dinner I presented my meal ticket to the cashier.

"Is this chit worth $10?" I asked.

Looking up nervously, the cashier responded, "I'm sorry, sir. Was the meal that bad?"

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This week's theme

• 20th Century American Classics

This week's recipes

• James Beard's Roquefort-Filled Mushrooms
• Cobb Salad with Brown Derby French Dressing
• Spinach with Sour Cream
• The "21" Club Hamburger
• Chocolate Meringue Pie

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Here's an idea from Kathy Fox that can literally be eaten on the run:

My quick and easy meal is Walking Tacos - kids love them. I always have ground beef or turkey in the freezer. Simply thaw and brown, drain grease, mix with taco seasonings. We use small bags of corn chips (Doritos, Fritos, whatever you like), chopped lettuce, onions, tomatoes, shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa - some of these or none of these. Place what you like in a bag of crushed chips, add meat and toppings. They are great on the go.

Let's hear your ideas for quick and easy dishes. Send them to me with "Quick and Easy" in the subject and get your 15 minutes of fame.

This recipe is testimony to my faith in canned products. It's a quick and easy version of a Chinese classic, and I promise you'll love it.

Easy Corn and Crab Soup

1 15-oz (425 g) can creamed corn
1 15-oz (425 g) can chicken stock
1 tsp (5 ml) cornstarch mixed in 1/4 (60 ml) cup water
1 6-oz (170 g) can crab meat
4 Tbs (60 ml) dry sherry (optional)

Combine all ingredients except the sherry in a saucepan and heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add a tablespoon (15 ml) sherry to each bowl just before presentation, or serve it in a small cruet or pitcher for the diners to add themselves. Serves 4.

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Today's second recipe

• Chili Crab Soup

Today's bonus recipes from the WWRecipes Archives

• Quick Lime and Garlic Soup
• Herbed Egg-Drop Soup
• Portuguese Kale Soup
• Rhode Island Clam Chowder

Today's Readers' Recipes

• Bacon-Wrapped and Glazed Pork Tenderloin
• Grilled Halibut
• Passion Fruit and Coconut Cake
• Vegetable Quiche

Quizine - An interesting and unusual bit of food trivia every day

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Thanks to Nancy Marr for this week's review:

Substituting Ingredients: The A to Z Kitchen Reference is a great little book that has a lot of information to help keep you from running to the store when you’re in the middle of a recipe. In my case, that’s something my husband will really appreciate. Click here to learn more.

	Thanks to Caryn from Manalapan, NJ for this review: My son got me this utensil last year for Christmas and I didn't think I'd ever really use it, as I had many, many tools to choose from. However, once I picked it up and tried it, I couldn't put it down. This 5-in-1 tool is just about the only utensil I use to cook. I highly recommend it. Click here to learn more.
	Thanks to Alan Duxbury for this review: I thought you might like a review for Shepherd Spy: Tales of Violence and Intrigue and Terrorist Sheep. It is available on Amazon and at only 48 pages may seem small but it's worth buying not only for the excellent artistry and plot, but also because you can keep it on your cookery book shelf next to the large sign reading "Real Shepherd's Pie isn't made with beef!" Click here to learn more.
	Thanks to Laurel Hennessy for this review: One thing in my kitchen that I use just about daily are my kitchen shears. I use them to snip herbs right into a pan and to cut my salad greens into bite-size pieces. I've also used them to cut chicken strips for stir fry. They are dishwasher safe so cleanup is a breeze. Click here to learn more.
	Thanks to Sherril Gerard of Santa Ana, CA for this review: I have a pigtail food flipper and love it. Fantastic for bacon and pork chop turning and other items. You must learn not to scratch the skillet but once mastered you will love it. It doesn't let the meat juices escape from holes made by large forks, and no stiff tongs to make your hands ache. I use it for french toast, hot dogs, etc. etc. I even gave all my girls one in their Christmas stockings this year. Click here to learn more.
	Thanks to Mary Silcox for this review: The Podleski sisters are masters when it comes to developing tasty, healthy, and easy to follow recipes. I own all three of their previous books (Looneyspoons, Crazy Plates, and Eat Shrink and Be Merry) and credit them with helping me to lose a significant amount of weight and develop a healthier lifestyle. What I like best about their recipes is that they do not sacrifice flavour for nutritional value. Indeed, they don't even eschew ingredients such as butter and bacon - they just restrict their use to small quantities when needed to add deliciousness. In their newest book, The Looneyspoons Collection, the sisters re-formulate many of their recipes following current nutritional thinking, and taking advantage of healthy alternatives (e.g., whole wheat pasta, reduced salt products) not available when they started out. So long as you can stomach their terribly cheesy puns (recipe titles include "the lord of the wings", "a wok in the pork," etc.) I think you'll find this a terrific addition to your cookbook collection, even if you already have the sisters' other titles. I particularly recommend "tube beef or not tube beef" and "worth every penne" - both delicious dishes that also make great leftovers. Click here to learn more.
	Thanks to Donna in Buffalo, MN for this review: Today the kitchen got a bit brighter when the light bulb in my head went off. Why it took me 40 of my 61 years to think of this is beyond me but better late than never, right? I purchased my first ulu knife in Bar Harbor, ME while motor home traveling in the mid '90s. This gadget is great for cleanly cutting my herbs, quickly, safely and neatly. Today, needing some of my fresh rosemary for my turkey dressing I discovered one more use. Instead of trying to strip the sticky rosemary leaves from the stem by hand I used my ulu to cut right next to the stem. It was really slick and no sticky fingers. Sure glad I wasn't any older when I figured this out. Click here to learn more.

If you have a favorite cookbook, kitchen gadget, or specialty food item that's available from Amazon.com, we all want to know about it. Please send a brief review (along with the Amazon ASIN if possible) to Review@wwrecipes.com

Barbara Forsythe, Editor

As absinthe took root with artists in the 1860s, women discovered an unprecedented level of societal tolerance for their absinthe rituals. Just ten years before, the idea of a woman drinking hard alcohol alongside men in cafés would have been 'louche' indeed, but culture and mores were changing so fast that women not only were drinking at cafés, they were serving in them too, the brainchild of café owners looking to hustle a few more drinks. For women, drinking absinthe was a gesture of empowerment, like riding a bicycle or, in the 1920s, bobbing their hair.

But it wasn't all Sojourner Truth and Gloria Steinem. A woman could get away with having an absinthe, but her reputation couldn't. Bar-going women were widely regarded as easy, as charity cases, or even as prostitutes. As with opium, women seemed more vulnerable to absinthe addiction than men and often compounded the problem by drinking it undiluted, perhaps to avoid bloat in their corsets. Edgar Degas's "Au Café", of a beaten-down, isolated- looking woman wearily staring into the middle distance with an absinthe in front of her, became a symbol of the ravages of absinthe on women.

Paul Owens & Paul Nathan, from "The Little Green Book of Absinthe"

Please address your comments regarding "The Last Morsel" to editor Barbara Forsythe at Barbara@wwrecipes.com

For an archive of all Morsels published in Worldwide Recipes, plus Weekend Morsels for insatiable foodies, please visit TheLastMorsel.com